Chapter 59 Chapter 59
Inside the café, the morning sun streamed in through the half-open blinds, casting dappled patches of light across the wooden floor. The clinking of ice cubes echoed from behind the counter, blending with the low hum of the coffee grinder to create a cacophony of background noise.
The air was filled with the uniquely late summer heat and humidity. Lia sat in a corner, her schoolbag at her feet. A glass of iced Americano sat beside her, a thin layer of mist covering the sides. She had no appetite, so she subconsciously swirled her fingertips along the rim of the glass.
My eyes unconsciously glanced towards the door. I don't know if this is a blessing in disguise. Although I messed up my relationship at the birthday party, the song I wrote casually at the back door of the restaurant that day unexpectedly received a response. After returning to the apartment,
She organized the melody she had hastily scribbled on a tissue into a draft, then found time to record a simple demo, which she then emailed to the email address Gummy had given her. She hadn't held out much hope, after all, it was just something she'd written down on the spur of the moment.
Unexpectedly, the other party replied at noon the next day. His tone was extremely polite, saying that the song was very touching and hoped to arrange a meeting as soon as possible to discuss it in detail. So, it was set for today. Lia always arrived early.
Plus, the other party had sent a text message ten minutes ago saying that there was a minor accident on the road and he would be a little late. She had unknowingly waited for nearly half an hour. Somehow, she felt that this matter had not been going smoothly from the beginning. She sighed softly.
My mind couldn't help but think of logging into the forum last night. My original intention was just to post a song analysis of "She's Gone" that I had written in advance.
Having participated in the entire production of the album "Heartbreaker," she actually compiled a structural analysis of each song during the production phase, planning to release them gradually over time. This song was the one she wanted to release first.
This song isn't the main track on the album, but she feels there's much to say about it, both in terms of personal preference and musicality. Besides the usual analysis of the melody and arrangement, she also, in a rare move, added a subjective comment at the end:
"From a personal perspective, the theme of this song falls between two extreme images: one is the morbid extreme love: here, love is presented as an almost destructive impulse -
This kind of love affirms its existence through control and possession. Once it loses control, it turns into anger, denial, and even desperate idealization. The more extreme it is, the more fragile it is. The second is the "eternity" brought about by separation:
Compared to the uncertainty of love itself, separation (here manifested as death) brings an illusion of stability - love is sealed as a moment that no longer flows.
This is not out of an obsession with love, but rather a crude simplification and search for eternity. Separation, death, eternity, and love are the image chains that are repeatedly woven into this song.
It doesn’t just present a bloody or morbid love, but a gaze at the essence of love in its extreme state: a love that cannot coexist and can only establish its meaning through its ending.
While participating in the production, she never discussed the meaning of the lyrics with Quan Zhilong. She knew that the lyrics were never purely fictional.
For the creator, seemingly extreme or fabricated emotions are often reflections of certain beliefs, even if they are only fragmented traces. Lyrics are both works of art and unspoken self-declarations.
Therefore, they always maintain this tacit understanding. Moreover, there will always be a gap between creation and interpretation. She also felt a bit lucky when she posted this interpretation on the forum.
On the one hand, her love for the work prompted her to express herself, and on the other hand, the anonymity of the forum also gave her a sense of security - as a poster with not many followers, even if she brought in some subjective understanding, it would not cause too much waves.
She finished writing it in one go, briefly checked it, and hit send. Then she casually clicked on the flashing message in the lower right corner. She had barely logged into this account lately, so the number of messages jumped directly to "999+."
Most of them were messages from old fans urging her to update, and she scrolled down and glanced at them. A few were from fans she had joined when she first started hanging out on the forum. Since she had set them as special followers, their messages were automatically pinned to the top. She clicked on one of them:
[Original VVVIP: Have you seen the latest update on Love Story? I feel like if it were to come out, it would have an impact on him. I'm a little worried.] Lia's eyelashes fluttered. After a moment's thought, she casually replied:
[lovelovegd222: Not yet. He's had other scandals before, right? They shouldn't be relevant.] She closed the chat box, hesitated for a moment, then typed "GD scandal" into the search box. ...
"Ding-ling—" The wind chimes on the door rang sharply. Lia snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at the door. A figure walked in quickly, glanced around, quickly locked onto a target, and walked straight towards her.
"I'm so sorry," a voice came before the person even got close, the tone was crisp, "I met a little bastard on the road, stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, and hit my car directly."
As she spoke, she pulled out a chair and sat down, casually hanging her bag on the back. "Hello Lia, I'm Zheng Laicai." She extended a hand. "I'm impatient, so please bear with me."
"Hello," Lia obediently extended her hand and shook hers. "It's okay. I just got here too. I'm glad you're okay."
The visitor was a capable woman with short hair, neatly dressed, and seemingly in her early twenties. She spoke and acted in a swift and impulsive manner, but she was surprisingly approachable. A bit like... a grown-up version of Xia Qing.
Lia couldn't help but smile at the thought. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have been able to connect her with that sincere, official email. Not to mention—she was so young.
Lia recalled the "producer friend" Gummy had mentioned, and for a moment she wasn't sure if she was referring to the person in front of her. Perhaps because of her overly expressive expression, the visitor couldn't help but ask, "Have we met before?"
"Ah, no." Lia quickly shook her head. "It's just that I have a friend who looks a lot like you. When Sister Gummy mentioned that, I didn't expect you to be so young."
"Ah," the other person nodded and casually explained while flipping through the menu, "My father is quite wealthy. As soon as I graduated from college, I asked him for some start-up capital to try my hand at the circle." As she spoke, she winked at Lia.
"Eh... is that so?" Lia didn't know how to respond. ——Is this something you can just say casually?
"Hahaha, I'm just kidding." Zheng Lai Cai laughed, "Although we don't look alike, Gummy has to call me unnie. I guess we are more than one generation apart. I have been in this circle for some years." Lia couldn't help but widen her eyes.
"But my father does have some money," she continued, "you can tell from my name - Lai Cai, Lai Cai." "An old man who loves money, who would give such a name nowadays? I really admire him." She complained half-complainingly.
Lia couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, let's get down to business." After ordering coffee, she neatly put away the menu, her expression changing.
"The drama we're planning to air is called 'You're Beautiful,' an idol drama, scheduled to premiere in mid-October," she said, pulling a folder from her bag and placing it on the table. "Gummy probably mentioned the change to you. The original OST partner canceled the contract due to a price disagreement."
Lia nodded. "We've adjusted our strategy and are now splitting up several key insert songs and assigning them to different producers." She frowned slightly, her tone resigned. "We'll do our best to maintain quality while not delaying the original release schedule."
"We listened to the demo you sent the other day. It's pretty good." She pulled out a thin plot outline from the folder and handed it to Lia.
"However, we discussed it and feel that if this song is slightly modified, it might be more suitable as the ending theme song. We hope you can make some adjustments to the atmosphere to make it more 'grand' overall."
She looked up at Lia and slowed down her tone, as if to make sure she had expressed herself clearly.
"Actually, this is something the music director should have discussed," she shrugged. "But we're in a rush right now, worried we'll miss out on progress, so I figured I'd come over first. I might not be able to come up with any technical terms, but I can only give you a rough idea of what it feels like."
"I understand." Lia nodded and flipped open the plot outline. "This is an abridged version," Zheng Laicai pointed to the watermark on the page that read "Not for Reproduction." "For your reference only."
"Of course, this is just a preliminary idea. If you think it's difficult to change, you can bring it up and we can discuss it."
"No problem." Lia said softly, "I can add string arrangement and drums to the existing melody, which should achieve the "grander" effect you mentioned." "Great." Zheng Laicai smiled, then his expression became serious.
"However, there's one thing I need to clarify upfront." Her tone grew slightly more serious. "We're planning to buy out the rights to this song outright." Lia looked up.
"That is to say, you will not be involved in the recording and subsequent release. The copyright of the sound source belongs to us and the record company. Once the contract is signed, the song belongs to us for full use, including distribution, secondary adaptation, etc."
She paused and added, "We will officially contact YG about this later, but I still wanted to say hello to you first." "Of course, we will definitely not treat you unfairly in terms of fees--"
She suddenly remembered something and waved her hand. "The previous company broke the contract and paid us a penalty. The budget is actually a bit higher than the original one. You've saved our lives. I will make sure the money is generous."
Lia lowered her gaze and nodded slightly, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the surface of the table. The buyout didn't surprise her. For new creators, such opportunities were rare, and there was little room for negotiation.
However, the thought that this song no longer belonged to her made her hesitate. She looked up at Zheng Laicai. He didn't seem to be in a hurry to ask her for an answer, but just smiled at her. "I understand. No problem for me."
Lia replied softly. Emotions are emotions, choices are choices. Zheng Laicai looked at her, rather surprised. She'd expected some discussion.
"Don't worry, we have a professional team that will make good use of it." She said this in a rare comforting tone and put away the documents on the table.
"I will contact YG directly to handle the contract later. You just need to give me the updated version of the arrangement as soon as possible so that we can arrange the subsequent recording work." "Okay, I'll prepare it as soon as possible." Lia nodded.
"Then please." Zheng Laicai stood up, "I'm really sorry for keeping you waiting for so long today. I have something else to do later, so I have to leave now." Lia waved her hand: "It's okay, you're welcome."
"I've been really busy lately. I'll definitely find time to treat you to a meal after the TV series airs," she said solemnly. Lia smiled and agreed.
Only after Zheng Laicai gracefully waved her hand and disappeared out the door did she slowly sit down again, a little dazed. The whole process happened quickly and cleanly. Her song was sold just like that.
Her phone vibrated, and MSN popped up a message: [Bafang Laicai has added you as a contact.] She looked at the nickname with the flashing green dot and couldn't help but curl her lips. The next second, MSN popped up another message.
K-Flow: "Come to the office this afternoon? Can you buy me a hard drive on the way?" Lia checked the time.
She and Xia Qing had agreed to study at the library that afternoon, but this cafe wasn't far from the office, and there was an electronics store nearby, so the items she bought could be delivered in less than half an hour. She made a quick decision, replying to the message while picking up her bag and preparing to leave.
Before the message could be sent, Kush sent the next one: K-Flow: No need, no need, GD wanted it back, I asked him to take it (love shot.jpg) Lia paused.
After that birthday party, their relationship had reached a freezing point. Even though she tried to smooth things over, his busy schedule meant that when they did meet, he treated them like ordinary colleagues, polite but distant.
She lowered her head and replied to Kush with a simple "OK." Then, she sent another message to Xia Qing: NeonL: I'll be at the library later, so I'll go to the company first. Xia Qing didn't reply, probably because she hadn't read the message at the moment.
She thought about it and sent another text message to Teddy: -Oppa, where did you buy the delicious crucian carp cakes you brought last time?
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