Chapter 29: A Small Temple Cannot House a Great Bodhisattva

"Hmm?"

"What did you say?"

The dai pai dong was noisy with chatter, and Chu Yourong's voice was so soft that Zhang Xian hadn't heard her clearly at all.

"Nothing."

"I said, I'm taking this song!"

Chu Yourong steadied herself: "Name your price."

"With the kind of relationship we have, what's there to talk about money?"

"Take it and sing it." Reading novels every day is a great experience, ttks. tw is awesome

Zhang Xian gave a generous wave of his hand.

"Then let's sign a revenue-sharing agreement."

Chu Yourong had no intention of taking advantage of this favor. Besides, based on her understanding of Zhang Xian, this was definitely just a polite remark—someone as money-grubbing as him would never give her a song for free.

However, this time she really was wronging Zhang Xian. The situation was different now. In Zhang Xian's eyes, Chu Yourong was already "his person," and no matter how much money she made, he could take double. Granting her a song usage license was nothing excessive at all.

But Chu Yourong wanting to sign a revenue-sharing agreement was fine too— that way he could earn an extra share of income.

"Let's follow each other on the Copyright Net app."

"My username is just my real name."

Chu Yourong opened her phone. In this time-space, almost all copyright-related transaction agreements were completed on the Copyright Net app. This wasn't just about the convenience of signing—it could also prevent the vast majority of copyright disputes and contract fraud from happening.

"Sure!"

Zhang Xian searched for Chu Yourong, followed her, and then directly sent over the revenue-sharing authorization agreement for "Dignity."

Chu Yourong quickly completed the online signing.

But during the signing process, she only just discovered that "Dignity" had been registered on Copyright Net a few days prior. All that "three cups of wine for a song" business—Zhang Xian had just been putting on an act in front of her.

But acting was acting; Chu Yourong still highly recognized the quality of this song. Back when she was in the girl group, the songs she sang were all the upbeat type. She really had never sung a song like "Dignity" before.

Now that she had regained her freedom, it was the perfect time to try a transformation and sing some other styles of songs.

"Xianyu Music?"

"You signed with a music company?"

Chu Yourong noticed that the authorizing party on the revenue-sharing agreement she had signed was Zhang Xian and Xianyu Music—in other words, Zhang Xian had already signed with a music company.

"The company was set up by my dad. Right now it only has one artist—him—and me as the songwriter."

Zhang Xian replied casually. There was nothing to hide about this.

"I see~"

Chu Yourong's eyes darted around: "How about adding me to the list?"

"Huh?"

Zhang Xian was stunned: "You want to join our family company?"

"I'm a free agent right now, I can join any company I want."

Chu Yourong pursed her small lips: "But the conditions are mine to set."

"Then tell me, what are the conditions?"

"I want to join as a partner, with absolute freedom, and also..."

After deciding to terminate her contract with her original company, Chu Yourong had been mulling over her future path. There were two options before her: one was to join another company, the other was to set up her own studio.

So Chu Yourong had long since figured out the conditions for joining another company.

"Hold on."

Zhang Xian cut Chu Yourong off: "Um, our Xianyu Music is a small temple—we can't accommodate a great Bodhisattva like you. You'd better seek your fortune elsewhere."

Chu Yourong's conditions were too many. Zhang Xian felt that if she joined, it would interfere with his grand plan of lying flat. It was better to let her develop freely on her own.

"You mean you don't want me to join??"

Chu Yourong was stunned: "Zhang Xian, do you have any idea how many companies want to work with me!"

Zhang Xian spread his hands: "Mine is just a little family workshop—no background, no resources. The company doesn't even have a single formal employee. It really isn't a great fit for you."

"Fine, that's what you said. Don't regret it!"

Chu Yourong glared at Zhang Xian huffily. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that her proactive offer to join would be rejected.

The breakup dinner ended.

Since he'd been drinking, Zhang Xian left his car in the parking lot in front of the dai pai dong and walked home.

Chu Yourong, on the other hand, hailed a car.

Sitting in the back seat of the taxi, Chu Yourong took out the handwritten lyrics of "Dignity" again and, following the melody notation on it, tried humming it softly.

Maybe it was because she'd had a bit to drink, or maybe it was because it happened to be the day of the "breakup"—humming this song felt especially moving.

"Driver, forget Yujing Garden, take me to Starlight Center."

Just as the taxi was about to reach its destination, Chu Yourong suddenly made a decision: she wanted to strike while the iron was hot and record this song.

"Brother Tang, got a minute? I'm recording a song. Yeah, right now!"

"Weiwei, where are you? I'm going to record a song, Starlight Center..."

After instructing the driver, Chu Yourong made two more phone calls in quick succession—one to Tang Xiaobo, a music producer she was on good terms with, and the other to her best friend Han Ziwei.

One hour later.

In the recording studio at Starlight Center.

Han Ziwei arrived first: "Yourong, in the middle of the night, what's gotten into you? Why the sudden urge to record a song?"

"I came across a great song and just wanted to record it quickly."

"What song, one you're this invested in? Whose masterpiece is it?"

Han Ziwei asked curiously.

"This song, take a look."

Chu Yourong didn't say whose work it was, but handed the manuscript of *Decent* to her friend.

"Whoa, it's actually a manuscript!"

Han Ziwei hadn't seen a song manuscript written on paper in many years, and was immediately intrigued.

She read the entire song carefully, then nodded: "It seems pretty good, but nothing particularly stunning!"

"You haven't gone through a breakup, so of course you can't relate."

"Uh, you mean you've broken up?"

Han Ziwei teased with a smile: "Yourong, you couldn't really have fallen for that fisherman, could you?"

"Impossible!"

Chu Yourong shook her head firmly, and just as the two were talking, a middle-aged man walked into the recording studio with a band.

He was the well-known music producer Tang Xiaobo, whom Chu Yourong had called over.

Dongliutiao Hutong.

Zhang Xian had just reached the entrance of the hutong when he saw Liu Dongxu and Wang Jiajia sneaking down from the back seat of a Tesla.

No need to ask—the two had just finished their rendezvous.

The Tesla was parked in the dark shadows, quite well hidden; if the two hadn't pushed open the car door to get out, an ordinary person really wouldn't have noticed anyone inside.

"Brother Xian, hold on a sec."

Liu Dongxu spotted Zhang Xian stepping under the streetlight and immediately waved at him.

Zhang Xian had planned to pretend he hadn't seen anything, but since Liu Dongxu spoke up first, he could only stop in his tracks.

"Brother Xian, were you on a date?"

Wang Shulan's house was right next door; after getting out of the car, Wang Jiajia went straight back to her second aunt's home, while Liu Dongxu jogged after Zhang Xian.

"Yeah, just had dinner."

"Brother Xian, you've really been living the life today!"

Liu Dongxu sighed, fished a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, handed one to Zhang Xian, eagerly lit it for him, and only then spoke again: "Is Chu Yourong all set on her end? She's definitely coming to my wedding, right?"

"Yeah, it's all set!"

Zhang Xian exhaled a puff of smoke.

"You got it!"

"Only Brother Xian could pull it off!"

Hearing that Chu Yourong's side was confirmed, Liu Dongxu's face immediately broke into a grin: "Having Chu Yourong at my wedding—I'll be the man with the most face!"

"Oh right, Brother Xian, I also sent Lin Xiwei an invitation. Unless something unexpected happens, she'll come too. But don't worry, I definitely won't tell Chu Yourong that she's your ex."

"Come to think of it, it's been several years since you two saw each other, right? Perfect chance to meet up."

"But meeting is meeting—absolutely no rekindling the old flame!"