I Became an All-round Artist

Old Zhou left with a gloomy expression.

Many people on the tenth floor of the composing department noticed his odd demeanor as he walked away.

What’s going on?

They only exchanged a few words with Lin, the department head, yet it looked like Old Zhou was about to cry?

Naturally, no one could understand the reason behind this.

Instead of heading back to his office, Old Zhou went straight to the top floor and knocked on the chairman’s door.

“Come in,” came a commanding voice from inside.

Old Zhou took a deep breath as he entered. “We’ve got a problem.”

“What happened?” Li Songhua, the chairman, frowned. “Is there an issue with the film department?”

Old Zhou shook his head. “Xianyu wants to make a movie…”

Li raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t refuse?”

“I couldn’t. I was sitting right across from him when Thunder Entertainment called Xianyu. Even though I highly doubt he’ll switch companies, I really couldn’t take that risk!” Old Zhou felt his blood pressure rising.

Of course, part of this was a bit of an act. Without showing a little emotional turmoil, how else would the chairman understand his dilemma?

Li Songhua stayed silent for three seconds before saying, “Let him play.”

With that, Old Zhou felt a little relief. “Then should I control the budget a bit? I couldn’t fully grasp his script’s content, but the investment shouldn’t be too high. The film department…”

“I’ll handle it,” Li said, rubbing his temples. “Just treat it like we’re tutoring the crown prince. Assign some idle staff to help him out. If he wants to make a fuss, let him. Our main focus should remain on Thunderstorm, our first major movie project. If that succeeds, whatever side project he’s playing with won’t matter.”

“You’re always so magnanimous,” Old Zhou gave a thumbs up, feeling much better. With the chairman’s approval, the responsibility wouldn’t fall on him anymore. All he needed to do now was control Lin Yuan’s budget.

To be honest, no matter how much Lin wanted to experiment, he wouldn’t be able to make too big a splash.

The company had already greenlit Thunderstorm, which was just about to start filming. That movie had a budget of over a hundred million, with the potential for more investment down the line.

Almost the entire film department was revolving around that project, leaving little money or manpower to spare. At most, they could scrape together a small team for Lin Yuan to have some fun with.

Let him entertain himself.

“Alright, I’m off. The kid’s getting a bit spoiled...” Old Zhou muttered as he walked away.

Li Songhua shot him a glance. “Quit pretending, there’s no bonus for this.”

Old Zhou froze, coughed awkwardly, and hurried out.

“Keep the budget under 10 million!” Li called after him.

“Got it,” Old Zhou quickly replied.

In short, the company was ready to spend a few million, maybe even 10 million, just to make Xianyu happy. Keeping him content meant he wouldn’t consider jumping ship to another company.

The market had been quite turbulent lately, and Sha Hai was a clear warning. If even a top-tier songwriter could leave at a moment’s notice, what if Xianyu did the same out of dissatisfaction?

The potential loss would be far greater than a few million. The company had its priorities straight.

That’s why Old Zhou was willing to let Lin Yuan mess around.

After all, the chairman was prepared for the investment to be a sunk cost.

...

While Old Zhou had his head on straight, others didn’t.

As soon as the film department heads heard that one of the composing department’s representatives wanted to make a movie, they were in an uproar.

“Is this a joke?”

“A composer wants to make a movie?”

“That’s quite a leap, isn’t it?”

“Our film department just got started; we can’t afford any missteps.”

“Everyone’s focused on the Thunderstorm project right now. Who has the time or resources for this?”

...

Old Zhou cut them off with a quiet statement, “The chairman approved it.”

That shut everyone up immediately.

This was exactly why Old Zhou went to the chairman first. Once the chairman gave the green light, there would be no resistance.

One of the middle managers sighed, “Fine, let him shoot his movie, but everyone wants to join Director Du and Writer Zhang’s crew…”

Director Du An and Writer Zhang Yu were top talents from Qi Province, and Thunderstorm was their latest collaboration. With such big names attached, everyone in the film department wanted to join that crew, to the point where competition was fierce.

Now, asking people to work on Lin Yuan’s movie? It was unlikely anyone would volunteer.

“No worries,” Old Zhou said. “Let the big names choose their teams first. Whoever’s left can go to Lin Yuan’s crew. We’ve brought in a lot of talent; they’re all capable enough.”

“But what if they don’t want to?” someone muttered.

Old Zhou’s eyes flashed. “Who dares refuse? I’ll have a chat with them personally.”

That shut everyone up.

After a long pause, someone cautiously asked, “And the budget...?”

Old Zhou waved his hand. “I’ll make a call.”

He stepped into another room and dialed Lin Yuan’s number. “Your script’s been approved, but the budget might be limited.”

“How much?” Lin Yuan asked.

“About a few million.”

“How about 9 million?”

“Um...”

“Isn’t 9 million still a few million?” Lin Yuan said.

Old Zhou was speechless.

Technically, yes. Two million is a few million, and so is nine million...

After a deep breath to stay calm, he replied, “Alright, I’ll try for 9 million, but no more! There won’t be any additional funding.”

“Okay.”

Lin Yuan seemed satisfied. While he didn’t know the exact costs, he could roughly estimate that 9 million should cover the production of Flirting Scholar.

“Deal, then.”

“Wait, there’s more!” Old Zhou’s heart skipped a beat. “What else?”

Lin Yuan said, “Don’t change my script.”

Old Zhou let out a bitter laugh. “No changes, no changes. This masterpiece of yours—who would dare touch it?”

“Thanks.”

“My pleasure.”

Old Zhou hung up, wiping the sweat from his forehead like he’d just been through a battle. He re-entered the conference room and announced, “It’s settled. The budget is 9 million.”

The film department staff exhaled collectively.

They could finally see the big picture. This whole project was just a little playground for the composing department’s representative. Clearly, this guy held some serious sway in the company.

Still, 9 million wasn’t much...

Compared to Thunderstorm, which could end up costing over a hundred million, 9 million was pocket change.

“Let him play, then,” the film department’s deputy sighed. “When’s the script coming? Even if it’s just for fun, we’ll do our part.”

“No changes allowed,” Old Zhou reminded them. “That’s non-negotiable.”

The room fell silent, everyone looking at Old Zhou with complicated expressions.

Finally, one of his closer colleagues asked quietly, “Is this composing department representative the chairman’s son?”

Not knowing much about music composition, many of them couldn’t grasp Xianyu’s importance to the company.

Old Zhou understood their confusion.

He waved them off. “Just think of him as the company’s crown prince. Take good care of him. He’s young, he likes to have fun—just don’t let me catch anyone bad-mouthing him.”

The group collectively rolled their eyes.

Even if they wanted to complain, they wouldn’t dare do it aloud. They’d just grumble to themselves.

After all, if even the chairman was letting this guy do whatever he pleased, then it was clear that this “prince” wasn’t someone they could afford to cross.

Indeed, it was like tutoring the crown prince.

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