Huayu: Starting by piggybacking on the fame of "Fairy Mom"

Two more days passed, and Zhou Xiaobai, who had taken sick leave, hid in her bedroom and made several phone calls.

Some were given to Grandma Wang at the orphanage, some to Fan Bingbing and Tong Liya, and naturally, some were given to Chen Minghua—it would be his turn to speak soon.

Upon entering the living room, the family members seemed to have made a pact to start sneezing one after another.

Liu Qianqian had a high fever, her head resting on her mother's lap, her eyes red and listless—to put on a good show, her expressions had to be on point.

Needless to say, Liu Xiaoli, who braved the rain to pick people up, also caught a cold, and Zhou Wenqiong also got soaked in the rain, so naturally they couldn't be left out.

We're a family, and we agreed to be together all the time, with no one missing.

On the television, Pan Jinlian was holding the medicine, while Wu Dalang looked ashen-faced.

As expected of an actress, Zhou Wenqiong delivered the medicine in perfect unison, saying, "Dalang/Xixi, it's time to take your medicine."

"Pfft." Liu Xiaoli laughed out loud.

Liu Qianqian looked up to drink her medicine, muttering, "Auntie, it's too bitter..."

She downed the bowl of bitterness in one gulp, then stole a glance at Zhou Xiaobai, thinking viciously to herself: If this doesn't work out, I'm not finished with you. This old lady has really suffered.

Zhou Xiaobai's face turned pale, and he sighed at the right moment: "Sigh, when I make money in the future, I will definitely buy you a car with a canopy, so that you will never get wet in the rain again."

"Oh, it even has a canopy? It's not one of those toy tricycles you see on TV, is it?" Zhou Wenqiong handed him another dose of medicine. "Drink it quickly, then sleep it off, and you'll dream about anything."

"Hmph," Zhou Xiaobai said sarcastically, "Actors are all driving cars, and you have nothing. You're a disgrace to the Zhou family."

He then turned to Liu Xiaoli, his words full of gratitude, "Sister Li is the best. She came to pick me up even in such heavy rain. I will definitely take good care of you in the future."

"Achoo!"

Liu Xiaoli swallowed her cold medicine and cleared her throat: "Now you know Sister Li is better? But as for the car..."

She looked at Zhou Wenqiong, hesitant to speak.

Last night, the two talked privately again about Chen Minghua's dance invitation, and they were still worried.

However, Zhou Wenqiong remarked that if this wasn't a scheme set up by someone surnamed Chen, it wouldn't be something she couldn't consider.

She had already heard about what happened at Liu Xiaoli's workplace and was already on her own, so she didn't have time to worry about anything else.

As for the shopping mall emcee job she took on, it was because she was spurred by shopping that day. She agreed to the job without even asking the price after receiving a phone call from the other party.

When it came time to settle the bill, the other party was quite generous. Because of the delay caused by the heavy rain, they gave us an extra 2,000 yuan.

"Ugh!"

The cousins ​​looked at each other and sighed – it's all because we're broke. We never imagined raising a child would cost so much. What are we going to do in the future?

Everyone says that sons should be raised frugally and daughters should be raised lavishly, but we can't mistreat our daughters. Xiaobai is a boy, and since he's been to an orphanage, we're not afraid of raising him frugally.

Just as my thoughts were wandering, the phone rang—

"Feed?"

Liu Xiaoli answered the phone casually, but the voice on the other end made her fall silent again.

After listening, she refused again: "Mr. Chen, I said I definitely won't answer. I'm hanging up—"

"Teacher Liu, don't hang up yet, let me finish." On the other end of the phone, Chen Minghua rubbed his temples and hurriedly stopped him.

"Go on," Liu Xiaoli said, her face still cold as she continued to listen.

The other three, however, perked up their ears.

"Teacher Liu, to be honest, next month is our promotional period, and we at Era Records are here with sincerity. Tomorrow is May Day, and the chart-topping is scheduled for mid-June. Time is tight, and we need a suitable and influential dance teacher, plus Ms. Zhou..." Chen Minghua said sincerely on the phone.

"It's not that I don't want to answer, but you know my status," Liu Xiaoli said, and was about to hang up.

Zhou Wenqiong snatched the phone away and pressed the speakerphone button. "President Chen, this is Zhou Wenqiong. Tell me the truth, what's the point of this invitation? Why does it have to be us?"

Clearly, she wanted to hear the most truthful reason.

According to industry standards, "300,000" is an astronomical price.

Even if you hire the most popular movie actors, you might not get this kind of treatment.

Chen Minghua was taken aback: Could it be that Zhou Xiaobai's side had been exposed? But then he thought it was impossible. If they had been exposed, Zhou Xiaobai wouldn't have called him at this time.

He composed himself and said seriously, "As I told you both before, this is a children's song album, and there will be absolutely nothing inappropriate about the content. Only this song, 'Apple Dance,' is special; it's specifically designed for chart rankings."

After a moment's thought, he added, "The rest of the dance music is choreographed normally. There's no rush. We're still preparing, and we plan to record it again in August."

"You understand what I mean by asking," Zhou Wenqiong said, implying something else entirely.

"What do you mean? This is just a normal business collaboration. Our little singer's parents specifically requested her after seeing Teacher Liu's dance, and Li Jun just happened to mention you, so we wanted to finalize the deal for both of you." Chen Minghua explained, but secretly he was thinking: There must be something going on here, Zhou Xiaobai didn't mention it.

"Who is the singer? And who are the parents?" Zhou Wenqiong pressed, still not believing the explanation.

"This... well, the other party requested confidentiality. I can only say that the young singer's name is Liu Yifei." Chen Minghua suppressed a laugh; he really couldn't hold it in any longer.

This pit is really deep.

The younger child tricked the parents, who then suspected a scam; it all seemed like a trap.

"real?"

Zhou Wenqiong and Liu Xiaoli exchanged a glance, just about to ask another question—

Chen Minghua didn't want to beat around the bush anymore and directly used his last trump card: "500,000, sign a contract, and I guarantee there will be no additional conditions."

Zhou Wenqiong and Liu Xiaoli were instantly dumbfounded, all the words they wanted to say stuck in their throats.

Five hundred thousand!

Just for recording a music video for an album?

Are record companies really that profitable these days? Did we choose the wrong industry? Is it too late to learn to sing now?

Hiring a dancer costs 500,000, so how much must Era Records earn? And how much must singers earn?

With this money, wouldn't we have a car?

The two exchanged a glance, then looked at Liu Qianqian and Zhou Xiaobai, who were staring wide-eyed.

At this moment, their expressions were spot-on, their faces full of anticipation.

Liu Qianqian even sniffed a few times, with clear soup noodles under her nostrils, while Zhou Xiaobai kept sneezing.

On the other end of the phone, Chen Minghua seemed to feel the other person's breathing become heavier.

He didn't urge him, but simply waited quietly for a reply.

After a long while, Zhou Wenqiong and Liu Xiaoli looked at each other and nodded at the same time.

Zhou Wenqiong asked, word by word, "President Chen, can you guarantee that?"

Chen Minghua chuckled. Had it worked? Money really could move mountains; those two kids were truly amazing.

He was an insider about the scheme Zhou Xiaobai and Liu Qianqian were orchestrating behind the scenes, but he hadn't expected them to be so precise.

He chuckled lightly: "If you don't believe me, let's talk face to face later, how about it? We'll sign the contract on the spot, pay first, no installments, no delays."

"We'll be there on time in half an hour," Zhou Wenqiong said succinctly.

After hanging up the phone, she stared at Liu Xiaoli: "Sister, this shouldn't have anything to do with that Chen guy. Anyway, let's go talk to him first. If it works out, we'll stick to the contract."

She suddenly laughed happily, "Besides, the money is paid in advance. So what if it really is that guy surnamed Chen who's up to something? Once we have the money, we can just part ways later."

"But that dance..." Liu Xiaoli still hesitated.

"What are you afraid of? We're filming a movie, and there are even more intimate scenes. Besides, that dance is just some movements at the end of the day; to be honest, it's just silly."

As she spoke, she picked up the remote and changed the channel—

The television was showing a bodybuilding competition with participants dressed in tight-fitting outfits.

Switching channels again, I saw CCTV's Teacher Ma's yoga class starting up again.

Liu Xiaoli looked at the scene on TV, and without saying a word, pulled Zhou Wenqiong and turned to go into the bedroom.

Ten minutes later, the two men, now dressed differently, emerged from the house, tossing out a parting remark: "You two stay home and we'll earn you a car."

As soon as the door closed, Zhou Xiaobai and Liu Qianqian clapped their hands in celebration.