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Success attracts two kinds of people.
Those who want to grow beside you.
And those who want to measure how much they can take before you notice.
I started seeing both within the same week.
Jinhai Entertainment moved fast once the agreement was in place. Yueyin's schedules became more structured. Better rehearsal rooms. Better sound engineers. Invitations that used to take months now arrived overnight.
On the surface, everything looked like progress.
Underneath, it felt like observation.
They weren't just helping us.
They were studying me.
The first artist approached me after a small recording session.
A girl in her early twenties, nervous but determined. She introduced herself as Lin Qiao, a trainee who had been stuck in the company for three years without a breakthrough.
"I heard you wrote Yueyin's song," she said carefully. "I just want advice."
Advice.
That was how it started.
Not requests. Not demands.
Just conversations.
She showed me unfinished demos. Raw, unpolished, but honest. The kind of voice that didn't explode immediately but stayed in your head afterward.
I gave her small adjustments. Nothing from the system. Just structure, pacing, breathing space between emotional peaks.
A week later, another artist came.
Then another.
Word spread quietly inside the building.
Li Chen listens.
Li Chen fixes songs.
Li Chen understands what works.
The reputation grew before I even realized it was happening.
Yueyin noticed, of course.
"You're getting popular too," she said one night, lying on the sofa while scrolling through comments.
"I'm not the one on stage."
"But they keep looking for you first."
There was no jealousy in her voice.
Just certainty.
To her, that was natural.
I was supposed to stand in front of her, clearing the road.
What she didn't see was how dangerous that role could become.
Jinhai's executives began testing boundaries soon after.
Small things at first.
A request to "review" one of my compositions before release.
A suggestion that Yueyin collaborate with a senior artist they wanted to promote.
An invitation for me to attend internal strategy meetings that had nothing to do with her.
Each offer came wrapped in politeness.
Each one pushed slightly further than the last.
They wanted to know where my line was.
More importantly, they wanted to know if I even had one.
I accepted some requests.
Refused others.
Always calmly.
Always with reasons.
Never emotionally.
Because once you show urgency in this industry, someone will try to sell you the solution to it.
The real test came during a production meeting.
One of the directors smiled as he spoke.
"Since your songs are performing well, perhaps the next one should go to another artist first. We need balance."
Not a demand.
A probe.
I leaned back in my chair.
"The agreement was clear. Yueyin has priority."
"Of course," he said smoothly. "But cooperation requires flexibility."
There it was.
The word everyone used when they wanted more than they deserved.
I smiled back.
"Flexibility goes both ways."
Silence followed.
No confrontation.
Just understanding.
They had found the edge.
And I had shown them it existed.
Outside the meeting room, Xiaoyu was waiting.
She had started visiting more often, helping Yueyin with schedules and rehearsals. Officially as a friend. Unofficially as someone who understood that things were getting complicated.
"They're pushing you," she said.
"Yes."
"And?"
"They're checking if I panic."
She studied me for a moment.
"You didn't."
"No."
But she didn't look relieved.
Because she could see what Yueyin couldn't.
Every step forward pulled me deeper into the game.
Meanwhile, Yueyin's popularity continued its slow climb.
The first song refused to disappear. Covers appeared online. Short videos reused the chorus endlessly. Her follower count grew steadily instead of exploding.
Slow growth.
Stable growth.
The kind that lasts.
Exactly what I wanted.
Exactly what the system rewarded.
That night, the system interface appeared again.
[New Phase Detected:]Artist Network ExpansionAdditional Targets Identified
I stared at the notification longer than usual.
Because now it wasn't just about making Yueyin a star.
The system wanted more artists.
More influence.
A wider stage.
And Jinhai had already noticed that people were gathering around me.
In the entertainment world, talent makes you valuable.
But becoming necessary?
That makes people nervous.
And nervous companies start making dangerous decisions.
⭐ End of Chapter 20If you're enjoying the slow rise and industry tension, vote, comment, and add the story to your library to support future chapters! ⭐