HaiAn Entertainment.
The songwriting department was significantly larger than XingHui's.
It occupied two full floors of the office building.
In the reception lounge, Tang Feng and Chen Rong sat on the sofa.
"Ms. Chen, Mr. Tang, please wait a moment. Mr. Bai will be here shortly."
A young lady served them two cups of coffee.
After placing the coffee down, she gave Chen Rong and Tang Feng a polite smile and left in her high heels.
HaiAn's reception lounge was vast and open-plan.
Each set of sofas was arranged with a staggered layout, adorned with greenery.
It had a distinct coffee shop style.
Generally, preliminary meetings were held here, while contract negotiations took place in more private signing rooms.
Not long after.
A young man in a suit and tie walked over.
"My apologies, I was delayed by something just now," the young man said apologetically upon arrival.
"Hehe, it's alright, we've only just arrived," Chen Rong replied with a shake of her head.
Tang Feng adjusted his clothes and proactively explained, "This is a first-tier opera actor from our Chinese Opera Association, Teacher Chen Rong."
"Aunt Chen, this is the producer I told you about, Bai Hongsheng."
"Hello, Teacher Bai. Xiao Tang has explained our purpose here, hasn't he?" Chen Rong nodded and took the initiative to speak.
Time was short this time, and she wanted to finalize things as soon as possible to feel at ease.
"Teacher Chen, please just call me Xiao Bai. If you call me Teacher Bai, I'm afraid I'll lose my job..." Bai Hongsheng waved his hands repeatedly.
He had some understanding of Chen Rong's status from Tang Feng.
As a first-tier opera actor, she usually dealt with top-tier producers. It was his good fortune that she had come to him this time.
Furthermore, and most intimidatingly, Chen Rong's husband was the renowned chairman of Huangchao Entertainment, Lin Chaoyang.
In China's entertainment industry, there were very few people who could be addressed as "Teacher" by her and still remain composed.
"Hehe, then I'll call you Xiao Bai." Chen Rong didn't place much importance on titles.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have let Su Yu call her "Sister Chen."
"Teacher Chen, I know your time is pressing, so I'll get straight to the point," Bai Hongsheng said, finally feeling relieved.
He paused and continued, "To write a song about Chinese opera in half a month is quite a rush. However, as I've had some prior attempts in this area and written some unfinished pieces, polishing them up to complete within half a month is feasible. It's just that the quality might be somewhat… subpar…"
Bai Hongsheng was, after all, only a mid-level producer, and the production time was so short. The resulting quality was unlikely to be excellent.
"What quality can you guarantee?" Tang Feng inquired tentatively.
"It can barely reach mid-level production quality…"
This was his absolute limit.
Given another half a month, he could achieve a quality slightly above mid-level, but the reality was that there wasn't enough time.
He glanced at Chen Rong and continued, "Of course, Tang Feng and I are friends, so I will charge you the price for a beginner song. Our beginner song fee at HaiAn is one million."
After speaking, he looked at Tang Feng.
Tang Feng nodded at him gratefully.
Although he owed a favor, this way, he would be involved.
"Alright, we'll consider it and give you our answer tomorrow."
Chen Rong pondered for a few seconds, thinking that a quality that barely reached mid-level production was acceptable.
After all, she hadn't held much hope initially.
This level of outcome was unexpected.
However, she still intended to visit XingHui.
After all, Su Yu had mentioned that the producer at XingHui, named Ting Yu, had a finished song.
It wouldn't take much time to listen to it before making a decision.
"Aunt Chen, I think it's so hot today. Perhaps we shouldn't go? Yan Yu said that Ting Yu is just a beginner producer, maybe he only became popular through luck," Tang Feng urged, seeing Chen Rong still considering.
Hiring a mid-level producer to write a song for a million yuan was something he, Tang Feng, could claim considerable credit for if it reached the Chinese Opera Association.
But if Chen Rong went to find Ting Yu and used his song, Tang Feng would get nothing.
"Pfft…"
As soon as Tang Feng finished speaking.
A young man sitting on a nearby sofa instantly snorted his coffee through his nostrils.
He choked and coughed repeatedly.
He stood up, grabbed some tissues from the coffee table, and frantically wiped the mess.
Sensing the surprised gazes from Tang Feng and the others, he looked up and smiled sheepishly, "An accident… please continue."
Afterward, he threw the tissues into the trash can and got up to leave.
As he passed by Tang Feng.
He faintly heard him mutter, "Ting Yu again, Ting Yu again. I can't even have a cup of coffee without hearing that name. It's like a ghost!"
...
After a brief silence.
"Cough, cough… He's an artist from our company, named Zhao Zhicheng."
Bai Hongsheng coughed awkwardly twice.
"So it's him." Tang Feng's mouth twitched.
Wasn't Zhao Zhicheng the singer whose first place was snatched by Ting Yu's song "Later"?
As a first-tier singer, hearing the name Ting Yu made him react so flusteredly.
This immediately made Tang Feng doubt his professional capabilities.
"Were you just saying you were going to look for Ting Yu?" Bai Hongsheng asked with an unreadable expression.
"That's right. Since you and Xiao Tang are friends, we won't hide it from you. We're heading to XingHui later because someone told us Ting Yu has a finished song," Chen Rong said without any pretense.
Writing songs was, after all, a business.
It was normal to shop around in the business world.
"Holy crap!" Bai Hongsheng couldn't help but blurt out a curse. He quickly explained after realizing, "My apologies, I lost my composure. I just didn't expect him to release a new song so quickly…"
"You know him too?" Chen Rong was surprised by Bai Hongsheng's strong reaction.
Why did everyone who heard the name Ting Yu seem to have such unexpected reactions?
"Of course, which entertainment company in Shuangqing City doesn't know this person…" Bai Hongsheng's tone carried a hint of sourness.
Afterward, he mentally added, "Like a damn ghost."
"You guys should hurry. I originally wanted to help, but now there's nothing for me to do. I look forward to your new song!"
After saying this, Bai Hongsheng politely bid farewell to Chen Rong and left the reception lounge hurriedly under their gaze.
Leaving Tang Feng and Chen Rong bewildered.
...
"Are there any brothers releasing ancient style songs recently?"
In the internal group chat, Bai Hongsheng sent a message.
"I'm releasing one in a few days, what's up?"
"My new song was just released today. I calculated the dates earlier, and today is an auspicious day. Fortune tellers said this song has championship potential."
"Haha, let's see who takes first place on the ancient style new song chart this time."
Two people replied in the group.
"Friendly reminder, Ting Yu is highly likely to release a new song, and it's ancient style, so good luck to yourselves."
Bai Hongsheng typed this with a schadenfreude expression.
"What???"
"Holy crap???"
"Is the news accurate that Ting Yu is releasing a new song?"
"Is he even human, releasing another new song?"
"..."
The group chat immediately exploded, turning into 99+ messages in an instant.
Those who were lurking came out to comment.
"Don't scare me, I just released my new song. This is a big production this time. If I get first place, I'll be popular again…"
"Haha, sympathize with you…"
"Sympathy +1…"
"Haha, brother, my condolences. Old Bai, thank you for telling me this news. I'll treat you to a massage tonight. I've decided to set my release date for next month!"
"It's over, it's over. I was just watching the show earlier, thinking he wouldn't touch ancient style. Now I'm about to become the next victim? Ting Yu, please be human!"
"..."