Chapter 206 – Take A Different Approach
“…I made such an excuse, so that the little rascal couldn’t hold Xixi’s hand, and he didn’t even notice it. Later on, during the performance, he still happily applauded me.” At night, Yang Yi proudly showed off his little cleverness to Mo Fei on the phone.
“pfft! You’re too much, do you really need to be so cautious? They’re just four or five years old, they don’t even know the difference between boys and girls!” Mo Fei was amused by him and said reproachfully.
“Well, you know, now that Xixi has started going to kindergarten, we have to be a bit more careful. There are so many wicked people in this world. I think when you come back, we should discuss how to educate Xixi about children’s sex education! I’m planning to buy some books to study.” Yang Yi said seriously.
Mo Fei has been influenced by Western education since she was young, so she agreed with Yang Yi’s idea.
The two also talked about Mo Fei’s program recording today. Mo Fei told Yang Yi in detail about her performance and happily mentioned how she received recognition from the audience for singing “Across the Ocean to See You”.
“When will the program be broadcasted? I want to see your performance.” Yang Yi’s interest was piqued. Although he had heard Mo Fei sing before, he had never heard the live version of this song.
“It should be on Friday night two weeks later. But when you watch it, you can’t make fun of me for looking silly during the program. I don’t even know what to say when I’m up there.” Mo Fei said anxiously.
“How could I? Your silly look is the cutest thing in my eyes!” Yang Yi said affectionately.
After chatting for a while, Mo Fei remembered something and said, “Yang Yi, there’s something I can’t figure out. Can you give me some advice…”
It turned out that after the program recording, Li Manman, who had been trying to curry favor with Mo Fei, approached her and sweetly called her “Sister Mo Fei”.
“…She asked me for Mu Li’ang’s contact information. She wants to invite him to write a song for her.” Listening to Mo Fei’s voice, Yang Yi could tell that she was pouting like a little girl who felt her toy had been taken away by someone else.
Yang Yi smiled secretly and asked, “How did you respond to her?”
“I wanted to refuse directly. I think Li Manman is too hypocritical!” Mo Fei’s intuition was very correct this time, and she said, “But she was so enthusiastic that I didn’t know how to say no.”
“So, did you give Mu Li’ang’s email address to her?”
“No, I was worried that Mr. Mu Li’ang would get angry. So, I told Li Manman that I would go back and ask Mu Li’ang.” Mo Fei said to Yang Yi, “But I’m also worried that Mu Li’ang will be too embarrassed to refuse because of my recommendation, and that it might affect his judgement.”
“Just give her the email address, it’s fine! Mu Li’ang won’t mind, anyway the email address has long been known by people in your company!” Yang Yi said, “Mu Li’ang will have his own judgement, you don’t have to worry too much, he will make the right choice.”
Yang Yi wanted Mo Fei to focus on her music without any distractions. As for Li Manman, he would handle everything. A rejection email would solve the problem easily, without Mo Fei having to worry about it.
“Is this really okay?” Mo Fei asked worriedly.
“It’s fine, just tell Li Manman that you’ve asked Mu Li’ang and he doesn’t mind sharing his email address, but whether or not she can get Mu Li’ang’s approval, it’s up to her own effort.” Yang Yi instructed Mo Fei.
What kind of effort was needed? All that was required was one email to handle all those sweet-talking bullets1“炮弹” is used metaphorically to refer to someone’s words that are aimed at convincing or seducing someone else, like sweet-talking or flattery. The literal meaning of “炮弹” is “cannonball” or “shell”, without having to eat any of the sugar coating!
……
However, Yang Yi did eat someone’s sugar coating.
After Ju Jie learned that his remittance had been withdrawn, he hurriedly approached his trusted advisor Du Lun and said, “The money has been spent, and that Mu Li’ang has also sent me the score and lyrics through a new email address!”
“How’s the song?” Du Lun asked curiously.
“Take a look.” Ju Jie didn’t know how to evaluate it.
After reading the lyrics, Du Lun’s face suddenly turned strange. How should he put it? The song title was very special, “Sidechick”!
“This song, this song…” Du Lun also smiled bitterly, unsure of how to evaluate it.
“Du Lun, do you think this Mu Li’ang is deliberately trying to cheat me out of my money? He wrote me such a song!” Ju Jie said somewhat depressed, ‘Finally, you become someone’s other woman’, is this the kind of lyrics people sing?”
“Cough cough, Ajie, wait a minute, I think the lyrics of this song are well matched and easy to sing, let me take a look at the score.” Du Lun comforted.
Du Lun was not like Mo Xiaojuan, who became an agent through his relationship with Mo Fei and learned about the entertainment industry through brute force. Du Lun, on the other hand, was a complete insider. He had dreams of making a debut before, but unfortunately, when he was a trainee, his talent was mediocre and he couldn’t reach the level required to debut, so he turned to becoming an agent.
However, he still has the music knowledge that he should have had, and looking at the score, he could completely sing it.
After a while, Du Lun stumbled and sang a few sentences: “Although I didn’t say it, I actually had a premonition…”
After carefully evaluating the quality2“仔细把味一下” is an idiomatic expression that means “to carefully taste and evaluate (the flavor/quality of something)”., Du Lun said to Ju Jie: “From a melodic perspective, there is no problem. This is a catchy song3 “口水歌” is a colloquial term in Chinese that refers to a type of song that is catchy and easy to sing along to, but lacks depth or substance in its lyrics or melody. It can also be translated as “bubblegum pop” or “fluff song”., easy to sing, and also very pleasant to listen to.”
“So, a song about being a third party can also sound good? Du Lun, have you also been cheated on by someone?” Ju Jie spewed nonsense, speaking without restraint even to his own people.
A sense of helpless anger flashed in Du Lun’s eyes, but he managed to hold it down and said to Ju Jie with a playful smile, “Don’t say that, A’jie. Why don’t I play this song for you to hear?”
After Du Lun’s performance, Ju Jie had some recognition, but he was still dissatisfied: “Is this Mu Li’ang getting old and senile? The songs he wrote for Chen Yijie and Mo Fei were so good, but the one he wrote for me is so bad?”
“It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just that the lyrics are a bit special,” Du Lun advised. “It’s not bad to be able to buy out such a song for three million. If he gave you a song like ‘Long Time No See’, I wouldn’t even dare let you use it. That song can earn Mu Li’ang at least 10 million in copyright royalties over the next few years, so he wouldn’t be willing to sell it to us. Giving us this kind of song shows that he hasn’t plan to use it himself, so we don’t have to worry about him changing his mind and suing us later!”
“You have a point.” Ju Jie nodded thoughtfully. “But how can I sing a song like this?”
“Hehe, A’jie, you don’t understand, do you? You can’t improve your popularity through normal means right now, but if we change to a different style of song and a different way of promoting it, and deliberately hype it up through the media, packaging you as the prince of sad love songs. You see, you don’t even have any competition. You’ll definitely become popular right away!” Du Lun’s mind was turning quickly.
“Can it really become popular?” Ju Jie was a bit moved. He longed to become a big star! This was the motivation for him to leave behind his young master’s identity, work hard to learn the craft, and make his debut!
“Really!” Du Lun also felt that his opportunity had come and was encouraging him with all his might.
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