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Liu Gangsheng's life story could easily be turned into an inspirational epic novel. His legend belonged to Hong Kong itself, bearing witness to the once-glorious golden age of Hong Kong pop music and Hong Kong cinema.
Lu Chen truly had not expected that this Heavenly King superstar would actually follow his blog, let alone offer him such friendly support and praise.
In fact, Lu Chen himself could be considered one of Liu Gangsheng's fans.
When he was younger, he had watched many films and TV dramas starring Liu Gangsheng, such as The Great Barrister, Hong Kong Heroes, Life-or-Death Rescue, Brave Detective, Sword Out of Wudang, and many others. They had all been highly popular classics at the time, along with the albums Liu Gangsheng had released.
Even now, back in his hometown, Lu Chen still kept more than a dozen CD albums from the Hong Kong Heavenly King.
Although the current Lu Chen had already risen to a fairly high position within the industry, he still held enormous respect for this senior artist who truly embodied both virtue and talent.
So Lu Chen immediately replied to Liu Gangsheng's comment, sincerely thanking the Heavenly King superstar. He stated that he himself was one of Liu Gangsheng's fans and that he greatly looked forward to the chance to collaborate with the idol he had admired for so long.
Liu Gangsheng had an enormous number of followers on Hong Kong Island Blog, and Lu Chen's respectful and admiring attitude undoubtedly won over many of them, causing his own follower count to continue climbing steadily.
By the next day, as soon as Lu Chen arrived at the workshop, his assistant Li Zhen excitedly reported to him:
"Young Lu, you're seriously amazing! Even Heavenly King Liu liked your post. Your followers have already risen to 300,000!"
Back on the Mainland, it was common for trending public figures to gain hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers overnight on Wave Blog. But on Hong Kong Island Blog, growth at this speed, unless artificially boosted, was extremely rare.
Many celebrities and entertainers were enthusiastic about managing their blogs because the more followers they had, the greater the benefits they could gain, both directly and indirectly. Using blogs to endorse advertising products had long become standard practice.
Hong Kong Island Blog was no exception. Hong Kong's younger generation of entertainers all loved using blogs, and Li Zhen had seen plenty of it before. Naturally, she felt genuinely happy for Lu Chen, after all, these were followers brought in through Heavenly King Liu's support. It was incredibly prestigious!
Lu Chen, however, merely smiled faintly and quickly put the matter behind him. He did not need to rely on this sort of popularity to make money. Yesterday's incident felt more like an unexpected accident, simply a pleasant surprise.
He would not let it go to his head.
But Lu Chen nevertheless underestimated the level of influence Liu Gangsheng held in Hong Kong, and the effect that influence would have on him.
He had barely warmed the seat in his office chair when visitors arrived.
There were five people in total. Three of them Lu Chen already knew from a few days earlier, Madam Jin, the boss of Madam Jin Entertainment Company, along with her two goddaughters, Ji Xiaodie and Li Xinyan.
As for the other two, they appeared to be assistants or aides of some sort.
Lu Chen was somewhat surprised. At Shu Jing's charity banquet, he had promised Madam Jin that within three days he would create a debut song for the twins duo formed by Ji Xiaodie and Li Xinyan.
But the deadline had not even arrived yet, so why had they come rushing over in such a grand group?
Surely they weren't afraid he would run away?
The thought amused even Lu Chen himself as he received the unexpected visitors in the reception room.
"Madam Jin, what brings all of you here?"
After everyone sat down, Lu Chen asked curiously, "Is there something you need?"
Madam Jin replied, "It's nothing major, really. I just brought my two daughters over to drop by and get familiar with the place first. In the future, I'd like them to visit Teacher Lu more often and learn a few things from you."
Lu Chen laughed helplessly. "You're too polite. I'm afraid there's not much I can actually teach them."
Madam Jin smiled warmly and said, "Young Lu is the one being too modest. Even Heavenly King Liu has praised you highly. Guiding my two girls would definitely be more than easy for you."
At that moment, Lu Chen immediately understood.
Clearly, Madam Jin had already learned about what happened on the Hong Kong Island Blog the previous night, so she had deliberately brought the Twins over to make an appearance and strengthen ties with him.
Because of Liu Gangsheng's praise, Lu Chen's status and weight within Hong Kong's entertainment industry had instantly become very different. Madam Jin simply wanted to strengthen her relationship with him even further.
To put it simply, there would be a world of difference in publicity impact between songs written for Twins by the previously unknown Lu Chen and songs written for Twins by the now rapidly rising and famous Lu Chen.
Although such behavior might seem a little opportunistic, she did have her reasons.
The idea for pairing Ji Xiaodie and Li Xinyan into a duo had been proposed by Lu Chen. The name "Twins" had also been chosen by him, and he was even handling the debut title track for the two girls. Calling him "Teacher" was completely appropriate.
In Hong Kong's entertainment industry, that kind of relationship already counted as fairly close.
Madam Jin simply wanted to make the connection even closer.
After understanding Madam Jin's intentions, Lu Chen could not help but laugh. After thinking for a moment, he said, "That works out perfectly then. I've already finished the work for Twins, so I can give it to you now."
"It's already finished?"
Madam Jin was genuinely shocked.
Originally, Lu Chen had promised her three days. In truth, she did not care whether it took three or five days. A good work needed time to be polished, and rushing things too much would only hurt the final quality.
So today, Madam Jin had only brought Twins over to get acquainted with him. She had no intention of pressuring him for the manuscript.
Yet Lu Chen was actually saying he had already completed it, and it had not even been two full days!
Surely that one million wasn't spent on some perfunctory, hastily made song?
Although Madam Jin was not particularly concerned about one million dollars, if that were truly the case, she certainly would not be pleased.
Of course, as an experienced veteran of the entertainment world, Madam Jin still showed delight on the surface. "That fast?"
Lu Chen could more or less guess what she was really thinking, but he had no intention of exposing it deliberately. Smiling, he said, "The inspiration was already there. I just needed to put it into written form."
He asked Li Zhen to print out the score that had already been saved on his computer.
Madam Jin took the still-warm pages, and her gaze immediately landed on the title at the top.
It was the song's name: "Next Days."
"Next Days?"
What an interesting title!
Madam Jin's eyes immediately lit up.
She suddenly felt that her earlier suspicion was probably wrong. The work Lu Chen had produced was most likely not something carelessly thrown together, but a song genuinely tailor-made for Twins.
If that was the case, then Lu Chen's talent was truly astonishing. No wonder Heavenly King Liu had praised him so highly.
Thinking of the song "Favorite in Life," which was currently spreading across the internet, Madam Jin's confidence in Lu Chen instantly increased.
Meanwhile, Ji Xiaodie and Li Xinyan, sitting beside her, both stretched their necks curiously to peek at the score.
"Young Lu."
At that moment, Li Zhen appeared once again in the reception room and said to Lu Chen, "Boss Zhou from Jiayang Film Industry is here. He wants to see you."
Zhou Yi?
Lu Chen remembered the name, but inwardly wondered why Boss Zhou from Jiayang Film Industry had personally come to visit him.
Then, as he looked at Madam Jin sitting before him, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
(End of Chapter)