Chapter 454: Song Ni’s graduation trip

In the words of Huang Yaming and co, the current Xu Tingsheng felt like he was going from the finance pages to the entertainment pages.

Still, it was really Huang Yaming who went onto the entertainment pages.

WIth the ultra-high ratings and evaluation of the media and the netizens, in its second official week, <> successfully topped <> in their joust with a shocking 31 million in the box office as compared to their 12 million. This was thanks to them previously securing a reversal in terms of screening times too.

The movies would be screened for at least another two weeks. With this being the ideal period with the winter holidays having started and the Lunar New Year soon to come, it could be foreseen that <> might very well create a box office miracle for a small production.

As for that bet and those shoes.

Jin Datang had ceased to mention it. He was not saying anything at all now...as compared to the looming crisis of bankruptcy, what did this embarrassment matter?

Huang Yaming had ceased to mention it too except for that one time when he had been asked about it repeatedly by reporters. He had answered, “Boss Jin may really need that pair of shoes after this. He can keep it! Well, I don’t know if the size is right, though.”

As compared to Xu Tingsheng, it was a completely different kind of image that Huang Yaming portrayed to the media and the public. Ruthless, unbridled, brutal...so fearsome in terms of both his verbal arsenal and actual ‘capabilities’.

In terms of newsworthiness, he was the golden boy of the media. Even with the widespread popularity of <> which had propelled its director and artistes to fame, it was still Huang Yaming alone who actually made the headlines.

The reporters asked him which actress he most wished to get to act in his next film production.

His reply was: How the hell would I know? It’s not like I know anything about acting or whatnot. Now if you asked me which actress I’d most like to sleep with, now that’s something I can tell you.”

“Well, which actress would you most like to sleep with then?” The reporters were abuzz with excitement.

A new hotshot producer, effectively nobility of the film industry, and he was about to reveal the name of the actress whom he most wished to sleep with...could there be any more gargantuan a topic?

“Monica Bellucci. That <> she acted in, I couldn’t sleep for a few days after watching that,” Huang Yaming said.

“......”

If Huang Yaming had uttered the name of a Chinese actress, his reputation would have plummeted at once. When the time for him to select actresses for casting in his next movie, many would have reservations in deciding whether or not to participate. Still, while he always appeared rash and thoughtless, he was really very crafty...

He was always creating news, yet never leaving behind anything that could be used against him later on.

A long-suffering reporter summed this up thusly:

“We always think that he’s said a lot. It’s only after enthusiastically going back to write up on it that we realise it’s really equivalent to not having said any heck thing at all. But he’s somehow able to magically hoodwink that enthusiasm out of us every time.”

Huang Yaming acted as Xu Tingsheng’s representative in the entertainment industry where one was most inevitably in the public eye and susceptible to gossip and rumours, and he was more than happy to do so.

The box office of <> was galloping unstoppably towards the grand 100 million mark.

If all went well, there would soon be a one-time influx of a couple tens of millions into Xu Tingsheng’s bank account, bolstering his cashflow substantially.

Meanwhile, it was already confirmed that Tianyi would be hosting the film’s celebratory banquet

after the Lunar New Year had passed.

During this time, Tan Qingling brought up visiting Yanzhou again during the winter holidays, but Huang Yaming refused her. Despite her hinting several times that she wished to attend the banquet at his side when the time came, he would adroitly sidestep and dismiss the topic whenever it came up.

And so it was that feeling a strong sense of impending ‘crisis’, Tan Qingling made a covert trip to Yanzhou a few days later. Rather than Huang Yaming, it was Chen Jingqi to whom she paid a visit.

No one knew what exactly the two talked about that day. Still, one day later, Chen Jingqi looked Xu Tingsheng up and requested that he assist her with a certain matter. She expressed her willingness to follow Zhang Xingke’s team to Xinan after the Lunar New Year.

This was the first time she had requested something of him in all her days at Hucheng.

Rather than her future and career prospects, Xu Tingsheng was more inclined to believe that this was truthfully escapism on her part...

......

Yet another year was nearly past. As third year university students, Xu Tingsheng, Fu Cheng and Huang Yaming were still a year and a half away from graduation.

Still, someone was already about to graduate.

Song Ni was an Accounting student at the Yanzhou Economics Institute which ran a three year programme.

Her last university semester was right around the corner. Generally speaking, there was already no need for these students to spend so much time studying at this point. For them, finding a job was actually the most crucial thing at hand.

Unlike the majority of her peers, Song Ni did not have to look for a job. The reason for this was none other than Xu Tingsheng, a friend who was like an older brother to her. Thanks to him, she would be officially joining Mr Xu’s Happy Shoppers Franchise Corporation where she would be groomed as a future candidate for higher management. After the Lunar New Year, she would be starting out as an assistant finance manager there.

This path had long since been arranged for her. Long before Happy Shoppers had attained its current scale, it was virtually every semester break that Song Ni would intern and help out at Happy Shoppers, familiarising herself with her future workplace. She had previously done manual labour there and stood as a cashier, eventually entering the finance department.

Such was the promise that Xu Tingsheng had previously made her. It had to be acknowledged that Song Ni had indeed worked very hard these past three years. Not only had she long since attained various educational certificates, she was virtually ranked first in her cohort every year. She had even unexpectedly clinched the second prize at the Shenghai Provincial Accounting Competition against a whole bunch of elites from top universities some time back.

Her diligence, personality, drive and abilities were very much recognised at Happy Shoppers.

Song Ni seemed to have had three very fulfilling years at university. Others would probably think her very lucky too. If there was anything not so good, it was that she still lacked the courage to embark on a relationship.

Be it the guy whom she had been slightly attracted to and very nearly entered a relationship with back in her first year or any of those handsome dudes who had taken the initiative to approach her after learning of her background, there had never yet been anyone who had given her the courage to take that final step, embracing love.

Song Ni had burned all her youthful love from seventh to twelfth grade, naively and blindly as even her most necessary rationality had been lost in spoiling him and letting him have his way. Yet, what had come to her in return was that most disgusting, malicious and blatant harm. As a result, she actually had no courage and drive left to love someone.

Song Ni’s view on love had become a bit extreme. On the one hand, she was extremely fearful and sceptical of it. On the other, she was overly subjective and enthusiastic towards her notion of ideal, wholesome love when it came to the relationships of Xu Tingsheng and co.

She hoped that they would treasure the happiness that she herself had lost.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

It was because of this that Apple’s treatment evoked righteous indignation in her, that she was conflicted about and unable to accept Fu Cheng and Ms Fang not being together, that she was most resolute and unwavering on her stance regarding the love triangle of Huang Yaming, Tan Qingling and Chen Jingqi. She was the most straightforward about it as she let fly disparaging remarks about Tan Qingling.

Song Ni said that she wished to have a premature graduation trip these winter holidays.

Only now as they suddenly discovered that Song Ni was actually going to graduate very soon did Xu Tingsheng, Huang Yaming and Fu Cheng realise how badly they had overlooked this ‘little sister’ of theirs these past three years. Having all been busy, they had basically never taken the initiative to ask about and show their concern for Song Ni’s state of affairs at all...

Therefore, the trio was unanimous in their decision this time. However busy they were, however much money there was waiting for them to earn, they would still not decline Song Ni’s request nevertheless. Moreover, it seemed like it was high time for them to take a break and relax too.