Chapter 49: World Two [19] Part 2

The fans on Shao Qing’s Weibo happened to be particularly active just then. Within less than a minute of posting, the number of likes had already surpassed a thousand.

This alone showed that many people had set Shao Qing’s Weibo as a special notification, allowing them to arrive at the scene immediately.

[Front row~ Checking in!]

[My wife is so beautiful, let me give you a kiss!]

[Who’s the person in the photo with Qingqing? She’s so good-looking too! Is she a newly debuted artist? Three minutes, I want her info!]

[Maybe she’s a new artist Zongheng Entertainment is going to promote? Didn’t Zongheng often have Qingqing help promote new artists before?]

[What, am I the only one who thinks Qingqing is just simply sharing a photo with a friend?]

[You’re not alone. Wife’s state looks very relaxed, and the style of their tops is similar. Looks like they’re genuine friends at first glance.]

[Qingqing Jie and her friend are both very beautiful, and the sunset is beautiful too~]

Shao Qing had installed the mini-program Jing Ke sent her earlier on her phone, so when she opened the backend, she didn’t see any comments that significantly affected her mood. It was basically fan’s genuine comments and attitudes.

After scrolling through a few, Shao Qing selected a few familiar usernames to briefly reply to, denying the speculation that Jing Ke was a new artist from the company.

“Jing Ke, you’re not planning to enter the entertainment industry to act, right?” After pressing send, Shao Qing looked up at Jing Ke.

Jing Ke shook her head. “I’m not very interested in acting, nor do I really know how. At most, I might be an investor or a sponsor.”

“In that case, do you need me to introduce you to a few promising investment projects? If you make money, you can give me some finder’s fee?” Shao Qing’s tone was natural.

After saying this, Shao Qing put the joke behind her. She selected a few more netizens to reply to, giving a more definitive answer, stating that Jing Ke was just her friend and would not debut as an artist in the future.

–

Living in the villa by herself versus living with someone else brought a very different feeling to Shao Qing.

The most prominent difference was a sense of security. Knowing that Jing Ke was only separated from her by one room, Shao Qing’s state was visibly more relaxed than before. Previously, she would check the doors and windows multiple times a day.

Shao Qing even chatted with Jing Ke in the study before bed for a while, followed her newly registered Weibo, and casually edited her previous post to tag Jing Ke, who used her real name as her online handle.

Seeing that the number of people following her was starting to increase, Jing Ke clicked on her Weibo profile, which only had a single greeting post, and looked at the new comments.

Seeing many people leaving messages telling her to post something, Jing Ke humbly asked Shao Qing for advice. “Shao Qing, lots of your fans have followed me. Should I post something?”

“Is there…” Shao Qing originally intended to tell Jing Ke to post some of her old life photos from abroad, to initially establish her returnee persona before the fans.

But on second thought, before today Jing Ke was completely off the grid. How could she have past life photos?

After pondering for a moment, Shao Qing quickly had an idea. “That’s easy. Just casually pick up a book, I’ll take a picture of you, and you can just post a full-body shot.”

Jing Ke nodded and unguardedly handed her phone to Shao Qing, conveniently picking up a book from the desk and starting to flip through it.

Shao Qing had shared photos of her study before. To prevent any microscope-wielding netizens from discovering clues, she had Jing Ke move her chair next to the wall, avoiding anything too distinctive.

“Jing Ke, your posture is a bit too stiff. Relax a little more. Pretend I don’t exist,” Shao Qing directed according to her own feeling.

“Okay.” Jing Ke complied, trying hard to adjust her state according to Shao Qing’s words.

The study’s light was warm yellow and non-glaring. Fresh from her shower, Jing Ke wore a very common grey-white bathrobe.

Her deep brown hair was casually draped behind her head. Having just been blow-dried not long ago, there were still many fluffy stray hairs near her forehead, softening her heroic facial features.

This Jing Ke looked so domestic, somehow giving off a vibe of being very good at taking care of people.

Shao Qing couldn’t help sighing inwardly. The originally standard lens, without her realizing it, had been zoomed in considerably.

On the not-so-large phone screen, Jing Ke’s face occupied two-thirds.

As for the remaining one-third, it was the exposed part of Jing Ke’s neck and her faintly visible collarbone.

Shao Qing swallowed dryly and suddenly understood why so many people became her fans simply because she was good-looking.

Liking and pursuing beautiful people and things seemed to be an instinct etched into human genes. She was no exception.

“Is there anywhere else that needs adjusting?” Seeing Shao Qing not say anything, Jing Ke couldn’t help turning her head to look.

The profile on the screen instantly turned into Jing Ke’s full frontal face. Her amber eyes, magnified multiple times, appeared even clearer and more transparent.

“Okay, that’s fine. Just focus on reading; leave the rest to me,” Shao Qing quickly recovered, masking her reaction by zooming the image back to normal proportions.

“Alright.” Jing Ke thought nothing of it and quickly resumed the action of looking down at her book.

Shao Qing licked her lower lip, slightly enlarged the view again, and took five photos in rapid succession.

“Done. You can pick one from these, write any caption, and post it,” Shao Qing returned the phone to Jing Ke, lowering her eyes to hide the emotion within.

A love for beauty was universal. After a photo full of mood and atmosphere was posted, Jing Ke’s follower count surpassed a hundred thousand the very next day.

And the comments were basically all there for Jing Ke’s face, calling her “wife” or “husband” with one breath, very unrestrained.

Having some understanding of netizens’ verbal frivolity, Jing Ke merely frowned slightly. She didn’t take it seriously with the netizens but instead selected a few who complimented both herself and Shao Qing to leave replies and gave them a thumbs-up like.

–

The newly returned Jing Ke had no job. With over a billion in foreign currency, she also had no plans to become a miserable wage slave. Instead, she looked over the various summaries of materials she had previously compiled.

She researched whether it was better to start a company from scratch or to buy a poorly managed entertainment company and then carry out drastic reforms for higher efficiency.

While Jing Ke was studying the materials of various entertainment companies, Shao Qing wasn’t idle either. Apart from her regular specialized classes, she had over two hours of fitness training every day.

As a result, after Jing Ke became human, the frequency of their chats actually decreased. They only talked for about ten or so minutes when they sat down to eat together.

After this state of interaction had lasted barely seven days, Jing Ke couldn’t help but speak up. “Actually, I also know how to arrange nutritious meals. Would you like to try my cooking?”

“Hm? You want to cook every day?” Shao Qing’s motion of eating her nutritionally planned meal slowed. “Is the food the assistant prepares not to your taste?”

“No, I just wanted to use my abilities to do something helpful for you,” Jing Ke shook her head gently, her slightly sharp brows furrowing. Her tone was very sincere.

“The Contract we signed states that I have the obligation to make you better, so as to gain more Fortune.”

“But right now, you don’t seem to have any banquets requiring my presence as an escort. In these past few days, I feel like I haven’t done anything useful for you.”

As Jing Ke spoke, her amber eyes also focused intently on Shao Qing, conveying the emotions within them without reservation.

“Acting isn’t something I’m good at. For physical training, you have very professional teachers giving you specific courses. The one thing I seem able to do is help prepare food for you.” As Jing Ke spoke, she seriously started counting on her fingers.

“Your three meals currently are specially prepared sent over to you at mealtimes. Although there’s no problem with the nutritional composition.”

“But the delivery journey takes at least half an hour, and the food is packed into takeout containers. This definitely affects the taste of the food; it can’t compare to dishes freshly cooked out of the wok.”

“So, can you let me do something for you?” Jing Ke blinked her eyes, trying to look as sincere as possible.

Shao Qing also blinked. The two of them looked at each other, neither taking the initiative to look away first.

“Then how about this: I hire you as my personal chef, responsible for my three meals a day.” It was Shao Qing who finally looked away first, choosing to compromise. “I’ll cover the cost of purchasing ingredients, and pay you a monthly salary of ten thousand. How does that sound?”

“I don’t want a salary. I just want to do something for you,” Jing Ke said earnestly. “This is also part of our transaction. Only when I truly help you can I legitimately take your Fortune after you leave.”

Shao Qing hesitated, uncertain whether Jing Ke truly didn’t need money or didn’t want her to know she was short on funds.

Shao Qing: “But I feel you’ve already helped me a lot. If I don’t even pay you a salary of ten thousand a month, it seems like I’m being too stingy.”

Shao Qing still leaned towards insisting on a principle of giving and receiving. Interactions between friends couldn’t be one-sided.

As for the Fortune after death… once she had stopped breathing, whoever wanted the Fortune could take it. It wasn’t out of the question to give it all to Jing Ke; it couldn’t really be considered a price she was paying.