I Became an All-round Artist

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Qinzhou, Xingmang Headquarters.
At the high-level annual meeting in December, the executives summarized the company's gains and losses from the past year. At the end of the long conference table, the boss, Li Songhua, rested his chin on his right hand, silently listening to each department's reports.

"Chairman..."
After the final report, someone softly reminded the boss, unsure if he had been daydreaming.

"Hmm."
Chairman Li Songhua, who maintained a well-built physique thanks to his fitness routine, responded lightly. Unlike the other executives who carried beer bellies, his calm reply was still full of authority.

As everyone's gaze shifted toward him, he finally spoke, his tone unhurried: "Why has no one mentioned the branch office?"
As his gaze swept across the room, everyone bowed their heads, retreating into silence.

Just when the crowd expected Li Songhua to lash out like in previous years, he suddenly chuckled, "Are your information channels so limited that even higher-ups can't tolerate it anymore?"

"Has the Qizhou branch fallen?"
One of the supervisors asked cautiously. It was an unspoken truth among headquarters that the branch office had always been on the verge of collapse.

"Take a look," Li Songhua said softly.
His male secretary immediately brought up a report and projected it onto the large screen in the conference room.

Everyone turned to look—and froze in place.

It was an annual performance report. If you only looked at the first few months, the branch was indeed in critical condition. But starting from September and continuing through December, the line graph suddenly surged, forming a sharp peak!

"What is this?"
Zhou, the head of the composition department, widened his eyes in disbelief. "Is this Xianyu?"
He turned to Li Songhua for confirmation.

There was no mention of "Xianyu" on the graph, but Zhou’s words echoed through the room. Many people looked at the sharp peak on the chart, as if they could see the figure of someone looming behind it. They, too, looked toward Li Songhua.

Li Songhua gave a slight nod, acknowledging Zhou’s deduction and answering the others' unspoken questions.

The room fell silent for a few seconds. Then, Li Songhua broke the silence, turning directly to Zhou: "We need to revise Xianyu's contract."

"Understood."
Zhou smiled in agreement.

Without lingering on the matter, Li Songhua shifted the conversation: "You've all seen the recent official news, right?"

The crowd was puzzled, the topic jump abrupt.

Quickly, someone chimed in, "Are you referring to the proposal from Zhongzhou?"

Zhongzhou was the political center of Bluestar, and the most discussed news recently had been a proposal from Zhongzhou to unify the states under one administration.

However, despite the buzz, no one thought the proposal would actually pass—it was an old topic brought up every year.

Everyone shared their opinions, confident in their understanding.

"There's no way it will happen."
"Bluestar is supposedly united, but each state operates like an independent country."
"You can't just merge nations like that."
"Each state has deliberately set up barriers to protect their cultures from outside influence."
"Even importing movies from Qizhou requires special approvals. The tariffs are ridiculous."
"Our music struggles to break into Qizhou because of strict copyright regulations. That's why we set up a branch there in the first place."

After a long discussion, the room fell quiet again.

Li Songhua began tapping his fingers lightly on the table, signaling he had something to say.

"The proposal has already passed its initial review."
He sighed. He hadn’t expected that a proposal, long considered impossible, had made unexpected progress this year.

Perhaps those in Zhongzhou believed that the disunity among the states had begun to hamper Bluestar's cultural and technological development.

Once Li Songhua finished speaking, the room went completely silent.

If anyone else had said this, the executives might have doubted it, but coming from Li Songhua, it was impossible to ignore. Li Songhua had connections that most people didn’t dare discuss openly, and his words carried weight.

"Is full unification really happening?"
"No more barriers?"
"Complete integration?"
"Zhongzhou as the central administration?"

After a moment of silence, the room exploded in discussion.

No one knew exactly what this merging of states would bring, but everyone understood that in such a monumental tide of change, no one could stay unaffected.

"This is only the initial approval," Li Songhua calmed the room. "The policy will first be tested in two states: Qinzhou and Qizhou, the very regions where we have a branch."

The executives struggled to process this information.

Li Songhua paused, giving them time to absorb the news, and then continued, "This is just the beginning. As Qinzhou and Qizhou merge, the other states will gradually break down their barriers, leading to the true unification of Bluestar. Of course, Bluestar is already politically unified. The so-called ‘merging’ is really about cultural integration."

"Then..."
"Does this mean..."
"That Bluestar is on the verge of entering..."
"A new entertainment era?"

Everyone turned their attention to Li Songhua, knowing that his next decisions would shape the company's future.

"You could say that," Li Songhua took a deep breath. "Our success in music has been partly due to our location in Qinzhou. But once Qizhou's market merges with ours, the range of opportunities will increase across all sectors. There will be no ‘music capital’ or ‘film palace’—every industry will be interlinked and developing together."

"So, what’s your plan?" someone asked softly.

Li Songhua’s voice turned serious: "In the face of this tidal wave of change, many industries in both Qinzhou and Qizhou will have to transform. We need to take the initiative. It's time to expand our horizons. We’ll focus more on the film industry, though we can’t neglect our foundation in music. It’s the core of Xingmang’s identity."

The room fell into a brief daze.

The times, indeed, were changing faster than anyone could have anticipated.