Chapter 28: Placing a Heavy Bet

Chapter 28: Placing a Heavy Bet

Chen Feng thought for a moment. “Lin Youyi will call you again this afternoon and offer better terms.”

“Huh?”

“Your performance earlier was just average; your acting was terrible. You stammered and sounded evasive. A fool could tell something was off. But precisely because of that, you gave Lin Youyi the illusion that KuGe now has a competitor. You have another option besides their pit! So, to successfully trap you, Lin Youyi will definitely sweeten the deal with better conditions.”

“You think you know everything!” Zhong Lei suddenly felt an itch in her fingernails.

Chen Feng nodded. “Yes, bad guys’ logic is just that easy to predict. Once you understand the opponent’s motives, everything they do driven by those motives falls right into your grasp.”

“Chen Zhuge” continued to act mysteriously without any shame.

“I don’t believe it!”

“Wanna bet again?”

“Yes!”

Chen Feng: “Betting what this time?”

“If you’re right, I’ll forget about you taking advantage of me this morning.”

Chen Feng sighed. “So, deep down, you actually did mind.”

“Nonsense! Anyone normal would be annoyed! I was already planning to move out after this whole thing was sorted. If we’d stayed strangers like before, it’d be fine. But living together like this, it’s just… inconvenient now.”

Chen Feng nodded. “That actually makes sense. And if you win?”

“If I win, you have to agree to one condition.”

“What condition?”

Zhong Lei smiled smugly. “In the future, if I have questions about music and need to consult you, you can’t brush me off vaguely like you did last time.”

So her idea of taking Chen Feng as a teacher hadn’t gone away; it had actually grown stronger.

Last time, Chen Feng had dismissed her with excuses, leaving her no chance to ask. Now she’d found an opening and brought it up again.

Chen Feng said with a bitter smile, “Didn’t I say it before? I’m not formally trained. Writing songs is all about sudden flashes of inspiration; it’s a different path than yours. I have nothing proper to teach you.”

“I don’t care! I’m not saying I want to formally be your student. Just if I have questions, you have to try your best, within your ability, to answer them. Otherwise… I’m moving out.”

As she spoke, she subtly seemed to straighten her posture a little.

That small gesture seemed to say, ‘If I move out, you won’t get these good deals anymore.’

Of course, Chen Feng didn’t dare let his mind wander too far down that path. He knew it might just be wishful thinking, a symptom of his brain overheating.

Given Zhong Lei’s personality, such implications were impossible.

But he had to admit, it did feel like the truth.

Even though he had no plans to chase after her, recalling the stunning glimpse that morning, that intense sensation worth savoring a hundred times over… he was reluctant to let it go.

He also had a more important reason. As long as they lived together temporarily, he, the changer of history, could better use the younger Zhong Lei from a thousand years ago as a medium to play with the future.

A thousand years later, he couldn’t read detailed history books, and he was just a nobody.

The only way for him to find out how he turned out in that future seemed to be looking for clues in Zhong Lei’s biography.

Living by riding others’ coattails made one this weak, pitiable, and helpless.

“Fine, bet it is.”

Chen Feng agreed.

Zhong Lei’s face showed satisfaction.

Actually, she basically agreed with Chen Feng’s judgment, but she didn’t believe he could be right twice in a row.

He says this afternoon, and it’s this afternoon? Did you plant a remote control on him?

What if Lin Youyi had a bit more patience and waited until tomorrow?

Then Chen Feng would have lost.

As for moving out, she was just bluffing anyway, mostly just to add a little weight to her side of the bet.

“Alright, suppose you’re right again. If he calls this afternoon with even better terms, what difference does it make? Won’t we still refuse?”

Zhong Lei thought some more, then asked.

Chen Feng chuckled. “Huge difference! This is our leverage for negotiating with the next company. It could even be our ticket in! What kind of treatment do you think someone like us, in our previous state, would get from QQ Music?”

Zhong Lei paused. “The waiting time would probably be longer than at KuGe?”

“Absolutely. And one hundred percent guaranteed we’d only get the worst contract. But now we’ve rejected KuGe’s generous B-level contract to join QQ Music. As long as we can show solid proof, then QQ Music will arrange someone with decision-making power to talk to us right from the start, and they will treat ‘Dullness’ with the serious attention it deserves!”

Zhong Lei finally understood, silently giving a thumbs-up. “Impressive. Truly impressive. But I still have one thing I don’t get.”

“Go on.”

“You seem quite smart. So how come, after working at Kelai Apartment for over half a year, you’re still just a bottom-rung employee?”

Chen Feng shrugged. “Seniority matters. Office politics. Understand?”

“Got it. Why can’t people just live more simply nowadays?”

“The simple outcome would be Zhou A crushing us effortlessly in his palm. Instead, right now, we’ve not only avoided potential risks, we’ve even turned Zhou A’s scheming against us into leverage we can use. I think… if Zhou A ever figured out how things truly went, he’d feel worse than if he’d eaten two pounds of flies.”

Zhong Lei covered her mouth, laughing quietly. “Like a mosquito successfully getting revenge on an elephant by biting its head?”

Chen Feng shook his head. “Right now, he’s the elephant, but he might not be later. Right now, we’re the mosquitoes, but we won’t be forever. Gentlemen take their revenge even after ten years; it’s enough to write it down in a notebook.”

That afternoon, Lin Youyi really did call again, offering terms that surpassed the B-level contract in certain ways.

Most of the new terms were identical to the B-level contract. The downside was an added five-year binding period. The upside was that the traffic revenue split between the platform and the content provider shifted from 30-70 to 50-50.

This 50-50 condition was precisely what distinguished an A-level contract from a B-level contract. Usually, only established domestic A-list artists, or must-hit newcomers pushed by top agencies, qualified for it.

Here was Zhong Lei, a complete unknown who’d only worked as a singer in Hanzhou night venues for barely over a month, being offered this. It was absolutely astonishing.

Lin Youyi desperately wanted to hook her, so he’d truly gone all out.

Of course, according to Lin Youyi and Zhou A’s plan, Zhong Lei’s song would be locked away immediately after signing. Whether the split was 30-70 or 50-50 made absolutely no difference.

Infinity times zero is still zero.

Lin Youyi’s call arrived punctually, something Zhong Lei felt was both logical and yet surprising. Chen Feng had nailed it again.

This time, she’d mentally prepared thoroughly, perfectly accomplishing the task Chen Feng had given her.

She explained she genuinely couldn’t leave her hometown right now, thanked Manager Lin for his appreciation, and emphasized that she personally didn’t want to miss the opportunity. Therefore, if possible, could Manager Lin send a scanned copy or fax of the contract with the official company seal?

She would print it there, sign the physical contract, attach a copy of her ID card, and express mail it back to Hanzhou. When she returned to Hanzhou later, she could pick up the fully stamped contract copy.

Believing their scheme had succeeded, Lin Youyi suspected nothing. Within half an hour, he’d sent the scanned copy to Zhong Lei’s email.

Seeing this, Chen Feng snapped his fingers. “Success! Now we book tickets! Fly straight to Yucheng tonight! Find QQ Music! That email is our gateway to victory!”

“Mhm!” Zhong Lei agreed instantly, pulling out her phone to search for flights. But a few minutes later, she put it down, her face slightly flushed. “There’s a very… practical problem.”

Chen Feng: “No flights left today?”

“No, there’s one at six PM; we can make it. But… I only have five hundred yuan left. Buying tickets for today has no discounts. Round trip per person would cost about one thousand one hundred yuan; that’s two thousand two hundred total. For two people, round trip alone is four thousand four hundred. We’d need to stay in Yucheng for at least two more days, right? Hotels in Yucheng… a single room costs at least three or four hundred a day… Plus meals… We need at least seven thousand yuan, right? What about your end…?”

Chen Feng looked upwards. “I spent all my savings as your production costs. I only have a little over seven hundred left on my card.”

The two would-be high-fliers, penniless just a second ago, were instantly stuck frozen.

So this was why Chen Feng hadn’t considered traveling far in the first place – once you’re away from home, every little thing costs money.

Totally unexpectedly, Chen Feng managed to raise the money in the end.

A tenant had paid yesterday’s rent in cash. Chen Feng had planned to deposit it in the bank tomorrow and then transfer it to the company account.

Given the urgent situation, he temporarily diverted the money.

But according to company rules, he had to deposit this money into the company account within a week, or serious trouble would follow.

Though the amount wasn’t huge, the fact remained: this was embezzling company funds. Chen Feng was taking a significant risk.

The trip to Yucheng cost Chen Feng another heavy price.

Having just taken a day off, he now had to forcibly request two more days’ leave.

Of course, his boss wouldn’t approve it. But Chen Feng was completely resolved. He used one of the blank medical certificates he’d previously saved, with a fake date, and took sick leave by force.

When they finally boarded the plane bound for Yucheng, their mood was heavy.

They had truly placed a heavy bet this time.

If things went poorly here too, they might very well go bankrupt.