Entertainment: A whirlwind marriage with a fairy-like mother at the start!

Half of the ice in the coffee cup had melted, and water droplets slid down the side of the cup, forming a puddle on the table.

Liu Xiaoli stared at the thick contract, but ultimately didn't pick up a pen.

"Mr. Tang, this is a big deal." Liu Xiaoli put the contract back into the file folder, smiled apologetically, "I need to go back and discuss it with my family."

Tang Hui's smile froze almost imperceptibly for a moment before returning to normal, and he waved his hand magnanimously.

"Of course, good things come to those who wait. But Xiaoli, opportunities don't wait for anyone. I hope to hear good news before noon tomorrow."

As Liu Xiaoli stepped out of the coffee shop, she clutched the file folder tightly.

She flagged down a yellow van and headed straight for that old neighborhood.

I opened the door to find "Tom and Jerry" playing on TV, with Tom the cat screaming and howling at Jerry's antics.

Yu Le was slumped in the old, slightly sagging sofa, his long legs dangling unceremoniously over the edge of the coffee table, a handful of sunflower seeds in his hand, which he cracked open with a loud cracking sound.

Liu Qianqian sat on a small stool next to her, looking at the guitar with a troubled expression. She was obviously still reliving the highlight of last night and was also worried about how to improve her rudimentary fingering technique.

"Mom, you're back!" Liu Qianqian's eyes lit up when she saw Liu Xiaoli enter the door.

Liu Xiaoli didn't even bother to change her shoes. She quickly walked to the coffee table, slammed the file folder on it, and the impact made the sunflower seed shells on Yu Le's legs jump up.

"Sisi, Xiaoyu, can you guess what this is?"

Yu Le didn't even lift his eyelids, continuing to stare at the TV: "Did you win the lottery? Or did you get a discount coupon for eggs at the supermarket?"

"Get lost!" Liu Xiaoli rolled her eyes at him, her cheeks flushed with excitement. "Xinghai Entertainment! Director Tang Hui personally contacted me, wanting to sign Qianqian! He's offering this much!"

She held up two fingers and waved them in front of Yu Le's eyes.

"Twenty thousand?" Yu Le lazily spat out a sunflower seed shell.

"Two hundred thousand!" Liu Xiaoli's voice trembled. "A signing fee of two hundred thousand! And a promise of at least one album every year, with top-tier resources!"

The pick in Liu Qianqian's hand fell to the ground.

Two hundred thousand?

In an era when the price of housing in Beijing is only a few thousand yuan per square meter, this amount of money is definitely a huge sum for her.

"Mom...really?"

"The contracts are right here, in black and white!" Liu Xiaoli pulled out the contracts and pushed them in front of Yu Le. "Xiao Yu, give me your opinion. If there are no problems, we'll sign them tomorrow!"

Although she said that, the expression on her face clearly said, "Praise me quickly."

Yu Le sighed, reluctantly pulled back her long legs, and sat up straight.

"Two hundred thousand is making you this happy?"

He casually flipped through the thirty-page contract, as if he were turning over an outdated gossip magazine.

At first, he looked like he hadn't woken up yet.

He turned to the third page and stopped eating sunflower seeds.

Turning to page five, he threw the sunflower seeds he was holding back into the plate.

Turning to page twelve, his eyes, which were always half-closed, opened wide, revealing a coldness that Liu Xiaoli had never seen before.

The temperature inside the room seemed to drop several degrees instantly.

Talking Tom was still screaming on TV, but the two women present sensed something was wrong and didn't dare to breathe.

"Smack."

Yu Le closed the file and casually tossed it onto the coffee table.

The sound wasn't loud, but it made Liu Xiaoli's heart skip a beat.

"Xiao Yu... what's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Yu Le leaned back on the sofa.

"Ms. Liu, you're not going to discuss business, you're going to sell your daughter."

Liu Xiaoli's face turned pale: "What nonsense are you talking about! President Tang is very sincere..."

"Sincerity?" Yu Le sneered, his languid air completely gone, replaced by a sharpness that made people afraid to look him in the eye.

He pointed to the contract, speaking slowly but with each word sharp as a knife.

"Article 4: The contract is for ten years. Sisi is fifteen this year. If she signs this contract, these ten years will be the golden decade of her acting career, all sold to Xinghai."

"During this period, you cannot take on private jobs, you cannot date, and you cannot even make your own decisions about your hairstyle."

"Article Seven: Five million in penalty for breach of contract. Two hundred thousand for ten years, you want to leave? Pay five million to buy your freedom. This business is even more shady than the brothels of the old society."

Liu Xiaoli opened her mouth, wanting to refute, but no sound came out.

Yu Le didn't give her a chance to catch her breath, and tapped her fingers heavily on the coffee table twice.

"The most disgusting thing is Article 19. All intellectual property rights of Party B, namely Xixi, generated from all her performing arts activities, including the stage name 'Liu Yifei' or any name she may use in the future, shall permanently belong to Party A."

He looked up and stared at Liu Xiaoli's deathly pale face.

Do you know what this means?

"That means if they ever break up, Sisi won't even be able to use her own name. The songs she sings, the plays she acts in, and even she herself, won't legally belong to her."

"This 200,000 yuan is not just buying out a song, it's buying out her career, even her youth."

"Is this what you call sincerity?"

The living room was deathly silent.

Only the television was still emitting a loud, jarring sound.

Liu Qianqian only vaguely understood what was being said, but the words "five million" and "selling herself" struck her heart like a hammer blow. She instinctively grabbed Liu Xiaoli's sleeve, her face turning deathly pale.

Liu Xiaoli felt a chill run down her spine, and cold sweat instantly soaked through her clothes.

She was a dancer, an artist, and completely clueless about the intricacies of these business terms. She only saw the tempting 200,000, but failed to see the trap hidden beneath the flowers.

If it weren't for Yu Le...

If she had signed it on impulse...

The consequences would be unimaginable!

"Then...what do we do now?" Liu Xiaoli's voice trembled, completely losing her composure. "I already promised to give them an answer tomorrow..."

"reject."

Yu Le slumped back onto the sofa, reverting to his usual listless demeanor. "This kind of garbage contract is disgusting to even look at."

"But...that's Xinghai. What if we offend them..." Liu Xiaoli was still a little scared.

"What's wrong with Xinghai? Just because it's a big company doesn't mean people can't say anything!" Yu Le scoffed. "You could just refuse directly."

Liu Xiaoli took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her wildly beating heart.

Looking at the man in front of her who had reverted to his lazy demeanor, she felt a sense of security she had never felt before.

He may seem unreliable most of the time, but when it really matters, he's a real go-getter.

Liu Xiaoli took out her Nokia phone from her bag and, with trembling fingers, flipped through Tang Hui's number.

The moment she pressed the call button, she glanced at Yu Le.

Yu Le was grinning foolishly at the TV, as if the man with such an imposing aura just moments before was merely a figment of her imagination.

"Hey, Xiaoli? Is there good news?" Tang Hui's confident voice came from the other end of the phone.

Liu Xiaoli tightened her grip on her phone.

She recalled what Yu Le had just said, and how she had almost pushed her daughter into the fire with her own hands. The fear in her heart slowly turned into anger and determination.

"Mr. Tang, I'm sorry."

Her voice turned cold, carrying a resolute air that kept people at arm's length.

"I've reviewed the contract; we need to reconsider."

Tang Hui on the other end of the phone visibly paused, the smile in his voice fading slightly: "Consider? Sister Xiaoli, are you not satisfied with the amount? That's negotiable..."

"It's not about the amount."

Liu Xiaoli interrupted him, her gaze falling on Yu Le, who was playing with a lighter.

"Is that a problem with the terms and conditions?" Tang Hui's voice turned serious. "Sister Xiaoli, this is standard practice in the industry; all new hires sign contracts this way. Did you listen to some layman?"

"President Tang."

Liu Xiaoli straightened her back and said, word by word.

"My husband has seen it."

He said, "No."

After saying that, she hung up the phone.

"Beep—beep—beep—"

gentlemen?

Yu Le's hand, which was pressing the remote control, froze in mid-air.

He slowly turned his head and looked at Liu Xiaoli.

Eyes facing each other.

Liu Xiaoli also realized the consequences of her choice of words.

Her cheeks flushed red instantly. Without saying a word, she turned and quickly went back to her room.