Age of Legends

Chapter 303

"I'm so angry!" Yang Xiaole said angrily as she slammed a bottle of cola on the table in Jiang Rong's dormitory.

Jiang Rong rented a house on Shaocheng Road near the provincial TV station to facilitate her work on the show. Shaocheng Road was a gathering place for the Eight Banners descendants during the Qing Dynasty. They built a city within a city here, named "Shaocheng". Next to Shaocheng Road is the famous People's Park, the first public park in the province built during the reign of Emperor Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty. It was a place for the Eight Banners descendants to stroll around and later became a famous matchmaking location.

This is an old neighborhood. Looking out of her window, a residential complex called Lido Garden is under construction, some old ancestral halls are being demolished, and an old park is being renovated. The park renovation is where Huang Huifen started. In the distance, under the neon lights of the city center, there are old walls covered with vines. This scene of the transition between the old and new in Fuzhou brings a cyberpunk feel to this era.

Actually, Yude is not far from here, just a few stops away. At this time, Rongcheng is not very big. The prosperous area is still expanding from the first ring road to the second ring road. Not to mention that it is not big now, Zhang Chen could not find many cities in the whole country that he considered "big" from the perspective of a person from the future.

Urbanization is expanding rapidly at this stage. At present, Shenzhen has only four million people, and the built-up area is only one-third of what it will be in the future. The current city of Fuzhou is also one-fifth the size of the future city. There are large areas of wasteland along the Second Ring Road. Zhang Chen remembers that when he was studying at the University of Finance and Economics located on the Second Ring Road, there was a dirt slope in front of the school gate, and there were many people selling CDs on bicycles. You could buy all kinds of bad CDs.

This was Zhang Chen's first time visiting Jiang Rong's "little nest." She was invited to her home for hot pot on Saturday. It was just a simple electric hot pot stove. She and Yang Xiaole bought some ingredients for hot pot at Ito Yokado and cooked a meal at home.

The first Ito Yokado in Fuzhou is located on Chunxi Road. Currently, it's still a place frequented by many white-collar and high-income professionals. Fuzhou's white-collar workers consider it an honor to be able to shop there. Yang Xiaole doesn't earn much; she's only been working for a few months, and all her earnings go towards food, clothing, and rent. Jiang Rong, on the other hand, is much wealthier. However, Jiang Rong has always been frugal since university. Normally, two girls wouldn't buy much food, but considering she'd invited Zhang Chen, she gritted her teeth and added a lot of meat, including imported Australian beef. Yang Xiaole's eyes widened, exclaiming that her senior had really gone all out! She originally called Jiang Rong "Sister Rong" or "President Jiang," but those calls were rejected. So, on a whim, she started calling her "Senior," which Jiang Rong found acceptable.

Jiang Rong is well-known in this old neighborhood. She is beautiful, works at a TV station, and has connections in the elderly propaganda and performance troupe that she "inherited" from Zhang Chen. She is a celebrity among the elderly people in the neighborhood.

A hot pot was prepared with the help of Jiang Rong and Yang Xiaole and served. Yang Xiaole immediately started cursing the internal meeting of the TV station yesterday, Friday.

Zhang Chen was puzzled. Jiang Rong was wearing a gray sweater that accentuated her curvaceous figure. She wouldn't normally wear something like this; she would at least wear a coat. Today, perhaps because she was at home with the doors and windows closed and the heat was rising, she had taken off her coat, revealing a more casual, homey look. When Yang Xiaole said this, Jiang Rong's face remained expressionless. She simply used her chopsticks to pick up meat and cook the hot pot, exuding a calm and capable air of a hostess.

"At the meeting, Meng Lihui highly praised Wu Yue's program 'Gold Medal Mediation Consultant,' saying that our program format is outdated and what we need now are talk-style listeners. She said that Wu Yue has a good image and temperament and mainly focuses on building her personal brand. Having her as a consultant host to participate in the emotional mediation of the program would be better able to guide the topic and control the overall situation! What the heck! What kind of person is Wu Yue? What kind of topic can she guide!"

Yang Xiaole held her chopsticks, waving her arms around wildly! Her mouth was stuffed with beef balls, making her look bulging. She wore a floral dress, and although she was youthful and pretty, her personality was like a moth fluttering its wings.

Jiang Rong glanced at her and said, "Don't spray it into my bowl."

Yang Xiaole turned around indignantly: "Senior, how can you not be angry! How can you not be angry? What does Wu Yue look like? She has a pointy mouth and a monkey-like face. That old hag Meng Lihui still has the audacity to say that she has a good image and temperament. She's lying through her teeth. Compared to you, how dare she say such a thing! If we're talking about the station, who has a better image and temperament than you?"

"She even wanted to move our program to Wednesday night. Who watches Wednesday night? Director Fang couldn't stand it anymore and said a few words in our defense at the meeting, saying that our program had a good reputation and that we should reconsider the time slot. Well, Meng Lihui actually approved it right away! She even guaranteed that our advertising revenue would increase by 30% compared to ours."

"Guess how they increased it by 30%? Wu Yue actually went to our advertisers and asked them to switch their ads to them, saying that they were the ones the TV station was genuinely supporting! It's outrageous! What's the difference between this and outright robbery?!"

Zhang Chen looked at Jiang Rong, "Is that really the case? You're just being so reckless?"

Jiang Rong nodded and took a sip of her drink. Her eyes, framed by her eyelashes, swept over Zhang Chen, and she said, "I won't lose."

Even Zhang Chen felt that Jiang Rong was too calm, which was very different from when they usually met alone, when she would directly and unrestrainedly complain to him. Was it because she was in front of her junior, Yang Xiaole, today? As the producer and the backbone of the team, she couldn't afford to lose her composure and bring panic into the team when faced with workplace infighting and targeting and suppression from higher-ups.

Even Zhang Chen felt that Jiang Rong had grown quite impressive, showing a lot of the demeanor of a great general.

Little did she know that when Jiang Rong said this to Zhang Chen, Yang Xiaole's eyes widened immediately. She looked at the two of them and said, "Senior, you have connections, right? You have a powerful background, right? Everyone's saying that you're so young, yet you've managed to run such a high-rated provincial TV program and secured so many advertising sponsorships. You're definitely not simple! You must have connections! Are you going to use your connections this time!?"

"You're overthinking it. I don't have any connections. Teacher Wang is my mentor," Jiang Rong said, glancing at Zhang Chen. "What?! Isn't Teacher Wang past her prime?!" Yang Xiaole exclaimed, then looked at Zhang Chen again, seemingly remembering his identity, and quickly said, "Oh dear, Brother Zhang, I didn't mean to mention Teacher Wang! I'm guilty! I'm guilty! I was wrong, I was wrong!"

Quickly put your hands together and apologize.

Zhang Chen and Jiang Rong were both speechless and amused by Yang Xiaole's personality.

Zhang Chen also felt that his godfather, Wang Bowen, was surprisingly lacking in prestige among the new generation. It's true, Wang Bowen usually gives off the impression of a middle-aged man, driving an Alto and moving around billboards; he certainly doesn't have a glamorous image. However, his relationship with Chen Xuran is still a secret, and it's unknown how many people will be surprised if it's revealed. People will probably wonder how a washed-up host could possibly win over the title of Rongcheng's most beautiful female host.

Zhang Chen thought to himself, "My godfather is now a major shareholder of Tencent. You probably won't understand the significance of that for many years to come!"

Meanwhile, Jiang Rong, though speechless at her spying junior, didn't say much, but kept glancing at Zhang Chen. Deep down, she was secretly amused. If Yang Xiaole knew that the so-called backer and background she and many others were inquiring about was actually this high school senior in front of her, she probably would have spat out the two beef balls stuffed in her mouth.

After dinner, Yang Xiaole had friends invite her to karaoke that evening, but Zhang Chen and Jiang Rong declined. She left alone, feeling dejected. Jiang Rong washed the dishes, leaving Zhang Chen alone in the house.

Zhang Chen had originally planned to help, but Jiang Rong did everything, so he just stood at the entrance of the small kitchen, watching Jiang Rong wash and collect the dishes.

In Fuzhou in 2001, in a rented small apartment, outside the window, the new century was dawning, with neon lights and a cyberpunk-style atmosphere in the old neighborhood. There were two people inside, and the air smelled of hot pot.

Jiang Rong blushed slightly, only then realizing that this was the first time she had brought a boy home, especially since it was just the two of them, a man and a woman alone. And this boy was no ordinary young man.

Zhang Chen stood there looking at Jiang Rong's somewhat virtuous appearance and figure for a long time. He noticed that her ears were slightly red, probably because she was not used to being looked at by others. He sensed that the atmosphere was a bit awkward and romantic, so he said, "You didn't even get angry today and just let them take away your program?"

After washing the dishes and wiping her hands, Jiang Rong turned around and tilted her head to look at him: "What's the use of getting angry? Actually, I wasn't surprised that Meng Lihui and Wu Yue snatched it away from me in front of everyone at the meeting yesterday. I was mentally prepared. Even if I get angry, I can't change the situation... But..." She smiled, "I won't admit defeat. Didn't you say that I'll always have another one? So when are you going to start planning a new program for me?"

This was Zhang Chen's promise back then: "There will always be another one for you."

Zhang Chen paused for a moment, then said, "I'll start writing tomorrow."

"So fast?" Jiang Rong seemed somewhat surprised by Zhang Chen's quick reply, but then her face showed a hint of emotion.

“Okay!” she replied with a smile.

Beneath her bright smile, she didn't say that she wasn't too angry about being targeted by Meng Lihui yesterday; instead, she felt a perverse pleasure.

That's because, in the past, she always felt that Zhang Chen was too amazing. Sometimes he was even more mature than her and knew more...

But what happened yesterday left Jiang Rong with only one feeling at the time.

Ha, even if you know more than me and are incredibly shrewd, you were the first to experience and withstand the huge crisis of having your show stolen and the dark secrets laid out for you alone.

In terms of experience... I have far more than you do now!
(End of this chapter)