"Hello, Lu Chen!"
An enthusiastic voice came over the phone's receiver, greeting him. "It's been awhile since we've met, are you still doing well?"
The voice instantly sparked his memory and a familiar face appeared in his mind.
He immediately joked, "hello, Class Monitor Cao. Why did you suddenly call me? Did you miss me?"
A crisp laughter transmitted from the other end.
The person who called Lu Chen was the class monitor of his computer science class when he attended JiangNan University, Cao Xiuzhu.
In the university, the ratio of females to males in the computer science major was very low and Cao Xiuzhu had been class monitor for four years. Although her features were ordinary, she was very cordial and magnanimous. Her relations with her classmates were great.
In addition to their great relationship as classmates, Lu Chen's previous girlfriend was actually introduced by Cao Xiuzhu. After they broke up, Cao Xiuzhu felt guilty for a long time.
*Peh! Peh!*
Cao Xiuzhu replied, "my boyfriend is right beside me! He wanted me to say hi and ask you when you are coming back. Speaking about that, you haven't been appearing in the group chat recently. Are you still in the capital?"
Cao Xiuzhu's boyfriend was also Lu Chen's classmate and their dorms were next to each other during college. They would frequently hang out and play basketball together.
"I am still in the capital and I've just been lurking in the group chat…"
Lu Chen replied, "looking at your public display of affection made me afraid of speaking out. I will be back at the start of the next month."
Lu Chen could now graduate since he had sufficient course credits. Next month, Lu Chen would be heading back to attend the graduation ceremony and collect his diploma.
"Lu Chen, after being in Beijing so long, you sure have become more talkative!"
Cao Xiuzhu said in mock anger, "right now your current class monitor has arranged an important task for you! The graduation party is on June 9th. You have to prepare a show to represent our class. Furthermore, you must definitely get an award!"
"I have to prepare a show for the graduation party?"
Lu Chen blanked out for a moment. "There are so many other people in our class, how did this task fall on me?"
It wouldn't be his first or second time going up on stage to represent his class. However, the graduation party was slightly different.
It was an once-in-a-lifetime event!
Cao Xiuzhu helplessly replied, "you know how they are. They are all brave heroes if they were asked to play games. However, as soon as you ask them to perform on stage, it is a completely different matter altogether. Therefore, we can only rely on you to do this!"
"Also they've all said, Lu Chen knows how to sing, plays the guitar, and is good looking. If not you, then who?"
"How is this my fault?"
Lu Chen didn't know whether to cry or laugh. He thought for awhile before replying, "alright, Class Monitor Cao, I will definitely follow your orders, it's just that I have a small condition."
Cao Xiuzhu curiously asked, "what condition?"
Lu Chen replied, "the student union took many pictures during our festival last year. I need photos of every female regardless if it's an individual shot or group shot!"
"What?"
Cao Xiuzhu became vigilant and aggressively questioned, "what are you thinking about doing?"
As the secretary of JiangNan Student Union, getting ahold of these photos wasn't a problem but Lu Chen's motive seemed questionable!
Lu Chen laughed and replied, "dear Class Monitor, you required that I definitely have to get an award. I need to prepare, don't I? These photos are required to make a music video that will be played on the auditorium stage so that my performance's effect would be better."
"Oh, so that's the case. Your idea is great!"
Cao Xiuzhu replied, embarrassed, "I will head to the office later and send the pictures to you when I find them."
She had a carefree personality and did not dwell too much on it.
"Okay…"
The two of them exchanged a couple sentences then hung up.
Lu Chen left his room and went out to have a good meal to fill his stomach.
He continued working in the afternoon and managed to completely arrange twenty songs.
This efficiency could be considered extremely fast. However, these songs were the songs that he were most familiar with in his memories, so he managed to easily arrange them. He reckoned that it would only get tougher from here and would require more and more time.
For now, twenty outstanding works were more than enough. He could not suddenly throw out everything, but instead thought about how to release them slowly to get the maximum value.
This was the only thing he could do to not let down these popular classics from his dream world!
Lu Chen sent five songs out of the 20 completed ones to Greater China Music Database to register their copyrights.
It wasn't that he didn't want to register all of them, he was simply unable to afford the fee with the meager amount of savings he had.
The inquiry and registration fee for a single song would cost 600 RMB. Five songs would be equivalent to 3,000 RMB flying away. If Lu Chen didn't earn the money he did yesterday, he probably wouldn't be able to pay for any of them.
He criticized the Greater China Music Database in his heart and hoped it would be fed to the dogs. He also opened StarryLive, preparing to convert the money within his account for emergency use.
As soon as he opened the anchor platform, a notification frame popped up.
"Hello Anchor Lu Chen, you have achieved the requirements for signing a contract. Please click the 'Contact Administrator' icon. Thank you for your cooperation."
What?
Lu Chen felt surprised but happy. It was only then that he realized that his Starry Fans had reached 10,142!
The requirements for signing a contract with StarryLive was to have 10,000 followers. When he ended the live broadcast yesterday, his Starry Fans were only slightly more than 7,000. To think that he had reached more than 10,000 followers already!
However, Lu Chen wasn't too surprised. He knew that the increase in followers was due in part to ProphetEmperorLiBai's and the Lu Family Army's promotion efforts which allowed him to reach the contract requirement.
Touched and in an excited mood, Lu Chen clicked on the Contact Administrator icon within the prompt and a chatting window immediately opened.
The chat ID displayed on the chat panel was "Super Administrator 002".
Lu Chen: "Hello, Administrator."
Super Administrator 002: "Hello, are you here to sign the contract?"
Lu Chen: "Yes, may I ask what are the conditions of the contract?"
Super Administrator 002: "Let me send you the electronic contract so you can verify it first. If there aren't any problems, you can sign according to the requirements and mail it to our office."
Lu Chen: "Alright."
Super Administrator 002 sent a document to Lu Chen. Upon receiving it, Lu Chen opened up the contract to have a look.
Altogether, this was the third contract Lu Chen saw in the past few days.
The more he read, the colder his heart became.
Other than a few clauses related to anchors in the contract, the content was at least 70% similar to the initial contract for new artists that Su Qingmei gave him to look at. It almost seemed as if the anchor contract was copied directly from the new artist contract. It just had some slight differences, such as reserving the copyright of original works or paintings, liability in the event of violating the agreement, and reducing the exclusive contract from 10 years to 5 years!
All crows are black in this world! 1
Lu Chen couldn't help but reveal a bitter smile. Initially, he had expectations of officially signing on with StarryLive so that he could have a larger cut and increased chances of promotion. He wasn't looking for millions monthly; he was satisfied as long as he was adequately provided.
However, in retrospect, his thinking was too naive.
Super Administrator 002: "Have you finished reading the contract? Quickly confirm it after you've finished. I still have to file your registration on my side."
After thinking for a bit, Lu Chen replied, "can a part of this contract be changed? The main problem is the section regarding the original works' copyrights."
If the other party was willing to revise the requirement regarding original works' copyrights, even if the other clauses were harsh, he was still able to accept it. After all, StarryLive was a profitable platform and to fight for one's benefit was understandable.
Super Administrator 002: "Change? You're dreaming. All the anchors on our platform signed the same contract. It's impossible to make any changes just for you alone. You can either choose to sign or not to sign. It's as simple as that!"
Lu Chen was familiar with this overbearing tone.
Every anchor had signed the same contract?
What a joke! How could popular stars and nameless artists sign the same contract?
Even if you use your toes to think, you would know that it's impossible!
Putting aside the cold attitude of Super Administrator 002, he had even treated Lu Chen as a gullible rookie.
Lu Chen suppressed his anger and replied, "let me think through it. I won't be signing it for now. Thank you."
Although it wasn't his fault, Lu Chen didn't want to fall out with the Super Administrator. After all, he had to rely on the other party's platform to earn money. Therefore, he had politely declined. In any case, not signing the contract would only mean a lesser dividend and not having the platform's recommendation.
Regardless, he would never give up his original works' copyrights in vain!
Super Administrator 002: "Up to you!"
The dialogue between two parties ended immediately.
Lu Chen helplessly shook his head and felt depressed inside.
The next moment, the notification prompt that appeared on his screen instantly made him turn cold, almost bursting into rage!
[System Prompt: Lu Fei's live broadcast will be closed temporarily due to violation of regulations. If there are any questions, please consult the administrator.]
Banned!