Chapter 48: The Ancient Chinese Professor Teaches Personally!

Seeing the strange expression on Liu Yanbin's face, the secretary immediately lowered her head and asked cautiously, "Chairman Liu, did... did I say something wrong?"

With a cold expression, Liu Yanbin replied indifferently, "I never want to hear words like that again. I don't want to hear such talk within the company either, understand? I am the chairman, and everything regarding the company's operations is decided by me. No one has the right to make irresponsible remarks about this matter."

Taken aback, the secretary felt nervous and said, "Yes, Chairman Liu, I understand."

Liu Yanbin did not dwell on the topic any further, knowing that the secretary was unaware of the truth.

"Alright, you can go back to your work now. You don't need to worry about this matter," Liu Yanbin said after taking a sip of water.

The secretary nodded and stepped out of the office.

Rising from his seat, Liu Yanbin looked out the window at the bustling traffic below. Shanghai was a city with gorgeous scenery, yet beneath its prosperous surface lay treacherous undercurrents.

"It would still be safer to report this to Mr. Wang," Liu Yanbin muttered to himself, before taking out his phone and calling Wang Mian.

...

At one o'clock in the afternoon, inside the Tomson Riviera apartment complex, Yang Mi sat on the sofa, staring at the takeout in front of her without the slightest appetite.

Ever since the morning, Yang Mi and He Baibai had not stopped for a single moment, continuously contacting other hotel partners. Strangely enough, however, those hotel owners acted as if they had colluded in advance—every single one of them shut their doors to Yang Mi!

There were only a handful of well-known hotels in the entire city of Shanghai, and Yang Mi currently felt truly driven to her wits' end.

"Mi-jie, what are we going to do now? Could it be that we have to go look for partners outside the city?" He Baibai asked, filled with deep disappointment and anxiety. "I feel like Wu Yufei and Arthur Chen must be behind this! They're deliberately trying to cut off all our ways to survive."

Yang Mi's expression was grave and cold. After a whole morning of negotiations, she could sense that these hotel owners must have conspired with one another to intentionally refuse cooperation with her. Without a doubt, Wu Yufei was one hundred percent the mastermind behind this! Furthermore, it was closely tied to Yu Liang. As a prominent figure in Shanghai, the owner of the Peace Hotel, and a leading heavy hitter in the catering industry, Yu Liang certainly possessed the capability to act as the ringleader.

After a moment of contemplation, Yang Mi exhaled and said, "Wu Yufei wants to push things to the absolute limit, but we can't just sit here and wait to die. This is my first time acting as a director, and I absolutely cannot afford to let any major mistakes happen. I want to go find Yu Liang one more time to see if there's any room for maneuver. Go prepare some cash."

He Baibai was momentarily stunned, then asked in surprise, "Mi-jie, are you planning to send a bribe?"

Yang Mi said in a deep voice, "In a situation like this, is there any other method besides sending gifts?"

"Nobody goes against their own interests. If it doesn't work, it just means the money isn't enough."

Following the endorsement deals and signing with Jiaxing, Yang Mi had earned a substantial amount of money in a short period of time, which gave her a certain boldness of wealth. Besides, that was simply how society worked; when you lacked connections, you had to use money to pave the way. Wanting things to go well without paying any price was completely unrealistic.

Feeling a sense of grievance for Yang Mi, He Baibai said, "This is so unfair! Who has ever heard of a director having to spend their own money to make a movie?"

Despite saying this, He Baibai had no other choice. She sighed and said, "I'll chip in too. I've saved up quite a bit of private money over the years; coming up with over a million for you won't be a problem. To hell with it, even if we lose money, we have to make Wu Yufei squirm!"

Yang Mi knew very well that reconciliation between herself and Wu Yufei was already impossible. Even if she didn't want to bother with Wu Yufei, the latter would never let her go. Therefore, she might as well go head-to-head with her directly!

"Let's prepare four million first," Yang Mi said, her beautiful eyes narrowing slightly. "I'll go see Yu Liang first and test his attitude."

Although she held the resolve to fight back against Wu Yufei, Yang Mi still felt deeply unconfident inside. Standing alone against Chen Chen and Director Feng's gang meant the disparity in strength was simply too vast.

He Baibai comforted her, "Mi-jie, you don't need to act so impulsively. If things really don't work out, we can shoot outside of Shanghai. Movies don't have to be filmed exclusively here."

Yang Mi nodded silently, her gaze gleaming as if pondering something.

...

Meanwhile, at the Huacao Jiating villa estate, in a garden in the backyard, little Xuanbaoer was sitting securely on a stool, intently reading an illustrated book.

Beside her, a woman in her thirties was teaching Xuanbaoer how to read characters.

"Teacher, is this character pronounced *Li*?" Xuanbaoer showed great interest in these unfamiliar symbols, and possessed an exceptionally strong memory; essentially, once the teacher said it out loud, she could remember it.

The woman teaching Xuanbaoer was Lin Han. At only thirty-five years old, she was a professor of ancient Chinese literature at Shanghai University and a genuine talented woman of Shanghai! To have such a professor provide one-on-one tutoring to a three-year-old child was a privilege exclusive to Li Qing. Of course, for Lin Han, being able to teach Xuanbaoer was her greatest honor!

"Xuanbaoer is truly so smart! The teacher only said it once, and you remembered it already~" Lin Han spoke in a gentle, childlike tone. Although she was usually not easily approachable, she genuinely adored Xuanbaoer from the bottom of her heart, because Xuanbaoer's intelligence was truly extraordinary compared to ordinary people!

Hearing the teacher's praise, Xuanbaoer was overjoyed and smiled, "Teacher, how do you write the character *Qing*?"

Lin Han was slightly startled, then seemed to understand the little one's thoughts and said gently, "I'll write it for you to see."

Using a pencil, Lin Han wrote the character *Qing* in regular script on a piece of paper, looking as neat as printed text.

Xuanbaoer widened her eyes. Upon seeing the character, her gaze flickered, and she stared at it unblinkingly.

Curious, Lin Han asked, "Xuanbaoer, why are you staring at it so intently?"

Recovering her senses, Xuanbaoer blinked and smiled, "Xuanbaoer wants to remember this character. My daddy's name is Li Qing."

With that, Xuanbaoer picked up the pencil and steadily wrote the two characters for *Li Qing* on the paper.

Seeing such steady and well-structured handwriting, even Professor Lin Han was astonished. For a three-year-old child to write Chinese characters so well right off the bat, and to be able to memorize them at a single glance—this was truly an extraordinary talent!

"Wow, Xuanbaoer is amazing!" Lin Han praised without reservation.

At that moment, Xuanbaoer climbed down from the stool, looked into the distance, and smiled, "Daddy is coming!"

"Teacher, I want to go play with Daddy for a bit, is that okay?"

Lin Han smiled and replied, "Of course you can, go ahead."

As Li Qing walked over, Xuanbaoer gently tugged at his trouser leg and led him to the small table. "Daddy, look at the characters I wrote. Are they pretty? It's Daddy's name."

Li Qing glanced down, a look of profound satisfaction filling his eyes as he looked at Xuanbaoer and said, "Our Xuanbaoer is so wonderful~ Truly amazing. Daddy will take you out for something delicious tonight."

Receiving Li Qing's praise made Xuanbaoer even happier. She opened her arms, asking Li Qing to pick her up.

Watching the father and daughter, Lin Han stood quietly to the side with a smile on her face, unable to keep from marveling inwardly: she truly is Li Qing's daughter, already displaying such outstanding talent at only three years of age.

"Mr. Li, Xuanbaoer has an extremely strong learning capacity. In fact, after a short while, she could completely start going to kindergarten," Lin Han said respectfully from the side. "Of course, going to kindergarten isn't just about studying, but rather allowing her to better experience life with children her own age and make friends."

Li Qing nodded. At just over three years old, it was indeed time for kindergarten, and that way Xuanbaoer would be even happier.

"Mm, we'll talk about it after some time," Li Qing said indifferently.

At that moment, Wang Mian walked over from not far away, looking as though he had something to report.

Li Qing looked at Xuanbaoer, smiled, and said, "Xuanbaoer, wait here for a moment. Uncle Wang has something to talk to me about."

Walking up to Li Qing, Wang Mian said, "Brother Qing, there's something I need to report to you. It concerns Ms. Yang."