Chapter 81

The words of the vegetable-washing auntie made Auntie Sweet Potato, who was keeping the road clean, take off her shoes immediately, step on her dirty white socks without caring, and gesture with her shoes.

"Say it again! Tomorrow is the finals, and you curse people today? If the mainland girl really doesn't get a place, I will use my shoes to slap your mouth."

Seeing that Auntie Sweet Potato really wanted to fight.

The other two aunties saw it and immediately stopped her.

"Don't bother, the stance is different."

"That's right, she doesn't appreciate it."

"Forget it, forget it, you know Cuixiang, her mouth has always been stinky."

Auntie Sweet Potato was stopped by her companions, and it was not good to continue to rage, so she threw her shoes on the ground and stepped into the dirty socks neatly, feeling indignant.

"Lu Qing will definitely be good! We'll see, she will definitely be in the top three!"

Chu Yueqing was surprised. Lu Qing actually had fans so quickly?

She was born to be in the entertainment industry.

The commotion outside attracted the attention of the decorator in the store.

"What's going on?"

The person who came out was an old man, wearing a hat folded from newspapers, a black sweater with holes, and a lot of white wall paint on his arms.

The aunties have gone home now.

The old man saw a young girl standing at the door of the store. She seemed to be pretty good. When he was wondering, he suddenly had an idea.

Uncle Zhong held a shovel in one hand and clapped his forehead with the other, laughing: "Look at me, Miss, you must be Master Chu who rented this shop?"

"I am." Chu Yueqing smiled, "I just packed up the stall and came to see the progress."

"Ade and I have been friends for many years, you can just call me Uncle Zhong." As he spoke, Uncle Zhong took Chu Yueqing to the shop.

As soon as he stepped into the shop, the pungent smell of wall paint came over.

The shop was long and deep, and there were two workers climbing on a stepladder to paint the ceiling.

Chu Yueqing waved her hand uncomfortably, trying to dispel the smell.

Uncle Zhong said cheerfully, "That's how renovations work. We're all family, so we use only top-quality materials. Once the ventilation is complete, the smell will be gone."

"Uncle Zhong, how long will it take to finish?" Chu Yueqing asked.

Uncle Zhong calculated the time: "The wall paint will probably be finished in two days. Miss Chu, don't you want to partition off a small room?"

Chu Yueqing looked at the door, and the small room had already been partitioned off.

"Yes, I also want to open a small window toward the street corner."

"That will take a little longer." Uncle Zhong took Chu Yueqing to have a look. The small room took up roughly one-third of the store. It wasn't particularly large, but it was definitely enough to sell sweet soup.

Chu Yueqing knocked on the wall, gestured, and then smiled and said, "Uncle Zhong, I need you to help me install a few horizontal wooden boards on the wall. I need to stick talisman paper on the horizontal wooden boards as a cover, and then I will display the products on the horizontal wooden boards."

Since she decided to do sugar water and Feng Shui together.

Of course, she had to make some changes that were different from other sugar water shops.

Uncle Zhong knocked on the wall and thought, "The wall is hard enough, there should be no problem putting on the wooden boards. Miss Chu, what about the talisman paper for sticking on the wooden boards?"

He didn't know what business his boss was in. He

just thought that talisman paper could only be bought in Feng Shui shops, and the price was not cheap. A small yellow talisman would cost dozens of yuan, and the wooden boards were long, so hundreds of talismans would be used at any time.

The price was not cheap.

Uncle Zhong expressed his concerns, and was ready to persuade his boss to choose some posters that were inexpensive and good quality, or to buy wooden boards that already had the color of the wall paint.

"No problem." Chu Yueqing said with a smile, "I'll draw some talismans and send them over."

"Oh, oh!" Uncle Zhong realized that Chu Yueqing was actually a Feng Shui master.

Seeing that she could open a store at such a young age, he couldn't help but admire her.

"Miss Chu really has a bright future."

Chu Yueqing finalized a few small changes required by the store, set a time and prepared to leave.

At this time, a young and beautiful woman came in with a lunch box, twisting her waist and wearing high heels. When she saw Uncle Zhong, her eyes lit up.

"Brother Zhong."

Zhong Geng rolled up his sleeves and prepared to continue painting the wall. Seeing someone coming, he put down his tools again, "Why are you here so early today?"

Chu Yueqing thought it was Uncle Zhong's daughter, so she didn't take it seriously and watched the person go in.

The next scene was jaw-dropping.

The woman kissed Zhong Geng's wrinkled face and handed him the lunch box, "Freshly hot rice, eat it quickly, otherwise you will be hungry."

Chu Yueqing smacked her lips.

It turned out to be a husband... a couple?

Zhong Geng noticed the boss's gaze and pushed the woman away embarrassedly, "There are so many people watching, why kiss? Let's go home and kiss."

The woman refused and twisted her waist to kiss him again, "We got married in a dignified manner, why can't we kiss? I'll kiss you."

Chu Yueqing saw Zhong Geng's apologetic look, she smiled and waved her hand, "Uncle Zhong, I'll go home first."

"Okay. Okay." Zhong Geng smiled awkwardly.

After the boss left.

The worker who was painting the wall in mid-air, he bit the tool, stopped painting the wall, took the tool, glanced at the woman's plump breasts, and joked.

"Uncle Zhong, you are so lucky. You are over fifty and you can still get married again. You have such a beautiful wife."

Zhong Geng was praised. He took the lunch box and put it on the stainless steel table filled with paint buckets. He opened the lunch box and picked up the chopsticks. "Drunk Chicken, you don't have to be jealous. Quit drinking and don't stay at the table all day. It's easier to find a woman when you are in your prime."

The chopsticks were poked on the table.

The woman looked at the lunch box and pushed Zhong Geng's waist meaningfully. "You poor guy, there is still soup. It started to stew early in the morning. Drink more."

"Okay, okay. I am still Lili Xianhui." Zhong Geng smiled happily and opened another cylindrical thermos to drink a mouthful of soup.

At the age of over fifty, he can still marry a thirty-year-old wife who is as beautiful as a flower. Not only does his wife not mind that he is old, she also cooks for him every day. Which person of his age would not envy him?

Who wouldn't say he's lucky?

He didn't notice the look between Zui Ji and the woman.

After taking a few bites of rice, Zhong Geng put down his lunch box and left the table, putting on his newspaper hat again, "Don't eat yet, the boss is in a hurry to open the business, I'm still not very hungry, I'll paint the wall next time."

The woman was anxious and brought the soup over personally, "How can you not eat? The food will have no taste when it gets cold, at least finish the soup."

"Wait a little longer, finish painting this wall first."

Zhong Geng refused.

The woman could only put the soup back on the table and hesitated: "Then I'll go home first, remember to drink the soup."

"Okay, you go back first."

Zui Ji exchanged glances with the woman in mid-air. After the woman left, he glanced at the soup that was still steaming on the table below, retracted his gaze and continued to work.

A wild cat ran in from outside and jumped onto the table. It meowed a few times, turned around and chased its tail and bit it.

"Hey, where did this little wild cat come from?" Zhong Geng stood up straight, walked over and gently drove it away with both hands, and said twice, "Get out, be careful not to dirty the wall of the host."

The little wild cat kept turning around, and with a clang, the soup fell to the ground, and with another clang, the rice also fell to the ground.

Zhong Geng looked at the dirty ground and sighed: "It's so unlucky."

However, he didn't get angry, just turned around to get a broom to clean it up.

When he came back, the little wild cat that had caused trouble had already run away.

It was still bright when Chu Yueqing returned to the apartment. As soon as he opened the door, he heard the sound of the TV.

She poked her head into the entrance. She

found Chu Yi, who she hadn't seen for two or three days, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, wearing a home outfit with Chibi Maruko-chan printed all over it, watching TV with a bag of Calbee potato chips in her arms.

Chu Yi stuffed potato chips while watching TV, and her little face was covered with potato chip crumbs.

"Watching cartoons again?"

Chu Yueqing came in and sat down next to her.

Seeing that her most beloved sister had returned, Chu Yi put down the potato chips and embraced her, "Sister, you are finally back! I missed you so much."

As she spoke, Chu Yi rubbed her head vigorously in her arms.

When she looked up again, Chu Yi received a bunch of fluffy and messy hair.

"Wait." Chu Yueqing saw that Chu Yi's hands were stained with some black air, it was very slight, but she still noticed it keenly, and her expression became serious.

"Did anything bad happen to you when you were out?"

"Bad things?" Chu Yi tilted her head, shook it, and went back to chewing potato chips. "Everything was fine. I didn't have the sleepless nights I imagined camping in the wild."

Chu Yueqing got the point.

"Camping in the wild?"

"Yeah!" Chu Yi nodded repeatedly. "And by the sea."

"Where's the talisman?"

Chu Yi shook her head. "It turned into ash." Chu

Yueqing probably knew why. The seaside was damp and humid, and with the frequent deaths of people at sea, the yin energy was even heavier.

Chu Yi probably ran into something dirty.

Fortunately, the talisman Chu Yi brought with her helped to avoid it. It wasn't a big deal. To be on the safe side, she got up and wrote another talisman to calm her mind and gave it to Chu Yi.

"Wear it close to your body and take it off after a few days."

Chu Yi took the talisman and threw it at Chu Yueqing, "Sister, you are so nice!" She

didn't know if it was a psychological effect.

She felt really comfortable wearing it, and her body was warm. Thinking of her sister's words, Chu Yi couldn't help but think of Ye Chuxue.

She didn't know what was going on.

Ever since Ye Chuxue fell into the sea, she looked more and more haggard. She went to class with big dark sockets under her eyes during the day, as if her energy had been sucked dry by a zombie.

Chu Yi shrugged, then quickly put the person behind her and watched TV happily.

It was none of her business if she was unimportant.

"Hehe, Chibi Maruko-chan is still cute."

On the other side.

The sun gradually dropped into the horizon, the sky was red, and a luxury yacht was moored by the bay. As the temperature gradually dropped, the sea breeze became stronger and stronger, and the waves occasionally hit the yacht, making bursts of noise.

There were more than a dozen beauties on the yacht wearing sexy bikinis, posing for photos on the cruise ship, and their laughter like silver bells spread across the bay.

If there were spectators on the scene, they would definitely be able to recognize the sexy beauties on the yacht as the beauties of the Miss Hong Kong pageant.

"Another pose! Lu Qing! Lu Qing! I'm calling you! Stick your butt higher, look more blurred, sexy! Sexy, understand?"

Lu Qing stood at the side. Seeing the photographer got angry, she was a little confused and put her hands on her thighs, with her knees slightly bent.

The photographer got angry again, "I told you to stick your butt higher, not to go out like a duck. The bikini is sponsored by Beach Bunny. You can afford to pay for it if it's messed up!"

"Oh, I'll turn around." Lu Qing took it back helplessly. Facing the dark camera and the cold-faced photographer, she smiled with difficulty.

As a gust of wind blew, it just happened to blow up Lu Qing's big wavy hair.

The snapshot was successful.

"Ayang!" The photographer snapped his fingers and called to his assistant, "Here are the prepared balloons, bring them to the contestants!"

"We'll call it a day after the last scene!"

Hearing that they could call it a day after the last scene, the contestants breathed a sigh of relief.

The sea breeze was getting stronger and stronger. They were all wearing only bikinis to shoot the posters. The contestants were frozen and kept gasping for air on the yacht.

Lu Qing kept rubbing her arms, and her stomach kept churning.

She was hungry.

However, she had gotten used to not eating at night to save money.

She carefully held the bikini sponsored by the brand. Beach Bunny was very expensive, costing thousands of dollars each, and she was afraid that she would damage it if she used too much force.

But she was able to wear a bikini from a big brand.

Lu Qing was still very happy, as if she had seen hope in her bleak and hopeless life.

She knew that her chances of winning the Miss Hong Kong pageant were slim, so she was willing to endure hardships in order to seize this tiny opportunity to change her fate.

Her skin wasn't white enough, so she washed it over and over with bleach. She poured acidic liquid on her arms and rubbed it over and over again, which gradually irritated her skin and caused it to hurt.

The folk remedies she heard from others didn't work at all. However, she no longer had to work several jobs a day, had a regular schedule, and didn't have to stay in the sun, so her skin gradually became whiter.

For body training, she increased her training to four hours while other contestants did two hours.

She wasn't good at dancing, so she practiced until midnight every day. She

has finally made it to the present, and only she knows the hard work and tears she has shed during this period.

Fortunately, after entering the finals, she still had some money, although it wasn't much, only five hundred.

But it was her only income during this period.

Lu Qing planned to visit Chu Yueqing when she had time, and use 500 yuan to pay the divination fee she owed and buy a gift for the master.

If it weren't for the master, she would have returned to the mainland long ago. How could she have the chance to appear in the camera?

The more Lu Qing thought about it, the more she felt that the hardship she was going through now was not that hard.

"Lu Qing! What are you daydreaming about! Go back to your seat!" The photographer was annoyed when he saw Lu Qing still daydreaming. After shouting, he cursed, "A country girl is a country girl, tacky and rude. Sister Mei asked me to take a photo, but she didn't dare to let me wait."

The photographer deliberately said tacky.

After Lu Qing was cleared, she put on makeup. She had a slim figure but plump and sexy breasts. She was the most beautiful girl among the beauties.

The photographer is a native of Hong Kong. He has always looked down on outsiders, especially the country girls from the mainland.

There are so many Hong Kong girls in the contest, when will it be the turn of the northern girls?

"Yes, I'll come."

After Lu Qing entered TVB, she heard too many such words. She was not popular and her status was low. For the sake of the future, she was willing to bow her head and dared not talk back, so she could only return to her position quickly.

Seeing Lu Qing's hesitant look, the photographer was in a good mood and sarcastically said: "That's right! It's not the country girl's fault that she is unsophisticated, she is just stupid. Where are the assistants, balloons!"

The assistant immediately received it, took out the bundled balloons and handed them to the contestants with the makeup artist, one for each person.

When the assistant handed the balloons to Lu Qing.

Lu Qing also said in a delicate Cantonese voice: "Thank you."

The assistant blushed and was even surprised when he saw Lu Qing's beautiful face. After handing out a round of balloons, Lu Qing was the first contestant to say thank you.

The others all thought he was a chore boy.

"It's just a small matter."

The assistant looked carefully at the photographer behind him and whispered, "Don't be distracted later. Cooperate with Brother Jian to finish the photo shoot. He has a really bad temper."

"Okay." Lu Qing nodded obediently.

Seeing that the person in front of him was still dawdling and hadn't finished yet, Zhu Weijian got angry again, holding the camera with wide eyes, "What are you doing! I asked you to pass the balloon for a long time, do I have to stand with you for a long time too! How will the delay in finishing the work be calculated?"

"I don't want to shoot, can you do it instead!"

The assistant turned around and smiled after hearing the roar, his hands kept hitting his temples, "Sorry, brother Jian, the balloon has been sent to the location. You can start shooting."

"If you can shoot, then get out of the way." Zhu Weijian opened the lens cover and kept cursing, "You don't know how to look at the camera position when learning photography? You only know to block the lens, stupid."

The assistant looked at Lu Qing and sighed.

Listening to the endless curses in his ears, how could he and Lu Qing not be in the same boat?

Lu Qing finished her work with a few curses from time to time. The dressing room was packed. She put on a bath towel and went to the open-air bar of the yacht and sat down at a bar near the sea. She felt exhausted after two days of shooting.

Not long after,

the second-floor lounge was filled with Zhu Weijian's cursing voice, "I asked you to follow me so that you can learn how to deal with people from me. You have nothing to do but to curry favor with a country girl? You have no sense at all."

Ah Yang explained, "I didn't curry favor with her. Even if I did, it was Brother Jian who taught me. Lu Qing has such a good relationship with the audience. You can see it from the fact that the posters of the photo shoot were sold out as soon as they were sold. The news in the market estimated that she would at least get one of the top three positions."

"She will definitely have good resources in the future."

Lu Qing couldn't help but pinch her palms. She didn't know that so many people liked her. Hearing that all the posters were sold out, she smiled quietly.

It turns out that being liked by others can be so happy.

The sound of a lighter being lit came from the second floor.

Zhu Weijian took a puff of cigarette and sneered: "Top three? How dare she think about it. I'm not afraid to tell you that the top three positions have long been reserved by Luo Yinghong. There is no place for a country girl."

The top three positions are the champion, runner-up, and third place.

Luo Yinghong has shares in TVB and is a senior executive of TVB. The candidates for the top three have long been decided. According to the Miss Hong Kong pageants in previous years, the champion, runner-up, and third place winners have all become famous.

Lu Qing, who has no name and power, still wants to get the third place?

It's impossible even in her dreams.

Ah Yang heard that Lu Qing had no chance, perhaps because he couldn't bear to see such a hard-working girl being squeezed out by the shady, he tried to argue: "I also have inside information, it is rumored that the daughter of the Xu family has informed the upper management that Lu Qing, who has no family background and power, should not be embarrassed."

"You said it's not difficult." Zhu Weijian grinned with yellow teeth, "It's just not difficult, if Miss Xu wanted to support her, she would have let someone else decide the spot."

"Give up, it's already God's mercy that a country girl can advance to the finals, it's impossible to expect more."

"Just a cannon fodder, she was slipped out to see the world, and she will fall from heaven to hell."

Ah Yang was hit by the shady, and thought of the considerate girl he had just met, and became decadent.

They all understood.

If Lu Qing couldn't get into the top three, she wouldn't be able to make it in Hong Kong's entertainment industry.

There are too many beautiful girls.

A while later.

The sound of fabric rubbing against each other flashed from the second floor, and it faded away as leather shoes stepped on the deck.

The environment returned to silence again.

The waves quietly hit the yacht, and the wind blew into the reef, bringing the wailing of ghosts. As night fell, the temperature dropped.

Lu Qing fell from heaven to hell.

She kept shivering.

She clutched the towel tightly, trying to resist the biting cold. The light in her beautiful eyes was like a candle blown out by the wind.

Her brain seemed to crash.

After a long time,

words mixed with tears finally flowed out from between her trembling teeth.

"Yes, without any background or backing, how could she be so stupid as to be sure that she would win the title of Miss Hong Kong?"

A string of crystal tears fell on her clenched hands.

All the bitterness surged up in an instant.

Zhu Weijian was right. She was just a country girl who had never seen the world and was dragged out to run a lap.

It was so miserable.

The beauty and dreams she had imagined were shattered in an instant.

How could someone like her be worthy of winning the title of Miss Hong Kong?

I don't know how much time has passed.

"Lucy?"

Several more beauties came to the yacht. They came to look for Lu Qing. A sister came over and put her arm around Lu Qing's shoulders. They heard all of Zhu Weijian's words.

"Are you okay?"

Lu Qing looked up. There were no tears in her eyes, but she scared the beauties.

Her eyes seemed to have been sucked of light, leaving only a bottomless black hole.

Lu Qing opened her mouth for a long time and shook her head, "Nothing, why did you come up?"

"Back to the dormitory." The sister waited for Lu Qing to get up, and then let her change clothes. When she went downstairs, she advised, "Don't think too much. The entertainment industry is like this. Being good-looking and singing well is not a skill. It's all about connections." In

fact, why do you participate in Miss Hong Kong?

Isn't it just for the top three?

But when it came to the finals, they were told that the top three were already selected. They were all cannon fodder, pulled out to act out a play with the top three.

When the play was over, they went back home.

Who could feel comfortable?

The atmosphere was weird for a while. Some girls saw that everyone was unhappy, so they forced themselves to break the deadlock and said casually.

"I've thought about it. If I don't get selected, I will go back to Canada and continue my graduate studies." Another girl said.

"If I don't get selected, I will concentrate on being an English teacher."

"Lucy, what about you?" a girl asked.

"Me?" Lu Qing stopped and smiled bitterly, "I... go back to the mainland."

The beauties all have a way out.

Only for her, taking a step back would be a bottomless abyss.

"Mainland? I'm afraid there is no place for you in the mainland?"

Cold and mocking words came from the front.

A few people looked up and saw three long-legged and beautiful models blocking the door of the dressing room.

They were the top three appointed by the internal department.

Champion, runner-up and third place.

The leading beauty was arrogant. She was Mr. Luo's niece and the soon-to-be Miss Hong Kong champion.

Luo Yuan always heard Lu Qing's name, especially when the two names were compared together, she was even more disdainful.

How far can a country girl go in the entertainment industry where capital is everything?

A flash in the pan.

She glanced at Lu Qing's worn-out flip-flops with contempt.

The pair of flip-flops was incompatible with the branded bikini Lu Qing was wearing.

"Before returning to the mainland, you should buy a new pair of flip-flops."

Luo Yuan sneered.

"Cockroaches living in dark and stinking gutters can never live in the sunshine."

After the three left, the beauties began to worry about Lu Qing.

"Lucy, don't listen to her nonsense. We all know that if there were no shady dealings, you would definitely get a rank. In our minds, you are the champion."

Lu Qing was the most hardworking among the group. In order to get a good rank, she tried almost everything.

Lu Qing shook her head, holding her hungry stomach and numbly opened the door of the dressing room.

In the full-body mirror.

The girl's hands slipped from the bikini straps, and the brightly colored bikini fell to her ankles against her thighs.

Strings of crystal tears fell in the air.

She stretched out her long legs, raised her hands, and put on her worn-out, dull-colored old clothes one by one.

She held the bikini and handed it out.

Her voice was small and trembling.

"Give it back to them."