Chapter 146: Thirty Million

At 11:00 PM, the dozens of practice rooms at Rainbow were still brightly lit. In the narrow, elongated corridor, Zhou Miao and Zuo Qiu patrolled side by side, observing the trainees sweating profusely inside through the windows.

Looking into one of the rooms, Zuo Qiu said, "I've signed an agreement with DouSha Live. The entire process of the final assessment will be broadcast live on their platform. They're paying a substantial amount, and it will also give the kids more exposure. I think it's a great deal."

Zhou Miao was indifferent to this. "You can make the call on that. But looking around, the quality of our trainees is quite worrying. Let's not even mention their atrocious vocal skills; their dancing is practically on par with mine. How on earth did they get in?"

"They're good-looking," Zuo Qiu replied with a matter-of-fact expression.

Zhou Miao was left speechless. "Then I advise you to change the chief examiner. I'm definitely going to eliminate anyone of that caliber."

Hearing this, Zuo Qiu smiled and gently massaged Zhou Miao's shoulders. "It's fine, go ahead and eliminate them. I trust your judgment."

Inside the practice room, the young boys and girls saw Zhou Miao standing expressionlessly by the window while the big boss, Zuo Qiu, massaged his shoulders. Everyone forced themselves through their exhaustion, practicing even harder to leave a good impression on the chief examiner, all while gossiping internally about what kind of relationship the two of them actually had.

As soon as the pair walked away, the trainees collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion. But right at that moment, Zhou Miao, who had already left, suddenly made a U-turn and appeared backward at the window with an expression that seemed to say, "Gotcha!"

The trainees scrambled in a panic to get back on their feet and resume practicing.

Amused, Zuo Qiu patted him on the arm. "Are you even listening to yourself? So childish."

"Our former head teacher used to catch us like that all the time. Unfortunately, the same trick won't work on us students twice," Zhou Miao said smugly.

"Yet the exact same math problems manage to defeat you kids many times over."

Hearing this, Zhou Miao gave her a helpless glance, thinking to himself that she really knew how to hit a raw nerve.

"Quickly, use the nunchucks! Heng-heng-ha-he!" Zhou Miao's phone rang, and the caller ID on the screen made him frown immediately.

"Old PY? Who is that? Why did you save them under such a name?" Zuo Qiu asked, puzzled.

Without answering her, Zhou Miao answered the call right then and there.

"Boss Hu? Calling me this late, is something the matter?"

Zuo Qiu had an epiphany. Ah, it was Hu Xiaoqian. In that case, the contact name was quite fitting.

"Haha, I just finished catching up on your *Colloquialisms from North and South*. That song *Drunken Fist* you sang was truly fantastic. Even someone of my age thinks it sounds great. I feel like you should have been given a perfect score for that round..."

Zhou Miao directly hung up the phone and said to Zuo Qiu, "Let's go, time for a midnight snack."

"What did that old geezer say?" Zuo Qiu asked curiously.

"Just spouted a bunch of nonsense. I couldn't be bothered to keep listening."

Right after he finished speaking, Hu Xiaoqian called back. Zhou Miao was about to hang up immediately when Zuo Qiu gave him a nudge. "Answer it and see what he actually wants."

Once the call connected, Hu Xiaoqian maintained his previous hearty tone. "Oh, my brother, your signal wasn't very good just now, so I'll keep it brief. Here's the thing: I'd like to ask you to craft a premium album for the artists under my management, something on par with *Listen* and *Space-Time Intertwined*. Price is no object!"

"Sorry, not interested." Zhou Miao flatly refused.

"Thirty million!" Hu Xiaoqian said loudly.

Zhou Miao and Zuo Qiu exchanged glances. Seeing that the other side remained silent, Hu Xiaoqian continued, "On top of that, I'll add a five percent sales royalty. How does that sound?"

To a music producer, this price was an astronomical figure. Any other music producer hearing this offer would have wanted to hug Hu Xiaoqian and plant a kiss on him.

Unfortunately, money was the absolute last thing Zhou Miao lacked right now.

"Not interested." With that, Zhou Miao hung up the phone once again.

"Damn it!" Hu Xiaoqian slammed his hand heavily onto the desk.

Zhou Miao said with an amused tone, "What kind of artist could possibly force an old geezer like Hu Xiaoqian to swallow his pride and beg me?"

After a brief moment of thought, Zuo Qiu figured out the answer. "Did you know he has a son?"

Zhou Miao looked slightly surprised. "His son is an artist too? How come I've never heard of this?"

Zuo Qiu searched for a photo on her phone and handed it to Zhou Miao. "His son is called Hu Xiran. He debuted much earlier than you, but he went to South Korea when he was fifteen and debuted as part of a group over there. Their group was quite popular in both China and South Korea."

Zhou Miao was astonished. "Holy crap, Hu Xiran is his son?!"

He was very familiar with the name Hu Xiran. When he was in middle school, the Korean Wave was at its peak, and quite a few girls in his class were fanatical devotees. It never crossed Zhou Miao's mind that Hu Xiran was actually Hu Xiaoqian's offspring.

"Back then, the domestic entertainment scene generally worshiped everything Korean, and Hallyu stars were particularly lucrative. Hu Xiaoqian deliberately spent a massive fortune sending him to South Korea to get some gilded credentials."

"At first, his career developed quite well. But in recent years, the domestic idol culture has risen, coupled with the Korean ban, resulting in a massive wave of stars returning from Korea just to cash in. I suppose Hu Xiran is coming back too; otherwise, Hu Xiaoqian would have no reason to come begging you," Zuo Qiu analyzed.

As a father, he naturally wanted to leave the best for his child. Over the past two years, Hu Xiran had been put into forced hiatus in order to terminate his contract with his Korean agency early, causing his popularity to plummet severely. Furthermore, he missed out on the initial wave of popularity dividends brought by Korean stars returning to China.

Now that he wanted to make a comeback in the domestic market and gather popularity, his initial strike had to be a resounding success. Therefore, after much deliberation, despite finding it utterly nauseating, Hu Xiaoqian still swallowed his pride and came looking for Zhou Miao.

What he hadn't anticipated was that even after offering such a staggering sum, Zhou Miao remained completely unmoved.

Hu Xiaoqian refused to accept this defeat. Did the world stop spinning just because of Zhou Miao?

He dialed a number and said coldly, "Get me ten top-tier producers immediately. Have each of them tailor-make a song for Xiran. Offer the highest rates possible—money is no object, but the quality must be top-notch!"

...

"After Lin Zekai's romantic scandal was exposed, his popularity plummeted, and he's basically been reduced to a sidelined state. Hu Xiaoqian definitely wants to push Hu Xiran up to take his place," Zuo Qiu said while eating her midnight snack in the Rainbow cafeteria.

Zhou Miao let out a cold snort. "What I despise most are those fellows who run off to South Korea to get gilded and then come back to fleece fans."

"Clatter!" A crisp sound suddenly rang out from behind them.

Zhou Miao turned around and saw An Qi standing right behind them, tears welling in her eyes, looking on the verge of tears, while her pink smartphone lay quietly on the ground.

Oh no! Zhou Miao inwardly cursed. He truly hadn't noticed An Qi approaching. To make matters worse, An Qi happened to be one of the idol stars who had returned from South Korea.

Zhou Miao hurriedly tried to salvage the situation. "Uh, I meant... those people who use the identity of a Hallyu star just to puff themselves up."

Between tears and laughter, Zuo Qiu helped her to a seat. She had noticed An Qi sneaking up quietly to scare Zhou Miao, only for Zhou Miao to inadvertently pierce a dagger straight through An Qi's heart the moment she arrived.

To be categorized by her own idol as belonging to the most despised group of people felt particularly agonizing for An Qi.