Chapter 152: The Rupture

On February 1st, the Weibo platform updated its singer charts.

Xu Shuang had officially entered the ranks of second-tier singers.

In fact, judging by her past achievements, Xu Shuang had already met the criteria for a second-tier singer five years ago.

However, the evaluation standards back then were not as well-established. The outside world had simply used vague terms like "The Four Little Dan Actresses" and "Genius Newcomer" without strict tier classifications, leaving Xu Shuang off the official charts entirely.

Following her comeback and the release of her new single, the Weibo platform re-evaluated her based on her past accomplishments and finally included her on the chart.

As for Su Chen, following the revelation of Tang Guo's true identity, official Weibo updated the songwriter charts by merging his two personas.

Previously, thanks to the two songs he wrote for Jiang Yan that surged into the Top 3 of the Billboard, Su Chen had already secured a spot on the Silver-tier Songwriter chart.

With the merger of his two accounts, the official Weibo platform now directly displayed Su Chen in the Gold-tier Songwriter list.

Clicking on his name revealed detailed information:

Su Chen (Tang Guo): Gold-tier Songwriter, 2023 Songwriting Chart Rookie of the Year, 2023 Huaxia Golden Melody Awards Best Songwriter (God of Composition).

Behind each title was a detailed record of the reasons for making the list, along with the names of his award-winning songs.

In an instant, Su Chen became the hottest figure in the industry.

"Look! The 'Rock Giant' Lü Fenghua has followed Su Chen."

"Not just him, even the 'Queen of Love Songs' Tan Zhen! Too many people have followed Su Chen these past few days, I'm completely numb to it!"

"Hahaha, could they all be wanting Su Chen to write songs for them? Has my 'God Su' really become this famous?"

"......"

Some of Su Chen's fans had even begun to refer to him as "God Su."

On Weibo.

Originally, Tang Guo had over one million followers, while Su Chen had more than two million.

Following the merger, the new account boasted over 3.8 million followers.

Over the past few days, not only had the number of ordinary netizens following him surged, but a considerable number of industry singers had also successively followed Su Chen.

This served as side evidence of Su Chen's formidable strength!

Looking back at his past accomplishments starting from *White Fox*, not a single song he released failed to chart.

And these songs had been created in a span of just half a year.

What did this mean?

It meant super-extraordinary talent and a continuous, inexhaustible ability to create.

In the current songwriting circle, there was simply no one else at the Gold-tier or above who could maintain such consistent, high-quality output.

Therefore, in a certain sense, in the eyes of those singers, Su Chen was even more important than a Hall-of-Fame songwriter.

Hall-of-Fame songwriters were few in number, and even more of them had laid down their pens in retirement.

However, as a Gold-tier songwriter, Su Chen could continuously output quality work. Judging by this trajectory, achieving Hall-of-Fame status was merely a matter of time.

Thus, nothing was more cost-effective than befriending an up-and-coming Hall-of-Fame songwriter.

Many singers had already begun to secretly regret not having given Su Chen a helping hand during the Golden Melody Awards ceremony.

If they had, providing timely help in his hour of need would have been far more perfect!

Still, befriending him now might not be too late.

Yet all of this left Dynasty Entertainment in a state of furious shock!

Just as Xu Shuang had said, this incident not only dealt a heavy blow and caused substantial losses to Dynasty Entertainment, but it also slapped them hard across the face.

Only, Zhao Hengyuan simply could not accept that Tang Guo and Su Chen were one and the same person.

These past few days, every time he recalled how people on his side had relentlessly hyped up Tang Guo, his face would burn with shame and enraged humiliation!

-------------------------------------

Star Orange Entertainment, General Manager's Office.

"What made you decide to expose your own identity?"

After brewing the tea, Wang Yan asked with a smile as he poured a cup for Su Chen.

Su Chen shrugged.

"You saw it too. Going back and forth in a war of words is exhausting. I'm someone who dreads trouble, so in that situation, the only way to find peace is to crush them completely in one go, otherwise it never ends."

Wang Yan didn't speak immediately, taking a small sip of his tea instead.

After setting down his teacup, he looked at Su Chen with a flickering gaze, then sighed.

"But Dynasty Entertainment wields immense power..."

"They took a loss this time, but there will be a next time, and they can afford the attrition!"

Hearing this, Su Chen looked squarely at Wang Yan, sensing that there were hidden implications in his words.

"What does Mr. Wang mean by that?"

Wang Yan hesitated for a moment.

"Su Chen, you are our company's most outstanding songwriter with limitless future prospects. I don't want to see anything happen to you!"

Su Chen stared right at him.

"Mr. Wang can speak his mind directly!"

He had known that Wang Yan's invitation today wouldn't be simple.

"What I mean is... if you hadn't exposed your identity yourself, it wouldn't have been a big deal."

"But now that you've exposed it and gone head-to-head with Dynasty, you know as well as I do that Star Orange Entertainment doesn't have much real clout right now..."

Before Wang Yan could finish, Su Chen already understood what he was getting at.

After all, Tang Guo belonged to Star Orange Entertainment. Now that everyone knew Tang Guo was Su Chen, and Su Chen was at odds with Dynasty Entertainment...

Was he worried that Su Chen's conflict with Dynasty Entertainment would implicate Star Orange?

"So, what does Mr. Wang want to do about it?"

Su Chen asked calmly.

"The board of directors' decision is that they hope you will leave. Although you are exceptionally talented, compared to a behemoth like Dynasty Entertainment, they still dare not provoke them."

However, mid-sentence, Wang Yan shifted his tone.

"Still, if you could cultivate some new talent for the company, I would have a certain degree of confidence in persuading the board to take the risk..."

Hearing this, Su Chen cast a cool glance at him and shook his head.

"Mr. Wang, the agreement we signed previously does not carry any such obligation to cultivate new talent. It clearly states in black and white that full freedom will be granted after reaching Gold-tier songwriter status, and that shouldn't be wrong, right?"

With that, Su Chen fixed his gaze directly on Wang Yan.

He thoroughly disliked this kind of bargaining and threatening tactic!

If he felt it was necessary or that he owed them something, he wouldn't mind providing a certain level of support to Star Orange Entertainment.

But if it wasn't in the contract, then it wasn't a mandatory obligation.

Now, Star Orange Entertainment was spinning this narrative as if he, Su Chen, had no choice but to seek shelter under Star Orange's wing.

"Since you all feel that Star Orange Entertainment might be targeted because of me, I respect your decision. I can leave..."

As soon as Su Chen said those words, Wang Yan panicked slightly.

"Su Chen, there's no need for us to take it to this extreme!"

"You have to understand my position; I'm under immense pressure as well."

Su Chen offered a faint smile.

"Actually, I think this is the best way forward."

Hearing this, Wang Yan's expression instantly darkened.

"Su Chen, while it wasn't my original intention, I think you're going too far."

"The fact that you used Star Orange Entertainment's channel resources to release your songs—actually, I knew about all of it, but I chose not to make an issue of it..."

Huh?

Hearing Wang Yan bring up this matter, Su Chen's expression instantly turned gloomy.