Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

As the live broadcast ended, the spotlights in the studio went out one by one.

In the control room, the chief director stared at the frozen phrase "Salute to the heroes who went against the tide" on the screen, rubbed his cheeks with his hands, and let out a long sigh.

The ratings report has been printed out, and the graph shows a bizarre vertical climb in the last ten minutes, breaking the historical record of Pengcheng TV in recent years.

Fang Zhiqing stood in the center of the stage, calming her breathing.

In her fifteen years in the industry, she has interviewed countless top celebrities and seen too many elaborate packaging and hypocritical personas.

Those people were impeccable in front of the camera, reciting the press releases their management teams had written overnight, even calculating the exact moment when their tears would fall.

But today, she was completely captivated by a twenty-year-old young man with a piano and a song.

She walked quickly to Jiang Fan and extended her hands.

"Jiang Fan, thank you."

Fang Zhiqing's attitude was ten times more respectful than before the broadcast.

Before the show aired, she viewed Jiang Fan merely as material for a program that was full of controversial labels and generated its own buzz.

"You're too kind, Sister Fang." Jiang Fan extended his right hand and gave her a light handshake.

"This song will be recorded in the history of Chinese music." Fang Zhiqing looked at him. "I apologize for my previous disrespect."

Jiang Fan nodded, said no more, and turned to walk towards the backstage passage.

I just pushed open the door to the backstage lounge.

"It's insane! The whole internet is going crazy!"

Li Cheng grabbed Jiang Fan's arm with tremendous force.

"The vice president from Tencent Music just called!" Li Cheng swallowed hard. "The only live version of 'The Lone Warrior' was released, but within half an hour, the total number of views across the internet exceeded 50 million!"

Li Cheng raised a finger and poked it against Jiang Fan's nose, spitting everywhere.

"They're begging for exclusive rights! They're asking for eight figures! And that's just an upfront payment; the revenue share from subsequent single sales is separate!"

Li Cheng paced back and forth in the lounge.

A newcomer with no financial background, with an impromptu song performed on the spot, directly commanded a buyout fee of tens of millions.

This is unprecedented in the history of the Chinese music scene.

As long as Jiang Fan nods in approval, the money will be deposited into Fanyin Studio's corporate account tomorrow.

Jiang Fan sat down on the sofa, unscrewed a bottle of mineral water, and took a sip.

With no change in expression, the ten million Li Cheng quoted sounded no different from a hundred yuan.

"Reject it."

"What?" Li Cheng stopped in his tracks, wondering if there was something wrong with his hearing.

"This song won't be an exclusive contract." Jiang Fan placed the water bottle on the coffee table. "We'll find a recording studio tomorrow to record the official version. After that, it will be released simultaneously on all online platforms."

He paused for a moment, then added, "Make it permanently free."

The lounge fell into dead silence.

Two seconds later, Li Cheng panicked completely.

"Jiang Fan, do you know what you're doing? That's ten million! Ten million in cash!" Li Cheng grabbed his hair with both hands.

"I know you want to create a persona, but a persona can't put food on the table! Fanyin Studio has just been established, and we need money for publicity and recruitment! Shen Nian's case has been officially entrusted to Jincheng Law Firm, and the lawyer's fees are charged by the hour! Giving this song away for free is like throwing a mountain of gold directly into the sea!"

Jiang Fan looked at Li Cheng.

"Brother Li," Jiang Fan said softly, "you know who this song is for."

Li Cheng's breath hitched.

"You trade a hero's life for money, can you really spend that money with a clear conscience?"

Li Cheng opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.

Having worked in the entertainment industry for so many years, he has seen countless instances of people profiting from tragedy.

But now, looking at Jiang Fan's unwavering face, he suddenly felt that his previous scheming was dirty.

"Fine." Li Cheng gritted his teeth, kicked the chair away, and said, "I'll play the saint with you today. It'll be free online. I'll go and reject Tencent Music right away."

He turned around, took out his phone, walked to the door, pulled the doorknob, and then stopped.

"Jiang Fan, I, Li Cheng, have managed many artists. But you are the most courageous I've ever seen."

-

At the same time, in Shanghai.

The night view along the Huangpu River was still dazzling, but the top-floor office of the Sheng Hai Entertainment Building was a mess.

Cao Qiming slumped in the boss's chair, the expensive Persian carpet scattered with broken glass and dark red wine stains.

The large LCD screen on the wall was still playing clips from the live broadcast of "In-Depth Dialogue" on a loop.

Looking at the blue V logo of the Fire and Rescue Bureau, Cao Qiming knew that Sheng Hai could no longer touch Jiang Fan.

"What is the PR department doing! Get the trending topics down! Take the entries down!" he roared into the intercom.

"Mr. Cao, we can't withdraw. The heads of several platforms have just replied, they've locked the entry and won't accept any more PR offers."

On the other end of the phone, the PR director's voice was filled with despair, "Tencent Video has even put Jiang Fan's match replay on their homepage."

boom!

The heavy wooden door to the office was suddenly kicked open.

The legal director rushed in.

He was clutching several documents in his hand, his face deathly pale, and he didn't even bother to straighten his gold-rimmed glasses, which were askew on his nose.

"What is it now!" Cao Qiming's voice was hoarse as he slammed the intercom phone heavily onto the base.

"Mr. Cao, I just received news. Jincheng Law Firm filed a formal complaint with the court this afternoon." The general counsel handed over the documents.

Cao Qiming sneered, forcing himself to sit up straight, and reached for the documents: "Isn't it just the copyright case of 'Stars'? What's the panic! Let the legal department stall! Stall it for three or five years, until the public forgets about it!"

"No..." The general counsel swallowed hard, placing his hands on the large desk. "It's not just the copyright case of 'Stars'."

Cao Qiming frowned.

"What else?"

"They also submitted a formal complaint to the tax bureau." The legal director turned to the second page, pointing to a few lines of text, "The content details the specific flow of accounts for Vice President Liu Qingyang's three dual contracts. The material details the specific path Liu Qingyang used to evade taxes through overseas shell studios by charging consulting fees, amounting to as much as 120 million yuan. There's also... a complete recording of forced transactions in the trainee department."

Cao Qiming felt ice-cold all over.

These things are all Sheng Hai's most core secrets!

How could Jiang Fan, a night shift security guard at Tianyu Media, possibly have gotten his hands on these things?!

"President Cao," the general counsel's voice was low, "Jincheng Law Firm has already submitted the materials. They'll probably send someone to audit the accounts first thing tomorrow morning. Once the accounts are frozen, the funding for the company's major projects in the second half of the year will all be cut off."

Cao Qiming stared at the A4 paper in his hand. The capital operations in the entertainment industry are not clean at all.

Everyone tacitly agrees to maintain a facade of civility.

But now, Jiang Fan simply flipped the table.

"Go find Liu Qingyang." Cao Qiming walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the endless stream of car lights below. "Someone has to take the blame for this. Let him take the fall alone. Say that the dual contracts were his personal actions and the company was unaware of them. The forced transactions were also his private abuse of power to harass the trainees."

The general counsel gasped: "Mr. Liu has been with you for ten years, would he really be willing to take the blame?"

"He has no choice but to accept it." Cao Qiming turned around, straightening his disheveled collar. "Tell him the company will take care of his family, and I'll cover all the expenses for his child's overseas studies. Any fines he owes will be secretly covered by the company. If he dares to make baseless accusations..."

Cao Qiming didn't finish his sentence, but the general counsel already understood the weight of his words.

"Jiang Fan." Cao Qiming uttered the name through gritted teeth.

"Notify the entire company to activate the highest-level crisis response plan. Cut off all business ties with Liu Qingyang and destroy all documents in his office," Cao Qiming ordered, his tone regaining the ruthlessness of a seasoned business veteran.

"In addition, send an internal notice to all distribution channels, recording studios, and publicity companies we've worked with in the industry. Anyone who dares to take on any work from Fanyin Studio is going to wage war against Sheng Hai."

-

The next morning. Penguin Hotel.

Li Cheng sat by the window, holding a phone in his hand, his brows furrowed in a deep frown.

"Boss Zhang, we've known each other for a long time. You really can't spare two hours? ... Equipment maintenance? Weren't you recording yesterday? ... Okay, I understand. I won't make things difficult for you."

Li Cheng hung up the phone, threw it on the table, and cursed.

Jiang Fan sat on the sofa opposite him.

"Which one is it?"

"The seventh one." Li Cheng grabbed the cigarette pack on the table in frustration, took out a cigarette and lit it. "All the top-tier professional recording studios in Pengcheng rejected them. The reasons were all over the place—the equipment was broken, some even said the studio was leaking. Nonsense!"