CH 71

The landline on Ye Li’s desk suddenly rang.

Ye Li’s external form of contact was his cell phone. Usually, any calls he received through the landline was from internal staff within the company. 

He didn’t pay it much mind. He was still looking over some data when he picked up the call.

“Hey, this is Ye Li. Is anything the matter?”

There was loud music coming from the other end of the phone, followed by a series of footsteps. Then, there was silence.

“Ye Li, it’s me. It’s Wang Chen.” 

Ye Li snorted, but he still put down the report in his hand.

“If you want to discuss a collaboration, please have your agent contact me.”

“Ye Li, you know I don’t have an agent right now.”

“I didn’t know that. If you have something to say, just say it. I’m rather busy over here.”

Wang Chen fell silent, seemingly a little displeased. A moment passed. Ye Li got a little impatient. He was about to hang up when Wang Chen finally started speaking again.

“I broke up with my girlfriend. I’d like to sign a new contract with you. I’ll agree to all those extra clauses that you wanted to add. We can also renegotiate your commission percentage.”

Wang Chen’s previous agent was Ye Li.

He had been an amateur singer. Later, he joined the company and started a formal career as a singer, but he was never able to become popular. He went through several different agents before meeting Ye Li. 

Ye Li saw that he had no talent for singing, but he did have really good looks. Thus, he changed his career path, created a public persona for himself, and started going down the path of a semi-idol.

It was only after doing so that he started to get popular. He basically blew up overnight. However, once he became popular, he also started to go wild. He was unhappy with the way Ye Li tried to control him, and he was unhappy with how much Ye Li’s commission percentage was. He tried to negotiate a fixed salary for Ye Li instead of a commission percentage, but Ye Li refused. Ye Li had already wanted to terminate the contract at that time.

Later, Wang Chen kept dating girls one after another. Ye Li quarreled with him about it many times, but he refused to change his ways.

Ye Li kept covering for him until Wang Chen suddenly publicized his relationship with a model online. This was when the conflict between Wang Chen and Ye Li reached a breaking point. Strangely enough, they didn’t actually fight a whole lot this time around. Rather, they reached a consensus and terminated the contract. 

Ye Li didn’t pay much attention to Wang Chen after that, but Wang Chen probably wasn’t doing much anymore. Otherwise, he would’ve definitely heard news about it. At the beginning, Ye Li would always see Wang Chen on the trending list. However, it was always negative news.

Later, Ye Li heard from several friends that Wang Chen’s girlfriend was his new agent. He didn’t hear any more news about him after that.

Ye Li had expected this. Back when Wang Chen was popular, he was truly very popular. There’d even been the possibility of him becoming a top star.

However, this was mainly thanks to the resources that Ye Li found and the persona that Ye Li created for him. In terms of talent, he definitely had a little bit, but it wasn’t anything outstanding. There was no shortage of extraordinary singers within this circle. In terms of looks, there were young and delicate celebrities debuting every day. Each and every one of them was a beauty. 

Besides, most of his fans had been girlfriend fans. By making his relationship public, he’d basically sentenced his own career to death.

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There was the faint sound of music coming from Wang Chen’s side of the phone. He seemed to be clubbing or something. Ye Li suspected that he’d also been drinking. His speech was a little all over the place.

“My last agent was my cousin. That bastard really took me for a fool. I’ve already fired him.” 

When he first announced his relationship, his agent had been the model that he dated. However, that had nothing to do with Ye Li.

“Wang Chen, I’m sorry, but I’ve already signed an artist.”

Everyone knew that Ye Li would only sign one artist at a time.

“I know. I’m participating in the same variety show as him right now. If you ask me, you’ve been with him for a while now, yet he still hasn’t produced any results. It’s been a while since his debut, but he only has one work to show for himself. I bet his salary isn’t that high either. HOw much is your commission? It’s less than it was before, right? Hey—” 

Ye Li hung up.

Wang Chen cursed under his breath and threw his phone.

Things weren’t going very smoothly for Gu Qingchi. Things were going smoothly for the show, however.

The next battle would be five days later. 

Over the next five days, the program would be filming for two hours a day. The crew would check up on each team’s progress without revealing too much. It was mostly for the sake of attracting fans for the trainees.

Gu Qingchi’s stream always had the highest viewer count.

However, he really wasn’t making much progress.

The mentors on the other teams were imparting their experience. Meanwhile, Gu Qingchi was trying to learn how to sing and dance from scratch. 

Let’s forget about dancing for now. He hadn’t even reached that stage yet. The five trainees had their microphones on at all times, and the dances they performed were all street style choreographies with intense rhythms. Despite all this, their breathing was still stable.

However, Gu Qingchi hadn’t even started dancing yet. He was still learning how to sing, and it wasn’t going that well.

He didn’t know how to sing at all. He was good at playing instruments. It was something he could do if he simply practiced. However, when it came to singing, he simply couldn’t do it no matter how many times he tried. As soon as he opened his mouth, it was all over.

It wasn’t that his voice was unpleasant. Gu Qingchi actually had a pretty good tone. However, he just couldn’t get the right tune. His voice would always come out very flat and monotone. 

“Don’t sing it like that. You need to go up and then come up down. There needs to be ups and downs in pitch.”

The other five members circled around Gu Qingchi. One person would explain things, followed by another.

Gu Qingchi looked at the lyrics written on the sheet of paper in front of him. He took a deep breath and sang it once more from the top.

The other boys had originally been full of anticipation, but, by the time he finished singing, they had visibly deflated. 

The comments were full of schadenfreude.

[I haven’t been this happy in weeks. I could watch this all day. I’m really not an anti, but I can’t help dissing him a little bit. I kind of think I might be able to sing better than he can.]

[I suddenly have a lot of confidence in my singing skills.]

[Hahaha! NewLight: There hadn’t been any improvement at all, but we don’t know how to tell him that.] 

[Hahahaha, this is too embarrassing for my idol, how could you guys do this to him, hahaha! I actually came here to yell at the program for pairing them together when they aren’t even in the same field, but this is just too funny! Hahaha, gege, I’m sorry but I really want to laugh!]

[My Chi Chi: I understand it in theory, but my voice won’t listen to me.]

[I’m not a fan, but I’m finding this super entertaining too! I’m looking forward to the dance part.]

Gu Qingchi’s group was deadlocked for a while. Finally, one of them cautiously proposed a suggestion. 

“Why don’t we try cutting out some of his lyrics?”

The other four members immediately agreed, nodding desperately. They spoke very tactfully.

“Gu Qingchi, I’m sorry. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to showcase ourselves. I hope you can understand.”

“Yes, we really do appreciate everything you taught us so far, so let’s put this aside for now.” 

Gu Qingchi also breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been under a lot of pressure these days.

The six of them reached a consensus and decided to skip this part. They started to modify the lyrics.

However, Gu Qingchi still looked gloomy, as well as a little nervous. Perhaps the first part of practice had been too much of a setback for Gu Qingchi. He didn’t do too well during the following dance practice either. Gu Qingchi’s only dance experience was either radio calisthenics or the latin dance that he’d learned not too long ago.

When he had been learning latin dance, the company had given him plenty of time to practice, and the teacher had also taught him everything step by step. 

All the trainees already had a solid foundation, and they picked up choreographies very quickly. Usually, they’d be able to pin down all the basic movements within one class session.

As for Gu Qingchi, it would take him a week just to learn radio calisthenics, so he felt very uneasy.

[I feel like I’m looking at me right before an exam.]

[Hahaha, he looks like there’s no meaning left in living. Go easy on him. My idol’s just an innocent and pitiful actor.] 

[Why does my idol have to go through this? Hahaha, I’m sorry, I can’t help laughing! Gege, don’t worry! No matter what happens, I’ll save my vote for you.]

Once the lyrics were revised and practice came to an end, Gu Qingchi was picked up by Xiao Ke. The cameraman had also left. The other five members were lying about on the practice room floor.

After a while, the door was opened and a woman walked in.

“Hey. What’s the matter with all of you? You’re like a bunch of unwatered plants. Was your mentor difficult to work with?” 

The entertainment industry paid a lot of importance to seniority. It also paid a lot of importance to popularity. Trainees would always be on the losing end in every aspect.

In fact, there were a few big-names within the industry who were only friendly with the trainees when the camera was rolling. Once the cameras were off, however, it was anyone’s guess how they would act. If you were lucky, all they’d do was ignore you.

“No, he was easy to get along with. He practiced with us even if the cameraman wasn’t around. He also listens to everything we say. Still, he’s an actor. He doesn’t really know how to sing and dance. Plus, he’s a little tone-deaf.”

“We were planning on cutting out most of his lyrics. He can sing, like, one line when we perform on stage.” 

“I’m sorry, Wang jie. I screwed up. If only I’d been more careful.”

Wang jie almost burst out laughing.

“What are you talking about? Gosh, you guys have no idea what it is that the audience wants to see. You don’t need to delete anything. What are you deleting for? Do you really think viewers are here to watch your professional ability?”

“It doesn’t matter if he can’t sing. As long as he attracts the most attention and gets the most votes for you guys, then he did his job. You guys sure are lucky. The other groups are all jealous of you guys.” 

“If you delete all his lines, his fans are sure to drown you with complaints.”

After a while, Wang jie finished listening to the audio recording. She thought for a moment.

“Let’s delete them.”

Pan Xiaocheng knocked on the door. 

Xie Luyu was wearing earphones. When he noticed Pan Xiaocheng, he immediately shut off his phone.

“What is it? You scared the hell out of me.”

“It’s about the variety show. It’s my fault for not vetting it properly. Do you want to pull out of the show? We can just let the program crew know that you won’t be able to make it for the next episode.”

“Why should I pull out? I’ve already agreed to participate. It’s not good to go back and forth, and it’s not like I have anything better to do.” 

Pan Xiaocheng didn’t say anything. He simply shut the door behind him and left. Only then did Xie Luyu turn on his phone again and put his earphones back in.

He was watching a video. The live streaming platform opened up before his screen. The stream had already ended, so he was watching the recording.

He’d closed the comment barrage. Within the screen, Gu Qingchi was wearing big headphones, and he was holding a sheet of paper. He had a serious expression on his face. Then, he began to sing the most monotone tune to ever exist.

Yet Xie Luyu kept listening to it over and over again.