Chapter 39. What happened in Chapter 39 that made Jing Yi feel the same way...?
After four rounds of Werewolf, Luo Da, under Wang Peiyang's accusation, clutched his head and wailed in pain, realizing that he was the real bad teammate. A group of people surrounded him and laughed heartily.
Meng Hui wiped away the tears of laughter from the corner of her eyes: "Who knows how devastated I was when I was voted out in the first round and found out that the Seer was Teacher Tan and Xin Gu and Yi Tong were actually wolves? At that time, I thought that our good guys were definitely doomed."
Tan Zhi clasped his hands together and said, "It's all my fault!"
Lu Changning's expression was strange: "Xin Gu, you're too good at fooling people."
Fang Xingu sat calmly in his seat with his arms crossed, saying, "I'm just a product of the times. Thank you all for giving me such a great opportunity."
The group laughed and joked until the evening recording ended and the live broadcast room was shut down, at which point they got up and went back to their rooms to rest.
Just as Fang Xingu was about to leave, Yan Tu stopped him and talked for a while: "Wait, Xingu, how's the theme song coming along?"
Fang Xin, who hadn't uttered a single word, feigned composure and shamelessly said, "The progress is quite good."
Yan Tu, clearly oblivious to anything amiss, continued, "If all goes well, our program should finish filming by the end of December, and editing by January, so it can air in February. The production process for a song is quite lengthy, and we'll need you to find time to record it later. Do you have enough time?"
Fang Xingu was confident he could manage the time. He nodded, "Don't worry, we'll definitely make it. By the way, what are your requirements for the lyrics of this song? Does it need to fit the theme of this season's Antarctic?"
Yan Tu: "That's what I wanted to say. You haven't written the lyrics yet, have you? Actually, we are planning to film a second season, so you can write your lyrics on a broader scale and not be limited to the content of this season."
"Okay, I understand. I'll send you the lyrics and music later."
Yan Tu then chatted with Fang Xingu for a while about the theme song. Fang Xingu felt guilty, afraid that the more he talked, the more he would expose the fact that he hadn't even started writing it yet. Fortunately, Qi Qiu suddenly called him at this moment, and Fang Xingu immediately ran away under the pretext of needing to coordinate with his agent.
Fang Xingu only breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the corridor. He answered Qi Qiu's call: "What's wrong?"
"Work, young master, several TV stations have invited you to their New Year's Eve galas," Qi Qiu said to Fang Xingu over the phone, listing a few TV station names. "Do you want to go? Which one do you want to go to?"
Fang Xin hesitated for a moment, thinking that he would definitely have to go into seclusion for a long time to make an album after returning to China, and would have to disappear from the public eye for half a year. He was afraid that his fans would cry everywhere again. Before that, he should take on a job first.
He replied, "I can go to one. I'll probably be staying in Beijing for a while after I return to China. How about I take a job with Beijing TV? That way I won't have to travel back and forth so much."
"Okay, we need two songs. What are you going to sing?"
"One song, 'Echo,' and another... Can you sing a new song?"
Fang Xingu thought for a moment. "Echo" was a song he wrote on the spot before he went on "Star Journey". It was a song that belonged entirely to him. But in the past few years, he had only written songs for Nebula and had never released any songs of his own. Now that Nebula had disbanded, it would be impossible for him to sing Nebula's songs at the New Year's Eve gala. It would be better for him to sing his own unreleased new songs.
Qi Qiu pondered, "That's possible, but have you finished composing any of your new songs yet? There are still more than ten days left, why don't you ask Cao Yangxi to rush out one?"
Fang Xin Gu: "It's okay, we don't need those formal arrangements, I can sing and play live."
"That works too. Send me the song and demo later, and I'll check with the TV station to see if it's okay."
After finalizing one job, Fang Xingu asked again, "Is that all?"
“And another busy person,” Qi Qiu continued, “I’m planning to get you two OST jobs. One is to sing the theme song for an ancient costume drama that will be broadcast in the first half of next year, and the other is to write an interlude for a political intrigue drama that is currently being filmed.”
Fang Xin Gu gets a headache just thinking about writing songs. His own album needs revisions, and the theme song for "The World Is So Big" hasn't even started yet. He instinctively refuses: "Singing OSTs is out of the question. Where do I have time to write songs for others right now? Let's turn it down."
“It’s Ye Wenlian’s play. He called and begged me for help.”
Fang Xin Gu: ...
Fang Xingu sighed. Well, this really was something he had promised Ye Wenlian before.
Before Nebula disbanded, Ye Wenlian received a role as the second male lead in a period drama and excitedly ran to tell him. At the time, Fang Xingu was unaware of Jing Yitong's arranged marriage and was in a good mood. Under Ye Wenlian's persistent persuasion, he agreed to write a song for the role. It's likely that Ye Wenlian contacted him in the group chat a few days ago about this.
Since he had already agreed to it, it wouldn't be good to refuse again. Besides, the drama hadn't finished filming yet, so the time shouldn't be too tight. Fang Xingu agreed: "Okay, then I'll take both. I'll ask Ye Wenlian myself later."
"Uh, don't answer so quickly. There's something I need to make clear to you. The production company for that ancient costume drama that wants you to sing the OST is Zhiyu."
"Zhiyu?" Fang Xingu frowned. "Why are you giving me work from them?"
Qi Qiu had previously mentioned that the culprit behind the sound system malfunction at their Nebula disbandment concert was likely Zhiyu. With both old and new grudges combined, he now had a very bad impression of Zhiyu, yet the company still wanted him to cooperate with them.
"Hey, things aren't as simple as you think," Qi Qiu lowered his voice, "Is it convenient for you to talk over there?"
Fang Xingu paused, turned onto the deck. It was late, and there were few people on the deck. In addition, the sea breeze was blowing, scattering the tourists' conversations. Fang Xingu found a quiet spot and stood there: "Go on."
Qi Qiu explained in a low voice: "Although we all assumed that Zhiyu was behind it at the time, we still haven't found any evidence, right? Moreover, Zhiyu was targeting Nebula, not you. President Zhong wouldn't allow us to break ties with Zhiyu just because of something that hasn't been settled yet. We're all in the same industry, and we won't bring our conflicts to the forefront unless absolutely necessary."
Moreover, this drama is a big-budget production based on a major IP, and both the male lead and the second female lead are artists from our company. The company aims to use this drama to promote them, so we have high expectations for it and have invested a significant amount of money. Currently, the higher-ups still prefer a win-win partnership with Zhiyu.
Fang Xin Gu now understands. Cheng Feng is obviously trying to promote the male lead and the second female lead, so he wants to make the drama as popular as possible. Of course, he doesn't want to miss out on singers who can bring in a lot of traffic.
If Fang Xingu had known this when he first entered the industry, he would definitely have been very unhappy. What do you mean that Zhiyu is targeting Nebula instead of him? Aren't he and Nebula one and the same? What's the difference between targeting Nebula and targeting him?
Moreover, he is currently the most popular artist on the show, yet the company is willing to risk offending him in order to promote others, just because he recently renewed his contract and they think he is easy to manipulate?
But four years have passed, and Fang Xingu has grown a lot. Now he can analyze situations calmly. Since his debut, Chengfeng has always treated him well and wouldn't betray him in something like this. Fang Xingu leaned on the railing and asked, "What are the benefits if I agree?"
"Oh my, our new generation has grown up! They all know how to ask for benefits now!" Qi Qiu sounded quite pleased. "Of course there are benefits. President Zhong said that if you really don't want to take it, it's okay to refuse. But if you agree to take it, the company will help you set up a studio, and the revenue sharing ratio for copyrights can be adjusted in the future."
Upon hearing this, Fang Xingu raised an eyebrow: "Such a good thing?"
Singer-songwriters earn substantial royalties from their music, so most choose to go solo. However, he ultimately chose to renew his contract with Chengfeng Entertainment. Naturally, he will share his music royalties with the company from now on, and the company will also help him with operations, promotion, and other related tasks.
But now the company has backed down and proposed adjusting the revenue-sharing ratio. You know, copyright revenue is practically passive income, so the company's willingness to give him a discount means he's definitely making a huge profit.
But is the company willing to make such a big concession just for those two artists?
It's definitely not that simple.
After pondering for a moment, Fang Xingu roughly understood that Chengfeng Entertainment's move was actually to establish a deeper connection with him, not just for this one drama and these two artists, but because they thought there might be more opportunities to use Fang Xingu in the future, so they took this opportunity to show their goodwill to him.
Fang Xingu smiled and said, "It seems the company thinks highly of me."
Qi Qiu knew that Fang Xingu already understood the intention behind these steps: "Haha, definitely."
After careful consideration, Fang Xingu replied, "I can accept it, but are you sure Zhiyu won't set a trap for me?"
Qi Qiu: "Probably not. Zhiyu's film and music departments are separate, and Zhiyu has invested a lot of money in this drama. It can be said that they are determined to make it a hit, so they wouldn't cause trouble for themselves."
"Okay, I'll take it."
Qi Qiu chuckled and agreed, then asked, "You guys have been quite lively lately. Lu Changning came, and Tan Zhi from Zhiyu went too."
This sentence meant that the conversation was about to enter the casual stage. Fang Xingu relaxed and turned around, leaning against the railing. When she looked up, she saw a very familiar figure on the other side. It was Liang Jiyan holding a wine glass and standing at the other end of the deck. She was quietly looking at the sea and did not notice Fang Xingu behind her.
Fang Xingu withdrew his gaze and did not go up to disturb him. Instead, he continued to say to Qi Qiu, "I didn't even know Lu Changning was coming. Who knows what Yan Tu was thinking, always sneaking people in like that. I don't know what he's trying to hide."
"Huh?" Qi Qiu was a little surprised. He remembered the information he had received from Yan Tu during their last conversation and asked curiously, "Don't you know? Jing Yitong himself asked the production team to keep his arrival a secret."
Fang Xingu was stunned for several seconds before he understood the meaning behind Qi Qiu's words: "...Huh?"
It wasn't that the production team wanted to hide it, but rather that Jing Yitong himself didn't want others to know he was coming.
But that's not what Jing Yitong told him!
Fang Xin clearly remembers that Jing Yitong said at the time that the production team required him not to reveal this matter, so Jing Yitong lied to him.
Why did Ke Jingyi do this?
...The only reason is that Jing Yitong knows that once he finds out that he is also coming to record the show, he might just break the contract and run away.
But this shouldn't be the case. Jing Yitong doesn't know that she likes him. Could there be another reason behind this?
But what could be it that made Jing Yitong feel she might want to avoid him at all costs?
Fang Xingu found himself completely lost in a daze, unable to grasp the logic behind it all. He broke out in a cold sweat; his intuition told him he had definitely missed something very important.
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Author's note: I'll definitely let Teacher Fang know exactly what I missed within a week. [fist pump]
I hope you won't not recognize me after changing the cover, lol
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