Chapter 419 – A walking koi? (1)

Zhong Yi remembered how she loved to draw when she was a child and her dream was to become an artist. Before her parents had passed away, her family did alright and they could afford to send her to art classes.

After her parents had passed and her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, they had to sell their house to pay for the hospital bills.

Their standard of living slid instantly and she needed to be extremely careful with money. All she ever thought about everyday was how to make money for her grandmother’s treatment and her dream was tossed into a corner and forever forgotten.

That was the moment that the idea of having her own company dawned on her. Perhaps her company would not measure up to any of the big players in the entertainment circle but it would still be a stepping stone for those who had a dream.

As such, in addition to putting her best effort into the competition, she also started learning related knowledge. She noticed that XinYun and herself had been very lucky in that there were a few very good potential contestants who only needed a little help to become a real star.

When they were down to 16 contestants, Zhong Yi reached out to them and asked about their opinions. She would like to sign with them if possible.

She had guaranteed them that regardless of whether they had decided to sign with her or not, it would not affect the outcome of the competition.

To make sure the competition remained fair, neither she nor XinYun took on the role as a judge. In fact, all of the judges were brought in from other factions.

She was disappointed when she found out that she wasn’t the only one with good eyes.

Many entertainment companies had already reached out to these candidates when they were down to 32 contestants and signed them.

These included the big players in the industry such as Begonia and Wenxia. It was a no-brainer how one should choose when comparing Zhong Yi’s studio with these companies.

Zhong Yi didn’t blame them. Who wouldn’t want to climb as high as they could? A large company could make that path much easier.

She was very disappointed at the beginning but course-corrected herself toward the end. Her mentality turned into being happy for each additional person she was able to sign.

She didn’t have high hopes when she reached out to Ren DongZhi. In her eyes, Ren DongZhi was the best of them all.

Not only was he good looking and was a good singer, he was also a rare song writer/singer and very talented at that.

His songs were every bit as good as those by a professional. She knew that many large companies had already reached out to him.

To her surprise, Ren DongZhi did not sign with any other company. All he asked was, “If I sign with you, are you going to be my agent?”

Being hit by this big pie from the sky, Zhong Yi was dazed. She nodded at him after she had recollected herself, “Yes, it will be me.”

She showed him the contract and Ren DongZhi skimmed it quickly. When he was done, he said, “I would like to add another condition. That being my agent cannot be changed no matter what.”

Zhong Yi was fully prepared that Ren DongZhi would want to negotiate and she was willing to compromise a lot in order to recruit him. Who knew that would be Ren DongZhi’s only condition?

She stared at him solidly and he, too, was looking back at her with a slight smile in his eyes.

“You want to be near me that much?” asked Zhong Yi tentatively.

“Yes.” His voice was determined and without hesitation. He did not even need to think about it.

A possibility occurred to Zhong Yi and her look became solemn.

She said thoughtfully, “You are still young and have a bright future ahead of you. You don’t need to take the shortcut for the sake of getting way up there overnight. Once you’ve become famed, these could turn into a dark history of yours. You will regret it then. You don’t need to do anything like this at all with your talent.

“Besides, our company is very much against things such as unspoken favors. We do our best to keep our company fair with transparency. We will not treat you differently just because of that.”

She appreciated Ren DongZhi’s talent a lot and hated to see him make a mistake like that.