Actor

"Other than Egg Fried Rice, is there anything else to eat?" Liang Mengqi asked.

"There is. From now on, the food will only become more varied and better."

Zhang Han spoke calmly. Since Liang Mengqi was his first customer, he was willing to answer some of her questions.

"That's great! Th-then, will everything be as delicious as Egg Fried Rice?" A hint of excitement rose in Liang Mengqi's expression.

"Of course." Zhang Han glanced at the beautiful foodie and smiled faintly.

"I'm really looking forward to your food. I had a wonderful meal today. Here's the money—no need to give me change. I'll come back at seven tomorrow morning." Liang Mengqi placed several hundred-yuan bills on the table and smiled at Zhang Han. Then she looked at Mengmeng, reached out her hand, and said, "Mengmeng, see you tomorrow."

"Goodbye!" Mengmeng waved her little hand.

Liang Mengqi waved again and left with a smile.

Zhang Han walked over and picked up the money. There was eight hundred yuan in all. Liang Mengqi had ordered two portions of Egg Fried Rice and two cups of milk, which should have cost seven hundred and twenty yuan according to Zhang Han's prices. Given his personality, he would normally have symbolically charged her seven hundred yuan, but it seemed that Liang Mengqi had been especially happy with the meal.

He casually placed the money in the drawer of the desk where the laptop was kept. There was more than seventy thousand yuan in cash inside the drawer, and more than sixty thousand in the car Zhang Han had bought. The last time he had purchased the free-range chicken, he had withdrawn one hundred and fifty thousand yuan as reserve funds.

After putting the money in the drawer, Zhang Han had planned to play with Mengmeng for a while, but when he turned around, he discovered that the Little Princess had already run to the sofa and was fiddling with her toys.

Zhang Han smiled and shook his head. After pondering for a moment, he decided to start writing those songs.

So Zhang Han first went online to search for some information.

Xue Qian's negative news was quite plentiful.

When Zhang Han opened the webpage, he saw news about Xue Qian at the top of the trending searches. With nothing else to do, Zhang Han clicked in and read a few articles, discovering that Xue Qian's current situation was not good.

The more famous a person was, the more rumors and negative news surrounded them. Every popular celebrity had plenty of scandals and other negative reports.

Recently, there had been a great deal of negative news about Xue Qian, and the controversy had continued to intensify. Variety shows, commercial performances, and other engagements had all canceled their cooperation with him out of fear of being affected.

"Xue Qian will hold a high-profile concert in Linhai on the fifteenth."

Zhang Han saw another piece of news. The editor who had written it seemed to be one of Xue Qian's fans. Below it, he had written: His fans still love him.

Several pictures had also been attached. The captions basically meant that his fans had not abandoned him. The concert tickets had sold out within an hour of going on sale, and scalpers had already raised the prices fivefold!

In other words, even an ordinary ticket cost around three thousand yuan, while VIP tickets near the front of the stage had already exceeded ten thousand.

This situation was clearly very unusual. It might have had something to do with things going too far in the opposite direction. Xue Qian was hugely popular, but now all the news about him was negative. His fans had been holding in their frustration. Since he was holding a concert on the fifteenth, many fans felt that the businesses had abandoned Xue Qian, but they would not abandon him. That was why the tickets had sold out so extraordinarily quickly.

Zhang Han pondered for a moment.

"'Actor' would work."

Although Zhang Han had never been a dedicated fan, there were several singers he liked listening to, and Xue Qian was one of them. His songs had a distinctive charm, and his deep, melodious voice tugged at the heartstrings.

Speaking of the song "Actor," it was one of Xue Qian's most widely popular songs. It had once topped the global Chinese music charts.

The song continued a deeply emotional and sorrowful story in plain language. It followed the path of a sad love song, using music to portray a love allegory filled with tangled affection and resentment.

This one, then.

Zhang Han took a pen and paper from another drawer and sat on the chair in front of the piano. He opened the piano lid and closed his eyes, recalling the accompaniment to "Actor."

The accompaniment was not complicated. The song's excellence was fully reflected in Xue Qian's singing ability.

Soon, Zhang Han played through the piano accompaniment from memory. After confirming that it matched the accompaniment he remembered, he picked up his pen and wrote down the sheet music.

"I still need to prepare the complete accompaniment."

Zhang Han pondered for a moment, then searched online for recording studios near New Moon Bay. He planned to go over and finish arranging the song.

After finding a location, Zhang Han carried Mengmeng out and went to a recording studio in New Moon Bay.

Although Zhang Han did not understand the equipment, the music was already in his heart. After three hours of work by the sound engineer, the background music for "Actor" was completed. Those three hours cost Zhang Han twelve hundred yuan.

By the time he finished everything, it was already ten at night. After returning to the restaurant, Zhang Han used his phone to record the piano version of "Actor," then began writing the lyrics in a document:

"Keep it simple, make the way you speak simple, leave out the rising emotions, you're not an actor, so don't write those scenes, if you have no objections, I just want to see how you'll make this work, your sadness is too superficial, like an actor with no talent, the audience can see through it at a glance..."

The lyrics were quickly written. After finishing everything and adding notes on the points that needed attention, Zhang Han organized it all into a file and sent it to the submission email address.

By then, Mengmeng had grown somewhat impatient from waiting nearby. She muttered about when they were going to bed.

Zhang Han hurriedly picked up Mengmeng and carried her toward the bedroom on the second floor, preparing to coax her to sleep.

Mengmeng wanted to hear a story, so Zhang Han told her one.

Mengmeng had already heard stories like Snow White's long ago. She had even heard Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Frozen more than a few times. Ziyan knew a great deal about these stories and had told Mengmeng many more.

Zhang Han was the only one who did not know them. There was nothing Ziyan could not tell her.

However, Zhang Han had his own solution. He told Mengmeng a story about treasure hunting.

"Do you know how Immortal Lord Hanyang obtained his Sky-Reaching Tree? Daddy will tell you. The story is full of twists and turns..."

At the same time, in a high-rise building overlooking the sea in New Moon Bay, very close to Zhang Han.

"Yawn..."

Manager Li Fan put down his high-quality headphones and yawned. He glanced at Xue Qian, who was playing the guitar nearby to find inspiration, and muttered, "What are all these submitted songs? They're practically written by monsters! Some of them even say they don't want any money, but the songs they produce sound like nursery rhymes. They must have heard that you're holding a concert and preparing to release a new song, Old Xue, and all want to try their luck."

"Not everyone can write a classic song, and not everyone can sing one. It doesn't matter if we can't find anything this time. I can sing my old songs at the concert." Xue Qian answered with a faint smile.

"That's true. It's better to sing old songs than let some awful song drag down the quality. I was too impatient. How could a good song be found that easily?" Li Fan shook his head, then smiled and said, "By the way, those reports about you have been extremely beneficial. Public opinion has already begun to lean toward us, and your fans haven't been disappointed. The concert tickets have already been driven through the roof."

"Did scalpers hoard the tickets?" Xue Qian frowned slightly and said, "Contact the ticketing company. Tell them I don't want to see my fans have to pay a huge price to attend my concert. If they've worked with scalpers, I won't cooperate with them again in the future."

"Fine. I'll contact them tomorrow." Li Fan opened a bottle of a cocktail and took two sips before continuing, "Everyone else wants the tickets to sell for more, but you're the exact opposite."

"Without my fans, I wouldn't be who I am today. We can't put the cart before the horse." Xue Qian spoke very seriously.

"I know. I'll ask them properly tomorrow." Li Fan nodded solemnly.

Putting everything else aside, Li Fan genuinely admired Xue Qian's attitude toward his fans.

Many celebrities nowadays liked to throw their weight around. However, they had forgotten that their status came from their fans.

Linhai City was known as Huaguo's Oriental Pearl. It was a first-tier city domestically and even globally, so it was naturally highly developed.

Linhai's night scenery was extremely beautiful. On a boat by the waterfront, Ziyan was filming a music video. The scene being filmed showed her gazing deeply into the eyes of a man.

The glittering Oriental Pearl stood in the background. As for the man, he was Young Master Li Cheng, who had been "invited" by the director.

The scene of gazing deeply into Li Cheng's eyes made Ziyan extremely uncomfortable. They were already filming it for the fifth time.

Although Ziyan was looking at Li Cheng, she was desperately imagining Mengmeng's figure in her mind. Only then could she make her gaze gentler. However, as she imagined Mengmeng, Zhang Han's figure drifted through her mind, leaving her somewhat bewildered.

"Good, we've got this shot. Let's film the next one. Ziyan and Young Master Li, stand by the side of the boat. Same angle. Look deeply into each other's eyes for two seconds, then start kissing. Remember, make the kiss look realistic." The director gave the two of them instructions.

"A kissing scene?"

Ziyan's brows furrowed.

"Didn't we agree there wouldn't be any kissing scenes?" Zhou Fei glared at the director and shouted, "The MV script I saw earlier didn't have a kissing scene either. Why are you adding one at the last minute?"

"What does the script have to do with anything? The song is called 'Light Kiss.' Isn't it normal for the MV to have a kissing scene? As celebrities, don't you even have that little bit of professionalism?" The director's expression darkened in response to Zhou Fei's questioning.

"Hey! I already told you we weren't going to film any kissing scenes. Did you think your agreement at the time meant nothing?" Zhou Fei was angry. She knew Ziyan's personality. Not only had Ziyan never accepted kissing scenes before, but now that she had Mengmeng and her relationship with Zhang Han was still unclear, she was even less likely to accept one. Zhou Fei's tone had already turned cold.

"Oh?" The director flew into a rage when he heard that. He widened his eyes and shouted, "Are you filming or not? Are you filming or not? Huh? Now you're losing your temper with me? Are you the ones who hired me to film the MV, or did I hire you? Just answer me—are you filming or not? If not, we're done right now!"

"You!" Zhou Fei raised her brows.

Just as she was about to retort, Ziyan, who was standing in front in a beige dress, spoke:

"We'll film it, but there won't be a kissing scene."

Ziyan's voice was as cold as ever, and her face showed no emotion, making it impossible to tell what she was feeling.

Beside her, Li Cheng had been watching coldly from the sidelines the entire time. Only a meaningful smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.