1990: Starting from Baojia Street

In the past two days, Wang Lihong received another special performance invitation - to be a guest at Kudo Shizuka's indoor concert.

Xu Xiangjie was naturally very happy to receive this invitation, but he still decided to report the situation to Zhou Yan and also ask whether this matter was related to Zhou Yan.

In fact, Zhou Yan only learned about this matter after receiving a call from Xu Xiangjie. Kudo Shizuka did not tell him about this matter beforehand.

"If you think participating in this program will help Lihong's development after evaluation, then take it. If it is not helpful, don't take it. This is not something I initiated," Zhou Yan said.

Xu Xiangjie smiled and said, "In that case, I agree. Kudo Shizuka is very popular in Japan now. If I can be a guest at her concert, it will be very helpful for Lihong to enter the Japanese market. Of course, even without this concert, Lihong has accumulated some popularity in Japan because of "How Long Will I Love You"."

In fact, Xu Xiangjie had already planned to let Wang Lihong develop the neon market.

Neon is an East Asian country and part of the Chinese cultural circle. Compared with Europe and the United States, it is more receptive to Wang Lihong and it is easier for it to develop.

Now that "How Long Will I Love You" is so popular in Japan, it would be a pity not to take this opportunity to develop in Japan.

"Well, it's up to you to decide on this matter. Ogi Production has a good relationship with our studio, so there shouldn't be any big problems for you to work together. By the way, when is Kudo Shizuka's concert?"

"April 8th."

"Oh, that's coming soon."

"Yes, there are less than two weeks left, so it's still quite tight. Fortunately, Lihong doesn't have any work that he has already signed for during those two days."

There were also some small jobs during those days, which had been discussed before but had not been completely confirmed. Now, because of Kudo Shizuka's concert, they naturally had to be turned down.

Not to mention that there is no confirmation, even if it is confirmed, you still have to participate in the big event even if you have to pay liquidated damages.

Zhou Yan heard from Xu Xiangjie that Wang Lihong had arranged quite a lot of activities, so he said, "Don't arrange too much work for Lihong. He is too young now and needs some time to rest, learn, and improve. As the saying goes, relaxation and tension are the way of civil and military affairs. If you blindly arrange work for him and let him fall into endless work, his future development will definitely be limited."

"Boss, don't worry. We are only busy during this period. The work intensity will be reduced in the next two months. In fact, there are many jobs that come to us, and I directly turn them down. For example, I turn down some company activities and wedding performances without asking any questions. A few days ago, a wedding planning company approached us and said they wanted to invite Lihong to sing a song. It is said that the groom is a wealthy businessman and is willing to pay 150,000 US dollars for his appearance fee. I still did not agree."

Xu Xiangjie mentioned this example to show Zhou Yan that he did not exploit Wang Lihong for money.

This is indeed the case. Although ordinary wedding performances cannot pay much money, there are always a few rich people who are willing to pay a lot of money.

A $150,000 appearance fee is enough to attract most singers. After all, it is just a matter of singing a song, and there is basically no need for rehearsal, which takes very little time. It is an easy job with little work and high pay.

The reason why some people are willing to pay so much money to invite Wang Lihong is naturally because "How Long Will I Love You" is really suitable for singing at a wedding.

If other more famous singers were to take their place, they might not be able to get such a high appearance fee.

Zhou Yan was also quite surprised. He didn't expect that Wang Lihong's appearance fee for the wedding would reach 150,000 US dollars. Ordinary second-tier singers could not get such an appearance fee, and the appearance fee of new singers might not even be five figures.

It seems that this song added considerable bonus to Wang Lihong's wedding.

Of course, in addition to the bonus from the nature of the song, it is also related to Wang Lihong's recent popularity. Generally, if a singer's popularity is high enough for a period of time, his appearance fee will also increase. After a while, when the popularity subsides, the appearance fee will drop.

Zhou Yan pondered for a moment, and suddenly said, "Actually, you can try to take over the wedding."

"Ah?" Xu Xiangjie was stunned on the other end of the phone.

Based on his understanding of Zhou Yan, he should not let Wang Lihong take over such an event. Why is he letting Wang Lihong take over it now?
He really couldn't figure out what benefits Wang Lihong would get from performing at weddings other than making money.

Zhou Yan told him more than once that he should not worry about temporary gains and should focus on long-term development.

When making development plans for the company's contracted artists, the company should also have a long-term vision and not be greedy for immediate benefits.

Hearing the surprise in Xu Xiangjie's tone, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Didn't the MV for this song not get recorded yet?"

"Well, it hasn't been recorded yet."

Xu Xiangjie couldn't understand why Zhou Yan mentioned MV again. What was the connection between the two?

The reason why they didn't record a MV for this song was because they were planning to cut out clips from the movie "Time Traveler" to make an MV, which would save money and have a better effect.

"In that case, you can record an MV while performing at the wedding."

Xu Xiangjie thought about it and asked doubtfully, "Is there anything special about this MV?"

He felt that such MVs were not as good as those edited with movie clips.

"It's not a simple performance. You can contact one of the bride and groom and suddenly show up as a surprise..."

Then Zhou Yan told Xu Xiangjie the plot of the Maroon 5 version of the MV. The plot was very simple, that is, the Maroon 5 band suddenly appeared at the wedding scene and brought a surprise to the bride and groom.

After listening to it, Xu Xiangjie couldn't help but sigh, "This does sound interesting, but it's not necessarily easy to find a wedding that meets the requirements, and the results of the photos may not be good, so it's difficult."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Try to find them and shoot a few. If the effect is not good, you can hire actors to perform in a few weddings. Shooting MVs requires funds anyway."

"Oh, I see." Xu Xiangjie said suddenly. Shooting an MV can be fake.

Of course, if the real wedding is going to turn out great, you’d still have to use real footage, at least to save costs.

……

The next night, when Zhou Yan was talking to Kudo Shizuka on the phone, Kudo Shizuka told Zhou Yan that she would invite Wang Lihong to her next concert.

"This is arranged by the company. After listening to it, I thought it was a good idea, so I agreed. Huanyin agreed today. Did you know about this?"

Huanyin is the company owned by the Zhou Yan brothers. Kudo Shizuka knew this, so she told Zhou Yan this.

"I thought you asked for it." Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"Haha, I did mention that. But Wang Lihong is very popular in Japan recently, so I won't lose out if he attends my concert."

Zhou Yan knew that Shizuka Kudo must have mentioned it to the company. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, Ogi Production would not have invited a newcomer to be a guest at Shizuka Kudo's concert, even if this newcomer was very popular in Japan recently.

The reason why Ogi Production made such a decision was probably not only because of Kudo Shizuka's suggestion, but also because they wanted to establish a good relationship with Zhou Yan.

Jeff Brown, who was far away in the United States, was not clear about the relationship between Huanyin and Zhou Yan, but Ogi Production was very aware of it. Ogi Production knew a lot about the music circles in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and many of their artists were also developing there. Inviting Wang Lihong, they took advantage of the popularity of "How Long Will I Love You", satisfied Shizuka Kudo's wishes, and also pleased Zhou Yan, which was a three-pronged approach.

"It's a good opportunity to have him go to Neon and attend a few more events this time, which can also be considered as promotion for the movie."

Kudo Shizuka smiled and said, "You know my good intentions, right?"

I have to say that Kudo Shizuka's Chinese is getting better and better. She uses some idioms and four-character phrases very accurately. In this regard, her talent is indeed stronger than that of Nakamori Akina.

In fact, Akina Nakamori's performance in Chinese is also very good, and she has made great progress during this period, but it is not as outstanding as Shizuka Kudo.

"Got it. Next time we meet, I will definitely reward you and feed you well."

Kudo Shizuka said shyly, "I hate it so much, why are you suddenly saying this?"

Zhou Yan rolled his eyes, "I was saying I was going to take you to eat something delicious, what are you thinking about."

It seems that sometimes being too good at Chinese is not a good thing, as it can lead to random thoughts.

Knowing that she had misunderstood, Kudo Shizuka felt even more embarrassed, "It was you who said something ambiguous. I won't talk to you anymore. I have a lot of work these days and I am very busy."

"No matter how busy you are at work, you must remember to eat, otherwise I will really feed you well next time we meet." This time Zhou Yan's tone was playful, as if he wanted to tease Kudo Shizuka.

"Oh, no more, hanging up."

Listening to the busy tone coming from the phone, Zhou Yan smiled. Among the girls, Kudo Shizuka had the most cheerful personality, but was also the most shy when it came to matters between men and women. Zhou Yan also liked to tease her the most.

……

On the afternoon of April 8th, Neon, Tokyo, in front of the Budokan.

Tanaka Kenji and Ibuki Reine held hands and stood in front of the poster at the entrance of the venue, looking at the information on it.

Today is Shizuka Kudo's concert. They had made an appointment to come and watch it some time ago and had bought the tickets.

The official news was released that there would be a special guest appearing today, and the two of them wanted to study the poster to see who the special guest would be.

There were two girls standing next to them, also studying the poster carefully.

"The special guest might be Akina Nakamori." said one of the girls.

The other girl nodded, "Well, after all, they are going to release a new song together soon."

"If Akina Nakamori comes, will she sing the new song to us in advance?"

"Well, maybe this is really possible. It would be great if it were true."

"Then it's worth it for me to come here early to grab the tickets."

“Tickets for this concert are so hard to get.”

"Because there is no birthday party today, fans think today's concert is a birthday party."

"That's right."

……

Listening to the conversation between the two girls, Tanaka Kenji and Ibuki Reine looked at each other. They agreed with the two girls' guess that today's special guest was most likely Akina Nakamori.

The reason is just as the two girls said, Akina Nakamori and Shizuka Kudo are about to release a duet song, and now is a good time to promote it.

Thinking of this, they both became a little excited, because maybe they could really hear the new song in advance today.

This is not impossible. Sometimes, singers will perform new songs in advance on certain occasions before they are officially released. Isn't an occasion like a concert just appropriate?

Of course, it is also possible that their guess is wrong, and it is not Akina Nakamori who came today, and the chorus song will not be released in advance.

But they still couldn't help but have such expectations.

Soon, it was half past four and the ticket checking for the concert began. Tanaka Kenji and Ibuki Reine followed the large group into the venue.

They didn't buy seats on the first floor, only on the second floor, but the seat was still close to the front and the viewing experience was pretty good.

Compared with ordinary gymnasiums, the Budokan is smaller in area and has fewer seats, but as an indoor venue, it has a lot of seats. Including the temporary seats set up in the dojo, it can accommodate 15,000 spectators.

After the two entered the venue, more than an hour later, it was time for the concert to start. The music started, the lights came on, and the host came on stage and said a few words. When the atmosphere was almost right, Shizuka Kudo stood on a lift and slowly rose up, appearing on the stage.

After that came the regular concert performance session. Kudo Shizuka worked very hard, singing songs one by one and changing clothes one by one.

Halfway through the concert, Shizuka Kudo changed into a relatively casual outfit and went on stage.

Although she sang and danced for almost an hour, Shizuka Kudo was in very good condition and was just a little out of breath. In recent years, she has gained a lot more weight and is in much better physical condition. Unlike before, she would be too tired to bear the long performance.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Kudo Shizuka smiled and said, "Next, we have a special guest coming to the scene. Maybe you don't know much about him, but a song he sang recently is very popular in Japan. I'll give you a little hint. This song is the theme song of an upcoming movie. Do you know what movie it is?"

"Time Traveler!"

Many people in the audience said the name of the movie in unison. There was nothing they could do. Among the movies that were about to be released, the only one that came to mind that was related to songs was "Time Traveler".

Only Zhou Yan’s movies can attract so many people’s attention to the music.

Kudo Shizuka was very satisfied with the audience's reaction. She smiled and nodded, "Yes, it is "Time Traveler". This movie will be released in a few days. Everyone should go to the cinema to watch it."

"it is good."

"I'll go to the cinema to watch it too, maybe we'll run into each other." Kudo Shizuka smiled, turned around and shouted, "Let's welcome our special guest, Wang Lihong."

When Kudo Shizuka finished shouting, the prelude of "How Long Will I Love You" was already playing, and Wang Lihong also stood on the lifting platform and slowly ascended to the stage. (End of this chapter)