Huayu: Live a carefree life

Chapter 81 Warning of Market Crash

The atmosphere at the banquet afterwards was no longer as relaxed as it had been at the beginning. Tian Xiwei stopped arguing with Hu Lianxin and became as docile as if she had become a different person.

Lu Jie comforted Zhang Xincheng, telling him to focus on filming and then prepare to transfer to Lingjie Entertainment before ending the banquet.

Now that it's on the table, Boss Lu will most likely be able to save on the transfer fee by taking advantage of this opportunity.

Xiao Hu obediently went back to the hotel to prepare, while Lu Jie took Xiao Tian to chat with director Yuan Shuang for a while.

After learning that Xiaotian would finish filming in a week at most, he announced that he had chosen her as the female lead for the "So Cute Us" project.

Tian Xiwei was stunned. Her already large eyes widened into saucers. "Me? The female lead!"

"Hehe, yes. Actually, it was decided a long time ago, but President Lu told me not to tell you~" Yuan Shuang winked at Xiao Tian.

He stopped talking just as he was about to say something more, then turned and left without even saying goodbye, simply because Tian Xiwei had already taken Lu Jie's kiss.

The security guards naturally looked away and went on alert. Xiao Liu and Xiao Wu exchanged glances, then poked her soft flesh.

"You're so useless! Learn from those girls, just pounce! Congratulations, you've got another competitor now~" she whispered.

Xiao Wu pursed her lips, turned around and sat in the passenger seat first. "Don't look anymore, the boss won't kiss for too long, get in the car first."

Just as she expected, Lu Jie let Xiaotian vent her emotions for a moment before gently pushing her away. "Getting excited already?"

"Hmm—" Xiaotian sniffed, suppressing the tears in her eyes, "My old man has never been this kind to me—"

You've never even had me—"

Lu Jie helped her into the car, and when he saw Xiao Wu sitting in the passenger seat and Xiao Liu nowhere to be seen, he didn't say anything.

He hugged Xiaotian and flicked his nose, "Silly girl, your parents will always be the ones who love you the most."

"According to Sun Zhonghuai, his practice of throwing resources at you before I even got them is reminiscent of the old-fashioned coal bosses."

"Pfft—" Xiao Wu in the front seat couldn't help but burst out laughing, and the security captain, Lao Li, who was driving, also broke down and coughed a few times to cover up his embarrassment.

Tian Xiwei laughed so hard she almost cried, "Oh my god, that's hilarious! You actually said you're a coal mine owner, pfft~ haha~"

"Actually, at first he called my behavior 'simp,' but after I made him drink half a jin of liquor, he changed his tune and said it in a slightly more elegant way."

"Goose, goose, goose~" Xiao Wu couldn't hold back any longer and laughed out loud with Xiao Tian.

After much effort, he finally managed to calm down. "Oh dear, boss, I can't take it anymore! You can skip the piano performance at the company's year-end party and just do a stand-up comedy routine instead!"

Oda astutely caught the key point: "You can also play the piano?"

In response, Xiao Wu held out her phone: "This is a video of the boss playing the piano at last year's company annual meeting. It was amazing!"

"I never expected you to have this skill!" After watching the five-minute video, Xiao Tian was even more impressed with Lu Jie.

Just as they were about to continue chatting, they saw Lu Jie frowning as he answered the phone, so they promptly stopped talking.

Lu Jie always respected his seniors. "Good evening, Uncle Li. You're calling me so late, are you trying to be a peacemaker?"

"Haha, it's nothing, just passing on a message." Uncle Li's voice was nonchalant. "Zhang Huali, Cai Huaijun, and Zhang Yong are all old friends of mine. They all came to me together, so it wasn't easy to refuse."

Hearing Lu Jie give a curt "oh" without responding, Uncle Li wasn't annoyed and continued to state his thoughts plainly, "They proposed a solution: fire all three bastards and blacklist them from the industry."

"Oh, what's it to me?" Lu Jie gestured for a while but no one offered him a cigarette before he remembered that Xiao Wu was sitting in the passenger seat, so he had to get it himself.

Fortunately, Tian Xiwei was perceptive enough to light the cigarette as soon as she saw Lu Jie put it in his hand.

Uncle Li wasn't angry despite being rebuffed. "Hey, Xiao Lu, if you're upset, don't take it out on me. I was just passing on a message."

""

"Uncle Li, what's the big deal?" Lu Jie, seeing that the situation was ripe, began to complain, "I came to visit my girlfriend on set and thought it would be normal to invite the main cast and crew to dinner, right?"

"Then that bastard surnamed Pan from EE-Media accused me of poaching their artists. Isn't that ridiculous? Even if I wanted to poach someone, I wouldn't do it in front of the entire crew, would I?"

"That's definitely not possible, that bastard's got something wrong with his head!" Uncle Li on the other end of the phone agreed.

Lu Jie flicked his cigarette ash. "I didn't take it to heart at first, but halfway through the meal, some bastard called and started spouting nonsense."

"You have no idea how vulgar this insult is! Is this supposed to be insulting Zhang Xincheng? This is insulting me, insulting Tencent!"

"Oh, and that idiot Xiao Ning, his men insulted him and he's still playing dumb with me. Tell me, should I take care of them?"

Uncle Li didn't know how to respond for a moment. It seemed that he wasn't being unreasonable, but his three old friends sat down beside him with livid faces.

He could only sigh and continue to persuade, "Xiao Lu, how about this, since you're interested in Zhang Xincheng—"

"Uncle Li, even you're cursing me? Then there's nothing more to talk about, I'm hanging up—" Lu Jie interrupted directly and made a move to hang up the phone.

"No, no, no, Xiao Lu, don't hang up! I misspoke!" Uncle Li cursed the little fox under his breath.

"I'll make the decision for them. We'll terminate the contract with that kid named Zhang Xincheng tomorrow. Where he goes after that is his business. The original terms remain unchanged. How about it?"

"Uncle Li, it has to be you." Lu Jie smiled slightly and stubbed out his cigarette.

Uncle Li breathed a sigh of relief, "Then this matter—"

"But what I said is like water spilled on the ground. For your sake, I'll let it drop by three limit-down days, three bastards, one day each."

"This—" Uncle Li thought for a moment and didn't try to persuade him further. Everything in excess is bad. "Then I'll thank you on their behalf!"

As he said this, Zhang Huali, Cai Huaijun, and Zhang Yong next to him had constipated expressions on their faces, as if they were saying, "Thank you for your whole family's big watermelon!"

Lu Jie smiled, exchanged a few polite words, and then hung up the phone.

"Uncle Li—Li Zhigang?" Tian Xi asked after a moment's thought.

Lu Jie smiled and nodded. "Oh, not bad, you know him?"

"Hey bro, I'm from Shanghai Theatre Academy, okay?"

"How did you manage to combine the Chongqing dialect and Shanghainese so well?" Lu Jie pinched her cute little face.

Xiao Tian gently slapped away the mischievous hand, "Hey, I've been in Shanghai for over two years now, okay?"

Lu Jie turned to Xiao Wu, "Tell Du Shengming tomorrow morning that we should start with three limit-down days, and then we'll see how the market moves to short or go long."

After skillfully jotting down the notes in his notebook, Xiao Wu gave an OK sign. His boss was ruthless; he wouldn't stop until he made back the losses from the market crash through stock index futures.

At this moment, Xiao Hu sent a seductive selfie, and Lu Jie replied with a smile, "I'll be there soon."