Chapter 111: Chapter 109: Hush, I Know This One

The Fireflies flooded the live stream chat, the screen densely packed with comments about being law-abiding.

They were clearly responding to Wen Ying’s call.

Being law-abiding was a must!

[Doctor Wen, there’s something else we wanted to ask. Are you still going to participate in that variety show?]

[Who does the person above think they’re representing? I don’t know you, so don’t speak for everyone! Especially with so many people in this stream, you could easily be misunderstood, and it would be bad if that started an argument, get it?]

[Thanks for the reminder, big bro or sis above. I’m just speaking for the Fireflies from Doctor Wen’s fan club~ Hee hee.]

[Yes, yes, yes! I’m new here today, but I want to ask that question too!]

"Of course, I’m going. It’s two million, after all. Ahem, what I mean is, maybe I can even hold a giveaway for everyone then~"

[Hahaha! We all get it! The two million isn’t important (yeah, right)! We’re the ones who are important (also yeah, right)!]

[Since Doctor Wen is going to be on the show, why don’t we guess when it starts? We Fireflies are all waiting to be fed!]

[Same as above! I wonder what it’ll look like when Doctor Wen is on a variety show. Just thinking about it is so exciting!]

[Doctor Wen: Guest Q, are you sure you’re single and not dating anyone? Then who was that girl you were kissing on your date last time?]

[Doctor Wen: Guest B, you’re a newcomer, that’s right, but are you sure you didn’t sleep with a certain director to get ahead?]

[Doctor Wen: Guest C, that time you hired an online mob to destroy your rival, making her lose her endorsement deal—isn’t the proof still on your computer at home?]

[LMAO! The posts above are spot-on! That’s exactly the scene I’m imagining for Doctor Wen too!]

[I have to follow a show like this! Just to see those people in the industry who act all high and mighty get their true faces exposed!]

[Are you sure Doctor Wen would be participating in a variety show and not just wrecking the whole thing? Would the director even allow it?]

[To the person above, you just don’t get it, do you? All a director wants is buzz. He couldn’t care less if you all argue. In fact, a fistfight would be even better. As long as you can generate hype, you’re their daddy! The kind they’d build a shrine to! Don’t think of them as actual people.]

[But from what I’ve seen, Director Wen doesn’t seem like that kind of person, does he? It seems like he still has a conscience, right?]

[Don’t people change? Didn’t he almost give in to the ’unspoken rules’ and nearly ruin his career?]

[Speaking of which, I just want to know, is Director Wen loaded?]

[Same as above!!! I’ve been wondering about this for a long time! The only reason he got scammed by his ’brother’ is because he’s rich, right? You can’t scam someone who has no money to begin with, can you?]

Soon, everyone’s discussion began to center on this question.

After all, discovering a rich person online was something that piqued everyone’s interest.

Even if they weren’t rich themselves, they were interested in finding someone who was. That’s just human nature, probably.

"Director Wen... well, you could say he comes from a wealthy family. But part of that money is an inheritance from his ancestors. He’s an only child, but after being scammed all those times, about half of it is already gone."

[I did the math. He was scammed out of one or two million, right? So you’re saying he only has one or two million left? That’s a lot for a normal person, but for someone in the industry, that’s basically broke, isn’t it?]

[You took the words right out of my mouth!]

[It’s true, people in this business make a ton of money. If that’s all he has, can he even afford to produce this show? I’m starting to suspect this is a scheme to get Doctor Wen to generate free buzz for him.]

"Don’t worry, everyone. There’s no way I’m not getting my fee. He might have a misplaced sense of loyalty that makes him easy to scam, but he’ll learn his lesson after this and won’t go down the path we’re all worried about. As for the money for the show, of course there are sponsors. And if not, there’s always his family’s property. Selling a couple of buildings should probably cover it."

[??? Wha?? I understand every word Doctor Wen said, but I have no idea what she means when they’re all put together.]

[So he’s a real estate tycoon?]

[A landlord or a mini real estate tycoon? Doctor Wen, give us a straight answer, we’re dying to know the truth!]

"I wouldn’t call him a real estate tycoon. After all, his family just started renting out one of their buildings, so they haven’t collected much rent from it yet."

[So, after all this time, it turns out we poor folks are the real joke, huh?]

[HOLY SHIT! A real-life idiot landlord! That building has to be worth a fortune, right? No wonder he could afford to get scammed!]

"The patient’s ’brother’ actually had no idea for all these years that the patient was going to inherit this building. So, when he was scamming him, aside from the first time for a few hundred thousand—which let him build a new house in a small county—the other scams were just for fifty or a hundred thousand at a time. If he had known the patient was this loaded and had a whole building to inherit..."

[Doctor Wen, say no more! I know the answer to this one! If he’d known, he would’ve just scammed him for several million outright, right!]

[The poster above is thinking too small! I thought the real money would be in playing the long game as a ’true brother’! With a loyal idiot like Director Wen, wouldn’t he have supported his ’brother’ of so many years? The guy totally miscalculated!]

[I don’t think you guys are seeing it right. If he knew Director Wen had a whole building, maybe he would have only planned to scam a few hundred thousand at first. But once he saw how easy it was, his greed would have grown and grown! He might have even started wanting the building itself, right? That’s human nature! It can’t withstand temptation!]

[Damn, look at all the psychoanalysts here. Why don’t you guys just take over Doctor Wen’s job?]

"What everyone’s saying isn’t entirely wrong. Human greed is endless. Once you get fifty thousand, you want a hundred thousand. Get a hundred thousand, you want half a million. Get half a million, you want five million. Clearly, the patient’s ’brother’ is that kind of person, perhaps even more ruthless. If he had known the building existed, he definitely would have tried to scheme for some of the property. First an apartment, then an entire floor, and finally, it would have become a bottomless abyss of greed."

[I’m confused about something. For someone like Director Wen, who’s so obsessed with ’brotherhood,’ why didn’t he tell Mingzai about the building? He must have kept it a secret on purpose, right?]

[Based on his personality, he’s not the type to keep a secret like that! Was it all just a fake persona?]

[Do you really think anyone can get away with a fake persona in front of Doctor Wen?]

[Is it possible Director Wen just... forgot?]

[Hilarious! Hey, person above, if you were about to inherit an entire building, would *you* forget?]

[If I were inheriting a whole building, I’d be too excited to sleep for three days and nights! Forget about going to work!]

[So, for everyone here tonight, remember to prop your pillows up high when you sleep. Just a friendly reminder to keep dreaming.]

"They say Sherlock Holmes can be found among the people, and this pati—oh, I mean, this netizen, guessed correctly. Director Wen really did forget. For someone who grew up never having to worry about food or clothes, he doesn’t crave overnight riches the way we might. He’s chasing his dream. In his lonely world, all he had was his dream and the ’brothers’ who struggled alongside him. If it hadn’t been for the ownership transfer papers for the building, he might have forgotten he even had it."