HDIEUMDBTSB Chapter 51 Signing with "Red · Dream"
Volume 2 The Road to Gaining Fans
Chapter 1 Signing with "Red · Dream"
Chu Zhi gained some fame on the Chinese Poetry Website, not because someone discovered his poetry to be particularly excellent, but because in three weeks, he was selected three times for "Poem of the Day" and once for a writing contest.
Since ancient times, literati have tended to belittle each other. Short poems have few words, seeming easy and shallow in literary content. With just thirty or forty words earning five hundred yuan, it's easy to calculate that each word is worth over ten yuan, offering a high return on investment.
User "Shang Qiong Bilu" commented: "Huainan, your poems are quite good, but they’re a bit short. After two or three years on the Chinese Poetry Website, I realized that the reviewers here prefer short poems."
User "Huang He Shan Ren" added: "Modern poetry can vary in meter and rhyme, and there’s a rich diversity in forms. But I think it shouldn’t be devoid of aesthetics; otherwise, it will lower the standard of poetry."
User "Ruins" remarked: "It’s more like a QQ signature. I don't think it's acceptable."
The comments were still quite literary without any personal attacks, mainly hinting that Huainan might have connections. The core issue was the "Poem of the Day," which selects only one poem per day, and sometimes none if there are no good submissions. With such a small pie, if one person takes it all, naturally, it causes a backlash. Chu Zhi was unfazed and posted two more poems today:
["Untitled"
"Moon, what are you waiting for?"
"To pay homage to the sun that will replace me."
"Great Man"
A great man is born a child, and when he dies, he gives his great childhood to the world.]
Chu Zhi didn't particularly care about poetry, but there were some developments regarding his agency negotiations. Over the past few days, he had been in a tug-of-war with Taiyang Chuanhe, even though they offered the most favorable terms.
Initially, he negotiated with the head of the artist department (one of the shareholders) of Taiyang Chuanhe. After hitting an impasse, today the company’s chairman, Huang Bo, called to arrange a meeting.
"Alright, let’s discuss it in person then." After hanging up, Chu Zhi noted that they offered an A+ contract, granting him significant autonomy. However, his minimum expectation was an S-level contract, ideally allowing him to set up a studio with the company's support.
For clarification, an A+ contract is already top-tier, while an S contract is considered super top-tier. There’s no S+ or S++; the “+” simply denotes additional terms. When signing a top-tier artist, who doesn't add extra terms? Despite differences in details, most entertainment companies follow this grading system.
For instance, Li Xingwei's contract with Dahuahad the condition that the company must use all its resources to gather songs for his album's lead track until he was satisfied. Chu Zhi's previous contract with Kang Fei included relinquishing termination rights and no share in the profits from surrounding merchandise and photo books.
"Is Chu Zhi still not agreeing?" the head of the artist department asked.
Huang Bo, the chairman of Taiyang Chuanhe, replied, "He hasn’t said yes or no. We’ll meet on December 15th in Shanghai to discuss further."
The artist department head smiled brightly. Whether or not Chu Zhi’s appeal was as strong as before, even half of his peak popularity would be good for the company. In his view, agreeing to meet in person meant the deal was almost sealed.
"Wait, why the 15th, which is ten days from now?" The artist department head realized something was off. Even with a busy schedule, Chu Zhi should be able to find an hour or two.
"Red · Dream. Chu Zhi wants to negotiate his price after appearing on Mango TV's variety show," Huang Bo pointed out directly.
The artist department head couldn’t help but chuckle. "Red · Dream" was a highly discussed variety show, but it didn’t have the power to elevate a star to the next level. Chu Zhi was still too young in his thinking.
"No problem in waiting," Huang Bo said, then asked about the company’s other businesses.
Business discussions in entertainment companies are usually dull, but Chu Zhi discovered a new system achievement that was quite interesting—
[I Love Carbs (Morning: ramen, Noon: hotpot, Evening: more hotpot, as long as ice cream isn’t hot, it has no calories.) Overeating in one day *1, 1 character point ★. Overeating in one day *3, 3 character points. ...]
Volume 2 The Road to Gaining Fans
Chapter 1 Signing with "Red · Dream"
"Sometimes you stumble upon success by accident. I should have thought of this sooner. Body management is crucial for a celebrity," Chu Zhi excitedly snapped his fingers. He had been too focused on discovering new achievements to realize this earlier, including staying up late and other things.
Unlocking an achievement by eating three high-calorie meals in a day was quite simple. Remember Chu Zhi’s habit? He usually skipped breakfast. This morning, the only reason he had breakfast was because he pulled an all-nighter and felt hungry, so he ordered a bowl of ramen.
"But eating high-calorie meals could easily ruin my figure. Regardless of gender, maintaining a good physique is essential for celebrities and idols," Chu Zhi knew that his appearance was one of his advantages and he couldn't neglect it.
Though Chu Zhi wasn't lazy, he didn’t want to lose weight through strenuous exercise. The thought of working out exhaustively in the gym every day was daunting.
"System, is there a way to lose weight without exercising?" Chu Zhi asked directly.
When unsure about domestic issues, ask Baidu; for international issues, ask Google; for personal issues, ask Tianya; but when all else fails, ask a cheat system.
The system didn’t respond verbally but silently brought up a small shop interface.
[Drunken Immortal Pills, The Ultimate Stomach Medicine, Divine Throat Lozenges, 3 cm Height Increase Pills, Eat and Never Gain Weight Pills, Standing Dream Capsules, Never Catch a Cold Drink, No Pick Sugar, Satisfaction Guaranteed Eye Drops...]
There were hundreds of strange items, some familiar and some not, each priced at 3 personality points.
"System, isn't this a bit of a rip-off? I spend five points on a blind box, but items in the shop cost three points. If I get a special item from the blind box, I lose two points," Chu Zhi complained to the system. Personality points were hard to accumulate.
[Blind boxes are meant to have both gains and losses.]
The system’s reply left Chu Zhi speechless. It made sense; a blind box that always profited wouldn’t be a blind box. Besides, he hadn’t yet won any special items from the few times he tried. One should be content with what they have.
Upon closer inspection, many items seemed useless. For example, the Standing Dream Capsule allowed one to sleep while standing without support, which might have been useful when he was a student often punished to stand, but it was useless now.
"What’s this No Pick Sugar? Does it make you generous? Does it change your personality?" Chu Zhi wondered. Reading the item details, he realized his perspective was too narrow.
No Pick Sugar meant you would never have nasal congestion again...
"Idols don’t poop, and they don’t pick their noses either. This is something else."
[Special Item: Eat and Never Gain Weight Pills.
Function: As long as the food is delicious, once it's in your stomach, it doesn't add any calories. Ps: Don't eat if it's not tasty.
Price: 3 personality points]
"System, have you been infected by Lin Xia’s nonsensical literature?" Chu Zhi teased, but after clarifying that "delicious" was subjective and as long as Chu Zhi found the food acceptable, it counted, he was pleased.
Chu Zhi wasn't a picky eater. As long as the food wasn't terrible, it was fine by his standards. He bought it!
Account balance: 1 personality point.
This balance was thanks to the recently unlocked [Overeating in one day *1, 1 personality point] achievement.
"Eat more good food to earn more personality points. I still need to buy special items to quit smoking and drinking," Chu Zhi thought to himself before finally going to sleep.
The next day, Chu Zhi arrived in Xingcheng for the second time. He was there to sign the contract for "Red · Dream" and discuss the shooting outline. The specifics of his remuneration had already been discussed over the phone.
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