February 8th, Shudu Tianxi Grand Hotel.
From 11 a.m., a steadily increasing number of journalists arrived outside the hotel, and by noon, it was nearly impassable.
"Everyone, I understand your feelings, but please don’t interfere with the normal operations of our hotel, okay?"
Eventually, the hotel manager had no choice but to co out and ask the journalists to clear a path so that guests could co and go freely.
Today, the entire hotel had been booked out for a private event, and there were quite a few guests expected.
Starting from 12 p.m., people began arriving at the hotel, and without exception, they were all stopped by the journalists waiting outside for an interview.
"Excuse , are you employees of Bo Yuan Company?"
"Ah, yes."
"I heard that your company is having an annual eting here today?"
"Right."
"And that Wu Li might be coming today?"
"That... we’re just regular employees, we don’t really know."
"But soone from your company just said that Wu Li would be here today."
"Is that so? It would certainly be great if he could co, haha."
These were employees who were not too privy to the inside information.
...
"May I ask what your position is at Bo Yuan Company?"
"Uh, I’m a coach at the Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall’s Shudu branch."
"Do you know if Wu Li will be attending the annual eting today?"
"Ah, there are internal rumors that Sir Wu is very likely to attend, but I’m not sure either."
"You call Wu Li ’Sir Wu’?"
"Yes, back when..."
This was a coach who had trained in boxing with Wu Li.
...
"Excuse , will Wu Li be here today?"
"Boss Wu, we all certainly hope he’ll co. Our Boss Liu personally invited him, and I guess there’s a good chance he will. But Boss Liu said to keep it a secret, so I’m not certain, haha."
"Is the Boss Liu you ntioned Liu Yuanbo?"
"Yes, he’s also Boss Wu’s disciple."
This was one of the senior executives at Bo Yuan Company.
...
Originally, the news of Bo Yuan Company’s annual eting wouldn’t have garnered much attention, but as soon as the possibility of Wu Li attending was leaked, it caused a sensation.
There was no help for it; Wu Li had not appeared in China for a long ti, but sohow, he would occasionally top the trending search on Weibo, keeping his popularity high. So many dia outlets wanted to interview him and get news about him.
This was a rare opportunity, as Wu Li’s public appearance in China ant a throng of dia journalists rushing to the hotel entrance, trying to secure an interview.
Besides the dia, there were many others in the country who wanted to see Wu Li. Starting at 1 p.m., a lot of people started showing up on the street where Tianxi Grand Hotel was located.
These were fans of Wu Li, who had run over here hoping to catch a glimpse of him after hearing that he might make an appearance today.
Thus, drivers and passengers in the cars passing by on the street witnessed such a spectacular scene: a dense, packed crowd lining both sides of the street as far as the eye could see.
Many among the crowd were live streaming, and so on Weibo and Mo Yin, more and more netizens saw the scene unfolding, and couldn’t help but remark: Wu Li is so popular!
By 1:30 p.m., the top trending search beca: Tens of thousands waiting to see Wu Li.
And the fifth trending search was: Bo Yuan Company’s annual eting.
One of the small internet celebrities who was streaming live on Mo Yin had a spot right in front of the entrance of Tianxi Hotel, and her live room had already surpassed one million viewers! At the sa ti, there were at least three hundred people streaming live on site.
Employees of Bo Yuan Company who ca for the annual eting had never expected to attract such attention, nor did they think that just holding an annual eting could trend.
These arriving employees got out of their cars looking bewildered, gave bewildered interviews, and then, amidst the envy of countless onlookers, whipped out their passes and entered the hotel.
...
"Hey, buddy, are you an employee of Bo Yuan Company?"
"Yeah."
"Can you do a favor?"
"What?"
"I want to buy your pass."
"... Are you joking?"
"I’m serious! Look, I’ll give you two hundred for your pass, deal?"
"Um..."
"Three hundred! Will you sell it for three hundred?"
"..."
"Alright, last offer, five hundred!"
...
Many employees were arriving between 1:30 and 1:50 p.m., and quite a few were on foot, so they were cornered by so people on the outskirts who straightforwardly wanted to buy their passes.
In reality, the pass was just a blue piece of paper with the employee’s na on it. They needed to show it upon entering the hotel, after which the staff would check them in against the na.
Those employees who walked over hadn’t expected such a crowd, nor did they believe anyone would actually pay for their passes?
This wasn’t like a concert ticket...
But none of them were fools; just being at the venue to see the commotion and checking the internet was enough to understand what was happening: Simply put, Wu Li’s rare public appearances were indeed more attractive than many celebrities’ concerts.
...
When Qin Jingjing arrived at the street where the Tianci Hotel was located, the price of a pass had already been scalped to one thousand yuan each.
"Beauty."
A man in a black jacket approached Qin Jingjing sowhat eagerly, "Are you an employee of Bo Yuan Company?"
Qin Jingjing glanced at him warily, "What do you want?"
Seeing Qin Jingjing’s reaction, he knew he had a chance, his eyes lighting up, "I want to buy the pass you’re holding, I’m willing to pay one thousand!"
Qin Jingjing almost instinctively shook her head. She had just seen a ssage from her boss in the work group chat: quite a few people who weren’t from Bo Yuan Company had been found sneaking into the hotel, so now entry at the hotel entrance was only possible with a pass. If you forgot it, lost it, or sold it to soone else, sorry, but even if you could phone soone to co out and prove you’re an employee of Bo Yuan Company, you wouldn’t be allowed in.
"You’re a full-ti employee; you can get in without the pass. Just sell it to ," the man in the leather jacket said eagerly.
Qin Jingjing shook her head, "No, without the pass you can’t get in now."
The man in the leather jacket was sowhat taken aback, then gritted his teeth, "How about this, I’ll offer one thousand five hundred for it."
One thousand five hundred! Qin Jingjing’s eyes widened, sowhat surprised by the price, but she looked at him strangely, "My na is clearly a woman’s on the pass, you won’t be able to bluff your way through with it."
Qin Jingjing, that na just couldn’t be mistaken for a man’s...
The man in the leather jacket glanced around and whispered, "To tell you the truth, I need a woman’s na. This pass isn’t for ."
Qin Jingjing was first stunned, then it dawned on her, and she understood sowhat: he was scalping the passes to sell to soone else.
It made sense, after all, Wu Power had many female fans. Maybe there was so wealthy female fan at the scene who wanted to buy a pass to et Wu Power?
"How about this, I’ll offer two thousand. Will you sell your pass to ?" Seeing Qin Jingjing still unmoved, the man in the jacket gritted his teeth and raised his offer again.
"No thanks, you should find soone else; I need to go in," Qin Jingjing said, then started to walk forward.
"Hey, wait, how about three thousand? Three thousand, what do you say?"
The man in the leather jacket was also getting desperate, adding another thousand directly.
Qin Jingjing quickened her steps, afraid of being followed, mainly for fear she might be tempted, because that was three thousand yuan, almost half her monthly salary.
"Miss, can you sell your pass to ? I really want to see Wu Power with my own eyes. I’m Wu Power’s fan!"
Just as Qin Jingjing had walked a few steps, a voice ca, and a young girl about her age looked at her with a pitiful expression, pleading.
"I’ll give you five thousand, can you sell it to ?"
...
Qin Jingjing fell silent.
"If that’s not okay, I can offer more, I’ll give..."
"No!" Qin Jingjing suddenly interrupted, "No matter how much you offer, I won’t sell it!"
The other girl was stunned, "Why not?"
"Because I’m his fan too."
Qin Jingjing flashed a smile and turned to walk toward the hotel entrance, with her ponytail swaying left and right.
...
At around 2:10 p.m., three black rcedes cars stopped at the hotel entrance. Xu Chuan and several bodyguards got out of the cars first, followed by Wu Power from the middle vehicle.
"Wu Power!"
"Wu Power is here!"
"Ah, ah, ah, Wu Power!"
"I love you, Wu Power!"
"Kung Fu Hero!"
"Wu Power!!!"
"Look here, Wu Power!"
...
A deafening noise erupted as Wu Power looked helplessly at the journalists frantically rushing towards him.
Fortunately, Liu Yuan Bo had received the news in advance and arranged for ten people to accompany Wu Power over. They managed to block the journalists from getting too close.
To avoid chaos and stampedes, Shudu traffic police had arrived here at 1:30 p.m. and set up crowd control barriers along both sides of the street. As a result, when Wu Power appeared, although the crowd on both sides of the street beca agitated, thankfully, they did not surge forward like the journalists.
"Wu Power, what do you think about the upcoming competition?"
"Wu Power, are you confident in claiming the championship rights?"
"Wu Power, will you have the audience sing for you this ti?"
...
Journalists shouted questions one after another. Surrounded by his bodyguards, Wu Power moved laboriously toward the hotel entrance.
"Ah, Wu Power is really here!"
"I so regret not buying a pass earlier!"
"But those scalpers were asking for too much, one thousand per pass! It’s extortion!"
"Still, it’s Wu Power! He’s really here!"
"Hey, stop it, my heart aches."
Two young girls near the hotel entrance spoke dejectedly, their eyes fixed on the crowd ahead, as if they were trying to catch a glimpse of Wu Power through the throng.
Two traffic policen assigned to block the crowd exchanged glances upon hearing the conversation.
The older of the two policen shook his head, "Is it really worth it? It’s not like it’s a concert."
The other, a younger cop, smiled and cast an envious glance towards the hotel entrance, "It is worth it."
"That’s Wu Power right there!"
...
PS: I’ve been traveling on business lately, so updates have been a bit unstable. Sorry for that.
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