I am a Big Player
Chapter 159 - 158, Excited Liu Erbao (First Release)_1

Chapter 159: 158, Excited Liu Erbao (First Release)_1

When it came to writing songs for Liu Erbao, Ren He had a simple consideration: the other party held a significant status in the industry, and even in the entertainment circle, his influence was not small—everyone gave him face.

Ren He had always been particular about how he promoted Yang Xi, and Liu Erbao’s team never shot music videos for stars, yet they made an exception and filmed the entire process for Yang Xi. Just thinking about that feels incredibly satisfying.

People in this vanity fair tend to scrutinize others through tinted lenses, assessing their status, strength, income, background, and then deciding how to treat you accordingly. Yang Xi never cared about these things, the simple-minded girl thought singing well was all that mattered, but Ren He had to consider these issues for her.

Others might ignore him due to his low profile, but he couldn’t allow them to ignore Yang Xi.

Ren He now hoped for Yang Xi to follow the path of the truly talented, utterly rejecting any activities unrelated to singing. Indeed, there was no need to engage in those frivolous events. Her reputation was already established; what she needed to do was to ensure the quality of her songs and let her talent speak for itself.

The music industry was full of dark schemes, but the songs in Ren He’s mind had the power to crush all those conspiracies.

However, when Ren He proposed to exchange an album with ten songs for the music video production, Liu Erbao fell silent. Currently, a song could sell for up to about 800,000 yuan at most, while they charged at least 1.5 million yuan for shooting a music video. But that wasn’t what he was considering. It wasn’t that Liu Erbao felt he was losing out, but rather that he thought Ren He was!

Moreover, music wasn’t something Liu Erbao could casually come up with; he had been involved since high school without producing a single decent song that satisfied him. He knew all too well how rare hit songs were in the entertainment industry. He had thought about seeking help with songwriting, but those top composers were even prouder than them—Liu Erbao would never take that kind of attitude! So, he simply chose to do his own thing rather than to beg others, and he approached Ren He because he thought Ren He was agreeable and didn’t have the same issues as those top composers.

The nine songs by Ren He and Yang Xi dazzled him, but he had always thought those were Ren He’s accumulated works. He figured it would be difficult for Ren He to write another one for him, considering that creation was all about inspiration. Didn’t those top composers take a year just to produce one hit?

True, a song selling for 800,000 yuan was about the limit, because that was just how the market worked. Asking for more would mean the media companies would lose money. But getting songs wasn’t easy! Some media companies paid top composers high salaries just to keep them on the payroll, regardless of their current creative output. What if they did come up with something?

But now Liu Erbao suddenly realized something: Ren He was overconfident. He casually mentioned writing ten songs without any hesitation, as if those songs were already fully formed in his mind, ready to be delivered any time.

A genius? Liu Erbao could hardly believe it!

But the greatest thing about Liu Erbao was that he didn’t casually question his friends. If the other party had the guts to say it, he had the guts to believe it. Still, he thought about the offer and declined, "Ten songs are too many. Actually, we’re just dabbling in this to satisfy an old hobby from our school days; commercial photography is our main business. I understand how difficult it is to produce a single song, so I’ll just take three. We’ll cover Yang Xi’s future music videos, not for free, but we’ll keep the price at market rates, not too high, especially since the media companies will be footing the bill—I won’t be shy with you then. And if Yang Xi leaves her company one day, we won’t charge a penny for shooting music videos; just provide the songs as you see fit!"

Talking to Liu Erbao was always pleasant because as you considered his issues, he seriously considered yours. That’s also why Liu Erbao, despite his pride, truly had no shortage of friends.

However, what Liu Erbao didn’t know was that it really wasn’t difficult for Ren He to come up with a song—it was just a matter of completing a task...

And lately, it had become apparent that the tasks were not always about achieving extreme challenges like downhill biking; sometimes simple challenges like overtaking were included. Not every task demanded high difficulty, and the Divine Punishment System managed the rhythm of task distribution quite well in practice.

Writing three songs for him, Ren He figured, would probably just involve two simple tasks combined with one that was more difficult. Mentioning ten songs earlier was a bit of a boast indeed; after all, completing ten tasks could be a real headache.

Ren He thought about it and chuckled, "Alright, since Erbao said so, I won’t play coy. Let’s do it your way, and I guarantee the songs I give you will be classics."

The other party played rock ’n’ roll, and Ren He had plenty of rock songs. Although some people liked to nitpick the way rock is played, Ren He believed rock music—with its flexible and bold forms of expression and passionate rhythms—was all about conveying emotions; the focus was on the feelings, not how they were expressed.

What is the rock spirit? In fact, there are many aspects to the rock spirit, and they can even contradict each other. As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.

"Brother, I won’t say much, but just for helping your bro fulfill his dream, we are brothers for life," Liu Erbao said excitedly, "You have no idea how pretentious this gold-record composer I found was when I asked for a song. He asked me, ’Aren’t you just a video maker who wants to sing?’ Man, I felt like punching him right then. Now I think you are way cooler than them—their lifetime of good songs isn’t even as many as we sang this time. Freaking awesome, truly awesome!"

After hanging up with Liu Erbao, he clenched his fist and shouted to all the brothers in the workshop, "Ren He agreed to it—three songs!"

The renovated old workshop erupted in deafening cheers. They were a group of pure-hearted people—when happy, they were genuinely happy; when angry, they were furiously angry. Some might think they lived too selfishly, but Liu Erbao and his friends believed this was what life was about.

After ending the call with Liu Erbao, Yang Xi curiously asked, "Liu Erbao’s team is quite famous in the industry, isn’t it? Their starting price for a single photo is a hundred thousand, and so many have tried but failed to get them to make a MV. How did you persuade him just like that?"

"Haha, we’re friends, after all," Ren He laughed, feeling a sense of achievement.

After the two finished eating, Ren He had planned to drive Yang Xi home, but at that moment, he suddenly felt an ominous premonition: if he took Yang Xi back, he was likely going to encounter his mother-in-law, wasn’t he?!

He thought it was not the time to be rash and draw attention to himself—he wasn’t a martyr after all!

The chances were that she wouldn’t really do anything to him, but a lecture and even tighter security in the future were inevitable. However, it wasn’t necessary to step on a landmine at this time, especially since Su Ruqin wouldn’t be reasonable with him...

So Ren He stopped the car about 500 meters away from Yang Xi’s house and watched her slowly walk into the residential complex. Just as Yang Xi entered, Ren He sharply heard her voice: "Mom, what are you doing here?"

Then he heard Su Ruqin’s angry voice rise in the quiet night, "Where is he? Have him come see me."

Crap, that was close, Ren He thought, as he turned the car around and sped off! He could even see her figure chasing after him from the residential complex in the rearview mirror. At times like this, it’s essential to back down—for the sake of Yang Xi, swallowing his pride was no big deal.

It’s just like, if Yang Xi were to constantly confront Mrs. Ren head-on in the future, no matter how much Ren He liked her, their relationship wouldn’t work out.

...

Recommended by the Second Alliance for those who like it: "Divine Slave System". They were worried the book would be abandoned, so they asked me to give it a little push...