The Rich Man's Life Begins with a Comeback

Chapter 274 Sticking Together for Warmth (4k)

As dusk falls, the distant mountains lose their daytime sharpness, their outlines becoming softer and more hazy. The ridgelines take on a faint purplish-gray hue in the twilight, quietly merging with the warm orange glow of the sunset.

Gu Heng, dressed in silk pajamas, walked down the stairs, carrying several festive red envelopes in his hands. Li Huifang and the other two housekeepers and cooks, who were the last to leave to go home for the New Year, had changed into their everyday clothes and were waiting for Gu Heng in the living room.

"Happy New Year, Aunt Li, Aunt Zhao, Aunt Wang."

Gu Heng handed each of the three women, each containing a large red envelope of five thousand yuan, to Li Huifang and the others, saying, "It's just a small token of my appreciation. Go home and reunite with your families."

"Thank you, Mr. Gu!"

Happy New Year, Mr. Gu!

Wishing Mr. Gu a prosperous and successful New Year!

Li Huifang and the other two were all locals from Beichun, so they were the last of the many housekeepers and cooks to leave Gu Heng's hilltop villa. Gu Heng had already given the other housekeepers and cooks who were not from Beichun a day or two earlier.

The red envelopes are all the same. The difference is that the housekeepers and cooks who have their holidays off earlier have to end their holidays earlier than Li Huifang and the others. They all have the same seven-day holiday, but those who have their holidays off earlier have to come back earlier.

"I also wish Aunt Li and your family happiness and joy."

Gu Heng responded with a smile.

After receiving the red envelopes, Li Huifang and the other two exchanged a few New Year's greetings with Gu Heng before hurriedly leaving the mountaintop villa. Clearly, they were all eager to return home and reunite with their families.

At this point, he was the only one left in the huge villa.

After seeing Li Huifang and the other two off, Gu Heng turned around and walked back up the stairs to the third-floor lounge.

At this moment, the distant clouds were dyed orange-red and shimmering gold by the setting sun, layer upon layer like an overturned palette. As the sun slowly sank, the sky gradually turned deep blue, and the distant mountains were reduced to blurry silhouettes.

A song, an eggplant, a glass of wine—loneliness spreads silently.

Gu Heng picked up his tablet and casually opened a game live stream featuring Zhou Yanzu, planning to follow his usual routine of getting himself drunk and then going straight to bed.

However, less than twenty minutes after Gu Heng started watching the game live stream, the Douyin live streaming system suddenly pushed a notification to him about [Xingchuan001] starting a live stream.

Gu Heng was stunned for a moment when he saw the notification that the broadcast had started.

"what's the situation?"

"They're still broadcasting during the Chinese New Year?"

Gu Heng muttered to himself twice and casually clicked into the [Xingchuan001] live stream room.

The same background of the live broadcast room, the same seven girls, and the girl standing at the front is Lin Qingge, the group broadcast host that Xingchuan Entertainment is currently promoting.

On New Year's Eve, all seven girls wore festive dresses, and the songs they danced to were festive and cheerful New Year's limited songs such as "Gong Xi Fa Cai" and "Hao Yun Lai".

Gu Heng was playing a live stream on his tablet, while his right hand was on his phone, making a call to Feng Ming, the general manager of Xingchuan Entertainment.

The call was answered in less than five seconds.

"Happy New Year, Mr. Gu!"

Although Gu Heng received Feng Ming's New Year's greetings as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, Feng Ming still sent his New Year's wishes as soon as he received Gu Heng's call.

"Happy New Year, Mr. Feng."

Gu Heng responded gently, then abruptly changed the subject, asking directly, "I just saw that [Xingchuan 001] started airing? What's going on with us? Aren't we taking a break for the New Year?"

"Mr. Gu, thanks to your help, since the first broadcast of [Xingchuan001], Douyin has been consistently pushing traffic to us, which has resulted in very good traffic for [Xingchuan001]."

"According to Chairman Chu and General Manager Zhou, they hope we can strike while the iron is hot, take advantage of the continued push from Douyin, and take advantage of the fact that the Spring Festival is a peak period for traffic, and conduct a group broadcast with the Spring Festival as the limited theme around these eight days of the Spring Festival."

When Gu Heng asked him questions, Feng Ming answered truthfully.

"If girls aren't allowed to go home for the Lunar New Year, won't they have any feelings about it?"

With some questions in his mind, Gu Heng asked Feng Ming again.

"There are definitely emotions involved..."

Feng Ming smiled and replied, "However, when they learned that the group would increase their share of the gift revenue during the Chinese New Year from 50% to 80%, plus an overtime allowance of 800 yuan per person per day, they were no longer upset."

"The benefits are good."

"The group has shown a lot of sincerity."

Gu Heng nodded slightly, giving a very objective evaluation.

After all, the group has a contract in hand. Even if the group does not increase Lin Qingge and the others' share of the gift revenue, does not give them the New Year overtime allowance of 800 yuan per person per day, and forces them to work overtime during the New Year, they have no choice but to endure it without any room for resistance.

"The core of live streaming is to provide emotional value to the audience."

Feng Ming laughed and chimed in, "If we don't make them happy, they'll all have sour faces during the live stream, then we might as well not broadcast at all."

"Um……"

"Makes sense."

Gu Heng responded with a word of agreement, then asked, "So, Mr. Feng, are you currently on-site in the live broadcast room, or are you celebrating the New Year at home?"

"Chairman Gu, I'm right here in the live broadcast room."

Feng Ming responded confidently, clearly indicating that he was indeed present.

"When Lin Qingge is resting later, have her call me back when she has some free time."

Gu Heng gave instructions to Feng Ming.

"Ok."

Feng Ming immediately responded.

"That's settled then. I'm making this call for nothing else."

"You can continue with your work."

After giving his instructions, Gu Heng didn't talk to Feng Ming anymore and quickly hung up the phone. Then he continued watching the seven girls dancing in the live stream. Each girl looked cheerful and happy, creating a festive atmosphere.

As for the number of viewers in the live stream, it has remained relatively stable at around 10,000.

It's important to know that this data is genuine and accurate. It's completely different from the data on the day of the premiere of "[Star River 001]", which involved spending a lot of money to attract viewers and giving away the latest iPhones regularly to encourage viewer retention, barely managing to maintain tens of thousands of viewers at the beginning.

It has been about a month since the first broadcast.

【Hoshikawa 001】These seven girls have all accumulated some fans to varying degrees, and are gradually beginning to take the form of a fan group.

Currently, the [Xingchuan001] group broadcast account has reached 18 followers.

As the girl who earned the most from the first broadcast that day, Lin Qingge, with her excellent appearance and outstanding dance talent, as well as the traffic support from Douyin, saw her personal account gain followers at a rate that was in no way inferior to the group broadcast account of [Xingchuan001], and her current number of followers has reached 16.

Looking at the cheerful smiling faces in the live stream, Gu Heng picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and then sent a "King's Arrival" gift to each girl, and then sent ten "King's Arrival" gifts to Lin Qingge alone.

In fact, as soon as the account 【珩王】 appeared in the live broadcast room, the host immediately gave it a warm welcome. However, Gu Heng was on the phone with Feng Ming at the time, and he didn't care about this at all.

Now that Gu Heng has started showering gifts, he is once again warmly welcomed by the host, and countless ribbons are spraying out from the confetti cannons.

Because the value of the gift "King's Descent" is equivalent to that of "Carnival," according to the group broadcast rules, each girl will take turns performing a solo dance for Gu Heng.

Lin Qingge received the most gifts, so she was the last to appear, which gave her the opportunity to step away from the camera's view.

Just after Lin Qingge stepped out of the camera's view, Gu Heng's phone rang.

"Chairman Gu!" "Happy New Year!"

Lin Qingge's voice carried a hint of surprise and joy. Just by listening to her voice, Gu Heng could imagine how lively and cheerful her eyes were.

Why didn't you tell me you'd be working overtime during the Chinese New Year?

Gu Heng's lips naturally curled up slightly upon hearing Lin Qingge's voice.

"Well……"

"How can I explain this to you?"

Lin Qingge stammered, "It sounds like I'm complaining when I tell you this."

Gu Heng was surprised by Lin Qingge's thoughtfulness and couldn't help but smile slightly.

"So you're staying in Beichun for the Lunar New Year this year?"

Gu Heng asked, "Do you have any relatives in Beichun?"

"I get off work at 8 p.m. tonight, but I have to broadcast again at 5 p.m. tomorrow."

“My home is in Bincheng, Liaoning Province, and half a day is simply not enough time to travel back and forth.”

Lin Qingge's voice inexplicably lowered as she said this: "I have no relatives here, and I am all alone tonight."

Ultimately, no matter how strong and independent Lin Qingge is, she is still just an 18-year-old girl. On such a time of family reunion, it must be hard for her to spend the New Year alone in a foreign land.

Come to my place after get off work.

"I'll send a car to pick you up at eight o'clock."

When Gu Heng heard that Lin Qingge was also alone, he paused for a moment before speaking softly to her.

"No no no!"

"Mr. Gu, it's not appropriate for me to go and reunite with your family!"

When Lin Qingge heard Gu Heng invite her to his home for the New Year, a warm feeling welled up in her heart, but she still maintained her boundaries and refused immediately.

"Chairman Gu, you don't need to worry about me."

She added, "I bought the hot pot ingredients yesterday, so I can eat hot pot and watch the Spring Festival Gala while I get home from get off work. I can do it all by myself."

"I have no family, only myself."

“If you come, then there will be two of us.”

"If you don't come, I'll just spend the New Year alone."

Gu Heng's voice was calm, but Lin Qingge could hear a deep-seated loneliness in his words.

The simple phrase "no family" sent a shiver down Lin Qingge's spine, instantly triggering a flood of speculation in her mind. At the same time, she felt an inexplicable pity for Gu Heng.

"Coming?"

Gu Heng asked Lin Qingge again.

"Come!"

This time, Lin Qingge agreed without hesitation.

"I'll wait for you at home."

Gu Heng probably didn't even realize that his voice had inexplicably become much warmer.

"it is good!"

Since Lin Qingge was only temporarily resting, the two didn't say anything more after making their agreement.

After hanging up the phone, Gu Heng looked out the window at the setting sun that had already sunk behind the distant mountains. The scenery was still the same, and the surrounding environment had not changed at all, but his state of mind had undergone a completely different change after this phone call.

Actually, if he had a choice, Gu Heng wouldn't want to be alone during the Lunar New Year.

He doesn't like being alone, but he doesn't want to disturb other people's family reunions.

He had originally prepared to spend the Lunar New Year alone this year, but he never expected that Lin Qingge would also be alone.

Since that's the case, rather than being alone together, it's better to stick together and keep warm.

"Prepare a New Year's Eve dinner for me and deliver it at 8:30 pm sharp."

After finishing his call with Lin Qingge, Gu Heng called the general manager of Yan Rong Hui and gave him the following instructions.

As a high-end fusion restaurant in Beichun, Yanronghui offers customized New Year's Eve dinner services every year, which can be enjoyed in the restaurant or delivered to your home.

Gu Heng originally planned to eat something casually that night, get himself drunk, and then go to sleep. However, since Lin Qingge was also coming over that night, there should naturally be some atmosphere.

After giving instructions to the general manager of Yanronghui, Gu Heng hung up the phone and put down his phone. Just then, news came that Jiang Ruan had arrived home safely.

……

Baicheng is located in the northwest of Jilin Province, at the junction of Jilin, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia.

This is Jiang Ruan's hometown, a prefecture-level city with a population of less than one million that still doesn't have a high-speed rail connection.

Because it is located in the western part of the Nenjiang Plain, Baicheng is often hit by strong winds. Therefore, whenever outsiders say that Baicheng is windy, the locals often joke that Baicheng only has two winds a year, and each one lasts for half a year.

Two years later, I returned to my hometown.

Jiang Ruan looked out the car window at the almost unchanged street scene, her expression complicated.

"Bang bang bang..."

"Crackling..."

Baicheng has never banned fireworks and firecrackers throughout the year, and people occasionally set them off even on ordinary days, let alone during the Spring Festival.

From the moment Jiang Ruan drove into the city, the sound of firecrackers never stopped.

Red lanterns hung high in every household, and many children, wrapped in cotton-padded clothes with their faces red from the cold, frolicked in the snow with hand-held flowers in hand.

In this remote border city where the annual GDP is a mere 60 billion yuan, a Maybach GLS600 worth over three million yuan with four consecutive seven-digit license plates from the provincial capital still attracts a lot of attention when it appears on the street.

After driving on the highway for more than four hours, she was initially quite tired, but as she got closer to home, her spirits gradually lifted.

until...

She drove into that old neighborhood.

Familiar buildings, familiar surroundings.

Jiang Ruan's initially excited state of mind calmed down after she drove into the residential area.

Parking her car by the side of the road, Jiang Ruan looked up at her home, a touch of warmth appearing on her cool and beautiful face.

Turn off the engine, get out of the car, go upstairs...

Come back home!

(End of this chapter)