Thinking that Qin Xizhen's situation was still unclear, Cheng Ran simply gave her a pager: "Call me back."
After a while, the phone rang. Cheng Ran picked up the phone and said in a teasing voice, "Cheng Xiaoran, what's wrong? You haven't been spending time with your parents these days. Are you free? Have you finished your homework? Did you draw after you finished it? Do you have any new business income?"
The image of Qin Xizhen, a vixen whose eyes sparkled when she heard about money, appeared in Cheng Ran's mind.
"You can consider buying a cell phone. You make so much money, you should have this." Cheng Ran actually thought about buying a cell phone, but considering the future, he felt that it was a bit of a loss to buy a straight flip phone with plastic buttons for several thousand yuan at this time. But this is something he must consider in the future.
"Tsk... no business coming in after all this time..."
"Isn't what you said... a little ambiguous?"
The voice on the other end of the phone became cold again, "Cheng Ran, do you want to die?"
"By the way, where can I get so much money to buy it?" Qin Xizhen's words changed again, and his voice was so seductive, "As a partner, shouldn't you be generous and give me some money?"
"Don't be so unreasonable. How can you be out of money? The commissions and dividends you get from me are also a lot of money."
“It can’t be used.”
"Why can't it be used?"
"Because I am a Pixiu."
"It's not a good thing for a woman to love money too much."
"I am buying my own dowry. I won't have to rely on men anymore. If I really meet someone I like, I can just tell him, 'Just come into my house. I have everything.' Isn't that a good thing?"
"… "
Cheng Ran thought it would be better to talk business. "I heard that you have to register in advance for the Shanhai Music Festival, or you will be invited by the organizer. What you want to participate in..."
"You underestimate me. I don't even have this ability. I've been working for nothing. You don't know, maybe, that although the organizers are the Propaganda Department and the Cultural Bureau, the company that is 'currently in charge' is the Shanhai Cultural Communication Company, which has the background of the city TV station. A classmate of mine is in the company and has registered for me. It's just that I will be performing at a branch venue. There are six venues in the music festival. The main venue can accommodate the most people, and the others are branch venues with thousands of people. Of course, the ticket price for the main venue is the highest, ranging from 80 to 360 yuan, and only famous bands and singers can go up there. It's impossible for me to be in the main venue. Tickets for other branch venues cost 20 to 60 yuan, and people like us are responsible for supporting such occasions. So during the three days of the music festival, I performed at the branch venues, one in the afternoon, one in the morning, and one in the evening. I had to sing a few original songs in each show, so I had to prepare more songs..."
After a pause, Qin Xizhen said in a negotiating tone, "I have my own creations, but they may not be enough. You... the two songs I registered the copyright for are also very good. Can I use them when the time comes? Of course, I will indicate the original author when the time comes. You can sign them however you want."
In fact, in Qin Xizhen's music school, if anyone wrote a song and had the opportunity to sing it on a big stage, many people would probably be eager to do so. However, Qin Xizhen knew that Cheng Ran was different, and he might not be interested in such things.
Cheng Ran said, "Okay, I'll give you the authorization to use it."
Qin Xizhen chuckled over there, and responded after a moment, "Thank you."
Then she paused and said, "You are the greatest gain I got from going to No. 1 Middle School."
Logically speaking, these words coming from the mouth of a beauty like Qin Xizhen would have some ambiguous meanings, but unexpectedly, Cheng Ran did not feel the kind of emotions between a man and a woman, but rather a frank and open heart. These words were very sincere and came from the heart.
Cheng Ran laughed and said, "Why does it sound like you've found the joy of a long-term meal ticket when you say this?"
Qin Xizhen's voice was very cold from the other end of the phone, "Hey... So I'm telling you, you guys like to think in a biased way... You don't think I don't know the hidden meaning of long-term meal tickets... You're just a kid, but you're so smart."
Cheng Ran could almost imagine Qin Xizhen's expression at this moment. She must be squinting her eyes, looking unhappy as if he had taken advantage of her.
Come on, even if I have shown so much, this still treats him as a
Child.
"Okay, I have a dinner party at home today, so I won't tell you anymore. Bye... Long-term meal ticket!"
Cheng Ran held the microphone and listened to the busy tone, speechless for a while, unable to tell whether he was taking advantage of her or she was taking advantage of him.
He really is someone who will never suffer a loss.
…
After talking to Cheng Ran on the phone, the smile on Qin Xizhen's face disappeared, and then she had to go out with her parents to have dinner with Zhao Haihua and his family.
The resignation from No. 1 Middle School triggered a family war, and her father was so angry that he had a cerebral hemorrhage and was hospitalized. Later in the hospital, relatives and aunts came to lobby her, saying that her father had always been aloof and never used connections, but in the end he opened his mouth for her, so that she could teach at No. 1 Middle School. The road was paved, and in the end, they still hoped that she would get married and have a stable family as soon as possible. Don't be unrealistic and always think about going out, especially Qin Xizhen has little social experience, and she will definitely have to endure a lot of setbacks, which is too hard. As parents, they also hope to see her stable and safe in the end.
As a result, Qin Xizhen resigned as he said he would. After all, it was the No. 1 Middle School in the city, the best in the whole city, and many people were eager to go in and become a teacher. Qin Xizhen ruined this opportunity and the path given by his parents.
Finally, Zhao Haihua took the initiative to arrange a new job for Qin Xizhen, a formal position in the power bureau, with a high salary and not too many messy things. The family persuaded him, thinking that if you don't want to work in your major, it is understandable. If you do this for a lifetime, you will inevitably get bored. This time, the job they found for you is not related to your major. It is the happiest to be idle, sit in an office, and not treat your major as a career. You can also make music in your spare time, which is the best of both worlds.
Looking at his sick father at that time, Qin Xizhen could only nod his head. So this time when Qin Xizhen's father was discharged from the hospital, the family talked about how they should treat others to a meal because they had helped, and Qin Xizhen calmly agreed.
At the dinner table, Qin Xizhen's mother Luo Xin expressed her gratitude, and Qin Keguang also expressed his gratitude tactfully. Zhao Haihua, who was wearing a suit, said that it was because his son Wang Wenhua couldn't let go of Qin Xizhen. Although he was introverted and didn't know how to express himself, he found a few girls for him afterwards. Some of them were pretty, and to be honest, some were not inferior to your Qin Xizhen. But what can I do? Wang Wenhua just doesn't like them. In the end, I also like Qin Xizhen. She is well-behaved and well-educated. If we have two children in the future, she also knows music and can teach your family's music to her grandchildren... Isn't this a win over others at the starting line...
Speaking of grandchildren, Qin Xizhen's parents instantly became excited, and seemed to be imagining what it would be like to have one or two children running around at home.
Most importantly, children mean new sustenance and hope.
It seemed as if they couldn't wait for the two of them to settle down and live like that in the future.
Qin Xizhen did not argue with her parents during the whole meal. They talked about marriage and having children, but she remained calm. She thought of her cousin, who married a city official and had a naughty five-year-old child. When she saw her this year, her cousin in her memory now had a sallow complexion and loose skin. Her well-proportioned body was now filled with fat that would be squeezed out even if she wore a restraint belt. At the family dinner, she complained about her husband's hangovers and socializing, and about her children becoming more and more difficult to control. She talked about how other children learned this and that, and she was worried that her own child would be too stupid to keep up.
She suddenly became very scared, afraid that she would be like that in a few years.
After the meal, she asked Qin Keguang if it was because she was a girl and felt that she had no future and that her job was to raise children and take care of her husband and children, so he paved a way for her to graduate and become a music teacher. He himself had given up and was discouraged, so he only cared about playing with birds, potted plants and photography in recent years, and had long put his own major aside.
When Qin Xizhen said this, Qin Keguang did not refute, and there was no more dispute or quarrel between father and daughter.
Qin Xizhen just looked at the man who had just come out of the hospital. He was much thinner and frailer. He used to support her like a big tree, but now he looked like a skinny old man. He walked into her room with a staggering and lonely step.
The man sat in his chair in a trance, and finally opened the drawer with a slight tremor, flipping through a photo album inside. It was a photo of Qin Xizhen when he was a child in the 1980s and 1990s. At that time, his face didn't have so many wrinkles, and he smiled happily.
On the first page above the photo, there are words he wrote back then.
"I don't hope you will be rich and prosperous, nor do I hope you will be famous and passed down through the ages. I only hope you will be sincere and kind, brave and strong, not drifting, not displaced, not tempted by the world, not afraid of the chaos of the world, and be safe, happy, and healthy.
I am getting old, and I can’t see enough of you for my whole life.”