Chapter 78: So This Was Possible (Please Vote for Me)

After Li He posted the short video, he kept his eyes fixed on the system’s backend data notifications.

Since Ding Zhong had publicly announced his invitation to “duet” with him across the entire internet, Li He was certain that Ding Zhong had followed his account with a secondary profile, perhaps even set up special notifications.

Sure enough.

Not long after the video was published, the system’s backend data swiftly updated.

[Negative emotion from Ding Zhong +0.03]

“Hm?”

Li He paused, surprised at how little it was.

Based on the pattern he’d figured out, public figures tended to contribute more negative emotion points than ordinary people for the same event.

For example, when the scoundrel released the truncated version of “Dispelling Sorrow,” Jiang Qi’s negative emotion was measured at 0.1.

But most ordinary people’s names appeared with just 0.01.

In Li He’s view, a lyricist and composer should count as a public figure too, but apparently only partially so.

Just as Li He felt a bit disappointed, the backend data suddenly started to flood his screen.

Li He was stunned.

What was happening?

He hadn’t made any major moves on the novel side recently, and the peak period for the three songs had already passed.

There were still sporadic gains of negative emotion, but never a flood like this.

Li He looked closely. The scrolling speed was astonishing—he used his mind to hold the screen in place, and just like a chat app, he could swipe up to see the history.

After just a few swipes, he spotted a familiar name.

[Negative emotion from An Chuxia +0.1]

Why was this girl so resentful? The original owner didn’t even hold a grudge about her dumping him… Li He muttered to himself.

After a glance, Li He realized something was off—the flood of negative emotion was far from normal.

He grabbed his phone from the desk and browsed the latest news online.

#Jia Bei signs with Prosperity#
#Prosperity Entertainment and Brilliant Entertainment face off#
#Ding Zhong’s new song reserved performer: An Chuxia#

When he saw the last headline, Li He almost laughed out loud.

Ding Zhong’s song had been overshadowed by him twice, and each time the performer was An Chuxia. Now, for this duet, Ding Zhong was once again handing the song to An Chuxia.

Stubborn as ever.

Now Li He understood where all the negative emotion flooding the backend was coming from.

Most of it was contributed by An Chuxia’s fans, and An Chuxia herself had provided quite a lot.

It wasn’t hard to figure out.

Li He’s original intent in releasing this song was to counter Ding Zhong, and now it seemed the “You Can't Beat Me” skill was an area-of-effect attack.

“Right, why didn’t I think of this before!” Li He was annoyed with himself.

He used to think that releasing only half a song to drive listeners mad was the best way to harvest their negative emotions.

But now he saw there were other paths to take.

For example, deliberately provoking a certain high-profile celebrity.

In this way, the negative emotions from that celebrity’s fans would naturally be harvested by the system.

But this path was hard to control. If he wasn’t careful, he could end up getting burned and earning a bad reputation.

“It needs refinement,” Li He silently noted.

Meanwhile—

15th floor, Prosperity Entertainment Tower.

Liu Kang, looking helpless, stepped into Zhang Yang’s office again. “Can’t you go upstairs next time? Why do I always have to come down?”

He understood Zhang Yang’s little schemes, but singers and songwriters were still under the same roof.

No matter where they held their meetings, it didn’t change the fact that singers and songwriters belonged together.

Zhang Yang ignored him and went straight to the point. “What do you think of the variety show Brother Entertainment is launching next month?”

“You mean ‘Slow Rhythm’?” Liu Kang thought for a moment. “Behind Ding Zhong’s invitation to Jia Bei for the duet, Brother Entertainment’s influence is also present.”

“Our chances of getting someone in are slim—there are plenty of Brilliant artists involved.”

“Recently, upper management has been in talks with Brother, hoping to co-develop and operate ‘Slow Rhythm’ together.”

Zhang Yang was displeased. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

“That’s what the department heads heard during their meetings with the higher-ups,” Liu Kang explained.

Any company decision was always passed down from the top.

If all the staff knew about it, that meant the matter was already being implemented.

Hearing this, Zhang Yang instantly felt slighted. “Why wasn’t I notified for the department meeting? Are they looking down on the songwriting department?”

This was too much.

The songwriting department was the company’s ace, and yet no one informed him of such an important meeting.

Do they really think the songwriting department has become independent… Liu Kang was exhausted. Every conversation with Zhang Yang circled back to this topic.

Even totally unrelated matters, Zhang Yang could forcefully link to the independence of the songwriting department.

You really are something.

Not wanting to argue, Liu Kang changed the subject. “Who do you want to get into ‘Slow Rhythm’?”

That should have been his concern, but now Zhang Yang was interested in the singers.

“Oh!” Zhang Yang replied indifferently. “No one—I was just asking.”

“How are the company’s talks with Brother going? Are they agreeing?”

Liu Kang said, not amused, “Brother Entertainment isn’t stupid. They’ve been planning this show for months. You propose joint development and expect them to agree? Impossible!”

For this variety show, Brother Entertainment had invested heavily.

Their current state was much like Prosperity’s when they filmed the movie “Guardians.”

“You just implied the company leaders are foolish—I recorded it, so get ready,” Zhang Yang said, proud, rocking back in his chair.

“Zhang Yang, can’t we have a proper conversation?” Liu Kang was tired.

What did he say to imply the higher-ups were fools?

If he really thought that, would he let Zhang Yang know?

No—that wasn’t it.

He didn’t think that at all.

Liu Kang eyed Zhang Yang warily. This woman, in her quest for songwriting department independence, might really edit the recording maliciously and hand it to the execs.

Damn.

Isn’t this childish?

“All right, all right,” Zhang Yang waved dismissively. “What’s the company’s plan now? We just hit a wall in the film industry, and now we’re turning our attention to variety shows.”

Ignoring music to pursue unfamiliar territory—failure seemed inevitable to Zhang Yang.

It was like asking singers to write songs—they couldn’t do it. Asking songwriters to sing, though, seemed possible.

Li He was an exception, not the norm.

“It’s all for the company’s long-term development,” Liu Kang replied. “We do want to produce variety shows. We’re still looking for editors, but I’ve heard we’re already in contact with editors from Pioneer Culture. We might even poach a few.”

After a pause, Liu Kang asked, “So why did you call me down here?”

“What do you think of Ding Zhong’s ‘duet’ challenge?” Zhang Yang dropped the banter and got serious.

“It’s just that Brilliant couldn’t sit still any longer and wanted to force Jia Bei into the open. Now our official account has announced it, Jia Bei’s contract with Prosperity is public knowledge, and next comes the duet challenge,” Liu Kang laid out the company plan.

Since Prosperity’s official account posted that video, they’d been building momentum for Jia Bei.

If Jia Bei hadn’t signed with any company, he could have ignored Ding Zhong’s challenge.

But now, since he’s signed with Prosperity, he must participate in Brilliant’s duet invitation.

It’s a battle between the music division leaders.

“I get that. What I’m asking is, who should take part in the duet?” Zhang Yang was conflicted.

Lyricist and composer, obviously Jia Bei.

But who to have as the singer? That was Zhang Yang’s dilemma.

According to the original plan, Han Feng was supposed to sing “Ten Years,” but with the duet challenge, Zhang Yang hesitated.

Han Feng was known as the top singer after the King, but he wasn’t King yet.

If they could get the King to sing “Ten Years,” it would boost Jia Bei’s popularity and influence.

Liu Kang thought for a moment. “Han Feng singing ‘Ten Years’ is the best choice. When he lifts the Singer King trophy, it’ll push Jia Bei’s fame to its peak.”

“As for the duet, Brilliant has An Chuxia as the performer. She’s lost twice already—another round won’t change anything.”

He understood Zhang Yang’s point—no need to change the singer.

Suddenly changing singers wouldn’t sit well with Han Feng, either.

While Zhang Yang and Liu Kang plotted, Li He was busy revising chapters of his novel.

Battle Through the Heavens was nearing its end.

It was time to harvest the negative emotions.

——

PS: Posted first, edits to follow