"Mom, what are you talking about? We're not dating!" the young girl said, exasperated.
"Oh, you're not dating yet? Right, he hasn't confessed his feelings to you yet. In that case, you need to play hard to get; you can't make the first move." Liu Xiaoli had already surrendered, but looking back, she realized the enemy hadn't even started the siege yet, damn it.
"Mom, didn't you say you wanted to give him money? How much do you think is appropriate?" The young girl seized the opening.
"Give him my foot! He's your die-hard fan; how can you brush him off with money? Even if you aren't dating, you need to maintain a good relationship with him." This was a cash cow, damn it! My attitude just now was terrible—I'm sorry, great talent!
"He just gave me two story ideas, and wants me to use one of them to make a deal with Huayi Brothers and trade it for more shares."
"He can write scripts too?" Liu Xiaoli was already numb. What kind of freak luck did this dead girl have? Please send a few more fans of such high quality!
"He hasn't written the script yet, but he told me two stories, and they're extremely fascinating. So don't rush to contact Huayi; wait until he finishes the script."
"What kind of stories are they...?" Liu Xiaoli's voice even dropped an octave; she needed to listen with rapt attention to a genius's stories.
"One of them is about a group of thieves trying to steal a jewel—a heist story, an ensemble cast where every character has unique traits. The plot goes something like this... blah, blah, blah..."
Liu Xiaoli's eyes glazed over. Even if she didn't know much about scripts, a plot this complex, filled with various entanglements of gratitude and revenge, was clearly no small matter.
Someone with a mediocre brain couldn't even understand it when told, let alone write it.
It's over. My daughter is gone.
"The other one is about a female assassin with a terminal illness. To get revenge, she wipes out an entire mob single-handedly. He said this is the kind of story where 'the role carries the actor,' and it will be extremely brilliant. Plus, because the character is terminally ill, she has no interest in anything and keeps a blank expression the whole time. It's a perfect fit for someone with my mediocre acting skills; it's practically tailor-made for me."
"We won't take this one to collaborate with others. We'll shoot this one right after the thief movie."
"Why don't you just make the first move and confess to him?" Liu Xiaoli completely gave up. While it was a bit absurd for a brat to be this much of a genius, these stories definitely weren't something her daughter could dream up.
This dead girl had fallen right into the carefully woven talented-man's trap he set, and there was no getting out now. She was going to fall for him sooner or later, so she might as well make her move early.
"No way. If he doesn't confess, I'm certainly not going to initiate." The young girl spoke with righteous sternness, though she was crying out inside.
You think I don't want to?
But that guy isn't biting, what can I do?
"Actually, you're not that young anymore. You're 22, already past the ideal marrying age." Liu Xiaoli abruptly pivoted to pushing for marriage.
"Mom, he's only 19!" The young girl was left speechless.
"An older woman holds gold bricks. You two can date for a few years, and by the time he reaches the legal marriage age, you can get married right then. How wonderful."
Actually, Liu Xiaoli still didn't want her daughter dating so early, but she knew her daughter too well. So she deliberately exploited her rebellious psychology and argued the exact opposite.
In short, she didn't want this little girl getting too full of herself.
"Date my foot! It's not like I can't get married. What kind of mother are you? Just because you see someone is a genius, you want to push me out the door!" The young girl predictably took the bait, turning rebellious.
Their previous clash had been discussed with Chen Hao beforehand, so she had handled it with ease. But this marriage-pushing segment was Liu Xiaoli's impromptu addition—the two of them hadn't discussed it at all, and the young girl instantly gave herself away.
The conversation fell right back into Liu Xiaoli's rhythm. Ginger really is hotter the older it gets.
"Fine, fine, fine! Whatever you want." Liu Xiaoli knew when to quit while she was ahead.
She couldn't actually push her too hard; if the dead girl threw caution to the wind and actually went after the guy, she really didn't want to become a grandmother this soon.
"Mom, he's planning to start a business, and I'm going to lend him some money." The young girl finally showed her true hand.
Having laid the groundwork for so long with stellar results, Liu Xiaoli magnanimously said, "That's only right. Don't call it a loan—giving him a sum of money outright is no more than he deserves."
"His company is up and running, and I'm planning to join it as a partner." The young girl pushed her luck.
"That's fine too. The two of us really aren't professional enough anyway. What kind of contract did you negotiate with him? He's your fan; he wouldn't screw you over, right?"
Liu Xiaoli didn't object to this either. At worst, joining a company meant getting propositioned, but this dead girl was probably praying to be propositioned.
"Mom, he asked me to be his partner! I'm a shareholder too, and he even said he'd hand the company over to me to run!" The young girl looked immensely pleased with herself, already daydreaming about being the majestic President Liu again.
"Oh! Partners?"
Liu Xiaoli was somewhat surprised! She knew her own family best; neither she nor her daughter had any talent for running a company.
Since the little fellow was so much of a genius, his company shouldn't do too badly.
Becoming a partner meant he was taking her along for the ride. This little fellow wasn't bad at all.
Wait, was this damn thing supposed to be the bride price?
You little bastard, so that was the sneaky scheme you were pulling?
Oh well, children and grandchildren have their own fortunes; she was washing her hands of their messy business.
Since the guy was so talented, knew how to make money, was very handsome, and was a few years younger than her daughter, any way you looked at it, they weren't getting the short end of the stick.
"Why don't you invite him over for dinner so we can discuss you two partnering up on this company?"
Liu Xiaoli decided she wanted to see for herself what that little brat from back then looked like now.
"Mom, I can invite him over, but we really aren't dating! You can't put on a mother-in-law's expression and scare him off!"
The young girl was terrified her mother would scare away her golden goose.
"Smack!"
Liu Xiaoli couldn't help herself and landed a "descending palm from the heavens" right on the young girl's forehead.
"What mother-in-law expression? I'm thanking him on your behalf.
Even though he's your fan, he wrote songs for you for free, gave you pointers on picking movies, is writing scripts for you now, and is even bringing you along to start a company. Which fan in the world would do all that?
If I didn't know, fine. But now that I do, I naturally have to show some appreciation. I'll treat him like a benefactor, alright?"
This dead girl was simply eating food inside and pushing it outside—how could she talk to her mother like that?
Before the two of them made things official, Liu Xiaoli would definitely be extremely polite to Chen Hao.
Well, a mother-in-law's expression wasn't entirely out of the question, but that would have to wait until she actually became a mother-in-law. She'd deal with the punk then.
"Right, right, right! A benefactor it is." The young girl beamed with joy.
With mother and daughter in agreement, the young girl pulled out her phone right then and there and called Chen Hao.
"Little Rat, what are you up to?"
Chen Hao was deep in the grind of typing, feeling quite annoyed, but the moment he heard the young girl's voice, the annoyance vanished.
Because joy is contagious, and just by listening to her voice, he felt as though he could see the young girl's smiling face.
"Writing your script. My hands are almost typing themselves to the bone."
Who says men can't act spoiled? Sometimes, when a man acts spoiled, it's even deadlier than a woman doing it!
"Oh dear, thank you for your hard work! My mom wants to invite you over for dinner."
The young girl's heart naturally ached for him.
"Alright, I want to eat that Wuhan specialty dish, cowpea greens, the one we had today." Chen Hao started ordering right off the bat.
Liu Xiaoli wasn't very familiar with him, but he was way too familiar with Liu Xiaoli.
Back when he used to inhabit the young girl's body, he would frequently impersonate her "daughter" to order dishes from Liu Xiaoli.
He knew "our mom" inside and out!