Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 23: Turning against guests
A few days later, in Hengjiang City.

Zhang Xingguo and Sun Xiaohong both went to work, leaving only Zhang Yan's second aunt at home.

As usual, she first swept the house inside and out with a broom—especially the outside corridor and stove, which her second aunt cleaned very carefully.

Seeing that it was almost time, she prepared to go to the market to buy groceries. She would just have a light lunch, but every evening she would cook two good dishes for her sister-in-law and brother-in-law.

This is where Aunt Zhang's shrewdness lies. She knows that making a fuss will only make things worse, so she rushes to help the Zhang family with chores every day.

She was most enthusiastic about jobs that would make her stand out in front of her neighbors, and she even paid for her own groceries—Sun Xiaohong tried to make up for it several times, but she refused.

That's why, even though she had been staying at the Zhang family's house for more than a week, Zhang Xingguo and Sun Xiaohong couldn't bring themselves to ask her to leave.

Actually, my second aunt didn't necessarily want her daughter to become a cadre in the city. She was willing to settle for less and try to get more benefits out of her—at least she wanted to earn back dozens or even hundreds of times the money she spent on groceries.

Anyway, Zhang Yan is a famous writer now, and he has plenty of money.

Let's just hold on for now and see who gives up first!

Just as Auntie was about to go out, she suddenly heard a car horn honking downstairs. Curious, she peeked down and saw a van parked at the gate. Two people got out, one of whom was Zhang Yan.

My second aunt's eyes lit up immediately, and she quickly picked up the broom again and swept the house from the beginning.

"Reporter Wang, this is my home."

Hearing Zhang Yan's voice, his second aunt hurriedly grabbed a broom and went to the door to greet him, excitedly saying, "Zhang Yan, you're finally back! I..."

Before she could utter a second word, a dark, gaping object was shoved right in front of her.

My second aunt was so startled that she took two steps back before realizing that it was a video camera.

The person carrying the camera smiled and said, "You must be Teacher Zhang Yan's mother? Don't be afraid, I'm a reporter from Tianjin TV..."

"Reporter Wang!"

At this moment, Zhang Yan hurriedly stepped between the camera and his second aunt, quietly unscrewing the lens cap while pretending to explain, "You've misunderstood, this is my second aunt."

The reporter, who even forgot to remove the lens cap, was naturally Wang Zhongqi in disguise. As for the camera on his shoulder, it was just an empty shell borrowed through connections, with all the parts inside already disassembled.

"Does your second aunt live here too?"

Wang Zhongqi feigned surprise as he looked around the room, his gaze finally settling on the double bed.

Aunt Zhang was at a loss for words, so Zhang Yan explained, "My aunt is just staying here temporarily for a few days... uh, ten days or so."

So your parents aren't home?

"I just called them, they should be back in a bit." Zhang Yan glanced at the wall clock, then said ingratiatingly to Wang Zhongqi, "Reporter Wang, please have a seat for a while, I'll go downstairs and buy you two packs of cigarettes."

"no, I'm fine."

Wang Zhongqi said he didn't need it, but he plopped down on the desk.

Zhang Yan instructed his second aunt to pour water for the guests, and then hurriedly went downstairs.

As soon as he left, Wang Zhongqi immediately pointed the camera at his second aunt's face and asked, "You are Zhang's second aunt, right? Could you cooperate with me for a brief interview?"

"I?"

My second aunt pointed to herself in surprise, then shook her head vigorously like a rattle drum: "No, no, no, I can't, I really can't!"

"What's wrong with that?"

Wang Zhongqi persisted, saying, "This is a task assigned by the organization; it's to be broadcast on television. How can you not cooperate?"

"I, this..."

My second aunt panicked even more, and said helplessly, "I don't know what to say, I... I don't know what to say either."

"Please feel free to speak. For example, you can tell me what you're here for. If you encounter any difficulties, I might be able to help you solve them."

Although the second aunt was somewhat clever, she was still quite naive. With the camera pointed at her and Wang Zhongqi coaxing and intimidating her, she eventually blurted out her purpose in a daze.

Wang Zhongqi's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he excitedly asked, "With your connections, Writer Zhang definitely won't refuse such a small thing as finding a job, right?"

Seeing him like this, his second aunt instinctively felt uneasy, but if she said her nephew wouldn't help, wouldn't that be undermining her own efforts? So she nodded vaguely, "Of course, Zhang Yan was closest to his second uncle when he was little..."

"what?"

Just then, Zhang Yan, carrying a pack of expensive cigarettes, walked in right on time. Seeing his second aunt being interviewed, he exclaimed in surprise, "Aunt, what are you doing here...?"

"Teacher Zhang."

Wang Zhongqi stood up, his face stern, and questioned, "Last year's major crackdown on malpractices resulted in the arrest of many people. I never expected that you, Teacher Zhang, would dare to defy the trend. This is truly an eye-opener!"

"What do you mean?"

Zhang Yan looked at Wang Zhongqi, then at his second aunt, his expression one of utter bewilderment.

My second aunt panicked at this point and said urgently, "I...I didn't say anything just now?!"

"Didn't say anything?"

Wang Zhongqi sneered: "You want to use connections and backdoors to get your relatives with rural household registration and primary school diplomas into government agencies and state-owned enterprises? Isn't that going against the grain?"

As he spoke, he patted the camera with a smug look on his face: "I recorded the entire conversation just now."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yan immediately rushed forward and pretended to snatch the camera.

"what?!"

Wang Zhongqi shrank back and said sternly, "I work for Tianjin TV Station. Do you dare to steal my things?!"

"It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding."

Zhang Yan quickly denied it, then took the opportunity to shove the cigarette into his hand: "You have a cigarette, you have a cigarette."

"Come on this!"

Wang Zhongqi pushed the cigarette away, protected the camera, and walked out, saying, "I need to send this news back to the station as soon as possible."

"No, Reporter Wang, Reporter Wang!"

Zhang Yan glared fiercely at his second aunt, then followed her out.

My second aunt was completely dumbfounded.

Shortly after, Zhang Xingguo and Sun Xiaohong also made their appearance.

After 'finding out' what had happened, Zhang Xingguo immediately pulled out a newspaper he had prepared beforehand and slammed it in front of his second aunt: "Look at this, look at this! Last year, during the crackdown on malfeasance, hundreds of magazines across the country went bankrupt, and many people were implicated. Now what you've done... if anything happens to my son... I..."

As he spoke, he slammed his hand on the table. His second aunt was startled by each slam. She didn't think it was a big deal when he said "rectification," but when it came to "crackdown," she had heard far too many exaggerated rumors from the past few years.

When Sun Xiaohong mentioned that her appearance might be exposed on Tianjin TV, her second aunt was so frightened that she burst into tears.

Just then, Zhang Yan called, saying that he had temporarily calmed down reporter Wang, but the other party was making exorbitant demands, wanting to extort a hefty hush money fee.

He only received half of his royalties, most of which were used to install a telephone. Now he can only pool his resources and borrow from relatives back home to pay them back when the rest of his royalties arrive.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Xingguo and Sun Xiaoli's eyes fell on their second aunt.

Auntie was on the verge of tears. She hadn't expected to not only fail to get any benefit but also have to pay out money. However, since she was the one who caused the trouble, she couldn't bring herself to refuse.

Finally, he could only bite the bullet and say, "I...I'll go back and discuss it with the head of the household."

"I'll go back with you."

Sun Xiaohong immediately began packing her luggage, muttering to herself, "My older brother's family should have some savings too..."

Zhang Xingguo also said, "I'll go back to my hometown and ask around. Sigh~ My relatives are counting on this to benefit from it, but who knew... sigh!"

Over the next two days, the couple, carrying news reports about the crackdown on vulgarity, obscenity, and vulgarity, visited all their relatives and borrowed more than two thousand yuan in small amounts. They continued to pay back the money intermittently until the end of the year.

After that, no one went to the Zhang family to freeload anymore, and the second aunt became the target of everyone's anger, and was even given a good beating by the second uncle...

(End of this chapter)