64: Chapter 64 Sister Nian loves to eat cashews

For the next few days, Shen Nian appeared at the Recording Studio right on time.

She would enter at 2:00 PM and leave at 6:00 PM.

In between, she never left that room except to drink water or take medicine.

Every afternoon at 3:30 PM, Zhou Yutong would bring her fruit and nuts, placing them on the small table outside the Recording Studio.

The first day, it was sliced apples and strawberries; the apples were untouched, but she ate two strawberries.

The second day, she left a bag of salted cashews; when she came back to check, it was empty.

Zhou Yutong made a note in her memo: "Sister Nian loves cashews."

— —

Just before work ended, Li Cheng hurried back from outside, holding a document in his hand.

He pushed open Jiang Fan's door.

"Shenghai Entertainment has loosened their stance."

Jiang Fan put down his pen.

"Hua Xingyu has agreed to apologize on camera. But they have a condition—the video duration must not exceed fifteen seconds, and the content must be reviewed by both parties' lawyers."

"That's fine."

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow. "You agreed so readily?"

"The point isn't how long he speaks, but that he must show his face."

Li Cheng thought for a moment and nodded.

With Hua Xingyu's face placed in front of the camera, accompanied by an apology, the reach would be a hundred times more effective than a ten-thousand-word written statement.

"When are they recording the video?"

"Shenghai Entertainment means the sooner the better; dragging it out for a day just burns more money." Li Cheng threw the document onto the table. "Cao Qiming now wishes that the name Hua Xingyu would vanish from the face of the earth."

"What about the compensation?"

"Twenty-six million; after deducting legal fees and litigation costs, Shen Nian will get about twenty-three million."

Li Cheng pulled up a chair and sat down. "How do you plan to tell her?"

"Wait until the apology video is released. Don't give her hope for something that hasn't landed yet."

Li Cheng nodded, then paused. "There's one more thing."

"Go ahead."

"The Copyright Office has officially opened a case for Chen Weiyang's 'song'."

Jiang Fan leaned back in his chair.

This matter had been fermenting since last week.

Manager Chen, Xu Qingya's manager, had bundled the original creative timeline of 'Red Bean' and the internal process of Chen Weiyang's contact with the demo during his time at Tianyu Entertainment, and submitted it all to the Copyright Office.

The chain of evidence was too complete.

"What was the Copyright Office's conclusion?"

"The core melody progression of 'song' highly overlaps with 'Red Bean'. It has been classified as substantially similar and constitutes infringement. At 10:00 AM this morning, the three major platforms simultaneously removed it."

"How are the sales of Xu Qingya's new album?"

"See for yourself." Li Cheng handed over his phone, the screen showing the Weibo entertainment trending list.

First: # 'song' removed on suspicion of plagiarizing 'Red Bean' #

Third: # Xu Qingya's 'Red Bean' album sales exceed 80 million #

Fourth: # Three songs from Xu Qingya's new album dominate the charts simultaneously #

Jiang Fan returned the phone to Li Cheng.

"Use the company's name to congratulate Qingya."

Li Cheng glanced at him sideways. "Can't you send a WeChat yourself?"

Jiang Fan didn't respond, turning his attention back to the computer screen.

Li Cheng tactfully didn't pursue it further and walked away with the document.

— —

Friday.

The filming for Hua Xingyu's apology video was set in a small conference room at Shenghai Entertainment.

Jiang Fan didn't go; Li Cheng took the lawyers to the scene.

After returning, Li Cheng brought the video copy to show Jiang Fan.

On the screen, Hua Xingyu sat in front of a gray background.

He had lost a lot of weight.

The face that used to be slick and oily on the show now had protruding cheekbones.

"I am Hua Xingyu."

The first sentence he spoke was raspy.

"I hereby publicly apologize to Ms. Shen Nian. In 2013, without Ms. Shen Nian's authorization, I claimed the song 'starry sky', which she created, as my own and published it under my name. This action severely infringed upon Ms. Shen Nian's copyright and reputation rights."

Reading to this point, Hua Xingyu paused.

The camera captured his hands, placed on the table, with his fingers trembling.

"I deeply apologize for the harm my actions have caused Ms. Shen Nian."

After the last sentence, the video ended.

It was fifteen seconds in total.

Jiang Fan unplugged the USB drive.

"When is it being released?"

"The lawyer suggests waiting until the court confirms the settlement agreement next Monday before releasing it. It's safer procedurally."

"Fine."

Jiang Fan put the USB drive into the drawer.

"When it's released, have Shen Nian's account repost it simultaneously."

At 4:00 PM, Jiang Fan's phone rang.

It was Manager Zhang Lei from Tencent Music.

"Jiang Fan, I'm updating you on the progress." Manager Zhang Lei's tone was much more polite than last time. "Your songs have all passed the review and master quality inspection; they will be released in batches over the next three days."

"How is the schedule set?"

"Tomorrow, we'll release 'sorrow relief', 'the ordinary road', and 'deep sea' first; next week, we'll release 'blue and white porcelain' and 'nocturne'. Our operations team ran a data estimation model and suggests releasing 'blue and white porcelain' and 'nocturne' on a separate day because these two songs have the largest potential user base; releasing them alone will maximize the first-day stream count."

Jiang Fan thought for a moment. "That works."

After hanging up, Jiang Fan leaned back in his chair and did some math.

The subsequent revenue share with Tencent Music is 80/20; based on the current popularity, just from streaming revenue, it will be at least a few million a month.

Finally, he wouldn't have to look at Fanyin Culture's accounts with anxiety anymore.

— —

In the evening, Jiang Fan sat in his apartment living room, the system store appearing before his eyes.

He was looking for a song for Su Yuyan.

He had promised her another song last time.

Jiang Fan scrolled for over twenty minutes and locked onto one in the store list.

'the great wind blows'.

He stared at the screen for a few seconds and clicked to listen to the preview.

The moment the intro came out, his fingers tapped on the table to the rhythm twice.

The tone of this song, paired with Su Yuyan's captivating gaze...

Two great divas going head-to-head—just thinking about it was exciting.

[Redeem?]

[Redemption price: 200 Lifespan Value]

"Redeem."

[Deducted 200 Lifespan Value, remaining Lifespan Value: 18500]

The phone vibrated again.

It was a WeChat message from Xu Qingya.

[My three songs are dominating the charts, and you won't even say congratulations?]

Jiang Fan typed: [I had Li Cheng pass it on.]

[Had Li Cheng pass it on?]

[Yeah.]

After the message was sent, the chat box was quiet for about thirty seconds.

Then a voice message popped up.

Jiang Fan clicked it, and Xu Qingya's voice came out of the earpiece, just one word—

"Get lost."

Jiang Fan placed his phone face down on the table, unable to help the corner of his mouth twitching.

He typed a new line and sent it.

[Congratulations, Diva Xu. Well deserved.]

The reply came quickly this time.

[That's more like it.]

Immediately after, another one came.

[Are you free tomorrow night?]

Jiang Fan glanced at his schedule.

[Yes.]

[Then come over to my place for dinner.]