A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 96 Location
The plane landed in Taiwan on the afternoon of October 20th.

Sylvia Chang brought a small convoy to pick up Lin Jianlu at the airport, with countless cameras and lenses—this time it was rather unusual, as half of the shots were focused on the girls following behind Lin Jianlu!
Over the past twenty days, this performance group has practically blown up all the neighborhoods around Taiwan. News, including many performance photos, has already spread back to Taiwan and has had a considerable impact on Lin Jianlu's fan base on the island.

In Lin Jianlu's view, this could be considered as being half a step ahead of the times.

That's why it exploded as soon as it appeared.

He gave a brief interview at the airport, just some casual rambling, his usual style, then got into the car and drove to the hotel, with paparazzi relentlessly chasing after him.

Zhang Aijia sighed helplessly and said, "How about you eat at another time?"

That won't do! We made a promise!

With no other option, Zhang Aijia arranged for Lin Jianlu to disappear halfway through the journey and change cars. Lin Xilei took the girls to a hotel to check in, rest for a while, and have dinner. Meanwhile, Lin Jianlu took the opportunity to switch to an inconspicuous Nissan Bluebird sedan. Near dusk, they arrived at Su Huilun's home in Taipei.

After a month or so apart, as soon as he entered the door, he picked up Su Huilun, hugged and kissed her for a while, put her down, and then went over and picked up Chen Shuhua—Su Huilun pouted, but didn't say anything.

We agreed to have dinner together tonight.

She bought her own house, and there is a housekeeper who cleans and cooks for her. However, after preparing a sumptuous dinner today, she sent the housekeeper home for half a day off.

We ate together and chatted.

We can't stay for very long, as there's a performance in the evening, so we only have time for one meal.

We exchanged some news since we last met. Although most of it had already been discussed on previous phone calls, talking about it face-to-face now seemed to be a way of showing more details and also a way of expressing our lingering feelings after being apart.

Su Huilun is an extremely hardworking and dedicated singer.

This year, she not only released "Lemon-tree," her eighth Mandarin album in six years since her debut, but also released a Cantonese album in February called "Naturally Like You." In April, she co-organized several small concerts with Guo Zi in Taiwan called "Guo Youhui." At the beginning of this month, she released her personal EP "Lemon Original Dance," which includes several remixes of "Lemon-Tree." Now, her new, ninth Mandarin album, "Duck," is mostly recorded, but her next Cantonese album, "Talking about Su Huilun's X-Files," has already been basically completed around the same time and is expected to be released in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other regions in mid-November—she's incredibly hardworking.

In comparison, Chen Shuhua is actually quite lazy, in a semi-resting state.

However, Su Huilun had gained a little weight, while Chen Shuhua had lost a lot of weight, appearing several pounds lighter when held – touching her face, she was so thin it was almost heartbreaking, “How could you lose so much weight?”

The reason is actually known. It's all because of all the trouble.

Her relationship with her mother became increasingly strained, with constant arguments, both big and small. At the beginning of the month, her mother fell ill again and stayed in the hospital for nearly ten days, which terrified her.

Her mother hoped that she could marry into a wealthy family, but she absolutely forbade her from liking a charming and talented man who was 18 years younger than her—especially since he was most likely to be someone else's lover!

She painstakingly nurtured a superstar throughout her life, how could she possibly become someone else's mistress after achieving such success? What was the point of all her hard work in this life? Why not just become someone's mistress at such a young age? — Her health was already poor, and in a fit of anger, she became bedridden.

Her mother recovered, but she was angry, anxious, and irritable, and perhaps even felt quite guilty. In short, she couldn't hold on and fell ill herself, remaining sick for almost a week.

This happened not long before it became most noticeable during meals; she seemed to have little appetite.

However, he didn't have time to comfort her slowly. "I'm going to perform first. I'll be in Taiwan for a few days, and then I'll go to Hong Kong to wrap up this trip. When I come back, I'll try to stay here for a few more days. Then I'll go with you to look at houses and see all the ones you mentioned."

In the end, Lin Jianlu hugged her tightly, stroked her hair, kissed her repeatedly, then waved to Su Huilun and pulled her into his arms as well, saying, "Wait for me, I'll come back and take care of all this!"

…………

Performing at shows.

Four days, twelve shows, one after another.

The prices have been rising again and again, reaching as high as 400 million NT dollars per show, just for two songs. That's equivalent to 13 US dollars, which is over one million RMB!
Everyone considers this kind of money-making scheme to be extremely important!
In Taiwan's performance market, no Chinese-language singer has ever received such a performance fee. A typical concert by a singer sells around 6,000 to 10,000 tickets, considered a bestseller, with an average ticket price of around NT$1,000. Total ticket revenue is roughly NT$5-6 million to NT$10 million. After deducting costs for venue, ticketing, promotion, and the promoter's own profit, the singer receives only NT$2-4 million in performance fees. The singer also has to cover expenses for the performance team, including musicians, dancers, stylists, costumes, etc. Therefore, the actual income from a concert is only NT$1-2 million.

No one in the Chinese music scene would dare to dream of someone like Lin Chien-lu, who could simply dress casually, perform two songs in less than ten minutes, and easily earn four million NT dollars.

This treatment is only given to top-tier European and American brands.

In fact, even if Lin Jianlu had been asking for a high price before, the promoters would never have agreed to more than $100,000 per show – $70,000 to $80,000 per show was the accurate value he was worth after becoming famous throughout Asia.

However, his previous tour, which could barely be categorized as a small tour, has taken off like a whirlwind, from Southeast Asia to Japan and South Korea. His explosive live performances, including singing, dancing, and showing off his long legs, have directly propelled his price to break the 100,000 mark!
Go on stage, sing, dance, show off your bare legs, spout a few memorable quotes and blessings, take the money, and leave.

In four days, he pocketed NT$4800 million in Taiwan!
Coincidentally, during this process, Lao Duan called personally and brought good news: according to accurate information, the official sales of "Cold to the End" have officially and officially broken through the ten million mark!

Moreover, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's diamond certification is already on its way!

Basically, the business of the album "Cold to the End" has come to an end here. Any further sales will only be for a few collectors. It rose very quickly and was extremely popular. Despite trying to follow the promotional route of big European and American brands, it still squeezed out all the sales in this market in just six months!
For example, in Hong Kong, sales figures are approaching 800,000 copies—a record unprecedented and unlikely to be surpassed in the future. Even during the peak of the rivalry between Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung, sales were only around 600,000 copies. "Kiss Goodbye" was a hit across Asia, and before "Cold to the End" appeared, it topped the Chinese music scene in sales, yet its sales in Hong Kong were still less than 600,000 copies. Lin Jianlu, an outsider, relied on his handsome and rugged appearance, excellent lyrics and music, novel and catchy arrangements, and various other favorable conditions to raise the record for record sales by over 100,000 copies in just six months! However, even so, everyone knows that it's just a little short of breaking 800,000 copies and reaching a new high, but two months have passed, and it still hasn't reached that mark!
It seems to have stopped at around 78 units, and sales have completely stalled.

Hong Kong only has six million people. It's no exaggeration to say that any individual or family that has a habit of listening to music, even if they are not usually active and not sensitive to new popular songs, has already bought them all. So how could there be any new sales?

Of course, making money from commercial performances is still quite easy!

They're really popular.

Two days, five shows, HK$450 million!
She remains the only singer in all of Asia to enjoy the status of a top-tier (or near-top-tier) artist in Europe and America!

After the performance, we're done.

In short, "I will not accept any more commercial performances before the start of my world tour next year!"

I'll rest for a night and have a nice sleep while holding Liang Yongqi in my arms.

Then, the next morning after breakfast, Lin Jianlu gathered everyone together again and personally gave each of the girls HKD 20,000 in cash as a gift. This was not included in the performance fee, which would be RMB 100,000 per person. The settlement would be made when they returned to the capital. Now, led by his assistant Lin Xilei, with Ge Fuhong providing the car, driver, and bodyguards, they were to go shopping, spend money, and make a purchase!
The girls were overjoyed.

Liang Yongqi was watching from the side. On the first night that Lin Jianlu and his group arrived in Hong Kong, her face turned quite ugly when she first saw such a group of beautiful women.

At this moment, I was still tense and had mixed feelings.

She was usually quite confident. In the Hong Kong entertainment circle, apart from a very few "older women," she didn't think she was any less attractive than others. But looking at Lin Jianlu's group of backup dancers, not only were they all as youthful and beautiful as herself, but several of them were even very good-looking.

Especially that girl, with her aloof and cool appearance, fair skin, large breasts, slender waist, and long legs, she was simply too beautiful to be real—at first glance, Liang Yongqi felt a little inferior.

The other person is a dancer, so they must be flexible and more "fun" than I am.

There was another girl who looked a bit older, probably around twenty-five or twenty-six. She was not only gentle and elegant, but also possessed an indescribable charm. Even among a group of beautiful women, she always kept a low profile and stayed in the back. But Liang Yongqi could still intuitively feel that this woman must be very attractive to Lin Jianlu. By now, who didn't know that Lin Jianlu liked older women?

Someone like her is almost perfect—beautiful, elegant, gentle, a dancer, and a little older than Lin Jianlu, but not so much older as to be exaggerated like Lin Qingxia or Chen Shuhua—she's practically the perfect prey!
Fortunately, there's no indication yet that Lin Jianlu has any unusual interactions with them.

But I'll still eat vinegar.

His face was pale, his smile awkward. Yet he dared not speak, dared not interfere.

Her agent, Ge Fuhong, leaned over at some point and whispered, "If it doesn't work out, just let go. He won't only love you; he has too many choices. Wouldn't it be better to keep a friendship? Don't hurt yourself!"

Liang Yongqi lowered her head, even more unhappy, "But... I just love him!"

Ge Fuhong sighed and shrugged, "Who doesn't love it?"

She's a discerning person—what's the point of arguing about love? The key is, you can't win the argument!

After signing the contract for six months, she had become quite familiar with Lin Jianlu.

He's principled, and while he may have some of the arrogance and laziness typical of a talented person, he's quite dedicated, mainly because he respects making money and takes his promises very seriously. Even at the height of his fame, he never acts like a diva.

Based on this point alone, there is no artist easier to manage than him.

Conversely, he is far too clever for an agent. Even with her extensive experience and her collaboration with Zhang Aijia, where they subtly and overtly maneuvered, she still had to admit that she hadn't been able to break through Lin Jianlu's defenses. She clearly realized that she simply couldn't control him—it was definitely not a matter of distrust. He never hid things from Lin Xilei about who he slept with, which meant he didn't hide anything from her, indicating extreme trust.

However, there is one rule that is fixed and cannot be broken: Lin Xilei cannot go to the mainland!
Several attempts were made, but it was completely impossible and not allowed.

As an agent, who wouldn't want their most profitable artist to be obedient and completely follow their arrangements? Otherwise, with Lin Xilei's stunning looks, why would they entrust her to him as an assistant? Is it simply to use his influence to push her out and find acting opportunities?
If you can even control your lover, then you can certainly control this person more firmly!
But it didn't work. Lin Xilei was so beautiful, yet she couldn't move him at all—or rather, he was so smart that he saw through everything from the very beginning and always remained restrained, never losing his mind, but always soberly playing this tug-of-war game with him, knowing when to advance and when to retreat.

Sylvia Chang clearly chose Rene Liu, but Rene Liu was in a worse predicament.

Not only is she not as pretty as Lin Xilei, but she is also less humble and smarter than Lin Xilei. After she became famous for shooting a music video, she actually rushed around to make money—it's ridiculous!
However, it turns out that I wasn't much better off!
Lin Xilei complained to herself countless times, "I want to seduce Lu Ge, but he doesn't like me!"
By sheer chance, Liang Yongqi, this clumsy girl, managed to take a step in, but as it turned out, even if she was smarter than Liu Ruoying, her intelligence was limited. Not to mention carefully climbing the ladder, she didn't even know her own worth in Lin Jianlu's heart, yet she actually fell deeply in love...

Ge Fuhong was also speechless and had no solution.

Fortunately, the boundaries have been clarified, and Lin Jianlu has no complaints about her work or the past detours and tests. So... let it be!

I can't control him; I'm just working for him!

(End of this chapter)