Chapter 17 Decision

Chapter Summary: The rankings for the top 25 to top 12 have been announced.

Mu Zhi opened the contract and carefully examined each clause.

After reading the last word, I closed the book.

I initially thought the contract offered by the Owl platform would be a split contract.

In the entertainment industry, subcontracting means that artists retain control over their careers, but they outsource different aspects of their work. For example, a female artist recently starred in a hugely successful movie, causing her market value to skyrocket. While her film contract remains with her original agency, her commercial contract has been subcontracted to Xingyao Entertainment.

For newcomers like Mu Zhi who haven't debuted yet but have contracts with their companies, participating in talent shows and signing a contract with the platform is not the same as signing a contract with a company; it refers to a different cooperation model.

The platform will sign contracts with the trainees who debut as a group, covering business, performances, albums, and variety shows. The company still has a certain degree of control over their careers.

However, the contract offered by the Owl platform included film and television contracts, making it almost a full contract. This restricted Mu Zhi to only accept roles from the Owl platform, in addition to those arranged by Xinghe Culture.

You cannot accept roles from platforms such as Green Apple or Golden Mango.

She was cut off from collaborations with other platforms and became an artist under the Owl platform.

The contract also specified how many dramas Mu Zhi would have to film for the Owl platform during the contract period.

The same applies to variety shows; Muzhi can only collaborate with variety shows on the Owl platform (excluding satellite TV programs).

Including her contract with Xinghe Culture, Mu Zhi is essentially signing two indentures and having to work two jobs. Basically, Xinghe Culture and the Owl platform are controlling her acting career, leaving her with no autonomy whatsoever.

Before leaving, Mr. Qiu told Mu Zhi to "think it over carefully."

However, he seemed to have already decided whether to win or lose this "game".

Sister Mei also gave a heartfelt hint: "There's nothing to think about. This is the best thing for you, so seize the opportunity and sign it quickly."

If Mu Zhi is the original owner of this body, then even though this contract is very exploitative, it is indeed worth signing.

One contract, and you've secured a spot in the group's debut lineup.

After debuting, they won't have to worry about resources; the platform will provide them.

Your career development is all planned out for you. Once you debut, you'll be featured in digital magazines, get promotions, release digital albums, appear on variety shows, go on tours, and then be arranged to act in movies. It's pretty much the same development path as the idols from previous seasons of talent shows.

This is a great choice for a newcomer who hasn't debuted yet.

Otherwise, once the show's popularity fades...

You might end up with nothing.

It was quickly forgotten.

But Mu Zhi is not the original body.

Her career plan is to become an actress and take on roles she likes.

Her ambition is to create a series of classic works and become a well-known, nationally recognized, and powerful actress.

So after reading the contract from the Owl platform, Mu Zhi had already made up her mind.

The "benefits" brought by partnering with the Owl platform are far from enough for Muzhi, who has already reached the top.

The reasons for choosing to continue participating in the talent show are: first, to pave the way for entering the entertainment industry; second, not wanting to disappoint the fans' expectations; and third, judging from the previous seasons, the group usually disbands after 12 years of debut, and during the period before disbanding, the members are busy with their own things and have little time to reunite.

It won't affect filming.

She had already thought it through. If she really debuted as part of a group, her career would be just starting out in the first two years. The process of transitioning from an idol to an actress would take time, and she was mentally prepared to start with supporting roles. At first, it would be difficult to get leading roles in big productions, and her filming schedule wouldn't be very busy.

She can perfectly balance her girl group and filming schedules; at most, she'll just be a little busy and tired.

But the Owl platform wants to sign its own film and television contracts.

It's still a 10-year indenture.

The cooperation with Xinghe Culture is still under discussion, and now another contract with Owl has come along, making it even more difficult to terminate the contract.

Mu Zhi cannot afford to lose control of the drama.

I have already made a firm decision not to sign this contract, and I cannot keep it from the company and refuse on my own.

Mu Zhi knew that the meeting between President Qiu of the Owl platform and her, and the handing over of the contract, was nothing more than the platform's arrogance. The fact that she was asked to act as the middleman was probably due to dissatisfaction with Xinghe Culture's "inaction."

However, contact between the two parties is unavoidable.

Since we can't avoid Xinghe Culture, we can only tell our agent, Shang Jian, that we also need to find out Xinghe Culture's attitude.

Mu Zhi took a photo of the contract and sent it to her agent.

Ten minutes later, Shang Jian called.

Compared to last time, Shang Jian's tone was noticeably more polite.

When did the Owl platform give you the contract?

Mu Zhi deliberately sounded a little excited as she happily replied, "Just now, President Qiu said that as long as I sign this contract, he guarantees that I will definitely debut as part of the group, and he also said that he will work with the company to make me famous!"

He tentatively extended his foot: "Mr. Shang, have you read the contract? Should I sign it right away?"

After a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, Shang Jian reassured her, "Mu Zhi, it's like this. I need to report this to the company first. I'll contact you again once the company has given its instructions."

Shang Jian chatted with Mu Zhi about the show for a while, saying that he was supposed to come see Mu Zhi but something came up and he was delayed. He played the role of a very caring agent for the artist for a few minutes before hanging up.

From the conversation with Shang Jian just now, Mu Zhi found that he was not very enthusiastic about the contract with the Owl platform, and seemed not to want her to sign the contract.

While waiting for the company's reply, Mu Zhi continued to participate in the recording of "Chasing the Light Girl" as usual.

With the conclusion of the third performance, the recording of "Chasing the Light Girl" has come to an end.

Mu Zhi came into this world and started participating in the second performance.

The second performance, along with the recordings made before and after the performance, were edited into the main episodes for episodes five and six.

The third performance just ended yesterday, and the full episode is expected to be released tomorrow night.

Episode 7 content: 48 to 25, choosing rooms and forming teams + rehearsing and interacting with celebrity seniors.

Episode 8 includes: the third performance stage of 25 trainees + solo stages of 3 popular trainees.

This season of the show consists of ten episodes.

That means there are only two episodes left before "Chasing the Light Girl" ends.

Mu Zhi was unsure whether she would still be able to participate in the debut night of the finals after her cooperation with the Owl platform ended.

Today, the production team did not schedule any filming, and gave the trainees a day off.

Meet at the cafeteria at 7:30 pm.

The production team prepared a hot pot supper for the 25 trainees, with a huge LCD TV in front of them. The theme of tonight's recording was for the trainees to enjoy the food while watching the seventh episode of "Chasing the Light Girl".

Originally, episodes seven and eight were scheduled to be released together tomorrow night, but episode seven was released tonight ahead of schedule.

The segment where we ate hotpot and watched the show tonight was broadcast live.

This segment of the program was arranged by the production team to attract the national producers and the 25 trainees to watch the latest updates of "Chasing the Light" on the Owl platform.

It was also the last heartwarming time for the 25 trainees to gather together.

The content of the seventh episode of "Chasing the Light Girl": The opening scene showed 48 trainees advancing to 25. During the recording of this episode, everyone cried. Now, when the trainees see themselves on TV with their makeup ruined by tears, most of them silently eat, or say "I miss xxx", and a few secretly wipe away tears.

But most of the trainees stopped crying, probably because they remembered what their mentor Xie Chaoyun had said.

After the elimination round ended, an advertisement for Aipai mobile phones was inserted.

It's the one Mu Zhi filmed a few days ago, and it's online tonight.

As soon as the advertisement came on, the whole audience exclaimed "Wow!"

In the one-minute commercial, Mu·Miracle Nikki·Zhi changed into several outfits. Wearing her everyday training clothes, she was sweating profusely – the familiar trainee Mu Zhi; dressed in a leather jacket and helmet, straddling a heavy motorcycle – a cool and stylish young lady; and walking the red carpet in a black evening gown – a noble and glamorous superstar…

"You have many facets, you love taking photos with your phone, and you record the beauty of each facet."

What amazed everyone was that Mu Zhi not only looked stunning in the photos, but also exuded confidence and beauty in the advertisement. Her presence was different in every aspect, and her expressiveness was superb and she was completely at ease!

It's absolutely comparable to the advertisements shot by top female celebrities in the industry!

The trainees present looked at Mu Zhi with completely different eyes. They realized that they had underestimated Mu Zhi. She not only had beauty but also strength. They even felt that Mu Zhi's prospects in the entertainment industry were not limited to whether she could debut in a group. They felt that she would achieve great things.

In the latter half of the seventh episode, during the room selection and team formation segment, the atmosphere instantly became lively as the celebrity seniors made their appearance. The girls swooned, shouting "So handsome! So handsome!" and instantly transformed into fangirls.

On the stage of the third performance, the celebrity seniors who were assisting didn't get much screen time, but since the production team had gone to great lengths to invite them, and they were all popular male artists, they were given a lot of screen time in the main episode of the seventh episode.

Ning Yao had the most screen time because he talked the most.

It made the girls laugh out loud.

The national producers watching the live stream saw the trainees eating hotpot while watching the show, laughing heartily.

The comments section, however, became sentimental:

"The debut night is almost here, time flies!"

Is this a farewell dinner?

"I don't want to say goodbye, I'm reluctant to leave!"

"Tomorrow it's 25 to 12, half of them will be eliminated again."

......

For the trainees whose rankings have dropped to the bottom, tonight's dinner is truly a farewell feast. Many have smiles on their faces but are actually very worried and uneasy, wondering if they will be able to stay when the latest rankings are announced tomorrow...

The following morning.

The 25 trainees, dressed in matching pink uniforms, arrived at the studio to await the announcement of their rankings.

As they walked in together, Zhou Jingzhu's shoulder gently bumped into Mu Zhi.

Are you confident?

"?"

Realizing that Zhou Jingzhu was asking about the rankings that would be announced later, she was asked if she was confident of taking first place.

Mu Zhi whispered a compromise, "Let's split it fifty-fifty."

"I think your chances are at least 90%, just wait and see."

Mu Zhi didn't know why Zhou Jingzhu was so confident in herself.

They were already in position, and the recording was about to begin, so I suppressed my curiosity.