Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Order in Which Life Takes the Stage?

“Hello everyone, I am singer Lin Ze.”

As expected, Lin Ze was the last to introduce himself. He gave a slight bow toward the camera.

“Compared with the other five groups, Lin Ze and Rong Zhengyu will each have twice the workload.”

“Do the two of you feel confident?”

The host asked from the other side of the television screen.

Lin Ze and Rong Zhengyu exchanged a glance.

A faint smile appeared at the corners of Rong Zhengyu’s mouth.

“Yes!”

“No!”

Their answers could not have been more different. Lin Ze’s quiet “no” somehow made even the host laugh.

“Lin Ze, losing confidence before the competition even begins doesn’t seem very promising…”

“Ah, the time is just too tight. I’m helpless too.” Lin Ze shrugged.

“Lin Ze, you’re known for being incredibly prolific. How can you say you’re helpless?”

Panda, standing nearby, asked with a smile.

Lin Ze scratched his head a little shyly. “Actually, those are just things I’d accumulated over time. People only think I’m prolific because I happened to bring them out all at once.”

“Rather than expecting too much from me, everyone should look forward to Teacher Rong Zhengyu, or the other songwriters in the five groups.”

“Hahaha, I still don’t believe that. I wonder whether the rest of you do.”

The host laughed it off and moved on.

“Although you only have one day to create this time, if any of you have finished songs that haven’t been released before, you can also bring them out.”

Maybe some of them had stockpiled material; even if it wasn’t said outright, someone would surely use it. Better to make it clear in advance. It was more straightforward that way.

Besides, if a songwriter had a truly excellent song on hand, they would have sold it long ago. Why would they keep it sitting around?

And if you happened to have several songs that fit the theme perfectly, those would count too.

“Then, everyone, there are two themes in this box. They’re placed inside little balls. Each person will draw one ball and open it. In the end, the one that gets drawn more often will become today’s official theme.”

A box was brought in.

It was opaque, with only a circular opening at the top.

“Lin Ze draws first.”

Everyone turned to look at him.

Lin Ze knew that if they kept being polite, they would never get anywhere, so he stepped forward. “Then I’ll make the first move for all the seniors.”

He reached into the box, pulled out a small ball, and with a gentle squeeze of both hands, split it in two. Then he unfolded the slip of paper inside.

“Perhaps in a long life, the order in which one appears also matters.”

Lin Ze had thought it would be a theme prompt, but it turned out to be a reading-comprehension question.

He held up the slip for everyone to see.

Rong Zhengyu was next.

He drew out a ball and carefully pinched it open.

“Sunset, breeze, birdsong, and the chirping of insects are the most comforting combination of summer.”

The slip Rong Zhengyu held was clearly asking everyone to write a song about summer.

Compared with Lin Ze’s prompt, the summer one was obviously easier.

The others rubbed their hands together and drew in turn. After opening them one by one, it turned out that the first six were split exactly three to three.

Finally, Li Xiyan drew a ball from the box.

“Which one do you want, everyone?”

She held the ball in her hand and smiled playfully at the others.

“Summer!”

“Summer!”

Lin Ze didn’t say anything. Either way, neither of those was a problem for him.

“All right! Then I’ll draw one for everyone…”

Li Xiyan pinched the ball open, then held the slip in her own hands and unfolded it.

“Oh, dear.” She spread the paper out toward everyone with a grin. “Then I’ll draw the order in which one enters life!”

“Ah…”

A lot of the lyricists slapped a hand to their foreheads.

There was no helping it. This theme would still require a reading-comprehension exercise after they got back. If they wrote off-topic, that would be unpleasant.

If it had been summer, they could have written it with their eyes closed.

Li Xiyan smiled at her songwriter.

That songwriter let out a helpless sigh.

…

“Goodness, finally done.”

At Donghuang Entertainment, the post-production teacher’s hair had become thinner by the day.

He lightly raked a hand over his head and came away with a handful of hair.

“If it weren’t for this lousy pay, who would want to do this job?”

“Count yourself lucky. You can only earn this much at our place. If you went to another company, would you really be able to make this much?”

A colleague nearby sounded faintly envious.

The balding post-production man touched his head and laughed heartily. “That’s true. If I went somewhere else and couldn’t do vocal tuning, wouldn’t I starve to death?”

It was as if Zhang Huai had heard his complaints last time. This time, not only did he pay for the vocal tuning, he also gave the bald post-production man a hefty bonus.

With the bonus in hand, he worked with complete willingness this time. More than that, he even tried desperately to polish up the details.

This was what so-called million-level vocal tuning was like.

…

“All right, all right, I’d better send the audio up quickly.”

At last, the post-production teacher transferred the audio to a USB drive and pulled it out.

There was naturally no need to pick an auspicious day to release the song. From the moment this track began recording, it had already been promoted in the fan groups, and some traffic-driving celebrities had even been asked to help repost it. This time, they only needed to release it as quickly as possible.

Zhang Yang’s second song after his transformation was, once again, written by Old Master Shi!

With that hook, the publicity spread especially fast, and before long it was quietly turning into a battle between Old Master Shi and Lin Ze for first place on the new-song chart.

Zhang Yang’s account, handled by his agent, posted a message on Weibo saying that the new song would be released at midnight tonight.

By then, the few people who had already finished recording had each gone their separate ways. Sitting in the car, Li Xiyan saw the post and, having already completed her recording, also published the first Weibo post she had made since the clarification video from before.

“New song releases at midnight tonight.”

Barely had the post gone out before people started attacking her.

“What status and position do you have to release a song together with my brother?”

“Oh, so now you’re releasing songs? Not participating in that little investment show of yours anymore?”

“An artist who hits people should be locked up. How can you still be out here moving around? Your family must have some serious backing, huh?”

Li Xiyan didn’t care about those comments at all. She only informed her manager.

Confirming the song’s release was something she had promised Lin Ze.

Li Xiyan glanced at the little group chat with the singers. That evening, just before leaving, she had mentioned it one more time, and only then had Lin Ze joined the group. The moment he entered, the chat exploded.

Lin Ze hadn’t expected these people to be so enthusiastic. He had only just said hello when—

“Lin Ze! Lin Ze! I love you!”

“Lin Ze! Lin Ze! I love you!”

A whole barrage of messages followed.

Their enthusiasm left Lin Ze a little embarrassed.

“Um…” He thought for a moment. “Well then, Zelinji Studio is hiring. Does anyone want to come?”

The group suddenly fell silent.

Chen Nan was somewhat helpless.

“Teacher Lin, advertising is forbidden in this group…”

“@Everyone, tonight at midnight, the new song written and composed by Teacher Lin Ze and sung by me will be released. Everyone, please show some support.”

“…”

Chen Nan typed something on his phone, then deleted it again.