Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 223 One-Seventh of a Small Goal
After spending two days in Chengde, Zhang Yan returned to Tianjin. The singer was about to finish his tour, and with Chen Hong not around, he, as the big boss, naturally had to take charge personally.

Although he said he was personally involved, Wang Zhongqi was actually doing the actual work. Zhang Yan seemed to be sitting in the company, but he was mainly busy with things related to "I Am a Singer".

This afternoon.

Zhang Yan hadn't even seen the tour group yet, but she met Su Yue first.

As soon as Su Yue entered the door, he handed Zhang Yan some candy and then said with a smile, "President Zhang, I hope you will take good care of me in this 'I Am a Singer' competition."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yan casually asked, "Does your company also have anyone participating this year?"

Many of the singers participating this time are newcomers signed by major companies, such as Chen Ming, Yang Yuying's junior sister.

Su Yue had clearly misunderstood, thinking that Zhang Yan was unaware of the matter.

So he exaggeratedly said, "It's not just that, all the record companies have people participating, and they've even signed huge breach of contract contracts in advance—nowadays, many newly established small companies are using the name of being related to our dream to recruit new talent."

This is inevitable. Even though the production team has repeatedly stated that there will be no behind-the-scenes manipulation in this competition, people still keep trying to take advantage of loopholes.

The smaller companies, on the other hand, catered to the show's interests, a situation where both parties were willing to participate, and the production team couldn't stop them at all.

In fact, Su Yue himself had done this quite often. He had a large photo of himself shaking hands with Zhang Yan hanging in his office, and he would explain their "relationship" to everyone he met.

This is also why Zhang Yan didn't want the dream singers to participate – it involves the interests of various companies, and if the dream singers participated, they would definitely become the target of public criticism.

Even if the competition is fair, rumors will definitely spread like wildfire.

After chatting about the competition for a while, Zhang Yan picked up a piece of candy and asked casually, "I heard from Wang Jinghua that your wife gave birth to a daughter, about a month ago, right?"

"It's been almost two months."

Upon hearing Zhang Yan mention his daughter, Su Yue couldn't help but grin and say, "This girl is fair-skinned and has features just like An Wen. She'll definitely grow up to be beautiful!"

"His appearance is similar to Anwen's, not bad, not bad."

Zhang Yan gave a dry reply, but fearing that asking further questions would arouse Su Yue's suspicion, he could only change the subject and start talking about industry trends.

The latest buzz in the music industry, besides the second season of "I Am a Singer," is about multinational capital officially entering the Chinese music scene.

Two landmark events were Warner Music's formal acquisition of UFO Records and PolyGram's acquisition of Shanghai Hua Records—of the three major record companies in Taiwan, only Rock Records remains.

Even Su Yue's Puan Records was implicated. UFO Records wanted to increase its capital and expand its shares, using Puan Records as a bridgehead to enter the mainland market.

"Of course I disagree."

At this point, Su Yue took out a business card and presented it to Zhang Yan with both hands. Zhang Yan took it and glanced at it, only to find that everything else was basically the same except that the company name had been changed to Tianxing Records.

Su Yue explained, "So I simply took the opportunity to sever ties with UFO, and from now on, An Wen and I will have complete control of the company."

After a pause, he added, "Mr. Zhang, if those big foreign companies come to you for cooperation, you must be careful. These foreign devils are cunning. UFO Records initially only allowed Chinese companies to invest, but they managed to steal the shares over two years and become the largest shareholder of UFO Records, and then forcibly launched a merger and acquisition."

"Those foreign devils are definitely up to no good."

Zhang Yan chuckled and said, "However, our domestic record companies aren't exactly benevolent either. It's hard to say who will end up cheating whom—by the way, what's the current situation with the artists under UFO Records?"

"Most of the contracts remain unchanged."

Su Yue said, "However, Zheng Zhihua seems to have encountered some trouble. Mainly, his new song 'Great Citizen' is disliked by DangJu. Although Warner is powerful, it is a newcomer and is unwilling to offend the local government because of a singer."

Historically, Zheng Zhihua was suppressed because of this song, and there were even rumors that he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Now that this song has been released several months ahead of schedule, coinciding with the change of ownership of UFO Records, one can imagine the immense pressure Zheng Zhihua is under.

Upon hearing Su Yue's words, Zhang Yan's heart stirred. He greatly admired Zheng Zhihua's songs and his unwavering commitment to unification. If he could seize this opportunity to bring Zheng Zhihua under his wing…

So after seeing Su Yue off, Zhang Yan took the initiative to contact Zheng Zhihua, saying that if he left UFO Records, Yuanmeng was willing to offer him a new contract with generous terms.

He doesn't even need to come to the mainland. He can just continue creating in Taiwan and occasionally come to the mainland for commercial performances. After all, Zheng Zhihua's legs are not good, and it is not appropriate for him to travel between the two places all the time.

This is, of course, just a superficial reason. In reality, it's simply because Zheng Zhihua's songs always carry a critical tone, and creating music in Taiwan is more conducive to its dissemination in mainland China.

Conversely, if they came to the mainland to create works...

Zheng Zhihua was deeply moved after hearing this, although he did not immediately agree, since he was still unsure how the contract with UFO Records would be handled in the end.

However, he also promised that if the opportunity arises, he will definitely hand over his business in mainland China to Yuanmeng to manage.

…………

9 month 6 number.

The tour team has finally returned to Tianjin. The tour duration is similar to the last one, but because it is during the summer, the income is significantly higher than last time. It is estimated that after the distribution and tax payment, the net profit that Yuanmeng can get should be around 800 million yuan.

This is equivalent to one person earning a million for the company.

Including other income, Zhang Yan earned 1500 million yuan in the first nine months of the year by fulfilling his dream, which is equivalent to one-seventh of a small goal.

Zhang Yan naturally wouldn't be stingy with these hardworking singers. He had prepared four masseuses (two men and two women) in advance to help the singers relieve fatigue. There was also an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor stationed in the apartment building to detoxify, clear heat, and soothe the singers' lungs and throats.

Of course, there also needs to be enough domestic service workers, with 24 people working in shifts to ensure that the singers don't even have to move their toes.

The celebration banquet was scheduled for five days later.

After settling the singers in, Wang Jinghua, feeling completely refreshed, first handed over the accounts to Wang Zhongqi for verification, and then formally applied to Zhang Yan for her wedding leave.

He also stated that he would most likely be unable to continue leading the team for the tour at the end of October.

Leading the tour was physically exhausting, but the real challenge was the constant anxiety of being on edge, fearing something might go wrong.

Moreover, there are many drinking parties that cannot be refused. Either the singer has to step in, or the team leader has to step in himself—given Wang Jinghua's personality, she naturally chose the latter.

"Old Dong and I have already discussed it. While our elders are still willing to travel long distances, we will hold the wedding in Beijing. After we get married, we will have a baby as soon as possible. We can't stand being soaked in alcohol like this anymore."

This reason is hard to argue with, after all, Zhang Yan isn't some kind of exploitative tycoon.

Moreover, Wang Jinghua's temporary withdrawal from the tour is a good thing for the balance of strength in Yuanmeng.

Do you think Lao Xu and Lao Liu can hold out?

"It shouldn't be a problem. With our current reputation, Yuanmeng can handle the more formal commercial performances we accept. Li Songqiang is also growing rapidly and should be able to help a lot."

"Alright, you can focus on preparing for the wedding. If you need any help, just let me know—I'll get Zhou Tao to be your MC."

"That's great, she's really famous now."

Wang Jinghua's expression gradually turned serious as she said this: "President Zhang, after this tour ends at the end of the year, we'll probably have to settle down and release some solo albums. I've heard that quite a few record companies are planning to release albums in 94."

"Haha~"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yan laughed and pulled out a song purchase agreement from the table, saying, "Great minds think alike. I just discussed it with President Chen a few days ago. We'll cancel our commercial performances in the first half of next year and focus on getting the album out first."

Look, I even sent a fax yesterday, asking Zheng Zhihua to help me collect songs in Taiwan.

(End of this chapter)