"Thanks to the sister for supporting"?Good Night?", thank you for your support!"
At eleven-thirty, the car smoothly arrived in the provincial city.
During the trip, Bai Zicong had received a call from his friend, informing him that he succeeded in getting the audition number and would participate in an evaluation at three in the afternoon.
Since there was plenty of time, after receiving a nod of approval from Li Changlin, Bai Zicong asked Huo Zhibiao to drive to his friend’s company building, and after everyone gathered, they went to a restaurant for lunch.
Bai Zicong’s friend, Fang Mingqiang, was a fellow industry newcomer, who now owned a modeling company in the provincial city and was thus involved in the entertainment business.
After receiving the number plate from Fang Mingqiang’s hand, Bai Zicong respectfully handed it over to Li Changlin.
Seeing him act this way, Fang Mingqiang became a bit curious and couldn’t help but take a deep look at Li Changlin.
Then, his gaze fell on Qian Ziwei, and his eyes suddenly lit up, "This beautiful lady, I think you have a great aura. Are you interested in working as a model for our company?"
"Mingqiang, don’t say whatever you want." Bai Zicong’s expression slightly changed, and he quickly glared at Fang Mingqiang before turning to Li Changlin with an apologetic smile, "Mr. Li, please don’t take offense, my friend just likes to joke around."
As a close friend, Bai Zicong naturally knew what Fang Mingqiang had in mind.
Qian Ziwei was Li Changlin’s girlfriend, and since they had sat together for more than three hours during the car ride, Bai Zicong had enough insight to notice.
He wouldn’t want to risk losing a lot over something minor and cause Li Changlin to develop a dislike for him, which could potentially spoil the songwriting deal.
"What’s the background of this guy?" Just as Bai Zicong knew Fang Mingqiang, Fang Mingqiang was also aware of Bai Zicong.
Seeing him so wary, Fang Mingqiang instantly became cautious and quickly leaned in to whisper in Bai Zicong’s ear.
"I’ll talk to you about this later, just be careful for now." In front of Li Changlin, Bai Zicong obviously couldn’t say much, so he could only give a vague response.
Upon seeing this, Fang Mingqiang didn’t ask further. He shrugged nonchalantly, but his gaze still lingered deeply on Qian Ziwei.
Indeed, Qian Ziwei was too beautiful, and having seen countless women, Fang Mingqiang noticed at a glance that Qian Ziwei was an untouched treasure.
Therefore, his interest intensified even more.
Li Changlin furrowed his brows slightly and looked at Bai Zicong with some displeasure, saying lightly, "Bai Shao, I haven’t had the pleasure of asking for your friend’s full name."
"I am Fang Mingqiang, general manager of Ying Si Modeling Company." Without waiting for Bai Zicong to introduce him, Fang Mingqiang pulled out three business cards from his bag, laying one in front of each Qian Ziwei, Li Changlin, and Chen Zhengxin.
"General manager of Ying Si Modeling Company, sounds like a big shot." Li Changlin casually picked up the business card and looked it over, preparing to say something, when suddenly a beeping sound echoed in his mind.
Following that, Ling’er’s sweet voice emerged, softly calling, "Host, the System has a random task, would you like to accept it?"
"What task?" Having almost made a mistake last time due to Qian Ziwei’s incident, Li Changlin immediately asked in his mind when he heard about another random task.
"Yeah, I’ll take a look for you, Host." Ling’er didn’t immediately answer. She first accessed the System to check, and then sweetly said, "This little task is very simple. It’s about having the Host compete in pretense with Fang Mingqiang. The more impressive the act, the higher the reward will be. Among other things..."
"No need to say more, I accept!" This one was definitely worth accepting. What else was there to discuss?
Li Changlin had no particular fondness for Fang Mingqiang from the start, and now that the System had assigned him the task of outdoing someone in pretense, even if there were no rewards at all, he would be rolling up his sleeves and rushing in.
Now, Li Changlin didn’t care about whatever close brotherhood Fang Mingqiang and Bai Zicong might have. He casually placed the business card onto the table and said indifferently, "I’ve actually never heard of Ying Si Modeling Company. By the way, what’s a ’general manager’?"
"Pfft!" Upon hearing Li Changlin’s words, Qian Ziwei couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
She knew Li Changlin was a livestreamer who often engaged in mockery and spoofing.
It was clear Fang Mingqiang wasn’t a good guy, especially the way he looked at her, which was quite annoying.
So watching Li Changlin intentionally mock Fang Mingqiang made Qian Ziwei naturally unable to contain her laughter for a moment.
"Our company is quite renowned in Nanfu Province," Fang Mingqiang’s face darkened as he heard what Li Changlin said. "And surely, Mr. Li, you can’t really be ignorant of what the position of a general manager is!"
Although Bai Zicong had yet to formally introduce the two, Fang Mingqiang had already heard Bai Zicong call Li Changlin by name several times.
"I’m sorry, General Manager Fang, I truly haven’t heard of a ’general manager’ rank before," Li Changlin said with a calm smile. Fang Mingqiang had been talking about a position, but Li Changlin purposely referred to it as a rank, mockingly twisting Fang Mingqiang’s words.
With such behavior, he still dared to covet his woman? That was absurd!
Li Changlin had already been taken advantage of once by Xu Xin, so he had no patience left when facing Fang Mingqiang.
"Turns out he’s just a ’Bun’!" Hearing this, Fang Mingqiang was not angry but let out a cold laugh, "A general manager is not some rank as you say, it’s a position."
"Oh, it’s a position. I assume it must be quite tough then!" Li Changlin pretended to suddenly understand, though he had already begun setting a trap for Fang Mingqiang.
This guy wants to show off? Well, let’s see who can play that game better!
"Of course, it was tough before I became a general manager. Especially when I started my business, my family didn’t understand or support me, so I went through many detours. But now, I have reached this position through my own continual efforts," Fang Mingqiang, a smooth talker with the ladies, actually began introducing himself spurred by Li Changlin’s question.
This guy was clearly a veteran at playing the field, deeply understanding the importance of a good back story.
As Li Changlin listened, he realized this wouldn’t do—how could he let Fang Mingqiang keep talking? He immediately raised his hand to gesture and said, "I understand, young people must endure hardship. Like at the beginning, I also started from the bottom, climbing up from a room of five hundred people, step by step, to gain access to a room for five hundred thousand people."
Fine, if blowing your own trumpet is the game, who can’t play along? You’re just a little general manager, how many people are under you anyway?
Right now, I’m a well-known host on the Endless live streaming platform, and my room access has hit five hundred thousand. Do you have as many followers as me?
"Cough, cough, cough..." Initially upset that his own bragging was interrupted by Li Changlin, Fang Mingqiang’s mood was already sour. And because of Bai Zicong’s influence, Fang Mingqiang also had some awareness of the internet live streaming scene.