52: Chapter 52 Preemptive Strike

When it came to moving, Li Cheng was so swift and decisive that it was almost unreasonable.

At 8:30 in the morning, a moving company van pulled up downstairs from Shen Nian's place.

When Shen Nian went downstairs, Zhou Yutong was already waiting at the entrance, carrying two bags of breakfast.

"Teacher Shen, do you want to eat the steamed buns or have the soy milk first?" Zhou Yutong smiled, revealing two canine teeth.

Shen Nian took the soy milk and followed her into the van.

She didn't have many belongings.

Just two boxes of clothes, a cloth bag filled with medicine bottles, and that pot of pothos she had almost let dry out but managed to revive.

The movers finished in just two trips.

The new apartment was on the twenty-third floor of a high-end residential complex in Jing'an, which required keycard access to enter and exit.

Shen Nian stood in the meticulously decorated living room, where sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, blanketing the floor.

She stood there for about a minute.

Then, she moved the pot of pothos to the windowsill and carefully set it down.

That same afternoon, Jiang Fan also checked out of his previous rental in the north of the city.

The landlady took the keys and glanced inside; the floor was very clean, and there were no nail holes in the walls.

She had prepared a bellyful of criticisms, but didn't get to use them; she just gave a grunt of acknowledgment and returned the deposit.

Jiang Fan's luggage was even less than Shen Nian's.

He left with just one suitcase, hailed a taxi, and gave the address of the same apartment building.

Li Cheng had booked him into the same complex, and the same apartment building.

Jiang Fan was on the twenty-first floor, and Shen Nian was on the twenty-third.

It took less than twenty minutes to get settled.

After finishing, he sat down on the living room sofa and habitually opened his system panel for a glance.

[Remaining lifespan: 34 days, 11 hours]

Time was still relatively plentiful.

He closed the panel, and his phone vibrated.

It was a message from Xu Qingya.

[Come over to my place tonight, something has come up.]

Tianyu Media, Xu Qingya's private lounge.

Manager Chen held a tablet, her expression looking terrible, and pushed open the door with quick steps.

"Qingya, something has happened."

Xu Qingya had just finished a shoot and was leaning on the sofa, closing her eyes to rest, but opened them upon hearing this.

Manager Chen handed the tablet over.

On the screen was Su Yuyan's Weibo homepage.

Pinned to the top was a promotional image for a new song, featuring an ink-wash painting style with swaying willow leaves, and two archaic characters suspended in the center—song.

The comment section below had already flooded with tens of thousands of messages, all filled with fans' screams and anticipation.

"Sister Yuyan is finally releasing a traditional style song! I love this style so much!"

"song? Just hearing the name makes me feel like it's going to be heartbreaking; I've already got my tissues ready!"

"It's launching tomorrow? That's too fast! Happiness came so suddenly!"

Xu Qingya's gaze landed on the style of the promotional image, and her brows furrowed slightly.

"Our promotional plan has been leaked." Manager Chen's voice was tight. "The teaser plan for 《Red Bean》 focused on the ink-wash traditional style and the emotional keyword 'song'. Their style is 90% similar to ours."

Xu Qingya's gaze turned cold.

The promotional plan for the new album was a top-level company secret, known only to a few people on the core team.

"Who leaked it?"

"Chen Weiyang." Manager Chen spat out the name through gritted teeth. "I only found out today that he signed with Times Media. He participated in the brainstorming session for the 《Red Bean》 promotion once, so he definitely heard the style and tone."

Manager Chen grew angrier as she spoke: "The timing of Su Yuyan releasing this song was definitely calculated, launching it three days before your 《Red Bean》 promotion to seize the market using a similar emotional track. By the time your song comes out, the listeners' emotional threshold will have already been exhausted by song. In comparison, your new song will seem like an afterthought, and you might even be labeled as a 'copycat'!"

Xu Qingya didn't reply, tapping her fingers lightly on the sofa armrest twice.

"Qingya, what should we do?" Manager Chen paced back and forth anxiously, "It's too late to change the promotional plan now."

"Let's first listen to what this song is actually like." Xu Qingya's tone, conversely, calmed down.

She clicked on the preview link for the song Su Yuyan had just released.

The intro melody was winding and graceful, exuding a rich, classical charm.

Su Yuyan's singing skills were unquestionable, the emotion in her voice was full, and every line hit the listeners' softest emotional spot just right.

After listening to the whole song, whether she wanted to admit it or not, the quality of this song was extremely high.

Manager Chen's face turned even paler.

"The style of this song is really very similar to 《Red Bean》."

She remembered that back at Recording Studio No. 1, that dog Chen Weiyang was also outside; he had heard the demo for 《Red Bean》!

Xu Qingya put down the tablet and was silent for a moment.

Then, she picked up her phone and sent that message to Jiang Fan.

7:00 PM, Times Media Building.

In the director's office on the top floor, Chen Weiyang was sitting on the sofa, leisurely sipping a cup of Dahongpao tea.

Opposite him was Director Wang, the planning director of Times Media.

Director Wang placed a tablet in front of him, and the real-time data for Su Yuyan's song was jumping rapidly on the screen.

It had been posted on Weibo for over ten hours and had already topped the trending list.

The discussion volume across the entire internet had surpassed ten million.

"The data is very good." Director Wang nodded with satisfaction. "Weiyang, this 'preemptive strike' of yours caught Tianyu Entertainment off guard. I just received news that Tianyu Entertainment has urgently halted all promotional plans for Xu Qingya's new song."

"Director Wang, you flatter me." Chen Weiyang put down his teacup, a smug smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "I spent ten years at Tianyu Entertainment; I know what they want to do before they even fart."

"Xu Qingya thought that just by getting a song from Jiang Fan she could rest easy; she's too naive."

Director Wang smiled: "However, the quality of this song of yours is indeed solid. I thought you only knew how to write trashy pop songs."

"Haha, when inspiration strikes, you can't stop it." Chen Weiyang picked up his teacup, his thumb slowly rubbing against the rim of the cup.

He had indeed put effort into this song.

After hearing the demo for 《Red Bean》 once outside the Recording Studio, he had memorized the melodic progression and emotional core.

He was a gold-medal producer himself; imitating a style, then finding a top-tier lyricist to fill in ancient-style lyrics to concoct a high-quality "imitation" wasn't difficult.

He was going to defeat Xu Qingya in the same dimension, using the method she was best at.

He would make her and that little security guard named Jiang Fan both take a huge tumble.

Director Wang stood up: "This collaboration was very pleasant. Diva Su is very satisfied, and the company has decided that you will officially take over as the Deputy Director of the Music Department at Times Media."

Chen Weiyang stood up and shook hands with Director Wang, the smile on his face growing increasingly arrogant.

"Thank you, Director Wang, happy to work with you."

After seeing Director Wang off, Chen Weiyang stood alone in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the city night view at his feet.

He took out his phone and opened Xu Qingya's Weibo homepage.

The latest post was still from three days ago, and below it, many fans were already asking when Sister Ya's new album would be promoted.

Chen Weiyang locked his phone, tossed it onto the sofa, picked up the cup of steaming Dahongpao, and took a sip while facing the night view outside the window.

"Good tea. Heh, Xu Qingya, Jiang Fan, the show is about to begin!"