Chapter 4: The Boss
The first request Xiao Mi made to Hou Yong was to provide Su Jinli with a communication device, that is, a mobile phone.
For this, Hou Yong had to call and get the request approved by his superiors. After waiting for more than an hour, Hou Yong took them to a nearby store.
Immediately after, Su Jinli looked amazed, and Xiao Mi looked helpless as they watched Hou Yong enter a store nearby and select a phone from the counter.
The studio gave Hou Yong one thousand yuan to buy a mobile phone.
After browsing through the options, Hou Yong picked the mobile phone that came with 1001 yuan worth of phone credits. He gave it to Su Jinli.
After receiving Su Jinli's phone number, Xiao Mi sighed and patted Su Jinli's shoulder, feeling that she had just stepped into a slum.
Su Jinli did not mind, and thanked Hou Yong sincerely while holding the phone.
Actually, Hou Yong felt a little embarrassed, but Su Jinli's attitude of being "easy to please" moved him deeply. He repeatedly promised Su Jinli, "When we develop in the future, I will definitely provide you with a better phone."
"Thank you so much, Hou ge." Su Jinli thanked him from the bottom of his heart.
"Uh... just call me Yong ge."
Xiao Mi chuckled beside them and took Su Jinli's phone to register a WeChat account for him and added him as a friend.
"If you ever have any questions, just ask me on WeChat. If it's urgent, you can call me. If I don't pick up, I'm probably dealing with Yura's matters. You know she has a lot on her plate lately."
Su Jinli nodded in understanding and expressed his gratitude towards Xiao Mi, "Thank you so much."
He only met Xiao Mi and Yura once, and the fact that they were willing to help him like this made him very grateful. He rubbed Xiao Mi's head and said, "Kind girls will have good luck."
In reality, he didn't have any other intentions. In the world of the koi fish spirit, touching someone's head was a way to send blessings, and he hoped that his blessings would bring good luck to the person he blessed.
Xiao Mi blushed for a moment, feeling a bit flustered despite being a fierce and independent girl. She explained to Su Jinli, "I...I just followed Yura's orders. Thank Yura instead. Although she has a bad mouth, she's actually a good person."
"Okay, okay. You're both good people."
"Oh, come on..." Xiao Mi felt a little embarrassed and reminded Su Jinli with a smile, "I saw in the contract that if you want to terminate it, you must give them a written notice three months in advance. Otherwise, it will automatically renew for another year, indefinitely. If you don't take the initiative to terminate it, it will keep renewing every year until you die."
"Oh, I'll be careful."
Xiao Mi felt that she was just a small assistant and couldn't help Su Jinli anymore, so she didn't stay any longer and took a taxi to leave.
Su Jinli watched Xiao Mi leave and then followed Hou Yong back to the studio.
"Don't you have any luggage?" Hou Yong asked as he led Su Jinli into the dormitory of the studio.
Su Jinli told Hou Yong that he wanted to seek refuge with his brother, but had lost his address and couldn't go home.
Upon hearing this, Hou Yong immediately said, "Don't go back to the mountains. You might not be able to come out again. Stay here for now, and I'll ask the company about your daily expenses."
The studio dormitory was also very simple. It was located on the top floor of the building, facing a shaded direction. The room was small, with only a bed, a sofa, and a standing wardrobe.
As soon as Su Jinli sat on the bed, he heard a creaking sound.
Hou Yong stood at the door and introduced the shared bathroom and laundry room located in the middle of the corridor. He said, "You can hang your clothes in the laundry room or anywhere else you want."
Su Jinli didn't mind the simple living conditions and said, "Okay, thank you."
"Your daily necessities and clothes for changing are a problem. I'll go buy them for you later."
"Okay, sure."
Hou Yong said this and walked over to Su Jinli, looking at his face up close.
Su Jinli felt a bit nervous being looked at so closely and unconsciously held his breath. Someone who didn't know better might have thought that Hou Yong was going to kiss him.
After seeing Su Jinli, Hou Yong's thoughts were that Su Jinli was very cost-effective.
Su Jinli's skin was very good, with barely visible pores and not a single blackhead, so there was no need for any prior skin treatment. In addition, Su Jinli was naturally beautiful, without needing any injections or plastic surgery, which will save the company a lot of money.
Furthermore, Su Jinli's personality seemed very good, which made entering the entertainment industry easier and saved a lot of public relations expenses.
"The hardware conditions are pretty good. I'll go buy your daily necessities." After saying this, Hou Yong left with a sense of satisfaction.
During Su Jinli's first week at the studio, he had nothing to do.
Sometimes he would go to other departments to help out, like changing a bucket of water. Or he would go to the music department, listen to music with them, see them study the latest popular songs, and even touch some instruments.
He realized that he was indeed the boss in the company, as the company currently only signed him as an artist.
Other employees in the company were surprised that Hou Yong could actually deceive such a handsome boy. They also took care of Su Jinli in their daily lives, fearing that this rare artist would suddenly run away.
They planned to use sincerity to keep Su Jinli.
The training expenses that Hou Yong applied to the company only came down a week later.
Hou Yong took the money and first enthusiastically inquired about the cost of hiring a dance teacher and a vocal teacher. Afterwards, he came back dejectedly.
In the afternoon, he drove the company's van and took Su Jinli to a dance training institution, where he enrolled Su Jinli in a hip-hop class and a body shaping class.
Hiring a private teacher was too expensive and the company couldn't afford it, plus the studio only had Su Jinli as an artist, which wasn't very cost-effective.
"If there were ten artists sharing the same teacher, it would be more cost-effective to hire one. But since there's only one artist, it would be better for Su Jinli to enroll in classes for now and just learn casually. Later on, when more artists come, then Su Jinli can be properly trained."
Su Jinli didn't complain at all and didn't show any signs of dissatisfaction. He accepted it very quickly and was very serious when he entered the classroom to study.
The more this happened, the more Hou Yong felt guilty towards Su Jinli. Aside from being touched, he also praised his artist a lot in his WeChat group, feeling like he had encountered an angel.
When they returned to the dormitory at night, Su Jinli suddenly approached Hou Yong politely and asked, "Brother Yong, can you teach me how to type?"
"Don't you know how to type?" Hou Yong put down the promotional brochure in his hand and took Su Jinli's phone. He opened it and said, "Use this, just click on it and use Chinese Pinyin."
"I don't know Pinyin..."
Hou Yong was originally typing on the keyboard, but when he heard this, he looked up in surprise.
When we signed the contract initially, we were in such a hurry that I didn't ask about Su Jinli's educational background. When I heard that he hadn't attended school, I couldn't help but panic and asked, "What's your educational background?"
"I haven't gone to school," Su Jinli replied.
Hou Yong was so shocked that he couldn't say a word. Had he signed a contract with an illiterate?
This... could be a big problem in the future, right?
"Can you read?" Hou Yong asked.
Su Jinli nodded, "I know all the Chinese characters."
"Why didn't you go to school?"
"I studied at a private school."
Hou Yong searched the room for a notebook and a pen, and handed them to Su Jinli, saying, "Write something so I can take a look."
"I'm not used to using this type of pen..." Su Jinli took the pen and wrote a poem in the notebook.
East wind scatters flowers all night,
Falling more, stars like rain.
The scent of luxury carriage fills the road,
The sound of the phoenix flute, the glow of the jade pot,
Hou Yong glanced at it and found that Su Jinli's handwriting was very beautiful, in neat and powerful regular script with a majestic aura.
After reading a poem, Hou Yong couldn't remember who the author was and suddenly realized that he was more illiterate than he thought.
If you know ancient poetry, you shouldn't be too illiterate, right?
"How can you write, but not know how to use Chinese Pinyin?" Hou Yong asked him.
Su Jinli "studied" at a private school that existed during the Song Dynasty. The fish pond was outside the window of the school, and you could hear the teacher's teaching voice.
At that time, no one taught Chinese Pinyin, so Su Jinli didn't know how to use it.
"The teacher didn't teach it..."
"What kind of pen do you usually use?" Hou Yong asked again.
"A brush."
"It seems like a very traditional private school. What else did you learn?"
"In addition to calligraphy and painting, I'm also somewhat knowledgeable about music theory," Su Jinli said. He considered these instruments as mere hobbies and didn't think of them as talents to showcase. In fact, when he was asked about it before, he didn't mention them.
Hou Yong's eyes lit up as soon as he heard this and he asked, "What instruments can you play?"
"Pipa."
"Well, the pipa is not bad, but it's not common for a boy to play it..."
"I can also play the guzheng."
"Classical Chinese music is great."
"And the xiao (a type of Chinese flute)?"
"Hmm, playing the xiao is also good." Hou Yong thought that Su Jinli wasn't illiterate after all. The retro style would suit him well as a character design.
Su Jinli's temperament was just refined and elegant, and his face was clean, giving people a feeling of a jade gentleman.
"Can you sing?" Hou Yong asked again.
"Is it the songs the brothers in the company played?"
"Yes, you listened to them a few days ago, right?"
"Uh-huh, I listened, I'll sing it for you."
Su Jinli cleared his throat and then started singing.
His singing was different from that of the average person because he didn't know how others sang, so he hummed from the beginning of the prelude.
He was like a CD player inside his body, and he even imitated the accompaniment music from the prelude. Hou Yong was stunned when he heard it.
Hou Yong was most surprised when Su Jinli began to sing and his voice was not only singing the lyrics, but also carried the sound of the accompaniment.
After listening for a while, Hou Yong realized that Su Jinli wasn't singing, but rather imitating the sound.
Su Jinli, like a clever bird, imitated the sounds he heard, only at a more advanced level.
This wasn't singing, it was vocal mimicry.
And it was at a freakishly advanced level.
Hou Yong stood up halfway through and asked Su Jinli to pause, then shouted in the hallway, "Brother De, Brother De, come here."
Brother De was a musician in the company who had some skills, but was getting old and didn't want to work too hard, so he came to this studio to retire.
As a result, the studio still had to work overtime and he stayed in the dormitory today instead of going home.
Upon hearing Hou Yong's voice, he walked out of the dormitory door a little annoyed and asked, "What do you want, Hou?"
"Come and listen to Su Jinli sing," Hou Yong said, grabbing Brother De and heading towards the dormitory.
"You said you looked quite mature, why don't you act like it? And when did he get the nickname 'Little Koi'?" [Note: Jin Li = koi] Brother De reluctantly entered Su Jinli's room, scratching his head and gesturing, "Go ahead, sing."
So Su Jinli hummed again, and Brother De was also stunned.
"Is this... genius?" Hou Yong asked Brother De.
Brother De shook his head and replied, "No, it's a monster."
Su Jinli was scared by their reactions and quickly asked, "Do I... not sing well?"
"Okay, very good, but..." Brother De was a bit incoherent.
"Little Koi was taught in a private school. Do you remember a text that talked about oral skills? Isn't this oral skill? This is a unique talent."
Brother De had originally planned to take a break and continue working overtime, but he became interested and asked Su Jinli, "Can you sing normally?"
Su Jinli asked, "What do you mean by singing normally?"
Brother De thought for a moment, came down and brought equipment, played a cappella version of a song for Su Jinli, and gave him the lyrics, "Don't sing along with the accompaniment, just sing, don't imitate the singer's voice, use your own voice to sing, following his melody, sing out these lyrics."
Su Jinli nodded while holding the lyrics, listened to it once, and then sang it while looking at the lyrics.
After singing, Hou Yong was almost in tears.
He had thought Su Jinli looked good when he stood on the square with so many people, he was so handsome that he couldn't be ignored.
He never thought that his singing would be so beautiful.
After listening, Brother De was much calmer than Hou Yong, but he still gave Su Jinli some pointers.
For example, where to use falsetto and how to control breath, he taught Su Jinli some singing techniques.
By the third time Su Jinli sang, he had already caught up to the original singer.
In fact, he sounded even better.
Brother De had some knowledge in music and couldn't help but praise Su Jinli's talent, "Not bad, not bad, he has talent and can learn quickly."
He even found another song with more difficulty for Su Jinli to continue learning.
This time it only took two tries. The first time, Brother De listened to Su Jinli sing and then pointed out the problems. The second time, Su Jinli sang almost perfectly.
"Is it possible for you to be overlooked with this voice by Muzitao?" Brother De couldn't help but ask Hou Yong.
"I couldn't sing at the time, so I didn't sing," Su Jinli answered for Hou Yong.
"If you sang, you would have been signed on the spot," Brother De evaluated.
Hou Yong was afraid that Su Jinli would want to go to Muzitao again, so he quickly changed the subject and asked Su Jinli, "Can you imitate other people's voices when speaking?"
"Can you imitate other people's voices when speaking?" Su Jinli repeated Hou Yong's words and even used his voice and tone.
Or rather, he just replicated the previous voice.
Everyone's vocal tone is slightly different, even though Su Jinli's voice still has his own characteristics, he has learned to imitate it very well.
"Amazing..." Brother De exclaimed.
"Little Koi's dialogue skills should be pretty good in the future."
"He's just good at imitating, but whether he can deliver his lines well depends on his level," Hou Yong said.
Hou Yong now has a near-blind trust in Su Jinli, always feeling that Su Jinli can definitely make it big.
The way he looks at Su Jinli now is not like he's looking at a new artist he just signed, but rather a future superstar.
"You can make it big!" Hou Yong exclaimed.
Brother De nodded in agreement, "Your vocal mimicry is a unique skill that can be used as a selling point in promotions. Most artists don't have this skill, but it can only be a personal talent and cannot be relied on for a living. You also have some talent in singing, so with some training, you can become a good singer. What about dancing?"
"I'm learning," Su Jinli replied.
"Do you have any experience?" Brother De furrowed his brow slightly. At Su Jinli's age, it might be difficult to stretch his ligaments further.
"I've learned a bit of martial arts," Su Jinli answered.
Hou Yong asked, "Chinese martial arts?"
Su Jinli nodded.
After hearing this, Brother De immediately turned to Hou Yong and said, "Great, we've found a treasure."
Hou Yong also nodded excitedly, "I think we can apply for more funding now."
"You've been wronged here," Brother De spoke the truth.
Hou Yong was a little afraid that Su Jinli might have some emotions, so he secretly glanced at him and then said, "Little Koi, don't worry, I will do my best to support you."
"Our little monkey has the ability," Brother De also said, "If it weren't for that crazy woman, we could have had a potential artist at Huasen."
Bringing up this topic made Hou Yong's face bitter again. He waved his hand and asked Brother De not to mention it again.
Su Jinli had to attend dance and body shaping classes at the training center every day.
This training center also had a gym, so after Su Jinli finished his classes, he would stay behind to exercise in the gym.
Hou Yong, in order to save water for the company, always asks Su Jinli to bring his toiletries and wash up at the gym before returning to the office.
Luckily, the bathrooms are all single rooms, so Su Jinli can wait until the water on his skin has dried up completely before leaving, so that his scales won't be discovered.
So Su Jinli rides the bike the company has given him every day for 20 minutes to get to the training center.
He stays at the training center until the afternoon and then rides his bike back home.
Occasionally, he also lingers at the entrance of Muzitao Entertainment Company, hoping to try his luck and see if he can run into his brother.
One day, Su Jinli returned to the company and Hou Yong was showing off with a document in his hand.
"I applied to the company and, with Brother De's help, I managed to increase your monthly salary by 500 yuan and also increase your investment fund by 1,000 yuan per month. Isn't that amazing?" Hou Yong was as happy as a child on New Year's Eve.
"What can I do with this money?" Su Jinli has no concept of money.
"Ah... 500 yuan, let's go eat three more hot pot meals together."
Su Jinli finally found out the amount and exclaimed excitedly, "Brother Yong, that's amazing!"
"Right!"
Their surprised voices reached the ears of other staff members, and many looked at them sympathetically.
This might be the most pitiful artist ever, without a doubt.
Su Jinli returned to his room, took out his phone, and planned to tell Xiao Mi the good news about his salary increase.
His WeChat list only had Xiao Mi, Brother De, and Hou Yong. After opening the list, he saw that Xiao Mi had actually sent a message, a message read: "Hi! Yura wants to invite you to dinner."
He immediately replied using handwriting input: "I got a raise, I'll treat you guys."
Xiao Mi: "Oh my god, with your tiny salary, save some money."
Su Jinli: We can eat three hot pot meals!
Xiao Mi: ...
Su Jinli: I'm very happy.
Xiao Mi: No need. I'll come pick you up in a bit. Yura's in a good mood and wants to see you before you go to the filming set.
Su Jinli: She's a good person. It's normal to have good luck.
Xiao Mi: Come on, it's rare for Yura to be in a good mood.
Su Jinli: Okay.
After putting down his phone, he saw Hou Yong enter his room with a box, excitedly saying, "I used the new funding to buy you a box of face masks. Do you want to try it?"
Su Jinli also found it fresh and had Hou Yong help apply it on him, only to see Hou Yong staring at him eagerly.
"Yong Ge, do you have anything else to do?" he asked.
"You can take off the mask after 15 minutes and then I can continue to use it," Hou Yong replied.
"Wouldn't it be dry?"
"There's water in the bag, just squeeze it onto the mask."
"Why don't you use a new one?"
"No need, I just don't want to waste."
Su Jinli was scared and had to use magic to maintain his fish scales from being exposed.
This company is so poor that they don't even try to hide it.
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