In the cafeteria the young salesman said that it came to a hundred and thirty in total, and thanked her for her purchase.
Manman went nervous and said that she had forgotten her phone and that it was still in the car. An old woman told her to hurry up and asked her whether she was going to buy or not, because there were a lot of people waiting behind her. A boy said that that was how it was, wasn't it.
Then Shen arrived and told the girl that he had asked her to wait for him, and asked her why she had gone off alone and hadn't given him the opportunity to show off a little. And he paid.
He hadn't directly said that he would pay for her, Manman thought. He had deliberately pretended to be her lover instead, because obviously he didn't want people to think he was helping a stranger — he didn't even want people to know his good intentions when he took the initiative to help somebody. That kind of person was really rare.
Manman told him that they should go, because it wouldn't taste good once it went cold, and they walked out arm in arm, and Manman said that that was that.
Then she went looking for her phone, thinking that there were very few good people like that these days. But when she came back she couldn't see Shen anywhere, and wondered where he had gone.
Inside the studio, Su Fu and the little genius were sitting waiting. A young woman came over and began to say that her name was —
"You're Tan Renru," Su Fu said. "The new recruit at Star Entertainment. Isn't that right?"
The young woman was astonished that she even knew her name.
The current generation of young people were really cute, Su Fu thought — jumping up and down at a few words, as though they owned the entire world.
Then Manman arrived and told Sister Fu that breakfast was here, and Su Fu asked Tan Renru whether she had had breakfast yet, and told her to eat with them.
Tan Renru asked whether she could really have breakfast with a senior like her. She was so excited to have been able to speak to her goddess at all, she said, and now to be eating breakfast with her — she couldn't even think about it.
Manman turned her face away, looking at something.
"What are you looking at?" Su Fu asked.
"It's nothing. We'd better eat first, so we don't get delayed for the audition."
But the man just now had been kind and gentle, Manman thought, and thanks to him she had got back to the set on time. He had to be an artist, though he clearly had no idea of it; maybe he was a newcomer to the industry. Next time she really ought to thank him.
Just then a man with a loudspeaker told Su Fu that it was her turn now.
Su Fu stood up and said she was coming.
She was walking in when a girl came across in front of her, stumbled and started to fall — and, with a slightly strange look on her face, tore the sleeve off Su Fu's dress.
She told Su Fu that she was sorry, because she hadn't been paying attention, and that she didn't believe that dress could be expensive; she asked her to name the price and she would pay it.
Su Fu remembered where she had seen her: this was the person who had been having breakfast with Su Li. Obviously Su Li had sent her to mess with her.
Tan Renru said that she had spare clothes, but the fabric wasn't the same as Su Fu's, and wondered what could be done.
Then somebody laid a coat over Su Fu's shoulders and said that he was afraid she couldn't afford it.
It was Shen, standing there entirely serene. Manman was startled and said that it was him.
Shen asked the girl whether she couldn't walk properly because she had fed him too much the night before.
The girl looked shocked, and all the other girls started laughing, and she covered her face and tried to leave. But Shen took her by the arm and asked her whether she hadn't just said she was going to pay for the dress — so why was she leaving? Or could it be that the money he had given her wasn't enough?
The girl looked furious. She reached into her small purse and threw a cheque at Su Fu, and it fell to the floor; and as she turned to go she told Su Fu to just wait, because it wouldn't be that easy, for God's sake.
But Shen told her to pick it up and hand it over directly, and asked her whether she didn't understand basic courtesy.
The girl looked quite frightened, and thought that this man was terrifying. She bent down, picked up the cheque, and, bowing with great respect, handed it to Su Fu.
Unexpectedly, Su Fu thought, the brother beside her who looked like a fool had turned out to be the boss of Yuanchen Entertainment.
She stared at the money while Shen told the girl to apologise, and the girl told Miss Su that she was sorry, that it was all her fault, and asked her please to accept the cheque. Su Fu, quite serious, reached out her hand with complete indifference and took it.
Then she thanked President Shen Hu and asked him to please allow her to invite him to eat sometime.
He said that he would accept the offer to eat with her, because he liked eating with beautiful women.
Su Fu said that in that case she would go on ahead.
The little beauty went up to Shen and thanked the uncle for helping her mom, and handed him something.
Shen was surprised, and wondered whether Su Fu had a child that age. He looked at little Lulu and told her that he hadn't helped her mother, and asked her not to associate with people like him in the future — did she understand?
But the Little Genius said that he definitely had helped her mother. And she thought that this man was weird.
Manman, for her part, wondered what kind of person Shen Hu was: he had helped her pay her bill and helped Su Fu, but wouldn't admit that he had helped either of them; and when he dealt with that woman just now he had been completely different, with a very chilling aura around him. He seemed to be an extremely approachable man, and also to be extremely dangerous.
Shen's phone rang and he took the call.
It was Ji Yansi. He said hello, and said that he had not expected him to like the ones who already had somebody, or the ones who had a child, and that it looked as though he was going to have to get to know him all over again.
Shen told him that if he really liked her like that, as a brother — how about he got rid of her man and put her in the top position instead?
And he was told to try it, and see.
The call was cut off.
Shen was a little confused, wondering whether he had been invited to try or warned not to, because Chinese culture was so extensive and so deep that it was difficult to understand. He stayed there, quite thoughtful.
Then little Lulu came running up and called to the uncle. She told him that her mother had asked her to give his coat back and to thank him again, and to please accept this lollipop. Shen took the coat, and the little girl said goodbye and told him that Lulu's lollipop was very sweet and that the uncle should try it.
Shen was quite happy as he tried the lollipop. Then he saw something fall next to his shoes, and said that he hadn't taken that — and that this was pretty interesting.