The Third Week

"Have you guys seen The Godfather?" Old Morgan suddenly asked.

The big boss took a slow drag of his cigar. "Who hasn't?"

"I haven't, my family was too poor." Song Ya just realized he hadn't watched a single movie since crossing over, and he couldn't remember the ones he'd seen in his past life, though he didn't say that out loud.

Old Morgan said slowly, "Whoever proposes the peace is the traitor..."

"You suspect me? Ha!" Pablo laughed loudly. "Yes, a big company contacted me privately, but what does that prove? This is business, not some gang war, and that Italian stuff is long outdated."

"Pablo, you call me naive, but I say you haven't grasped the situation yet." Old Morgan stared at him. "The company that contacted you for a partnership and the big company you mentioned that offered us a 'gift' are definitely the same group! Just like Barzini assassinating Sonny in The Godfather!"

"FXXX!"

Pablo shouted a string of profanities. "Why are you clinging to these old-fashioned ideas!? I can guess, but I don't care! Doesn't the fact that they're willing to go to such lengths to play games prove they think highly of Little Lowry and this album? Which black rapper is worth them putting in this much effort? Business is business. It's clearly a win-win situation, and I don't understand what you're hesitating about! Thirty percent is the industry standard. Maybe if we don't give them that thirty percent, we can hit 100,000 in sales, but if we give it, we could sell hundreds of thousands or even a million. Can't you count which option makes more money?"

"Emmm..." The big boss raised his hand. "Let me ask one thing: which company is it?"

"Warner." Pablo looked at the big boss in surprise. "You aren't thinking of getting revenge, are you? I advise you not to..."

"The Warner Bros that makes movies?" the big boss asked again.

"Yes, they belong to the same company."

"Forget it then... I can't afford to mess with them. Drug dealers can't beat big capitalists." The big boss lowered his hand and turned his gaze to Song Ya. "Hey, you're APLUS, right? What do you think about this? Give us some advice."

"What kind of advice could I have?" Song Ya was shocked. "I'm a high school student!"

"So what if you're a high school student? When I was in high school, I was already killing... never mind. Didn't you get a perfect score on your math test? Your brain must work better than ours. Just say whatever, I've got your back."

"Uh..."

Song Ya looked at Old Morgan and then at Pablo. Both were staring at him with burning intensity. Emotionally, he supported Old Morgan, but he felt Pablo's approach was more beneficial to him, and his brother Tony was still "employed" by Little Lowry's side...

As he understood it, the rift between Pablo and Old Morgan was significant. After hitting a wall in the greater New York area last week, Pablo had changed his mind and started trying to bring in a major record label to assist with the album's distribution. The promotional power and packaging capabilities of a big company were incomparable to Joe Music. If the records sold more and faster, Little Lowry's future path would be much wider.

Old Morgan, however, was much more conservative. He still favored the route of national touring and radio airplay to sell records. He could earn based on how many albums were sold, but bringing in a big company would not only take away thirty percent of the profits but also cause him to lose control over everything. Furthermore, he was deeply disgusted by the way the big company would sabotage them behind their backs while pretending to be the "good guy" coming in to share the spoils.

"I have no opinion..." Song Ya decided it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

"I'm here, you don't need to worry, just say whatever you want." The big boss encouraged him.

Song Ya thought for a moment. "I think both of you make a lot of sense."

"Bang!" The big boss suddenly slammed the table hard, giving Song Ya a fright.

Fortunately, he wasn't angry at him. The big boss closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

Everyone waited quietly for the verdict.

"Forget it!"

Three minutes later, the big boss opened his eyes, stood up, put on his hat, and walked out. "FXXX! Do whatever you want, I don't care! I don't understand a word of what you're talking about! You guys play, I'm out!"

"Hey! Your money is in this!" Pablo shouted at his retreating back.

"I never planned on making money from selling records, goddammit!" The big boss didn't even look back.

With a gust of wind, the people outside followed him, clearing out entirely.

"So..."

Old Morgan was happy. He sat back behind his boss's desk. "Everything stays the same?" He looked at Pablo triumphantly. If the big boss wasn't interfering, then he was the one calling the shots at this company.

Pablo was silent for a long time. "Everything stays the same for now, but I won't give up." He dropped that line and led Little Lowry away in a hurry.

In the third week, everything remained the same. Their group headed to Miami and Atlanta in the southeastern corner of the United States to promote, while Song Ya continued his academic grind.

However, nothing is immutable.

Compared to a month ago, the song Thrift Shop had caused a drastic change in the relationships between all the stakeholders. Al was out, Old Morgan and Pablo were nearly at a breaking point, and the old friendships between Pablo and Al, Old Morgan and Al, Little Lowry and Al, and even Old Morgan and Song Ya himself were unrecognizable. All that remained was business.

As the music video filmed last time began playing on local Chicago television stations and some large music stores, trouble at school arrived as well.

Connie became famous at school for her "alluring" dance moves in the music video. Connie was Song Ya's sister, Song Ya's nickname was APLUS, and in the lyric sheet included with Little Lowry's album cassette, it was written clearly under the song title Thrift Shop: Lyrics by Lowry II and APLUS, Music by APLUS.

There were few people at this school who studied seriously, but everyone was eager to gossip. They quickly pieced together the logic chain, and from then on, Song Ya had to bid farewell to his "invisible" persona.

"Hi, APLUS..." Girls started greeting him and batting their eyelashes...

"Thump!"

Walking halfway, he was suddenly bumped from behind. He instinctively thought it was some boy who liked to bully others, but when he turned around, it was the star goddess of the cheerleading squad. After capturing his attention, she began to preen. "APLUS, right?" The goddess bit her lip lightly. "What do you think of my vocal range?"

"Uh... not bad." Song Ya thought to himself, You're speaking in a pinched voice, who could possibly know your vocal range!

"Oh, hehehe..." The goddess gave a smug, shallow laugh. "Then when are you going to take me to the record company for an audition? I..."

"Audition? I don't have that kind of power, goodbye!" Song Ya couldn't take it and fled in a panic.

"Thump!"

He was bumped into again. This time it was a boy, the starting defensive end of the football team, almost the strongest person in the school. "Stop harassing my goddess, stay away from her! You weakling who plays music!" His eyes were wide as copper bells, and he threatened him viciously.

"She's the one who harassed me! Big brother..." Song Ya rubbed his aching shoulder, wanting to cry.

"You dare to slander my goddess!"

The guy was furious and raised a fist the size of a sandbag. "Forget it, forget it, he's Tony's brother." A teammate nearby pulled him back.

"For Tony's sake this time, I'll let it slide. But if I catch you eyeing my goddess again, you're going to regret it!"

Having avoided a beating thanks to his old friendship with Tony, Song Ya slipped into the classroom.

A group of girls in the class huddled together, giggling.

"?"

Song Ya returned to his seat to find a cassette case sitting on his desk. When he opened it, there was a note inside that read "I MISS YOU," signed by one of the ugly girls in class. Underneath the note... well, something was hidden.

"Class starts now!" The bell rang, and the teacher walked in.

Song Ya hurriedly tucked the item into his book.

"Yes!" With a shout of excited celebration, the ugly girl climbed right onto her desk and started jumping. "He accepted it! He accepted it!"

"Damn it, don't get the wrong idea, lady!" Startled, Song Ya raised his hand and tossed the box right back at her.

Clack... The box hit the girl, bounced onto the floor, and cracked open, sending the object rolling out...

"Turn your books to page forty. The content for this lesson is very important: the Civil War..." The teacher at the front seemed to see nothing and began the lecture.

The girl let out an earth-shattering, shrill scream, then "thump, thump, thumped" away, her tank-like frame dragging as she sobbed her way out of the classroom.

The other girls burst into laughter, and the boys began banging on their desks, jeering.

"To discuss the Civil War, one must mention the institution of slavery..."

I can't stay in this school anymore! Song Ya lamented in his heart.

"Hey! Hayden!" As soon as class ended, he ran to use the public phone. "What's my projected income? OK... Do you know anything about transferring schools? Never mind if it's public or private... What? Fine, let's talk in person."

After school, he rushed to the school gate and dove into Hayden's Dodge Dynasty.

"Hello, you're APLUS, right?" To his surprise, a white man was sitting in the back seat.

"Hello, who are you..." Song Ya was a bit taken aback and shook hands with the man.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Daniel Glass, Vice President of SBK Records, a subsidiary of EMI."