7: Chapter 7 Two hundred million for one spot

Monday afternoon, Pengcheng Tencent Building.

On the twenty-third floor, in the director's office for the Tomorrows Star program team.

General Director Liang Boyuan had the contestant profiles for the three tracks spread out before him.

He was forty-seven this year and had worked in variety shows for twenty-two years, climbing all the way from a small editor to the general director of an S-tier variety show across the entire network.

Assistant Lin Xiaoqing pushed the door open, holding a freshly printed form.

"Director Liang, the direct-entry spot from Li Cheng's side has been confirmed."

Liang Boyuan took the form and glanced at it.

"Jiang Fan?" He read the name aloud, "Which company is he from?"

"He isn't from any talent agency. He's a non-celebrity."

Liang Boyuan's fingers paused on the paper.

"A non-celebrity?"

"Yes, personally recommended by Li Cheng, entering via the Solo Track. Aside from his name and ID information, there is no background data. He also hasn't registered a musician account on any platform."

Liang Boyuan took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He knew Li Cheng too well.

Back in the day, he was the youngest gold-medal manager at Shenghai Entertainment, having managed two Heavenly Kings and one Heavenly Queen.

later, because he fell out with the investors, Shenghai Entertainment was forced to abandon Li Cheng.

Returning this year, although he still had connections, he no longer had any reputable artists on hand.

"Wasn't this spot originally promised to Shenghai Entertainment?" Liang Boyuan asked.

Assistant Lin Xiaoqing nodded: "Li Cheng did indeed contact Shenghai Entertainment before, but for some unknown reason, he changed the person at the last minute."

Just as she finished speaking, the phone in Liang Boyuan's pocket rang.

He glanced at the caller ID and frowned slightly.

"Speak of the devil."

Answering the phone, Liang Boyuan switched to a formal, business-like tone: "CEO Cao, hello."

"Old Liang!" The voice on the phone was full of vigor, carrying the typical warmth of a businessman, "Busy?"

"Just looking at contestant profiles."

"That's perfect." Cao Hongliang chuckled, "I'm calling you exactly for this matter. You've heard about Li Cheng's direct-entry spot, right?"

"Just found out."

"He had promised it nicely, giving the spot to our Shenghai Entertainment's Lu Ming. The contract was even drafted, but at the last minute, he changed his mind."

Cao Hongliang's tone carried a hint of dissatisfaction: "Old Liang, tell me, isn't that a bit underhanded?"

Liang Boyuan switched the phone to his left hand and picked up his teacup to take a sip.

"CEO Cao, the spot is Li Cheng's right of recommendation; I cannot interfere with that."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the line.

"Old Liang, don't you still have one spot left in your hands?"

Liang Boyuan put down the teacup.

As the general director, he did indeed hold the very last direct-entry spot.

He had originally intended to reserve this spot for a singer transitioning from a talent show; the other party had solid singing skills and a good sense for variety shows.

They also brought millions of fans, which could guarantee the show's initial buzz.

"CEO Cao, I already have a candidate for the spot in my hands."

"Old Liang, don't be in such a hurry to refuse." Cao Hongliang lowered his voice.

"If you look into the kid Lu Ming, you'll know. He trained at SM in Korea for two and a half years, is excellent at both singing and dancing, and has the look that young girls like the most right now. Once he stands on stage, he's instant traffic."

Cao Hongliang paused: "It's just that he returned to the country a step late and missed the audition window."

Liang Boyuan didn't speak.

Cao Hongliang continued: "Shenghai Entertainment's cosmetic brand 'Oraya' has a 200 million variety show advertising budget this year. Old Liang, you're a smart man, I won't beat around the bush. If Lu Ming gets on the show, I'll help you negotiate this money."

Two hundred million.

Liang Boyuan's fingers tapped lightly on the desk twice.

The total title sponsorship for the previous season of Tomorrows Star was only 120 million.

If the second season could secure a 200 million sponsorship, his KPI for this year would be exceeded, and he could even compete for the position of Vice Station Director.

But he also understood what taking this money meant.

Shenghai Entertainment's hands would reach into the program team.

Competition rules, camera time allocation, advancement spots—everywhere would have to pave the way for Lu Ming.

"CEO Cao, send me Lu Ming's profile." Liang Boyuan said.

"That's more like it! I'll have my assistant send it over immediately."

"But I have one condition." Liang Boyuan's tone hardened.

"The performance on the initial stage must be passable. You know Old Xue's temper; if he kicks someone off on the spot during the live broadcast, no one's face will work. I won't be able to protect him then."

Cao Hongliang laughed: "You can rest assured about that. Lu Ming's ability ranked in the top three in the Korean trainee assessments. Even Li Cheng took a liking to him before, which shows the kid has real talent."

Hanging up the phone, Liang Boyuan leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for half a minute.

He took out his phone, flipped to a WeChat chat box, and typed a line.

"Sorry brother, there's been a change with the spot, let's collaborate again next time if there's a chance."

After sending it, he deleted the conversation directly.

Assistant Lin Xiaoqing was still standing at the door; she had heard everything, but said nothing.

Liang Boyuan looked up at her: "Go and investigate the background of that non-celebrity, Jiang Fan. The more detailed, the better."

"Okay."

Assistant Lin Xiaoqing turned and left.

Liang Boyuan put his glasses back on and opened the contestant database on his computer.

He typed the two characters "Jiang Fan" into the search bar and pressed enter.

The system returned: No matching results.

There were no records of works on any music platforms, no performance history.

Clean.

As if he had popped out of thin air.

Liang Boyuan rubbed his chin.

His twenty-plus years of industry intuition told him that things weren't that simple.

Li Cheng was not someone who would joke around with his own future.

This didn't make logical sense.

Unless, the value of this non-celebrity far exceeded the resources that Shenghai Entertainment could provide.

This might have to wait until the initial stage to be revealed.

He closed the database and casually opened Douyin; the video of "sorrow relief" on the trending list had already reached eleventh place.

Liang Boyuan clicked in to watch it.

The image was blurry, the sound was noisy, and one could feel how poor the recording environment was even through the screen.

But when that young man, whose face couldn't be seen clearly, plucked the guitar strings.

And sang the first line.

Liang Boyuan's hand stopped.

He watched the video from beginning to end, then watched it again.

Then he exited Douyin and sent a WeChat message to Li Cheng.

"Old Li, is that non-celebrity of yours the one singing 'sorrow relief' on Douyin?"

The message was sent, but Li Cheng didn't reply.

But Liang Boyuan already didn't need an answer.

He sighed, opened Lu Ming's profile, and quickly browsed through it.

The appearance was fine, and the resume was indeed impressive.

Trained in Seoul for two and a half years, A-level vocal rating, A-level dance rating.

This kind of configuration, thrown into any talent show, would be the standard idol material that production teams loved most.

But Liang Boyuan had been in this industry too long.

He had seen too many trainees with bright resumes fall on stage.

Korean-style trainees were assembly-line products; their skills were sufficient.

But they lacked that thing that could strike the audience's soul in one blow.

He thought of that blurry video again.

Liang Boyuan turned off the computer screen, picked up his jacket, and walked out.

Passing by Assistant Lin Xiaoqing's workstation, he knocked on the partition.

"Rearrange the camera setup plan for next Friday. Add two more close-up camera angles to the Solo Track."

Assistant Lin Xiaoqing looked up: "Why?"

"Intuition."

...

Meanwhile, in a rental apartment in the north of the city.

Jiang Fan was holding that guitar; he had been practicing for four consecutive hours.

His fingertips had worn red marks, and his throat felt a bit tight.

Jiang Fan closed the guitar case and picked up the phone on the table.

He booked a flight to Pengcheng for the day after tomorrow online; it was the cheapest flight of the day.

The account balance flickered; there was less than five thousand yuan left.

Fortunately, there was the hush money given by Diva Xu.

He looked again at the cold, icy numbers on the system panel.

[Remaining Lifespan: 7 Days]

One less day.