Chapter 199 – Rise To Fame
Lu Xi put a piece of braised pork into Lu Chen’s bowl, which was his favorite dish.
She said gently: “You handle the emotional stuff yourself. I just want to remind you that your identity is different from what it used to be, and when getting along with others, you have to consider the impact from all sides, especially with people in the entertainment industry.”
Lu Chen nodded silently.
Since choosing this path, his life could be said to have changed dramatically.
The life of ordinary people has gradually left Lu Chen.
Although he knew this was the inevitable result, he was still a little depressed – the so-called happy troubles.
Lu Xi blinked and said, “Mom called me just now and asked me if you were really dating Chen Fei’er. She said she likes Chen Fei’er very much.”
As she said that, she couldn’t help laughing: “Mom still hopes that you will carry on the ancestral line for our Lu family.”
Lu Chen’s face, at this moment, was a big “囧” character.
Speaking of which, he really was the only man in the Lu family.
Lu Chen said with a wry smile, “Don’t say that. I won’t think about my personal matters for the time being. I’ll put my career first.”
Lu Xi said with a smile, “We all care about you. Li Mushi has mentioned to me that her sister-in-law has a younger sister who has just returned from abroad, and wanted you to find an opportunity to meet up, get to know each other a bit.”
Su Daiwan’s younger sister?
Lu Chen was stupefied. Li Mushi’s big brother was Li Murong, and Li Murong’s wife was Su Daiwan.
Lu Chen once met Su Daiwan at Li Mubai’s home and gave a song to the once famous female star of Taiwan. Later, he was busy with his work and had no contact with her.
Su Daiwan originally intended to go out of retirement and make another album, but she didn’t mention it again after that day.
He guessed that it was probably just on the spur of the moment at that time. After she calmed down, she came back to her senses.
After all, her identity was different from the past, and it didn’t make any sense to step into the entertainment industry. Instead, it would bring her trouble.
Lu Chen perfunctorily said, “We’ll talk about it when we get a chance.”
Lu Xi glared at him and said, “Don’t treat it lightly. They are very serious about this. Li Mushi said that Muchen Crowdfunding will hold a celebration dinner on the 8th. At that time, her sister-in-law’s sister will come. You have to give face, right?”
Muchen Crowdfunding was a company jointly established by Lu Chen and Li Mubai. Although Lu Chen held 51% of the share, he basically didn’t care about the affairs of the new company and would let Lu Xi take care of it.
The same was true for Li Mubai. Muchen Crowdfunding was basically the monopoly of Li Mushi.
As the first business of the new company, Lu Chen’s “You Who Sat Next To Me” album crowdfunding project, launched on September 23, has raised 1.5 million + so far. 300% of the pre-funding target has been achieved.
The first crowdfunding project was undoubtedly a great success, so Li Mushi decided to hold a celebration party on the 8th, which was the day the project ended, inviting guests from various industries to take the opportunity to expand their connection and get new business.
Although Lu Chen was not in charge, as the legal representative of the company, he must be present on such an important occasion.
Engaging in social activities was a must.
He also has to go on a blind date with Su Daiwan’s sister…
Lu Chen felt that his head swell[1]. He said with a wry smile, “Then I’ll meet her then.”
He thought about it. After they met each other, he would say that it was inappropriate. It’s not like Su Daiwan could forcefully tie the red knot, right?
Lu Xi was finally satisfied: “It’s good as long as you remember it.”
The next day, Lu Chen threw the matter to the back of his mind and began to work busily.
Time passed quickly, and the National Day holiday was over in a blink of an eye.
For Lu Chen Studio, a lot of important things have happened during this 7-day holiday.
First and foremost was the rumor about the love affair between Lu Chen and Chen Fei’er.
At that time, there was a lot of uproar. Although it subsided quickly after both sides promptly refute the rumor, it still had a great impact on Lu Chen. To say the least, now when he ran outside, wearing sunglasses and hat were standard.
On the evening of October 4, the China Original Music Chart released its ranking in the first week of October.
In Lu Chen’s “You Who Sat Next To Me” album. All 10 works were on the list.
Lu Chen’s “Outdoor Cinema” / popularity Index: 2074, ranked 50th this week!
Lu Chen’s “Beauty” / popularity Index: 2756, ranked 42nd this week!
Lu Chen’s “Cinderella” / popularity Index: 3015, ranked 39th this week!
Lu Chen’s “The Brother Sleeping On My Upper Bunk” / popularity index: 3566, ranked 33rd this week!
Lu Chen’s “The Bright Times of Youth” / popularity Index: 4223, ranked 22nd this week!
Lu Chen’s “Love In The Wind” / popularity Index: 4357, ranked 20th this week!
Lu Chen’s “Once You” / popularity Index: 5250, ranked 15th this week!
Lu Chen’s “You Who Sat Next To Me” / popularity Index: 5980, ranked 7th this week!
Lu Chen’s “Those Flowers” / popularity index: 6682, ranked third this week!
Lu Chen’s “The Brightest Star In The Night Sky” / popularity index: 8790. Ranked No. 1 this week!
Although it had been expected that all the works of “You Who Sat Next To Me” album would appear on the original list, it still caused a stir in the industry, making many people really began to realize the talent Lu Chen had.
Since the establishment of the Original Music Chart, there had only been two times where all the songs on the same album made it on the list, and both happened in the initial stage when the data collection wasn’t perfect and comprehensive.
With the huge scale of the pop music industry in China, new generation of singers and artists emerged one after another, and more and more albums and singles were released every week. It was really too difficult to replicate such a miracle.
The most important thing was that domestic original music was not as good as before. Entertainment and agency companies wouldn’t include many good songs in the same album in order to extract the maximum benefits.
Most independent singers wrote their own songs, so their works would inevitably be mixed with good and bad. Naturally, they didn’t think much about being on the list.
Lu Chen’s album was undoubtedly a kind of subversion, and could be called a real miracle!
All 10 works were on the list, of which “You Who Sat Next To Me”, “Those Flowers” and “The Brightest Star In The Night Sky” were also in the top 10, and “The Brightest Star In The Night Sky” was at the top of the list for the first time.
In an instant, Lu Chen’s position in the pop music scene was promoted to a higher level!
Actually, the emergence of this miracle was very normal. The creative quality of “You Who Sat Next To Me” was really too high.
The campus folk song style it has brought has become popular in society and schools. Countless young people and folk singers who like music even regard “You Who Sat Next To Me” as a classic. Videos of people covering this song could be seen everywhere on the Internet.
For a time, there were a large number of music reviews articles about the album “You Who Sat Next To Me” in Inspur blog and Post Bar Forum, all of which were full of praise. Some people thought that it was fully qualified to be the best album of the year!
Lu Chen rose to fame!
The number of people calling the studio to make inquiries has skyrocketed.
The price of 350,000 a song could no longer scare some ambitious agencies and singer artists.
But even if they wanted to ask Lu Chen for songs now, they wouldn’t be able to do so.
Because currently on Lu Chen’s hand, there was Chen Fei’er’s new album, as well as the important invitation of Flying Stone Records’ MSN girl group. So, if others want a song, then they would have to first wait in line!
Chen Fei’er had already been given two songs, but the Queen of Sweet Song was so pleased that she asked for another one, and the MSN girl group was scheduled to have three songs.
It wasn’t that Lu Chen couldn’t come up with songs. in fact, as long as he wanted to, it was easy to release dozens or even hundreds of works in one breath, and it could be done in a day or two.
But Lu Chen wasn’t that stupid.
He didn’t have to be afraid of offending people at all. On the contrary, the more he was reluctant to sell, the more people valued it!
In the eyes of these entertainment agencies, only the top songwriters in the industry could produce the title song for Chen Fei’er. Although Lu Chen was a newcomer, his talent undoubtedly far exceeds his fame.
If possible, they would like to recruit Lu Chen to work under them, but unfortunately this wasn’t realistic.
The reputation of Lu Chen Studio has also quickly become resounding in the circle!
Also, on the Original Music Chart released on October 4, Lu Chen’s “I Love You China”, which he sang at the Beijing Satellite TV National Day Party, landed directly to No. 9, making the number of his works on the chart reached 11.
This record on the Original Music Chart was really created by Lu Chen!
On October 7, the project of “You Who Sat Next To Me” was announced to be a success in the crowdfunding website. A total of 2 million+ fund was raised, which also pushed the pre-sales volume of Lu Chen’s CD albums to 110000+.
Although the sales of CD albums were far from comparable to the sales of online albums, the results were enough to give large number of famous singers a huge hit and this also represents huge profits.
Lu Xi expected that the total sales of this album plus the peripherals would bring Lu Chen Studio 3 to 5 million in profits, not to mention other added value. It could be said that they had made a lot of money.
On the evening of October 8, Beijing Muchen crowdfunding Network Co., Ltd. and Lu Chen Studio held a grand celebration dinner at the five-star Regent Hotel, and hundreds of guests from various industries were invited.
Representatives of several venture capital funds were also included.
The business model of online crowdfunding, coupled with the copyright protection certificate obtained by Muchen Crowdfunding, made the crocodiles in the financial industry sniff the smell of profits, so they all gathered around.
Of course, this was mainly because Li family’s connection has played a role. If it was Lu Chen himself, it was estimated that he would probably invite a few friends in the circle to support him. Otherwise, how could there be such a big scene?!
In addition, Li family’s background also made these “crocodiles” dare not play any tricks. They could only rely on their own strength and sufficient conditions to move people to compete. The bait thrown by Li Mushi.
As the legal representative of Muchen Crowdfunding and the core of Lu Chen Studio, Lu Chen was duty-bound to attend the dinner party, wearing an ironed western-style suit, accompanied by a smiling face and socializing with many guests.
But that wasn’t what really gave him a headache.
The real trouble was Su Daiwan’s younger sister, the object of Lu Chen’s “blind date”.