novelraw Chapter 47 Yang Mi's Exorbitant Offer to Poach Talent
Chapter 47 Yang Mi's Exorbitant Offer to Poach Talent
Song Ze's fingers, which were typing on the keyboard, paused in mid-air.
S-class full contract.
He quickly turned his head, glancing at the control room out of the corner of his eye.
Sa Dingding, wearing noise-canceling headphones, was focused on hitting the last high note through the glass window, without even turning his head.
Several assistants were tidying up equipment in the outer room.
Nobody heard it.
Song Ze stood up and threw the remote control on the table.
"I need to use the restroom."
Dilraba stuffed the last bit of yogurt curd into her mouth, clapped her hands, and stood up.
"What a coincidence, I'm going too."
Both of them made an excuse to urinate and left.
The back door of Yanjing No. 1 Recording Studio.
Song Ze leaned against the handrail and lowered his voice.
"What are you up to?"
Dilraba swallowed the snack in her mouth, straightened her back, and put her hands in her sweatpants pockets.
"Sister Yang Mi read the song you wrote for the Fairy Sister and held a high-level meeting overnight. She just gave me the information."
She took a step forward.
"As long as you agree, Jiaxing will cover all the breach of contract penalties from Xingyao, no matter how much they are."
Song Ze's heart rate spiked instantly.
Eighty million in breach of contract penalty.
In his previous life, he was held hostage by this money for three years, and the lawsuit left him battered and bruised.
Now someone is directly paying him to clear the area.
He did not agree immediately.
Xingyao has a weak foundation, and Zhang Juan is indeed just a gofer in the face of capital.
But in the past few months, this agent has been shielding him from the storm, pulling strings and building connections everywhere, and even working on press releases late into the night.
In his past life, he was buried deep in the earth's core, and Zhang Juan didn't run away either; she took the blame along with him.
Now that he's gone, Zhang Juan will be dragged out and sacrificed by Xingyao's higher-ups the very next day.
Song Ze stretched his neck.
"Jiaxing is wealthy and generous, and I appreciate that. But Xingyao has been kind to me, and Zhang Juan has covered for me a lot. If I pack my bags and leave now, it's like putting her in a very difficult position."
He looked directly at Dilraba.
"I couldn't do something like that."
Dilraba was stunned.
There were still white flakes of yogurt curds stuck to his lips.
"Are you out of your mind?"
She reached out to touch Song Ze's forehead.
Song Ze turned his head away.
"She doesn't have a fever. You're just a mouthpiece, pass on a message to Yang Mi—if you want things to go smoothly, everyone should avoid hurting each other's feelings. I need to talk to her face to face."
Dilraba withdrew her hand and unlocked her phone to type.
"Okay, I'll send it to her right away."
2 PM the following afternoon.
Zhuxi, a private teahouse located outside the Third Ring Road of Beijing.
The waiter led Song Ze to the innermost private room.
Pushing open the door, a faint scent of sandalwood filled the room.
Yang Mi sat behind a rosewood tea table, wearing a black suit with a close-fitting cut, her long curly hair casually draped over her shoulders.
She was washing the teaware with wooden clothespins when she heard the door open and looked up.
There was no small talk.
She placed the wooden clip on the edge of the tea tray and pointed to the thirty-page A4 document on the table.
"I heard that the 'Fairy Sister' made an exception and stayed in the studio with you for three days straight for your OST?"
She twitched her lips.
"So, for this S-level full contract, shouldn't I also find two top-tier actresses to chat with you as a show of sincerity?"
Song Ze walked over, pulled out the mahogany chair opposite him, and sat down.
He didn't look at the document, but reached out, pressed the cover, and pushed it back in front of Yang Mi.
"No need for me to chat with you."
He interlaced his fingers and rested them on the edge of the table.
"I will not sign the contract for now. I do not intend to terminate it."
Yang Mi's smile faded.
Her gaze swept past the water vapor and landed directly on me.
"You're not planning to terminate the contract?"
She picked up the large red robe in front of her and blew away the foam.
"I have exact figures for the royalties from those songs you released on the platform. At most, it's a few million."
The porcelain cup hit the table with a dull thud.
"What you lack isn't talent. What you lack is a safe haven for your talent. Without someone to protect you, if investors trip you up, your millions will just go down the drain."
"Jiaxing is a ready-made top-tier port. Whether you board the ship or not is up to you."
Song Ze picked up the empty teacup in front of him and fiddled with it.
"Now that I'm on Jaywalk's ship, how can I be sure this is the best destination?"
He turned the teacup upside down on the table.
"As a washed-up celebrity who debuted through a talent show, I have no shortage of haters online. If I go to Jaywalk Studio, I'm afraid I'll be trending on social media every day."
Yang Mi burst out laughing.
She took the teapot, turned the upside-down cup over, and filled it herself.
"Little brother, you need to update your understanding."
She leaned back in her chair and hugged herself.
"Being criticized is a basic KPI for top celebrities. Once you've lived on the trending topics for ten years like I have, and are constantly being scrutinized with a magnifying glass, you'll discover a truth."
"Hates are still fans. The more fiercely they criticize you, the more stable your base of followers becomes. The time they spend criticizing you means you've already won against those obscure celebrities who no one cares about."
Yang Mi leaned forward and tapped the table twice with her fingers.
"But there's a fatal prerequisite—you have to have work that you can throw in their faces anytime and shut them up."
Song Ze's hand, holding the teacup, froze in mid-air.
This logic is quite interesting.
Yang Mi didn't stop talking.
"Learning to be the boss who controls the plate is much harder than practicing singing. Back when I brought Dilraba into the crew, most of the crew criticized me behind my back for bringing in my own people and for being greedy. Later, when Dilraba became famous, those people changed their tune overnight and released press releases praising me for my discerning eye."
"In this industry, the ability to judge people is entirely cultivated through money and criticism."
These words hit Song Ze's mind perfectly.
He recalled his actions of excessively promoting Bai Lu.
Snatching up MV leading ladies, demanding A-list contracts, and poaching film and television resources from other industries.
Both within Xingyao and its peers are watching with amusement.
Unexpectedly, a completely similar case was found in Yang Mi's case.
Song Ze put down his teacup.
He took his phone out of his pocket, turned on the screen, brought up the calendar, and pushed it to the center of the tea table.
7 month 18 day.
He circled the number.
"I won't trouble Jaywalk to cover for me. I've found a place for myself."
He leaned back in the mahogany chair.
"Just a few days ago, I received the audition qualification for the initial lineup of Hunan TV's 'I Am a Singer 2017'."
Yang Mi's hand, holding the teacup, froze in mid-air.
His astonishment was written all over his face.
Song Ze was very satisfied with this reaction.
He retrieved his phone and recited the timeline.
「9月5号试音。明年1月21号第一期首播。4月22号巅峰会。」
He held up three fingers and pressed them down one by one.
"I don't plan to sign any new contracts for the next six months or so."
He pulled the last finger back into his fist.
"If I can't even make it past the first round of eliminations, I'll voluntarily withdraw from the Chinese entertainment industry, without troubling Jaywalk Studio with this exorbitant termination fee."
He stared at Yang Mi.
"Boss Yang, do you think this arrangement is reasonable enough?"
The private room fell silent again.
The sound of cicadas chirping outside the window was particularly jarring.
Yang Mi abandoned her previous confident demeanor, sat up straight, and looked Song Ze up and down again.
"I see."
Her voice was very calm.
"You've gone to such lengths, using the 'Singer' stage as a bargaining chip."
She leaned forward, getting closer to Song Ze.
"You want to bet against me?"