266 Life-costing (1/2)

Guo Qinghe received a minimum fee of fifty thousand for each lecture he delivered. Even if he were to give only one lecture a month, his annual income would amount to at least six hundred thousand. Guo Qinghe's income was certainly envied by many, but the fact was that he had long been admired for his talents and capabilities. He held the position of class chairperson since his undergraduate days, and he was also actively involved in WeChat business and stock investments. In his fourth year at college, he managed to buy himself a foreign car, which he paid for with his own money.

So, it was quite natural for everyone to look up to Guo Qinghe, and in their hearts, nobody felt peeved about what he had deservingly achieved. In fact, most people would expect Guo Qinghe to do better than them in life, and if he wasn't, that would indeed be very unusual.

”Beauty Tang, how come you don't look excited? You haven't said a word at all since we've sat down, is there something that's bothering you?” Zhang Dashan directed his attention to Tang Wantian, and that quickly changed the topic of conversation.

”That's right, Wantian, you're the party secretary of our class and the right-hand person,” someone said. And another followed up with a question, ”What are you working now as?”

Tang Wantian sighed, ”Well, I'm an author and a journalist, but my main work is in writing news articles. It's a shitty life, and I need to submit one news article before the weekly deadline.”

”News articles? You're not referring to the pop-up news from mobile web browsers and chatting apps, right?” A girl asked.

Tang Wantian took a sip of her fruit juice and nodded, ”Yup, it's that kind of news.”

”Starting with only two pictures and edit the way through to a full story, so you're the editor that everyone's talking about, eh?” Hu Shuiping was quite surprised.

Tang Wantian rolled her eyes but charmingly, ”Shui, are you asking for a slap on your wrist? What do you mean by starting with two pictures and then editing them all the way to a full story? I'm not that low in taste, everything I've written is based on facts and evidence, and there's certainly no fabrication.”

”Then what have you been writing on recently?” Zhang Dashan asked jokingly.

Tang Wangtian thought for a moment and answered honestly, ”It's a piece about San Qian Luo Shui, the boss of Luo's Workshop.”

When he heard that, Zhang Dashan almost spat the beer in his mouth out. Could this really be another coincidence?

He threw a quick, meaningful glance at Xiao Luo.

An expression of surprise did register on Xiao Luo's face a little as well, but it was hardly obvious as he was kept busy feeding the loli while having a bite himself.

Zhao Mengqi knew, but she was well aware that Xiao Luo disliked being the center of attention, so she decided to stay mum on the subject.

”Talking about that San Qian Luo Shui, it is still a hot topic even now.”

”I agree, the way he talked was fascinating, how he faced up to Jia Zhengyi, and he even managed to beat millions of Jia Zhengyi's fan to silence just by his witty remarks.”

”Even more impressive was the press conference that Jia Zhengyi was forced to make. He had to publicly apologize to Luo's Workshop and even seek forgiveness from the masses. He was allegedly made to pay a compensation of thirty million. It was so satisfying to follow it, the whole plot had even more suspense than a soap opera.”

When the topic of conversation shifted to San Qian Luo Shui, everyone had gotten excited and wouldn't let up discussing the ”verbal war” that had taken place only recently. It actually fired up the atmosphere of the entire room immediately.

”Wantian, do you have a picture of San Qian Luo Shui? He's really my idol, and I've been following him on Weibo. If you write a piece of news about him, I'll marry you right now!” Hu Shuiping said nonsensically.

Everyone immediately jeered at him.

Someone chirped, ”Don't continue to bullshit, Shui. The difference in height between you and Wantian may not work in your favor. When you stand next to Wantian, you really do resemble 'Tu Xingsun' [1] in the classic novel, 'Fengshen Bang' [2].” And that got everyone in the room laughing.

Tang Wantian immediately patted Hu Shuiping on the head as if she was comforting a child and smiled, ”There, there, be a good boy, and sister would buy you some candies later.”

”Big sister, I'd also like some candies.”

The little loli, Bei Bei, could not resist it and shouted out to Tang Wanlian when she heard the word 'candies'.

Everyone burst into peals of joyful laughter as they looked at her cute and demure expression.

But poor Hu Shuiping wore a long face. Not only was he the butt of the joke, but to be spurned by a pat on his head dealt a blow to his ego. He was terribly upset, but he could not express it.

...

...

After they were done with eating and drinking, they all headed for the Karaoke room in the box.

The karaoke equipment was installed with an auto-scoring system, and it would show the scores every time a patron finished singing a number. The passing mark was 60, while really good crooners could sometimes get the full score of a hundred.

Qin Guiyue started the session with 'Yi Sheng You Ni' by Shui Mu Nian Hua. As the song echoed around the room, Zhao Mengqi lost her composure and broke into tears. This song had reminded her of everything about her past relationships with Xiao Luo. Each piece of memory flashed back so vividly, and it touched her very soul.