As the saying goes, one rings the bell for as long as one is a monk. Zhong Ziyan felt she was in a similar situation.
By the time she had diligently finished reviewing the report for the second time, it was already lunch hour. Fang Nan came in carrying a large insulated lunch box: "Lunch delivered from Tingshan."
Zhong Ziyan, the academic underachiever, painfully gave two extra chicken mid-wings to Wei Hanyun, hoping her later test results wouldn't be too disastrous.
Wei Hanyun chuckled and returned them to her: "It's not that serious."
Zhong Ziyan insisted firmly: "No, I must pass."
"Should I stamp a little red flower for you?" Wei Hanyun asked.
Fang Nan, who was sitting nearby looking for files and hadn't left yet, perked up at this: "Should I have someone make a stamp collection card for you two?"
Zhong Ziyan was baffled: "I'm not in kindergarten."
"Anyway, I'll make one." Fang Nan seemed particularly enthusiastic about this idea. He took the files and left, returning a short while later with an elegant, gold-trimmed card in hand.
"Madam, does this suit your aesthetic?" he inquired politely, with a hint of sarcasm.
Zhong Ziyan looked at it, expressionless: "This isn't real gold or silver." How dare this printed gold color try to pass for the real thing.
Fang Nan: "..." He cleared his throat and showed the card to Wei Hanyun for approval. "Collect fourteen stamps, and you can redeem a chest of sunken treasure gold."
It looked somewhat like the stamp cards used in coffee shops for free drinks, just a bit more upscale.
Wei Hanyun glanced at it, also seeming amused.
He picked up a pen, thought for a moment, sketched a few strokes, and handed the card to Zhong Ziyan.
Curious about what he had drawn, Zhong Ziyan took it and looked: "..."
[Still Trying to Spend Money Today: I think Mr. Wei can be quite childish sometimes. [Pic]]
Zhong Ziyan's attached picture was of a hard card resembling a redemption card. It had fourteen blank squares, with only the first one filled in.
—It was a simple line drawing of a little stick figure swimming, minimalist yet perfectly clear.
Above the square was today's date.
[What flavor is today's dog food? I'm a bit confused, can someone explain?]
[Isn't this obviously a stamp card for prizes? Businesses use them to boost customer loyalty and repeat visits. It's the first time I've seen a married couple keeping score like this. Could their relationship be on the rocks?]
[What nonsense about being on the rocks! The news this morning just reported they went to the company together to survey the empire Mr. Wei built.]
[Wait, according to the Goddess of Wealth's meaning... this... this adorable chibi art style was actually drawn by Mr. Wei for her?! What an adorable couple, I'm dizzy from all this sweetness.]
Wei Hanyun and Zhong Ziyan had just gotten married. The media was intensely interested in Zhong Ziyan's identity and had already concocted numerous versions of their love story, with headlines ranging from "Wei Hanyun and His Little Darling Wife" all the way to "A Powerful Alliance: A Marriage of Two Great Families." The hype never died down.
Unfortunately, the couple went abroad for their honeymoon, hopping between two countries and three locations. The media couldn't even get onto Cloud Island, let alone follow their honeymoon itinerary.
In the end, all information about their honeymoon was pieced together from the bits Zhong Ziyan herself posted on Weibo.
Especially that lucky winner of the luxurious one-night stay in Las Vegas, who excitedly wrote a six-thousand-word essay titled "What's It Like to Stay in a $20,000-a-Night Hotel?" It got over fifty thousand reposts, making self-media accounts green with envy.
After finally waiting for the couple to return to China, Tingshan wasn't a place where media and cameras could just waltz in.
As the saying goes, "True wealth is invisible"; only celebrities get chased and photographed everywhere.
Just as everyone thought Wei Hanyun was returning to his former low-key lifestyle—let's be honest, his recent high-profile behavior was the real anomaly—he pulled another unexpected move.
When a daring tabloid reporter secretly followed Wei Hanyun and managed to snap a photo of him and Zhong Ziyan getting out of the car, they discovered that Wei Hanyun's intimidating bodyguards, who would make anyone tremble, didn't come over to shoo them away or confiscate the memory card!
The tabloid reporter was ecstatic, editing a news flash with the photo right from the van and sending it out. With a stroke of inspiration, they gave it a romance-novel-style title: "Take You to See a Meteor Shower? That's So Last Season! Hubby Takes You to See a Global Top-Five Corporation!!"
Within half an hour, anyone surfing the internet had seen the news flash and the photo of their intimately clasped hands.
This was followed by various covert leaks from employees of the company, distributing enough "dog food" (public displays of affection) to feed half the internet.
The news was so hot that during lunch break, everyone was eagerly discussing this newlywed couple.
Zhong Ziyan's Weibo post in the afternoon became another piece of evidence in the chain.
And that wasn't the end of it. The stamp card quickly evolved from a one-day trending topic into a multi-day series, because the next day Zhong Ziyan posted another picture. This time, another square on the card was filled with a simple drawing, annotated with that day's date.
This time, the drawing was a chibi figure playing the violin.
Li Ye, who had inadvertently been following this series and happened to be among the very few who knew Zhong Ziyan was Zhong Hui: "..." Wait, I think I've discovered a pattern here.
On the third day, Zhong Ziyan had clearly embraced the "childish" premise. She happily posted a third photo. This time, the simple drawings numbered four: a yacht and an airplane, all dated the same day.
The internet comedians had started taking bets on what exactly the couple was redeeming and whether Zhong Ziyan would succeed.
Most netizens who bet on how many days it would take to complete the collection were crying.
—Fourteen squares! Why is there no daily limit! How can you earn two stamps in one day!
[Still Trying to Spend Money Today: Because I gave Mr. Wei flowers today. This is his extra reward stamp.]
Netizens: Isn't this just rigging the game! Someone shrewdly sensed something was off: Aren't Mr. Wei's simple drawings seemingly symbolic? They don't look random.
Soon, an in-the-know person covertly stepped forward to explain—
[Wei Hanyan: Whoa, seeing the lake and the little boat, I get it now. It's their love story in simple drawings! I sincerely ask the heavens, when will I have a sweet love like this?]
Wei Ziqian, under the username [Rocking What Roll], directly @'d Li Ye in the comments, which directly triggered a sibling showdown within the Wei family.
The stamp collection series continued. The netizens who had been crying foul about rigging the game days earlier fell silent.
This wasn't just rigging; Wei Hanyun was practically flooding the game.
Some commented sourly: [I see through it. The Goddess of Wealth doesn't actually need to try at all. Mr. Wei obviously just wants to give her a gift but insists on first capturing her attention to be satisfied... So Mr. Wei is this kind of person. I had him all wrong before.]
I once voted for Mr. Wei being asexual too. For my past recklessness, I'll drink three glasses by myself.
So... he's not frigid, he's just frigid to everyone except the Goddess of Wealth?
I'm so jealous—I've said these three words until I'm tired of them =)
By only the fifth day, Zhong Ziyan had already received nine stamps from Wei Hanyun.
It took her just three more days to collect the remaining five stamps.
When Zhong Ziyan finally posted the fully stamped redemption card on Weibo, netizens who had been following this drama for over a week were even more excited than she was.
What gift did you get? What gift?
Damn, even though this has absolutely nothing to do with me, I'm genuinely so excited right now!
Drawing on my limited imagination, I think she could get another haute couture fairy dress as beautiful as the wedding gown! I heard the last one used hundreds of diamonds of various sizes; this time, they could use the most expensive silk to make it. Let me witness my dream dress!
The way Boss Wei gives gifts is just too adorable. I declare this couple locked in forever, officially blacklisted by the Civil Affairs Bureau from ever getting a divorce!
While netizens anxiously awaited the unresolved finale of this drama, Zhong Ziyan was different—she had long known what redeeming all the stamps would get her.
Of course, it was that chest of golden pearls that had been slumbering at the bottom of the sea for years!
The next day, Zhong Ziyan happily boarded a plane with Wei Hanyun.
She fully expected to go somewhere like a Swiss bank or the Cayman Islands—places where the wealthy store their assets—but the plane finally landed in front of a palace-like structure.
Zhong Ziyan looked at it and found it somewhat familiar.
She had never been here before, but it felt like she had seen it somewhere.
Something like a video...
The moment a foreign butler in a Western tailcoat pulled the door open before her eyes, Zhong Ziyan remembered: this was one of the two properties Wei Hanyun had shown her that day when teaching her how to spend money—the 1.2-billion-yuan castle.
She remembered Wei Hanyun saying at the time that he would keep it for himself to appreciate in value, as such castles rarely depreciate.
"Did you buy it already?" she asked Wei Hanyun casually, following him inside.
Then she noticed that a row of projector lights had been installed on the ceiling of the originally opulent entrance hall, which also featured artifact-grade stained glass windows on both sides.
These lights projected simple patterns onto the tiled floor beneath her feet. The very first one was the little swimming figure stamp Wei Hanyun had drawn for her first. Judging by the clear image replication, they were all clearly custom-made.
The second one was the little musician figure.
Zhong Ziyan looked at Wei Hanyun in surprise. "But I only got the last stamp yesterday."
Wei Hanyun smiled without answering. He let go of her hand and tilted his chin slightly, signaling her to follow the projections on the floor inward.
Like a little spirit collecting candies, Zhong Ziyan followed the stamps one by one forward in search of the treasure.
...The Martini representing the 007 house, the mountain circuit race track, the logo of the Dawnlight Foundation, the birch tree, the snow-capped mountain, and finally, that rose preserved as an eternal flower.
By the time she had followed all fourteen stamps, Zhong Ziyan found herself standing before a room door.
This door was as magnificent and elegant as the rest of the castle, with intricate relief carvings winding around the handle.
Zhong Ziyan instinctively turned to look at Wei Hanyun, who was calmly following behind her. He smiled and nodded at her.
So, Zhong Ziyan pushed the door open with a slight effort, then squinted as a dazzling golden light flooded out from inside.
The sunken ship artifacts that should have been in a safe, along with various other items, were displayed on a long table large enough for over a dozen people to dine together. From one end to the other, they were exquisite objects primarily crafted from gold.
There were even plain, unadorned gold bars.
Zhong Ziyan's hands, still resting on the door, trembled slightly. She turned to look at Wei Hanyun again, wanting to ask if all this was just to tempt her to keep collecting stamps, or if it was actually meant to be a gift...
No, no, that's impossible.
So much gold, likely mostly artifacts of immeasurable value. Even for Wei Hanyun, it couldn't possibly be...
While Zhong Ziyan was quickly dismissing her own wild fantasy, Wei Hanyun, who was leaning casually against the doorframe, raised an eyebrow lightly at her. "Happy birthday."
His voice carried a hint of triumphant glee, like someone who had successfully pulled off a prank.
Zhong Ziyan, who had forgotten her birthday was tomorrow: "..." My boss is really too handsome. He often makes me, someone with a strong sense of contract spirit and professional ethics, want to quit my job—I mean, not quit my job. What should I do?
