第0290章 我本将心向明月

Chapter 0290: I Shine My Heart Toward the Moon, but the Moon Shines on the Gutter

Since childhood, Zhao Fusheng had grown used to suffering losses at Fan Baobao's hands.

Even just now, he had agreed without thinking, but when he came to his senses, Zhao Fusheng realized he had actually promised to cook for her.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Zhao Fusheng looked at Fan Baobao suspiciously, his face full of surprise.

With decades of life experience behind him, the more he looked at Fan Baobao, the more he felt she had done it deliberately.

Fan Baobao blinked her big eyes innocently, looking bewildered: "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Shaking his head helplessly, Zhao Fusheng had no way around it. This girl had been like this since she was little—every time she didn't want to answer something, she played dumb.

"Forget it. From now on, either we eat out or I cook. Just don't make things worse." Zhao Fusheng resigned himself.

After all, in his previous life when he drifted in Beijing, he had lived on his own for a few years and was decent at cooking. Not a master chef, but he could make basic home-style dishes.

"Don't worry, I definitely won't make things worse." Fan Baobao said earnestly.

Zhao Fusheng pursed his lips. To be honest, he was skeptical about that vow.

Evening came quickly. Neither Zhao's parents nor Li Yuan seemed to remember their existence; they didn't call to check in or send a message to ask. It really made Zhao Fusheng feel that the elders had planned this deliberately.

Going upstairs, he saw the phones in his room and remembered something. He grabbed one and went downstairs, saying to Fan Baobao, who was watching TV: "By the way, you don't have a phone, do you?"

"Huh?"

Fan Baobao looked up, confused.

Zhao Fusheng shook his head helplessly and placed the phone in front of her: "Here, use this for now."

"Apple?" Fan Baobao was stunned. She fiddled with it for a long time before looking at Zhao Fusheng: "Where did you get this? This costs a few thousand, right?"

Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "Not bad, you know your stuff."

"Someone in my class bought one, so of course I know." Fan Baobao said grumpily.

"Take it. I wrote that ad campaign; it's a company perk." Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and said to Fan Baobao.

He could tell her some things appropriately, so she wouldn't be suspicious and always think he wasn't making any money.

"You wrote it?" Fan Baobao was taken aback, then said in surprise: "You mean the ad with Andy Lau and Zhou Feifei—you wrote the proposal?"

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Yeah, Boss Zheng had all the designers in the company write proposals. I wrote one and submitted it, and it got approved."

"What incredible luck!" Fan Baobao said excitedly: "Did you meet Andy Lau? Is he handsome? Is he really gentle?"

Zhao Fusheng rolled his eyes. He felt he shouldn't have told her. Was this the time to care about that?

"Brother Tian is a nice guy, just a bit old. And he told me he has a girlfriend." Zhao Fusheng said irritably: "You, stop swooning over there."

"Liar!" Fan Baobao muttered discontentedly, then sat there looking at Zhao Fusheng, scrutinizing him from head to toe. Finally she said: "I really didn't see that in you—that you could write ad proposals."

Zhao Fusheng suppressed the urge to kick her out and said calmly: "I studied advertising design. Isn't it normal that I thought of this?"

"Fine, I'll just call it a blind cat catching a dead mouse." Fan Baobao said with a knowing look: "Oh, by the way, Sister Hua got me a role in a TV series. She says it's a big production, and I can play a supporting role."

Zhao Fusheng frowned: "Movie or TV series?"

"TV series, duh. Do you think I'm Miss Zhou, making my debut in a movie?" Fan Baobao rolled her eyes: "For someone like me, getting a role before graduation is already pretty good. I'm in no position to pick and choose."

As she spoke, she counted on her fingers: "Sister Hua said I can make two hundred a day. If I can shoot for a month, next year's tuition will be covered, and Uncle and Auntie won't have to worry about me. I heard the family owes the bank a lot of money. Once I do a few more shows, I can pay it back..."

Zhao Fusheng watched her calculating, feeling warm inside. Maybe Fan Baobao had this or that flaw, but when it came to family matters, she never had any ulterior motives.

"Don't worry. Maybe before you even start shooting, the family's debts will be paid off." Zhao Fusheng said to Fan Baobao with a smile.

Being in Beijing, she naturally knew less about the family's situation than Zhao Fusheng did in Ninghai.

"Really?" Fan Baobao clearly didn't believe him. She thought he was just comforting her. Li Yuan had said that Zhao's father had borrowed a lot of money.

When she heard that news, Fan Baobao's mood instantly soured. She blamed herself, because if not for her being a burden, Zhao's father wouldn't have had to work so hard to make money. Supporting one college student versus two was a completely different level of burden, not to mention Li Yuan and her daughter at home.

That's why Fan Baobao had taken the initiative to contact Wang Jinghua and ask if she could go out and act.

Wang Jinghua didn't know what was going on at the time and thought it was Zhao Fusheng's idea, so she agreed to find Fan Baobao a role next year.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "We've already made a lot of money just from the opening. A few days ago, when I went to the market, I heard Aunt Li and my mom going over the accounts. They said if you look at the profit alone, they can pay off the bank loan within three months."

"That fast?" Fan Baobao was completely dumbfounded. How was this different from the script she had imagined?

In her mind, she had expected to come back to a gloomy scene.

But now, where was the gloom? It was clearly a bright future.

"You've been to the supermarket. The whole first floor is ours. What do you think it's like?" Zhao Fusheng shrugged at Fan Baobao: "To be honest, I didn't expect my dad to be so bold as to lease the entire first floor of Hualian Department Store. And he actually got it. I don't know what those people were thinking."

That was the truth. According to Zhao Fusheng's thinking, taking too big a step wasn't good. But his dad had given him a big surprise and now seemed on the verge of success.

Zhao Fusheng was even certain that as long as the mall got through the initial loan period, paid back the promised interest dividends to creditors, and maintained the current customer traffic, within a year it would become a major new shopping center in Ninghai.

And by then, Zhao Fusheng thought, his dad could consider how much it would cost to lease the entire building.

After all, even now, only the first floor of Hualian Department Store was in operation.

"Well, it's a bit different from what I imagined." Fan Baobao said sheepishly.

The expected situation hadn't materialized, and it seemed she didn't need to desperately take acting jobs to pay off debts. Fan Baobao actually felt a twinge of disappointment.

Seeing her expression, Zhao Fusheng couldn't help but smile helplessly: "Alright, just focus on your studies. No matter what happens, you don't need to worry."

Fan Baobao hummed in agreement, was silent for about ten seconds, then quietly raised her hand, placed the instant noodles she had prepared in front of her, and said: "Then I'll eat my noodles first."

The expression on Zhao Fusheng's face instantly froze. He suddenly felt he shouldn't have said those words.

"You want some?" At that moment, Fan Baobao hesitated and asked Zhao Fusheng.

A happy smile appeared on Zhao Fusheng's face. This girl, she finally had some conscience, asking about him.

He nodded slightly, ready to be modest, when he saw Fan Baobao stand up with the noodle bowl, step back a few paces to keep a safe distance, and then pout: "If you want some, go make another bag yourself."

Zhao Fusheng took a deep breath and jumped up: "Fan Baobao! Today, it's either you or me!"