Chapter 147 – Fail to Intercept
Tang Qiaoqiao has always been a very proud girl.
But she has always hidden her pride in the deepest part of her heart and never revealed it easily.
Because her family is very ordinary, if she shows pride on her face, it is unknown how much trouble it will cause.
Tang Qiaoqiao is also a very smart girl.
Since signing with EMI Company, she has been working very hard to learn and strive for every opportunity. As long as it is a job arranged by the company, even if it is hard and tiring, she will earnestly complete it.
But even so, it is still too difficult to stand out in a talented brokerage company. Li Zhigao, the agent that the company arranged for her, has a good and honest personality, but he is not good at conspiring and can’t help her too much.
More often, Tang Qiaoqiao can only rely on herself.
So, when she inadvertently knew that Zhang Qiong and Zhang Shuhui forced Wen Zhiyuan to give up buying songs from Lu Chen, she resolutely pulled in Li Zhigao and applied to the latter together.
She had to pay for Lu Chen’s works out of her own pocket.
Because keen intuition told Tang Qiaoqiao that the opportunity that she has been waiting for has come!
Under the insistence of Tang Qiaoqiao, Wen Zhiyuan really agreed to her request and helped her apply for a fund, and let her successfully get Lu Chen’s new work.
So Proud!
What a good name. Although this song may not have too much connotation, and the melody is not that unmatched. Perhaps it is just good to listen to, but after Tang Qiao Qiao sang it again, she knew that this song was very suitable for her.
“And I smile at you again and again, why haven’t you seen me ~”
On the surface, this lyric describes the relationship between men and women, but isn’t this not also a portrayal of her life experience?
Tang Qiaoqiao waited so hard for so long, and for the first time, the goddess of luck smiled at her.
Her dream is to let her “restless heartbeat be heard all over the world!”
Tang Qiaoqiao held the microphone in her hand hard as if she had grasped the whole world.
And at this moment, she can finally show in front of everyone a little bit of her pride!
The applause in the listening room continued and enthusiastically.
It can’t be help. Song Xun has been applauding all this time. Who dares to be so indifferent and not follow him?
Even Zhang Qiong had no choice but forced to endure and clap a few times.
Her face with exquisite makeup was almost twisted, and she was gnashing her teeth in anger.
Song Xun took two steps forward and reached out his hand to Lu Chen and said, “Teacher Lu Chen, thank you for creating an excellent work for our company’s artist. It’s worth more than its price!”
His attitude was not the same as before.
His previous politeness was purely out of courtesy and etiquette rather than genuine respect.
Now that Lu Chen has proven his strength, even the deputy general manager of the brokerage firm has to be serious.
A good song can make a newcomer famous!
Lu Chen smiled lightly, shook hands and said, “Chief Song is too polite. It is my responsibility to provide good work.”
Lu Chen’s attitude of not being arrogant and impetuous made Song Xun secretly admire him and this strengthened his idea of establishing a long-term friendly and cooperative relationship with him.
An excellent songwriter in his prime. That’s a real gold mine!
Anyone who has experienced the golden age of domestic pop music in the 1980s-1990s will understand this.
Song Xun said to Tang Qiaoqiao, who was next to him, “Your name is Tang Qiaoqiao, right? You sang this song very well. The company will fully reimburse the cost of buying this song. I’ll give you a single first. If this will produce a good result, we can consider making an album.”
Song Xun knew very well the twists and turns in the process of buying this song from Lu Chen.
Zhang Qiong lost a handful of rice without stealing the chicken1, and the deputy general manager was happy to see her make a fool of herself. He’s not afraid to expose her family’s ugliness.
Now that she’d been struck down, she has to be struck down hard enough, otherwise it wouldn’t be effective. (TN: Effectively teaching her a lesson)
Tang Qiaoqiao was so happy that her heart almost jumped out. She quickly bowed and said: “Thank you, Chief Song, I will work hard!”
She was still too inexperienced to expect that the song she paid for, with the corresponding rights and interest, would be shared. Song Xun took back these benefits without taking any risks, and just gave some small benefits.
Of course, from another point of view, without the support of the company, even if she could get a good song, it would be very difficult for her to become famous. Now is not the same as 10 or 20 years ago. Packaging, publicity and hype are the key now.
Therefore, even if Tang Qiaoqiao knew that she had suffered a loss, she would not raise any objection.
Song Xun nodded and then said to several of his subordinates, “Old Chen, discuss with Xingguo, the arrangement of this song will be put in Tianzhai Workshop, and do it according to high standards. We must ensure the quality of this excellent work!”
“Old Wang, have your department quickly make a publicity plan according to the characteristics of Tang Qiaoqiao and the song.”
“And you… you’re Tang Qiaoqiao’s agent, aren’t you? “
Being called, Li Zhigao was simply flattered and stammered: “Yes… Yes, Chief Song.”
As someone who started his career as an agent late in his life, his presence in EMI was too low. It was not easy for Song Xun to know that he was Tang Qiaoqiao’s agent. He can’t remember his name at all.
Song Xun didn’t care. He said: “Together with Tang Qiaoqiao, come to my office to talk about something.”
Several department managers and executives looked at Li Zhigao with strange look, envious of the notion that “this guy got lucky”.
They all knew Li Zhigao, and knew that the other party was synonymous to someone at the bottom of the company.
As a result, no one thought that his situation would change from bad to good in a short time.
The reason why Song Xun called the two of them to go to his office must be to renegotiate the contract, which means that the company should strongly support Tang Qiaoqiao!
If an agent who is at the bottom meets a rising star, it is entirely possible to follow the chicken and dog to heaven. (TN: A metaphor for a person gaining momentum, and people who have a relationship with someone in power or have fame will also developed.)
Such examples are very common in the entertainment industry.
Song Xun also told Wen Zhiyuan: “Old Wen, you entertained teacher Lu Chen well, you have done very well this time.”
A good job should be praised, and Song Xun has never been shy about publicly praising his subordinates.
Even if his words might embarrass some people.
“Thank you, Chief Song…”
Wen Zhiyuan felt like he was Zhu Bajie who had eaten ginseng fruit, all of the 108 thousand pores in his body was clear.
He said hurriedly, “You can rest assured!”
Of course, he wanted to hold Lu Chen, the great god who could give him a promotion and raise his salary, and did not need Song Xun to explain it at all.
Finished with issuing orders, Song Xun finally said to Lu Chen: “Teacher Lu Chen, I am really sorry, I still have work arrangements, so I can’t accompany you here. You are always welcome to come to our company to visit.”
As the deputy general manager of EMI Brokerage Company, Song Xun certainly has his own reserve. He would very much like to have a long-term cooperation with Lu Chen, but he will not be eager to offer the condition to Lu Chen immediately.
This will not only make people look down on him, but also give Lu Chen the opportunity to ask for a sky-high price.
Specific cooperation can be discussed slowly.
So, what he said was attractive, just merely attractive.
Lu Chen smiled and said, “Go ahead, Chief Song.”
Song Xun left with his team, and soon there were only two or three kittens left in the listening room. (TN: Kittens here means people with low position or compared to Song Xun in the company)
At this time, Zhang Qiong came over and said to Lu Chen, “Teacher Lu Chen, I want to talk to you about buying songs.”
Zhang Qiong’s heart was filled with regret.
But what she regretted was not that she missed Lu Chen’s song, but that she gave Wen Zhiyuan a chance to turn around his bad situation to a good one and made her niece resentful, which was a complete mistake.
Therefore, Zhang Qiong wanted to make up for her mistake. She immediately decided to start with Lu Chen.
As long as she can get a good song from Lu Chen, then Zhang Shuhui will no longer blame her, and she can also recover the negative effects on her and not become to the laughingstock in the company.
She even hoped that the song Lu Chen sold to herself would be better and more excellent than the “So Proud” song!
Zhang Qiong’s mind turned quickly, and a look of self-confidence returned on her face.
However, Lu Chen didn’t reveal any interest or happiness as she thought.
He turned around and asked Wen Zhiyuan doubtfully, “This is?”
Previously, Wen Zhiyuan did not introduce Zhang Qiong to Lu Chen. How could he know who she is?
However, Wen Zhiyuan’s face changed drastically, and Lu Chen noticed this out of the corner of his eyes.
Seeing Zhang Qiong unexpectedly ran over to intercept them, Wen Zhiyuan almost lost his temper.
Lu Chen’s inquiry instantly turned his mood around.
The director of the brokerage department replied with a smile: “This is Ms. Zhang Qiong, my agent.”
“Oh…”
Lu Chen indicated that he understood. He said to Zhang Qiong, “Ms. Zhang Qiong, if you want to buy songs, then please discuss with Director Wen first. At present our studio is in business contact with Director Wen. Please excuse me.”
Lu Chen is not a fool. How can he not see Zhang Qiong and Wen Zhiyuan don’t deal with each other?
As Wen Zhiyuan’s agent, she actually ignored her boss and went straight to him, which was very unruly.
This woman was obviously proud. Although she spoke politely, she could not conceal her bossy habit.
Lu Chen didn’t have any favorable impression on her, and didn’t want to deal with her.
Therefore, he declined Zhang Qiong.
And while he’s at it, he also gave Wen Zhiyuan a big face!
Zhang Qiong was immediately shocked.
She didn’t expect that Lu Chen wouldn’t give her face and didn’t want to discuss with her at all.
Wen Zhiyuan almost failed to not laugh out loud. When he saw Zhang Qiong repeatedly being forced to yield, he was happy all over and quickly said to Lu Chen: “Teacher Lu Chen, come to my office. I still have something to talk to you about.”
The director of EMI’s brokerage department was simply grateful to Lu Chen, who not only pulled him back from the edge of the cliff, but also gave him a precious opportunity.
As long as he firmly held on to Lu Chen’s line, Wen Zhiyuan’s position in the company will be as stable as Mount Tai.
So, what if there is someone behind Zhang Qiong?
Chief Song is watching!
“Good.”
Lu Chen agreed to follow Wen Zhiyuan. They left the listening room laughing and chatting.
Leaving behind Zhang Qiong, who has a face of embarrassment, and Zhang Shuhui, who was sad and disappointed.
_______
TN: Lost a handful of rice without stealing the chicken – This is a Chinese idiom which means “one has suffered but fails to do/get what one wants.” This is also similar to the saying “go for wool and come home shorn” which means “many seek to better themselves or make themselves rich, but end by losing what they already have”
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