Huayu 2011: Starting with Hilarious Men

Among Zheng Nan's many QQ friends, there is only one person who likes to use Crayon Shin-chan emojis to start conversations, and that person is Dilraba.

19-year-old Dilraba possesses a beauty untouched by the taint of the entertainment industry, which is why Zheng Nan enjoys chatting with her.

When I opened QQ, the first thing I saw was a Crayon Shin-chan emoji with a crooked mouth.

Zheng Nan was very curious about where Dilraba found so many Crayon Shin-chan emoji packs. They had been chatting for so long, and Zheng Nan hadn't seen any duplicates.

"I saw on your Weibo that you wrote a song, and it's quite nice. Who's the girl who sings it?"

All of the preceding words were just preamble; the final question is what Dilraba truly wanted to ask.

"The company's new singer. You know this girl, she's the one who sang at the bar when we were filming your scenes for season two." Zheng Nan always felt like Dilraba was spying on him.

"Now I remember, no wonder it sounded familiar." (Attached is a Shin-chan meme of sudden realization.)

"For a company to grow, it always needs to absorb fresh talent."

"Hehe, I was just asking out of curiosity." Reba sensed that Zheng Nan was being a little too concerned about what was happening around her, so she quickly changed the subject: "Are you free next Saturday?"

"Next Saturday? I'm free right now, what's up?"

"I passed the audition video for 'Micro Era' and they invited me to Beijing for an interview. I remember you've been to Beijing a lot recently, so I was wondering if you have time to come with me," Dilraba extended the invitation.

"Is the boss in a relationship?" After recording "My Song," Chen Li walked over to Aya and asked curiously.

"I don't know, but judging from the smile on the boss's face, the person he's chatting with must be a girl." Aya hasn't known Zheng Nan for very long and doesn't know him well.

"The boss is tall and handsome, and talented, but his overly dramatic and easily startled nature is unbearable."

"Being easily startled may be due to high energy levels. Such people have active minds and often jump from one idea to another."

Chen Li and Aya huddled together and whispered about the cricket boss.

Zheng Nan hesitated when faced with Dilraba's invitation.

He knew that Reba was going to Beijing to see Yang Mi. If he went to Beijing with Reba, would it change her future?

In fact, Zheng Nan knew that his future had already been changed the moment he was reborn.

Humans are complex beings, and they inevitably struggle with various issues.

"The vast horizon is my love, and flowers are blooming at the foot of the rolling green hills..."

Just then, the phone rang. The caller ID showed Liu Chun.

"Hey, Mr. Liu, what brings you here to call me?"

The broadcast time for the second season of "Hilarious Men" has been decided after a meeting.

The first episode will air on Friday, December 2nd at 8 PM. The frequency of airing will then be changed from two episodes per week in the first season to one episode per week.

"With eight episodes like this, it will end on January 20th." Liu Chun told Zheng Nan the results of the meeting.

Chinese New Year is early this year; it's Lunar New Year's Eve on January 22nd.

The Spring Festival Gala still has considerable influence, so after some internal discussion, Sohu decided to finish broadcasting it before Lunar New Year's Eve.

"OK, got it." The copyright for the second season belongs to Sohu, so they can decide when to air it, and Zheng Nan has no objections whatsoever.

"Also, if you have time, come to Sohu and record an episode of 'Dapeng Debade' with Dapeng. It'll be perfect for promotional hype in November."

Just as Reba invited him to Beijing, Liu Chun called.

Is this fate? Or just a coincidence?

"I'll go next Saturday," Zheng Nan said after a moment's thought.

Liu Chun said he wasn't in a hurry and could come anytime within the next two months.

"Next Saturday."

"Alright, I didn't expect you to be so impatient. I'll let the greenhouse manager know and have him prepare the program script for you in advance."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Chun thought to himself that he would have to work overtime again in the greenhouse.

Dilraba waited on the other end of the phone for a long time, but Zheng Nan didn't reply. She typed a lot of words and then quietly deleted them, finally leaving only six words: "If it's inconvenient, then forget it."

"No problem at all. Mr. Liu from Sohu just called and invited me to record a program at Sohu next week. We can go to Beijing together."

"What a coincidence! That's wonderful!" Dilraba exclaimed excitedly.

"I'm still working here, let's talk tonight."

"Okay, let's chat tonight." Dilraba chuckled and covered her chest with her hands.

"Dilraba, what's with that expression? Are you swooning?" Yuan Bingyan asked, leaning over when she heard Dilraba's laughter.

…………

After putting down his phone, Zheng Nan noticed that Chen Li and Aya were almost hugging each other.

"What are you two talking about? Why are you standing so close?" Zheng Nan asked.

"It's nothing, it's nothing!" Chen Li and Aya waved their hands in unison. How could they tell the boss about something like this?

"Is the song recording finished?"

"Recording is finished." The two women nodded.

"Release both songs together tonight. You two should discuss the promotion strategies for each platform. If you really need to buy traffic or boost the charts, apply for funding in advance."

"Received." Little ox and horse, received, received.

That evening, both songs, "The Song of Wonderful Abilities" and "In My Song," were released simultaneously. Chen Li herself preferred "The Song of Wonderful Abilities" and thought it would be a hit, while Zheng Nan held the completely opposite view.

Thanks to Zheng Nan's promotion on Weibo, the two songs, unlike typical new songs by new artists that go unheard of, gained considerable popularity right from the start.

As Zheng Nan predicted, the subsequent two songs followed suit. "My Song" was more in line with the tastes of netizens at this time, and its popularity remained higher than that of "The Song of Wonderful Abilities".

As the song gained popularity and spread wider, netizens who had heard similar demos on Renren.com soon raised questions: "Why do I feel like I've heard this song, 'You Exist in My Song,' before?"

However, such comments were ultimately few and far between, and did not attract much attention.

On September 12th, Qu Wanting, who was studying at the University of California, MIT, accidentally came across "My Song" and was immediately stunned.

Isn't this my song?

I haven't finished writing it yet, who will complete and publish it?

After listening to it several times, Qu Wanting confirmed that the song was highly similar to the demo she had previously released.

This is plagiarism!

Qu Wanting angrily logged onto Weibo, Renren, and other platforms to accuse Zheng Nan of plagiarism!

Especially on Renren.com, Qu Wanting once posted a demo there, and many netizens who have heard it can testify that she was the one who posted the demo clip first.

Currently, Qu Wanting is unknown in China and has little fame, but she is a celebrity among international students at the University of California, Massachusetts.

Because Qu Wanting signed with Nettwerk in 2009, becoming their first Chinese singer.

As a result, with many international students from MIT speaking out one after another, the plagiarism controversy gained traction and quickly became a trending topic on Weibo.