"What is this? Oh, all right, I understand. I'll pass it on to her. I think Little Lian'er should be quite interested in this." Standing at the door, Li Mingxue accepted the letter the visitor handed her. After reading what was written on it, she smiled, exchanged a few words with him, and closed the door.
It seemed that delivering the letter had been his sole purpose in coming here, so he did not take offense at Li Mingxue's abrupt dismissal. After standing there in a daze for a moment, he left without saying anything. He did not even seem to have any intention of meeting Chu Lian.
"Lian'er, Chu Chu, come down for a moment." Returning to the living room, Li Mingxue called upstairs, telling the sisters to hurry down.
"Let's go. Something has probably come up." Chu Lian and the others had been paying attention to the visitor all along. She had originally thought he would come inside, only for him to leave after handing over a letter and saying a few words. That made her rather curious.
Her spiritual sense could see what was written in the letter, but she did not quite understand it. She should not have had any connection with these people, so why had they come here?
"Should we come too?" Liu Yanran was a little worried. Judging from the girl's expression, this was probably not a trivial matter. She wanted to see whether she could help.
"There's no need. They probably don't have any malicious intentions this time." Chu Lian sensed that the visitor possessed no spiritual power whatsoever and was completely ordinary. Her spiritual sense had also detected no hostility from him, so she stopped worrying.
After hearing her refusal, Liu Yanran said nothing more and merely nodded obediently. Cai Ya, however, knitted her delicate brows and said quietly, "Why is this happening? What exactly do they want? I don't think this invitation is entirely without danger."
Although she did not know the contents of the letter or hear what the visitor had said, she could tell that it was probably an invitation. Perhaps only Chu Lian had been invited? That made the situation worth considering carefully.
"What are you worried about? I won't be deceived that easily. You should remember what kind of people are surrounding me now." Chu Lian blinked and wagged a finger with a smile.
Her words reminded Cai Ya and the others of the girl who had appeared out of thin air when Chu Lian returned home a few days ago, as well as her overwhelming strength. Indeed, with her around, Chu Lian probably would not encounter any problems.
"Oh, right. Wait until I come back before you play again. Maybe you can drag Satsuki over too. As long as I'm not here, she should be willing to play with you." Before leaving the room, Chu Lian suddenly turned back and said this, making everyone smile knowingly.
That was worth considering. Without Chu Lian around, the white-haired girl really might be unable to withstand their enthusiasm and end up being dragged over to play Dreambound. Whether they could succeed, however, depended on whether they could coax her out first.
"Big Sis, they probably only invited you this time. Chu Chu isn't on the list, right? Then why did Mommy call me?" Chu Chu walked behind Chu Lian, idly kicking at the floor, unable to understand why Li Mingxue had summoned her too.
"You'll find out in a moment." Chu Lian did not tell her why and left her to ask Li Mingxue for the answer.
Li Mingxue sat on the sofa with her chin propped in one hand, studying the envelope. When she saw Chu Chu and Chu Lian come downstairs, she placed the letter on the table and pointed toward the sofa.
After they sat down, she said gently, "This is an invitation from the organizers of a cosplay convention. It seems they want you to become our city's cosplay representative for the time being and help promote the culture. I don't know when cosplay started needing representatives either, but after seeing which company sent the invitation, I can understand it."
"Hangzhou Fantasy Culture and Entertainment? Why does the name sound so embarrassingly chuuni?" Chu Lian knitted her delicate brows and made a sarcastic remark. She did not doubt that the company possessed the ability to organize such an event. What she cared about more was what conditions they were offering.
"Read it yourself." Li Mingxue seemed to notice her doubts. She picked up the letter, opened the sealed envelope, and handed it to Chu Lian.
Curiously taking out the sheet of paper inside, Chu Lian began to read:
Esteemed Mr. Chu Lian,
Our company has always been devoted to developing online culture. Whether novels, anime, or various forms of ACG culture, we have dedicated projects for each of them.
Now, to increase our company's influence, we are preparing to hold a refreshing and unprecedented cosplay convention.
However, since this is the first time our company has organized an event of this scale, we are concerned that our current influence may not be sufficient to attract large numbers of enthusiasts.
Therefore, we would like to invite you to serve as the spokesperson for this cosplay convention and take the lead in attending the event.
We believe this will attract the attention of many enthusiasts and add even greater brilliance to the convention.
We sincerely hope you will not refuse. This is an ambitious attempt by an emerging company, and we need an influential figure such as yourself to take the lead.
As for specific terms, we can offer you a guaranteed endorsement fee of ten million Huaxia yuan. All other conditions can be discussed in person. Would you be willing to accept?
Hangzhou Fantasy Culture and Entertainment
Chen Xiao
"Interesting, very interesting. They actually want me to boost their popularity. It seems they have excellent judgment." Chu Lian had clicked her tongue in amazement ever since she began reading, but overall, she had not felt particularly motivated. The moment she saw the terms they offered at the end, however, she immediately made her decision. "Of course I'll participate. Why wouldn't I participate in something so interesting...?"
"Big Sis, you only decided to accept after seeing the guaranteed ten-million-yuan endorsement fee and the part saying all other conditions can be negotiated, didn't you?" Chu Chu had also read the letter from beside her. She was even less interested than Chu Lian and would not have paid any attention at all had it not involved her big sister.
Only when she saw the ten-million-yuan endorsement fee did her eyes light up. Before she could say anything, however, she heard Chu Lian's decision and could not resist mocking her.
"Chu Chu, we both need to earn our own money. We can't spend the family's money however we please, so we can only earn it ourselves. You should know that your big sister still needs an enormous amount of capital before I can begin preparing our company." Chu Lian responded to Chu Chu's teasing with perfect righteousness.
After hearing that, Chu Chu thought about it and realized it made sense. Big Sis' dream was to establish her own cultural conglomerate, the largest in the world and influential across the globe. To accomplish that, however, she needed a strong starting point, and a strong starting point meant a huge amount of capital.
She did not want other financial groups interfering with her company either. As its founder, she needed to prepare enough money before establishing it.
"By the way, Big Sis, how much are you worth now?" Since Chu Lian had brought up money, Chu Chu became curious about how much she possessed.
"Not much. I only have eleven million right now. I'm practically destitute. If I tried to start a company with that little money, I wouldn't even make a splash after throwing it all in. At least for a company on the scale I intend to establish, this amount is far too small." Chu Lian did not hide anything. If her family wanted to know how much she had earned, finding out would be extremely easy. There was no need to be evasive about it.
"Over eleven million, and you still say 'only'...?" Chu Chu stared speechlessly at her insatiable big sister. How many thirteen-year-olds had earned eleven million through their own ability? Moreover, she had not obtained it by starting a company or speculating in stocks. It was wealth she had accumulated bit by bit, which made it even more admirable.
"Little Lian'er truly does need money. If she follows her own plans, she must first construct a complete office building before establishing the company, then create different departments and gather a group of loyal employees.
"She can find a way to handle the employees herself, but the building, land, equipment, and everything else will require huge sums of money. On top of that, if she releases a game, the promotional and advertising expenses will also be considerable.
"After all, her company will be newly established, and before she reaches adulthood, no one in the company will be allowed to write about her. That will cost her a great deal of public attention. So her desire for money is entirely understandable and necessary."
Li Mingxue strongly approved of Chu Lian's ambitions. She would not interfere with her daughter's interests. On the contrary, she was very eager to see her succeed, so she helped explain the matter to Chu Chu.
"Exactly. When it comes to money, the more, the better. I won't become so arrogant over this little amount that I throw away an opportunity to earn so much. There's nothing wrong with endorsements. I'm a celebrity, so they're unavoidable anyway. It's just that Mom will have to come along when I sign the contract. What a bother." Chu Lian had sounded enthusiastic at first, but as she continued speaking, she began sighing.
"I'll go with you and handle the contract when the time comes. They said they want you to visit the venue today and inspect their preparations. Since you probably can't refuse this invitation now, be careful later. Things haven't been very peaceful lately." Li Mingxue had long been prepared for this. She had helped handle nearly all of Chu Lian's contracts. Even so, she still needed to give the necessary warning, despite Chu Lian already possessing enough strength that she no longer needed to worry much.
After all, what kind of decisions could a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl make? The law imposed restrictions for precisely that reason. Child protection laws were no joke—though in Chu Lian's case, they sometimes truly were.
"I'll be fine. With her around, anyone below the peak of Heaven Rank can forget about harming me. Come to think of it, there are more and more people here, and everyone is becoming stronger too." Chu Lian sank halfway into the sofa. Remembering recent events, she spoke in a leisurely tone.
"The attack at the school last time frightened Mr. President badly. It also stirred both Huaxia and America into action, but unfortunately, they still haven't found anyone. Those people are impressive to have remained hidden even under those circumstances. I really want to know who the mastermind is."
Hearing this, Li Mingxue answered from beside her, "You don't need to worry about that. Speaking of which, they still haven't clarified the true objective of the attack. If they were targeting Mr. President, they never attacked him with their full strength. Even if they did, an assault of that level would hardly count for much. But if they were targeting the school, they only bombed the plaza. They harmed students when possible, ignored them when it wasn't, and simply fought the people nearby. Then they kept fighting until every one of them was dead... Mm, come to think of it, only half of them were supposed to die. The rest went and provoked all of you, then were instantly cut down without a single survivor left behind. You girls really create problems."
They had handled the incident swiftly and decisively at the time, but looking back now, their actions had indeed shown a certain disregard for the consequences. Chu Lian gave a dry laugh. "After all, Satsuki, Anna, and Inori have very little restraint once they start fighting. Especially when the enemy tried to attack us. They became angry, and I didn't know what to say, so I stopped paying attention. Still, even if we had left a few alive, I doubt we could have extracted anything from them."
"That's true. Take the dozens of people who attacked our home, for example. They thought they could rampage freely once they got inside, only for most of them to be killed by Blackie's Death Glare the moment they entered. Fewer than ten Heaven Rank enemies remained for Blackie and Hiyori to divide between themselves. That was hardly enough. It's a pity Cornus wasn't living here yet. Otherwise, they could all have become nourishment for her. She might even have advanced to Earth Rank, don't you think?"
"Mm. Cornus and Sisi both rely on the souls or flesh of other powerful beings to grow. If their current levels weren't too low, I'd even want to feed them dragon flesh. After all, I still have two Heaven Rank dragon hearts. Although more than half of the remaining flesh mysteriously disappeared, what is left would still improve both of them considerably."
"There's no helping that. It was precisely because of that attack that I decided to strengthen the defenses around our home. The two of them may not be strong enough yet, but their growth has no upper limit. Their future achievements will definitely be worth anticipating." After finishing, Chu Lian seemed to suddenly remember something and sprang up from the sofa. She checked the time. "It's ten fifty. Mom, hurry and make lunch. I'll probably have to leave this afternoon, so we can't delay."
"All right. Hurry and call Tina back, or she'll keep playing with those cats until who knows when. By the way, haven't you considered letting those cats move in early?" When Chu Lian mentioned the time, Li Mingxue had already stood up and prepared to enter the kitchen. As she tied on her apron, she suddenly asked about Tina.
"I'll handle her situation, so don't worry. As for whether the cats can move in early... Let me think. There should still be quite a few empty rooms in the house where they could live. But to help them adapt to the environment here, they'll need to be nourished with spiritual energy for a while before moving in. Once they awaken spiritually, everything should be fine."
After telling Li Mingxue to cook, Chu Lian did not remain idle. She ran over, took vegetables and fresh meat from the refrigerator, washed everything, and began helping.
The two of them chatted and laughed as they prepared lunch in the kitchen. Unable to join the conversation at all, Chu Chu could only curl up on the sofa and listen while thinking about her big sister's dream. Perhaps Chu Chu can help Big Sis make money too...
As for what the girl could do to earn money, she looked down at her own body and inexplicably remembered a teasing phrase from the internet: Think about it—how could you make money without compensated dating? She immediately shuddered. Chu Chu is going to become a great manga artist. I would never do something like compensated dating.
If Chu Lian learned that this girl was letting her imagination run wild again, she would definitely give her a brutal knock on the head. Why were Chu Chu's thoughts always so strange?