The phone was finally picked up after ringing four tis.
The person on the other end of the line still sounded a bit groggy, but managed to stay up: "Mr. Jiang, why are you calling at this hour?"
Jiang Weide chuckled and said, "I had a dream and woke up, and then couldn’t fall back asleep. What about you, where are you now?"
The person on the other end of the line gave a wry smile and said, "In our line of work, where else could I be? Unlike you, free to sleep whenever and break whenever you want. I’m in Guangcheng, currently tailing a guy who’s known as a good man in the circle, but his counter-reconnaissance skills are pretty strong. I’ve been on him for half a month, and just barely caught a whiff of sothing."
"Just yesterday, that celebrity ca to Guangcheng and stayed at Yijia. Xiaowei and I followed him here, and now we’re napping in the car. Can’t eat well, can’t sleep well, it’s freaking torture!"
Hearing the person on the line complaining, Jiang Weide couldn’t help but smile slightly and asked, "How’s your magazine’s sales recently?"
After venting so complaints, the person on the other end seed to beco a lot more awake, and his voice beca much clearer:
"How else could it be, you know. We run a tabloid magazine that basically survives on celebrity gossip. Without scoops on exclusive stories, we can only pick up scraps, and sales just won’t go up. But lately, our magazine hasn’t gotten any news that catches the eye. With the New Year approaching, I don’t even know if we’ll get a year-end bonus this year."
Jiang Weide was waiting for this, and quickly laughed, "It’s easy if you want a year-end bonus, just find your brother Jiang here. I’m telling you, it’s purely out of our relationship that I’m telling you this; otherwise, I wouldn’t share such a big news with you. Don’t bother with that small celebrity, let Zhuo Xiaowei follow him. After dawn, co to as soon as you can."
The person on the line seed a bit stunned, not understanding what Jiang Weide ant: "Brother Jiang, you have big news for ? But there don’t seem to be many celebrities over there in Fucheng, what big news could there be?"
Jiang Weide knew the person would doubt and feigned displeasure: "Would I lie to you? If it’s not big news, may I get hit by a car when I go out today, alright?"
"No, no, bro, I was just casually asking. I was joking, please don’t say things like that. I didn’t an it that way. But what’s the big news? Can you give a hint first, so I can be ntally prepared."
Jiang Weide pretended to be mysterious: "I can’t tell you too much in detail. Let put it to you this way, Fucheng is undergoing a major city renovation, and the municipal planning is out. But it seems that the Cultural Relics Bureau discovered a gigantic Thousand-Year Han Tomb in the north of Fucheng city, so they had to change the plan..."
Before Jiang Weide could finish, the person on the other line interrupted with a laugh-crying tone:
"Hold on, hold on, Brother Jiang, discovering a Thousand-Year Han Tomb is indeed big news, but aren’t you pulling my leg? You know what kind of magazine I work for; we’re an entertainnt gossip magazine. This is social news, totally unrelated to my magazine. Even if you go into detail, I can’t use it."
Jiang Weide was suddenly at a loss for words: "Don’t I know your magazine is an entertainnt gossip rag? I hadn’t even finished talking, why are you in such a hurry? The first part was just setting the stage, the latter part is the key."
"This Thousand-Year Han Tomb needs archaeological excavation, but the Cultural Relics Bureau in Fucheng has limited capabilities, so they had to ask for experts from the Imperial Capital. Do you know who among the people sent down is?"
"Who?" Gossip reporters have this weird curiosity and love to dig to the bottom of things.
Jiang Weide was counting on just this kind of enthusiasm: "Huo Sining. As an entertainnt reporter, you should know who that is, right?"
Upon hearing that there was soone like Huo Sining among the archeologists in Fucheng, the person on the other end of the line took a sharp intake of breath, becoming more and more excited:
"I know, I know. She’s a celebrity now, even more popular than the big first-tier stars in the circle. She’s actually in Fucheng, and for archaeological excavation work, not bad, not bad. That’s quite an exclusive. Alright, I’ll head to Fucheng after dawn and see if I can snap so firsthand photos."
"By the way, Brother Jiang, are you familiar with Huo Sining? With your connections, could you invite her for an exclusive interview? If that’s possible, that would truly count as an exclusive for our magazine. With news like that, we wouldn’t have to worry about sales!"
The person on the other end of the line rambled on for a while, but Jiang Weide couldn’t get a word in.
Jiang Weide’s face turned sour: "Who told you all that, it’s just an archaeological excavation. Huo Sining herself is an expert in cultural relics identification, her coming to Fucheng for archaeological excavation work is perfectly reasonable. What’s the highlight in this kind of news? What’s there to report? Pathetic!"
The person on the other end of the line didn’t expect Jiang Weide to suddenly lose his temper, suddenly feeling a bit confused: "Brother Jiang, what do you an, aren’t you the one telling to co to Fucheng for big news? Are you asking to co or not?"
Jiang Weide was exasperated: "I told you to co for big news, but I hadn’t finished talking. The big news I was referring to is indeed related to Huo Sining, but it has nothing to do with her archaeological identification, it’s her private life. Aren’t you entertainnt reporters the most fond of digging into people’s privacy? This is the real gossip news, right? Reporting her participating in archaeological excavation work, is that entertainnt gossip news?"
Hearing this, the person on the other end was stunned: "No way, Brother Jiang, are you saying you want to go to Fucheng to dig into Huo Sining’s privacy? You can’t be serious! Everyone in the entertainnt industry knows this Huo Sining is a thunder, anyone who touches her gets burnt! This woman isn’t in the circle, but her die-hard fans are fierce, not to ntion that behind her stand the Gu Family and the Zhou Family. Digging into her privacy is clearly seeking death, isn’t it?"
Jiang Weide was infuriated hearing this; he had thought the guy was bold and fearless, but he chickened out so fast when it ca to Huo Sining, which really annoyed Jiang Weide:
"Is that all the guts you have? That woman isn’t the queen; why can’t her privacy be reported? We’re not fabricating stories. Reporting the facts, how could that be illegal? She’s a public figure. She can’t possibly have people deal with us over a piece of gossip news, can she? If people really found out, would she still want her positive image?"
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