Xie Yang’s question was cruel but it was blunt. He had never made trouble for resources from beginning to end. Someone had misinterpreted his attitude and led everyone to think he was trouble.
All of them had been in the entertainment circle for a long time. Once this question came out, the sensitive Hu Biao and Ke Lan immediately reacted. They carefully recalled the process of the conflict yesterday and their hearts were thumping as they all looked at Mo Bin.
Tong Jian was the only stubborn one without a brain who hadn’t understood. He exclaimed angrily, “Who are you insulting? What good is it to fight you? You are a reserve team member who hasn’t been acknowledged. If you check the 18th tier artists, you can’t even be found…”
“Shut up! Tong Jian, don’t talk if you don’t understand!” Hu Biao suddenly interrupted. His eyes moved between the members and then finally fell back on Xie Yang. He asked in a slow tone, “Xie Yang, yesterday, why didn’t you explain when I said those words to you?”
Xie Yang replied, “Did I have a chance to explain?”
Hu Biao was silent.
At that time, Mo Bin’s persuasion had directly exploded his temper. He was worried that Xie Yang would make trouble in the next recording so he forcefully sent Xie Yang away. Xie Yang didn’t have the opportunity to explain.
He had to face up to the problem. He glanced at Mo Bin and muttered, “Mo Bin, you…”
“Brother, I’m sorry.” Mo Bin admitted to his mistake first in a guilty manner. “If you didn’t say it then I wouldn’t have realized. Blame me. I took it for granted that Yang Yang was unhappy because his audition chance was stolen. I was in a hurry and spoke in disorder, making Yang Yang feel wronged.” He looked at Xie Yang. “Yang Yang, I’m sorry. As team leader, I know that you must’ve felt a lot of uneasiness when you joined the team but I didn’t pay much attention to you. It was my dereliction of duty.”
Tong Jian heard this in a daze and wasn’t happy. “Boss, what are you doing apologizing to him? What are you talking about? Why are you suddenly the one in the wrong? It is clearly Xie Yang—”
“Tong Tong.” Ke Lan called out to him and shook his head. “Don’t say anymore.”
Tong Jiang stopped hesitantly and glanced at the group with some uneasiness. “In the end… what’s going on?”
Hu Biao rubbed his face heavily. “I have been too busy recently and have ignored you… Okay, don’t say anything else. This time, blame me. First, go back to your hotel to pack your things. The ticket to B City has been booked. If there are any problems then wait until we’re at the company to talk about it.”
The car was quiet. The group stopped talking and the atmosphere became dull. Seeing that everything was fine, Xie Yang lowered his head and took out his new phone from his backpack. He found the number of ‘that person’ and sent a text message.
In less than a minute, ‘that person’ replied with a text message. The content was brief: Dare to run?
Xie Yang could almost imagine Qiu Cing's gloomy expression when typing. He replied: Not running, moving bricks.
That person: 200 million isn't enough for you?
Xie Yang: Not enough.
Qiu Xing didn't reply again. Xie Yang put down his new phone, picked up the original owner's old phone and carefully read all the social networks of the original owner. Then he logged out of them one by one.
On the way back to B City, Xie Yang found a way to understand the situation of IUD.
IUD was a boy group that belonged to Wenyi Entertainment. They had been a group for five years and debuted at the peak. The first title song, IUD swept through the major music charts. Three of their major songs, Imagination, Unity and Dreaming had an explosive genre and refreshing arrangement style that strongly broke the depressing flood of sad love songs in the domestic music field at that time and became the legend of that year. With this album, IUD swept through the major music awards and made it a bloodbath, squeezing into the front line.
Unfortunately, this glory only lasted one year. IUD’s albums in the next three years were worse than the previous year and there were frequent rumours of the group splitting up. The popularity of the group decreased year by year. Then last year, Xu Chenhao, the main composer of IUD, abruptly announced his withdrawal from the group and went abroad. The popularity of IUD was greatly damaged and its position in the industry plummeted.
After Xu Chenhao left, the news about IUD was slow. The team members rarely got together. Among the remaining three members, Mo Bin was a stable and all-rounder person. He became a resident guest of a reality show and his current popularity was good. Tong Jian, the young man with a strong spirit, became a mentor in a talent show. Ke Lan, who was set up as an elegant person, became a host and his performance was average. His popularity was based on his past in the group.
Xie Yang carefully examined the current situation of IUD and felt that the original owner must’ve had a brain disease to promise to join IUD.
The composition of IUD’s fans was very clear and was mainly divided into three parts: The firm group fans, the fans of individual members and the various CP fans.
The current situation was that the group fans were all looking forward to Xu Chenhao’s return and the return of the glory of that year. The individual member fans couldn’t wait for IUD to break up early so their idol could fly beautifully alone. The CP fans were ruthless. They both hoped that Xu Chenhao would come back and that the group would split up. They wanted to eat the sugar and swallow the knife.
In any case, no matter the type of fans, they didn’t expect a new person to appear in Xu Chenhao’s vacant position and create an IUD they no longer knew.
Since Wenyi Entertainment announced the existence of Xie Yang as a reserve member, the fans who always resisted a new member started a boycott for Xie Yang to leave the group. In order to appease the fans, Hu Biao specifically won the ‘Hello Holiday’ program to let everyone see how good the new IUD was. Unfortunately, the test failed.
Xie Yang took off his headphones, rubbed his ears that had become numb from IUD’s famous song Dreaming and dropped out of the conversations about IUD on Weibo.
The original owner was a performance student. How exactly did he get selected into the singing-based IUD? In addition, how muddleheaded was the original owner? Before he graduated, he first stamped the label of a boy group member on himself. Was he afraid that his future career would develop too smoothly?
“We’re here.”
Hu Biao’s voice woke Xie Yang up from his thoughts. He discovered that the car had stopped and it seemed to be the parking lot of a residential community.
There was fatigue on his face as Hu Biao stated, “Take you luggage and I’ll bring you back to your dormitory.”
This was in line with Xie Yang’s intention. He nodded and pushed the door to get off.
The two people entered the elevator one after another. Hu Biao pressed the button for the 12th floor and Xie Yang silently noted it.
Once the elevator stopped, Xie Yang deliberately moved his luggage one step behind Hu Biao. Once Hu Biao stopped at a door, Xie Yang naturally took out the key he found in his backpack early on and opened the door.
The dormitory was a two bedroom, one hall structure. It wasn’t very big and the layout was simple, but it was clean and tidy. Xie Yang took a quick look around and then turned to Hu Biao, who was still standing at the entrance. He asked, “Brother Biao, do you have something to tell me?”
“Ah?” Hu Biao came back from his deep thoughts and glanced at him before nodding. “Yes, I have something to say to you. Take a seat first.”
Xie Yang sat on the sofa and relaxed.
“Xie Yang..” Hu Biao sat on the arm of the sofa opposite him, eyebrows furrowed. He seemed embarrassed as he hesitated for a long time before asking, “Do you think IUD…”
Xie Yang watched him quietly.
“Forget it.” Hu Biao suddenly stopped talking and stood up straight. “You can concentrate on practicing the new song. October 20th is IUD’s fifth anniversary and the company will put on a commemorative performance. I will think of a way to let Xu Chenhao come back to help you and push you up. Don’t worry, the fans’ resistance is temporary. Although you can’t compose music like Xu Chenhao, your voice condition is excellent. As long as you perform well, everyone will slowly accept you. In addition, this time when you went to S City to record the show… I’m sorry and will give you an account. You should have a good rest.”
Hu Biao left.
Xie Yang closed the door. He recalled Hu Biao’s words and hesitantly raised his hand to touch his neck. He tried to pronounce a few syllables. The sound of the male voice scratching his ears was like spring water flowing through his eardrums. There was a lively taste.
Xie Yang froze for a moment before smiling. He leaned back on the sofa and pressed a hand to his forehead. After a while, he pressed his thumb gently against the corner of his eye.
He hadn’t expected to relive his life. In his last life, he was dragged down by his voice conditions and the apocalypse. He was a gold composer who couldn’t sing a single song he wrote. Now in this life, he had a good voice.
“Xie Yang.” He touched his neck again and sighed. “You’re a really lucky guy.”
***
In a conference room at Wenyi Entertainment, the IUD members who had left after arriving in B City got back together and waited for Hu Biao to come over.
Tong Jian had already talked to Ke Lan and finally understood the twists and turns of this situation. At this time, he was starting at Mo Bin with red eyes. If it wasn’t for Ke Lan, he would’ve rushed toward Mo Bin.
Mo Bin, who usually always took care of his team members’ emotions, now only bowed his head and played with his mobile phone, completely ignoring Tong Jian’s gaze.
Seeing this, Ke Lan’s heart sank even further as he realized in despair that IUD was over.
The door of the conference room was pushed open. Hu Biao came in with a few cups of coffee and distributed it to everyone. Then he said, “You are all my people so I won’t speak in a roundabout way. Mo Bin, you previously explained what happened with Xie Yang but I don’t believe it. Tell me honestly, you… do you want to split up?”
Mo Bin looked at him and nodded calmly. “Yes.”
Tong Jian smashed the table in anger and gritted his teeth. “Why?”
“Why else? You all know that IUD will split sooner or later. Brother Biao, do you think I don’t know? You recruited Xie Yang in order to make IUD brilliant again, taking off the label of IUD being a flash in the pan group and letting everyone fly alone in a beautiful way, even bringing Xie Yang out in a brilliant manner. However, there is no such ideal thing in the world.”
Mo Bin’s expression was sensible and his logic was cold. “If you redevelop IUD, how long will it take to rise again? One year, two years, three years? Tong Jian, Ke Lan, how old are we? Isn’t it good for everyone to separate and develop early? Xie Yang has appeared so let him be the reason. As long as you push the blame on him, everyone can cleanly fly alone. This way, you can also gain a lot of sympathy points from the public. It is for your own good.”
Everyone stared at Mo Bin with disbelief, not believing he would actually say such things.
Hu Biao trembled with anger. “Mo Bin, why does Xie Yang have to be the fuse? He is only 20 years old with his future in front of him. You are ruining him!”
“So what?” Mo Bin once again looked down at his phone. “It is his misfortune.”