Chapter 8

At night, Cheng Chen was writing and sketching in his rented room, a thick stack of manuscript paper piled on the table.

Each sheet contained short phrases that were almost poems but not quite; upon closer inspection, each page bore a title, such as:

"Blue Lotus," "Love Transfer," "Encounter," "The Girl With Wings Flying…"

These were all phenomenon-level classic music works that emerged after 2002.

Relying on his Super Memory and past knowledge of music theory, Cheng Chen had meticulously memorized and written down the lyrics and simplified sheet music of these songs.

At present, Cheng Chen not only wanted to act and become a qualified actor, he also wanted to earn money—lots and lots of money!

To create a hit song, the singer and technique are important, but they are by no means decisive.

If you compare the different roles in a song to a movie, then melody and composition are equivalent to the plot, and the composer is like the author of the story or novel.

The ups and downs, the rise and fall, the structure of the plot is the soul of a movie; whether the melody is catchy is equivalent to whether the plot is compelling.

The lyrics are like the dialogue; whether literary, profound, or popular, a good lyric often has one or two lines that strike straight to the heart.

The two are closely linked, inseparable, together forming a complete story.

The singer is merely the "tool" that presents the lyrics and melody; anyone else could sing them just as well, differing only in skill level.

After finishing these lyrics and melodies, Cheng Chen did not release them immediately; two paths now lay before him.

First, release his own album—but that requires a reliable record company and distributor, plus a certain amount of startup capital.

If you invest nothing, why should anyone else release your album? There are people who recognize quality, but this idea of getting something for nothing simply won't work.

Second, submit these lyrics and melodies for publication, to earn some initial startup capital?

But it's 2002; even if his lyrics and melodies were excellent, they wouldn't fetch much money, and since he had no fame, who would buy his songs? If he encountered an unscrupulous music company, he might even get scammed!

The choice was so hard…

"Maybe I should first submit 'Love Transfer' to Ze Risheng and Lin Xi to test the waters…"

Cheng Chen held the lyrics and melody of "Love Transfer" and studied them repeatedly.

"Deng-deng-deng!"

The door was knocked on; Cheng Chen stood up and opened it.

"Cheng Chen, someone's on the phone for you."

The landlord stood at the door saying.

"Alright, I'll go right away."

Cheng Chen casually shoved the manuscript paper into his pocket, locked the door, and followed the landlord to the lobby.

"Who could be calling me this late? Could it be something happened with the film crew?"

Cheng Chen thought to himself.

The film crew had collected everyone's contact information; since Cheng Chen didn't have a mobile phone, he'd written down the landlord's number—only the crew members knew how to reach him.

"Hello, this is Cheng Chen. May I ask who's calling and what you need?" Cheng Chen asked into the receiver.

"Oh oh… Hello, Teacher Cheng… Did I disturb your rest at this late hour?"

A timid, quiet, and clean voice came from the other end of the line.

"Hmm… Who is this?"

The voice sounded familiar, as if he'd heard it somewhere before, but the phone's audio quality was truly poor.

"I'm Gao Yuanyuan." The voice grew slightly wistful; they'd spoken so much during the day, how could he have forgotten her voice so quickly?

"Oh, Teacher Gao, hello hello! What can I do for you?" Cheng Chen wondered inwardly—why was she calling him this late?

"It's not convenient to say over the phone. Could you come to Ziyunxuan? The driver is waiting for you right outside your place." The voice said slowly.

Well, this was a done deal—the driver was already here.

Downstairs, indeed, sat Gao Yuanyuan's unmistakable chauffeur-driven car.

"Hmm,

Alright." Cheng Chen nodded.

…

Ziyunxuan, private room.

Before entering the private room, Cheng Chen carefully observed the surroundings outside and, seeing no "long guns and short cannons," felt reassured enough to open the door.

If paparazzi were lying in wait, tomorrow's headlines might read something like "Gao Yuanyuan invites young heartthrob for late-night rendezvous"—the consequences would be unbearable.

This was not yet the era where "being blacklisted is still fame"; if caught by tabloids and sensationalized, his acting career would be over.

"Hello, Teacher Cheng, sorry to have invited you out so late."

As soon as Cheng Chen entered, Gao Yuanyuan stood up; the entire private room held only her, not even her assistant present.

The room was large, the table laden with dishes.

Gao Yuanyuan had clearly bathed, for besides the fresh aroma of food, the room carried a subtle, feminine perfume scent.

Very light, fragrant, like her owner—quiet, elegant.

Cheng Chen frowned, unsure why this woman had summoned him so late.

A man and woman alone together late at night—rumors would spread badly.

"Hello, Teacher Gao." Cheng Chen sat down opposite her.

Seeing Cheng Chen deliberately keeping his distance, Gao Yuanyuan smiled:

"There was too much to do today, so I only just finished, which is why I invited you so late. Thank you for helping me this morning—I'd have been in real trouble without you."

Gao Yuanyuan was not as naive as she appeared; this remark explained both why she'd invited him so late and expressed her gratitude.

Hearing this, Cheng Chen relaxed; then he thought again—what could a minor supporting actor possibly offer that a major star like her would care about?

Their current status difference was not slight—it was enormous.

"It was nothing, just a small thing, long forgotten," Cheng Chen waved his hand and smiled.

"This glass of wine is a toast to you, thank you for your care today." Gao Yuanyuan came over to Cheng Chen, holding a glass of wine.

"I don't deserve it, you're too kind. How about this — I'll drink it all, you do as you please."

Cheng Chen picked up his glass and downed it in one gulp. As a man of Hui Province, especially the northern part of Hui, drinking was always done straight down!

Gao Yuanyuan bit her lip — clearly she hadn't expected Cheng Chen to be so decisive.

With the look of someone willing to die alongside a gentleman, she lightly touched the glass to her lips, resolutely tilted back her snow-white neck, and downed it in one gulp.

"If it were just a matter of thanks, this woman wouldn't need to go this far, would she?" Cheng Chen was quite puzzled.

In truth, how could Cheng Chen know the predicament and pressure Gao Yuanyuan was facing today.

Because her acting wasn't good, the entire crew of over a hundred people had all stayed overtime with her grinding through scenes.

If Cheng Chen hadn't been here today, in a situation like this, even if Lai Shuiqing didn't replace her, she wouldn't have had the face to stay on set.

It could be said that Cheng Chen had saved her role.

After one glass of wine, two little flushed blossoms immediately bloomed on Gao Yuanyuan's snow-white little face.

"This second glass — actually, the reason I invited Teacher Cheng today is that I have a favor I'd like to ask you to help with…"

Perhaps because of the wine, Gao Yuanyuan was much bolder than usual at this moment.

Her eyes fixed intently on Cheng Chen, and before she spoke the tipsy feeling already surged up; her vermilion lips parted slightly as she said directly:

"Please teach me to act!"

Cheng Chen: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

……