Chapter 123 – A Million
In August, Hangzhou became a hot city.
Just after a light rain, the sky became clear again. Under the scorching sun, the water vapor on the ground rises, bringing humidity and sultry at the same time, but also gives people a feeling that the surrounding scene is not real.
Although the climate is not so pleasant, West Lake is still crowded at noon. (TN: West Lake info: Here)
As one of the seven ancient capitals, Hangzhou is also one of the most famous tourist scenic spots in China. It receives more than 70 million tourists every year. Especially on holidays, the major scenic spots are simply packed.
Crowded and beautiful is Lu Chen’s deepest impression of his hometown provincial city.
And here, he has had countless good memories.
However, after returning to Hangzhou more than a month later, Lu Chen unexpectedly had a bit of a strange feeling.
Fortunately, he still remembered the way to the restaurant, otherwise he would have made a fool of himself in front of his friends.
Across the long alley, appeared in front of them is an old-fashion mansion, with white walls, green tiles, shaded trees, open lacquered doors, and four red lanterns hanging under the eaves, each with four black characters on white background.
Egret Restaurant.
But there was a pair of couplets on the left and right pillars in front of the door: Two yellow orioles sing in the green willows / A flock of white egrets surge up the blue sky.
“Brother Lu Chen, is this a restaurant?”
Mu Xiaochu looked at it curiously, and her eyes were full of surprise.
It’s no wonder that she’s surprised, because it doesn’t look like a restaurant at all, but rather a garden house of the ancient gentry families, which was full of the aura of scholarly family. (TN: gentry = nobles/aristocrats)
Lu Chen smiled and said, “This used to be a Jinshi mansion, and it has been many years since it was changed to a restaurant.” (TN: Jinshi – a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations)
Egret Restaurant is a time-honored brand for hundreds of years. It features local Hangzhou cuisine and has many branches in Hangzhou. (TN: Time-honored brand: Here)
But the most authentic one is the egret restaurant near West Lake, where the chef is first-class.
If one just come here for a short time, one will never get a position. Lu Chen happens to have a VIP membership card at Egret Restaurant, so he was able to book a box in advance.
This was the first time he had come to eat at the Egret Restaurant since the accident at home.
In addition to Mu Xiaochu. There are also Li Feiyu and two members of the “Singing China” tour team.
Zhang Junhua and Lin Lang.
Zhang Junhua is two years older than Lu Chen. He graduated from the Department of Modern Music at Northern Conservatory of Music. In the Beijing singing area Top 10 competition, Zhang Junhua once ranked first in the overall score with his original work “Ocean of Love”. Later, it was surpassed by Lu Chen.
Despite this, Zhang Junhua is also a talented young singer who is said to have signed up with an entertainment company.
Lin Lang is a contestant at the Shengjing singing area. In the first knockout competition, he defeated Zuo Qiuqing and joined the tour team.
Lin Lang and Mu Xiaochu are of the same age. He is also a college student. He is lively and active, good at rap, good at singing and dancing, and has his own original works, so he is very popular in the team.
During “Singing China” national knockout tour, from the original top 10 contestants from Beijing, after the first stop in Shengjing, the second stop in Shanghai, and the third stop in Hangzhou, only Lu Chen, Zhang Junhua and Mu Xiaochu were left.
The top 10 of the singing areas are not weak, so the competition is very cruel!
Last night, Hangzhou singing area competition ended. Today, both the program group and the tour team will stay here for a day, and will leave tomorrow for the next stop, Tianfu.
Therefore, as a native of this province, Lu Chen naturally wanted to do all the best as the host and invited Zhang Junhua and Mu Xiaochu out to play.
After three knockout competitions, the three people became familiar with each other, and can also be regarded as ordinary friends.
Li Feiyu has always followed Lu Chen as an assistant.
As for Lin Lang, this guy has a good personality, and he seems to like Mu Xiaochu a little, and has come along, too.
Lu Chen didn’t care. Anyway, It’s just an extra pair of chopsticks.
After showing his VIP gold card to the waiter at the restaurant, the five quickly arrived at the booked box.
The box is a small one. The completely antique decoration is very elegant. If one push opens the window, one can see the green bamboo forest and pond outside, the breeze is not hot at all.
“Brother Chen, this place is really good!”
Lin Lang exclaimed, “Did you come here often before? It must be expensive, right?”
When they came out today, it was agreed upon that it was Lu Chen’s treat. But no one expected that he would bring everyone to such a place.
Lin Lang is still young, so he felt a little embarrassed.
Lu Chen smiled and said, “I have been here twice before. The membership card was sent by others. It’s actually not expensive to spend here.”
Although Egret Restaurant is a century-old time-honored brand, but the level of consumption has always been very popular, as long as the main dishes are not ordered. Even ordinary wage earners don’t have any pressure having a meal, so business is booming.
The price of this main store by the West Lake is slightly higher, but it is also within the acceptable range.
The key is that the Hangzhou cuisine here is the most authentic. And Lu Chen will naturally treat them to the authentic taste.
Lu Chen’s VIP card was a small gift from a friend at the former Lu Qingsheng Company1.
He used to bring his girlfriend here to eat several times.
Unfortunately, things are different now. His father died, and his girlfriend broke up with him.
Only this egret restaurant hasn’t changed.
Waving a trace of sadness in his heart, Lu Chen called the waiter to order.
While waiting for the food to be served, Li Feiyu took out a digital camera and opened it, and then first aimed it at Lu Chen.
Li Feiyu followed Lu Chen all the way as an assistant. His main task was to record and broadcast Lu Chen’s experiences at the knockout tournament to hundreds of thousands of fans in [Whale TV].
For the fans, this is undoubtedly a very new thing. Every night, the audience waiting for the broadcast in front of the computer is as high as 500,000+, so that Lu Chen can still make a lot of rewards during the competition.
In fact, it is also possible to broadcast live with a mobile phone outdoors, but in order to ensure the quality of the content, Li Feiyu is basically asked to record it during the day, and then use the software for simple editing after going back.
If there is time, Lu Chen will personally host the live broadcast of the competition. If he is going to appear in the competition, Li Feiyu will take his place in the live broadcast as usual.
Through such interactive exchanges, the number of fans is increasing, and the Lu Family Army is growing.
These enthusiastic and lovely fans are undoubtedly one of the important foundations for Lu Chen to gain a foothold in the entertainment industry!
Therefore, putting aside the contract, Lu Chen will not easily give up the work of live broadcasting.
He is also constantly looking for better ways to interact live.
Li Feiyu, holding the camera, smiled and said, “This is a rare opportunity. Big Chen, you first say hello to everyone, and then I’ll shoot some of your future star friends!”
Lu Chen smiled and waved his hand and said, “Hello, everyone. I’m your anchor Lu Chen. We are now at the Egret Restaurant by the West Lake in Hangzhou. I’ve invited three friends from the touring team to have dinner together.”
“This is everyone’s favorite little sister!”
The camera immediately focused on Mu Xiaochu, who smiled shyly and waved: “Hello, everyone.”
Today, Mu Xiaochu wore a plain white skirt, like a small white flower, a kind of soft beauty.
Lu Chen is very fond of this shy girl, but it is not the feelings between men and women, but the kind of care that a brother has for his sister, so he often takes care of her along the way.
Mu Xiaochu was shot, followed by Zhang Junhua and Lin Lang, both of whom also gave face.
After Li Feiyu finished shooting, Lin Lang asked curiously, “Brother Chen, are you shooting for publicity?”
Lu Chen explained: “No, it is to be broadcasted to others at night. Do you know online anchor?”
Mu Xiaochu, Zhang Junhua and Lin Lang nodded at the same time.
Lu Chen said with a smile: “I am a signed online anchor, so I’m shooting the material now.”
This is not a secret, and there’s nothing wrong with it.
Lin Lang opened his eyes wide in surprise. “Brother Chen, I thought you signed up in a big company! How could you think of doing this? Does it make a lot of money to be an anchor?”
Although it was unintentional, but when he talked about online anchors, his tone was still a bit unpleasant.
Zhang Junhua also showed a look of disapproval.
Online anchor is a new profession that has emerged in the last two years. Due to the low threshold of employment and fierce competition, there have been a lot of negative news in the industry, such as female anchors exposing flesh and chest. Sometimes things happen without a bottom line.
Corresponding media reports tends to be biased, which makes people inevitably have a bad impression on the industry.
Both of them did not expect that Lu Chen’s current career is actually a very grass-roots online anchor. With his strength and talent, he could sign a contract with a large company. There is no need to stoop so low.
Lu Chen looked at their expressions and said with a smile: “I am an independent artist, and I don’t intend to sign up with any entertainment agency. In fact, it is very interesting to be an online anchor. it is nothing more than playing instrument, singing and joking, and I can make a lot of friends.”
“If you have a chance, you can try it, too.”
Lu Chen has no intention of reversing their prejudices, because there are some bad phenomena in live webcasting.
It was enough for him to have a clear conscience.
Zhang Junhua couldn’t help but say, “How much money can this make? I heard it blows pretty hard.”
In fact, this man, facing Lu Chen, has always been a little unconvinced in his heart.
So, he took the opportunity to make a mockery of him.
Lu Chen said lightly: “There certainly some exaggeration that is propagandized outside. But for someone like me, a fixed salary plus reward share, probably a million or so yuan a year.”
He still said less.
Pā dā!
The chopsticks in Lin Lang’s hand fell onto the table, and Zhang Junhua’s expression suddenly froze.
A million? A million or so?
Seriously?
Mu Xiaochu simply worshipped: “Brother Lu Chen, you are really amazing!”
This sentence sounds very ambiguous!
Lu Chen coughed and said, “The food is coming up. Let’s get ready to move our chopsticks and fill our stomach.”
The sky is big and the earth is big, but the food is the biggest.
It’s just that someone suddenly seems to have lost his appetite.
That’s something that Lu Chen couldn’t control.
_____
TN: Not sure if I got this correctly as what I got is “from a friend at the former Lu Qingsheng Mall”. I’ve rechecked from previous chapter and it wasn’t mentioned what his father’s specific business was, but it was stated that it was a company. And other translation for “mall” were market, bazaar, and emporium.1
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