158: Chapter 158 Reporting Morning and Reporting Evening, Reporting is Necessary Sooner or Later

Evening arrived.

Chen Sheng cooked a sumptuous dinner to welcome An Xiaonuan home from work.

He thought it was a display of love, but who would have thought that in An Xiaonuan's eyes, it became, "If you're being overly attentive without a reason, you're either up to no good or plotting something. Confess honestly, did you do something wrong again?"

"Is that so?" Hearing this, Chen Sheng subconsciously touched his face, feeling that he hadn't been that obvious, had he?

"Hehe~" An Xiaonuan sneered, pulled out her phone, and with a "click," snapped a photo of Chen Sheng. Then she turned the screen around and said, "See for yourself."

Chen Sheng leaned in.

In the screen, his handsome self was, probably, maybe, possibly, indeed smiling a tiny bit lecherously... no, guiltily.

"Ahem~" Chen Sheng quickly sat up straight. "There is indeed a matter I wanted to discuss with you."

An Xiaonuan rolled her eyes at Chen Sheng. "Let's hear it."

"Well, you know how short dramas have been very popular these past two years? I met a guy a while back who has resources in this area. He came to me a couple of days ago and said there's a short drama called 'The Evil Mother-in-Law is Online, Unfilial Children Kneel Down Together' that's lacking funding, and he asked if I was interested."

"What?" An Xiaonuan, who had been lazily lounging on the sofa playing with her phone, immediately sat up. "Say that again?"

Chen Sheng swallowed hard. "There's a web short drama lacking investment, and he asked if I was interested?"

"A web short drama? And you're interested?" An Xiaonuan looked at Chen Sheng in disbelief. She felt that the man before her, the husband who had shared her bed for many years, was so unfamiliar at this moment.

After being stunned for a few seconds, An Xiaonuan came back to her senses and instantly raised her voice, saying, "You, someone who never watches web short dramas, are thinking about investing in one? Do you even know how to invest? Do you have any idea how deep the water is in that industry? I think you've got a little money in your pocket and have forgotten who you are. What's wrong? Have you forgotten the pain once the wound has healed, or do you think I can no longer lift a knife?"

Chen Sheng couldn't help but pout.

If he truly thought An Xiaonuan could not lift a knife, that would be great.

Then he would have just contacted the director and invested directly.

But as soon as the thought arose, he vaguely felt his weak spot crying out—a shadow left by the last incident with the football lottery.

That time, not only did his weak spot suffer, but to coax an angry An Xiaonuan... as everyone knows, an angry girlfriend is harder to pin down than a pig when she starts kicking, let alone an evolved wife.

Chen Sheng had used every ounce of his strength to coax An Xiaonuan back to a good mood.

It could be said that this experience left him physically and mentally exhausted.

Therefore, when he learned from the Intelligence System that there was a web drama destined to make money that lacked investment, he didn't contact the director directly, but instead went home first to work on An Xiaonuan.

"How could that be!" Seeing An Xiaonuan make a move as if to strike, Chen Sheng quickly took a few steps back. After putting some distance between them, he smiled ingratiatingly. "It's just that I thought it was a rare opportunity, so I wanted to discuss it with you to see if we should invest a little to test the waters."

"Fine. Since you think it's a rare opportunity, let me ask you: on what basis do you think it's a rare opportunity? Did you hear it from someone else, or did you analyze it yourself? Have you looked into this short drama? Is it an adaptation or an original script? Have they contacted a streaming platform in advance? And who is the director? Do they have relevant filming experience? Is it a legitimate production team or a shell company? Have you conducted a site visit?"

Chen Sheng blinked his large eyes, revealing a look of pure, unadulterated stupidity.

Was this his wife?

That series of questions sounded quite professional.

Chen Sheng asked tentatively, "Wife, do you know about this?"

"Heh~ I may not have eaten pork, but haven't I seen a pig run? The number of short dramas I binge-watch all year round is more than the total number of movies you've watched over all these years. It's just that simple."

Chen Sheng quickly leaned in and gave a thumbs-up. "Awesome~"

Honestly, she really pulled that off.

An Xiaonuan slapped Chen Sheng's hand away with a look of disdain. "Don't try to brush it off. Talk about the real stuff. Have you looked into those questions I just asked before you dared to invest? Are you really not afraid of being scammed?"

Chen Sheng quickly called a timeout and said with a serious face, "I'm really not just acting on a whim. I truly believe this is a rare opportunity."

"First, this drama is an adaptation of a novel on Yanxuan that has over a million likes. The director is a graduate of a formal film school and isn't a newcomer. He has already shot two short dramas before, but because of the subject matter, the response was average, so this time he aimed to adapt a popular novel."

Don't ask him how he knows; if you ask, it's because he spent the whole afternoon looking it up online.

"Originally, the production team had enough funds, but for some reason, one of the investors withdrew midway, which is why there's this gap. The investment amount isn't big, 500,000. I thought this was an opportunity, so I wanted to give it a try."

As for the reason? Don't ask either; if you ask, it's because he didn't find out.

"500,000 isn't big?" Drawing from previous experience, this time An Xiaonuan started at zero frames, instantly grabbing Chen Sheng's ear, then naturally twisted it 180° clockwise, making Chen Sheng jump up immediately.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch... it's coming off, it's coming off, let go!" Chen Sheng hunched over, protecting his ear with his hands as he begged for mercy.

However, not only did An Xiaonuan not let go, but because Chen Sheng was struggling, she felt she couldn't hold on, so she immediately followed up with a 360° counter-clockwise twist. "Alright, Chen Sheng, I see you've really gotten carried away. 500,000 isn't big? Then may I ask how much counts as big? 1 million or 2 million?"

"Hiss~" At this moment, Chen Sheng only felt his tear glands secreting tears frantically. The long-term instinct he had developed was completely activated, and he quickly begged for mercy, "Wife, I was wrong! I really know I was wrong."

Although whoever apologizes first loses the round, it must be said that this method is truly effective. Sure enough, when Chen Sheng begged for mercy, An Xiaonuan let go after one more forceful warning.

Chen Sheng quickly retreated three steps, rubbing his burning earlobe with his hand while keeping a wary eye on An Xiaonuan.

Seeing Chen Sheng like this, An Xiaonuan sneered disdainfully. She crossed her left leg over her right, tilted her head slightly, and looked down at Chen Sheng with the demeanor of a queen. "Since you know you were wrong, then tell me, where exactly were you wrong?"

"..." Chen Sheng thought, "How the hell would I know where I was wrong?"

But as the saying goes, complain all you want, you really can't answer like that—after all, his life was more important.

Chen Sheng pondered for a moment and said hesitantly, "The amount is too big?"

"Not entirely correct."

"I shouldn't have thought about investing in a web drama?"

"Also not entirely correct."

"I shouldn't..." Chen Sheng tried several more answers, but each time he was brushed off by An Xiaonuan with "Not entirely correct."

For a moment, he really couldn't find the answer.

So he spread his hands and said, "I really can't figure it out. How about you give me a hint?"

An Xiaonuan was silent.

Fine! Actually, she didn't know the answer either.

But... that wasn't important.

An Xiaonuan waved her hand with a look of disdain. "Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore. Didn't you say the web drama is an adaptation of a novel on Yanxuan? Do you know the name of the novel? I'll go check if it's very popular."

"xxxxx, you can search for it directly on the platform, and it will come up as soon as you search."

Again, don't ask Chen Sheng how he knows; if you ask, it's because it was associated information when he was checking the director's background.

An Xiaonuan opened Yanxuan and entered the novel name Chen Sheng had just recited. As the screen transitioned, it was the very first result.

An Xiaonuan didn't click on the novel immediately. Instead, she first checked the popularity count. After confirming it was as Chen Sheng had said, she clicked on the copyright page, found the book there, and confirmed that the copyright had indeed been sold. Only then did An Xiaonuan return to the homepage, open the novel, and start reading it seriously.

You have to say, to be able to garner a million in popularity, there is indeed some substance to it.

Sure enough, An Xiaonuan was silent once she started reading. However, this only applied to An Xiaonuan.

Chen Sheng, who had also never read this novel, saw An Xiaonuan was engrossed in it, so he quietly crept behind her and started reading along.

After reading less than three pages, Chen Sheng reached his first conclusion: this was definitely a female-oriented author. Only female-oriented authors would be so long-winded, dragging out one event for three pages and still being in the preparation phase. As for male-oriented authors, three pages would be enough for them to slaughter an entire clan.

Not only that, but this novel was also extremely melodramatic.

For example, the protagonist, who had just transmigrated to the moment her husband died, didn't think about dealing with her dead husband first, but instead thought about the widower next door.

The reason was actually that the children she had raised with such hardship were all ingrates, whereas the widower next door had brought her a few bowls of vegetable porridge when she was paralyzed in bed later on.

According to the protagonist's memory, these few bowls of vegetable porridge were the most delicious food she had eaten in this life... no, in both lives combined.