105: Chapter 105 Yang Mi Slaps Her Incompetent Teammate Awake

After Yang Mi and Dilraba shoved their luggage into the rooms and changed into loungewear, the four of them gathered in the downstairs living room.

Tong Liya made the first move, quick as a flash, she sat down on the sofa to the right of Lin Chen, firmly occupying that prime C-position.

Yang Mi glanced at her, a faint, cold smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.

Without saying a word, she gracefully sat down to the left of Lin Chen.

As for Dilraba, after coming downstairs, this foodie didn't even head for the sofa but went straight to the kitchen.

After rummaging through the double-door refrigerator for a long time, she finally walked over, chomping on a Magnum ice cream bar.

Seeing the seats on both sides of Lin Chen occupied, she was stunned for a moment, then shrugged indifferently.

Reba's greatest strength was that she was carefree; competitiveness was something that had always been alien to her.

She kicked off her slippers casually, revealing a pair of crystal-clear little feet, and sat cross-legged directly on the carpet between the coffee table and the sofa, her entire back leaning comfortably against Lin Chen's knees.

This position was quite good too; with one look up, she could see her husband's chin.

"Huh? Husband, did you get a new phone?" Reba had sharp eyes; she spotted the new Apple phone on the coffee table at a glance and immediately became interested.

Lin Chen nodded: "Yaya insisted on buying it for me yesterday. Actually, I think the old phone was working just fine."

Dilraba took a bite of her popsicle and said indistinctly: "What do you mean 'working fine'! That broken phone of yours wouldn't even get a second glance if you threw it on the street. I told you before I'd buy you one, but you refused to budge. Turns out, you only listen when Yaya makes a move. Looks like Yaya's words still carry the most weight."

Dilraba blinked her innocent big eyes, her face full of naivety.

Heaven knows if this sentence was just mindless babble or a subtle attempt to stir up trouble.

Regardless, as soon as these words were out, the air in the living room became eerily quiet for three seconds.

"Ahem..." Reba didn't notice the atmosphere was off at all. She picked up Lin Chen's new phone with one hand, skillfully lit up the screen, and then twisted her body, aiming the front camera at Lin Chen's face.

"What are you doing?" Lin Chen asked.

"Facial recognition! I'm going to conduct a strict investigation of your phone to see if there are any unspeakable secrets hidden inside. Maybe there's some blind little vixen hitting on you. This is a top-secret mission personally assigned to me by our Boss Yang!"

Before she could finish, Yang Mi, sitting on the left, slapped Dilraba on the back of the head, and the popsicle nearly poked right down her throat.

Dilraba clutched her head, turning around to complain aggrievedly: "Why did you hit me! You were the one who gave the order on set. Now that we're all eating from the same pot, who doesn't know about your little wandering heart? Stop acting all virtuous!"

"Shut your stinking mouth!" Yang Mi glared at her fiercely. That look made it clear she wanted to execute this pig teammate on the spot and immediately distance herself.

Dilraba stuck out her tongue playfully, completely ignoring her boss's death glare, and lowered her head to continue enthusiastically scrolling through Lin Chen's phone.

Tong Liya, sitting on the right, felt like a thousand ants were crawling inside her, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

She secretly regretted: I should have thought of the phone-checking trick. I clearly paid for the phone myself. I was just too busy being tossed around by him yesterday; did I lose my mind?

I really want to know what's actually on his phone!

Driven by intense curiosity, Tong Liya finally broke the silence and spoke her first sentence of the day to Dilraba.

"Find anything fishy?"

Reba looked back at Lin Chen, her previously playful expression suddenly becoming incomparably serious.

She jumped up and ran to the dining room, then beckoned to Tong Liya, lowering her voice and saying mysteriously: "There's a major situation! Come quick!"

Tong Liya didn't hesitate for a second, stepping into her slippers and following with a "tap-tap-tap."

In the dining room, Tong Liya and Dilraba sat side-by-side on the dining chairs, their two pretty heads huddled closely together, analyzing the enemy situation while scrolling through the WeChat chat history.

WeChat was their primary target for investigation.

The chat dialogs with Liu Shishi and Guli Nazha were directly ignored; these two could be considered insiders who had already been "stamped," so there was nothing interesting there.

Big, burly men like Huang Bo and Lei Jiayin were skipped entirely; Lin Chen's sexual orientation was perfectly normal, and it was impossible for there to be any bromance.

Their gazes were locked firmly onto Song Zuer's chat interface.

"Brother Lin Chen, what are you doing? I'm so bored."

"Brother Lin Chen, get some rest early, goodnight~ I'm super looking forward to recording the show with you next time!"

"Ding ding ding! Quick, look at the cupcakes I made! They're your favorite flavor, do you want to eat some?"

Besides a few sickeningly sweet text messages, there were also two cutesy voice messages.

Scrolling further down, there were over thirty photos, all close-up selfies of this little girl posing in various ways.

"Tsk tsk tsk, this little vixen is definitely plotting against my husband. Every line is dripping with seduction!" Reba huffed angrily.

Tong Liya sighed, feeling the same: "She was clinging to Lin Chen the whole time while recording the show. She's got a lot of nerve."

Reba turned to ask: "Then why didn't you do anything? Just watch her try to snatch him away?"

Tong Liya spread her hands: "What could I do? Rush up and pull hair with her?"

Reba stroked her chin and pondered: "This matter still requires Boss Yang to step in. She started out doing palace intrigue dramas; she's the best at dealing with people."

Tong Liya glanced at Yang Mi in the living room, nodding in agreement: "I think that works."

Reba covered her mouth and giggled: "Right? Look at that mean look on her face; she's like the evil supporting actress in a TV drama who wouldn't last three episodes, specifically designed to counter these little green teas. Hahaha!"

Lin Chen sat on the sofa, letting them go through his phone.

He had nothing to hide, so he wasn't afraid of any shadows.

Even if there really was something, he wouldn't bother trying to cover it up.

Since he had gathered them together, he didn't want to play those boring games of mutual probing and scheming every day.

Yang Mi took the opportunity to link her arm with Lin Chen's, leaning her body softly against his broad chest.

She glanced towards the dining room, a half-smile curling at the corner of her mouth, and asked in a low voice: "Taken care of?"

Lin Chen scratched his eyebrow with his little finger, smacked his lips uncomfortably: "We're all family, don't draw such clear lines."

Yang Mi rolled her eyes helplessly.

Regarding Tong Liya's addition, she actually didn't feel much of a ripple inside.

The reason she could act so magnanimous was purely because she had already done plenty of psychological preparation.

Since the outcome was already destined, there was no point in throwing a tantrum.

She knew the lethality of her man better than anyone.

Lin Chen's face combined with his talent was a nuclear-level attraction to women.

So when Lin Chen first agreed to record Divas Hit the Road, Yang Mi had already foreseen today.

Say she was broad-minded? Forget it, this was her compromising with reality.

Because she knew clearly in her heart that even if she had fought tooth and nail to stop him from recording the variety show, this household would have needed an extra set of bowls and chopsticks sooner or later.

Who told her to find a man who not only had his charm stats maxed out, but was also a wandering spirit at heart?

This ending was unavoidable.

"Let me say one more thing. Since the raw rice is already cooked, don't keep everyone hanging in this awkward state. Find a suitable time, call them all together, and lay it out clearly."

"The household needs to have rules and a hierarchy, otherwise the roof is going to be blown off in the future." Yang Mi suggested softly.

Lin Chen held Yang Mi's soft, boneless hand, playing with her slender fingers, and said lazily: "I'll leave this matter to you, the Empress. Some things are hard for a man like me to say."

Yang Mi gave him a charming, reproachful look: "You only know how to boss me around."

"Ability brings responsibility, Boss Yang, please do me a favor."

Yang Mi adjusted her sitting posture slightly to make herself more comfortable and said unhurriedly:

"I can be the villain, and I can set the rules. But let's get the ugly talk out of the way first: you need to restrain yourself too, don't bring just any stray cat or dog home. I'm not asking for a clean family background, but at the very least, they should be in our circle and on our level. If you bring back some fringe girl, I won't acknowledge her."

Lin Chen laughed: "Where are your thoughts wandering? With you few gems, this life is enough for me."

"Hmph, a man's mouth is a lying ghost. If I believed your nonsense, even a sow could climb a tree."

Although Yang Mi was complaining, she couldn't help but feel a touch of pride inside.

With Lin Chen's words of "I'll leave it to you," her position as the mistress of the harem was firmly secured.

Thinking of this, she found it funny.

With these few big-chested but brainless sweet girls, what could they use to fight her, Yang Mi?

Of course, this sense of superiority as the Empress could only be hidden in her heart and absolutely could not be put on the table.

She had been in the industry for so many years; she knew exactly what men wanted.

Men hated it when women played mind games; on the contrary, the carefree, slightly foolish persona like Reba's was the most endearing.

After finishing the household matters, Yang Mi started reporting the progress of the Film Crew to Lin Chen.

The new drama had entered the final stage and would likely officially wrap up in the next two days.

The post-production editing and special effects after the wrap were proceeding according to plan, so there shouldn't be any major issues.

As soon as the final cut was out, it could be sent directly to Hunan TV for the prime-time premiere.

This time, not only did they sign the premiere rights with Hunan TV, but Yang Mi also split and sold the exclusive online broadcasting rights to the two major video platforms, iQIYI and Tencent.

Between the television premiere and the online rights, they sold it for a total of 340 million.

After deducting the initial investment, marketing, and personnel expenses, roughly calculated, the net profit of this drama had already exceeded 80 million.

There would still be some small change later on, such as second-run broadcasting rights and related peripheral merchandise, but the bulk of the profit had already been eaten clean, and the remaining profit was basically negligible.

Ten years ago, the second or even third-run broadcasting rights of a hit drama were hot commodities and could sell for sky-high prices.

But times had changed; the internet was too developed.

As soon as it went online on video websites, the television ratings would immediately suffer a Waterloo.

So now, second-run broadcasting rights couldn't be sold for much; selling them in a package to local stations was only worth a million or so.

"The film and television industry is really hard to survive in now. Capital is piling up, competition is fierce, and production costs are getting higher by the day. The outside world sees that my drama made 80 million and thinks I'm counting money until my hands cramp."

"But they don't know that for a top-tier drama like this, our company can only squeeze out one or two a year, and we can't even guarantee that every one will be a hit. With the money earned, I still have to support the hundreds of people in the company. In the end, after working hard all year, I'm just working for the employees."

A rare trace of fatigue appeared on Yang Mi's exquisite face.

They say home is a sheltered harbor, but for her, her harbor wasn't this priceless villa, but Lin Chen's embrace.

In front of Lin Chen, she could finally take off the heavy armor of a "strong woman," didn't have to maintain the boss's air at all times, and could act like an ordinary little woman, acting spoiled and complaining.

Lin Chen gently rubbed her smooth cheek with his thumb, thought for a moment, and asked:

"I have a question. If there's a drama that everyone didn't think highly of at the beginning, and major platforms bought it at a low price, but after it aired, the ratings exploded and the whole country was chasing the drama. In this situation, would the TV stations or platforms pay you more because the drama became a hit?"

Yang Mi shook her head and smiled bitterly: "What kind of good thing are you thinking of? TV stations aren't charities. Since the black-and-white contract is signed, who would be stupid enough to pay more? Even if the drama becomes incredibly popular, at most they might privately give a larger red envelope as a gesture, just to build some goodwill."

Lin Chen nodded thoughtfully.

Yang Mi added: "However, it's not completely without benefits if a drama explodes. This counts as an intangible asset. With the performance endorsement of the previous hit, the next time we go to negotiate a new project, our backbone will be stiffer, and we can fight for higher copyright fees and revenue-sharing ratios."