The scenery here is beautiful. The man who accompanied me for a walk was not very handsome, but he also had a very impressive figure. But the simple walking trip was forced to be interrupted after a quarter of an hour.

It was raining.

The autumn rain was cooler, and the light rain in the mountains fell. The thin clothes on my body had no resistance. Walking in the rain was pure suffering.

The two hurried back and met three people who had returned from going out at the door.

Writer Wu was an old acquaintance, needless to say. The fat man who was chatting happily with him was about 40 years old. He should be the editor-in-chief of Morning Star, Mr. Tao. It is unknown whether this "general" is "someone's director" or "vice president". Anyway, in large and small companies, there are always people with the title of general.

The one carrying a bucket next to the youngest must be another student of Chang Huajia, Xiaolu.

"Hey." Writer Wu lived up to expectations and was the first to speak whenever he saw her. "Long time no see, little princess. Did you come with your boss, Jiakang?"

"Teacher Wu is always very enthusiastic when he sees me. People who don't know me would think you're thinking about me. But I know myself." Jian Jing said quietly, "You're just thinking about something. Don't worry, I received it well and didn't damage it at all."

Writer Wu's face froze, and he remembered that he had an indecent photo in her hand. His facial muscles twisted and changed slightly, and he actually swallowed his anger and strode into the house. Boss

Tao was left aside but didn't get angry. He greeted with a smile: "Is this Jingjing? I've heard of you for a long time. I'm Tao Ling from Morning Star. Come and meet me."

He extended his hand and made friends with her very enthusiastically.

Jian Jing knew what he was up to, but she was not afraid at all and shook hands with him.

"How long have you been here?" Mr. Tao was very talkative and asked something every few steps into the house. "We came this morning and went fishing after lunch. Hey, the water and air here are good, so we can have a snack in the evening."

Xiaolu smiled and said, "Mr. Tao is a good fisherman. These two fish today are big enough."

Under the intentional or unintentional leadership of Mr. Tao, they were in a happy mood when they entered the living room.

Painter Chang glanced at Eddie and asked President Tao, "It looks like you've had a good harvest today."

"Good luck." President Tao sat down with a smile, "President Kang, we haven't met for half a year, we should have a good drink today."

"President Tao is very busy." Kang Mucheng said, "I heard about the book fair held by Morning Star in Japan, and the response was very good."

"No, no, just testing the waters. Fortunately, I'm lucky and signed this year's Love Award."

The two competitors were fighting, and Painter Chang didn't want to interrupt. He asked Xiaolu to move the fish to the back and let the kitchen lady clean it up as soon as possible.

After giving the order, she stared at Eddie and asked, "Where did you go just now?"

"I went out to get some fresh air." Eddie picked up the remaining wine glass and drank the remaining wine. "I have a headache. I'm going to go back to sleep for a while."

"Dinner will be soon." Chang Huajia said in a bad tone.

"No, I'm on a diet." He said lazily, turned around and walked out the door, and entered the Monet Building on the right.

Chang Huajia's eyes immediately became solemn, but there were so many guests that he couldn't make a scene, so he simply ignored them: "You guys sit down for a while, I'll go prepare dinner. Today we're having Western food, nothing fancy, just whatever we have."

Everyone said, "Just whatever you want."

But no matter how polite they were, the host couldn't really just make a few dishes to be perfunctory. Today's dinner is cream mushroom soup, vegetable and fruit salad, fried fish fillet, Italian macaroni, cheese mashed potatoes, curry chicken, pancakes and borscht.

Although the cuisine is very diverse, they all taste good and are very suitable for the Chinese taste.

"Eddie doesn't like the Western food I cook, saying it's not authentic." Chang Huajia eats very little, mainly drinking red wine, with a slightly tipsy face. "It's better if it's not authentic. Who has the patience to eat authentic Western food all year round?"

This statement was unanimously agreed by everyone present, including Kang Mucheng. When he went to the United States to study, eating Western food was bitter, and eating local Chinese food was also bitter.

With delicious food and fine wine, people gradually opened up their conversations.

President Tao talked to Jian Jing with a clear purpose: "President Kang is notoriously picky in the industry. Many partners get a headache when they hear his name. How does he treat you? Is he strict? If you can't stand his way, consider us at Morning Star."

He asked Xia Tianxin: "Xiaoxing, what do you think of Uncle Tao's treatment of you?"

"When you raise the royalties for me, I'll say something good about you." Xia Tianxin said with a smile, "But the company has very few requirements for us, and we have a high degree of freedom. More experienced authors can advance 50% of their royalties by submitting an outline, which is very good."

Jian Jing: "That's good."

President Tao asked: "Think about it carefully, especially when you want to write some love stories. Let me tell you, our suspense novels are selling very well."

Jian Jing agreed sincerely: "I will definitely think about it carefully."

"I heard that Devil 2 is already in preparation? Hey, this time you have to ask Mr. Kang to prepare well, and the previous incident can't happen again." Mr. Tao seemed to be speaking from the heart, "I'm worried for you, the reputation is one-sided, it's a major publicity accident! If it were our family, my heart would be broken."

Jian Jing: "..."

Didn't you step on me?

Chang Huajia heard it and asked Kang Mucheng: "People are trying to pry your corner openly, and you don't say a few words?"

"Let him try, he won't give up until he tries." Kang Mucheng didn't care. There are so many writers in Jinwu, big and small, anyone could be poached, but Jian Jing is the only one who can't.

The little girl is thin-skinned, and she just said a few perfunctory words, and whoever takes it seriously will lose.

As expected, when President Tao saw that Kang Mucheng didn't even glance at him, he felt disappointed, but he still had a smile on his face: "Jingjing, you see, President Kang doesn't care about you at all. If anyone comes to poach my people, I will fight him to the death."

Jian Jing: "You are such a nice person."

The topic ended with a nice guy card.

President Tao felt that she was a little stunned, wasting her breath without planning, so he changed the target and chatted with Chang Huajia. First, he said that she was considering two students and was really a good teacher. Then he asked her when she planned to hold an art exhibition. Although he didn't understand art, he could run errands.

To be honest, it's really nice to have such a person at the dinner table. He can chat, like a crosstalk, and jokes come out one after another. Everyone knows that what he says can't be believed, but it's fun to listen to it.

Jian Jing found it very interesting.

Although both were the heads of publishing houses, Mr. Tao and Kang Mucheng had completely different styles.

Mr. Tao was generous and open-minded, and was good at talking and chatting. Even if the deal didn't work out, there was still friendship. Regardless of whether they could cooperate or not, it would be nice to make friends and get to know each other.

Kang Mucheng was not so down-to-earth. He used strict words and emphasized professionalism. Business was business and relationships were relationships. It was absolutely impossible to trick him into giving in after three rounds of drinks.

And what about Chang Huajia? She had a divergent mind and talked about whatever came to her mind. She had an obvious artist's temperament and could chat with President Tao more easily. But Jian Jing noticed that she always seemed to be paying attention to Kang Mucheng.

Occasionally she would drink wine, and occasionally she would pass pepper. The smile on her lips was like smudged lipstick, a vague touch of bright red.

"Jingjing, can I call you that?" Xia Tianxin sat next to her, smiling, "We have a group, would you like to join it?"

Jian Jing was slightly stunned: "What group?"

"Exchange group, mutual help group, food group." Xia Tianxin said, "They are all people of similar age in the circle, not only from our company, but also from other publishing houses."

She lowered her voice and blinked: "More friends, more paths."

Jian Jing understood. Writers have their own circles, which is convenient if they want to change jobs at any time. She readily agreed: "Okay, thank you."

"It's okay, help each other." Xia Tianxin took a sip of red wine and talked more and more, "Hey, is writer Wu always like this?"

She glanced at writer Wu across from her. His old problem came back. He lowered his head and talked to Xiaotian. Xiaotian's expression was a little stiff. He tried to lean towards the path beside him, but the seat was so small that he couldn't hide far.

Xia Tianxin whispered, "I've heard rumors several times that he bullies newcomers and likes to harass girls. It seems to be true."

Jian Jing glanced over and kicked Kang Mucheng beside her.

He stopped talking and turned to look at her.

Jian Jing raised her chin and motioned him to look across.

Kang Mucheng frowned and changed the subject: "Speaking of which, the competition led by Writer Wu seemed to have a good response?"

"Mr. Kang has heard about it too?" Writer Wu was very proud. "I invited a few friends to be judges, and they are quite popular in colleges and universities. But I have to say that the level of articles written by young people nowadays is really not as good as ours."

He shook his head and sighed, as if he was worried about the future of the country: "When Lao Yang and I were young, we could only submit articles to newspapers, and we didn't even have many magazines. But what was published was more or less good. It's nothing like now, where you can just post articles on the Internet. What kind of things are they?!"

A good man doesn't talk about his past, but Writer Wu kept talking about the past, and he didn't stop talking until the end of the meal.

Jian Jing couldn't bear it any longer, and said that she was drunk and felt uncomfortable, so she escaped.

Xia Tianxin, Xiaotian, and Xiaolu followed suit and said goodbye one after another, leaving the adults to continue drinking and bragging.

Jian Jing went back to her room to take a hot shower, and then she turned on her phone to watch some pet videos when there was a knock on the door.

The person standing outside was far beyond her expectations.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Eddie asked.

Jian Jing frowned: "Something?"

"Let's continue with the previous topic." Eddie shook the bottle of wine in his hand, "Don't worry, I won't eat you."

Jian Jing pondered for a while, and said tactfully: "I'm a little tired and want to rest early."

"The stars are beautiful at night in the mountains, don't you want to see them?" He tempted her, "I know there is a small path up the mountain that leads to a beautiful valley, where the stars are only a hand's distance away from you."

He made a gesture of reaching out to pick stars: "Like this, so close."

"Maybe this is romantic, but I'm not interested." She said decisively.

Eddie leaned down and got close to her face. The faint scent of woody perfume emanated from the skin on his neck and lingered at the tip of her nose.

"What about me, you are not interested in me either?" he asked.

"No." She said, "Go back, or if the painter Chang knows, you will be in trouble."

Eddie smiled and shrugged: "Lisa doesn't have time to pay attention to me now, can't you see? She likes Kang Mucheng."

Jian Jing: "..." Not surprised.

"Lisa and I are just ordinary friends." Eddie crossed his legs, and his tall shadow was cast down, "What's the big deal if I change a friend like this."

Jian Jing couldn't help but be curious: "Why me?"

"Young, beautiful, and rich, of course it's you." Eddie answered easily, "Don't you want to try? I'm a very good 'friend', without burden."

Jian Jing: "A friend who lends money."

Eddie: "Writers are very rich, I just need a little."

"You are a bottomless pit." She said softly, "Eddie, you touched something you shouldn't touch."

Eddie suddenly fell silent, as if surprised.

"Good night." She closed the door, not worrying whether he would continue to harass her.

The footsteps outside the door faded away.

Jian Jing picked up her phone and glanced at the time.

It was now Beijing time, 8:40 p.m. on September 27.