Chapter 92: Run Jie's Invitation

Autumn has arrived, but in this day and age, early autumn is actually still quite hot, and it will remain hot for a long time.

The efficiency over at Weibo is very high; they have already begun changing the Weibo verifications for the many contestants of Creating Idols.

For instance, Tong Shu's Weibo verification has been changed to: Creating Idols Top 20.

A verification that doesn't look very impressive...

As for Shen Mingliu and the others, the format has changed to: Member of boy group NINE-T.

It can't be helped; after all, they have officially formed a group and debuted.

As for Luo Mo's Weibo verification, it is: Creating Idols Champion Trainee.

This Weibo verification of his is too glaring in the eyes of many people.

You have nine people forming a group over there, while my champion hasn't even debuted yet; no matter how you look at it, it's a slap in the face.

It is very obvious that this is the result of the Weibo officials communicating with the production team; if Luo Mo wants to change his verification in the future, he can apply with Weibo.

But he has no intention of changing it for the time being.

After getting his phone back, Luo Mo took a look at his data on Weibo.

His Weibo followers have already reached over 8 million.

In the industry, there are plenty of people who have broken ten million followers relying on a hit drama or a variety show.

But there is water mixed in there; how many bot followers there are depends on the individual, and the situation varies.

Judging from the current momentum, Luo Mo will be able to break ten million Weibo followers in another period of time. Moreover, the fan stickiness seems very high, it's just that the "silly" attribute is a bit heavy...

Looking at the current market, just this one Weibo account of his can bring in astonishing revenue in a year!

It's just that Luo Mo himself doesn't actually like tinkering with Weibo that much, and for various reasons, he is too lazy to say much about it.

At this moment, he rarely spent some time scrolling through Weibo and discovered that his so-called 【God-tier Photo】 had truly gone viral.

It is the photo of his back shadow as he turned alone to leave the stage.

"It really does have a sense of atmosphere." Luo Mo took a look and was narcissistic for a while.

Tong Shu, who was sitting beside him, immediately leaned over to take a look and nodded.

This photo is indeed ridiculously handsome, with the sense of atmosphere maxed out.

If it were placed on Earth, there might even be people who would add the caption: 【Either be lonely, or be vulgar.】

Tong Shu was also scrolling through Weibo on the side. After a while, he said to Luo Mo, "Brother Mo, I see many people on the internet saying: This summer, talent defeated capital!"

This sentence sounds too high-spirited and passionate; even Tong Shu felt a bit excited after seeing it.

Luo Mo looked over with some surprise; he didn't expect the netizens of this world to actually pin this sentence on him, which is also somewhat magical.

He had seen this sentence on Earth before; it is something often said by the fans of Mao Buyi.

Because in that summer's The Coming One, the contestant Mao Buyi, who was originally just a side-runner, made a sudden rise starting from "Borrowing Sorrow" and eventually won the championship, remaining a very popular Singer to this day.

It's just that this sentence later sparked heated discussions on the internet; many people felt it wasn't "talent defeating capital," but rather "capital choosing talent."

The difference between these two sentences cannot be explained in a few words.

Luo Mo glanced at Tong Shu's phone and did not express any opinion.

It is already one o'clock in the morning; this 24-year-old "elderly" contestant has always had a relatively healthy biological clock, and he cannot stay up any longer.

"I'm going back to the dormitory to rest first; you stay up if you want," Luo Mo said to Tong Shu.

The other trainees will all leave tonight in the vehicles prepared by the company.

Luo Mo and Tong Shu will stay one extra day and leave tomorrow morning.

And don't forget, Luo Mo still has to go and say Farewell to Run Jie, Ning Dan, and at the same time... there is also a salary to collect, hehe!

This night, Luo Mo fell asleep, but many others suffered from insomnia.

The song "Chasing Dreams Red Heart" that he sang in the finals was too passionate!

This caused many listeners who have a preference for this song to be unable to sleep the more they put it on Loop.

This song not only Air Dropped to the first place on the New Song Chart, but it is also constantly rising on the Hot Song Chart.

Most importantly, in just a few hours, the number of comments for this song broke ten thousand!

Admittedly, the songs of many popular Singers can also easily break ten thousand comments.

But many of them are manipulated by fans.

The "Strangers" generally won't do this kind of data-fixing thing; if we want to comment, we comment, if we don't want to, we don't; let's just listen to the song.

Judging from the growth data of the comment count, this song has the fastest comment growth among all of Luo Mo's songs to date!

Over at Penguin Music, the team responsible for the night shift was stunned looking at the data.

"In this day and age, is everyone cultivating immortality?" one employee couldn't help but exclaim.

It's already the middle of the night, and the comment count is still skyrocketing!

The main thing is, if you click into the comment section to take a look, you might very well be unable to sleep even more as you read.

Because the messages in the comment section are all like they've been injected with adrenaline.

"I have the college entrance exam next year; I must work hard to get into my ideal university!"

"Ignoring my family's opposition, I chose to repeat a year; I believe I can definitely do it next year!"

"More than half of the postgraduate entrance exam preparation is over, and I've still been muddled; I don't know why, but this song suddenly stung me. I used to be afraid to tell others that I was preparing for the postgraduate exam because I didn't know how it would end, and I almost wanted to give up. Come on! You know nothing about your own potential!"

"Until the end, who knows life or death! Come on, I can definitely do it!"

"I hope that when I look back next year, I will have already been admitted to the university in my heart! Zhe Da, wait for me!"

"I dream of becoming a police officer; come on, run forward!"

"28 years old, idle and lazy, with high standards but low abilities; I suddenly started to despise myself."

"Cancer, stay strong, keep living!"

"I'm damned if I'm going to admit defeat!"

"Work hard, for the sake of my son's milk money!"

As for that passage excerpted from Mr. Lu Xun's "Hot Wind," it is even more widely circulated.

Of course, there is also that Motto of Luo Mo's.

This young man who walked off the stage alone, in a single night, transmitted strength to countless people.

There is a line in "The Moon Over the Mountain" that actually expresses the state of mind of many people to the fullest.

"【I am deeply afraid that I am not a piece of fine jade, so I dare not subject myself to painstaking carving, yet I half-believe that I am a piece of fine jade, so I am unwilling to be mediocre and walk among rubble.】"

"Thus, I gradually drifted away from the mortal world, alienated myself from others, and the result was letting resentment and shame daily fuel the cowardly self-esteem in my heart.】"

Those who completely sink are, after all, a minority in this world.

It is just like the small-scale war of words this song triggered on the internet.

Some people love to appear different from others, jumping out to say: "In this day and age, there are still people talking about dreams, and making this kind of 'chicken blood' song. I used to have them, but later I realized how naive I was; now I just want to drift through life."

Below, a netizen replied: "This song is sung for people who have dreams, and also, it is sung for the you of the past."

If there are no surprises, this song will hang on the Hot Song Chart for a very, very long time.

However, is that all there is to it?

Luo Mo's expectations for "Chasing Dreams Red Heart" were actually only half-fulfilled.

There is another half, which he will do slowly in the future, doing it with heart.

This song is not, as everyone thinks, just sung for people who have dreams.

………

………

The next day, Luo Mo got up early, and after finishing breakfast with Tong Shu in the cafeteria, the two of them had to Farewell.

"Keep in touch by phone," Luo Mo said to Tong Shu.

Tong Shu nodded vigorously, then got into the car under Luo Mo's gaze.

Humming a little tune, Luo Mo returned to his dormitory in a pleasant mood, waiting for Run Jie's summons to collect his double salary.

In fact, besides the salary the program team gave him, he had also earned quite a bit of money during this period.

Don't forget, he also sold three songs.

In the industry, songwriters with lower rankings directly sell songs at low prices and do not participate in revenue sharing.

Luo Mo's three songs are different; besides being able to get a lump sum, he can also get a share.

Generally speaking, the share is the big part; simply selling a song, very few are sold for a sky-high price, even for a first-tier songwriter.

The price of lyrics and music belongs to the kind that, if it appeared in an entertainment novel and the specific amount were written out, many readers would curse.

Such a great song, and you sold it for so little money?

Perhaps in reality, it sells for even less...

If Luo Mo were a pure Newcomer, then he would need a certain stage to prove himself before having the opportunity to adopt the revenue-sharing model.

But fortunately, this eccentric guy who hasn't even debuted yet is already comparable to a Top Traffic star.

A Top Traffic star who hasn't debuted—incredible!

Besides that, for the duet version of "Red Actor" with Xu Chujing, money is paid out every three months, and it was agreed to be a fifty-fifty split.

This song is extremely popular, and Luo Mo could make a fortune just relying on it, but the money won't be split until next month.

Luo Mo held his phone and glanced at the balance of his bank card at this moment; it was actually quite good.

At least it would allow him to rent a high-end apartment with good privacy in Shanghai.

The company, Xinyu, is in Shanghai, so Luo Mo definitely needs a place to rest here.

Besides that, since he wants to establish a studio, capital investment is also needed in the early stages.

"Need to make money," Luo Mo sighed.

But with his current traffic, what could be easier than making money?

"It's just that some money that cannot be earned definitely still cannot be touched," Luo Mo said to himself.

Regarding this, he was not in a hurry.

Many traffic stars are very eager to make a quick buck, as if they were eating the last meal of their lives.

Regarding his own life, Luo Mo had already made a plan; just taking it one step at a time is fine.

By the time it was nearly noon, Luo Mo finally waited for Run Jie's summons.

Finance also sent him his double salary; the big demon king of the paid talent show was officially off the job at this moment.

The current Luo Mo, strictly speaking, could actually be considered an unemployed drifter.

"Luo Mo, you are going back to Beijing, right?" Ning Dan said.

"Yes, it's been so many months, I need to go back to see my parents and my master," Luo Mo nodded.

"What time is the flight?" Ning Dan asked.

"Ten-thirty at night," Luo Mo said.

This was the first-class ticket reimbursed by the program team.

It's just that Ning Dan, as the General Director, had too many things to manage, and she really didn't know what time the ticket was booked for.

"Ten-thirty, then there is still a long time now," Ning Dan nodded slightly.

"How about this, I will cook in person tonight, you come over. It can be considered a private celebration banquet for the two of us, and also to see you off," Ning Dan raised her beautiful eyes and looked at Luo Mo.

To her, the celebration banquet after the recording ended last night didn't count as a celebration banquet at all.

Because the real protagonist didn't even show up.

This mature woman who possesses Kindness in her dealings with others is very clear that business is business, and personal relationships are personal relationships.

She has a certain degree of favorable impression toward Luo Mo, and she also values this young man highly; she certainly must have more contact with him in private, and then forge a deep friendship, so that they can support each other in the future.

Run Jie has extended an invitation, and she is even cooking in person; Luo Mo has no reason to refuse, nor can he refuse.

"Then I will respectfully comply. Logically speaking, Ning Dao has taken great care of me, so I should be the one treating Ning Dao to a meal," Luo Mo said with a smile.

Ning Dan raised her red lips, smiled slightly, and said, "If you go to Beijing one day, you can treat me to a meal at your family's restaurant."

Looking at her bright red lips, Luo Mo understood a bit more why many people in the industry have designs on Ning Dan.

She is successful in her career, has immense influence, and possesses a unique charm of her own; her sexy lips alone are enough to stir up a man's impulse to get a taste of her beauty.

Luo Mo looked at her and nodded, saying, "That is a certainty."

Ning Dan looked at the young man before her, always feeling that after the program ended, the way this young man looked at her had changed slightly. But she couldn't quite put her finger on what exactly had changed.

After walking out of Ning Dan's office, Luo Mo made phone calls one after another to his family and his master.

He told his parents not to lock the door, as his flight to Beijing would likely arrive in the middle of the night, so they shouldn't wait up for him.

However, Luo Mo was not sure if his parents would actually wait for him or not.

Luo Ba and Luo Ma usually go to bed early, but tonight their son is coming home, so they would likely wait up for him at home, and might even prepare a late-night snack ahead of time without feeling any sleepiness.

To parents, it doesn't matter if their child is an ordinary person, a big star, or a wealthy tycoon. Since their child hasn't been home for a long time, they always want to let the child taste the flavor of home at the first opportunity.

Honestly, Luo Mo was actually craving it too.

"Sorry, cafeteria lady, although you always give me extra meat, the braised pork made in your cafeteria truly cannot compare to my mom's," Luo Mo smiled and said in his heart.

As for his master Tong Qinglin, he indicated that he would come to the restaurant to eat tomorrow, and would also bring along Liu Shixiong, a worker from the inflatable doll assembly line.

The old man has been itching to play chess lately, and told Luo Mo to remember to have the chessboard ready, as he wants to have a good, thorough match.

It's just that the old man is a terrible chess player, while Luo Mo actually has a bit of talent in Go, so he has to rack his brains every time just to engineer a narrow victory or a close defeat.

What a headache!

When it reached five o'clock, Ning Dan's female assistant drove over very punctually to pick up Luo Mo.

Luo Mo put his luggage in the trunk, and since this same female assistant would be taking him to the airport later, it was fine to just leave it there.

To a certain extent, this assistant also works part-time as Ning Dan's driver.

Luo Mo is quite familiar with her, so it wasn't awkward along the way, and they were able to keep chatting about this and that.

Throughout the journey, Luo Mo always felt that this female assistant was looking at him out of the corner of her eye from time to time.

Regarding this, Luo Mo himself was used to it; it had been like this since he started school, and it wasn't just classmates from his own class, but often girls from the next class or even other grades would pretend to pass by his classroom door, then glance at him sitting by the window out of the corner of their eyes.

Looking was one thing, but after looking, they would walk to a quiet Corner, and a few little sisters would dance with excitement, their faces full of affirmation for Luo Mo's appearance.

They didn't even need to say anything; their expressions and movements alone were enough to convey: He's handsome! He's handsome! Super handsome!

At that age, most young girls are too shy to look a handsome guy straight in the eye.

At this moment, Luo Mo did not know that what the assistant was thinking in her heart was: "I've been with Ning Dao for four years now, and in these four years, she has never invited any man to her home before."

(PS: Second update, 4000+ words, asking for monthly votes at the end of the month. Also, Run Jie has already gone online in the character list, waiting for your hearts.)

(End of this chapter)