Chapter 50: Rock and Business

Early morning, Ning Hao was awakened by the alarm.

After staying up almost the whole night, he finally saw the Sewing Machine Band recruiting.

Pretty much as he had expected, the band's lineup looked like a joke at first glance.

A lead singer with a big tongue, a bassist playing to forget a lost love, and a gynecologist who also doubles as an elementary‑school keyboardist.

So far, only the drummer from Treasure Island seems relatively normal.

However, judging by Ning Hao's eyes, it probably isn't as simple as it looks.

With several members of contrasting personalities and strong individual traits gathered together, they could certainly generate plenty of material.

Ning Hao couldn't help but look forward to the story ahead, but time didn't allow it.

Ning Hao tilted his head back, yawned, quickly tidied up, and headed out to work.

Of course, he didn't forget to bring Chen Ci's script……

The Midi Music Festival covers about thirty mu; even placed in an ordinary middle school it would be considered small.

Still, the scenery is nice—over half the land is planted with fruit trees, and the teaching area is hidden among the woods.

In the scorching summer, strolling along the shaded lane, a fresh fragrance of fruit trees fills the air.

Chen Ci took Mei Na's hand, helped her hop down from the steps, and then gave Chen Ci a sweet smile.

"The environment is all right."

After walking around, Chen Ci gave a fairly satisfactory answer.

"I told you, our school's environment is famous—without a refreshing setting, where would creative inspiration come from?"

Behind him, a middle‑parted hairdo revealed the founder and principal of Midi School, Zhang Fan.

"Mei Na, come over here."

"Oh."

Chen Ci picked up his portable camera and aimed the lens at the nearby square.

It's a bit small, but after a bit of tidying it should become much more spacious—suitable as a square for the Big Guitar statue.

After taking a few beautiful photos of Mei Na, Chen Ci turned around to see Principal Zhang Fan quietly discussing something with Lao Zhao and Pang Zi.

What else could they be discussing? Of course, it was the price.

Haggling over prices—Chen Ci wouldn't do it himself; it would be too embarrassing.

He listened nearby for a while, but they still hadn't worked out anything.

Feeling a bit bored, Chen Ci suggested, "Principal Zhang, let's change the venue for our talk."

"Okay…"

Upon reaching the office, Principal Zhang's home‑field advantage kicked in, and he launched into a long‑winded lecture for Chen Ci and the others.

"You know Mao Chuan, the lead singer of Escape Plan…"

"The Painful Admiration Band are all alumni of our school…"

"The drummer of Secondhand Rose…"

"New Pants…"

Zhang Fan listed them off like treasures, trying to show how Midi is a land of outstanding talent and the Huangpu Military Academy of the rock world.

But Chen Ci's reaction remained flat; apart from occasionally recognizing a few names, he wasn't impressed.

Most of the "famous alumni" Zhang Fan mentioned were completely unknown to Chen Ci.

The decline of rock is evident.

"Wang Feng…"

"Wait, Wang Feng also came from Midi?"

Finally, Chen Ci interrupted Zhang Fan for the first time.

"Um, he isn't, but the guitarist in his band, Jia Yinan, is from our school."

Chen Ci silently shook his head—what a pity.

"Principal Zhang, can you actually get all those you just mentioned?"

Chen Ci got straight to the point—although he hadn't heard of most of the names, among the few he had heard, some were indeed rising stars in the rock scene.

"We really do plan to invite some well‑known bands to cameo in the film—just to show their faces and greet the fans. Can we get in touch?"

"Getting in touch is definitely no problem—it's just that everyone's usually busy, so finding time…"

"I understand—appearance fees aren't charity. For any band that can come, it's eight‑to‑one‑wan in travel expenses."

"Ah, this—money is secondary; everyone's doing it for rock, rock… how many people are needed?"

Zhang Fan suddenly shifted his tone, and Chen Ci blinked: "I mean ten thousand per band."

"Right."

"Ah? Oh…"

Chen Ci seemed to grasp something: are all these rockers really doing this badly?

As expected, he really isn't cut out for negotiating prices—if he'd known, he should have stuck to eight thousand… no, wait!

Chen Ci suddenly frowned—maybe even six or five thousand could still be negotiated…

"Our school is brimming with talent—we certainly aren't short of rock talent!"

Zhang Fan silently thought, "What a good deal—filmmakers are rich, just for a cameo they give ten thousand!"

At the same time he resolved to secure this big client; being so generous, once filming starts he'll not only collect venue fees…

When shooting a film you need extras—doesn't the school have plenty of students who could work for free?

Of course, this "free" applies to Zhang Fan; Chen Ci would have to pay.

By the way, those bands—your alma mater landed you this great gig; shouldn't you show some "gratitude"?

Besides, throwing in all sorts of odds and ends, making money is far easier than running a school—it's practically free!

We don't need many people; just the ones you mentioned earlier—a dozen or so bands will suffice.

Fine, then twenty!

……

Chen Ci fell silent, not uttering a word; negotiations like this are best left to Old Zhao, that old smooth‑talker…

At noon, Ning Hao brought a person into the room, acting all mysterious.

"Old Huang, come take a look at my new treasure."

He lifted the curtain, and there lay a painting— exactly the one Chen Ci had given him.

The person Ning Hao brought was one of the stars of *Crazy Race*, Huang Bo, who had just arrived in Xiamen and was roped in by Ning Hao.

Huang Bo examined the painting from every angle, his gaze growing more solemn; finally he frowned and said, "What's this painting? It's all dark and murky…"

Ning Hao turned his head, giving Huang Bo a half‑smile stare for a moment; the latter coughed awkwardly.

Suddenly Ning Hao burst out laughing: "Ha ha, dark and murky is just right— this is a painting by a color‑blind artist, and for this I even called in a favor."

Huang Bo exclaimed: "Yo, a favor from Director Ning— who's that lucky?"

Please have a seat; we'll talk later—I want to look at the script.

Huang Bo still thought Ning Hao wanted to discuss acting with him, and he prepared himself seriously.

But Ning Hao took the script aside to read it himself, completely ignoring him.

Time ticked by, and Huang Bo couldn't sit still.

He leaned in for a glance and realized Ning Hao wasn't reading the script for *Silver Medal Racer* at all.

When he saw a line underlined in red by Ning Hao, Huang Bo read aloud: "Broken Guitar Band?"

"What?" Ning Hao lifted his head.

"Nothing— is this a new script? Yours, Director Ning?"

Ning Hao chuckled involuntarily: "This is the favor I owe."

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, it's a newcomer's script—I'm just helping to look it over."

Huang Bo nodded: "No wonder—I said this broken guitar looks familiar."

"Familiar?"

"Ah, this band's been pretty hot lately— they supposedly sold over ten thousand copies of their album in a week."

Ning Hao nodded— no wonder he also finds that broken guitar familiar.

He then asked: "Ten thousand— is that a lot?"

Huang Bo grinned: "Not bad, not bad…"