Chapter 224: Clouds Turn to Rain
Xu Qingyan glanced at the message from Jiang Ling and replied with a sentence.
"So-so."
This direct response threw Jiang Ling off, leaving her unsure of how to proceed. She clutched her phone, biting her nails resentfully and thought to herself that this guy was indeed difficult to deal with.
Come on, do you even realize you're kind of putting on airs?
Lol, she didn't actually really want to ask him to sing together, she couldn't keep being so passive! After some thought, she typed out a message and sent it swiftly.
"Teacher Xu is so awesome!/Starstruck eyes/
Truth be told, Jiang Ling didn't want to brown-nose to such an extent; frankly, it felt a bit too joker-ish. Here she was, almost hitting thirty, and now acting as young as a grandkid.
Rejuvenation isn't just an empty phrase when you need something from someone.
"It's all because Lin Chuan sings well, it doesn't have much to do with me," Xu Qingyan replied nonchalantly, aware of what Jiang Ling was up to and not opposed to her flattery.
He was planning to start a company within the year and would need people to support the scene. Jiang Ling was a free agent now, spoke gently and probably had a good personality.
Even though he found it boring, he still chatted patiently for a bit.
They were short on people; he couldn't just pull in Boss Pei and Sister Lin for an all-in gamble from the start.
They were his wings... (no) they were his fallback. If the company ran into financial trouble halfway or got knocked down by someone, it wouldn't matter.
If worst came to worst, he could just stop and go back to writing songs to save money, waiting for the right moment to rise again.
He didn't crave money much, merely treating it like a game. It was a venture with no capital invested, with no family to drag down and without any other concerns,
With a chance to turn the tables at the gambling table, who wouldn't want to try their luck?
Compared to Lin Chuan's "big fish", Xu Qingyan was more concerned about "Fragrance of Rice". After releasing his last single which had a good response, he was considering whether to produce another one.
After all, many songs were not suitable for female singers, he didn't sell much, and it felt like a waste to just hold onto them. Take "Sunset Boulevard", or "He Doesn't Understand", "The Orchid Pavilion Preface".
But after giving it some thought, he decided to set it aside for the time being.
Real life isn't like adding game points; basic singing skills can't be developed just by adding a point. One might sing a song well, but facing diverse styles of music is another challenge.
"Fragrance of Rice" was a hit because it wasn't too difficult and the intention behind it was good.
He was not perfect in singing techniques, but luckily he had Lin Wanzhou to correct him meticulously by hand. It took a day but the recording came out decently in the end.
To make a second hit, he'd have to toil like a true singer. He must fill in his gaps and continue to improve; otherwise, why would the audience bother?
There's no shortage of good songs nowadays; few can dominate the hot search rankings, or even take over the top ten spots. That means either the singing must be truly top-notch, or pure brain-dead nonsense.
If a song were to be a hit just because it's good, despite mediocre singing, and still attract buyers, that would truly be mystical.
But Xu Qingyan wasn't aiming to be a top-tier singer. He sang for two reasons: one to make money, second to earn some street cred. Focusing on rolling up his sleeve for singing techniques would sort of be getting things backward.
He still needed to sing, but there was no rush for now.
In the evening when he returned to his place, Xu Qingyan contemplated that it was about time to write a song for them to maintain their popularity. Especially for Lin Wanzhou—she had "Fragrance of Rice"...
It couldn't be that if they couldn't produce a song, they just wouldn't make an appearance for two months. Preparing an album was one thing, but maintaining daily presence was another; the two didn't conflict.
Albums are important for increasing a singer's influence, but hit singles can maintain popularity as well.
What's feared most in the entertainment industry is being forgotten; some singers don't release songs for half a year. They might see it as accumulation, but to the audience, it's as good as being dead.
Now it's mid-October, and in another two months, it would be the New Year.
A single autumn rain brings the chill of fall.
As Xu Qingyan mulled over what song to cover for Lin Wanzhou, Lin Chuan suddenly called him. Just as he picked up, Lin Chuan spoke with a secretive tone and told him there was good news.
"Are you planning to give me a bonus ahead of time?"
"No," Lin Chuan faltered, nearly thrown off by the unexpectedly cheeky comment, "Brother Xu, are you really short on money? I still have some."
"I'm not short on money; I just like the feeling of counting it," Xu Qingyan reined in the joke with one comment, and then asked, "What's this late-night call about, any good news?"
"Hey, remember I mentioned that a leader really liked your MV last time?" Lin Chuan's comment made Xu Qingyan's heart skip a beat.
Despite calling them old fogeys, who wouldn't want to get ahead?
"Yeah, what about it?"
After his heart skipped a beat, he calmed down, thinking about the last time he was stood up. Surely they hadn't changed their minds again, whether it was good or bad news was still up in the air.
"I heard the leader initially wanted to find you, but there was some hitch in his work recently and he got delayed. Now that he's gotten over it, he's remembered the matter," said Lin Chuan, then he paused and spoke in a lower voice.
"It seems to be the leader of the Chang'an venue of the Spring Festival Gala who was transferred over. They want to talk to you, and I guess it's related to the Spring Festival Gala."
"The Spring Festival Gala?" Xu Qingyan was genuinely confused this time, pulling back his phone to check the date, "Isn't the Spring Festival Gala usually prepared around July or August?"
"Right, they had already started preparing when you were on the love reality show," said Lin Chuan, pausing for a moment before continuing cautiously, "I originally had a chance to be at the main venue, just missed it by a bit..."
Lin Chuan didn't say the rest, but Xu Qingyan could guess. It was likely due to insufficient influence—if "Big Fish" had been a hit earlier in the year, maybe he would have made it. Find more to read at My Virtual Library Empire
To a celebrity, appearing on the Spring Festival Gala is a major boost to one's profile, a proud mark on a resume—after all, being on the Spring Festival Gala and trending online are not the same thing.