novellhall Chapter 125 The phone rang
Chapter 125 The phone rang
Da Meili had just led her dance troupe to Shenzhen to perform a hot dance for Liu Yifei, and before she could even catch her breath, her phone rang again.
I originally thought that when fellow villagers meet, they would at most reminisce about their past.
Unexpectedly, Wu Hong from Jiangcheng News directly challenged him to a game of truth or dare.
There were contingency plans in place, but reality was far more outrageous than imagined.
The phone hasn't stopped ringing since morning.
The moment the call connected, all the distant relatives erupted in a cacophony of voices, and the reputation of "fierce mother" and "bad sister" quickly spread throughout the family.
The relatives were worried that Da Meili's "bad reputation" would make the family infamous.
The concern is that Liu Qianqian and Zhou Xiaobai's physical and mental health may leave no one to carry on their legacy.
On the day of the family reunion banquet, she praised Zhou Xiaobai as a scholarly relative, which moved her to pity. Using her teacher's eloquence, she launched an operation to snatch the child.
The two sisters had to appease one and then comfort the other, their phone calls coming in one after another.
Finally, Liu Xiaoli's colleagues from the dance troupe also arrived.
Unlike the concern shown by relatives, my colleagues, though also holding jobs in public institutions, at least had some connection to the entertainment industry.
They saw Liu Xiaoli bullying the children every few days, and most of them knew the details, so they didn't take it seriously.
However, the sales and soaring popularity of Liu Yifei's children's song album left them completely bewildered.
Sure enough, as soon as they got back to the hotel, the first call came in from the group leader, Yao Ping: "Xiao Li, is that Liu Yifei in the newspaper really Qianqian?"
He was stunned when he saw the full-page news on the second page of Jiangcheng News—"Shocking—Backstage dancers bully singer, Liu Yifei angrily calls the police and runs away." Jiangcheng News is supposed to be a respectable media outlet, how come it's getting into entertainment gossip?
People from Jiangcheng know Jiangcheng better than anyone else; he'd never heard of Liu Yifei.
Just as Mrs. Yao put the newspaper aside, she picked it up and began reading it with great interest.
She first burst out laughing—this news is interesting, it can be written like this.
But the more I look at it, the more something seems off. Is Liu Yifei actually Liu Qianqian?
Her mind went blank for a moment, then she looked down and was shocked: "Old Yao, look, this is about Xixi! And Liu Xiaoli too—" She tugged at Yao Ping and pointed to the accompanying picture, exclaiming, "Look, Anna is there too!"
In the accompanying picture, Liu Xiaoli and Zhou Wenqiong are dancing the apple dance with their daughter Yao Anna.
Yao Ping snatched the newspaper and examined it closely, becoming increasingly alarmed with each reading.
As a leader, his focus is naturally superior to others—he is focused on record sales and the composers.
"Hello, Yao Tuan, yes, that's Qianqian," Liu Xiaoli answered proudly. Although Liu Qianqian made her feel exhausted, good grades were still a valuable asset.
"Are the sales figures on those real?" Yao Ping got down to business.
At first glance, he didn't calculate the two million pre-orders in the newspapers, nor did he take it seriously.
But when he read the last sentence, "This album is very likely to set a new record for domestic record sales," he suddenly realized something.
The song and dance troupe also releases records, and he can roughly estimate the cost. The ceiling for domestic record production is just over five million.
If Liu Qianqian really breaks the record, wouldn't she earn tens of millions in revenue?
He was envious, but he was thinking about something else entirely...
Liu Xiaoli quickly gave Zhou Wenqiong a look and pressed speakerphone: "That's the record company's estimate. Whether it's that much or not, we'll have to wait a few years for the sales figures to come out before we can be sure."
As the saying goes, one should not flaunt one's wealth. Yao Ping's question made her realize that there was more to it than met the eye.
Moreover, Liu Xiaoli dared not claim credit for her daughter's achievements, but she dared to steal her cousin's money.
Her statement about "waiting a few years" was only half true.
She now knows the details of the contract very well, and given the momentum of the press conference, breaking the record is basically a certainty.
Yao Ping didn't believe this, but once Yao Anna returned, the truth would naturally become clear, so there was no rush.
He pressed on to the topic: "Were those pieces really written by a novice?" This was what he was truly concerned about—a diversionary tactic, his real intention was elsewhere.
Yao Anna loves to sing, and her mother is also a singer in the troupe. There are many famous artists in the troupe, but none of them can compose music or write well-known popular songs.
As the troupe leader, his musical literacy is naturally excellent. He's been listening to "Good Morning Jiangcheng" every day lately, and he can immediately tell the quality of the piece.
For Liu Qianqian to receive the title "Daughter of Jiangcheng" is an incredible honor.
What if I could get Zhou Xiaobai to write one for my own daughter?
That's why this phone call happened.
"Yes, it was indeed written by Xiaobai. However, the instructor was Teacher Wang from the orphanage," Liu Xiaoli answered truthfully.
This matter has already been made public; Zhou Wenqiong even called Wang Shuzhen the day before yesterday to inquire about it.
She believes that Wang Shuzhen taught Zhou Xiaobai to compose music.
She would never believe that Wang Shuzhen could compose such a piece.
However, Zhou Wenqiong did not ask any further questions.
Zhou Xiaobai has too many secrets; we'll have to get to the bottom of everything when we get back. We can't let him run wild this time; we have to extract all his secrets.
I initially thought it was just a "family heirloom skill" plus a photographic memory, but I never expected it to be even better at making money.
The key is that this kid is only eight years old, yet he dares to take Liu Qianqian to the Western Frontier. If he gets kidnapped by Bingbing and Yaya, he'll regret it to death.
"Teacher Liu, you know my Anna loves to sing..." Yao Ping felt that she couldn't play games at this point; she had to tell the truth, and she couldn't forget the respectful address. A whole bunch of people in the troupe might be watching. Besides, Liu Xiaoli was pretty good to her daughter; otherwise, she wouldn't have brought her along for promotional purposes.
After Yao Ping said that, Liu Xiaoli understood.
Although I wanted to recruit a few girls from the song and dance troupe to run a dance school, now is not the time to bring it up; the timing isn't right yet.
Everything will have to wait until we return to Jiangcheng to discuss it in detail with the parents of these girls.
Moreover, she and Zhou Wenqiong discussed it last night—now they have money and manpower, so they need to change their approach.
However, this matter will have to wait until Zhou Xiaobai returns before it can be decided.
Regarding such a significant matter, Liu Xiaoli and Zhou Wenqiong had come to regard Zhou Xiaobai as a peer in their minds.
It's not surprising that someone would have this idea.
They knew exactly what kind of person Liu Qianqian was.
He can handle multi-million dollar deals with ease, but if you treat him like a child when it comes to important matters, you'll suffer a great loss sooner or later.
However, now that he has earned a "bad reputation," he can continue to bully and beat her at home.
Thinking of this, she said, "Commander Yao, I understand what you're saying. But I really can't make a decision about Xiaobai; it has to be decided by his sister. I'll have her talk to you." With that, she handed over her phone.
Zhou Wenqiong took it and smiled first—a smile for her own mother.
If it weren't for her insistence, I wouldn't have this advantage today.
She spoke into the microphone, "Commander Yao, hello. I mentioned the songwriting to Anna the day before yesterday, but we'll have to wait until my brother comes back to finalize the details."
She paused for a moment, then offered praise, "Anna has a great singing talent, this shouldn't be a problem."
Before Yao Ping could reply, she added, "You've seen the news, haven't you? My little brother's a real troublemaker. He ran off with Qianqian, and now that the authorities are far away, I can't bring him back!"
"Haha, good, I'm relieved to hear that." Yao Ping laughed. With a clear answer, he was at ease.
After a few more casual words, we hung up the phone.
Immediately afterwards, the parents of the other girls also called.
Some praised him, some envied him, and some even asked to befriend him...
Liu Xiaoli used the same old rhetoric: "We'll discuss everything when we get back."
Anyway, your daughters are with me now, so I'll definitely take care of them if anything good happens.
Just when we thought things would quiet down for a bit, Granny Liu's voice boomed out like thunder...