“Mind your own business!”
Gu Zhaoye, consumed by rage, snapped at her.
Ruan Nian stared at him, utterly stunned.
Was he really yelling at her because of Liang Zhiwei?
Was the favorability she had just earned from him still not enough?
Now she truly panicked.
She had always had a faint, lingering fear—one she was reluctant to admit—that Liang Zhiwei, who had no “golden finger” (special advantages), had still managed to win Gu Zhaoye’s heart just by being by his side for a few years.
Meanwhile, Ruan Nian herself had used so many “system” tricks.
Her fear was that Gu Zhaoye’s true type was someone like Liang Zhiwei, and she had only artificially boosted her appeal with too many buffs.
In a panic, she gritted her teeth and asked the system again: [Can I boost his favorability even a little more?]
[Nian Nian, you have almost no favorability points left to allocate.]
[Just do it!]
With so many people watching, she absolutely could not let Gu Zhaoye lose his temper at her because of Liang Zhiwei.
If people realized Gu Zhaoye’s love for her wasn’t that deep, they would start looking down on her.
Gu Zhaoye’s affection was her foundation for surviving in the entertainment industry.
Since Ruan Nian insisted, the system could only sigh and help her nudge it up just a little bit more.
Everyone stared wide-eyed as they watched Gu Zhaoye’s expression gradually settle down.
At first, he looked confused, but then his gaze toward Ruan Nian softened, and eventually, guilt filled his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Nian Nian. It was a misunderstanding,”
Gu Zhaoye brushed off the incident lightly.
After thinking it over, he decided to placate her:
“It’s because Gu Zhaoping was there. That’s why I went in. Don’t overthink it.”
Ruan Nian finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She smiled and said,
“It’s okay. Netizens are often one-sided. They judge from a single edited video. We’ll slowly clarify and turn things around online. Zhaoye, I believe in your ability.”
“Let’s just focus on running this restaurant well for now.”
She then turned to Li Xunxi and her brother, forcing herself to apologize: “I’m sorry, Xunxi-jie. I dragged you into this mess.But the game isn’t over yet. We don’t want to lose the bet, right? Let’s keep working for now!”
Li Xunxi, who had just been startled by Gu Zhaoye’s sudden mood swings—first furious, then coaxing—thought to herself, What a bunch of lunatics.
She rolled her eyes.
Forget it.
She didn’t even have the energy to argue with Ruan Nian anymore.
“You’d better clear it up that you’re not ‘serving some spoiled princess’ after the show ends!”
As a celebrity, if Ruan Nian’s reputation completely tanked, it would be a far worse outcome than an ordinary scandal—a manager alone wouldn’t be enough to cover for her.
Ruan Nian gritted her teeth and promised,
“Okay, Xunxi-jie, I’ll take care of it.”
Just after she said that, Ruan Nian suddenly felt dizzy, her face turning pale.
It must have been the side effect of reallocating her “constitution points” earlier.
This day was just way too long.
She slowly clenched her fist—her “favorability reserves” had been completely depleted.
She desperately needed more.
Much, much more.
***
At last, the chaotic day ended.
At night, after sending off the last table of customers, Chu Yanze busied himself cleaning up the restaurant tables.
He looked up at the bright lights and felt that the day had flown by too quickly—he was a little reluctant for it to end.
Even though he hadn’t had much chance to talk to Sister Zhaoping because business had been so busy, just being in the same space with her, watching her bustling around, made him feel happy.
And seeing her in action—especially when she slapped someone—was seriously cool.
Whether it was her calm negotiation skills, pushing the neighboring team to desperation, or how she casually grabbed Gu Zhaoye’s wrist and slapped him—it was all so badass.
Chu Yanze touched his own face, thinking back to her former fiancé, feeling a twinge of regret.
If only that arrogant jerk had gotten slapped too!
Sister Zhaoping really had it tough—so many crazy people in her life.
But looking at it positively, maybe the chaos made her appreciate him a little more.
“We’re done for the day,”
Gu Zhaoping said as she finished tallying up the accounts, lifting her head and taking off her glasses.
Chu Yanze answered, and Liang Zhiwei, who had been in the kitchen, also came out, taking off her apron and stretching her shoulders.
Together, they headed back to the estate to tally the day’s final results.
“Done!”
On the way, they passed Group 3, who had always been low-profile.
It seemed like their business had been quite lively, and they had just finished wrapping up for the day.
As they passed by, Chu Yanze silently turned his head and rolled up the car window — being cautious of “green tea” (a slang term for a two-faced person).
“Alright, today’s business is done. Now let’s start calculating today’s revenue!”
The director had rushed back to the manor ahead of them to set up the scene.
After a long, exhausting day, he just wanted to wrap everything up as soon as possible.
“The guests who arrived first can start calculating now!”
At that moment, a car stopped outside.
A few people quickly got out of it, with Ruan Nian calling out,
“Wait! We’re back too!”
She hurried over, gasping for breath, bringing their account books with her.
After calming down some anger between people, business picked up a little in the evening.
Ruan Nian let out a huge sigh of relief.
Given their level of popularity, she felt sure they wouldn’t end up at the bottom.
After handing in their account book, Ruan Nian turned around and saw Liang Zhiwei.
Her eyes dimmed a little.
She needed to pull someone down with her if necessary.
Behind her, Gu Zhaoye, Li Xunxi, and Li Xunwen also came over.
Those who had seen Gu Zhaoye before were still alright, but when Group 3 — who had been quietly working — saw him, they froze for a moment, almost startled.
They were too busy today to pay attention to what was happening online, and were wondering why Mr. Gu was even here.
Someone then whispered into their ears.
In an instant, everyone was stunned.
Su Yubai listened, then gave Gu Zhaoping a complicated look and sighed.
He knew that once Zhaoping came back to the country, it wouldn’t take long before she stopped hiding her identity.
Now it seemed she was completely revealing herself and cutting ties with her past self.
Her acting like she didn’t know him made sense now.
Zhaoping had returned to inherit the family business and pursue greater ambitions — she wouldn’t care about the petty entanglements with “little boys” anymore.
Gu Zhaoye sat down with a grim expression.
Seeing everyone staring at him, he simply furrowed his brow and said,
“Continue.”
But no one moved.
It was Gu Zhaoping, sitting in front, who spoke up lightly:
“Continue.”
It was as if the tension instantly thawed, and everyone got back to work.
“Oh, right, let’s start with Group 3!” the director said, snapping out of it.
Right now, he was a bit scared of Gu Zhaoping — she hit too hard and was unfathomable.
Gu Zhaoye’s face darkened again.
What did that mean?
No one moved when he spoke, but moved when Gu Zhaoping said it?
The director quickly checked Group 3’s revenue and said:
“Very good! Very good! Your group’s costs were the lowest, and your earnings were still quite decent.”
Among the three groups, only this group had worked quietly and caused no trouble.
The director felt relieved just seeing them.
He then turned to check Group 2’s revenue.
Ruan Nian’s group had wrapped up too hastily at the end.
They hadn’t even had time to go through the account book properly on the road.
But Ruan Nian felt confident — with Gu Zhaoye leading, their later business couldn’t be bad.
Besides, even if it wasn’t great, they wouldn’t be at the bottom either — the other groups didn’t seem too impressive.
The director checked once, then again, still unable to believe it.
He awkwardly “uhh”-ed and grabbed Group 1’s account book too, saying,
“Let’s tally both groups together.”
The director looked a bit confused, as if doubting his own math.
At Group 2, Gu Zhaoye looked calm.
Since it was about revenue now, he wasn’t worried — that was his strength.
But sitting in the same space as Gu Zhaoping made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
He just wanted to finish the tally quickly and get out of there.
No one expected what came next —the director counted again and again, his face full of disbelief, looking up at them repeatedly.
The atmosphere started to feel tense.
Li Xunxi and Li Xunwen exchanged glances — something felt wrong.
Ruan Nian raised her hand and asked: “Director, why aren’t you announcing the results yet?
Is it because our group’s account book is too surprising?”
She smiled brightly while speaking, making sure to praise Gu Zhaoye in passing.
“After all, the second half was run by Zhaoye. He even redesigned a new plan for us!”
Hearing this, Gu Zhaoping couldn’t help but click her tongue softly.
Gu Zhaoye’s arrogance sometimes made you wonder if it was inflated by people like Ruan Nian, who really knew how to flatter.
Of course, Ruan Nian only provided “emotional value” to Gu Zhaoye — everyone else was just a stepping stone for her.
The director stared blankly, looking awkward and pursing his lips for a long time, but didn’t dare to announce the result.
He felt that once he said it, hell would break loose.
“Just say it, Director. What’s the result?”
Gu Zhaoping said calmly.
The director turned to her.
She was looking at him with cold, steady eyes — neither expectant nor rejecting — just quietly urging him.
The director felt a chill down his spine, oppressed by her aura, and hurriedly blurted out:
“Yes, um, the result is…Group 1 won!”
“Congratulations to Group 1! All bets now go to you!”
But…only the director clapped.
Everyone else was silent.
Chu Yanze and Liang Zhiwei were genuinely happy, but the others couldn’t believe what they just heard.
Ruan Nian’s pupils shrank.
What?
What?!
Group 1, Gu Zhaoping’s group, actually won?
How was that possible?
Their group was personally managed by Gu Zhaoye!
Gu Zhaoye could even make a huge company like Yuanqi Technologies thrive—how could he possibly lose in such a small competition?
She blurted out:
“Director, are you sure you didn’t miscalculate? Our group is organized by Zhaoye—”
At that moment, Gu Zhaoye’s expression also turned a bit grim.
He sharply turned to look at Gu Zhaoping.
Their group had won.
Which meant…he had really lost to Gu Zhaoping?
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
In his mind, he suddenly pictured Gu Zhaoping’s appearance at the financial meeting the other day, and a wave of psychological trauma surged up again!
Gu Zhaoye’s mind was in complete chaos; his face felt even more painful now than when Gu Zhaoping had slapped him earlier that day.
Seeing that Ruan Nian was about to keep questioning in disbelief, he quickly grabbed her and said,
“I arrived a little late today, and with everything that happened earlier, just being able to operate normally without losing money is already pretty good. This result is understandable, I accept it.”
He made it sound magnanimous, but in truth, he was gritting his teeth so hard it nearly shattered them, desperately finding an excuse for himself.
Ruan Nian also snapped out of it. She paused for a moment, then quickly said: “Ah, right, right, we only officially started operating in the afternoon. Being a little slower is normal. They had a whole day of operation, after all. But it’s already great that we made any profit! At least we didn’t lose money!”
However, deep down, she didn’t believe their group would perform worse than Group 3, which had taken a cautious approach to management.
Given their pricing strategy, even if they worked miracles, they couldn’t have earned that much.
Just then, Gu Zhaoping spoke calmly: “Really? You broke even?”
Ruan Nian froze, and Gu Zhaoye sharply turned his head to look as well.
Gu Zhaoping simply said: “Group 3 also worked hard all day. Why don’t we just announce everyone’s revenue and let everyone have a look? Their effort deserves recognition too.”
Group 3’s members were taken aback, feeling a little moved.
This was the same Sister Gu Zhaoping who had slapped President Gu and thrown a jujitsu coach without hesitation—and yet she was now speaking so politely and showing concern for their efforts.
However, they were worried that their numbers might not look good and their group leader hurriedly waved his hands to decline politely.
The director glanced at Ruan Nian’s expression and, for some reason, felt a surge of pent-up frustration. In the end, he still announced: “Group 3’s final profit is 1,300 virtual coins.”
It didn’t sound like much, but considering their small booth, this was the result of four people working themselves like donkeys all day.
Then the director glanced at the financial report again and continued reading: “Group 2…a loss of 32,480 virtual coins…”
Silence.
A complete, instant silence.
The director mercilessly continued reading: “Group 1, profit of 17,500 virtual coins!”
The words had barely fallen when everyone stood there stunned.
That much?
Such a huge gap!?
No losses?!
Everyone immediately recalled the excuse Ruan Nian had tried to make just now.
The slap to the face—!
It hurt.
It hurt a lot!!
Ruan Nian stood up in disbelief!
What was going on?
What had Gu Zhaoping’s group done?
How could they possibly make that much profit after just one day of operation?
Their group had Gu Zhaoye—how could it turn out like this?
Could it be that Gu Zhaoping’s restaurant was actually doing well?
A flash of insight suddenly struck Ruan Nian.
Weren’t the fans who betrayed her actually water armies?
Weren’t they bribed by Gu Zhaoping to smear her and praise Gu Zhaoping?
But no!
Even if that were true, the cost of rent for their shop was so high.
Even if they had no other expenses and bartered for all their ingredients, with just one day of operation, it should have been impossible to make that much profit!
Besides, though their group hadn’t done detailed bookkeeping before, they had made rough estimates—it shouldn’t have led to such massive losses!
Before Ruan Nian could question further, Gu Zhaoping had already collected their group’s wager, along with the wager that Ruan Nian’s group had placed.
Their group had bet 10,000; Ruan Nian’s group had bet 15,000, with 2.5:1 odds.
In the next moment, Gu Zhaoping turned to them.
She smiled at them and said: “You downgraded your positioning, didn’t you?”
“To lose this much, you must have lowered your brand positioning to match the surrounding ordinary restaurants. Otherwise, for every sale you made, you lost money—the better the business, the more you lost.”
Ruan Nian and Li Xunxi’s faces changed dramatically.
They suddenly thought of Gu Zhaoye—but didn’t dare scold him!
Was that it?
That’s how the gap widened so much?
In the silence, their eyes were wide with fury—especially Gu Zhaoye’s.
At that moment, Gu Zhaoping casually asked another question: “I’ve been wanting to ask this for a while. Now that everyone involved is present, I’d like to know—”
She spoke slowly and deliberately.
“Ruan Nian, you said Gu Zhaoye didn’t participate earlier because he needed to stay with the ailing Elder Gu. What was that all about?”
She tilted her head slightly.
“Gu Zhaoye, care to explain?”