Chapter 139: Conquering the New Stage

"Master, I really cannot persuade Xiaorou. You know her temper well enough; once she makes up her mind, she never changes it easily..." Lü Xiaolou said with a bitter expression.

Of course, he knew that Jiang Rou was currently fighting for her own interests, and even if he were foolish, he would never urge Jiang Rou to accept Sun Qingkui's terms.

Besides, Jiang Rou had always been gentle on the outside but unyielding on the inside.

"I provide for your food and clothing, and I teach you your craft. Can't you even help with a matter this small?" Sun Qingkui demanded angrily.

"Master, have I helped you any less over the years? Whenever you and Xiaorou had a falling out or an argument, wasn't I always the one mediating in the middle?" Lü Xiaolou argued, feeling deeply aggrieved.

"And what about this time? Why aren't you helping me?" Sun Qingkui slammed his hand on the table angrily and demanded an explanation.

"Master, all these years I've helped you because you are my master. But now, you are about to sell us off to Boss Tang, and as for Xiaorou—you know very well that I have feelings for her, yet you still want to push her into Boss Tang's arms. Have you ever considered my feelings?" Lü Xiaolou was furious now. An honest person could only be pushed so far. If it were merely a routine dispute over a contract, he might have tried to persuade her, but now it was a matter of selling the woman he loved to another man. No matter how spineless Lü Xiaolou usually was, he had to grow a backbone now.

If it had been Jiang Rou's own choice, that would be one thing, but Jiang Rou was clearly unwilling. If he failed to stand by Jiang Rou now, would he even still be a man?

"Xiaolou, you—you listen to your master's advice. Xiaorou is not suited for you..."

"Whether shoes fit or not is for the feet to decide, not you, Master," Lü Xiaolou said as he stood up. "Also, Junior Sister Xiaorou asked me to give you a message: tomorrow is her day off, and you are welcome to go over and discuss this one last time. If you don't go, you can forget about getting her to change the contract!"

"You little brat, how dare you!"

"We've been exploited by you for all these years, and we've had enough. What is there that we wouldn't dare do now!" Lü Xiaolou sneered and strode out of the room!

Trembling with rage, Sun Qingkui cursed loudly, branding them both as ungrateful wolf cubs.

***

"Don't worry. Tomorrow, go ahead and negotiate with him. His bottom line should be to get you to renew the contract so that he can take the new agreement and negotiate the acquisition with Tang Peiyuan; otherwise, he won't be able to sell it for a high price," Bai Yulan said. "I guarantee you, he won't even make it to the New Stage, nor will he get to see that Tang Peiyuan."

"Sister Lan, although he has countless faults, we shouldn't take his life, should we?" Jiang Rou asked nervously.

"Rest assured, I will arrange for someone to sign the acquisition agreement with him ahead of time. Consider the money as repayment for his years of raising you and teaching you your craft. You've already earned him a fair amount of money over the years. Since he has been unjust this time, don't blame you for being unrighteous. Therefore, our supplementary agreement must clearly state that after transferring the contract, you may waive any compensation, but henceforth you will have no obligation to provide for his old age or bury him when he dies. From now on, make a clean break!" Bai Yulan instructed.

"Alright," Jiang Rou replied. She fully understood the principle that hesitation brings trouble.

"Alright then, I won't be home tomorrow, but I'll leave Uncle Chang at the house. If you feel uncertain about anything, Uncle Chang will help you."

"Understood."

***

Because Anna had caused a brief distraction, Zhou Sen arrived at the Ningxiang House a little late. Jiang Rou and Sun Qingkui were already meeting in the front parlor.

"Uncle Chang, what's the situation?"

"Miss Rou is truly formidable, with exceptional eloquence. She left Sun Qingkui completely speechless," Uncle Chang chuckled.

"I was just worried she might get the short end of the stick."

"Son-in-law, you seem to care a great deal about Miss Rou?"

"When we were young, Xiaorou and I were sold to the Ruiqing Troupe together. Later on, I managed to escape, but she didn't. If not for her, I probably would have starved to death long ago."

"So that's how it is. No wonder you care so much about Miss Rou, son-in-law." Uncle Chang nodded. Jiang Rou was younger than Bai Yulan, shared a close history with him, and was still unmarried; how could he not be concerned?

***

"Adoptive father, these are my conditions. If you don't agree, I won't change the contract. It's none of my business who you sell the Ruiqing Troupe to; once you sell it, I can easily leave and go independent anyway!" Jiang Rou's attitude was resolute.

The contract she had signed with Sun Qingkui was roughly similar to a maintenance agreement, though it also included a restriction requiring her to work for him for twenty years.

This meant that after twenty years, she would be free to fly solo and would no longer need to work under Sun Qingkui. However, if Sun Qingkui were still alive, the obligation to provide for his upkeep would remain.

Twenty years later, calculated from the time the contract was signed, Jiang Rou would be under forty—the golden age of her artistic career—so it wasn't much of an issue.

The several children adopted by Sun Qingkui had signed similar agreements, with roughly the same duration.

This was a method he used to bind these purchased children to him. At the time, considering that the opera troupe might not last forever and that he might one day become unable to run it and choose to disband, he feared that if ownership fell into the hands of any subordinate, the troupe leader could directly dissolve the contracts.

In that case, he would be completely helpless. That was why he had devised individual contracts with himself, entirely separate from the troupe.

As long as he remained the head of the troupe, Jiang Rou and the others could never escape.

At the time, it had seemed like a win-win decision, but now it had become a massive obstacle preventing him from selling the Ruiqing Troupe to fund his retirement.

This contract involved maintenance clauses, which were difficult to transfer. Furthermore, it was a personal contract; changing to another owner would render it entirely invalid.

Even if Sun Qingkui wrote a certificate of contract transfer, if the other party refused to recognize it, there was nothing he could do.

Besides, Jiang Rou had already been clever when signing the original contract, explicitly stating that any transfer of the contract would be invalid. Having been sold once in her life, how could she not be careful?

This matter clearly demonstrated Jiang Rou's meticulous mind, and it was precisely this carefulness that saved her; otherwise, the outcome would have been hard to predict.

Therefore, if Sun Qingkui truly wanted to sell the Ruiqing Troupe to fund his retirement, he simply could not bypass this hurdle. What fool would buy an opera troupe without a top-tier star?

"Xiaorou, do you really have to drive your adoptive father to his death to be satisfied?" Sun Qingkui asked with reddened eyes, tears streaming down his face.

"Adoptive father, you are the one driving me."

"Fine! Sign the agreement, and from this moment on, we owe each other nothing, and all ties between us are severed!" Sun Qingkui said through clenched teeth. Seeing that his personal scheme was no longer viable, he had no choice but to retreat to a secondary option.

Hearing those words, Jiang Rou still couldn't help but shudder all over. It had finally come to this point, and a part of her still felt deeply pained inside.

After all, he was the one who had raised her.

Under the witness of Uncle Chang, Jiang Rou and Sun Qingkui re-signed the agreement. Then, the old contract was handed over to Jiang Rou on the spot and declared void!

Having completed this step, Sun Qingkui didn't even wait for the ink on the new contract to dry before shoving it into his pocket and leaving, unwilling to waste another word on Jiang Rou.

Jiang Rou gazed at Sun Qingkui's departing back and let out a long sigh.

***

Sun Qingkui had just stepped out of the Ningxiang House when Qin Lang, smiling broadly, blocked his path with a few men before he had gone more than a few paces.

"Troupe Leader Sun, have you gotten your hands on the new contract?"

"Second Young Master Qin, why are you..." Sun Qingkui naturally recognized Qin Lang, as they had already interacted previously.

Sun Qingkui didn't strictly mind having competitors, because competition drove the price up. However, deep down, he still preferred selling to Tang Peiyuan. Up to this point, although Tang Peiyuan drove a hard bargain, he at least kept his word.

This Second Young Master Qin, on the other hand, was notorious and far from a good person.

Still, Sun Qingkui didn't dare to offend him; the Qin family wielded far greater influence in Ice City than Tang Peiyuan did.

"Well, have you thought it through, Troupe Leader Sun? The price I, Qin Lang, am offering is no lower than Tang Peiyuan's, and you won't have to worry about offending Tang Peiyuan and leaving the troupe with nowhere to go," Qin Lang said with a smile.

"Second Young Master Qin, I've already reached an agreement with Boss Tang. A person cannot stand without credibility; surely you wouldn't resort to forced buying and selling?"

"How much is he giving you? Twenty thousand silver dollars?"

"Second Young Master Qin, have mercy and let me pass, please," Sun Qingkui pleaded.

"Sun Qingkui, don't forget—it was you who used me to pressure Tang Peiyuan into agreeing to raise his price. Now you're planning to kick the matchmaker away the moment you enter the bridal chamber, aren't you?" Qin Lang sneered. "Does something that cheap exist in this world?"

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Sun Qingkui's forehead.

"Don't say I, Qin Lang, am bullying you. Sell the Ruiqing Troupe to me at the exact price Tang Peiyuan offered you. How about that?"

"This..." Sun Qingkui froze. He had expected Qin Lang to force the price down, never imagining he would match Tang Peiyuan's offer.

In truth, this caused him no loss whatsoever. As for offending Tang Peiyuan—did he dare to offend Qin Lang instead?

"Are you going to agree, or agree, or agree?" Qin Lang waved his hand, and four burly men immediately surrounded Sun Qingkui.

"As long as Second Young Master Qin matches Boss Tang's price and pays in cash, I am willing," Sun Qingkui hurriedly agreed.

"Very well, let's find a place to talk!" Qin Lang laughed heartily, grabbed Sun Qingkui, and walked away.

***

Backstage at the New Stage, inside the general manager's office.

After listening to the private advisor's report, Tang Peiyuan felt a wave of irritation. He wasn't deaf; recently, the number of people targeting the New Stage had been growing steadily.

However, ever since Su Wenqing and the Qin family (represented by the second young master) entered the fray, other ambitious parties had quietly pulled back their hands.

If those two families wanted to fight over it, no one else had the capability to compete.

Watching the share price of the New Stage get driven up to a staggering twenty-five thousand per share, even Tang Peiyuan was tempted to sell off a portion to cover the shortage of liquid funds at home.

Yet, something about this felt deeply abnormal.

Was it simply because the New Stage had nurtured "Xiao Xiangning"? That seemed far too simple. He feared that the current high stock price was merely the result of a bidding war between those two families, and the moment a variable appeared, the higher they climbed, the harder they would fall.

He had to secure Xiao Xiangning and the Ruiqing Troupe; as long as he held onto those trump cards, even if the market crashed, he wouldn't fall too hard.

At that very moment, Bai Yulan had chosen to pay another visit. Clearly, she was deliberately adding fuel to the fire. Did she think the fire wasn't burning fiercely enough?

"Refuse her. Tell her I'm not here." Tang Peiyuan finally had some confidence to reject a meeting with Bai Yulan; previously, he wouldn't have had the guts.

"Bai Yulan said that if you refuse, all the consequences will have to be borne by you personally, Boss Tang," the advisor said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"What's that supposed to mean? She dares threaten me?" Tang Peiyuan grew furious upon hearing this. A washed-up woman past her prime, living in decline and keeping a gigolo, actually dared to put on airs and threaten him in his own office! "Fine, invite her in. I'd like to see what kind of consequences await me!"

Bai Yulan, accompanied by A-Xiang, slowly walked into Tang Peiyuan's office.

"Boss Bai, what brings you here this time?" Tang Peiyuan sat rigidly in his chair, not even bothering to stand up to greet her.

"Boss Tang, I came to talk to you earlier about wanting to buy shares in the New Stage. I am here today for the exact same matter," Bai Yulan said calmly.

"Didn't I already make myself clear? I have no intention of selling the shares of the New Stage. Boss Bai, you'd better save your breath!" Tang Peiyuan flatly refused. "Someone, see her out!"

"Doesn't Boss Tang want to hear my terms?"

"No, I don't. Even if you offer an astronomical price, I won't agree," Tang Peiyuan snorted coldly, his displeasure written plainly across his face.

"In that case, I'll take the matter regarding your beloved son straight to the police station. As you know, my fiancé is a police officer, and he's been fretting over not having an opportunity to render a meritorious service..."

Tang Peiyuan's teacup suddenly slammed onto the desk with a sharp *clack*, splashing tea everywhere, as he bolted upright in sheer terror: "Boss Bai, please stay."

"Boss Tang, I don't need that much. Twenty thousand is fine—just sell me ten percent of the shares." Bai Yulan turned around with a smile.

An indulgent mother ruins her child...