736 Rich Kid and Poor Artis

Dom and Meimei high-fived each other and started squealing together. They continued gushing about Lu Zihao's big, muscled body and his "sexy scars". On the other couch, Chen Fei elbowed Long Jinjing at the mention of Lu Zihao's name. Long Jinjing threw her an annoyed look as she rubbed her waist that was elbowed.

The other three watched their antics in amusement. Because of this light-hearted interlude in what was originally a serious conversation, Iris' unstable emotions due to Long Hui started to calm down a lot.

"Ying Yue, what happened next?" Iris asked when the four finally stopped horsing around.

"Long Hui didn't say if he's still going to see our son before he leaves," Jiang Ying Yue said. "But I have a feeling that he won't because I don't have any intention of changing the venue. He did say that he was going to send some presents for Little Jun before he leaves and maybe while he's up in the north. And of course, the child support will continue as agreed upon in court. The money will be deposited to Little Jun's account as usual and I'm not going to touch it until our son grows up."

Iris nodded. "Don't worry about Little Jun's money. Qiao Yu is helping manage it. He'll make sure that a part of it is invested properly so that it'll grow until Little Jun is mature and responsible enough to access it."

"Damn. Lucky kid." Chen Fei gave a dry laugh. "Investing a kid's money? Don't tell me that a toddler will soon become richer than I am, a COO?"

"That's possible," Jin Liwei said in a very serious tone.

"Fuck!" Chen Fei turned to Iris. "Bitch, I want a salary raise!"

Iris gave her a side-eye. "You want a raise? Talk to the CFO first. Even I have to strong-arm Big Sister Jinjing whenever I need her to release some money from our company budget to fund my new ideas. It isn't always easy because when it comes to Orchidia Beauty's money, she becomes like a fierce dragon protecting her treasure trove."

Chen Fei turned to Long Jinjing next, her face filled with expectation.

"No," Long Jinjing said before her best friend could even speak. "It hasn't even been a year yet since Orchidia Beauty launched. Giving salary raises shouldn't be our main priority right now. Our number one priority is to grow our company in the most sustainable way possible. We'll talk about salary raises when our company becomes truly stable. We haven't reached that point yet despite our brand's current explosive popularity. I'm especially concerned right now because Little Sister—I mean President Long insists on sending Alona back to Germany to work on opening our first international branch in Europe. I still think that it's too soon."

Iris switched to business mode. "There's no need for you to be concerned about, CFO Long. First, I didn't use our company's existing funds for the European expansion. I used my own money which, by the way, was the only way that I could get you all to agree to my idea. Second, Alona isn't working on it alone in Europe. She has the support of some of my business connections to make sure that she won't run into too many troubles."

The connections she was referring to were from Cross Academy's exclusive business network but she didn't tell them that. She was able to successfully have two of her companies accepted as official members of the exclusive business network some time ago—namely, Orchidia Beauty and Planet Monkey. Gold Heights wasn't eligible because it was already a successful business before Jin Liwei gifted it to her.

Jin Corporation was also a member because both Grandpa Lu and the late Grandpa Jin were Cross Academy alumni. If in the event that Grandpa Lu passed away in the future, Jin Corporation's membership would be reviewed by the exclusive business network's committee. However, Iris wasn't worried about it because she would soon become Jin Liwei's wife. Their marriage would officially combine their respective wealth together according to what they signed in their prenup agreement. Her status as a Cross Academy student and the wife of Jin Corporation's President-CEO would protect the company and prevent it from being kicked out of the exclusive business network in case of Grandpa Lu's death.

These thoughts flashed in Iris' mind before she returned to the present after a disgruntled Meimei interrupted their conversation. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you're not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It's very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

"Ugh! How did our conversation become business talk all of a sudden? Have mercy on this poor artist who doesn't understand what you're talking about with all those business terms! You sound like you're speaking in a foreign language to me."

Dom scoffed. "Twin sis, you're too much! You still dare call yourself a poor artist when your webtoon has been sitting in the number 1 spot for how many months now. Last time I heard, there's a plan for a live-action movie adaptation. Oh, right! Your merchandise products are also all sold out! How many zeroes does your bank balance have now? You must be rolling in dough!"

"Hehehe." Meimei became a little shy but she didn't deny anything Dom said. "Actually, my editor contacted me last night and told me that when my webtoon has enough chapters, it's guaranteed that they'll make an anime adaptation. I'm not sure though which one will come first, the live-action movie or the anime. The live-action movie has a lot of considerations and a big budget so nothing is set in stone for it yet. But the anime will surely be made. I'm so excited!"

Everyone congratulated Meimei's success. She thanked them until her eyes became moist.

She sniffled. "Look what you did to me. I'm getting so emotional now. I don't want to cry. How about we return to our original topic of conversation? Big Sis Yue, you said that Big Brother Hui didn't make any trouble or harassed you but why did Little Jun suddenly throw a tantrum if that's the case?"

The atmosphere turned serious once again and everyone looked at Jiang Ying Yue, waiting for her answer.