Chapter 155: Wait, if you don't speak Cantonese, how on earth did you write...

"It's just that I haven't released any new songs in years, and those old tracks have been sung to death..."

"Besides, you know how it is. The music scene on our side hasn't been developing as well as the mainland's; you can't even call it stagnant—it's actively regressing!"

"I've searched through all the veteran producers from the early days, but the stuff they write, sigh."

Lin Ze roughly understood what he meant.

"Are you hoping to use a song to see if it can awaken them and inspire them to keep moving forward?"

"Ah! Xiao Lin, you understand me." Wei Yan nodded. "Right, I still don't know if you can write Cantonese songs? If not, you can just do it in Mandarin first, and I'll find someone else to handle the lyrics later."

"No problem, leave it to me. Since you're paying three hundred, I certainly wouldn't sell you a half-finished product, would I?"

Hearing Lin Ze say this, a stone fell from Wei Yan's heart.

"Good, good, good. I'm going to an awards ceremony on the twelfth of next month, as long as it's done before then, it's fine."

"Mo problem la," Lin Ze replied using a phonetic transliteration of Cantonese.

Wei Yan's heart instantly clenched.

What kind of makeshift, assembly-kit Cantonese was that?

Can you actually write a Cantonese song?

Bai Yuxin's requirements were much simpler.

After all these years, she had already established her own style; he just needed to create a song tailored to her style.

However, it definitely had to surpass other tracks, as this song was intended to be the lead single on her album.

Ah, I finally have work.

Though...

Lin Ze couldn't help but sigh at how easy it was for celebrities to make money.

...

While everyone else was still desperately writing songs, Lin Ze was back to being idle.

In the blink of an eye, a week had passed, leaving only six days until the competition.

Lin Ze sent the completed song files to Wei Yan.

"Brother Wei, my Cantonese isn't particularly good, so I wrote the lyrics for this song based on phonetic transliteration. If you can't tell what it's saying, you should just read through it a couple of times and you'll probably get the gist of it."

"Sorry to trouble you with translating it back yourself."

When Wei Yan received the files and saw Lin Ze's message, he was genuinely bewildered.

Didn't you say you wouldn't sell someone a half-finished product?

What is the meaning of this? You're making me do my own translation...

Wei Yan's hands trembled slightly at that moment. Frankly speaking, three million was an amount that would pain even him!

After opening the folder, he found the demo, the sheet music, and the lyrics.

All of these were included. Wei Yan looked at the sheet music and the bizarre lyrics, and sang a couple of lines.

His previously furrowed brow slowly smoothed out, and a hint of shock gradually surfaced in his eyes.

This song?

If he went out and told others this was written by someone who barely knew any Cantonese, who would ever believe it?

Suddenly, Wei Yan recalled the phrase he had seen most often when searching for Lin Ze online recently.

You can always trust Lin Ze!

Always!

...

"Boss, just boycotting them—how is that satisfying enough?"

A suit-wearing man with rimless glasses and visible whites under his pupils leaned in close to Zhou Tiesheng's ear and whispered.

"Their stockpiles are starting to run dry now. I've noticed that many items on their storefronts are already showing as out of stock."

"Just doing that is completely devoid of fun."

A glint of light flashed across the suit-wearing man's glasses.

"What we should do now is pretend to be a manufacturer, proactively contact them, and then..."

"I get it! When they get really happy, we reveal that we are actually Tiesheng Jewelry, and piss them to death!"

A glimmer of excitement radiated from Zhou Tiesheng's eyes.

The suit-wearing man gave a dry cough. "Boss, although your method is quite amusing, I think we need to twist the knife deeper!"

"Oh? How so? Let's hear it." Zhou Tiesheng regained his composure.

The corners of the suit-wearing man's mouth hooked up slightly into an arc, making his whole demeanor look rather sinister.

"We actually go find a factory to produce a small batch of goods for them. Just when they think everything has returned to normal, we pretend to be some school, place a massive bulk order with them, and sign a contract."

"Then, right after he happily accepts this super-sized order, we suddenly—"

"Bam! Cut off their supply chain right there! That way... hehe!"

"Good!" Zhou Tiesheng suddenly clapped his hands and let out a booming shout!

"Not bad, not bad! What a brilliant strategy!"

"Hahaha, you flatter me, Boss!"

The two of them shared a burst of laughter before gradually calming down. A trace of tenderness appeared in Zhou Tiesheng's eyes.

"Actually, if he cursed at me behind my back, I wouldn't mind it in the least."

"It's just that he shouldn't have cursed at me in front of Sheng-sheng..."

"What a wonderfully innocent woman Sheng-sheng is. When I read that book of hers, I felt as though her male protagonist was written based on me."

"Seductive, and cold!"

The suit-wearing man beside him felt the muscles on his face twitch violently as he fought desperately to restrain himself.

"For her, I am willing to use the struggle of half my life to support her, to cherish her..."

Zhou Tiesheng shook his head. "God, among all the women I've known, she seems to be the only one who is so pure and innocent, not coming after my money..."

The suit-wearing man's face twitched even more violently.

...

The crew had been filming for a week now. Throughout this week, Huang Ting only filmed for one hour a day, after which he would immediately go rest and give his face cosmetic treatments.

Yet, given his level of acting skills, a single take often required a very long time to shoot.

This naturally resulted in sluggish production progress for the entire crew.

"Teacher Huang, how about we shoot just one more take? Your gaze was still a bit absent-minded just now."

The director was practically begging Huang Ting to film.

There was no helping it; the screenwriter in the crew was practically indulging Huang Ting to no end.

She stared at Huang Ting all day long like a lovesick fanatic, completely failing to fulfill any function as a screenwriter.

"Fine, Director, then I'll be leaving early today as well," Tian Sheng-sheng said.

"You—"

"Isn't there a script? Just shoot according to the script. Me being here as the screenwriter is only going to affect your performance."

Having said her piece, Tian Sheng-sheng didn't wait for the director to respond; she grabbed her things and left.

The director was bursting with a bellyful of rage with no outlet to vent it on either of them.

There was nothing he could do. Tian Sheng-sheng had financing tied to her entry into the cast—she was the absolute matriarch of the entire crew!

And Huang Ting had massive star power; there was simply no way to scold him.

Huang Ting's daily routine remained unchanged.

Now, having finished filming for the day, he headed straight to the gym next to the set.

After working out his slender arms and legs and admiring the pleasing curves of his muscles, he went over to his personal trainer.

Whether or not he actually paid attention during personal training sessions was one thing, but the main point was going over to touch the personal trainer's well-developed muscles.

Soon, after eating a light fat-loss meal for dinner, Huang Ting returned to his hotel.

He closed the door and inserted the room key card.

He had intended to sit down on the bed for a moment, but the second he sat down—

A pair of arms wrapped around him from behind.