The annual meeting lasted from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Chen Qing started talking and talking, and then she listened and listened, which gave her a headache.
Yang Yihe followed her aunt into the office and showed her a sample of the magazine that was about to be published: "Auntie, take a look when you have time. We need to start selling it in May. The exact number of copies to print is up to you."
"Okay, let me see." Chen Qing put the magazine back in the drawer, took a sip of water to calm down, and asked, "Are you really able to manage studying and creating magazine content at the same time?"
"Can!"
"That's good. Is studying at Tsinghua University alright?"
"It's great. Most of the students are very smart. One of the articles in our magazine was written by a talented girl from our school. Although she is famous for writing obscure poetry, her writing is also very engaging."
Yang Yihe also reads Misty Poetry. Some of it is too ethereal for her to understand, but she finds some quite interesting.
Chen Qing had also heard that a popular line of poetry was circulating on campus: "Besides obscure poetry, what else is popular among you guys these days?"
"We also have ballroom dancing in fashion." Yang Yihe was also dragged by her classmates to try it out. She didn't object with her limbs, but she kept stepping on her classmates, which made her feel embarrassed, so she didn't go. "By the way, we also have perms in fashion. I think the hair salon in our clothing factory can also do perms. I've seen a lot of people get their hair permed."
"Yes, perming is quite popular. Our experienced barbers even went to learn it."
When Chen Qing was signing his name, he noticed that even barbershops were expanding because of the popularity of perms.
The two chatted for a while, then Yang Yihe went to get busy.
Chen Qing stared at the landline phone until he got home from get off work, but there was still no news.
He Yuxiang took Aunt Talia home to rest early. Not good at comforting people, he could only stay with her silently.
Talia looked to Chen Qing for help, her eyes red and swollen, filled with endless fear.
Chen Qing squeezed her cold hand: "Wait until tomorrow morning. If it really doesn't work, I'll go to the police station and go to Hong Kong."
During the wait, I found it difficult to sleep through the long night.
Talia sat in the living room, like a statue.
Chen Qing stayed by his side, wide awake, his heart sinking lower and lower.
As dawn broke, the courtyard remained silent.
Chen Qing suddenly stood up; he couldn't wait any longer.
Just as she grabbed her coat, preparing to rush out to report the incident—
With a creak, the courtyard gate was pushed open.
He Yuan and Mao Jianguo carried a figure in, one on each side, almost as if they were supporting him.
When Talia saw that figure, she seemed to come alive and instantly sprang up and lunged forward, but stopped abruptly before she could touch her son.
She reached out and cupped Mao Mao's face in her hands; her fingertips were icy cold, and her hands trembled.
Mao Mao had abrasions and bruises on his face, a cracked lip, and one eye was so swollen that it was only a slit.
Talia was so heartbroken that she wanted to say something but couldn't utter a sound.
Mao Mao tried to force a comforting smile at her mother, but it only aggravated her wound, causing her to gasp in pain.
"mom."
Mao Mao's voice was extremely hoarse, carrying a sense of exhaustion from surviving a disaster, "It's alright, I'm safe now."
After saying that, he seemed to have a huge weight lifted off his shoulders.
The day before yesterday, he was recording a song when he was forcibly kidnapped and beaten by a group of burly thugs. He really thought the sky was falling.
Then they forced him to sing. At first, he was so angry that he thought it was better to die than live in dishonor, but they threatened him with his family. He was afraid that these people really had the ability, so he sang.
In an air thick with smoke, alcohol, and expensive perfume, he screamed at those well-dressed 'upper-class people' for a full seven hours.
Finally, when the music ended and the crowd dispersed, his throat felt like it had been repeatedly scraped by a razor blade, the pain so intense that his voice changed, and he thought the torment was temporarily over.
The woman's casual remark, "Let's sleep together tonight," terrified him so much that he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and his soul seemed to leave his body.
When he finally managed to sneak away to make a phone call and heard his parents' voices, he finally felt hopeful!
However, hope was followed by even deeper despair.
Before my father and uncle arrived to negotiate, the other party presented them with a contract.
—A ten-year indenture.
With 90% of the profits split, the remaining 10% has to cover team expenses.
When his fingers were forcibly pressed onto the red inkpad and then slammed onto the contract, the words on the paper distorted into cannibalistic symbols in his eyes.
At that moment, he felt a little dazed, realizing that the outside world could be so dark and terrifying.
The woman leaned down, with a condescending smile, and lifted his chin.
Upon seeing the way she was sizing up her prey, he couldn't hold back any longer and vomited violently.
His disrespect for his boss earned him a vicious slap in return.
The slap was loud, and a burst of stars exploded before his eyes. His ears were ringing, and his mouth was full of the taste of rust.
Immediately afterwards, dozens of slaps came. In the dizziness and excruciating pain, he finally saw his father and uncle who broke down the door, saw his father's eyes that turned blood red in an instant, and saw the Hong Kong police following behind them.
At that moment, standing in his familiar courtyard, he finally collapsed from exhaustion.
Chaos erupted again at the scene, and everyone rushed Mao Mao to the hospital.
Chen Qing asked He Yuan in a low voice, "How was it ultimately handled over there?"
“The contract was torn up in front of the police, so that person can’t be touched for the time being, but the police report for ‘forced signing, restriction of personal freedom, and malicious intent’ remains. In the near future, they will not dare to openly cause trouble again.”
When he arrived in Hong Kong the day before yesterday, he naively thought that after resolving Mao Mao's matter, he could also withdraw money to buy Hong Kong stocks.
Unexpectedly, the person who tied up Mao Mao had a powerful background. It was difficult to persuade the police to intervene. It also took a long time to break the unequal contract with the other party and take Mao Mao away.
Chen Qing frowned deeply.
He Yuan went to He Yuxiang and said, "Don't let Mao Mao go out to work recently. Either he should study hard or stay with you at the electronics factory. Don't arrange any work that requires him to go far away."
He Yuxiang's eyes were gloomy, and his jaw was tense: "I understand."
"Mao Mao is awake—"
Upon hearing the news, everyone rushed into the ward to see Mao Mao.
Mao Mao's usually bright eyes had dimmed, and she just gave a stiff smile to everyone.
Chen Qing was shocked.
In the original story, Momo died because of depression. I hope you never end up like that in this life!
"Mao Mao, don't be afraid, it's all over now."
Xiaoyu's tears fell incessantly: "They went too far! How could they do this, bullying people at will and treating them like tools to make money!"
He Yuxiang asked, "Is your song finished?"
Mao Mao was taken aback for a moment, then nodded.
He Yuxiang: "Has it started selling yet?"
"We sold 3,000 tickets in two days."
Three thousand copies may not seem like much to a singer, but Mao Mao is a complete newcomer, and to achieve such results in such a short period of time is truly remarkable.
Everyone present could guess the other party's intentions: to first instill fear and awe in Mao Mao, then bestow favors upon her, ensuring Mao Mao's unwavering loyalty, thus making the money tree completely theirs. (End of Chapter)
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