Chapter Ninety-Six: You... an Undercover Agent?

Since that is the case, get it recorded and released as soon as possible. The longer there is left in the month, the more room there is to maneuver.

Zhang Huai tapped lightly on the tabletop.

These past two days had gone fairly well. At the very least, Zhang Yang had not done anything foolish.

Probably.

Zhang Huai suddenly felt a little guilty. Something about it just did not feel right.

Forget it. Do not think about it.

The second round of review over at the talent camp was almost finished. Once it passed, they could go back online.

Good. Our second round of sparring was about to begin.

Lin Ze!

...

In the recording studio, the agent stood outside the glass, looking at Li Xiyan inside. This time, Li Xiyan was even more dazzling than before.

There was a hard-earned strength about her now, as if she had emerged from the ashes, brilliant enough to make one blink.

The listless air that had once clung to her was gone. She had found all of it again in this song.

This would be another song that spread far and wide.

"Well done, Xiyan."

Li Xiyan walked out of the studio and heard her agent's praise. She smiled softly. "I still feel like I have a few spots I have not practiced well enough. I need to put in more work over the next few days."

"Also, speaking of which... I invited Brother Lin into the group chat, but why has he still not joined yet?"

...

After getting home, Lin Ze and Su Zitan had originally planned to go out for a stroll in the afternoon. But after resting for a bit, they came across the photos they had taken a few days earlier, and then they were completely unable to move on.

"This one turned out great. The two of us look pretty good. But the minister following behind us, why is he smiling so obscenely, with his tongue sticking out?"

It was not that Lin Ze and Su Zitan were attacking someone else's looks. It was mainly that the one in the minister's costume had deliberately stuck out his tongue and made that lewd expression.

He looked just like some wealthy old patron in a drama, calling out, "Beauty, beauty..."

Still, overall, this was the best group photo of the lot.

"Post it!" Lin Ze uploaded the picture to Weibo.

"Who's that in the back? Come out and take a beating!"

Then Lin Ze and Su Zitan kept browsing through the rest of the photos, some taken by the shop owner, some by the photographer.

Even the audience had captured quite a few good screenshots.

Su Zitan, dressed in a phoenix robe, was stunning beyond words.

Lin Ze put together a nine-panel collage and sent it out.

Before long, he had already posted four or five Weibo updates.

"Come on, it looks good, but are you treating this like your social feed?"

"Can you be a little more aloof? What official account posts like you do?"

"Release a song! Release a song!"

Soon after, Wang Xue called.

"Lin Ze, I have found the assistant for you. He is a recently graduated young man. On Tuesday, I will have him drive over to pick you up."

Then Wang Xue explained the schedule to Lin Ze. "The recording arrangement has already been sent to me. You should report in before Tuesday and record the part where you draw the song topics."

"Then on Wednesday, a photographer will follow you all day while you write the song. On Thursday, the competition begins."

"All right, all right. Thanks for your hard work, Sister Wang."

"Wait, there is more. Next week, we have the romance shoot." Wang Xue continued.

Her voice sounded a little strained, as if she were speaking with her cheek and shoulder pinning the phone in place.

"Next week, Director Zhang plans to have you meet a newcomer within seven days. The candidate has not been decided yet, and Director Zhang wants you to choose. Do you understand what that means?"

I get to choose?

"Can I choose someone for the studio?" Lin Ze asked, a little surprised.

"Of course." Wang Xue paused on the other end. "That is also what the seniors mean."

"Still, our studio does not really have many people right now. Either Phoenix Park, or that..." Wang Xue thought for a moment before recalling the name. "Chang Zheng? Or should we find another newcomer?"

Lin Ze considered it for a moment. Phoenix Park was not urgent for now. After their cover of Moonlit Lotus Pond, they had gained a little popularity.

But Chang Zheng had been signed for more than half a month, and the company still had not arranged any work for him. He was probably growing anxious.

"Chang Zheng, then." Lin Ze made the decision. "A man in his thirties is still in his prime."

Wang Xue suddenly fell silent.

Only then did Lin Ze realize what he had just said, and he hurriedly tried to placate her. "Ahem, Sister Wang, that is not what I meant. You are also in your prime..."

Click.

The call was hung up.

Su Zitan doubled over laughing beside him, pounding the bed. "That is so you, stabbing right at someone's sore spot, are you?"

Lin Ze was feeling awkward and wondering whether he should send a message to comfort her, when Wang Xue called again.

Lin Ze thought she had called back just to scold him, so he answered carefully.

"Hello?"

But Wang Xue did not seem to have the time to berate him. Her voice was rushed instead.

"Lin Ze, look at Weibo right now! Look at Li Xiangyu!"

"Huh?"

Lin Ze froze. What had happened to Li Xiangyu?

After hanging up, Lin Ze opened Weibo and immediately saw that Li Xiangyu had tagged him.

"Li Xiangyu: @Singer Lin Ze, please take me in! Please!"

Beneath that post was an attached image: a contract-termination statement.

"???"

He terminated his contract?

Lin Ze was full of question marks. What was this supposed to mean?

Li Xiangyu had broken his contract with Donghuang Entertainment?

And from the looks of it, he was planning to come to him?

Lin Ze checked his private messages, and sure enough, the boy had sent him messages there as well.

"Brother, Brother Lin, my company is gone now, and I have spent all my savings on the penalty fee. Your studio has only been established for half a month, and now it has a fierce general like me joining all at once. Aren't you happy?"

The earliest message was from half an hour ago. Then, ten minutes later, another private message came through.

"Brother? Brother, say something. I am freaking out."

"I broke my contract just to come over. You cannot not want me..."

"Brother Lin! I know I will probably lose some fans, but I believe the ones who stay with me are all true fans!"

"Brother Lin..."

Every three to five minutes, another message appeared, until the latest one was the Weibo post he had just made.

"Um... Zitan, what do you think?" Lin Ze turned to look at her.

"This is hard to say, but his performances in those later shows were indeed pretty good. He does have real skill."

Su Zitan thought about it. "Anyway, if we take him in, there will definitely be huge benefits. It is just that I do not know whether he is sincere."

If he came over, he would definitely have to sign a contract. And if he broke it later, he would need to pay a massive penalty all over again.

What Lin Ze was worried about was not that. It was whether he might secretly pass some business secrets to Donghuang Entertainment.

Right now, there were only the three of them in the studio, and even the studio itself was still in the process of being set up. If an informant got in at a time like this, then...

"Talk to him first," Su Zitan said, leaning against Lin Ze's shoulder.

"What is going on with you? Did Zhang Huai send you here to play double agent?"