After dinner, Qi Cong, who had learned the whole story, and Shen Jia, who came home from work early, sat side by side on the sofa in the living room, looking at the laptop on the coffee table together. They were staring at Jiangtianwang’s old website page, which was filled with tips of appreciation on the computer screen. They didn’t move for a long time.

Finally, Shen Jia turned his head sideways and said, “Brother Cong, it’s about to break 500,000 yuan.  It’s rising so fast.”

When Qi Cong grew up, he had never been given money like this by strangers and was not used to it. He felt guilty, but he took out his mobile phone and researched some information, frowning. “The rewards received by Jiangwang are non-refundable.”

Shen Jia’s body shook as he hurriedly pressed Qi Cong’s hand holding the mobile phone and said, “This is everyone’s good intentions towards you. If you return it, everyone will be sad. Brother Cong, I think you should immediately send a lawyer letter to Wu Heng to make the netizens who support you happy! “

Qi Cong was still frowning.

But that was just too much money.

Hearing this, Zhao Zhenxun moved his eyes away from the words displayed on the computer and turned to the two of them. He pushed the laptop on the coffee table toward Qi Cong, saying, “Jia Jia is right, what you should do now is to contact a lawyer. Wu Heng is considered to be done with this. I suggest you hand over all subsequent matters to your lawyer. Take it easy, come with me to the office tomorrow to meet the vocal teacher and change your style.”

Qi Cong gathered his spirit and looked at Zhao Zhenxun. He calmed his fluctuating mood caused by the huge reward and nodded.

Shen Jia was excited when he heard these words and asked tentatively, “Brother Zhao, I only have work in the afternoon tomorrow. Can I -“

“No, you need to join the crew of  the ‘Legend of Youth’ a week in advance. The time you have to record new songs is very tight. I’ve made an appointment for you with the studio tomorrow morning. You better practice singing well.”

Shen Jia fell back painfully against the sofa, rolling and howling.

Unmoved, Zhao Zhenxun looked at Qi Cong with a pacifying look and reminded him, “Qi Cong, whether it’s an author or an artist, all of them need to rely on their works and the love of others to maintain their survival and seek development. As an author, you already have the public’s attention and support in advance. What you should do now is to repay them with good works and attitude to secure this support, rather than fear their gifts. Now that you have chosen these two careers, you have to get used to this income model as soon as possible. Don’t take these as pressures, try to take them as motivation.”

After Zhao Zhenxun left, Qi Cong went back to his room and thought about what the agent said for a long time.

Reward, motivation.

He got up, went to his desk and turned on the computer. He entered the old Jiangwang website and clicked on the comment area of “Chivalrous Bones.” Grasping the mouse, he slowly scrolled down and scrolled through the messages attached to everyone’s ticket smashing.

[Cheerfully Sounds sent to Murmuring Water black gold tickets: Go go go go! Don’t mind the spewers, be sure not to lay down your pen! Please keep writing!]

[Sunflower sent a black and gold ticket to Murmuring Water: Don’t be discouraged, there are still plenty of good people in this world. I read the first three chapters you wrote. It’s great! Really, especially awesome!]

[Miss sent 2 black and gold tickets to Murmuring Water: Sending you lawyer fees and marketing fees, come on! Don’t be knocked down by capitalist and plagiarist dogs, justice is always there! ].

[Nbv678 sent a purple gold ticket to Murmuring Water: Come on, don’t be timid when you encounter a water army, kill them with money and send them marketing fees.]

[A Pot of Wine sent a black and gold ticket to Murmuring Water: Come on!]

 

……

 

Qi Cong read hundreds of pages of comments, one by one. Finally, he exhaled gently, and opened the messaging system to contact Editor Cold Wind Like a Knife and typed a few words.

[Murmuring Water replied to Editor Cold Wind Like a Knife:  I’ve thought about it. I will sign the contract.]

[Murmuring Water replied to Editor Cold Wind Like a Knife: Thank you.]

After doing this, he took out his cell phone and dialed Lawyer Jin’s number.

At midnight that same night, Murmuring Water, the Wind and the Moon Bones send out two things. One was a sealed letter from a lawyer and another were two words: Thank You.

 

……

 

The next day, Qi Cong was taken to Manju by Zhao Zhenxun.

Before meeting the vocal music teacher, Zhao Zhenxun took Qi Cong to his office and gave Qi Cong a contract.

“This is an artist contract, which is divided in grades. Your grade is B. It’s only one grade lower than Jia Jia, who has an A contract. The other conditions are all drawn up in accordance with the specifications for newcomers and the contract is for a duration of five years. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to sign it or not. First of all, it’s agreed that the training standards and resources given by the company aren’t the same when signing a contract and  when a contract hasn’t been signed. Human feelings belong to humans , but in this circle, business is business. I hope you can understand our position. “

There was no difference between giving a contract to a newcomer with no outstanding selling points, which is only one grade lower than the top-notch artists and doing charity. Qi Cong was not stupid. He took the contract and went directly to the page that needed to be signed, then picked up the pen to sign his name.

Zhao Zhenxun asked, “Don’t you want to negotiate the terms?”

Qi Cong shook his head. “No need.” 

After signing, he handed the contract to Zhao Zhenxun and promised, “I will try not to waste the company’s investment and training.”

Zhao Zhenxun accepted the contract and said nothing, only patted Qi Cong on the shoulder.

 

……

 

The meeting between Qi Cong and the vocal music teacher went smoothly, perhaps even a little too smoothly.

After a detailed examination and test of Qi Cong’s vocal ability, the vocal music teacher couldn’t help rolling eyes at Zhao Zhenxun. 

“I thought you were really going to bring me a student with no foundation, and demand that I perform some miracle to make him capable, which would be frightening. He has learned the piano, which gives him a foundation, and he seems to have learned the piano very attentively and well. His foundation of music theory is very solid and only needs a little review. His audio-visual performance is also very good, there’s no need to teach him alone. Let him stay today and go straight to lesson one, practice breathing.”

Zhao Zhenxun seemed a little surprised and asked, “He can start class straight away? There are no problems?”

“What could be wrong? You’re in a hurry, aren’t you? Is it not good enough that he start classes early for the people you bring in?”

Zhao Zhenxun looked at Qi Cong.

Qi Cong looked back, willing to obey his arrangements.

“Then go to class.” Zhao Zhenxun was quite straightforward and lifted his wrist to look at his watch, then looked at the vocal teacher. “After today’s lesson you’ll give him a schedule. Try to schedule his classes on the weekends, he has other things to do on the weekdays.”

The vocal teacher smiled and responded with an “OK” gesture.

Zhao Zhenxun looked at Qi Cong again. “I’ll pick you up at lunchtime.”

Qi Cong nodded in agreement.

 

……

 

The lesson was two and half hours long, during which time Qi Cong put his phone on silent and placed it aside.

By the time Zhao Zhenxun came to pick him up at noon, the vocal teacher had already roughly arranged a schedule according to Qi Cong’s situation. The tentative schedule was one class a week on Sunday mornings.

Zhao Zhenxun frowned when he found out. “Only one class a week? Shouldn’t it be two classes a week for a beginner to catch up?”

“If there was no foundation. In his case one class a week is enough for him, more than that would put a strain on his voice.” After answering the question, the vocal music teacher looked at Qi Cong with a much kinder expression and smile than before the lesson. “Pay attention to how often you practice, your voice is in good condition. Don’t waste it.”

Qi Cong nodded in response and then politely thanked her.

After meeting with the vocal music teacher, Qi Cong left the classroom with Zhao Zhenxun and went to the elevator. They were prepared to take the elevator to leave Manju and eat lunch before meeting a stylist in the afternoon.

The elevator was stuck on the upper floors, and hadn’t moved down. Zhao Zhenxun seemed to be preoccupied, while waiting for the elevator. He looked at his cell phone and was typing. When Qi Cong saw the situation he took out his mobile phone and opened WeChat, which he hadn’t read for several hours.

At the end of the corridor, there was suddenly some noise, as if some people who were in other classrooms on the same floor had finished their classes. Qi Cong instinctively looked over his shoulder, then withdrew his gaze without waiting to see who was looking at him and resumed looking at his WeChat.

Gu Xun’s cat avatar had several unread messages showing on it, so he stretched out his finger to open them.

Gu Xun: We are doing publicity in Cannes today. It has cooled down here.

Gu Xun: Kevin forgot to bring my coat.

Gu Xun: Kevin is my assistant. I’ll introduce you next time.

Gu Xun: Busy?

Gu Xun: I’m going to be interviewed.

Gu Xun: The interview is over.

Gu Xun: Still busy?

Gu Xun: It’s time for you to eat.

Gu Xun: It’s really not suitable to play with mobile phones when eating. Eat well [lovely.jpg].

Qi Cong stared at the lovely expression and pressed his teeth against his lower lip hard, suppressing the shallow happiness in his heart. He was about to type a reply when he felt that someone was looking at him. He paused, locked his phone screen and looked sideways.

Several handsome young boys are walking towards the elevator together, each of them with wet hair and sweaty clothes. They must have finished their dance class. The person looking at Qi Cong was a tall boy in the center, who looked less than twenty years old. His facial features were handsome, and his temperament was very sunny.

When he saw Qi Cong  looking over, he blinked and smiled at Qi Cong disapprovingly before looking at Zhao Zhenxun who was standing in front of Qi Cong, and said, “Hello, Agent Zhao.”

Other boys around him also greeted Zhao Zhenxun.

Zhao Zhenxun looked up from his mobile phone, glanced at them and nodded in response. His attitude was not too warm.

As soon as the boys came, the elevator waiting area became crowded. Probably because he was squeezed by his companions, the boy who had been smiling at Qi Cong stood beside him.

It was a little close.

Qi Cong could even smell the complex odor of shower gel mixed with sweat emanating from the boys’ bodies, which was not unpleasant, but definitely not good either. He turned his head to the side in discomfort.

After a while, the elevator arrived, and the group of people went in. He didn’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but the boy stood next to Qi Cong again.

The other boys were talking to Zhao Zhenxun and from the gist of this conversation, they should all be trainees signed by Manju. Some of the more talkative ones seemed to be getting ready to make their debut soon.

“Agent Zhao, is this good looking brother getting ready to make his debut in the second half of the year? Then why didn’t we see him come to practice dancing? “

The boy standing beside Qi Cong suddenly asked this.

The elevator immediately quieted down and all the boys looked at Qi Cong.

Qi Cong’s expression didn’t change, but his fingers tightened.

The photos of him and Shen Jia were spread all over the Internet and it was impossible for these boys to not have seen them. He was asking this on purpose.

The atmosphere was a little strange and Zhao Zhenxun, who noticed it put down his phone, looked at the boy who asked the question and frowned. “Song Chuan, this isn’t something you should be concerned about.”

The boy raised his hand and touched his nose. “Oh.”

Other boys also withdrew their gazes.

Everyone thought the topic was over, but Zhao Zhenxun said, “He’s not on the same path as you guys, so he doesn’t need to practice dancing.”

Everyone was stunned, including Qi Cong.

The elevator arrived at their floor just in time and Zhao Zhenxun went out first, not giving the group of boys another chance to ask questions. Qi Cong regained his senses and hurriedly stepped forward to follow.

After getting into the car, Zhao Zhenxun said directly, “I know what you want to ask, but I can’t give you the answer. I am still not sure about your career plan and I am still discussing it with Shen Man. You should prepare first.”

Qi Cong shut up and nodded honestly.

The process of styling and modeling was very tiring and tedious. Qi Cong was styled by the teachers. One would select his hairstyle and do the haircut, while another took his body measurements and chose a suitable color, then changed his clothes to check the fit with each style of clothes. When everything was finally settled, Qi Cong was so tired that he felt that his body wasn’t his own.

Even though he was tired, the final effect was very good.

Teacher Yuan Yuan cut Qi Gong’s hair a little shorter and shaped it without dyeing and perming, retaining the original naturalness. Qi Cong’s ordinary t-shirt and casual pants were replaced with a simple casual shirt and well-cut light-colored pants, while his feet still had the original white sneakers.

The overall look doesn’t seem to have changed much, but the feeling Qi Cong gave was completely different.

Before Qi Cong was good-looking, but it always gave people a thin and spiritless feeling. After changing his style,  the feeling of lethargy disappeared completely, and the clean hairstyle made Qi Cong eyes look a lot more glamorous. The extremely embellished shirt and tailored casual trousers weakened Qi Cong’s sense of  thinness and highlighted the excellent proportion of his body. All these, coupled with his whiter skin and softer than normal facial features, as well as his quiet temperament, a light expression that was cold and gentle at the same time, some slightly new fragile feelings came out.

Qi Cong’s voice was slightly gravelly, so when Qi Cong started to move and speak there was a subtle mix of coldness and fragility, mixed with subtle provocations.

It’s simply like a seduction to break down this cold, innocent white rose and twist out the erosion a little bit.

Teacher Yuan Yuan was very happy. “How’s it look? It’s good, isn’t it? I was trying to get all the attractive points out of him while trying to keep the look as everyday as possible.”

In the meantime, Zhao Zhenxun looked at Qi Cong, who was standing in front of the full-length mirror, and his face was not happy at all. His mouth opened at the slightly questioning and weary gaze that Qi Cong gave him. He closed his mouth again and after a long moment waved his hand and said, “Okay, let’s do it. Qi Cong take a selfie later and change your WeChat avatar.”

 

The author has something to say: 

Brother Zhao: It’s not easy to take on an artist who is stalked by a wolf.

Gu Gu gently pokes his baby system customized avatar: Why hasn’t he replied to my message?

 

Edited by: Antiope1

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