I was slacking off on a dating reality show when the female guests treated me like a treasure chest.

Chapter 128: How to Win Over Your Group

After leaving Lin Ran's office, Chen Nian returned to his workstation. After the start of the workday, the crowd of onlookers finally dispersed, and the office became much quieter.

However, the whispered discussions and praises from colleagues could still be heard from time to time.

Chen Nian felt helpless; he had only written a few songs, and there was really no need to praise him so exaggeratedly.

But for him, there is indeed good news right now.

The subsequent song arrangements have been entirely entrusted to Lin Ran, who will communicate with Liu Ting and Zhou Yu separately to finalize the contract details.

As for the signing method, whether the other party comes over or he takes time to go over for the meeting, can be finalized later.

Currently, the arrangement has been polished, and once the contract is finalized, the arrangement will not take much longer.

As for the song I gave to Zhou Yu, I remember the arrangement still needs further improvement, but there's no rush, we can polish it slowly.

Thinking of this, Chen Nian turned on his computer, went to the short video platform to find the live video of his previous performance at the seaside resort in Haikou, and personally checked the final ranking.

He quickly found the video, and to his surprise, it also included a clip of his conversation with Xia Yao and the others at the end.

He was stunned. The guy had said that the chat hadn't been edited in, but it turned out to be shown in its entirety.

The thought that his casual remarks had been seen by the entire internet made his cheeks burn. He realized that seeing his own behind-the-scenes footage was such an embarrassing thing!

As for the data, this video has over ten million likes and millions of comments, overwhelmingly surpassing other works from the same period.

Just looking at these exaggerated statistics, he knew perfectly well that "Haikou" taking first place was a foregone conclusion.

The 100,000 yuan bonus is something I can accept with a clear conscience.

In the morning, Chen Nian would occasionally open his mobile banking app to check if the program's prize money had been deposited into his account.

Last night, he carefully calculated his income, and from this variety show recording alone, he earned more than 700,000 yuan.

Next comes the signing fees and royalties for several songs. If the first-run fees for Liu Ting and Zhou Yu's singles are settled according to the million-dollar standard agreed upon by Lin Ran, it means that his total assets will soon exceed two million.

With over two million yuan in cash, even in a first-tier city like Guangzhou where land is incredibly expensive, he could live a comfortable and secure life.

Renting a fully furnished apartment for three or four thousand yuan a month, along with daily food and drink expenses, would cost at most a little over ten thousand yuan a month. If he moved to a third or fourth-tier city, that amount of money would be enough for him to live comfortably for more than ten years.

Chen Nian was happily planning his future life, and before he knew it, the whole morning had passed by in a daze.

During his lunch break, while he was eating, several friend requests popped up on his social media app. They were from Liu Ting, Zhou Yu, and Tang Xi.

Chen Nian looked at the message and clicked to accept the friend request. A month had passed, and he still didn't know how Liu Ting and the others contacted him.

Just after he accepted the request, Liu Ting sent a message, her tone somewhat resentful, complaining that he hadn't taken the initiative to add them as friends.

Seeing this, Chen Nian replied helplessly that even if he wanted to add them, he didn't have their contact information, so how could he add them?

He then asked her out of curiosity how she got his phone number.

"I have my own way."

The next second, Liu Ting directly pulled him into a small group chat. The group consisted of five people: Liu Ting, Zhou Yu, Tang Xi, Su Xiao, and him.

"Xia Yao is still on the show, we'll bring her up later," Tang Xi said.

With the group chat enabled, Chen Nian breathed a sigh of relief. He had been constantly switching between chat interfaces to reply to their messages since the beginning.

During the meal, the group chat, consisting of only five people, was buzzing with chatter, with messages flooding the screen at breakneck speed. Chen Nian simply couldn't keep up with replying to each one.

Even Su Xiao, who is usually quite talkative, would chime in from time to time.

Chen Nian would sometimes take a bite of food with his head down, only to look up and see dozens of messages had already been sent.

"Why didn't you bring Li Tian and the others in?" Chen Nian asked curiously.

A moment after he posted this message, Zhou Yu sent an awkward emoji and said quietly, "This is a strategy guide group."

"Strategy guide group?" Chen Nian was completely confused.

Tang Xi then sent a follow-up message, accompanied by a laughing emoji.

"A group specifically designed to target you!"

"+1, "

Su Xiao:

'

..+1"

Seeing this, Chen Nian paused for a moment, then said quietly, "Don't tease me. So you guys just got back and have nothing to do, and I'm the only one working?"

The five chatted in the group for half an hour. Chen Nian was afraid that the chat would go on forever, so he put his phone in his pocket, got up, went downstairs to buy a cup of coffee, and went back to the office.

Back in the office, all the other colleagues had laid out their sleeping bags and were preparing for their lunch break, and the office was quiet.

In the past, he would use his lunch break to refine his arrangements, create new songs, or practice in an unused recording studio.

Now, even dogs don't curl up anymore.

Seeing that they all had nap bags, Chen Nian silently made a mental note to buy one for himself later. Right now, without any equipment, he could only take a short nap on the table.

Lying face down on the table, he was wide awake, his mind constantly racing with future development plans.

Logically speaking, with his current creative talent, he shouldn't need to rely on company resources anymore, but Lin Ran's words this morning have given him a wake-up call.

The development paths of independent creators and those signed to companies are vastly different. Within a company, one's work can connect with a massive number of signed singers, offering countless suitable options.

If you're going solo and developing independently, without connections or resources, you can't just write a song and go door-to-door asking people to audition and promote it.

Before accumulating enough industry connections, a company is the best resource springboard. The safest option is to wait until you have accumulated a large number of singer resources and connections before considering going solo.

Chen Nian deeply agreed. What he lacked most right now was industry resources and connections. He had only added Liu Ting and Zhou Yu's contact information today, which showed how weak his connections had been before.

In the afternoon, Chen Nian basically slacked off. After a morning of getting used to it, he had long since become accustomed to his colleagues' sidelong glances and didn't care as long as they didn't deliberately bother him.

Sitting in front of the computer, Chen Nian idly browsed various materials to pass the time, including entertainment news, film and television history, and national cultural history.

He used to have no interest in these things, but now that he's calmed down, he's become more and more engrossed, discovering countless obscure and interesting historical details.

As for Lin Ran, she seemed busy today, with a constant stream of visitors to her office and department staff coming and going to coordinate work.

It wasn't until after 5 p.m., as the sun was setting and it was almost time to leave work, that Lin Zai finally took a moment to stand at the office door and call out to Chen Nian, asking him to come in.

Upon hearing this, Chen Nian got up, stretched, and went to his office. Once inside, he discovered a stranger in the room—a middle-aged bald man with a smile on his face.

The other person spoke first, introducing himself: "Hello, Chen Nian, I am Li Qiang, the director of the artist department."

Chen Nian nodded slightly in response: "Hello, Director Li."

He sat down to the side, looked at Lin Zai, and waited for him to continue.

Lin Ran pondered for a moment and slowly said, "It's like this, Director Li just contacted me. The artist department wants to acquire your songs 'Heaven and Earth Dragon Scales,' 'Twilight,' and 'Haikou' for the Sydney Competition, and have them sung by the company's main singer, Chen Feng."

"Chen Feng?" Chen Nian paused slightly, recalling the name, and quickly remembered it; he was someone the company had been focusing on developing over the past two years.

The emerging singers are being heavily promoted and given significant resources.

On the way back to China, Lin Zai had mentioned to him that candidate singers had been selected for these songs, and auditions would be arranged for everyone.

He had expected multiple rounds of screening and selection, but the company decided on the candidate directly.

Chen Nian immediately voiced his doubts.

Li Qiang, who was standing nearby, quickly chimed in to explain: "Well, after discussing it internally, we decided to let Chen Feng sing directly, without having to hold a public audition."

"Of course, we offer top-tier compensation, based on the salary of a top arranger and composer. The first installment will be 800,000 yuan, and subsequent royalties will be based on the industry market rate."

Upon hearing this, Chen Nian frowned almost imperceptibly.

The initial publication fee of 800,000 yuan was actually lower than the price offered to Liu Ting and Zhou Yu.

It's worth noting that Liu Ting and her friends had been friends for a month, yet they still offered a one million yuan price as a friendship fee. It's truly outrageous that the company is trying to lower the price for their collaboration.

Even if Liu Ting and Zhou Yu wanted to negotiate the price down to 800,000, he, being a bit of a penny-pincher, would have to think it over.

After a moment's thought, Chen Nian made a decision and said, "President Li, I only have one requirement for these three songs: whether it's Chen Feng or any other singer, they must pass the audition and their voices must be a good match for my approval."

"The suitability is good enough, anyone can sing it. As for the price, we'll discuss it in detail after the audition."

Upon hearing this, Li Qiang praised Chen Feng's outstanding talent and top-notch singing skills, trying to persuade Chen Nian to finalize the deal directly. However, Chen Nian ignored him completely.

Before personally hearing the audition, any praise or guarantee is meaningless; a good song paired with a poor voice is a complete waste.

Seeing Chen Nian's resolute attitude, Li Qiang could only turn to Lin Zai, hoping she would step in to mediate.

Lin Ran shrugged slightly, making her stance clear: "You've heard Chen Nian's request, everything will be based on the audition results. Why don't you arrange for Chen Feng to come and audition?"

The scene became somewhat awkward. Li Qiang's original intention was to directly acquire all three songs and give them to Chen Feng, thus skipping the audition process and avoiding any unforeseen circumstances.

Seeing this, Lin Ran said bluntly, "President Li, whether it's gold or stone, we'll only know after trying it. Giving these three songs to singers who aren't a good fit would be the biggest waste. You should understand this principle."

As the head of the creative department, her primary responsibility is to safeguard the rights and interests of the department's creators and the quality of their works.

Li Qiang's expression softened slightly, and he forced a smile: "Okay, then I'll go and talk to President Wang again."

After saying that, he got up and left the office.

Watching Li Qiang's departing figure, Lin Ran shook her head helplessly.

She turned to Chen Nian and said, "Although you said before that you would make the arrangements, the final decision on how to choose the song and who to sing it is entirely in your hands."

Chen Nian immediately grinned and flattered, "That's right, you know, I only believe what my eldest sister says."

"Don't call me 'big sister,' I've told you so many times, I'm only three months older than you..." Lin Ran frowned slightly, rolled her eyes at him, and then threw several files of potential singers in front of him.

"These are the singers I've shortlisted. Take a look when you have time, and let me know if you want to arrange an audition."

.

Chen Nian took the documents, glanced at the time, and seeing that it was almost time to leave work, said, "It's time to leave work. I'll take a closer look tomorrow."

Lin Ran glanced at him helplessly, then asked, "Hasn't the program's prize money arrived yet?"

"Not yet."

"I'll ask around for you later," Lin Ran said casually. "Once the money arrives, you can take some time this weekend to look at the apartment. Why don't you go check out my place first?"