Poverty Alleviation C36

Chapter 36

After a full live stream, not only did Wei Sheng and his team completely sell out the scheduled farm products, but they were also “held hostage” by fans online, who coerced and enticed them into agreeing to secure another batch of Houzhai Village’s high-mountain old tree tea.

Oh, and those small rustic ceramic jars used for pickled radish strips—many people wanted them to be sold together with the radish. That way, after finishing the radish strips, the leftover jar could be repurposed as a flower vase.

Wei Sheng: (⊙﹏⊙)

Had he really aged? Why did he feel like he no longer understood the fashion trends of young people?

Using a pickling jar for flower arrangements? Help—wouldn’t the flowers end up smelling like pickles?

He never expected that just as he was being schooled by his imaginative fans, he would finally finish the stream, hoping to find an open space to get some fresh air and clear his mind, only to be completely stunned by a single sentence from Director Wang Qun.

“Xiao Wei, I’m giving you half a day off—go talk to President Zhou about signing the contract.”

Signing a contract? Signing what contract?

Wasn’t his contract with the TV station?

Wei Sheng’s exhausted eyes were filled with confusion.

Zhou Mingxing knew that Wei Sheng had just finished four hours of live streaming and was completely drained. But the situation was urgent—there was no time for hesitation.

“Wei Sheng, I’ve stayed at your house for a few days and count as the same generation as your mom. That makes you my junior, right? I know your brain is overworked right now, and you can’t think as efficiently as usual, but let me make one thing clear: what I’m about to say is absolutely not meant to harm you.”

Seeing that Wei Sheng still looked dazed and mentally overloaded, Zhou Mingxing gritted his teeth and ordered his assistant to bring a basin of ice-cold mountain spring water. Then, he tossed a towel to Wei Sheng.

“Wash your face and clear your head—then we’ll talk.”

“Hey—are you trying to freeze him to death? It’s still snowing in the mountains, and you’re making him wash his face with snowmelt?” Wang Qun couldn’t bear to watch anymore.

Sure, he was a die-hard career fan of Wei Sheng, but that didn’t mean he wanted to see him sacrifice his health for his career!

No one was better at manipulating a guest’s emotions than a director.

Wang Qun only said two sentences to wake Wei Sheng up completely.

First: “Pu Xiangdong sees that you’re popular now and is preparing to package and sell you off.”

Second: “You only have two choices—sell yourself at a high price to Zhou Mingxing, or sell yourself at a low price to the talent agency Pu Xiangdong found for you.”

Rumor had it that Pu Xiangdong’s wife even had shares in that agency. Just think about it—could that be a good place to end up?

The moment he heard Pu Xiangdong’s name, Wei Sheng felt suffocated.

Had he desecrated Pu’s ancestral grave in a past life or something? Why did Pu insist on targeting him? Couldn’t he go bother someone else?

This was unbearable—even an aunt wouldn’t tolerate it!

Now, he finally understood why Director Wang had given him half a day off to negotiate with Zhou Mingxing.

Wang was absolutely right—other than working with Zhou Mingxing, Wei Sheng truly had no better option.

At the TV station, Pu Xiangdong outranked him by a long shot. Unless he quit, resigned voluntarily, and gave up his job, offending the future top executive would leave him with nothing but trouble.

But… Wei Sheng sneered inwardly.

That bastard Pu cheated on his wife, legitimized his mistress, and even pimped out his own wife to curry favor with the powerful. He was covered in filth himself, yet he still wanted to screw over Wei Sheng?

At that moment, the usually mild-mannered and easygoing Wei Sheng suddenly became rebellious.

Why the hell should he give up the job he had worked so hard to land?

Let’s see who goes down first—him, or Pu Xiangdong!

Thinking back to how Zhou Mingxing had publicly confronted Pu at the TV station’s back courtyard, acting all high and mighty, Wei Sheng couldn’t help but chuckle.

As the saying goes—”The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Zhou Mingxing clearly hated Pu Xiangdong.

How convenient! Wei Sheng didn’t like Pu either.

Well then—let’s talk business.

Truthfully, Wei Sheng wasn’t a huge fan of the entertainment industry’s environment in the mainland. But Zhou Mingxing’s personal reputation reassured him. If he signed under Zhou, and just worked like the other artists in his agency—relying on real skills rather than hype—he might not get super rich, but his income would still far surpass that of an average job.

Zhou Mingxing was well-prepared—he even had two versions of the contract ready.

“Tsk—Uncle Zhou, after eating so many pork trotters at my house, you’re still treating me like an outsider?”

Wei Sheng raised an eyebrow as he looked at the first contract, which was clearly a slave contract.

“It’s just for show—so no one can later accuse you of getting special treatment,” Zhou Mingxing chuckled and pointed at the contract. “Memorize the most outrageous clauses in this one! If anyone questions you later, just bring up these terms.”

Wei Sheng got the message and decided to let Zhou off the hook for all the pork trotters he had eaten.

God knows—his mom and grandma had actually treated Zhou Mingxing like a superior official.

During the days Zhou was “recuperating” at their house, the food standard was as high as their Lunar New Year feasts! Every single meal included a pot of nourishing soup specially prepared for Zhou.

Sometimes it was soybean-stewed pork trotters.

Other times, it was Astragalus black chicken soup.

And once, they even made cordyceps pigeon soup!

Wei Sheng himself had never even had that before!

Carefully reviewing the first “slave contract,” Wei Sheng worried that he wouldn’t remember the most ridiculous terms, so he took out his phone and snapped pictures of the worst ones.

Compared to the “slave contract,” the actual contract that Zhou Mingxing wanted him to sign was much more reasonable.

As a newcomer without any backing, if he really listened to Pu Xiangdong’s nonsense and signed with an external agency, it wouldn’t be surprising if they skinned him alive.

In reality, Zhou Mingxing told him that regardless of whether he was still in his probationary period, as long as he was formally hired through the television station’s official recruitment process, signing with the station’s subsidiary entertainment company would grant him many exclusive benefits reserved for internal employees.

For example, when they sign revenue-sharing contracts with external newcomers, the split for the first three years is 80-20, with the company taking 80% and the newcomer only 20%.

But for Wei Sheng, the contract terms were much better—his revenue split for the first two years would be 70-30, with him receiving 30%. After two years, if he became popular and started generating significant profits for the company, they would typically adjust the split to 50-50 or even 60-40 to retain him.

If he became even more successful and established himself with representative works and a strong fanbase, he could negotiate a partnership with the company and establish his own studio, just like the company’s two biggest stars.

Wei Sheng had no objections to this revenue model—after all, in every industry, newcomers had little bargaining power.

He only made two requests:

1. He refused to erase his current personal social media history or let the company fabricate a celebrity persona for him. He insisted on managing his own Weibo and other social media accounts.
2. He would not accept any form of unspoken rules or resource-exchange deals. Even if he had no jobs and was bored at home, he would rather idle around than sell his dignity.

Zhou Mingxing nearly laughed in exasperation.

“You think I don’t get along with Pu Xiangdong for no reason?”

“I don’t care about his personal affairs, but if he thinks he can treat my artists like playthings and send them off to entertain those scumbags, he must be dreaming!”

The real reason Zhou Mingxing and Pu Xiangdong had grown increasingly hostile wasn’t just personal dislike—it was because Pu Xiangdong had overstepped his boundaries.

Pu’s mistress-turned-wife was getting older. While she was still seductive, certain high-status individuals had more particular tastes and didn’t find her appealing.

Pu Xiangdong didn’t dare to mess with the girls inside the television station system—they either had strong personalities or solid backgrounds. So, he set his sights on the group’s subsidiary companies.

It was rumored that several young, naive women from the advertising company had already fallen into his trap.

Zhou Mingxing couldn’t control what happened elsewhere, but if Pu thought he could use his people as offerings to the powerful, that was out of the question.

Pu had probed him multiple times, joking about how he had good connections and suggesting that he send a few clever and obedient girls—or even some good-looking young men—to attend certain dinners. As long as they were sweet-talking and uninhibited, the big shots could casually reward them with an endless stream of resources.

Why bother memorizing lines, honing basic skills, or going through auditions when one dinner could change everything?

Hearing such shameless words, Zhou Mingxing had barely restrained himself from slapping him right then and there.

If Pu was so eager to sell someone, why not sell himself? What had those innocent young girls done to deserve this? They just wanted to earn a living with their skills—why should they be dragged into such filth?

After years in the entertainment industry, Zhou Mingxing knew how tempting shortcuts could be.

After all, his ex-wife had taken that path…

But he also knew that for most people, it was a one-way road to ruin.

Take enough shortcuts, and you forget how to walk on your own.

And capital never favors anyone forever.

Once a big shot grows bored, you either scramble to find another backer or, having lost the ability to survive in the industry on your own, fade into obscurity.

Zhou Mingxing wasn’t some saint. He signed artists because he wanted to cultivate long-term money-makers for his company—not fleeting meteors that burned out overnight.

Of course, if an artist actively sought shortcuts, he wouldn’t stop them. Plenty had left his company over the years, unable to endure the struggles of being a newcomer and hoping to soar to the top through connections.

Unfortunately, not one of them had actually “soared.”

Many ended up as caged canaries in some tycoon’s gilded cage, never to be seen in the industry again.

Wei Sheng shrugged. “Then I’ve got no issues. When do we sign? I’ll find a lawyer.” He rolled up the second contract and stuffed it into his winter coat pocket.

Zhou Mingxing’s mouth twitched.

This kid called him “Uncle Zhou” so affectionately, but still didn’t fully trust him? He even wanted to hire a lawyer? Hmph!

Still, in this industry, being cautious was never a bad thing.

In the face of immense profits, even blood relatives might stab each other in the back for money.

Wasn’t that exactly what happened to Pu Xiangdong’s newly promoted mistress-turned-wife?

She had thought marrying the deputy station chief would grant her a glamorous life as an official’s wife.

Yet, in the end, she became nothing more than a “shared bicycle” for Pu Xiangdong to curry favor with the powerful.

Seeing Wei Sheng’s vigilance actually reassured Zhou Mingxing.

People from government-affiliated backgrounds often had a fatal flaw—they let their guard down around “their own people.”

But Wei Sheng was wary enough to even be cautious of his future manager. That meant he wasn’t the type to be easily taken advantage of.

To avoid any complications, Zhou Mingxing took Wei Sheng back to the company that very afternoon.

On the way, Wei Sheng had already arranged for his lawyer.

“Let me see which law firm your lawyer is from… Holy crap! Gongyi Law Firm?” Zhou Mingxing nearly choked on his own saliva.

He looked up at Wei Sheng in shock and uncertainty. “Do you know Xue Cungong or Liang Yi?”

This Gongyi Law Firm wasn’t just well-known in J Province—it was a powerhouse feared across the entire country!

Their rise to fame came from a domestic violence disfigurement case that once shocked the entire nation.

The victim was the wife of a small restaurant owner—a timid and submissive housewife. The perpetrator? Her own husband.

This man, who acted like a devoted husband in front of friends and relatives, was actually a deeply insecure and twisted monster.

At first, the couple ran a small restaurant together. It was inevitable to encounter a few drunken troublemakers. Seeing that the boss’s wife was gentle and soft-spoken, some of them would try to take advantage of her.

The woman endured these humiliations in her own store, not daring to offend customers for the sake of business. But instead of comfort from her husband, she was met with a brutal storm of punches at home!

From that point on, whenever he heard customers laughing and joking in the front, the man, busy cooking in the kitchen, would start to suspect—was his wife “flirting with men in public” again?

Eventually, one day, he saw his wife helping a drunken customer stay on his feet.

The woman had only been worried that the man might fall and try to extort them for money. She never expected that her good intentions would nearly cost her life!

That night, the man tied her up with wire, gagged her with tape, and used a sharp kitchen knife to slash her once-beautiful face into a mangled mess!

Afraid she would escape and call for help, he broke her hands and feet and chained her up in their spare bedroom.

If it weren’t for a neighbor who saw a bloody handprint on the window and secretly called the police, this poor woman would have been washed down the drain by the time her husband returned from the restaurant…

That trial shook the entire nation!

And the ones who personally sent that monster to hell on charges of attempted murder? Gongyi Law Firm!

“Hehe~ Uncle Liang lives in the same neighborhood as my grandpa! Granny Liang really likes me. When I was little, I often stayed at my grandpa’s place, and whenever she made something tasty, she always saved some for me.” Wei Sheng boasted smugly about his connections with the elderly.

Zhou Mingxing was completely convinced!

At this point, he seriously wanted Wei Sheng to hold a training course for his artists—something like “How to Become the Ultimate Elderly Favorite.”

Mastering that skill would let them dominate the entertainment industry!

After all, the true power players in the industry these days—cough—were mostly grandpas and grandmas now.

Winning over sleazy bosses? That was nothing.

The real skill was doing what Wei Sheng did—securing the favor of those bosses’ parents!

No matter how powerful a big shot was, would they dare disobey their mom and dad? You want your legs broken?

(End of Chapter)