Who taught you to be a celebrity like this?

"Tell me, do you want to become a legend in the Chinese music scene?!"

Zhang Xiaoqi repeated the sentence again, as if it wasn't enough. He stood up excitedly and grabbed Li Ye's shoulders, shaking him repeatedly.

Li Ye easily freed his hands from his shoulders, smiling as he said, "So, are you still going to scold me for wasting my time on frivolous pursuits?"

He is still not entirely at ease accepting the honor and sense of accomplishment that the songs from Apocalypse and Dream Space bring him.

But there's no way around it, this album is just too amazing!

It's hard not to feel proud because of this.

Zhang Xiaoqi forced himself to calm down, and for a moment he seemed a little rambling. Then, as if remembering something, he clapped his hands and suddenly started rummaging through things, saying:

"These songs of yours don't just fit the theme of 'Wilderness,' they seem to weave together a 'story chain'? No, perhaps 'structure' would be a more fitting description."

"What are you looking for?"

"The key, I've bound all your lyrics and music together and put them in the safe."

"Brother, have you forgotten that this safe can also be opened with a password?" Li Ye's curiosity instantly turned into speechlessness.

Moreover, if the keys are just lying around on the table, what's the point of having this safe?

"Haha, I'm so excited! I keep all the keys here in my safe at home."

Zhang Xiaoqi wasn't embarrassed at all. He smiled nonchalantly and quickly opened the safe, pulling out a few sheets of stapled A4 paper.

Both he and Li Ye liked the feeling of words having a physical form, so in addition to the encrypted backup on the Internet, the lyrics and music of all the songs in "Wilderness" were printed out on A4 paper.

"Someone, tidy up the table."

Zhang Xiaoqi gestured for Li Ye to go to the rest area first. After his colleagues in the recording studio cleared away the clutter from the long coffee table, he waved the papers in his hand and gave a wicked smile: "Then, together we'll witness the greatest album in the history of Chinese pop music!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he arranged the papers in two rows on the table, placing them one by one.

"That's really an exaggeration, Teacher Zhang!"

Li Ye shook his head and chuckled, then rearranged the order of the papers—

Running, White Dove, Light, Blue Lotus, Blooming Life, Boundless Oceans, Boundless Oceans, Ordinary Road, Once Upon a Time, Me, Me (Cantonese).

"Exaggerated? Where's the exaggeration?! All ten songs are high-quality tracks, with a unified and complete theme, and they even have depth. I'm asking you, which album can even come out and compete with that?"

Zhang Xiaoqi absolutely would not allow Li Ye to look down on himself.

The album is both profound and popular, a perfect blend of commercial appeal and musicality.

What pleased him most was that two of the Cantonese songs not only fit the album's theme but also clearly highlighted Li Ye's identity as a native of Guangdong and his feelings for his hometown language.

He's never seen such an awesome album before!

He's already prepared; if any musician dares to find fault, he'll criticize them relentlessly, until they're dead.

"Um, Teacher Zhang, could you take a look at the song order of 'Wilderness' first?"

Li Ye felt it wasn't the time to boast yet, as there was still a lot of work to be done on the album: "Here's what I think: originally we all felt that 'Running' wasn't suitable for the album, but now that all the songs are in, I think it's a great choice to use it as the opening theme..."

"Yes, yes, you're right, that's exactly what I was going to say!"

Zhang Xiaoqi nodded incessantly, like a chicken pecking at rice, occasionally clapping and cheering for Li Ye's ideas: "No problem, absolutely no problem! With a complete concept, the upbeat 'Running' doesn't feel out of place at all. And the final 'I' isn't folk, it's rock, is that a problem? Of course not!"

He felt this was the easiest album production he had ever done in his career. He didn't have to worry about the album concept, the theme, or the musical style at all; he just had to go along with it!

While the two were discussing, the others in the recording studio finally finished watching the new songs that Li Ye had brought, and their shock was no less than that of Zhang Xiaoqi.

To be honest, everyone who listened to Li Ye's first few songs, including Zhang Xiaoqi, automatically lowered their expectations for the songs that followed on the album.

Good songs aren't cheap; it's quite impressive if an album has five songs of this quality.

That's why Zhang Xiaoqi was so excited. Of course, a big reason for this was that Li Ye had added two Cantonese songs to the album.

Around 4 PM, Li Ye was still working with Zhang Xiaoqi and others on the arrangement of their new song when he received an unexpected phone call.

"What? You guys are in Guangzhou? Okay, give me an address, I'm coming now."

Seeing that Li Ye's expression was somewhat strange after hanging up the phone, Zhang Xiaoqi asked, "Are you going out?"

Li Ye nodded helplessly: "Yes, the director of 'Singer' came to me."

"Isn't this show going live the day after tomorrow? Why are they contacting you now?"

Zhang Xiaoqi was puzzled, and Li Ye was even more puzzled.

He had already declined the invitation from the "Singer" program three times. The last time, there was no news for half a month, and he thought the other party had given up. He didn't expect them to contact him at this time.

There was some traffic on the road, and it took Li Ye almost an hour to reach a restaurant that wasn't far away in his old Accord.

As luck would have it, it was the very restaurant where I first met Zhong Manyue.

Even more coincidentally, Li Ye subconsciously looked around and noticed people hurriedly putting away their cameras.

Moreover, the program director, Jiang Tao, was waiting at the entrance with his team.

Jiang Tao, who has appeared frequently on "Singer," made no attempt to conceal his face during a private meeting with a singer.

Li Ye: "..."

He already had the answer to his doubts.

The invitation is real, and the hype is real too.

Li Ye has a good understanding of his place in the entertainment industry—his status hasn't risen yet, and his popularity has declined due to his long absence from the public eye, but he still generates a lot of buzz and can easily attract attention.

He exchanged pleasantries with the other person at the door for a while without making a sound before entering the private room.

"Come on, Ah Ye, you order first."

Jiang Tao and Li Ye were meeting for the first time. They had only contacted each other online before, but they were very familiar with each other.

Firstly, he genuinely admires Li Ye, and secondly, Li Ye greatly helped promote "Singer".

However, Li Ye, after taking the menu, said, "Director Jiang, if you want me to cooperate with the show's publicity stunts, I'm willing to help, as long as I don't respond. But you don't need to go to such lengths, do you?"

Upon hearing this, the smiles on Jiang Tao's and his assistant's faces instantly froze.

Jiang Tao, being a seasoned veteran, quickly recovered and immediately feigned confusion: "Uh, is there some misunderstanding?"