Jiang Yan, who was in the group, saw Ren Fei and the other educated youth. Her expression changed slightly. She said something to the reporter taking pictures, went over to them, and said regretfully, "Ren Fei, did you come to see the results? It's a pity I didn't see your name."
"Jiang Yan, how did you get hired?" Ren Fei grabbed Jiang Yan's hand and questioned her.
Jiang Yan looked completely innocent: "I didn't expect to be on the list either."
"You're the one who drugged me and gave me diarrhea, aren't you? I'm going to expose you!" Ren Fei angrily dragged her into the cultural center.
"Let go!" Jiang Yan shook off Ren Fei and said triumphantly, "Do you have any evidence? False accusations are illegal!"
"You! You went through the back door, didn't you? I'm going to report you, let's see how long you can be so arrogant!" Ren Fei said, and tried to rush into the Cultural Palace.
Jiang Yan quickly grabbed her, extremely annoyed: "Stop right there! You need evidence to file a report. Haven't you learned your lesson from last time? If you hadn't offended that staff member, none of this would have happened."
Hearing this, Ren Fei was so angry she could barely speak: "Fine! So you all conspired to drug me! I'm going to report this to the police!"
Jiang Yan said arrogantly, "Go ahead! Let's see if the police will open a case for you without any evidence!"
"Ah! I'll beat you to death!" Ren Fei pounced on Jiang Yan in anger, grabbing her braid. Jiang Yan winced in pain and pinched Ren Fei's arm. They started fighting back and forth.
Wu Lihong quickly stepped forward and pulled Jiang Yan away, causing Jiang Yan to suffer a lot of hidden losses. The girls who had just joined the art troupe also gathered around when they saw someone from their unit being bullied.
Li Manhong, the most qualified among them, shouted: "Who are you, daring to cause trouble here? Let Jiang Yan go!"
Ren Fei rubbed the spot where she had been pinched, "This is our own business, it's none of your concern!"
"Oh! I had no idea who it was, it's you." Li Manhong crossed her arms and mocked, "What, you're throwing a tantrum because you weren't hired?"
Ren Fei was so angry that she wanted to rush up, but Wu Lihong, who had released Jiang Yan, stopped her.
"Comrade, please watch your words!" Wu Lihong frowned at Li Manhong.
Li Manhong scoffed: "Did I say something wrong?"
“You’re definitely wrong!” Xie Yuyao stepped forward and stared coldly at Li Manhong. “You don’t know anything, yet you dare to take sides. Aren’t you afraid of getting yourself into trouble?”
When Li Manhong saw that Xie Yuyao was more beautiful than herself, she immediately became hostile.
"And who are you?" Li Manhong stood in front of Xie Yuyao, her eyes filled with jealousy and a hint of relief, but she said, "You are quite pretty. Why didn't you sign up before? Could it be that your family background is bad and you failed the political review?"
Xie Yuyao's face darkened, and she glared at her: "Mind your own business."
"Who are you calling a dog!" Li Manhong's eyes widened.
Xie Yuyao retorted sarcastically, "What do you think?"
"You!" Li Manhong's face turned red with anger.
Xie Yuyao arrogantly raised her chin slightly, a half-smile playing on her lips, exuding extreme coldness and beauty.
Click!
The blinding flash went off, and Xie Yuyao instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes as she looked at the person taking the picture.
The young man holding the camera walked over and smiled apologetically: "Comrade, I'm a reporter from the county. I just saw that you looked so photogenic that I couldn't resist taking a picture. I'll develop it and send it to you. Also, I'd like to take a set of photos of you separately."
"No need, please give me the negative from earlier," Xie Yuyao said coldly.
The reporter got anxious and surrounded Xie Yuyao, urging, "Comrade, I'll develop the finished product for you; it'll definitely look great."
Li Manhong, who had been pushed aside, hadn't expected things to turn out this way. Her face contorted slightly as she leaned over and asked, "Reporter Zhu, weren't you going to take a group photo of our new members?"
"What are you filming for? Can't you see you haven't even lined up properly? How am I supposed to film?" the reporter, Zhu, said irritably.
Xie Yuyao urged, "Hurry up and give me the negatives, don't waste each other's time."
"No, I have other photos that haven't been developed yet, I don't have time to give them to you right now," reporter Zhu said helplessly.
"I don't care, you took my photos without my permission, so you have to give me the negatives!" Xie Yuyao didn't know what he would do with her photos, but she insisted on having the negatives.
"Wait a minute, I'll process it right away after I take their photos." Reporter Zhu said, waving her hand at the girls, "Come on, line up for your photos, don't waste my time!"
Jiang Yan snorted coldly, straightened her braid, tidied her clothes, and went to join the queue.
Ren Fei had vented her anger through the fight. She stared coldly at Jiang Yan, thinking bitterly, "Don't let me catch you red-handed!"
Seeing her expression, Xie Yuyao felt as if a wild beast had been released from its cage. Turning her head again, she saw Jiang Yan beaming with a triumphant smile, wondering what kind of trouble would follow.
After taking the group photo, reporter Zhu took a few individual photos of the girls.
Xie Yuyao realized that it wouldn't be over anytime soon, so she wanted Wu Lihong and Ren Fei to go back first.
“Let’s wait together. The county town is not like the commune. I’m worried about you going alone,” Wu Lihong said.
Ren Fei was lost in her own thoughts, seemingly oblivious to their conversation. Xie Yuyao didn't say anything more.
Seeing that the girls were still waiting, reporter Zhu didn't dare to linger. After snapping a few photos, he took Xie Yuyao and the others to the newspaper office.
The county newspaper office was located in the center of the town, not far from the cultural palace. After walking for more than ten minutes, we arrived at a two-story building with the words "Anhe County Newspaper Office" written on the sign above the main entrance.
"Comrades, please come in." Reporter Zhu pushed open the door, letting the other female educated youth wait in the reception area on the first floor. Xie Yuyao, however, was ushered to his office.
This is a fairly large shared office with several large tables and chairs, and I estimate there are five or six workstations, but no one is there.
Zhu Wen pulled out a chair and invited her to sit down. "They've probably gone to a meeting. Let's get to know each other formally. My name is Zhu Wen, and I'm mainly in charge of photography."
"My name is Xie Yuyao, and I was a sent-down youth." Xie Yuyao smiled slightly, seeing that he was quite upright.
"Comrade Xie, I've registered for the portrait photography competition organized by the China Photographers Association. May I use your photo to participate?"
Seeing Xie Yuyao frown, he immediately added, "Don't worry, this is an official competition. If you win, I'll give you all the prize money, and any other revenue generated from the photos will also be yours."
"I don't lack this little bit of money." Xie Yuyao remained unmoved.
"Yes, please help me. I really need a good ranking in the competition," Zhu Wen said earnestly. He had taken many portraits for this competition, and this one of Xie Yuyao was the best he thought he had taken. If he could win an award in this competition, he would gain both fame and fortune, and his rank would also be promoted.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
