HDIEUMDBTSB ### Chapter 27: About to Take Off
## Volume 1: The Road to Revival
### Chapter 27: About to Take Off
During the meal, Chu Zhi noticed that Su Shangbai had a peculiar habit: he seemed uninterested in food, maintaining a furrowed brow the entire time. When Chu Zhi asked if the food was not to his liking, Su Shangbai replied, "It's delicious, the best small restaurant I've ever eaten at."
His dining expression was as serious as if he were solving a complex math problem, and Chu Zhi didn't dare to ask if Su Shangbai had continued his career in the entertainment industry.
After dinner, Su Shangbai brought up another topic. "Jiu Ge, I learned during my investigation that you've terminated your contract with Kangfei Entertainment."
"I changed it for a schedule with 'I Am a Singer,'" Chu Zhi replied honestly.
"That was a wise decision. Jiu Ge, if you plan to sign with another agency in the future, I can offer some advice," Su Shangbai said.
"I'll let you know if I decide to," Chu Zhi responded.
Hearing this, Su Shangbai's serious expression softened into a smile, though it quickly faded as his phone vibrated in his pocket—a reminder from his memo.
"Jiu Ge, I have some business in Hong Kong that I need to attend to. My flight is in a bit over an hour," Su Shangbai said.
Business in Hong Kong? Transitioning from actor to entrepreneur? Truly enviable. Chu Zhi also aspired to level up from actor to capitalist, but the path was long and arduous. In his past life, only a few, like Yang Mi, had succeeded in such a transition.
"Business is important, don't let it be delayed," Chu Zhi replied.
"If anything comes up, Jiu Ge, you can always reach out to me on WeChat. I'm not good at singing or songwriting, but scheming is a skill I've had since childhood," Su Shangbai advised before leaving.
Back at the hotel, Chu Zhi meticulously organized and stored all the documents. In the following days, he refrained from reading online comments about his poor singing, finding some peace.
There will always be gossip, but if you don't listen, it won't affect you. Chu Zhi wasn't quite at that level of enlightenment yet, but he kept a mental note of everything.
The news slandering Chu Zhi overshadowed the CP rumors between Lin Zheng and another celebrity, showing that Mango TV's promotional efforts were beginning to pay off.
Two days later, Chu Zhi went to Mango TV for rehearsals again. "I Miss You" had once swept across mainland China, Taiwan, and even overseas in Singapore and Canada. It had topped the Singapore Golden Melody Dragon and Tiger Chart for the longest time.
Its quality was undoubtedly that of a golden song. Music director Liang Pingbai recognized its value. Despite any personal opinions, after the successful adaptations of "Desert Island" and "The Wind Blows the Wheat," he wouldn't voice them.
The eight original contestants rehearsed on the same day, but at different times: morning, afternoon, and evening, ensuring they never met. The semi-final songs were kept strictly confidential.
Lin Xia rehearsed with the title track of his new album, "Suspended River." Though the album hadn't been released yet, performing the title track served as a pre-release promotion, a sign of how pressured he felt. With the arrival of Li Xingwei and Chu Zhi's miraculous performance, plus Hou Yubin's long-lasting presence, he needed to step up his game.
"National style rock, what is national is global. Teacher Lin, you're very talented. Your lyrics are excellent," Liang Pingbai praised after a rehearsal.
"I'm just writing my own lyrics. I'm not as versatile as Teacher Chu, who handles both lyrics and music so comprehensively it's unbelievable," Lin Xia replied with a shrug. "Director Liang, can you secretly tell me how Teacher Chu and Teacher Li's songs are?"
"Teacher Li performed steadily, with strong stage presence. As for Teacher Chu..." Liang Pingbai paused.
"Director Liang, don't tell me you're going to say he's not suitable for stage competitions again. Don't mess with me. Even though I'm honest, you can't fool me twice. He wasn't suitable for competitions, yet he came out on top, completely outperforming everyone."
This left Liang Pingbai speechless.
During rehearsals, "Desert Island" had sounded merely emotional. Who could have predicted such a superhuman performance on stage?
Not bringing this up would have been fine, but now that it was mentioned, Liang Pingbai felt it was extremely unreasonable. Superhuman performances should follow some logic. If your regular practice level is 60, and you perform at 70 on stage, that makes sense. If everything aligns perfectly—your voice, state, mood, immersion, understanding of the song, and technique—you might even hit 80. That would still be understandable.
But performing at 120, doubling your usual level, what did that even mean?
"Teacher Chu's song is quite suitable for competition," Liang Pingbai answered after some thought.
"Terrifying..." Lin Xia felt an immense pressure.
Lin Xia and his agent quickly and efficiently left the Jinying Building. In the nanny car, Lin Xia's face was solemn, a stark contrast to his earlier casual chat with Liang Pingbai.
"The title of King of Singers is definitely ours, don't worry," Xian Ge comforted.
"I'm not worried," Lin Xia said, keeping his thoughts to himself. "Let's stop hyping up the CP with Zheng Yingying."
"Got it," Xian Ge nodded. Although they had previously negotiated this with the show, Lin Xia was now changing his mind, showing his capricious side.
Xian Ge didn't argue; he understood that the pressure from Chu Zhi and Li Xingwei had affected Lin Xia. Venting frustration by changing plans often helped relieve stress.
As expected, seeing his agent agree so readily, Lin Xia felt much better.
Lin Xia said, "There's no way I'd be worried about singing. After all, I'm a singer who understands the essence of singing."
"The essence of singing? What's that?" Xian Ge asked, surprised, and ventured a guess, "Putting emotion into it?"
Lin Xia confidently gave the definitive answer: "Singing is either good or bad!"
"...I shouldn't have expected much from you," Xian Ge replied.
A good agent is like a guide for an artist, significantly impacting their career.
Without an agent, Chu Zhi achieved a new milestone, reaching a hundred cigarettes smoked. This equated to just five packs, not much considering he cherished his voice. If he didn't, he would have reached this milestone much earlier.
In the West, singers smoking is not a big deal; many even use marijuana. However, we can't apply foreign standards here—after all, some foreigners don't even get vaccinated.
In China, it's not a big deal if singers smoke in private either. The real difference lies between singers and vocal artists. If a male singer can avoid chain-smoking, that's already commendable.
Before Chu Zhi earned the legendary title "Smoker," he took it slow. With five personality coins in reserve, his arsenal was still adequate, so he kept them as a backup.
Without the five personality coins, Chu Zhi felt a bit anxious, akin to driving with the gear in neutral.
He pondered on expanding his achievements in the personality system. For instance, dyeing his hair white for the next concert might unlock an achievement. Smoking, drinking, and dyeing his hair all counted, except the last one, which didn't.
"It's probably because unique hairstyles are normal on stage, so they don't count as personality traits," Chu Zhi speculated.
He then thought about another potential achievement, "Dabbling in unrelated fields." This wouldn't refer to a singer acting, but something like studying architecture or agriculture in an adult education program.
Such a diversion might unlock an achievement, but it wasn't feasible at the moment and seemed to offer low rewards.
As long as he stayed busy, time flew by, and soon it was the night of "I Am a Singer" airing.
This episode drew many professional critics, particularly those within the industry.
Why? Because the semi-final of "I Am a Singer" was changing its evaluation system.
In previous episodes, the audience's votes completely decided the outcome. However, the semi-final introduced a "professional score" component, inviting fifty music judges to score the performances.
And here it was, the most convenient opportunity to manipulate the results.
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