"Thanks to your performance in Crying at the Center of the World, we've received over a dozen offers from drama productions," said Niu Jiangxue.
"Any decent scripts?" asked Chu Zhi.
"Not really. Mostly guest appearances and flower vase roles," she replied. "A cameo here and there is fine, but it's not something we should rely on long-term."
"I agree with you on that, Sister Niu." Chu Zhi nodded.
Why hadn't any visionary director seen his potential and insisted he play a heavy-hitting role, like Lu Shouyi in Dying to Survive? With his "sick leave" title, he could easily pull off a deeply immersive performance.
"Fairy tales really are lies", Chu Zhi muttered to himself.
"Chu-ge, are you feeling okay these days?" Niu Jiangxue asked cautiously.
The question made everyone nearby—Wang Yuan, Lao Qian, and others—perk up, listening intently for his answer.
At the Charles Onsen Hotel, Director Che Lun had specifically asked if Chu Zhi needed medication. The night vision camera in his bedroom had captured him waking up abruptly in the middle of the night. And since Chu Zhi kept going to bed late and waking early, the crew had grown concerned. One wrong move and the show would be in serious trouble.
"I'm fine, really. Still holding up," Chu Zhi answered.
Even with his assurance, the others didn't feel much relief, but they didn't press further either.
Wang Yuan, one of Chu Zhi's "mom fans," hadn't even watched the show yet but was already full of concern. Journey Among the Stars was being released in two parts. The first part focused on Chu Zhi taking care of the other cast members, standing night watch, and biking overnight. The second part would show his street performance and birthday surprise planning.
The first episode wasn't even out yet, and Niu Jiangxue already had good news: two more passive income opportunities.
First, a television series wanted to license Chu Zhi's song "What I Miss" for three million yuan to use as a background insert.
There was no reason to say no.
The second deal came from a big-budget online series. They wanted to use Chu Zhi's performance of "Opera". One episode featured the main character completely overshadowing a rival opera singer, so they needed a voice powerful enough to dominate. They'd tested several professional operatic recordings but found them lacking.
After multiple rounds of searching, they landed on Chu Zhi's legendary "demon king" performance in Seoul. It was perfect.
From a film production standpoint, this was a standard playback dub, requiring only a credit in the end roll. Even in Farewell My Concubine, Leslie Cheung's voice was used sparingly, with dubbing by Yang Lixin and singing by Wen Ruhua.
Chu Zhi wouldn't need to record anything new. Just like that, five million yuan added to his bank account.
A top-tier artist with good works didn't even need to move to earn money.
"I should really release more albums. You can't rush them, but maybe I could drop an EP series in foreign languages." Chu Zhi was struck with a new idea.
An EP, or extended play, typically held three to seven tracks. While a full Japanese album might be overkill, a short EP with three or four songs to target the Japanese market? Now that had potential.
His mind was spinning with possibilities, but reality kept him busy. He was currently filming an ad on Gulangyu Island.
As one of Xiamen's most iconic tourist spots, the island was usually swarming with visitors. But Montblanc had deep pockets. They rented out over a hundred meters of street, shutting down more than thirty stores for their shoot.
Holding a Montblanc pen in his hand, Chu Zhi felt the weight of capitalist excess. A single limited edition pen going for tens of thousands? Might as well be daylight robbery.
The ad was like a scene out of a romantic drama. The male and female leads meet through the pen. The concept wasn't far off from those old "It's your Yida" chewing gum commercials.
"Would it be alright to add you on WeChat, Teacher Chu?" asked Wang Luqi, the female lead in the ad. "I'm a Little Fruit too—level five in the fan app's community."
"Of course. Let me scan your code," said Chu Zhi with a smile.
They added each other. Wang Luqi wanted to keep chatting, not out of ulterior motives, but because Chu Zhi was so wildly popular. Even among starlets known for stealing scenes, she felt it was worth building rapport.
Just then, Chu Zhi's phone buzzed. He looked at the caller ID—why was President Huang calling him directly? Normally, all communication went through Sister Niu.
"Excuse me, I need to take this call," he said, stepping away.
After the usual pleasantries, Huang Bo finally got to the point. "It's October already. Have you thought about a concept for next year's album? Or at least a general direction? The last one dropped in March. In another two months it'll be Christmas, then the Lunar New Year. Come March, we need to be in full production."
Huang Bo, the CEO of Sunriver Music, was gently nagging, but the meaning was clear—he wanted to start rolling on the next album.
There was no helping it. Chu Zhi's career directly affected the company's stock price. Of course they were anxious.
"Once Journey Among the Stars wraps, I'll start preparing. I've already got most of the new songs in place," said Chu Zhi.
"Great," replied Huang Bo, sounding relieved. He emphasized that the album's budget and quality had to remain top-tier.
Chu Zhi was slated to film three ads on Gulangyu, all for a single campaign under the theme: Montblanc Pens: Pens of Destiny.
If only filming movies were as straightforward as commercials.
The next three days were a blur of shooting. Chu Zhi traveled through four cities, filmed ten commercials, and even he, the self-proclaimed acting beast, was starting to feel the strain.
"Thanks to Sister Wang, Brother Qian, and Xiao Zhu for all the running around these past few days," said Chu Zhi. "Let's wrap things up as soon as we can so I can head to Hokkaido without any worries."
While Chu Zhi was the most exhausted, he never downplayed his team's hard work. Lao Qian and the other managers were also dead tired, but hearing those words made it all feel a bit more worth it—especially since Chu Zhi picked up the tab for dinner.
Sometimes, knowing your boss recognizes your effort is enough to keep going.
Even with a few new interns onboard, the workload remained overwhelming. Niu Jiangxue was already considering hiring more staff or poaching an experienced ad manager.
Fei-ge was juggling advertising and PR at the same time. Even staying in one place, he was completely wiped.
With two days left before Journey Among the Stars's premiere and three days until his return to Hokkaido, Chu Zhi spent the day doing a marathon photo shoot at the company.
Weibo and fan apps required constant updates, so he needed enough photos in reserve for future posts.
Their photographer, Old Chen, had always complained that the shoots weren't "spicy" enough. Well, this time he got his wish. Now he looked like he was in actual pain.
In the middle of this chaos, an unexpected visitor dropped by the office.
"Got any drafts lying around, Teacher Chu?" asked Xiao Ma, another talent manager at the company.
She had been involved in Chu Zhi's hiring process at Sunriver Music, so they were somewhat acquainted.
"Hm?" Chu Zhi raised a brow, not quite following.
"I mean, any songs you wrote casually—ones that didn't meet your release standards? We'd like to buy one," she explained. "I have a social media influencer who sings decently, but we're short on solid material."
Immediately, Chu Zhi thought of his stash of catchy internet hits. Sometimes, the throwaway songs ended up going viral.
"I'll take a look when I get home," he replied. He did have a bunch of unused tunes that might work.
"Thanks. We won't lowball you. We're offering three million," said Xiao Ma. "And if it earns revenue, you'll get a 50% cut of the profits."
That was a generous offer. Three million for a "discarded" track? Sure, there was precedent with the "Learn to Meow" phenomenon, but internet hits were unpredictable.
Even so, with half the revenue coming his way, Chu Zhi was definitely intrigued.