"An'an, your singing is surprisingly good!"
"Also, who is that girl next to you? She's so pretty. Is she a new friend you made?"
"Your singing is so good, but why have you never sung in front of me? You've changed. You used to tell me what color camisole you were wearing."
Listening to Jiang Jingya's chatter through the phone, Yao An was a little confused.
"Did you see the video of our school's talent show?"
"Hmph."
"Where did you see it?"
"Hmph."
"I'll order you a matcha Little Cake."
"I want two."
"Alright, alright, tell me quickly."
"I saw it on Douyin short videos. If you search for the Shanghai Finance University topic, the top video is it. It has 220,000 likes!"
"Now it's 240,000. Many people are sharing it. You're famous! Everyone is praising you as a beauty seen once in 5,000 years."
Yao An was a little speechless.
"What is all this? The beauty seen once in 5,000 years is Ju Mouyi, okay?"
"That's what others said. If you don't believe me, see for yourself."
Yao An opened Douyin and searched according to Jiang Jingya's instructions.
Sure enough, the first search result was it, with 250,000 likes now.
The video was of her and Chen Tian performing bi shang guan that day.
The videographer recorded the entire process, and the distance was very close and clear. From the angle, it should have been taken by a student from Class A.
The title was "Two Flying Goddesses Suddenly Appear at University of Finance and Economics Freshmen Gala?"
There was a huge pile of comments below.
"moom: Holy cow, I feel like this girl's voice is so suitable for this song. The chorus part directly gave me goosebumps."
"Big Brother's Big: I feel it's almost there, but the voice is a bit thin and can't compare to the original singer."
"Solid Single: She's a freshman and hasn't received professional training. It's already amazing that she can sing like this, okay?"
"Heavenly Venerable Lord: She seems to be a student from Shanghai Finance University, right? It's a bit of a pity that a student from a finance university sings so well and didn't apply to an art school."
"Mugwort: I don't understand what you're talking about with singing skills, but I can still tell if it sounds good or not."
"Minotaur Must Die: This little sister's appearance makes me want to fall in love."
"Loves Cilantro: Has anyone noticed she looks a lot like my Fourth Sister? My Fourth Sister wasn't captured by Immortal Crane, nor was she refined into a golden elixir. My Fourth Sister was waiting for me at Shanghai Finance University. I'm going to find her!"
"AA Master Liu: Has this song been uploaded to a music platform? I want to loop it."
"Xingyue Media: Who has this girl's contact information?"
Seeing the last message, Yao An was visibly stunned.
So that Xingyue Media that called her was really a media company, not some scammer?
She silently removed that morning's number from the blacklist.
"See? I didn't lie to you, did I? You're famous! So when on earth did you learn to sing? I didn't notice at all."
Jiang Jingya hummed and hawed through the earpiece.
"Um... you know I like listening to music, and I often... often hum along, and then, and then I learned."
"Hmm? Are you sure you're not lying to me? It's that simple?"
"What else? Let's not talk about this. When are you coming to see me?"
"Pfft, you didn't perform well, so I've decided not to flip your card this week. See! You! Later!"
After saying goodbye, the call wasn't hung up. Listening to the faint breathing from the earpiece, Yao An knew she still wanted to talk to her.
"Then how about I come find you this week? I'll take you out for dessert to apologize."
The usual dessert offensive didn't work. Jiang Jingya's tone had a hint of anxiety.
"An'an, will you not be as good friends with me as before when you make new friends? After all, we're not in the same school, and we can't eat and go home together every day like before. Our relationship will gradually fade as we see each other less, right?"
"Don't overthink it. There will be many friends, but there's only one Little Cake."
"You're so cheesy."
"You started the sentimentality."
"Pfft, I have something this week, so I probably won't come to see you. Don't come looking for me either, I won't be at school."
After hanging up, Jiang Jingya sent a message to Yao An.
"I want one matcha Little Cake, and also a strawberry one. One to look at, one to eat."
"Yao An: Okay."
"Jiang Jingya: Huh? Why did your profile picture change? What is this?"
She clicked on Yao An's profile picture to view it. The other party's profile picture was a cute cartoon black fox holding a matcha cake.
"Yao An: Does it look good?"
"Jiang Jingya: You generated it with AI, right? It's so ugly."
Despite saying that, she still saved the image and replaced her long-used profile picture.
Looking at the new profile picture, identical to An'an's, Jiang Jingya nodded in satisfaction.
Considering how sensible you are, I'll flip your card this Saturday, secretly.
On the other side, in Dorm 404, after finishing the chat with Jiang Jingya, Yao An held her phone in a daze.
She really was famous. Many people suggested she record a version of bi shang guan and upload it to music platforms.
Given the current popularity, uploading the song to music platforms should allow her to earn money, but since she hadn't had any prior knowledge in this area, it was hard to say how much she could earn.
Her aunt had helped her apply for a stock account two days ago, and she had been selecting stocks recently, but because she didn't have much money, she hadn't invested yet.
So Yao An was currently very short on money, extremely short on money.
Thinking of this, she got out of bed in her nightgown, sat at her desk, and opened her computer to search for the requirements for releasing cover songs.
She needed to buy copyrights. All covers for profit required purchasing lyrics and music copyrights, otherwise, she would face legal action.
The cost for an individual to purchase lyrics and music copyrights ranged from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, varying with the song's popularity.
The optimal solution was to sign with an agency. They had copyrights to many songs, and their system was mature. The singer only needed to provide their voice, and they would handle everything else.
"Agency..."
Just as Yao An was biting her fingernail and carefully looking at the search results on her computer, her phone rang.
It was that Xingyue employee who had contacted her before. He was quite persistent; he called right after she removed him from the blacklist.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Ms. Yao An, I'm Tang Qiang from Xingyue's operations team. Please don't hang up yet..."
"Get to the point."
"It's like this, we saw your singing video on Douyin. The company thinks you have a lot of potential and would like to invite you to become a signed artist."
"Signed artist?"
"It's similar to an online singer. Our company has agency rights for many songs, and you can earn income by covering songs."
Yao An was stunned. She was just feeling sleepy, and someone handed her a pillow right away.
Tang Qiang continued:
"This kind of thing is hard to explain clearly over the phone. Do you have any interest in this? If you think it's possible, we can meet to discuss it."
While thinking, Yao An clicked on her keyboard to search for information about Xingyue Media.
It was a local Shanghai company, quite large, with many online singers, influencers, and of course, celebrities under its belt.
"Can we do this Sunday?"
"Sure, I have no problem."
"Then let's set the location at your company?"
"Okay, I'll print out a contract then. If there are no issues, we'll sign and record the song that day. After all, as you know, traffic comes and goes quickly, so we need to get the song on shelves early to secure the earnings."
"Okay."
After hanging up, Yao An started to space out again.
This Tang Qiang's role was a bit like a talent scout from before.
She sang a song at the military training gala, and then she was scouted. This kind of plot usually only appears in novels.
However, Tang Qiang wasn't a talent scout, and Yao An wouldn't become a celebrity. Xingyue contacting her after seeing the video was more like casting a wide net.
Today was just an initial discussion; no details had been communicated. Whether they could reach an agreement would depend on how they negotiated on Sunday.