"Ring, ring..."
Shen Jin was sitting on her bed watching the video when her phone suddenly rang.
Sister Hua?
Why was she calling at this hour?
Shen Jin answered the call.
"Jin, hurry and watch that video on the amateur site!"
"Oh, you mean that song, 'Silence'?"
"I'm watching it right now. It would sound even better with piano accompaniment."
"Jin, can you hear it? The composition and lyrics are absolutely first-rate. Our people at China Star Entertainment are trying to contact this amazing creator on the amateur site."
Many uploaders on VA Site ran on passion alone. Often, their videos amounted to little more than singing a couple of lines.
This video featured a complete song, with a strong narrative and a distinctive melody.
That was why Sister Hua was so eager. Signing a talented amateur like this might cost less than a few tens of thousands.
Besides, she had just searched for the song's title and found that it was neither a cover nor a lip-sync video. There was a very good chance he had written the lyrics and composed it himself.
The song's style happened to be very similar to Shen Muge's songs.
As it happened, Sky Star Entertainment also had a singer, Li Qingxi, who occupied the same niche as Shen Muge.
Her public persona and carefully packaged image were almost directly modeled on Shen Muge's.
"Yes, I also think this singer on the amateur site might have a team, or a very good lyricist."
"Have the people at China Star Entertainment find a way to contact him."
Shen Jin gave Sister Hua that instruction as she gently stroked Fu Bao in her arms.
Dressed in pajamas, she sat leisurely on her bed eating green grapes. Rather than a diva who commanded half the entertainment industry, she looked more like a girlfriend lounging at home watching dramas.
Shen Jin was the owner of China Star Entertainment.
It was one of the country's "three Stars and one Radiant." The other two Stars were Sky Star Entertainment and Flash Star Entertainment, while Radiant referred to Radiant Sky Entertainment.
Together, the four entertainment companies accounted for nearly all the celebrities and performers in mainland China.
Only an hour had passed on the amateur site.
It was the evening rush hour, and more and more people could pick up their phones to watch videos. Traffic began to surge, and the number of viewers actually rose to fifty thousand.
The total view count was now approaching eight hundred thousand, and his followers had grown from one hundred thousand to one hundred thirty thousand.
Shen Jin was stunned by those numbers. VA Site was a video platform where skill mattered; only sufficient talent and a powerful singing voice could win over its audience.
At this rate, the video might reach a million views within seven hours and become one of the site's must-watch videos for newcomers.
There were only twenty newcomer must-watch videos on all of VA Site.
Out of hundreds of thousands of videos and thousands of amateur creators on VA Site, Lone Cloud had emerged.
If one video could gain him two hundred thousand followers, another four might well earn him a place among the top one hundred uploaders and an invitation to VA Site's convention.
With her cool, slender, fair hands, Shen Jin scrolled down through the comments.
"Great God Lone Cloud, you lied to me! You said listening to this would give me hope for tomorrow, so why do I feel more and more like crying?"
"Thank you, Great God Lone Cloud! My girlfriend was barely acknowledging me earlier, but less than two minutes after I opened this video, she threw herself into my arms and cried."
"Hey, you above me! We were all doing just fine being single. How come you've got a girlfriend?"
As Shen Jin browsed the comments, a smile appeared on her pale pink lips, softening her normally icy expression.
"Which big name is behind Lone Cloud's alt account on VA Site?"
"What exactly is Lone Cloud's song on VA Site trying to convey? Has he been hurt by love?"
Shen Jin lay on the bed, having already showered. Her dark hair cascaded like a waterfall, and her pretty face featured a delicate nose and thin lips. Her alluring, peach-blossom eyes remained fixed on the screen before her.
She looked utterly beautiful in her languid state.
Shen Jin moved the mouse with her fair, gentle fingers and saw a slew of clickbait accounts across VA Site analyzing the song's merits and flaws from every possible angle.
They were all just fishing for attention.
Shen Jin was certain the song contained no plagiarism. This had to be an alt account belonging to someone well-known in the industry.
Opening the video again, she saw the white shirt, the neck with only its Adam's apple showing, and the plain white wall behind him.
Those details also told Shen Jin that he was close to her age. Yet she could think of no one in the entertainment industry that young who fit.
Could he just be the singer, with someone else writing the lyrics and music?
Biting her lip, Shen Jin thought it over again and again, but did not send the message she had typed.
She decided to use her alt account, Mu Jin, to message Great God Lone Cloud about the song's rights, because its overall tone and melody were especially suited to her stage performances.
If Great God Lone Cloud refused, she could try again with her main account.
If she could secure the rights to this song, she might escape last place on tomorrow's episode of I Am a Singer.
Filled with anticipation, Shen Jin lay on her side, thinking about the day's frustrations as she tossed and turned in bed.
After showering, Yun Xiaoran put on his pajamas. Tall and straight-backed, with handsome features, he opened his phone and continued checking the video on VA Site.
While browsing his private messages, he spotted three industry heavyweights, since messages were ranked by the sender's follower count.
China Star Entertainment: "Hello, Lone Cloud! We'd like to buy out the rights to this song."
Sky Star Entertainment: "Lone Cloud, we'd like to buy out all the rights to this song. We'll offer a very lucrative price."
Flash Star Entertainment: "..."
Yun Xiaoran did not get overly excited after seeing their messages. He knew just how much of a sensation this song could cause in a world so starved of entertainment.
He then composed a message and sent it to all three entertainment companies.
"One hundred thousand for the right to perform one cover."
One hundred thousand for a single cover performance was an unimaginable figure for a VA Site creator, but only Yun Xiaoran knew how much potential this song had.
There were two advantages to this.
First, if they agreed, everyone would be happy, and Yun Xiaoran would gain both fame and money.
Second, if they refused, Yun Xiaoran had no intention of selling the rights at a lower price.
His original dream had been to establish his own studio in the entertainment industry and have his own label. Selling off the rights for one hundred thousand was not worth it.
The songs he released next would only become more classic with each one.
And just three minutes later, China Star Entertainment was the first to send a reply.
"Agreed. We'll draft the key terms of the contract right away. Thank you, Great God Lone Cloud."
China Star Entertainment must have been crazy to pay one hundred thousand for a single cover performance of a VA Site creator's song.
But Yun Xiaoran did not care. He intended to open his own studio and build his own label someday. Whether he offended Sky Star Entertainment or Flash Star Entertainment made no difference to him.
China Star Entertainment had secured the song because, at such a critical moment, they could not afford to let Sky Star Entertainment get its hands on a song so perfectly suited to their rival, Li Qingxi.
Naturally, they settled the price without hesitation.
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