Chapter 43: My Senior Sister is a Wealthy Benefactress

Chapter 43: My Senior Sister Is a Wealthy Benefactor

Barely had the first semester of freshman year begun when Li Jingkun had already gained a modest reputation around campus.

Only a small minority knew him in his capacity as a writer; the vast majority recognized him through the song *Diva*, discovering that he had already formed a band back in high school and that he had written the lyrics and composed the music for several tracks himself. That was quite a shock to people.

Being capable of musical composition was not entirely astonishing, as most individuals who played instruments and read sheet music could string some tunes together. The real issue was that the songs Li Jingkun wrote were of exceptionally high quality.

Furthermore, these tracks had their own encyclopedia entries, and on certain websites, they held ratings and reviews replete with high praise from professional musicians.

In other words, the lead vocalist of the "Aurora Band" fully deserved to be called a qualified, professional songwriter. It was simply a mystery why, after releasing three songs, he seemingly vanished from the music scene...

Actually, Li Jingkun had intended to focus on his studies and build a solid foundation during his first year or two; he had never planned on standing out so soon. It was only to dodge being forced to collaborate with others on a comedic sketch that he had applied to perform a solo song instead. He had never expected so much of his past to be dug up so quickly.

Many people had found out that these were his original compositions, that he had formed a band in high school, and that he had uploaded his works to music websites.

Consequently, both the campus music club and a student band came over to invite him to join, but he turned them all down.

"My major is still directing, and music is just a hobby. I probably won't have that much time to mess around with music anymore."

Such an arrogant display left them utterly speechless. He called something he excelled at better than them a mere hobby? Wasn't that just a deliberate insult?

Later on, a senior female student approached him, saying she wanted him to help her write a song.

Rumor had it that she came from a very good background, had spent many years in the entertainment industry, and while she didn't have much dirt on her, she just couldn't seem to get popular. In the circles, people jokingly called her one of the "Ten Unsolved Mysteries of the Entertainment Industry."

However, she was currently a sophomore. Although she had already released a music album and acted in quite a few roles, the moniker of the "Unsolved Mystery" had not yet spread.

Even so, her pedigree remained, and she was his senior. Since they were not yet familiar with each other, he naturally conversed with her rather politely.

"Senior Sister, writing a song depends on inspiration. Moreover, it has to be tailored to the other person's vocal timbre, style, and so on. It's not something that can just be casually whipped up."

Indeed, the person sitting across from him was Zhao Tiantian, a 2007-batch performance major at the Beijing Film Academy, one year senior to Li Jingkun.

At the moment, they were at the campus cafeteria, where Li Jingkun and Wang Yang had been accosted while eating.

Before they had even exchanged many words, she had asked him if he could write a song for her.

Zhao Tiantian must have been quite wealthy; the person she had previously hired to write songs for her was also a well-known figure in the industry. Yet it seemed to have had little effect, because the quality of the music was quite mediocre, and naturally, it lacked any real popularity or staying power.

Besides, she was not a professionally trained singer by background, and the few domestic songwriters available mostly had existing loyalties, usually writing exclusively for a fixed group of people.

That meant the probability of her getting her hands on a genuinely good song was actually quite low—even top-tier musicians wouldn't dare claim that every single song they wrote would become a hit, with the sole exception of Jay Chou during his peak years.

Therefore, when she suddenly discovered a young, somewhat famous person around her who could compose music, true to her impulsive personality of "if my heart is moved, I must possess it," she naturally wanted to seize the opportunity.

Besides, nothing much would be lost if she failed—though the number of times she had failed wasn't particularly high.

"It's fine, there's no rush. You can just write it when you have inspiration. Um, as for my vocal timbre and style... it should lean towards girlish or sweet, right?" Zhao Tiantian said.

By what right should I write one for you? We don't even know each other, do we?

"Well, pretty much." What Li Jingkun had said referred to her vocal timbre—for an eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl, her voice naturally leaned toward a sweet style, which wasn't much of a distinct characteristic or unique style anyway. Besides, those previous words were just meant to brush her off; he never expected her to answer so earnestly.

"Then it's a settled deal."

"..."

What on earth was she thinking? What made this a settled deal?

"Senior Sister, I've just started university, and the coursework for the directing department is extremely heavy. I really don't have the time to write songs lately."

Zhao Tiantian thought for a moment, then continued: "Are you worried I won't pay you? It's fine. Even if I'm not satisfied with the song you write in the end, I'll still compensate you—though I really like those three original songs of yours. Just writing something of a similar quality will do—you can name a price."

Hehe, what a bold tone—Big Sister, do I look like someone who is short of money?

"It's not a matter of money..."

"How about one hundred thousand?"

"..."

Li Jingkun was somewhat speechless. Wasn't this an insult?

"Not enough? I'm sorry, I don't really know how much a song should cost either. When I made my album previously, everything was charged as a package deal... Um, is three hundred thousand okay?"

Zhao Tiantian had released an album, and at the time, she had invited Zhang Yadong, a renowned musician in the industry. The cost of producing the entire album was actually quite high. However, she hadn't paid much attention to it back then, and had even forgotten the exact amount.

In truth, something like a song didn't have a fixed price; there were tracks costing a few thousand, and others costing tens of thousands.

If one were to do it seriously, lyric-writing and composing had one price, arranging had another, and finally, production fees and recording expenses had to be factored in. Thus, the poor simply couldn't afford to play this game.

Yet Zhao Tiantian had casually started her bid at one hundred thousand, which was somewhat startling.

But then again, if one knew in advance which song would become a massive hit and possess top-tier quality—like *Diva*—one could guarantee that those singers would willingly shell out one or two million.

Most of the time, the issue wasn't whether the money was enough, but rather the inability to guarantee whether a song would become a hit.

The singer of the song *Mice Love Rice* alone could earn 170 million, not to mention the profits reaped by record labels and distributors. If people knew the outcome in advance, many would gladly fork over tens of millions in cash.

Hearing Zhao Tiantian's words, Wang Yang beside them was somewhat stunned. His immediate internal reaction was: *Holy crap, who is this woman, throwing around hundreds of thousands as if it's nothing!*

His next thought was: *Holy crap, Jingkun is amazing. Are his songs really worth that much?*

"Let me think about it carefully. The song hasn't even been written yet, so discussing anything else is a bit too early."

Li Jingkun was also somewhat surprised, but in the end, he politely declined. After all, if he had immediately agreed upon hearing "three hundred thousand," it would have appeared far too mercenary.

Zhao Tiantian felt a bit disappointed and slightly annoyed, but she still said her goodbyes and left.

After all, they were indeed not yet familiar with each other, so lingering for too long was out of the question.

"Who on earth is that senior sister? So wealthy that she casually drops hundreds of thousands to buy a song—is she out of her mind?"

As soon as Zhao Tiantian left, Wang Yang finally couldn't help but blurt out.

"She is a bit crazy, and I was a bit startled too," Li Jingkun said.

"She certainly carries herself like a senior sister... Just that aura earlier."

"Her temperament matches it too, and coupled with the fact that she's our senior, as fresh underclassmen, we're naturally at a disadvantage compared to her..."

"... So, are you going to write a song for her? Three hundred thousand, you know," Wang Yang said.