Chapter 8: An Invitation from the Starstone!

After finally shaking off the vice chairman of the Jiang Province Poetry Association, Galen had just returned to the lounge when a thin, unremarkable man approached him with purpose.

"Galen! Hello! My name is Lin Ruiliang, I'm Wentao's agent! Your performance tonight was quite dazzling!" Lin Ruiliang introduced himself immediately, acting as though he and Galen were already well acquainted.

"Uh... Nice to meet you!"

Galen smiled, uncertain as to Lin Ruiliang's purpose. Since he was Wentao's agent, Galen didn't want to come off as cold.

"Come, come! Take a seat on the sofa, let's have a good chat!" Lin Ruiliang was adept at this routine, and managed to guide Galen smoothly to the sofa, though it didn't feel abrupt.

"Mr. Lin, is there something you need to discuss?" Galen asked, surprised by Lin's enthusiasm, yet wary.

Lin Ruiliang kept his composure, still smiling. "Don't just see me as Wentao's agent. We're close, you know—his friends are my friends! We're all friends here, I just came over to chat casually with you."

Galen smiled lightly. "I'm just his employee, we've only known each other for two or three days."

"Uh... Haha! That's fine, spend more time together and you'll be friends for sure!" Lin Ruiliang's laugh was awkward. He thought he had narrowed the distance, but Galen's words opened it right back up. Clearly, this young man wasn't so easily fooled.

Galen observed Lin Ruiliang, noticing his evasive gaze, as if something was weighing on him. So he cut straight to the point. "Mr. Lin, if you have something to say, just say it. No need to beat around the bush."

Lin Ruiliang let out a bitter laugh. "Alright, I'll be honest. I'm actually here representing Starstone Entertainment. We hope you'll consider joining us."

"Oh, it's about that..." Galen feigned calm, though inwardly he was overjoyed. The songs from another world seemed to be bringing him unexpected surprises. He had only performed a few, and already a company was reaching out. With time, perhaps he could become a star after all.

Lin Ruiliang smiled and patted Galen's shoulder. "Don't worry. The company may be new, but we have plenty of resources. Right now, Wentao is our only artist. If you sign with us, we'll focus all our efforts on building your career!"

"Let me think about it first," Galen scratched his head, pretending to be troubled. "Do you have a contract I can look over? I'd like to study it at home."

Signing such a major deal, Galen wasn't sure how to proceed. He worried about being taken advantage of.

Besides, Starstone was just starting out; he had no idea what resources or connections they had. He needed to investigate thoroughly.

And with so many works from another world at his disposal, he had to negotiate terms carefully.

"I don’t have the contract on me right now. How about this: come early tomorrow, I’ll bring it for you to review. If anything doesn’t fit, we can discuss it then," Lin Ruiliang said, pleased—there was hope.

Though he wanted to sign Galen and build him into a true singer-songwriter, his colleague Shili thought signing him just to write songs for the company would work too, and Galen was young; some experience wouldn’t hurt.

"Alright, let’s talk tomorrow," Galen nodded, not thinking too much of it.

Just then, Wentao entered the lounge carrying a bag filled with over a dozen boxed meals, spreading them out across the table—a feast.

"Come eat!" Wentao called, and Wu Yusheng and the others flocked over; they were waiting to get paid and settle accounts, so none had left after their performances.

Lin Ruiliang seized the chance, pulling Galen along. "Let’s grab a bite! You must be starving after tonight!"

"I'm fine," Galen replied with a smile.

Just then, his phone rang in his pocket. It was Cai Fei calling. Galen remembered that Cai Fei and his group had been in the audience all night; he hadn’t greeted them, and wondered if they’d gone home.

"Hello, Cai! Did you leave already?"

"Leave? We’re waiting for you! You finished singing, right? How late are you working?" Cai Fei shouted impatiently.

"Uh... Alright, I’ll tell Brother Wen and head out now!"

After hanging up, Galen saw Wentao approaching him, likely having overheard.

"What’s up? Something going on?" Wentao asked.

"Yeah," Galen nodded. "A few friends came to the bar tonight, they're waiting outside for me."

"Oh? Your friends came too?" Wentao smiled. "Next time, just let Manager Kang know when your friends come. He can bring them in—no need to waste money on tickets!"

"Haha, will do!" Galen accepted. "Well, Brother Wen, I’ll head out!"

"Wait!" Wentao pulled out a stack of red envelopes, selected one, and handed it to Galen. "Here, this is your tip for tonight! Come early tomorrow!"

"Thanks, Brother Wen!" Galen nodded, greeted Wu Yusheng and the others, and left the bar.

He exited through the back, circled to the front entrance. There were still plenty of people outside—bar patrons lingering late—but he saw no sign of Cai Fei.

"Galen, over here!" came a shout. Galen looked toward the sound and saw an MPV pulling up, with Wang Qilin leaning out from the front passenger seat.

Galen hurried over, opened the door, and climbed in.

Seeing Cai Fei driving, Galen joked, "Cai, where’d you get the car? Do you even have a license?"

"Of course I do!" Cai Fei replied, though not entirely confident. "Get in quick. You must have made a good haul tonight, right? The guys haven’t eaten yet—how about barbecue?"

"Sure!" Galen squeezed the red envelope in his pocket; tonight, he’d have to treat.

He noticed only the three of them were in the car and asked, "Hey, where are the others?"

"We dropped them off! Came back round to pick you up," Cai Fei said.

"How’d you know I was still here?" Galen felt a warmth in his heart—these two really were good friends.

"We called you as we were driving by, then swung in," Wang Qilin explained. "By the way, did you download that movie for me?"

"What movie?" Galen began, then remembered the 32GB memory card. He slapped his forehead. "I forgot! I’ll get it to you another day."

"You... Never mind, just don’t forget!" Wang Qilin said.

Galen suddenly recalled something and asked curiously, "Didn’t you go out with that girl you like tonight? Didn’t work out?"

"It worked out!" Wang Qilin said proudly. "But I wanted you to download the movie so I could watch and learn!"

"Damn!" Galen couldn’t help but laugh. "You’re something else!"

The three chose a barbecue restaurant not far from home. At this hour, street vendors had packed up, so this was their only option.

Cai Fei and Wang Qilin didn’t hold back, ordering a whole roast lamb leg and piles of grilled fish.

Luckily, the prices weren’t too steep, but even so, it cost over a thousand.

Full and satisfied, the trio headed home.

Galen glanced at his still disconnected internet, checked the downloads of products from the other world, and happily collapsed into bed.

The next morning at nine, Galen got up and saw the internet had returned, and sighed in relief.

He noticed, however, that clicking some floating ads on webpages led him to sites that were all 404.

He wasn’t sure if the outage caused this, but it made him increasingly uneasy.

So he spent the entire morning downloading frantically.

By noon, Galen was both tired and hungry. Unable to persevere, he ate a packet of instant noodles and went back to sleep.

He slept until five.

Just after he got up and finished washing, Cai Fei and Wang Qilin returned.

Like Galen, they’d stayed up late the night before, but oddly, neither seemed sleepy. Instead, they excitedly surrounded Galen.

"Galen, you’re about to be famous, you know?" Cai Fei exclaimed.

"Uh, famous? I don’t see how," Galen replied, baffled. It had only been one night—surely not.

"Someone uploaded videos of your original songs from last night. They’ve got several hundred views already!" Wang Qilin said, pulling out his phone to show Galen.

"Uh... Several hundred..." Galen couldn’t help but smile wryly. If it were several million, maybe he’d be famous. Several hundred? What a joke!

He took the phone and glanced at it—the videos were indeed of his singing last night, but the views were scant. Far from famous, not even known.

But brothers were like that, happy for any achievement.

After some banter, Galen slung his guitar and left home.

Thinking about his meeting with Lin Ruiliang to discuss signing with Starstone, Galen skipped the subway and caught a cab to Wenzi Bar.

He walked in to find Wentao, sleepily sitting behind the bar—clearly just up.

"Brother Wen!" Galen greeted, taking a seat at the bar.

Wentao looked up, surprised. "Why are you here so early?"

"I told him to come early!" Lin Ruiliang’s voice came from the doorway. He entered, carrying a large bag of buns.

"Fresh Qinfeng buns, here, Galen, have some!" Lin Ruiliang placed the buns on the bar.

After everyone had eaten their fill, Lin Ruiliang took a folder from behind the bar, pulled out several sheets of A4 paper, and handed them to Galen. "Here’s the contract—take a look!"

"Alright," Galen wiped his hands with a napkin and took the contract.

Wentao laughed and asked, "The company wants to sign Galen?"

"Yes," Lin Ruiliang nodded, smiling, though a faint trace of embarrassment flickered in his eyes.

Wentao noticed it. Having known Lin for a while, this was the first time he’d seen Lin Ruiliang smile so sheepishly.

He couldn’t help joking, "Brother Liang, Galen’s my guy. What terms is your company offering him?"

"Well..." Lin Ruiliang’s expression changed slightly, laughing awkwardly. "Let him read it himself."