Perfect Superstar

Chapter 140 - Fail To Appreciate Other’s Goodwill

BeijingFourth Ring Road, Delong Building.

Delong Buildingis very famous in this high-rise financial and business district, because it gathersa 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 thebuilding. In a random corner outside the building, there may be entertainmentreporters, commonly known as paparazzi, squatting there.

EMI CulturalBrokerage Company is also in Delong Building, but the strength and scale of thismedium-sized brokerage company is not comparable to that of the Golden DiscCulture, and its office is located at a poor location on the 7th floor.

There is asaying in the entertainment industry, that is, if multiple companies are in thesame building, the stronger the strength and the greater the reputation, thehigher they tend to live in. Otherwise, they would rather find another placethan be subservient to others.

This may notbe a very reliable statement, but at least in the Delong Tower, the situationis really similar.

Even so, notjust any ordinary small companies can have a place in the Delong Building.

EMI culturalbrokerage company has dozens of artists and hundreds of trainees. There aremany second-tier and third-tier star idols among the artists who have alreadymade their debut. Their strength is still OK.

It is saidthat there are as many as 2,000 entertainment brokerage companies in Beijing,but only a tenth of them are truly qualified.

Around 1o’clock in the afternoon, when the weather was at its hottest.

Although thecentral air conditioner in the Delong Building works well and the airconditioning is sufficient, Wen Zhiyuan, who was sitting in the office, stillfeels bored. After drinking two bottles of chilled mineral water, there wasstill an inexplicable evil fire¹ running in his body, whichmade his forehead continuously exude fine sweat.

The40-year-old fat middle-aged man is the director of the brokerage department ofEMI Cultural Brokerage Company.

Thebrokerage department is the most important department of a brokerage company. Adirector is positioned at the middle and senior levels of the company.

However, WenZhiyuan has never had the pleasure of being in power, because the brokeragedepartment has a large power and a high budget. So, there are many head levelpeople who reach out to them, including the general manager, the director, thedeputy general manager and the deputy director, as well as the departmentmanager and deputy manager, and there are three directors at the same level ashim.

Leavingaside the trainee director, none of the other two are good. (TN: Traineedirector = Director in charge of trainees)

On one hand,Wen Zhiyuan has to manage his own artists and agents, and on the other hand, hehas to guard against the sharp and hidden arrows of his competitors in the samedepartment. Life couldn’t be more difficult.

Especiallyrecently, several of Wen Zhiyuan’s singed artists are very restless. One of themhas been exposed by media because of a scandal and has been desperate to clean thisstain. He was laughed at by the people in the public relations department.

Wen Zhiyuanreally wanted to quit his job, but he thought of his mortgage that will takeanother 15 years to pay off...

He can onlyendure.

Knock! Knock!

The door ofthe room was knocked on suddenly.

Wen Zhiyuan straightenedhis back, grabbed the paper towel on the table and wiped the sweat on his face.

Quickly throwingaway the wet paper towel, he said in a deep voice, "Please come in!"

In front of hissubordinates, Wen Zhiyuan still attaches great importance to image, otherwiseit is difficult to make people feel awe.

The door waspushed open and two women walked in.

Seeing themiddle-aged woman who walked in front, Wen Zhiyuan felt that his already bighead got bigger! (TN: Big head = headache?)

His brainhurts.

Themiddle-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 forthese expensive goods, not only it’s ordinary but also slightly sinister.

But she wasclearly not self-conscious, with her nose raised high as if she were the ownerof the place.

And thewoman behind the middle-aged woman is undoubtedly much younger and morebeautiful, with delicate makeup. With an air of arrogance, she is somewhatsimilar to the former.

Walking infront of Wen Zhiyuan, the young woman smiled and said, "Director Wen..."

Wen Zhiyuansighed in his heart. With a forced smile on his face, "Shuhui, you came."

ZhangShuhui, an artist signed by EMI Culture Brokerage Company, just made her debuttwo months ago.

Themiddle-aged woman who came with Zhang Shuhui is Zhang Qiong, Zhang Shuhui’sagent and her aunt.

This is notan ordinary person. She has a shrewd personality and has something to do withthe top of the company.

AlthoughZhang Qiong is Wen Zhiyuan’s subordinate in name, but in fact Wen Zhiyuan can’tcommand this master at all.

These twoare the so-called proud soldier and fierce general!

There was noneed to guess. Wen Zhiyuan also know that the other party is not good.

He was sotired of it, but he still had to smile: "Sit down."

Zhang Qiongwas not polite at all. She took Zhang Shuhui and sat down on the sofa. Then sheasked bluntly, "Director Wen, I heard you applied for a fund to buy songsfor Shuhui, right?"

Wen Zhiyuannodded and said: "Yes, it’s 200,000, I have..."

According tothe company’s procedure, signed artists like Zhang Shuhui need to apply forimportant expenses related to training, packaging, publicity and promotion, whichcan only be allocated after approval.

This is alsoone of the biggest powers that Wen Zhiyuan has as the director of brokeragedepartment.

He appliedfor the fund for Zhang Shuhui to make this grand-aunt stop and that he couldlive a long life.

"Iknow!"

Zhang Qionginterrupted Wen Zhiyuan’s words directly and asked, "I heard that you are goingto invite a newcomer, and a song is 250,000, isn’t that right?"

Wen Zhiyuansuppressed his inner dissatisfaction and patiently explained, "It’s likethis..."

"Thisnewcomer is very unusual. He is the champion of "Singing China". He has writtensongs that topped the original music list for four weeks. He is a very talentedsinger, I think..."

"DirectorWen!"

Zhang Qionginterrupted 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 differentfrom my family Shuhui. How can he write well?"

"Shuhuiand I have done our best to apply for this fund, so I don’t agree with youbuying songs from the newcomer named Lu Chen. It’s too risky. I think Xiyu willbe a better choice."

There was a slightsneer in the corners of her lips: "250,000. Enough to buy threesongs!"

Wen Zhiyuanwas irritated by her "Did you received a commission" look, whichstimulated the blue veins on his temples to bulge.

He almost wentballistic on the spot!

God d*mn it!He bought the song from Lu Chen for Zhang Shuhui’s sake.

Zhang Shuhuihas debuted as a new generation of singers for some time. Although the companyhas spent a lot of effort to package hype, she has not been pushed up, becausethere are a lot of newcomers of the same quality in the entertainment industry.

In terms ofappearance, Zhang Shuhui is not the most beautiful. On singing skills, she isjust on ordinary qualified level. On talent...

Cough! Notto mention talent, she has no distinct characteristics and advantages. if shewants to become popular, she must find another way.

Buying anexcellent work suitable for Zhang Shuhui was the way that Wen Zhiyuan came upwith.

In the popmusic scene, there has always been the saying "People become popularbecause of songs". Once ordinary singers sang a good song, they may becomepopular. Even though, at present, they pay attention to packaging hype, thefactor of the work is still important.

Many people trytheir best to cover, imitate or even copy the works of Europe, America, Japanand South Korea. What’s that for?

As a singerand songwriter who has risen rapidly in pop music world recently, Wen Zhiyuanhas been eyeing Lu Chen for a long time. Knowing that the latter had opened astudio, he also specially sent someone to contact him.

Until theend of "Singing China", Wen Zhiyuan finally made up his mind and didnot hesitate to buy songs from Lu Chen at a high price.

Because hebelieved that Lu Chen has enough creative talent.

It neveroccurred to him that his intentions and painstaking efforts were unexpectedlyquestioned by Zhang Qiong!

The"Xiyu" that the other party said is a songwriter who became famous veryearly on. She is good at love songs and catchy songs, and has always hadbusiness ties with EMI Cultural Brokerage Company.

250,000 wasreally enough to buy three songs from Xiyu. But Wen Zhiyuan thinks her talentis running out.

If compared,Lu Chen is like the rising sun. His creativity is full of vitality and energy.

While Xiyuis like the setting sun!

Regardingthe style issue. That’s really not a big problem.

Wen Zhiyuanwanted to explain patiently, but Zhang Qiong’s gaze made him disheartened.

Hisstraightened back bent back again, and said dispirited, "What you said isreasonable. All right, let’s do it according to your wishes and buy songs fromXiyu."

Seeing WenZhiyuan’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 Qiongsqueezed her hand and said, "Listen to me. Since Director Wen promised,there is no problem."

She got upand said, "Excuse us, we’ll go first."

Wen Zhiyuanwaved his hand feebly and didn’t even bother to look at the other party’s proudface.

He knew thatZhang Qiong’s real intention was to fight for power.

After ZhangQiong and Zhang Shuhui left, it took Wen Zhiyuan a long time to relax and laughed.

What the heckis this!

Ring ringring~.

Just at thistime, the phone on the table rang.

Wen Zhiyuanreached out and picked it up.

The sweetvoice of the receptionist came from the phone: "Director Wen, a Mr. LuChen is here to see you."

Wen Zhiyuansuddenly remembered that he had an appointment with Lu Chen Studio in theafternoon.

The other partycame for a test sound!

Now it wasreally 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 nota wise choice to offend people completely and he will lose face when this newsspread.

But howshould Wen Zhiyuan tell Lu Chen that his artists are disobedient and don’t wantto buy his songs?

He willstill offend people!

"Hello!Director Wen, are you there?"

Wen Zhiyuan cameback to his senses and hurriedly said, "Yes, please ask Mr. Lu to sit downin the reception room first. Be sure to entertain him warmly. I’ll come rightafter I’ve finished my work!"

Thereceptionist promised, "All right."

Putting downthe phone, Wen Zhiyuan was already sweating, and almost in tear.

Knock! Knock!

The door ofthe office was knocked on again.

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TN: (I justcopy-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.