Chapter 132 part2 (1/2)

It was the fourth month of his internship at the newspaper office. His salary for the first three months had been paid, and the reimbursement for the previous months were settled as well. In addition to the fee for his manuscripts, he had received 3,000 more than he had expected. This was the good thing about working in public institutions. They would pay however much they said they would and wouldn’t deduct anything even if you were a contract worker. It wasn’t like private enterprises where it depended on what the boss said.

Zhou Sheng’s salary wasn’t paid yet. The two of them saved up the money. From now on, they had to be careful with their expenditure; they still had to pay a few tens of thousands for rent before the New Year in February.

Fortunately, Cen Shan remembered to transfer them the ticket money. Otherwise, Yu Hao’s heart would have ached for a long time. Today, he decided to go to the Forbidden City to interview people about a museum event and report on the special exhibition of the Forbidden City in January. These days, he wrote two 400-word manuscripts every day, and he had to sort out Jin Weicheng’s manuscripts for him and then conduct interviews either in the morning or afternoon while he spent the remaining time writing manuscripts. After mastering the literary style of the media, minor interviews barely required any major changes before they were approved. Lin Ze would choose one from Yu Hao’s two manuscripts every day to hand in.

As for the major investigation features, theoretically, it should be a monthly issue. Lin Ze hoped for stability, and after they were stable, they would begin publishing two issues per month. Jin Weicheng chose three topics this month, but they were all rejected by Lin Ze too.

Now, the two investigative reporters were both brainstorming for future directions.

Zhou Sheng said, “Why don’t I stir up some trouble for you, then you can interview me?”

Yu Hao, “Knock it off.”

Beijing entered its coldest season, and the deadline kept approaching. If Yu Hao couldn’t come up with a suitable topic before the 15th, Lin Ze would choose one from the previous 70 over topics and handle it personally as he took Situ Ye out for the interview.

“I would like to see what your boss is capable of though.” Zhou Sheng said.

Yu Hao was preparing for the opening report of his graduation thesis at home. He said, “His professional competence can obviously crush Jin Laoshi. He just wants to leave me the opportunity. I feel like even if I can’t come up with a topic, he’d still give me a full-time position anyway, but I don’t want it to be like that.”

“Oh right.” Yu Hao remembered and said, “Gege didn’t contact you? I thought he’d come see us, I already bought him all four setsonline.”

Zhou Sheng said, “I don’t know about him, he didn’t call me either.”

The next day, when Yu Hao went to conduct an interview for the launch of new property, he bumped into Xia Lei unexpectedly. At that time, he was in a forward lunge position as he took pictures of the city residents sleeping in tents as they waited in line outside the property, while chanting, “CCTV, CCTV, intern reporter Yu Hao is reporting for you. North wind blows, snowflakes drift. Our city’s real estate sales performance is seriously good. The general public was here since yesterday night at -12 degrees in the northern winds, with their own sleeping bags……”

“Young Madam?” A voice rang out from behind Yu Hao.

Yu Hao was a little baffled. He asked, astonished, “Who?”

The guy behind him was both tall and skinny, and wore a suit. Yu Hao thought, Why do you all seem to change so much after entering society?! He said, “Xia Lei?!”

Xia Lei gave him a cup of ginger soup provided by the sales department and said, “I heard from Gege that you’re a reporter now; I can’t believe I’d bump into you here!”

Yu Hao laughed, “You’re here to buy a house?”

Xia Lei, “My uncle’s friend is the developer for this real estate. I’m here to help out. What are you writing? There’s no dirt ba?”

Yu Hao said, “Don’t worry, it’s all good.”

Xia Lei handed Yu Hao a red envelope. Yu Hao didn’t bother being formal with him and accepted it; he would be passing it to Lin Ze when he returned anyway. The red envelopes of the whole office were like waiter’s tips, and they were up to the leader to distribute. Yu Hao had bumped into a few people who gave him red envelopes. After he rejected them and went back to the office to talk about it, Lin Ze said, “Are you dumb? If they give it to you just accept it. Come back and I’ll buy snacks for you guys.”

Yu Hao’s outlook on the world broke. How could they accept red envelopes? But Lin Ze said, “If you don’t accept it, they won’t allow you to come back to write a piece, and would just exert all their strength to bother you; they’d ask you to leave your contact information, then keep calling you like their lives depended on it. Of course, you’ll have to judge for yourself whether the red envelope can be accepted or not.”

Yu Hao, “Jin Laoshi has never accepted red envelopes before okay!”

Situ Ye, “Oh is that so? Then sorry, sorry.”

Yu Hao, “……”

Yu Hao suddenly remembered that when Jin Weicheng went out for normal interviews, he never took him along and had never handed any red envelopes to Lin Ze.

Thus, whenever Yu Hao saw a red envelope for an incident that wasn’t too serious, he would accept it. When he handed it to Lin Ze, Situ Ye said, “Are you dumb? He asked you to give it to him, and you really gave it to him?”

Yu Hao, “……”

Lin Ze said, “Ignore him, good job. Let lady boss will help you open an account in the bank and save your New Year’s money for you. When you need to use it, you can go ask him for it.”

Yu Hao, “…………”

Sure enough, after Xia Lei saw Yu Hao accept the red envelope, he felt a lot more at ease.

“I’ll talk with the reporter Laoshi.” Xia Lei said to the manager of the sales department.

The sales department prepared some refreshments for Yu Hao and poured tea for him. Yu Hao was a little terrified, but he suddenly sensed that something was weird —— after conducting enough interviews, he had honed his intuition.

“Have you settled payment for the construction and the wages of the workers yet?” Yu Hao asked pensively.

Xia Lei laughed, “You’re really well informed, Young Madam. Help your brother this once ba. It really has nothing to do with us. The construction side is the one delaying the payment.”

Yu Hao had just casually guessed, yet he accurately struck Xia Lei’s Achilles’ heel. He thought about it, then said, “Don’t delay it for too long. If it gets out of hand, even if we don’t come, others will.”

Xia Lei nodded and heaved a sigh of relief, “We have a competitor, it has been dragging on for a year, and we’re currently in a tussle. Go and interview them?”