The time for the meeting between both parties was finally set for a Saturday afternoon. The location was at the other party’s company. When the car drove to the entrance, they saw some fans camping out, presumably all here for photos of artists coming and going. Lao Ping had the driver take the car to the underground parking garage.

Long Qi had earphones stuffed in her ears, resting with her eyes closed. The quiet car cabin was interspersed with electronic music leaking from her earphones. Lao Ping glanced at her sideways: “You can sleep while listening to this kind of music.”

“Anything labeled as homework can make me fall asleep, music included.” Long Qi instantly replied to him. After the car stopped steadily, she glanced at her phone.

Lao Ping asked what she was looking at. She said checking the time. After saying this, she stuffed her phone in her pocket and followed Lao Ping out of the car.

Lao Ping was an agent in this circle who knew how to make things happen. He had previously worked for an entertainment industry giant company, had abundant media resources at his fingertips, extensive connections, and understood most of the figures in the circle. This time he told Long Qi: “This company is impressive in media operations. The band has been out for only a year, not relying on looks but only competing with music quality. Not only have they been pushed to the mainstream front line, they also make money super fast, so the cooperation prospects are really good. But you need to guard against one person—this company’s CEO.”

“How so?”

“He’s famously obsessed with models. But it doesn’t matter, just don’t engage with him privately.”

“Is he single?”

“Married for ten years, wife and son are abroad.” When saying this, the two were standing in front of the elevator. Lao Ping looked at Long Qi. “That’s the most troublesome part.”

“You didn’t tell me beforehand, so let’s just take it one step at a time.” Long Qi responded faintly, not looking at Lao Ping.

But actually it wasn’t a big deal. The CEO himself seemed quite normal. Aside from the slightly overweight problem all middle-aged men have, his conduct didn’t show anything bad for the time being. And as a busy big boss, he naturally didn’t participate in the entire meeting. He only met with Long Qi once after she arrived, which counted as getting acquainted.

The subsequent meeting attendees were the band members and their operations team. On Long Qi’s side were four people (Lao Ping brought two additional people from his own team).

The meeting lasted three hours. Both sides discussed their views on this album production. To put it bluntly, it was filming a music video. Lao Ping made suggestions to modify some plots that touched on negative images (such as: not wearing overly revealing clothing, no smoking shots, not filming overly intimate scenes including fake kisses, etc.). Both sides reached consensus. As for other aspects like compensation, schedule, promotional plans, etc., they cooperated where they could. Overall, the meeting efficiency was quite high.

The band’s lead singer Ban Wei was a man with single eyelids who had his own set of music attitudes. He spoke as fast as rapping. When chatting with Long Qi, two out of five sentences were praising her for having personality. Long Qi got tired of hearing it and replied: “If I’m pretty then I’m pretty. What’s this about having personality? We’re not familiar yet.”

The meeting atmosphere immediately became lively. Ban Wei laughed loudly and said: “Right! Makes sense! Makes sense! I like it!”

Then he insisted on mutually following each other.

But there was also one person at the scene who wasn’t very easy to get along with—a woman outside the band, around thirty years old, short-haired, extremely thin, with a hoarse voice. One listen revealed she was an old smoker. During the early part of the meeting, she kept twirling her pen. After Ban Wei and Long Qi finished joking around, she suddenly pulled a cigarette from Ban Wei’s cigarette box, flicked her lighter, squinted her eyes and said: “Boring.”

Ban Wei seemed used to it, not even glancing at her. Other senior personnel at the meeting reminded: “Sister Mi, we’re in a meeting. The conference room is non-smoking.”

Lao Ping tilted his head and whispered in Long Qi’s ear: “Fan Mi, lyricist and composer. Two-thirds of the songs in this album were done by her. Quite an arrogant person. Don’t respond to anything she says. Genius is genius, but emotionally she’s a lunatic.”

Just as Lao Ping finished educating her here, over there Fan Mi slid the lighter onto the table with a snap, asking Long Qi as if she heard nothing: “Girl, how long have you been talking with our boss?”

Smoke curled around her fingers.

Ban Wei turned his head: “I was the one who found her.”

“Oh?” Fan Mi responded expressionlessly, a pair of eyes staring at Long Qi. “Why did you find her? Her face? When I was writing songs, I didn’t incorporate this face anyway.”

“Mi’er, if you want to smoke, I’ll accompany you to the smoking room.” The band’s manager also smoothed things over.

“Let’s go together.” She lifted her chin toward Long Qi.

Lao Ping immediately responded: “Our girl doesn’t smoke, she’s still a student.”

Long Qi really didn’t say anything, only tapping her middle finger slowly on her knee. Lao Ping watched constantly, afraid she would extend it.

Fan Mi got up with her cigarette and lighter, moving her leather chair while saying faintly: “Not having the meeting anymore, going to smoke. I don’t even know this girl.”

Once Fan Mi left, Ban Wei immediately said: “She doesn’t watch TV or listen to other people’s music. Who could she recognize? She doesn’t even know Kid Gang (recently popular bestselling book author).”

This teasing remark served to smooth things over for Long Qi. Lao Ping smiled calmly and composedly, saying nothing.

After the meeting ended, Ban Wei’s manager had an assistant choose a bar to rent out, inviting both parties’ staff to gather in the evening. Long Qi sent a message under the table to Lao Ping, telling him to decline. This bastard Lao Ping held down his phone without looking and replied: “Alright, see you tonight. I’ll deliver the great beauty tonight.”

Ban Wei laughed heartily: “That’s what I wanted to hear. I especially like her.”

Afterward, Lao Ping explained to Long Qi: “Necessary socializing is still required. Fan Mi just made that fuss with you. Who knows what she’ll do when official filming starts? Let’s go win some hearts first.”

Long Qi responded to him with the parts of her eyes outside the black pupils.

That evening, Lao Ping really did send her.

They really had rented out the place. There were over fifty employees present, plus some artists under their label and the artists’ friends. It counted as a small celebrity party. At the time, electronic music surrounded them, the scent of alcohol permeated the air. They could almost not hear each other’s voices, couldn’t see each other’s features clearly either. Lao Ping got all buddy-buddy with the other party’s manager. Long Qi was closely accompanied by her female assistant, but most of the time was spent accompanying their employees taking group photos.

Her face was about to freeze from smiling, about to crack.

That wasn’t all. Halfway through, their CEO arrived.

As soon as this CEO came, he sent someone to invite Long Qi to sit with him, saying he wanted to compete with her in drinking capacity. Fortunately, someone there reminded that she was still a student, so the CEO said no more competing in drinking, but she must come sit. After the female assistant conveyed the meaning, Long Qi’s attention remained on her phone screen, saying: “Not going.”

The female assistant was in a difficult position: “But Lao Ping’s side…”

“Just don’t tell him. Tell that side I have diarrhea. Get me a soda.”

Just as her words fell, Ban Wei suddenly sat down beside her. The sofa bounced violently from the weight he suddenly applied. Long Qi didn’t catch the cup the female assistant handed over. Half the water spilled, all over her hands and legs.

Ban Wei reacted agilely, immediately pulling out several tissues to help her wipe her hands. Long Qi’s hand was completely enveloped by his palm. He also glanced at her phone screen: “Are you waiting for a call? You keep looking at missed calls.”

Without a word, Long Qi pulled her hand out and wiped it with tissues herself, then got up with her phone: “Move. I’m going to the restroom.”

Ban Wei sat back a tiny bit. Long Qi walked past in front of his knees. He kept his head raised staring at her, looking like he very much wanted to talk to her. Long Qi acted as if she didn’t see.

Verbally saying she was going to the restroom, she actually went straight out of the bar. As soon as she exited the main door, the smell of smoke and alcohol on her was blown away by a gust of night wind. Her whole body finally felt much more comfortable. She first sent Lao Ping a message to cover for her for now, then went to flip through her phone’s call records, checking the last time Jin Yiken had called her.

Nearly a full week ago from now.

She dialed without hesitation. That end was still an endless ringing sound. The longer she waited, the more impatient she became. Later she directly switched to voice message and tossed out a sentence.

“Are you calling back or not? If not, don’t bother calling back at all.”

After saying this, she hung up crisply and decisively. But not long after putting down the phone, Jin Yiken’s return call came.

This made Long Qi even more displeased. She hung up once. Jin Yiken’s end slowly called back a second time. She hung up a second time. Jin Yiken called a third time. Outside the bar, traffic flowed. Long Qi answered the phone behind a dark wall.

Jin Yiken’s end was very quiet. Moreover, the first reaction he gave her was laughter—that kind of laugh while busy with things at hand while mocking her. She could hear the sound of him turning book pages on his end. She wanted to curse at him, but compared to the superficiality inside the bar, Jin Yiken’s voice and breath at this moment seemed much clearer, much more handsome, and inexplicably his favorability also rose quite a bit. So Long Qi didn’t curse, waiting for him to have sense himself.

But Jin Yiken said: “Your lord has been busy these past few days.”

His end still had the sound of turning book pages.

“Done?” Long Qi asked.

“What did you want when you called last time?”

“Forgot.”

Jin Yiken laughed again, then asked: “What do you want? I’ll send it to you.”

“Which aspect are you referring to?”

“Birthday gift.”

“I don’t want it.” Long Qi replied straightforwardly. This person Jin Yiken definitely adhered to a simple and crude mode when it came to gift-giving. Last year, besides abducting her to another province overnight, he also sent a whole pile of luxury things that girls generally dreamed of (she accepted them, then resold them, made a fortune, he didn’t know). He thought this was the most trouble-free method, but Long Qi didn’t like it.

“Just name a few things.” He still said.

Long Qi asked: “You insist on giving?”

Jin Yiken hadn’t answered yet. She continued: “Fine, I’ll think for you. Don’t bring up other things. Send me a plane ticket to where you are.”

After her words fell, the other end of the phone didn’t reply for a moment. And Long Qi was hit by the night wind again. This time her consciousness was completely lifted out of the smell of smoke and alcohol. Her head instantly became clear. She began to perceive this silence, and because of this silence, subconsciously replayed what she had just said.

But Jin Yiken’s reaction was faster than hers.

Before she could speak, he replied to her on that end unhurriedly: “Are you drunk and high?”