Chapter 68: Showing Off

After lunch, Lin Jianlu slipped away, went back downstairs to his apartment building, locked up his Phoenix bicycle, and got into his BMW. Ah, in a matter of minutes, he transformed from a street loafer into a promising young man and a rising talent.

His first stop was Rock Records.

Before noon, old Xue had already called to say he had received the current issue of *Time* magazine. Actually, a few days before it even hit the newsstands, Sylvia Chang’s side had already received a review copy, though it hardly seemed worth the trouble to mail it all the way back.

He had already appeared on the covers and in feature interviews of plenty of other magazines—dozens of them. Madam Ge Fuhong had collected them all, partly as memorabilia and partly as a record of professional achievement, but Lin Jianlu simply didn't think those were worth keeping. As for *Time*, however, it did carry a certain symbolic significance, and he was quite curious to take a look at it himself.

To reiterate, people in this era generally held it in high regard, which made it important.

Following Zhang Qiang and Gong Li, he was the third Chinese artist, the first male artist, and the first male singer to grace the cover of *Time* magazine—a tremendously impressive credential!

However, the moment he parked his car downstairs at the company and walked inside, something struck him as wrong at a glance.

Liu Xiaoli was actually sitting at the front desk.

Seeing Lin Jianlu looking over, she stood up, smiled, and with an indescribable gentleness said, "Good afternoon, Mr. Lin!"

Lin Jianlu walked over, looking her up and down in her little suit uniform—a beauty was a beauty, and wearing this tailored suit instantly added an extra layer of elegance and poise to his future mother-in-law.

To be honest, the thirty-something Liu Yifei in his past life couldn't hold a candle to this thirty-something Liu Xiaoli right now.

"Why are you..."

She explained with a hint of embarrassment, "Manager Xue from Rock Records spoke with me, saying that since us backup dancers have Sundays off anyway, and the company actually needs a receptionist on Sundays, he asked if I’d be willing to take on a part-time job. I'm living alone in Beijing now, and I really don't have much to do on Sundays anyway, so I agreed."

"Oh..."

Lin Jianlu understood instantly: Oh, old Xue, old Xue!

Fine, paying his future mother-in-law a bit more money wasn't a bad thing, but still, "If you do this, won't you have no days off at all? How much is he paying you?"

Liu Xiaoli raised her hand again, embarrassedly tucking a stray lock of hair from her forehead. "Just one day a week, two hundred yuan!"

Whoa! Old Xue was truly generous!

He thought about leaving, then turned back and tapped the front desk. "Talk to him later—why do a part-time job with something this good? Why not do it full-time? That's six thousand yuan a month!"

"Uh... I'm sorry, if you feel this will affect my primary duties, then I'll immediately..."

She had only interacted with Lin Jianlu twice and wasn't quite used to his conversational style, assuming this meant he was displeased.

Lin Jianlu waved his hand, cutting her off before she could finish. "We're not going to be his receptionist anymore. Go back to dancing, and you can take charge as the team leader from now on. On top of your salary... I'll personally supplement it with another two thousand yuan a month. Go on back, rest properly when you should. It's just a bit of money; if you're ever short, just come to me. Other things might be hard to say, but money is definitely not lacking! Go on, go home and rest!"

Liu Xiaoli opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Lin Jianlu had already turned around to press the elevator button.

…………

Well, he had it in his hands.

The cover featured two large, parallel catchphrases:

King of Asian Pop!
The Eastern Jackson!

Admiring himself for a moment, the kid really was motherfucking handsome!

"Alright, five copies, I'm taking them all! You buy your own if you want more!"

Although deep down he didn't take pride in being featured on some Westerner's magazine cover, in this era, this thing was a massive bonus. Once you made the cover, it proved you had genuinely reached that tier of stardom.

Consequently, money would be even easier to make!

So... well, he needed to put one copy each in his car, at home, and in his rented apartment!

Right, he also needed to give a copy to his wife, and by the way, put on a disdainful expression and repeat what he had just said to old Zhang and old Xue, flexing in the exact same way: "It's just the Asian edition, totally pointless!"

Tsk, perfection!

"Oh, right, old Xue, your flattery was a bit off target this time! Take note for next time! I told her to step down, you can go ask if those two girls, Li Xiaoran and Liu Dan, would be willing. Young and pretty, how great is that!"

He headed downstairs.

When he reached the first floor out of the elevator, Liu Xiaoli was still standing there. Seeing Lin Jianlu come out, she wore a troubled look.

Lin Jianlu walked over, pulled a copy of *Time* magazine out, and placed it on the counter. "For you! Take a good look—this guy, how motherfucking handsome is he!"

Unfamiliar as she was with Lin Jianlu's personality, the handsome, domineering, and sharp-eyed face on that cover, combined with such blatant self-praise, made Liu Xiaoli unable to hold back a burst of laughter.

"You... thank you!"

Lin Jianlu was about to leave, but then he turned back and instinctively patted his back pocket. "Wait for me!" Then he strode out the door. Shortly after, he came back holding a wallet, opened it right in front of her, revealing a thick stack of hundred-yuan bills crammed inside. He pulled all of them out, counted off five bills, and handed the rest straight to her.

Liu Xiaoli looked startled, lowering her gaze to the money and then raising it to Lin Jianlu.

"Count how many bills there are, and then write me an I.O.U.!"

"This... this..."

"Hey, you just went through a clean break, right? I understand! Otherwise, you're a national first-class performer after all, why would you be looking for odd jobs through me? Take it, solve your immediate crisis first! Rent a place when you need to, eat well when you need to! Wait until I'm done with these busy days, and once you guys have practiced enough, I'll take you out to make some real money!"

She hesitated for a moment, finally taking the money, her eyes slightly red. "Thank you!"

Lin Jianlu waved his hand and walked away directly, not forgetting to toss back one last sentence right before heading out the door: "Remember to write that I.O.U.!"

…………

There was a cat on the opposite building, walking along a power line.

Gao Yuanyuan had been staring at it, but somehow, she started daydreaming while watching.

Unconsciously, a shy yet triumphant smile crept across her face.

Well, young girls who had just tasted the sweetness of love were generally prone to this—and she was far sweeter than the average young girl.

"Yuanyuan, I'm calling you, time to eat! ... What are you daydreaming about?"

It wasn't until her brother called out that she suddenly snapped back to reality. When she turned her head to look again, she found that the cat had long since vanished. Startled, she braced her hands on the table and looked down at the ground outside the window.

Fortunately, it wasn't on the ground either.

"Hurry up... Whoa, why did you bother changing into this dress?"

Her brother had already been about to leave, but he turned back. For some reason, his younger sister hadn't gone home this summer vacation, and when she came back after finishing that movie, he had a vague sense that she had changed somewhat.

He had visited that film crew; as an older brother, how could he dare let his sister spend a month or two somewhere without checking it out?

It was a very respectable crew, filled with A-list stars like Pu Cunxin, Xu Jinglei, and so on. The film even had government backing, produced by the Xi'an Film Studio! Only after confirming all this did he dare let his sister join the cast.

Maybe it was the month-long experience of shooting the movie that had taught his sister something!

"Huh? It's nothing! I like it! It cost over three hundred yuan!"

She actually lied about this, telling her family she bought it with the salary the film crew paid her, and because of that, she even held back four hundred yuan from her parents. But in truth, those four hundred yuan were just pocketed by herself, while this dress was paid for by Lin Jianlu—she regarded it as a token of their love and cherished it immensely.

Today, she wore it specifically for a certain someone to see.

After buying it earlier, she had changed into it and shown it to him, and he liked it very much.

Then came dinner. Once lunch was finished, she took out the backpack she had already packed, looking up at the wall clock almost every few minutes.

Her parents chatted casually as usual, and her brother went back to his room, but she couldn't leave early; waiting outside would mean baking in the sun.

As soon as the time was almost right, she said goodbye to her parents and brother, patiently listened to a few more minutes of nagging, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and headed out the door.

Once outside, her mood turned cheerful, and she practically jogged all the way.

Before long, not far from the bus stop, she spotted his BMW.

Scanning left, right, front, and back to make sure there were no acquaintances around, she happily pulled open the front passenger door and slipped inside.

That someone was reading a magazine.

"Oh, you're here? Heh, this dress—truly worthy of my choice, it looks great!" As he spoke, he casually tossed the magazine onto the center console. As luck would have it, his face on the cover was staring right up. Gao Yuanyuan spotted it instantly. First, she made a proud, coy defense, "I clearly picked it out myself!", but immediately followed up with, "Oh! What magazine? You made the cover? And it's in English!"

He had to introduce it quickly and build up the hype: "*Time* magazine, the most famous magazine in America!"

"Oh my, then this magazine is a big deal! I remember someone in my class bought one, but it definitely wasn't this issue. Right, *Time*! Wow, a cover subject! Impressive, impressive!"

"Hah, it's just the Asian edition, not that big a deal!"

"Huh? Asian edition? Does that mean it's not good?"

Heh... this girl really...

Look at what old Xue, Xue Zhongding, had to say: "The Asian edition is already extremely impressive! The US domestic version has to consider circulation; a magazine is a business after all, it has to sell copies and make money. Naturally, the cover takes Westerners, especially Americans, as its first choice. People from anywhere else can't make the US edition cover unless they're super politicians!"

Look at that, now *that* is how you play the straight man to a comic!

Lin Jianlu was slightly choked up by this silly girl, but there was nothing he could do. At this point, it wouldn't do to take his boasting back, so he explained with a slightly stiff tone, "I'm only the third person nationwide to make the Asian edition, and the first male!"

"Ah! That's already amazing!"

Ah, the taste was right back on track.

Full of self-satisfaction, Lin Jianlu smiled and said, "Drop you straight off at school? Do you want to grab a nice dinner tonight?"

Hearing this, she fell into deep thought. At first, she looked a bit expectant, but quickly grew discouraged, her little face twisting into a bitter pout. "Better not! I'm going to be a senior in high school, I need to study hard!"

"Aw, how wonderful! Study hard and make daily progress! Oh, by the way, let me give you a heads-up, I'm going out for work in the next couple of days! It'll be a long time before I'm back!"

"Then we should definitely go grab a nice dinner first!"

"Hahahahaha! Alright, buckel up!"