As night fell, a snack street next to the main road in City C gradually became lively. Young men, women, and gangsters sat on small tables on the road drinking and eating skewers.
About a dozen young children wandered back and forth between tables and people with QR codes hanging on their chests.
Lin Momo was also one of them.
The difference is that there is no QR code sign on her chest.
'Gululu'.
An empty beer can was kicked to Lin Momo's feet.
"Hey! Beggars, get away."
"It's smelly and dirty, I lost my appetite."
"What about you! Didn't you hear?"
Then, another half of the sausage was thrown at Lin Momo's feet.
The young woman who threw the sausage said impatiently: "Okay, I'll give you food too, go to other tables."
Lin Momo remained motionless.
At this time, a soda can flew towards Lin Momo, and with a 'bang', it hit her on the head impartially.
The remaining beer in the can ran down Lin Momo's forehead and into his eyes, causing burning pain in his eyes.
Lin Momo didn't say anything. She raised her hand, wiped her eyes vigorously with her sleeve, wiped off the beer on her face, and stayed at the table of several yellow-haired youths, unwilling to leave.
The yellow-haired youths were angry.
"Md, are you an idiot? I told you to get lost, didn't you understand?"
"Go away! Go away!"
"Let you go! Don't go!"
While cursing, several young people took other empty beer cans by the table and threw them at Lin Momo.
From time to time, some people laughed and cursed jokingly.
When they threw away the empty soda cans and were about to pick up the glass wine bottle next to it and throw it at Lin Momo, the two young women on the table tried to persuade them, and those people gave up.
Seeing that it was almost done, Lin Momo squatted on the ground and picked up all the empty soda cans scattered around, and put them into the woven bag behind her.
After picking them up, Lin Momo bowed to those yellow-haired youths, said "thank you", and then turned and ran away.
The thin figure and the big woven bag on her back quickly disappeared into the night.
…
On the way back, Lin Momo sold the scraps behind her and bought two buns.
"Are your grandma's legs still not healed?" the owner of the bun shop asked with concern.
"Not yet." Lin Momo shook her head.
Lin Momo has no father and no mother, and grew up with her grandmother. The two usually rely on subsidies from the neighborhood committee and selling scraps for a living.
Grandma is not a real grandma.
Lin Momo was abandoned by her biological parents and thrown in a nearby flea market. The other party picked her up when they were picking up waste.
Last month, grandma broke her leg and has not recovered. The job of picking up and selling scraps fell to Lin Momo alone.
—
Back in the dark and narrow old building, just as Lin Momo was about to open the door, the movement in the room alerted her.
"The old thing still dares to lie to me. Don't think I haven't heard of it. During the holidays in the past two months, the community gave out holiday condolences!"
"Where did you hide the money? Tell me or not? If you don't tell me, don't blame me for being rude!"
It was Zhang Xiaoqiang's voice.
Lin Momo carefully withdrew her hand, ran downstairs and hid the remaining 10 yuan from the sale of scrap products before turning back.
When Lin Momo opened the door, the room was in a mess, grandma fell to the ground, and Zhang Xiaoqiang stood in front of her.
Zhang Xiaoqiang is Liu Cuifang's own son. He doesn't have a serious job. He spends his days in some dubious places. When he has no money, he comes back to ask Liu Cuifang for it.
—
Liu Cuifang, who was in the room, saw Lin Momo coming back, and quickly waved her hand to signal her to leave.
Unfortunately, Zhang Xiaoqiang had already spotted Lin Momo at the door.
"If you want to run, can you run away?" Zhang Xiaoqiang sneered: "The old man is so nervous, you put your money on this little bastard, right?"
After finishing speaking, Zhang Xiaoqiang stepped forward and dragged Lin Momo into the room, ignoring Lin Momo's struggle and rummaged through her body.
As a result, nothing was found except 50 cents.
Unwillingly, Zhang Xiaoqiang pulled the woven bag behind Lin Momo to see what happened.
Still nothing inside.
"Where is the other money? Where is it hidden?!"
"No more, everything is there." Lin Momo pointed to the 50 cents in Zhang Xiaoqiang's hand and said.
"Fart! How could there be only so little!"
Lin Momo shook her head and said nothing.
Liu Cuifang lamented from the side: "I usually only have a small amount of money every month, and the condolence money for the holidays is only 50. I broke my leg before and spent money on medical treatment and medicine. How can I still have money now?"
Zhang Xiaoqiang seemed to believe this, he spat, and cursed: "You old **** is better off dead, why are you so ashamed to spend money on medical treatment!"
Zhang Xiaoqiang was very upset when he came here and didn't get any money.
When he glanced at Lin Momo, Zhang Xiaoqiang thought of something, rolled his eyes, and suddenly had an idea.
Seeing Zhang Xiaoqiang approaching Lin Momo with a strange expression, Liu Cuifang became nervous, and a bad premonition struck her heart.
"Zhang Xiaoqiang, what do you want to do?"
"Don't do anything, I suddenly thought of a good thing." Zhang Xiaoqiang smiled viciously.
"I didn't look carefully, but this little **** grows more and more juicy." Zhang Xiaoqiang walked up to Lin Momo, bent down on purpose, and smiled wretchedly.
While talking, Zhang Xiaoqiang raised his hand and slapped Lin Momo's face.
"How about it, go out with Brother Qiang, and I'll take you to eat delicious food and drink spicy food."
"You dare!" Liu Cuifang struggled to crawl over and grabbed Zhang Xiaoqiang's leg: "Zhang Xiaoqiang, you perpetrator, if you dare to do anything to her, I will never let you go!"
"Old man, I won't tell you how much money you have wasted raising a **** by your side. Now is the time for her to repay our family. You'd better not stop her."
After finishing speaking, Zhang Xiaoqiang kicked Liu Cuifang away, making a gesture to drag Lin Momo away.
At this moment, there was a conversation in the corridor outside the house.
"Aunt."
"Who is your auntie!"
"Miss."
"Who is your eldest sister!"
"Miss, may I ask if Liu Cuifang lives here?"
"Are you looking for Aunt Liu?"
"yes."
"Here, go up to the third room in the middle, the one that is making noise right now."
"Thanks."
…
Hearing that someone was looking for Liu Cuifang, Zhang Xiaoqiang stopped, with a vigilant expression on his face: Liu Cuifang didn't know many people, and the only people who could come to her were from the neighborhood committee or the police station.
If it was the police, he would be in trouble.
Hearing footsteps approaching, Zhang Xiaoqiang reluctantly threw Lin Momo away.
"I'll come back in two days. If you can't get the money then, don't blame me for being rude!" Putting down his harsh words, Zhang Xiaoqiang snatched the bun from Lin Momo's hand and turned to leave.
In the corridor, when passing by someone, Zhang Xiaoqiang lowered his head subconsciously and quickened his pace.
—
Here, as soon as Chen Yu went upstairs, he saw the room with the door wide open.
Taking a closer look, the whole house has only one room, which is very small. The lights in the room are dim, and there is a musty smell of an old house. At this time, the house seems to have been ransacked and is dilapidated.
There are one old and one young in the house. The old one had just been helped to settle on the door panel, which was barely a bed, and the young one was neatly cleaning up the debris of furniture, dishes and dishes on the floor in the room.
Chen Yu looked at the girl carefully.
Although the girl's hair was scattered and covered half of her face at this time, and the other half of her face was red and swollen from the beating, it could be vaguely seen that the girl's facial features were really similar to their Brother Cheng.
Chen Yu's eyes lit up, and he knocked on the door: "Excuse me, is this Liu Cuifang's house?
"I am Liu Cuifang, comrade, are you from the community or the police station?"
"None." Chen Yu walked in and handed over his business card. Thinking that Liu Cuifang might not be able to read, he explained, "I am the manager of Starstone Entertainment Company. My surname is Chen. Here is my ID card."
"What's the matter with you?" Liu Cuifang looked at Chen Yu puzzled.
"That's how it is. Orange Channel and iWO Video have jointly created a reality show. Our company is looking for a child to participate with our artist partner. I'm here today to extend an invitation to your granddaughter on behalf of the company..."
After explaining the purpose of coming, Chen Yu took out an agreement from the document bag: "This is a draft agreement. If you don't understand it, I can tell you directly."
Lin Momo shook her head, took the agreement from the other party, and read the contents to Liu Cuifang.
What Lin Momo has to do is to form a "father-daughter group" with the star named "Lin Cheng" in the agreement to participate in the recording of the program. During the process, she must keep the content of the program and the content of this agreement confidential.
If all goes well, she will be paid 20,000 yuan after the filming is completed.
…
"Twenty thousand yuan?!" Liu Cuifang was stunned by the huge reward.
"In black and white."
"But why did you choose our family Momo?" Liu Cuifang couldn't believe that such a good thing from heaven would happen to their family.
Chen Yu concealed the embarrassment in his eyes, coughed lightly, and said seriously: "Our company naturally has our selection methods and standards. We use big data networks, schools, forums...in short, many ways, and finally, after layers of screening, we determine this candidate. The child's condition is the most suitable."
"Participating in this reality show is actually similar to a school summer camp. The company bears all the expenses incurred for food, clothing, housing and transportation. During filming, if we need to hire a nurse to take care of the elderly, our company can also bear the cost. There is no loss for you. .”
"And..." Chen Yu looked around the house, found the right entry point, and said to Lin Momo: "If you perform well, we can pay an extra fee to help you improve your current situation. Living Environment."
Sure enough, as soon as Chen Yu said this, the eyes of both grandma and grandson lit up.
"Really? Can you ask someone to help us fix the leaks in our house and fix the broken sewer?" Lin Momo asked.
"Yes." Chen Yu nodded.
Lin Momo asked again: "Then can you change a better door for us? There is another table, two stools, a bed, and a kettle..."
Chen Yu: "..."
—What if Starstone Entertainment is a decoration company?
Chen Yu complained.
However, Lin Momo didn't have many demands, and he could solve them by himself.
"No problem." Chen Yu nodded, and asked again: "Anything else you want?"
Lin Momo thought about it carefully, then shook her head: "It's gone."
"When will I go to shoot?" Lin Momo asked again.
"The filming will start next week. The time is urgent. If there is no problem, please prepare. I will arrange a company car to pick you up tomorrow. I will take you to the company for two days of training before we start."
Lin Momo and Liu Cuifang looked at each other, and after some discussion, Lin Momo left her name on the agreement, as well as her and Liu Cuifang's fingerprints.
Until Chen Yu left, the grandmother and grandson still felt that the whole thing was not real.
—
On the other hand, as soon as Chen Yu returned to the company, he couldn't wait to contact his artist, intending to tell him the good news.
Half an hour later, in Binjiang Yipin's private apartment.
Lin Cheng quickly read the information brought by his agent.
Unlike the manager's excitement, Lin Cheng frowned deeply after reading the materials.
"I remember that the variety show you told me last time seemed to be a temporary mentor on a talent show?"
"Yes, but some accidents happened. The talent show that was originally scheduled was cancelled, and it was temporarily changed to the parent-child reality show you have now."
On a recent talent show, two contestants were torn into the hospital. Due to the bad impact of the incident, several programs of the same type were stopped.
This matter has been on the hot search for several days in a row, but Lin Cheng didn't know about it?
Chen Yu simply suspected that his artists were using 2G network.
Lin Cheng threw the materials back to Chen Yu and said coldly, "No."
Hearing this, Chen Yu was dumbfounded: "Why?"
He worked so hard to help Lin Cheng get this resource.
"Do you think it's suitable for me to participate in the reality show where father brings children?" Lin Cheng raised his eyebrows and asked back.
Chen Yu showed embarrassment, and smiled wryly: "It's not appropriate, but... isn't there no way to do it?"
As an outdated artist, it is good to have resources, so there is no qualification to pick and choose.
Chen Yu endured the latter sentence.
Ten years ago, Lin Cheng became popular because of a solo single. In half a year, it swept the major charts, won awards and was soft-handed.
However, before Lin Cheng's career could reach a higher level, a series of scandals about him soon surfaced on the Internet: parents suspected of being illegal businessmen, playing big names, disrespecting seniors in the same company, bullying juniors and sisters, My private life is chaotic, dating fans X fans...
Although most of these rumors were later confirmed to be fake news, the impact on Lin Cheng was irreversible.
Lin Cheng, who had been hidden by the company for half a year, was quickly replaced by a newcomer, forgotten by the market, and has remained tepid ever since.
…
"The investment in this program is not small, and it is produced by a big factory, and it will be filmed for two consecutive months. There is no need to worry about the exposure and popularity..." Chen Yu tried to persuade Lin Cheng.
"And think about it, although you don't have children, isn't it normal for you to have children at your age? Isn't it good to use your father's identity to establish a brand new image, and let netizens remember you, maybe there is still a chance Turn red."
After finishing speaking, seeing that Lin Cheng was still unmoved, Chen Yu couldn't help reminding: "Brother Cheng, you haven't announced for more than half a year..."
Lin Cheng's last announcement, which is also the only announcement this year, was more than half a year ago when he used the middle page of a third-rate magazine as a background board for a new generation of traffic niche.
"If you don't announce it again, I will also drink the northwest wind."
Chen Yu felt that he was definitely the worst manager in the company.
When he joined the company two years ago, the company threw Lin Cheng to him.
The artists under him are not good enough, and his manager can't hold up his head in the company.
The point is that Lin Cheng is still difficult to take care of, has a bad personality, and is difficult to communicate with. He refuses to let him go, and often plays and disappears for several months without finding anyone.
After complaining in his heart, seeing that Lin Cheng's expression seemed to be loose, Chen Yu hurriedly said: "Brother, I'm just you as an entertainer. I have seniors, juniors, middlemen, and mortgages and car loans. I..."
"Stop." Lin Cheng glanced at Chen Yu lightly.
"Is the announcement fee for this variety show enough for you to pay off your mortgage and car loan?"
Chen Yu: "This..."
"There is no notice fee..."
——Based on Lin Cheng's current situation, the notification fee of 100,000 is already sky-high. In order to win this resource before, he invited the program team, the company executives, and the sponsor's father to eat more than this amount.
Hearing Chen Yu counting them one by one, Lin Cheng's brows gradually tightened.
"How much did it cost in total, I'll call you."
"No, no, no," Chen Yu hurriedly waved his hand and said, "The money was paid in advance by Brother Sun."
Sun Yanzhou is Lin Cheng's former manager.
Because after Lin Cheng, Sun Yanzhou brought out a movie king, and then brought out several top stars one after another. The tide has risen, and now Sun Yanzhou is already the company's ace manager and minority shareholder.
Chen Yu suspected that if Sun Yanzhou hadn't thought about the old relationship, he would pull Lin Cheng from time to time in these years, Lin Cheng might not have received a single announcement.
Lin Cheng stopped talking and transferred 500,000 to Chen Yu, saying, "You can handle it yourself."
"Where is the agreement?" Lin Cheng asked again.
"Hey, what... I have already signed the agreement for you in the name of the company."
Lin Cheng: "..." So what is this, come to inform him?
But since he has decided to participate, Lin Cheng will not be entangled in this matter.
"script?"
"I haven't got the script yet." Chen Yu said awkwardly.
The fifth group of candidates originally planned by the program group was the well-known comedian Wang Jun and his daughter. Because of the shooting time conflict, the other party temporarily rejected the announcement here.
If not, this kind of cheap and good thing would not fall on Lin Cheng's head.
The original scripts were written according to the characteristics of Wang Jun's father and daughter, so naturally they were not suitable for Lin Cheng.
"What about the child?" Lin Cheng asked again.
"You can rest assured about this brother, I have found the child." Chen Yu said a little shyly.
"And that child looks very similar to you, brother, you will be surprised when you see it."
Over the years, there have been old rumors of 'Lin Cheng has a problem with his sexual orientation' and 'a problem with his sexual function' on the Internet. If you randomly find a child who doesn't look like Lin Cheng at all, it may be difficult to convince netizens.
—Like his child?
"Where did you find it?" Lin Cheng asked casually.
"It's in City C, and it's also the clue that Brother Sun helped provide."
Chen Yu didn't know how Sun Yanzhou found such a child who looked so similar to Lin Cheng. But think about it, Sun Yanzhou is a high-level executive in the company, with a lot of contacts, it is not easy to find someone, so he immediately calmed down.
"If the child's identity is found to be false, it will be more troublesome." Lin Cheng said calmly and pertinently, as if the person involved was not himself.
"No, I checked, and the child has only one grandma, who lives in a resettlement house in an old residential area, and has relatively simple social relations." Even a few people who knew them recognized them after the program was broadcast. It doesn't matter to Lin Momo, the remarks of a few passers-by on the Internet will not have much effect on public opinion, and no one will believe it.
"I'll arrange for someone to pick up the child tomorrow. I'll settle in the company for some training first. Brother, come over and have a look when you have time." Cultivate the relationship between 'father and daughter'.
Chen Yu proposed to Lin Cheng.
Lin Cheng just waved his hands and said, "No need."
Then he said coldly: "When the filming will start, send me a message after it is confirmed, and I will arrive on time. As for the rest, you and the company will take care of it."
Chen Yu: "..."
He felt that Lin Cheng's ambiguity these years had a lot to do with his attitude of not making progress and having nothing to do with himself.
Chen Yu once thought about talking about Lin Cheng as a manager, but every time he faced Lin Cheng, he was inexplicably discouraged.
"That's fine, I'll go back and make preparations first, so I won't disturb your rest."
"Then what, brother, you should also prepare well. If you have time, you can watch some other parent-child reality shows, just... to find out how you feel."
…