Chapter 114: Becoming the Son-in-Law Works Too

Professional actors charge professional rates.

For those who use underhanded methods to scam money through performance, of course, there’s a going rate for that, too.

The total came to 1,050 yuan.

1,000 yuan was to be split between the two of them, while the remaining 50 yuan was for their travel expenses out of Jiangzhou.

Tsk tsk.

They even split up the fee for information and travel costs so clearly.

Looks like these two aren’t first-timers at this kind of scam.

Who knows where that Jiangzhou City Culinary Association President found these two oddballs.

That’s right.

The one scheming against the Shining Ji at the station this time was none other than the president of the Jiangzhou City Culinary Association—Hua Mingqiang.

And Jiang Ning was pretty confident that the one behind the scheme at the Jiangzhou University branch was also this very same President Hua.

As for the reason?

She didn’t even have to think hard to figure it out.

Her business model had broken the “rules” that President Hua had set.

And on top of that, she had also refused his request to join the association.

Which led to all this nonsense now.

What a damn parasite.

Jiang Ning cursed under her breath in the office for quite a while.

It wasn’t until Xiao Mingxiu came in again that she reined in her emotions.

“No impact on customers, right?”

“None. I asked a few of them, and they said it was like watching a drama—it was kind of entertaining.”

When she said that, there was a trace of worry in Xiao Mingxiu’s eyes.

“Ningning, do you think we’ve been targeted?”

Oh?

Not bad.

Jiang Ning looked at her cousin-in-law with mild surprise.

“What gave you that idea?”

Xiao Mingxiu frowned and thought for a while, then sighed and said,
“Their acting was just too over-the-top…
Looking back, we’d never put arsenic in our oil or anything. How could someone eat our food and end up foaming at the mouth?”

Hearing this, Jiang Ning nodded and immediately felt like testing her. She considered for a moment before asking:

“Then tell me, cousin—why did I have you bring a pack of cigarettes to the security office, but sent you empty-handed to greet the station director?”

For some reason, the tone of Jiang Ning’s voice triggered an image in Xiao Mingxiu’s mind—her college thesis advisor’s face.

She paused, thought for a bit, and hesitated:

“Bribing the guards a little so they’ll look out for us more next time?”

“As for the director…”

Xiao Mingxiu wasn’t sure why Jiang Ning had done that.

In response, Jiang Ning simply sighed.

“Security is the guards’ responsibility, but it doesn’t make them enthusiastic about their job.”

“But a little favor can.”

“And the reason we didn’t bring anything to the director is, one, he doesn’t need petty favors, and two, it was to let him know this kind of situation won’t happen again—and even if it does, we’ll handle it.”

“He just needs to focus on doing his job as director properly.”

“The benefits down the road definitely won’t be small.”

—

In the afternoon.

Jiang Ning arranged to meet Li Mingyu at a teahouse near Jiangzhou University.

She reserved a quiet private room.

Once the two sat down…

Amid the soothing music,

Li Mingyu straightforwardly took an envelope from her bag and set it on the table.

“There’s not a lot of info on Hua Mingqiang. This is all I could gather.”

“Take a look. See if it helps you at all.”

Jiang Ning pushed the hair off her forehead, smiling as she accepted the envelope.

She opened it and took out the contents.

Just one sheet of paper.

It contained some basic information about Hua Mingqiang—age, height, weight, hobbies, even a note about his financial status.

Clearly, Li Mingyu had used some under-the-table means to dig this up from certain channels.

However—Anything found through official means is usually only surface-level.

Like the economic status section.

A culinary association president who’s used all kinds of tactics to collect bribes—How could he only own a single 80-square-meter three-bedroom apartment?

That’s just not realistic.

Even so—With her own abilities, Jiang Ning still managed to spot some useful details in the quasi-official info.

Hobbies…

Fishing, tea-drinking, bird-walking, mahjong…

Jiang Ning closed her eyes and leaned into the soft couch.

The gentle support made her sink into thought.

Scenes flashed through her mind at high speed.

If she remembered correctly—This guy also had a villa.

And in the villa’s yard, there was a fishpond the size of a swimming pool…

It was his personal fishing spot for fun.

What she didn’t know was whether, in this year—2001—that villa was already under his name.

If not—Then it might get tricky.

After thinking for a bit—Li Mingyu, who had just taken a sip of tea, set her cup down slowly.

“Well?”

“It’s alright.”

Jiang Ning wasn’t about to say the info wasn’t helpful.

After all, the other woman had already gone out on a limb to get this for her. Saying anything too blunt would just be rude.

Sure enough—When she heard that, Li Mingyu smiled warmly.

“As long as it helps.”

“If you decide to negotiate with him, make sure you bring me along.”

Jiang Ning knew Li Mingyu was just worried about her getting taken advantage of as a woman.

So even though she had no intention of talking with that guy yet, she still sincerely thanked her:

“Sure, Sister Mingyu. I’ll let you know once I have a plan.”

Hearing that, Li Mingyu nodded—then dropped a bit of news that made Jiang Ning a little frustrated.

“Liao Liao just contacted me.”

“She said that new little celebrity they found—her vocal cords are injured and she can’t sing your song. But they’ve contacted someone else. They’ll send over their info later.”

Upon hearing this—Jiang Ning didn’t say anything. She just lowered her head, quietly putting the document back into the folder, tying the string shut, and laying it flat on the table.

“It’s fine.”

“I figured that might happen.”

The entertainment industry’s always like this.

Same as doing business.

Whoever sticks their head out too much gets pushed down.

Ever since that Chen Yu got poached last time, she’d had this nagging feeling that something was off.

And now they came back saying she’d injured her vocal cords?

Seriously? You’re in the singing business and don’t know how to protect your voice?

How do you even end up injuring your vocal cords?

Jiang Ning gave a faint, noncommittal smile.

But—She didn’t really care about showbiz drama.

What she cared about right now was the new song she’d just produced.

If Top Entertainment couldn’t get the finished product promoted within the next week or so, what would happen when the Times Square store opened?

Should the song still be used?

If it was, it could easily be stolen by others.

Forget the money—someone could exploit a copyright loophole and turn around to sue her.

After all, this era wasn’t like the future.

People didn’t really have strong copyright awareness yet.

But if she didn’t release it…

Would that mean the song would just go to waste?

Honestly—Jiang Ning had originally planned to go through Top Entertainment for distribution.

Release the track as a single, tie it in with the Times Square store launch, and create a unique advertising buzz.

But the whole plan had barely started before it was suddenly stalled—because they couldn’t find a singer.

“What are you planning to do now?”

Li Mingyu crossed her legs and leaned back into the sofa, her whole posture exuding a kind of elegant, mature laziness.

“If it doesn’t work out, maybe just shelve it for now.”

At this point, trying to find another singer—if they didn’t have solid vocal skills and couldn’t pull off the song—might be worse than not releasing it at all.

Li Mingyu understood what Jiang Ning was thinking. After a moment of silence, she suddenly smiled and said:

“Why don’t you just sing it yourself?”

“Don’t joke like that, Mingyu-jie, how could I…”

Before Jiang Ning could finish objecting, Li Mingyu raised a long, slender index finger to cut her off.

“First, it’s your own song—of course you’d deliver it best.”

Then she raised a second finger.

“Second, if you’re worried about exposure, why not sign a no-face-show contract with Top Entertainment?”

“They want the song, the fame, and the money.”

“If you don’t show your face, they’ll actually save a lot on PR and appearances.”

“But…” Jiang Ning hesitated a bit. “I don’t really have that much time.”

At those words—Li Mingyu smiled, picked up the phone on the table, and handed it over.

“Talk to her yourself.”

Huh?

Jiang Ning blinked and took the phone, looking down at the screen.

Oh wow.

The call was already active.

And the name on the screen—

Liao Liao.

Well, then.

Jiang Ning immediately realized she’d been set up by this sly, elegant older sister. Rolling her eyes, she sighed and picked up the phone anyway.

She greeted softly,

“Liao Liao-jie…”

And for the next five minutes,

Jiang Ning listened as Liao Liao laid out the benefits of her singing the song herself—from revenue splits, to amending her old contract, to resource allocations and confidentiality agreements.

That was all manageable—just food for thought.

But then Liao Liao said they could reference foreign models and design a virtual identity specifically for her.

Immediately, the image of Hatsune Miku popped into Jiang Ning’s mind.

Truth be told—

Old Man Jiang was tempted.

Her cheeks turned a little pink, and she gave a soft cough.

“Liao Liao-jie, um, can I give some input on the character design…?”

“Of course. It’s being designed just for you.”

Liao Liao’s voice on the other end didn’t even hesitate.

In the end, everything turned out great.

When Jiang Ning handed the phone back to Li Mingyu, the other woman was flipping through a fashion magazine.

“All set?”

Li Mingyu put the magazine down and asked gently:

“You’re not mad at your sister for taking matters into her own hands, right?”

“Not at all, not at all.” Jiang Ning knew how these elegant older women thought.

And she also knew that, most of the time, they were really looking out for her.

She didn’t mind having such a caring older sister.

Too bad her guy ran off.

Otherwise, with a sister like this—

The best way to thank her would probably be blushing and calling her “Daddy.”

——————————

Later that night.

Jiang Ning lay in bed.

She turned off the light and looked out the window through the glass.

Even though it was already past eleven—

She still wasn’t the least bit sleepy.

The reason was simple.

She kept thinking about how to deal with that Chairman Hua, who had repeatedly made moves against her.

Should she ask a higher-up for help?

Looking at her current network, probably only Li Mingyu’s dad had enough pull to make it happen.

But why would he help her?

Just because she was besties with his daughter?

Business partners?

Unless she married into the family…

Wait.

Son-in-law could work too—just not sure if her future mother-in-law would beat her to death first.

Since that route seemed unlikely—

Jiang Ning figured she’d just have to go with the plan she used in her past life: gather evidence and figure out a way to get this guy locked up, so he could join Chen Zhenguo on sewing machine duty.

So now, a new problem came up.

Jiang Ning didn’t have much solid dirt—nothing that could serve as an actual whistleblowing report.

If she wanted to take down Chairman Hua,

She’d have to collect some real stuff.

As for how to get it…

Jiang Ning thought for a moment.

Then her eyes lit up.

She rolled over and pulled her phone from under the bed.

Found Liao Liao, typed out a message, and hit send.

【Liao Liao-jie, I need to borrow someone. Urgent!!!】
(End of Chapter)