Before Launch

Li Xun was eating at a small restaurant when his WeChat notification rang. He picked up his phone and saw a message from Dai Ying.

Yingying: "Old Gentleman Huang Ting thinks your songs are good, so we're going with these two. Who do you think we should get to sing them?"

Li Xunhuan: "I don't know much about the music industry. You're the president, so you decide."

Yingying: "What about Han Qing?"

Li Xun began searching through his memories.

"He's pretty good. A capable singer, and his style fits, too."

Yingying: "Then it's settled. Get ready, and report to Thunder Music Studio tomorrow."

Li Xunhuan: "I have to go, too? Did Old Gentleman Huang Ting run into trouble arranging the songs?"

Yingying: "No, but you're one of the lead singers. How are we supposed to record without you there?"

Li Xunhuan: "???"

"I'm a lead singer? You've got to be kidding. I've never had singing lessons. I just sing however I feel like. I don't even know the notes! And you want me to be a lead singer?!"

Yingying: "It's fine. Mr. Huang Ting thinks highly of you. He even said you chose the wrong line of work. Otherwise, you might've made it as a Heavenly King."

Li Xunhuan: "Seriously? But honestly, Old Gentleman Huang Ting does have a good eye."

Yingying: "You shameless—"

The message was instantly retracted.

Li Xun saw it, but pretended he hadn't.

"What did you send? Why'd you retract it?"

Yingying: "Nothing. My finger slipped. Typo."

A thought suddenly struck Li Xun.

"Wait, I'm a lead singer, so why are we getting Han Qing? My ending song is a duet!"

Yingying: "I know. Han Qing will sing the male part, and you'll sing the female part."

Li Xunhuan: "?????"

"W-w-what kind of joke is that? I'm a man, and you want me to sing the female part? Is this payback?!"

Yingying: "I'm not joking. Weren't those voice messages you sent me your own singing? You switched between male and female voices just fine. Besides, we don't have a grudge. Why would I want payback?"

Li Xunhuan: "I was just trying to demonstrate what a duet would sound like! You seriously want me to sing the female part? You might as well kill me! This is payback! You still remember that I kissed you a hundred times when I was drunk and charged you ten thousand yuan, don't you? Listen, boss! You're a vice president at a Fortune Global 500 company. You're a grown-up with a magnanimous heart—can't you let these little things go? I could pay back the ten thousand yuan. And if that still wouldn't make it up to you, you can kiss me back. A hundred times isn't enough? A thousand, then. I won't complain!"

It took her a long time to reply this time.

Yingying: "Bring that up again, and I really will fire you."

Li Xun hurriedly sent her two pleading stickers.

When she didn't reply, Li Xun sent another message.

"Boss, I'm serious. If you want me to sing the male part, I might be able to accept it. But there's absolutely no way I'm singing the female part."

After a long while, she replied.

Yingying: "We'll talk about that later. And don't send me those ridiculously long voice messages anymore. I really don't want to open them. We almost missed your two songs this time. At first, I didn't listen to them at all. Then I met Old Gentleman Huang Ting today and remembered that your lyrics were kind of interesting, so I showed him our chat. He opened the voice message, said the songs were pretty good, and that's why we decided to use them."

Li Xunhuan: "You showed someone else our chat? You didn't listen to the voice messages yourself, but you let an outsider listen to them first? You have a problem with me? Well, I have a problem with you, too!!!"

Yingying: "What problem do you have with me??"

Li Xunhuan: "What problem? Is my privacy worth nothing to you? Fine, I'll say it plainly. I've always been a pervert. I can't take my eyes off a pretty woman, I feel awful if I don't flirt with a beauty every day, and I'm addicted to teasing them. I'm as lecherous as they come. You didn't listen to the voice message and just let an outsider hear it. Do you even know what I said? How do you know I said something appropriate for an outsider to hear? What if I called you 'baby'? What if I asked you to kiss me? What if I called myself your husband? You just handed it to someone else without thinking about the consequences? Baby?!"

Li Xunhuan: "Next time you hand one of my voice messages to an outsider, watch out. I'll spank you!"

Li Xun instantly retracted the second message.

At that same moment, at Thunder Music Studio, Dai Ying stared at the message he'd retracted. Her face flushed bright red, like a lump of glowing charcoal.

"Excuse me, where's the restroom?"

Huang Lei had a staff member show Dai Ying to the restroom. Once inside, she turned on the faucet, scooped up some cold water, and splashed it on her face.

She was twenty-nine, almost thirty, and she'd never felt her heart race like it was about to burst. This was the first time in her life she'd ever felt anything like it.

In the end, Dai Ying didn't hire a male singer. Instead, she chose the popular female singer Zheng Yuji to sing with Li Xun.

On December 18, the two songs finished recording.

On December 22, Young Bao Qingtian completed post-production, and a sample copy was sent to Penguin Video's headquarters.

In the office of the head of Penguin Video's acquisitions department.

This was Gong Cheng's tenth year at Penguin Video. He had no family connections, and his steady rise to head of the acquisitions department was proof of his considerable ability.

A department head at a Fortune Global 500 company before the age of forty—Gong Cheng ought to have been satisfied. But people were like that: they always wanted what someone else had, and were never content.

He'd had a chance to become a senior vice president at Penguin Video. Then, a few years ago, some young upstart had suddenly joined the company. He'd never expected that girl, who hadn't even caught his attention, to quietly turn the struggling in-house drama division into a success.

By spending less than twenty percent of the budget, she'd increased VIP memberships from TV dramas by forty percent. With those undeniable results, she'd overtaken him and snatched the senior vice president position at Penguin Video.

That position should have been his!

The in-house dramas had done reasonably well this year, but compared to his acquisitions department, they seemed rather unimpressive.

Several of the shows he'd backed had performed exceptionally well. His department had brought Penguin Video a net increase of more than nine million subscribers over the year, and its numbers outshone even the in-house drama division's. With results like these, perhaps he could finally claim the senior vice president position he'd dreamed of next year. But only if the in-house drama division didn't cause trouble at this crucial moment. His acquisitions department had to be the company's biggest success this year!

2010 was almost over, and the in-house drama division had only one project coming up: Young Bao Qingtian. He'd looked into it. The entire show had just one screenwriter—and before joining Penguin Video, that screenwriter had delivered food for Haotuan Delivery?

Gong Cheng smiled.

He'd heard the new screenwriter was exceptionally handsome, even more so than many young idols. Had he landed an A-Class Production on his looks alone?

He'd also heard that people were already calling Dai Ying, the senior vice president in charge of the in-house drama division, an old maid behind her back. Maybe she really was desperate this time.

Gong Cheng shook his head and opened the sample on his computer.

At Penguin Video, the acquisitions department's shows were reviewed by the in-house drama division's executives, and the in-house division's shows were likewise reviewed by the acquisitions executives.

They didn't just watch them—they had to submit their own evaluations. Company leadership had put this system in place to make sure decision-makers stayed sharp and remained at the forefront of TV trends.

"If Young Bao Qingtian doesn't perform as well as iQIYI Video's hit show The Coroner, then his acquisitions department will be Penguin Video's best-performing division this year."

"And that'll put Gong Cheng in a much stronger position to claim the coveted Penguin Video vice president title!"