A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 147 Bad Guys!

After recording all eight songs, Lin Jianlu felt a sense of peace.

Especially after recording "Lose-Yourself," which he had previously considered a major challenge, and seeing the excellent results, he immediately felt more at ease.

Creating is difficult, but copying, practicing, or even imitating successful templates is much easier—there are still seven songs left to record, but that's a minor issue.

There was a second round of CCTV's Spring Festival Gala rehearsals on the 22nd, so he definitely had to go back early. But now that he was more settled, Lin Jianlu wasn't in such a hurry to record songs anymore. He had been to New York two or three times, but he hadn't even had a proper time to relax and enjoy the city. So he simply stopped recording and went shopping with his girlfriend.

Lin Xilei immediately let loose, and even Zhang Aijia was quite excited.

Lin Jianlu said he would pay for the whole meal.

Chen Hong was clearly also somewhat tempted, but seemed a little embarrassed – the items were all too expensive, the unit price alone was already very high, and the key point was that they were sold in US dollars.

She had saved up some money from her years as an actress, making her a big shot in China. But when converted to dollars, the value immediately dropped drastically. In a shopping mall where a pair of shoes starts at a thousand dollars and a lipstick costs several hundred dollars, it's really daunting.

So Lin Jianlu simply took it upon himself to dress her up.

Her appearance is dignified, elegant, and beautiful, and her figure is tall and slender, making her extremely suitable for carrying off all kinds of styles of clothing. Simply put, what looks good on those strikingly beautiful European and American models will definitely look good on her too.

From skirts to shirts to T-shirts to coats to pants to high heels to boots to lipsticks to perfumes—the last time Lin Jianlu took her and Yu Feihong shopping at Dior, she picked out a few things for each of them. This time, she was only taking care of her, so she put in even more effort, changing everything from head to toe.

Later on, neither Sylvia Chang nor Lin Hsi-lei made their own choices; they just stood there watching Lin Jianlu dote on women.

Zhang Aijia, arms crossed, scoffed, "Look at him! What woman wouldn't love a man like that? Talented, handsome, good at making money, and willing to spend it on you—except you don't know who he's with at night, he's practically perfect!" She then turned to Lin Xilei, suddenly slapping her on the butt. Lin Xilei jumped in surprise, turning back to look at her. Zhang Aijia continued sarcastically, "You're really stupid. You have a face, a chest, and a butt, and you haven't managed to get into his bed in six months!"

Lin Xilei looked embarrassed and ashamed that her sore spot had been touched, and pleaded, "Sister..."

There was no need for her to back down; once the words were out, Zhang Aijia realized it was pointless—the one she chose was even worse, and it seemed that the girl still didn't understand what she had missed.

Ha, what a bunch of idiots!
If it were me, even if I were just ten years younger, would it be your turn?

"Perfect!"

They bought Chen Hong a lot of clothes and shoes, giving her several outfits, and also bought her two bags, spending a total of fifty or sixty thousand dollars. Lin Xilei also spent more than ten thousand dollars. Zhang Aijia was the most restrained, only taking two items and then stopping. In the end, Lin Jianlu thought a hat was nice and put it directly on Chen Hong's head.

She was also very happy, looking at herself in the mirror back and forth, glancing at me with a smug look, "At least you have a conscience, you didn't waste all those days I spent here with you!" After a moment, she added, "You have good taste!"

Well, once the money is spent, everyone's happy.

It would be even more perfect if we had another big meal.

Then I went back to rest for the night, and the next morning I boarded the plane again.

Fly here, fly there, fly today, fly tomorrow.

A one-way trip takes a whole day.

But there's nothing I can do. I can only comfort myself by saying that I'm already halfway there, so it'll be over soon.

…………

Sylvia Chang went to Hong Kong to pick up her son, while Hsi-lei Lin went back to Taiwan for a short break.

Lin Jianlu naturally took Chen Hong back to the capital.

After taking Chen Hong to her newly rented apartment and sitting there for a while, Lin Jianlu sent Lao Xue to take her luggage back to the courtyard house. Lin Jianlu, however, went to the New Grand Hotel alone.

Not only did Su Huilun come, but Chen Shuhua also flew over specially.

Su Huilun was there to participate in the Spring Festival Gala rehearsal, but Chen Shuhua was simply there to see Lin Jianlu.

I knocked on the door and went into the room, hugging this one and that one, carefully looking at this belly and then that belly—clearly, even after two months, there wouldn't be a single sign of pregnancy.

But I've already gone to the hospital for a checkup and it's confirmed that I'm pregnant.

Even though they were very young and the hospital couldn't detect it, they had both secretly consulted traditional Chinese medicine practitioners who said that Su Huilun was carrying a girl and Chen Shuhua was carrying a boy.

"Tsk, what a taste of life! One shot and you have a son and a daughter!"

Su Huilun looked down on him with disdain, while Chen Shuhua just laughed. But the two of them missed him terribly. Although it wasn't convenient for them to do anything, it was nice to snuggle in his arms and chat.

They should both have been doing promotional work.

"Duck" has been on the market for over a month and has sold extremely well, exceeding 100,000 copies for three consecutive weeks. In the fourth week, it dropped below 100,000 copies, but still remained at around 80,000 copies. This indicates that the album has a very high probability of ultimately selling over 800,000 copies in Taiwan, and there is even a certain chance that it will touch the million-copy mark.

If they can get 800,000 copies in Taiwan alone, selling 1.5 million copies across Asia is a piece of cake.

Next, "Duck" will be performed as a solo on the Spring Festival Gala. Mo Yan plans to give it a big push in mainland China. It may not be a huge hit, but Su Huilun will be able to benefit from the mainland market!

Moreover, even without the boost from sales in mainland China, this is already Su Huilun's best performance to date, surpassing "Lemon-tree" from earlier this year—however, in fact, before "Duck," "Lemon-tree" was already Su Huilun's breakthrough work.

In short: Her luck has turned! Two Mandarin albums within a year, each one more explosive than the last!

With these two albums, she has already laid a solid foundation. All she needs is a dominant album to reach the level of a superstar. When it comes to dominance, sales are just the foundation. Critical acclaim and at least one hit song that becomes a nationwide sensation are the core!

For example... something like "Chasing the Light" from Chen Shuhua's new album.

Chen Shuhua has always been a dominant female singer in Taiwan. At her peak, the only one who could be said to have slightly higher national popularity and dominance was Teresa Teng back in the day.

In the 1990s, those who were more popular than her in her early years gradually retired or got married, while she rose to prominence and became the number one diva in the Taiwanese Mandarin music scene.

She went quiet for two or three years and suddenly fell from grace, but it didn't matter. Her new album, "Chasing the Light," became an instant hit—and this time, its impact rivaled that of "When Dreams Awaken," making her a sensation again in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and a star throughout the entire Chinese music scene. To everyone's astonishment, she once again firmly established herself as a super diva.

Of course, it has a direct connection with Lin Jianlu.

"Lin Jianlu handled everything" is the primary selling point of the album "Chasing the Light"!

Moreover, before the album was released, there was the incident of hitting a flyer, which was hotly discussed in Hong Kong for more than a month and is still going on. Then, after Su Huilun's "Duck" was released, it sparked heated discussions in Hong Kong media about "he only has lyrics left" and "Lin Lang has run out of ideas". A huge scandal broke out - Lin Jianlu's popularity has never gone down!
Just then, a photo of "Chasing the Light" was released, immediately silencing many of the arguments made by Hong Kong media.

In its first week on the market, the lead single "Chasing the Light" dethroned A-mei's "Sisters" from the top spot on the charts and pushed Richie Jen's recent hit "Too Softhearted" down to third place. As for the lead single "Duck," which also sold very well, it simply dropped to fifth place.

With the same novel arrangement and the same novel singing style, completely different from Chen Shuhua's previous style, coupled with the huge traffic coverage of Lin Jianlu, the central figure of the topic, it exploded in popularity.

Music critics and professional writers will have to shut up once "The Light Chaser," "Dark Fragrance," and "So Many People in This World" are released, no matter how harsh, picky, or dislike Lin Jianlu they may be.

With three songs of this caliber on an album, what more could you ask for than to be considered incapable of producing more?
For ordinary listeners and fans, songs like "Stranger" and "The Begonia at Four O'Clock Is Still Sleeping" are simple and catchy enough, and the huge, novel feeling that was almost unique to Lin Jianlu before suddenly came back.

Moreover, with the release of Chen Shuhua's album, R&B, which Lin Jianlu had previously promoted through his own best-selling album, seems to have gained more acceptance and fans. For these fans, "Summer Wind," "Poetry Water Snake Mountain Temple," and "Rooftop" are the best gifts.

All in all, everyone is happy.

Sales immediately skyrocketed.

Just last month, on December 13th, UFO Records' newcomer A-mei's debut album "Sisters" was released, and it became an instant hit. The promotional claim was that it sold over 300,000 copies in its first week, making Rock Records' "Duck" and "Too Softhearted" pale in comparison. However, with the release of "Chasing the Light," the momentum was immediately reversed—you dare to shout, but I don't dare to? I sold 500,000 copies in my first week!

Of course, the actual number was not that high; in fact, it sold just over 320,000 copies in the first week in Taiwan.

It was a huge hit in its first week, fueled by the combined expectations of Lin Jianlu and Chen Shuhua.

As for A-mei's claim of selling 30 copies in the first week, it's almost certainly an exaggeration—according to Lao Duan's estimate, it's probably around 18 copies.

"Does being too soft-hearted mean sales are low?"

It's normal that "Duck" sold well, and it's also expected that "Chasing the Light" would sell so well. But if "Too Softhearted" didn't sell well, Lin Jianlu would be surprised—even though he could clearly sense how high the frequency of album releases and how fierce the competition was in Hong Kong and Taiwan at the end of the year and the beginning of the new year.

But that's "Too Softhearted"!

"Selling well! Of course it's selling well!"

Su Huilun sat up straight as soon as she heard this. "I met him when we were doing promotions. Xiao Qi always tells me that he's been singing for so many years and hasn't become famous, but you made him famous with just one song! He said that when you go to Taiwan next time, he will definitely treat you to a proper meal! ... It sold 170,000 copies in the first week, and it has sold over 100,000 copies for three consecutive weeks now. It will definitely sell over 100,000 copies in the fourth week! It's selling like crazy! Zhang Huimei's album 'Sisters' only sold well for two or three weeks, and its staying power is not as good as Xiao Qi's album!"

So Lin Jianlu felt relieved. Although he gave "Too Softhearted" to Richie Jen largely because he didn't really need another song, he was still willing to help Richie Jen achieve his original success. But if Richie Jen lost attention and his due popularity because of his arrival and his sudden, unexpected rise to fame, he would feel that something was not quite right.

That's fine.

Perhaps with my arrival, the competition in the Chinese music scene has become even more intense. "Too Softhearted" may not be as popular as it once was, but now it seems that being able to sell more than a million copies in the Taiwan market is already a huge success!

That means the song "Too Softhearted" wasn't wasted.

Of course, looking at the current situation, "Too Softhearted" was actually overshadowed by "The Light Chaser" - often, the reasons for becoming popular are complex. Good products and solid quality are the foundation, but in addition to that, timing, location and people are also important. If any one of these is slightly lacking, the final result will be much different.

Now, in the Chinese music scene, who is more popular than me?
So, once his self-produced and "one-man show" album, *Chasing the Light*, is released, it will naturally grab the attention and ears of the vast majority of fans immediately, thus prompting them to open their wallets. Therefore, theoretically speaking, all albums released at the same time will be affected to some extent, to varying degrees.

never mind.

Anyway, all the hard work in the second half of the year has basically paid off, so that's good!
The next time I settle accounts with Rolling Stone, I'll not only collect the final payment for "Cold to the End" and the money for the "Cold to the End Million Celebration Edition," but also the royalties for a whole bunch of other works like "Lemon-tree," "Duck," "What's Left," "Too Softhearted," and "Chasing the Light."

Next, there are songs written for Emil Chau, Karen Mok, and Yee Lin...

Delicious.

"Pfft... Honey... No!"

Lin Jianlu sat on one of her laps and they were chatting happily, but after getting the general information, she started to drift off.

Su Huilun even flicked his forehead, "You bad guy!"

But immediately, Lin Jianlu turned her attention to her again, and she quickly started punching him with her little fists, whining, "No, no! I'm already so hungry, and you're still tempting and teasing me like this, I can't resist!"

***
Another 10,000 words or so, brothers. It's the middle of the month, so everyone should have some monthly tickets on hand, right?

Can you at least cast a few votes? We really don't have enough monthly tickets!
(End of this chapter)