After being dumped by the diva, I was picked up by her arch-enemy.

The days passed by.

The Qilin Opera Troupe is incredibly popular lately; tickets sell out instantly every day as soon as they go on sale.

The fellow apprentices are also getting better and better. After more than half a month of intensive training by Tan Yunxiao, some of the newcomers are already able to perform minor roles on stage.

There was no fault-finding by the Jinghua Liyuan Society, and no online controversy.

These are rare days of peace and tranquility.

That afternoon, in the alleys of Nancheng.

The autumn sun was warm and gentle, making the leaves of the old locust tree in the yard glow golden.

Jiang Yichen leaned against a pillar, leisurely scrolling through his phone.

The courtyard was quiet, with only the faint sound of gongs and drums coming from the practice room in the distance.

"Third Senior Brother!"

Meng Lingyu peeked half her head out from behind the moon gate, looking around curiously like a little groundhog.

Jiang Yichen didn't even look up. "What?"

Meng Lingyu tiptoed over, her hands behind her back, a fawning smile plastered on her face.

Jiang Yichen glanced at her and immediately became alert.

Whenever this girl makes that face, it's never a good sign.

"Speak, what do you want this time?"

Meng Lingyu moved closer to him and magically pulled out a cell phone from behind her back, the screen facing Jiang Yichen.

"Look, senior! Lots of people online are making CP (couple) compilations of us!"

"They even gave us a couple name, 'Chen Yu'!"

"So many people are kowtowing to us!"

Jiang Yichen glanced down at the screen.

The video clips included scenes of him and Meng Lingyu from their collaboration in "ENEMY," accompanied by background music. The comments section was filled with words like "locked together" and "together."

Jiang Yichen pushed her phone away expressionlessly.

"What are you looking at this nonsense for? Go practice your skills."

Meng Lingyu persisted, tiptoeing closer to him.

"Senior brother, why do you think they're kowtowing to us? Is it because I'm good-looking?"

Jiang Yichen put down his phone and looked at her seriously.

"Because your face is round."

"What's wrong with round shapes! Round shapes are cute, okay!"

Meng Lingyu's face instantly puffed up, and her cheeks became even rounder.

She angrily reached out and pinched Jiang Yichen's arm.

Jiang Yichen easily dodged to the side and flicked her forehead.

"Go practice that water sleeve movement twenty more times. Your cloud hand technique in the afternoon performance was too slow."

Meng Lingyu covered her forehead, her lips pouting so much they could hang an oil bottle on them.

"All you ever do is make me practice! Other senior brothers always pamper their junior sisters!"

"Other junior female students wouldn't throw their water sleeves at their partner's face on stage."

Meng Lingyu's face flushed red.

That was the accident that happened the night before last. She turned around and lost control of her strength, and her water sleeves smeared directly onto her second senior brother's face.

The second senior brother almost sang off-key.

"That was an accident! Just once!"

Jiang Yichen had already picked up his phone again, without even looking up.

"Go practice. If you practice well, I'll treat you to hot pot tonight."

Meng Lingyu's eyes lit up instantly.

"real?"

Why would I lie to you?

"It's a deal! No reneging!"

Meng Lingyu turned and ran towards the practice room, but after a couple of steps she turned back.

"Senior brother! I want the nine-square grid kind! And double the beef slices!"

Jiang Yichen waved his hand, signaling her to get lost.

Meng Lingyu skipped and hopped away, disappearing behind the moon gate, her ponytail swinging back and forth.

Jiang Yichen watched her retreating figure and shook his head.

This girl will never grow up.

.........

It's the end of the month again, time to tally up the profits.

Tan Yunxiao was smarter this time and didn't pile up cash on the octagonal table. Besides, with the current turnover, there probably wouldn't be enough space to display it all.

He was sitting in the armchair in the main room with a laptop in his hand, reading out the data line by line.

"At the old courtyard in the south of the city, the total revenue this month, including entrance fees, tea, and snacks, is 2.6 million."

"At the East Fourth Ring Road branch, there are a thousand seats, and they're always full, with a total turnover of 6.2 million."

Tan Yunxiao raised his head, his dark red face filled with disbelief.

"Third brother, combining both, our total income this month is eight million eight hundred thousand!"

"After deducting expenses and rent, there's still over six million left!"

When the fellow apprentices in the courtyard heard this number, they all gasped in shock.

Jiang Yichen sat beside him, his expression unchanged.

"Distribute according to the old rules."

Tan Yunxiao nodded and typed away on his laptop for a while.

In the end, Jiang Yichen received a total of four million yuan in commission from the theater troupe this month.

Tan Yunxiao sent him a screenshot of the transfer for confirmation.

"Third brother, the money has arrived. Please check."

Jiang Yichen glanced at his mobile banking balance and nodded.

..........

That evening.

Jiang Yichen had just finished showering and returned to his room when his phone screen lit up.

Gu Ruanxing's WeChat.

It's not a voice message, it's a screenshot.

Jiang Yichen clicked on it and took a look.

It is a financial statement that clearly lists the details of each revenue share.

Immediately afterward, Gu Ruanxing sent a text message.

"This month's profit sharing has been settled."

"The popularity of your original four songs has dropped significantly, and your revenue share is almost half of what it was last month."

"But the song 'Queen' is too powerful."

"The total amount has been deposited into your account. Check it yourself."

Jiang Yichen exited WeChat and opened the bank's app.

The notification that the money had been credited to the account was clearly visible.

He did the math. The theater troupe's three million, the song revenue share of five million, plus the one million or so left in his card.

The cash on hand has exceeded ten million.

A net worth of tens of millions.

Jiang Yichen locked his phone and leaned against the headboard.

We have enough money. But there are still many more places where we need to spend money.

After all, what he wanted to deal with was the behemoth that was the Bai family.

the next morning.

After finishing breakfast, Jiang Yichen habitually opened his phone and browsed the real-time charts of various music platforms.

Top 20 Chinese pop songs.

His gaze swept over the room from top to bottom, his brows furrowing slightly.

At the top of the list is a Korean song. It's a new song from a certain K-pop group, and the comments section is filled with Korean text and translations.

Second place, an English song. A dance track by a female singer from Europe and America.

Third place, still a Korean song.

Fourth place, "Queen of Heaven," which topped the charts for a week before falling from number one, but it is still the only Chinese song in the top ten.

His previous four songs—"Red Actress" ranked eighteenth, "Puppet Show" dropped to twenty-third, and "Wujiapo" and "The New Drunken Concubine" have fallen out of the top thirty.

Jiang Yichen stared at the list for a long time.

He opened the comments section.

The top comment has over 100,000 likes.

"To be honest, that's just how the Chinese music scene is. Every now and then a hit song comes out, it's popular for a while and then it fades away. Jiang Shen's songs are indeed good, but ultimately they can't compete with K-pop and Western music."

The replies below were densely packed.

"There's nothing we can do. Korean groups' songs and English songs are definitely more popular. Jiang Shen's opera singing is good, but it still limits his audience."

"Let's admit it, the Chinese music scene is getting worse with each generation."

"It's just a flash in the pan, brothers, let's face reality."

......

Jiang Yichen raised an eyebrow as he read the comments.

Who says traditional Chinese style can't be popular?