15: Chapter 15 I Don't Want to Go to Work Victoria's Secret Show

Recently, Daniel has declined many jobs for Chen Mo, spending almost 24 hours immersed in an ocean of emails, but it is not over yet.

"Do you know how many rejection emails I have to write?" Daniel asked, with dark circles under his eyes.

Chen Mo said with feigned seriousness: "That is your job."

"Are you really not going to do any variety shows? These are all very popular!" Daniel said painfully.

Chen Mo spread his hands and said: "Don't you think I'm popular enough right now? Daniel, although it is tiring, think about your year-end bonus. Alright, I'm going to write songs."

"I hate you!" Daniel wailed.

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow: "Thanks."

"Ah!!!"

Martha shouted from upstairs: "Where did that groundhog come from! God!"

Chen Mo chuckled.

In mid-November in Los Angeles, the air began to float with a caramel-scented restlessness.

Universal Music.

Scott held a data report in his hand, his expression looking like he was both excited and constipated.

"Chen," Scott slammed the report on the table, shaking the potted plant three times, "Do you know how many people want to interview you now? Rolling Stone, Time, Jimmy Fallon, Ellen... The list is long enough to run three laps around my office."

Chen Mo sat opposite him, holding a cup of water, sipping it slowly, and said: "So what?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Scott widened his eyes, "So you have to go! Take advantage of the heat and milk this wave of traffic dry! You are a quasi-top-tier star now, do you understand? The kind of level where you get asked for autographs on the street and get secretly filmed while drinking coffee!"

"Not going." Chen Mo put down the water cup, his tone annoyingly calm, "I don't like going on TV to chat about gossip. They'll only ask me 'Were you very poor when you were a kid?' or 'What do you think of Bieber?', boring."

"This is work! This is a necessary means to consolidate your status!" Scott was anxious and started counting with his fingers, "I'll pay you double the appearance fee! If you go to Ellen, her sofa is comfortable to sit on, and you can even hug a baby elephant!"

Chen Mo was unmoved and said: "I think before winning an award, there is no need to accept interviews or go on variety shows. I have enough heat right now."

Scott wanted to throw his pen in anger, but looking at Chen Mo's eyes, he deflated again.

This kid is too steady; he has to trust him.

"Fine, fine." Scott compromised, putting on a shady businessman's smile, "Then let's try a different path. Since you don't want to be on TV, let's do something 'high-end'. Christmas is coming, you know the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, right?"

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow: "You want me to walk the catwalk in Victoria's Secret?"

"Screw you!" Scott scolded with a smile, "You're a guest performer! Last year's viewership exceeded ten million! Global live broadcast! If you can sing a song in front of those supermodels, your name can be directly carved onto the pillar of shame... oh no, the pillar of honor for 'Global Superstars'!"

Chen Mo lowered his head and thought about it.

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

The focus of the whole world.

If he released a new song at this time, or re-arranged a previous song, the effect would indeed be more powerful than running ten talk shows.

"What song?" Chen Mo asked.

"I had A&R organize a few candidates, all of them... sexy, hot, suitable for a lingerie show." Scott quickly handed over a USB drive.

Chen Mo took it, threw it on the table casually, and suddenly thought of something and said: "I have an idea."

"What idea?"

"Merge 'Stressed Out' and 'Believer', and add some Christmas bell sounds." Chen Mo said very casually, "Or, just do a cover, a cover of a song no one would dare to think of."

Scott was stunned and frowned: "A cover? Now? Covering someone else's song while you're hot? Are you crazy? The copyright fees are very expensive! And what if it flops..."

"It won't flop." Chen Mo smiled, a flash of craftiness in his eyes, "I want to cover 'All I Want for Christmas Is You', but I'm not singing Mariah's version."

"Then whose version are you singing?"

"My own version." Chen Mo stood up and picked up his jacket, "I want to sing it as a zombie song about not wanting to go to work. Everyone wants to be on vacation for Christmas, no one wants to hear you sing 'How much I want you', so I want to sing 'I just want a vacation, don't email me'."

Scott opened his mouth, unable to close it for a long time, and finally said: "You're really something."

This angle was too tricky, too Chen Mo.

The living room of The Cooper Home, blatant.

Chen Mo was holding that old guitar, trying a few chords.

Daniel rushed in, waving a schedule in his hand. Although he was tired every day, he had gained a circle of weight.

"Chen! Victoria's Secret Fashion Show! Global live broadcast! We need to prepare! Costumes, styling, rehearsals! And that cover, the copyright has been negotiated, but the other party requires that 70% of the original melody must be retained, no crazy modifications!"

"Got it." Chen Mo plucked the strings, making a series of messy notes, "Tell the stylist, I'm not wearing those sequined suits, they're too ugly."

"Then what are you wearing?" Daniel was frantic, "That's the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show! You have to look like a prince!"

Chen Mo thought for a moment and said: "Casual, like someone who doesn't want to go to work."

Daniel: "... I'm speechless."

Backstage at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, it was as messy as a pot of boiling rice balls.

The air was filled with the mixed scent of hairspray, perfume, and plastic from high heels.

It really didn't smell good.

Chen Mo sat in the dressing room, letting the stylist paint and smudge his face.

A crisp sound of high heels hitting the ground came from next door, and the door was pushed open.

A blonde model wearing angel wings and a hot body poked her head in, curiously looking at Chen Mo.

"Hi, Chen?" The girl smiled, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, "I'm Alessandra."

Chen Mo looked at her through the mirror and nodded: "Hey."

"Your songs are amazing!" Alessandra walked in and sat on the table next to him without shyness, "I listen to 'Believer' every time I go to the gym, it makes me want to punch my coach."

"That might be my problem." Chen Mo said with a smile.

"Hey, I heard you're going to cover Mariah's song?" Alessandra blinked, "That's her signature, aren't you afraid of being scolded to death by her fans?"

"Scared." Chen Mo shrugged, "So I changed it, that way even if they scold, they are scolding me for destroying traditional culture, not for plagiarism."

Alessandra was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, reached out and said: "I like you, you're different from those greasy male singers. Good luck, don't trip over your high heels later."

"I'll try."

Stage side curtain.

Chen Mo was wearing an all-black silhouette suit, as clean as if he were attending a funeral.

Offstage, tens of thousands of spectators, thousands of supermodels in lingerie, and tens of millions of live viewers globally.

The host announced: "Next, let's welcome, this superstar who blew up the US with 'Timber' — Chen Mo!"

Chen Mo took a deep breath and walked onto the stage.

The spotlight hit him.

The prelude sounded.

Completely different from the cheerful, jingling bell sound of the original song.

Depressive, low piano Dun—Dun—Dun—

The whole audience was in an uproar.

Is this horror movie soundtrack? Right?

Chen Mo held the microphone, stood in the center of the stage, and looked at the rows of long legs offstage with cold eyes.

"All I want for Christmas is you..."

He opened his mouth, his voice low and hoarse, without a trace of joy, even carrying a kind of resentment of "being forced to work".

The supermodels offstage looked at each other.

This... what kind of move is this? They didn't understand, but they were deeply shocked.

But soon, people discovered that this "depressed" version of the performance actually had a strange magic.

When singing "I don't want a lot for Christmas...", Chen Mo even made a gesture of spreading his hands, as if saying "I can't help it either".

The emotion of resonance for all workers in the world appeared explosively.

The live broadcast bullet comments exploded instantly.

[Holy crap! Is this a Christmas song? This is a song about not wanting to go to work!]

[Too cool! This is the Christmas I want! Refuse to revel!]

[Chen Mo, you truly understand the workers!]

Halfway through the song, Chen Mo suddenly pointed the microphone at the audience.

Tens of thousands of spectators, following that heavy, oppressive melody, shouted in unison: "All I want for Christmas is you!!!"

Deafening.

A single lyric released all the pressure of a year of work.

The performance ended.

Chen Mo bowed and left the stage.

Backstage, Scott rushed up, excited and incoherent: "Chen! Did you see it! Twitter exploded! The Ins server crashed! Your 'don't want to work' meme has gone viral all over the US! Now everyone is saying this is the coolest Christmas cover in history!"

Chen Mo took the towel, wiped his sweat, and said with a smile: "That's good, didn't embarrass Santa Claus."

"Embarrass?" Scott laughed so hard his mouth was crooked, "You are Santa Claus now! Sponsors are lining up to give you money! Dior called just now, saying they want you to be the global ambassador! And Apple Music, they want to invite you to shoot an advertisement!"

"Accept the endorsement," Chen Mo said while drinking water, "Also, don't arrange too many activities. I still have to write songs."

"Write! Write whatever you want! As long as it's written by you, even shit can be sold!" Scott had lost his mind at this moment.

Chen Mo said speechlessly: "You're too crude."

Returning to The Cooper Home, it was already late at night.

Martha was still waiting in the living room, and the re-run of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was playing on the TV.

"Chen," Martha pointed to Chen Mo on the TV, "Your expression looks like you were kidnapped to sing."

"Pretty much, Mrs. Cooper." Chen Mo slumped on the sofa, feeling like his bones were about to fall apart, "Tens of thousands of high heels staring at me, the pressure is huge."

"I told you, being a star is hard." Martha brought him a cup of hot milk, "Drink this, it calms the nerves. By the way, that beautiful blonde seems interested in you."

"Maybe!" Chen Mo drank some milk, winked at Martha, and asked, "Where is Mr. Cooper?"

"In the garage listening to your song." Martha said with a smile, "He said your cover version makes him want to tear down the Christmas tree, but he likes it very much."

Chen Mo laughed. He took out his phone and looked at the data on the screen.

The number of followers has risen by a large margin.

Among the top ten trending topics, six were about him.

Quasi-top-tier?

For the next five years, he won't stop, and this sentence means —

He, Chen Mo, will become that insurmountable mountain.

The global live broadcast of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, the gaze of tens of millions of people, and countless souls who didn't want to go to work roaring along with him.

This feeling is much better than chatting on TV.

"Chen," Martha was tidying up the cups and asked suddenly, "Now that you're so popular, will you move out? Move into Beverly Hills?"

Chen Mo closed his eyes, shook his head, and said: "Don't want to move."

"Why?"

"Because there is free lunch here."

Martha laughed, patted his head gently, and said: "I sewed a blanket for you, I took it to the church to be consecrated, take it with you when you go on business trips, it has God's blessing."

"It should be, it has Mrs. Cooper's love." Chen Mo said.

Martha joked: "You are too good at pleasing people, I don't know how many girls you will deceive in the future."

Outside the window, the night sky of Los Angeles could not see the stars, but Chen Mo knew that at this moment, countless screens were lit up, and countless people were listening to his songs.

That's enough.

He turned over and buried his face in the sofa cushion.

Have to get up early to go to school tomorrow.

Even if you are a top-tier star, you still have to take final exams.