43 Chapter 43
◎Planning◎
"Sing Out Loud" has slightly edited the live video of this episode and posted it on the platform.
Yu Feiyu took some time out to watch Feng Ruo and Deng Xu's performance and give their comments.
Feng Ruo's spiritual energy was obvious to everyone, so it was appropriate to give him an A-level contract. However, what he didn't understand was why Deng Xu was also able to get the A-level contract proposed by Zhang Li.
Despite what he thought, Yu Feiyu still believed in Zhang Li's judgment.
After Zhang Li and Chen Xiaodong brought two new employees to the company, Yu Feiyu took the time to meet them, got to know their personalities a little, and then arranged for people to carry out the most important signing matters.
Yu Feiyu disdains the method of using normal contracts to attract artists and then adding loopholes to control the other party. The entire contract will be printed out in the same form as it is sent to them.
Zhang Li, however, was more thoughtful. After handing the contract to the two men, he found an excuse to call everyone out so that the two men could carefully read the contract in the conference room to avoid any suspicion.
The naive Feng Ruo didn't understand what Zhang Li meant, but Deng Xu was very touched by her thoughtfulness.
Without much hesitation, he signed his name and put his fingerprint on the contract.
When they got to Feng Ruo, he advised her, "You can check it with the electronic version of the contract."
Although he absolutely believed that Zhang Li would not lie to him, he didn't know what Feng Ruo would think, so he gave her a hint.
But Feng Ruo looked at him doubtfully: "Didn't you sign everything?"
Looking at the clarity in the other person's eyes, Deng Xu smiled helplessly.
-
When the two men came to say that the contract had been signed, only a few minutes had passed.
Zhang Li understood what was going on at a glance. Without saying much, he just smiled knowingly at Deng Xu, and then led the two of them to familiarize themselves with the company's affairs.
"The company has lost a bunch of artists, and now is the time to sign new ones. You've arrived at the right time. Several of the managers who used to specialize in managing singers are now in need of replacements. One of them used to work with Sister Cheng. I'm thinking of putting both of you under her management. If that happens, she might not be able to take care of you, and you'll need to do some things yourself. Are you willing to do that?"
Feng Ruo didn't understand any of this and subconsciously exchanged a glance with Deng Xu.
Deng Xu nodded: "It doesn't matter to me." How many agents in the entire company can there be who started their careers under the famous agent Cheng?
Seeing Deng Xu agree, Feng Ruo also nodded: "I will listen to you, Sister Li."
Zhang Li smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll call her over so you can get to know her."
When Kang Mei heard the news, he rushed over immediately.
She had previously managed two artists, one was Bai Qianyu, and the other was a small singer outside the third-tier, but both of them left Tianqi Media one after another.
Her business had not expanded in the first place. Apart from a small assistant, she had no executive agent or anything like that. She had to do many things herself. Because of the artists leaving, she felt awkward in her position in the company for a while. Although the company made a comeback after Bai Qianyu and others left, it was also a fact that she had no one to fill the gap.
Now that she knows that two A-level contracts have been signed right away, and Miss Zhang Li has given them both to her, how can she not be excited?
When the two sides met, they were both very satisfied with each other.
Zhang Li also asked Kang Mei to select an intern makeup artist to learn from Ran Ran for a period of time, so that she can become a master by the time Feng Ruo and Deng Xu make their debut.
After all these things were arranged, Zhang Li brought the two of them and Kang Mei to Yu Feiyu's office.
Cheng Yu had also received Zhang Li's notice in advance and was waiting in the office. Chen Xiaodong, who had left after joining the company, was also there.
The three of them looked serious.
Kang Mei greeted them immediately, but she still didn't understand what matters regarding the two artists who had just been handed over to her required the company's highest-ranking officials to gather together.
"Mr. Yu, this is...?"
As early as after "Sing Out Loud" officially announced all the mentors and assistants, Zhang Li found an opportunity to explain the matter to Yu Feiyu and Cheng Yu.
When she saw Yun Shang and Pei Yuanzhi's names listed side by side in that Weibo post, she understood that Pei Yuanzhi must want to change direction and re-attack the Chinese music scene with a Korean singer.
Although Tianqi introduced a good drama last time, it was reported and taken off the shelves due to plot reasons, but after Zhang Li's systematic analysis, Yu Feiyu did not dare to underestimate the seriousness of the matter.
"Come sit down, I will explain to you why I called you here."
"According to Ali's analysis, the reason why Pei Yuanzhi appeared on the "Sing Out Loud" program this time is not simple...blabla..."
By the time he finished speaking, Kang Mei had roughly reacted.
"Mr. Yu, you're saying that you and Ms. Zhang Li predicted that Yun Shang and Pei Yuanzhi would very likely use this show to insert a talented Korean singer at a critical moment, then have them win the championship to build momentum, and then use their influence to bring in more Korean singers, thereby destroying the domestic entertainment environment and taking the opportunity to severely damage Lingman, right?"
Yu Feiyu nodded.
Zhang Li suddenly said, "It doesn't necessarily have to be just the championship. I suspect they'll want to take at least the top three spots."
Chen Xiaodong also had a question at this time: "I don't think the director of 'Sing Out Loud' is the kind of person who would cooperate. He doesn't seem to like Pei Yuanzhi very much."
"What if it was someone on Xiguatai who asked for it?" Zhang Li looked at him.
Hearing this, Chen Xiaodong couldn't help but frown.
"I've thought about it systematically. They want to insert Korean singers into this program. There are probably two ways they can do this. One is to directly send the contestants for interviews and enter the later stages of the program. The other is to achieve their goal by changing the program rules."
"Change the rules?" Chen Xiaodong didn't understand what he meant.
Zhang Li: "Or add rules."
Chen Xiaodong: "What rules?"
Zhang Li: "I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a rule in this show where failed singers can challenge the competition and take the top spot."
At this point, Chen Xiaodong finally understood. "You mean if we add a rule that allows players to challenge others and take the top spot even if they just drop in, we can catch everyone off guard?!"
Zhang Li added, "On the premise of joining 'internationalization' and 'reserve forces'."
"Adding these two prerequisites can also prevent strong domestic players from leaving the stage!" Chen Xiaodong seemed to have already seen that scene.
Zhang Li: "Based on my understanding, South Korea has long wanted to invade the Chinese market and must have already prepared many seed players."
Although this world is derived from the novel and many things are different from the previous life, some aspects are definitely interconnected, but they are delayed due to the influence of the author's settings.
She could still recall the scenes of the Korean culture running rampant in China in her previous life. Those brainwashing hit songs and the wanton impact of boy bands and girl bands attracted countless fans.
Songs have far fewer restrictions than TV dramas. The values infused in TV dramas are very obvious, but if it is a song, under the premise that you don’t understand it, you will naturally focus on the music and will not think about the background of its creation. There is almost no danger.
Chen Xiaodong understood everything. "The first method is likely to alert the enemy. If I were Pei Yuanzhi and the others, I would definitely choose the latter method."
"If they can really get the upper level of Watermelon Terrace."
Yu Feiyu made the final conclusion: "We have to be on guard!"
Given Pei Yuanzhi and his colleagues' unscrupulous behavior, as long as they think of such a method, they will definitely implement it.
Pei Yuanzhi has already participated in the program "Sing Out Loud", so how far is he from thinking of this method?
What they didn't know was that Yun Shang had actually made preparations a long time ago and was just waiting for the right opportunity to pull Pei Yuanzhi, Liu Shuyi and the others into it.
-
After Zhang Li's explanation, everyone in the office understood the difficulties they might face next.
Kang Mei also realized something, "So, Miss Zhang Li, the reason you asked us to gather here is..."
Hearing this, Zhang Li did not answer directly, but instead turned his gaze to Feng Ruo and Deng Xu.
Seeing this, Kang Mei understood everything.
Feng Ruo was still a little confused. She looked at Zhang Li and always felt that the other party seemed to have put a lot of things on her, but she only seemed to understand.
Until Deng Xu made it clear.
"Sister Li, do you want A'ruo and I to use this time to build up our strength so we can deal with Pei Yuanzhi's plan?"
When he said this, he always felt a little uneasy in his heart, because although he was much more confident about his future path after being encouraged by Zhang Li, he did not think he was capable of such a big task.
Perhaps Feng Ruo could help Zhang Li achieve this goal? But if she were alone, it would be too difficult.
How could Zhang Li not notice Deng Xu's sudden surge of inferiority? She shook her head, "Don't underestimate yourself. You're just as important as A'ruo!"
Deng Xu smiled, but he still felt unsure.
He thought for a moment and said, "According to the plan for 'Sing Out Loud,' each episode will last at least a month, with seven to eight episodes per season. This means we still have half a year before the last one or two episodes..."
Everyone understood what was done during the past six months.
Yu Feiyu felt a bit troubled seeing the boy full of worries and lack of confidence.
He looked at Zhang Li.
Zhang Li received his gaze and gave him a look that said 'don't be impatient'.
"Let's wait a moment."
"What are you waiting for?" Everyone was a little surprised.
"Waiting for someone."
For some reason, Chen Xiaodong felt inexplicably familiar when looking at this scene.
It wasn't until the switch in his mind turned on that he recalled that it was a few months ago when he, Zou Yanyan and Wang Ting returned to the company, and President Yu had given him these instructions.
"Wait a moment..."
"Waiting for what?"
"Waiting for someone..."
Then Zhang Li appeared in front of them and introduced them to Mr. Li from the Past Studio.
Chen Xiaodong understood what Zhang Li meant and asked in surprise, "Boss Li is coming today?"
Zhang Li smiled.
Seeing her smile, everyone showed excitement except Feng Ruo and Deng Xu, who had just joined the company and didn't know much about the past studio and were a little confused.
Cheng Yu asked, "Is Mr. Li so efficient? Ah Li, you just brought Ah Ruo and Ah Xu back, and she already has a plan?"
Cheng Yu and Yu Feiyu knew that Zhang Li was the investor behind Wancheng, and they also vaguely guessed that she might be behind the Past Studio. However, they never imagined that Zhang Li had already written a plan while copying those songs, just waiting for the "destined person" to appear.
Li Xiaoman only needs to make some minor modifications based on the actual situation after Zhang Li's instructions.
Feng Ruo asked blankly, "Who is Mr. Li?"
Speak of the devil, Yu Feiyu's phone rang.
After he answered the phone, the secretary's voice came over: "Mr. Yu, Mr. Li from the Past Studio has arrived. Where can I meet him?"
Yu Feiyu quickly stood up and said, "Please invite Mr. Li to the small conference room."
After he hung up, the others also stood up.
Yu Feiyu knew who Li Xiaolan was coming for, and made a "please" gesture to Zhang Li.
Zhang Li didn't bother to exchange pleasantries and led the way out of the office.
Everyone else was used to it, only Feng Ruo and Deng Xu vaguely noticed something.
Feng Ruo didn't think much about it, but Deng Xu quickly thought of what Chen Xiaodong had said to him at noon - '...You don't know Teacher Zhang Li's status in the company...'
He suddenly realized what was happening and looked at the team led by Zhang Li. He felt that Chen Xiaodong might have been a little conservative.
-
Soon, Deng Xu no longer had the mind to care about other trivial matters.
Li Xiaoman had already received instructions from Zhang Li this time, so she specifically took the songs intended for Feng Ruo and Deng Xu.
Deng Xu, in particular, was the one they focused on, because his talent had obviously not been fully utilized.
When Deng Xu was sitting in the conference room and saw the document handed to him by Li Xiaolan's assistant, he opened it and had an inexplicable feeling, as if something was passing through his heels to the top of his head.
He looked at the lyrics and music in his hand and soon became completely immersed in it.
Feng Ruo was in almost the same state, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the document in her hand, unwilling to divert her attention even a little.
Seeing the two of them seem to feel the shock of their souls, Chen Xiaodong couldn't help but smile.
It turns out that this is how he felt when he first saw "Li Ge".
However, Feng Ruo and Deng Xu still have a much weaker foundation than Chen Xiaodong.
So after the two of them finished reading the document, Li Xiaolan asked her assistant to take it back.
Zhang Li was sitting next to Li Xiaoman, looking at their confused faces. "You want to sing these songs, right?"
The two nodded in unison.
"These are indeed prepared for you, but before that, you still need to pass the test of me, Mr. Li, and Teacher Xiaodong."
Zhang Li smiled and said, "I'm not as easy to talk to here as I am on stage~"
After she finished speaking, she stopped looking at Feng Ruo and Deng Xu and turned to Kang Mei, saying, "Go to the administration and arrange for two closed training rooms and two trainers of the same gender. Have them train in secret for two weeks and not go out unless necessary. After two weeks, we will conduct an assessment before the next round of 'Sing Out Loud' begins."
"Dong Ge will be with A Ruo online for a while, and as for A Xu, I will be the one to take care of her online when I'm free."
"Training starts today."
After Zhang Li gave the order, Kang Mei, the agent, nodded quickly.
Seeing this, Zhang Li stood up.
Seeing that the matter had been almost handled, Yu Feiyu, who was in the main seat, also stood up and gave instructions to Kang Mei, "Everything must be done according to Miss Zhang Li's instructions, and let the administrative department check the good news."
After saying that, he nodded to Zhang Li and prepared to return to the office.
Cheng Yu also realized that the meeting was over, and patted Kang Mei on the shoulder, "Thank you for your hard work."
Li Xiaolan knew that Zhang Li had something else to say, so she stood up and walked out of the office one after another.
After Cheng Yu and Chen Xiaodong left, only Feng Ruo, Deng Xu and Kang Mei were left in the meeting room.
Although they were abandoned by everyone, Feng Ruo and Deng Xu were not panicked at all.
The two looked at each other and saw determination in each other's eyes.
"Will we pass Sister Li's test?"
"certainly!"
-
Zhang Li couldn't accompany Feng Ruo and Deng Xu. After all, she was no longer as free as she was a few months ago.
Although she has finished filming "The Legend of Li Wan", according to Cheng Yu's schedule, she will soon make a guest appearance in a suspense TV series.
After finishing his guest appearance in the suspense drama, he immediately joined the crew of "The Battle of Vientiane".
She didn't have enough extra time to waste, so she had to take this opportunity to explain the matter of Feng Ruo and Deng Xu to Li Xiaolan.
She said something to Cheng Yu, then found an empty lounge and held a small meeting with Xiao Man and her assistant.
By the time everything was over, it was already completely late.
Kang Mei has sent a message saying that the training of Feng Ruo and Deng Xu has begun.
After sending Xiaoman and the others away, Chengyu also sent her back to the apartment.
Next, Zhang Li’s already busy schedule became even more busy.
Before the guest appearance, apart from the online meetings with Wu Heng and others, the rest of the time was used to follow up on Deng Xu's training.
After all, the route she arranged for Deng Xu was different from the ordinary route.
So on the first day, when Deng Xu's training teacher heard Zhang Li's arrangement, asking him not to worry about Deng Xu's pronunciation problems, but only to teach voice and other things, he was a little confused.
But it was obvious that the other party had received orders long ago and had to do everything according to Zhang Li's instructions.
Deng Xu is also a smart and hardworking person. After two days, his skills have improved a lot. At least if he were asked to sing "Subtle Love" again now, he would definitely not break his voice again.
This progress is encouraging.
However, Zhang Li is about to go on a guest appearance in the suspense drama that Cheng Yu has taken on for her.
-
The name of this drama is "Burning Embers". It tells the story of a group of criminal teenagers who use their intelligence to act recklessly in the city and even plan murders, which arouses public opinion. Then the police station invites a special team to investigate and gradually uncover the other party's plans and true faces.
Perhaps it can be seen that Zhang Li prefers to play exciting roles, so the guest role that Cheng Yu took for her this time was not a positive police role, but one related to the core members of this juvenile criminal group.
This character can be said to be the other party's "enlightenment mentor". It is because of her existence that the other party has developed the mentality of "everything can stop crime".
Yes, this group of criminal teenagers did not kill for no reason, but were carrying out what they thought was justice.
In the play, the character played by Zhang Li has actually died a long time ago, so her appearances are all in the boy's memories. She is also the node where the police finally break up the juvenile criminal group.
This guest role requires some acting skills, but unfortunately the production team did not receive much investment, so they could not hire those popular actors with good acting skills.
They can only look for some suitable ordinary actors to cast a wide net.
Originally, Zhang Li, who was banned by Pei Yuanzhi and the Liu family, was not considered by them. However, Lingman later fought a beautiful counterattack, and they heard that Zhang Li participated in "The Legend of Li Wan" directed by Zheng Wanying, in which he also played a villain. His acting skills should be good, so they included him in the plan list.
But I didn’t expect that Cheng Yu actually noticed it.
After Zhang Li agreed, he took on this guest role.
Due to financial constraints, the entire crew of "Burning Embers" used less famous actors. After Zhang Li arrived, he became the most eye-catching one among them.
At first, the director didn't have much hope. After all, although Zhang Li's reputation on the Internet had improved a little, it was not because of her acting skills, but because she participated in a music variety show.
However, after Zhang Li came on stage, he conquered everyone with just one performance.
The 'mentor' in the boy's memories was someone whose full name he didn't even know at first. He only heard others call her 'Alian'.
A-Lian accidentally helped a bullied teenager, and the teenager kept paying attention to her afterwards.
Originally, A-Lian was a very beautiful girl, but one day, her best friend was brutally murdered. When the police found the murderer, he was exonerated by negligence, underage and mental illness. Everything changed.
The criminal murderer's family was powerful, and A-Lian's best friend's parents were helpless and were eventually forced to leave the city.
A-Lian witnessed the whole process and remembered the murderer's face firmly in her mind.
She began to pretend to follow the other party, obtained a lot of information about the other party, and then based on this information, designed a path of no return for the murderer.
The young man also accidentally discovered A Lian's actions, but he did not say anything, but observed silently.
And A-Lian's plan was successful, she killed the other person and avenged her best friend.
Just because she was too young, she left a lot of clues and the police found evidence and arrested her.
Although both of them killed someone, A-Lian's fate was very different from that of the murderer.
Because A-Lian was an adult and her crime was premeditated, and with the help of the murderer's powerful parents, she was eventually sentenced to death.
This result left an indelible hatred in the boy's heart and directly led to his evil transformation.
The first scene Zhang Li plays is the moment of planning the murder.
Due to the plot requirements, she cannot be too dazzling in this drama, so her makeup design deliberately lowers her appearance.
Her originally outstanding figure was also concealed by the loose work clothes.
She leaned against the wall, watching coldly as the murderer who was at large laughed and played with his companions, and pointed at the pretty girls walking on the street.
Originally, the director thought that without knowing Zhang Li's acting skills and considering it was her first day on set, it might be a bit difficult for her to act out this scene directly, so he didn't hold out much hope.
But Zhang Li had just arrived and everything was different.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
