Chapter 119: An Invitation to Compete on the Musical Variety Show "The Voice"

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Ever since Guo Keda joined Pine Stone Records as the executive agent for Fang Xing’s studio, he had become a regular at the various music lounges frequented by musicians.

As a terminally social extrovert, whenever he spotted a familiar face, he would walk straight over and greet them.

“Brother Kuan, Brother Kuan, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Please look after me. I’m Guo Keda, the executive agent for Fang Xing’s studio at Pine Stone Records. Here’s my card. I’d be grateful if you accepted it.”

People like him had one defining trait: the moment they opened their mouths, they made others feel close to them. They were simply impossible to dislike.

Besides, Guo Keda always approached people with a broad smile. Even industry insiders who had little interest in him would never openly show him the cold shoulder.

And with the Pine Stone Records logo and the words “Fang Xing Studio” printed on it, his business card carried considerable weight.

Over the past few months, ever since Tomorrow’s Star, Fang Xing had become one of the most talked-about figures in the music industry.

Anyone who had never heard of Fang Xing’s name might as well stop trying to make a living in music.

Once the business cards went out, the results were explosive.

Fang Xing had not accepted a single appearance since the finale of Tomorrow’s Star.

Countless programs wanted him as a guest.

Now that Guo Keda had handed out his cards, the calls began pouring in.

“Hello, is this Fang Xing Studio?”

“Yes, yes. This is Guo Keda, the executive agent at Fang Xing Studio.”

“We’d like to invite Fang Xing onto our program. It’ll be filmed on the sixth of next month. Is he available?”

“Brother Fang is fully booked. Why not consider me instead? I’m fantastic on variety shows, and I can even bring Lu Ming and Shao Yu along. Brother Fang really is busy—you understand. Big Fish and Painted Heart are still battling it out on the hot-song charts. Where would he find the time?”

Since Fang Xing refused most appearances, Guo Keda, guided by the principle that good opportunities should not be handed to outsiders, began promoting himself, bringing Lu Ming and Shao Yu along for the ride.

Anyone unaware of the truth might have thought he was stealing Fang Xing’s bookings.

In reality, Fang Xing had instructed him to do it. As long as the studio made money, it was all worthwhile.

If they could not book Fang Xing, then booking Guo Keda, Lu Ming, and Shao Yu was still a decent alternative.

As a result, the three of them did indeed land quite a number of appearances.

Fang Xing was not opposed to every program. If it was a flagship show from one of the major satellite networks, he could still make an exception.

However, the flagship programs of those networks did not need to go through Guo Keda. They would usually contact the senior management of Pine Stone Records directly—or even Liang Yusong himself.

...

That evening, Liang Yusong came to Fang Xing’s studio and asked, “Are you free tonight? Someone’s treating us to dinner. Come out with me.”

Fang Xing normally avoided this sort of social obligation, so he asked, “Who’s paying? Do I really have to go?”

“You’ll know when you get there. It’s a heavyweight program, and you’ll definitely be interested. Come on—ride with me.” Liang Yusong jerked his head toward the door.

“All right.”

Fang Xing left the company with Liang Yusong and went to the Donghai Peninsula Hotel.

After they entered, Liang Yusong gave his name, and a server led them to a private room on the fifth floor.

The moment the door opened, Liang Yusong warmly greeted the people inside and began making introductions.

“Fang Xing, let me introduce you. This is Zheng Tao, the chief director of The Voice.”

“Director Zheng.” Fang Xing extended his hand.

“I’ve heard so much about you.” Zheng Tao looked Fang Xing up and down, clicking his tongue appreciatively.

“You flatter me.” Fang Xing hurriedly offered a modest reply.

Zheng Tao laughed and teased him. “So modest? You weren’t like that on the show.”

Fang Xing did not know how to respond. He scratched the back of his head and maintained a polite smile.

“Come, come, sit down first. Let me introduce the others. They’re all members of the production crew for The Voice.”

Zheng Tao proceeded to introduce everyone else present, and Fang Xing greeted each of them in turn.

After the pleasantries, Zheng Tao got to the point.

“I’m here tonight through President Liang’s connections because I’d like to invite you to participate in the new season of The Voice. Have you watched the program before?”

Fang Xing nodded. “I have. The Voice is probably the most professionally produced music competition program in the country.”

There were many music variety shows in this world: some focused on harmonies, some on bands, some on rap, and others on musical crossovers.

Yet all of them shared one common trait: the level of competition was not particularly high.

This was especially true of programs that invited established singers.

If a show invited obscure singers or ordinary people who had yet to debut, it could maximize the competitive element.

But inviting famous singers while maintaining a truly intense competition was extremely difficult.

Established singers had already achieved fame and success. Few were willing to appear on a program where they might still be eliminated.

Thus, the greatest challenge during The Voice’s preparation was negotiating with singers.

Zheng Tao’s strongest bargaining chip was that The Voice was currently the hottest music program in the country.

That alone was enough to secure many singers whose abilities were impressive but whose fame had never matched their talent.

In the current music scene, there were singers with top-tier vocal skills who, for various reasons, had never received the recognition they deserved.

The Voice was the perfect stage for such performers.

Once they stood onstage and competed in earnest, it would be immediately obvious whether they truly possessed the ability.

Conversely, there was one category of singer who would never participate in The Voice.

Those were famous singers created through packaging and promotion.

Recording in a studio and singing live were two entirely different levels of performance.

During the age of albums, many singers could become immensely popular for a time with the help of powerful production teams and catchy songs.

At commercial performances, however, they could only survive by lip-syncing.

When singers of that kind performed live, the result was often underwhelming.

Once they stepped onto a highly competitive program like The Voice, flaws that could be concealed through studio enhancement would be exposed.

Naturally, such singers knew this perfectly well and would never accept invitations from programs of this kind.

For that reason, negotiating with singers for The Voice was extremely difficult. The more famous the singer, the harder the negotiations.

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Some superstar singers could not be persuaded even with money. The production team had to rely on personal connections and old friendships.

Yet every season, The Voice was certain to feature one or two heavyweight singers.

So far, every season had included at least one king or queen of pop.

As for how those deals were secured, there were many unspoken rules behind the scenes.

When The Voice negotiated with singers, the contracts it offered were not all the same.

Some singers received ordinary contracts, while others were given additional conditions.

There had even been rumors within the industry that when The Voice negotiated with superstar singers, their contracts usually included guarantees—sending them directly to the finals, or even signing them as the eventual champion.

Of course, these were only rumors. No one knew what those contracts actually contained, and those who did know would never speak of it publicly.

...

“The new season of The Voice is already in preparation. We’re negotiating with singers now. Six opening contestants have been confirmed, and we’re still short one. At present, the production team is considering two candidates, and you’re one of them. We invited you here tonight to ask whether you’re interested in participating.”

Zheng Tao explained the purpose of the dinner.

Each episode of The Voice featured seven opening contestants.

Every two episodes, the singer with the lowest overall ranking would leave the competition.

After an opening contestant departed, a replacement singer would join the show.

Thus, every episode featured seven singers competing against one another.

Usually, heavyweight singers were arranged as opening contestants.

The program needed buzz, after all. The more famous the singer appearing in the first episode, the higher the premiere’s ratings would be.

Fang Xing was now a top-tier celebrity, and among the biggest stars, he possessed the strongest vocal ability.

After discussing the matter, The Voice’s director team had decided that Fang Xing should be one of the opening contestants.

“This is rather sudden. I haven’t thought about it yet.” Fang Xing did not agree immediately.

Even if he wanted to participate, he needed to investigate the situation first and find out which singers had been invited for the new season before making a decision.

“No need to rush. Go back and discuss it with your agent. Still, please decide as soon as possible. We need to finalize everyone’s schedules quickly,” Zheng Tao said.

Liang Yusong helped ask, “Which singers are participating in the new season?”

“President Liang, you should know that our program has strict confidentiality requirements. Even if two singers happen to meet on the same flight, they have to pretend they aren’t here to record the show,” Zheng Tao replied.

The Voice did indeed have such a procedure.

Before the singers were officially revealed, none of them were supposed to know who else had joined the program.

That was also one of the show’s major attractions.

As a result, it was common for two participating singers to run into each other on the same flight, exchange greetings, and still refuse to admit that they were headed to The Voice.

Of course, this was merely how the program was designed. In practice, it was impossible to keep everything completely secret.

“Give us at least a little information,” Liang Yusong pressed.

“I can only reveal that this episode includes a superstar-level singer.” Zheng Tao sounded particularly confident as he said it.

Fang Xing and Liang Yusong exchanged a glance. They both knew exactly what the other was thinking.

Liang Yusong cleared his throat. “There’s one matter I think we should clarify. Does this episode involve any special contracts?”

“Now, President Liang, you’re joking.” Zheng Tao laughed vaguely without answering directly.

In reality, the existence of special contracts on The Voice was no secret within the industry.

Liang Yusong shook his head with a smile. “How about this? Director Zheng, give me a hint. How far do these special contracts go?”

Zheng Tao fell silent for a while before finally assuring him, “Since you’ve asked so directly, President Liang, let me make you a guarantee. The grand final will be decided solely on ability. A notary from the Xiangjiang Notary Office will be present to supervise the program.”

Liang Yusong understood immediately.

Saying that the grand final would depend entirely on ability meant that special contracts could guarantee a singer’s place in the finals—in other words, some singers were assured a spot in the final round.

Of course, guaranteeing a place in the finals was only one of the bargaining chips used to recruit singers.

There would be other conditions as well, such as providing singers with greater support.

For example, there might be a larger budget for the band each episode, or a larger budget for the music production team.

Then, in the grand final, there would be guest performers to assist the contestants.

Those guest performers cost money, too.

Even if the guest was a friend, it was impossible to ask them to perform without paying anything.

The budgets provided by the production team were also tiered.

The more prestigious the contract, the larger the budget.

In previous seasons, some kings and queens of pop had invited renowned symphony orchestras to perform during the finals. The scale of those productions had been truly spectacular.

Although Fang Xing was enormously popular now, he was not yet important enough to receive a special contract.

So there was no point dreaming of a guaranteed place in the final.

Still, the stage-production budget was open to negotiation.

Naturally, Fang Xing did not need to negotiate any of this personally. He could leave it to his agent.

Zheng Tao went on to explain some of the competition rules for the new season of The Voice.

The program had always sold itself on rigorous competition, so its rules were established from the beginning and would not be altered midway through the season unless circumstances beyond anyone’s control made it unavoidable.

...

After speaking with Zheng Tao, the chief director of The Voice, Fang Xing returned to the company, where his management team began gathering information about the new season’s preparations.

Judging from the reports coming in through various channels, the production team for this season was solid.

After discussing it with Qiao Yinghong, Fang Xing decided that he could participate.

Over the following week, he held several more discussions with The Voice’s production team.

Once the details had been settled, he signed the contract and officially confirmed his participation in the new season as the seventh and final opening contestant.

That afternoon, the official account of The Voice posted an announcement declaring that the final opening contestant had been confirmed. Along with it came a silhouette of the singer.

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Since it was only a silhouette, all anyone could see was the singer’s outline. The only information that could be determined with certainty was the singer’s gender and build.

Netizens descended on the post with magnifying glasses, eager to play detective.

“I can confirm one thing: this singer is a man.”

“Isn’t that obvious? With that height and build, could it possibly be a woman?”

“That’s hard to say. A supermodel could easily be that tall.”

“So a supermodel is joining The Voice to win the competition through runway walking?”

“That body shape looks a bit like Zheng Yanxi.”

“Actors should stay out of this, shouldn’t they?”

“Zheng Yanxi could always try Cross-Over Singer.”

“I’ve heard Zheng Yanxi sing. He really shouldn’t participate in any music variety shows. He’d be better off focusing on acting.”

Among the many amateur detectives, a few devoted fandom members occasionally appeared.

“With that figure and that hairstyle, you might as well post Siqi’s national ID number.”

“No, seriously. Idol-group members, please don’t meddle in the affairs of professional singers.”

“Siqi’s vocal ability is universally recognized as excellent. Do you people even know what you’re talking about?”

“Li Siqi’s singing is considered good among idols, but among professional singers? Please.”

So many netizens took part in the investigation that nearly every recognizable singer in the entertainment industry was mentioned at least once.

“This silhouette looks a lot like Zhang Xingchen.”

“I think it resembles Wang Quanyu.”

“Can’t you read the caption? It says two words: ‘new singer.’”

“Could it be Fang Xing? The silhouette looks quite like him, too.”

“Impossible. Fang Xing never accepts appearances. I have a friend who works on a program. They originally wanted to invite Fang Xing, but Guo Keda and Shao Yu showed up instead.”

“That could be Shao Yu, too.”

“Shao Yu is possible, but can he really take an opening spot? I’m skeptical.”

Since the opening contestants on The Voice were usually major names, Shao Yu’s current status did not seem quite high enough.

“Have you forgotten? Not every one of the seven opening contestants is a major celebrity. There are usually one or two singers who aren’t very famous but have exceptional ability.”

“Now that you mention it, it does seem possible. At the very least, if Shao Yu is an opening contestant, he probably won’t be eliminated in the first round, right?”

“He definitely won’t be eliminated in the first round. He’ll make it through at least two rounds.”

“One of the opening contestants already announced for The Voice is a king of pop. I have a feeling this season is going to be intense.”

...

The Voice was still finalizing the schedules of the other singers, so official recording would not begin until at least the following month.

Fang Xing rarely accepted appearances, which left his schedule extremely flexible.

He used that month to obtain his driver’s license.

However, license plates in Donghai were difficult to acquire, so Fang Xing first borrowed an SUV from the company.

The first payment from Nocturne had already arrived, and now that he had money in hand, continuing to live between the company and hotels was inconvenient.

So Fang Xing hired an agent to search for a place near Pine Stone Records. In the end, he rented a fully furnished apartment in Tianlan Garden and moved in with nothing more than a suitcase.

There was not much to move, but Guo Keda, Lu Ming, and Shao Yu still came over together to serve as free labor.

Guo Keda even bought a case of beer and put it in the refrigerator, claiming that he was storing it there so they could drink it together whenever they came over for a late-night meal.

That night, after the three of them had gone home, Fang Xing finished washing up and stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room, gazing at Donghai’s nighttime skyline as countless thoughts churned through his mind.

This world was so similar to Earth, and yet so different in so many ways.

During the past five months, Fang Xing had often dreamed about Earth. Over the past month, however, those dreams had gradually grown less frequent. Perhaps he had finally grown accustomed to life in this world.

During the first few months after arriving here, Fang Xing had often wondered whether he might wake up one day and find himself back on Earth.

Yet every time he opened his eyes, he was still in the training camp.

Fang Xing himself was not sure whether he preferred this world or Earth.

Sometimes, he hoped more than anything to remain here, because there was a girl here whose presence overlapped with a beautiful fragment of his memories.

As for the secret of Earth, it was something he could never reveal.

And if Earth’s splendid civilization were allowed to fade into silence within his memories, that would be a terrible waste.

Fang Xing had already thought about the matter and made his decision. In the future, he would set aside part of his earnings and donate it under the name Zhuang Zhou.

Of the two worlds, one of them must be a dream.

Just as Zhuang Zhou once dreamed he was a butterfly.

The only question was whether he was now the butterfly—or whether his former self had been.

...

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P.S. Some readers wanted to see pictures of the baby, but the older members of my family won’t even allow us to post them in our private social feed, so we’ll have to wait until after the baby’s first month.

Actually, when the book first went on sale, I had originally planned to write a few words about the baby and ask for subscriptions. But after thinking it over, I decided against it. I wrote the passage and deleted it.

The baby is healthy and thriving, and I’m completely content.

Today, I learned how to burp the baby. The little one may have inherited my stomach—after eating too much, the baby spits up.

As for the update schedule, I’ll do my best to maintain ten thousand words a day. But the baby needs to be fed every two hours, and the mother can’t manage everything alone. Shrug.

So sometimes the updates may arrive a little late.

Today’s ten thousand words are complete. Please vote and subscribe!