LIGHTNOVELONLINE
Chapter 75
Li Yao was carrying two large boxes of takeout. His whole person was filled with joy, and he walked lightly to the restaurant and began to unpack the takeout boxes.
"My little ancestor wanted to eat Cantonese food, so I bought you the most authentic Cantonese food in the imperial capital. Eat it while it's hot and tell me which one you like best, and I'll buy it for you again next time."
Qin Wei took a look, and it was really rich. In addition to the curry fish balls and roast goose that she wanted to eat, Li Yao had also bought white cut chicken, shrimp steamed egg, abalone chicken hot pot, and steamed bass.
The food was appealing in color, aroma and taste. Just looking at it made her mouth water.
"Li Yao, this isn't a last meal is it? To send me on my way?"
As Qin Wei spoke, she sat down and stuffed a piece of chicken into her mouth,
"On my way or not, the food is too delicious, it's worth it."
Li Yao frowned and glanced at her:
"Don't say such unlucky words! We're about to go from bitterness to sweetness. That's why we're having such a rich, high-fat meal. You can't eat too much fat, but the dishes are nutritious. Eating a little of each is fine. After this, it may be very difficult. I can't let you down."
Speaking, he also sat down to eat with her.
"Whether we can make it past the preliminaries is still up in the air. Isn't it a little early to celebrate?"
Qin Wei drank a sip of soup before speaking to him,
"First of all, this came out of nowhere, it was the only way I could do it, so if I get eliminated, you and Xu Mingchuan can't blame me!"
"My dear, you're overthinking it. With your popularity right now, unless the program team has something wrong with their brains, they won't eliminate you! Do you think this is a competition for elegant artistic creation? Wrong! It's for popularity and traffic. Whoever is popular stays, whoever has low popularity is out. Just wait calmly for the results!"
Hearing this, Qin Wei suddenly thought of some things and asked him mysteriously:
"So you mean I can get into the show just based on my skills, without needing to ask for favors to help me, right?"
Li Yao didn't understand what she meant, but he didn't deny it either:
"I didn't plan to buy votes for you anyway. You can definitely get in this time purely on your 'skills'."
Qin Wei drank her soup, tapped the red "delete" button on her phone screen, and unconsciously straightened her back.
...
"Actually, I have something else I want to tell you this time."
While eating, Li Yao suddenly said.
Qin Wei picked up a bite of meat with her chopsticks, then silently put it back on the plate. She put down her chopsticks, used a napkin to wipe her mouth, and said:
"Li Yao, you're not being fair. Making me eat first so I can't refuse you later, right?"
Li Yao put the meat back into her bowl:
"It's not that bad. It's just that I got you an endorsement recently. It's not all about the money. On one hand, it's to sponsor your styling and makeup. On the other hand, having a few brands backing you will give you more confidence when you go..."
But Qin Wei was totally unconcerned:
"I just need to do my job well when I go. All that other stuff is superficial..."
Li Yao looked at her helplessly:
"Don't you understand even basic reasoning? Your brain really is damaged. Listen to me again.
Those brands that have worked with you before all came for your fame. When you were down and out, they left. That's heartless but realistic. The fact that brands want you now means you're popular again, you have commercial potential. With no endorsements, it means you're passé.
My dear, we're now re-entering a period of career upswing. If we don't make some commercial achievements, isn't that a bit of a waste?"
Qin Wei continued eating while talking:
"Although I don't understand what you're saying, it sounds very impressive."
Li Yao took her response as agreement, and said to her:
"Then get ready tomorrow night and come with me to a business dinner. Tiancheng Group's Asia Pacific head likes you a lot and wants to develop things further with you. I'll be responsible for drinking at the dinner, you just need to be sweet-talking. We'll just have a meal together, and it'll basically be settled.
Qin Wei was very embarrassed. She didn't have experience with this kind of business entertaining, and she had to be sweet-talking on top of it. But the only thing she knew how to do was be sarcastic. Li Yao spoke casually about it, but for her it was not simple at all.
"Can you go yourself? Didn't you always do it like this before? I can just go to the scene to film when the time comes. You know I can't be sweet-talking..."
Li Yao spread his hands:
"I'd like to do it that way too if I could.
In the past, endorsements took the initiative to come to us, and we selected them sitting in the office. But now it doesn't work. I've only just started learning in the past few months to humble myself and curry favor with advertisers.
Luckily I can learn to bow and scrape, and I'm better at it than you.
I'm nervous taking you to that kind of occasion, but there's no way around it. Their marketing director asked for you by name, said he had long admired you and nothing could be discussed if he didn't meet you."
...
The next afternoon, Li Yao came to pick up Qin Wei with an evening gown. When she opened it, she saw it was Dior's latest black floor-length dress, which set off her snow-white skin beautifully when she put it on.
Today Li Yao had to handle the business dinner, so he didn't drive. Xu Mingchuan had sent a driver for them. Passing the boutiques in the commercial building, the driver also gave her the EP series jewelry from Tiffany at Xu Mingchuan's request.
Qin Wei felt it was too precious and didn't plan to accept it, but Li Yao told her to wear it with confidence. He said Xu Mingchuan also knew about this endorsement and had helped a lot.
Only then did Qin Wei accept it and put it on.
The agreed location was the luxurious Huafu Hotel in the city center, where consumption was high everywhere you looked. As soon as they entered the door, they could see the magnificent golden lobby. A hotel service person in a suit came over to show them the way. The two of them followed him and took the sightseeing elevator, enjoying the prosperous night view of the imperial capital all the way, before arriving at the floor after a while.
Entering the private room, there were five men sitting inside, all wearing suits and leather shoes. The man sitting in the main seat looked to be in his fifties, middle-aged and somewhat fat, with a bald spot that could not be concealed no matter how he combed his hair.
As soon as Qin Wei walked in, the eyes of the few men fell on her, looking her up and down unabashedly, as if wanting to see all of her. Although she was used to being stared at as a public figure, she still couldn't get used to the eyes of these few men.
Li Yao stood in front of Qin Wei without moving, and said to the men:
"Mr. Chen, we're late."
Blocking the bald man's line of sight, Chen didn't get angry either. He had a big smile on his face as he spoke to Li Yao:
"Not at all, not at all, come sit down!"
Li Yao didn't rush to have her sit down, but introduced them to each other first:
"Mr. Chen, this is our artiste, Qin Wei.
Weiwei, this is Tiancheng Group's Asia Pacific Marketing Director, Mr. Chen Maoran. Mr. Chen thinks you can be the endorser for their high-end watch brand 'Tianshi'. Don't you hurry up and say hello to Mr. Chen?"
Qin Wei showed a dazzling fake smile, just as Li Yao had taught her during the day:
"Nice to meet you Mr. Chen, I'm the actress Qin Wei."
Chen Maoran chuckled as he shook hands with her, but after grabbing her hand he rubbed it back and forth and didn't let go. Qin Wei immediately felt disgusted and reflexively wanted to pull her hand back.
But the other party held on tightly. She tried several times unsuccessfully.
This man had other intentions towards Qin Wei...
He definitely had issues with his conduct!
Qin Wei's anger flared up in an instant.