Chapter 118: Who Can Rival Me!

After finishing his song, Jiang Lun stepped off the stage, and Mai Le immediately stepped forward to hand him water.

"My goodness, that was spectacular! Those lines in your hometown dialect almost moved me to tears!"

His sentiments were shared by most of the audience.

Just as Jiang Lun took a few sips of water, a foreign singer with brown hair and green eyes approached. She greeted him in Mandarin with a slight Guangsha accent, "Hello! I'm Claudia. You can call me by my Chinese name, Bai Sha. I heard that song you just sang on the internet before, and I love it!"

"Thank you! My name is Jiang Lun. Are you based in Guangsha?" Jiang Lun chatted casually.

Bai Sha shook her head. "No, my Chinese teacher is from Guangsha, but I live in Berlin!"

"Oh..."

They hadn't spoken for long when several other foreign singers approached as well. Their Mandarin was peppered with various accents, and to his surprise, one Spanish male singer spoke with an authentic Beijing lilt.

Some of these people just exchanged greetings, while others swapped contact information with Jiang Lun, hoping for future collaborations. One black singer even mentioned that he used to be a rapper and wanted to discuss how to blend rap with pop music.

Since there was nothing to do backstage, these musicians from all over the world began to chat away.

Just as the conversation was in full swing, someone shouted his name from the entrance of the nearby backstage area.

He glanced over and was surprised to see the six members of the Jiazi Band. Akai, who was leading them, was arguing with the security guard, seemingly unable to get in.

"Excuse me! Some friends of mine have arrived. Let's chat more later!" Jiang Lun explained to the foreign musicians and walked toward the group.

"Alun! Tell this guy to let us in!" Charcoal Head called out as soon as he got close.

The security guard looked at Jiang Lun and asked, "Mr. Jiang, are these your friends?"

"Yes! Let them through."

With those words, the Jiazi Band was cleared for entry. Once inside, Akai looked triumphant. He secretly gave the guard the middle finger, but the guard didn't notice, continuing to scan the area and go about his duties.

"Why are you guys here?" Jiang Lun asked, pleasantly surprised. "Long time no see. How have you all been?"

"How else could we be?" Akai waved his hand. "We've been traveling everywhere with the 'Everything' tour. We were in Changchun yesterday and came to Harbin today! It was a lucky coincidence that we saw you. We had to squeeze through for ages just to get backstage!"

"Then why didn't you call me?" Jiang Lun asked.

Akai replied, "We did! No one answered!"

"Mai Le must have been careless and didn't hear it," Jiang Lun said with a laugh. He never took his phone on stage, so Mai Le usually held it.

Looking over at Mai Le, he saw him chatting with a foreign girl about his height. He looked jubilant; it seemed he had successfully made a connection.

"Mai Le!" Jiang Lun called out to him. "Stop chatting, let's go find a bar and sit for a while."

"Hey! Coming!" Mai Le responded without even turning around, but he asked the girl, "Do you want to join us for a drink? They're all my friends!"

"Sure!" The girl was very open, and Mai Le was thrilled.

The bars in the backstage area were operating as usual. Besides providing rehearsal spaces for international musicians, they offered drinks and standard service. Musicians needed to rest, socialize, and blow off steam. Most importantly, the prices were much higher than usual.

The group entered a bar, found a booth, ordered beer and fruit platters, and began to chat enthusiastically.

"Do you have any activities tomorrow?" Jiang Lun asked, holding up his glass.

"We have a flight tomorrow afternoon to Inner Mongolia."

"No wonder you guys dared to sneak out tonight!" Jiang Lun laughed. "You can sleep in tomorrow then!"

"Hey, don't mention it," Akai sighed with a bitter smile. "Every day is like this—repetitive, with no changes. We've just learned to accept it. Might as well just drift along."

"You guys are quite philosophical," Jiang Lun smiled. "When life is going well, one must enjoy it to the fullest; do not let the golden chalice face the moon in vain! Right? Come, cheers!"

The six were stunned for a moment, but after pondering Jiang Lun's words, they exclaimed, "That's well said! 'When life is going well, one must enjoy it to the fullest'—yes, that's exactly how we should be! Come on, bottoms up! Let's not stop until we're drunk tonight!"

They drank for nearly three hours. During the session, Mai Le and the foreign girl went to the restroom together, and when they returned...

Jiang Lun didn't remember the rest. When he woke up, he found himself in his hotel bed. He had no idea how he had returned, and he was still fully dressed.

He climbed out of bed and walked out of the bedroom to see Mai Le working out on the treadmill. Seeing Jiang Lun emerge, he asked with a chuckle, "You're up? You drank quite a bit last night."

"Why are you so happy?" Jiang Lun touched his face and smoothed his hair, asking strangely, "Is there something on me?"

"No, haha!" Mai Le just kept laughing.

Jiang Lun shook his head in silence, grabbed a bottle of soda from the fridge, gulped it down, and asked, "Any plans for today?"

"Yes!" Mai Le jumped off the treadmill. "A flight at noon to Shenzhen."

"What time?"

"One-fifty, we should arrive around six-thirty in the evening!"

"Oh..." Jiang Lun checked his watch. It wasn't even eleven yet, and the dizziness from the hangover remained. "Then I'm going to sleep a bit more. Call me when it's time to leave!"

"Do you need me to wake you for lunch?" Mai Le asked.

Jiang Lun waved him off. "No need, I don't have much of an appetite."

He stretched and returned to his room to sleep. Before lying down, he called Akai and the others, only to find that the six of them were still asleep.

The rest of the accompanying staff had already flown to Shenzhen the previous afternoon after finishing the autograph session to handle the preparations there.

Shortly after one o'clock, Jiang Lun and Mai Le arrived at the airport. They had arrived in a flurry of activity, but their departure was low-key. Even so, he was recognized by some people despite his hat and sunglasses.

After a flight of nearly five hours, they finally reached Shenzhen.

To his surprise, Wu Zhaoyang was the one waiting to pick him up. Jiang Lun was both shocked and delighted. "Brother Wu! When did you get here?"

"I've been here for two days, busy with that promotional song for your 'Mecha Warrior' game," Wu Zhaoyang smiled. "Let's get in the car first; we can talk on the way!"

"Did it work out?" Jiang Lun asked as he got into the car.

"The results aren't out yet, but there are only two people left in the running: you and..."

"Huang Daming?" Jiang Lun blurted out.

"Yes!" Wu Zhaoyang nodded. "He hired Phil Richard, the Best Composer from last year's American Music Awards, to write his song, and he wrote the lyrics himself. It seems he takes this endorsement very seriously."

Jiang Lun couldn't help but remark, "With such a big move, I suppose our chances aren't high, are they?"

This Phil Richard was a benchmark figure in the pop music scene. The opening song at yesterday's Harbin Street Music Festival was his latest work, which had debuted at the top of the US Billboard charts and remained there to this day.

"Not necessarily!" Wu Zhaoyang offered a faint smile. "Until the end, no one can be sure. Huang Daming's endorsement fee is very high, and we have an advantage there. Besides, your popularity is now near the first tier, especially among the youth, which is on par with Huang Daming."

Huang Daming was known as a "housewife killer," so most of his fans were homemakers. Only a small portion of the youth liked him, while most young people preferred "little fresh meat" idols or talent show singers like Jiang Lun.

The game was primarily targeting the youth market, so Jiang Lun still had a distinct advantage.

"Have you heard his song?"

"Yes, the style is that very popular electronic dance music!"

"Electronic music, huh!"

Jiang Lun had been quite confident, but upon hearing it was electronic music, he didn't know what to say. This style was highly favored by young people; if it reached the level of an earworm, it could quickly capture a crowd of younger fans.

Of course, the drawback of such songs was that they were fresh at first but became tiresome after repeated listening. Therefore, most electronic tracks were popular for a while and then faded away.

If the game company considered short-term profits and chose Huang Daming's electronic song, it could indeed quickly capture a group of players, which would significantly diminish any advantage Jiang Lun had.

"It seems Huang Daming came prepared. He specifically chose this type of song. I suspect he's not just after an endorsement this time; he's trying to conquer the youth market!" Jiang Lun said.

Wu Zhaoyang was surprised. "Now that you mention it, that's very possible. I had always thought he was just trying to compete with you for the endorsement!"

"How could it just be because of me?" Jiang Lun shook his head and smiled. "He already has a certain status in the entertainment industry, while I am just a newcomer who debuted not long ago. In his eyes, he might not even look down on me. Plus, with his connections, if he really wanted to deal with me, he probably would have done it already!"

"You roasted him pretty hard on Weibo last time. I don't believe he wouldn't hold a grudge!" Wu Zhaoyang said, then gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Perhaps I'm overthinking it. When the game's endorsement candidates were announced, both your names were on the list. That should just be a coincidence. Besides, in this industry, especially at his level, there are no fools."

"So, let's face it calmly," Jiang Lun took a breath and smiled indifferently. "Watch the flowers bloom and fall, watch the clouds roll and unfurl; there's no need to force the result!"

Listening to this, Wu Zhaoyang contemplated the words, seemingly gaining some insight.

But Jiang Lun was actually thinking: I don't lack this one endorsement. Once "My Own Swordsman" comes out, we'll see who truly stands at the top!