Chapter 152: Yaochi Makes Its Debut, Chongran Reveals His True Form

December 12th.

In an office of Huayue Film and Television.

Zhai Senlei, the music producer, was reviewing last month's financial report and this month's projected expenses.

When he reached the item regarding song commissions, he glanced at it casually, not planning to spend much thought on it.

But the next moment, his gaze sharpened, and his brow furrowed.

In recent years, Huayue Film and Television had gradually cut back on many pure music projects, unless the singer was exceptionally promising; even then, song commissions were limited to single tracks for testing the waters.

Most of the energy and resources had shifted entirely toward film and television, especially television dramas, where the online drama market had followed the tide of the times.

For example, the drama "Yaochi Xianyuan," which had just premiered at the end of November, was streaming on iQiyi and had just uploaded its fifth episode.

The company's last major music-related project had been Yuan Wanqing's new album.

But clearly, Yuan Wanqing's comeback once again proved the company's strategic shift was correct.

As a result, the music department had gradually declined, nearly becoming a subsidiary of the film and television department.

As music producer, Zhai Senlei had no power to change it; in his position, all he could do was follow company orders and tighten spending in this area.

But now, on the financial report, he saw two song contracts with price quotes.

One, "Zhuiguangzhe," 120,000 yuan.

One, "Guang," 90,000 yuan.

Both were new songs signed by Yuan Wanqing.

This made Zhai Senlei's expression darken.

After all, Yuan Wanqing's new album had ten songs altogether, with total production costs nearing several million yuan.

Add in marketing and promotion expenses, and the total was a massive sum.

But the outcome was clearly not good.

According to his estimate, it would take until this time next year just to recoup the costs of Yuan Wanqing's new album, after which minor profits might follow.

If not for Ying Zhicheng's insistence against all opposition to give her another chance, Huayue Film and Television might not have renewed Yuan Wanqing's contract at all.

How much time had passed since then?

Why were they commissioning new songs again?

And these two songs were both from the same producer.

Chongran… Zhai Senlei frowned; the name meant nothing to him.

Logically, for an artist of Yuan Wanqing's stature, they should have hired well-known producers in the industry.

Why suddenly turn to an unknown figure—and not only buy out the rights, but also include royalty splits, however small? It only deepened his dissatisfaction.

If Yuan Wanqing's contract with the company hadn't explicitly guaranteed her a minimum monthly allowance for independently signing songs, Zhai Senlei would have stopped this long ago.

"Xiao Cao, come in."

Zhai Senlei called his assistant in and ordered, "Look up this songwriter named Chongran. Report back to me later."

"Yes."

Soon after, Assistant Xiao Cao returned with a file and copies of the contracts for Zhai Senlei to review.

"This songwriter named Chongran previously collaborated with our company once," Xiao Cao said. "He wrote the theme song 'Nianlun' for 'Yaochi Xianyuan,' but…"

"But what?"

"This songwriter is only fifteen years old…"

"What?" Zhai Senlei stared blankly, flipped open the contract copy, and fell into thought. "Are you sure there's no mistake here?"

"The contract clearly states that… you'd have to ask Ms. Yuan Wanqing for details, since she has independent signing rights—we can't interfere."

"I understand." Zhai Senlei frowned, handed the documents back. "You may leave. That's all."

"Producer Zhai, there's a music department meeting at ten this morning," Assistant Xiao Cao reminded him.

"Oh." Zhai Senlei raised an eyebrow, extended his hand, and tapped the desk. "Leave the Chongran files here with me for now."

…

After entering December, the weather had noticeably turned cold.

Although students still wore their school uniforms—jackets and long pants—they had swapped short sleeves for sweaters and autumn pants.

During English class, Li Luo, bored, quietly passed a draft notebook to Yan Zhusheng.

【Li Luo】: "Yaochi Xianyuan" has been released online—have you watched it?

【Yan Zhusheng】: No, have you?

【Li Luo】: I watched a bit.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Is it good?

【Li Luo】: Do you want the truth or a lie?

【Yan Zhusheng】: Both.

【Li Luo】: The lie is: the visuals are polished, the production is excellent.

【Yan Zhusheng】: And the truth?

【Li Luo】: The plot is a pile of *shit, utterly inedible—I can't fathom the screenwriter's logic. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't make something this stupid.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Is my mom's singing good?

【Li Luo】: Like a fresh flower stuck in cow dung.

On the podium, Teacher Ding Xiang was explaining the text and introducing new vocabulary. She caught the two students at the back window seat making their move.

But Li Luo was top of the class, and Yan Zhusheng's English was among the top three; both had scored over 140 on the mid-term English exam.

So even though she saw their antics, Teacher Ding wasn't angry—she merely smiled and called out: "Li Luo, what sentence did we just cover?"

Li Luo, suddenly called upon, remained calm; as he stood, his memory palace began replaying the exact passage Ding Xiang had just taught, and he answered fluently in English.

Mr. Ding coughed twice, gestured for him to sit down, then continued with the lesson.

Hmm… she deliberately called Li Luo to answer the question.

It wasn't targeted at Li Luo—she'd just initially caught him daydreaming and didn't know his English level, only to find this kid answering fluently.

Later, several more times she noticed him zoning out in class, called him up, and he still answered perfectly.

This made Ms. Ding curious, even a bit obsessed—she wondered if there was ever a time he wasn't paying attention.

But this time, she clearly saw Li Luo excitedly passing notes with his desk mate—how did he still answer correctly?

Can someone really multitask in class?

Li Luo didn't know Ms. Ding's thoughts; after answering, he sat quietly for a while.

He zoned out in English class because he'd already self-studied all the content for this semester, and even borrowed Xu Youyu's textbook to flip through all the later English books.

For high school English, as long as your vocabulary is large enough, you can solve 99% of the problems.

English class was the course with the lowest return on investment for him.

Instead of sitting in class, he'd rather daydream and flip through the online novels he'd read in his past life, then prepare an outline for tonight's writing.

Occasionally chatting a few words with Yan Zhusheng, the class would pass like that.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Have you checked the QQ Music comments for "Nianlun"?

Just before class ended, Yan Zhusheng passed over his notebook and asked Li Luo a question.

Li Luo frowned, suddenly feeling uneasy.

【Li Luo】: What's wrong with QQ Music? Bad reputation?

【Yan Zhusheng】: No, it's about you.

【Li Luo】: Are people still insulting me? I'm just a songwriter—I don't sing.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Have you never actually looked at the comments section?

Asked like that, Li Luo thought back—it really was true.

He'd only checked the play count right after releasing the song, then barely paid attention since.

Not to mention the comments section.

【Li Luo】: So what's going on with the comments?

【Yan Zhusheng】: I only found out you write novels because I read the comments.

Reading this, Li Luo felt like a bolt from the blue—he froze completely.

【Li Luo】: Wait! Are my readers saying something?

【Yan Zhusheng】: Yeah, they're all promoting you—everyone's really nice.

Li Luo: "…"

Fuck!

A thousand precautions, one oversight! A thousand precautions, one oversight!

Li Luo had planned everything—but he'd never considered this.

But soon, Yan Zhusheng delivered another blow.

【Yan Zhusheng】: After "Yaochi Xianyuan" premiered, my mom's version of "Nianlun" was also uploaded to QQ Music.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Now the comments section has both TV viewers and your readers.

【Yan Zhusheng】: That's why I wanted to ask—have more people been reading your books lately?

Seeing the notebook Yan Zhusheng handed him, Li Luo's lip twitched.

【Li Luo】: Is that the key issue?

【Li Luo】: Didn't your mom also see what's in the comments?

【Yan Zhusheng】: I don't know—I didn't ask.

【Li Luo】: Don't ask! Don't you dare ask!

【Yan Zhusheng】: Okay, I won't ask.

…

Huayue Film and Television, a recording studio.

Luo Fei was lounging on the sofa, scrolling through her phone, thoroughly engrossed.

Not long after, Yuan Wanqing walked in, exhausted from the meeting, plopped onto the sofa, and let out a long sigh.

At that moment, she noticed Luo Fei smiling while scrolling her phone and asked: "What are you looking at? You're laughing so hard."

"I found something interesting," Luo Fei patted her best friend's shoulder and urged, "Open your phone and check the comments on your 'Nianlun'—it's hilarious! Hahaha~"

Seeing her laugh so loudly, Yuan Wanqing was baffled but had a faint suspicion: "Are lots of people complaining about 'Yaochi Xianyuan'?"

"It's more than that—you'll see when you look."

Yuan Wanqing raised an eyebrow, curious, and pulled out her phone.

When she opened the comments section, she froze for a moment.

【Wocao! Really? Our Chongran guy's grown up—his novel's original song got picked up by a TV drama?】

【My girlfriend was just complaining about this drama today—I watched one episode with her, and when the theme song came on, I thought, 'Why does this sound so familiar?'】

【I watched it with my wife—the lead actor's been spamming online, trending on multiple hotlists, but the drama's unwatchable; only the song's decent.】

【This song comes from 'I Am Really Not a Star'—an original song by a novel author, also used as a theme song for a TV drama within the book.】

【I'm dying laughing! In the book, the protagonist gives this song away as a favor, and it ends up as the theme for a terrible fantasy drama! I call him the ultimate prophet!】

【That said, Yuan Wanqing's vocal style is pretty good—full of flavor. The song's great, shame the drama's so bad.】

After reading the comments, Yuan Wanqing fell into deep thought: "Luo Fei, which novel are they talking about here?"

"This one," Luo Fei waved her phone, showing Yuan Wanqing: "Look—the author's name, Chongran—that's Li Luo's pen name."

"Take another look at the song 'Year Rings' that Zhu Sheng sang—many readers have commented that it was written by the novel's author themselves."

"That's just Li Luo himself!"

Yuan Wanqing went through all these clues, and her whole body felt dazed.

"Li Luo writes novels?"

"His numbers look pretty good," Luo Fei opened the novel's comment section. "Look at the comments—there are hundreds of them."

Yuan Wanqing leaned over to look, nodded, then suddenly stiffened, pointing to the comment that readers had pinned to the very top: "This 'Bensheng Buxi'... could it be Zhu Sheng? Her username is always this."

Luo Fei raised an eyebrow and realized it was indeed her.

【Bensheng Buxi】: Great! I like Mo Qinghan better—can you write more of her storyline?

"It seems Zhu Sheng knew all along," Luo Fei chuckled. "She's even a loyal reader."

Yuan Wanqing fell silent. After a long while, she downloaded the Qidian Reading app on her phone.

"I'll see what he's written."