Huayu 2011: Starting with Hilarious Men

Friday, July 9, 2011.

Five days have passed since school started, and Chen Li has found these five days incredibly boring.

University life was not what she had imagined; it wasn't exciting at all, so she decided to join a band and sing.

The thought of tomorrow being Saturday, another chance to audition for the band, filled Chen Li with joy. She silently prayed, "I hope I can officially join the Dreamers band tomorrow."

Chen Li has not officially joined the band Dreamers yet. At the end of August, Chen Li came to school to register and searched for music online. She saw that a band called Dreamers was recruiting a female lead singer, so she went to audition. The first audition was held in the bar where Zheng Nan was filming "Hilarious Men".

When Ding Xiu asked for her contact information, Chen Li was quite looking forward to it for the first two or three days, hoping to receive a call from Ding Xiu.

Ten days have passed and no one has contacted her, so Chen Li has given up hope.

"Buzz~ Buzz~"

Chen Li's phone suddenly started vibrating. She looked at it and saw that it was a call from an unknown number, and the location was in Northeast China.

Telecom fraud has spread to Northeast China?

Chen Li rejected the call without hesitation.

Just as I was about to put my phone down, the unknown number called again.

"That scammer's pretty dedicated!" Chen Li thought irritably, lowering her head and hiding under her desk to answer the phone quietly, "Hello, who is it?"

"Are you the singer Chen Li? This is Zheng Nan."

"I don't care if it's real or fake! I'm a student, I don't have any money! Stop hitting me!" Chen Li snapped angrily. Don't these scammers get any rest at night?

"I'm Zheng Nan, the one who filmed 'Hilarious Men.' My uncle left you his contact information when you were singing at the bar before," Zheng Nan quickly explained.

When her uncle was mentioned, Chen Li remembered and quickly apologized.

"Sorry, I thought it was a scammer when I saw the unfamiliar number."

"It's only eight o'clock at night, are you asleep?" Zheng Nan asked, puzzled. Chen Li's voice was so soft.

"I'm in evening self-study!" Chen Li replied pitifully.

The University of International Business and Economics in Shanghai has relatively strict management of freshmen, including evening self-study sessions.

"Are you off tomorrow? I think you have a great voice and I'd like to sign you. I wonder if you'd be interested?" Zheng Nan asked bluntly.

"Interested, interested," Chen Li replied quickly.

"Stop making calls! The student council is coming to check your phones!" Someone patted Chen Li on the shoulder.

"I'll send you an address in a bit, it's my company's address. Just come over tomorrow, you can go to your evening study session first." After saying that quickly, Zheng Nan hung up the phone.

…………

The following day, Saturday.

Chen Li arrived at the office building in Baoshan District carrying a small schoolbag.

The directions led to Sennan Entertainment Co., Ltd.

"Hello." Chen Li knocked on the door from the outside.

"Go in." Ding Xiu stood up, glanced at the room, and then said.

"Zheng Nan called me yesterday and asked me to come." Chen Li had a deep impression of Ding Xiu.

"Zheng Nan went out to pick up her agent and will be right back. You can find somewhere to sit for a while," Ding Xiu replied, then continued chatting on his phone.

Chen Li looked around. It was a standard office layout, about 60 square meters outside, with six workstations. Only two of the workstations had computers, the other four were empty, and there were two separate small rooms with the doors closed so that you couldn't see inside.

Not long after, Zheng Nan brought Aya in.

Zheng Nan doesn't know much about signing artists, so naturally she has to find a professional.

"This is your manager, Aya, and this is Chen Li, a singer I have high hopes for," Zheng Nan introduced from the center.

Aya looked at Chen Li with some curiosity. What a young singer! She looked about the same age as Zheng Nan, like a college student.

Zheng Nan applied for SP for her before, could it be that Zheng Nan has a crush on her?

As a female agent, Aya knows a lot of gossip in the industry, so sometimes her thoughts are quite dirty.

"Hello Zheng Nan, we don't know each other before, right?" Chen Li asked first.

"I don't know him, I've never seen him before, what's wrong?" Zheng Nan shook his head.

"You only heard me sing once in a bar, and you already think highly of me?" Chen Li asked, puzzled.

"I think your voice is very unique." Zheng Nan couldn't very well say, "You're going to be a big star in the future, I want to sign you in advance so you can make money for me."

"Are you perfect pitch or relative pitch?" Chen Li asked a very professional question.

"No, that's not it. I wrote an original song that I felt would suit you perfectly. A man's intuition is usually very accurate." When things are hard to explain, just attribute it to metaphysics.

"What song?" Chen Li got excited as soon as the song was mentioned.

"The Song of Wonderful Abilities"

"Okay, what's the song title?"

"The song is called 'The Song of Wonderful Abilities,' and here are the lyrics."

Chen Li took the lyrics and immediately found the first four lines very appealing.

I've seen torrential rain in the desert.

I've seen the ocean kiss a shark.

Having watched dusk chase dawn,

I haven't seen you before.

The lyrics are so nonsensical, yet they somehow feel very fitting for her.

Without Zheng Nan providing the music, Chen Li hummed the lyrics unconsciously.

Aya has never managed a singer, but she listens to music often and has basic appreciation skills.

Just listening to this short clip of Chen Li humming, Aya thought it sounded really good, even better than some of the popular hit songs right now.

Aya looked at Zheng Nan in surprise. It was true that K-sister Cai Yinong, who was known in Shanghai's entertainment circle, praised Zheng Nan as a talented man.

"It sounds great! What do you think of this song?" Zheng Nan clapped for Chen Li.

"It feels so fitting for me." Chen Li put down the lyrics, somewhat dazed.

"Are you interested in signing a contract with the company now?" Zheng Nan thought to herself, "How could it not be a perfect fit for you? It's written by your future self."

"Um, what kind of benefits can the company offer me?"

"Five social insurances and one housing fund," Zheng Nan blurted out.

Then he saw Aya and Chen Li looking at him with puzzled expressions.

Aya was baffled because she never expected that there would be people in the entertainment industry who would pay for the five social insurances and one housing fund for their artists.

Chen Li felt confused because, as a college student, she had no concept of the five social insurances and one housing fund.

"What kind of treatment do you want?" Zheng Nan asked in return.

"Can I sing this song?" Chen Li asked expectantly, holding up the lyrics.

"It was written for you, what do you think?"

"Great! We can sign the contract!" Chen Li cheered.

"Aren't you going to ask about the contract details? What if it's an unfair contract clause?" Zheng Nan thought to himself, criticizing this innocent yet foolish college student who had no idea about the benefits of social insurance and housing provident fund and could be tricked into giving it away with just a song.

"Is this an unfair contract term?" Chen Li turned to look at Aya.

"..." Aya was speechless.

After some explanation, Aya went on to explain the various aspects of signing with a company to Chen Li, who was completely new to the business.

"You should be glad you met Zheng Nan and me. If it were a shady company, they would have signed you to a ten-year contract and set a high penalty for breach of contract, making it impossible for you to leave."

Aya wasn't trying to scare Chen Li. Many shell companies like to trick naive young people into signing unfair contracts, taking advantage of their reluctance to cancel.

"How should we sign the contract?" Chen Li asked, her eyes wide.