bestfiction Chapter 137 Two Big Good-for-Nothings from Beijing No. 1 Middle School
Chapter 137 Two Big Good-for-Nothings from Beijing No. 1 Middle School
Chi Xu lay slumped on the table, muttering to himself:
"Half and half."
“I don’t have any talent for business. Even if I study finance, I won’t be as good as my brother. I might as well join the army.”
"Besides, I've been interested in this since I was a child, and my grandfather and my uncle also supported me. It wasn't out of spite."
Unlike other rich kids, Xie Junfei knew about Chi Xu's family situation and understood that Chi Xu had indeed made the right choice.
Don't let his seemingly carefree attitude fool you; when it comes to trouble, he's a man who can take responsibility. With his ability to handle interpersonal relationships, his ability to endure hardship, and his good family background, he's bound to have a bright future.
Xie Junfei patted him on the shoulder and comforted him:
"Don't worry, since we've been through thick and thin together, just let me know if you need anything in the future, and I won't tell your brother."
She always kept her word, and Chi Xu was immediately moved to tears:
"Xie Junfei, you are truly my best sister."
Excessive mental exertion makes one hungry quickly. Xie Junfei glanced at her watch; there was still half an hour until get out of class ended. Too lazy to squeeze into the cafeteria with the hungry wolves of the first and second-year high school students, she casually draped her school uniform over her shoulder and asked Chi Xu:
"If you're my best friend, skip class with me, wanna come?"
Chi Xu paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously.
"Let's go, let's go, I'm starving!"
The two of them quietly left the classroom through the back door like thieves and headed straight for the cafeteria.
The cafeteria auntie knew this couple who were always late or left early. When she saw them come to the window, she would put two big chicken legs on their rice without saying a word and hand them over a big plate full of food.
Chi Xu smiled, revealing his canine teeth, and thanked his aunt repeatedly.
Both of them were fussy young masters and misses, and they used to complain that the cafeteria was so crowded that the food was all dusty, so they often packed their food to eat on the rooftop.
This time was no exception. The temperature in Beijing in April was neither too hot nor too cold. The shady spot on the roof of the Zhixue Building was quite cool. Chi Xu opened a can of soda, sat on the steps with an air of nonchalance, and after downing most of the can of cola, he started eating rice.
Xie Junfei couldn't finish the large bowl of four or five dishes, so before eating, he simply gave the big piece with green peppers to Chi Xu, that pig, and then slowly broke off his chopsticks.
The two chatted as they ate, and then, as if remembering something, Chi Xu asked Xie Junfei:
"I remember you said before that you had just taken over Tia. How is it running now?"
Xie Junfei took a bite of the juicy chicken leg and mumbled:
"It's alright. I replaced the management team with my own people, and I signed a group of new painters as graduation season approaches. It's running smoothly now."
Not only did it resume normal operations, but she also gradually managed to win back a significant amount of the resources held by the departing executives.
During the Chinese New Year period, the executive took advantage of the peak of internet popularity to establish a new gallery. Now that he no longer has Tia's resources and clients, his income has decreased significantly.
Income has decreased, but expenses have increased instead of decreasing.
He has no one to blame but himself.
Who told him that in order to get Tia's executives to leave with him, he offered them salaries far exceeding market rates? But when these people came to the new gallery, they not only didn't work, but they also acted like lords, impossible to order around and impossible to offend, so he could only support them for nothing.
Moreover, this group of people overestimated themselves.
This group of people are just taking advantage of their early entry into the industry and becoming seniors ahead of time. In reality, their professional skills are not as good as those of today's young people. Without the platform and resources provided by Tia, they are nothing. Only they themselves take themselves seriously.
The executives couldn't attract resources but still demanded high salaries, the established artists refused to lower their prices, and emerging artist Lin Ning'er lost her popularity, so no one bought her anything. Soon, the new gallery fell into an economic crisis.
The executives had no choice but to fully cooperate with the powerful and influential, engaging in shady dealings.
The excessive amount of gray-area operations has attracted the attention of higher authorities.
A while ago, her second brother, who was with Zhu's uncle, told her that they had received a report and were now secretly verifying it.
And starting with this new gallery, we will make an example of them to thoroughly rectify the chaos in the industry.
This is exactly what Xie Junfei wanted.
Unlike his brother Chi Jingchuan, Chi Xu had chosen to join the army, so his family would inevitably expose him to the inner workings of the military beforehand, and he naturally learned about the inside stories that Xie Junfei knew.
He took a bite of braised pork and mumbled:
"My grandfather recently wanted to hold an art exhibition with the works he painted in the past two years."
Xie Junfei opened her eyes wide:
"This is a good thing, why are you looking so gloomy?"
Chi Xu sighed and took another bite of rice.
"That's a good thing, but I can't find any galleries!"
"As you know, the subject matter my grandfather painted is not easy to auction and doesn't fetch a high price. He asked several galleries, but none of them were willing to help him organize an exhibition."
"The person in charge even said that given the current economic climate, they wouldn't do business at a loss. This made my grandfather so angry that he had to take several nitroglycerin pills at home."
Upon hearing this, Xie Junfei immediately swallowed the food in her mouth and quickly answered:
"Me! Me! Me! Tia is willing! Come to Tia, I'll reserve a Golden Week for you! A nationwide exhibition!"
Chi Xu's eyes immediately lit up:
"Holy crap, really?"
Xie Junfei nodded repeatedly:
"That's right. My second aunt has just finished her touring exhibition and will be taking over from Tina in July or August. Mr. Chi's exhibition is scheduled for the National Day Golden Week. How wonderful!"
During the National Day Golden Week, both ordinary people and the powerful take a break to visit exhibitions, and the transaction volume is the highest of the year. However, Chi Lao's paintings have always been famous but relatively inexpensive, so they are not a good choice.
Mr. Chi himself was well aware of his own limitations and never expected this timeframe when negotiating with other galleries.
Even so, no gallery was willing to help him.
But Tia was not among those "galleries".
It wasn't that Tia agreed, but rather that Elder Chi didn't even ask them.
After all, Tia had a reputation for being greedy and profit-driven, and the executive had also ruined Xie Junfei's reputation online, calling her a cold-blooded businesswoman who would betray her principles for profit. Old Master Chi did not want to humiliate himself, so he naturally did not consider Tia.
Chi Xu knew that she came from a business background, so he naturally assumed that even if Xie Junfei agreed to the job for the sake of the Chi family, he would arrange for a popular painter to be hired during the Golden Week holiday, and then take the opportunity to sell the painting and make tens of millions of yuan, while giving his grandfather a cold season in December.
But he never expected that Xie Junfei would give up such a good profit opportunity for the Chi family and give them the Golden Week holiday!
At this point, Chi Xu was truly moved to tears in a physical sense:
"Xie Junfei, you're such a good sister to me! Thank you so much! Really!"
As he spoke, he picked up a large chicken leg from the lunchbox and respectfully offered it to his good sister.
Although Xie Junfei looked extremely disgusted, her hands betrayed her; she took the chicken leg and took a bite.
"Come on, I'm not doing this entirely for you, it's mostly to give Old Master Chi face."
Chi Xu: "?"
"Have you seen my grandfather's paintings?"
Xie Junfei rolled her eyes at him:
"Nonsense, I'm a fan of Mr. Chi."
Old Master Chi was an upright and incorruptible man who could not tolerate any wrongdoing, but he was also too rigid and easily broken. His career was not as smooth as that of his contemporaries, and he relied entirely on his outstanding military achievements to support him.
Back when she was in the Qin family, she was once forced to drink at an art gala. A greasy rich businessman next to her was about to make his move when Old Master Chi, who happened to be passing by, helped her out and gave the businessman a thorough dressing-down.
She was in such a sorry state at the time, with heavy makeup covering her face, that the old gentleman probably didn't recognize her and just thought it was a small favor, so he let her go.
A drop of kindness deserves a spring of gratitude in return. Old Chi may have forgotten, but Xie Junfei would never forget.
Just as Xie Junfei was about to say something, Robert's voice suddenly came through the earphones:
"Sister Junfei, a group of people are approaching the rooftop. I've detected them. Do you need to leave?"
"According to the voiceprint analysis, it's a group of female voices. Hmm, that sounds terrible. There are girls crying."
"That girl's crying tastes bitter, I don't like it."
Upon hearing this, Xie Junfei grabbed Chi Xu and slipped behind the door.
Immediately afterwards, Lin Yunyun's arrogant voice rang out in the hallway from the art class next door:
"Zhang Yu, I heard you just got signed by Tia? That's amazing, you've become a great artist."
"But do you, a slut and illegitimate daughter, even deserve it?"