Pei Rong struggled to open his eyelids. Upon seeing the name ‘Jiang Yan’ on his phone’s screen, he instantly dispelled his drowsiness, threw on a sleeping robe, and went out with his phone.
Lu Qin watched his figure, deeply furrowing his brows: Was the person who called important to Pei Rong? He acted weak in front of him, but dashed out when someone else called?
Given their relationship, Lu Qin shouldn’t inquire about these things. Lu Qin forced himself not to dwell on it and tidied up the messy sheets.
Pei Rong reached a corner of the rooftop and asked, “What’s going on?”
Jiang Yan knew that Pei Rong wasn’t suitable to answer calls in every situation, so he always waited for Pei Rong to speak first.
“Aunt Zhao fell. You know how old people of her age can’t withstand falls; she’ll need a cane from now on.”
Aunt Zhao was an elderly lady Pei Rong met in the Country M. Following her daughter’s recent immigration, her family faced various difficulties, leaving only her, a seriously ill elderly lady, rejected by the hospital.
Three months ago, Pei Rong heard the doctor express regret in the corridor. Without hesitation, he spent money to place her in the top-tier ward.
Under premium medical care, Aunt Zhao gradually recovered. Pei Rong asked her to come with him to his country, but the elderly lady didn’t want to burden him.
Pei Rong asked, “How is Auntie?”
Jiang Yan replied, “Her emotions are stable. She told you not to worry, and when people get old, they should face accidents with composure.”
Pei Rong fell silent for a moment and said, “I’ll find time to visit her.”
Sensing his subdued mood, Jiang Yan spoke softly, “Pei Rong...”
Pei Rong interrupted, “Hmm, I have to film later. We’ll talk more tonight.”
After hanging up, Pei Rong glanced at the call log and saw Zhou Hang’s name. After a moment of thought, he dialed him.
Zhou Hang nervously asked, “President Lu isn’t around, right?”
If President Lu was there, this call couldn’t last more than a minute. Who would dare to occupy Pei Rong’s time?
Pei Rong replied, “He’s not.”
Zhou Hang breathed a sigh of relief and immediately chattered, “Have you seen the news?”
“Not yet today.”
“K City had an explosion, and there’s a drought again. The forest and residential fires are terribly extensive. Several celebrities in the entertainment industry have donated money. We can’t fall behind, right?”
Pei Rong said, “That’s self-evident. But you don’t seem like someone who would call specifically for this.”
Zhou Hang angrily said, “Let me tell you, when I went to the headquarters last time, I ran into my high school classmate. He’s in charge of electronics at Lu Group, but clearly, he’s just the president of a subsidiary company, one level below! The moment he saw me, he boasted about his business thriving and then mocked me for keeping a bunch of tax-evading parasites.”
“In the entertainment industry, there are many tax evaders, but we absolutely don’t have them in our company. I told him you pay a maximum of 45% income tax, but he didn’t believe it.”
Pei Rong: “Get to the point.”
Zhou Hang: “As soon as the fire broke out this time, my high school classmate immediately made a big donation. Although I don’t have his wealth, we have media resources, and our influence can be even greater than his.”
That’s how it was in reality. A large industrial company donated fifty million, but not a single star donated 500,000, and it generated more attention.
Zhou Hang: “That guy is infuriating... Now President Lu is paying attention to us, we can’t lose face... Cough, cough, consider it as contributing to the disaster area. Pei Rong, contribute a bit more. I can cover some of the money, it won’t hurt you.”
Pei Rong: “Fine.”
Zhou Hang was satisfied, and then he expressed concern about the conditions of shooting and whether it was tough. He didn’t even notice Jiang Tian standing at the door.
Pei Rong was good in this regard; he never wasted words about work.
If only he didn’t think about leaving the industry.
Pei Rong opened his mobile banking app, operated it for a while, and posted a Weibo.
[May K City and others find peace in their new homes.]
Attached was a donation certificate.
The black spots who always criticized Pei Rong for being a turtle when facing such matters counted the zeros and were shocked.
[200,000,000. How many zeros is that?]
[Damn, is it embarrassing for someone who trends with 200,000 in the morning and refuses to go down?]
[Can someone count for me; this liquid capital, isn’t it a checking account?]
[Bank financial managers, please don’t resign.]
[Brother, why are you so good? Worried about not having enough to eat, brother?]
Pei Rong acted as if he wouldn’t go hungry. For him, 1 billion could support him in retirement, and 100 million could too. He couldn’t think of anything he needed to spend money on.
There were too many assets, and dealing with them was quite troublesome.
Donate a bit more, and let Zhou Hang also contribute a bit, benefiting the people.
Zhou Hang sat in the office with his legs crossed, and he heard someone outside shouting, “Pei Rong is trending! It’s exploding!”
He felt proud instantly.
Well, with Pei Rong’s talent for sensational events, there’s no need for them to operate. The entire internet was waiting to see how much money he donated.
As his phone rang, Zhou Hang took it out and saw that it’s his arch-nemesis, an old classmate.
It’s definitely to scold him, jealous that he could gain a large following with a small amount of money.
Unexpectedly, the old classmate was very friendly when he spoke.
“Zhou Hang, I misunderstood you before. I apologize. Your entertainment industry also contributes to the country, and both soft and hard power are equally important.”
Zhou Hang: ?
Old classmate: “Donating two hundred million, well done. President Lu has a keen eye for people.”
Zhou Hang: ?
Say that again? How much?
Old classmate: “Let’s go fishing together next time.”
Zhou Hang opened the trending. His eyes widened, counted the zeros twice, and opened the comment section to check the mathematical abilities of netizens. Seeing the number reaching twenty million, he was happy, but frowned at the wildly spoken 200 million.
Was Pei Rong crazy? After paying taxes, how much did he really earn?
He dialed twice before making the call: “Pei Rong, are you sure your hand didn’t shake?”
Pei Rong was calmly walking to the film set, saying, “No, didn’t you say you’d help me with a part, so I could donate more?”
Zhou Hang shouted, “What I meant was you donate 200,000, and I’ll contribute 100,000!”
200,000 was already a lot! Even that super-rich someone only contributed 100,000. This... he’s doubling that!
Pei Rong responded with an ‘Oh,’ understandingly, “I misunderstood. You don’t need to contribute 50%, 10% is enough.”
Zhou Hang was heartbroken. “20 million?”
Pei Rong: “Put it on my card today.”
Zhou Hang: “...”
Who’s the boss here, after all?
Feeling frustrated, let’s just quit this circle.
The mobile screen kept displaying news about disasters and the phrase “two hundred million.” Zhou Hang glanced at it, feeling a pang of pain, then picked up his phone, opened and praised Pei Rong’s article one by one.
There’s no choice; he donated twenty million, and now he doesn’t even get the solace of seeing it. Zhou Hang regretted not being sensible from the beginning. When President Lu intercepted the call, he should have known better than to let Pei Rong participate in this.
Alternatively, when he received Pei Rong’s call and noticed his low spirits, he shouldn’t have continued talking. Having been Pei Rong’s boss for several years, didn’t he understand him? When he’s in a bad mood, he would spend money recklessly, often not on himself.
He was careless, thinking Pei Rong was in a good mood following President Lu. Zhou Hang checked his phone and found that the Lu Group had just donated eight billion to match Pei Rong’s contribution.
Others might not catch on, but President Lu didn’t promote this; he gave Pei Rong the headlines, subtly showcasing it. Could it be that he’s the only one in the whole world hesitating over twenty million?
