Chapter 465: Final Decision

The singing drifted out from the surround-sound speakers in the recording studio.

This was the best recording studio in the entire CCTV building, having just completed its final equipment calibration eight days ago; with a full set of German Neumann and SSL recording systems, plus a Dolby Atmos control center, it could be said to have a world-class record label configuration.

Therefore, the singing flowing from the speaker system had a very delicate graininess and clear layering.

When the final line, "Walking with me on the streets of Chengdu, oh~~~ until all the lights go out, and I still don't stop," finished playing, and the melody at the tail end lingered in the impression before fading away, the song ended, and Zhao Lei felt as if some sand had gotten into his eyes.

"Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap..."

Applause erupted; he wiped the corners of his eyes and joined in the applause with everyone else.

Of course, if this were a different place, or a different person.

Most importantly, a different person.

Then what he, Zhao Lei, would be doing would certainly not be clapping, but standing up to imprint the sole of his shoe onto the other person's face.

Amidst the applause, Chen Nuo revealed a slightly shy expression, pressed his palms together, bowed in all directions, and said very humbly, "Thank you, thank you."

Naturally, one could not practice singing inside the recording studio.

Going in to record was just to identify problems more intuitively through playback, and subsequently, one would have to address these issues through specific on-site training under the guidance of a vocal coach, such as that Old Man Lin.

Therefore, after finishing the recording in the studio, he walked out to listen to the playback with everyone.

After listening, facing the applause, although he was humble on the surface, Chen Nuo was actually somewhat smug in his heart.

During the recording just now, he, Chen Mou, had absolutely performed beyond his level; if Yang Mi were on the scene, she would probably only be able to kneel and listen, and if Liu Yifei were on the scene, she might never be able to lift her head in front of him again.

What is called true feeling? This is true feeling.

He had moved even himself with his singing.

For him, this was not acting for the first time, but a rare outpouring of true emotion.

That’s right, when he was singing, the person he was thinking of was none other than Gao Yuanyuan.

In his previous life, by this time, Gao Yuanyuan would probably already be flirting with Zhao Youting, right?

But in this life, she had fallen into an emotional vortex with him.

Facing her direct confession, along with her attitude of neither deceiving nor lying, neither concealing nor coaxing. As a former scumbag determined to change himself, how could Chen Nuo be cold-blooded and indifferent?

Meeting that little girl nicknamed Yuanyuan in the elevator was perhaps also an arrangement and revelation from heaven.

Not only that, just as the song sang, "The only thing Chengdu cannot take away is you."

He discovered that, it seemed, in some corner of his heart, there truly was a lingering attachment to Gao Yuanyuan.

Although the two initially had a relationship of "talking only about the flesh, not about feelings," yet in their time together, one by one, he gradually discovered that this woman was actually the one whose personality was most compatible with his, and whose topics were the most congruent. Perhaps that was how, slowly, she occupied a place in his heart.

So... what else could he do?

He knew about the situation in Gao Yuanyuan's family.

Her mother was in poor health, and although she went to Los Angeles for treatment some time ago, the recovery was not optimistic. Her brother was already married with children, and what her mother couldn't let go of most was her. It is human nature to hope she could settle down and have someone who could take care of her and accompany her.

And in order to satisfy her mother's wish, Gao Yuanyuan chose to give up the status, even if she could only be one of his partners without a title, she still wanted to have a child to prove that her life was not a rootless duckweed, so that her mother could be at ease.

Although this sounded unreasonable, very outrageous, and very feudal in the eyes of others.

However, for a literary young woman—a creature that doesn't talk about reason, doesn't talk about principles, and even likes self-sacrifice—it didn't seem so incomprehensible to make this decision for what she considered true love.

Could he marry her? Impossible.

So from the woman's current perspective, it really seemed to be the optimal solution in a helpless situation.

Precisely because of this, Chen Nuo suddenly felt that if his original code of "seize the day" were to continue, it would seem a bit excessive for Gao Yuanyuan.

As a result, while singing, he finally made a decision:

If I have to commit, I'll commit!

For him, this was absolutely a thorough change from the depths of his soul. In his previous life, the women who wanted to have his babies were as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river, but when had he ever nodded?

He felt incomparably proud and arrogant about his change, and reflected in his singing, it meant the more he sang, the more emotional and feeling-filled it became.

"Good, good."

Sure enough, everyone was moved by his emotions. Old Man Lin shook his head, looking as if he couldn't even speak, repeating these two words over and over.

Zhao Lei's secret wiping of tears was also instantly captured by his actor-level observational skills.

And Ha Wen and several recording engineers were also clapping, giving him plenty of face.

After he thanked them repeatedly, he waited a while, and the applause slowly died down.

Ha Wen said, "Everyone, please share your thoughts."

Chen Nuo immediately said humbly, "Teacher Lin, Teacher Zhao, and everyone else, if there are any problems, please give me your guidance."

After he finished speaking, no one chimed in, and the recording studio fell into a cold silence.

After a while, Ha Wen spoke up, "Teacher Lin, you go first."

Chen Nuo looked over.

Old Man Lin also glanced at him and said, "Then I'll speak first. If there's anything wrong, Little Zhao, you help me supplement... okay, Little Zhao?"

Zhao Lei nodded and said, "Okay."

"Hmm..." Old Man Lin said slowly, "First of all, Chen Zong's proficiency with this song is absolutely beyond all of our expectations. The handling of some details is very on point. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never believe this was Chen Zong's first time singing this song. Especially the emotional investment; the expression of emotion that Little Zhao emphasized earlier, Chen Zong also perfectly displayed... to be honest, this ability to control emotion has already surpassed many professional singers."

Everyone was listening quietly, waiting for the well-known "but."

Sure enough, Old Man Lin changed the subject: "But... I found a few places where the notes don't match the sheet music, right?"

Chen Nuo nodded frankly: "Yes, I think it sounds better singing it this way."

The version of *Chengdu* he sang was the original version he practiced at KTV in his previous life, and it indeed didn't match this version in many places. He didn't think this was a problem; after all, the old version he sang had been tested by the market. As for this new version? Although he couldn't tell the good from the bad, to ask him to change to this version in such a short time was definitely wishful thinking. It was already pretty good that he could even recognize the staff notation, damn it. It was good that Old Man Lin brought it up; it was just the right time for him to persuade Zhao Lei to make some changes.

"Uh..." Old Man Lin's lips twitched, and he turned his head, saying: "Alright, that's all I'll say. Little Zhao, you wrote the song, what are your thoughts?"

Zhao Lei didn't chime in immediately.

It was the same thing—

If it were a different place, a different person.

Most importantly, a different person.

As a literary youth who didn't even put the Emperor in his eyes, whenever someone dared to change his song beyond recognition in front of his face and shamelessly say it sounded better that way.

Regardless of whether it really sounded better, Zhao Lei would definitely kick them in the face, letting them know how to write the words "respect the original" and "refuse piracy."

Even if the other person was named Chen Nuo, so what?

When a literary youth's temper flared, he didn't care whose account he had to settle.

But as it happened—

An hour ago, when this person came here leisurely, beyond everyone's imagination, Zhao Lei recognized him at first glance.

Likewise, he believed the other person must know that he had recognized him.

From last night until now, not even ten hours had passed.

He hadn't even changed his clothes; how could he not recognize him?

The black and white Li Ning down jacket, a black mask, a pair of light blue jeans, those Li Ning sneakers, and the Rolex Green Submariner on his wrist. Not a single thing had changed.

This made him know immediately that it had nothing to do with *Happy Boys*.

It was this person who came to the scene in person, heard him singing by chance, and then recommended him to the Spring Festival Gala program team.

But why didn't he change his clothes?

You have to know, anyone with eyes could see that the woman who was drinking with him yesterday was close to him, but she was definitely not Liu Yifei.

If this news were sold, heaven knows how much it could sell for! Wasn't he afraid that he would talk about it after finding out?

Why did Zhao Lei have sand in his eyes earlier?

The reason wasn't because of the song, but precisely because he thought of this problem.

After being stunned for a few seconds, Zhao Lei, who was 26 but still loved to fantasize and be self-moved, said calmly, "Chen Zong, can you sing it one more time? I think your version does sound better, and I can modify mine based on yours."

Chen Nuo was a bit surprised, paused for a moment, and then smiled, "Sure."

In the end, Chen Nuo stayed at the CCTV building until five in the afternoon.

The process was even smoother than he had imagined; he had originally thought it would take some persuasion, but he didn't expect this guy Zhao Lei to be quite sensible despite his young age, which saved him some trouble, didn't it?

*Chengdu*, which he had sung hundreds of times in his previous life, was thus gorgeously reborn in this world; he was naturally like a fish in water, fully utilizing the skills he had practiced at KTV, and after half a day of practice, he made Old Man Lin say "not bad" with sincere conviction.

Thus, they got off work early.

They agreed to come back tomorrow morning to practice for half a day, and tomorrow at 1:00 PM, they would go to the old CCTV site together to participate in the final rehearsal and record a backup tape.

When he left, he certainly wouldn't be taking a taxi alone; Young Master Qi drove the Bentley over to pick him up.

Huanxin Company was already on holiday today, and it would last until after the Lantern Festival.

Come to think of it, since their company was founded, they had never held an annual meeting, only issued year-end bonuses. In fact, this was because Chen Nuo and Qi Yuntian were birds of a feather, both having the personality of "less trouble is better than more." But this point was posted on Weibo by some employee in the company and even made it to the trending topics.

After Qi Yuntian picked him up, he was clearly curious to the extreme; as soon as the car drove out of the CCTV building, he couldn't wait to ask, "How is it, did you pick the song?"

"Yeah."

"What exactly is going on? Didn't you go to Gao Yuanyuan's place to sleep? How did you suddenly find a song to sing? Are you two not doing that thing, but instead formed a choir together?"

Chen Nuo laughed dryly: "You're really humorous."

Then he said irritably: "Drive properly and don't be so gossipy. Anyway, the song is chosen, and it's practiced quite well. Now it's fine, it won't delay our cooperation with CCTV."

"Heh." Qi Yuntian laughed disdainfully, "There are plenty of people who want to cooperate with us now; CCTV is just so-so. Without this Butcher Zhu, we can still eat the hairy pig."

Chen Nuo said: "Then you mean I wasted my effort? You should have said so earlier; I'll make a call right now and tell Ma Dong that I'm going home for the New Year this year."

Qi Yuntian laughed: "Hahahaha, no, no, Chen Zong, I was just joking with you. Thank you for your hard work; you've put in a lot of effort for the company."

Chen Nuo snorted: "That's more like it."

Qi Yuntian drove the car toward Ziyu Villa and said, "Chen Zong, it’s not just the Central Television Station that needs your attention. Hengdian has also called me several times, saying their Chairman Xu wants to invite you to dinner before the New Year. What do you say?"

Chen Nuo leaned back against the leather seat of the Bentley Mulsanne. Having been exhausted all day and not having slept well yesterday, he felt lazy and didn't want to use his brain, so he asked, "What do you think?"

"I think you should make some time to meet. It’s probably because of the Golden Globe Awards. When you won Best Film, didn't you mention Hengdian? It’s likely also about *Inception*. It would be a bit heartless not to meet. After all, our films have to be shot at Hengdian before they can be aired on the Central Television Station."

Chen Nuo thought for a moment. When he had originally sought investment from Chairman Xu at Hengdian, the chairman had agreed quite readily. He nodded. "Then let's meet. Find a place. Somewhere with fewer people, more private... Forget it, let him arrange it. Just don't make it like last time at that South Beauty. Reading the papers, I ended up looking like a clown."

"Alright. There’s one more person who wants to see you."

"Who?"

"Li Ning."

"Not meeting," Chen Nuo said without hesitation.

Chen Nuo currently had a total of 6 endorsements.

Among them, the contracts with Mattel and Li Ning signed in 2008 were both expiring in March or April of this year. The Porsche contract signed in 2009 would expire in the second half of the year. Currently, all parties were negotiating renewals with Huanxin Company.

When Chen Nuo originally signed the contracts with Mattel and Li Ning, he hadn't yet filmed *Twilight*. Because he had only won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for *The Dark Knight*, the advertising fees weren't considered high.

Mattel was 7 million USD for 4 years, while Li Ning was 42 million RMB for 4 years.

However, Mattel also provided doll royalties annually, and the dividends over these few years added up to about 2 million USD.

Li Ning provided nothing of the sort.

Given current market rates, it was absolutely impossible for Li Ning to sign him with that amount of money.

Even for Porsche, back in 2009, the signing fee was 12 million USD for 3 years, which is about 28 million RMB per year. They were currently in the middle of renegotiations, let alone that pittance from Li Ning!

So, as soon as he heard Li Ning wanted to see him again, Chen Nuo knew exactly what the person was after without even thinking.

Using the same old tricks again.

Probably trying to play the emotional card and the patriotic card again.

However, ever since they had some unpleasantness over shoe design issues more than a year ago, Chen Nuo’s impression of Li Ning had soured. Naturally, he wouldn't meet them this time.

"Then I’ll tell them you don't have time."

"Negotiate normally when the time comes. If they aren't sincere, then don't renew."

"Understood."

After finishing the business talk, they chatted about the upcoming reunion dinner in two days. Since he was in the country but couldn't return to Xichuan, Chen Bi and the others discussed coming to Jingcheng to gather with Li Er’s family and Zhang Yi’s family. The three families would have a reunion dinner before the New Year. In any case, Ziyu Villa was large enough; it could hold thirty families, let alone three.

"What about Liu Yifei?" Qi Yuntian said with a smile. "Are you going to ask her to come along?"

Chen Nuo chuckled and said, "She’s going back to Hubei with her mother for the New Year this year, and she’s leaving tomorrow."

Qi Yuntian let out an "ah," looking quite regretful.

Chen Nuo looked at him and felt like giving him a punch.

The two chatted and laughed while driving, and time passed quickly. But as they neared Ziyu Villa, Qi Yuntian suddenly said, "Liu Yifei mentioned something to Li Jing earlier. She wants to play a role in *Eagle Catching Chicken*."

Chen Nuo was surprised. "Huh?"

"She didn't tell you?"

"No."

Qi Yuntian smiled and said, "Then you can probe her later to see if she really wants to go to Hong Kong to act, or if it’s for someone else... If she really wants to act, it wouldn't matter to give her a bit part; it would only take a day or two to finish filming. But I don't think it’s that simple. So, I advise you to figure out her intentions and see how to resolve it. Otherwise, Li Jing won't know how to refuse her; it’s really a headache."

Chen Nuo nodded with a solemn expression. "Got it."

PS:

A bit short today.

I don't know why, but I’ve been feeling sleepy. I even fell asleep while writing.

(End of chapter)