The honeymoon week came to an end, and Zhong Ziyan and Wei Hanyun returned directly to Tingshan.
This whole marriage affair should have been settled just like that, but then Old Madam Yu made a video call urging them to send over the wedding photos they had taken for her to see.
Zhong Ziyan: "..." They simply hadn't taken any, so how could they send them?
"They're still being retouched. Wedding photos require extra care," Wei Hanyun said with an air of effortless ease. "Once the final prints are ready, we will of course send you a copy along with the wedding video."
His word had always been as good as gold, never mixed with falsehoods. Hearing him, Old Madam Yu found it perfectly reasonable and believed him outright: "That's true, you only take them once in a lifetime, so you must be careful."
Zhong Ziyan: "..." Not only could she not match Wei Hanyun's level of spending, but she couldn't even match his level of telling barefaced lies.
These clever-minded people all had dark hearts, from her former deputy captain to Wei Hanyun now, they were all about the same.
After Wei Hanyun coaxed Old Madam Yu into hanging up the video call all smiles, Zhong Ziyan finally looked at him with a "..." expression: "There's also a wedding video?"
"Someone has it in hand," Wei Hanyun said unhurriedly. "But no one can take the wedding photos for us."
The wedding dress that Hua Shuangshuang had just escorted back from Claude Island was once again urgently delivered to Tingshan, all for the purpose of a secret photoshoot.
When it came to wedding photos, many people, limited by finances, took them in a studio, or some simply found a nearby park with grass and trees for the shoot.
The wealthy would specifically choose a place with beautiful scenery for their shoot.
Wei Hanyun's level was yet another tier above that. He had a construction team spend three days building a small-scale real-life set for the photoshoot on the top floor of Tingshan.
Zhong Ziyan went to take a look and discovered it was a miniature replica of the Elven Forest from Claude Island.
"Why not just go to the island to take them?" Zhong Ziyan couldn't figure it out.
Wei Hanyun countered, "Didn't you like it? Everything else on the island was dismantled, only it was left."
"I did like it, but..."
"It's inconvenient to always go to the island. Since we have the space at home anyway, we'll build another similar one," Wei Hanyun said.
The two were standing not far from the Tingshan mansion at that moment, just able to see a few birch trees growing from one side of the house. They looked younger and more lush, more vibrant than those on the island—clearly newly transplanted.
But Zhong Ziyan was quite sure normal people wouldn't plant three-story-tall birch trees in their own backyard.
Nor would they convert the entire top-floor glass greenhouse directly into an elven palace.
But Wei Hanyun had done just that.
The construction crew came and went for three days, busy without a moment's rest, quickly setting up the real-life set. Everything strove to follow the wedding's original creative concept, even hiring the original venue designer as the creative director.
The original styling team flew first-class to Tingshan to redo Zhong Ziyan's look, spending money on the wedding twice over.
This got Zhong Ziyan pondering another question.
Chinese weddings often involve monetary gifts from guests. Although Wei Hanyun's wedding expenses were staggering, the income from gifts should be equally staggering, right?
Driven by this curiosity, Zhong Ziyan asked Wei Hanyun about it.
Wei Hanyun indicated he hadn't considered the matter, so the couple called Fang Nan back again.
Fang Nan: "..." It was one thing that the former workaholic Wei Hanyun was gradually slacking off and dumping all the work on him, but why drag him into slacking off too!
If this continued, would there even be anyone left to do Wei Hanyun's work!
"The exact total amount is likely impossible to calculate," said the battle-hardened Special Assistant Fang, pushing up his glasses, speaking methodically and without haste. "Because some gifts brought by guests simply cannot be quantified. Even professionals could at most provide an estimated value."
"What kind of good things were there?" Zhong Ziyan asked with keen interest.
When truly top-tier tycoons exchange gifts amongst themselves, what do they give each other? The upstart Zhong Ziyan wanted to broaden her horizons.
"Leaving aside cars and properties, for example, a certain count gifted one of his own estates, along with several square kilometers of surrounding lavender fields," Fang Nan stated calmly.
Zhong Ziyan: "..." Well, that was a shocking start. The ones following must be even more impressive.
"An investor sent an authentic Raphael painting. Its estimated value is comparable to that estate, and I've heard several world-class museums have been trying to buy it back," Fang Nan continued counting. "Also, the owner of one of the top ten wineries brought every vintage year's wine from the winery's founding year up to the latest."
Even without much knowledge of wine, Zhong Ziyan knew there was something in this world called collector's obsession. A complete collection spanning decades or even over a century could drive such people mad, and it was certainly priceless. Perhaps its monetary value was somewhat inferior to the previous two, but in terms of rarity, it was almost unique and supreme.
"These can go into your underground wine cellar," Wei Hanyun suggested, turning to Zhong Ziyan.
He said this as casually as if suggesting, "Let's go eat roasted sweet potatoes today."
Zhong Ziyan asked Fang Nan seriously, "How much is this complete collection worth?"
"Roughly estimated at around five hundred million, but if there's a fanatical enthusiast, they'd probably be willing to spend their entire fortune," Fang Nan gave a rational valuation.
Zhong Ziyan felt a headache coming on.
That much money... no, that much wine stored in a vacation home made her want to hire several security teams to protect the assets again.
This couldn't go on! These inanimate assets were most reassuring when kept close by, where she could access or liquidate them at any time.
A glance from Wei Hanyun told him exactly what she was agonizing over. "You're worried about storing it far away?"
"Mm," Zhong Ziyan had just nodded when she heard Wei Hanyun say, "Then we'll build another wine cellar at Tingshan."
Zhong Ziyan: "...?" Wouldn't the one just built a few months ago then go to waste!
Besides, it wouldn't be easy to sell later. Potential buyers would know it was a wedding gift to Wei Hanyun. If Zhong Ziyan turned around and sold it for cash... wouldn't Boss Wei lose face?
Thus, Zhong Ziyan refused with principled resolve: "That would definitely be an illegal structure. I don't want it. You must have places to store it; you keep it."
"Since they're wedding gifts, they represent shared ownership between us," Wei Hanyun leaned sideways on the sofa. "I'm not interested in wine and don't have a cellar that large. My half will be temporarily stored in your cellar."
Fang Nan glanced at Wei Hanyun, then very naturally turned away to drink a glass of water.
—How could Wei Hanyun possibly not own properties with wine cellars? Because Wei's mother was quite knowledgeable about wine, Wei Hanyun had purchased two private wineries just for her.
Ask yourself, are there any wineries in the world that don't come with their own cellars?
Of course not!
But Fang Nan knew what assets Wei Hanyun had; Zhong Ziyan did not. She tugged at her earlobe, somewhat reluctantly agreeing, but added, "But if something so valuable gets stolen..."
Wei Hanyun replied composedly, "Then we'll report it to the police and offer a hundred million reward for solving the case."
Zhong Ziyan: "..." No, if you just gave that hundred-million bounty directly to me, even if the thief fled to the cosmos with the wine, I would definitely catch him and bring him back.
Fang Nan finished his water. He cleared his throat twice to draw Wei Hanyun and Zhong Ziyan's attention back. "I will arrange the transport of these fine wines. Speaking of wedding gifts, I was reminded of another rather special one—when I saw it, I thought I had accidentally wandered onto the set of some pirate movie. The moment I opened the safe, I almost shed a tear."
"What was it?" Zhong Ziyan played along, giving Fang Nan the reaction he was looking for.
"A whole chest of gold and pearl jewelry, freshly salvaged from a shipwreck," Fang Nan said calmly, pushing up his glasses. "It's both gold and cultural artifacts, somewhat similar to that chest of Victorian gold coins Madam received once before."
Zhong Ziyan: "!!!" The image of opening the safe instantly appeared in her mind.
A vast expanse of dazzling gold, interspersed with the pure white of luminous pearls—a visually intoxicating temptation.
Zhong Ziyan didn't know about others, but she felt certain she couldn't withstand that kind of temptation.
She instinctively glanced at Wei Hanyun.
The boss is so generous, how could he possibly be reluctant to give away this chest!
"You want it?" Wei Hanyun asked, propping his chin on his hand. "Then agree to one condition from me, and you can have it all."
"No problem!" Zhong Ziyan answered instantly, not giving Wei Hanyun the slightest chance to reconsider.
Fang Nan adjusted his glasses: As for who might be the one to reconsider and who might not, isn't it perfectly obvious?
