Chapter 66 Invitation to Cooperation

Yu Shuling and You Jingzhou are not very familiar with each other yet, but as long as one of them is outgoing, it is easy to start a conversation.

She asked directly:

"Is Teacher You writing a song?"

"Well, it's not finished yet, but the demo is done. Would you like to hear it?"

When music came up, it was a familiar territory, and You Jingzhou relaxed considerably. Yu Shuling nodded, and the boy handed her the earphones. The demo had already been transferred to her phone, and the melodious guitar intro began, bringing the story to the listener's ears.

Although it's a ballad, the rhythm is very catchy, and the middle section could perhaps be fitted with another choreography, giving it an OST feel. While Yu Shuling isn't particularly knowledgeable about songwriting, listening to it already evoked a sense of excitement and stirred my emotions.

Even after it ended, I still felt like I wanted more.

"It sounds great!"

Yu Shuling is not one to be stingy with praise; she frankly shared her thoughts:

"However, it seems that Teacher You's design is for a duet? I noticed that some sections have a rather high pitch, so perhaps a softer female voice would be more effective?"

"You don't need to call me Teacher You, just call me by my name."

You Jingzhou is 24 years old this year. Of course, at this age, it's impossible for him not to know how to get along with girls. However, his previous understanding of Yu Shuling was that of a charging fighter. Without any negative connotation, he thought Yu Shuling looked particularly cool standing on the stage, bravely exposing Jiang Wenxi and Qi Xiuxiu. But when she suddenly stood in front of him, he suddenly felt... a little nervous.

Yu Shuling responded crisply with "Okay," then thought for a moment:

"But aren't you a little older than me? Calling you by your full name feels too distant. Would it feel strange to call you Jingzhou?"

You Jingzhou: "...No."

"And what about Brother Jingzhou?" Yu Shuling was more than half a head shorter than him, looking up at him with bright, sparkling eyes that shimmered like stars beneath her thick eyelashes. "You still haven't answered me."

Under her intense gaze, You Jingzhou's face flushed slightly. To cover his embarrassment, he quickly said:

"I have something to do later. My agent is waiting for me over there. Let's add each other on WeChat and chat."

Yu Shuling watched him leave in a panic, and almost couldn't help but burst into laughter.

It's so much fun to tease kids.

In her previous life, she had lived past the age of thirty. Now, after transmigrating, her body has returned to her early twenties, the prime of life for modern people, with a face full of collagen, making it easy for her to look young.

Yu Shuling had a good impression of You Jingzhou. After exchanging contact information, they went for a run on the beach before heading back to the recording location. A while later, she saw that You Jingzhou had sent her a voice message, his pronunciation clear:

“I hadn’t actually thought about singing a duet before, but after hearing what you said, I feel like it’s worth a try. I’ll revise it a bit. Shuling, do you think... Lyra has any suitable ones?”

Yu Shuling initially just said it casually, but she didn't expect this guy to be so honest and actually invite Lyra's people over.

This made it seem like she had brought it up on purpose, which was Yu Shuling's first thought. She remained silent for a moment, not knowing how to reply, and when she opened the chat box again, she saw that the other person was "typing...", so she waited for a while.

The input on the other end stopped.

Just as Yu Shuling was about to type, the person on the other end started typing again.

She waited patiently, and after several rounds of this back and forth, You Jingzhou finally couldn't hold back and sent an emoji—a bear lying on the ground looking utterly dejected—along with the caption:

"It's nothing, I was just asking. I'm sorry if it's inconvenient."

Yu Shuling: Hmm?

How could it be inconvenient?

She discovered that this person wasn't good at pleasantries, and there was no need to beat around the bush with someone like that. Yu Shuling didn't want to miss this opportunity and quickly thought of someone she felt was very suitable:

What do you think of Li Song? Our captain is Li Song.

Li Song is the lead vocalist of Lyra. A professionally trained vocalist and art student, she also had excellent grades in university, even receiving scholarships for the first two years. Later, she abandoned her studies to debut, and the ups and downs of the entertainment industry, coupled with its influence, gradually took its toll on her mental well-being. However, her exceptional singing skills are something even Yu Shuling can objectively recognize, regardless of her bandmate bias.

She's not very good at singing pop songs, but she's fine with dancing. As for pop duets, let's leave it to the professionals. After all, You Jingzhou meant well.

That's You Jingzhou!

The most promising new producer in the past two years, who started with OSTs, has almost taken on half of the OSTs for TV dramas in the last two years. His songs are generally of good quality and his lyrics are also good. Moreover, judging from the demo, this song is a good match for Li Song's voice.

There was no need to worry about Li Song; no one would refuse an opportunity that was offered to them. Yu Shuling became more and more excited as she thought about it, and began to actively recommend her own team leader. She even found recordings of Li Song singing live in the studio and providing backing vocals for the group, including live performance clips, and sent them over, waiting anxiously for You Jingzhou's response.

On the other side, You Jingzhou sat in the back seat of the car, scratching the thick hair at the back of his head, looking a little confused.

He assumed Yu Shuling wanted the opportunity, which was why she volunteered and subtly suggested the duet format. He only replied after weighing the options and feeling it was feasible.

I never expected that Yu Shuling was doing this for Li Song?

You Jingzhou didn't pay much attention to idol groups until he was invited to "Super Idol" and then he did some research.

That day, he saw Jiang Wenxi bravely expose her ambiguous relationship with Qi Xiuxiu on the show, and how she, as a mentor, was biased towards her beloved Yu Shuling. The young woman was full of vigor and boldly made accusations that left people speechless.

At the time, he just felt that this person was very interesting.

Although they haven't been in the industry for long, after several years in the entertainment circle, even the most oblivious person will realize that everyone around them is like a meticulously packaged doll, their every move controlled and defined. The increasingly impersonal, official promotions, the AI-like creations, the accustomed acceptance of unspoken rules…

He appreciates people who work hard for him, so when Yu Shuling took the initiative to propose it to him, he readily agreed. He even wondered if she might use these few meetings to develop her network.

It's perfectly understandable to improve one's competitiveness and ambition through normal means. But You Jingzhou realized he had misunderstood.

Lyra's style is diverse, and their music isn't limited to typical sweet love songs. Both Lin Yujie and Li Song have composed their own songs, each with a distinct style. As the lead vocalist, Li Song possesses a naturally gifted voice; his gentle tone is textured and suitable for telling stories, while also having the explosive power to reach high notes.

As a professional, You Jingzhou could tell from just two videos that Yu Shuling was genuinely recommending suitable acquaintances to him.

Moreover, the live performance without background noise was clearer than the a cappella singing he heard backstage that day.

You Jingzhou's mood instantly soared.

He replied to Yu Shuling, who acted very quickly and immediately went to ask Li Song.

The previous questionable actions of YueDong Company were enough to make them lose trust in their manager. You Jingzhou needed time to prepare the song and discuss its release with the two of them. By the time everything was ready, their cooperation with YueDong would have expired, so they wouldn't need to worry about that aspect.

Yu Shuling's schedule is separate, while the other members of Lyra are currently performing at a commercial event. Due to the scheduling conflict, one person is missing, which angered fans, who even sent a protest email. However, this is clearly a deliberate attempt to separate them and annoy fans. The members themselves don't seem to care, and today Zhong Xinfan even comforted the fans on stage. The commercial performance went smoothly.

Li Song had just stepped off the stage when she saw Yu Shuling tagging her in the group chat. She hadn't even had time to remove her makeup; she simply sat down on a stool to catch her breath and asked:

"What's wrong, Lingling?"

Yu Shuling didn't want to hide the fact that she was sharing resources from her teammates; after all, it wasn't anything shameful. She briefly recounted her chance encounter with You Jingzhou that day and then asked Li Song:

"After thinking it over, I feel like you're the most suitable person for this demo. When I listened to it, I thought of you during the middle part. Would you like to, lead vocalist?"

Li Song was stunned for a moment.

Collaborating with You Jingzhou?

Are you talking about her?

Her heart started pounding wildly, overwhelmed by an incredible sense of surprise, but she also knew that Yu Shuling wouldn't make fun of her about something like this.

Yu Shuling wasn't a very likable person before, but after that dating reality show, she seemed like a completely different person. According to her, she was influenced by Zhao Cheng and suddenly had a change of heart.

Lyra and I weren't actually that close before, since we were competitors before our debut. Later, we each had our own agendas, and we became like ordinary roommates. But we're all easygoing people, and girls get to know each other quickly. We even teamed up because of the same thing, so we naturally forgot about our past grievances.

Fireworks exploded in Li Song's mind; a long-lost joy surged through him, and without thinking, he sent a message:

"willing!!"

Yu Shuling joked, "Oh, aren't you afraid I'll sell you off?"

Hearing the beeping message notification, Lin Yujie opened her phone, laughing uncontrollably. She immediately turned on the camera and walked over to Li Song. Before Li Song could react, she pretended to smear a knife across her neck with her hand—

"Yu Shuling, your Consort Song is in my hands. Come back to rehearse immediately after finishing the variety show recording, or else you might not even have her life!"

That's You Jingzhou! Lin Yujie liked listening to his songs when he first debuted. She never expected that the captain would get a chance to collaborate with him, and she never expected him to be so easy to talk to.

Yeah, Xiao Yu is really good at bluffing.

Lin Yujie was secretly pleased. After they had played around for a while, Zhong Xinfan and Chuan Nai came in from outside. Both of them had a serious expression on their faces, and Li Song and Lin Yujie subconsciously stopped playing around.

"What's wrong?"

"The director of the show that Shuling was on before, the one called 'Road to Stardom,' was arrested."

Zhong Xinfan said with a slight frown.