Chapter 49: Stop Thinking About It

Chapter 49: Stop Dreaming

When they had met privately before, Li Jingxiu had brought his wife. Today, coming officially to handle the formalities, Gu Lanxi arrived only to find that Su Ying had not come.

Gu Lanxi sighed inwardly, then smiled as she stepped forward to shake hands.

Involving such a large transaction, the paperwork alone would take half a day. Even though both parties had reached a tacit understanding beforehand, the process still could not be handled with even the slightest carelessness.

When people get busy, time flies; in the blink of an eye, it was time to clock out.

The morning session concluded, and after agreeing on a meeting time for the afternoon, the two parties parted ways.

Gu Lanxi led her team of nine to a hotel for a meal. Since Liang Shizhao needed to return to the firm, she took the others back to the studio.

After holding a brief meeting to deploy the afternoon's tasks, she returned to her office.

She pulled out her cot and was just about to lie down when she received a call from Lu Nanting.

"On the trending searches again? What did you do?"

Seeing the hype subside only to surge back up again, Gu Lanxi felt a wave of dizziness.

Who could understand this feeling of potentially being cornered by people outside at any moment?!

"I was just bored. Old Guo and Old Hou were playing games with me for a bit. You know I never play those; I don't really understand the controls. I didn't expect that I'd accidentally turn on the game voice chat. While I was on a WeChat voice call with them, a passerby heard it, recorded a video, and posted it."

Lu Nanting was so angry he lost his appetite for lunch.

To be fair, he really was not good at playing games.

Missing skill shots was a common occurrence; he would even take the wrong path and get stuck in a dead end, requiring teammates to come rescue him.

In short—

Lu Nanting took a deep breath, struggling to hide his breakdown. "Right now, game streamers have already turned my gameplay into commentary videos. Some people are livestreaming, watching that clip and laughing until they cry. Some are analyzing my skills, others are discussing the content of our conversation, and someone even made a 'guichu' (remix/meme) video of me..."

Lu Nanting had maintained his dignity for over twenty years; he never imagined that one day, he would be treated like a comedian just because he played games!

"Do you know? The gaming company just sent an endorsement invitation. They don't even know who you are; they just said as long as you're willing to appear, they'll give us twenty or thirty million a year. There's only one requirement: when filming the promotional video, you have to dress up as Cai Wenji, because Old Hou said while playing that I'm even worse than Cai Wenji!"

"Old Hou? Is he good at games? Just how bad is Cai Wenji?"

This fell into Gu Lanxi's knowledge blind spot.

However, despite never having played games, the unyielding Ms. Gu immediately ignited a fierce fighting spirit.

Seeing her tone change, looking as if she wanted to find Old Hou for an offline showdown, Lu Nanting, who had been on the verge of tears, actually burst out laughing.

"It's just because her surname is Cai; it's mostly just a meme. As for Old Hou, he didn't mean it..."

Lu Nanting detailed his terrible gameplay, and only then did Gu Lanxi breathe a sigh of relief.

Then, her money-loving nature exploded, and her attention shifted to the thirty million.

"If we film the commercial before the exposure goes public—knowing that your wife is me—can we negotiate the endorsement fee even higher?"

She was unwilling to make an official announcement when there was no money involved, but if she could get thirty million, or even more...

Lu Nanting was nearly choked to death by her words.

"Stop dreaming. I rejected it outright. It wouldn't be good for your reputation."

Once an endorsement is officially announced, fans will feel that the previous secrecy was all for the sake of money.

He wanted pure love; he didn't want their relationship tainted by the smell of money.

This wasn't just about her reputation.

Gu Lanxi sighed regretfully. "Then forget it!"

To be honest, she had only wavered momentarily because of the money; in the end, she would likely back out again.

If she signed a contract and then reneged, she would have to pay a penalty, which would be a lose-lose situation.

It was better to stick to the previous policy to the end.

"Don't be regretful, okay?"

Lu Nanting knew how much she loved money, but he also knew she understood best which money was worth taking and which was not.

"It's fine, I'll earn it back later. By the way, you didn't say anything you shouldn't have, did you?"

Gu Lanxi knew the group Lu Nanting mentioned—Old Guo and Old Hou. She knew that although they had some minor flaws typical of wealthy young masters, their values weren't problematic.

However, since they hadn't seen them in so long, she wondered if they had picked up any bad habits...

After all, the things adults and minors play with are completely different.

Many men, once they have money, tend to have messy relationships; add a group of like-minded, equally wealthy friends, and things could go south quickly.

She hadn't considered this before; she would have to be more careful in the future.

"Birds of a feather flock together," after all...

"We didn't say anything. Old Guo just asked me for concert tickets, so I took the chance to roast him a bit..."

Lu Nanting gave her no room for wild speculation, simply recounting the conversation briefly.

Gu Lanxi found it funny. "And the people outside are calling you stingy?"

"Not exactly."

Lu Nanting sighed deeply. "It's just that when you're not home, I can't find the motivation to do anything. I'm feeling quite down..."

The sweet talk came easily. Gu Lanxi fell silent for a long while, unsure of how to respond. Finally, she could only say, "Things are progressing smoothly on my end. There's likely a group dinner tonight, so I'll try to get back as soon as possible," before hanging up.

When they were dating, they liked to call each other even when they had nothing to do, just to recount their daily lives.

Gu Lanxi was the type to say, "Have you eaten? I've eaten." Lu Nanting was the type to say, "I had spicy crab for lunch, wow, it was so meaty and fat!"

In the past, Lu Nanting would have thought she was cold, that her speech was always flat and devoid of emotion, and that she surely didn't love him enough. Now, he wouldn't think that way.

When he was a child, if he received a little red flower in kindergarten, a crowd of people would surround him with praise when he got home. Over time, he naturally loved to share things with his family and did not hide his emotions.

Gu Lanxi, however, was someone who, no matter how many first places she ranked or how many red flowers she earned, would never receive any response.

She was used to not showing off, used to not expressing her thoughts, used to not sharing her life, and used to secretly enjoying her achievements alone when she reached a certain milestone.

To be able to recount her affairs to him in such detail was already quite an achievement.

It was the same principle: there is a difference between having ten thousand and spending one hundred on someone, and having only one hundred and spending it all on them.

After hanging up, Gu Lanxi's sleepiness vanished completely.

The office was very quiet, with only the faint hum of the air conditioner.

Gu Lanxi climbed off the cot, watered the lady fern on her desk, sat in her executive chair, and after preparing herself mentally, picked up the phone she had left on the desk.

Opening Weibo, several trending topics immediately caught her eye

#How Bad Is Lu Nanting Really#

#Lu Nanting Gets Roasted#

#Lu Nanting Guichu#

#The Values of a Love-Brain#

#What a Waste of My Ticket#

...

Just looking at these tags was enough to make one laugh.

After clicking on the original game recording, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.

CEO Gu: *Ah, how can he be so cute~*