Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

Chapter 53 Beauty Pageant
"Huh? Why haven't you started eating yet? Are you waiting for me?" At around seven o'clock that evening, Kang Qirui and Zhu Wanling returned to the Kang family and saw that everyone was sitting at the dinner table, but they hadn't started eating yet. They asked in confusion, "Wife, I remember I called and said we weren't going to have dinner at home tonight, right?"

Zhu Wanling nodded: "Yes, I saw you fight." She also looked at everyone in confusion, "What's wrong? What happened?"

The old woman waved her hands and said, "It's okay, it's okay. We are waiting for Yumi. She and A-Zu went to participate in a competition today and haven't come back yet. Yumi is a guest after all."

"So that's how it is." Kang Qirui and Zhu Wanling looked at each other. As long as there was nothing wrong at home, it was fine. "Then let's go back to the room." Kang Qirui always wore a suit to work, and the first thing he did when he got home was to change his clothes. Zhu Wanling was stopped by the nanny, who said that she had cooked a delicious soup today.

After changing his clothes, Kang Qirui came out and served himself a bowl of soup. Although he had already eaten, he could still drink it with the delicious soup from his mother. When Kang Qirui was serving the soup, his second sister-in-law said, "Don't say I'm mean. I just hope she won't be shortlisted. Otherwise, Third Uncle will have to live under surveillance for a long time without any freedom."

"That's true. She's staring at me every day, and I feel uncomfortable." When talking about this, A Yao was full of complaints. It's not that he wants to go out and fool around, but it's very uncomfortable to have someone staring at you all the time.

"Yumei should still be able to be shortlisted. I think she is pretty good." Zhu Wanling said.

"What's good about it?" The second sister-in-law had some opinions about Yumei, mainly because the second brother kept staring at Yumei.

"She has good conditions and is pretty." Zhu Wanling said truthfully, "And didn't A Rui give her some advice? If she does what A Rui says, there's no reason why she can't be shortlisted."

"Are you praising Yumi or your husband?" The second sister-in-law joked. The second brother also nodded, "That's right, we came up with the idea together, how can it be attributed to Arui alone?"

"Hahahahahaha" everyone laughed.

"We're back, we're back." At this time, A-Zu's voice came.

"How is it? Did Yumi pass?" Everyone looked at Azu and Yumi curiously. Azu didn't even go to work today, and took a special leave to accompany Yumi to take the preliminary exam. No one knew why.

"Any more questions?" A-Zu said proudly, "Of course, Miss Red Socks has entered the preliminary round." Everyone was happy for Yumi, only the second sister-in-law was a little unhappy.

"Eat, eat, eat." My father was already hungry, everyone was here, and the result was not bad. So let's eat first.

Another week passed, and Youmei successfully passed the semi-finals and entered the finals. Kang Qirui's book was also printed and officially published. In addition to Kang Qirui himself, the author of the book also signed the name of Mr. Huang. This was not done to sell more, but for fame.

"Human Words and Poems" is a literary criticism work, which has a certain reading threshold. Its sales volume is almost destined to be average, very average. It doesn't matter whose name is written. Kang Qirui added Huang Lao's name, more for fame. This is the same as writing the tutor as the first author of the thesis: use the tutor's fame to let everyone know you. There are definitely more than a hundred literary criticism works a year, not to mention many, so why should we read the one you wrote?

It is enough for others to know this book through Mr. Huang, and know Kang Qirui through this book. This is the fame Kang Qirui wants. This is different from the fame Yumei wants. Yumei wants a popular name, she wants everyone to know her, she wants to be a star. Kang Qirui wants a niche name, as long as the literary circle or the smaller ancient literature circle, people in the small circle know Kang Qirui, that is enough.

In fact, the response to the book is very good, very good. The main reason is that Mr. Huang is one of the top Chinese teachers in China. He has been teaching for half his life and has many students all over the world. Many people are willing to buy a copy of the book to give Mr. Huang face. Secondly, the book is really well written, and many of the insights are relatively novel.

For example, the book says: Li Bai is pure in style; Wen Tingyun’s poems are exquisite, but the content is too narrow; Feng Yanyi can be called "profound, beautiful, grand and concise". The poems of Zhongzhu of the Southern Tang Dynasty are also good. The poems of Li Houzhu are broad-minded and full of deep feelings. He was born in the deep palace and raised by women, but he did not lose his innocent heart. His poems are written in blood, which means the original sin of Sakyamuni and Christ. Feng Zhengzhong’s poems are as magnificent as those of Zhongzhu and Houzhu, and they opened up the style of poems in the Northern Song Dynasty.

The book talks about the evolution of poetry and lyrics: the fundamental reason for the evolution of literary styles is that after a certain style has been popular for a long time, it will become a routine, and later generations need to change it to seek novelty. After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, poetry became a tool for socializing, so it declined; lyrics can express true temperament, so they flourished; after the Southern Song Dynasty, lyrics also became a tool for singing and recital, so they also declined.

Such novel and unique insights make many people willing to share and discuss with others after reading. If they are willing to read and discuss after reading, then this book is a good book. The same is true for others. Therefore, Kang Qirui has become very popular in the Lingnan literary circle recently.

Kang Qirui became famous, but Youmei was not. A Yao found many journalist friends, trying to hype up the story that the Kang brothers had made up for Youmei, that the family was very poor and participated in the competition just to have enough food, but no one was willing to publish it in the newspaper. The reason was that it was not a big enough gimmick and was not considered news. 2001 did not buy it. Seeing that all the other opponents were hyped in the newspapers, Youmei and A Zu were very anxious.

A-Zu recreated Yumi's character as an illegitimate daughter, and finally a newspaper was willing to publish it, but it turned out to be a drugstore advertisement, with Yumi's photo and an advertisement for the treatment of neurological disorders. The newspaper also caused Yumi and Yukiko's eldest cousin in Shanghai to rush to Guangzhou overnight.

When Kang Qirui returned home from get off work, he happened to meet his cousin Yumei. They had met before at Ayao Xingzi's wedding. After greeting each other, they entered the Kang family one after another.

As soon as the eldest cousin entered the room, he ignored the rest of the Kang family and dragged Youmei into the room. Not long after, the eldest cousin came out angrily and asked, "Which one is A-Zu?" Last time, the eldest cousin came late to A-Yao's wedding, and A-Zu left early, so he didn't know A-Zu.

Everyone looked at A-Zu, "It's me." A-Zu was also very surprised. He stood up nervously, not knowing why he suddenly looked for him. When the eldest cousin saw A-Zu standing up, he went over and held A-Zu's hand tightly.

"What are you doing?" Seeing him pulling A Zu angrily, the second sister-in-law asked worriedly. The second sister-in-law was essentially kind to the family members, and she was the one who stood up every time the bad guys came to the door.

"You've done a good thing. You've cleared my Amei's name." The eldest cousin pointed at Azu and said, ignoring the Kang family members.

"What do you mean innocent?" A-Zu was confused. "Is there any misunderstanding?" Kang Qirui asked.

"You are still pretending. Let me ask you, what's the matter with the illegitimate daughter that Amei mentioned in the newspaper?" The eldest cousin became even angrier.

"Oh, cousin, it's not A-Zu's fault. I am also involved in this important matter." A-Yao stood up and explained to A-Zu.

It would have been fine if he didn't explain. Once he did, his cousin couldn't stand it anymore. "What? You! You! How could Ayao do such a thing? Sachiko really misjudged him." The cousin pointed at Ayao and said in shock. "Cousin, don't be angry." Kang Qirui comforted him, "There must be some misunderstanding here. Let's sit down and talk slowly."

After Kang Qirui asked his eldest cousin to sit down, he was about to speak when the eldest brother Guang spoke first: "Cousin, you are wrong. In fact, it has nothing to do with them. It was the five of us who did it that day."

"You guys?" The eldest cousin was so shocked that his eyes were almost burning with anger. Kang Qirui quickly stopped everyone, "Okay, don't talk." Then he said to the eldest brother Guang, "Big brother, don't talk nonsense. What do you mean we five brothers did it together? Do you know what the eldest cousin is talking about?"

After everyone in the Kang family fell silent, Kang Qirui looked at his eldest cousin and said, "Cousin, please don't be angry. Can you tell me what happened? There must be some misunderstanding here."

The eldest cousin calmed down a little and said, "Huaixi called me today and said he saw in the newspaper that Yumei had an illegitimate daughter, so I flew here immediately. Yumei said it was Azu who did it, and you said that all five of you brothers were involved. What is going on? Give me an explanation." The eldest cousin became angrier and angrier as he spoke.

"What?" "No." Everyone started to make noises when they heard what the cousin said, and Kang Qirui could only yell for everyone to be quiet again. Then he asked Youmei to explain the whole thing to the cousin in detail.

"What? Yumi is an illegitimate daughter?" The eldest cousin was still angry after hearing the whole story. "Our family is a family with high morals and loyal feelings. If this gets out to Shanghai and the people in the alley know about it, how will Yumi's mother live?"

"That's right, who would do such a thing? I wouldn't do such an ugly thing." The old maid was very angry when she heard such a thing that destroyed someone's innocence. She understood the importance of innocence to traditional women.

"It's him." Everyone pointed at A-Zu. Someone needed to take the blame at this time. Everyone fled when disaster struck.

"I'm going to the toilet." A-Zu wanted to escape, but was grabbed by his father-in-law. "Is it you?" his father-in-law asked sternly.

"Yes, yes, yes." A-Zu had to admit it even though his ears were pulled.

"A child's character is determined when he is three years old. He has been so bad since he was young, with so many bad ideas." The old man started to curse. It was so embarrassing. He even called all the relatives from Shanghai to Guangzhou to hold him accountable. Where would he put his face?
"Dad, this has nothing to do with Fourth Uncle. Yumi also nodded in agreement at that time." Second sister-in-law really had something to do, and she actually spoke for A-Zu at this time.

"Hmph, you can do it yourself, you should deal with the aftermath." The old man gave the order directly. "Okay, okay, leave it to me." A Zu had no choice but to agree.

A-Zu thought for a while and came up with a solution for him, "It's simple. Just find those reporters and ask them to dispel the rumors about Yumi."

"Debunk the rumors? Then all our efforts would be in vain." Yumi disagreed. It was rare for her to have just a little bit of fame.

"Silly girl, how can your hard work be in vain? Refuting rumors is also a form of hype. Many celebrities spread rumors about themselves and then refute them. On the one hand, it expands publicity, and on the other hand, they don't have to go to court. It's killing two birds with one stone. Why not do it?" A Zu said.

Kang Qirui was amazed after hearing this. It was really a waste of talent for A-Zu to work as a clerk in a foreign company. No wonder he became so successful after taking over the film and television company. This guy is really gifted.

The controversy over the illegitimate daughter passed, and the Cantonese Stars also reached the final day. Da Lao Er Lao and Tian Xiu all made cheering signs and brought their families to the scene to support, but Kang Qirui said he would not go, "You guys go, there are so many of you, we will just go out for the two of us, hahaha." Kang Qirui knew the result, so he would definitely choose to go out with his wife to have fun.

Kang Qirui and Zhu Wanling went to have a candlelight dinner and watched the movie "Someone Said He Loved Me". Kang Qirui thought the movie was average, but Zhu Wanling thought it was pretty good. After watching the movie, the two went home, and the others hadn't come back yet. Zhu Wanling went to take a shower first. Although the Kang family now has three bathrooms, the queue is still quite long.

Kang Qirui accompanied the old lady to watch Cantonese opera. After watching for a while, they came back one by one with low morale. "How is it?" asked the old lady.

"It's a waste of effort. You didn't even make it into the top 20." A-Zu said with disdain.

"Isn't it just right that we lost? I don't know why, but when I think about Yumi going back to Shencheng, my heart aches." The second sister-in-law said deliberately with gloating.

"Who said I'm going back to Shanghai? I'm not going back. I've already inquired about it. Guangzhou is going to hold an Advertising Star Competition soon. There are still many opportunities in Guangzhou." Yumi didn't want to give up.

"Yumi, I think a good blacksmith must have strong skills." Kang Qirui said bluntly: "You don't have any talent. You have never practiced singing or acting professionally. No matter how many competitions you sign up for, you will fail in the end. It's a waste of time."

"Brother Rui, but I just want to be a star." Yumi said with a bit of grievance.

"Then just learn it first. It can be learning singing or acting." Kang Qirui suggested.

Kang Qirui has only seen one star who can't sing and has no talent. As for that one, he is not completely useless. He is lucky and has a lucky charm. He is also very funny. His variety shows are full of famous scenes, which can make you happy all day. And what about Yumi? She can't even understand the score when singing, her expressions are exaggerated when acting, and her speech is simple and brainless when it sounds good.

Last time, A-Zu asked her what she would say in her acceptance speech if she won an award, and she said she had no feelings. A-Zu asked her to thank some people who helped her, but she counted them and didn't thank A-Zu. A-Zu was the person who helped her the most, so she just didn't know how to talk.

That's it, how could she be a star in 2001? Now it's an era that values ​​real strength, so Kang Qirui kindly suggested that she learn a skill before participating in the competition.

(End of this chapter)