SED Chapter 8: Goodwill from Old Zhang
Chapter 8: Goodwill from Old Zhang
There were very few private rooms on the second floor of the restaurant under the tree. Usually, only friends within Zhang Minghao's circle would be entertained in the private rooms.
As soon as he entered, Liu Zixia was startled, thinking he had entered the wrong place.
This private room didn’t look like a place for dining at all; it looked more like a music stage. Except for the sofa and coffee table on the left side, there were musical instruments everywhere: guitars, basses, drums...
If it weren't for the dining table on the left side of the room, with seven or eight steaming hot dishes on it, Liu Zixia would have thought he had come to some bar in Houhai, Beijing.
“Mr. Liu, have a seat, make yourself at home!” Zhang Minghao went straight to the dining table and sat down, gesturing for Liu Zixia to sit wherever he liked. He even specially moved out a child seat from the corner and lifted little Yueyue into it.
“Mr. Liu, may I ask what you do for a living?” After they were seated, Zhang Minghao was the first to start the conversation.
While helping little Yueyue with some food, Liu Zixia replied, “Me? I just graduated from university. Right now, I'm a jobless stay-at-home dad.”
Zhang Minghao first looked Liu Zixia up and down in surprise, then he understood.
Nowadays, there were more and more young people having children before marriage. A university graduate with such a big daughter, it made sense he’d be staying home with her.
“Which university did you graduate from?” Zhang Minghao asked.
“Huaji,” Liu Zixia replied casually.
“Huaji!” Zhang Minghao's eyes lit up. “Mr. Liu, I didn’t expect we’d be alumni! I graduated from Huaji in 2005, majoring in drama and film performance.”
“Boss Zhang, we’re not just alumni, we’re fellow apprentices!” Liu Zixia laughed. It really was a small world.
“Hahaha, what a coincidence, it’s fate!” Zhang Minghao also laughed heartily. “Brother Liu, let’s drop the formalities. I’m a few years older than you. If you don’t mind, call me Brother Hao, and I’ll call you Brother Liu, how about that?”
“If I were to be overly polite now, that would be hypocritical!” Liu Zixia raised his teacup. “Brother Hao, I toast to you with tea instead of wine, to our first meeting!”
“Good, I’ll drink this tea!” Zhang Minghao also raised his teacup and drank it all in one gulp.
“Daddy, Daddy, I finished mine too!” Little Yueyue, watching eagerly, also raised her small teacup and drank it all.
“Yueyue, drink slowly!” Liu Zixia, both amused and exasperated, wiped Yueyue’s mouth. “Brother Hao, your restaurant is quite interesting!”
“Haha, after working in the entertainment industry for a few years, I wanted to take a break.” Zhang Minghao scooped a bowl of egg custard for Yueyue and shook his head. “Originally, I wanted to open a bar, but some friends said bars are too noisy, so I made this restaurant. To be precise, it should be called a 'restaurant-bar'.”
“That makes sense. This environment is much quieter than a bar.” Liu Zixia nodded.
“Yes.” Zhang Minghao said, “Brother, the song you sang just now, it’s an original, right? What's the title?”
“'Just Happened to Meet You,' it is indeed an original,” Liu Zixia thought for a moment and added, “I wrote it specifically for Yueyue.”
So it was an original song!
A look of understanding flashed in Zhang Minghao’s eyes. “Brother, you’re really something! So young, and you can write and sing, and your song sounds so good. To be honest, I haven’t seen such a talented young person in years.”
“Brother Hao, you’re joking. You’re a senior in the industry, you’ve heard many good songs over the years. I was just singing casually.” Liu Zixia was very modest.
“Don’t underestimate yourself!” Zhang Minghao waved his hand repeatedly. “If you upload this song to Penguin Music, I bet the subscription count will hit at least a hundred thousand in 24 hours!”
“Is it that exaggerated?” Liu Zixia blinked, a bit stunned.
Penguin Music is an online music platform under the WeChat Group.
As one of the top fifty companies in the world, the WeChat Group’s business spans various industries, including WeChat communication, used by 80% of the world’s population.
With its massive user base, Penguin Music has almost monopolized the market worldwide. You can find Penguin Music wherever there are people. As long as you have a WeChat account, you can listen to, download, and upload songs on Penguin Music.
Of course, not all music on Penguin Music is free. There are two modes:
One is the free mode, where the music is a truncated version and the sound quality is poor. The other is the paid mode, where listening to or downloading music costs one yuan but the music is full-length and of lossless quality.
A hundred thousand subscriptions may sound like a lot, but for Penguin Music, with its vast user base, it’s just a drop in the bucket.
Originally, Liu Zixia had planned to upload a few songs to earn subscription fees from Penguin Music.
However, Penguin Music’s subscription fee settlement cycle is one month. Liu Zixia needed to get the money quickly, so he had to pass on that idea.
“Of course!” Zhang Minghao nodded. “This is a conservative estimate. Why not give it a try?”
Liu Zixia thought for a moment and said, “Brother Hao, to upload music to Penguin Music, you need two versions. With my current situation, I can only upload the free version. Let’s wait on this.”
“Alright, think it over yourself.” Zhang Minghao said, “By the way, have you registered the copyright for this song?”
Liu Zixia shook his head. “No, I just created it. I haven’t had time to register it with the copyright association!”
“Pfft!” Zhang Minghao spat out a mouthful of tea. “What did you say? This song is freshly written?”
“Yeah!” Liu Zixia nodded naturally.
“No way, brother!” Zhang Minghao was shocked. “Your song 'Just Happened to Meet You' beats all the current hit songs, and it’s just been created! No, no, wait, I’m getting my computer. You need to register the copyright right now.”
With that, Zhang Minghao rushed out of the room.
It’s no wonder Zhang Minghao was so anxious. In this world, copyright awareness is very strong, and there is no piracy because the laws here are very harsh on pirates. At worst, they’re fined heavily; at best, they’re looking at spending the rest of their lives in prison.
Of course, no piracy doesn’t mean no stealing songs, scripts, novels... If someone hears or sees your work and you haven't registered it, you’re out of luck.
These matters are first come, first served. Whoever registers it first owns it, and there’s no arguing about it. That’s why Zhang Minghao was so eager.
Little Yueyue, who was eating pudding, saw Zhang Minghao leave suddenly and tilted her head to ask, “Daddy, where did Uncle Zhang go? There’s still so much delicious food. Isn’t he eating?”
Liu Zixia wiped the little one’s mouth and said, “Uncle will be back soon. Yueyue, eat slowly.”
“Mm-hmm, Daddy, you eat too!” Yueyue smiled, her eyes forming little crescents.
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