The main material for clay sculptures was clay. The two of them felt it was fantastic as a vivid sculpture slowly formed in front of them as the old man slowly kneaded the mud and colored it.
It was eleven o’clock when the clay sculpture was finally finished. It had taken more than three hours.
“The sculpture is done.” After he finished, the old man put it in a box, tied it shut, and handed it to Zi Yan.
“Thank you, Master Liu.” Zi Yan accepted it happily.
“How much is it?” Zhou Fei asked while holding her bag.
“That’s up to you,” The old man smiled and said.
He was not short on money and making clay sculpture was just one of his hobbies.
“Erm…” Zhou Fei was a little confused as she did not know the market price for clay sculptures.
Seeing Zhou Fei’s expression, the old man chuckled and said, “Just leave 200 yuan.”
“200 yuan?” Zhou Fei paused. Although she was unaware of the normal price, she knew that such a delicate clay sculpture was valued at far more than two hundred yuan. 200 yuan probably wasn’t even enough for him to knead one of brother-in-law’s arms.
“Feifei, leave all our cash,” Zi Yan said all of a sudden.
Hearing her words, Zhou Fei directly took out more than two stacks of notes from her bag and put them on the small table.
“Master Liu, the clay sculpture you have made is of great significance to me. I regard it as a work of art which is impossible to measure. I just want to express my appreciation. Thank you, Master Liu. Now I have to leave.” Zi Yan smiled, gently nodded her head and turned to leave with Zhou Fei.
After hearing what she said, the old man shook his head slightly.
“What a beautiful sculpture.” Zhou Fei repeatedly sighed with emotion after she walked out of the store, “It’s really kind of that taxi driver. Master Liu, however, at such an old age, seems really lonely since his children and wife aren’t around him.”
“Maybe…” Zi Yan looked back at the store and said softly, “This is something every old man has to go through.”
At this moment, Zi Yan somewhat missed her parents. The last contact seemed to have been a month ago? And they had not met each other since a year ago. At that time, they also had had some white hair.
In the meantime, Zi Yan felt somewhat helpless. As the child of a great family, she could buy whatever she wanted and live a carefree life, but there were skeletons in every family’s closet. Zi Yan was a little envious of the slow-paced rural life.
“Elder Sister Yan, shall we go for lunch first? I’m so hungry.” As Zhou Fei was speaking, her stomach growled.
“We can find a restaurant nearby for lunch…” As soon as Zi Yan answered, Zhou Fei’s cell phone rang.
She picked up the phone and put it down after saying a few words. Then she put her lips to Zi Yan’s ear and said in a low voice,
“It’s Elder Brother Jia. He has something to discuss with us and is inviting us to have lunch with him. Just the three of us. Do you agree?”
After thinking for a while, Zi Yan nodded her head gently. With her permission, Zhou Fei picked up the phone to respond to him and hung up it after settling on the place to meet.
“I don’t know what he wants to discuss with us,” Zhou Fei murmured as she reached out her arm to stop a taxi.
After they got into the taxi, the driver drove them to the Yasi Restaurant, which was five hundred meters away from their hotel.
“Welcome. A table for two?” Upon seeing the guests enter, the front desk manager greeted them with a smile.
“Jia Dong has booked a room,” answered Zhou Fei.
“You’re Mr. Jia’s guests. This way please. Xiaohua, guide them to room 888,” the manager said to a waitress.
The waitress led Zi Yan and Zhou Fei to the room.
Although it was only an ordinary room, the style of decoration was both fresh and unique. There was a small round table with six chairs surrounding it, with some flowerpots and furnis.h.i.+ngs. Jia Dong was sitting on one of the chairs, playing with his telephone. Upon seeing the two of them, he nodded his head with a smile and said,
“There you are. Please come sit down.”
Then he said to the waitress, “You can bring the food in.”
“Okay.” The waitress smiled and nodded.
About five minutes later, all the dishes that Jia Dong had ordered were served. Although they were only three people at the table, Jia Dong ordered eight specialty dishes and a bottle of Remy Martin.
Jia Dong personally poured both Zi Yan and Zhou Fei some wine. After finis.h.i.+ng the first sip, Zi Yan said,
“Why do you want to meet us, Childe Jia?”
“Oh, here’s the thing.” When it came to business, Jia Dong became serious. He smiled and replied,
“There’s a program called My Voice which is being recorded the day after tomorrow. The guest star for the next episode was Yuan Shuangshuang, but she called the programme division this morning and said that she had to go back because one of her relatives was seriously ill. So, the programme division needs to find a new guest star to take her place. After I heard the news, I remembered you and thought that this episode would be more interesting if you took part. Can you spare the time, Zi Yan?”
Whoos.h.!.+
Zhou Fei’s eyes lit up in an instant.
My Voice was a very popular program, which combined music with a game. Using the superb performances of the six contestants on the show and the random opinions from the host, the guests needed to figure out who was the real singer and sing with them. It really was an interesting program.
Zhou Fei knew that this program would be beneficial and help Zi Yan become more popular. Furthermore, since Zi Yan and Jiang Yuan TV Station were still attracting people’s attention, the publicity would be more effective now.
“Elder Sister Yan!” Realizing that Zi Yan was undecided, Zhou Fei became anxious and couldn’t help reminding her.
Zhou Fei was stunned by the sudden chance. Zi Yan, however, gave considerable thought to this matter.
She had already promised that she would go back tonight and had no idea whether Mengmeng would be unhappy.
Did Jia Dong offer her this opportunity with the best of intentions? Was there another purpose? Would this be related to Childe Liu and Childe Lin?
At this moment, Zi Yan is somewhat hesitant because the news came as a total surprise.
However… she was aware of her condition, and this program would help her out a lot.
After a pause, Zi Yan eventually nodded and agreed,
“Thank you, Childe Jia.”
“You’re welcome.” Jia Dong laughed loudly. With a gleam in his eyes, he tentatively said, “Elder Brother Lin chatted with me after you left yesterday. He really appreciates you, so I paid attention to the current programs. I never expected that I would find this show.”
“Thanks, Child Lin. Thank you for your kindness,” Zi Yan responded.
“It’s no bother.” Jia Dong shook his head and said, “I recommended you mainly because of your good temperament and attractiveness. I heard that several media outlets and some paparazzi are keeping an eye on you.”
“Oh…”
Jia Dong did not talk about the work anymore. Instead, he chatted with Zi Yan and Zhou Fei about some interesting things in the Entertainment Circle.
About half past one, the lunch ended. Jia Dong drove the two of them back to the hotel in person.
But unexpectedly, when they were just about to reach the door, several reporters rushed out.
They dashed up and asked hastily,
“h.e.l.lo, Zi Yan. What do you think about the incident involving the Jiang Yuan TV Station?”
“I heard that you will appear in a large-scale movie. Is this news true?”
“…”
“Excuse me. We’re not holding a press conference now, please stand aside!” Zhou Fei immediately protected Zi Yan and hurried into the hotel with Zi Yan.
Once they saw them enter the hotel, those reporters stopped asking, then shook their heads and left with regret.
As for Jia Dong, who was standing by the car, he slightly shook his head and sighed.
These people were also arranged by him. Their only purpose was to help Zi Yan recapture the feeling of being a popular star. With that, she would be more eager for success, which would pave the way for Childe Lin’s plan. However, what just happened was only the beginning. As long as Zi Yan went out, a large number of reporters would appear.
“Beautiful flowers are quickly picked. I don’t know whether Zi Yan is lucky or not.”
Jia Dong sighed with emotion, then got in the can and left.
After Zi Yan and Zhou Fei returned to the room, Zhou Fei snorted and bantered,
“Elder Sister Yan, perhaps you should take some bodyguards with you when you go out!”
“It’s not as exaggerated as you said. I’m not that popular yet.” Zi Yan gave her a bland response, but her eyes were filled with joy.
Being followed by paparazzi and reporters indirectly meant that she was somewhat popular, but it was annoying to have her privacy intruded on. Zi Yan had not expected her trip to the mainland to go so smoothly.
Although the incident at Jiang Yuan TV Station had not started out well, it became a special type of hype because of Hanyang’s a.s.sistance.
“I really didn’t expect Childe Jia to be so kind and invite Elder Sister Yan to My Voice,” Zhou Fei said with curiosity.
“This is probably also related to Lin Jie.” While speaking, Zi Yan became emotionless. After thinking for a while, she said, “Regardless of whether he’s involved or not, let’s believe that Childe Jia did it for benevolent purposes. We’ll return to Hong Kong the day after we finish recording.”
“Okay.” Zhou Fei nodded her head.
“I’ll call Zhang Han first. I don’t know how upset Mengmeng will be since I can’t go back today.” Zi Yan walked into the bedroom with her mobile phone and dialed Zhang Han’s number.
“Zhang Han.”
“Mmm.”
“I…” Zi Yan pursed her lips and said, “I can’t go back today.”
“Is something wrong?” Zhang Han asked.
“Yes, a program named My Voice invited me to be a guest since the original one can’t make it. I should be able to go back the night after tomorrow or three days from now.”
“Oh.” Zhang Han’s eyes narrowed and there was a dead silence.
Ten seconds later, Zi Yan was inexplicably a little stunned. She twisted her lips and said, “Why don’t you say something?”
“I…” Zhang Han pondered for a moment, then said, “Who arranged this program for you?”
“The son of the chief operator of the TV station, whose name is Jia Dong.” After a pause, Zi Yan answered truthfully.
“Do you know Lin Jie?” Zhang Han asked.
“Erm…” Zi Yan hesitated for a moment and then said, “Jia Dong invited us to dinner last night, and we met Lin Jie there. When I was talking to you, he was not far from me, and he even borrowed my mobile phone later.”
After thinking for a while, Zi Yan still did not tell Zhang Han that they insulted him at the table because she thought that would put Zhang Han in a bad mood.
But she did not know that Zhang Han always ignored unimportant people.