206: Signing a contract

Lu Qingyu: "Since there are no objections, let's draft the contract. Since Mr. Kane Bailey is here today, we can have him act as our witness."

William and Monica's smiles were practically splitting their faces; this was exactly what they wanted. They were even worried that Lu Qingyu might back out later.

The contract was ready in less than ten minutes. Both parties signed it, and the bet officially took effect.

Looking at the contract in his hand, William felt as though victory was already his, as if he weren't holding a few pieces of paper, but assets worth nearly ten billion.

"Mr. Lu, I look forward to your performance."

William stood up and left the charity auction venue with Monica. Having achieved his goal for the day, he saw no reason to stay.

After William left, Moray, standing beside Kane Bailey, couldn't help but ask, "Dad, you didn't seem to agree with the bet before. Why did you change your mind? What did Lu whisper in your ear?"

Speaking of which, Kane Bailey couldn't help but look at the young man before him. There were no flowery words, just a simple, unadorned statement: he knew how to make money.

In the eyes of an economist, "knowing how to make money" and "being able to make money" are two different things.

Those who know how to make money have brains and think strategically; those who are able to make money rely more on hard work.

Kane Bailey: "Lu, what do you plan to do next?"

Lu Qingyu stretched lazily. "There's no rush for that."

Lu Qingyu already had a plan in mind. He had decided on the movies he wanted to film, but he didn't intend to release them one by one. Instead, he planned to film all the movies scheduled for this year first and then release them back-to-back.

Based on his experience, if his movies started making money and William and the others developed a sense of crisis, they would certainly not let his film projects proceed so smoothly.

Once he finished filming all the works, wouldn't earning two billion be easy? He intended to sweep through the European and American entertainment markets.

Furthermore, judging by today's situation, although William was the one who stepped forward, the way everyone else was eyeing him like prey told him that more than one person was plotting against him.

So, this time, he had to give them a profound lesson so they wouldn't dare touch him again.

Su Jixing felt his blood boiling. He knew he was about to embark on another big venture with Lu Qingyu.

On the way back, Su Jixing took the opportunity to open an Instagram account for Lu Qingyu.

This Instagram account was important as an online promotional tool. Even Kane Bailey had one, so their boss should have one too.

Su Jixing used the newly registered Instagram account to post some film and television promotions on Lu Qingyu's behalf.

Seeing Su Jixing fiddling with Instagram for him, he remembered that he hadn't logged into Weibo for a long time.

Upon logging into Weibo, he was overwhelmed; his inbox, comment section, and private messages were all exploding.

Lu Qingyu hadn't checked Weibo in the month or so he'd been abroad and rarely followed domestic news, so he had no idea what had happened.

Curiously, Lu Qingyu clicked on the messages, only to see the screen filled with "Please."

[Little Brother, can you participate in King of Singers? Can you come and save the show?]

[It's so embarrassing, so embarrassing. Six episodes in, and we're still being crushed by the foreign contestants.]

[I'm seriously over it. These song choices are either unsuitable for competition or just plain awful.]

[Little Brother, we believe in your strength. Why don't you go up and give it a try?]

Nine out of ten messages were asking Lu Qingyu to participate in King of Singers.

Lu Qingyu hadn't even heard of this show yet.

"Brother Su, do you know about the show King of Singers?"

Su Jixing thought for three seconds upon hearing the name and then said, "It's a domestic competitive music variety show. The production team sent us an invitation before, but I turned it down because we were coming abroad."

Lu Qingyu read the messages and felt that this variety show was quite unusual.

"Is there anything special about this variety show?"

Su Jixing: "The quality of its first five seasons was exceptionally high. They invited all the heavyweights of the domestic music scene, who delivered many brilliant performances. For the latest season, besides domestic singers, they also invited two foreigners, but it seems our people haven't been performing very well."

Lu Qingyu: "By 'not very well,' you mean..."

Su Jixing: "They're being somewhat crushed."

Lu Qingyu: I figured as much.

Su Jixing leaned closer to Lu Qingyu and was surprised to see the messages on his phone. "Whoa, you actually have so many messages."

"Boss, everyone has high hopes for you. Why don't you go back and give it a try?"

If he were in the country, he might consider it. But now that he was abroad, participating in a variety show would require coordinating rehearsals, song selection, and so on—it would be too much of a time-waster.

Su Jixing: "The director of King of Singers has sent me six invitations already."

Lu Qingyu: "Which episode is the show on now?"

Su Jixing: "The sixth episode just finished airing."

Lu Qingyu: ...So they've invited me for every single episode.

To be honest, Su Jixing really wanted Lu Qingyu to participate in the show. On one hand, it could prove his strength and gain popularity; on the other hand, Su Jixing also felt it was embarrassing to be crushed by foreigners in their own country.

Opening his email, he saw that King of Singers had indeed sent another invitation. Su Jixing couldn't help but sigh at the director's persistence.

But unfortunately, Su Jixing still replied with a rejection.

However, to his surprise, Lu Qingyu changed his mind the next day.

After Lu Qingyu opened his Instagram account, domestic netizens flocked to follow him. Combined with the attention from many foreign stars, Lu Qingyu's followers surged to eight million within two days.

Nearly six million were domestic netizens, while the remaining two million were foreign. The foreign netizens' impression of Lu Qingyu was as the owner of Magic Paradise, an investor in avatar, and the Producer of game of thrones—the categories of singer and actor weren't even on their radar.

Seeing that Lu Qingyu had opened an Instagram account, domestic netizens came there to plead with him to join King of Singers.

[Little Brother, the time has come to bring glory to our country. Please come back quickly.]

[In my heart, Lu Qingyu is a top star. His music is better than any foreigner's.]

[I bet that if Little Brother is willing to come back and participate in King of Singers, those foreigners will have to step aside.]

[Why do Longguo people love to brag so much? Don't they feel guilty when they boast like that?]

[King of Singers claims to gather the best singers in Longguo, but in my opinion, it's just mediocre. Any random singer from our country sings better than them.]

Then, Chinese and foreign netizens started arguing, and the comment section became a heated battlefield.

They even pushed Lu Qingyu onto the hot search topics, making him a target of collective ridicule for a time.