Supporting song: "Snow Dragon Chant," promotional theme song: "Together for a Shared Future," opening theme song: "Snowflake."
In addition, the system also listed the traditional Olympic opening ceremony piece, John Lennon's "Imagine," as well as "Welcome to BJ," a song Chu Zhi was quite familiar with.
Chu Zhi steadied himself. Why were there so many songs? Spending one personality coin to search, he guessed the system was in high spirits after making money, even tossing out an entire album, "Outstanding Works Collection from the IOC and Federation of Literary and Art Circles Song Solicitation," which included 20 songs and 20 instrumental tracks.
Was he squeezing the system brother too hard? Chu Zhi pondered. Of course, it was only a passing thought—there was some reflection, but only a tiny bit.
"How about… 'Welcome to BJ'? That's the one I know best." After much thought, Chu Zhi decided to use the Earth's promotional theme song "Together for a Shared Future." The song might not have spread as widely online as "Snow Dragon Chant," but…
Before crossing over, Emperor Beast vaguely remembered that during the Winter Olympics, most trending short videos used "Snow Dragon Chant." However, in terms of lyrical appropriateness, "Together for a Shared Future" fit better.
Besides, this invitation was a stand-in gig; being too high-profile would not be ideal.
In three days, Chu Zhi finished recording the song and sent it via email to the Chinese Olympic Committee. Their response was fast—received in the morning, result sent in the afternoon.
The official media moved even faster. Whether it was promotional links, background music in videos, or anything else, they quietly swapped it all out.
[Winter Olympics]• Song dedicated to police officers (undecided)• New Chinese-style album (seven songs still missing)• English album (tracklist undecided)
Looking at the table, Chu Zhi saw the arrangement in priority order. The seven missing songs didn't mean undecided—they simply didn't have a custom album voucher to get them.
Using up the last voucher slot, Chu Zhi currently held four songs: "Orchid Pavilion Preface," "A Laugh from the Vast Sea," "Blue and White Porcelain," and "Red Actress."
Chu Zhi's new album plan was themed around "Chinese Culture," structured in three chapters.
The tracklist in his mind was already complete—
New Chinese-style chapter:"Orchid Pavilion Preface," "East Wind Breaks," "Blue and White Porcelain," "Hair Like Snow," "Fireworks Easily Cold," "General's Command," "Yesterday's Letter," "Dusty World Inn," "Jiangnan."
Classical Chinese-style chapter:"A Laugh from the Vast Sea," "Flowers Too Fragrant," "Ghost of a Beautiful Woman."
Ancient-style ending chapter:"Red Actress," "Moonlight," "Beauty."
A fifteen-song album full of sincerity. Jay Chou was practically plucked bald by Chu Zhi. In the realm of Chinese-style music, this surpassed the previous album.
The milestone of new Chinese style—"East Wind Breaks," the peak of Chinese style—"Blue and White Porcelain," the continuation of Yue Fei's poetry—"Yesterday's Letter," the unbeatable "A Laugh from the Vast Sea," and the ancient-style ceiling even the original singer couldn't perform—"Moonlight." Absolute domination.
He could already imagine the sensation when the songs were released.
Chu Zhi's problem now was having no vouchers. Just drawing songs and albums randomly—how many personality coins would that take?
He discussed with the system brother in his mind. If it came to it, maybe ask if custom vouchers could be purchased.
"Old Qian, what are you muttering about?" Wang Yuan asked.
"What could I be muttering? I'm praying for the blessing of the European Emperor," Old Qian replied.
"European Emperor? Where's that coming from?" Wang Yuan, despite her strong-willed CEO style, had terrible luck. Never won first prize since childhood—either consolation prize or nothing.
"The company's new head of Japan region business, Toshi Takaisao. Today, he scratched a lottery ticket and won 50,000 yuan," Old Qian explained.
The overseas market was too big for one person to handle—unless you were some Lovecraftian monster with many tentacles—so the new company hired three additional managers for the Asian market from Japan and Korea.
Thirty-seven-year-old Toshi Takaisao had worked for Toho Company and dealt with several Japanese TV stations.
Winning more than 100 yuan from a scratch-off amazed Wang Yuan. It was like learning for the first time that "hysteria" was a transliteration, not an idiom. Truly surprising.
Fundamentally, "hysteria" and "nice" were no different—both were transliterations.
"Don't be too shocked, Boss," Old Qian continued. "I also heard that back in Japan, he once won the Jumbo lottery—about four hundred thousand yuan."
Winning abroad too? Wang Yuan pondered. "He looks so ordinary. Why is his luck so good?"
"Let's soak in his good fortune together." Old Qian invited.
"Superstition," Wang Yuan dismissed, returning to her desk.
Fine, no soaking then.
All the luck to me, all the luck to me. Old Qian, already not young, still childishly traced patterns in the air, as if that could capture fortune.
Truthfully, the Boss was a bit superstitious herself. She sometimes secretly carried a jade Luohan pendant, tarot cards, a star chart, or a cross blessed by a cardinal. So when Wang Yuan returned to her desk, she quietly muttered too.
"Soak up the luck, soak up the fortune. I must have good luck."
That night, there was supposed to be a company dinner, but one round of drinks broke Chu Zhi's schedule.
At his current status, no one could ask him to attend drinking sessions for business. In terms of fanbase size and his honorary vice-director title with the authorities, he was at the top among entertainers.
However, with Dabai returning to the country, he could still have a drink with this lightweight. From past New Year's experience, Su Shangbai's drinking had already been classified by Chu Zhi into the "lightweight" category.
Sure enough, Dabai got drunk again. Chu Zhi easily delivered him to the hotel.
"Hello? What's up, Sister Niu?"
Leaving the hotel, the night wind slapped against his face. Niu Jiangxue's call came in. A glance at the time—already 11:30. If it was not important, she would not be calling, so Chu Zhi skipped greetings and went straight to the point.
"Mango TV's art director Pei Louguo asked through his connections if you could record a short VCR to cheer for one of the brothers and post it on Weibo," Niu Jiangxue said. "It's for the variety show Call Me By Fire 2."
Pei Louguo had once been just a mid-level producer at Mango TV. But with the explosive success of Call Me By Fire season one—alongside Sisters Who Make Waves—he seized the chance to be promoted to art director.
Chu Zhi had appeared on his produced show Red Mansion, so they had some acquaintance.
Whether the VCR existed or not did not matter. Not every brother on the show received a cheer message, which meant only one thing—they had decided to promote someone.
"Which brother?" Chu Zhi asked.
From Niu Jiangxue's description, it was a '70s-born singer with many representative works in this parallel world. For unknown reasons, he had faded from the spotlight for years, only making a comeback in the past two years. Yet in the vast pool of the entertainment industry, he barely made a ripple.
A quick check revealed he was signed to Tianyu Entertainment. Well, that explained it. Everyone knew Tianyu was under Mango TV.
"They're offering a resource exchange," Niu Jiangxue added. After all, any ad Chu Zhi casually posted on Weibo was worth a lot.
"I'm out right now. Can I do it in an hour?" Chu Zhi asked.
"No problem," Niu Jiangxue replied.
She had many resources from such exchanges. All four major TV stations, including CCTV, were in her contacts, along with numerous industry figures. Even if not at the level of the industry's true giants, they were far ahead of most agencies.
"It's a waste not to sign two newcomers with all these resources," she mused.
Why waste? For example, if they signed a completely inexperienced trainee, they could immediately place them on hit shows like Back to Life, Ace Family, or The Great Detective.
Whereas Chu Zhi, with his natural high traffic, could go on such programs without touching these exchanged resources, making every appearance a win-win.
"Besides, Chu-ge is a highly creative singer. Even scraps from under his fingernails could be a decent song. Worst case, dig through his trash and find a new hit. And we could easily promote the album too."
Niu Jiangxue imagined. Most companies had more artists than resources. At Ai Guo Media, it was the opposite.
"I'll bring it up to Chu-ge sometime. We could sign two rookies, or even some veteran wanting a comeback."
While Niu Jiangxue pondered the company's future, Chu Zhi just wanted to finish his task quickly.
He flagged a taxi, and twenty minutes later he was home. Tidying up his appearance, he smoothed his hair and straightened his collar. Tonight, he was in a sapphire-blue knit sweater and jeans.
For a video, image mattered. Messy hair and sloppy clothes would be disrespectful to fans. Chu Zhi kept himself in shape by eating unappetizing high-calorie meals for bulking and supplementing with regular exercise.
His special Delicious But No Weight Gain Pill only worked for gourmet food, so he still needed discipline to maintain his physique.
"I heard Yan-ge is joining Call Me By Fire. Really looking forward to his performance of Crazy for You. My childhood goddess…"
Tongue slip. Chu Zhi re-recorded. Four takes in total, two of them ruined by bad angles, before he posted the VCR.
Eats Big Oranges: [#CallMeByFire2#, #Yan Hu Confirmed#] ending with [Chu Zhi's Weibo video]
Fifty minutes in total—ten minutes faster than expected.
Two minutes later, he refreshed and saw thousands of comments. Was this group living on Weibo?
Willing to Die with the South Stars: [Blue-clad male god, please marry me! Haha don't worry, I'll send you the wedding invite]
99999658: [See? Staying up late brings good luck. I finally got first comment!]
Invisible Cipher: [Special follow, leaving a mark. I also love Yan Hu's songs. Double fan joy!]
Boy Who Acts on Interest Alone: [Sapphire blue is the color of romantic skies. Ah Jiu wearing blue is the greatest romance under the heavens.]
And so on.
Most of the Little Fruits were focused on Chu Zhi himself. What he said mattered, but not as much as his looks.
"When will Jiu-yé join Call Me By Fire?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Ah Jiu is only twenty-four."
"Can you give the brothers a chance?"
"When is the concert? Hurry up!"
Once again, it devolved into posts urging Chu Zhi to get out there and work.
For other fan groups, the dream was for their idol to quietly polish their craft. For the Little Fruits, it was the opposite—they wanted their idol to stop polishing and come out to play.
Same planet. Different fandom experience.