Chapter 140 – Fail To Appreciate Other’s Goodwill
Beijing Fourth Ring Road, Delong Building.
Delong Building is very famous in this high-rise financial and business district, because it gathers a number of first-class entertainment media and music production companies in Beijing, such as Tianzhai Workshop, Golden Disc Culture, Sunshine Records and so on.
Therefore, people who work in this building can often see star idols in and out of the building. In a random corner outside the building, there may be entertainment reporters, commonly known as paparazzi, squatting there.
EMI Cultural Brokerage Company is also in Delong Building, but the strength and scale of this medium-sized brokerage company is not comparable to that of the Golden Disc Culture, and its office is located at a poor location on the 7th floor.
There is a saying in the entertainment industry, that is, if multiple companies are in the same building, the stronger the strength and the greater the reputation, the higher they tend to live in. Otherwise, they would rather find another place than be subservient to others.
This may not be a very reliable statement, but at least in the Delong Tower, the situation is really similar.
Even so, not just any ordinary small companies can have a place in the Delong Building.
EMI cultural brokerage company has dozens of artists and hundreds of trainees. There are many second-tier and third-tier star idols among the artists who have already made their debut. Their strength is still OK.
It is said that there are as many as 2,000 entertainment brokerage companies in Beijing, but only a tenth of them are truly qualified.
Around 1 o’clock in the afternoon, when the weather was at its hottest.
Although the central air conditioner in the Delong Building works well and the air conditioning is sufficient, Wen Zhiyuan, who was sitting in the office, still feels bored. After drinking two bottles of chilled mineral water, there was still an inexplicable evil fire1 running in his body, which made his forehead continuously exude fine sweat.
The 40-year-old fat middle-aged man is the director of the brokerage department of EMI Cultural Brokerage Company.
The brokerage department is the most important department of a brokerage company. A director is positioned at the middle and senior levels of the company.
However, Wen Zhiyuan has never had the pleasure of being in power, because the brokerage department has a large power and a high budget. So, there are many head level people who reach out to them, including the general manager, the director, the deputy general manager and the deputy director, as well as the department manager and deputy manager, and there are three directors at the same level as him.
Leaving aside the trainee director, none of the other two are good. (TN: Trainee director = Director in charge of trainees)
On one hand, Wen Zhiyuan has to manage his own artists and agents, and on the other hand, he has to guard against the sharp and hidden arrows of his competitors in the same department. Life couldn’t be more difficult.
Especially recently, several of Wen Zhiyuan’s singed artists are very restless. One of them has been exposed by media because of a scandal and has been desperate to clean this stain. He was laughed at by the people in the public relations department.
Wen Zhiyuan really wanted to quit his job, but he thought of his mortgage that will take another 15 years to pay off…
He can only endure.
Knock! Knock!
The door of the room was knocked on suddenly.
Wen Zhiyuan straightened his back, grabbed the paper towel on the table and wiped the sweat on his face.
Quickly throwing away the wet paper towel, he said in a deep voice, “Please come in!”
In front of his subordinates, Wen Zhiyuan still attaches great importance to image, otherwise it is difficult to make people feel awe.
The door was pushed open and two women walked in.
Seeing the middle-aged woman who walked in front, Wen Zhiyuan felt that his already big head got bigger! (TN: Big head = headache?)
His brain hurts.
The middle-aged woman was very well dressed. The long skirt, high-heels shoes, leather bags and jewelry are famous brands, but her looks is really unfair for these expensive goods, not only it’s ordinary but also slightly sinister.
But she was clearly not self-conscious, with her nose raised high as if she were the owner of the place.
And the woman behind the middle-aged woman is undoubtedly much younger and more beautiful, with delicate makeup. With an air of arrogance, she is somewhat similar to the former.
Walking in front of Wen Zhiyuan, the young woman smiled and said, “Director Wen…”
Wen Zhiyuan sighed in his heart. With a forced smile on his face, “Shuhui, you came.”
Zhang Shuhui, an artist signed by EMI Culture Brokerage Company, just made her debut two months ago.
The middle-aged woman who came with Zhang Shuhui is Zhang Qiong, Zhang Shuhui’s agent and her aunt.
This is not an ordinary person. She has a shrewd personality and has something to do with the top of the company.
Although Zhang Qiong is Wen Zhiyuan’s subordinate in name, but in fact Wen Zhiyuan can’t command this master at all.
These two are the so-called proud soldier and fierce general!
There was no need to guess. Wen Zhiyuan also know that the other party is not good.
He was so tired of it, but he still had to smile: “Sit down.”
Zhang Qiong was not polite at all. She took Zhang Shuhui and sat down on the sofa. Then she asked bluntly, “Director Wen, I heard you applied for a fund to buy songs for Shuhui, right?”
Wen Zhiyuan nodded and said: “Yes, it’s 200,000, I have…”
According to the company’s procedure, signed artists like Zhang Shuhui need to apply for important expenses related to training, packaging, publicity and promotion, which can only be allocated after approval.
This is also one of the biggest powers that Wen Zhiyuan has as the director of brokerage department.
He applied for the fund for Zhang Shuhui to make this grand-aunt stop and that he could live a long life.
“I know!”
Zhang Qiong interrupted Wen Zhiyuan’s words directly and asked, “I heard that you are going to invite a newcomer, and a song is 250,000, isn’t that right?”
Wen Zhiyuan suppressed his inner dissatisfaction and patiently explained, “It’s like this…”
“This newcomer is very unusual. He is the champion of “Singing China”. He has written songs that topped the original music list for four weeks. He is a very talented singer, I think…”
“Director Wen!”
Zhang Qiong interrupted again: “I don’t think any newcomer’s work can be worth 250,000. So, what if his work is on the original sound list? His style is completely different from my family Shuhui. How can he write well?”
“Shuhui and I have done our best to apply for this fund, so I don’t agree with you buying songs from the newcomer named Lu Chen. It’s too risky. I think Xiyu will be a better choice.”
There was a slight sneer in the corners of her lips: “250,000. Enough to buy three songs!”
Wen Zhiyuan was irritated by her “Did you received a commission” look, which stimulated the blue veins on his temples to bulge.
He almost went ballistic on the spot!
God d*mn it! He bought the song from Lu Chen for Zhang Shuhui’s sake.
Zhang Shuhui has debuted as a new generation of singers for some time. Although the company has spent a lot of effort to package hype, she has not been pushed up, because there are a lot of newcomers of the same quality in the entertainment industry.
In terms of appearance, Zhang Shuhui is not the most beautiful. On singing skills, she is just on ordinary qualified level. On talent…
Cough! Not to mention talent, she has no distinct characteristics and advantages. if she wants to become popular, she must find another way.
Buying an excellent work suitable for Zhang Shuhui was the way that Wen Zhiyuan came up with.
In the pop music scene, there has always been the saying “People become popular because of songs”. Once ordinary singers sang a good song, they may become popular. Even though, at present, they pay attention to packaging hype, the factor of the work is still important.
Many people try their best to cover, imitate or even copy the works of Europe, America, Japan and South Korea. What’s that for?
As a singer and songwriter who has risen rapidly in pop music world recently, Wen Zhiyuan has been eyeing Lu Chen for a long time. Knowing that the latter had opened a studio, he also specially sent someone to contact him.
Until the end of “Singing China”, Wen Zhiyuan finally made up his mind and did not hesitate to buy songs from Lu Chen at a high price.
Because he believed that Lu Chen has enough creative talent.
It never occurred to him that his intentions and painstaking efforts were unexpectedly questioned by Zhang Qiong!
The “Xiyu” that the other party said is a songwriter who became famous very early on. She is good at love songs and catchy songs, and has always had business ties with EMI Cultural Brokerage Company.
250,000 was really enough to buy three songs from Xiyu. But Wen Zhiyuan thinks her talent is running out.
If compared, Lu Chen is like the rising sun. His creativity is full of vitality and energy.
While Xiyu is like the setting sun!
Regarding the style issue. That’s really not a big problem.
Wen Zhiyuan wanted to explain patiently, but Zhang Qiong’s gaze made him disheartened.
His straightened back bent back again, and said dispirited, “What you said is reasonable. All right, let’s do it according to your wishes and buy songs from Xiyu.”
Seeing Wen Zhiyuan’s despondent expression, Zhang Shuhui, who had not spoken all this time, couldn’t bear it. She turned to Zhang Qiong and said, “Auntie…”
Zhang Qiong squeezed her hand and said, “Listen to me. Since Director Wen promised, there is no problem.”
She got up and said, “Excuse us, we’ll go first.”
Wen Zhiyuan waved his hand feebly and didn’t even bother to look at the other party’s proud face.
He knew that Zhang Qiong’s real intention was to fight for power.
After Zhang Qiong and Zhang Shuhui left, it took Wen Zhiyuan a long time to relax and laughed.
What the heck is this!
Ring ring ring~.
Just at this time, the phone on the table rang.
Wen Zhiyuan reached out and picked it up.
The sweet voice of the receptionist came from the phone: “Director Wen, a Mr. Lu Chen is here to see you.”
Wen Zhiyuan suddenly remembered that he had an appointment with Lu Chen Studio in the afternoon.
The other party came for a voice test!
Now it was really troublesome. Wen Zhiyuan wanted to slap himself heavily in the face.
Of course, it’s possible for him to make Lu Chen leave directly, but it is definitely not a wise choice to offend people completely and he will lose face when this news spread.
But how should Wen Zhiyuan tell Lu Chen that his artists are disobedient and don’t want to buy his songs?
He will still offend people!
“Hello! Director Wen, are you there?”
Wen Zhiyuan came back to his senses and hurriedly said, “Yes, please ask Mr. Lu to sit down in the reception room first. Be sure to entertain him warmly. I’ll come right after I’ve finished my work!”
The receptionist promised, “All right.”
Putting down the phone, Wen Zhiyuan was already sweating, and almost in tear.
Knock! Knock!
The door of the office was knocked on again.
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TN: (I just copy-paste here) Evil Fire: Is relative to the virtual fire of the human body.
As long as it is a foreign evil and a smoldering fire caused by the unhealthy blood of the human body, it can be called evil fire. The virtual fire refers to the situation in which the smoldering fire of the spleen, stomach, liver and kidney ran out.
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