FLME Ch14: Shareholders

On the weekend, Yu Wen had no engagements, so he rode his little electric scooter to the company, planning to clean up StarLight Media’s image and appearance.

In short, to do some cleaning.

He was indeed quite idle. The live broadcast supporting farmers was temporarily put on hold by Xie Jiamao, waiting for the main guest Chu Han’s willingness; the previously discussed variety show was a nationally popular one, and Yu Wen was only a guest for one episode, which Xie Jiamao had secured through his industry connections. For a newcomer actor with no debut works, getting in was purely a stroke of luck.

The boss was running around everywhere, getting him resources. Yu Wen felt guilty about just lounging at home doing nothing, so he took the key and went to clean up.

As he opened the door, a familiar tall figure was sitting on a folding ladder, sleeves rolled up, exposing a section of slender forearm, painting the wall.

Upon hearing the noise, Xie Heyu turned his head and looked over, with a surprised expression.

Yu Wen stood at the door silently for a minute, closed the door, took a deep breath, and bravely sent a message to his boss to complain: [Boss, you are too much.]

After sending it, he put his phone on silent mode, pretending he hadn’t done something so rebellious.

Far away on the set of “Fenghua,” Xie Jiamao sneezed. The phone in his pocket vibrated, and he took it out to take a look, feeling puzzled, “What’s this…”

Gao Kaiyu was intensely watching the replay on the monitor, fully focused. Xie Jiamao mumbled beside him, causing Gao to instinctively frown in annoyance, “What’s wrong?”

Xie Jiamao, feeling aggrieved, said, “Xiao Yu scolded me.”

“Serves you right,” Gao Kaiyu gloated, “That kid can be sharp-tongued. Just wait for your high blood pressure.”

“That shouldn’t be. Xiao Yu has always been kind to me… Could it be that the company’s hygiene is too bad and it tired him out?”

Thinking of this, Xie Jiamao hurriedly bombarded Xie Heyu with messages, urging him to take good care of the company’s golden egg and not to overwork him.

He completely forgot that he hadn’t informed either of them that they might meet.

Seeing Yu Wen at the company, Xie Heyu was very surprised.

“What are you doing here?” Xie Heyu came down from the folding ladder, saw that his forehead was slightly sweaty, handed him a bottle of mineral water, and unscrewed the cap for him.

Yu Wen sipped the water, moistening his lips, and his dark, shiny eyes darted around the room being renovated, like a hamster poking its head around.

“The boss said the company is being renovated. I don’t have any work recently, so I came to help.”

This building had twenty-one floors and was located in a bustling area. StarLight Media occupied only five floors, which was quite impressive for a new, little-known company.

Yu Wen had previously thought that the boss must have a well-off family to be so carefree for so many years, not needing him to work hard and still providing him support in various industries. Having five floors of assets seemed reasonable.

But with five floors, couldn’t they hire some renovation workers?

The moment he saw Xie Heyu, he felt that the boss shouldn’t have the surname Xie but Zhou and be called Zhou Ba Pi (a character known for overworking people).

Who makes their good nephew work like a robot?

Yu Wen bit the mouth of the mineral water bottle and looked up at him sympathetically, “It’s the weekend. Why aren’t you resting at school?”

Xie Heyu tilted his head, intuitively sensing a misunderstanding but not quite grasping it, so he lowered his eyelashes and softly said, “Here to renovate.”

Yu Wen: …

Of course, I know you’re here to renovate. Anyone can see that.

“Haha, Teacher Xie, you know how to do this too. Such a wide range of skills.” Yu Wen thought for a moment, then solemnly asked, “Are you doing all five floors?”

“…No.” Xie Heyu took out a few design drawings from the cluttered table and said, “The hard construction is mostly done. Only the painting is left. The workers couldn’t mix the color I wanted. I tried for a long time, determined the ratio, and planned to paint one reception room today as a sample.”

After saying that, he glanced at the cleaning tools sticking out from Yu Wen’s backpack, was silent for two seconds, and asked, “You came… to sweep the floor?”

Yu Wen breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that at least the boss didn’t overwork his relatives to that extent. He took out a folding broom from his backpack and seriously said, “The boss said the company is very dirty. I was afraid there wouldn’t be a broom, so I brought my own.”

“…We have cleaning staff. You don’t need to do these chores,” Xie Heyu hesitated, “Xie Jiamao… never mind.”

Yu Wen guessed that he had just held back a complaint about their unreliable elder.

He really has good manners, able to hold it back.

“Oh.” Yu Wen regretfully stuffed the broom back into his backpack. He had also brought a portable mop, cloths, cleaning agents, and air fresheners, ready to show off his cleaning skills. He felt a bit disappointed that he couldn’t use them.

“Do you know interior design?” Xie Heyu asked out of the blue.

Yu Wen honestly shook his head, glanced at the complex drawings in his hand, and added, “I can read the drawings.”

After all, he was a direct Ph.D. student in engineering.

Xie Heyu, holding the drawings, pondered for a moment.

“The feel of painting is similar to sweeping the floor.”

Yu Wen was stunned for a moment, understanding the implication.

“So, although there’s no floor for me to sweep, there’s a wall for me to paint?” Yu Wen felt a mix of emotions, “Do I look like I really want to sweep the floor?”

Xie Heyu silently looked at him, his calm eyes revealing acceptance and determination.

–

Contrary to his appearance, Xie Heyu was undoubtedly meticulous and gentle. Although occasionally serious to the point of being amusing, Yu Wen found this “awkwardness” quite endearing.

Accepting Xie Heyu’s kind offer, he cheerfully went to get the tools for painting.

Xie Heyu had arrived early and already mixed the color, which was between gray and silver-gray, with a slight metallic sheen that was not very noticeable.

Yu Wen made himself a little paper hat, holding a small brush in one hand and a small bucket in the other. He was lively, asking, “Which wall do I paint?!”

“You only need to paint this wall to make it stand out. This wall will have the company logo. The rest will be white.” Xie Heyu showed him the design drawing.

Yu Wen hung the small bucket on his elbow, flipped through a couple of pages, and noticed that the design drawings were not all done by the same person.

“Were the design drawings done by two people?” he asked curiously.

“Mm.” Xie Heyu walked over, flipped through a couple of pages, and pulled out a 3D rendering, “This was given by Xie Jiamao. Under my insistence, he gave up the goose-yellow color scheme but still required some of the creative ideas in the picture to be retained.”

Yu Wen looked at the bright floor-to-ceiling windows in the picture, paired with the warm goose-yellow walls and the highly saturated logo…

“Does the boss know this is a reception room, not his bedroom?”

Xie Heyu: “I think he knows but doesn’t change it.”

Yu Wen was amused by his sharp and incisive comment, smiling with squinted eyes, “It’s not bad looking, just not grand enough for a company reception room. Did the boss work as an interior designer before?”

Xie Heyu: “Mm, for a brief period.”

Yu Wen: “Why? He didn’t like it?”

Xie Heyu: “He never changed, so he got fired.”

“……”

After a few seconds of silence, Yu Wen burst into a goose-like laugh.

“Hahahahahaha——”

–

After finishing the first coat of paint, Xie Heyu sat down to rest and saw Xie Jiamao’s barrage of messages from half an hour ago.

Too many words, too lazy to read. He replied briefly: [Mm.]

On the set of “Fenghua,” Xie Jiamao stared at the “Mm,” scrutinizing it in every possible way, finally reading between the lines: perfunctory!

He sighed in distress, “Xiao Xie has no feelings for me as his uncle anymore. Now he only replies with one word.”

“Hasn’t Xiao Xie always been like this since he was young?” Gao Kaiyu, who had been friends with him for decades and watched the little nephew grow up, knew it wasn’t as serious as he said. Xiao Xie had always been like this, “Come over and help me with the composition.”

Xie Jiamao graduated from the top photography school in the country and had a strong foundation in drawing since he was young. Although he hadn’t achieved much in various fields over the years, his professional abilities were unquestionable.

One of Gao Kaiyu’s conditions for signing with StarLight Media was that Xie Jiamao would work for him until “Fenghua” was finished.

“Do you have any sympathy?!” Xie Jiamao scolded, “The estrangement between uncle and nephew is a precursor to severing family ties! If Xiao Xie doesn’t recognize me, then you won’t have a nephew either!”

In his life, Gao Kaiyu had only been thwarted by two people: Yu Wen and his long-time friend beside him.

He licked his molars, feeling both helpless and irritable, “If Xiao Xie doesn’t recognize you, whose fault is that? It’s your fault for always exploiting him, even making him renovate on weekends.”

Xie Jiamao shouted his grievance, “I didn’t order him around; he wanted to go himself! That’s his building!”

Gao Kaiyu was silent for two seconds.

“What did you say?”

“Didn’t I tell you? The company’s headquarters were donated by a company shareholder as a favor.” Xie Jiamao scratched the ends of his medium-length hair, muttering in confusion, “I should have mentioned it…”

Gao Kaiyu made a “cut” gesture.

“Let me sort this out.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, realizing he had misunderstood the identity of this “shareholder,” feeling incredulous, and his tightly furrowed brow almost twisted into a knot.

“Didn’t you say the 50% shareholder was your family…”

Xie Jiamao hesitated, “Isn’t Xiao Xie my family?”

Gao Kaiyu was expressionless, “I thought it was your brother.”

Xie Jiamao: “Oh, then you misunderstood.”

Gao Kaiyu: “…”

He really wanted to open up this guy’s head and see what was inside!

Gao Kaiyu was having a severe headache.

In the Xie family, there were many capable people.

Xie Jiamao had two older sisters and an older brother, all excelling in various fields. The most notable was Xie Jialin, Xie Heyu’s father, who was third in the family and four years older than Xie Jiamao.

He made his fortune in mining resources early on. Later, with the integration of coal resources, he shifted to real estate. During the economic boom, he made a fortune in the tourism industry, succeeding in every field he ventured into. In recent years, he had retired, spending his days playing cards with his sisters and chess with old men in the park, living a carefree life.

However, the accumulated wealth, connections, and prestige over the years remained and were immeasurable.

This generation of the Xie family seemed to have a knack for making money, capable of earning a fortune even while walking their dog.

—Except for Xie Jiamao, who didn’t seek wealth.

The three capable relatives above indulged Xie Jiamao, allowing him to muddle through life until now.

“Xiao Xie is fine, but the problem is, where did he get so much money? I remember he hasn’t had any investment experience.”

“He didn’t before, but now he does with our StarLight Media.” Xie Jiamao raised his head, confident and proud. Xiao Yu had said StarLight Media was worth it! Willing to work there until death!

It indirectly reflected how promising their company was.

Gao Kaiyu: “…”

“Come on, don’t worry. Xiao Xie is much wealthier than both of us. That building is his. My brother said our Xie family lacked some artistic flair; luckily, we had me as an art student, but it was still insufficient, so he encouraged Xiao Xie to become a star when he graduated high school.”

Xie Jiamao spoke mysteriously, “Do you know what the reward was? A building in the city center.”

Gao Kaiyu: “You mean our StarLight Media…”

Xie Jiamao: “Not just that; all twenty-one floors are his.”

Gao Kaiyu fell silent. This wasn’t just a nephew; it was a golden goose.

“My sister-in-law passed away early. My brother was busy in the early years and had no time to look after Xiao Xie. The child moved between various aunts’ homes. He was introverted, and the adults loved to tease him, coaxing him into doing ‘improper’ things. You know my sisters; they’re wild but generous.”

Xie Heyu was now twenty years old, with a resume that could boast twenty years of work experience. He had a house, a car, and substantial savings.

“When our StarLight Media grows big and strong, Xiao Xie won’t have to worry about the rest of his life.” Xie Jiamao sighed.

Gao Kaiyu thought for a while.

“Does your brother still need a son?”

Xie Jiamao: “?”

“I’m willing to be Xiao Xie’s younger brother, even without a formal title,” Director Gao said earnestly.

Xie Jiamao couldn’t believe it, “I treat you as a brother, and you see me as an uncle?”

“Or do your sisters need a boyfriend? I’m willing to marry them, even as a concubine.”

Xie Jiamao choked, then shrieked.

“You want to be my brother-in-law?!!”

They couldn’t stay calm for even two minutes. The middle-aged men’s group started quarreling again, their voices loud and deafening.

The crew was used to it, busy with their own tasks, not even sparing a glance for the childish director and his equally childish friend.

Only a few resting extras were surprised by the scene.

They had heard that the two of them had started a company. Zou Ming, listening to their chaotic conversation, took a swig of water, thinking that this company was doomed.

Who would be foolish enough to sign with their company?