Everyday Romance After Becoming a Billionaire

[I guess the ship of our friendship has finally sunk. Let’s call it quits, Princess Yiren. (smile)]

Su Ran’s single, devastating line made Xie Yiren so angry her boobs ached.

"Aaargh, China Mobile! I’ve got no love left for you! WAAAHHH! I’m fucking porting my number!"

Xie Yiren, clad in traditional Miao Clan attire adorned with silver, sat on a mountaintop deep in the ancient forests. To put it one way, Su Ran at Buchu Garden lived a rich man’s "secluded" life, while Xie Yiren’s small Miaojiang tribe lived a poor man’s "secluded" life—the kind not even covered by 4G.

Every time she returned to her hometown, this small hilltop was the only place she could get a signal. ’Sigh... The struggle is real.’

If being poor were a competition among her girlfriends, Xie Yiren would plant her hands on her hips and bellow, "Who’s poorer than me?" and no one would dare respond.

After all, they were a small tribe of fewer than a hundred people in the deep mountains of Miaojiang, and they were indeed poor. Even Xie Yiren’s college living expenses were funded by the entire tribe. They would gather medicinal herbs, sell them at the market, and deposit the money they saved into her account.

This wasn’t out of pity for Xie Yiren. Rather, every single member of the tribe did so willingly and took pride in it.

After all, as the bearer of the ’Bathing Fire Phoenix,’ Xie Yiren’s status was anything but ordinary. She was the object of faith for everyone in the small tribe.

She was the Saintess of this small Miaojiang tribe, a legacy of over a thousand years that had now dwindled to fewer than a hundred people.

’Heh, some Saintess I am. Su Ran is about to unfriend me. I’m really going to become a spinster. Sigh...’

"Who is Su Ran?"

Just then, an elderly man’s voice sounded from behind her. Xie Yiren quickly got up and ran to him, linking her arm through his. "Ah Weng, what are you doing here?" she asked with a beaming smile.

Xie Yiren’s parents had died young, having fallen from a cliff while gathering herbs in the mountains. She was raised by Ah Weng, the tribe’s most senior elder. The small tribe was very traditional and superstitious. For thousands of years, they had upheld the ’Saintess System’ as their core belief and also believed in reincarnation. On the very day the tribe’s previous Saintess passed away, Xie Yiren was born, so it was only natural that she would become the next ’Saintess’.

’Saintess’ sounds so nice, like it comes with a lot of power. ’In reality,’ Xie Yiren could only scoff. ’You’re thinking too much. We’re just a "critically poor tribe" with an annual per capita GDP of less than five thousand.’

Ah Weng patted Yiren’s head dotingly and asked, "Yiren, you just said some Su-something-or-other wants to call it quits with you. Who is that?"

"No, no! Don’t worry, Ah Weng. No one would dare call it quits with me."

Xie Yiren had always been one to report good news but hide the bad. She would never tell Ah Weng about any troubles she faced or bullies she encountered out in the world. If he ever found out, all hell would break loose. ’Someone dares to bully the Saintess of our great tribe? I’m buying an overnight train ticket to go put a hex on them!’

To her people, the Saintess was sacred and inviolable.

Anyone who violated the Saintess was courting death.

"Umm..." Xie Yiren couldn’t help but confess. "His name is Su Ran. He’s a new friend I made, and he’s really nice. He also... he also said he wants to build a road for us."

"Why would he want to build a road for us?"

"I showed him pictures of this place, and he said the scenery is gorgeous. He called it the kind of pristine, untouched paradise that everyone in the city yearns for. He said he’s willing to put up the money to be my first pioneer."

Xie Yiren felt this was her duty as the Saintess.

Ah Weng heaved a deep sigh. He looked at her sparkling, utterly naive eyes and said, "Yiren, don’t be fooled by the sweet talk of men from the outside world."

"He isn’t! Everything he said is true."

"He..."

Ah Weng almost blurted it out. ’He’s not talking about building a road! When he mentioned being a pioneer to develop a paradise, he was talking about you!’

"ACHOO!"

At that exact moment, Su Ran sneezed. ’Who’s talking smack about me now?’

He pulled out his phone to message a "new friend"—none other than the author of that fluffy romance novel he’d recently discovered, "Young Master Shi Wushuang."

Buddha says do not be arrogant: [I’m in Hangzhou. If you’re free, I’d like to treat you to dinner tonight to chat about the plot. (smile)]

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

At home, Shan Weizi had just finished showering and was now putting on her Hanfu. ’Mmm... I really am a complete Hanfu fanatic,’ she thought.

She saw the dinner invitation from "Buddha says do not be arrogant."

Over the past month, the two had become "good friends." Su Ran had been very dedicated to helping her manage the reader group, though he still occasionally tagged her in the chat, demanding, "Author, pictures in a dress!"

Shan Weizi had never posted a photo of herself in a dress for the group. She had only sent him one picture privately—a shot of her in Hanfu, with her face hidden—to thank him for his diligent work as a group moderator and for frequently rewarding her with Alliance Leader-tier donations.

Now that her Sponsor was in Hangzhou for business, Shan Weizi was also eager to meet this "Buddha says do not be arrogant." They both shared a common interest: painting.

She had initially thought to call him ’Brother Yue,’ but ended up calling him ’Brother Kuang.’ She wanted to go meet him and see just how "arrogant" this "Brother Kuang" truly was.

’Sponsor? Not really.’ Shan Weizi’s family wasn’t short on money. She had started writing her novel on a whim during summer vacation out of boredom. It ended up doing surprisingly well, so she just kept going.

Young Master Shi Wushuang: [I have to head out for a bit. Let’s meet at 7 PM tonight at Louwailou Restaurant by West Lake.]

Seeing his "OK" reply, Shan Weizi put down her phone. She finished putting on her flowing, pure white Wei-Jin style Hanfu, then went downstairs. She called out a greeting to Shan Changqing, who was watering the flowers, "Grandpa, I’m going out to take pictures!"

"Be back early."

"Okay."

Shan Weizi headed out the door, where a few of her friends were waiting. They all piled into her Bentley Continental GT and set off.

Her entire family were Wu School artists. A single one of her father’s recent paintings started at over a million yuan. And while her grandfather had officially retired from painting, he still produced a piece or two on occasion, mostly because it was difficult to refuse requests tied to social obligations. His works were even more terrifyingly expensive.