Chapter 205
Jiangjia Village has a very bad habit. During the Chinese New Year, people who have returned from working outside like to gather together to gamble. Families with children are influenced by this environment and it is passed down from generation to generation. It is like a tradition. Good children will naturally become gamblers when they grow up in this environment.
Their second and third rooms are slightly better, but the people in the first and fourth rooms are extremely fond of gambling.
Jiang Ning grew up watching all this and hated gambling. However, because he was surrounded by such an environment and movies like "God of Gamblers" were all the rage, he, who had fought with the boys from the eldest wife's side since childhood and became good brothers with them, also brought back dice and said he wanted to practice "One Pillar Supporting the Sky", which is to stack the five dice in the cup together, with the number on the top being one.
Whoever can shake out a leopard that is "a pillar supporting the sky" or has five sixes or five severals will be the most handsome cub in the village.
In order to be the most handsome boy in the village, and out of interest, Jiang Song practiced very hard at home, shaking the dice. Other boys shook the dice for gambling, but he just wanted to show off in front of his friends. Even his two younger brothers and sisters, Jiang Bo and Jiang Ning, followed Jiang Song's lead and curiously shook the dice, just to shake out "a pillar supporting the sky".
Jiang Bo was purely targeting Jiang Songshi because of his strange desire to win. Seeing Jiang Song practicing shaking the dice every day, he also practiced secretly in private. He felt that if he could shake out what his elder brother couldn't, he would be better than Jiang Song.
Jiang Ning saw his eldest brother and second brother shaking that thing all day long. Children were curious and had a strange desire to win, so the three siblings would shake it when they had nothing to do at home.
The dice used in playing Pai Gow in the old shop at the entrance of the village and the dice in the mahjong box at home have all become "toys" for the three siblings to compete secretly.
So, the three siblings of the Jiang family rolled the dice when they had nothing to do after school: Jiang Song wanted to show off in front of all the kids in the village, Jiang Bo wanted to beat Jiang Song, and Jiang Ning wanted to beat his two brothers. They also thought this was fun, so they rolled the dice.
They also imitated what they saw in the movies and rolled the dice in various ways. Whoever made the most fancy and beautiful moves seemed to have won.
This made them develop a habit, that is, the first thing they did when they got the dice was not to gamble, but to show off their skills. They used tea cups, bamboo tubes, vinegar dishes and various cylindrical objects to shake the "pillars" and sometimes it became muscle memory.
Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai looked at each other and smiled. There were about seven or eight people at the table. They took the plastic bucket brought by the waiter and five dice each, and stuffed them into the black plastic tube.
Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai hadn't played dice for a long time. The first thing they did when they took over was to put the plastic bucket containing the dice close to their ears and shake the dice in the bucket to feel the sound of them colliding in the bucket.
The music in the KTV box was turned up very loudly. The singing of the female lead and Director Yu drowned out the sound of the dice shaking in the plastic bucket, so it didn't sound very real.
After Jiang Ning got the dice, she shook it casually and put it on the coffee table. As if she had muscle memory, she shook it a few times on the table and felt that the dice in the plastic tube had been stacked together.
But this is meaningless, because in this game, the dice need to be rolled again after being stacked, so it is useless to roll the dice well.
Jiang Ning tried to get the feel for it again. Because the music was too loud, she tried several times but failed to shake out a leopard with five identical dots. However, she shook out four dice plus one, or three identical dots plus two identical dots several times.
She had played this game before, but Jiang Bai had not. After getting the dice, she shook it first and listened to the sound coming from the shaker. Then, as if she had created a barrier between herself and the people around her, she focused on her own world and shook the dice carefully, just to stack them into a pile.
Tong Jingang knew this skill of his brother. He sat between Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning, watching his brother with a smile on his face as he was immersed in rolling the dice.
At this time, the waiter had already brought all kinds of beer, red wine, and foreign liquor into the box and asked the investor surnamed Wang: "Mr. Wang, are they all open?"
The investor known as Wang Shao waved his hand excitedly: "Open them all!"
He first poured a full glass of red wine for Jiang Ning, then filled a glass of beer for Tong Jingang, Jiang Bo, the screenwriter, Xu Xian, Fahai and other actors, as well as another investor, and finally it was his turn. He happened to be sitting next to Jiang Ning, and said proudly: "Let's make a deal first, the loser has a drink." He then said to Jiang Ning: "Teacher Ning Meng lost, if you can't drink, I can drink for you."
Jiang Ning smiled and said, "Isn't that right? I'll have a glass of red wine, and you guys have a glass of beer?"
Investor Wang said, "How about this, Mr. Ning Meng, you drink a glass of red wine, and we can have a bottle of beer, how about that?"
The beer is not the common 650ml large bottle on the market, but a 350ml small bottle. However, even such a small bottle is a lot to finish.
Jiang Ning smiled and nodded, "Okay." Then he said to Jiang Bai, "Second brother, Brother Jin Gang, if I lose, I'll have to ask you to help me drink it."
Tong Jingang knew that Jiang Bai could drink a lot, but he didn't know that the Jiang family could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. Jiang Ning and his friends grew up in a rice wine jar brewed by their family. When they were young, they were ignorant and Jiang Song was very naughty, so they followed Jiang Song and drank rice wine as water when they were thirsty. Hearing this, he patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, sister, leave the drinking to us!"
Investor Wang still wanted to cooperate with Jiang Ning and did not dare to offend her. He looked at Tong Jingang and Jiang Bai and felt that these two country bumpkins were not threatening at all. He did not take them seriously at all. He exchanged a glance with another young investor, wanting to let these newbies who had not yet graduated from school know how dangerous the world is.
They didn't have any ill intentions, they were just in a good mood today and wanted to drink to their heart's content. As for Jiang Bai, Tong Jingang and others, they just wanted them to drink.
They tried it out first, and after everyone basically understood the rules, they started playing officially.
Start counting from the investor named Wang.
At the beginning, he didn't report a very high number, and first shouted out three twos.
The number reported by the person behind can only be higher than the previous one, and cannot be lower than the previous one. So Xu Xian conservatively shouted out three threes.
Fahai and the screenwriter were also very conservative and didn't dare to exaggerate. They just added a small number to the previous number. But when it came to another investor, this investor and the investor surnamed Wang looked at each other and smiled. They directly rolled the dice to four, stretched out four fingers and shook them: "Four twos!"
Next are Jiang Bai, Tong Jingang, and Jiang Ning.
They have two choices, open it, or report a number, and the number reported can only be greater than four twos.
Jiang Bai shouted calmly: "Four threes."
This was already a very large number. Usually, if you brag about a number that reaches four digits, others would come to reveal your cards. However, no one came to reveal Jiang Bai's cards. Even when it came to Tong Jingang, still no one revealed his cards until Jiang Ning reported four fives.
After hearing her count, the two investors smiled triumphantly, pointed at Jiang Ning's plastic tube, and shouted excitedly: "Open!"
There are eight people present, seven of them are men and Jiang Ning is the only girl. If not Jiang Ning's, whose should I open? What’s the point of Kaitong King Kong, Jiang Bo and others?
Jiang Ning's trump card was revealed, but she didn't mind. Instead, she asked them with a smile: "Do you want to reveal it together?"
Neither of them believed that Jiang Ning's trump card was a four-digit number, because with a four-digit trump card, as long as they didn't encounter a five-digit number, they would be sure to win, which was why they dared to reveal Jiang Ning's trump card.
They simply didn't believe that Jiang Ning's trump card could be bigger than four fives.
Then they excitedly revealed Jiang Ning's trump card.
Four sixes.
Two investors each had a bottle of beer.
After playing two rounds, Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang basically knew the rules. In the first three rounds, it was basically the two investors who were on the attack, while Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai were on the passive defense. In the fourth round, Jiang Bai looked at Jiang Ning, and Jiang Ning looked back with a smile. Then it was not the two investors who came to attack Jiang Ning, but Jiang Bai who had mastered the rules began to fight back, constantly playing their cards, and hitting them accurately every time.
Every time he got a hit, Tong Jingang would smile and smooth things over: "Good luck, good luck. My brother has been lucky since he was a child!"
After a few rounds, no one else had a sip of the wine, and all the wine went into the investors' stomachs.
After drinking for a while, the two of them became dissatisfied and shouted: "Beer is not enough, let's drink red wine!"
Because the rules of the game are that the loser in the previous round gets to report first, so every time it is always the investor named Wang who gets to report first.
The two investors were probably old players. When they were drunk and started playing, they didn't care about anything and just started betting big. They dared to blow any number, such as three fives, three sixes, and four twos. They played in a suicidal way, just to get Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning, the brother and sister, to drink.
Either you fire them, or you report a lower number. If you report a higher number and get fired, or if you brag too much, you have to drink.
Xu Xian, Fahai and the other two were sandwiched in the middle, just like spectators. They watched with joy as if they were in a quarrel with Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning. They enjoyed the fun and made trouble, telling their next investor to either fire him or bid a bigger number.
It was really weird. Occasionally he would shake a four-digit or even a five-digit number, and he would pretend to be hesitant, evasive, and act like a dramatic actor, trying to make Jiang Bai think that he was exaggerating a small number into a big one. Whenever Jiang Bai or Jiang Ning tried to tease him, the brother and sister would just refuse and continue to report a bigger number.
Then it was his turn to be confused about whether to open it or not.
If he opens it, he loses; if he doesn’t, his brother loses.
At the end of the game, Director Yu, the leading actress, and the girl who played the role of Xiaoqing all joined in and gathered around to watch. They watched the brother and sister Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai kill each other on the game table. But every time, Tong Jingang would say with a smile: "Good luck, good luck. My brother is lucky, and my sister has also been lucky since she was a child."
But these people are extremely superstitious. Once or twice, they thought Tong Jingang was being modest, but when they won every time from beginning to end, the three investors, including Director Yu, couldn't help but develop some strange emotions towards Jiang Bai and his sister.
These two are either masters of playing dice or gods of arithmetic, or they are just extremely lucky.
For those who make movies and invest in them, luck is an indispensable part.
During this period, they changed several people. Xu Xian and the screenwriter came down, and Director Yu and another investor, including the actress who played Xiaoqing, all went up to play for a few rounds. In the end, the beer, red wine, and foreign liquor basically all went into the stomachs of the three investors and Director Yu.
As we all know, when you drink one type of alcohol alone, you may not get drunk so quickly, but when you mix several types of alcohol together, the aftereffect is particularly strong and it is particularly easy to get drunk. Although no one knows the principle, many drinkers have tried it and said that it is indeed the case.
After drinking for a while, the three investors and Director Yu were so drunk that they didn’t know what they were doing. They just shouted out loud, “Teacher Ning Meng, do you still have the rights to the film “Da… Da… Da Da Song”? Let’s sign the contract now and continue filming! Let’s continue…cooperation!”
"We are going to create a... series. Part one! Part two! Part... Part three!"
"Fuck, the entertainment industry makes money too quickly. Invest... invest three million, and you get back nine... more than nine million. What's the difference between this and robbing money?" He makes much more money than his father!
Investor Wang pointed at Jiang Bai, his eyes blurred from drinking: "You...you come to be the lead actor, you...don't worry...I'll support you, you will definitely be famous! Become a big star!"
When the three woke up in the hotel the next day, the film copyright contract for Jiang Ning's "The Years I Was a Constable in the Song Dynasty" had been signed. This time, the film copyright signed for "The Years I Was a Constable in the Song Dynasty" was not a one-time buyout, but a profit-sharing contract.
The investor named Wang looked at the contract in a daze at first, then he woke up all of a sudden and read the contract completely.
The investors are still the three of them plus Director Yu. Although the movie "White Snake" was chosen by Director Yu and created by him, his total income at that time was less than 200,000 yuan. He borrowed money from all kinds of relatives around him and finally raised 300,000 yuan to invest in "White Snake". Together with his director's fee, he can personally get about 1.3 million yuan from the box office of "White Snake". After paying back the money he borrowed from relatives and friends, he still has a net profit of 1 million.
The same goes for the other two investors.
The three million invested by investor Wang was not an ordinary three million. Instead, he mortgaged a courtyard house under his name, added his own cash, and raised some money from his mother to make up the three million. His two friends followed suit and invested one and a half million, and they all made double the money back.
It's just like what they said when they were drunk, like robbing money. If they were like their fathers and run an industrial business, how long would it take them to reap such a high return in just half a year?
To this end, the three of them, together with Director Yu and the producers, discussed setting up an entertainment company that would specialize in the film industry.
The first contract signed after this special company was established was actually a profit-making contract.
Jiang Ning used the film copyright of "The Great Song" as a share of the film and received 10% of the total box office revenue of the film.
"Fuck!"
When he saw that it was 10% of the total box office and subsequent copyright and peripheral profits, instead of 10% of the net profit, the investor named Wang cursed out loud.
You have to know that the total box office of "White Snake" was more than 40 million, and only more than 20 million could be shared by the three investors and Director Yu, and the other half was with the theaters and publicity and promotion, but his family just happened to have connections with the theaters.
According to the total box office of "White Snake", if Jiang Ning had a share in it, according to the contract, she alone could get more than 4 million, plus subsequent copyright fees and peripherals, such as 10% of the disc fee.
He sold everything he had and finally scraped together three million, but he could not even get ten million. Why should she get four million?
The investor named Wang was so angry that he almost laughed.
Although we don’t know how much the next movie "The King's Concubine" will do at the box office, no one wants a low box office. After all, the higher the box office, the more money they make.
But think about it, it's so awkward, because the higher the box office, the higher the share given to Ningmeng.
Looking at the contract, they dared not refuse, because yesterday at the Wanhua Film Festival, many investors, in front of them, were talking to Jiang Ning about the film copyright of "The Song Dynasty" and the TV series copyright of "White Snake", and wanted to buy the film and TV series copyrights of her two books.
If they had not cooperated once yesterday, they might not have been able to get it because they were close to the water and had the upper hand.
That’s true.
Jiang Ning and his friends slept in the hotel last night. Early in the morning, they went to return the suits and dresses they had rented.
As soon as the film festival ended yesterday, they changed out of their casual clothes. They didn't dare to wash the rented suits and dresses by themselves, so they had a special dry cleaner in their store.
This was the first time that Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang heard that clothes could be dry-cleaned instead of washed with water.
They are very curious about how dry cleaning is done.
They had been in Beijing for a week and their leave was up. After Jiang Ning sent them on the plane, he returned to Peking University. He did not return to the dormitory, but went directly to class according to the previous schedule.
During this period, the phone in the house she rented off-campus kept ringing. All of them were calls from people who wanted to buy her copyrights. Some even wanted to pre-order the copyright for her next book, which hadn't even been issued yet.
At lunchtime, the monitor ran into Jiang Ning in the cafeteria and said to her, "Jiang Ning, where were you at the sports meet? You signed up for a sports meet event but you weren't there, and you almost missed the event. Did you know that Cui Yujie and Liu Yan ran for you?"
Jiang Ning was a little surprised when she heard this: "You said I signed up for a sports event? What event did I sign up for? Who signed me up for it? Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"You don't know?" The class monitor had already guessed that Jiang Ning was probably tricked by someone. As for the person who tricked her, who else could it be other than Cui Yujie, who was in charge of the registration for the girls?
But he didn't expect Cui Yujie to be so outrageous. She secretly signed people up for so many physically demanding projects without even telling the person involved. Not only did she not make any preparations, but the person was not even in school.
Jiang Ning shook his head and said, "I only know now after hearing what you said."
The monitor said, "The fact that you signed up for an event in the sports meet but were not in school is a big deal, but it's also a small matter. The counselor asked you to come back and visit him, so you'd better go and explain it to him."
Jiang Ning nodded, and the smile on his face faded: "I will figure this out."
Jiang Ning's eyes were filled with frost at this moment, as if she had spat out ice. Whether from a workplace perspective or her personal perspective, this kind of behavior of privately signing up for work in her name without her consent and forcing her to do things was a taboo for her and had deeply crossed her bottom line.
She did not hesitate, and after dinner she went to get her film festival invitation and went directly to the counselor's office.
The counselor's office may not be the most luxurious, but it is definitely the busiest. The door is basically open all year round, and students will come to him with all kinds of problems.
When Jiang Ning came over, the counselor was eating in the office.
Seeing that it was her, he pointed to a chair in the office and asked her to sit down. He quickly finished the meal in his mouth, closed the lunch box, drank a sip of water, sat not far from Jiang Ning, put down the water cup, and asked her: "What's going on with the sports meeting? Why didn't you participate in the sports event? You weren't in school these two days?"
Jiang Ning didn't smile either. He looked at the counselor with a sharp gaze and said seriously, "I just heard from the monitor in the cafeteria that someone had signed me up for a sports event without my knowledge or permission, and they didn't tell me about it afterwards. As a result, I not only missed the sports meeting, but also almost had some sports events in our department shut down. I will severely investigate this matter and find out who abused their power and played with it, and arbitrarily handled things that were not within their authority and responsibility, and used their power for personal gain. If you don't give me an explanation for this, I will reserve the right to call the police and file a case."
The counselor, who was originally frowning and asking about the situation, was shocked when he heard this. The expert in accusing others of something had escalated the matter from an ordinary conflict between classmates to the level of abuse of power.
This is exactly the method used by those experienced politicians in the department.
The counselor's heart was startled at that moment, and his original questioning tone softened. He frowned and asked softly: "You don't know anything about this?"
Jiang Ning's eyes were filled with ice, and she said coldly, "If the monitor hadn't told me about this just now, I would still be in the dark. This matter has caused me great distress and harm. The act of signing up in my name without my consent is also very bad. I hope the school can deal with this matter seriously and hold those who abuse their power and play with their power accountable!"
The counselor scratched his head and said, "The class monitor has already told me that Cui Yujie is in charge of the registration for you girls. But I asked Cui Yujie before, and she said that you registered yourself. I need to call Cui Yujie over to ask her about the whole thing."
As he spoke, he picked up the phone on his desk and called Jiang Ning's dormitory.
Jingcheng University has installed telephones in student dormitories since the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, the phones can only receive calls, not make outgoing calls. If you want to make a call, you now have to use an IC card that you purchased separately.
There are many people in the dormitory, so Jiang Ning always leaves his phone and email in the rental house when he has work to do, and rarely uses the phone in the dormitory.
Cui Yujie has had a bad feeling in her heart these past two days, but she told herself in her heart that although she had signed her up, she still didn't run away, right? Three thousand meters, eight hundred meters, four hundred meters, she ran them all by herself. She was already so miserable, what else could be done to her?
When it comes to the sports meet, she didn't think it was bad of her to sign up for Jiang Ning without her consent, and she even felt wronged first.
When I heard the dormitory phone ringing, my heart suddenly skipped a beat.
It really costs money to make phone calls, and the dormitory phone rarely rings. Even Shen Xinlan, who makes the most calls, uses her personal mobile phone more often.
Shen Xinlan was the first girl in their dormitory to have a mobile phone. She got her first mobile phone almost as soon as it came on the market.
At this moment, the phone suddenly rang. Before she got up to answer it, Liu Yan, who slept in the lower bunk of Jiang Ning and was closest to the phone, had already gotten up to answer it. When she heard it was the counselor, Liu Yan put down the phone and called Cui Yujie: "Cui Yujie, it's for you!"
Cui Yujie, who usually had a sense of superiority towards them, asked in a weak voice, "Who is looking for me?"
She prayed in her heart that it was something about the literature club or the student union, but her prayers were in vain. Liu Yan said, "The counselor is looking for you and asked you to go to his office." After a pause, she added, "Jiang Ning is back and is waiting for you in the counselor's office."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
