CHAPTER 371: 371. PROPAGANDA, PREPARATION, SCORE

More filial, more successful.

Standing on the highest ground he can reach, giving his parents everything he can, allowing them to feel proud of having him as their son.

This is Lian En’s greatest desire and tireless goal. After this art exhibition, he feels that he has taken more than one step closer to his dream.

With the full support of his parents, Lian En began various active preparations, determined to make a grand and successful opening for his first art exhibition in life.

The three-stop art exhibition, with the first stop being Beijing, the political, economic, and cultural center of the nation. The second stop is Shanghai, one of the cities at the forefront of reform and opening up, whose economic and cultural development is no less impressive than Beijing.

The last stop, Lian En chose his hometown—Liu family village.

A place that may be as small as a firefly compared to the bright moon of the previous two, with nothing to compare.

But it is where he was born and raised, and where his future school will be located.

Not for money, not for selling paintings, just to make his parents happy while also promoting his hometown and the interest school in preparation.

Of course, this unintentional act brought great benefits later, recognizing it as a particularly good and rare opportunity to promote his hometown. As the beneficiary, Liu Shouren specially convened a representative meeting of all the villagers, unanimously passing the resolution to sell the newly completed three-story building, which was intended as a new elementary school next to the village central primary school, to Lian En at cost price.

Originally intended to be the top elementary school in the city, possibly in the province, the location, architecture, and environment all particularly caught Lian En’s eye.

Except for being a bit big and having more rooms, the rest seemed tailor-made for him.

Worried about not having a suitable school building and having to sacrifice his newly built house, Lian En silently apologized to the children eagerly awaiting the new school, saying it might be delayed at least a year.

Then he quickly paid and completed the procedures, fearing his uncle might regret it even a little.

His cautious behavior prompted quite some complaints from Liu Shouren.

Calculating at cost price without direct rewards, he did not want to be associated with embezzlement. In fact, as the uncle, he was ready to buy the building as a gift for his nephew!

Shuzhen, Lianshan, and Feng Ju all sneered in unison: "Spending money and such, we haven’t even got a chance yet, and now you’re trying to show off?!"

Lian En, self-reliant and independent, laughed: "I understand the kind intentions of my family and elders, but compared to being a dependent, I prefer to be a second-generation innovator."

To ensure his disciple’s first art exhibition was a complete success, Feng Ju put in serious effort and thought.

Overwhelming campaigns in newspapers and TV commercials were broadcasted and published successively, fully warming up the event.

Mobilizing people like Wu Liguo, Wei Lai, Wu Hao, the Jiang family elders, Feng Anhuai, Dong Shu, they all were carefully instructed, including Jiandang, Jianguo, Jianjun, Lian Jie, Jiajia, and the Wu Liu to mobilize their comrades and classmates as much as possible.

If it wasn’t inappropriate to include others’ works to embellish a personal art exhibition, he might have risked upsetting and possibly borrowing works from his several heavyweight friends in the current painting and calligraphy circles.

Of course, he was not idle, having already released the news early that Mr. Wu Tong would be personally attending the first personal art exhibition of his true disciple.

Therefore, even though the official date was still almost two months away, the news had already spread nationwide.

Even in distant Hong Kong, Dai Weiguo learned from TV and newspapers that his son was going to hold a personal art exhibition.

"Haha, achieving such success at twenty, truly is a seed of mine, Dai Weiguo!" Looking at the various city-level, provincial-level, and national-level champion titles in the newspaper, and at the face strikingly similar to his own. Dai Weiguo felt an unparalleled excitement, with a fervent desire to acknowledge Lian En as his son.

Such an outstanding son, possibly forming strong familial bonds in the future, offering him grandchildren who might outshine his own achievements.

Haha, just thinking about it bubbles over with happiness!

After years of struggle, from having nothing to now being worth tens of millions.

Dai Weiguo felt he seemed to have enough confidence to visit his mother on the mainland and reclaim his son.

However, due to various past events, his son feels a strong aversion to him.

To reclaim him, careful planning is needed...

The child inherited his toughness; forcing the issue definitely won’t work.

Moreover, with Wu Liguo, Wei Lai, and Feng Anhuai, those few old stubborn ones, in the Hong Kong community, he, though being a figure, wouldn’t stand a chance against them.

This confrontational approach clearly won’t work.

But how to proceed softly is a problem.

Unaware that he was like a piece of delicious meat already eyed by a wolf, Lian En happily continued preparing his works, even though the number was about three times the normal amount.

However, better safe than sorry, right?

What if there are many discerning eyes truly appreciating his work, leading to a supply in short supply?

Anyhow, with his master watching over him these years, he’s been painting morning, noon, and night.

He has plenty of paintings of all kinds, genuinely at an exhibition-worthy level.

While he was actively working hard, Chenchen accompanied by his uncle Ning Jianguo went to Shanghai, acquiring the necessary equipment for his Wanyou Paper Box Manufacturing and Printing Company.

Yes, Wanyou, a name that made Shuzhen and Lianshan almost spit their tea in surprise, yet Chenchen firmly refused to change.

Wanyou, Wanyou, boxes of every specification and model; all kinds of packaging bags, and packaging paper can be printed. That was the intent and ambition behind naming his first factory, derived after painstaking contemplation for several days, of course, he couldn’t change it!

Unable to hold back their laughter, Shuzhen and Lianshan helplessly said, "It’s your factory, you decide, as long as the big boss is happy."

The name Wanyou was thus settled, although at that moment, no one imagined that this barely eighteen-year-old boy could make this name known throughout China.

The Wanyou Group, covering multiple fields such as packaging, real estate, electronics, and retail, officially set sail this summer.

Unlike her two brothers, who had their careers to fight for, Xinzhi only stared at the calendar every day, looking over it ten or twenty times.

Just waiting for the end of the month, hoping for a clear answer.

Finally, her dream became reality, and when she heard her score was about forty points higher than the previous year’s Qing University admission score, the young girl couldn’t help but shed tears of joy.

Frightened, believing he was admitted with high scores but thinking his sister might have narrowly missed out, Chenchen hurriedly tried to soothe her by offering various concessions.

Even though it wasn’t his fault, looking at his usually tough-as-nails sister—who rarely cried even when bleeding or sweating—as her brother, he felt equally distressed, didn’t he?

"Go, what do you mean I’m usually good, and a horse may stumble occasionally? Although I’m a bit short by one and a half points, there’s still no problem getting into Qing University, so you don’t need to fake sympathy! But the things you just promised, I remembered and accepted. You better not think about backing out, otherwise... you know the consequences!" Xinzhi wiped away her tears, burst out with these words in Chenchen’s stunned gaze, and ran towards the female classmates calling her for a commemorative photo.