You were supposed to have a fake marriage with the diva, so how did you become her father?

Chapter 24 Xu Manlin's Challenge

Chatting with Lu Ran brought some relief to Shen Yuege's gloomy mood. Lu Ran's half-serious, half-joking words were like a warm current, warming her heart.

After thinking for a moment, she finally spoke up: "My company talked to me about renewing my contract today."

"And the result?" Lu Ran pressed. "With your current market value, shouldn't it increase again?"

Shen Yuege shook her head.

"Quite the opposite." Shen Yuege's mood, which had just started to improve, sank again.

"Are the conditions very demanding?" Lu Ran asked.

"An eight-year contract, split 30/70. The company takes 70%, I take 30%. And the company has the final say on all business activities." Shen Yuege smiled bitterly, "It's almost like a contract of servitude, and the company plans to take advantage of my recent resurgence to completely tie me down."

"Tsk tsk, your company is really ruthless." Lu Ran couldn't help but click his tongue. Then, he asked another question: "Actually, I've always had a question. Since Uncle Shen could arrange for me to work at Xingyao Entertainment, which is one of the four major entertainment media companies, why not arrange for you to work here?"

"Because my dad is a shareholder of Xingyao Entertainment, and I don't want to rely on my dad. I want to make a name for myself through my own efforts," Shen Yuege explained. "Even people in the industry rarely know that Shen Zhiwei is my dad."

After Shen Yuege's explanation, Lu Ran finally understood. No wonder Myth Entertainment dared to openly challenge Shen Yuege, and no wonder Legend Entertainment dared to make Shen Yuege sign such an unfair contract. It turned out that they didn't know Shen Yuege's background and treated her like a newcomer with no background to be manipulated.

In the entertainment industry, connections are indeed essential everywhere.

"You don't have to sign this contract if you don't want to. But if you do, your next eight years could be ruined," Lu Ran explained.

"But if I don't sign, the company might freeze my career and stop giving me any more resources. It'll be hard for me and Sister Jing to get any more gigs in the future." Shen Yuege's voice was filled with confusion and helplessness.

Lu Ran stroked his chin, his eyes flickering.

The sugar daddy is going to be blacklisted, that won't do! I still have nine million left of my ten million payment. If she's really blacklisted, how will I ever achieve my dream of living a carefree life?

He now has a system in his mind, and he already has millions of points.

"The First Dream" became an instant hit, and as the producer, he directly earned millions of points, much faster than he could accumulate points by writing novels.

As expected, writing novels doesn't lead to much of a future.

Therefore, the question of Shen Yuege's future songs is not a problem for him at all right now.

"It's okay, there's always a way out," Lu Ran encouraged her. "Didn't you already get such a great song like 'The First Dream'? You should ask Tomorrow to write another song for you."

"You think songs are so easy to come by? Good songs aren't available every day either," Shen Yuege said irritably. "Do you know that someone else shares your name, Lu Ran?"

"If you had their talent and could write such good songs, I would..."

"What do you mean?" Lu Ran was speechless. It's infuriating when someone only says half of what they mean.

"I won't divorce you, I'll marry you for the rest of my life," Shen Yuege said, blushing.

"Hey, hey, hey, how can you repay kindness with enmity?" Lu Ran deliberately showed his displeasure: "It's ten million a year, you think you can get it for free for the rest of your life? Let me tell you, you'll have to pay more."

"Hey, what do you mean? You think you're losing out by marrying me?" Shen Yuege pinched Lu Ran's arm.

"Drive, senior, be careful." Lu Ran then said cheekily, "And did you not eat enough? You have no energy at all."

Shen Yuege: "..."

How come I never noticed before that Lu Ran has such a cheeky personality?

However, Shen Yuege noticed one thing: when she said that Lu Ran could write such a song, Lu Ran did not immediately refute or deny it.

She had already suspected that Lu Ran and Mingri were the same person, and now she was even more suspicious.

While Shen Yuege and Lu Ran were flirting along the way, on the other side, Xu Manlin was plotting the boldest decision of her career.

The album "Seeking Dreams" continues to gain popularity, especially "The First Dream," which has become a phenomenon with a large audience across all age groups. She has even heard that many primary and secondary schools now use this song as their class song.

In contrast, her song "Sweet and Cool Rules" experienced a surge in initial sales figures, but its sales have consistently declined since then, resulting in a significant drop in sales.

Industry insiders are beginning to favor Shen Yuege in their evaluation of the two.

Xu Manlin looked at the data report, so angry that her teeth ached from clenching them.

She was unwilling to accept it. With such a huge advantage in the early stages and even having turned Huang Wenshan against her, how could she still lose!

She sacrificed so much, even resorting to many underhanded methods, yet she was still trampled underfoot by Shen Yuege.

"No! I absolutely cannot lose!" A fierce glint flashed in Xu Manlin's eyes.

She decided to make a crazy decision—to gamble with her next ten years.

She proactively approached senior executives at Myth Entertainment and signed an extremely demanding 10-year contract.

She gave up 10 years of autonomy in exchange for a promise from the company: to use all the company's resources to acquire songs for her! To create a "masterpiece album" regardless of cost!

At this moment, she will be completely bound to Myth Entertainment.

She was determined to go all in and completely defeat Shen Yuege with a perfect album!

She also heard that Shen Yuege had recently had a very unpleasant falling out with the company, which presented her with an excellent opportunity.

Xu Manlin directly posted a provocative "challenge" on her personal Weibo account:

[@Xu Manlin V: In the world of music, it's always the work that speaks for itself. Temporary gains or losses mean nothing. A true singer dares to face challenges head-on. @Shen Yuege, I admire your song "Seeking Dreams." But I'm even more looking forward to your next album. I wonder if it will maintain such high quality! Two months from now, let's see who's on the charts again with your next brand new album! Are you up for the challenge?]

This Weibo post instantly went viral!

"Holy crap, this is a direct declaration of war! How exciting!"

"Sister Manlin is so powerful! This is the aura a diva should have!"

"Go, Yuege! This time, give her a good slap in the face!"

"It seems Xu Manlin came prepared this time. Shen Yuege is probably in grave danger."

"Last time, I came prepared, but I was still treated like a clown."

"I suspect that Xu Manlin might have been behind Huang Wenshan's incident last time!"

Shen Yuege, who was directly involved, was unaware of what was happening on Weibo.

At that moment, her phone was off, and she was sleeping soundly, completely unaware that Chen Jing at the company had been calling her nonstop!

...