The night before the college entrance exam results were released, I redeemed my Peking University ad

The champagne tower was piled three tiers high, the table was laden with delicacies, and laughter and flattery filled the air.

Shen Yizhen, holding a wine glass, was surrounded by staff, brand representatives, and media friends, enjoying the flattery from all sides.

"Yizhen, tonight was absolutely amazing! That rendition of 'Once Upon a Time You' was definitely the highlight of the entire night!"

"We'll definitely be in the headlines tomorrow! We'll probably take two of the top three trending topics!"

"That song suits you so well, it's practically tailor-made for you!"

The investor's boss, raising his glass, grinned from ear to ear: "Yizhen, I suggest we add this song to every single one of the next twelve shows on our national tour!"

Shen Yizhen smiled and clinked glasses, her face bearing a polite, perfectly practiced smile. She humbly said, "Not at all," and "Everyone is too kind," but the pride in her eyes was impossible to hide.

This song is really good.

After he finished singing, even he felt that the song was now his.

As for the original author?

It doesn't matter.

Wang Nan was all smiles, clinking champagne glasses with the investors, her mind already racing with plans for the Golden Melody Awards at the end of the year.

Given this level of popularity, a nomination for Best Male Singer is practically guaranteed, and with a bit of luck, he could win the award and jump a whole new level in terms of status.

Future resources won't just be limited to idol dramas and variety shows.

Big screen, top endorsements, international fashion weeks... the more she thought about it, the more beautiful she became, and she couldn't help but smile.

The operations director chimed in excitedly, "Nan, look at the data! The performance clip garnered over 200 million views and gained 300,000 new followers in just one hour!"

"Three brands have already approached us about endorsement deals, all of them top-tier names!"

Wang Nan almost burst out laughing when she heard this!

Just then, someone suddenly exclaimed.

"Sister Nan! Something terrible has happened!"

The staff member in charge of public opinion suddenly screamed and rushed in, pale-faced, holding up their phone.

"Ji Bai... Ji Bai has issued a statement! He's directly exposed our copyright infringement online! It's now the number one trending topic!"

The laughter that filled the room suddenly stopped.

Shen Yizhen's smile froze. Wang Nan snatched the phone, read the statement, and her face instantly darkened.

No one expected Ji Bai to be so tough!

"He's just a high school student, where does he get his confidence?" someone muttered quietly.

Wang Nan didn't speak, her lips pressed into a thin line.

She has been an agent for fifteen years and has seen ordinary people whose rights have been violated take to Weibo to complain, send lawyer's letters, and demand compensation.

But I've never seen an eighteen-year-old boy block their escape route so completely.

Although copyright infringement isn't a major scandal in the entertainment industry, it's still not respectable to discuss it openly.

Moreover, Ji Bai's statement was written so succinctly, every point of which predicted their predictions, making the team too ashamed to even issue a statement about a "communication misunderstanding".

What's even more frightening is that their rivals might now take advantage of their misfortune.

Several negative trending topics about Shen Yizhen appeared on Weibo, and the comment section was filled with sarcastic remarks, sarcasm, and old news being rehashed.

It's unclear whether they're Ji Bai's fans or paid trolls hired by rivals, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that the hype is spiraling out of control.

Just then, Wang Nan's phone suddenly rang.

The screen displayed three words: Chairman.

The temperature inside the private room dropped several degrees instantly.

Wang Nan walked to a corner to answer the call, but before she could even say "Hello, Chairman," the other end bombarded her with questions:

"Wang Nan, are you fucking out of your mind? Who told you to mess with Ji Bai?"

Wang Nan was stunned by the criticism, feeling wronged: "He's just an ordinary high school student, isn't he? I didn't expect him to be so outspoken, daring to issue a statement directly..."

"A regular high school student???"

The chairman's voice trembled with anger: "Didn't you watch the live stream of the previous Global Mathematical Verification Conference? They even dared to confront the Secretary General of the International Mathematical Union to his face, so why would they be afraid of a mere agent like you?"

"What? The UN Secretary-General?"

Wang Nan was so startled that her hand trembled, and she almost dropped her phone.

Ji Bai even dares to criticize the UN Secretary-General?

That's the nominal head of Earth!

"What United Nations! It's the International Mathematical Union!"

The chairman almost laughed at her stupidity: "You don't even know who your opponent is, yet you dare to provoke them so casually?"

"He's a role model for young people, endorsed by the People's Daily. You're letting our company infringe on his songs? Are you trying to hasten our company's demise?"

"I don't care what method you use, just get this over with! If the authorities notice, we'll all be in deep trouble!"

After hanging up the phone, Wang Nan's legs went weak.

She quickly had her assistant pull out all of Ji Bai's information, and everyone in the room crowded around to look at it.

When everyone saw Ji Bai angrily confronting those foreigners in the Great Hall of the People, they broke out in a cold sweat.

When everyone saw Ji Bai shout, "When the youth are strong, the nation is strong," they all held their breath.

When the investors saw the excerpt from "A Young China's Voice" published in Renren Daily, they finally couldn't sit still any longer.

"Um, I suddenly remembered there's an urgent meeting at headquarters, I have to rush back tonight, you guys enjoy your meal..."

The other investors exchanged glances and almost simultaneously stood up.

"Yes, yes, I just remembered that I haven't submitted a due diligence report yet."

"My flight is early tomorrow morning, so I need to go back and pack my bags."

"Let's get together again next time, let's get together again next time."

In less than two minutes, the investors had all left.

Are you kidding me? Going against a youth role model with official backing? Do you think your project isn't stable enough?

Anyone who gets caught in this kind of mine is doomed.

The private room was mostly empty.

The celebratory banquet that was just moments ago lively and filled with toasts has now been reduced to just Shen Yizhen's core team and a table full of untouched dishes.

Shen Yizhen sat on the sofa, her smugness long gone, replaced by a deathly pale face.

Wang Nan held her phone, standing there feeling cold all over.

"Yizhen... how about we issue an apology statement?"

Shen Yizhen gritted her teeth, hesitated for a moment, and finally said:

"Why should I apologize?"

"But..." Wang Nan still felt that it was inappropriate to confront them head-on.

"There's no 'but' about it!"

Shen Yizhen interrupted him directly.

"Sister Nan, everything's going incredibly well for me!"

"I've never suffered such a huge loss in my entire life!"

"It's just a student venting, right? Hire a PR firm to suppress it, release a press release accusing him of trying to ride the wave of popularity, and his fans will tear him apart. It's no big deal!"

"Uh... okay!"

Looking at her artist's confident expression and recalling her past experiences with fan-controlled comments, Wang Nan finally nodded.

Soon, Wang Nan hired a public relations firm to write a statement, which was posted on the studio's official Weibo account.

[Shen Yizhen Studio Statement]

We have no intention of occupying public resources. Regarding the online controversy tonight concerning the copyright of the song "Once Upon a Time," we would like to issue the following statement:

We have always respected originality and attached great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights. We have conducted copyright communication in advance for all commercial performance programs and there is no subjective intention of "intentional infringement".

This afternoon, our agent contacted Mr. Ji Bai, the original author of the song, and had a friendly discussion about the song licensing. The two parties reached a preliminary verbal agreement, and we also put forward a cooperation quotation that meets industry standards.

Based on the initial confirmation of the communication results, we have arranged the song as a surprise piece for the evening's performance.

After the performance, when we contacted Mr. Ji Bai again to discuss the formal authorization, he suddenly overturned the previous communication results and made a high fee demand that far exceeded the industry market price. We deeply regret this.

We have always been committed to promoting cooperation with the utmost sincerity, and we are willing to continue to negotiate amicably with Mr. Ji Bai on copyright matters. We urge everyone to stop making unfounded speculations and not to believe or spread rumors.

……

It must be said that the PR firm they hired at a high price was indeed skilled.

In a short statement, "explicit refusal" was replaced with "friendly communication," "forced infringement" was whitewashed as "a change of heart after verbal cooperation," and "not paying a single penny" was packaged as "the other party making exorbitant demands."

With just a few words, the public opinion was swayed from "top influencer copyright infringement" to "original author demanding exorbitant prices".

Ji Bai's fans, of course, didn't buy it.

"Hilarious! A preliminary agreement? Ji Bai's exact words were 'clearly refused,' so you guys misheard 'not selling' as 'okay'? Are your ears or eyes bad?"

"Trying to raise the price on the spot? Ji Shen even turned down a tenured professorship at MIT with a multi-million dollar annual salary, why would he care about your paltry sum?"

"Verbal agreement? No written email even for discussing commercial copyright? Are you kidding me? Can verbal agreements in the entertainment industry really be considered evidence?"

……

But Shen Yizhen's fans don't care about any of that.

Press releases came one after another, with both online trolls and fans joining in.

"A pittance? Do you know how much Ji Bai wants? He just asks for five million!"

Five million? Really?

"Seriously! I have a friend who works for Shen Yizhen's team. He was initially reluctant to agree to 200,000, but after seeing the song become a hit, he immediately raised his price to 5 million!"

"That's such an unsightly way to eat!"

"Five million for a song? Why don't you just rob a bank? How can intellectuals be so greedy?"

"A math nerd can write a song with such a compelling story? He probably plagiarized it from somewhere, and he has the nerve to ask for royalties?"

"It's just singing a song, what's the big deal? Is it really necessary to go to such lengths?"

"My brother kindly helped him promote the product, but he turned around and threw a bucket of dirty water at him."

"Exactly! My brother singing his song is giving him face. Without my brother, who would even know this lousy song of his?"

"Without my brother, who would know this lousy song of his? His attempt to ride on someone else's popularity is so disgusting."

"A prodigy, huh? I think he's just desperate for fame. He doesn't even know if he deserves it."

"Still bragging about a multi-million dollar annual salary? If he's really that rich, why is he still so fixated on the copyright of a single song?"

"To put it bluntly, he's just short of money and trying to extort money from people."

"The man with the lower head!"

……

(I can't take it anymore! My hands are about to break at this hour! I downed five bottles of Shuangwaiwai in a row, and when I was halfway through the last one I realized it was expired, but I still finished it to finish writing this!)

(Shamelessly asking for a donation! So that I won't have to buy those near-expiry watermelons anymore! I promise you'll be thrilled with what follows!)