"Director Zhuang hasn't kicked her out, which shows he's really quite indulgent."
Xiao He remarked with emotion.
Liu Rulan shrugged. "So you see, rich people's affairs are beyond our comprehension."
Having money really is great.
"So we still need to keep making money and work hard to become capital ourselves."
Setting aside Yuan Sitong's father who's an executive at a video platform, just take Zhuang Hongyi for example—his wealth is so substantial it makes people's eyes glaze over.
From the wealthy villa at their first meeting, to the 0.5-ring courtyard house used for filming, and now this luxurious Western-style mansion where the celebrity Evan lives in the storyline... all are Zhuang Hongyi's properties.
Xiao He felt sometimes it really wasn't about him resenting the rich, but seeing Zhuang Hongyi pull out property after property, he couldn't help but feel his heart getting uncomfortable.
Liu Rulan also followed Xiao He's gaze to look around, her eyes taking in all the high-end furnishings within the luxurious Western-style mansion. She was pleased that Xiao He had this awareness, then patted his shoulder and asked, "So how's your software tinkering going? Interested in investing more in our studio?"
Xiao He stumbled slightly.
"Ahem—" Xiao He glanced at Liu Rulan. "Sister Liu, how did you know I was planning to sell software?"
Liu Rulan chuckled lightly. "No, it's not like you were hiding it from me and Xiao Chen. Don't you regularly open your beloved little computer to tap away at it? We're not blind."
Xiao He: "...I guess that's true."
"But my current development progress is still quite slow." Xiao He said honestly.
Since his skill leveled up, Xiao He had been tinkering with intelligent software, preparing to delve deeper into the field of artificial intelligence.
After all, with current national support and technological trends leaning this way, if he could use his hacking skills to get a piece of the pie in this field, there would definitely be more earning potential in the future.
Xiao He was still very confident in the project he was developing.
However, tinkering with this stuff alone was genuinely quite taxing.
Even though Xiao He's current hacking skills had reached the cutting edge of this era's technology, he still couldn't access technological areas beyond what humanity hadn't yet developed.
Like countless other research teams both large and small, he needed to swim hard in the blue ocean of artificial intelligence to create something of his own.
Moreover, some things still relied on hardware support—it wasn't something that could be developed with just any small computer. It would be best to have multiple sets of more advanced equipment and network support. Given Xiao He's current situation of constantly shuttling between different filming sets and hotels, it was definitely hindering his progress.
So for now, Xiao He didn't have ambitions to achieve everything at once and planned to take it slow.
The group got into the van, preparing to return to the hotel.
On the way, Xiao He suddenly realized—
"Sister Liu, is our studio short on money recently?" Xiao He recalled. "I feel like our recent earnings should be pretty good."
Linghui Studio was essentially Xiao He's studio, moving according to his career development—when he prospered, it prospered; when he suffered, it suffered. With Xiao He's acting career currently smooth sailing and his personal wallet gradually swelling, the studio shouldn't be getting poorer. Why were they seeking investments again?
Liu Rulan chuckled lightly. "It's precisely because the earnings are good that we should expand into other projects."
"Huh?"
Xiao He thought for a moment. "Planning to invest?"
Actually, this was the beginning of many celebrities transitioning from artists to capital. After all, earning money alone was ultimately too slow for rapid capital accumulation. To make more money, a better method was to make money generate more money.
Liu Rulan nodded. "Currently the studio indeed revolves around your work, and we won't be adding new artists in the short term, but we can find ways to invest in other production crews to earn some extra money."
"Invest in other production crews?" Xiao He murmured these words, then expressed agreement. "That's indeed good. Are there any investment projects of interest currently?"
"Two for now." Liu Rulan said. "Of course, the final decision will mainly be made by the two of us. You can look at the proposals later."
Xiao He estimated his current bank balance and nodded readily. "Alright, I'll check them out later."
Actually, this money would be quite good for purchasing a property in Shanghai.
But perhaps due to his family education and the confidence his parents gave him, Xiao He didn't have such a strong obsession with buying himself a "home" in Shanghai.
For him, having a place to live was good enough. Besides, he often traveled frequently like a human airplane, so the house would mostly sit empty with little chance to live in it. It would be better to make money generate money, giving him more and better choices in the future.
So Liu Rulan's suggestion about investing interested Xiao He quite a bit.
Of course, it would be best to use some means to investigate the projects later to eliminate potential risks.
Xiao He pondered for a moment, then opened his system interface to check his points, confirming the currently re-accumulated point value—
Hmm, quite ample, safety net secured.
Then later he should draw some related skills in economics and finance, so he could at least understand financial statements...
Xiao He coughed lightly, leaning over the front driver's seat back, and said to his human-shaped cheat Emperor Chen: "Xiao Chen, lend me your Emperor power again later!"
Xiao Chen turned his head. "Huh? Okay! But Brother Xiao, what card game are you playing exactly? Why so mysterious..."
Xiao He said mysteriously: "Never mind, I'll give you a bonus later."
"Alright then—"
Xiao Chen immediately stopped asking.
Xiao He sat back in his seat.
Hehe, that's me for you, thinking quite far ahead~
Life is getting more and more comfortable, hehe—
Just as Xiao He was happily praising himself in his heart, his heart suddenly began to palpitate.
—That was the warning brought by his passive skill [Danger Evasion]!
Xiao He suddenly clutched his chest and turned to look out the car window—
At that moment, their van was heading toward the hotel as usual.
And their current position happened to be a crossroads.
Coincidentally, the green light lit up just then. Xiao Chen started the van moving straight ahead, preparing to cross the intersection, while Liu Rulan beside him pulled out her phone, preparing to tell Xiao He about her achievements from going out today:
"Today I went to see Director Ning, to help you—"
Before she could finish her sentence, a tremendous roar suddenly erupted from beside them: "BOOM—"
Xiao He suddenly reached out, grabbing her arm and roughly pulling her toward himself, while his other hand quickly reached toward Xiao Chen in front, forcefully pushing his arm and turning the steering wheel sharply.
"Ah—"
"CRASH!"
The other two people in the car hadn't even processed what was happening when they were suddenly slammed away by an extremely powerful impact force.
The van's tires screeched piercingly on the ground, the side window that took the direct hit shattered accordingly, scattering chaotically inside the vehicle. Then everything spun wildly before their eyes as they were thrown hard to the other side of the car with the vehicle's rollover.
Xiao He only had time to perform these last emergency measures before he too was thrown into disarray by the impact force.
"THUD!"
The spinning world finally stopped turning, everyone fell toward one side, and finally even the noise in their ears quieted down.
Even Xiao He's mind went blank momentarily.
It wasn't until piercing screams came from the intersection outside the car that the world, which seemed to have been paused, appeared to start moving again.
He first felt his own face, then checked his pulse—good, pulse still there, he was alive.
Damn! Almost became subatomic particles on the spot!