Chapter 9: Autographed Photo

After hearing the song for the second time, Yu Manli’s conviction grew stronger. The song wasn't necessarily mind-blowing, but it possessed a certain magic that made one unable to resist singing along. It was destined to be a hit!

Sun Jia spoke up hurriedly, "Sister Yu, isn't one million a bit too much?" One million was a price reserved for top-tier musical talent. She had never heard the name Jiang Jin before, and in her eyes, the song was worth at most a few tens of thousands.

Jiang Jin chuckled and stood up to leave. Too much? On Earth, this song had earned the original singer at least a hundred times that amount! The song "Floating to Lost Contact in Guangdong" had raked in over a hundred million!

Sun Jia muttered under her breath, "What kind of person is this? Walking out at the slightest disagreement? Does he think this is a farmers' market?"

"Mr. Jiang, please wait." In her anxiety, Yu Manli stood up and grabbed Jiang Jin’s arm. "Jiajia doesn't understand the value of this song, but she truly didn't mean to look down on you, Mr. Jiang."

Jiang Jin caught a whiff of her fragrance and, looking at the stunning face inches away, felt a momentary flutter of distraction. "How come I get the feeling that you don't understand the value of this song either?" he asked with a hint of mockery.

Yu Manli was stunned. A superstar of the music scene being told she didn't understand music? This kid was getting too arrogant! Sun Jia was so angry her face turned pale; when her Yu Manli was dominating the charts, this guy didn't even know which corner of the world he was hiding in!

Jiang Jin raised an eyebrow and said seriously, "If you are sincere about buying this song, we’ll split the earnings fifty-fifty. If you don't like it, I'll go back to sleep. After all, I don't rely on writing songs for a living." He shrugged, acting as if he wouldn't mind if the deal fell through.

Sun Jia widened her eyes: "A fifty-fifty split? Are you crazy?" Yu Manli hadn't released a new song in two years. With her drawing power, even a mediocre song could easily surpass ten million in sales. Her split with the music platform was usually seventy-thirty; after costs and taxes, she would typically pocket four or five million. A fifty-fifty split would mean the song would have to sell over two million copies!

Jiang Jin looked at Sun Jia, speechless. "Hey, big sister, could you not speak so harshly? If you don't watch your tone, I’m not selling."

Yu Manli quickly intervened. "Alright, Jiajia, enough." She turned to Jiang Jin. "Mr. Jiang, I've been in the entertainment industry for many years, and I've never heard of anyone demanding a fifty-fifty split for a song."

Jiang Jin smiled slightly. "Well, you have now, haven't you?"

Yu Manli sighed inwardly: *This kid really doesn't care about my status as a triple-threat superstar at all!*

Jiang Jin continued, "Actually, I'm quite willing to write for you. If this song performs well and you want to continue our partnership, I don't mind writing a few more. You could use my songs to produce a few diamond-certified albums." Having heard plenty of empty promises from bosses in his past life, Jiang Jin was putting those lessons to good use.

Anything over ten million in sales was considered a diamond album. At thirty Dragon Coins per digital album, that meant three hundred million in revenue! *Good grief, is he suggesting that as long as he writes the music, diamond albums are within easy reach?* This guy was incredibly full of himself!

Yu Manli thought for a moment and agreed. "Fine, I accept your terms. Jiajia, go get the contract." In truth, Yu Manli no longer cared much about the money; having been in the industry for so long, she had already earned over a billion. She simply wanted to prove that she could still sing a song that would become a national sensation.

Though Sun Jia was unhappy, she obediently fetched the contract template. After making a few adjustments, both sides signed.

[Ding! Congratulations, Host, the side quest 'Sell a Song' is complete. Issuing rewards...]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have gained Mastery of Music Theory. Automatically learned.]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, the Earth Music Library is now fully unlocked. You may enter the system interface to view it.]

With the system notification, Jiang Jin finally let out a sigh of relief. If a fifty-fifty split didn't satisfy the system, he would have had to summon Faker himself. With the mastery of music theory, writing out the sheet music for "Youth" was a breeze. As for the Earth Music Library... Jiang Jin checked it and was amazed by the sheer volume of resources! Thankfully, there was a search function, or finding anything would have been a nightmare.

He searched for "Youth," and to his surprise, it could be directly converted into sheet music and saved to the system inventory. He pulled out the sheet music without batting an eye. "I was just testing your sincerity earlier. You passed. Here is the sheet music, please keep it safe."

*Testing my sincerity?* Sun Jia thought, *What kind of test is that!*

Jiang Jin shifted gears, seemingly oblivious to Sun Jia’s mood. "By the way, are you close with Heavenly King Liu?"

Yu Manli nodded slightly. "We've worked together a few times. Why?"

A cunning glint flashed in Jiang Jin's eyes. "Well, I have a song I'd like to give to him. Listen to this: 'Oh, my hometown, it’s right in this village, I was born and raised in this village...'"

...

"Sister Yu, that Jiang Jin doesn't seem very serious!" Sun Jia complained after seeing him off.

Yu Manli laughed. "Don't speak ill of people behind their backs. I actually find him quite interesting." Unlike other men, he didn't stare at her with lecherous eyes, nor did he make hollow, gentlemanly small talk. Especially the song "People from Our Village" he sang at the end—she could already imagine how it would sound coming from Heavenly King Liu. It had been a long time since she had met a man like him.

Sun Jia looked at her, confused. "Interesting? Sister Yu, he didn't show you any respect at all!"

Yu Manli shook her head. "Why should he respect me? Just because I'm a big star?"

Sun Jia nodded.

Yu Manli said seriously, "Stars serve the public. The people truly worthy of respect are the scientists, soldiers, teachers, and doctors who contribute to the country. Besides, do you even know who he is?"

"Who is he?" Sun Jia asked curiously.

Yu Manli gave a mysterious smile. "I'd like to know that myself! We just met; it wouldn't be appropriate to interrogate him like a census officer, would it?" She shook her phone. "We exchanged numbers, so I'll find out his background eventually! We're heading back to the Imperial Capital tomorrow. I can't wait to release 'Youth'!"

...

"Yo, still up?" When Jiang Jin returned to his room, he found Wu Qingya curled up on the sofa playing on her phone. He couldn't help but take a few extra looks, noticing that the beautiful bodyguard had changed into a black professional suit, complete with black stockings. *Is she ready to head out at a moment's notice?*

Hearing him, Wu Qingya looked up, her eyes filled with anticipation. "Where is the autograph from Yu Manli?"

"Right here." Jiang Jin walked over and pulled a photo from his jacket pocket to hand to her.

Wu Qingya took it and examined it closely. "This is... Manli's signed photo?" As a die-hard fan, she naturally knew exactly what the national goddess's signature looked like.

Jiang Jin smiled. "Yep. Be careful, she just signed it, the ink isn't dry yet. Don't smudge it."

Wu Qingya carefully set the photo aside and looked at him curiously. "Did you really go to talk to Yu Manli?"

Jiang Jin shrugged. "Yeah, she wanted to buy a song from me, so we discussed the price."

Wu Qingya asked in surprise, "You can write songs?" It was one thing for a top-tier materials science student to develop X-alloy, but songwriting was a stretch!

Jiang Jin raised an eyebrow at her look of astonishment. "What's with that expression? Don't believe me?" He added with a provocative tone, "Let's make a bet. If Yu Manli releases a new single called 'Youth' and I'm credited as the songwriter, what will you do?"

"What do you want?" she replied.

"Anything I want?" Jiang Jin asked uncertainly.

Wu Qingya sneered. "In your dreams!"

Jiang Jin pressed, "Then what do you want?"

"I want..." Wu Qingya realized she had been led into a trap. She huffed, "Why should I bet with you?"

Jiang Jin laughed triumphantly. "See? That just proves you believe in me subconsciously. I really am a genius!"

Wu Qingya rolled her eyes. "I don't know about you being a genius, but you're definitely narcissistic!"

Jiang Jin didn't mind. "Genius is inherently narcissistic. If you don't believe in yourself, how can you become a genius?" He finished with an air of absolute certainty.