Chapter 38: Scenery

Under their completely different understandings, the blind date ended. The two exchanged contact information, with Su Shiyi returning to the capital tomorrow, while Qi Yude would likely remain in the magic city.

Actually, he also wanted to go back with Su Shiyi, but visiting her so soon (??) didn’t seem like the right move. To be honest, he wasn’t completely mentally prepared yet.

By the time their meal at the revolving restaurant ended, it was almost 10 o’clock. Lucy had already arranged for them to stay at the 230 Sky Hotel in the Oriental Pearl Tower. It was the only suspended hotel in the magic city, located in one of the spheres of the Oriental Pearl Tower.

It was called a hotel, but it only had one boutique suite, including two bedrooms, a living room, a spa, a restaurant, and an entertainment room, occupying four floors.

Lucy and the bodyguards would add extra beds in other areas. Originally, they had planned for Su Shiyi to stay in the master bedroom and Qi Yude in the viewing bedroom, but when Su Shiyi heard that the bathroom in the viewing bedroom had pink transparent glass, she immediately requested to switch.

Although the master bedroom had a starry skylight, her girlish heart prevailed. Plus, the viewing bedroom was close to the living room. She was particularly interested in the “world’s only custom-made periscope for guest rooms.” In the sphere with four one-way glass walls, she could view the whole city from any angle.

While the spa here couldn’t compare to the custom one at home, it was good enough for an impromptu trip. Her beautician hadn’t come along, but luckily Lucy’s temporary technician was quite skilled. As for the custom gold Dyson hairdryer, the complimentary Kartell watch, Miller Harris perfume gift set, and handmade constellation chocolates, she considered them thoughtful but ultimately inexpensive little trinkets.

“Such good value for money,” Su Shiyi said, lying in the bathtub with a view of Shanghai’s nightscape, talking to her Father Gu Lang. “A suite like this costs less than 100,000 per night, and that’s without a reservation, with an added charge.”

Gu Lang: “You like this? Do you want to buy it, or build a better one?”

Su Shiyi: “…It’s fine to stay here once in a while. No matter how beautiful the view, it’ll get boring if you see it every day.”

She thought she was already being a bit indulgent talking about 100,000 yuan being cheap, but compared to Gu Lang’s usual style of just buying things, she felt like she was actually quite frugal.

Gu Lang was busy, so their conversation was brief before he hung up. Su Shiyi’s massage was nearly done, and the lady who served her cheerfully explained that the toiletries in the suite were from Miller Harris’s tea fragrance collection, a high-end British brand.

Su Shiyi yawned: “What brand? I’ve never used it. My assistant would probably replace it with NOESA and ALTERNA, that’s what I usually use.”

The lady: …

Aww, she had been too forward, TAT

After all, this was the same rich woman who had just said, “Less than 100,000 yuan per night is cheap!” She envied the man who came in with her, his body so good—no wonder he had caught the rich woman’s favor. He might never have to work again in his life.

Meanwhile, Qi Yude, who was mistakenly thought to be a kept man, was working hard on a drawing. He was preparing to draw Su Shiyi under the fireworks tonight. His sketch was already done, and he hoped to finish the line work tonight. If he had time, he would even add color.

What he didn’t know was that while he was fully immersed in the sweetness of romance (?), Su Shiyi, who saw him as just a regular blind date, was already listening to introductions of other male candidates.

On the other end of the phone, Gu Pan was very excited: “This is number one, the one I thought of first! I honestly think he’s a perfect match for you, and he’s liked you for a while!”

Su Shiyi: ?

She was confused: “I don’t know many guys, and the ones I know that you have common connections with are even fewer… Did you get the wrong person?”

“No, no,” Gu Pan said confidently, “Do you remember the Xue Lanying incident? He admired how you stuck to your principles despite the situation, unafraid of the online gossip, and how you turned things around. He really appreciated your attitude and actions!”

Su Shiyi was a little embarrassed by the praise. Of course, she remembered that incident. But her calmness in that moment was thanks to the Gu family—what netizens said had no impact on her real life. As long as she didn’t want to hear it or see it, there were a thousand ways to block it.

“Well, he might be disappointed after meeting me in person,” Su Shiyi said frankly. “He might have imagined me as one of those elite socialites, an outstanding woman who could match him, but I’m just a salted fish.”

Maybe because her mother, Li Shuman, was the perfect lady of a wealthy family, she had also gained some of that aura. But Su Shiyi was very clear about her own self-awareness—being the head of a household was not for her, and it was unlikely to ever happen in this lifetime.

So she said: “Number one is probably not the type to inherit a family business, the best child in the family, right? That’s completely unsuitable for me. It would be torture for both sides.”

“Not really, Number 1’s name is Jiang Xingyao. He’s just returned from Cambridge as an associate professor of economics. He’s 27 this year, and definitely a young achiever.”

Su Shiyi nearly gasped in shock. A 27-year-old associate professor of economics from Cambridge?

“Young achiever” doesn’t even begin to cover it, this is a top-tier genius!

Oh, I forgot—this is a Mary Sue novel world, where even things that would be impossible in the real world seem common here.

Gu Pan continued, “He’s an academic talent, and in the future, he’ll continue to delve into theoretical studies. Inheriting the family business probably isn’t something for him, his father wasn’t an only child, and he has plenty of siblings.”

Got it. More siblings means more competition, so even if he wanted to, it’s not certain he’d get the chance. As for his complex family background, Su Shiyi didn’t mind. If she were really with Jiang Xingyao, she wouldn’t care about the Jiang family’s internal matters—so long as things were calm when she was around and nothing affected them directly.

Was anyone still bold enough to give her the cold shoulder?

“With his credentials, it shouldn’t be difficult for him to stay at a university in the capital,” Gu Pan had it all figured out. “I’ve already sent him your green signal, and told him to add you. You can chat online first, and if it feels right, you can meet in person.”

Su Shiyi had to admit, her close friend was thoughtful—she knew to let her talk with the guy first. Unlike Father Gu Lang, who just threw people at her without any preparation.

Of all the guys, besides Zhou Yingzhe, who she knew would be rejected, and He, who would probably remain just a friend, right now, Qi Yude was the one with the highest impression in her heart. It couldn’t be helped, his male “bodhisattva” body was just hard to resist…

But if she were to describe that electric feeling of “he’s the one,” that still hadn’t happened. Maybe she wasn’t the type to fall in love at first sight, it would probably take some time to really get to know someone.

She hadn’t received the green signal from Jiang Xingyao yet, but it was already late at night, so it was normal if he hadn’t seen Gu Pan’s message.

Su Shiyi was lying on the big bed in the scenic bedroom, with the iconic buildings of the Bund right outside. At 230 meters high, overlooking the city gave her such an exhilarating feeling, as if she owned the entire city. She snapped a casual photo of the breathtaking view that could trigger collective envy. Then, calmly, she opened My Little Island.

People always end up getting hooked.

Gu Lang’s advice was still quite sensible—if you like something, buy it, or build a better one. Even though she already had a floor in a castle, she still hadn’t gotten a spherical glass-view room like this.

Because Su Shiyi knew nothing about architecture, the buildings she designed were always odd, so in the latest update, Kevin had added a function where she could specify her requirements, and the intelligent system would generate a realistic design based on real architectural principles.

Now, she could just say, “Simulate an Oriental Pearl, and I’ll modify it based on that.”

Hmm… there’s over a 90% chance she’d ruin it and make the architect pass out, but it didn’t matter, she could do it her way first, and the versatile Kevin would make initial adjustments, keeping her creative ideas intact while correcting the impossible parts, and the professional designer would optimize it further.

Su Shiyi prided herself on being a good client. She knew her own level, and anyway, there were no limits to the budget. She wouldn’t ask anyone to fight against the laws of physics for her. So, although her ideas were often quirky and troublesome, her reputation in the industry was surprisingly good.

Not every designer was willing to take on such difficult tasks, but… she paid so generously!

She was practically single-handedly ruining the unhealthy industry ecology, driving up the prices for other clients in the same period, truly a beautiful and kind soul!

Moreover, if the commissions she gave were successfully completed, they would greatly boost the reputation. For example, the design proposal for the Ferris wheel she submitted was still in bidding, and various companies and teams were eager to get in, trying to break world records.

Su Good Samaritan of Architectural Design Shiyi spent half an hour, using 3D modeling technology to turn the Oriental Pearl into a mess. Aside from the spheres, it was almost unrecognizable. After a simulated run, the system certified that if the building were constructed according to the design, it at least wouldn’t collapse on its own… and that was about it.

That was enough. She nodded in satisfaction, saved her masterpiece, and uploaded it to the cloud, completely unaware of how many architects would be left speechless, doubting life, crying on the spot, and willing to pay a fortune to find a pair of eyes that hadn’t seen this.

Pies don’t fall from the sky. Sometimes, money really isn’t that easy to make…

The next morning at 9 a.m., Su Shiyi finally opened her eyes from the bed. She hesitated for a moment between continuing to sleep and getting up for breakfast, but decided to follow the nutritionist’s advice to eat something every morning.

“Sunday, have Lucy bring my breakfast in.”

She only needed to stay lying down and call out to Sunday, and the phone next to her bed would automatically light up and reply, “Okay, your request has been noted. Based on your eating habits from yesterday, the nutritionist has prepared a meal plan with three options for you to choose from.”

Su Shiyi was still half asleep and couldn’t be bothered to look at it. “You pick for me.”

“Understood. Based on your dietary preferences, option C has been selected. Your breakfast will be delivered within ten minutes. The smart appliances in the bathroom are ready, and the water temperature has been adjusted. You can go wash up now. Good morning, and I hope you have a pleasant day.”

Technology changes lives, this is true artificial intelligence.

Su Shiyi lay in bed for a while longer before convincing herself to release her ^[1]“川沙妲己” (Chuan Sha Daji) seems to refer to a specific version of the character Daji (妲己) from Chinese mythology, possibly inspired by a game or a cultural reference. Daji is a … Continue readingChuan Sha Daji doll and get up from the cozy blankets. She had several custom electric toothbrushes designed for her oral condition, and Lucy had placed one here for her, along with custom toothpaste—though it didn’t contribute much to brushing, Su Shiyi could choose her favorite flavor.

Hmm, the pearl milk tea-flavored toothpaste was quite addictive. She was grateful that the brand laboratory under the Gu family was willing to make it for her. She even wanted to try watermelon juice and kumquat lemon flavors.

After finishing her basic washing routine, she decided not to bother with the other bottles and jars and would call a beautician over after breakfast.

When she came out of the bathroom, Lucy had already set her breakfast on the dining table. The tablet on the stand showed the task manager, with several video platform apps waiting for her choice.

She selected a stand-up comedy show and lamented that such performance art was still too rare in the country. She heard that there were still many live shows offline, so she could go check one out when she had time.

Su Shiyi shared this with Lucy, and her attentive assistant asked, “When would you like to go?”

“Doesn’t it depend on when they have performances?”

“No need for that,” Lucy responded. “We are the organizers, we can invite the stand-up comedians over.”

Oh, right. Her assistant was clever, Su Shiyi always tended to narrow down her options.

Stand-up comedy worked this way, and it should be the same for celebrity concerts. Now she didn’t need to fight for tickets with others, she could just notify the company to reserve a few VIP seats. If she was unavailable on the concert day, it would be easy to solve—

It wasn’t just a concert, she could host another one. She could even arrange a mix of performances, inviting all the idols she liked, which sounded great.

Su Shiyi checked the calendar and counted the days, it was early July, and she had promised to go to Russia in August to see the white tigers.

“Please arrange the stand-up comedy show and the mixed concert before August. Just make sure they don’t clash with my overseas plans.”

“Understood, we will arrange everything.”

Such requests, which might be criticized by others in the industry as the demands of a ruthless client, were considered among the simplest tasks for Su Shiyi’s team.

As for which performers and stars would be invited, that would be based on the data analysis from her online activities, and if there was a specific person Su Shiyi liked, she would mention them separately.

As for the location… well, just like the comic conventions, a nationwide tour would be perfect.

Su Shiyi watched the variety show, drank her latte, and browsed through work reports on the tablet. She thought to herself that she was really working hard, almost at the level of Father Gu Lang!

If you ignore the fact that their wake-up times were fundamentally different, and Gu Lang was reading reports to make precise decisions, while she only needed to read and could freely propose suggestions that would drive professionals mad, then she was indeed just as diligent as Gu Lang.

This report was about the construction progress of the Billion Island amusement park. Aside from the Ferris wheel, which was still in the bidding process due to the difficulty of its design and construction, everything else had already started.

Oh, and the dinosaur gene laboratory, which was making zero progress because the researchers couldn’t even confirm whether their research direction was correct, with large sums of money being poured into it. Fortunately, Father Gu Lang was backing it up.

Su Shiyi directly skipped over the number, as there were so many zeros that she couldn’t count them.

Most of the projects had small modifications based on her ideas, but the section on Digital Beast AR interaction had more additions. Kevin and the game team’s feedback was that, given the limited entry time and number of visits, most visitors would have difficulty achieving in-depth development of the Digital Beast, unless they were permanent residents of Billion Island. Otherwise, the digital beast encyclopedia and leaderboard wouldn’t have much significance.

A good team not only understands the boss’s problems but also solves them for the boss. Here was the suggestion: the AR glasses used for interacting with the Digital Beast would be sold separately. Visitors could choose to try out a free public version or purchase a private version. The difference between the two was that only the private version could store the Digital Beast data and be taken home.

This meant that even after leaving the park, the owner of the glasses could still interact with their Digital Beast. They were also considering distributing evolution items at partner locations in major cities. As long as they met another Digital Beast partner with AR glasses, they could even battle outside the park.

This way, the AR interaction area in the park would become a “Digital Beast acquisition zone,” which could continuously attract visitors and ensure they could continue enjoying the experience after leaving, battling alongside their Digital Beast.

Of course, the park would also periodically feature big boss battles and invite visitors to participate in limited-time events with exclusive rewards such as limited-edition medals and special items, ensuring that visitors who collect too many Digital Eggs wouldn’t stop coming to the park.

Su Shiyi couldn’t help but click her tongue. Sure enough, compared to professional game planners, she could truly be considered a conscience of the industry.

“No problem,” she returned the tablet to Lucy, her tiny conscience awakening a little. “Uh, for visitors who enter the park with AR glasses during special events, let’s make their tickets half price.”

This would not only offer some benefit to game enthusiasts but also boost AR glasses sales, making them function like limited-time discount cards. They could be used for park discounts and also have other features typical of AR glasses, even including an awesome game!

Since they’ve bought the glasses, why not also grab a Digital Egg? When the Digital Beast hatches, they can interact and challenge friends. Other friends will be envious and want to join in and buy glasses too. If all their friends buy them, even those who weren’t initially interested would gradually get curious and follow the trend…

When AR glasses become a social tool, their sales would undoubtedly skyrocket, leading to a positive cycle until the hype dies down—Su Shiyi, the dog planner, understood this best.

She wasn’t trying to make money, she just wanted everyone to immerse themselves in the joy of the Digital Beast (totally convinced).

Following her usual style, the glasses’ price would definitely not be too expensive, offering great value for the price, while still ensuring some profit and not putting competitors out of business.

Su Shiyi could indeed sell at cost or even subsidize a bit below cost, but that would have a negative impact on the industry. After all, she didn’t care about the money, but others had to earn money to support their families.

These principles were all taught to her by Father Gu Lang. Her dad truly was the richest man, thinking things through much more thoroughly than she did.

After finishing breakfast, Su Shiyi finally opened her phone and noticed she had unread messages on WeChat.

Qi Yude had already woken up and sent her a good morning sticker at around 7 a.m. Su Shiyi responded with a good morning, even though it was already 9:30.

She then clicked on “New Friends” and, as expected, it was Associate Professor Jiang Xingyao. The greeting time was 8 a.m. Wow, did these people wake up this early?

Su Shiyi accepted Jiang Xingyao’s friend request and, before he sent her a message, decided to check out his Moments.

She actually wanted to see what Associate Professor Jiang looked like, but his profile picture was of a library corner, his cover photo was the default system image, and as for the content of his Moments… it was filled with economics-related articles that Su Shiyi would revere just by reading the titles.

At least these were in Chinese, so she could generally understand what they were about. If it were Jiang Xingyao’s Facebook or Twitter, those professional economic terms would definitely confuse Su Shiyi, whose English wasn’t very good.

Su Shiyi felt a little regretful not having seen Jiang Xingyao’s photo. Asking him directly wasn’t an option, as they weren’t that familiar yet, but she thought of another way.

Hehe, Jiang Xingyao was No. 1, so the first photo in the compressed folder should be of him.

With a mix of nervousness and anticipation, Su Shiyi opened the compressed folder her Father Gu Lang, had sent her. Sure enough, the photo labeled as No. 1 had Jiang Xingyao’s name, and it was even his formal picture!

In the photo, Jiang Xingyao was in class. The three-piece suit that would look like something a door-to-door insurance salesman would wear on others seemed exceptionally classy on him. His features were sharp, and although the round, gold-rimmed glasses slightly softened his aggressive aura, his gaze remained piercing, with his slightly parted thin lips giving off a hint of a restrained, seductive allure.

Just looking at his photo, Su Shiyi already felt a little nervous. The photo was taken by one of his students, and he probably had already noticed…

The disapproving gaze of the associate professor on the podium, staring hard.jpg

Su Shiyi quickly switched back to the chat page, and Jiang Xingyao had sent her a message. When she saw the message was a voice message, she sensed something was off. When she opened it, to her surprise, there were three 60-second-long voice messages.

Su Shiyi: …Her fists are clenched.

Don’t think that just because you’re handsome, I’ll let this slide! The only voice messages I can accept are the ones from Father Gu Lang!

The fear and frustration of being controlled by bosses and clients in her previous work rose in her chest. Su Shiyi originally wanted to switch it to text to see what he had said, but she accidentally hit play.

She wanted to pause it, but his voice came through the phone.

“Good morning, Su Shiyi. I’m Jiang Xingyao…”

What he said next, Su Shiyi didn’t really remember. The only thing left in her mind was one thought:

Damn, is his hidden profession a voice actor? Why does he say even the simplest greeting in such a pleasant, melodious, and perfectly modulated voice?

Waaah, talk more! Why can’t WeChat let me send voice messages longer than sixty seconds? I could listen to him all day!