There were those formally trained from prestigious academies, as well as the old mentoring the new. There were also returnees from overseas, and the wild cards thrown in by grassroot capital injections.
Of course, Xu Qingyan didn’t fully believe all this, planning to take another look later on.
After muddling through the day, he returned to the hotel both tired and sleepy. He glanced at his phone messages, fell into a deep sleep, and after waking up in the middle of the night, replied to a few people’s messages.
He reminded Pei Muchan to eat well and also inquired with Qi Ting about the progress of Lin Wanzhou’s album. He downloaded the recently released single "Clouds Turn to Rain."
After listening for a while and feeling that the effect wasn’t bad, he fell asleep again.
The next day.
The morning was still filled with ordinary, familiar work. Although his role was called an artist coordinator, what really fell to him was more like an assistant’s job, or to be more precise, a director’s assistant.
The main creative team seemed to be dragging their feet, which seemed to be stalling the progress. With no advancement, there wasn’t much busyness to speak of, just preparations.
Usually, such matters weren’t a big deal; if the sky fell, there would be someone to hold it up.
Xu Qingyan was slacking off in the afternoon when he spotted Zou Lewei, mainly because the guy was too conspicuous. Everyone else was either pretending to be busy or indeed as busy as a dog.
From a distance, someone approached wearing a hat, large black-rimmed glasses that looked like plain lenses. Long hair and dressed in a vintage style, slinging a bag over the shoulder.
A pseudo-artistic temperament hit him full in the face; the guy looked at Xu Qingyan from the corner of his eye. Xu Qingyan glanced back but left before the man could approach.
A little later, Gan Yingchang cautioned him to be careful.
"That idiot’s looking at you funny, might be harboring some bad intentions. Keep your distance—I did some digging and found out you were brought in by Group Leader He."
With that, Gan Yingchang punched him playfully.
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"Also, damn it, you should’ve said earlier that you weren’t just here for an internship experience! Dude, you’re so into your music and lyrics, making it big at the Spring Festival Gala."
"Just meddling with odds and ends, nothing worth mentioning," Xu Qingyan sighed. He suspected that if Gan Yingchang knew, then the rest of the director team probably did as well.
His past deeds were searchable on the internet, the good and the bad, impossible to hide.
Xu Qingyan wasn’t worried about any repercussions; the few songs he wrote were solid enough, and he also had works like "Riding a White Horse" to his directorial credit.
Whether arguing with the show crew or the production team, he had the upper hand.
Regarding personal character, there wasn’t much to taint him—just a bit too wild during his reality show stint. Blasting radical opinions every now and then, but nothing too serious.
"Xu bro, that’s easy for you to say," Gan Yingchang was stunned, "I didn’t even know how to respond for a moment. Would Group Leader He really hire you just to do menial tasks?"
"Obviously, it’s for you to get acclimated. I figure they’ll want to put you in charge of a project after a while."
"Maybe," Xu Qingyan didn’t display any longing, his answer still assured, "I’m simply here to contribute, what I do doesn’t matter."
"You say that, but you gotta watch out for that guy. Pure idiocy."
"Right."
Back at the hotel, Xu Qingyan lay on the bed.
Pressing his temples, he pondered what to do next.
He had just joined the director team, like a drowned ghost who had climbed aboard a ship. Holding a treasure trove the size of One Piece in his hand, yet he could only sit on the edge of the ship’s deck.
Looking up, he saw the captain and first mate holding a clandestine meeting in the control room, surrounded by busy sailors. And he was just a drowned ghost... a wild card who had run out of Bikini Bottom.
After some thought, he decided to release an ancient-style song to see if it would create a buzz. After all, "Fragrance of Rice" had accumulated a lot of good will, maybe it was time to ignite a new trend.
The holidays were just a few days away, and he calculated it was just the right amount of time to produce a song.
Xu Qingyan took out his computer from his luggage, started on something, and just then, Lin Wanzhou sent a message, so he ended up video chatting with her for a while.
"You asked Ting Ting to supervise my songwriting?" The young girl looked displeased.
She lay on the bed, cradling her phone, wearing her clothes. Her pristine feet were raised, wiggling, with visibly pink toes.
"Er, it’s for your own good," Xu Qingyan dodged the topic, "The sooner your album comes out, the bigger your fame will get."
"Oh, okay," Lin Wanzhou sensed his gaze drifting, curiously glanced behind herself but found nothing. "Why do you keep looking behind me?"
"Oh, nothing. Just noticed the nice color of your wardrobe."
"The wardrobe? It’s white," she said.
Xu Qingyan coughed, deftly changing the subject.
"I’ll have some days off soon, I’ll take you out for a bit, like I promised last time. I’m afraid if we don’t go soon, I won’t know when I’ll be back next."
"In a while, once things start to get busy here, there might be a month’s delay in getting time off. While you have some free time now, it’s perfect to go out together."
"Sounds good, when are you coming back?"
"In about four or five days, it won’t take too long." He juggled his phone in one hand while unlocking his computer keyboard with the other, "I’ve already bought the plane tickets. Last-minute booking is too expensive."
"Oh, okay," Lin Wanzhou seemed in good spirits, letting her feet dangle, "I want to go..."
She hastily listed a few places, her imagination somewhat lacking.
"Alright, how are the sales of your new song?"
"Pretty good, quite standard. It should break through a million total sales in a few days," she replied as the corners of her mouth slowly drooped, "Not as high as last time, far from it."
"That’s normal. It’ll pick up after a while," Xu Qingyan reassured her, "You’re not a top-tier star, and the buzz from the dating and music shows has faded. It’s natural for there to be a downturn."
After chatting a bit more, they hung up. Xu Qingyan rested for a while before taking a shower and then opened WeChat to send Pei Muchan a video call request. Continue your adventure with freewebnovel