69: Chapter 69 In short, I tried very hard.

"Sigh~" As soon as Liu Jun finished speaking, Chen Sheng let out the long-brewed sigh he had been holding in. "The general economic climate really hasn't been good these past two years. My previous company went under for that exact reason."

"Plus, it's graduation season and summer vacation, so jobs are really hard to find. I have no choice but to drive for a ride-hailing service now."

No matter what was said, the central idea was just two words—no money.

On the other end, Liu Jun, who had wanted to stop the conversation after hearing Chen Sheng's sincere spiel, saw the screen of another phone on the table, which had been temporarily muted, light up once again.

Looking at the number without a contact name on the screen, his body couldn't help but tremble.

This was an instinctive fear.

Liu Jun instinctively swallowed hard, trying his best to control his tone as he said: "It's really been hard to work these past two years. If I hadn't just landed this gig, I would have wanted to dump everything I have on my hands."

"Sheng Zi, I really am in an emergency. Ten or twenty thousand is fine. Once the project starts and the client pays the first installment, I'll pay you back immediately."

"Younger Maternal Uncle, I really don't have it!" Chen Sheng tried to drag out his voice to emphasize his helplessness. "Right now, driving for the ride-hailing service every month just barely covers my mortgage, car loan, and living expenses."

"I do have a few thousand left, but that's all for my wife's prenatal checkups and giving birth."

Speaking of this, Chen Sheng gave a bitter smile. "The general environment has been bad for these two years; that I'm not in debt is already me trying my best."

After Chen Sheng finished this sentence, both sides of the phone fell into a brief silence.

About three minutes later, Liu Jun broke the silence first: "Sigh! Sheng Zi, it was my lack of consideration. In that case, I'll go try to find a way with other people."

"If you can't find a job in Shu City, once I get things sorted out on my end, I'll call you. How about you come help me then?"

Chen Sheng couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Are you actually taking this seriously now that you're acting!"

"What do you mean how about it? I should be thanking you for giving me a bite to eat." Chen Sheng paused for a moment, suppressing the excitement in his voice, and then continued: "Younger Maternal Uncle! I'm really sorry I couldn't help you. You should call someone else!"

"Fine! I'll go ask others. That's all for now."

Beep, beep~ Seeing the call hung up, Chen Sheng silently let out a sigh of relief. This matter was finally over.

He knew Liu Jun wouldn't believe his excuse, but it didn't matter. As long as he could save face, he didn't care about the substance.

Chen Sheng lit another cigarette and opened the system panel.

host: Chen Sheng, Level: Level 1, Upgrade EXP: 47 / 100, Unread Intelligence: 2

Chen Sheng rubbed his hands vigorously, and after warming his palms, he clicked on the unread intelligence.

【 Today's Intelligence 1: Today, superstar De Hua has been invited to Shu City to record a three-day program. Tomorrow morning at 6:30, he will be jogging alone in People's Park. 】

"Holy crap!" Superstar De Hua is coming to Shu City to record a program? Could it be that show with Hua Kun?

After all, if we're talking about programs recently recorded in Shu City, the hottest one must be the one featuring Hua Kun, whose fans alone shut down Yulin Road for half a day.

As a national idol loved by everyone from eighty-year-olds to babes in arms, the only show that could invite him is the one with Hua Kun.

However... I feel inexplicably sorry for De Hua.

You have to know that he is also a fan of De Hua's music and movies. Although he never bought his albums, he listened to his songs a lot back in school—songs like "Secretly Obsessed," "Water of Forgetfulness," "Ice Rain"... quite a few were must-sing songs when going to KTV in his youth.

As for why it was in his youth? Who goes to KTV for no reason now? If you go for a reason, that's called a business KTV.

He still remembers that back in high school, during lunch, there would always be one of De Hua's songs on the broadcast loop. Of course, not just De Hua, but also Xue You, Jia Ju, Wu Bai, Zong Sheng... their songs and the movies they filmed—if you grabbed anyone and asked, they could hum a few lines right away.

Unlike today's stars. Ask their fans what this star's representative work is, and the fans reply that their "brother" is very hardworking, even if he scrapes his skin, he gritted his teeth and insisted on training. Ask the fans again, what is your "brother's" representative work? The fans reply, my "brother" is really very hardworking, practicing dance for 25 hours a day. Ask the fans again, what is your "brother's" representative work? The fans still reply, my "brother" is really very hardworking, insisting on training even with a 48° fever. Anyway, he's just very hardworking.

Getting back to the point, the news that De Hua is coming to Shu City reminded Chen Sheng of his previous plan... no, he should say he has decided to restart his previous plan. Of course, before that, he still had to finish reading today's intelligence.

【 Daily Intelligence 2: Today, the host will receive a cooperation invitation from an MCN company. It has been verified that this company engages in "Yin-Yang contracts," tax evasion, and other issues. Please choose carefully. 】

Chen Sheng: "..." They're already doing Yin-Yang contracts and tax evasion, how can I choose carefully? It's just that there's no evidence; otherwise, reporting them would be the least of it.

Closing the system panel, Chen Sheng searched on a local app for a studio that could make personalized T-shirts. He found the studio's contact number, called it directly, and after confirming that the other party could meet his needs, he drove to this XX studio.

"Hello! I'm the one who just called about customizing personalized T-shirts."

Pushing the door open and entering, he could see that the whole studio was very small. If it weren't for the partitions blocking some of his view, he could have seen to the end at a glance. The fewer than ten Staff Members also confirmed this from the side.

There were many unknown machines in the studio, and coupled with fabric and paper, the whole studio looked chaotic.

The Young Lady in charge of the front desk was very enthusiastic. Seeing Chen Sheng come in, she hurriedly stood up and greeted him: "Hello, welcome."

Chen Sheng replied politely: "Hello! I just called and consulted with a person surnamed Liang about customizing T-shirts. Could you tell me how to get to him?"

The Young Lady walked out from the front desk and gestured: "Sir, please follow me."

Chen Sheng nodded and made a gesture of "after you."

The Young Lady didn't stand on ceremony anymore, led Chen Sheng through the messy office area, and came directly to the door of the general manager's office. After knocking and getting permission, she pushed the door and walked in. "Boss, this gentleman says he already made an appointment with you just now."

"Hello!" "Hello! Please sit!"

After the two exchanged greetings and the Young Lady at the front desk left, Chen Sheng sat down opposite Boss Liang.

Boss Liang made a cup of tea for Chen Sheng himself before speaking: "Manager Chen, you mentioned on the phone just now that you wanted to make a batch of personalized De Hua T-shirts. I wonder if they are text-based or pattern-based?"

Chen Sheng asked calmly: "What do you mean by text-based? And what do you mean by pattern-based?"

As a layman, the best way to deal with the negotiation table was to kick the ball to the other party and then make a judgment based on his own mental estimates.

"The craftsmanship for pattern-based ones is more complex than text-based ones. The price per piece will be 1-10 yuan higher depending on the difficulty. Of course, if you customize in large quantities, we will give a discount based on the quantity."

Boss Liang turned around, pulled a booklet from the bookshelf, and handed it to Chen Sheng. "This is a catalog of some finished products the studio has done before. Manager Chen, you can take a look first, and then we'll talk."