178: Is this pickled?

Li Mengyao had just buttoned up her shirt. When she looked up, she happened to catch Ye Su's lingering gaze. Beyond feeling shy and annoyed, she also felt a hint of joy, and with a bit of mischievous humor, she asked:

"Still looking? Haven't you seen enough?"

Ye Su's mind was busy pondering geography and movie questions. Hearing this, he subconsciously replied: "No..."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Ye Su immediately realized his mistake and hurriedly corrected himself:

"I'm not looking. I was just thinking about what the world's second-highest peak is called, so I got distracted."

"Heh." Li Mengyao wore an expression that said 'Do you really think I'll believe that?': "Then tell me, what is the world's second-highest peak called?"

Ye Su remained calm and composed: "I'm a science student, and I'm bad at geography. I don't know what the world's second-highest peak is called, which is why I was distracted thinking about it."

Li Mengyao had received an elite education since childhood, and after graduation, she had only interacted with partners and employees of Poyun Group. She basically never had the opportunity to bicker with anyone, so how could she possibly win an argument against Ye Su now?

After glaring at Ye Su resentfully, Li Mengyao had no choice but to move past the topic and return to business.

She walked over to the desk, took out the contract that had been prepared long ago from the drawer, and sat back down on the seat by the sofa armrest so she could be closer to Ye Su, beginning to explain the contents of the contract to him.

"The subsequent marketing, production, and sales processes will basically be handled by Poyun, so you won't need to do anything else."

"The ten percent dividend I'm giving you will only be calculated based on the jewelry's material costs, production costs, and sales expenses; it will not include marketing expenses."

This time, Poyun Group mainly wanted to build momentum, so the marketing expenses would certainly not be low, and might even completely cover the profits of the jewelry.

Therefore, Li Shanhai was very principled and did not make Ye Su, an "outsider," shoulder the marketing expenses along with Poyun Group.

"Your dividends will basically be transferred to you within three working days after each piece of jewelry is sold and the payment is received."

"We plan to invite top domestic jewelry production teams who have won awards like the [Tiangong Award · Gold Award] to participate in the secondary design and subsequent production of this batch of jewelry, doing everything possible to craft the twenty-four pieces of jewelry into a classic high-luxury series."

"Combined with the marketing and momentum building, conservatively estimating, it will be a few months before the jewelry sales begin, so you won't be able to receive your dividends until then."

"..."

Li Mengyao leaned forward, personally flipping through the contract on the coffee table, explaining each item in the contract to Ye Su with great thoughtfulness.

Little did she know, while Ye Su was listening to her explanation, his thoughts were gradually wandering.

"It smells so good—"

At first, Ye Su was indeed listening attentively to Li Mengyao's explanation.

But because the two of them were sitting too close.

As a faint, delicate fragrance drifted into Ye Su's nose, his thoughts began to wander.

Ye Su had no knowledge of perfume at all and couldn't even tell if the faint scent on Li Mengyao was from the high-end perfumes she used or if she had simply used so much cosmetics that she had become marinated in it.

He only knew that this scent was indeed pleasant; although it was faint, it was a persistent, lingering fragrance.

It wasn't quite to the point of being intoxicating, but Ye Su still couldn't help but take a few extra whiffs, thinking to himself that if this scent was a perfume, he could buy a few bottles for Chen Xinyi later.

"Given that the receipt of dividends will be affected by Poyun Group's marketing strategy, we will pay you an advance of 250,000 first."

"Hmm!"

Upon hearing that he could get money upfront, Ye Su instantly sobered up; he had no more thoughts of pondering the perfume.

He only had 550,000 left, but he still had three days of level-two intelligence to upgrade, and he was also planning to prepare a gift for Chen Xinyi for tomorrow. Ye Su was still worrying that his money was a bit tight.

Li Mengyao's proactive offer to pay a 250,000 advance was undoubtedly a timely rain for Ye Su right now.

"What's the matter? You perked up the moment you heard about money?"

"Hehe."

Ye Su also knew that his reaction just now was indeed a bit pathetic, so he could only laugh awkwardly.

Li Mengyao took after Wang Lijuan and knew that she shouldn't make things difficult for a man over the word [Money].

So, after making that remark, she continued to give the final explanation for the contract:

"This 250,000 advance will need to be deducted from your ten percent dividend later on. In other words, you will have to wait until your dividends exceed 250,000 before you can receive any subsequent dividends."

"Understood."

"Then do you have any other questions about this contract? If you do, say it now, and I can have someone change it."

"No, let's just go with this contract."

Ye Su didn't know much about this aspect; he just knew that Li Mengyao probably wouldn't cheat him, and besides, having money to take right now was enough.

"Alright, then let's sign the contract."

Ye Su signed his name and pressed his fingerprint with a flourish, which was basically equivalent to having the down payment for an apartment in Yangcheng already in hand.

"Alright." After Li Mengyao stamped the official seal, she put away one copy of the contract: "The 250,000 advance will be transferred to you by the finance department in a moment."

"Okay."

In front of Li Mengyao, Ye Su sneakily picked up the contract and prepared to oil his heels and slip away.

How could Li Mengyao not understand Ye Su's little body language cues? She could only roll her eyes speechlessly.

Just when he entered the door, wasn't he staring at her, so much so that he almost forgot to blink?

Now that the contract was in his hands, this man had reverted to his original form and wouldn't stay a moment longer!

"By the way, isn't it [5.20] tomorrow? Do you want to go to my store to pick out a gift for your girlfriend? I can give you a 20% discount."

"No need, I've already planned what gift to buy."

Given that the watch Chen Xinyi was currently wearing on her wrist was still the one with the questionable origin that Ye Su had sold to her when they first met.

So Ye Su planned to take this opportunity to get Chen Xinyi a new watch.

The [hidden easter egg] reminder at midnight said that Chen Xinyi intended to [splurge], which sounded like she was going to buy him something expensive.

Driven by his male ego, Ye Su also planned to buy her a classic Cartier Ballon Bleu directly.

Chen Xinyi's wrists were slender, and she liked to wear bracelets, so buying her the 33mm size would be just right.

Ye Su had checked in the morning; this size of Cartier Ballon Bleu cost over 48,000, which would definitely outshine the gift Chen Xinyi was planning to give him tomorrow.

As for that bracelet, which was also picked up, he would wait until Chen Xinyi's birthday in a while to buy her a new one to replace it.

And Li Mengyao, even though it was she who had proactively suggested that Ye Su could go to her store to pick out a gift for his girlfriend.

But when she really heard Ye Su say that he had already chosen a gift, Li Mengyao, for some reason, felt a wave of sourness in her heart and no longer had the mood to continue joking with Ye Su.

"Fine, suit yourself..."

"But I still want to thank you for your kindness."

"Hmm..."

Ye Su did not notice the change in Li Mengyao's emotions.

He continued to sit for a while with the contract in hand, but seeing that Li Mengyao did not continue to speak.

The man and the woman looked at each other in silence; feeling that the atmosphere in the office was a bit awkward, Ye Su made an excuse and got up to leave.

After Ye Su closed the office door, Li Mengyao slumped back onto the sofa like a deflated ball.

It was just that she herself didn't know what she was feeling so agitated about all of a sudden.