Chapter 47: Are You Free This Sunday?

The news of Su Chen’s upcoming new song spread quietly, like a gentle breeze—seemingly unnoticed on the surface, yet it circulated throughout the entire Star Orange Entertainment behind the scenes.

What followed was nothing short of madness.

In the break room, in the elevator, or simply walking down the hallway—there were always these chance encounters. Some were obviously deliberate, others tried to appear casual. Flirtation, open attempts at befriending him—he saw it all. Especially among the female trainees; some even hinted outright that they were willing to offer something more.

Su Chen couldn’t help but marvel to himself—had they learned all this before even making their debut? The entertainment industry truly was a vast dye vat!

As for those orchestrated “chance” meetings, he thought—couldn’t they at least rehearse their acting skills a bit more before trying again?

By comparison, Qin Pei was much more straightforward.

“Mr. Su, are you free this Sunday?”

When Su Chen received this message from Qin Pei, he was stunned. This was direct—almost blunt! Wasn’t this just a little too unreserved? Was it really appropriate to say something like that? She always appeared so composed and steady—clearly, appearances could be deceiving. This one sentence utterly overturned Su Chen’s impression of her.

Who was he, Su Chen? Was he the type to do such things? Without hesitation, he replied immediately:

“That’s not appropriate.”

Qin Pei: ??

Su Chen shook his head. Since you’ve already said so much, why bother being coy now?

“We’re colleagues. It’s best not to do anything that crosses the line of friendship.”

Qin Pei: ??

Beside her, her agent Guan Mei had been instructing Qin Pei to get close to Su Chen. When she saw Qin Pei’s baffled expression, she took the phone and, stifling a laugh, whispered an explanation in her ear.

After listening, Qin Pei spat in annoyance. Mr. Su seemed so kind and approachable—how could he be so improper? Taking the phone back from Guan Mei, she gritted her teeth and replied:

“This Sunday, are you available?”

“Mr. Su, I’d like to invite you to dinner.”

Seeing this message from Qin Pei, Su Chen was mortified. When did he become like this? He slapped his forehead—this was definitely Jiang Yan’s bad influence! She was always teasing him, and now he’d picked up her bad habits.

After a long internal struggle, he finally replied:

“Let’s do it another time. I’m a bit busy this week.”

Although his impression of Qin Pei was quite good, he still remained cautious with these people. Artists who had already debuted were all shrewd; if he wasn’t careful, he could easily be outmaneuvered by them.

On the other side, Qin Pei was a little disappointed when she saw his reply.

“He turned me down!”

To her surprise, Guan Mei was unfazed and just chuckled.

“Did you really think he’d accept your overture that easily? Su Chen is the hottest commodity in the company right now—everyone’s keeping an eye on him! Still, our Mr. Su does seem pretty upright!”

Qin Pei was taken aback by this. Although Su Chen’s thought process was a bit odd, his principles seemed sound—he had, at least, firmly refused her.

“Why not make a little sacrifice? After all, Mr. Su is both handsome and talented—wouldn’t be a loss!” Guan Mei teased from the side.

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It was close to noon when Su Chen finally strolled into the company building. He entered the elevator, pressed the button for the 19th floor, and just as the doors were about to close, Wu Di and Bai Dehou hurried over from outside.

“Hold on!”

Hearing Bai Dehou’s shout, Su Chen pressed the open button and waited for them to enter.

Now, these two were, in Su Chen’s eyes, just ordinary colleagues—or even strangers. The previous conflicts hadn’t cost him anything; he’d already taught them a lesson on the spot. So, he wasn’t petty enough to hold a grudge. They wouldn’t be friends, but beyond that, they were no different from anyone else.

After entering and seeing Su Chen, Bai Dehou seemed a bit awkward.

“Mr… Mr. Su!” he stammered a greeting.

Ever since Wu Di had received a warning from Wang Yan, she’d shared the news with her agent, Bai Dehou. Plus, they’d all heard about the recent events. Offending Su Chen again was absolutely out of the question.

Su Chen met their gaze and nodded slightly, saying nothing.

To be fair, these two still had some dignity. Unlike other artists, they didn’t try to ingratiate themselves. Wu Di’s attitude toward Su Chen was clear: live and let live. She didn’t bother him, and he didn’t bother her. Was there regret? Maybe a little—after all, Su Chen was now in high demand—but just a tiny bit. She had always been a rather arrogant person. In her eyes, Su Chen was still just a composer; he’d written some songs and helped a few people rise to fame.

But what was the use in currying favor with him? It was still the bosses who really mattered.

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Back at his desk, the members of Composition Department Group Two all greeted him. The new song was still undecided. After closing his eyes and thinking for a while, Su Chen half-reclined in his chair and started playing on his phone. No one dared to disturb him—if someone disrupted his inspiration, their supervisor would tear them to shreds.

Since the release of his new song on August 1st, he hadn’t logged into his Weiwave account. Now, opening it, he found thousands of red notifications—likes, follows, comments—all maxed out at 999+. He had already reached 30,000 followers! Most of the comments revealed that people had been drawn in by his first post, then became fans after listening to his music. Some had even set up fan groups for him.

He hadn’t expected this at all.

After scrolling for a while, he switched to WeChat. Although he’d muted the celebrity group chat, the unread count kept rising. His mild OCD compelled him to clear all notifications even if he didn’t intend to reply. Usually, while tapping through messages, he might say a word or two in the group, but that was rare. Often, their topics revolved around industry acquaintances—nothing he could contribute to—and the rest was just idle chatter, not worth his time.

But today, the conversation seemed to involve him.

He scrolled up and found the origin of the messages.

[Luo Zhe: Let me recommend a new song, “Boundless Seas and Sky”—it’s absolutely amazing!]

[Jiang Jing: What kind of song is it?]

[Luo Zhe: Since I’m recommending it, of course it’s rock!]

[Luo Zhe: But it’s different from other rock songs. Just listen and you’ll know!]

A few minutes later, Jiang Jing replied.

[Jiang Jing: @Luo Zhe, I listened. It’s just average—nothing special.]

This immediately riled Luo Zhe.

[Luo Zhe: What do you mean, just average? Can’t you appreciate it?]

And so, the two started bickering. In no time, there were hundreds of messages.

Su Chen couldn’t help but laugh. Luo Zhe was something else! Even though he had written the song, he didn’t expect everyone to love it. Luo Zhe’s forceful recommendations, insisting everyone praise it—what an oddball!

He thought for a moment and replied in the group:

[Su Chen: @Luo Zhe, the song may be good, but not everyone is required to like it.]

[Luo Zhe: Su Chen, you’re here! Tell me, what do you think of the song?]

Well, that was pointless. Luo Zhe completely ignored his previous message.

Clearly, he didn’t want to hear it.