He had originally wanted to bide his time with making a move, so as not to inadvertently alert the enemy and let the fish break out of the net, but he didn’t expect that under the packaging of Zhang Dafu, Tao Mu actually became a golden age white lotus. Tao Mu really didn’t know what to say anymore.

However, in the previous life, Tao Mu had suffered from his image being smeared and everyone hating on him. So naturally, in this life, he was too lazy to set up an image again, especially the ridiculous image of a “golden age white lotus”. So he immediately explained to the reporters: “I have no intention to be the holy father white lotus. The reason why I did not announce the evidence as soon as I received it was because my family and I agreed that we should not let go of the master behind the scenes. Tao Haiguo and his wife wantonly smeared my name for money, even instigating netizens to commit cyberbullying against me. But the master behind the scenes is even more hateful. Relying on the fact that they have money, they just do whatever they want——of course, the rich can do whatever they want, but adults must also bear the consequences for acting however they please.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“Taking this opportunity, I must also call on some netizens to be mindful when eating melons and watching a show, don’t just do whatever others say. Being used as a gun is not something to be proud of or to show off. This can only prove that some spectators have insufficient IQ and need to pay for a recharge, but this is not the reason for you to attack others unscrupulously on the Internet. Great men have also said that if you have not done an investigation yourself, then you have no right to speak. Everyone has gone to school. Who has not taken a political class for a few years? It’s not a problem to have a bad brain, but if you know your brain is bad and yet you are willing to go around biting people everywhere, then there is a problem. So don’t rush to express your opinion when you are eating melons and watching a show in the future, and especially do not be so eager to shirk responsibility every time something happens. It’s the 21st century, and we must try to be a rational and objective spectator. After all, before we learn the truth, no one will point a gun at your head and force you to type out so much viciousness, cursing someone’s 18 generations of ancestors, right?”

“It’s your choice to hurt others with words to vent your emotions, so don’t put on the face that you’ve been blinded by others and are also a victim after the truth has come to light. Stupidity is not your fault, but relying on the fact that you are as stupid as a pig to hurt others unscrupulously, now that is your fault.”

“Of course, in any case, I also want to thank all the netizens who have been passionately devoted to the previous verbal battles. After all, your presence has brought a lot of traffic to FlyNews.com. It also makes FlyNews’ advertising sponsors very satisfied. From this point of view, you scolding me is indeed for my own good. So I willingly and voluntarily let myself be spat on the face.”

“Next time, if there is such a thing, everyone can just go ahead and scold me, don’t worry about my emotions. After all, if you scold me some more, I will be able to get tens of millions more next time I recruit advertisers. In this way, it can indirectly be considered as your reparations for the damage to my mental health.”

If the poisonous tongue also had a rating standard, Tao Mu’s poisonous tongue was probably at the level of a full level grand slam.

Not to mention the netizens who saw this interview, even the media accounts and outlets that still had a part of their conscience, but had still reposted frantically for traffic during the previous incident of Tao Haiguo’s slander against Tao Mu, felt…..like they could deeply sympathize._(:з) ∠)_

Compared with tens of millions of sales and advertising expenses, what did the face matter! Not a damn! Scold however you like, scold loudly, scold out a rhythm and scold out a style. If you don’t scold, you’re not from China!

The netizens of all walks of life who followed the entire matter all the way to eat melons instantly hahaha, they really admire Tao Mu’s frank cheekiness on his attitude towards making money. Others also expressed that Tao Mu was indeed worthy to be the most inspirational idol in their hearts, and that he could endure the pain that ordinary people couldn’t bear in order to succeed. Some people climbed to Tao Mu’s FlyNews account and queued up to leave a message.

“The boss can just go ahead and scold me, don’t worry about my emotions. After all, if you scold me 30 more times, I will be able to get thousands of dollars when the salary is paid at the end of the month. Anything extra will be considered the year-end bonus you give me.”

“First party daddy can just go ahead and scold me, don’t worry about my emotions. After all, if you scold me a few more times, I will be able to sign hundreds of thousands more when we sign the contract next time. It can indirectly be considered as my hard work fee.”

“Programming apes can just go ahead and scold me, don’t worry about us product manager’s emotions. After all, if you scold me a few more times, you will improve a few more functions next time you hand over your work. It can indirectly be considered as giving the company money.”

“Mom can just go ahead and scold me…..”

“The teacher can just go ahead and scold me…..”

Soon, various versions of the “just go ahead and scold me” tag were created under the entertaining spirit of netizens. Netizens who followed the trend were queuing up everywhere, adding a lot of traffic to FlyNews. Even Gao Yonghuai, the boss of Weibo, joined in the excitement.

He wrote this in his Weibo account——

“You all can just go ahead and scold me, don’t worry about my emotions. After all, if you scold a few more times, the traffic on Weibo will increase. I don’t need to envy the next-door FlyNews_(:з)∠)_”

He also added a text emoji at the end of the sentence without anyone teaching him.

As a result, the “just go ahead and scold me” tag spread from FlyNews to the Weibo platform, and the entire China Internet suddenly fell into a carnival of “scolding wars”, and everyone felt incredibly joyful and amused.

Of course, some netizens with a strong sense of substitution felt uncomfortable. They felt that Tao Mu was too petty, such a big boss yet he still quibbled with ordinary netizens, what a really bad character——after all, though they scolded him, they also brought traffic to FlyNews. On the one hand, Tao Mu enjoyed the traffic brought by the people scolding him, and also got increased advertising fees for it; while on the other hand, he complained that everyone shouldn’t scold him online before things become clear. This was simply “picking up the bowl to eat, putting down the bowl and scolding his mother.”

“F**k your mother’s shit!” Tao Mu’s diehard fans rage quit: “Do you know how to speak, do you know what is meant by the words picking up the bowl to eat, putting down the bowl and scolding his mother’? No? Then look it up in the dictionary. Is it reasonable for you to curse casually without knowing what the situation is? That is to say, you are all just taking advantage of the anonymity of the Internet, who would dare to do this in real life? It’ll definitely invite a beating!”

“Hey, upstairs, how do you talk? You Tao Mu fans only have this kind of inner quality!”

So there was no doubt that a meaningless war of scolding was set off again.

Meng Qi, who had been paying attention to the development of the whole thing, looked at the background data and several FlyNews accounts who were constantly bouncing around and provoking a scolding war. He frowned and said, “Someone is stirring things up.”

“It should be the water army in Yao Wenxiao’s hands.” Tao Mu sneered. Yao Wenxiao’s Yuxiao Media, in his previous life, liked to stir up trouble and pour dirty water on the Internet, which once caused Tao Mu to suffer quite a lot. However, it turned out there was an advantage to having suffered this much, at least Tao Mu now knew very clearly Yao Wenxiao’s various media methods, and he could easily identify those water armies that belonged to him.

“Have the technical department look up these IPs and send a few people to check it out. It would be best to catch Yao Wenxiao in the act of hiring these water armies to stir up trouble and mislead the public. We are not afraid his movements are big, we are afraid of him not taking any action.” So long as Yao Wenxiao made a move, they could catch Yao Wenxiao’s tail. In the previous life, Tao Mu was fighting alone, so when facing the strong background of the Sheng’an Group and Shen Yu’s huge group of admirers, he had no ability to resist at all.

In this life, he had relatives and friends to protect him, and business partners to help him. Putting aside everything else, just his decade-leading Internet experience would at least give him the ammo to hit back against Yao Wenxiao’s actions.

Meng Qi smiled slightly: “It’s great that you aren’t angry. Da Hui followed Yao Shengan and his confidante assistant, and has obtained evidence that Bi An had private contact with Tao Haiguo and his wife. As for Tao Haiguo’s bank account with the inexplicable one million, we also got the transaction record too. Do you think we should let FlyNews Entertainment break the news on this matter, or throw the clues to other gossip tabloids?”

Tao Mu thought for a while: “Still let FlyNews Entertainment report it. Directly upload news of Bi An’s private contact with Tao Haiguo and his wife to the official account of FlyNews Entertainment, but no need to mention the bank transaction. In my name, formally file a lawsuit against Tao Haiguo and his wife. Let the court investigate the bank accounts of Tao Haiguo and his wife through regular channels. FlyNews Entertainment only needs to follow up on the reporting.”

Tao Mu’s actions were fair and honest. Even if he and the Yao family knew very clearly that he had already obtained evidence that the Yao family used money to buy Tao Haiguo and his wife. However, when the incident was to be officially exposed, FlyNews Entertainment must not take any illegal actions, and in that way there would be no risk of having a weakness being caught by the Sheng’an Group.

——Just don’t know what methods Yao Shengan, the old fox, would prepare for him after seeing his counterattack. He hoped it would not be too easy to unravel, otherwise he would be disappointed.

Liu Yao and Meng Qi exchanged smiles. In the evening, the news that “the personal assistant of the chairman of Sheng’an Group privately contacted Tao Haiguo and his wife” and “Tao Mu formally filed a lawsuit against Tao Haiguo and his wife for defamation” made the headlines of FlyNews Entertainment. At the same time, it was pushed to the featured page by FlyNews.

Netizens who were addicted to eating melons and unable to extricate themselves instantly boiled over. They had a keen sense of smell and could smell the savoury melons.

Many netizens immediately thought of what Tao Mu meant with his words when interviewed by reporters——not announcing the recording at the first possible chance he got was not out of softheartedness, but to catch the master behind the scenes or something.

Now FlyNews Entertainment directly broke the news that “the assistant to the chairman of Sheng’an Group privately contacted Tao Haiguo and his wife”, Tao Mu’s “master behind the scenes” was simply self-evident.

One was an Internet nouveau riche who had a strong presence recently, and the other was an old Shanghai gourmet food corporation. The obvious and head-on collision between the two was no less than the collision of Mars to the earth. There was no doubt that this turmoil would become the biggest melon of the year in 2008.

Melon eating netizens were immediately excited. They flocked into the official account of FlyNews Entertainment to make comments. Some people who stood by Tao Mu thought that the Sheng’an Group was simply too overbearing for repeatedly targeting Tao Mu and FlyNews; and there were also some people who thought that Tao Mu must have provoked the Yao family first, otherwise, with the capital background of the Sheng’an Group, how could they lower themselves to repeatedly target FlyNews and Tao Mu, a child who just turned eighteen years old?

As soon as this suspicion appeared, it was refuted by Tao Mu’s fans and passersby and melon eating netizens. Netizens who often browse gossip on the Internet still remember the old melon that happened a few months ago, in which Yao Wenxiao bribed a dozen media outlets to spread rumors that Tao Mu was an MB at Night. At that time, Tao Mu and Yao Wenxiao didn’t know each other yet Yao Wenxiao did this kind of thing because of jealousy. He also didn’t repent afterwards and hired thugs to beat up the person who helped Tao Mu investigate the matter, leading to being detained by the police for 15 days.

——It was clearly Yao Wenxiao who was the first to act like a mean and lowly person, so what did it have anything to do with Tao Mu? Later, Yao Wenxiao’s grandfather also got involved and asked his assistant to use the money to bribe Tao Haiguo and his wife to spread the rumors that Tao Mu abused his adoptive younger brother at the age of five. The styles of grandfather and grandson were obviously in the same line, which showed that the Yao family’s style was like this.

Tao Mu’s fans’ rebuttals were well-founded and reasonable, easily persuading new melong eating netizens who didn’t know what happened in the old melons. The accounts that had been clamoring “conspiracy theories” and “it takes two people to start a dispute theory” really couldn’t mislead the public at all, but they were also reluctant to give up on the generous bonus so they could only go back to repeating themselves. This not only did not have any effect, but also caused netizens to become annoyed.

At this time, one could see the usefulness of creating FlyNews. In the last life, Yao Wenxiao was backed by Sheng’an Group and Yuxiao Media, and also befriended major media and social platforms in the circle, practically controlling all the channels for speech and vocalization, slandering Tao Mu without any resistance. In this life, Tao Mu relied on FlyNews to make the first move, and directly exposed all the shameless little tricks used by the Sheng’an Group behind the scenes.

This time the villain became the Sheng’an Group. Don’t know what emotions Yao Wenxiao felt when he looked at the curses and scolding made against him by all the netizens.

As the scoop provided by FlyNews continued to deepen, other entertainment media in the circle followed the trend and reported the incident. In fact, even before the court investigated the bank account of Tao Haiguo and his wife in accordance with the procedures, there were gossip newspapers who managed to obtain Tai Haiguo’s account information from some unknown channel.

The extra one million balance that appeared out of thin air was like cold water falling into a hot oil pan, which instantly aroused the enthusiasm of netizens to continue eating melons.

Yao Wenxiao was not the only one who knew how to find accounts to stir up trouble and lead the public where they wanted. Tao Mu also had people set up FlyNews accounts to raise questions online——

“What’s the matter with this Sheng’an Group? Before, it was the grandson, but now it’s the grandfather. Why won’t their family let go of Mr. Tao?”

“Looking at this kind of step by step attack, I’m afraid that they want nothing more than to slap Tao Mu to death. I keep feeling that the Yao family’s actions are not as simple as ‘beating the grandson and attracting the grandfather’?”

“Could there be some inside story?”

At the beginning, there were only a few such questions. But because the matter involved Tao Mu, the currently popular CEO of FlyNews, and Shanghai’s Sheng’an Group, an old and well-known gourmet family. And of course, the gossip revelations of wealthy families had always been the favorite of ordinary people who ate melons. So this kind of speculation was like a sprout of leeks that popped up after being blown by the spring breeze.

A prairie fire started instantly from these single, spotted sparks. Just when the curiosity of all melon eating netizens reached its peak, the food network documentary “Life in the Market: Food for the People”, prepared by FlyNews, finally aired its first episode.

In the words of the two old artists, Bai An and Pu Lincang, this was a show that was unpretentious and full of humanistic feelings.

Under the close-up of the camera, the rapidly developing Beijing seemed to have gone back to another period of time and space. The quaint alleys with blue bricks and black tiles, the sounds of all kinds of hawking and shouting at the farmer’s markets, porters carrying burdens, craftsmen who sharpen scissors and kitchen knives, and grandfathers who squeezed clay figurines and painted sugar paintings at the entrances of the alleys. Every morning when it was barely even light outside, the owner of a small restaurant who always wore a cloth tunic went to the vegetable market to personally select the freshest ingredients.

A picture of life in the market, full of ink and color, was slowly unfolding in front of the camera.

The old courtyard house, the study room covered with sunlight, the recipes on the gilded rice paper written in old classical calligraphy, the complicated procedures, the colorful, fragrant, and exquisite dishes that caused people to drool uncontrollably. Neighbors from the neighborhood who stopped at the Song Ji small restaurant to eat every day, the historical anecdotes as well as the stories behind the various dishes that concern the various conditions of life slowly being recounted by the owner.

The origin of Song Ji, its past glory and current desolation, and even the regretful life of the owner of the small restaurant, immediately aroused the feelings of all netizens.

Many netizens expressed that “Life in the Market” launched by BulletScreen.com had become the best aid in invoking their appetite while eating meals. Many netizens living in the capital directly found Houhai Song Ji Restaurant and tasted the dishes made by Mr. Song and were instantly in love.

Just when the entire network became occupied by the food promotion documentary launched by BulletScreen.com, Tao Mu also replied to some of the previous speculations of some netizens on his FlyNews account: “Yes, we and the Yao family are not only new enemies, but also have old grudges.”

He directly broke the news that the ungrateful apprentice mentioned by Grandpa Song on the show was actually Yao Shengan, the founder of the Sheng’an Group.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

This was originally an abandoned baby who was kindly adopted by Mr. Song’s father who then proceeded to patiently pass on his craftsmanship to this child. In the end, this child coveted the Song family inheritance and caused the destruction of the Song family. He then relied on the craftsmanship taught to him by the Song family to establish Shanghai’s Sheng’an Group, becoming Chairman Yao Shengan.

This time, the truth had been revealed, and the sword was now pointed at Yao Shengan!

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After Tao Mu got the recording secretly recorded by Zhang Dafu, he was not in a hurry to deal with Tao Haiguo and his wife who were still jumping around in front of the TV station and various media. In his view, no matter in the previous life or this life, Tao Haiguo and his wife jumping around was just a gun in the hands of others, puppets in the hands of the Yao family. Whatever the Yao family asked them to do, they would do it, have them say whatever and they would say it, which was why Tao Haiguo made such an obvious mistake.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

He got strong evidence, so naturally he must first consider how to snipe the hunter. In order to catch the bandits one must first catch the bandit king, in order to kill the snake one must hit it over the heart. If you can’t find a way to deal with the hunter, but are anxious to attack the gun, it didn’t matter to be laughed at, what did matter was losing a chess piece that could be used against the Yao family. That would be quite regretful.

So the first thing Tao Mu did after getting this recording was to go discuss with his Yao Dad and Xiao Qi Dad——how to find the evidence of the “Sheng’an Group giving him one million to discredit Tao Mu” that Tao Haiguo mentioned.

Liu Yao handed this matter to Da Hui, who had just been discharged from the hospital. After listening to the recording several times, Da Hui instantly sneered: “One million is not a small sum. In order to avoid a weakness falling into the hands of others, Yao Shengan would definitely not choose the method of bank transfer, which means he can only pay in cash. No one would carry such a large amount of cash with them, so Yao Shengan would definitely withdraw money from the bank. With such a large amount, even if the money is to be withdrawn, it cannot be withdrawn immediately. You must greet the bank first. And Yao Shengan will definitely not do this personally. Then the assistants and secretaries he brought to Beijing this time are all under suspicion. I will divide the routes, on the one hand, I will inquire around at the bank, and on the other hand I will find someone to keep a watch on the assistants he brought to Beijing. But the bank part is a bit troublesome, as we don’t know many people there.”

As Da Bui spoke, his gaze secretly glanced at Tao Mu, expressing his meaning.

Tao Mu knew what brother Da Hui wanted to say——ordinary people like them did not have much influence within the banks, and they had no channels to inquire about the privacy of major customers. But the Li family was different. As one of the most affluent families in Beijing, the Li family had deep roots in the capital city, and the influence of their network of contacts was beyond doubt. Moreover, the financial capital created by Li Xiaoheng was the target of all the banks to compete in showing goodwill. If Li Xiaoheng could come forward to help them find out the news, it would definitely get twice the result with half the effort.

Moreover, this kind of effort did not cost money or favors. Li Xiaoheng only needed to make a phone call and say a few words to send Tao Mu this favor. He believed that Li Xiaoheng would not refuse this kind of cost-free method of deepening their relations.

Tao Mu considered the matter with a business mindset and felt that if he was Li Xiaoheng, he would never refuse this kind of easy way to deepen relations. So he immediately dialed a phone call to the newly established legal business partner. Sure enough, after hearing Tao Mu’s request, Li Xiaoheng on the other end of the phone agreed without hesitation.

With the face of Li Xiaoheng, the bank part went particularly smoothly. Li Xiaoheng asked a relative of the Li family who served as the president of a certain bank’s headquarters. Not even half an hour later, Tao Mu received the evidence that Yao Shengan withdrew from his personal account five days ago. From the bank’s surveillance video, it could be clearly seen that Yao Shengan’s most trusted confidant, Bi An, came to withdraw the money.

However, the bank also requested tactfully, hoping that Li Xiaoheng and Tao Mu would not use the bank records and surveillance videos as evidence. After all, banks have the obligation to keep customers’ information confidential. Sheng’an Group was also an important customer, and although its headquarters was far away in Shanghai and had little influence in the capital. However, if the bank arbitrarily revealed the privacy of its big customers to outsiders, other big customers would have doubts about the bank’s secrecy and neutrality.

Tao Mu understood this very well. So he immediately promised that even if he wanted to deal with Yao Shengan, he would never use the bank’s side to do so.

Moreover, through this surveillance video, Tao Mu and his Yao Dad could also determine that the person handling this matter for Yao Shengan was Bi An. And so the following steps were easy to take. Da Hui directly followed Bi An with a few people. After several days, they finally photographed the solid proof that Bi An and Tao Haiguo made contact in private. In addition, they also investigated that Tao Haiguo and his wife had deposited 1 million in their account.

On the other side, in addition to helping Guo Yaning shoot the MV every day, Tao Mu focused on the food-themed online documentary “Life in the City: Food for the People”.

Considering that Song Daozhen had no experience in filming before, Tao Mu thought carefully, and finally rejected the Beijing Film teacher’s suggestion that the students should play guest roles. He was going to make this film into a documentary about small city people. Therefore, it was necessary to ensure authenticity and credibility in the form of shooting, and try to eliminate too much artistic reprocessing. So that when watching the documentary in the future and thinking of the old grudge between the Song family and the Yao family, the emotional rendering was not in place, and viewers subconsciously felt that the crew was just exaggerating.

Tao Mu had prepared so much, and all his moves were aimed at the Sheng’an Group. No matter how dumb the old man Song was, he could see why Tao Mu wanted to do this. Moreover, he was not a dumb man. He hadn’t allowed Tao Mu to inquire about the Song family’s past, because he was worried that Tao Mu was too young and reckless and would lose his temper. At that time, not only would he not be able to avenge the Song family, but he would also anger the Yao family which would then have an impact on his own future.

But now, even if there was no old man like him in the picture, Tao Mu would also face off against the Yao family. Most importantly, Song Daozhen really saw the hope of revenge for the Song family from Tao Mu’s actions. So he was extremely cooperative.

——He had never thought that he would be a leading actor in his life, nor was he a person used to being followed by a cameraman every day. The first thing he did after opening his eyes every day was to wake the cameraman who would then accompany him to the morning market to buy ingredients. Before going to bed at night, he would also use brush and ink to write down the steps of the dish to be made the next day, how to introduce the history of this dish to the audience in front of the camera, and what were the interesting or joyous stories of this dish.

Mr. Song was born in the Republic of China and grew up in China’s most turbulent era. In fact, he was filled with the joys and sorrows of China for nearly a hundred years. Some of these stories were secret legends he heard from his elders when he was a child. At that time, the Song family hadn’t fallen yet. Although the direct descendants of the family did not flourish in numbers, counting the other branches and senior and junior brothers, they were also a big family. Every night, when the family was free, Song Daozhen’s father would sit under the old locust tree with little Song Daozhen in his arms. The moonlight was cool, the locust flower exuded a faint fragrance, and a large group of elders gathered around the old locust tree, sitting on the railing outside the corridor while smoking a pipe as they talked about ancient times.

Some of these stories were personally experienced by the elders of the Song family, and some were anecdotes of famous people in the era. But more were things Song Daozhen had seen with his own eyes during so many years of wandering and lonely life in the city.

Earlier, the Song family was considered to be a culinary family. When the old man Song was young, he was also taught by a scholar who had passed the county level imperial exam from the last years of the Qing Dynasty. So Song Daozhen’s brushwork calligraphy was very good. He even knew how to write in several classical calligraphy styles.

The daylight flowed in, and Mr. Song in a plain cloth tunic, picked up a brush at his desk, and wrote cooking techniques on the gilded rice paper. Such a scene was simply too beautiful, as if there was scholarly ink stain coming out of the lens like this. The warm winter sunlight crept in through the window, climbing the mountains that were the various furniture and objects in the study. Mr. Song wrote the recipe while slowly relaying the story behind it, seeming like the years were quiet and good, or in a manner of idle interest.

It was like a pool of cold water that had experienced turbulent waves, flowing through spring, summer, autumn and winter, flowing through rivers, lakes, and seas, flowing through a dark underground river with strange stalactites, and finally flowing into a quiet well covered with moss, to settle doen still and tranquil.

Tao Mu had followed along the filming several times before he couldn’t stand it anymore. He knew that shooting this program was tantamount to ripping open the scar that the old man Song had been concealing for decades, tearing it fiercely and presenting the softest bloody part for the eyes of others.

He didn’t know if his actions were right or not. Even if his original intention was to enact revenge on the Yao family, and he wanted to tell the world about the nasty things that the Yao family did back then, so that everyone would know how Yao Shengan ungratefully repaid the Song family’s kindness. But if this revenge was based on the pain of old man Song, would there really be any meaning for him to do so?

In the end, it was Mr. Song who dragged Tao Mu for a rank and honest talk.

Song Daozhen personally cooked eight dishes and two pots of wine. The two of them sat in the main room, and when they turned their heads, they could see the old locust tree still growing lushly outside the window.

Mr. Song said that he had never forgotten the old things in his life. He couldn’t sleep every night, and when he dreamt deep in the night, it was of the Song family back then. His father and mother, the son he had never seen, and the prosperous scene of the elders gathering together.

He said that even if there was no Tao Mu’s program, he still couldn’t get past this hurdle in his heart. So he was very grateful to Tao Mu for making such a show, at least giving him a chance to talk about it. Like suppressed magma rolling in a volcano, finally there was a chance to gush out.

After that night, Tao Mu once again visited Teacher Bai An, who was responsible for dubbing the documentary, and Teacher Pu Lincang, who wrote the copywriting for the documentary.

He invited the two to Song Ji, Mr. Song would cook a table of good dishes himself, and accompany it with two pots of warm white wine. While eating and drinking, they could talk about what to do later in the show.

Bai An and Pu Lincang said with emotion that what they have eaten and drank at this meal had a special taste of life. Pu Lincang said that before he came, he had already had a draft in his mind. But after eating this meal, the main reason being that after chatting with Mr. Song during the meal, he now had a different perception.

The so-called “Listening to your words is better than studying ten years.” Bai An echoed these words with emotion. They said that cities were developing faster and faster, and the economy was getting more developed as it got older. Young people had already adapted to the fast-paced lifestyle, and paid attention to efficiency in everything they did. But because of this they had lost the humanistic feelings of the slow and leisurely times back then. Today in Song Ji, in this seemingly old but simple and clean restaurant, they finally felt again the atmosphere of the years back then.

This meal resulted in the two teachers and Mr. Song hitting it off at first sight. In the end, Tao Mu was practically an invisible person. The three of them were happily tasting wine and discussing tea, totally forgetting Tao Mu’s existence.

Bai An even suggested that for this documentary they should not have asked him, a retired host of the National TV station, to narrate, but that old man Song should use his own voice. Such vicissitudes and mellowness, with the simple emphasis of the old Beijing accent, when talking about the joys and sorrows and ups and downs. Only then would there be the sense of recording life and its various feelings.

Pu Lincang knocked the cup with a chopstick and gladly seconded it. The older generation of artists really talked about feelings, and not making money with feelings. Their ideas might not be in line with the general values ​​of businessmen’s interests, but in terms of emotional rendering, they were definitely more qualified than Tao Mu.

The two old artists even offered to help Tao Mu check the script, excluding all the parts that were deliberately sensational and concealed barbs, and let Mr. Song speak in the most simple and straightforward way. When bystanders listened to it, they would have a deeper emotional stirring.

As the old saying goes, onlookers see much more clearly than players. Sometimes, in order for the people in the game to do their best to survive, there was no extra emotion to sigh about life. Only bystanders could taste more meaning from these shocking stories.

Pu Lincang told Tao Mu: The so-called leaving a blank was sometimes better to sublimate the theme. At this time, silence was better than sound, and only when it caused others to keep it in mind contantly, would there be an echo.

If you just shoved everything out, it would instead lose the meaning.

“What’s the biggest regret in life?” Pu Lincang said with emotion, “It’s not wanting something but being unable to get it, it’s being unable to get over something.”

Wanting something but being unable to get it in this life was like the reflection of flowers in the mirror, or the reflection of the moon in the lake surface. A mirage you could only look at from a distance; being unable to get over something, referred to something that should belong to you, but in the end it did not belong to you.

Tao Mu was stunned. Just like in the previous life, when he first met Shen Yu and learned that Shen Yu came from a affluent family and was loved by his parents and family members. Although he envied him, he felt calm because it was something he was unable to get in this life. Later, when he learned that everything about Shen Yu should belong to him, that he had suffered in the other’s place for eighteen years by mistake yet was hated, unaccepted or misunderstood by everyone, and as a result was unable to get over it. He felt like his heart was tormented repeatedly in a frying pan, unable to pick it up or let it go.

Thinking about it this way, being unable to get over something was indeed more heartbreaking than wanting something but being unable to get it.

Tao Mu was inspired by the suggestions of the two old artists. The people of the show crew buried their heads in changing the script, trying to make this food documentary more natural than artificial.

On the other side, after Zhang Dafu returned home, he had yet to hear from Tao Mu despite a long time having passed. Every day, he felt as if his heart and liver were being scratched at, afraid that Tao Mu would break his promises, and that this matter would eventually go up in smoke. Recalling the effort he went to record this recording, and the two bottles of liquor, six bottles of beer and a table of stir-fried vegetables, he felt as if his heart had been dropped into a hot oil pan, and thus fell into a state of being unable to get over it.

After several days of repeated suffering, Zhang Dafu finally couldn’t help it. He took the initiative to find the media and report that Tao Haiguo and his wife had gotten one million people to discredit Tao Mu. He also said that he originally recorded the recording and gave it to Tao Mu——because Tao Mu saved his niece which Zhang Dafu was grateful for, so he wanted to repay Tao Mu. But, Tao Mu didn’t do anything after receiving the recording and Tao Haiguo and his wife still continued to smear Tao Mu during interviews on TV and the media.

Zhang Dafu said that he could not understand how Tao Haiguo and his wife could make black-hearted money without any care for their conscience and hurt someone like Tao Mu. He also said that he understood that Tao Mu was concerned about the image of his adoptive parents, and that he did not want his adoptive parents to be constantly criticized by netizens.

But he couldn’t resist it anymore. He didn’t want to see good-hearted people shed blood and tears (yes, the phrase Tao Mu instructed reporters to comment on the Zhang family was now directly used by Zhang Dafu), nor did he want to see innocent netizens being used as guns by the Tao Haiguo couple. So he stood up and broke the news.

He also told reporters that if they didn’t believe it, they could go to Tao Mu. Tao Mu really had this recording in his hands. If he was lying, then he was not a human being.

Zhang Dafu’s words were full of emotion and righteousness when he spoke. Even Tao Mu, who knew him well, was fooled for a moment. Not to mention the unknowing netizens and reporters.

In Zhang Dafu’s words, Tao Mu seemed to be a holy father white lotus who was clearly hurt but couldn’t bear to let the evil deeds of his adoptive parents be exposed. Therefore, even though he clearly possessed the evidence to prove his innocence he still refused to publish it.

The netizens and reporters were immediately moved. The result was a holy mother heart with compassion for the poor and weak with nowhere to lay it and a kind of anger from being used with nowhere to vent it. Immediately, the Tao Haiguo couple was swept under the waves of stormy curses and accusations, completely forgetting that they had cursed Tao Mu the same way back then.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

On the other side, reporters with interview rights flocked to Guo Yaning’s studio downstairs. When Tao Mu came out of work, they swarmed up to ask Tao Mu why he refused to publish evidence that Tao Haiguo and his wife were instigated to discredit him? Was it true that he was really considering the image of his adoptive parents and didn’t want them to be exposed and cursed by netizens?

Tao Mu, who didn’t know when he became the spokesperson of the holy father, looked at the reporter with a dazed expression: Meow-meow-meow, what are you talking about?

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Although the relationship between the women from the two families had never been very good, the men from the two families, Zhang Dafu and Tao Haiguo, got along surprisingly well.

——This was mainly attributed to Zhang Dafu, although he was full of vices such as drinking and gambling, he was relatively generous with his wallet. When he had money, it was okay for neighbors to come and mooch off a drink or two. And even though Zhang Dafu was a rascal, he knew the truth that “Qin Hui still had three good friends” and never harmed his neighbors. Sometimes, he could even introduce help for someone who had a need for it. Of course, every time he helped, he did not forget to request a fee for his hard work. Not much, just enough for a few meals.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

On the other hand, Tao Haiguo’s behavior and way of acting was not as smart, and the Tao couple was always criticized. There were not many neighbors around who were willing to have any relations with their family. Even the old men who played chess at the entrance of the alley were unwilling to play chess with him, so it was only a rsscal like Zhang Dafu who was willing to drink and chat with him. After a long time, the two of them developed some friendship.

In recent days, the old Tao family seemed to have met a benefactor and was feeling quite vigorous and proud. According to the benefactor’s instructions, Tao Haiguo and his wife broke the news with the media and accepted a TV interview. After all the limelight, they even made a lot of money. Seeing this, there also seemed to be an opportunity to get money from their adopted son. Although the old neighbors around were very particular about this matter, Tao Haiguo and his wife didn’t plan to live in this shabby place for a lifetime. The spit from the other families was not really important to them as real tangible cash.

Though they thought this, having people every day pointing fingers at them whenever they went out was really not a pleasant feeling. Especially when Tao Dabao went to school, his classmates all looked down on him, especially those female classmates who shamelessly praised Tao Mu all the time, and after learning a few words on the Internet, they would run over to Dabao and scold him for being shameless, and even instigated the whole class to ostracize him. Children were thin-skinned and couldn’t handle many things, so when he came back home he would throw a tantrum at his parents. They couldn’t beat or scold him so all day long the house was very noisy. Tao Haiguo also preferred to hide outside and drink.

The two went directly to the small restaurant at the entrance of the alley and ordered four dishes to go with the wine. Zhang Dafu didn’t go straight to the topic, but waited patiently until after the third round of drinking before he inquired, seemingly inadvertently, “Old Tao, I heard my wife say today that you two went on TV?”

Tao Haiguo was almost completely drunk. Besides, what Zhang Dafu asked was no secret——not to mention the entire neighborhood alley, that was, the entire Beijing City probably already knew about this. Tao Haiguo was not very vigilant either, he snickered, and asked: “What, old Zhang, do you want to scold me for being unkind and immoral?”

“As if!” Zhang Dafu shook his head, picked up a chopstick of a cold dish, drank a small cup of wine, and ate a few peanuts, then said: “If I have such a capable adopted son, I would also hold on tight. But I think that you have offended him too much, I’m afraid any nice feelings are long gone. Let me tell you, I also know this Tao Mu. Before, our family’s Hanya was almost abducted in H Town. At that time it was this Tao Mu who helped find and rescue her. To tell the truth, he can be considered a good person, but he is also definitely no saint. His methods are very black. You have offended him in front of the world, so are you really not afraid that he will get back at you?”

“That’s impossible.” Tao Haiguo shook his head drunkenly: “No matter how good he is, can he still be better than a big corporation?”

“Big corporation?” Zhang Dafu’s heart jumped and he asked, “What do you mean?”

Tao Haiguo was slightly more alert and knowing that he had said something he shouldn’t, quickly changed the subject: “Nothing, nothing. Come on, drink.”

Zhang Dafu had a drink with Tao Haiguo. Seeing Tao Haiguo’s vigilant appearance, he knew that there must be something tricky in this whole thing.

And he must get to the bottom of this tricky thing today.

So Zhang Dafu called the waiter and ordered six bottles of beer. With such a mix of white wine and beer, even Tao Haiguo, who had a decent amount of alcohol tolerance, was a bit unable to hold up. After Zhang Dafu’s patient questioning, he finally let loose his tongue.

“Tell you the truth. I didn’t intend to offend this adopted son of mine. After all, it was us who didn’t want him and sent him back to the orphanage. I don’t have the face to ask the child to provide elderly support for us. Besides, the child now has another adopted family. The two dads are said to be gangsters, which is not something I can afford to offend. I am also just working for someone…..promised to give us a million yuan after the thing is finished. My wife said that with this money added to the money we’ll get for selling our old house, we can buy a new apartment. If we’re lucky, and Tao Mu can’t bear the pressure of the netizens and is willing to pay us alimony to avoid any trouble, then that would be even better.”

“…..After all, he’s just an 18-year-old child. No matter how capable, as long as he wants to enter the entertainment industry and become an actor in the future, it is important to consider public opinion…..”

With a “click”, Zhang Dafu pressed the pause button on the recorder, rubbed his hands, and said with a slightly ingratiating expression: “That, Mr. Tao, I know you look down on me and don’t want to have any relations with someone like me. But today, I really didn’t come here to act like a rascal. Just how much do you think this recording is worth?”

Tao Mu stared expressionlessly at Zhang Dafu, who had been standing outside the gate of Beijing Film early in the morning and pestering the gatekeeper to call him. He also had to admire this person’s ability to toady for personal gain.

“I say, Mr. Tao, don’t keep silent!” Zhang Dafu looked at Tao Mu, but he was actually not quite as confident as he appeared. He had experienced Tao Mu’s methods first hand, and to be honest, it was really quite intimidating. However, no matter how intimidated he was inside, people couldn’t just give up money that they had a chance at.

Besides, Zhang Dafu had also paid attention to Tao Mu. Although this person had ruthless methods, he seemed to treat the people around him very well. He hadn’t heard anyone say that he was unkind or immoral. On the contrary, many people say that Tao Mu possessed loyalty and always liked to bring benefits to the people around him. Didn’t he work with Guo Yaning to shoot the MV before and brought in mutual benefits.

That was why Zhang Dafu felt that producing such strong evidence to prove Tao Mu’s innocence at such a critical time could be considered as helping out Tao Mu a lot, and even if he didn’t appreciate it, he wouldn’t do anything to him either.

So he plucked up the courage to meet with Tao Mu, and then pestered Tao Mu for a talk at the coffee shop opposite to Beijing Film. Before Tao Mu could speak, he put the voice recorder on the table and pressed the play button directly.

Sure enough, as soon as Tao Mu heard this recording, he didn’t talk nonsense, and asked directly: “What do you want?”

Zhang Dafu chuckled: “I don’t dare to be too greedy. But Tao Haiguo said, Shanghai’s Sheng’an Group asked him to come forward and break the news on TV, and gave him a full one million in return. So I was thinking about it, Mr. Tao has a big business and is also a big man who wants face. Is your reputation worth a million?”

This appetite was not small at all.

Tao Mu twitched the corner of his mouth into a smile, “Don’t you know that recordings are easy to falsify? How can you guarantee that this recording must be true? Besides, even if I spend a million to buy this recording of yours, your illegally obtained recording cannot be used as legal evidence. Spending a million to buy a recording that can’t do anything, am I’m really that dumb?”

“How could it be useless?” Zhang Dafu was also anxious: “CEO Tao, don’t tease me. We all know that this recording can at least prove that you are innocent. The Tao couple was instructed by someone else to accept the interview slandering you. You can sue them for slander.”

Tao Mu continued to smile silently.

Zhang Dafu gritted his teeth: “Okay. Just say how much money you are willing to pay for this recording. Let me tell you the truth. I take this money and I definitely don’t plan to use it alone. Even if I am not a good human being, I know that a grown man should support the family. This money is also reserved for my son to go to school in the future and to marry a wife. And Hanya’s mother will not let her go to school. It’s a problem that the young girl is always working tiring jobs serving dishes outside. If you are willing to buy this recording, I can also pay for Hanya to go to college. It’s just a few ten thousands for four years. I can afford to use this money for it. It’s really no big deal, I can just ask Hanya to write me an IOU and after Hanya works, the money can be returned to me with interest.”

“Zhang Hanya didn’t go to university?” Tao Mu was taken aback when he heard this.

“Yes, I know!” Zhang Dafu slapped his thigh: “Her mother thinks college spends too much money, so she won’t let her go. She insists on forcing the child to go out to work and make money. I told my sister a long time ago that people now looking for a job depend on academic qualifications. What can a high school graduate do besides serving dishes and washing dishes? It simply doesn’t work. One must go to university to earn more in the future…..”

Tao Mu frowned.

Zhang Dafu peeked at Tao Mu’s expression and said, “Hanya, this girl is righteous and knows that you saved her life which can’t be easily repaid, but Hanya is always thinking about doing something for you. Knowing that the Tao couple went on TV to discredit you, this girl stayed outside the public toilet at the entrance of the alley for half an hour before dawn early in the morning, just to get something out of Yang Shufen’s mouth. Although she didn’t manage to get anything out of her mouth, she still had good intentions.”

Tao Mu listened to Zhang Dafu’s babble: “I ran into Zhang Hanya at a hot pot restaurant before, and she didn’t tell me about this.”

“Too embarrassed to say it.” Zhang Dafu chuckled twice: “I say, Mr. Tao, you are a generous person. Send the Buddha all the way to the west, since you saved Hanya’s life, why not save her again.”

Zhang Dafu reached out and tapped on the voice recorder: “You buy this recording of mine. You can prove your innocence, and I can earn some money. Isn’t this the best of both worlds?”

Tao Mu’s eyes fell on the voice recorder, and he sneered: “Just this thing, yet you have the face to ask me for a million?”

Zhang Dafu smiled ingratiatingly and said: “Then how much do you think it is worth, just give however much you think it’s worth.”

Tao Mu chuckled, and his slender finger tapped the tabletop: “The thing is not worth a million. But my reputation is worth more than one million.”

Zhang Dafu’s eyes lit up.

Tao Mu said with a bad tone: “Don’t think too much. I won’t give you cash. A person like you, I don’t know how many I have met. When you have yet to get the money, your words sound better than singing. If you really get the money, you will be the first to go to the gambling table with all the money. What wife, child, niece, can they still be seen in your eyes?”

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Zhang Dafu’s heart went cold for a while, and he asked in a sheepish tone, “Then, then, what does Mr. Tao mean?”

Tao Mu knocked on the tabletop: “If you can trust me, I will take this voice recorder first. After the matter is dealt with, I will definitely give you a job. If you disagree, please take the voice recorder back.”

Tao Mu made a gesture of invitation: “I will not make it difficult for you.”

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In order to better interpret the role of the adult heroine in the MV, Guo Yaning listened to Tao Mu’s advice and hired a top international model from F country to learn from the other on how to walk with a powerful presence on stage.

As a domestic A-list actress, Guo Yaning would immediately become the focus of everyone’s eyes every time she appeared in public. And because of her “excellent bearing” that allowed her to repeatedly stand out from the crowd, becoming the object of praise from the media and the fashion industry. She was invited to participate in Fashion Week every year, and she was a guest of several major international luxury brands, and even the darling of the fashion industry. Last year she had even achieved the “Big Five” cover grand slam.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

——These were to explain that Guo Yaning had also put in hard work in private in order to refine her aura of a super A-list actress in China. Every year, she spent a lot of money to hire an etiquette teacher to adjust her posture, so that she looked more charming, and walked more gracefully. This was because before meeting Tao Mu, Zhou Fengxuan’s image transformation route for Guo Yaning was the mature, sexy and charming type. This was also the first choice of most actresses in the transition——to charm people with sex appeal. Moreover, the path was simple and the risk was low. One only needed to put on a little thicker makeup and show a bit more of the chest when appearing in public. And the safest choice for a public appearance was of course to walk the red carpet.

Zhou Fengxuan had even decided the specific time for Guo Yaning’s debut——at the premiere of “Faraway Jianghu”. Zhou Fengxuan even had the evening gown that Guo Yaning was going to wear at that time custom-made. A deep red form fitting strapless gown that ended with a long trail and with a front split up to the thigh. It had to be gorgeous, sexy and enchanting.

But now with Tao Mu’s involvement, this image could be passed off——it was beautiful, but it was too clichéd. As Tao Mu said before, although the style that everyone had used was classic, because there were already too many outstanding examples, it did not have the stunning feeling at first glance. If she ran into another little b*tch who was secretly planning to bribe a reporter and stir up a wave of discussion that compared the similar look or something? Zhou Fengxuan was very confident in the looks of her artist, and she didn’t think Guo Yaning would lose to others, but just letting other little sluts stir up discussion and rub off the heat was not in line with Zhou Fengxuan’s view of “maximizing benefits”.

—— Simply put, her point of view was very double standard, that was, I can rub off your popularity, but you are not allowed to do the same back. Especially the little demonesses who were of the same gender as their Guo Yaning.

So after thinking about it, Tao Mu’s queen-like, domineering sister style was better. Even with this one, there have been some people who have had similar images, but their makeup and styling were quite different from Guo Yaning’s. Even if the media insisted on rubbing off on the heat, Zhou Fengxuan was not afraid——after all, the classic actresses who emerged from the golden age of Hong Kong were on average a dozen or twenty years older than Guo Yaning. If they really met with media commentary on similar looks, Zhou Fengxuan still had a lot of room to maneuver.

Adhering to this thinking, Zhou Fengxuan paid more attention to the shooting of this MV. In fact, during the shooting, she even released Guo Yaning’s cover photo for publicity.

Regardless of what stage the entertainment industry had developed to, there was never a shortage of simps who only looked at good looks. Guo Yaning was already a domestic A-list actress with countless fans and most of them love her face. This time Tao Mu’s carefully crafted cover photo for Guo Yaning immediately caused Guo Yaning’s fans to scream, kneel, and simp in short order.

As expected by Guo Yaning and her management team, the fashion industry also quickly noticed Guo Yaning’s new look. The never before seen makeup technique and the powerful presence all contributed to the exquisiteness of the photo that could immediately be put on the cover of the five major fashion magazines.

The entire fashion industry went crazy immediately. Almost at the same time that Guo Yaning’s cover photo for her new album was released, Zhou Fengxuan’s mobile phone was blown up by calls from the editors of major fashion magazines and several internationally renowned luxury brands. Everyone was asking whose work did Guo Yaning’s cover photo belong to, who did the makeup, who matched the styling, and who did the hair…..from head to toe.

After learning that Guo Yaning’s new look was all done by Tao Mu, the founder of FlyNews, Tao Mu’s phone was also blown up with calls.

Fashion magazines invited Tao Mu to do a cover interview, wanting him to talk about his experience in creating a new look; luxury brands wanted to invite Tao Mu to act as a brand ambassador to promote their brand platform.

Zhou Fengxuan struck the iron while it was hot, and after seeking Tao Mu’s consent, she posted a video of the behind the scenes filming on BulletScreen.com, under the name of treat for fans. The netizens followed Guo Yaning’s FlyNews account to Bullet Screen. They watched as Guo Yaning, with her 2.8 meter aura walk in the manner of a queen about to be crowned, instantly shouting with excitement and looking forward to the MV even more. The pre-orders of Guo Yaning’s new album surged by more than 100,000 overnight, all of which were simps who were aiming at Guo Yaning’s new styling.

Tao Mu also kindly gifted a caption that could create hype——

“When you meet such a handsome Queen, just marry.”

So this caption was reprinted by major entertainment media and fashion magazines. In the last month of 2008, the domestic fashion industry was suddenly occupied by a creature called “Queen”. Guo Yaning’s hairstyle, makeup, white dress shirt, black suit pants, and red high heels instantly became the hot style of the year. The sales of major brand stores had all increased by more than 30%. Such a crazy ability to raise sales dumbfounded all brands. Of course, while stunned, they all couldn’t help but laugh in delight.

The endorsement contract with Guo Yaning was expiring soon. The brand that was considering replacing Guo Yaning with another female star made a decision immediately and re-signed with Guo Yaning at a price that was 30% higher than the original contract for another three years. After seeing Guo Yaning’s ability to increase sales, other brands also contacted Guo Yaning’s managing team, wanting to discuss cooperation matters. Several major domestic fashion magazines contacted Zhou Fengxuan one after another, wanting to invite Guo Yaning to take cover photos.

Zhou Fengxuan had long known that Guo Yaning’s new look would cause a sensation in the entertainment and fashion circles. But she didn’t expect the impact this time to be so big. She almost laughed out loud in a crazy manner. Everyday when she looked at Tao Mu it was as if she was seeing a cornucopia.

However, what everyone did not expect was that the most eye-catching thing in the behind the scenes filming was not Guo Yaning, who made the new Queen look hot, but the photographer Tao Mu who fiddled with the camera from time to time opposite her——

The handsomely beautiful face that was flawless and perfect at 360 degrees, the serious eyes that made one’s legs go soft, and the noble ascetic aura. Even if he just wore a simple white T-shirt and jeans, he still shone brilliantly in all his gestures. Tao Mu’s existence simply and perfectly embodied the best spouse selection criteria in the minds of all women——

He was young, rich, talented, and had a perfect personality. He also knew how to take pictures to make girls happy. Of course, the most important thing was that handsome face and fit body. Especially the body proportion with wide shoulders, narrow back, thin waist, perk butt and long legs. Mama, it simply caused all viewers to go soft in the legs!

How can he be so handsome to such a level?

Really envy the Queen, who is standing opposite to Mr. Tao.

Even Wang Boyuan, who appeared as a guest act for the MV, couldn’t help but gratefully say to his agent after seeing the behind the scenes filming footage: “Fortunately, I didn’t appear in the behind the scenes. Otherwise I would have definitely been the most obvious background board of the year. I really sympathize with the actors who will be in the same frame with Tao Mu in the future.”

Wang Boyuan’s agent also agreed with feeling, but he comforted Wang Boyuan: “He’s just handsome. It doesn’t necessarily mean he also has acting skills. His looks are favored in the fashion industry but when it comes to acting in movies and TV shows, many directors will consider that too handsome actors might affect the plot itself…..”

He could no longer continue. Wang Boyuan’s agent also went to the “Faraway Jianghu” crew to visit the set, and naturally knew how good Tao Mu’s acting skills were. Generally, an idol actor’s face was a subtraction when a film director considered casting. But Tao Mu’s acting skills were enough to make his face a bonus point when the director considered casting. Moreover, Tao Mu was not just an actor, he was also the founder of FlyNews.com——

The most frustrating things in this world was that someone who was handsomer than you was younger than you, younger than you but more talented than you, as well as more talented than you and richer than you…..Motherf**ker, Tao Mu ticked all the boxes alone. If all the items were accounted for, how could other people live?

Wang Boyuan’s agent didn’t know at this moment that Tao Mu had also become a business partner of Xiaoheng Capital, and was soon to become a capital boss. But even if he knew…..he likely wouldn’t have any ideas.

When a person was a little better than the people around him, everyone would feel jealous and feel that if they worked hard maybe they would also be just as good. But when a person was superior enough to crush those around him, most people would only look up at him and never feel even a specky of jealousy.

“I think you can contact Tao Mu more. His FlyNews has been very present in the entertainment industry recently. I found that many celebrities have significantly increased their popularity after signing up for FlyNews accounts. The company is already considering whether you should also register a FlyNews account. Although you are a domestic A-list star, you have a personal relationship with Tao Mu. At this time, registering a FlyNews account can be said to help a friend’s platform, and it will not appear like you are lowering your status.”

Wang Boyuan smiled bitterly when he heard the words, and said in his heart that it was already too late. If he was able to register a FlyNews account for Tao Mu when FlyNews.com was just created, or when Tao Mu was discredited for the first time, everyone would believe that he and Tao Mu really had a good relationship——just like Guo Yaning did.

But now, at best, he was just icing on the cake. But the icing on the cake was still good, it was at least better to make an expression than not doing anything at all.

However, Wang Boyuan’s managing company changed their mind the next day because Tao Mu’s adoptive parents actually accepted a TV station’s invitation to film a talk show. On the show, they made various cries of complaint, saying how well they treated Tao Mu when they adopted Tao Mu, and how Tao Mu was jealous of his younger brother and even abused his younger brother and as a result they were forced to send Tao Mu back to the orphanage. But they didn’t expect that after so long, someone would sue them for abandonment. They couldn’t help but come out to clarify the facts, hoping to obtain Tao Mu’s forgiveness.

The general public always liked to sympathize with the weak. Especially a middle-aged couple who seemed to look honest and law-abiding, dressed particularly plainly, and timidly bowed their heads between gestures. At a glance, this middle-aged couple was clearly run down by the hardships of life, no longer with any temper and couldn’t even lift their heads. Many people instantly felt a sense of empathy and substitution.

At this moment, an unidentified voice began to appear on the Internet again, and began to discuss why Tao Mu refused to support his adoptive parents——even if it was only five years, that still counted as having raised him. Moreover, Tao Mu’s adoptive parents personally told the truth about Tao Mu’s abuse of his younger brother when he was five years old. A small group of people agreed that this honest middle-aged couple would never lie on a TV show so there must be such a thing.

Since Tao Mu made a mistake back then, he should apologize to his adoptive parents and his younger brother.

Once such weird remarks appeared, it immediately caused Tao Mu fans’ to crazily diss them.

“I really vomited. From the beginning to the end, the adoptive parents are jumping around making trouble by themselves, okay? Tao Mu has never responded to these rumors. At most, some netizens have discussed whether the actions of this pair of adoptive parents count as a crime of abandonment on the Internet. When did Tao Mu say that he would sue his former adoptive parents for the crime of abandonment?”

“Don’t you think this pair of adoptive parents is really weird? Tao Mu has ignored them the whole time and they are just talking by themselves. They themselves broke the news that they adopted Tao Mu and threw Tao Mu back to the orphanage because they had their own son. And after being denounced by netizens they participated in a TV show, repeating over and over that they want to apologize to Tao Mu and ask Tao Mu to forgive them. But in fact, every word they say is secretly accusing Tao Mu of abusing their son when he was five years old. Does anyone know who their son is? Is he now crippled or mad, and therefore there is such a great hatred for Tao Mu?”

“I think this ordinary couple is also quite capable. It seems like just anyone who breaks the news can cause a sensation on the whole Internet. They can just get on a TV station to clarify themselves. Has it always been so easy to get on TV? Why don’t I know?”

“I know this couple. Their son Tao Dabao is a classmate of my brother. His academics are particularly poor and his character is not good either. My brother said that Tao Dabao’s parents were called by the teacher for stealing money from his classmates. His mother was rolling on the ground and refusing to admit to it in the teacher’s office…..they are certainly not as honest as they appear on TV.”

“Upstairs+1. This couple is an old neighbor of my grandmother’s which is in the XX Hutong in Xicheng District, Beijing, and the woman is a famous shrew in the neighborhood. And the fact that they abused their adopted son when they had their own son is known by all the neighbors. I think there must be a problem with this. Could it be someone who doesn’t like to see Tao Mu doing so well, so deliberately found someone to pour dirty water on him?”

“When upstairs said this, I suddenly felt that this routine is a bit familiar.”

“Familiar +1”

“Familiar +2”

In the old Zhang’s house in Xicheng District, Beijing, Zhang Hanya’s aunt was watching TV while eating melon seeds. When she suddenly saw the show on the old Tao couple next door, she was stunned: “Hey, come and watch. The old Tao couple are on TV…..”

The neighbors in the entire courtyard were all howled over by Aunt Zhang. Seeing the old Tao couple crying and wiping tears on TV, Aunt Zhang sneered: “This acting is quite good, and she has even caught up with the heroine of a tragedy drama I’ve been watching. If she can act so well, why not go into acting!”

“How sinful!” Some old neighbors living in the courtyard vaguely remembered that the old Tao couple adopted a child more than ten years ago: “A pure and innocent child had been ruined by them. It was such a heavy rain, yet they left him at the entrance of the orphanage, and now they even have the face to say such things on TV.”

“It’s because they saw that the child is now rich, so they want to recognize him again, right?”

“How can anyone recognize a son like this? How is this even recognizing a son, more like recognizing an enemy, right?”

“Grandma, don’t you know? It’s said on the Internet that this is called moral coercion. They must use public opinion to persecute Tao Mu and to force Tao Mu to support them. It’s truly shameless.”

“Tao Mu?” Aunt Zhang’s ears twitched, she was particularly sensitive to the name: “Is it the Tao Mu who founded FlyNews? Wasn’t the child adopted by the old Tao family named Xiao Bao? How could it be Tao Mu?”

“Xiao Bao is the child’s nickname. Normally, no one calls it.” Someone remembered what happened back then, and explained: “It must be said that the old Tao family has truly done a crime. You say, if they had treated the child well back then, then they would already be enjoying blessings. Now great, using such means to force the child. Even if the child took out money the heart will definitely not be happy.”

Aunt Zhang thought of Tao Mu’s ruthlessness, and immediately laughed with gloating amusement, “They are all bad apples.”

She continued: “The old Tao family may want to use public opinion to force Tao Mu to pay money to them, but they have made a wrong calculation. This kid is dark and ruthless, who knows how many bad tricks he has up his sleeves. He definitely won’t let this couple have any good days left.”

The group of old neighbors looked at Aunt Zhang questioningly: “You know Tao Mu?”

Someone recalled what happened to the old Zhang family when the media broke the news of how they made a scene at the hospital, and they suddenly said, “Oh, he is the life-saver of your family’s Hanya, right? He is also a good boy. How could it be like you said. The more good a person is, the more soft-hearted they are. The way I see it, it’s not likely.”

Only Zhang Hanya was sitting in the corner of the living room with her head down, silently making her calculations.

* * * * * *

Early in the morning of the next day, the sky was not even bright yet, but a whole busy day of noise had already begun in this old alley extending in all directions in Xicheng District of Beijing.

Those who came out to go to the toilet to pour urinal bottles, those who wore cotton-padded jackets to go out to buy soy milk fritters, and those who rode bicycles to work nearby, bells ringing accompanied by all kinds of trailing yells.

“Hey, move out of the way.”

“Out of the way, let me go ahead first, I’m in a hurry to go to work!”

“Hey, have you eaten?”

Zhang Hanya stood by the public toilet at the entrance of the alley and waited for nearly half an hour. Finally she ran into Tao Haiguo’s wife, who was walking over while still adjusting her waistband.

Zhang Hanya’s eyes lit up. Her cold cheeks flushed with redness and white mist came from her mouth when she spoke. She pretended to greet casually, “Aunt Yang, have you also come to the toilet too?”

Yang Shufen looked at Zhang Hanya who was standing at the door of the toilet in surprise. What happened to the old Zhang family’s daughter today? Normally so silent but actually taking the initiative to greet people today.

What a novelty.

“Isn’t this nonsense? I’m at the door of the toilet. If I’m not going to the toilet, then did I just come here to smell it?” Yang Shufen snorted. She did not like the old Zhang family. Especially Zhang Hanya’s aunts, they would bicker as soon as they saw each other.

Often, neighbors and neighbors accumulate much resentment and as a result, Yang Shufen did not have a good expression when seeing Zhang Hanya.

Zhang Hanya didn’t care too much, and she asked, “Aunt Yang, I heard people say that your family is now rich and that you plan to not live here anymore and instead buy a high-end apartment. Is that right?”

A look of vigilance flashed across Yang Shufen’s face: “Who did you hear that from? What nonsense. Who doesn’t know the situation of our family? And even buying a high-end apartment, in your dreams maybe.”

After finishing talking, Yang Shufen ignored Zhang Hanya, and quickly went into the toilet so that she could do her business and leave. The hurried look, it was as if there was a dog chasing behind her.

Zhang Hanya had been standing in the freezing cold next to the toilet for quite a while, and still did not manage to get a clear word. So she also rushed home shivering. As soon as she entered the house, she was scolded by her aunt: “…..it took you more than half an hour to go to the toilet, and even breakfast is not made. A big girl yet you don’t know how to do any work at all, and only know how to be lazy. Why didn’t you just freeze to death outside.”

Zhang Dafu frowned: “Enough. What are you yelling so early in the morning? How can people not get constipation once in a while. Are you saying you don’t get constipation at all?”

“Oh! You are quite considerate of your niece. What’s the matter, still wondering if she can marry big money so that as the uncle you will also be able to ascend to the sky? Bah, just this unlucky star, it’s already a good thing if she doesn’t drag our whole family to death…..”

Suddenly she said: “By the way, isn’t Tao Mu your savior? He has started his own company now, and is also considered a big boss. Why don’t you try to fawn over him, maybe Tao Mu will have pity on you and be willing to give you a lighter job. It’s better than you serving dishes in the hot pot restaurant right now, right?”

Zhang Hanya’s mother’s eyes lit up and she said immediately, “Your aunt is right. You go to Tao Mu. Maybe he’ll see you as pitiful and be willing to help you.”

Compared with Aunt Zhang, Zhang Hanya’s mother had more ideas. She felt that her daughter was quite decent looking, and also had an affinity with Tao Mu. Take a bit more initiative, maybe she could even become Tao Mu’s girlfriend. By then, their family would have struck it rich as well.

Zhang Hanya ignored her mother and turned a deaf ear to her aunt’s ridicule. Frowning, she asked: “Auntie, didn’t you say that Aunt Yang’s family is rich yesterday? I ran into Aunt Yang outside the toilet today, and she said there was nothing like that.”

“How could it be? I heard it with my own ears. The night before, when I went to visit old Zhao’s house, Tao Dabao was throwing a tantrum next door. When I came out, I eavesdropped outside their window. She absolutely said it with her own mouth.” Zhang Hanya’s aunt was not at all ashamed of such eavesdropping behavior, yelling it out loudly.

Zhang Hanya stopped talking. Zhang Dafu looked at Zhang Hanya’s thoughtful appearance and couldn’t help asking: “What’s the matter? You never inquired about these things before, so why do you suddenly care about that family?”

“No, I just asked casually.” Everyone knows about Tao Mu’s matter on the Internet now. However, the members of the Zhang family were generally older and didn’t use the Internet very much. Besides, the name Tao Mu was a taboo in the Zhang family, and no one could mention it. Zhang Hanya didn’t dare to mention it either and just randomly excused herself.

Aunt Zhang snorted coldly: “You only know to stay in the gambling house all day, and you don’t even know that such a big thing has happened…..”

With that said, Aunt Zhang retold how the Tao family complained about Tao Mu on TV. “The old Tao family can be regarded as having the good fortune to be able to have such an adopted son. It is estimated that this time, they should be able to take a bite of meat from Tao Mu’s body.”

After a pause, she said bitterly: “Served him right!”

Compared with his wife’s complaint, Zhang Dafu’s thinking was different. They were all neighbors so Zhang Dafu naturally knew what kind of people the old Tao family were like. They absolutely did not have the capability of being interviewed on TV.

Thinking of what his wife said before, the Tao family was going to make a fortune. Zhang Dafu’s eyes flickered slightly. In his heart he thought, the fortune was definitely not referring to the sum they would try to take from Tao Mu.

Zhang Dafu knew the character of Tao Mu better than anyone else. The old Tao family wanted to use public opinion to persecute Tao Mu, but it was likely that they would not only fail but also be worse off, and the accusers would instead be accused of abandonment crime. However, the old Tao family firmly believed that they would be able to make a fortune.

This matter had happened so many years ago. But now the old Tao couple suddenly brought up such old things at this time. So there was a high chance that they took someone’s bribe money.

Zhang Dafu suddenly stood up, rushed into his son’s room, and started rummaging through the cabinets. Aunt Zhang yelled angrily: “Why are you not eating, what are you searching for now? I told you that there is no money at home, so don’t search for it.”

“I don’t want money!” Zhang Dafu asked Aunt Zhang, “Where is our son’s sound recorder?”

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Aunt Zhang asked: “What do you want that thing for?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Zhang Dafu said impatiently: “Anyway, you have to find it for me, I have use for it.”

That night, Zhang Dafu wore a large coat, sewed a pocket sound recorder inside, and went to invite Tao Haiguo for a drink.

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The dumpling party in the end temporarily turned into a barbecue party due to a serious lack of ingredients. The large group of people moved to the courtyard house of Mr. Song, eating, drinking, and playing mahjong until the next morning. When everyone couldn’t remain awake anymore, and with their brains spinning, they all stumbled into the side rooms on both the east and west part of the courtyard residence, and fell asleep.

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Tao Mu was not so lucky. After randomly washing up in the yard, he had to go to work at Guo Yaning’s studio.

Li Xiaoheng wanted to send him there and then go home to rest. Speaking of strangeness, Li Xiaoheng stayed with them until dawn as well. He didn’t know how to play mahjong, so he sat next to Tao Mu and looked at the international futures market with his tablet. Sometimes he would also make a few phone calls.

Tao Mu felt embarrassed and was also afraid of delaying Li Xiaoheng’s work, so he persuaded Li Xiaoheng to go back first. Li Xiaoheng smiled and said, “Playing mahjong looks like fun. Would you like to teach me?”

Tao Mu immediately gave up his position and let Li Xiaoheng on the court while he taught on the spot next to him.

Li Xiaoheng sat over with great interest. Before playing, he handed over his mobile phone to Tao Mu for safekeeping: “William may call. He is the manager of the investment department of Xiaoheng Capital, and he admires you very much. When he calls again later, you can help pick it up for me.”

Tao Mu hesitated a little. He felt that answering the phone for someone seemed a bit too intimate. But on second thought, he was both a business partner of Li Xiaoheng and the chief analyst appointed by Li Xiaoheng. Moreover, in regards to shorting international oil, he also followed from the beginning, so helping Li Xiaoheng answer a few calls didn’t seem like much. It was not like Li Xiaoheng could play mahjong while on the phone, that would neither let him concentrate on work nor have fun.

Moreover, Li Xiaoheng handing over the phone to him for safekeeping was also a sign of trust and closeness. If he refused him in front of everyone, it also didn’t seem very good.

Tao Mu had many worries, and it was cumbersome to talk about it all, but in fact, the thoughts appeared in a flash, and he immediately made a decision: “Alright.”

Tao Mu took the phone and put it aside, explaining the game rules in detail to Li Xiaoheng. In fact, Li Xiaoheng watched Tao Mu play mahjong next to him, and after a few rounds, he had already touched upon the rules. The other three players knew that Li Xiaoheng was a novice, and they all wanted to defeat him. But, Li Xiaoheng was too good at counting the tiles, winning against everyone within two rounds.

Qin Miaoru wrinkled a bitter face: “No wonder everyone says that novices are lucky players, they really make people want to cry and call for their mothers. I say, handsome guy, please be accommodating, if you keep winning like this, I won’t even be able to keep my panties.”

Du Kang also shook his head and sighed, “I have lost all my food expenses for the week.”

On another mahjong table, Wen Bao, who was playing with the old man and dean Tao, couldn’t help but say: “I say, Xiao Kangzi, don’t be embarrassing, alright? At most there is 20-30 yuan to be lost or won in total. Can this even cover a week of food expenses?”

Du Kang said shamelessly: “This is called artistic exaggeration. Do you understand art? This buddy has won from the moment he played. I tell you, this is no longer a problem of losing money. It is because this game has become very unsatisfactory. You know?”

He then asked Tao Mu: “Where did you find such a capable buddy? He’s practically like the king of gambling. I think if Hong Kong will shoot another God of Gambling movie in the future, they should just find this buddy directly to be the protagonist.”

He was handsome and had bearing, and his head was also really smart. Sitting there, the presence was very strong indeed. That posture was not the posture of playing a mahjong game worth a few yuan. He looked more like he was participating in a gamble of hundreds of millions of international capital. It made people feel timid just looking at him——

To some extent, Du Kang had also hit upon the truth.

Qin Miaoru said very straightforwardly: “I’m not exaggerating. I bought my underpants in the Zoo Wholesale City, three for ten yuan. You guys calculate it, just how many underpants did I lose during this short time?”

“A perfectly good girl, why can’t you talk more decently?” The old-fashioned old man Song couldn’t stand it: “Girls should be gentle and reserved, don’t say whatever without a care. Be careful you can’t find someone to marry in the future.”

Qin Miaoru chuckled, thinking in her heart that she didn’t want to get married at all. Once she struck it rich, she would find a younger wolfdog with a handsome body and six-pack abs for the rest of her life. When that happens, she will replace one each year, keeping it new and fresh every year.

Of course, she did not dare to say this in front of Mr. Song, so she randomly threw a tile out: “Twenty thousand.”

“Missed!” Long Tianao, who hadn’t said anything and had his head down and glaring at the thirteen tiles in front of his eyes, victoriously pushed his tiles and opened both his hands at everyone: “Money, give money.”

“No way?” Qin Miaoru looked at Long Tianao’s tiles with a face of one on the verge of mental collapse: “I fired the cannon again.”

“You are the March 8th Red Flag gunner today.” Long Tianao said with a laugh: “Shooting wherever it is aimed, professional skills particularly excellent.”

“Piss off!” Qin Miaoru sadly dug in her pocket for spare change: “The three of you at the poker table are all men, and I’m the only woman. You don’t know to take it easy on me? Do you guys even have a bit of gentlemanly manners?”

“As if, there are no fathers and sons in the casino.” Long Tianao rolled his sleeves up his arms, acting very arrogant: “Hurry up and hand over the money.”

Qin Miaoru harrumphed and gave the money, completely losing all her spare change. Sitting on the sidelines watching the battle, Gou Rixin quickly took out two coins from his pocket. Qin Miaoru was so happy she patted Gou Rixin’s shoulder continuously: “Thank you, bro.”

The several people continued to play. During the period, Qin Miaoru scooched over to Li Xiaoheng: “Handsome guy, I know some physiognomy, you have a broad head and extraordinary bearing, and you are not an ordinary person with just a glance. Wanna think about firing the cannon for me to help out this weak and pitiful little girl?”

Li Xiaoheng hadn’t even spoken yet, when Da Mao, Xiao Pang and Feng Yuan, who hadn’t managed to a snatch a mahjong place and could only sit on the sidelines to play the Fight the Landlord card game, couldn’t help but expose: “Sister Qin, you ate forty-six dumplings at night.”

“And the username of your FlyNews is Charging Forward With A Big Knife On The Shoulders.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“Piss off!” Qin Miaoru rolled her eyes, feeling that these guys really deserve to be single dogs, they didn’t know how to treat a lady at all. Look at brother Yao——pei, he now had to be called uncle Yao, just how considerate he was! Sitting at Meng Qi’s side and occasionally feeding tiles to him and even offering some cannons. This one-stop service made uncle Meng so happy, one could imagine just how happy he would be once they went home.

Li Xiaoheng smiled but said nothing, feeling that Tao Mu’s friends were especially fun. If Tao Mu was always with these people, he could finally be relieved.

This all-night mahjong battle lasted until 5 o’clock the next morning. Those with no work or class, went back to the house to sleep quickly. But Tao Mu had to rush to Guo Yaning’s studio during rush hours.

Li Xiaoheng also stayed up all night. Worrying that something might happen due to fatigue driving, he specifically called the driver and asked him to come over and drive instead. On the road, he said in a particularly considerate manner: “It is estimated that it will take two hours to arrive with the traffic jam. You can rest for a while, and I will wake you when we arrive.”

Tao Mu nodded and lay down on the back seat, taking off his coat and curling it up as a pillow. He closed his eyes and fell asleep very quickly.

Li Xiaoheng took off his wool coat and put it over Tao Mu.

The driver of the Li family secretly peeked at their eldest young master with his eyes, shocked secretly from the bottom of his heart——their eldest young master rarely showed such a gentle and considerate side. It seemed that the young man sitting at the back must be a particularly important business partner for the young master. It was estimated that at least tens of billions could be earned for the young master, and it must be of M gold.

Of course, Li Xiaoheng didn’t know that his driver was slandering him in his heart. He didn’t sleep all night and felt a little tired. He sat in the position of the passenger seat but did not close his eyes to rest. Instead, he took the time to watch the international futures market and continued to collect the last wave of information of the day before the market closed.

Tao Mu, who had been sleeping for more than two hours, recovered most of his energy when the car arrived downstairs at Guo Yaning’s studio. The price was that his face became a little swollen, a red sleep print showed up on the right cheek, and his hair had become particularly messy.

Prepared for this, Tao Mu took out the peaked cap and put it on his head, then rubbed his face severely, trying to rub the mark off, before opening the door and getting out of the car.

Li Xiaoheng rolled down the car window and said with a smile, “I will come to pick you up at night?”

Tao Mu shook his head: “It is likely that Yao Dad and Xiao Qi Dad will come to pick me up at night.”

Li Xiaoheng said: “Your Yao Dad and Xiao Qi Dad didn’t sleep last night, so let them rest. I will ask Lao Zhang to pick you up at night.”

Tao Mu thought for a while, and felt that his Yao Dad and Xiao Qi Dadi hadn’t slept well for two consecutive days and two nights, so they should take a good rest.

“Well then, I must trouble you.”

Li Xiaoheng suddenly smiled and said, “It’s no trouble at all.”

After a pause, he said: “I will call you tonight. Let’s have dinner first, and then I’ll take you home.”

“Just head back to school directly.” Tao Mu said, “I have class tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Li Xiaoheng hooked up the corners of his mouth, and the facial contours that had always been cold and deep became a little softer.

Tao Mu bid farewell to Li Xiaoheng, went straight into the office building, and then up to Guo Yaning’s studio.

Guo Yaning was already waiting in the dressing room next to the studio. She was also excited the whole last night and didn’t sleep much as well. After midnight, she reluctantly removed the makeup and washed up. The next morning, she opened her eyes and crawled over to the studio, waiting for Tao Mu to continue to give her a beautiful domineering older sister look.

But, Tao Mu did not apply the domineering older sister makeup, but a South Korean style nude makeup——because part of Guo Yaning’s MV was reminiscing the youthful years and pure love with her first love boyfriend in high school.

Tao Mu felt that compared with other makeup looks which appeared a bit heavy, nude makeup was better to show off the pure side of girls. Moreover, with nude makeup and a dozen of soft light filters placed at that time, Tao Mu was confident that he could shoot Guo Yaning to look better than an eighteen-year-old girl.

But when he explained the concept of nude makeup to Guo Yaning, everyone misunderstood. Guo Yaning’s agent, Ms. Zhou Fengxuan, said in a faltering manner: “…..Well, although our Ya Ning has also gone the sexy route before, but I think it’s not appropriate to take nude shots for our MV today? Isn’t the scale a bit too big?”

Tao Mu was dumbfounded when he heard this, and it took a long while to react: “Nude makeup is not makeup painted while naked, but the makeup looks like one has put on any makeup——”

What big scale, Tao Mu was speechless.

“Oh, oh, oh,” Zhou Fengxuan and the others also reacted and immediately expressed their understanding. However, they slandered Tao Mu’s naming style as too dirty: “You can’t blame us. You say, why call your newly invented makeup such a name. Can’t blame us for thinking too much, right?”

Was this name something I came up?

In Tao Mu’s heart, there were almost 10,000 grass mud horses whizzing past, and he didn’t even have the strength to complain: “…..It is said that the lewd sees lewdness and the wise sees wisdom, you all are obviously the dirty one who sees dirtiness, okay. What does it have to do with my makeup? Besides, isn’t the name of the makeup quite appropriate. It’s all your own random thoughts…..”

Tao Mu defended himself while putting makeup on Guo Yaning. After the makeup look came out, it naturally caused another round of gasps of amazement in the studio.

During the shooting, Tao Mu asked the lighting techs to apply various soft filters together, so the overall effect was as one could imagine. It was simply beautiful, aesthetic, and fresh.

Guo Yaning and Zhou Fengxuan were immediately impressed: “No wonder netizens praise Tao Mu for being the friend of women. This makeup technique, this shooting technique, there is no one else. If you don’t enter the fashion industry, it will be a waste.”

Tao Mu wondered in his heart, when have I gained the title of “Friend of Women”, how come I don’t know. But he didn’t mind about Guo Yaning and Zhou Fengxuan’s teasing. In the afternoon, they went to a school campus for live shooting. Guo Yaning originally wanted to persuade Tao Mu to take the male lead role, but Tao Mu refused on the grounds of “concentrating on being a photographer and not being distracted.”

Guo Yaning was a bit regretful, but she was also very grateful: “If you don’t want to, then it’s fine. Say, if your beautiful face appeared with me, wouldn’t it just turn me into a wallflower. Originally, I’m just an old cucumber painted with new green paint, pretending to be tender here.”

The most important thing was that Tao Mu’s shooting skills were too expert, and he liked to use various filters and soft light when shooting, which other photographers did not. Guo Yaning was also worried that Tao Mu’s distraction would cause the quality of the MV to drop. So according to the original plan, Wang Boyuan was invited to come as a guest actor.

——The “Faraway Jianghu” starring the two of them had been set for the Lunar New Year. Valentine’s Day also coincided with the release period of “Faraway Jianghu”. Guo Yaning invited Wang Boyuan to appear in the MV pit of friendship, and of course, in order to stir up a wave of enthusiasm.

Wang Boyuan also intended to compete for this year’s best screen couple award, and he was naturally willing to cooperate. Besides, Guo Yaning was also a super A-list actress in China, with very high popularity and presence on the Internet. It was also a benefit for Wang Boyuan himself to be CPs at work with such a female star.

It was just that after seeing Tao Mu, the photographer, Wang Boyuan was a little embarrassed.

In fact, Wang Boyuan was the first to hand over an olive branch to Tao Mu in the crew of “Faraway Jianghu”. It was a pity that Tao Mu was discredited twice before, but out of cautious consideration, Wang Boyuan’s management team did not agree with Wang Boyuan standing out and speaking for Tao Mu when the incident was still unclear. Every time the dust settled, Wang Boyuan would come forward to explain. After several times of this, the relationship between the two became a bit estranged. On the contrary, it was not even as close as the relationship between Guo Yaning and Tao Mu, who had ignored Tao Mu at the beginning in the crew.

If Tao Mu were to comment, Wang Boyuan’s vision and personality might be more steady than Guo Yaning, but he was bound by his managing team and was always too cautious and indecisive when he did things. Safe was safe, but sometimes it was inevitable that opportunities would be missed. Unlike Guo Yaning, even her attitude was not as friendly at the beginning, so long as she made up her mind to befriend someone, she would have no hesitation and fiercely pursue it, making others feel embarrassed if they didn’t accept it. Moreover, Guo Yaning ran her own studio, so she didn’t have to worry about the company’s thinking. Coupled with the full support of her agent, Zhou Fengxuan, it was natural she did things more decisively than Wang Boyuan.

Wang Boyuan was to be a guest male protagonist for Guo Yaning’s MV. He also had two makeup looks. One was the white-collar elite style at the beginning, and the other was the same 18-year-old student makeup as Guo Yaning.

As a domestic superstar, Wang Boyuan naturally had his own team of makeup artists. But in order to unify the style of the MV, Tao Mu must do it personally for him as well. At first, Wang Boyuan’s makeup team was a little unhappy, but after seeing the South Korean style little fresh meat makeup carefully painted by Tao Mu for Wang Boyuan, directly reducing the 30-year-old Wang Boyuan to a 20-year-old exquisite and fashionable young man. Coupled with a dozen of soft light filters, there was absolutely no problem in pretending to be an eighteen-year-old school hunk.

Wang Boyuan’s makeup team no longer said anything.

In a hurry, Tao Mu first took a set of 18-year-old  Wang Boyuan and Guo Yaning stills, and then immediately pulled the shooting team to the school that had been scheduled to shoot the memory part.

Sitting in the classroom and reading, running in the corridor, and strolling on the campus grounds where the snow piled up.

Snowflakes fluttered down one after another, and the two of them walked out a heart shaped path on the empty snow covered campus grounds, making snowmen and playing snowball fights in the heavy snow. It was simply too artistically beautiful.

——After the filming was finished in one afternoon, everyone was frozen stiff.

In the evening, Guo Yaning paid to treat everyone in the working group to hot pot nearby. During the period, Guo Yaning held the camera without letting go, and kept complimenting Tao Mu’s photography skills: “It’s so beautiful. Tao Mu, you are really amazing. Wow. You are so handsome and so rich at such a young age. And you even know how to take amazing pictures and videos. How can you let other male actors in the entertainment industry live.”

Wang *other male actor* Boyuan touched his nose: “Ya Ning is right. When Tao Mu enters the entertainment circle, it is estimated that all female artists will want to have you be their boyfriend.”

While talking, the waitress opened the door and came in to serve the food. Tao Mu casually glanced in the direction of the waitress, and was stunned: “Zhang Hanya?”

Zhang Hanya was also stunned: “Tao, Tao Mu?” Guo Yaning rented the filming location in Xicheng District. Beijing Film was in Dongcheng District. Zhang Hanya didn’t expect Tao Mu to come here for dinner. And with big stars like Guo Yaning and Wang Boyuan.

Tao Mu introduced to the others: “This is a friend of mine.”

He then asked Zhang Hanya again: “Are you using the weekend for part time jobs while studying?”

Zhang Hanya hesitated for a moment and then nodded. She glanced at Tao Mu, and said nothing in the end, putting down the dishes and going out.

Tao Mu thought for a while, and followed out: “How are you doing?”

“I’m okay.” Zhang Hanya responded in a low voice. She was actually very grateful to Tao Mu. If it weren’t for Tao Mu, she might have been ruined in this life. But when Tao Mu was discredited, she did not stand up to speak for Tao Mu.

She was not as courageous as Yun Duo and Wu Xiaoxuan, who were not afraid of anything. She was really afraid that people around her would viciously speculate on her after they knew what happened to her. Moreover, her family always cursed Tao Mu for being vicious, so that every time they went out, they had to be pointed at and talked about by their old neighbors. Her aunts even complained to her, saying that if it were not for her, they would not have provoked Tao Mu. Now great, since their bosses saw the news, they refused to hire them as babysitters. She was an unlucky star and it was all her fault.

Her uncle didn’t mind, he was originally a man who had a long list of vices and was usually scolded by others, so he had become accustomed to it. He even advised her to look more openly. In fact, Zhang Hanya felt that she was quite open minded. She had even lived through such a dangerous situation, so what else couldn’t she face in the future?

No matter how bad things were, they would not be as bad as being trafficked and sold into the mountains. Even if her mother refused to pay for college, she could still work on her own and wait until she saved up her tuition fees before applying to night college classes.

That night, Zhang Hanya returned home with exhaustion. Her aunt and uncle were quarreling again. Her aunt complained that her uncle knew nothing but gambling and drinking all day long, and that a grown man like him couldn’t even support his family. Uncle said indifferently that which family was not the same. The people living nearby were all poor people, and their pockets were cleaner than their faces. And it was only this run down house worth a few yuan.

“I didn’t bring money back home. But I didn’t let you and our son sleep on the streets, did I? You were a migrant worker girl who married me and got a Beijing household registration. You now live in such a large courtyard within the Third Ring Road. You should just be content. Look at the little friends you used to work with. Who has your treatment? Either they returned to their hometowns, or they are renting a house with their husband outside the Fifth Ring Road despite their advanced ages. This is Beijing, you know.”

“Pei, you only know to compare with those migrant workers. Why don’t you compare with your neighbors? What man doesn’t bring money home on a monthly basis? Just speaking of that old Tao in the courtyard house next door, he has even become rich.”

“Who did you hear that from?” Zhang Dafu sneered, “It’s not that I look down on old Tao. Tao Haiguo, who can’t even make a fart despite three hits from a stick, can only bring 2,000 yuan a month back home. Him getting rich, are you dreaming?”

“What dreaming? I heard it with my own ears. Didn’t Tao Dabao always quarrel with his mother and complain that their family is poor and that his classmates laugh at him. His mother said it personally, saying that their family would be rich soon. That they will move into a big house, a high-end apartment building within the Third Ring Road. That they won’t be staying here anymore and after a while, they will sell their house to collect enough money for a down payment.”

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“Impossible.” Zhang Dafu stood up suddenly: “Where did their family get so much money? And even buying a new apartment? Do you know how expensive Beijing’s house prices are?”

“How do I know.” Zhang Dafu’s wife gave him an eye roll, turned her head to see Zhang Hanya who was standing in the room in a daze, and she immediately cursed: “You damn girl, what are you doing just standing there? Go to bed already or are you not going to work tomorrow morning?”

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Guo Yaning’s studio was too far from the Houhai Orphanage, and Tao Mu did not have a car. So Li Xiaoheng had to drive to pick up Tao Mu first, and the two would go back together.

During the period, Tao Mu also called his Xiao Qi Dad, apologizing for forgetting the promised dinner when he was busy with work. By the way, he also brought a friend back to dinner. Because it involved Li Xiaoheng, Tao Mu put the phone on speaker.

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The reason why dean Tao suggested that everyone go back to the orphanage to eat dumplings was to comfort Xiao Tao Mu. Everyone around Tao Mu knew of Tao Mu’s habit of forgetting to sleep and eat as soon as he started to work. If it was in normal times, they would definitely call to remind Tao Mu. But today’s situation was different. If Tao Mu could forget the bad news on the Internet because of his focus on work, it would be a good thing for everyone.

However, this kind of habit of forgetting to eat when working must be criticized.

Li Xiaoheng drove on the side. It was already eight o’clock in the evening, and they had missed the evening rush hour, so the vehicles were speeding on the streets. While driving, Li Xiaoheng secretly glanced at Tao Mu from the corner of his eye. The dazzling neon lights converged into flickering light spots, and the brilliant nightlife was reflected on Tao Mu’s face, making his outline appear more gentle and deep.

“Is dean Tao the dean of the orphanage where you stayed?” Li Xiaoheng never avoided sensitive topics when talking to Tao Mu, not because he didn’t care about Tao Mu’s mood. On the contrary, it was because he cared very much, so he was always blunt.

“I feel this dean Tao soumds like a very amiable person.”

Tao Mu smiled and said, “En. The children in our orphanage like to call her Grandma Tao.”

“I heard about what happened on the Internet.” Li Xiaoheng steered the steering wheel, turned right along the lane, and after turning the corner, he continued, “You must be very unhappy.”

Tao Mu didn’t say a word. He didn’t know what to say.

“When you are not happy, think about happy things. I have a gift for you.” Li Xiaohang suddenly changed the subject, and signaled Tao Mu to pick up the two contracts he had the lawyer prepared for a long time: “Although I say it is a gift, actually it is a reward you deserve. Just don’t blame me for presenting the Buddha with borrowed flowers.” (TN: idiom meaning to win favor or influence using someone else’s property)

What did he mean?

Tao Mu opened the folder suspiciously, then his gaze paused——it turned out to be the contract for Tao Mu becoming a business partner of Xiaoheng Capital. It clearly stated that after Tao Mu became a partner of Xiaoheng Capital, he would get 5% of the shares, belonging to technology shares.

“This is too much.” Tao Mu frowned. He didn’t finish looking through the contract and handed it back directly: “Brother Li, you don’t need to do this.”

“I think it is very necessary.” Because of the chat, Li Xiaoheng slowed down the speed of driving slightly and said: “Before you refuse, you should think about how much money you have made for Xiaoheng Capital in the international futures market in the past six months. There is an attachment in the contract. The table records the return on earnings of Xiaoheng Capital in the third and fourth quarters. We shorted oil in July and at that time, the price of oil was about 148M yuan per barrel. By now, the price of oil has fallen below 40M gold. In other words, your joining has allowed Xiaoheng Capital to increase its assets by dozens of times in just six months. Now the entire Wall Street is looking for you, the chief analyst. Don’t you think I should act first and directly recruit you over to my side, a short-selling genius, and firmly tie you to Xiaoheng Capital?”

Tao Mu became more guilty as he listened. He was well aware of his own affairs, he was not a stock market genius at all: “…..I am at most just luckier than others. Maybe if I change to another field, or in a few years, I will have no inspiration and there is no way for me to accurately predict the price trend.”

In a word, Tao Mu admitted that he did not deserve this. He originally agreed to Li Xiaoheng’s invitation to cooperate in order to make friends with the future capital boss and on the way, let his starting capital churn in the futures market a few more times. But now that Li Xiaoheng invited him to become a partner of Xiaoheng Capital, Tao Mu was a little dumbfounded. He was worried that Li Xiaoheng would find out that he was not a stock market genius after ten years, and he would become angry with him at that time. He was afraid that they wouldn’t even be able to remain friends.

Besides, about the matter of business partners, when you make money, you are naturally happy and everyone is happy, but when it came to dividing the money, once or twice was fine, but then too many times and it would be hard to guarantee that Li Xiaoheng would not feel unhappy because of the money being shared out. In particular, Tao Mu planned to focus more on the entertainment industry in the future. As for the financial market, at best, he would make some money when the market was good. It would not be like now, staring at the market constantly with regard to day or night. His body wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Li Xiaoheng might be happy making the decision now, but he might feel distressed at that time. He might feel that Tao Mu didn’t do anything, or had put limited efforts into Xiaoheng Capital, but still had to divide away such a large amount of money, and as a result his mood might feel unbalanced.

Tao Mu had seen many business partners and even relatives who had turned against each other because of money in his last life, and he never shied away from figuring out people’s hearts from the most evil angle. In order to avoid these bad things, he felt it necessary to make a clear distinction in advance. Sometimes, good positioning was more important than good work.

“Brother Li, don’t worry. I don’t know other people on Wall Street, nor can I trust them. And I think the cooperation between us is very pleasant. Even after this stint on the market, I will allocate some funds to maintain the normal operation of FlyNews while keeping the other half of the funds in Xiaoheng Capital, and you can help me take care of it. As for the financial market, no matter what you consult with me, I will tell you everything I know. But I will not put too much energy in the financial market in the future. After all, I am an actor. I will film in the future, I will set up my own studio, and possibly my own film and television company. I don’t have enough energy to pay attention to the financial market as well.”

Tao Mu’s attitude was sincere and earnest, and he did his best to dispel Li Xiaoheng’s doubts: “As for this division of shares, didn’t you hire me as your personal consultant and chief analyst? If you think my suggestions are not bad, you can follow Xiaoheng Capital’s analyst’s revenue share rewards to pay me. Just like we did before. I think this way of cooperation is already very good.”

Cooperating one time and ending it there. The price was fair, and there was sincere treatment to all.

“And I think, brother Li, you can’t completely attribute Xiaoheng Capital’s increased return in the second half of the year to me. At best, I have only done several analysis reports for you. The specific trader is you and your team. Besides, even if you didn’t have me, didn’t you also decided to go short on oil. So my existence is actually not that important.”

“No. Your existence is very important.” Li Xiaoheng ignored Tao Mu’s heart-to-heart confession, and said very solemnly: “I don’t know why you are so unduly humble. The fact is because of your existence, Xiaoheng Capital’s rate of return has been at least ten times higher than I expected. This is all your credit, and you deserve to be rewarded.”

Tao Mu smiled bitterly: “I’ve already got the reward I deserve. The money I saved in Xiaoheng Capital has been doubled dozens of times. And the income share I got is also very impressive. Add it up together and it is also $200 million, right? Converted to the Chinese yuan it is one billion. Just half a year ago, my principal was only ten million yuan.”

“I said it already. This is all deserved.” Li Xiaoheng suddenly changed the subject: “You were worried that your inspiration was limited, and you think you may not be able to accurately predict the price trend of stocks or futures in the future. Then how long do you think your inspiration will remain fresh?”

Tao Mu thought about it a little bit, and felt that this kind of thing could not be lied about——after being reborn ten years in the past, of course his inspiration would be kept fresh for ten years. If he lied and fooled Li Xiaoheng at this time, yet he himself would make big money in the financial market in the future, he was afraid that it would make Li Xiaoheng have ill-feeling. This didn’t conform to his original intention of making friends with Li Xiaoheng.

“Probably only ten years.” Tao Mu hesitated and told the truth.

“Then fine. Our partnership will be changed to a ten-year period. Within ten years, you will be a partner of Xiaoheng Capital and enjoy a 5% share of the revenue you deserve. Ten years later, we will base it on your performance to decide whether to continue the contract. During this period, all you need to do is to call me at least three times a week. Or meet once to discuss in detail our various views on the financial market.”

Li Xiaoheng spoke concisely: “You won’t refuse such a decision, will you?”

Tao Mu smiled bitterly when he heard this, and said frankly: “Brother Li, in fact, you don’t need to be like this. We are friends. If you have anything to consult with me, I will tell you everything I know. Xiaoheng Capital is your painstaking hard work, and I also have my own career. I think for the sake of our long-term friendship, we had better not get too involved in each other’s career.”

In Tao Mu’s view, a quick deal was the best state of cooperation.

“On the contrary.” Li Xiaoheng said: “I think friends should be open and honest with each other, and have a clear distinction of interests. In fact, your mindset is easy to lead into trouble. As the saying goes, inequality rather than want is the cause of trouble. If I always ask you for advice in the future on financial matters, and because of this, I have made huge profits, but am not willing to share it with you and even delay your own serious business because of this. Will you still be as willing as you are now?”

Nonsense, this was the future capital boss. He was already eager to hug the golden thigh, how could it be possible to blame the boss for not giving him money.

Tao Mu’s two-life experience made him accustomed to the mode of giving first and then asking for something in return. Especially when working with bigwigs, he would rather his interests suffer a bit in the beginning than for the other person’s heart to have ill-feeling towards him. He had always been someone who had no problem making compromises for his purpose. No matter who he was working with, Tao Mu was accustomed to letting the other party see the profit first and taste the sweetness first.

However, Li Xiaoheng’s acting style was different from that of most people he had met. Li Xiaoheng had studied in M ​​country for many years, and he had set up his own career in the working atmosphere of Wall Street where people squandered money like dirt or haggled over every cent. He had become accustomed to the cooperation model of “depending on how much you help me, I will give you equal repayment”. He liked to handle everything, including feelings, in a clear and organized manner. He also knew what an inspired financial genius meant to an ambitious financial institution that was on the rise——it was a priceless treasure whose value could not be calculated by simple addition and subtraction.

It was not that 1+1=2, but a wonderful evolution of 1+1= at least greater than one hundred. This time, the performance in the international oil futures market had perfectly confirmed this.

Li Xiaoheng knew Tao Mu’s abilities well, so he would not do the kind of stupid thing such as “exchanging friendship for profits”. Not to mention that this stupid approach was not in line with his style of doing things, and just to discuss matters, he did not want to exchange his friendship with Tao Mu for profits. Even if it was a huge profit, it was not enough to buy the friendship between them.

Or in other words, Li Xiaoheng clearly had a method that satisfied all demands. Not only could he satisfy his expression of appreciation and reward for Tao Mu, but it could also further win over Tao Mu and tie this little genius firmly to Xiaoheng Capital. So why must he consume the friendship between the two, and take great risks to try that model of one man’s loss being another man’s gain when getting along with each other.

“If you are unwilling to accept this invitation and share in fees due to our relationship, then how will I have the face to talk to you about the financial market from time to time?” Li Xiaoheng slowly tempted Tao Mu and described to Tao Mu what might possibly happen in the future according to Tao Mu’s method: “I will be too embarrassed to look for you from time to time, and dare not call you when I encounter a problem——after all, you just said that you will put more energy on your acting career in the future and that you have to devote yourself to the entertainment industry and run your own business. Then if I call you, I will have to consider whether you are free, and will my call cause trouble with your work? When this happens too much, maybe it will delay our time to deal with business matters and maybe our friendship will even cool down as time goes by.”

Li Xiaoheng’s eyes were very sharp, and he had already spotted Tao Mu’s desire to make friends with him. The direction of his persuasion immediately shifted from the discussion of etiquette to the long-term relationship between the two. The so-called attacking the heart barrier, he felt that Tao Mu seemed to care more about the friendship between them.

This little discovery really made his happy.

Tao Mu found that the ability to trick and persuade investors he was so proud of when used in front of Li Xiaoheng seemed not to work as well. This future financial tycoon seemed to have better negotiating skills than him. At least after this conversation, he actually felt that there was nothing wrong with Li Xiaoheng’s statement. He really should accept this partner’s invitation and this generous revenue share.

“Perhaps brother Li, you are right.” Tao Mu said this, and suddenly felt that his refusal just now seemed particularly pretentious.

——It was estimated that brother Li was likely already slandering in his heart about his dawdling and indecisiveness.

Tao Mu also vehemently reflected on his mentality that he couldn’t help but worry about gains and losses every time he met a bigwig. He felt that he could not continue to be like this——after all, he would be a bigwig from now on as well.

While Tao Mu shamelessly fantasized, he also decisively signed his name on the contracts, and then accepted his copy of the contract.

Li Xiaoheng was very pleased to see Tao Mu’s actions. While waiting for the red light, he couldn’t help reaching out and touching Tao Mu’s head, and said with a warm smile: “Now that’s a good boy.”

Tao Mu was stunned for an instant, and his whole person looked dazedly at Li Xiaoheng, as if he was an alpaca whose three views had been greatly shocked.

Li Xiaoheng forcibly suppressed the corners of his mouth that was about to rise, and forcibly pressed his eager paws on the steering wheel. The two fell silent, one focused on driving, and the other silently looking out of the car window. However, the atmosphere in the car had become inexplicably relaxed and warm.

When the two finally arrived at the orphanage, it was almost half past nine in the evening.

Dean Tao and the children of the orphanage, as well as Liu Yao, Meng Qi, Gou Rixin, Qin Miaoru, and Da Mao and Xiao Pang had already finished their dinner. Hearing the noise of a car at the door, a large crowd of people swarmed out. Their eyes were dazzled by the low-key, luxurious and self-possessed Maybach that was parked in the alley, and only then did they notice Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng who got out of the car.

Da Mao and Xiao Pang both startled, and immediately thought of the meal they had together back in H Town, as if they could still feel that fear of being dominated by a stern and dull parent. In their hearts they inexplicably rejoiced, fortunately, they had finished their dinner already, otherwise the meal would be really impossible to eat.

Liu Yao and Meng Qi also remembered Mr. Li who spoke justice for them during the out of court settlement. They instantly smiled and said: “It turned out to be CEO Li. I also mentioned to them, I wonder what friend Xiao Mu will bring back.” They had all guessed before that it might be Guo Yaning, after all, Tao Mu went to shoot the MV for Guo Yaning. The large group of fans and movie fans who had never seen A-list superstars in person were quite excited for a while. Byt who knew thay Tao Mu came back and didn’t bring that charming star. Instead, he brought a grown man who was almost 1.9 meters tall and looked like a Wall Street elite.

How boring!

Qin Miaoru and the others who didn’t know the identity of Li Xiaoheng curled their lips subtly, and could hardly hide their disappointment. Of course, even if they knew the identity of Li Xiaoheng, they would probably still regret that the person Tao Mu brought back was not a big star.

Although in real life, the power of capital was much greater than that of celebrities. However, in the minds of ordinary people, it was estimated that the presence of stars was more eye-catching.

After all, the dazzling brilliance of stars could wash their eyes, but the money in the capitalists’ pockets would not be shared with them.

The group of particularly realistic friends gathered around Tao Mu and his friend and ushered them into the orphanage. Dean Tao went to cook the dumplings herself and said with a smile: “Tonight’s dumplings are stuffed with leek, shrimp, and egg, and stuffed with green pepper, cabbage and pork. I wonder if Mr. Li has any diet restrictions?”

Li Xiaoheng glanced at Tao Mu, then said with a smile, “I can eat anything.”

Tao Mu said, “Dean, you should still cook in two pots. Brother Li may not eat leeks.” He at least had a few meals with Li Xiaoheng, but he never saw him eat leeks before.

Not only leeks, but also all the strongly flavored ingredients such as onion, ginger and garlic, Li Xiaoheng didn’t eat much of them either. Although Li Xiaoheng ate garlic lobster and garlic scallops.

So Tao Mu inferred that Li Xiaoheng was not unable to eat these heavy-tasting spices, maybe he just didn’t like them.

But Tao Mu himself liked to eat dumplings stuffed with leeks and garlic, and occasionally ordered two skewers of roasted garlic cloves when he went out to eat barbecue. His extremely serious idol baggage was always so unprincipled when it came to eating.

This point was also laughed at by Wen Bao and the others.

Thinking of this, Tao Mu realized that he had forgotten to call Wen Bao and the others. In the afternoon, Tao Mu was busy taking pictures of Guo Yaning and had muted the phone. Later, when he saw a series of missed calls, he adjusted the ringtone back easily, but forgot to return the calls.

Wen Bao probably guessed that Tao Mu might be busy, and they didn’t call Tao Mu afterwards. Now it was a bit late——

Tao Mu checked the time, and it was already 10pm. Don’t know if the three roommates were asleep or not.

Tao Mu thought about it for a while, and dialed Du Kang, who often stayed up late to play games. After less than two rings, it was picked up: “Oh, Xiao Mu? Where are you now? Do you need us brothers to accompany you? Wanna go eat barbecue? I’ll treat you.”

Du Kang was the cheapest among the four guys in their dormitory. Let him treat others once, and it would be a huge loss of blood for him. In order to force him to treat them to a meal, Wen Bao and Chu Sui’an had piled on top of him on the bed to extract a promise but even that was still ineffective. This time, Du Kang actually offered to treat him, apparently in order to comfort Tao Mu, who was very unlucky recently.

Tao Mu smiled slightly: “I’m fine. I’m eating dumplings in the orphanage. Do you want to come together?”

Today was Saturday and tomorrow was Sunday. There were no classes anyway. Du Kang discussed it with the other two roommates and said: “Okay. We’ll go there now. We’ll just stay at Grandpa Song’s house for the night. Let’s play Mahjong all night?”

Even though he would be filming the MV for the big star tomorrow, Tao Mu still smiled and said, “Okay. Come on over. Call me when you arrive at the alley and I will pick you up.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

After hanging up the phone, Tao Mu returned the missed calls to Yun Yi, Long Tianao and others one by one. Yun Yi was on duty and couldn’t make it, and the rest, such as Long Tianao and others, loved to join in the fun. In the end, the people invited over grew more and more, and it was really not too far from becoming a party.

However, Tao Mu was probably the first one to have a dumpling party in an orphanage.

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