My Dreamy Old Husband

Chapter 244

A moment later, the sound of cash-counting was heard in the study. Counting real money was indeed different than counting the fake ones; not only did the texture felt better, but most importantly, it was enjoyable.

Michael wandered around the study and looked around. There weren’t many things in Sophia’s study—a desk, a bookshelf, and a bed. Sometimes, she would sleep in the study if she got too tired after studying.

Books were arranged on the bookshelf. Every page of the books was filled with written notes and sticky notes. On the notes were some vocabularies, her short-term goals, financial formulas and so on.

There was also a small plant on the bookshelf, and beside the plant was a photo frame that contained a photo of Sophia and Michael.

Michael picked it up and looked at the two smiling people in the photo, then he smiled.

Sophia noticed that Michael was looking at their photo. Quietly moving her butt, she quickly took the cell phone on the desk and shoved it in her pocket.

It was because her phone’s wallpaper was Michael’s photo. It would be so embarrassing if he saw it.

After Michael was done exploring her bookshelf, he shifted his attention to the computer on the desk.

Sophia was shocked because her computer’s background wallpaper was Michael’s photo as well!

The computer’s specifications were too good and Sophia didn’t have a password, so within three seconds, the background wallpaper was displayed on the screen. It was a high-resolution picture of Michael in his swim wear.

The picture was taken when Michael was filming by the beach back then. He was half naked, showcasing his strong and well-defined muscles, looking extremely energetic. It was as if his pheromones were emanating from the screen itself.

Immediately, Sophia sprang up and blocked the screen with her butt and stood in between the computer and Michael.

Michael already knew he was the person in the wallpaper.

He never filmed in scenes that involved full nudity. Baring his torso was close to the maximum that he could tolerate, so the one with swim wear was probably his limit.

Michael pretended to not see clearly and purposely asked, “The person on your computer wallpaper looks familiar.”

Sophia blushed violently. “It’s a video game wallpaper!”

She took the opportunity to close the screen and attempted to initiate another topic.

“Erm… The voting for the celebrity ranking of ‘Light of Cethos’ has begun. Hubby, don’t you need to canvass for votes?”

The ‘Light of Cethos’ celebrity ranking was initiated by several most influential media companies in Cethos. The ranking had been around for over ten years, and it was also considered as the ranking for the best celebrities in Cethos. This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

The top ten would represent the best of Cethos’s entertainment industry. So, celebrities from different agencies would try their best to make it to the list.

A few years ago, Michael and Harry were always the ones dominating the ‘Light of Cethos’, but with the advancements of the Internet, there was a rise of interest toward young male and female talents, so the

ranking had been occupied by those popstars that lacked true acting skills.

For someone with good acting skills like Michael, who didn’t rely on canvassing, his ranking had already dropped to number four or five. It had been stable for several years, but it seemed as though his fame was diminishing.

Michael lowered his head and looked at Sophia, whose face had become extremely red and her eyes were darting around. He then said on purpose, “Oh, the ranking? I have been dominating it for many years, so it’s fine. I have to give the youngsters some opportunities.”

At the same time, he looked toward her computer intentionally. “I see the wallpaper on your computer doesn’t seem like a screenshot from a game at all. It looks like a man without any clothes on.”

Sophia replied, “No, no. It really is a wallpaper from the game!” She tried desperately to switch the topic. “Your ranking has dropped so much that you’re almost being pushed out of the top ten. On the list of ‘Best Male Actors’, you’re constantly being surpassed by Nicholas Yates. His public relations team was spreading news everywhere of you bullying the juniors with your identity as a senior member of the industry, and that you’re allowing your fans to bully their fans.”

When Sophia brought up the topic, she felt disgusted. Nicholas’s fans actually took advantage of the incident at the airport and made it into an article.

Just as expected, the video at the airport was revealed. It was a clip of Sophia being bullied by more than a hundred of Nicholas’s aggressive fans.

The sound of the video was removed. After it was hyped, there was a heated discussion on the Internet as expected.

A crowd of onlookers who had no clue of the truth started discussing aggressively, and all of them were saying that Taylor’s fans were being bullied by Nicholas’s fans.

Then, Nicholas held a special press conference to apologize for the incident and he even cried pitifully. Nicholas apologized on behalf of his fans to Taylor and his fans, looking extremely pitiful as if he was being forced to do so.

At the same time, Nicholas began spreading rumors online, saying that there was another side to the incident, and it was Taylor’s fans who started the bullying, whereas Nicholas’s fans took action only because they could not bear it anymore. The video was cut out intentionally to create a false impression of a large number of people bullying a smaller number of people, and this person with an ulterior motive who had done this was definitely an outdated male star who was unhappy to let the younger generation to surpass him.

Compared to Taylor, Nicholas was still new, so naturally, he was quick to apologize first, even if his fans were aggrieved. He had to apologize for the sake of his fans because Taylor was an Academy Award Best Actor, and he was also the tycoon of the entertainment industry, so Nicholas couldn’t afford to offend him!

Regarding this matter, Michael’s company did not release anything, and Michael himself did not respond to this too. His Twitter was managed by someone from the company, and they usually posted some of his on set photos about once every two weeks.

The earnings from Michael’s acting was far less than his investments in real estate and his investments in mobile games. Last year alone, the profit from mobile games and real estates were several tens of billions, whereas he only received around several billion for producing one movie a year.

Therefore, Michael had always been pretty aloof in the entertainment industry because he was only casually participating in it, even though the ticket sales for each of his movies were ridiculously high.

The fact that he didn’t respond to the incident created a false impression of him to the public, and a group of fans who came out of nowhere began insulting Taylor, calling him a movie tyrant of poor

character and a senior in the industry who was holding grudges against new talents.

Major entertainment bloggers began to expose dirty materials of the outdated male star, Taylor. Since Taylor never responded to these news, they become more daring and unscrupulous.

Accusations such as bullying the new talents, being a kept man of a rich woman, having a messy private life, and being involved in gay relationships were abound. He was also accused of not wanting to attend events or any reality shows and advertisements all because of his poor character, which made him end up offending half of the entertainment industry. Furthermore, he was also rumored to be boycotted because he had messed around with the daughter of a high-ranking officer.

Sophia mentioned everything indignantly, and from her angry look, she really wanted to hit those netizens.

However, the main subject, Michael, smiled faintly instead. “Don’t bother about them. We just have to work hard and improve everyday.” He stopped teasing her, then he stroked her head and said, “It’s alright. Focus on practicing your cash-counting and rest earlier.”

Michael instructed Maria to bring Sophia a glass of chocolate milk. Then, he went out and Sophia was left alone so she could focus on her practice.

Sophia practiced alone, and she only stopped when her hands were getting cramps. She kept the money in her bag and got ready for bed.

Before going to bed, Sophia couldn’t help but take out her phone to check what those nasty people were doing again.

As soon as Sophia clicked into the group, she noticed that there was an explosive discussion on this day, and the fans who were usually quiet were all voicing their opinions.

‘This has gone too far! Taylor has always been keeping a low profile when he is filming. What do you people mean that he offended someone? What boycott? What do you mean him having a messy private life?! Bullsh*t!’

‘And this cheap excuse of an actress called Bethany, how dare you throw insults against Taylor after having gotten some fame for yourself because of him?!’