Less than five minutes after China Star Entertainment sent its message, the contract arrived.
Yun Xiaoran checked it carefully, found no omissions or word games, and agreed.
He sent over his bank account number and signed the electronic contract.
A hundred thousand yuan for the rights to a single cover performance was top-tier treatment for a VA Site creator.
Yun Xiaoran guessed that China Star Entertainment urgently needed the song. Otherwise, they would never have splashed out so much money.
Mainly, he urgently needed money to buy instruments and professional equipment. Otherwise, with his ability, releasing it on a major music platform could have earned him a fortune.
With a million plays, even if only one in ten listeners paid, pricing the song at three yuan would leave him enough revenue after the platform's cut to build up his savings.
"100,000 yuan has been credited to your bank account. Your remaining balance is..."
The money arrived already?
Surprised, Yun Xiaoran opened his banking app and confirmed that they had deposited a full hundred thousand yuan into his account.
He checked his bank account over and over, feeling a little dazed, but still withdrew thirty thousand yuan. Then he spent twenty thousand on recording gear, a backdrop, and equipment he needed to record songs.
He transferred the remaining ten thousand to his younger sister, Yun Chenxi.
The ten thousand yuan went into his sister's bank account.
Less than two minutes later, Yun Xiaoran received a call from her.
"Hey, someone transferred ten thousand yuan to my account. Was that you?"
In her university dorm, Yun Chenxi kept checking the ten thousand yuan in her account as she asked her brother. She knew his girlfriend was a celebrity.
But because Yun Xiaoran's whirlwind marriage had happened so abruptly, he still hadn't told his sister that he had broken up with his girlfriend.
"Yeah, I made some money. You don't have to scrimp with that ten thousand. Your brother can earn money now."
Yun Xiaoran smiled as he spoke.
He opened his private messages and found someone calling herself "Mu Jin" had messaged him:
"Hello, are the rights to this song for sale?"
This was clearly an alt account. It didn't belong to any member of Three Stars, One Radiance and followed only one account, but it had liked plenty of songs performed by talented amateur singers on VA Station.
"Sorry, the copyright isn't for sale. I've already sold China Star Entertainment the rights to a single cover performance."
Yun Xiaoran casually typed a few lines while chatting on and off with his sister.
Meanwhile.
Shen Jin had already been lying on her side in bed, her eyes half closed, like a mermaid sleeping on a rock. She tried desperately to fall asleep, but remained anxious about tomorrow's rehearsal for I Am a Singer.
Ding-
For Lone Cloud's sake, Shen Jin had set all VA Site notifications to priority alerts.
This alt account of hers followed only Lone Cloud, and no one would send her private messages, so the source of the notification was obvious.
Shen Jin opened her phone. In the nighttime quiet, her silky black hair spread across her bed, carrying a soft fragrance. Hugging the soft Pink Bear in her arms, she opened VA Site, and the first thing she saw was a message from the creator Lone Cloud.
"He already sold the cover rights once? To my own company!"
Reading the message on her phone, Shen Jin froze for a moment before delight flooded through her. Still, as the Top Diva of Chinese Entertainment, she firmly suppressed her joy.
After replying to this bare-bones alt account, Yun Xiaoran scrolled down, and a familiar avatar and name caught his eye:
Li Qingxi: "Hello, Great God Lone Cloud. I'd like to offer a hundred and fifty thousand yuan to buy out the rights to this song. Please message me if you're interested. Here's my work WeChat..."
Why was she messaging me too?
Yun Xiaoran stared at the computer screen. His slender, well-defined hand trembled slightly around the mouse, his heart a tangle of emotions.
He had originally written this song for Li Qingxi, and now she was messaging him to buy its copyright.
This really was the age of things coming back to bite people. It was happening everywhere. Yun Xiaoran gave a bitter smile too.
Yun Xiaoran still had a trace of affection for Li Qingxi, but his feelings toward her were mostly complicated.
They felt like knots he couldn't cut loose, only tangling further when he tried to unravel them.
"Sorry, I've already sold the rights to a single cover performance, and I don't intend to sell the copyright."
After some thought, Yun Xiaoran typed out that line.
Besides, in a sense, he was already someone else's husband. Never mind betrayal-he had practically sealed his heart in concrete. He couldn't muster any interest in women, certainly not as much as he had in Black Myth: Wukong.
Yun Xiaoran only wanted to work out and polish his lyrics. He had no interest in any of that romance bullshit.
"Who did you sell it to? How much did they pay?"
Upon receiving his reply, Li Qingxi immediately typed back.
Seeing that Li Qingxi was still persistently messaging him, Yun Xiaoran typed:
"China Star Entertainment. A hundred thousand. One cover performance."
Yun Xiaoran wasn't being loose-lipped. Given the currently popular I Am a Singer, anyone could work out that China Star Entertainment had most likely bought the song for one of its own artists.
They moved that fast?
Li Qingxi paused, but buying the copyright hadn't been part of her plans anyway. Since she couldn't secure the cover rights, she could only accept her bad luck.
After sharing the good news with Sister Hua, Shen Jin was delighted, but she still remembered to nervously type:
"When will you release your next song? Could I buy the rights in advance?"
Seeing this bare-bones account say that, Yun Xiaoran grew suspicious, while also becoming intensely curious about her.
A bare-bones account meant no videos, no bio, and no followers.
Was she just messing with me?
Doubt sprang up in Yun Xiaoran's mind, but to test her, he still adopted an apologetic tone:
"My next song will be out in the next couple of days. If you enjoy singing, I can give you some pointers."
Was he that prolific?
If what Great God Lone Cloud said was true, she would have a considerable advantage when buying his next song.
Shen Jin messaged Sister Hua to have her draft a contract, then sent Great God Lone Cloud another message:
"If your next song is in this same style, I'm willing to pay twice the price for the rights to a single cover performance."
"Oh."
Yun Xiaoran sent that reply, then logged off.
What a joke.
A hundred thousand yuan for an amateur creator's original lyrics and arrangement was already an astronomical price, yet this bare-bones account had offered twice that right off the bat.
It really sounded like empty boasting.
Time for bed.
Yun Xiaoran wasn't in the mood to spend all night chatting with someone who did nothing but brag.
At that moment.
On the second floor.
Lying under the covers, Shen Jin stared indignantly at Lone Cloud's message, the chat history before her, and the indicator showing that he had gone offline.
His reply was far too perfunctory. He had practically sent that single word only out of politeness.
It had to be because of this account. If she had used China Star Entertainment's official account instead, Great God Lone Cloud would have acted completely differently.
Looking at his account with two hundred thousand followers, she found no bio.
There was only an IP location showing that he was in the same province as her. He had posted just two videos, one of which was the welcome video automatically generated by the platform.
Was he really that aloof?
Shen Jin lay in bed, holding her phone.
If I used China Star Entertainment's main account to chat with Great God Lone Cloud, would he change his tune?
Lying in bed, Shen Jin developed a mischievous urge. She couldn't wait to strip away Great God Lone Cloud's aloof persona.
If Yun Xiaoran knew what Shen Jin was thinking, his glamorous image of celebrities would probably shatter.
Who could have imagined that Shen Muge, the Top Diva of Chinese Entertainment, would be lying awake in bed in the middle of the night, plotting how to unmask an aloof online talent?
Shen Jin lay on her side in her pajamas.
Hugging the Pink Bear beside her that had endured all her squeezing, she nestled her pretty face contentedly into its embrace and drifted into a deep sleep.
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