A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 67 Knowing and Not Knowing
This day is August 18th, which is already the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

Today happens to be Sunday.

After finishing the phone call, Lin Jianlu quickly packed up the things she had bought, picked up a few essential items, hopped on her old bicycle, and leisurely returned to Nanluoguxiang. As soon as she entered, she greeted everyone.

Today is a day off, and most of the neighbors in the courtyard are home.

"Hey, Grandpa Gao, getting your tire repaired?"

"Ah, Little Deer is back! Hehe, let's replenish our energy, it's taking a while to deflate."

Gao Jiancheng's face stiffened slightly, but he still managed to force a smile in response.

Both Lin's mother and daughter have sharp tongues and are particularly fond of teasing him. However, he is also prone to making a fool of himself. When he suffers a loss, he is unable to recover on the spot and fails to retort. After returning home, he becomes angrier and angrier, and next time he can't help but continue to be sarcastic. Then, of course, he will be teased again and will not be able to retort, so he continues to sulk.

This morning, he was scolded by Lin Jianlu's mother again, and he's been holding his breath all morning.

As soon as he finished replying, before he could say anything more, the other person had already started a conversation. He could only half-heartedly continue working on his ribs while listening to the conversation on the other end.

"Jianlu, didn't you say you bought a BMW? Why are you still riding this beat-up bicycle?"

"Hey, driving takes up gas! My car is just for show in front of others. We've lived under the same roof for so many years, we all know each other! What am I trying to show off for!"

The entire courtyard burst into laughter at those words.

Lin's mother had already opened the door and was standing under the eaves watching her son.

As Lin Jianlu got out of the car, she reached out to take the things, but before she knew it, her son asked a strange question, "Mom, why did Uncle Gao look like he lost two hundred yuan? Did he propose to you and you didn't agree?"

Suddenly, the entire courtyard erupted in laughter once again.

Gao Jiancheng blushed instantly, opened his mouth several times, but couldn't think of a good word to say back for a moment—what to do, he was just too tongue-tied, not as quick-witted as the mother and daughter across the street!
At this point, Lin's mother couldn't help but laugh, "Shut your mouth! Even if it's not for your Uncle Gao, it's for Wenwen's sake. Joking is joking, but don't make jokes like that!"

Lin Jianlu obediently accepted the scolding, "Yes! I understand!"

Then she turned her head and said, "Uncle Gao, I'm so sorry!", and then raised her voice, "Wenwen, don't be angry! It was just a joke!"

When they got back to the house, her mother explained the situation in a few simple words. Lin Jianlu was stunned. It really was because of Gao Wenwen. She said that starting this year, their school no longer guaranteed job placement. There was a new concept called "two-way selection," which meant that you had to find a government unit willing to accept you and sign an employment contract with you.

That's not as easy as it sounds!

These days, even large companies can't afford to pay salaries. It's easy to leave, but incredibly difficult to get in.

Not to mention those small companies, which could go bankrupt at any time, so how could they possibly hire people?

At this point, the advantages of studying in the capital city become apparent. When you study at a university in the capital, it becomes much easier to sign an employment contract. However, when Gao Wenwen and her classmates took the college entrance exam, there was no such rule. Back then, no matter where you went to school, you were assigned to work in your hometown after graduation!

When Gao Wenwen came back from her holiday, she told Grandpa Gao about it, and he was worried because he had no way to resolve the issue! He had kept quiet about it, afraid that his neighbors would laugh at him if they found out.

Somehow, he heard some rumors that Lin Jianlu, the big star in your neighborhood, knew many influential people and could get things done with a word. So, Grandpa Gao couldn't resist and went to the Lin family the day before yesterday to say that Lin Jianlu's mother was too clever to agree to such baseless rumors. Even if her son really had that kind of ability, he would have to ask him first!

As a result, he didn't agree, and Grandpa Gao was furious. This morning, he made a sarcastic remark, but Lin Jianlu's mother wouldn't tolerate that. She immediately retorted, leaving Grandpa Gao speechless and full of anger.

"Hey! Let's talk about it later, there's still a year to go! As for his family's affairs... sigh, if it's because of my Uncle Gao, I don't care, but as for Wenwen and her sister... let's talk about it later!"

Lin Jianlu actually didn't want to pay any attention to him.

Wenwen is her nickname, basically only the neighbors who have known her since childhood call her that. Actually, her real name is Gao Yufeng, and she is as proud as her name suggests. But her younger sister is nice. Gao Yuhuang is a lively, cute, and easy-going girl.

They had been neighbors since childhood, and Gao Yuhuang even spent more than a year playing with Lin Jianlu. When it was Gao Yuhuang's turn to worry about not having a job after graduation, Lin Jianlu was willing to lend a hand.

"Let's not talk about them, Mom. I need to discuss something."

"Hey... wow, this is lamb leg meat, right? This piece is pretty good. Let's slice it up and have hot pot later!"

"Um...how about changing jobs?" "Huh? What kind of job?"

Forbidden City Film Studio.

"What are you doing? Showing movies?"

So he patiently explained that the four companies in the capital—Beijing Film Studio, himself, and the famous actress Brigitte Lin—were a joint venture, considered state-owned, and he was the largest individual shareholder…blah blah blah.

Upon hearing that her son had invested over four million yuan, Lin's mother's eyes widened. She immediately stood up, peeked through the crack in the door, and seemed about to say something, but swallowed the words back down.

He turned around and sat down.

He exchanged a glance with Comrade Lin, who was also looking back in surprise from behind his desk.

"Are you sure about this? Are you just throwing money into it like that?"

"It's not a matter of certainty! This is something that has to be done. As I become more and more famous, I need to establish some connections with officials, otherwise things will not be stable."

Mr. Lin took off his glasses and turned around.

The couple exchanged another glance, and Lin's mother asked, "Then do we need to throw such a large amount in all at once?"

Lin Jianlu shrugged, "Not much! Your son earns much more than that!"

Lin's mother picked up the mutton, then put it down again, and glanced at the large sea bass by prying open its gills. A rare, inexplicable panic flickered across her face. "What job am I supposed to do inside? Manage your accounts?"

Lin Jianlu clapped her hands, "Hey! That's why you have to say it's my mom! She's in charge of the accounts!"

Lin's mother hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm not going, let your dad go! Your dad's job as a teacher is too tiring. You're in the film industry, right? You need scripts to make movies! Your dad just likes to play around with his books. Let him go in and read and write scripts for you! If there's no work, he'll just be idle! Our factory is alright. We've already paid wages for four months this year, which is pretty good. The main thing is that the work isn't tiring. Besides..."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "Since it's a public-private partnership, then it's all the state's money! Why should we concern ourselves with the state's money? It's pointless. The state decides how to spend it, so we'll spend it however we want!"

Lin Jianlu was speechless for a moment.

But I still have to persuade you, "It's a different kind of mom! Whether you go or not, we don't care how they spend their money, but if you don't go, it means we don't know; if you go, it means we do know. Knowing and not knowing are different."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Lin pushed up his glasses, and Mrs. Lin looked up and glanced at her son in surprise.

…………

We really did have hot pot for lunch.

Lin Jianlu bought a lot of meat, so Lin's mother specially called over the two girls from the Gao family across the street and invited them to eat together, but the Gao couple didn't get any—it's okay, it's enough to ease the tension.

But after finishing their meal, the two girls happily thanked her again and went home. Lin's mother sat there sighing, "It's no use! These two girls, one is stupid and the other is dumb. The stupid one is so arrogant, and the dumb one... oh my, how the hell did they get into university!"

Lin Jianlu hid to the side and chuckled.

He understood what his mother meant, but he was too lazy to say anything, so she simply went back herself.

She's actually not bad looking, but how should I put it? From a normal person's perspective, she's pretty, but compared to the kind of beauty that Brigitte Lin or Rosamund Kwan are, it's not even a discussion on the same level.

Lin Qingxia at 42 years old is worth ten Gao Wenwens at 21 years old!

Even when she's old, she'll still be a beauty!
A new Alto is still an Alto, and an old Bentley is still a Bentley!
Of course, her mother wasn't picky about her daughter-in-law; she just wanted to bring someone into the Forbidden City Film Studio as an assistant. But Lin Jianlu didn't quite believe that she had no intention of personally grooming a daughter-in-law.

Let her go. As long as she agrees to go, the mission is already accomplished.

As she herself said, it's highly likely that she won't actually be in charge of the accounts.

(End of this chapter)