Chapter Seventy-Six: Custom Songs for the Immortal Drama

The next day.

Wang Mo woke up early, and the first thing he did was glance at the system panel.

[Name: Wang Mo]
[Age: 22]
[Height: 180 cm (Host's strong request, actual height 179 cm)]
[Attractiveness: 90]
[Reputation: -23,721,178]
[Items: None]
[Lottery: None]
[Shop: Not yet unlocked]
[Tasks: None]

The task section was now marked as completed, showing that there were currently no tasks. Since system tasks were always released at random, this didn’t surprise him in the least.

What did surprise Wang Mo was the reputation section.

“Huh? My reputation has already risen to negative twenty-three million?”

He hadn’t expected that, in just one night, his reputation would soar by another million-plus. And at that very moment, it was still steadily climbing.

Clearly, this surge came from last night’s livestream by “West Tower.”

“Livestreams really do have a huge impact,” Wang Mo mused. If he could do a few more streams like that, wouldn’t he be able to accumulate tens of millions in reputation?

Of course, he knew that last night’s situation was special, unlikely to be repeated. But opportunities—if you looked—were always out there to be found.

…

He washed his face. Brushed his teeth. Just as he was getting ready to head to the office, his phone rang.

He glanced at the screen: a number from the capital?

Wang Mo casually declined the call. He didn’t have friends in the capital, and calls like that were almost always scams.

But almost immediately, the phone rang again.

He answered, “Buddy, I don’t buy insurance, I don’t buy tea, I don’t invest, and I have no financial plans, you—”

He was cut off mid-sentence by an aged voice: “You’re quite something, boy. You’re the first who’s dared to hang up on me.”

The voice had a familiar ring to it.

Wang Mo was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise, “He... He Lao? Is that you? Why are you calling me?”

He Zhixing snorted, “Why? Am I some deity to be worshipped? Can’t I even call you? I went to a lot of trouble to get your number, and you turn around and take me for a telemarketer.”

“Uh, uh…” Wang Mo’s voice was tinged with embarrassment. “He Lao, I really didn’t expect you to reach out to me personally.”

Last time, when he visited the capital, the other party hadn’t even given him his contact information. But today, he had called of his own accord. Who could’ve seen that coming?

He Zhixing said, “No need to be surprised. Just for the poem you wrote last night, ‘Facing the Sea, with Spring Blossoms,’ you’re more than qualified for me to contact you. Child, I truly didn’t expect it… When you were in the capital last time, you were still hiding your talents. None of us old men saw that you had such a gift for modern poetry. Just that one poem of yours—none of my students can match it.”

“He Lao, you flatter me,” Wang Mo replied modestly. “It was just a poem—I could never compare to your students.”

He Zhixing retorted, “Just a poem? You make it sound easy. If any of my students could write something to stand alongside it, I’d be proud for life… Anyway, I only called for one thing: remember I invited you to visit my home last time? Are you coming?”

Wang Mo responded quickly, “It would be my honor. I happen to have some free time. I’ll visit you in a couple of days.”

In fact, even if He Zhixing hadn’t contacted him, Wang Mo had planned to go to the capital. After all, during last night’s livestream, he had promised a viewer to introduce them to He Zhixing. He hadn’t acted on it yet, but unexpectedly, He Zhixing had called first.

He Zhixing was straightforward: “Good, it’s settled then. Come find me at Qingbei Shengyin Courtyard in a few days.”

“All right.”

After hanging up, Wang Mo fell into brief contemplation.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that He Zhixing wouldn’t reach out purely because of a single poem. As good as “Facing the Sea, with Spring Blossoms” was, He Zhixing’s standing and reputation were not such that he’d lower himself for one poem.

“An old man’s mind is even harder to guess than a young girl’s…” Wang Mo shook his head and set the matter aside. In any case, being invited to the capital by He Lao was a good thing; as for the rest, he’d worry about it later.

…

Upon returning to the company, Yuan Xiong immediately pulled Wang Mo into his office.

At that moment, Yuan Xiong sported two dark circles under his eyes, clearly having pulled an all-nighter.

Seeing Wang Mo staring at him, Yuan Xiong explained, “We had meetings all night because of your livestream. The company’s drawn up a completely new set of plans to support your streaming.”

Wang Mo grinned. “Didn’t the planning and operations departments want to kill you guys?”

At this, Yuan Xiong’s expression grew a bit awkward.

Since Wang Mo started streaming, the company had revised its plans for him several times, almost always scrapping the old and starting anew.

What could they do? Who could have predicted that Wang Mo, this unpredictable genius, would never follow the usual path with his livestreams?

So after every stream, the company had to revise its strategy. Upper management made decisions with a word, and the beleaguered employees could only work themselves to exhaustion.

After a pause, Yuan Xiong said seriously, “Wang Mo, have you written any other poems?”

Wang Mo grew alert. “Why do you ask?”

Yuan Xiong replied, “You’re trending all across the internet now, your positive image and talented persona are both well established. If you seize the opportunity to recite a few more poems on your streams, with the company’s push, hitting ten million fans won’t be a dream.”

A streamer with ten million fans could easily earn as much as a mid-tier celebrity!

Poems.

Wang Mo, of course, had them. But after a moment’s hesitation, he firmly shook his head. “I haven’t!”

Every poem he had was a masterpiece among masterpieces—he couldn’t just throw them away on a random stream.

Seeing Wang Mo refuse so decisively, Yuan Xiong couldn’t tell if he was lying, so he simply said, “All right then. For now, just maintain your current popularity with your streams. But in a while, the company might want you to try monetizing your stream—be mentally prepared for that.”

“Mm.”

Wang Mo nodded.

The logical conclusion of livestreaming was selling products; the company would never let him keep streaming without turning a profit. That was simply impossible.

Yuan Xiong continued, “There’s another thing—about songs.”

Wang Mo looked at him.

Yuan Xiong said, “The company has recently invested in a major xianxia TV series, which is currently in production. The theme song and interludes are already set, but the ending song is still undecided. Because this drama has huge investment and features top stars in the industry, the company cares a lot about the ending song. Originally, we planned to spend big to commission one from outside. But since we have a composer like ‘Silent,’ the person in charge of the show approached me, asking if you’d be interested in writing a song for it.”

“Oh?” Wang Mo raised an eyebrow.

Yuan Xiong smiled, “You said it yourself before—‘Don’t let the fat water flow into someone else’s field.’ That’s why the company came to you. And don’t worry, custom songs like this always command a high price. You’ll get every bit of your cut and revenue share. The only question is, do you want to take the job?”

Wang Mo blinked, not responding immediately. Instead, he said, “Brother Xiong, let me take a look at the script outline first.”

“Sure!” Yuan Xiong was already prepared, pulling a thick stack of script documents from his briefcase and handing them over.