Chapter 36: Fireworks

How should I put it? He Zhiqiu’s approach was really quite aggressive, and Su Shiyi found it a bit overwhelming.

She shifted her chair slightly to the side, trying to ease her tension. In fact, she was quite good at flattering others herself, but while it didn’t feel awkward when she did it, it was another story when others did it.

He Zhiqiu was quite perceptive. Seeing that Su Shiyi was not adjusting well, he immediately changed his approach. He stopped calling her “Shiyi” and “Sister” and instead used a more casual tone, addressing her as “you.”

The overzealous mistake at the beginning taught him a lesson. From then on, the conversation was relatively smooth and harmonious. When Su Shiyi had enough of sitting and was planning to walk around the park, He Zhiqiu paused for a moment, not waiting for her to invite him along.

Well…

The look of grievance and disappointment briefly flashed across He Zhiqiu’s face, but he didn’t bring it up. Instead, he politely asked if he could add Su Shiyi as a friend.

A good assistant should always be in tune with their boss’s thoughts. When Su Shiyi didn’t immediately agree, Lucy intervened at the right moment:

“Sorry, Miss Shiyi values her privacy. You can add me on Lujiang, and I’ll relay any messages.”

Without waiting for He Zhiqiu to say anything, Lucy quickly showed her QR code, cutting off everything he was about to say.

He Zhiqiu was momentarily speechless. What use was it to talk to the assistant? Has anyone ever pursued a girl through her assistant?

But he had been chosen by Gu Lang, so he did have some merit. He controlled his expression, making sure he didn’t show any anger, and gracefully added Lucy as a friend before politely bidding Su Shiyi farewell.

“My friends are waiting for me at other attractions,” He Zhiqiu gave himself and others an out. “Sorry, I’ll have to excuse myself. I love coming to amusement parks, so if you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask.”

Although Su Shiyi certainly had no shortage of people around her who could solve any problems, what if she really did need him?

Su Shiyi, always polite when dealing with well-mannered people, responded courteously: “Alright, you came at an unfortunate time, but maybe we can have a meal sometime.”

He Zhiqiu blinked: “When?”

Su Shiyi: …

Why couldn’t he understand polite phrases? These were just meaningless expressions in traditional Chinese culture!

“I’m just kidding,” He Zhiqiu stood up. “Goodbye, see you next time.”

This time, it was truly goodbye. After He Zhiqiu walked out of her sight, Su Shiyi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Lucy asked her, “Don’t you like that type?”

“I think I’m just not used to it,” Su Shiyi scratched her head. “I’ve never been in a relationship before, but his approach was too intense, too forward. Although it got better later… it was still a bit awkward when I was with him. It’s hard to say. Let’s see how things go.”

Lucy understood — the first impression wasn’t great.

If He Zhiqiu didn’t have much competition, or if there weren’t many others, he might still have a chance to redeem himself in Su Shiyi’s eyes, since she didn’t completely dismiss him.

But there were 100 other handsome guys competing with him. He had the initial advantage, but he wasted it, and Su Shiyi would probably forget about him soon.

Who says love can’t be like a battlefield? A small misstep, and you’re out of the game.

Since the amusement park was booked for the day, the population density inside the park was much lower. The staff used sightseeing cars to shuttle visitors between different attractions. As the VIP, Su Shiyi, of course, had her own exclusive sightseeing car.

She wore a mask the whole time, just like everyone else, with a headband from the souvenir shop. Su Shiyi always struggled with making decisions, so Lucy grabbed every headband in the shop and kept them in her bag. Every time Su Shiyi wanted to change, Lucy would randomly pull one out for her to try.

Such behavior would typically be considered extravagant, but within the context of today’s theme park, it was hardly worth mentioning. This is because the wealthy lady, Shiyi, had promised that anything in the souvenir shop could be taken freely, and she would foot the bill as long as her fans could carry it when leaving. Upon hearing this, the lucky fans—who usually had to eat a half-full meal to save money—felt like they had fallen into a rice barrel, wanting everything they could see.

They filled their heads, hands, and bodies with merchandise, and stuffed their backpacks, which was still considered a low-level operation. Some fans even brought several snake-skin bags to stock up. By the afternoon, after enjoying the various attractions that didn’t require waiting in line earlier, everyone shifted their attention to the souvenir shop. There were dozens of live-stream accounts broadcasting the scene.

Some even titled their streams, “How to maximize getting freebies from the rich Shiyi,” showcasing the lightest yet most valuable items in the shop. Previously, people focused on cost-effectiveness, but today it was all about “weight-to-value ratio.”

In short, human strength and carrying capacity have their limits, and how one plans this determines how much wealth they can acquire! These streamers were savvy, and though it might feel awkward to be blatantly taking advantage of the situation, they swapped their clothes, phones, and watches for products from Gu’s brand—also an advertisement in itself.

Shiyi noticed the live streams. Since she had made the promise, she didn’t mind spending the extra money. She even liked the streamers’ content and left comments saying that as long as they could carry it, they shouldn’t hesitate to take it.

As expected, #ShiYi once again trended on multiple platforms, with her related show, Return to Senior Year, making a comeback in the public eye. Just like last time when she streamed unboxing mystery boxes, causing fans and strangers to flock to the guest stream to stir things up, now people were recognizing and filming her having fun in the theme park, while the guests were still studying.

Each netizen was a potential source of amusement. They even compared the guests’ expressions from a few days ago: the first time, they were shocked, disappointed, angry, and gloomy, while the second time, everyone was numb, their eyes hollow.

Human emotions don’t always align, and though the show hadn’t aired yet, the goal of making the guests’ misery the foundation for the audience’s happiness had already been achieved. Various viral phrases emerged, and the eight guests and the show’s title were firmly etched in the minds of netizens.

Not long after, Kevin called to inform her that new sponsors wanted to join, and they were willing to offer a lot of money. The show’s popularity had skyrocketed, its national recognition extremely high, and its asking price now rivaled that of prime time variety shows on satellite TV.

Shiyi didn’t do much. Thanks to Kevin’s efforts, the money spent at the theme park had been earned back.

Some streamers even helped promote the Gu brand, and she hadn’t even paid them. Given their traffic and conversion rates, this time, not only had she not lost money, but she also made a small profit.

Shiyi: …

She was a bit confused. She had intended to spend money to make everyone happy, so how did it turn into her making money instead? Netizens were still thanking her, saying she was generous, that her giveaways were real, unlike others who used discount tricks—she was really just spending money freely.

#It was indeed spending, but the money came back.

#Shocked! Wealth just keeps chasing her.

#Could she be destined for riches?

Upon arriving at the theme park, Shiyi didn’t plan to try all the attractions at once—rushing through them would be too exhausting. Lucy checked the locations and operating hours of the various photo ops and arranged for the tour car to head to these places first.

As they passed the busy souvenir shop, Shiyi didn’t find the park unusually quiet, but after driving for a while, the only sound left was the music. With 400 netizens, plus the photographers and invited guests, the total number of people was under 600.

With 600 people scattered across a theme park of millions of square meters, the average area per person was over 2000 square meters, making it a truly sparsely populated space. Moreover, the souvenir shop still attracted a large crowd, so no one had to give Shiyi their spot—there was no need to wait in line at all.

Taking photos with princesses and cartoon characters didn’t require standing in line. They could even take family photos with everyone in the frame, riding the mine train, spinning teacups, jetpacks, or the carousel didn’t require waiting either—it was instant. Even the restrooms didn’t require waiting, which, according to netizens, was the best experience.

When they arrived at the Marvel Heroes headquarters, Shiyi finally saw other visitors, but the number was still relatively low, and it didn’t affect her experience. It felt like returning home to happiness. Her love for Western comics was no secret, and the park had even arranged for the heroes to make a collective appearance.

Although she already had a set of real battle armor, Shiyi still took the time to try out the official virtual gear from the park. The anti-Hydra armor’s shockwave function was amazing, and the girls next to her were highly recommending it, saying they wanted to try it again.

Shiyi liked it too, so she sent a voice message to her secretary: “Kevin, arrange for a set of Mark44, the largest one. It’ll be hard for me to fit, so make it a bit bigger. I want a 1:1 replica!”

“Oh, by the way, this park’s project is really good. Arrange it in Mark50’s AR interaction mode. I want to play it at home. Since we’re negotiating licensing, we might as well do it together.”

Nearby visitors: …

They liked the battle armor, repeatedly experiencing the park’s attractions. Shiyi, the rich lady, wanted the gear, so they just grabbed it and brought it home.

Sob, sob, sob. They thought that since this event was hosted by her, Shiyi would play first. They didn’t expect her to have such a large vision—she didn’t care about these small things.

They sadly watched Shiyi walk toward the heroes specially assembled for her, deciding to play a few more interactive sessions.

Of course, after Shiyi finished her photos with the heroes, they could still tag along with the available heroes. Normally, the heroes’ headquarters wouldn’t have that many actors on stage at once, so this was an opportunity they couldn’t miss!

Su Shiyi’s trip to the amusement park was fairly enjoyable. Although she occasionally encountered enthusiastic fans asking for photos at popular attractions, such interruptions were rare, and she could still tolerate it when it happened three times or less per hour. She was happy to be liked by everyone.

However, she did not appreciate fans asking for good luck photos next to her. Didn’t they watch her livestream? She was the “unlucky player” who opened forty-eight blind boxes and only got two hidden versions—really, how could they risk the bad luck rubbing off on them?

But on second thought, her life in this world had already been filled with enough good fortune. She started off by receiving one billion from Gu Chen, which was more than enough luck. Compared to the two-color lottery balls, which top out at five million, she had to win twenty times without even accounting for taxes. Then later, she received a ten-billion-dollar island and Father Gu Lang’s favor—her luck was beyond belief.

Thinking like that, it made sense that her luck was a little bad when opening blind boxes, after all, the world couldn’t just favor her all the time with all the good things.

Well, if she couldn’t get the hidden versions, she’d just buy out the two blind box brands. It was no big deal. If she couldn’t solve the probability issue with blind boxes, she’d just solve the problem itself.

It was seven in the evening, and Su Shiyi was still enjoying dinner at the royal banquet hall, since it was the most comfortable place to sit, perfect for someone as lazy as her.

The amusement park event today had made five trending searches and driven huge traffic from multiple platforms. It should have been a great thing—lucky fans got joy, online viewers got satisfaction, and she made a small profit. However, Su Shiyi still felt like someone was complaining about her behind the scenes.

—As seen in Chapter 25, Weibo programmer Xiao Wang was eating instant noodles at his desk, his eyes filled with sorrow and resentment.

Three lotteries, 300 people, and he didn’t win a single one!

Not only did he not win, but neither did his friends or family. None of them could use the special friend slot to bring him along to the park, TAT.

That would have been fine, just bad luck, but why was the amusement park event so popular? Why did Su Shiyi have to make it so extravagant?

Allowing visitors to take souvenirs with no spending limits, since there weren’t many people, she arranged hundreds of chairs for everyone to sit and watch the parade without crowding, and now she’s customizing new armor…

Grandma, can’t you just calm down for even one day? Why can’t you just go home and open your blind boxes?

After a platform crashed, users flooded into another platform, and that one crashed too… After a few cycles, internet refugees poured into Weibo.

How miserable. He was really suffering, still having to work hard. Users didn’t understand and asked, “Why isn’t your Weibo working again?”

…Because expanding capacity costs money! No software can maintain the peak load for long—it’s burning money!

If it were just that, Xiao Wang’s mindset wouldn’t be so off-balance. The key issue was that his colleagues had won tickets and went on leave, while he had to shoulder part of their workload.

And now, his busy schedule felt like he was preparing for an avalanche. His colleagues, who should have fought alongside him, had turned into snowflakes.

Xiao Wang: Whatever, but still a bit tired.jpg

Oh, and in this internet frenzy, I heard the only platform that didn’t crash was Lvjiang. Their servers were really top-notch, and users were jokingly asking what the boss did to become overnight rich.

Only insiders knew that it wasn’t about making the boss rich, the fastest way was to just change the boss.

So, when will Shiyi, the rich lady, buy Weibo? (Shouting loudly)

Su Shiyi couldn’t hear Xiao Wang’s inner voice. She was chatting with Father Gu Lang. After assigning two young men to no avail, Gu Lang couldn’t help but start doubting the parent-child generation gap.

Zhou Yingzhe was fine, he just made a bad call. But why did he also feel that He Zhiqiu, such a smart kid, was being rejected by her?

Could it be that he was getting too old and couldn’t keep up with the trends of young girls nowadays?

“Xiao He is pretty good,” Su Shiyi said honestly, “He’s smart and can read the room, but he’s very goal-oriented. As for me…”

She was just a salted fish who didn’t want to flip over, and she felt a little pressured when interacting with Xiao He.

Gu Lang hit the nail on the head: “You want someone just like you—lazy, not having to put in effort to inherit the family business, just lying around spending money, right?”

Su Shiyi: …

Even if what you said is true, at least use some more tactful words to express it and give me some face!

“I really am that kind of person,” she admitted tearfully. “So stop looking for social elites. I’m not worthy.”

“They’re the ones who aren’t worthy,” Gu Lang said leisurely. “It’s their fault for being too outstanding, not being able to match such a salted fish like you.”

Su Shiyi: ?

What’s going on here? Why is it that Dad can say such sarcastic words with a tone that sounds like he’s praising me? TAT

“Anyway, Xiao He isn’t my type—at least not the one he’s shown so far.” In front of Father Gu Lang, Su Shiyi spoke frankly. “He’s fine as a friend, but not for dating. I’d probably feel uncomfortable.”

Gu Lang: “Alright, I got it. Just so happens that No. 74 is in Shanghai, I’ve already asked him to go to the park and find you.”

“Dad, why are you doing this surprise attack again!”

Su Shiyi was startled and instinctively looked around. Fortunately, No. 74 didn’t appear suddenly like Xiao He did, so she had a bit of time to brace herself.

“This is a surprise.” Gu Lang seemed to have ignited some competitive spirit. “From what I know, your mom and Gu Pan are both eager to prepare candidates in the capital. How can I let them beat me?”

Even Gu Chen contacted a few candidates. As a good father to Su Shiyi, how could he fall behind on something like this? What would that say about his fatherly dignity?

Su Shiyi: …

Thank you (all).mp3

Have these people made enough money? There’s still so much untapped blue ocean in the world. Why aren’t they looking for new profit growth points? Why waste energy on this nonsense?

She weakly asked, “Dad, can I ask what No. 74’s name is?”

“He’s named Qi, full name Qi Yude. Yude means moral virtue, like beautiful jade.”

Su Shiyi: “…What a name that sounds so upright and noble.”

With jade and virtue in his name, his parents must have very high expectations for his character. But Su Shiyi instantly envisioned him as a strict, traditional headmaster, making her shudder.

Please, she’s looking for a boyfriend, not a teacher. When she was in school, the rules didn’t allow long hair, but she purposely grew it just a little past the standard and argued with the teachers, refusing to cut it. It wasn’t that she liked that length, it was just pure rebellion.

“This one really seems good.”

Gu Lang, who had failed twice, spoke seriously. “I had my secretary summarize the similarities between Zhou Yingzhe and He Zhiqiu, analyzed the overlapping parts with big data, and combined it with contemporary young women’s ideal partner profiles to choose Qi Yude for you. Trust me, he won’t disappoint you.”

It all sounded so high-end, but Su Shiyi thought for a moment, carefully reflecting, and realized she didn’t understand a word of it.

All she could say was, “Alright, Dad.”

She hoped Qi Yude would be a normal person—yes, her expectations had dropped to such a low point now. After all, anyone with a number must have good looks, and as long as their personality isn’t too extreme, she could manage!

After chatting a little more with Gu Lang, they ended the call. Mainly because Gu Lang was busy, and the fact that he had made time to talk to her was already squeezing in between his other responsibilities. In this situation, he even found the time to care about what “competitors” Li Shuman and Gu Pan were preparing and secretly made the first move—it was really quite unbelievable.

Su Shiyi could only understand it as wealthy people having some special hobbies that others find hard to comprehend. Perhaps the Gu family’s interest was to play matchmaker.

She wasn’t planning to try out any other activities and just waited for the fireworks show. As a wealthy sponsor, she reimbursed the lucky online friends and family for two nights of accommodation. Check in the day before, rest well, and head out early to enjoy the day. They wouldn’t need to rush to leave Shanghai that night, and could check out the next day after getting enough rest.

This kind of arrangement would make anyone emotional, shouting loudly, “Mommy, look at me!”

Su Shiyi had been sitting at the dining table for about an hour, but hadn’t seen Qi Yude appear. Was he delayed on the road, or was he just agreeing to this due to the elders’ influence, but didn’t really want to come?

If it was the latter, Su Shiyi didn’t mind. The whole selection process was a joke from Gu Lang, and she had always approached it as a blind date. If the other party wasn’t interested, so be it.

However, well, the gender ratio for this matchmaking event led by the Gu family was a bit off.

After waiting in the banquet hall for him and not seeing him, Su Shiyi wasn’t planning to wait any longer, since the fireworks show was about to start. The park had prepared the best viewing spot for her, and when she arrived, the area was already packed with people.

As the grand finale of the amusement park’s daily events, the brand-new “Dreamlight Phantom Show” blended projections, fireworks, flames, fountains, lasers, and other special effects. The live effect was stunning, and the synchronized light, sound, and electric show was awe-inspiring.

Caught up in the enthusiastic atmosphere around her, Su Shiyi couldn’t help but take out her phone to snap some pictures and videos. When she realized the phone’s pixels were limited, she asked for a camera, and her trusty assistant, Lucy, pulled out a ^[1]Canon EOS 200D II (also known as the Canon Rebel SL3 in some regions) is a lightweight entry-level DSLR. It’s known for its compact size, ease of use, and good image quality, making it a great … Continue readingCanon EOS 200D II from her bag, which seemed to have endless space like Doraemon’s pocket.

It wasn’t the best camera, but for a beginner photographer like Su Shiyi, who had a great interest in photography, it was very user-friendly. It could shoot clear, stable images in the dark or at night, making it perfect for the current scene.

Su Shiyi’s efforts didn’t disappoint her. She only asked where the shutter button was and quickly got to taking pictures. Fortunately, she was able to figure out how to adjust the focus by herself.

“What beautiful fireworks!” Su Shiyi snapped several photos, and even the compositions turned out quite well. “I wish I could see this more often.”

What she meant was, she wanted to visit the Shanghai amusement park more often, but Lucy understood it as, “Alright, I’ll report to Secretary Kevin later, and we’ll install the necessary facilities at the villa on Billion Island and apply for a fireworks permit.”

Su Shiyi: …

Although her idea was a bit off, the outcome was still quite good!

After taking enough pictures of the fireworks, she wanted to turn and capture the enthusiastic audience around her. Su Shiyi’s camera shook as she aimed, and when she spotted a man holding a camera, she froze the shot.

Hey, it looks like they’re taking pictures of each other.

Su Shiyi put down her camera, and the man seemed to intuitively do the same. In the night, illuminated by the fireworks, she saw his gentle and reserved smile.

He walked toward her, his steps steady and strong, each one beating in time with her heartbeat.

In a moment of impulse, she blurted out, “Are you Qi Yude?”

He stopped in front of her, seeming a bit shy, and Su Shiyi noticed him secretly scratching his palm.

“I am.”

Qi Yude looked at her, feeling his face burn under her unwavering gaze.

He heard Su Shiyi say, “I have a question, but I don’t know if it’s okay to ask.”

What could it be? Qi Yude suddenly felt nervous, forcing himself to stay calm. “Go ahead, ask.”

Su Shiyi hesitated for a moment, her gaze unconsciously drifting down. Unable to hold back her curiosity, she finally asked:

“Did you wear a shirt that’s a size smaller today?”

Wow, with that chest, it definitely exceeds 120!