Chapter 42

After providing Shen Mofeng with the alternate account, Ye Chen felt a slight unease, fearing that he might have missed deleting something and Shen Mofeng would see it, making it difficult to explain. However, as time passed, WeChat remained calm, and Shen Mofeng stayed silent.

Ye Chen finally let go of his worries.

He didn’t really think Shen Mofeng would scrutinize his Weibo post by post. After all, there were too many of them. He had prepared so meticulously and attentively just in case things went wrong.

On the way back to the company, Ye Chen logged into the alternate WeChat account and dealt with the online store business.

The five buyers who had purchased pillows for their elderly family members had indeed become living advertisements. The remaining fifteen pillows had been sold out by the group friends yesterday, and those who missed out were inquiring about the situation in the group.

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “Good news: The manufacturer has already been notified to restock on the Winter Velvet HealthCare Pillows, and they will be available in about two to three days. Once they are restocked, we will notify everyone immediately. [Rose]”

Xiao Xiaosa Sa: “I have a suggestion, can we stock more at once this time?”

Happiness Every Day: “I bought this pillow for my father, and the effect is so amazing that it’s frightening. He falls asleep as soon as he touches it. Does it contain any sleeping pill ingredients? Will long-term use have any impact on health? I’ve never seen such an effective sleep aid pillow before.”

Ye Chen switched to persuasive mode: “Please rest assured, our exclusive thousand-year-old recipe is used to soak the filling material. This ancient formula has never been available before, so currently, there are no products on the market that are more effective than ours. If you’re still worried, we suggest observing your father’s mental state more closely. By regulating the body with pure Chinese medicine ingredients, soothing the mind, the quality of sleep is significantly better than using sleeping pills.”

Happiness Every Day: “That’s true, he’s in good spirits during the day.”

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “Exactly, ever since my father started using the winter health pillow, even if he sleeps only six hours a day, he wakes up lively the next day, doing chores without any problem, and he can even run and jump…”

He can even do acrobatics!

And he can do two hundred push-ups in one go!

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “We will stock thirty pillows at once this time. The next restock will have to wait for half a month. The supply is tight so please seize the opportunity, friends.”

Excluding the cost of labor for planting and harvesting, Ye Chen could net a profit of 50 yuan per pillow. Selling out these twenty pillows in this round would mean a profit of 1000 yuan in hand. With a stable output of fifty pillows per month, Ye Chen would earn 2500 yuan. Moreover, after the successful trial, Ye Chen contacted a wholesaler through a wholesale website and purchased one hundred pillow core sets. Although the quality was slightly inferior, the price was 7 yuan cheaper per set compared to buying separately on Taobao, further reducing the cost.

Ye Chen originally considered setting the price of the pillows higher. With such immediate herbal effects, even if they were sold for 140 or 150 yuan, they would still be considered cost-effective. Many people suffering from insomnia and chronic sleep deprivation sought medical advice everywhere, willing to spend thousands or even tens of thousands, but there was no guarantee of effectiveness. However, since the small shop was too new, and the few transaction records were still generated through Xiao Gao’s phone, Ye Chen was afraid that setting the price too high would deter potential buyers. He had to rely on building reputation through credit first.

Anyway, the first batch of seedlings in the Mountain and Sea Realm had already grown into small trees. With dozens of saplings growing well, when these trees start bearing fruit one after another, Ye Chen could also develop some new products. By then, he could mainly rely on these new products to make money.

…

After arriving in the city, Ye Chen didn’t go home first. Instead, he went to the company to sign a contract with Gu Qiu. Gu Qiu had suddenly made progress these days and had reached a cooperation agreement with a world-renowned fashion brand. This luxury brand, which had been passed down in Italy for over a hundred years, was acquired by a well-known domestic group two years ago. Ye Chen would serve as the brand’s ambassador for the Greater China region for the next two years.

“With so many endorsement opportunities lately,” Gu Qiu pushed a contract over, “and a few of them are quite good. I’ll finalize the details with them and see if we can make a deal.”

The clothing endorsement he had been longing for was right in front of him, and Ye Chen was excited. He quickly skimmed over the densely packed clauses in the contract, then signed it with a flourish, praising, “Qiu Ge is amazing, wise and *mighty^[1]‍shén wǔ[神武] – commonly used word in ancient Chinese. It is mostly used to praise emperors and generals, and also refers to the imperial army and palace gates.!”

Qiu Ge had successfully and promptly solved the problem of dressing difficulties and expensive clothing for his artists!

Ye Chen had already listed several clothing items that had been frequently exposed for sale on the second-hand trading website. He planned to recoup some of the money and buy a few more second-hand branded items. During this time, he would be appearing on variety shows and giving interviews, so he didn’t want netizens to notice that he was wearing the same few outfits over and over again. But now, with the clothes provided by the partner, he didn’t have to be so down and out anymore. Moreover, the five million yuan endorsement fee over two years would also contribute to paying off debts and advancing his business.

“I was planning to give you a few days off for the Spring Festival.” Gu Qiu put away the signed contract and said regretfully to Ye Chen, “But that won’t be possible now. We have to go to Italy for location shooting and take a few sets of photos…”

“No problem, Qiu Ge. I’m not going home for the New Year anyway.” Ye Chen said cheerfully and mischievously, “My family is giving me the silent treatment because I don’t want to inherit the mine. They bought me a house and then ignored me. Sigh.”

Gu Qiu stared at him with a smile but not a smile. “Oh, I see.”

Ye Chen said sincerely, “Really, my family owns a jade mine. If you have the chance, I can bring you a truckload of raw stones to play with.”

Gu Qiu: “…”

Like hell I believe you!

After signing the contract, Ye Chen went back home. He dug tree pits with the family’s farmhand Zhou Buchu and, at Zhou Buchu’s request, planted a row of tobacco plants that he claimed to have flown specially to Yunnan’s Yuxi to dig up. With Ye Chen’s help, the tobacco grew quickly and was full of vitality. When Zhou Buchu went to various companies as an investment consultant, he could casually borrow a few A4 papers for free and roll his own Yuxi cigarettes.

After the old and the young had finished digging the tree pits for the day, they each put down their shovels, squatted on the field, and rested. Zhou Buchu smoked while Ye Chen, the farmer, squinted and gazed at the distant scenery.

“… You’ve really taken leeching to the extreme,” sighed Ye Chen, feeling the profundity of this particular form of leeching.

“Hehe,” Zhou Buchu, with a homemade Yuxi cigarette in his mouth, raised his hand and pinched the phoenix, who was squatting on Ye Chen’s head with closed eyes and resting. Amidst the phoenix’s protest, he stuck the cigarette onto the real fire, took a satisfying puff, and said, “Just leeching off people isn’t a skill.”

“One must embrace the world,” Ye Chen’s insight was excellent, “everything in the world can be leached off.”

“Exactly, Xiao Pulu, come here and help Uncle stick a sole.” Zhou Buchu beckoned to the Little Pulu Cub, handing him a detached shoe sole. Little Pulu dripped a few drops of mucus from his fingertips and stuck Zhou Buchu’s sole back on.

“Look, Pulu glue lasts for seven days, so I stick it once every seven days,” Zhou Buchu proudly said.

Ye Chen chimed in, “Rounding up, your shoes have achieved perpetual motion.”

As the two chatted happily, Ye Chen’s phone suddenly sounded a notification, a WeChat message from Shen Mofeng.

It was a screenshot of a post shared by Ye Chen’s alt account, featuring a photo of Shen Mofeng’s portrait. The caption wasn’t particularly noteworthy, just four words – “Gege looks handsome.”

Ye Chen’s eyes flickered with a sense of foreboding. Leaving the Mountain and Sea Realm and entering House, he replied: What’s up, Shen Ge?

Shen Mofeng sent a voice message, his voice low and magnetic: “Do you… privately call me ‘gege’?”

Ye Chen shuddered, rubbing his ears vigorously a few times before typing his explanation: No, Shen Ge. It’s common for fans to call their idols ‘Gege’ or Jiejie’ privately.

Calling favorite idols ‘Gege’ or ‘Jiejie’ was quite common among younger male and female fans. It had become a trend in recent years, and Ye Chen was called ‘Chen Bao’ or ‘Gege’ by fans every day, both male and female. He was already accustomed to it and didn’t think it was a problem—besides, it wasn’t realistic to delete all the posts with the ‘Gege’ address. Now, suddenly being questioned by Shen Mofeng about this matter, Ye Chen felt inexplicably ashamed.

Shen Mofeng naturally understood that this address was common among fan circles, but deliberately teased: Call me ‘Gege’ and let me hear it.

Ye Chen sent a crying kitten emoji: Please don’t tease me…

Shen Mofeng: Call.

Ye Chen: Shen Ge… Please be kind…

Shen Mofeng typed leisurely: Didn’t someone promise me twice before that I could come to him for anything, as long as he could help?

This was an agreement between men! Ye Chen instantly sat up straight, fully immersing in the role of Zhang Fei^[2]A Chinese military general and politician serving under the warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China.In the novel, Romance of The Three Kingdoms, Zhang … Continue reading. His eyes widened, his face seemed to darken by a shade, and he typed passionately: Gege!

Shen Mofeng choked for a moment. “… Don’t add an exclamation mark, I can picture it.”

Ye Chen wilted and typed: Gege.

There was a moment of silence from Shen Mofeng’s side, then he sent another image.

It was a series of photos shared by the alt account, featuring Shen Mofeng shirtless: “Ahhh! I want to climb on Gege’s abs!”

Ye Chen: “…”

Shen Mofeng’s tone turned malicious: “You want to climb on my abs? How would you climb? With what?”

Ye Chen was almost overwhelmed by this triple interrogation. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his fingers flew as he typed frantically: “No! Shen Ge, I’m just admiring your good physique, nothing else! Please don’t take these rainbow farts too literally, okay? They’re just exaggerated expressions, everyone says them like that, it’s not something I invented.”

“Things like ‘abs climbing,’ ‘eyelash swing,’ ‘collarbone swimming’ are just common phrases used to praise idols, they’re everywhere. But when Shen Mofeng scrutinized them so meticulously, they immediately took on a different connotation…”

Shen Mofeng sent another screenshot.

It was another repost: “Want to kneel and lick Gege, want Gege to marry me.”

“Damn it!” Ye Chen swore rare profanity and almost threw his phone away.

Shen Mofeng’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he stared at the screenshot, his mind racing with wild thoughts that had been running rampant since the afternoon.

He couldn’t believe that the seemingly clean-cut and obedient Ye Chen would be so… reserved in private.

These kinds of Weibo posts were rare, just a few of them. It was probably Ye Chen’s oversight that they hadn’t been deleted. Shen Mofeng imagined how many similar treasures of comments Ye Chen had deleted in the past week and regretted not asking him about them earlier.

Fortunately, Ye Chen had left today. Otherwise… Even if Shen Mofeng had strong self-control, he probably couldn’t resist sneaking into the little friend’s bed in the middle of the night.

Shen Mofeng: Chen Chen, did I… underestimate you?

Ye Chen blushed deeply, licking his lips in panic: It’s impossible! Where did you find these?!

Shen Mofeng calmly analyzed: When you say “it’s impossible,” is it because you think you’ve deleted them all, right?

Ye Chen: No!

Ye Chen’s hands trembled, affecting his typing. He sent a long string of voice messages: “Shen Ge, let me explain. Phrases like ‘kneeling and licking’ are just internet slang, they don’t have any real meaning. They’re just figurative, like ‘ahhhh,’ expressing excitement. It’s not…”

Shen Mofeng: It’s not what?

Ye Chen stuttered: “It’s not, it’s not really wanting to lick anything.”

The author has something to say:

Confession time.

Ye Qiongqiong: I’ll say it, you might not believe it, but actually, I’m straight…

Ye Qiongqiong (trying to lighten the mood): Haha, didn’t expect that, right!?

Shen Mofeng: Well, since it’s come to this, I guess I’ll have to bend you. 🙂

Cars, one after another, slowly overtuning, overturning sexual orientation, overturning fake fans, overturning fatherly relations, overturning all at once. Let me tell you, it’s easy for Shen Ge to jump off a building…