Chapter 9: Five-Star Original Music Network!

As soon as the two of them spoke, Garen immediately became alert and scrutinized the contract—what! Was it really this harsh?

He couldn’t help but ask, “Brother Liang, is this for ten years?”

“Yes! Just the initial training by the company will take at least two or three years. If you want to create a top-tier star, there’s no way to succeed without investing time. You should understand that!”

Lin Ruiliang’s smile was forced, beads of sweat seeping from his forehead. Garen said nothing, but Wentao sensed something was off and frowned even deeper.

Still, since Starstone was a company invested in and founded by his girlfriend Shi Li, he couldn’t say much and could only worry for Garen in silence, signaling to him with his eyes.

The more Garen read through the contract, the more alarmed he became. Damn! All the music he wrote during the contract period would have its copyrights owned by Starstone for thirty years, and the company would only pay him a usage fee. As for the rest of the copyright income, it would be split fifty-fifty, with Garen getting only half.

This was nothing short of a slave contract!

Starstone’s obligations and responsibilities toward him were vague, barely mentioned, while his duties and requirements were spelled out in meticulous, cumbersome detail.

“Transfer all copyrights of my musical works?”

Garen questioned, looking over at Lin Ruiliang.

Lin Ruiliang chuckled, “That’s what every music company requires. Only after you transfer the rights can the company publish your music!”

“Oh.”

Garen nodded mildly, as if he understood something, but since he still needed this job to make a living, he couldn’t just fall out with them on the spot.

So he feigned a smile, “How about this, Brother Liang? I’ll take the contract home and study it. I’ll get back to you in a day or two at the latest, is that okay?”

“Well...”

Lin Ruiliang hesitated, feeling uneasy. If Garen took it to a lawyer, they’d surely say it was a completely unfair contract and advise him not to sign.

But Lin had already made promises to Shi Li and hadn’t expected Garen, though young, to be so hard to fool!

At that moment, Wentao spoke up slowly, “That’s fine, Garen. Take your time to look it over and think about it carefully. There’s no rush.”

“Alright, I’ll go home and study it.”

With that, Garen tucked the contract into his guitar bag.

This incident ruined his mood for the entire evening, though thankfully it didn’t affect his singing—otherwise, he’d have let down his profession.

As for the failed attempt to sign Garen, Lin Ruiliang naturally couldn’t say much about it, and even felt a hint of relief.

But when Shi Li questioned him, he had no choice but to recount everything as it happened, which inevitably involved Wentao.

In the private room, Shi Li’s face was frighteningly dark, the atmosphere icy cold.

“Ah Liang, you haven’t just started as a manager. Couldn’t you have spoken to him in private? Why did you have to do it in front of Wentao?”

“I...” Lin Ruiliang stammered nervously, “I was just worried that Garen wouldn’t sign, so I thought with Wentao supporting me, he’d give him some face. Who knew Wentao wouldn’t help me persuade him?”

“Oh? So now you’re blaming Wentao?”

Shi Li sneered.

“No, no! It’s all my fault!”

Lin Ruiliang hurriedly shook his head and pleaded, “Sister Li, please give me another chance. I’ll definitely find a way to persuade Garen to sign.”

“Fine! I’ll give you one more chance! If you can’t get it done, pack your things and get out!”

Shi Li had never liked Lin Ruiliang. He’d been Wentao’s manager even before Wentao met her.

Moreover, after Wentao won the weekly championship on Star Show, Shi Li invested to establish Starstone, but Lin Ruiliang had opposed Wentao joining and instead wanted him to sign with Dream Starlight Media.

This had planted the seed of resentment in Shi Li’s heart. If not for Wentao speaking up for him, Lin Ruiliang would never have gotten into Starstone and remained as Wentao’s manager.

As Lin Ruiliang was about to leave the room, Shi Li added, “Wait! You can make the contract a little more lenient, but the contract term and copyright ownership cannot be changed. Understood?”

“I understand! I understand!”

Lin Ruiliang nodded and retreated from the room.

...

Garen sang at the bar for a week straight and gradually got used to the rules at Wenzi Bar.

Over this time, Garen unexpectedly gained a considerable number of fans.

Besides those who listened to him on Chili Live, plenty of customers came to the bar specifically for his performances.

There was a young man who looked to be in his thirties who came to the bar for a drink every night and always tipped Garen generously—once even tossing him five thousand yuan at once. Not only did this fill Garen with gratitude, but it also etched the man’s face deep into his memory.

With joy came trouble. As for Lin Ruiliang, Garen did his best to avoid him, and when he couldn’t, he found excuses to evade, steadfastly refusing to sign any contract.

During this period, Lin Ruiliang presented him with a revised contract, but after Garen looked it over, he saw that the fundamental issues—the contract term and song copyright ownership—remained unchanged, so signing was out of the question.

To be safe, Garen bought himself a new laptop, a simple set of second-hand recording equipment, and some professional recording software, spending nearly ten thousand yuan in total.

All the songs he’d performed publicly so far were now simply recorded and registered on an online music copyright platform.

In addition to the previous three songs, he’d also recorded and registered “I Am a Little Bird,” “Gardenias in Bloom,” “What I Miss,” and “Betrayal,” making seven songs in total.

He’d downloaded the instrumental tracks from the other world’s internet, which saved him both effort and ensured quality, but ultimately, they weren’t truly his own.

So, in his spare time, Garen also bought a set of arrangement tutorials, hoping to teach himself as soon as possible.

At three thirty in the morning, Garen returned to his rented place.

As soon as he entered, he booted up his computer and uploaded the seven newly recorded songs, along with their lyrics, to an original music website called Five Stars.

At this hour, the website staff were probably all asleep, so the songs were still pending review. Garen updated his profile, applied for real-name verification, and only then went to bed.

At one in the afternoon the next day,

Garen got up, washed, and sat in front of his computer, opening Five Stars Music.

The moment he logged in, site messages flooded in so fast they nearly crashed his computer.

A quick scan revealed that, apart from some system notifications, the rest were private messages from fans—comments, greetings, and questions about whether he was really Garen.

Garen scrolled through, feeling a warm glow inside.

Checking his personal page, he saw that all seven songs were marked as “Recommended,” and he already had over three hundred followers—this in just one morning since approval.

What shocked him even more was that “Fleeting Fireworks” had over 1,500 plays and thirty downloads, while “The You From Before” had over six hundred plays but a staggering two hundred downloads.

Even more astonishing was “Betrayal,” which had over a thousand plays and seemed poised to surpass “Fleeting Fireworks” soon, with downloads already exceeding a hundred.

Switching to the homepage, Garen found several of his songs on the trending list, with “Betrayal” and “Fleeting Fireworks” featured in the original music recommendations.

Clicking into the song pages, he realized the stats were even more impressive—“Fleeting Fireworks” had over two hundred likes and more than twenty thousand views!

The comments spanned multiple pages, filled with virtual roses and thumbs-up emojis.

Many commenters mentioned they’d come from Chili Live, and there were messages calling him “Little Lunlun,” though he had no idea whether these fans were male or female.

The other songs were equally popular, though Garen wasn’t sure of the exact reasons yet.

He posted a quick update: “Thank you all for listening—don’t forget to catch tonight’s live!”

He then closed the page, eager to start recording “Just Once Is Enough.”

What he didn’t expect was that this simple update immediately sparked a flurry of comments from all his followers, everyone thinking he was still online and clamoring for him to say something more.

In Jianghang City, the tech company behind Five Stars Original Music.

Wang Cheng, the lead editor in charge of original music, was looping through Garen’s songs, feeling genuinely excited.

Though the site had been running for some time, it was rare to come across such outstanding original songs.

Not only were the lyrics and melodies excellent, but the arrangements were thoroughly professional—something small labels or studios simply couldn’t achieve. Several tracks were clearly recorded with live instruments, not synthesized MIDI.

Yet the recordings themselves were a bit rough, with many details untreated. From the sound, it was obvious they hadn’t been mastered and mixed after recording, but were simply captured with basic software, using compressed mp3 instrumentals rather than lossless tracks. Compared to the arrangements, the post-production was a mess.

Wang Cheng felt regretful yet intrigued, uncertain why this was the case.

Of course, he might never in his life discover the true reason behind it all.

Still, he carefully wrote down his observations and suggestions, hoping to open a conversation with Garen about music, and inviting him to sign a copyright partnership with the site to jointly operate and develop the streaming and value-added telecom rights for these songs.

After sending the message via the site’s private messaging system, Wang Cheng waited eagerly for a reply.

He then checked Garen’s personal page and saw an update from a few hours ago, ending with: “Don’t forget to catch tonight’s live!”

“Live broadcast?”

Wang Cheng was startled, assuming Garen must be a streamer on some platform, and started searching online.

After trying a variety of keywords, he finally found the term “Chili Live” in the site comments.

He immediately downloaded the Chili Live app on his phone, but after searching through every corner, he still couldn’t find Garen’s channel and began to suspect he might have gotten the broadcast time wrong.