Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Upgrade Reward

It took over ten seconds for the call to connect. Wang Lin’s groggy voice came through the line. "Mr. Gao, hello. What can I do for you at this hour?"

"Get ready. I’m going to work out."

Without giving Wang Lin any chance to respond, Gao Yuan hung up.

’Calling Wang Lin at this hour to work out with me... she’s probably going to curse me out.’

But Gao Yuan couldn’t be bothered with that. He wasn’t the least bit sleepy. His body felt charged with energy, and he had to release this excitement, or he’d burst.

DING.

A message arrived on WeChat. "I’ll be there at four on the dot."

Wang Lin’s reply was extremely brief. Gao Yuan could practically feel the resentment radiating from it.

Gao Yuan laughed out loud. He didn’t dwell on it. He’d already made the call. As her patron, he figured he had that much privilege.

While waiting for Wang Lin to arrive, Gao Yuan remembered that he’d completed the mission. That meant his account must have hit a thousand followers. He was a little curious about how that video was doing.

The first video had a promotional boost, but the second one had no promotion at all.

He opened TikTok.

Sure enough, there was another flood of 99+ notifications, and the numbers were still climbing.

Gao Yuan checked his follower count. It had already surpassed 1,300.

He then clicked on the second video. Likes: 100,000+. Comments: 4,529. Saves: 1,981. Shares: 7,997.

’It’s already over a hundred thousand likes! And the number of shares is so high, too!’

Gao Yuan opened the comments to take a look.

The top-liked comment read: "When will I ever have a man like this? Crying.jpg."

The second-ranked comment: "Turns out Tongtong isn’t the prettiest one!"

Seeing the top two comments, Gao Yuan pretty much understood why the video’s stats were so explosive.

The first comment showed that his video had resonated with a female audience.

The second comment was the result of the "collaboration" with Tongtong.

Gao Yuan screenshotted the analytics for the second short video and sent it to the Utopia group chat, sharing his joy with the other two that way.

After a little while, Gao Yuan’s excitement calmed down a bit.

It was only then that he remembered the system upgrade had mentioned a reward.

He mentally clicked to claim the upgrade reward.

In the next instant, Gao Yuan’s heart began to pound!

[Upgrade Reward: A set of secret formulas for skincare products.]

[Note: The provided set of secret skincare formulas can fundamentally change the user’s skin condition, increasing skin vitality by 10%.]

This system upgrade reward was completely unexpected.

He had thought it would be a luxury car or a mansion. At the very least, a few million would have been fine.

He never imagined the reward would be a set of secret formulas for skincare products.

Judging by the system’s note, the products should be quite effective. But the skincare market was already oversaturated and chaotic.

Besides, even if he wanted to do something with this, he didn’t have the capital!

With just over 300,000 in cash, trying to launch a skincare brand? Was this a joke?

Sitting alone on the sofa and smoking, Gao Yuan found it impossible to calm down in the early morning hours.

Not until his phone rang did he remember his workout session with Wang Lin.

He composed himself, turned on the room’s ventilation system to clear out the smell of smoke, and got up to go downstairs.

When he walked into the gym, all the lights were on, but only Wang Lin was there, sitting by herself.

"You’ve been cursing me out in your head, haven’t you?"

Seeing Wang Lin sitting there, still looking groggy, Gao Yuan felt a pang of guilt that lasted for about three seconds.

Hearing Gao Yuan’s voice, Wang Lin immediately stood up.

"How would I dare! I promised to be on call 24/7, and I’ll definitely keep that promise."

Although Wang Lin was clearly not at her best, she still had a smile on her face.

Gao Yuan was her patron, after all. Thirty thousand a month for a personal trainer was almost on par with what those "private" coaches made. She really didn’t dare show her dissatisfaction.

Besides, she was really short on money lately. This job was crucial, not just for her, but for her family back home.

Gao Yuan was just joking. He didn’t really care whether Wang Lin was cursing him out in her head.

He had cursed out his own bosses plenty of times when he was an employee. It was only after becoming a leader himself that he understood: a boss who isn’t cursed at isn’t a good boss.

Your position determines your perspective.

The workout began, and they both quickly got into the zone.

After training for the past few days, Gao Yuan had gradually adapted to the intensity. Though his muscles still got sore during workouts, he also felt much stronger.

As Wang Lin trained with Gao Yuan over these few days, she discovered he was surprisingly diligent. He followed her plan to the letter every time, even pushing through when his muscles were trembling from the run.

This changed her opinion of wealthy people somewhat. If someone like Gao Yuan could be so persistent, what excuse did she have not to work hard, when she was worse off than him in every respect?

At 8:00 a.m., Gao Yuan finished his workout.

Since they had started so early, Wang Lin naturally couldn’t have him just run the whole time. She scheduled a lot of machine training for him.

Even so, Gao Yuan still ran a full 8 kilometers today, far exceeding his previous distances.

After the workout, while Wang Lin was helping him stretch his leg muscles, Gao Yuan recalled her unusual behavior from the day before. Combined with him dragging her out so early today, he took the initiative to ask if she had run into some trouble recently.

Wang Lin didn’t expect Gao Yuan to be so observant that he would notice she was a little off.

However, she didn’t tell him what was wrong, simply smiling and thanking him for his concern.

Since Wang Lin was unwilling to talk, Gao Yuan didn’t press her. As he left, he just said, "If something’s up, just let me know. I’ll help if I can."

Those words moved Wang Lin all the way until she got home.

Life wasn’t easy for anyone trying to make it on their own, far from home. In situations like these, a simple sentence or a small gesture could feel incredibly warming.

But the problem Wang Lin was facing was something Gao Yuan couldn’t solve.

After she sent 20,000 yuan home, it solved the problem of her brother’s matchmaking, but it immediately gave rise to the problem of her brother’s wedding.

Wang Lin wasn’t the kind of sister who martyrs herself for her brother, and her brother wasn’t a hopeless case.

It was just that in their small county, engagements and weddings had their own customs. If you wanted to marry a wife, you couldn’t do it without bleeding a little.

Back in her hometown, the engagement gift was 17,000 yuan—a number chosen because it sounds like "a wife chosen from ten thousand." The bride price was a straight 150,000, and when you added the "five golds" and everything else, a wedding cost just under 300,000.

For an average family, having a child get married was enough to peel off a layer of their skin.

The siblings had saved up a decent amount over the years, but it was only enough for a down payment on a house for her brother.

Yesterday, her parents had called, saying they found a potential match for her back home.

The man had seen her picture and was very satisfied.

If she agreed, the man was willing to offer a 200,000 yuan bride price, which would solve her brother’s wedding problems in one fell swoop.

It was basically a game of hot potato.

Her potential husband would pay the money her brother needed for his wedding. It was the same for other families. If you encountered a well-off family, it wasn’t so bad. For those who weren’t, it was an absolute disaster.

Wang Lin had seen the man’s picture, too. She felt absolutely nothing for him, but faced with her parents’ predicament, she had no solution.

That was why she had been so down and out of it yesterday.

Never mind Wang Lin’s complicated thoughts on her way home. After Gao Yuan got back, he hadn’t even had a moment to rest before a message from Lin Wanyu arrived.

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