Gong Sheng doubted himself for two seconds, but soon he was full of energy again and proactively reported the situation of the past two days to Xie Qian.
That investor had already been arrested in another province.
“He was caught in a clubhouse, still hosting a grand banquet when apprehended, completely unconcerned about what he had done. Probably because Shui Mingyue has no background, and Pei Yiyi is just a newcomer in the entertainment circle. He thought no one would stand up for them.”
The investor had sensed something wrong, which was why he had fled to another province.
How to put it, this person had some fear of laws and regulations, but not much.
Gong Sheng knew the reason: this was not the first time the investor had done something like this. He had a scale in his heart for which girls he could target and which he could not. He must have thoroughly investigated Shui Mingyue and Pei Yiyi’s backgrounds early on.
Gong Sheng was not naive. Of course he knew society had many dark sides.
But even clients seeking escorts emphasise mutual consent. Drugging and forcing young girls makes one a beast!
There was also a key point: a beast who would drug and force girls would hardly be law-abiding in other areas!
Only when the investor was brought back by the police did he start to fear.
After realising he had kicked an iron plate, the investor did not repent. Instead, the beast tried to settle it with money.
“His family is looking for Pei Yiyi and Shui Mingyue, meaning the two victims can name any price.”
Of course, they could not find them!
Yuan Fenghui had already sent Shui Mingyue and Pei Yiyi back to Magic City in advance.
Pei Yiyi was now an artist under Jiaxin, and Shui Mingyue was a bestselling author with whom Jiaxin had key cooperation. Both were well taken care of by Jiaxin.
The only person the beast’s family could still try to buy was Pei Yiyi’s assistant.
The poor little assistant was still lying in the hospital, facing monetary temptations every day. Her previously resolved concussion symptoms had reappeared… Pei Yiyi was not a big star, so the salary for her assistant would not be high.
Gong Sheng had thought the assistant would not withstand the temptation, but unexpectedly, she held firm.
Why?
Because the assistant and Pei Yiyi truly had a good relationship.
Also because Gong Sheng had told the assistant that Pei Yiyi had already signed with Jiaxin.
The assistant wanted to jump ship to Jiaxin with Pei Yiyi. Pei Yiyi said this was her only additional condition when signing with Jiaxin. The assistant was moved to tears.
Now without money, what was there to fear? Once Sister Yiyi became a big star pushed by Jiaxin, would she mistreat her?
With a secure future, the assistant’s resolve to resist temptation grew stronger. She lay in the hospital every day claiming dizziness and nausea, too weak to get out of bed.
Xie Qian listened patiently to these details. After hearing them, he asked a key question: “What is the current situation with Shui Mingyue’s drama?”
Ah, this was exactly what Wen Ying was worried about!
Gong Sheng quickly relayed Wen Ying’s concerns.
Wen Ying wanted the drama to air but did not want Luo Hao to become famous because of it. It was indeed a bit difficult!
Yuan Fenghui and Gong Sheng had discussed some ideas, all quite troublesome.
“Director Yuan from Tianjiao’s idea is to let Jiaxin take over the remaining production and cooperate with the film company to complete the post-production. Anyway, that beast has already been arrested. The public does not need to know what happened in between… Do you think this is feasible?”
Yuan Fenghui’s method was simple: directly remove the offending investor. That way, even if rumours got out, no one would believe them. Moreover, Luo Hao had become the male lead thanks to this offending investor. Without that connection, who would care about Luo Hao!
Pushing a newcomer to fame is very difficult.
But preventing a newcomer from becoming famous is actually not hard.
Li Mengjiao had previously been sabotaged by editing in a variety show!
For one episode of a variety show, post-production editing could turn an artist’s performance into something else. For a TV drama, editing an artist’s acting from good to average would naturally not be difficult. Luo Hao fit the role quite well, but his acting could not be called particularly outstanding. For a newcomer to have emperor-level acting, that would require true genius-level talent!
When Yuan Fenghui said this, her expression was one of being accustomed to such things.
Gong Sheng was a bit unsure when mentioning it to Xie Qian. What if the boss disdained such methods?
Unexpectedly, Xie Qian did not hesitate at all: “Yes, just follow Teacher Yuan’s suggestion. Professional matters should be left to professionals.”
The hamster thought highly of Shui Mingyue’s novel adaptation. With Jiaxin involved now, the drama would not lose money.
Xie Qian told Gong Sheng to dock directly with Jiang Youjia, and then Gong Sheng did not need to stay in the neighbouring province anymore. He could also transfer Pei Yiyi’s assistant to another hospital.
After briefing Gong Sheng on the precautions, Xie Qian specially called Yuan Fenghui.
Yuan Fenghui inquired about Xie Qian’s health and teased him for “becoming furious for a beauty”. Xie Qian surprisingly did not refute… Yuan Fenghui was surprised: “What, you two young people have finally decided to stop beating around the bush?”
“We have never beaten around the bush.”
Xie Qian refuted without any guilt.
In the beginning, he treated the hamster as a friend. He had not figured out what his feelings for the hamster were. This was not embarrassing. It was his first time liking a girl; he had no experience!
Later, when he understood his feelings, they had not yet taken the college entrance exam.
He himself was not afraid of any impact, but the hamster truly relied on hard work for her studies. Once distracted, her grades would definitely drop. She could not have achieved the province’s 31st in science!
Of course, with the first prize in the New Concept Essay Competition as support, the chance of the hamster not being admitted to Zhendan University was very small. But being admitted the same way, one by reduced score admission, the other by hard-earned strength, would feel vastly different to the hamster.
In ten, twenty years, or even longer, when the hamster recalled her youth striving for the college entrance exam, there would not be a single regret.
Later, after the exam, he had originally planned to confess, but then the car accident happened.
So, where had he and the hamster ever beaten around the bush?
Clearly, not a moment was wasted. Everything happened at the most appropriate time.
Yuan Fenghui secretly rolled her eyes.
No matter how cold and smart young people are, once they touch the word “love”, they become foolish. The smart Yuan Fenghui decided not to argue with Xie Qian.
Yuan Fenghui thought for a long time and still decided to play the bad guy once: “Ah, you must remember this feeling now, remember your current liking and expectations for this relationship. In the future… when you recall the passion of your youth, you will still be tolerant towards her.”
Xie Qian was too smart!
Now Xie Qian liked Wen Ying. All the resources he possessed could revolve around Wen Ying.
If one day Xie Qian no longer liked Wen Ying, Wen Ying would not be his match. He could easily fool her. No matter how clever a little fox is, she has no defences against the person she likes. From Yuan Fenghui’s personal experience, men always withdraw from a relationship faster than women.
Xie Qian did not debate with Yuan Fenghui and instead welcomed her supervision: “I will never hurt her.”
Xie Qian actually wanted to say that he would always like the hamster. However, saying “always like” to a workplace elite like Yuan Fenghui would probably make her secretly laugh at his naivety?
Forget it. Yuan Fenghui was not the hamster. There was no need for her to hear his promises!
After making two consecutive calls, when Wen Ying called Xie Qian on time, his line was busy. Only after finishing the calls did he see two texts from Wen Ying.
Xie Qian could fully understand Wen Ying’s mood.
She probably felt his return to the country was unreal, right?
The scars from that car accident needed to be healed together by him and the hamster.
In the blink of an eye, it was Friday.
Xie Qian had gradually adapted to life at Zhendan.
Of course, these days Wen Ying and Xie Qian had been quite visible on campus. Although the two were not glued together every moment, they could meet and talk every day.
The heartbroken were not just “Liu Chuanfeng” alone, but also the rich second-generation senior and the talented senior from the journalism department.
The talented journalism senior was depressed.
How could Junior Sister Wen be someone who chooses boyfriends based on looks, so superficial?
The talented senior specially went to the mathematics department to see Xie Qian.
After seeing him, he felt somewhat depressed.
Heavens, how unfair!
Why does someone studying mathematics look so good?
Mathematics is a discipline that requires deep research and students to endure loneliness. Since they have to endure loneliness anyway, looking so good is a waste, is it not?
The talented senior became depressed.
The basketball team captain and Zhendan’s richest student had not yet become depressed.
These two were not as emotional as the talented senior. A girl as outstanding as Junior Sister Wen was not easy to pursue in the first place. They had patience.
One brought out competitive spirit, the other had confidence from his family background. Neither wanted to admit defeat.
Wen Ying did not care what others thought. These days when she had no classes, she went to the hospital to accompany Xie Qian during rehabilitation. If she missed his rehab time, when he had classes and she did not, she helped Zou Weijun decorate the house.
Chen Ru kept her word and transferred ninety percent of the money to Wen Ying’s account.
Chen Ru still had over four million left.
Wen Dongrong did not know how much Chen Ru had earned from stocks, but he knew Black Heart Cotton had given the tigress four million.
That was four million!
Wen Dongrong soured himself into a vat of vinegar and asked Chen Ru how she planned to spend the money.
Chen Ru advised him to work well and not think about such things, because thinking would be useless.
“Do you understand finance?”
“No…”
“Then that’s it. Work well. If you have time, manage your brother more. Do not wait until he gambles away the family fortune and stands on the rooftop before rescuing him.”
Though she said this, to reward Old Wen for finally knowing to help their daughter with troubles instead of wasting energy on an ingrate, Chen Ru generously approved a large allowance for Old Wen.
Yes, truly large: a full four thousand yuan!
The head of the household, perhaps used to being henpecked, was a bit at a loss with this sum.
Suddenly having so much money, how to spend it?
Old Li was not around.
His brother-in-law Deng Shangwei was not around.
With money, he did not even know who to treat to dinner!
Wen Dongrong thought about it. With this money, plus squeezing some from his manuscript fees, perhaps he could buy himself a laptop?
At work, Wen Dongrong had a desktop computer to use.
At first, Wen Dongrong typed with two-finger zen, which was too slow. To write manuscripts, he learned Wubi input.
This not only made his writing faster but also greatly improved his work efficiency.
The reason leaders were willing to take him to Jinling was his solid writing skills and willingness to learn new things!
Wen Dongrong had actually wanted a laptop for a long time.
He had visited the computer city several times. Low-end machines had poor performance, mid-to-high-end laptops were increasingly expensive.
Wen Dongrong was not short of a few thousand yuan, but his private savings all came from manuscript fees.
Last year, by secretly selling the special-numbered “Xun Yong” plus fees, Wen Dongrong saved enough for an overseas trip. This year, without such luck, poor Old Wen wrote from beginning to end of the year. “Zhiyin” paid the highest fees but had the fiercest competition. Wen Dongrong could not rely on one magazine; he contributed to others too.
After transferring to Jinling, work was busier. Writing had to be squeezed from rest time. Diligent Old Wen saved another 18,950 yuan over the year.
A laptop could wipe out the remainder of Old Wen’s savings. How could he bear it!
But now with the wife’s approved four thousand yuan allowance, if he added three or four thousand himself, it seemed feasible?
To do good work, one must sharpen one’s tools. With a laptop, he could definitely write more manuscripts!
Wen Dongrong had prepared for a big splurge. Without waiting for the weekend to go to the computer city, on Friday afternoon, Old Wen received a same-city express delivery.
Opening the box, inside was a brand-new laptop.
Black Heart Cotton’s text followed: Comrade Old Wen, I recently made a small fortune and am sending you a laptop for writing. May you achieve greater success in the literary world!
