Chapter 44: Targeting Xu Ze

At this moment, Xu Ze was busy typing away at his manuscript when his phone suddenly chimed. Picking it up, he saw that his supervisor, Zhang Yingjing, had tagged him in the group chat.

“Xu Ze, are your demo recordings still not done? Didn’t I ask you all to send your demos to my email before 8 tonight?”

Reading the message, Xu Ze slapped his forehead. He’d been so absorbed in updating his novel “The Immortal Executioner” these past few days that he’d completely forgotten about it.

He quickly replied, “I haven't finished recording yet. I'll go do it now and send it to you right away.”

Zhang Yingjing responded, “Still not done? Hurry up then. In three days, I’ll be giving you feedback and suggestions based on your demos. And just a reminder, the next round of the competition will directly eliminate half of you. I hope you take this seriously.”

Xu Ze replied, “Understood.”

Just then, Sun Na sent Xu Ze a friend request.

“Xu Ze, are you going to record your song? You can come to my company—we have a professional recording studio, plus lyricists and composers who can help you.”

Xu Ze replied directly in the friend request message: “Thank you, but it’s alright. I have a regular studio I use.”

Upon seeing this, Sun Na was nearly fuming. She’d tried to add Xu Ze as a friend before, but he’d ignored her. Now she’d sent another request, and he simply replied in the verification message instead of accepting her friend request.

He wasn’t exactly rude, since he did reply, but did he plan to just chat with her through verification messages forever?

Sun Na took a deep breath and muttered, “I don’t believe it. I won’t give up until you accept me!”

She sent another request: “Xu Ze, can you accept my friend request? *crying emoji* We’re in the same group, after all! That way I can remind you if Teacher Zhang Yingjing has any new requirements.”

Since being direct didn’t work, she decided to play soft and imply she had no ulterior motives.

After a while, Xu Ze finally accepted her friend request.

Sun Na was instantly thrilled and immediately sent a string of animated stickers to Xu Ze, but after waiting a long time, he didn’t reply.

She didn’t mind, though. As long as she’d added him as a friend, everything else would be easy.

“Hmph! Men always act aloof. You think I can’t see through you? There’s no man I, Sun Na, can’t win over!”

In truth, Xu Ze had accepted her friend request by accident—Zhu Zhengting happened to send him a request at that moment, and Xu Ze clicked it without thinking.

Zhu Zhengting messaged, “Xu Ze, are you lacking inspiration? Your theme word is ‘snow’—I happen to have some old demos about snow. Want me to send them over? Maybe they’ll help.”

Xu Ze raised an eyebrow. This Zhu Zhengting, with his innocent appearance, turned out to be quite a decent guy.

Even though they were on the same team at the moment and technically not competitors, in the final round it would be every man for himself.

Logically, if Xu Ze got eliminated in the team round, it would benefit Zhu Zhengting. After all, as things stood, Xu Ze and Huang Minghao were the only ones stronger than Zhu Zhengting. If Xu Ze was knocked out this round, Zhu Zhengting would have one less rival.

Xu Ze replied, “Thanks, but my song is already written. I just forgot to record it. See you in three days.”

Zhu Zhengting responded, “Alright, I’m looking forward to hearing your song.”

Xu Ze scrolled through his contacts and quickly sent a message to Xu Yan.

“Boss, is the recording studio still open? I want to record a song.”

He was worried it might be too late and the studio might have closed; if not, he’d have to wait till tomorrow to record and send the demo to Zhang Yingjing.

Within ten seconds of sending the message, Xu Yan replied, “It’s open, go ahead!”

Xu Ze: “Thanks, boss.”

It seemed Xu Yan was a heavy smartphone user—she always replied quickly. But what Xu Ze didn’t know was that it wasn’t because Xu Yan was always on her phone; she had set up special notifications for his messages.

So, cherish those who always reply to your messages quickly—maybe they truly care about you.

Little Solitude Bar.

Ever since the video of Xu Ze singing at the bar was released, business had been booming. Today, a sign at the door announced a twenty percent discount, and the place was packed to capacity, with crowd control measures in place.

At this moment, the large central screen was playing the show “I’m a Singer-Songwriter.” Since the last time they aired Xu Ze’s performance at the bar and received such positive feedback, many customers had come specifically to watch Xu Ze’s segment.

Xu Yan had even replaced the TV with a much bigger screen, costing several times more than the previous one, but she didn’t mind at all.

Xu Yan and Miao Miao were sitting in the VIP area. Xu Yan teased, “Weren’t you off today? Why’d you still come to the bar?”

“I wanted a drink—and you’re offering a discount,” Miao Miao replied, flicking her hat and spreading her hands.

Xu Yan gave her a knowing look and laughed. “When have you ever paid for drinks here? Maybe I should tally up your bar tab and give you a twenty percent discount on the total.”

“Don’t have the money,” Miao Miao replied bluntly, then knocked back her cocktail in one go.

Just then, the TV host announced that Xu Ze would be up next.

In an instant, the previously noisy bar fell silent as every patron turned to the screen.

Even the crowd of people outside, who couldn’t get in due to capacity limits, gathered near the entrance to listen quietly.

“A flower blooms by the willow at dawn,
In search of fragrance, I lose my way at the pavilion gate.”

Only Xu Ze’s clear singing voice remained in the bar.

Everyone wore a look of rapture.

Lovely. Though they’d heard it before, every listen brought a new sensation.

But to everyone’s surprise, just as Xu Ze was about to reach the climax of the song, a fifteen-second video advertisement suddenly interrupted.

“What the hell? What’s going on?”

“Who puts an ad in the middle of a song?”

“Boss, why does it have ads?”

The surrounding patrons grumbled.

Xu Yan was also puzzled. Since when did they insert ads mid-performance? Usually, platforms only ran ads during the host’s segments.

Interrupting the performers’ songs with commercials—wouldn’t that ruin the whole effect?

Fortunately, the ad was short. After fifteen seconds, Xu Ze’s singing resumed.

But now a huge banner ad appeared in the upper right corner of the screen, almost completely obscuring Xu Ze’s face.

“What is this? I can barely see Xu Ze anymore.”

“Yeah, is this Mango TV? Why are there suddenly so many ads?”

“Ugh, I want to see Xu Ze’s face!”

Several female customers complained.

Xu Yan frowned. What was Mango TV playing at? During the host’s segment and the previous two performers, there hadn’t been any ads at all. But when it was Xu Ze’s turn, there was a video ad interrupting his song, then a huge banner covering his face.

Was Mango TV targeting Xu Ze?

Just then Miao Miao suggested, “Why not switch to another platform? Try Penguin TV and replay Xu Ze’s segment.”

Xu Yan nodded and called over the front desk girl to change the channel and re-air the performance.