My agency went bankrupt before I even got on stage.

As soon as Lin Fan returned to the factory, his accompanying PD Liu Jia rushed over: "Lin Fan, you're finally back! People from Tianlai Music came early this morning, wanting to see you. You didn't take your phone with you when you went out, so we didn't know where to look for you!"

Lin Fan was taken to record a song by Lian Xiaoyu early in the morning, and didn't have time to get his phone back from the production team. Of course, he didn't expect this at all.

Lin Fan quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry! Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Liu. I'll definitely remember to bring my phone next time I go out!"

Liu Jia didn't say much. After all, it wasn't him who was supposed to see Lin Fan. He just relayed a message: "It's nothing! I just wanted to let you know that the people from Tianlai Music waited for you for quite a while, then they got a phone call and left. Before they left, they asked me to tell you about it when you got back."

Lin Fan knew that Lian Xiaoyu must have asked Xia Yan's manager, Sister Xia, to help convey a message to the music platform, which was why the people from Tianlai Music went back first instead of waiting for him to return.

"Thank you, teacher. I understand. Thank you for your hard work."

Exhausted after a long day, Lin Fan just wanted to go back to his dorm and sleep.

Yeah, the kind that's broadcast live.

Recording songs is tiring, but compared to accompanying three foodies shopping and eating, Lin Fan said he would rather record all 13 songs in one go.

But Lin Fan obviously wouldn't be able to sleep today, because his PD, Liu Jia, told him that someone was waiting to see him in the meeting room.

Lin Fan found it a bit strange; recently, quite a few people had been coming to the Morning Star production company to look for him!

Besides the people from Tianlai Music, who else would want to see me and be waiting for me in the meeting room? The person who came must be someone special!

Lin Fan pushed open the door to the reception room with a puzzled look in his eyes and saw a man in his thirties standing in the corner waiting. The man's hair was a little messy, his face was haggard, and he was dressed neatly, but there were obvious creases on the collar and cuffs of his shirt, as if he had been in too much of a hurry when he left home and hadn't had time to iron his shirt properly.

Seeing Lin Fan push the door open and enter, the man raised his bloodshot eyes and looked over, his expression complex: "Lin Fan..."

Lin Fan stepped forward, revealing eight teeth: "Hello, I'm Lin Fan. I heard from PD Liu that you were looking for me? May I ask your name?"

Facing Lin Fan, who appeared warm but whose words betrayed a distant politeness, the man spoke with some difficulty: "Hello, Lin Fan. I'm Jiang Jie, and I've come to apologize to you today."

Jiang Jie became a trending topic because of his unauthorized suppression of Lin Fan's data. Even General Manager Wu personally called to reprimand him, telling him to resolve the matter or he wouldn't need to go to work anymore.

Solve it? How do we solve it? It's easy to remove the trending topics and restore the data, but is that all there is to it? Of course not! The key to this matter is not the trending topics and the data, but Lin Fan.

The exposure of the data manipulation was triggered by Lin Fan's fans speaking out for him and demanding justice. This was the origin of the incident. Although other forces intervened later, escalating the matter to its current state, it had nothing to do with Jiang Jie. This was a power struggle within the platform's upper echelons.

Jiang Jie doesn't need to worry about these things, and he can't control them anyway. All he needs to do is appease Lin Fan and his fans and prevent the matter from escalating further.

The most crucial person in this whole affair is Lin Fan himself.

Lin Fan's fans are easy to deal with; all Lin Fan needs to do is say a few words to appease them. After all, the power of an idol's personal statement is still very strong for fans. That's why Jiang Jie decided to meet with Lin Fan to apologize in person, hoping to resolve the matter privately and reach a reconciliation.

Jiang Jie was prepared for Lin Fan to ridicule him or even avoid him. Fortunately, although he waited for several hours, Lin Fan eventually came to see him.

This means Lin Fan is willing to talk, and that's good! The worst thing is if Lin Fan isn't even willing to talk, then Jiang Jie's trip will have been in vain! Not only will the trip be wasted, but he might also lose his job.

No one understood the power of NetEase Music better than Jiang Jie, and Jiang Jie also knew that if he were fired by NetEase Music, he would not be able to survive in this industry.

It was only at this moment that Jiang Jie truly realized that his perceived strength was merely due to the strength of the platform he had been using.

Without the platform, I'm really nothing.

Jiang Jie composed himself and sincerely bowed ninety degrees to Lin Fan: "I'm sorry, Lin Fan! It's all my fault. In order to successfully buy the copyright of the song 'I Caught a Cold in That Corner' from you, I suppressed your data without authorization. I sincerely apologize to you now! This matter has taught me a profound lesson."

Jiang Jie took a contract out of his briefcase and handed it to Lin Fan with both hands: "I don't expect you to forgive me, but this is my sincerity. Also, your data has been fully restored. Your song 'I Caught a Cold in That Corner' has now climbed to fifth place on the new song chart, and your earnings will not be affected in the slightest. I also assure you that this kind of thing will never happen again. To express my apology, here is a contract. If you're willing, from the moment you sign this contract, you will be a special artist with NetEase Music!"

"From now on, any song you release on NetEase Music will receive special artist treatment, including guaranteed featured placements, promotional resources, and data streaming, all clearly stipulated in the agreement. The revenue split will also change from 50/50 to 40/60, with you receiving 60% and the platform receiving 40%. Are you satisfied with these terms?"

Jiang Jie's words were very sincere, but Lin Fan did not accept the contract.

"I'm sorry..." Lin Fan hesitated.

Jiang Jie's heart skipped a beat, thinking that Lin Fan was still angry and unwilling to accept such a reconciliation, and wanted to take this opportunity to manipulate him again and make some demands.

"It's alright. If you're not satisfied with this contract, feel free to make any demands! But this contract is already the best I can negotiate within my authority. If you have any other requests, I can go back and apply to my superiors again, but it might take some time, and I can't guarantee the outcome..."

"no!"

Lin Fan flashed a smile, revealing eight teeth. "I just want to ask, who are you?"

Jiang Jie was stunned for a moment: "Me, I'm Jiang Jie!"

"Yes! That's exactly what I meant! Who is Jiang Jie?"

These words aren't very hurtful, but they are extremely insulting!

Lin Fan chuckled. Having already learned the whole story from Lian Xiaoyu, he now resembled an innocent child: "Are you an employee of NetEase Music? And what's this about data compression?"

Jiang Jie was stunned! Lin Fan had no idea who he was! He didn't even know that his data had been suppressed! So all that sincere apology and persuasion he had just given Lin Fan had no idea what had happened!

Jiang Jie felt like he had a mouthful of blood stuck in his throat, unable to spit it out or swallow it down, and he felt extremely uncomfortable!

After all that, it turns out the clown was actually myself!