Wang Xiaoliang froze, unable to quite wrap his head around it.
"You can't quit? Why not?"
He asked instinctively, "Did you sign some kind of unequal treaty with the TV station?"
"Something like that." Wei Zijin gave a bitter smile, helplessness seeping into her voice. "I sold myself and my show to the station as a package deal."
Wei Zijin had mentioned this before, but Wang Xiaoliang hadn't paid attention.
"For six hundred thousand."
She lowered her head and pushed the rice around in her bowl, explaining quietly, "One of the contract terms is that my show has to air at least once a week. The contract runs for three years. And after a year, I get a permanent public-sector position."
"Six hundred thousand..." Wang Xiaoliang smacked his lips, then suddenly broke into a grin, sweeping away the heavy atmosphere. "Well, uh... honey, how about you support me instead?"
"Pfft."
Wei Zijin laughed at his shamelessness.
She picked up her chopsticks and tapped the back of Wang Xiaoliang's hand again.
"You're a grown man. How could you say something like that?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Wang Xiaoliang straightened his neck, utterly unashamed. "It's not my fault my wife is so capable! Two hundred thousand a year-is that something a fresh graduate can easily pull off? I couldn't do it even if I had wings, so I might as well lie back and let my wife support me."
Wei Zijin rolled her eyes at him and chided, "In your dreams!"
She sighed, her worried expression returning. "Even if I want to quit, I have to get through this three-year contract first. Otherwise, I won't just have to return the six hundred thousand. I'll have to pay the station a penalty for breach of contract too."
"Then why not just give them the