Entertainment Era: Starting with Teaching Sister Meng to Sing

We are now in an era where smartphones are becoming increasingly common, and fashionable white-collar workers in major international cities were already using Apple's latest 4s last year.

In remote areas, such as the rural Northeast where Wang Xiaozhou lives, most people still use mobile phones with huge loudspeakers and scrolling lights around the phone when a call comes in, making it impossible to access the internet.

Wang Xiaozhou is currently using his father's old voice recorder, which only allows him to send text messages, greatly hindering his ability to use the device.

So the next day, Wang Xiaozhou got up and went to the town's mobile phone store without even having breakfast to get a SIM card and a free phone with a package deal.

He was anxious, not afraid of getting beaten up after eating breakfast.

The new phone is a 3G semi-smartphone that is half the thickness of the VoiceKing. The internet speed is very slow, but it is much better than a brick phone and is barely usable.

Upon logging into Xiuxiu, a series of notification sounds caused the new phone to lag for a moment, with the most messages coming from Huang Mao.

[Eleven cities record: 1 minute and 20 seconds for a single lap, isn't that amazing!]

[Dude, why don't you ride Lao San's bike? My house is the furthest from the internet cafe!]

The third brother said he'd let me ride on the beam to carry him home, and if my dad found out I hadn't brought my bicycle home, he'd definitely beat me. So I just stayed overnight.

Come to the internet cafe in the county town and find me.

......

Wang Xiaozhou replied: [Speak less Northeastern dialect.]

The blond-haired guy's avatar quickly started flashing: "[I don't have an accent either.]"

This guy's probably going to die from overwork; he's been playing all night and hasn't slept yet. Wang Xiaozhou's final word was: "Go home and get some sleep."

I'm ignoring him. I have important business to attend to today and need to get into town.

While his parents were visiting relatives, Wang Xiaozhou took his bicycle out and embarked on another long-distance cycling trip.

Before noon, Wang Xiaozhou arrived at the hospital where his third aunt was hospitalized, but he didn't come to see her.

To win over a seemingly shrewd but foolish beauty like Meng Ziyi, you must suppress her from beginning to end. At present, Wang Xiaozhou is not enough to make her admire him.

So when they meet tomorrow, Wang Xiaozhou wants to add a bit more drama to his performance.

Just like a top student who doesn't study on weekdays but gets full marks on exams, when asked by others, he says he didn't study, but in reality, he's been rushing to tutoring classes after school until his bicycle is practically smoking.

The same applies to scumbags. They may seem indifferent to a woman in front of her, but in reality, they use more underhanded tactics than anyone else.

I went upstairs to the oncology department and paid the price of a pack of cigarettes to get the oncology department director's phone number from the pretty girl in the logistics department. Then I put on my hat and rode my bicycle to 520.

The head of the oncology department at the county hospital was surnamed Zhang. Wang Xiaozhou was very familiar with him in his previous life, not because they had any special contact, but because this Director Zhang had appeared on the local news six months later.

It was just before the college entrance examination, and everyone was buying newspapers to follow social hot topics. Director Zhang was a local, so Wang Xiaozhou remembered that news article very clearly.

On November 2, 2012, relevant departments including health and supervision jointly visited and interviewed Director Zhang of the Oncology Department of the County Hospital to investigate his solicitation of kickbacks from medical representatives. Six months later, higher authorities had obtained a complete chain of evidence, and relevant departments made the arrest...

Coincidentally, today is November 1st, which gives Wang Xiaozhou just the right amount of time to make his move.

I went into a dead-end alley near the internet cafe and dialed the phone number I had just gotten.

The call didn't go through the first time; it rang twice before the other party hung up.

I called again, and this time the call was answered quickly, but the person on the other end sounded very impatient.

"Who?"

"Director Zhang, there's a patient in your department named Zhang Juan. I hope she can receive the best medical care in the area."

Hearing the confident tone of the person on the phone, Director Zhang frowned and asked a question.

Who are you?

Wang Xiaozhou's tone remained indifferent: "Don't ask who I am. Can you get this done?"

On the other end of the phone, Director Zhang seemed to laugh in exasperation, saying in a mocking tone, "You mean I don't need to know who you are to obediently listen to you, and I don't even know who I'm giving face to?"

Wang Xiaozhou's tone was condescending: "Someone will talk to you tomorrow. I believe you'll understand what to do afterward."

After saying that, he hung up the phone, took out the newly issued SIM card, crushed it, and threw it in a corner of the alley.

According to the timeline, mobile phone numbers will not be registered with real names until next year. In remote areas, offering free mobile phones with a package deal is just a way to take advantage of customers. Nobody is actually paying the 200 yuan monthly package fee.

Adding to the phone call just now, Wang Xiaozhou has already made the most of the 50 yuan card fee, and he hasn't lost out at all.

Back at the internet cafe, I was greeted by "Brother Xiaozhou" all the way. The people who used the internet there were mostly students from the neighborhood. Wang Xiaozhou's reputation as the best fighter on Heping Road was mainly among them, so he was very well-known. Some students who were not doing well even considered it an honor to exchange a few words with Wang Xiaozhou.

The machine where Huang Mao and his gang usually sit is empty; I guess those guys stayed up all night yesterday and are catching up on sleep at home today.

Wang Xiaozhou randomly found a spot, turned on his computer, and began to think about the future plans for Meng Ziyi.

While casually browsing the web, he discovered that the hottest program this year was none other than "The Voice of China." This summer, the news that the final night of The Voice of China had a viewership rating of over 5 was an absolute bombshell in the entertainment industry, completely ending the talent show model of the "Super Girl era."

With her advanced skills, music theory knowledge, and perfect performance of single songs, Meng Ziyi has firmly locked her first step into the entertainment industry in music. In this light, The Voice of China is indeed the only choice.

However, this program doesn't focus much on originality, and the second episode's broadcast time is too far away. The specific choice is still under discussion.

I sat in the internet cafe researching until 9 p.m. when Huang Mao Liu Shuai and Bai Weijing Li Weiguang arrived. These two guys were here to stay all night again.

Taking the Coke from the blond-haired man, Wang Xiaozhou asked, "Where's the third brother?"

Li Weiguang turned on his computer to play games: "That guy said school starts the day after tomorrow, so he's studying at home. Our school's teaching building is being built so fast, I thought we'd get another ten days off."

Now that it's neither a holiday nor a festival, Wang Xiaozhou and other senior high school students can have a break thanks to their alma mater's cardboard-like teaching building. Last month, a snowfall caused the roof to collapse, which led to the whole school being closed for a week.

Now that the snow has melted and the teaching building has been topped out, the third child, who is determined to get into a good university, is afraid of falling behind in his studies, so he is currently studying hard at home.

"You two should put in some effort too. Stop spending all your time online. What if you can show off your 1 minute and 20 second record from 11 cities when you visit your future mother-in-law?"

"Damn, boss, you're starting to get jealous of my skills!"

"I'm not jealous of you at all! Log in and see how I'll beat you up!"

Wang Xiaozhou stopped there, having already made up his mind about Meng Ziyi's matter, and simply ran two laps of the speedboat with the two of them.

I didn't stay up all night; I probably fell asleep in my chair around 11 or 12. I told my mom I wouldn't be home tonight before I left this morning, so she doesn't need to worry about them waiting for me.

The next morning around nine o'clock, Wang Xiaozhou was woken up by a phone notification; the text message was from Meng Ziyi.

Are you done with your work? I made some steamed eggs; can we have lunch together?

Wang Xiaozhou wiped his face, stuffed the whole steamed bun that Huang Mao had brought back that morning into his mouth, and replied:

Make me some stir-fried pork with chili peppers, wait for me.