Chapter 146: A Great Shock

The explosive popularity of "That Rabbit" made He Yuanguang shout on the phone several times that he wanted to treat Luo Mo to a meal.

But Luo Mo had been truly too busy lately, so he had declined every time.

"For He Yuanguang, this is the first step in his studio's transformation." Luo Mo was very clear about this in his heart.

This man, hailed as the "backbone of domestic animation," had his own ambitions and was not satisfied with only making children's animation.

He ran an animation studio, and the money he earned was nowhere near as much as Luo Mo's. Wanting to spend money to treat Luo Mo to a good meal, besides gratitude and celebrating success, was actually also because he was craving the script for the second season of "That Rabbit."

As for the script, Luo Mo hadn't written it yet.

"I really want to retire." Luo Mo sighed once again.

He had been too busy lately, so busy that he wanted to move up the retirement age he had originally planned by another five years.

"Let it all be destroyed, I'm tired!"

In these past few days, he had been running almost non-stop.

Fortunately, he had abundant energy, far more than the average person; otherwise, he would have likely collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

He had to prepare the songs for "King of Love Songs."

The follow-up promotion for his new album also needed to be followed up on.

At the same time, there were also Sun Yi's songs, Chen Shanqi's songs, the girl group Aurora Girls' songs...

For every single work, Luo Mo carried a devout attitude. Therefore, he wouldn't just throw the lyrics and music over and act as a hands-off manager.

As long as a song came from his hands, he would act as the producer, personally stepping in to coach the various singers, and they would keep practicing until they met the standard.

"The accompaniment for Chen Shanqi's song is already done. One song for the Aurora Girls is also finished." Luo Mo let out a long breath, feeling that he could finally be a little more relaxed.

In terms of urgency, coaching Chen Shanqi was definitely more pressing, as she had to participate in the recording of the fourth episode of "King of Love Songs."

But in reality, the Aurora Girls' side was also very urgent, because there were many of them, they knew little, and there were many things waiting to be unlocked, so they needed even more time and energy to coach.

Their entire military-style training period would definitely be longer than Chen Shanqi's.

Oh right, the Aurora Girls also needed to choreograph their dancing.

Since they were a girl group, how could they not dance?

Just as Luo Mo was preparing to give himself a proper vacation and rest for a day, Shen Shaoqiu called him.

"Hello, Manager Shen." Luo Mo answered the phone and said.

"Luo Mo, isn't the National Day coming up soon? There will be a gala, broadcast on CCTV. Originally, the spots were full, but due to some unexpected circumstances, an extra singing stage has opened up. Do you want me to sign you up for it?" Shen Shaoqiu said.

"Me?" Luo Mo was slightly stunned.

He was very clear that in this day and age, the viewership ratings for all kinds of galas were declining extremely severely.

Even the Spring Festival Gala no longer possessed its former glory.

In the past, the Spring Festival Gala could make someone an overnight sensation; as long as you left a stage performance of high enough quality on the Spring Festival Gala, the next day you would be famous throughout the world, and your National Popularity would skyrocket!

Now that everyone had more entertainment options and didn't like watching TV, the viewership of major galas was declining year by year. What was most fatal was that their reputation was also declining year by year.

But regardless, even if participating in these galas wasn't as hot as before, and one could barely get paid, celebrities would still squeeze their heads in to keep signing up.

There was no need to explain the ins and outs of this.

After thinking about it, Luo Mo refused, saying: "How long have I even been debuted? I shouldn't be selected; there's no such precedent. Let's forget it this year, wait until next year."

Large-scale galas in this world had featured "grassroots" performers.

But there had never been a newly debuted newcomer star.

Either you come in the form of a grassroots performer, or you need to have a bit more seniority, rather than having your debut duration counted in days.

Blue Star's control over large-scale galas was actually even stricter than on Earth.

Shen Shaoqiu thought for a moment, nodded, and said: "That's fine, then I won't take up a spot for you."

The number of spots submitted was limited; since Luo Mo had said so, Shen Shaoqiu wouldn't force him in.

He also felt that it would be useless for Luo Mo to be submitted.

If it were next year, with his current reputation and his status as the Founder of Chinese Style, what gala couldn't he get on?

Even the Spring Festival Gala would be fine!

The reason Shen Shaoqiu came to ask was that he would rather waste the spot than fail to show respect to his own Music Director.

Shen Shaoqiu couldn't help but say on the phone: "Sigh, actually, that song you're about to release from your album 'Red' is quite suitable for this gala; I can't even think of a more suitable song."

"If you could get on, it would be a great opportunity to promote the song; it would be excellent publicity." Shen Shaoqiu sighed.

Luo Mo was indifferent and said: "It's fine, it's not like I'm only in a rush for this one year. As for that song, there will be plenty of opportunities at major galas in the future."

Shen Shaoqiu smiled, his admiration for Luo Mo in his heart reaching an extreme.

This kid, his vision was always even more long-term than he imagined.

In the end, Xinyu submitted three First-line Singers to the Review Department, two men and one woman, and did not submit Luo Mo.

Review Department, Zhong Lin's office.

Today was the deadline for the replacement spots for the National Day Gala.

Zhong Lin specifically paid attention to the list submitted by Xinyu: "Huh, no Luo Mo?"

She was slightly stunned and got up to head to He Ping'an's office.

He Ping'an had specifically come to ask if Xinyu had submitted Luo Mo. And he had hinted to Zhong Lin that if Luo Mo was submitted, then they should directly choose Luo Mo to fill the spot.

According to the process, it should actually be the Review Department conducting the preliminary screening, and then handing it over to the National Day Gala's directing team for final discussion and decision.

She didn't know why her great-uncle said to just settle on Luo Mo directly, but since the old man said so, she just had to follow instructions.

But now that Luo Mo hadn't been submitted, she had to go and specifically mention it.

After knocking on the door of He Ping'an's office and hearing that resonant "Come in," Zhong Lin pushed the door open.

As soon as she walked in, Zhong Lin said, "Over at Xinyu, they didn't submit Luo Mo."

Upon hearing this, He Ping'an cursed a few times and said, "I told you Old Qian was making unnecessary trouble. If he had his eye on Luo Mo, why didn't he just go and invite him to participate in the National Day Gala directly? He insisted on telling me about not breaking the rules, not breaking the rules."

"He insisted that we check if Luo Mo had been submitted here, and if he had, we should just let Luo Mo fill the spot."

"Now look, it's even more troublesome!" He Ping'an spread his hands, caught between laughter and tears.

Hearing this, Zhong Lin finally understood.

The "Old Qian" in her great-uncle's mouth was Qian Qingyun, a well-known director in the country and a leading figure among the fifth-generation directors.

He was known as 【One of the Four Old Directors】.

Just like on Earth, the fifth-generation directors once dominated the world, but gradually, a great era of emerging newcomers arrived, and many of the older generation of directors found their box office numbers couldn't quite keep up.

But when it came to organizing various large-scale galas, it was basically still up to them.

Qian Qingyun was the General Director for this National Day Gala.

Zhong Lin didn't know if her great-uncle had recommended Luo Mo to Director Qian, or if the director had taken a liking to this young man from somewhere on his own. In any case, the two had reached some sort of tacit understanding beforehand.

But now, things were a bit tricky.

It was very clear that Director Qian's original intention was to follow the procedure.

Everyone shouldn't waste effort submitting a large batch of people; anyway, even if you submitted them, I would still choose Luo Mo.

Since that was the case, you just need to pass him through the preliminary review and then submit only him.

There was no precedent for a Newcomer who had only debuted a few dozen days ago to appear at a large-scale gala; it was already considered an exception.

If he were to go and invite him to participate in the gala in person, that would be a bit too outrageous.

"Then... then what do we do now?" Zhong Lin was a bit puzzled.

He Ping'an waved his hand and said, "I'll give Old Qian a call and tell him to figure it out himself."

Zhong Lin could see that her great-uncle wanted Luo Mo to be on the gala because he really appreciated this young man and felt that they should promote such young stars more and give them more opportunities.

"And listening to my great-uncle's words, Director Qian seems to value Luo Mo quite a lot as well..." Zhong Lin thought to herself.

For a Newcomer to reach this level, it really was remarkable!

She saw He Ping'an dial Qian Qingyun's number, and he started off by cursing a few times; only after he finished scolding did he say, "You tell me, how do you want to handle this?"

He listened to Qian Qingyun's words on the other end of the line and said, "Then I'll follow the normal procedure on my end, and you'll reject everyone else on your end, right?"

"Look at you, insisting on making things so complicated and causing trouble for everyone." He Ping'an started scolding again.

Zhong Lin listened from the side, a smile appearing on her face.

But honestly, the Review Department was only responsible for the preliminary screening; whether these people could actually perform was entirely up to a single word from Qian Qingyun.

It was just going through a completely meaningless process one extra time.

Before hanging up the phone, He Ping'an said, "I'm telling you, go invite him yourself; don't come and add to our workload again, do you understand?"

After receiving a definitive answer from the other side, he hung up the phone.

"Did Director Qian agree?" Zhong Lin asked.

He Ping'an widened his eyes and said, "Could he not agree? This old man loves Chinese Style songs to death. I even suspect that the singing program he cut was something he got rid of on purpose."

"Don't worry about him, you go back to your work," He Ping'an said to Zhong Lin.

"Alrighty." Zhong Lin nodded with a smile and left her great-uncle's office.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Shen Shaoqiu's secretary knocked on his office door and then walked in.

"What is it?" Shen Shaoqiu asked, raising his eyes.

The male secretary said, "President Shen, it's the staff from Director Qian Qingyun's side who contacted us."

"Oh? Was someone from our Xinyu selected?" Shen Shaoqiu's eyes lit up.

Although the major galas weren't as good as they used to be, there were still many benefits to them.

What's more, an older generation director like Qian Qingyun had terrifying resources and influence.

Even if his current films weren't keeping up at the box office, he was still a big shot in the industry; even someone at the level of Wang Shisong wouldn't dare to easily provoke him.

The male secretary looked at Shen Shaoqiu and said, "President Shen, no one was selected."

"Hmm? Then why contact us? Do they want to use the copyright for one of our company's songs?" Shen Shaoqiu frowned.

On Blue Star, when these large-scale galas went to major companies for copyrights, it was basically just a free ride.

The male secretary shook his head again and said, "No, President Shen, they want to directly invite Director Luo to perform!"

"What!?" Shen Shaoqiu was shocked.

(PS: I'm still out of town, I have meetings to attend today, and a bunch of other things to do. I'm not sure if there will be a second update tonight; I'll write it whenever I have free time. President Shen might be shocked for a few hours, or he might be shocked until tomorrow.)

(End of chapter)