Cheng Zhu was indeed gifted. He was born with a naturally deep voice—the legendary low-baritone.
No matter the era, there were never too few people who were voice-controlled.
A pleasant voice was always a bonus, regardless of gender.
Just like on TikTok—some guys honestly didn't look great, but once you heard their voice, it sparked endless imagination.
Some female streamers who never show their faces worked the same way.
In real life, once some men realized their own advantages, they couldn't wait to use them everywhere. If they were tall, they'd want to plaster their height on their forehead—die and still carve "I'm 184cm" on their tombstone.
But in Cheng Zhu's view, that wasn't ideal.
Take a deep voice for example. When chatting with a girl, if you're constantly sending voice messages, it actually comes off as greasy, and she'll get tired of it quickly.
But if you spend the whole day typing, and when it's time to say good night you find a reasonable excuse—pretend your hands are busy—and then send a single voice message wishing her good night…
There's a good chance she won't feel sleepy anymore.
She might even dream about you.
Your strengths should be used as a killing blow—not as basic attacks.
Cheng Zhu and Ye Zi had been flirting for several days already. They'd exchanged all kinds of dirty talk.
A simple "Are you there, baby?" didn't even count as effective teasing anymore if it wasn't sent as a voice message.
He was deliberately being a bit oily, purely to stir up the mood. Otherwise, why call it flirting?
Ye Zi basically replied to his messages instantly, sending over a sticker.
"How's the thing I mentioned last time? Have you thought it over?" Cheng Zhu asked.
Ye Zi didn't reply immediately.
After a while, she sent back: "What day are we shooting?"
"Preferably the day after tomorrow or the day after that," Cheng Zhu replied.
"I haven't been feeling very well these past couple of days. The day after tomorrow should be fine," Ye Zi said, adding a built-in WeChat sad-face emoji.
After that, she added: "I'm not afraid to tell you—I used to be a model, just never shot this kind of stuff."
Cheng Zhu smiled, fell into memory for a moment, then replied directly: "What a coincidence. I used to be a model too."
…
…
The next day, after several transfers, Cheng Zhu and Wang Anquan boarded the high-speed train back to Hangzhou.
Over the past few days, Cheng Zhu had already begun special training for his little brother.
When the time came, the two of them would work together as customer service for the Taobao store.
In this era, customer service tactics were basically just those few old tricks.
As for pretending to be a female customer service rep, Wang Anquan was surprisingly enthusiastic.
Speaking of it, a lot of guys liked pretending to be girls online just to mess with people and found it hilarious.
Some even scammed money that way.
Cheng Zhu even suspected that since they were selling QQ-style clothing, no matter what he asked Wang Anquan to do, the guy would probably be excited.
"And don't forget—when doing apparel e-commerce, customer service is always very proactive about encouraging buyers to submit buyer-show photos."
"Many merchants even offer rebates for this—direct cash."
"This kid—once he hears he has to persuade customers to submit buyer-show photos, he looks like he's about to get a nosebleed."
"So you get it, right? This line of work needs male employees!"
Cheng Zhu felt he had to treasure these years. In a few more years, you wouldn't even see pictures in buyer-show sections for these kinds of products.
"The management of the review section for this type of product is extremely important."
"Not just photo reviews—even text reviews matter."
"They all stimulate purchase desire."
He decided that later on, he'd also hire people through certain channels to reply in his shop's comment section.
If someone posted a buyer-show, praise them to death.
Praise—praise them until we're completely enchanted.
Don't underestimate this kind of praise. It really boosts people's willingness to post buyer-shows. After all, buyer-shows don't require showing faces.
Of course, this kind of reply volume was mainly needed during the shop's early stages.
Once it took off, there'd be no need to hire people to praise anymore.
"Plenty of random onlookers will come out of nowhere and comment on their own."
"At that point, it becomes a positive feedback loop."
When the train was ten minutes away from Hangzhou Station, both Cheng Zhu's and Wang Anquan's phones vibrated at the same time.
They picked them up and saw it was the class monitor Li Rui @-mentioning everyone in the class group, organizing a class reunion.
Everyone had just graduated high school, and the class group was still pretty lively.
Cheng Zhu hadn't spoken there in ages, and he couldn't be bothered to read it.
He'd been insanely busy lately and just didn't have the energy.
If he had the time, he'd rather chat in the group with Lin Lu and the others.
"Brother Zhu, are you going to the reunion the day after tomorrow?" Wang Anquan asked.
"Nope. No time," Cheng Zhu refused directly. "And I'm not interested."
He only had a few people he'd actually been close with in high school, and those could meet up privately anytime. There was no need for a reunion.
"Then I'm not going either," Wang Anquan said.
Cheng Zhu glanced at him and nodded in satisfaction.
He'd originally thought Wang Anquan might go just because of Chen Rongrong.
Looks like his attention and mindset had indeed shifted.
Cheng Zhu glanced at the class group and felt that adolescent boys and girls were truly interesting.
Some people said at first they weren't going, but the moment they saw someone specific would attend, they immediately changed their minds.
Others said they'd definitely go, but once they saw someone they disliked would attend, they immediately backed out.
Cheng Zhu didn't speak in the group at all. He had Wang Anquan reply instead:
"Brother Zhu and I have things to take care of, so we won't be coming."
Not long after that message was sent, Li Xinyue and Chen Rongrong also said they wouldn't attend.
As the class's resident nice guy, Li Rui kept asking after them in the group, but neither Li Xinyue nor Chen Rongrong replied.
Eventually, the once-lively class group split into scattered conversations.
That's just how big groups were. Unless there was a topic everyone cared about, they'd quickly fragment.
Some people were talking about games, some about travel, some about where to get cheap haircuts…
Someone mentioned wanting a part-time job, and someone else immediately said they could come work at his family's company.
Once money entered the topic, a male classmate named Qin Wei suddenly @-mentioned Cheng Zhu:
"I heard you won several thousand during the World Cup?"
Cheng Zhu paused slightly, then realized it was probably something Jiang Wanzhou had let slip.
After all, he'd told Jiang Wanzhou he'd only bet 800, and that the rest of the 12,000 belonged to others.
This guy saying "several thousand" could only mean Young Master Jiang had been bragging about Cheng Zhu outside.
School circles were small. Even though Jiang Wanzhou wasn't in the same class, things like this easily spread.
"Holy shit, that's awesome—won several thousand?"
"That calls for a red packet, doesn't it?"
"How does betting on the World Cup make money?"
"How much did you bet?"
"666, that's a few months of living expenses!"
Chen Rongrong, who'd been lurking the whole time, finally spoke up:
"What rumor did you hear? Cheng Zhu clearly won over seventy thousand!"
"Damn it—why are you helping me exaggerate?" Cheng Zhu cursed inwardly.
For a moment, the group fell into brief silence.
Then it completely exploded.
Shock—pure shock.
Chen Rongrong began describing everything in vivid detail.
Cheng Zhu felt a headache coming on.
He hadn't planned to speak up at all, but in the end he could only bullshit:
"The 12,000 wasn't all mine. I only bet 800—just followed along for fun."
"Winning was purely luck. Look at our class monitor—he lost over ten thousand in one night. I'm taking that as a warning and have decided never to gamble again in my life. Thanks, class monitor."
He smoothly shifted the fire and salted the wound of the warm-hearted king.
—Abandon personal morals. Enjoy a morally questionable life.
Sure enough, the topic immediately shifted to Li Rui.
Cheng Zhu exited the group chat.
Leaving Li Rui behind, forcing a smile and repeatedly emphasizing that ten thousand wasn't much money.
As if bragging a few more times would magically earn it back.
Wang Anquan sat nearby. He knew Cheng Zhu had really bet 12,000 and really won tens of thousands, and that the money was being used for e-commerce.
He didn't know why Brother Zhu refused to admit it, but for some reason, he felt that Cheng Zhu and Li Rui were on completely different levels.
"The guy who won doesn't brag, while the guy who lost keeps saying it's pocket change."
Like a total clown.
"When will I ever reach Brother Zhu's level?" he thought longingly.
Wang Anquan didn't even realize it himself—after just a few days with Cheng Zhu, he'd already changed quite a bit.
The train arrived at Hangzhou Station.
After getting into a taxi, Cheng Zhu kept looking out the window.
"Brother Zhu, what are you looking at?" Wang Anquan asked curiously.
"None of your business," Cheng Zhu said. "I'm picking the hotel for the photoshoot the day after tomorrow."