Chapter Summaries

Cheng Lang secured a supplier deal by persuading Manager Chen to provide drinks at internal cost, then entertained the White Jade Capital patrons with jokes about romance and money. He ended his set with a female guest asking how much she would need to pay to make him her boyfriend.

• Cheng Lang told Manager Chen his small milk tea shop needed a supplier, and Manager Chen agreed to arrange drinks at internal cost and ship them directly to him.
• After Manager Chen left, Kevin praised Cheng Lang’s persuasive talking, and Cheng Lang credited Brother Chen and Brother Wang’s generosity.
• At nine, Cheng Lang went onstage and joked that Brother Chen had scolded him for leaving affection everywhere and being too charming.
• Cheng Lang told the crowd that money revealed affection, then advised a female guest whose boyfriends thought her gifts were too cheap to pay more.
• The female guest asked Cheng Lang how much more she would have to pay to make him her boyfriend.

At the White Jade Capital, Cheng Lang fended off General Manager Lü’s teasing advances and entertained the crowd with his quick-witted replies. The guests urged him to turn his performance into comedy for tips, leaving him facing more banter instead of getting to sing.

• Cheng Lang refused General Manager Lü’s offer to pay him for an intimate encounter, joking that he physically could not.
• General Manager Lü laughed at Cheng Lang’s suggestive explanation and stopped pressing him after another guest came to his defense.
• The male guest requested “Silence Is Golden,” but General Manager Lü teased Cheng Lang for brushing aside the guest’s affection.
• The male guest joked that he liked Cheng Lang too, and Cheng Lang lamented that he should have stayed quiet.
• General Manager Lü asked Cheng Lang to sing “Exploring Clear Water River,” while a guest suggested he do comedy for direct tips instead.

Cheng Lang entertained the White Jade Capital guests with jokes before General Manager Lü of Qin Dynasty Records offered him two hundred thousand for a song and hinted at signing him. He sang two songs, then left the stage with Wang praising his nerve.

• Cheng Lang traded jokes with the guests, who teased him and urged him to sing.
• General Manager Lü offered Cheng Lang two hundred thousand for a song and suggested signing him to Qin Dynasty Records.
• Cheng Lang realized General Manager Lü had come to sign Meng Tianye and refused her teasing offer of extra payment for something beyond a song.
• Cheng Lang ignored the audience's heckling and sang two songs, nearly burning out his throat.
• Wang praised Cheng Lang for daring to joke at his and Chen's expense.

After Cheng Lang gave up his contract opportunity so Meng Tianye could pursue a debut, he encouraged Shen Huaiyu to face past harm and stay true to himself. In the restroom, Cheng Lang met a handsome stranger who questioned his impotence, then encountered Chen and a suited group, leaving a job offer hanging in the air.

• Wang admitted he had invited General Manager Lü to recommend Tianye, but Meng Tianye refused the opportunity and walked away, prompting Wang to chase after him.
• Cheng Lang told Shen Huaiyu to stay mentally strong and turn past harm into motivation, and Shen Huaiyu sincerely thanked him.
• Cheng Lang went to the second-floor restroom, where a handsome man asked whether he was really impotent, and Cheng Lang answered that he could not, even if he could.
• Cheng Lang nearly ran into Chen and several men in black suits outside the restroom, and Chen asked whether he had said anything he should not have.
• A refined man with gold-rimmed glasses asked Cheng Lang if he wanted to change jobs, and Cheng Lang mistook the offer for performing crosstalk as the handsome stranger emerged.

Cheng Lang unexpectedly earned nearly five hundred thousand from his work at the bar and decided to help Shen Huaiyu collect a debt. He investigated Shen Huaiyu’s uncle and, when the two arrived at the uncle’s art exhibition without invitations, loudly insisted that family should be allowed inside.

• Cheng Lang noticed Qin Mu’s imposing presence and wondered whether he was Lu Chengxuan’s first love.
• Cheng Lang learned that Meng Tianye had quit, then reflected on his own lack of money and romantic prospects.
• The shift supervisor told Cheng Lang that he had earned nearly five hundred thousand in wages, commissions, and rewards, including two hundred thousand from General Manager Lü.
• Cheng Lang promised to help Shen Huaiyu collect a debt and spent the following days researching Shen Huaiyu’s uncle and advertising options.
• Cheng Lang and Shen Huaiyu arrived at Shen Chengan’s exhibition without invitations, and Cheng Lang argued with the security guards that Shen Huaiyu was the artist’s nephew.

Cheng Lang and Shen Huaiyu confronted Shen Chengan outside his calligraphy and painting exhibition to demand money they said he had taken from Shen Huaiyu's family. Cheng Lang's public accusations drew attention to Shen Chengan's conduct, and the confrontation continued as Shen Chengan threatened to call the police.

• Cheng Lang and Shen Huaiyu were denied entry to Shen Chengan's exhibition without an invitation, and Shen Huaiyu could not reach his uncle by phone.
• Cheng Lang arranged for a shopping plaza's LED screen to display accusations that Shen Chengan had underpaid for a family house and skimmed money from funeral arrangements.
• Shen Chengan came outside and accused Shen Huaiyu and Cheng Lang of disgracing the family and extorting him.
• Cheng Lang presented account records and price lists and demanded the difference from the house sale and the funeral money.
• Shen Chengan threatened to call the police, while Cheng Lang challenged him to explain how they had caused trouble when security had kept them outside.

At Shen Chengan’s art exhibition, Cheng Lang publicly accused him of profiting from Shen Huaiyu’s apartment and withholding funeral funds, using records and a looping presentation to support his claims. Shen Chengan tried to justify his actions and shame Shen Huaiyu, while Cheng Lang challenged him to return the profits and expenses; the crowd began to turn against Shen Chengan.

• Cheng Lang confronted Shen Chengan with evidence that he had bought Shen Huaiyu’s apartment cheaply, resold it for a large profit, and asked Shen Huaiyu for funeral money.
• Shen Chengan claimed he had bought the apartment to help Shen Huaiyu and had intended to make up the difference, citing Old Yu as a witness to his efforts to sell paintings.
• Cheng Lang offered to return Shen Chengan’s purchase payment if Shen Chengan handed over the apartment-sale proceeds, making the crowd question Shen Chengan’s explanation.
• Shen Chengan insinuated that Shen Huaiyu’s connection with President Lu and White Jade Capital disgraced the family.
• Cheng Lang explained that Shen Huaiyu needed money for his family’s funerals and medical bills, then challenged Shen Chengan to return the profit from the funeral funds as well.
• With the LED presentation and financial records drawing a crowd, Shen Chengan offered to transfer the apartment proceeds and the full one million in funeral expenses to Shen Huaiyu.

Cheng Lang and Shen Huaiyu confronted Shen Chengan in public over the money he had taken from his nephew. Cheng Lang threatened to broadcast the recording around Shen Chengan’s family and workplaces, and Shen Chengan finally agreed to return the 5.6 million yuan.

• Shen Chengan claimed there had been a misunderstanding, but Cheng Lang explained that Shen Huaiyu had tried to spare him the funeral costs before he inflated them.
• Cheng Lang refused Shen Chengan’s offer to reimburse the screen rental and demanded the 5.6 million yuan taken from Shen Huaiyu.
• Shen Chengan asked for time and claimed he had never meant to keep the money, but Cheng Lang pointed out that the house had already been sold for 7.8 million yuan.
• Cheng Lang threatened to play the recording near Shen Chengan’s home, studio, relatives’ workplaces, and child’s school if he did not repay the money that day.
• Shen Chengan gave in and agreed to return the money, then told Cheng Lang and Shen Huaiyu to leave.

Cheng Lang confronted Shen Chengan over the money from Shen Huaiyu’s family home and secured his agreement to stop his family from causing trouble. Shen Chengan offered additional funeral money, which Cheng Lang refused, then Cheng Lang warned him that his twin children would soon attend the same school.

• Cheng Lang recorded Shen Chengan confirming that the house-sale dispute had been a misunderstanding and warned him against trying to reclaim the money.
• Cheng Lang entered the gallery office with Shen Chengan, who signed him a cash check for 5.6 million.
• Shen Chengan wrote Cheng Lang a second check for 6 million as funeral expenses for Shen Huaiyu’s parents, but Cheng Lang refused it.
• Cheng Lang told Shen Chengan and his family to stop speaking ill of Shen Huaiyu and warned that he would watch over Shen Chengan’s twin children at school.

After Cheng Lang helped Shen Huaiyu recover 5.6 million, he returned Shen Huaiyu’s half and told him to keep the money for his brother’s hospital care. As they left to get lunch, Cheng Lang explained that he had bluffed Shen Chengan with the rented LED screen and would have exposed the family if Shen Chengan had refused to pay.

• Shen Huaiyu saw the recovered money in his bank account and cried with relief.
• Shen Huaiyu transferred 2.8 million to Cheng Lang, but Cheng Lang sent it back and told him to use it for his brother’s medical bills.
• Cheng Lang reassured Shen Huaiyu that he had helped him as a friend, and Shen Huaiyu agreed to treat him to barbecue.
• Shen Chengan called Shen Huaiyu and asked Cheng Lang to take down the plaza LED screen before his exhibition.
• Cheng Lang told Shen Huaiyu that he had rented the screen for only two hours and had bluffed Shen Chengan into paying.

Cheng Lang and Shen Huaiyu ate together after Cheng Lang warned him about the online rumors from the art gallery incident. Shen Huaiyu decided to keep working at White Jade Capital, and Cheng Lang continued looking for a better place for him at the milk tea shop.

• Cheng Lang and Shen Huaiyu joined the long queue at a barbecue restaurant, and Cheng Lang went to buy them fruit teas.
• A milk tea shop employee told Cheng Lang that his defense of Shen Huaiyu outside the art gallery had gone viral online.
• Cheng Lang warned Shen Huaiyu about the rumors online and advised him to stay off the internet.
• Shen Huaiyu said he would keep working at White Jade Capital to save money for his little brother's treatment, while Cheng Lang offered him a role at the milk tea shop.
• After they finished eating, Cheng Lang asked Shen Huaiyu how his Tea Whisking practice was going, and Shen Huaiyu said he had practiced whenever he could.

Cheng Lang prepared Shen Huaiyu to promote their milk tea shop by filming him performing Tea Whisking in traditional clothing. Shen Huaiyu completed an elegant tea painting on camera, giving their planned shop promotion its first distinctive video.

• Cheng Lang explained that Shen Huaiyu's Tea Whisking would help the shop stand out and had him change into a white ancient-style robe.
• Cheng Lang brought Shen Huaiyu to the milk tea shop and explained that they would use the grace period to establish a stylish, distinctive brand.
• Cheng Lang set up a camera while Shen Huaiyu prepared to perform Tea Whisking with the tools they had gathered.
• Shen Huaiyu whisked the tea into a foamy drink and painted a small boat riding the waves, then inscribed a poem beside it.

Cheng Lang encouraged Shen Huaiyu to develop Tea Whisking designs for the milk tea shop, then interviewed Liang Yanyan for a staff position. After she made a cup of milk tea, Cheng Lang offered her generous pay and benefits in exchange for signing a contract that protected the shop’s special skills.

• Cheng Lang praised Shen Huaiyu’s Tea Painting and suggested adapting Tea Whisking into milk tea art for the shop.
• Cheng Lang drank Shen Huaiyu’s tea, while Shen Huaiyu wondered whether Cheng Lang truly understood Tea Whisking.
• Liang Yanyan arrived to apply for a job and told Cheng Lang that she had experience making milk tea.
• Cheng Lang asked Liang Yanyan to prepare a drink, and she efficiently made Original Milk Tea that both he and Shen Huaiyu found decent.
• Cheng Lang offered Liang Yanyan a higher salary, more days off, and shorter shifts, while explaining that employees would sign contracts protecting the shop’s special skills.
• Liang Yanyan asked what special skill Cheng Lang planned to teach her.

Cheng Lang and Shen Huaiyu hired Liang Yanyan to manage their milk tea shop and agreed to open it for a trial run the next day. That evening, they arrived at White Jade Capital after a video of them collecting a debt from Shen Chengan's exhibition went viral and began changing how the employees viewed Shen Huaiyu.

• Liang Yanyan signed a contract with Cheng Lang and Shen Huaiyu, then suggested opening the milk tea shop before Shen Huaiyu invented his special technique.
• Cheng Lang agreed to let Liang Yanyan run the shop alone during its trial opening, record customers' preferences, and hire compatible staff.
• Cheng Lang reassured Shen Huaiyu that they would build the business step by step and encouraged him not to doubt his own abilities.
• Cheng Lang and Shen Huaiyu returned items to a photo studio, ate together, and went to White Jade Capital that evening.
• After their video from Shen Chengan's exhibition went viral, White Jade Capital's employees began changing their attitude toward Shen Huaiyu.

After Cheng Lang helped Shen Huaiyu recover 5.6 million, he faced jealousy from Cen Xiaobei and was summoned by Chen over a video of his sharp-tongued performance spreading online. Cheng Lang returned to the stage, where the guests teased him about his newfound fame.

• Cen Xiaobei resented Shen Huaiyu for drawing Cheng Lang’s attention, while Cheng Lang defended Shen and traded barbs with Cen.
• Yao Liangsheng and Yao Liangjing approached Cheng Lang to ask for guidance after hearing Grand View Stage audiences praise his cursing.
• Chen warned Cheng Lang to keep a lower profile because White Jade Capital needed to protect its guests’ safety and privacy.
• White Jade Capital’s publicity manager suggested Cheng Lang might have talent for the publicity department, but Chen said Cheng Lang wanted to earn a hundred million there.
• Cheng Lang performed onstage at nine, confronted a guest who had used his jokes at Grand View Stage, and was teased by the crowd about making a living off his looks and shamelessness.

Cheng Lang turned the crosstalk performers from Grand View Stage into the butt of his jokes during his performance at White Jade Capital. Qin Mu agreed to bring Cheng Lang to the Qin Family patriarch’s eightieth birthday next month, while Yao Liangsheng challenged Cheng Lang over his insults.

• Cheng Lang pointed out Yao Liangsheng and Yao Liangjing in the crowd and teased the crosstalk performers, drawing laughter and cheers from the bar patrons.
• Cheng Lang used his orphanhood and the crosstalk performers’ sharp tongues to joke about his absent parents and the gang’s supposed insults.
• Chu Suiyi questioned Qin Mu’s choice of Cheng Lang as White Jade Capital’s new star performer, but Qin Mu refused to replace him.
• Chu Suiyi suggested bringing Cheng Lang to the Qin Family patriarch’s birthday to test him, and Qin Mu agreed.
• Yao Liangsheng challenged Cheng Lang, asking what it was called when Cheng Lang made the crosstalk performers the butt of jokes, and Cheng Lang innocently denied doing so.

Cheng Lang explained his plan to provoke the Yao brothers and their crosstalk troupe into beating him so he could claim compensation and earn one hundred million. He left the Yao brothers stunned by his argument that taking a beating for money was a noble way to entertain the public.

• The Yao brothers, Yao Liangsheng and Yao Liangjing, accepted the audience’s challenge and joined Cheng Lang onstage to test his abilities.
• Cheng Lang insisted their contest stay verbal, then joked that he could take on both brothers and set earning one hundred million as his goal.
• Cheng Lang questioned how the crosstalk troupe handled members being bullied, while Yao Liangjing insisted they valued unity and won people over with virtue.
• Cheng Lang laid out a plan to provoke the troupe into attacking him so he could lie in the hospital and claim enough compensation to reach his goal.
• The Yao brothers realized Cheng Lang was planning to scam them, and Cheng Lang defended the idea as self-sacrifice for the public’s entertainment.

Cheng Lang turned the Yao brothers’ challenge into a joke, then bantered with the audience at Grand View Stage before choosing a song. He ended the chapter preparing to sing “Cold Wind Blows” while General Manager Lü’s teasing drew more heckling.

• Cheng Lang exposed the Yao brothers’ provocation by asking why they had not demanded compensation after getting hurt, winning the audience’s approval.
• Cheng Lang thanked the Yao brothers for helping set the stage and joked that he made a living off his face, prompting the crowd to praise his talent.
• Cheng Lang traded jokes with Wang and the guests, who mocked his shameless self-praise.
• A guest requested “Men Cry, It's Not a Crime,” and General Manager Lü teased Cheng Lang by saying he could not become a man.
• Cheng Lang resisted the audience’s heckling and announced that he would sing “Cold Wind Blows.”

Cheng Lang entertained White Jade Capital’s rowdy customers, then turned down General Manager Lü’s offer to join Qin Dynasty Records as a crisis PR agent. Wang asked him to persuade Tianye to sign with the company, but Cheng Lang advised Wang to understand Tianye’s need for leverage; afterward, Yao Liangsheng and Yao Liangjing followed Cheng Lang, apparently wanting to talk.

• The customers demanded songs from Cheng Lang, who played a guitar arrangement of “Moon Reflected on the Second Spring.”
• General Manager Lü offered Cheng Lang personal mentorship and a future as a star agent at Qin Dynasty Records, but he declined because he wanted to stay at White Jade Capital.
• Wang asked Cheng Lang to persuade Tianye to return and sign with Qin Dynasty Records, and Cheng Lang told Wang that Tianye needed leverage before negotiating.
• Cheng Lang said Wang’s concern for Tianye clouded his judgment, and Wang accepted the point.
• Yao Liangsheng and Yao Liangjing followed Cheng Lang, who asked whether they wanted a heart-to-heart too.

Cheng Lang was summoned by Chen and learned that President Qin wanted him to perform crosstalk at his grandfather’s eightieth-birthday banquet. He negotiated his appearance fee up to one hundred thousand yuan, then prepared to raise his other questions.

• Cheng Lang complained to Chen that his colleagues had stopped him from using the restroom, and Chen sent him to go first.
• Cheng Lang met purchasing manager Chen Hai, who confirmed that his goods would be delivered to his milk tea shop on Monday at noon.
• Chen told Cheng Lang that President Qin wanted him to perform crosstalk at his grandfather’s birthday banquet next month.
• Cheng Lang asked about the appearance fee and negotiated Chen’s initial offer of twenty thousand yuan up to one hundred thousand yuan.
• Chen asked Cheng Lang to bring up his remaining questions.