Chapter 320: A long-delayed song

"I feel that your friend has always been in trouble and has never stopped."

Zhang Wei held her hand in front of her, carefully examining the newly painted nails, checking for flaws, and said to Li Zhibai.

Li Zhibai turned his head and looked at Zhang Wei. "People are popular and have many troubles. If you are popular, you will be in trouble."

Zhang Wei is the actress who starred in *Bai Yu Ballad* with Li Zhibai.

She debuted earlier than Li Zhibai and is now thirty years old, but has always maintained a girl persona, and her popularity is very high. She is an actress at the same level as Jiang Yuqian.

This time, after starring in the fairy drama *Bai Yu Ballad* with Li Zhibai, because the drama is about to be broadcast, the two met again and made a promotion for this drama together.

Privately, Zhang Wei is a female star who is well protected by the team.

She is a bit arrogant and proud.

However, Li Zhibai, who has experienced Meng Li, has also matured a lot. Probably because he has seen what is the most annoying, Li Zhibai feels that Zhang Wei's princess disease can also be tolerated.

Zhang Wei said: "Your friend is so powerful now, will you be jealous?"

"Jealous of what?"

"Jealous that everyone praises his acting skills," Zhang Wei said. "Your acting skills are not bad, it's just that you didn't act in those serious dramas like him."

Li Zhibai nodded. "Yeah, so I have nothing to be jealous of. As long as there is a suitable opportunity, everyone will naturally see that my acting skills are also good."

Zhang Wei laughed twice. "Just wait and see when *Bai Yu Ballad* is broadcast, it will definitely be scolded."

"You are so sure that this drama will be scolded when it is broadcast, why did you take it at the beginning?" Li Zhibai asked.

Zhang Wei shrugged and said: "Fairy drama, there are many people who scold it, which also proves that it is popular. Anyway, being scolded is not because I acted badly. Now as long as it is a fairy drama, it will be scolded, right?"

Li Zhibai felt magical about Zhang Wei's thought process, and even felt incredible.

"Then you can't take a drama that is not scolded so much?"

"Then other dramas don't give as much pay as *Bai Yu Ballad*," Zhang Wei said. "Scolding belongs to scolding, everyone knows that fairy dramas are easy to produce hits, the basic disk is large, and the production side gives generous pay. Don't you know?"

Li Zhibai: "I haven't seen much pay."

"Oh, yes, your family is not short of this money," Zhang Wei reacted. "Then I am still short, the pay is given a lot, of course I come here."

At this time, someone came to invite them.

The interview room has been arranged.

After the interview, Li Zhibai separated from Zhang Wei, got on the car, and set off to catch the next announcement.

Zhou Ping'an is also in the car.

"How do you have the energy to accompany me? Don't you need to accompany Ma Zhiyuan?" Li Zhibai started his daily yin and yang strange tone when he saw Zhou Ping'an.

Zhou Ping'an said: "Now is your promotion period, of course I have to put the focus on you. I have high hopes for *Bai Yu Ballad*. This drama can let you stand firm in the ranks of first-tier male actors."

"Don't give me a hat, what first-tier male actor, they are all idol dramas, current idols, ancient idols, no matter how popular they are, they are only liked by fans," Li Zhibai said. "Still first-tier male actor."

Zhou Ping'an: "*Accompany You to the End of the World* is an idol drama, but it also brought you very good feedback. Why can't a fairy drama? Now those first-tier actresses, who doesn't have a fairy drama hit in hand?"

Li Zhibai curled his lips.

"Look at Lu Yan He, he doesn't film idol dramas, isn't he also in trouble?"

"That's not called trouble, and no one scolds him," Li Zhibai said. "This matter can't be scolded on him."

"Heh, you think it's okay if the audience doesn't scold him?" Zhou Ping'an said. "A *Friends* broke up with Jingtai, and a *Three Mountains* broke up with the publicity company Sanhe. Do you think others will have no thoughts about him when they see this situation?"

Li Zhibai: "How did I hear that everyone is scrambling to cooperate with him?"

Zhou Ping'an: "What if one day Lu Yan He is not popular? This acting career has always been ups and downs. Who can always be popular? When Lu Yan He is not popular, just because of his trouble, who will be willing to give him a chance at that time?"

Li Zhibai was silent.

"Let you film *Bai Yu Ballad*, this drama I think it can be a hit is one thing, another thing, you have to see, the production company of this drama is Zefan Film

Zhou Ping'an said earnestly, "I've always told you to restrain your temper. Do you think I'm just sitting around with nothing to do, picking fights with you for no reason? Offend fewer people; no one knows when those people might impact your career in the future. When you helped Lu Yan He fire shots at Jingtai online, Lu Yan He had the success of *Friends* to back him up, and Jingtai still wanted to find a way to reconcile with him. What about you? For the past half year, Jingtai hasn't come to you for any events; it's effectively a total blacklist."

"I don't care. Do I need their work that badly?" Li Zhibai curled his lip.

Zhou Ping'an: "You don't care about one or two companies, but what about ten or twenty? If you don't control your temper, one day there will be fewer and fewer people wanting to work with you. Eventually, there will be so few that you'll only be surrounded by people who want to use your popularity to make a quick buck. Think about what kind of people those are when that time comes."

Li Zhibai: "If I sink to that point, why would I even stay in the entertainment industry? I might as well retire early. You say I have a big temper and don't control it, but I think I'm fine. Partners with ulterior motives don't dare approach me, and those who know my true nature won't mind. If Jingtai wants to hold a grudge, let them."

"Don't you think about it? There are only eternal interests. *Friends* is so popular that Jingtai has been throwing money at it, trying to buy Lu Yan He back. Once Lu Yan He actually goes back, you'll be the one who looks like a clown."

"Then you just wait for Lu Yan He to go back." Li Zhibai sneered, "Why do you think he refuses to budge? I even regret it. If it weren't for the things I said on Weibo that forced him to make a public statement saying he would absolutely not cooperate with Jingtai on the follow-up series of *Friends*, he might still have had room to maneuver with them. While you're here sowing discord, he's been refusing to earn money that is clearly there for the taking, all because he won't slap my face."

Seeing that Li Zhibai was impervious to reason no matter what he said, Zhou Ping'an could only give up once again.

He said, "Be as stubborn as you want. If you won't listen to me, fine. But don't go spouting off about *Ballad of Bai Yu* being a boring Xianxia drama. The fans who like you and the audience who likes Xianxia dramas really do like it; don't provoke them."

"Why would I provoke them? I just can't stand you. Every debt has its debtor; I'm a decent person."

Zhou Ping'an ground his teeth in anger.

Although he was stubborn as a mule in front of Zhou Ping'an, the moment Zhou Ping'an got out of the car, Li Zhibai immediately took out his phone and sent a message to Lu Yan He: Are you going back to Huiziyuanqiao tonight?

Lu Yan He said: Yes, but it will probably be very late. I have a big night shoot.

Li Zhibai: OK.

Lu Yan He asked: Is something up?

Li Zhibai: Nothing much, just saw what Sister Ziyan said online and wanted to ask you what exactly is going on.

Lu Yan He: Just a small matter, it won't have much of an impact.

Li Zhibai: This isn't a small matter. Many people are discussing you. Even when I was promoting *Ballad of Bai Yu* with Zhang Wei, she was discussing you, saying you're always mired in trouble.

Lu Yan He: Then it seems I really am like that.

Li Zhibai: Do you think this image of being mired in trouble is a good one?

Lu Yan He: If I could, of course I wouldn't want to give people this impression, but this isn't something I can control. Things happen, and I can only deal with them.

Li Zhibai: Sigh, I don't know how to put it. I just feel like you've gotten yourself involved in too much trouble. Ever since *Friends*, it seems like all sorts of trouble have been knocking on your door. If it weren't for the fact that the results of *Friends* and *Sanshan* were good enough, you might be in a completely different situation right now.

Lu Yan He was stunned when he saw this message from Li Zhibai.

Since when had the trouble surrounding him become enough for Li Zhibai to worry about him?

Usually, Li Zhibai was the one who caused the most trouble and was the most worrying person!

Lu Yan He didn't know that Li Zhibai had taken Zhou Ping'an's advice about restraining his temper to heart and was now using it to advise him.

Lu Yan He didn't finish work until one in the morning.

"Brother Dong, I'm heading back to Huiziyuanqiao."

Zou Dong nodded and acknowledged him. Just as he started the car, he heard Lu Yan He yawn, so he said, "Yan He, why don't you take a nap in the car? I'll wake you up when we get there."

Lu Yan He gave a hum and closed his eyes.

However, perhaps because the big night shoot had stirred up so many emotions, his mind was actually still quite excited, and after closing his eyes, he didn't fall asleep for a long time.

Lu Yan He opened his eyes, took out his phone, and looked at the latest news.

Today was the day *Idol Era* aired, and there were many entries on the hot search list related to the show.

This show was getting more and more popular. Qin Zhikun was indeed an expert at making this type of program. Topic marketing, artist competition, weekly rankings... Simply put, Qin Zhikun just built a stage; the real content was all completed by the artists themselves, which was very different from previous shows.

Stages by top idol artists like Ma Zhiyuan looked much richer and more high-end than those of ordinary artists. From the stage design to the choreography, the quality in every aspect had a visible difference.

And in order to compete for these rankings, everyone had to bring out better stages.

In the words of the show's fans, over these past few months, the quality of the stages had been getting higher and higher.

The competition was fierce. Lu Yan He followed this show mainly because Li Zhibai, Yan Liang, and Liu Zhiyin all had performance stages on it.

Especially Liu Zhiyin, whose focus was almost entirely on this stage; she had a stage presentation on average every two weeks.

Her experience in an overseas girl group finally allowed many of her skills to be put to good use.

As she gained more and more fans on this show, the "Girl Group" column she had previously started in *Jump Up* magazine was also occasionally excerpted, forming topics and grabbing traffic.

In the *Young Days* group chat, everyone often discussed her stages.

Compared to Li Zhibai and Yan Liang, who had already started acting, Liu Zhiyin was truly and wholeheartedly devoted to the path of an idol artist.

Lu Yan He watched a few of the more popular stages from this episode of *Idol Era* in the car.

After watching them, he had one feeling: this show was indeed getting better and better to watch.

The stages were becoming more and more spectacular.

Lu Yan He asked Zou Dong, "Brother Dong, have you watched the show *Idol Era*?"

"I haven't watched it," Zou Dong said. "I can't really get into variety shows."

That was true; at Zou Dong's age, he didn't seem like the type to like idol artists.

Zou Dong asked, "Are you thinking about returning to the idol artist stage?"

Lu Yan He shook his head, "I still have self-awareness; I'm not suited for it."

Zou Dong didn't really understand why Lu Yan He said he wasn't suited for it. He had debuted through an idol audition back in the day, and although he wasn't very famous, there were various factors for that. Now that Lu Yan He was already famous, if he wanted to do a stage, there would definitely be many people willing to help him; it just depended on whether he wanted to do it or not.

Lu Yan He didn't know what Zou Dong was thinking.

In fact, Lu Yan He didn't even know what he was thinking himself. Why did he decide so early on that he wasn't suited to be an idol? He hadn't pondered this question deeply either. However, Lu Yan He didn't regret this decision. Since he didn't have much excitement for the stage and didn't feel as comfortable as he did in front of the camera—where he often had a feeling of "divine assistance"—that meant he wasn't suited for it.

By the time they returned to Huiziyuanqiao, it was already two in the morning.

Lu Yan He washed up briefly and went to bed.

He slept very soundly and didn't wake up until ten o'clock the next morning, feeling dazed.

His schedule used to be very regular, but it had been completely disrupted during this period of filming.

When he came out of his room, Li Zhibai already had his backpack on, looking like he was about to go out.

"Yo, you're awake."

Lu Yan He hummed, his eyes bleary as if he were wandering in the clouds. He looked at Li Zhibai and asked, "Are you going out?"

"I have a rehearsal scheduled with the dance troupe," Li Zhibai said. "Don't you have to film today?"

"We filmed until two in the morning yesterday, so they gave me the day off. I don't have to go in this morning."

"Tsk tsk, they're treating you pretty well," Li Zhibai said.

"How come you're going to rehearsal? Isn't *Ballad of Bai Yu* about to air? Don't you need to do promotions?"

"I did them all day yesterday; it's rare to have some free time today."

"It's rare to have free time, and you're actually not resting, but taking the initiative to schedule a rehearsal? You are..." Lu Yan He was so startled he became alert, his eyes clearly saying, "Have you been possessed by something?"

Li Zhibai: "..."

"The show *Idol Era* is competitive as hell. What can I do? Do you expect me to put out a stage that's worse than that guy Ma Zhiyuan's? I can't afford to lose face like that."

Lu Yan He couldn't help but laugh.

Hearing it put that way, he felt relieved.

Li Zhibai was a person who feared fatigue first and losing face second; they were mutually restraining forces. When he was exhausted, he wouldn't care about losing face and would just lie down, but when he was truly about to lose face, he would grumble and climb back up to work hard.

Li Zhibai asked, "Have you considered going to play around on *Idol Era*?"

"I don't have time to prepare a stage. Besides, I don't have that much longing to be on that stage. It's fine if you ask me to sing a song, but just singing doesn't fit the tone of *Idol Era*."

Li Zhibai: "Don't forget the song you promised to write for me."

"It's already written," Lu Yan He said.

"What?" Li Zhibai paused, showing a look of surprise.

Lu Yan He said: "The songs for you and Yan Liang are both written. I'll give them to you once I find someone to record the demos."

Li Zhibai let out a string of "Damn, damn, damn, damn—," in disbelief, "When did you write them?"

"I wrote them while waiting for scenes on set during this time," Lu Yan He smiled, "I kept saying I would write them, but I hadn't finished. It took a long time to get them done."

"Hurry up and let us hear them."

"I told you I still need to find someone to make demos."

"What demos? Just show us the sheet music," Li Zhibai said, "It's not like we can't read music."

Lu Yan He waved his hand, "What's the rush? Hurry up and go to rehearsal; I haven't even woken up yet."

Li Zhibai shot him a sideways glance. He was clearly impatient and wanted to see them immediately, but he finally held back, "Fine, then hurry up. I want to slap Ma Zhiyuan's face hard."

Lu Yan He said "Got it," and immediately followed it with a yawn.

Li Zhibai left.

After washing his face and brushing his teeth, Lu Yan He returned to his room, opened his laptop, and found the two songs he had worked on during this period.

It wasn't actually that it took him so long to write the songs, but rather that he was quite conflicted about finding songs suitable for the two of them to perform on stage.

In the end, Lu Yan He found a song for Li Zhibai called *Dizzy with Love* by a singer named Deng Dian. He wasn't very famous, but when Lu Yan He was in high school, this song was quite popular at school because of a music variety show, and the school radio station played it many times.

Lu Yan He felt this song suited Li Zhibai's "swaggy" temperament. The song itself had a strong electronic feel and rhythm, which was suitable for Li Zhibai to adapt for a stage performance.

As for the song Lu Yan He found for Yan Liang, it needed to be known by more people and be more popular at the mass level: Zhang Jie's *Young Battlefield*. In the dimension before Lu Yan He transmigrated, this song was considered a "Gaokao Battle Song." There were about three months left until the Gaokao, which was just enough time for Yan Liang to polish a stage and have it aired in the episode before the Gaokao in June.

The music was fine, but the lyrics... Lu Yan He only remembered some parts, and he had to compose and fill in many of the sections himself.

He carefully went over the lyrics of the two songs again and found Chen Siqi: Are you still interested in helping me with the arrangements?

Chen Siqi:? Are you going to sing again?

Chen Siqi: You have a lot of tricks up your sleeve.

Lu Yan He was between laughter and tears, saying: I'm not singing; I wrote them for Li Zhibai and Yan Liang.

Chen Siqi: I was wondering, I thought you were going to return to the path of a singer again.

Lu Yan He thought for a moment and said: Singing occasionally is fine, but I'm not going down the professional route.

Chen Siqi: Fine, send them over.

Actually, if Lu Yan He wanted to find someone, it wasn't that he couldn't find a professional arranger. However, perhaps because of that song *Memory*, Lu Yan He suddenly had an idea: maybe a song would have many, many versions of arrangements later on, but the first arrangement version should always be Chen Siqi's version.

This inexplicable thought just popped into Lu Yan He's mind.

Lu Yan He didn't tell Chen Siqi, and he didn't know how many more songs he would come up with later, but if there were any, he would just leave the first arrangement to Chen Siqi.

Thinking this, he subconsciously curled the corners of his mouth and smiled.