novellhall Chapter 104: A Lonely Gamble
Chapter 104: A Lonely Gamble
As the person in charge of publicity and distribution, Li Jun had a lingering doubt in his mind.
The idea of having Liu Xiaoli and Zhou Wenqiong film a music video and dance pop songs was a good thing. The company's offer was far beyond the industry standard. Why did Liu Xiaoli initially show such resistance?
In this day and age, 300,000 yuan is more than enough to hire a famous dancer, let alone a popular Hong Kong or Taiwan actress.
What puzzled him even more was that Zhou Xiaobai even paid out of his own pocket to raise the price to 500,000 yuan, just to make this show happen.
"Teacher Liu, Wenqiong, I have a small question I'd like to ask. Is it convenient for you to answer?" Li Jun took a sip of tea, looked at the two of them, and finally voiced the question that had been on his mind: "The company's choice of promotional song and the invitation to dance were actually your children's idea. Even the price they offered was their decision..."
He briefly recounted the events of the publicity meeting, focusing on how Zhou Xiaobai suggested inviting Liu Xiaoli to dance, and how he later brought his sister Zhou Wenqiong into the scene as well.
"You're saying it was my brother's idea to invite us to dance?" Zhou Wenqiong was startled and quickly asked.
Liu Xiaoli was also stunned. All the questions that had been bothering her before finally had a clear answer.
Li Jun looked at Chen Minghua, and after receiving a confirming look from the other party, he continued to explain: "Yes. Actually, when we invited you here to discuss the contract, Xiaobai and Qianqian were in the next room."
At this point, he suddenly smiled and said, "Teacher Liu, Wenqiong, to be honest, you are really blessed. Your child is so young, yet he already knows how to protect you. Zhou Xiaobai even got angry with us about this and almost overturned the table..." Li Jun described the scene where Liu Qianqian and Zhou Xiaobai were furious.
"They pulled off such a big charade without telling you because, according to them, Xixi wanted to make a name for herself and impress Teacher Liu. Teacher Wang knew about this too, which is why we cooperated with them in this charade."
"The great guy Chen Minghua is back online," he added.
Anyway, he's going to say everything he should and shouldn't say today. Don't you all want to "make a name for yourselves" and "show off"?
Then I'll help you spread the word—I'm doing a good deed.
"What?"
Liu Xiaoli and Zhou Wenqiong exclaimed in unison, then recalled that they had bumped into Zhou Xiaobai and his group shortly after leaving the Times Records store that day, followed by that "buy, buy, buy" and "whole fish feast"...
It seems their high fever was also self-directed and self-acted...
I remember them saying "a car with a canopy"...
Finally, just as my mindset began to soften, Chen Minghua's perfectly timed phone call...
This is all because they've hit their sore spots.
The two exchanged a glance, their gazes growing cold.
Liu Xiaoli suddenly turned to Chen Minghua: "Later, you called again, raising the price to 500,000—"
Before he could finish speaking, Chen Minghua interrupted him, holding up his phone and waving it: "Look, the call log is all here. I called you after receiving Xiaobai's call. The 200,000 yuan in here came out of their own pockets."
Chen Minghua spoke the truth without hiding anything; we just want to publicize your good deeds.
Liu Xiaoli and Zhou Wenqiong were speechless for a moment, their faces showing only self-deprecating expressions.
It turns out that every step was calculated in detail—Zhou Xiaobai and Liu Qianqian, you guys are really something, you even used a series of interconnected schemes.
To get them to agree to dance, he even risked getting soaked in the rain and falling ill...
it is good!
That's really great!
At this moment, Liu Xiaoli and Zhou Wenqiong were filled with surging anger, like a thunderbolt igniting a raging fire, which they could no longer suppress...
Yang Yuying's ears were also perked up. The more she listened to the play, the more confused she became, yet the more interesting it seemed.
Is this really an idea a child could come up with? What kind of operation is this? Even if someone wants to make a name for themselves, wouldn't they be able to achieve their dream after receiving the advance payment?
Even if we didn't say anything at the time, there was no need to put on such a show when we later asked adults to dance for our album.
Her mind was also a complete mess.
I don't understand, I really don't understand their inhumane actions.
However, it's a bit unreasonable that the two main figures are not present at such an important press conference today, isn't it?
Thinking of this, Yang Yuying raised her question: "Teacher Liu, Ms. Zhou, I'm also curious, why didn't those two little ones come to such an important press conference today? Is there something inconvenient about it?"
After saying that, she looked at Chen Minghua again—he should know about this, right?
Upon hearing this, Liu Xiaoli and Zhou Wenqiong felt their unease intensify. They both looked at Chen Minghua simultaneously and said in unison, "President Zhang—"
"To be honest, this is a difficult situation for us too. Many people in the company have objections. But they just won't come, and I don't understand it either."
Chen Minghua spread his hands, looking aggrieved.
As he spoke, he picked up two documents from the table and handed them to Liu Xiaoli and Zhou Wenqiong. "These are the press releases for this afternoon's press conference. Your daughters said you can handle this. Qianqian even specifically told them, 'I trust you to get things done.'"
He didn't know what the two kids were thinking.
They had argued a lot beforehand to get Zhou Xiaobai and Liu Qianqian to attend the press conference, and even paid them high appearance fees, but the result was still the same.
After saying that, he couldn't help but laugh and looked at Liu Xiaoli: "Qianqian said that she is your little darling, and your little darling's affairs are your affairs."
This remark caused everyone present to burst into laughter.
Liu Xiaoli and Zhou Wenqiong relaxed their tense nerves slightly, but the next second, their alarm bells suddenly went off.
Zhou Wenqiong cried out, "Cousin, run away—"
Before she could finish speaking, her phone, which was on the table, began to vibrate wildly, and three words flashed on the screen: Old lady!
Zhou Wenqiong answered the call without hesitation.
The voice on the other end of the phone was loud enough to wake Liu Xiaoli, who was sitting right next to her: "Wen...Wenqiong, your brother...and Qianqian ran away..."
"What?" Zhou Wenqiong exclaimed in shock, trembling. "Mom...Mom, please tell me slowly, when did you run away?"
At this moment, in Jiangcheng.
The old woman clutched a note, her heart pounding with anxiety: "I don't know... Just now... I knocked on the door but no one answered... I went in and the person was gone!"
"Mom, don't worry, did they leave a note? Did they call the orphanage and my aunt?" Zhou Wenqiong tried to remain calm, keeping her words brief.
"We called, we called them all, but they're not here. They're frantic with worry." The old lady finally managed to speak clearly, her voice trembling with tears. "She left a note saying... saying she'd gone to look for Bingbing and Yaya, and told you not to worry."
"puff--"
Zhou Wenqiong and Liu Xiaoli were so angry they vomited blood.
No wonder! No wonder!
Now everything makes sense. They've been so careful for the past month…
It turns out that this amazing drama was all for this moment.
Great, that's really great!
Zhou Xiaobai! Liu Qianqian!
Did you two fly?
Is our fake older sister closer to us than our biological mother/sister?
We tried to stop them during winter break, and then we tried every possible way to stop them during summer break—but it was all in vain!
Did you think you couldn't run away because you had no money, and that you could rest easy?
Now it seems we were a joke! A huge joke! You've really grown wings, haven't you!
You have no money?
I don't think there are many kids in all of China who are richer than you!
"Hahaha--"
Thinking of this, the two men turned pale and, in their anger, laughed instead.
The laughter was truly chilling, and Chen Minghua and the others were startled: Could it be that they were furious?
They managed to understand what was being said on the phone, albeit in bits and pieces: Zhou Xiaobai and Liu Qianqian had run away.
Before they could think it through, Liu Xiaoli's phone suddenly rang.
She took it out and saw two words flashing on the screen:
Fan Ma.
Well, looks like they've run away over there too. No doubt, Tong Liya is gone too.
"Zhou Xiaobai, Liu Qianqian, if I don't teach you a lesson, I'll change my surname to yours!" Liu Xiaoli shouted through gritted teeth, ignoring everything else, like a madwoman.
After venting her frustrations, she ignored the astonished looks of the crowd and picked up her phone to answer a call.