ECG -Chapter 56 You Need to Be More Refined

Lin Hao didn’t want to appear in the public eye too early. He was afraid that the next three years of his college life would be thrown into chaos.

Whether it was making money or building fame, he had plenty of talent and ideas. There was no rush.

So he called the lawyer surnamed Wei, whom Zhou Dongbing had introduced to him, and learned some relevant legal knowledge.

According to civil procedure law, a plaintiff may appoint a special agent to appear in court. When a special agent appears, it is legally equivalent to the plaintiff personally appearing.

There are two types of agents:

1. General Agent — Has no decision-making authority. They simply help you handle the lawsuit. Lawyers typically fall into this category.

2. Special Agent — Has decision-making authority. They can decide on behalf of the client whether to file a lawsuit, withdraw it, accept mediation, appeal, and so on. In other words, they can essentially conduct the lawsuit for you.

Lin Hao understood that many people were superstitious or uncomfortable about getting involved in lawsuits. There was only one person suitable for such a glorious and noble task.

So he explained his predicament to Wu Xiaozhou, then sighed gloomily.

“Ah, when you need people the most, you realize how few you have.”

After listening, Wu Xiaozhou slapped his chest confidently.

“Me! What are you worrying about? I can take a trip to Yanjing while I’m at it. Consider it a company-sponsored vacation!”

Upon hearing that, Lin Hao immediately pulled out the two special-agent authorization letters he had prepared in advance.

Wu Xiaozhou took them and glanced over them. Seeing his own name written clearly on the documents, he exploded.

“Damn it! You’re way too scheming!”

Lin Hao burst out laughing.

“If you don’t do it, who will? I’ve been feeding you for free every day. You eat from the same pot and crap all over the same bed!”

After they finished roughhousing, Wu Xiaozhou asked:

“Why are there two authorization letters?”

“The other one authorizes you to register the copyrights for some songs and musical compositions on my behalf.”

As he spoke, Lin Hao pulled a large manila envelope from his drawer. Inside were nearly fifty songs.

Although he didn’t want to go himself, this was something Wu Xiaozhou absolutely had to handle. He couldn’t keep waiting for that unreliable website.

He had also consulted Lawyer Wei about this matter. As long as there was written authorization, someone else could apply for the copyright registration on his behalf.

Afterward, Lin Hao carefully explained every possible situation that might arise during the lawsuit, as well as how to deal with each one.

Wu Xiaozhou had to leave that very night. The train tickets had already been purchased.

When Fatty Meng heard about it, he immediately became unhappy.

“Such a great opportunity! Why aren’t you taking me along? No way, I’m going too!”

“Damn!”

Lin Hao was dumbfounded.

How had this suddenly become a great opportunity?

Had these two actually mistaken a lawsuit for a company-funded vacation?

In the end, nobody could stop Fatty Meng. He called home, abandoned any thoughts of bringing his laptop, and boarded the train to Yanjing together with Wu Xiaozhou.

Before getting on, the two bought several cans of beer along with vacuum-packed pig trotters and sausages. After boarding, they swapped seats around until they were sitting together and immediately started drinking.

“Haozi’s so stingy. Couldn’t even buy us sleeper tickets!”

Fatty Meng grinned as he complained about Lin Hao.

Wu Xiaozhou joined in enthusiastically.

“Exactly! When I asked him, he said all the sleeper berths were sold out and only hard seats were left. What a black-hearted guy!”

When Fatty Meng heard that Wu Xiaozhou had successfully won Bai Zhitao’s heart, his eyes practically lit up.

“Holy crap! Holy crap!”

“Hey, that girl who’s always with Big White Legs—”

Before he could finish, Wu Xiaozhou became anxious.

“You can’t keep calling her Big White Legs anymore! She’s my girl now. You need to be more refined!”

Fatty Meng cursed.

“You traitor! Choosing women over your friends!”

Wu Xiaozhou just chuckled and took another gulp of beer.

“I was saying, that girl who’s always with Big—Big—”

Fatty Meng almost blurted out Big White Legs again. Frustrated, he slapped the table.

“Damn it! I’ve gotten so used to calling her that because of you. It’s hard to change!”

“Brother, not to mention that my birthday is earlier than yours. There’s a good chance you’ll be calling her sister-in-law someday. How can you keep referring to your future sister-in-law as ‘Big White Legs’? That’s way too disrespectful.”

Wu Xiaozhou rolled his eyes while lecturing him.

Fatty Meng let out a long sigh.

“What I mean is, that tall-legged girl who’s always with Bai… Bai Zhitao. Remember her?”

“Ding Lanlan?”

Fatty Meng slapped his thigh. “Yeah, that’s the one—Ding Lanlan!”

“What about her?” Wu Xiaozhou asked.

“After school starts, let’s find a chance to have Bai Zhitao bring her along. The four of us can hang out together or something?” Fatty Meng said with a shameless grin.

“You rascal!” Wu Xiaozhou pointed at him and laughed. “Speaking of Ding Lanlan, those long legs of hers… damn. Sometimes I feel like they start right from her belly button!”

“Long, right?”

“Really long!”

Fatty Meng chuckled. “So, can you make it happen? If you do, I’ll buy you a box of Zhonghua cigarettes!”

Wu Xiaozhou curled his lip. “A carton!”

“No way! It takes me forever to save up enough money for even one box. I’m seriously broke!” Mentioning money reminded him of something else. “Look at Haozi—two hundred yuan a day! When are we ever going to start making money?”

Wu Xiaozhou thought for a moment.

“From what Haozi’s hinted, he’s definitely holding back some big move.”

“What kind of big move?” Fatty Meng asked eagerly.

“He’s always scribbling in this thick notebook, guarding it like it’s some state secret. Won’t even let me take a look. Anyway, I think it has something to do with making money, and he’s planning to bring the rest of us along.”

Fatty Meng rubbed his chin.

“Writing music… making money… bringing us along… Sounds like he’s putting together a band.”

“That’s what I think too. Last time at my house he yelled at me…” Wu Xiaozhou almost let something slip and quickly coughed. “I mean, he accidentally let it slip and said something like, ‘the band’s waiting for me.’ So I’m guessing he’s planning to start one.”

“A band? That doesn’t add up.” Fatty Meng began counting on his fingers.

“Look, I’m the drummer, you’re the bassist, and he’s the keyboardist. No problem there. We’d only need a guitarist.”

“But Yan Xiaoqi and Chu Xiaomei both play electric guitar. Gao Laoda is also a keyboard player. What kind of lineup needs two keyboards and two electric guitars? And Cui Gang plays trumpet. Have you ever heard of a modern electric band carrying around a freaking trumpet player?”

Wu Xiaozhou nodded.

“Exactly. That’s way too many people. No bar could afford to keep a band that big.”

“Could it be that Haozi doesn’t want to include Gao Laoda and Cui Gang?” Fatty Meng asked.

Wu Xiaozhou’s face immediately darkened.

“If it were anyone else, maybe I’d believe it. But Haozi? No way. You don’t know him, but we’ve been friends since we were little kids running around in split-crotch pants. He’s never betrayed a friend.”

Seeing Wu Xiaozhou’s rare seriousness, Fatty Meng realized he’d crossed a line by doubting Lin Hao and quickly apologized.

Still, Wu Xiaozhou couldn’t help wondering.

Fatty Meng wasn’t wrong. The lineup really was too large. If that many people got together, where exactly were they supposed to make money?

Lin Hao had always been the quietly crafty type. Back when they were kids, you could never tell whether he was honorable or not. The clearest memory Wu Xiaozhou had was that whenever a fight broke out, Lin Hao could run faster than anyone else.

But over the past year, Lin Hao had changed so much that it almost made him uneasy.

What he had said to Fatty Meng just now was mostly because he didn’t want anyone looking down on his childhood friend.

As for whether Lin Hao might actually leave Cui Gang and the others behind, Wu Xiaozhou honestly wasn’t sure.

After all, in the provincial capital’s nightlife scene, no venue would hire a band with that many members.

There were simply too many people.

Add a few singers on top of that, and most venues couldn’t afford the payroll.

While Wu Xiaozhou and Fatty Meng were busy complaining about Lin Hao on the train, in a high-rise office building along Beijing’s East Third Ring Road, the conference room on the nineteenth floor was thick with cigarette smoke.

Bang!

A man wearing gold-rimmed glasses slammed the folder in his hand onto the table.

“Don’t ever ask me to speak on this kind of garbage again!”

With that, he turned and strode toward the door.

“Old Zhang, don’t go!” shouted a balding, heavyset man.

“I can’t afford to lose that much face!” the man with the gold-rimmed glasses snapped, slamming the door behind him.

Jiang Datong let out a helpless sigh.

Zhang Yansong had worked under him for five years. The man had contributed a great deal and endured plenty as well.

Yet Jiang Datong wasn’t angry that he had stormed out today.

This whole matter really was disgusting.

Even he felt disgusted by it.

The office fell silent.

He lit another cigarette and glanced sideways at the dejected Sun Xiaowei, who sat there with his head hanging low.