Chapter 116 Is the male protagonist going to show his power this time...
Ji Mingyue stepped forward to block Lu Jiaze's path, speaking in a neither humble nor arrogant tone, "Student Lu, our English teacher wants us to participate in this English speech contest together."
"Participate in the competition?" A flash of doubt crossed Lu Jiaze's eyes. Why didn't the teacher tell him that Ji Mingyue was the English class representative? He didn't doubt the authenticity of this matter.
"Yes, Teacher Tang asked me to inform you." Ji Mingyue concealed her inner nervousness. Teacher Tang only asked her to encourage Lu Jiaze to participate, and did not force them to sign up.
"Okay, I understand." Lu Jiaze nodded to show that he understood.
"Then classmate Lu, remember to practice every day. Teacher Tang suggested that we practice together. Do you accept that?" Ji Mingyue spoke more and more smoothly, and her expression was very natural at this time.
"I'm fine with anything." Lu Jiaze nodded indifferently.
"Then I won't waste your time." Ji Mingyue achieved her goal and stopped pestering him.
After Lu Jiaze left, Wu Juyue looked at Ji Mingyue curiously: "Mingyue, why haven't I heard you mention this before?"
"I just received the notice from Teacher Tang today. Let's go back and have dinner." Ji Mingyue didn't want to explain to her anymore and waved goodbye to her.
Staring at Ji Mingyue's back, Wu Juyue always felt that something was strange. Ji Mingyue's attitude towards Lu Jiaze seemed to be a little different from that of others?
Jiang Lili had no idea that being picked up by Cheng Yuntian would lead to so many complications. She was also encouraged by her English class representative to participate in this competition this afternoon. She hesitated, "Do I have to participate?"
"It's not necessary, but if you don't participate, I feel that no one else in our class can make it to the finals. So you are fighting for our class, so just participate." The class representative shook Jiang Lili's arm, and the words "please" were almost carved on his face.
"Then join us." Jiang Lili was so shaken by her that she could only nod in agreement.
"Okay, I'll help you sign up right away." Seeing that she agreed, the class representative was very happy.
The matter of participating in the English speech was settled. Next, I had to write a speech based on the topic and then recite it fluently. Including Jiang Lili, there were three people in the class who signed up for this competition.
After Song He knew that she had signed up, she immediately cheered her up: "Classmate, I'm optimistic about you winning. I heard the prize money is quite a lot."
"Thank you for your good wishes, but it seems a bit difficult." Jiang Lili was not being modest. Her strength in a single subject was not English. She could always get first place in the grade only because of the scores in other subjects. Her English score was basically around 140.
"I think you can do it." Song He believed in her unconditionally.
"I'll try my best." A smile flashed in Jiang Lili's eyes.
Jiang Lili was even busier because of her English speech competition. Ji Mingyue and Lu Jiaze from the next class had also become familiar with each other because of practicing together for the competition. During these few times together, Ji Mingyue rarely took the initiative to talk to Lu Jiaze except for the necessary conversations during practice. The reason was that Lu Jiaze was not serious and was late in the first two practice sessions. Ji Mingyue looked at him seriously and said, "Student Lu, we are participating in the competition to maintain the honor of our class and school. I know you don't like me, but I hope you won't bring your personal emotions into this. Okay? I am different from you. I value this competition very much, so can you please respect it?"
Although Lu Jiaze hadn't meant to be late, he had indeed neglected the practice session because it was with Ji Mingyue. Her words made him feel a little guilty. He really shouldn't have brought his personal feelings into their practice session, so he apologized quickly: "Sorry, I'll correct it."
Ji Mingyue didn't say anything and continued to recite her speech. When she glanced at the negative strategy value above his head and saw it turned positive, she couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips. She thought that she should be grateful for the many idol dramas she had watched. It seemed that the screenwriters had figured out the minds of this type of boys very well. She probably found the right way to conquer Lu Jiaze.
Time flies when things get busy. It was Friday again. Jiang Lili went to the factory as usual after school. Seeing Cheng Yuntian in Jiang Yulan's office, she was a little surprised: "Sister Cheng, haven't you been to Quan City yet?"
"No, my dad bought the ticket for the day after tomorrow morning, Sunday." Cheng Yuntian told her the specific time he would leave.
"By the way, the bad thing Zhou Qian and her husband did was reported on the Jincheng local TV station yesterday. I guess it will be the turn of our Yuncheng TV station today." Cheng Yuntian became excited when this matter was mentioned.
"Then we must stay here tonight." Jiang Lili said with a chuckle.
"It has been advertised in the newspaper for several days. Anyway, everyone in Yuncheng knows everything they should know. Those people should behave themselves for a while." Cheng Yuntian still felt a little painful when he thought about the money he spent on the newspaper advertisement.
"After it's in the newspapers and on TV, everyone will think this is a serious matter. They will also weigh the consequences before they act. Our purpose of killing the chicken to scare the monkeys has been achieved." Anyway, Jiang Lili was quite satisfied with the result this time.
"That's right. We want people to know that we are not pushovers and are not someone to be trifled with." Cheng Yuntian felt much better when he thought of the counterfeit goods that were seized.
"We are willing to defend our rights, which is equivalent to giving dealers confidence. When counterfeit goods come out, it will not only give us a headache, but the dealers will probably also feel a headache. I heard from my mother that since this incident was published in the newspaper, orders from Yuncheng have begun to grow steadily again." Jiang Lili thought that this could be regarded as free publicity for Tongqu players.
"Thinking about it this way, I feel a lot better. I have to keep a calm mind when I go to Quan City this time." They pay them according to the output. Cheng Yuntian and Jiang Lili both know that the other party will definitely tamper with the quantity. The distance is so far that they can't reach them. This time, Cheng Yuntian is going to investigate the matter secretly. As long as it is not excessive, she plans to let it go lightly. If it is too excessive, she will not show any mercy.
"Manager Zhang is a smart man. Now is the critical moment, and nothing should go wrong over there." Based on Jiang Lili's understanding of Manager Zhang, he should be pursuing long-term interests.
"It's better this way. This incident has been making my head buzz, but luckily it was resolved smoothly." This is the first time that Tongqu Players has encountered such a bad thing since its establishment.
"This is probably what it means when you become famous, you are more likely to be surrounded by gossip." Jiang Lili said in a teasing tone.
"By the way, Sister Jiang, please prepare a set of all the toys in the factory for me later. I want to give them to someone." Cheng Yuntian almost forgot about this matter. This matter was successfully resolved thanks to Uncle Chen. She had already prepared the thank-you gift, and the full set of toys was just a by-product.
"Okay, I'll prepare it right away." Jiang Yulan said as she got up and went to the workshop.
"Several people have come to apply for the position of workshop director in the past few days. In the end, we chose to keep the former workshop director of Factory 2. He will be able to come to work next Monday." Cheng Yuntian told her.
"The workshop director of the second factory?" Jiang Lili was a little surprised.
"Yes, after being laid off last year, he went out to look for a job. It was a coincidence that he saw we were hiring right after he came back from quitting his job. He felt it was fate." Cheng Yuntian said with some emotion: "If I had taken over the Second Factory before its assets were liquidated, those workers wouldn't have been laid off. They would have found new jobs, and it would have been a win-win situation. What a pity."
"The liquidation of Factory No. 2 was actually quite sudden. In fact, I was the one cooperating with Factory No. 2 on the cross-dressing dolls in the beginning. They went to Factory No. 1 to report to the leadership, but were intercepted by Factory No. 1. They finally chose to liquidate Factory No. 2's assets and then preserve Factory No. 1." Jiang Lili has complicated feelings about the original Factory No. 2.
"Ever since I learned about the output difference between the production lines here and in Beijing, I think veterans are better." Cheng Yuntian stared at the production chart on the table, and she still felt a little uncomfortable.
"The veteran also started out as a novice. Think about it, wasn't the output here similar to that of Beijing last year?" Jiang Lili comforted.
At this time, Jiang Yulan came in with a basket containing all the toys of Tongqu Player. She put them on the ground and looked up at Cheng Yuntian: "Xiao Cheng, do you think this is convenient for you to carry?"
"It's okay. My dad is looking for a car to take me there. I'll take me back later." Cheng Yuntian said, glancing at the time. It was time for her to go back. She looked at Jiang Yulan and said, "Sister Jiang, I'll leave the factory here to you. After I go to Quan City, I'll probably go directly to Jing City from there. I'll trouble you to take care of this."
"This is my job responsibility. You are too polite." Jiang Yulan said and shook her head at her.
After she left, Jiang Yulan finally had time to look at Jiang Lili. She reached out and tapped her forehead: "Didn't you say you signed up for a competition? How come you still have time to come?"
"I'll just come over to take a look today. I won't come over the weekend." Jiang Lili explained to her.
"Wang Jianguo will be able to take up his post next Monday. He used to be the workshop director of the second factory. Once he comes, I should be able to relax a little." Now the workshop only has the team leader of the daily production line, and the position of workshop director has been vacant for a year.
"That's good, you can relax a little." Jiang Lili didn't want her to be too tired, but because of orders recently, she has to work overtime on weekends.
"I know what's going on. Let's go. It's time for us to get ready to go back, so that your grandpa and the others won't have to wait for us." Jiang Yulan said and started packing.
"That's right, go back and read the news." After Jiang Lili said that, she ran to the workshop and told everyone not to forget to watch the local news tonight.
Upon hearing this, someone who was usually very active asked, "Is this the factory's new advertisement?"
"You'll know after you watch it tonight." Jiang Lili decided to keep it a secret with them. Seeing their curious expressions, she couldn't help but raise the corners of her lips.
Sure enough, the local news in the evening broadcast this news. The counterfeit production site of Zhou Qian and his wife had been destroyed, and the counterfeit goods had been destroyed. They were about to face various fines and rectifications, and the two were sent directly to prison. The couple's astonishment could be seen on TV. They obviously did not expect that they would be sent to prison just for making a fake toy, but now it was no use for them to regret it.
"This is how they should be punished. It's what happened to us back then," Jiang Jianyi watched Zhou Qian and her husband on TV, and thought of how his factory's new designs were snatched away by other cotton mills.
"The law will become more and more perfect, and their ending this time is gratifying." Jiang Lili looked away from the TV.
"Next, you should prepare your English speech well and don't worry about things at the factory," Jiang Yulan reminded.
"Okay." Jiang Lili agreed. She knew that in Jiang Yulan's heart, her studies were the most important.
Time flies, and soon the day of the English speech competition arrived. The preliminary round was held at the Municipal Cultural Palace. The school directly sent the contestants to the Cultural Palace by bus. It was also at this time that Jiang Lili learned that Ji Mingyue and Lu Jiaze had both participated in this competition.
Everyone sat down according to class order. Ji Mingyue and Lu Jiaze sat in the same row. She remained distant from Lu Jiaze. After seeing Jiang Lili, she took the initiative to look at Lu Jiaze and asked, "Do you want me to switch seats with someone else? Otherwise, she might misunderstand you."
"No, she's not that boring." Lu Jiaze quickly retracted his gaze and continued to fiddle with his headphones. Humans are very strange animals. If he did the same thing himself, he wouldn't think there was anything wrong with it, but now that the other party took the initiative to propose it, he couldn't help but feel guilty. This is how Lu Jiaze feels now.
"Okay." Ji Mingyue shrugged indifferently, quickly put the two earphones into her ears, closed her eyes and leaned on the stool to take a nap. Before she closed her eyes, she saw the strategy value above Lu Jiaze's head constantly jumping between zero and one. She curled the corners of her lips. It turned out that if you find the right method, it is easy to achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Just like Lu Jiaze said, Jiang Lili was not such a boring person. There were three people in their class participating in the competition. She and another girl sat in a row, and the remaining boy went to find a seat by himself. Jiang Lili sat by the window, her head resting on the glass. The girl next to her patted her shoulder and asked her if she wanted to continue listening to the model essay. She brought a tape recorder with her. Jiang Lili did not refuse her kindness and took the earphones and put them in her ears.
The Cultural Palace was not far away and only took more than ten minutes to get there. Besides them, there were people from other schools attending the event. Jiang Lili estimated that they would have to stay in the Cultural Palace for the whole day.
Before the competition began, everyone drew lots to determine the order in which they would go on stage. Jiang Lili was lucky enough to draw the fifteenth spot. The student next to her was a bit unlucky, having drawn the third spot. Before she could offer any words of comfort, she heard her mutter to herself, "This is good too. The sooner I die, the sooner I'll be reborn."
Jiang Lili was amused by her and then encouraged her, "There are advantages to being on stage first. Come on."
"Well, the important thing is participation."
Jiang Lili chuckled, thinking that her mentality was good. She didn't have to win the award, and maybe she would perform better.
Students from the same school sat very close to each other, so close that Ji Mingyue could clearly hear the conversation between Jiang Lili and her classmates. English was the only subject in which she could beat Jiang Lili, so in this competition, she had only one goal: to surpass Jiang Lili.
Everyone went on stage in the order of the draw, and then gave speeches and waited for the judges to score. This was the first time that Jiang Lili paid attention to this competition. It was also at this time that she learned that only the preliminary rounds could prepare speeches in advance. In the finals, the topics would not be told in advance, and they would need to perform on the spot. After learning about this, Jiang Lili couldn't help but think that she didn't have to go to the finals.
The speech on the stage was still going on. There were only two more people in front of her before it was Jiang Lili's turn. The students next to her were silently cheering her on: "Come on, you can do it."
"Okay, I'll try my best." Jiang Lili said and got up and went backstage to prepare.
Even though Ji Mingyue and Lu Jiaze lowered their heads, they both nodded in unison the moment Jiang Lili's voice reached them. In just one sentence, Ji Mingyue could clearly sense Jiang Lili's improvement in speaking. She suddenly felt a little nervous. Had she lost even her only advantage? For a moment, she couldn't accept it. It was because of this little incident that she almost didn't even make it to the finals. After returning to her seat, she glanced in Jiang Lili's direction. The finals were about to be the showdown.
This time, half of the people from their school who came to participate in the competition were eliminated directly in the preliminary round. Fortunately, three people in their class entered the finals next week. Similarly, Ji Mingyue and Lu Jiaze here also entered the next stage of the finals.
After the competition ended, it was already 4:30 in the afternoon. The bus took them back just in time for school to be over. When Jiang Lili didn't have to go to the factory, she usually chose to walk to school. When she reached the school gate, Lu Jiaze stopped in front of her on his bike and said, "Come on, I'll take you home."
"Thank you." Jiang Lili touched her stomach and did not refuse. After all, she was really hungry.
After Jiang Lili got on the bus, neither of them spoke again. Jiang Lili felt that the atmosphere was too awkward, so she took the initiative to break the silence between the two: "How are you? Are you getting used to your new class?"
"Not bad." Lu Jiaze said sparingly.
Seeing that Jiang Lili was silent, Lu Jiaze spoke again: "What about you?"
"Not bad." Jiang Lili said, not actively trying to find a topic. As the two of them grew older, they ran out of common topics, so this happened naturally. Fortunately, the school was very close to the cotton mill. When they arrived at the cotton mill gate, Jiang Lili jumped out of the back seat and waved to him: "Thank you, I'll go back to eat first."
"Okay." Lu Jiaze stared at her back and chuckled, then turned and went upstairs.
The teacher did not pay much attention to the preliminary round of the English speech contest. After almost half of the candidates were screened for the final round, Tang Yan began to take it seriously. She started to look up the topics of the speeches in last year's final and her own first-place speech, and asked them to learn from them.
Those who were able to stay and participate in the finals were all of good level. Jiang Lili watched carefully, but was thinking in her heart, what will the topic be this year?
With only two weeks left until the finals, Tang Yan's training focused on expression, as impromptu questions relied on daily practice. At this point, everyone's mindset and fundamental skills were tested. She was still most optimistic about Ji Mingyue, as English was her most diligent subject.
Two weeks was enough time for Cheng Yuntian to resolve the issues in Quan City. Two days before Jiang Lili's finals, Cheng Yuntian called her to tell her that she had visited the factory in Quan City and found that their quality control was stricter than she had imagined. Their fabric labels also had markings similar to their serial numbers. Seeing this, she felt relieved and said to Jiang Lili, "From these details, it seems that Manager Zhang really wants to cooperate with us long-term. I checked, and the output of their production line is also higher than that of the one in Jing City. When I return, I will need to hold a meeting with everyone regarding the output."
"While pursuing speed, we must also pay attention to quality." Jiang Lili reminded her. She didn't quite understand her pursuit of output in Beijing. Almost all the workers there were new, so low output was normal.
"I guess you are wondering why I keep emphasizing Beijing's output, right?" Cheng Yuntian asked on the other end of the phone.
"I'm indeed a little curious." Jiang Lili answered honestly. Based on her understanding of Cheng Yuntian, she was not a harsh person, so she didn't quite understand her persistence this time.
"The turnover rate of night shift workers here in Beijing is too high. They think the wages are low, but they are unwilling to increase their speed. I clearly told them before they came that wages are linked to output, but most factories here pay wages by the hour. I hope they can increase their output, so that they will know what is beneficial to them." Cheng Yuntian sighed after she finished speaking. This was one of her worries. If it continued like this for a long time, the factories in Beijing would be in trouble. This was not the situation she wanted to see.
"Maybe they are just not used to counting." Jiang Lili didn't expect this to be the reason.
"Let's discuss this issue after I go back and have a meeting with them." Cheng Yuntian quickly talked about other issues. For example, in Quan City, everyone likes Qiantu more than Miaowu and Wangbao. Seeing everyone's love for Qiantu, Cheng Yuntian became more and more confident in the second-generation dolls.
"The audience in each place is different. I am now slowly starting to conceive new toys, and I will be able to give you the drawings after the new year." Jiang Lili has already thought of what the new toys should be?
"Then I won't bother you for the time being. Just think about it." Cheng Yuntian quickly hung up the phone. Jiang Lili chuckled. Jiang Yulan beside her glanced at her suspiciously: "You've come up with a new model so soon?"
"No, I'm kidding Sister Cheng. The finals are in two days, I have to prepare well." Jiang Lili was not interested in the award, but since it was already the finals, she had to fight for it. What's more, Ji Mingyue was here. She wanted to try and see how much of Ji Mingyue's heroine halo was left.
The day of the finals soon arrived, and the school still organized everyone to set off together. Compared with last time, more than half of the seats in the car were empty. Jiang Lili sat by the window and calculated the number of people in the finals in her mind.
Jiang Lili's luck was good again this time, landing in the middle of the order. Her two classmates also fared well. Lu Jiaze wasn't so lucky, having been drawn first. For a moment, he received many sympathetic glances, and Jiang Lili's eyes flashed with surprise. Wasn't Lu Jiaze the male lead? Or was he really going to use his leading man's aura this time?
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