Chapter 175: Writing A Song For Her
“Do you think I’m a paparazzi, scouring for gossip news everywhere after eating my fill every day?” Ji Ziyao said grumpily.
“I probably know.” As soon as Yang Wanxiu on the other side spoke, Xuan Xia and Ji Ziyao both looked at her.
Especially Ji Ziyao’s gaze, which made Yang Wanxiu shrink her neck.
“Xiuxiu, look at me. Come satisfy my curiosity.” Xuan Xia urged her.
Yang Wanxiu glanced at Ji Ziyao again, then gossiped to Xuan Xia: “The drama she leads recently just finished airing, and ever since it started, the response hasn’t been great, and up to the end, there weren’t any splashes.”
There’s such a thing?
Xuan Xia thought to herself that this drama really made no splashes when it aired; she hadn’t known a thing about it.
Yang Wanxiu continued gossipy: “That drama of hers was billed as the heavyweight summer drama of the year. Compared to it, the drama Teacher Jiang Feng acted in wasn’t even rated as high, but the result was it became a dark horse in one leap, and Teacher Jiang Feng is popular now.”
Every TV drama sets a rating at the start of production based on different scales: big investment production, good team, plus star lineup, the highest can be rated S+, conversely, the lowest is B-grade.
Xie Yun’s drama was an S+ rated one even before airing.
But the final airing score only barely reached the level of an A-grade rated drama.
It could be said to have flopped hard.
“You don’t need to drag Teacher Jiang into it.” Xuan Xia told Yang Wanxiu not to make random comparisons. “It’s just one drama with poor airing results; it shouldn’t hurt her vitality too much.”
And from the way she had just seen Xie Yun, it didn’t look like it was just from one drama with poor ratings.
“That depends on the situation.” Maybe because Yang Wanxiu had gossiped quite a bit, Ji Ziyao couldn’t help joining the gossip team and suddenly chimed in.
“Yeah, yeah.” Yang Wanxiu followed and lowered her voice. “I also heard that this drama signed a contract before airing. Now with such poor results, they have to pay compensation.”
“Who’s paying compensation?” Xuan Xia was quite curious about this.
“Xie Yun and her agent Zhao Mingfang.” Yang Wanxiu said very affirmatively.
She had heard this related insider news precisely because of the topic stirred up by these two having to pay compensation.
Yang Wanxiu spilled everything she knew all at once. “It’s said that when the contract was originally signed, Zhao Mingfang’s side was full of confidence and had prepared a whole set of corresponding marketing promotions. But for some reason, after the drama aired, none of the marketing followed up, and the drama just fizzled out directly.”
“So that means Zhao Mingfang dropped the ball?”
After guessing along with the words, Xuan Xia immediately looked at Ji Ziyao with bright eyes.
Ji Ziyao gave her a “it’s all unspoken” look. “Hurry up and go rest.” After saying that, he took the lead toward the elevator.
While catching up with Ji Ziyao’s steps, Yang Wanxiu added to Xuan Xia: “I heard they have to pay quite a lot.”
“Oh right, there’s another thing, Xia Xia.” Yang Wanxiu had heard quite a few insider news recently, and once she started talking, she couldn’t stop. “In the last two episodes of the program, Xie Yun’s screen time was the shortest, and her fans have been making a big fuss with the program group recently.”
“There’s such a thing?” Isn’t the program group promoting Xie Yun? They actually reduced her time. “Has anything come out of the fuss?”
Yang Wanxiu shook her head: “No. It depends on the situation after the new episode airs.”
Xuan Xia hadn’t expected that in just this short while, she had eaten her fill of melons.
This trip to Jiangshi felt like it was specially for harvesting.
After summer comes autumn; it seemed like it really was the season for harvesting.
Speaking of “harvesting,” Xuan Xia couldn’t help thinking of that guy Ren Yaozhe, not knowing if he was still hiding somewhere in Ningzhou.
She also didn’t know if the Daoist Association side in Ningzhou had his latest whereabouts.
Thinking of this, she called out to Li Xinze who was about to enter the room. “Brother Li, do you have Daoist Master Gong of Baoyi Temple’s contact info?”
She asked, but Xuan Xia was already prepared to go back and ask Daoist Master Qin for the contact info.
Unexpectedly… “Yes. Does Miss Xuan want to inquire about Ren Yaozhe’s situation?”
“Yes. Then send it to me quick.”
Li Xinze: “Okay.” Without delay, he immediately pushed Gong Ziliu’s business card to Xuan Xia.
“Thanks.”
……
It was more than an hour later that Gong Ziliu passed through Xuan Xia’s friend request.
After exchanging pleasantries with this new friend, Xuan Xia got straight to the point, asking if he had found any trace of Ren Yaozhe today.
Mentioning Ren Yaozhe, Gong Ziliu had plenty to say.
These past few days, Gong Ziliu had been leading the team, following traces to find Ren Yaozhe.
Every time there was a trace of Ren Yaozhe, Gong Ziliu thought he set out immediately, but every time they arrived, that Ren Yaozhe was long gone, and soon after, they would hear he had appeared in another place far away.
Running empty every time, even Gong Ziliu, who had cultivated for years, was getting a bit temperamental.
‘Gong Ziliu: Boss Xuan, do you think this Ren Yaozhe is walking us like dogs for fun?’
Xuan Xia “…”
Ah this…
How should she respond? It seemed impossible to respond.
Gong Ziliu realized and quickly followed up.
‘Gong Ziliu: I didn’t say we are dogs.’
Xuan Xia: “I know. Ren Yaozhe is the real dog.”
‘Gong Ziliu: Hey, exactly!’
Gong Ziliu felt Xuan Xia was very good at talking, and his favorable impression of her increased another level.
In the following time, the two had another friendly exchange, and when ending the chat, Gong Ziliu invited Xuan Xia to come to Baoyi Temple for exchange when she had time.
At the same time, he also invited Xuan Xia to come participate in activities hosted by the Daoist Association when she was free.
Everyone exchanges friendly together.
Xuan Xia agreed, telling Gong Ziliu to notify Changsheng Temple for any future activities.
Even if she couldn’t go, there would be people from the temple who could.
As for Ren Yaozhe, she still needed Gong Ziliu to put in more effort to track him.
–
This time’s dating show recording location started in the house arranged by the program group.
Since the program group had built this house, they of course planned to make full use of the investment.
This time, Xuan Xia arrived early.
While doing makeup, Hong PD trotted over and asked Xuan Xia: “Teacher Xuan, let me ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“Last week, didn’t Teacher Zhou say he was going to give you a birthday gift?” Hong PD grinned; the topic was obviously about the birthday gift.
Xuan Xia blinked; if Hong PD hadn’t mentioned it, she would have forgotten.
“Hong PD, you have ulterior motives.” Xuan Xia mercilessly exposed him.
Hong PD immediately toned down his smile and put on a serious expression. “How could I have ulterior motives? Teacher Xuan, don’t think of me that way.”
After seriously expressing himself, Hong PD immediately brought the topic back to the birthday gift and gossiped: “Teacher Xuan, has Teacher Zhou’s birthday gift been given to you yet?”
Xuan Xia was very sure that Hong PD’s next sentence would be asking what Zhou Shiqing gave her.
“Hong PD, just be honest. What do you want?” Xuan Xia decided not to answer Hong PD directly and first ask his purpose.
Hong PD thought to himself what purpose he could have; wasn’t he just racking his brains for this CP, sharpening his head to create material?
Just as he was thinking how to play pitiful, Zhou Shiqing arrived.
Zhou Shiqing still had the blue hair from last week, but the wolf tail was undone, and the blue had faded a layer into a nice gradient color, making his skin look even whiter.
At first glance, with red lips and white teeth, it was very pleasing to the eye.
Zhou Shiqing looked over at Xuan Xia. He had finished his makeup and hair before coming, and seeing Xuan Xia still doing makeup and styling, he didn’t come over and sat to the side to rest.
Hong PD looked at Xuan Xia, then at Zhou Shiqing, and decided to go chat with the gift-giver Zhou Shiqing first and see; if nothing came out, then come back to chat with the gift-receiver.
“Teacher Xuan, you go ahead with your business; I’ll go find Teacher Zhou.” Hong PD trotted toward Zhou Shiqing again.
After going over and chatting, Hong PD came back with smiling eyes and brows, looking joyful all over.
This instead made Xuan Xia curious.
What good news did he get from Zhou Shiqing?
……
After recording officially started, Zhou Shiqing did a magic trick and tossed something over from afar.
Xuan Xia subconsciously caught the thing packaged into a roll.
The thing was very light, almost no weight.
Xuan Xia held the thing, unable to associate it with anything, and could only look at Zhou Shiqing.
Zhou Shiqing said: “The gift I promised to give you.”
It really was a birthday gift?
Xuan Xia could confidently ask: “What is this?”
Zhou Shiqing lifted his chin slightly. “You’ll know when you open it.”
“Can I open it now?” Xuan Xia asked again.
Zhou Shiqing nodded, looking indifferent.
Xuan Xia, full of curiosity, opened it right then.
Only after removing the outer layer did she discover it was a sheet of paper inside. No wonder it had no weight.
And it was the most common kind of A4 paper.
Xuan Xia couldn’t help pausing, not sure if she really should unfold it to look.
What kind of birthday gift could this paper make? Could it be a contract?
Seeing Xuan Xia’s hesitation, Zhou Shiqing rarely showed a bit of embarrassment. “What are you doing? Take a look.”
Xuan Xia then slowly unfolded the paper.
Then she discovered it wasn’t a contract, but… a musical score.
And one that already had lyrics filled in.
Xuan Xia scanned all the content at three lines per glance, then looked at him again. “This is?”
Zhou Shiqing strolled over and explained lightly: “Didn’t know what to give, so I wrote a song for you.”
Although she already knew the answer, when Zhou Shiqing admitted it was a song he wrote for her, Xuan Xia instantly felt moved.
She had always known Zhou Shiqing could create, having handled quite a few creations for their group, but she hadn’t expected him to write a song for her.
This was a gift she hadn’t even dared to imagine.
“Thank you.” She couldn’t think of other words and could only thank him plainly, then looked back at the content on the musical score.
This song even already had a name: “Who Says.”
She had noticed the lyrics part when scanning at three lines per glance earlier; they were written very well.
That wording and tone, that surprise, it was as if written by a strong-hearted woman.
So that’s why she had hesitated earlier, unsure if it was Zhou Shiqing’s creation.
After reading the lyrics twice, Xuan Xia racked her brains to praise him again, and at this time Zhou Shiqing said, “Do you have time to record it?”
“Ah?” Xuan Xia dropped the search for words and looked at him pitifully. “But I can’t sing, Teacher Zhou.”
