Over at Jianshan Village, after Qin Yulian left, Jiang Xing did not follow her. Instead, he went to one of the village’s communal wells to draw water and wash his face.
Seeing that Jiang Xing had not left the village with his mother, Qin Yulian, Ms. Meng Yao took off her straw hat and fanned herself with it as she stood by the field ridge not far away.
“Old Zhou, Jiang Xing really seems determined to repent and win Girl Li’s forgiveness, doesn’t he?”
Zhou Wang let out a disdainful snort. “What good is regret now? As far as I’m concerned, this is nothing but trying to mend the fold after the sheep are gone. The sheep are already dead—what use is any remedy afterward? Girl Li’s heart is already dead to them. Even if they died right in front of her, she wouldn’t feel any pain.”
Ms. Meng Yao agreed wholeheartedly, though she looked somewhat troubled. “Then are we just going to let him wander around the village?”
“Yeah. Leave him be,” Zhou Wang said. “Isn’t Xiao Li’s twenty-first birthday coming up? I refuse to believe Jiang Xing won’t return to Jing City for such an important occasion. Of course, I doubt Girl Li invited any of them in the first place.”
“Could Jiang Xing have come here to earn our approval so he can qualify to attend Xiao Li’s birthday banquet?”
Zhou Wang turned around. “Who cares? Come on, Old Meng. We still haven’t finished our medical research. Don’t waste time on him.”
Ms. Meng Yao stopped paying attention to Jiang Xing as well and turned to leave with Zhou Wang.
Jiang Xing knew that the villagers were unwilling to forgive him.
He was not in a hurry. There was still some time before his little sister Xiao Li’s birthday, and he still had a chance to win the villagers over.
Three hours after Qin Yulian left, she called him.
Jiang Xing rejected the call at first, but his mother kept calling. With no choice, he turned off his phone again.
That finally brought him some peace and quiet.
After that, Jiang Xing began observing what the villagers did in their daily lives.
Whenever he saw someone who needed help carrying heavy loads, pushing a cart pulled by an ox, handling manure, fertilizing the fields, watering the crops, or doing any other kind of labor, he would lend a hand.
Some villagers rejected his help, while others, eager to toy with him, deliberately gave him tasks so that he would make a mess of them.
Jiang Xing never grew discouraged.
At least some people were willing to give him a chance!
As long as he could win the approval of these villagers, who were like family to Xiao Li, he would be able to attend Xiao Li’s birthday banquet, right?
…
Meanwhile, in Jing City.
At Dafeng Entertainment, inside the vice president’s office.
Jiang Zhao handed the three new songs he had worked day and night to complete to Yu Hongtu. Yu Hongtu did not even look at them before casually passing them to Zheng Zegang, the manager who had recruited Jiang Zhao.
Seeing how little Yu Hongtu cared about the new songs he had worked so hard to compose, Jiang Zhao’s eyes darkened.
“Now that the songs are finished, arrange for them to be recorded and released immediately,” Yu Hongtu instructed lazily. Then he asked, “Manager Zheng, how long will it take to finish Jiang Zhao’s new album?”
Zheng Zegang took the sheet music and said, “Under normal circumstances, a ten-song album takes three months to complete. Since Jiang Zhao is releasing only three songs this time, it should be possible to finish it in a month.”
“No! A month is too long!” Yu Hongtu rejected the proposal outright. “I heard that Jiang Youli has already finished recording her new songs and is only waiting to release them on her birthday. Jiang Zhao’s new album must be released on the same day so that he can go head-to-head with Jiang Youli!”
At this point, he turned to Jiang Zhao. “You know when your sister’s birthday is, don’t you?”
Of course Jiang Zhao knew.
His younger sister Jiang Youli shared a birthday with Jiang Yonghe.
“The twenty-first of this month,” Jiang Zhao replied.
“Exactly! That’s only half a month away. If your sister Jiang Youli gets a head start, she’ll seize all the attention!” Yu Hongtu immediately began pressuring Zheng Zegang. “Manager Zheng, the high salary Dafeng Entertainment is offering you—twice what Starlight Entertainment paid you—is not for you to follow a normal work schedule. You must finish Jiang Zhao’s new album within half a month. If necessary, mobilize everyone under you and make them work overtime.”
As the manager of the business department, Zheng Zegang had originally had nothing to do with post-production. However, since the man who was about to become Dafeng Entertainment’s new head had personally issued the order, how could he dare refuse?
Though he was inwardly exasperated, he still answered, “All right. I’ll do my best…”
“What I want isn’t your best. I want it completed without fail!” Yu Hongtu said.
Zheng Zegang forced himself to change his answer. “All right. I’ll definitely complete Young President Yu’s instructions!”
Yu Hongtu was satisfied.
He felt that he was indeed perfectly suited to manage a company. Once Dafeng Entertainment was entirely under his control, its performance would surely improve even further!
Zheng Zegang, meanwhile, was inwardly groaning.
What on earth was going on with Jiang Youli? She had somehow claimed that she could release her new songs on her birthday!
Wasn’t Starlight Entertainment short-staffed right now?
How could they have finished recording and preparing the songs for release so quickly?
Yu Hongtu stood up and stretched. “All right. Get to work. Work overtime if you have to. I’m heading out to entertain some clients.”
With that, he swaggered out of the office.
Watching Yu Hongtu’s carefree departure, Zheng Zegang felt a surge of anger and could not help muttering, “He calls it entertaining clients, but he’s really just out there indulging in pleasure.”
Jiang Zhao shot him a glance. “Manager Zheng, what are you getting angry about? Weren’t you the one who chose to jump ship to Dafeng Entertainment?”
Zheng Zegang retorted unhappily, “As if you didn’t do the same.”
Jiang Zhao did not deny it. “I’ve always known that I betrayed my own sister by coming here. So long as I can achieve my goal of becoming a huge star, I’m willing to endure anything Yu Hongtu demands, no matter how unreasonable it is. Don’t tell me you haven’t reached that level of awareness yet, Manager Zheng?”
Zheng Zegang stiffened his neck. “Of course I have! Since that’s the case, cooperate with the post-production department and finish recording the new songs today!”
“I have no problem with that,” Jiang Zhao said.
By the time Jiang Zhao left Dafeng Entertainment, it was already late at night. Only then did he have time to check his phone, and he saw the text messages Qin Yulian had sent him.
He chose to ignore them and did not reply.
He could understand what his elder brother Jiang Xing was feeling.
At present, merely trying to win Jiang Youli’s forgiveness had already exhausted them mentally and physically. They simply had no energy left to placate their unreasonable mother.
Jiang Zhao opened Jiang Youli’s WeChat Moments to see whether she had posted anything that day.
She had not posted a single update in the past few days.
That was completely different from Jiang Yonghe.
In the past, Jiang Yonghe had loved sharing the details of her daily life.
She would post about what delicious food she had eaten, what gifts she had received, or what competitions she had taken part in.
Now, Jiang Zhao did not even have the chance to catch a glimpse of his biological sister’s life through her social media.
Even more sadly, he had not received an invitation to attend his own sister’s birthday banquet.
No!
He had to find a way to get an invitation!
With that thought, Jiang Zhao took out his phone and called Old Master Jiang.
The call was answered shortly afterward, and Old Master Jiang got straight to the point.
“I’ve already asked Youli to cure the poison in your elder brother Jiang Xing. What else do you want?”
In a pleading voice, Jiang Zhao asked, “Grandpa, I want to attend my sister Xiao Li’s birthday banquet. Is that all right?”
