Chapter 171 The 171st Day of Not Running Away The first day of not running away...

Chapter 171 The 171st Day of Not Running Away The first day of not running away...

When Wen Chan was on her way to work, she had just been dropped off at the door by the driver when she heard children crying and laughing coming from the yard.

The noise was quite loud. She looked puzzled and followed Xiao Pan into the courtyard. After passing the screen wall, she saw a group of children and adults standing in the courtyard.

What's going on?

Seeing that Helan and the others were maintaining order, she casually grabbed Zhang Yan and asked him a question.

Zhang Yan said, "President Wen, you've arrived. These people are all here to register for the child star competition."

“Register? But didn’t we already say that?” Wen Chan held her handbag and looked at the adults and children who were trying to line up, her eyes full of confusion. “For the preliminary round, you only need to submit photos. Only after passing the preliminary round do you need to bring your child to Beijing for the competition.”

Zhang Yan said, "That's right. But for some reason, these people all came, and they even brought children. Sister Zhao said that since they've come, we can't just send them away to avoid any trouble. She's already sent someone to buy candy and biscuits to give to the children later before sending them off. It's reasonable and justifiable."

Wen Chan then suddenly realized what was going on.

Zhao Dan's instructions were flawless.

It is said that public opinion can be very powerful. They are a private enterprise, which makes them easy targets for criticism. If something goes wrong, the competition may be forced to be canceled.

Wen Chan walked over to Zhao Dan's office. Zhao Dan was busy dealing with a well-dressed mother and son. She was very polite to them. When she saw Wen Chan come in, she gave her a look. Wen Chan didn't say anything, handed her bag to Xiao Pan, waved for her to leave, and went in herself. She picked up the kettle and poured water for Zhao Dan and the mother and son.

The mother and son were clearly not ordinary people; they were dressed in high-end international brands.

The mother had her hair permed into waves and her makeup was elegant, but her tone was not very polite. "Mr. Zhao, then I'll have to leave this matter to you. My son doesn't look like he needs to go through any kind of audition, preliminary round, or semi-final, does he?"

Zhao Dan said, "Mrs. Sun, do you need to say that? With the young master's looks, we are extremely honored that he is willing to be our model."

Mrs. Sun's lips curled up, revealing a hint of smugness on her face.

She said calmly, "Then I'll be leaving. You're all so busy here, I wouldn't want to bother you by staying."

"What, you won't sit for a little longer? I've already had someone cut a fruit platter." Zhao Dan said solicitously, "The grapes and mangoes are still quite sweet this season, young master, do you like them?"

The child, about seven or eight years old, was wearing a little suit and a bow tie, and looked disdainful. "I'm tired of that kind of food. We only eat special food at home."

As the child spoke, he looked Wen Chan up and down and said to Zhao Dan, "Your secretary-general is quite pretty."

Mrs. Sun ignored what the child was saying, pulled the child up, and said to Zhao Dan, "No need to see us off. There are too many people outside, so as not to arouse suspicion."

Zhao Dan still saw them out, leaving through the back door.

When she returned to the office, she saw Wen Chan holding a business card. The card belonged to an antique shop. Wen Chan flipped the card over and nodded to Zhao Dan with her chin, "Sister Zhao, is that person from earlier an antique shop?"

Zhao Dan picked up her teacup, took a sip, sat down, and sighed. "How could that be? Does Mrs. Sun look capable? With her way of speaking, she would have lost a fortune long ago. Her husband has some connections, and he's not her legal wife, you understand?"

Wen Chan had already guessed as much as she had, so she wasn't surprised.

If she were a proper official's wife, even if she spoke in a bureaucratic tone, she would invite people to her own home. She wouldn't condescend to come to their place and ask for favors for nothing.

Doing this is giving them too much face.

That Mrs. Sun from earlier was trying to put on airs, but she did it poorly, making her look awkward, embarrassing, and annoying.

Wen Chan asked, "What about her son?"

Zhao Dan said, "There's nothing we can do. Our little temple can't afford to offend anyone. She's not the main wife, but her son is favored. If she says a few words in her ear, our paperwork can be controlled by her forever. I'm thinking, her son is not bad looking. We can just give him a special invitation model. Anyway, she doesn't care about the prize money we won in the competition. She just wants to show off."

Wen Chan was used to this kind of thing and wasn't surprised. She simply asked, "What's the situation with Director Wen? When will it go live?"

Tongmeng Company dismissed a group of parents who brought their children to register, and Wen Chan and others thought the matter was over.

Who knows, and I don't know what's wrong with some people. The newspapers and TV have made it clear that there's no need to come to the company for the audition, and there's no need to dress up your child like they're going to perform on stage. But those people are afraid that their children will fall behind, so they insist on coming.

There were even cases where bribery was required.

Even as junior employees, Sun Peng and others were targeted and given red envelopes (cash gifts).

They all voluntarily handed it in.

Boss Ye and Wen Chan and the others looked at the red envelopes and felt a mix of amusement and exasperation.

Wen Chan picked up a red envelope and said, "This is quite a lot. Twenty yuan in one red envelope is too much. It even has my name written on it. What kind of nonsense is this?"

Wen Qunshu said, "President Wen, we dare not say anything, but those people stuffed red envelopes into our pockets and then ran away. We didn't even recognize who they were."

Helan asked, puzzled, "Why are they doing this? They wrote their names down; aren't they afraid of having the same name as someone else?"

These days, the rate of duplicate names is quite high. Everyone loves to follow trends. During the Korean War, children were either named Kangmei or Yuanchao. Now, it's popular for boys to have names with "Jian" in them, such as Jianming, Jianquan, and Jianren. Girls, on the other hand, are popular to have names with characters like Hui, Jia, and Xian, which are mostly related to Hong Kong and Taiwanese celebrities.

If you were on the street and casually called out "Jia Hui," seven or eight people would definitely turn around; if you called out "Jian Ming," that would be even more remarkable.

Zhao Dan laughed and said, "Little girl, you don't understand. You may not remember them, but they remember you. You took the money and didn't do anything. Do you think those people were just giving you money for nothing and didn't care? They'll use this to blackmail you later. These people are really dirty-hearted. Write down their names, and tomorrow's newspaper will write about who sent money to us. They should come and collect it themselves, or donate it all to the police station. Also, let's make one more thing: if anyone brings a child, we won't accept their registration form. Damn it, what kind of crooked ideas are they all up to? We have our rules and procedures set up perfectly, but they still have to come and mess with us."

Zhao Dan was also somewhat angry.

They have to organize two competitions at the same time, which already involves a lot of work and they don't have enough manpower. And these people still dare to interfere. It's infuriating.

After the statement was published in the newspaper, things finally calmed down at the courtyard house.