184: Chapter 184 Pampering Divided into Five, Sweet Versailles

The hotel where Lin Chen and his family of six were staying in Changsha was located near Hunan Satellite TV.

It was a luxurious five-star hotel, and they had booked the entire presidential suite on the top floor.

Upon arriving at the hotel and settling their luggage, it wasn't long before there was a knock on the door.

"Number Three, go open the door!" Yang Mi ordered without turning her head, as she stood before the floor-to-ceiling mirror adjusting her newly changed slim-fit dress.

"I'm in the bathroom doing my makeup! Make Number Four open it!" Nazar's muffled voice came from inside the bathroom.

Nowadays, in this household, the ranking of the five women had become a tacit understanding.

As the "First Wife" personally designated by Lin Chen, Boss Yang held a unique status and was recognized by the whole family as the eldest sister and the head of the Lin household.

The remaining four sisters were ranked simply and crudely by age: Tong Liya was Number Two, Nazar was Number Three, and Shishi was Number Four.

That little girl Reba, naturally, was the perennial last-place Number Five.

Called out by name, "Number Four" Shishi obediently trotted over to open the door, moving her fair, long legs.

As soon as the door opened, Shishi was stunned for a moment, then a brilliant smile bloomed on her face: "Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan? Oh my, Teacher He, Sister Na! Why are you here? Please, come in, come in!"

Standing outside were two men and a woman, carrying fruit baskets in their hands.

As Shishi enthusiastically ushered them inside, she turned back and shouted toward the living room: "Husband! Eldest Sister! Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan, Teacher He, and Sister Na are here to see us!"

Hearing the commotion, Yang Mi immediately put down what she was holding and went out to greet them with a beaming smile.

The visitors were none other than the Chief Director of Divas Hit the Road, Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan, as well as the mainstays of Hunan Satellite TV and the soul of Happy Camp—He Jiong and Xie Na.

"Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan, you're a very busy man; what brings you here in person?"

Yang Mi nodded politely at Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan, then familiarly linked arms with Xie Na and said coquettishly: "Na, I was just telling Reba that we'd call you for a meal after we finished unpacking. I didn't expect you to beat us to it."

Having hustled in the hosting industry for over a decade and relying on the national-level platform of Happy Camp, He Jiong and Xie Na had accumulated terrifying networking resources within the circle; their emotional intelligence was extremely high, and their popularity was impeccable.

The five women of the Lin family were old acquaintances of theirs, and their private relationship had always been good.

He Jiong smiled like a spring breeze and teased: "This is the first time you five have brought your husband back to Changsha after getting married. As the hosts here, if we didn't come to pay our respects, where would we put our old faces if you called us out on Weibo for poor hospitality one day?"

Yang Mi was amused until she was shaking with laughter: "Teacher He, stop teasing us. Sit, sit! Number Five, hurry up and brew some good tea."

"Understood!" With outsiders present, Reba instantly put away her cute, naive womanly demeanor and nimbly ran to the tea room to brew tea.

Watching Reba's back, Xie Na deliberately raised her eyebrows and made a playful expression.

Reba turned back and, taking advantage of the fact that Lin Chen wasn't paying attention, secretly made a pitiful-looking face at Xie Na.

This cross-server communication between the two was understood without words.

At this moment, Lin Chen also walked out of the bedroom after changing his clothes.

Yang Mi immediately went up to him naturally, linked her arm with Lin Chen's, leaned against him like a little bird, and introduced him in a soft voice:

"Husband, I don't need to introduce you to Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan. These two are Teacher He Jiong and Sister Xie Na. They are the ceiling of the hosting industry; their fame is greater than all of us combined."

He Jiong hurriedly stood up and waved his hands repeatedly, lowering his posture: "Mimi, don't flatter us to death; we're just making a living. Hello, Teacher Lin, I've heard so much about you. I'm He Jiong."

"I'm Xie Na! I'm the die-hard bestie of your five beautiful wives!" Xie Na also smiled and reached out her hand.

"Hello, Teachers." A perfectly measured smile hung on the corner of Lin Chen's mouth as he politely shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with them.

At this moment, Lin Chen appeared quite gentlemanly; although he couldn't be called warm as fire, for someone who was arrogant to the bone, being able to take the initiative to shake hands and exchange pleasantries was already giving his wives plenty of face.

After all, these two were Yang Mi and the others' friends.

But in stark contrast to this was his attitude toward Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan.

Logically speaking, as a core director of Hunan Satellite TV, Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan's say in the station was even half a notch higher than He Jiong and Xie Na's.

But Lin Chen merely nodded slightly at him and gave a bland greeting, not even extending his hand.

Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan was an old fox who had become a master of his craft; how could he care about such details?

He understood Lin Chen's temper too well.

For any genius who was talented to the point of being monstrous, who didn't have some strange temper?

Someone like Lin Chen, who was just a bit cold and didn't make a sour face or yell at people, could already be considered very easy to get along with.

Several people sat down on the sofa in the luxurious living room.

He Jiong and Xie Na were mainly there to visit the set and catch up, chatting away with the five female stars about daily life.

Meanwhile, Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan seized every opportunity to edge closer to Lin Chen and began to incessantly "show off his achievements."

From how he had overcome opposition at the station to secure special approval to hold a premiere press conference for a TV series.

To how he had used his personal connections to coordinate the venue and allocate prime-time live broadcast resources.

And finally, to how much real money had been poured into this press conference.

He poured it all out, from the smallest detail to the most important.

Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan was very smart; he knew that in front of a smart person like Lin Chen, playing pretend or using pleasantries had no meaning.

It was better to generously lay his chips on the table.

"Brother Lin, I listened to the demo of that theme song that Mimi sent me yesterday. It's absolutely amazing!"

Lin Chen picked up the top-grade Dahongpao tea that Reba had just brewed, gently blew on the floating tea leaves, and took a sip.

Just as He Jiong and the others had expected, Lin Chen was indeed in a good mood now.

He was the type of person who went for this approach—if you were sincere and straightforward with him, he would be amiable and pleasant to you.

Seeing that Lin Chen wasn't disgusted, Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan hurriedly struck while the iron was hot:

"This song, 'flying far away', is not only a good tune, but the key is that it fits the theme of our Divas Hit the Road perfectly! It's practically a soul anthem tailor-made for our show! The station leaders and producers heard it and couldn't praise it enough!"

Lin Chen nodded faintly, noncommittal.

Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan rubbed his hands together, his old face covered in a fawning smile:

"Brother Lin, I won't beat around the bush. You see, for the press conference of this drama 'falling goose long fly', I've run my legs off and worried myself sick. You've delivered the theme song, so... in the upcoming show recordings, could you perhaps give us a little more 'surprise'?"

Lin Chen smiled.

He naturally understood the subtext in this old fox's words.

Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan had truly tasted the sweetness that Lin Chen brought.

Lin Chen had basically coasted through the entire first episode as an invisible person, but even so, he had carried more than half of the ratings.

By the second episode, Lin Chen had casually shown a few tricks, directly causing the number of online viewers in the live broadcast room and the topic engagement to explode, crushing other variety shows in the same time slot into the ground.

Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan finally understood now: as long as he served this Great God Lin well and made him happy enough to reveal a little bit of talent, it would be hard for the show not to be a hit!

"I'll try my best." Lin Chen put down his teacup and gave an ambiguous reply.

Since Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan had indeed put in great effort to pave the way for Yang Mi, the copyright fee for one song was indeed insufficient to repay this favor.

In the entertainment industry, debts of gratitude were the hardest to repay.

Lin Chen was also happy to cooperate more in the subsequent shows, considering it as repaying the favor.

Hearing Lin Chen's "I'll try my best," the heart that Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan had been holding in his throat finally settled back into his stomach; his old face blossomed into a radiant chrysanthemum-like smile, completely satisfied.

Don't look at it as just two light words, but Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan knew better than anyone.

For a monster of Lin Chen's level, his "I'll try my best" was absolutely ten thousand times more reliable and shocking than the "I'll give it my all" promised by 99% of the stars in the circle while thumping their chests!

It's like Michael Jordan saying he's just going to play casually on the court, versus a benchwarmer saying he's going to defend with all his might—could those be the same concept?

With his goal achieved, Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan was sensible enough not to stay long.

Although the press conference for 'falling goose long fly' carried the name of Hunan Satellite TV, all the miscellaneous matters inside and out relied on him alone to coordinate and dispatch; there was still a pile of messes at the scene waiting for him to make decisions, so after exchanging a few polite words with everyone, he hurriedly took his leave.

As soon as Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan left, Xie Na immediately acted as if she had discovered a new continent, leaning close to Yang Mi to whisper:

"My god! I've been at the station for so many years, and this is the first time I've seen Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan look so servile. He's usually really vicious when he scolds people at the station; he's practically a living King of Hell. Mimi, your man is too awesome, he has Chief Director Zhang Zhiquan completely wrapped around his finger!"

Yang Mi glanced at Lin Chen, who was chatting idly with He Jiong; her alluring fox-like eyes were full of tenderness and pride that couldn't be melted away:

"You don't even look at whose husband it is. My man is the type who responds to softness rather than hardness. That old fox Zhang Zhiquan is very sharp; he has figured out my husband's pulse, knowing that as long as he stuffs me with enough benefits, my husband will absolutely never treat him unfairly."

Xie Na listened with glowing eyes, filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred: "Hearing you say that, I want to be reincarnated. Being protected and pampered by a top-tier big shot like Teacher Lin is practically a CEO plot from a romance novel!"

Yang Mi sighed, her tone carrying a bit of humblebrag distress:

"The pampering is truly to the bone. But the problem is, this pampering has to be divided by five. Sometimes when I can't sleep at night, I just idly think, if it weren't for those troublemakers back then, and I could have him all to myself, how comfortable would my life be? I'd probably be so happy I'd ascend to heaven."