"Rain, deep for a night,"
"The silent second hand,"
"Giving me a quiet resonance in the dark."
"Rain, sudden bursts for a night,"
"The stopped second hand,"
……
A somewhat passionate rendition of "Second Hand" soon came to an end. Amidst their tipping, the patrons in the cabaret kept clamoring for Zhou Ziheng to sing another song.
However, this time Zhou Ziheng did not listen to them.
After thanking everyone repeatedly for their tips, he stepped off the stage.
Backstage, Zhou Ziheng counted the flower baskets and floral wreaths.
Once he finished counting, he couldn't help clicking his tongue in amazement.
Eight hundred and seventy yuan!
Tonight's tips alone amounted to over eight hundred.
After deducting the cabaret's twenty percent cut, he would take home six hundred and thirty.
Added to his performance fee, he would get over seven hundred.
This had to be the most profitable night he—or rather, the original owner of this body—had ever had since starting out as a resident singer.
He asked a few backup dancers who had gathered around to help him take the flower baskets and wreaths to be exchanged for cash.
Then, Zhou Ziheng began to thank the patrons who had given him large tips, one by one.
This was always Zhou Ziheng's most dreaded task every single night.
Not every customer who came into the establishment had good manners.
Especially those wealthy older women!
Every time he went to thank them, Zhou Ziheng inevitably ended up being hit on.
Many people only knew that men lost their footing when encountering beautiful women, but they didn't realize how much scarier women could be when they went wild.
Especially those wealthy women.
After drinking, they became even more frantic and bolder.
Zhou Ziheng had once experienced someone trying to grope him down there.
In fact, the original owner had once nearly been forcibly violated right there in the cabaret by a wealthy woman...
Yet as a resident singer, when a customer tipped you, you simply had to go and thank them.
If you didn't even offer a word of thanks, who would ever tip you again next time?
Therefore, after getting the flower baskets and other tips exchanged, Zhou Ziheng had to bite the bullet, grab a bottle of beer, and head out into the main hall to personally thank the patrons who had tipped him.
The first person he went to thank was the very first tipper—Chen Rongha, the man who had wailed uncontrollably because of "Wandering Song".
This man perhaps genuinely loved "Wandering Song".
As soon as Zhou Ziheng walked over, the man immediately grabbed him and talked on and on.
At the end, he even unclasped the gold chain from his neck, saying he wanted to give it to Zhou Ziheng.
Naturally, Zhou Ziheng could not accept such a thing.
That thick gold chain looked very heavy and was worth a lot of money, furthermore, the other party was currently in a drunken state.
If he really accepted it, the man would nine times out of ten regret it once he sobered up.
Of course, that wasn't the main reason.
The primary reason was that Zhou Ziheng believed in earning every penny through his own labor.
When he was on stage, the tips people gave were earned through his singing, which counted as honest labor.
Taking someone's property outright now would simply be taking advantage of them for free.
After spending a few minutes declining the gold chain and bidding farewell to the man, Zhou Ziheng made two more rounds around the cabaret to thank the other patrons who had tipped him.
During this time, some people were unreasonable.
Specifically, that table of women who had directly given a massive tip of two hundred yuan.
The entire table consisted of women.
They were likely young married women.
Perhaps taking a fancy to Zhou Ziheng, a few of them insisted on dragging him over to drink with them and refused to let him go.
In the end, it was only because Li Chunbo couldn't bear to watch any longer and rushed over to make up an excuse about urgent business that he managed to extricate himself from them.
"Brother Chunbo, thanks. If not for you, I'd probably have been drunk and paralyzed at that table tonight nine times out of ten," Zhou Ziheng said with lingering fear on the way to Li Chunbo and the others' booth.
"You only have yourself to blame for being so attractive to these wealthy women. Judging by their demeanor, they were probably planning to devour you tonight," Li Chunbo said, a trace of envy flashing across his face. "I don't sing badly either, so why can't I ever run into such good fortune!"
Hearing this, Zhou Ziheng shook his head speechlessly.
One man's meat is another man's poison.
Because his body possessed such striking good looks, he had never lacked for women.
If he wanted to, he could swap for a different type every single night.
Because he had seen too much of it, he had zero interest in women whose appearance wasn't particularly exceptional.
Conversely, although Li Chunbo had dated quite a few women, he wasn't nearly as popular as Zhou Ziheng.
Consequently, he had always envied Zhou Ziheng for being pestered by women every night, wishing he could trade places with him.
……
The two men arrived at the booth reserved by Li Chunbo.
Before Zhou Ziheng even had a chance to speak, Chen Xiaoqi enthusiastically pulled him down to sit beside him.
"Not bad at all. That 'Wandering Song' has real local flavor and strong emotional impact. The song after that was also exceptionally good; although the lyrics are a bit raw, the melody is deeply moving and has the potential to be published."
Li Guangping didn't speak; instead, he directly handed Zhou Ziheng a bottle of alcohol, his attitude having undergone a complete 180-degree transformation compared to earlier.
Seeing this, Zhou Ziheng felt a sense of reassurance in his heart.
It seemed that Chen Xiaoqi and Li Guangping had accepted him.
Since the cabaret was not a suitable place for business negotiations, the group did not discuss official matters there, merely drinking together and chatting about daily life.
Around ten o'clock, Chen Xiaoqi and Li Guangping left.
Before leaving, Chen Xiaoqi gave Zhou Ziheng an address and a business card, telling him to come over tomorrow for a chat.
"Brother Chunbo, how are things going with your 'Xiaofang'?"
After Chen Xiaoqi and the other man left, Zhou Ziheng and Li Chunbo didn't linger much longer at the cabaret either.
The two of them walked back to the dormitory building together.
Inside Zhou Ziheng's room, Zhou Ziheng poured Li Chunbo a glass of water and then asked about the publication and release of Li Chunbo's song "Xiaofang".
Hearing his question, Li Chunbo looked somewhat troubled.
"Brother Xiaoqi and Brother Guangping are quite optimistic about my cassette tape and have promised to find a way to get it released. But the internal planning department seems to have different views on this tape, so Brother Xiaoqi told me to wait a bit longer."
Hearing this, Zhou Ziheng couldn't help frowning.
Originally, he had been quite excited because both Chen Xiaoqi and Li Guangping seemed to value his "Wandering Song" a great deal.
Yet hearing Li Chunbo put it this way, he suddenly felt that the publication prospects for "Wandering Song" might hit snags as well.
"Wandering Song" and "Xiaofang" were similar in that both featured simple melodies and lyrics, and in the eyes of most musicians, they were considered rather rustic.
If the others over at China Record Company didn't even want to publish "Xiaofang", then "Wandering Song" was probably in jeopardy too.
"Actually, we don't need to worry too much. Since Brother Xiaoqi said he would find a way to persuade the others, with his connections and clout, we really don't need to stress too much," Li Chunbo added, perhaps sensing that his words might dampen Zhou Ziheng's confidence.
Zhou Ziheng nodded.
Fretting over those things right now was useless.
He had already shown the people at China Record Company his songs and his capability.
If the other party still had no desire to sign a contract and publish them, there was nothing he could do regardless of how he felt.
At worst—at worst, he would just find a way to get a visa and head over to Hong Kong to develop his career.
After all, he had already considered that as a backup plan beforehand.
Meanwhile, while Zhou Ziheng and Li Chunbo were talking, a Lexus LS was speeding along the road.
The roaring night wind blew into the car, helping the slightly intoxicated Li Guangping sober up a bit.
He rubbed his head and said with a conflicted expression:
"Old Wang and the others didn't want to publish 'Xiaofang' to begin with, and now we're bringing back another song of a similar type, 'Wandering Song'. Ideological work is probably going to be even harder this time!"
"It certainly is hard!" Chen Xiaoqi said as he drove, a cigarette clamped between his lips.
He exhaled a cloud of smoke, the cigarette butt tracing an arc through the air and flying outside the window.
"That's why I don't plan to sign Zhou Ziheng to the planning department!"
Hearing this, Li Guangping immediately frowned. "Then why did you ask him to meet tomorrow?"
"You know Liu Zhiwen from Pacific Audio & Video, right?" Chen Xiaoqi asked.
"I know him! He was apparently promoted to vice president last year!" Li Guangping nodded.
"He and I are pretty close. I'm planning to recommend Zhou Ziheng to them!" Chen Xiaoqi said with a smile.
Hearing this, Li Guangping fell silent.
Although Yangcheng's major record companies were all state-owned enterprises, their operations were completely independent.
Watching helplessly as Chen Xiaoqi sent talent that should have belonged to his own department over to a rival left a somewhat sour taste in his mouth.
Yet he had no other choice.
He knew that even if Chen Xiaoqi didn't recommend Zhou Ziheng to Pacific, the planning department could not possibly sign both him and Li Chunbo at the same time.
Between the two of them, the planning department had to make a choice of one.
He and Chen Xiaoqi could only strongly champion the publication of one person's record.
The other person would simply have to be passed over for the time being.
Therefore, Chen Xiaoqi's choice to recommend Zhou Ziheng to Pacific Audio & Video was actually the correct approach.
"Don't worry, your name will be listed under the recommender section. When Zhou Ziheng makes a name for himself over there, both you and I will share the credit."
Seeming to read Li Guangping's thoughts, Chen Xiaoqi smiled and said.