41: Chapter 41 Ten Million, I Don't Want It

The live broadcast ended, and the spotlights in the Studio went out one by one.

In the control room, the chief director stared at the words "Salute to the Retrograde" frozen on the screen, rubbed his face with crossed hands, and let out a long breath.

The ratings report had been printed, and the graph showed a bizarre vertical climb in the last ten minutes, breaking the historical record for Pengcheng Satellite TV in recent years.

Fang Zhiqing stood in the center of the stage, steadying her breathing.

She had been in the industry for fifteen years, interviewed countless top superstars, and seen too much exquisite packaging and hypocritical personas.

Those people were flawless in front of the camera, reciting press releases written by their management teams overnight, with even the timing of their tears calculated.

But today, she had been thoroughly conquered by a twenty-year-old young man, with just a piano and a song.

She walked quickly to Jiang Fan and proactively reached out her hands.

"Jiang Fan, thank you."

Fang Zhiqing's attitude was ten times more respectful than before the broadcast started.

Before the broadcast, when she looked at Jiang Fan, she was just looking at program material covered in controversial labels and built-in traffic topics.

"You are too kind, Sister Fang." Jiang Fan extended his right hand and shook hers lightly.

"This song will remain in the history books of the Chinese music scene." Fang Zhiqing looked at him. "I apologize for my previous slight."

Jiang Fan nodded, didn't say any extra nonsense, and turned to walk toward the backstage passage.

Just as he pushed open the door to the backstage lounge.

"Crazy! The whole internet is crazy!"

Li Cheng grabbed Jiang Fan's arm with great force.

"The Vice President of Tencent Music just called!" Li Cheng swallowed hard. "There is only a live version of 'lonely warrior', but within half an hour, the total views of clips across the internet have exceeded fifty million!"

Li Cheng held up a finger, poking it right in front of Jiang Fan's nose, spittle flying.

"They are begging for the exclusive copyright! They offered an eight-figure sum! And that's just the advance payment; the subsequent revenue sharing from single purchases is calculated separately!"

Li Cheng paced back and forth in the lounge.

A newcomer without any capital background, an improvised live song, directly commanded a ten-million-level buyout fee.

This is unprecedented in the history of the Chinese music scene.

As long as Jiang Fan nodded, this money could be sitting in Fanyin Studio's corporate account by tomorrow.

Jiang Fan sat down on the sofa, unscrewed a bottle of mineral water, and took a sip.

His expression had no fluctuation; the ten million Li Cheng mentioned sounded no different from one hundred yuan.

"Turn it down."

"What?" Li Cheng stopped, doubting his hearing.

"This song will not be signed exclusively." Jiang Fan placed the water bottle on the coffee table. "Find a Recording Studio tomorrow to record the official version. After recording, it will be launched simultaneously on all platforms across the internet."

He paused, then added: "Set it to be permanently free."

The lounge fell into dead silence.

Two seconds later, Li Cheng completely panicked.

"Jiang Fan, do you know what you are doing? That's ten million! Ten million in cash!" Li Cheng grabbed his hair with both hands.

"I know you want to build a persona, but a persona can't be eaten! Fanyin Studio was just established; we need money for promotion, we need money to hire people! Shen Nian's lawsuit has been formally entrusted to Jincheng Law Firm, and legal fees are charged by the hour! Making this song free is equivalent to pushing a mountain of gold directly into the sea!"

Jiang Fan looked at Li Cheng.

"Brother Li." Jiang Fan's voice was not loud. "You know who this song was written for."

Li Cheng's breath hitched.

"Using a hero's life to exchange for money—can you spend this money with a clear conscience?"

Li Cheng opened his mouth, but couldn't refute a single word.

He had been struggling in the entertainment industry for so many years and had seen plenty of schemes that exploited tragedy.

But now, looking at Jiang Fan's face, which didn't show the slightest wavering, he suddenly felt that his own calculations just now were dirty.

"Fine." Li Cheng gritted his teeth and kicked the chair away. "I'll play the saint with you today. Free across the whole internet; I'll go and reject Tencent Music right now."

He turned, took out his phone, walked to the door, pulled the door handle, and then stopped.

"Jiang Fan, I, Li Cheng, have managed quite a few artists. But you are the bravest one I have ever seen."

At the same time, in Shanghai.

The night view by the Huangpu River was still dazzling, but the top-floor office of Shenghai Entertainment was in a mess.

Cao Qiming slumped in his boss chair, with broken glass and dark red wine stains scattered on the expensive Persian rug.

The large LCD screen on the wall was still looping the live broadcast clip of "deep dialogue".

Looking at the blue V mark of the Fire and Rescue Bureau, Cao Qiming knew that Shenghai Entertainment could no longer touch Jiang Fan.

"What is the Public Relations Department doing! Lower the trending search! Take down the entry for me!" He roared into the intercom phone.

"CEO Cao, we can't take it down. The people in charge of several platforms just gave their replies; they have locked the entry directly and will not accept any PR quotes."

On the other end of the phone, the PR director's voice was filled with despair. "Tencent Video has even hung Jiang Fan's competition replay on the homepage."

Bang!

The heavy wooden door of the office was slammed open.

The Legal Department Director rushed in.

He was clutching several documents, his face deathly pale, and he didn't even bother to straighten his gold-rimmed glasses, which were crooked on the bridge of his nose.

"What is it now!" Cao Qiming's voice was hoarse as he slammed the intercom phone back onto its base.

"CEO Cao, we just received news. Jincheng Law Firm submitted a formal lawsuit to the court this afternoon." The Legal Director handed over the documents in his hand.

Cao Qiming sneered, forcing himself to sit up straight, and reached out to take the documents: "Isn't it just the copyright case for 'starry sky'? What's the panic! Let the Legal Department drag it out! Drag it out for three or five years, until the public forgets about this matter!"

"It's not..." The Legal Director swallowed hard, his hands braced on the wide desk. "It's not just the copyright case for 'starry sky'."

Cao Qiming frowned.

"What else?"

"They also submitted a real-name reporting material to the Tax Bureau at the same time." The Legal Director flipped to the second page and pointed to the lines of text above. "The content involves the specific account flow of three yin-yang contracts of Vice President Liu Qingyang. The material details the specific path Liu Qingyang used to evade taxes by funneling consulting fees through overseas shell Studios, with the amount reaching as high as 120 million. And... there is a complete recording of forced transactions in the trainee department."

Cao Qiming felt cold all over.

These things were all of Shenghai Entertainment's most core secrets!

How could Jiang Fan, a night shift security guard at Tianyu Entertainment, possibly have gotten these things?!

"CEO Cao." The Legal Director's voice was very low. "Jincheng Law Firm has already submitted the materials. It is estimated that someone will definitely come to audit the accounts tomorrow morning. Once the accounts are sealed, the capital chains for the company's major projects in the second half of the year will all be broken."

Cao Qiming stared at the A4 paper in his hand; capital operations in the entertainment industry were never clean.

Everyone usually tacitly understood this and maintained a facade of decency.

But now, Jiang Fan had directly flipped the table.

"Go find Liu Qingyang." Cao Qiming walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the endless stream of car lights below. "Someone must take the fall for this. Make him take the blame alone; say that the yin-yang contracts were his personal behavior and the company was unaware. Say the forced transactions were also him privately using his power to rule trainees."

The Legal Director gasped. "Vice President Liu has been with you for ten years; would he be willing to take the fall?"

"He doesn't have the luxury of being unwilling." Cao Qiming turned around and straightened his messy collar. "Tell him that the company will help take care of his family, and I will cover all the expenses for his children to study abroad. The company will secretly pay the fines that need to be paid for him. If he dares to bite back..."

Cao Qiming didn't finish the sentence, but the Legal Director already understood the weight of it.

"Jiang Fan." Cao Qiming chanted this name, gnashing his teeth.

"Notify the whole company to activate the level-one crisis plan. Cut off all business contacts with Liu Qingyang and destroy all files in his office." Cao Qiming issued the order, his tone regaining the ruthlessness of a business veteran.

"In addition, send an internal notice to all distribution channels, Recording Studios, and promotion companies that we have cooperated with in the industry. Whoever dares to take work from Fanyin Studio is officially declaring war on Shenghai Entertainment."

The next morning. Penguin Hotel.

Li Cheng sat by the window, holding the phone, his brows knitted into a dead knot.

"Boss Zhang, we go way back; can you really not spare a two-hour slot? ...Equipment maintenance? Weren't you still recording yesterday? ...Fine, I understand; I won't make it difficult for you."

Li Cheng hung up the phone, threw it on the table, and cursed.

Jiang Fan sat on the sofa opposite him.

"Which one is this?"

"The seventh one." Li Cheng irritably grabbed the cigarette case on the table, pulled one out, and lit it. "The professional Recording Studios in Pengcheng that are worth mentioning have all refused. The excuses are bizarre—some say the equipment is broken, others even say the Studio is leaking water. Bullshit!"