Chapter Thirty-One Refusal?

  "This kid... looks like he's in a good mood..." Kawashima thought to himself as he watched Zhou Xiao hug his guitar and sing at Gao Yuan Temple Station. A person's emotions can indeed be revealed through their music, especially when that person is singing for themselves rather than intentionally performing."

  It's just...the audience's reaction to his performance returned to what it was a few days ago.

  No one listened to his singing, nor did anyone want to stop and listen. The young man's voice echoed in the subway station, adding a hint of loneliness.

  Even Kawashima, who had some prejudice against him at first, couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic towards him after listening to his two songs.

  His demeanor was fine, his hairstyle and face were quite good-looking, and he looked very comfortable. However, his clothes looked old at first glance, and Kawashima suspected that they hadn't been washed in a while. Although the boy took care of himself well, it was inevitable that there would be some dirt on him. Moreover, his guitar - even with Kawashima's amateurish discerning ability, he could easily tell that this guitar had changed hands many times before reaching the boy. Although the boy must have been taking good care of it, the sound quality still couldn't help but show some signs of wear and tear.

  "This kid... doesn't seem like an easy one..." Kawashima thought to himself.

  Zhou Xiao's singing has been going on, but today's situation doesn't look too good. He sang for almost an hour, and the money in the guitar case can be counted on one hand. This little bit of money isn't even enough to buy a box of Golden Throat lozenges after finishing his performance.

  "Or... not sing anymore?" Zhou Xiao couldn't help but think after singing another song. Anyway, he wasn't in a hurry to make money now, and for him, occasionally making 40,000 yuan was much better than making just a few hundred yuan like today.

  This idea has been growing rapidly since its emergence, but on the other hand, there is also a voice that keeps reminding him: "Without accumulating hundreds of dollars for an hour, how can you possibly encounter a song worth tens of thousands of dollars? What if someone else throws away all their money in just a little while?"

  Although he didn't think this would happen in his heart, Zhou Xiao still didn't move, continuing to sing, only gradually changing his mindset: "How much longer do we have to live like this? When can we make a big kill, transform into a human bulldozer and reach the pinnacle of life?" And when this change in mindset was reflected in the song, it was easily captured by Kawashima.

  "What's wrong with this kid, why is his mood suddenly bad again? Won't he just sing for a bit and then leave? Ah, why hasn't big sister come yet?" Kawashima kept looking at his watch, worried.

  Tokyo is indeed a huge city, and the place where Kōtoku-in Temple is located is basically in the center of Tokyo. However, Kawashima-san's older sister was working at a music studio in a relatively remote area of Tokyo today. At this moment, she was stuck in traffic... This is why this big star occasionally takes the subway. Sometimes, taxis running on the road are much slower than subways, which is quite embarrassing.

  After singing for an hour and a half, looking at the few coins in the guitar case that had not changed at all compared to half an hour ago, Zhou Xiao finally lost his patience, somewhat helplessly putting the guitar back in its case. It was almost noon by then, so Zhou Xiao decided to go out and eat something casually before heading home to continue writing.

  "Oh no, oh no...... Big sister, big sister, why haven't you come yet?" Kawashima had been waiting for over an hour and was getting restless like an ant on a hot pot. Since a few songs ago, Kawashima had felt Zhou Xiao's impatience and knew that this young man could leave at any time to go somewhere else. Given the fact that it had almost been a week since he last came here, Kawashima didn't know when he would be able to meet him again next time. Kawashima had already called Big Sister twice, but she kept repeating "I'll be there soon, I'll be there soon", yet until now, her figure had not appeared at the subway entrance."

  Watching the boy about to pack up and leave, Kawashima made a helpless choice, he put away his phone and walked up!

  He didn't want to do this at all, because the host hasn't arrived yet, and it would be much easier for his older sister who gave him all the money a few days ago to make things clear. But as for him, this kid doesn't even know who he is, so the result will likely be an outright rejection.

  Normally, being rejected is nothing unusual for a talent scout, but this person was someone his sister valued highly, and he didn't want to mess everything up.

  But he thought he had to go up no matter how reluctant he was, tidied up his clothes, and walked towards the guitar boy with a slight tension.

  "Wait, wait!" Kawashima went up.

  Zhou Xiao had already packed his bags with a sense of regret and was about to leave when he was stopped by a sudden voice. Turning around, he saw someone he didn't recognize.

  "What's up?" asked Zhou Xiao.

  "Hello, may I ask if you were singing here about a week ago? One of the songs you sang was called 'A Small Love'." Kawashima asked.

  "That's right." Zhou Xiao nodded in response.

  "It's like this, I'm from a music production company. About a week ago, another singer from our company saw your performance and thought it was great, so I wanted to ask, are you interested in signing with a record label?"

  "Is that so? But..." Hearing the man's words in front of her, Zhou Xiao felt a bit conflicted.

  He was hesitant about whether to sign with a music company. Zhou Xiao vaguely knew some of the rules of the Japanese industry. In Japan, just because you signed with one place doesn't mean that place can help you produce and distribute your work. What you directly sign with is usually an agency company, which itself has no production capabilities and only takes charge of finding various activities for you. The actual production needs to be handed over to a music production company. After a singer signs with an agency company, the agency company commissions a music production company to produce music records or MVs, and finally, the distribution needs to be commissioned to a third type of release company to carry out. Only these release companies have the ability to put records in record stores all over Japan.

  The problem for Zhou Xiao is the brokerage contract. By signing with a brokerage company, they will arrange many promotional activities and jobs for him. For ordinary singers, this arrangement is normal, as without these promotions, how can they sell more CDs? But for Zhou Xiao, such arrangements are only obstacles. On the one hand, everything he produces will inevitably become bestsellers in the future, with this level of confidence and self-assurance, Zhou Xiao thinks that even if he doesn't run around promoting himself, he can still become popular. But can you say this to a brokerage company? Even if you do, who would believe it?

  Also, singing is one of the aspects that Zhou Xiaojie will inevitably pay attention to after his debut, but what he wants to do is not just that. Any normal music agency would probably not allow a newcomer who has only been with them for a few days to get involved in movies and TV dramas!

  "Sorry, I don't have the intention to join the company..." Although Zhou Xiao was short of money, his idea was actually to wait until his own work was published and then use the royalties to release underground singles. Only he knew how powerful "Little Love" was in Japan. When "Little Love" earned him a lot of yen, whether it was movies, TV dramas or releasing singles, starting a company would all be very free for him.

  "No! Please don't go! I may not be qualified to say this, please wait for our big sister to come, she will tell you, please just wait a bit!" Kawashima said somewhat flusteredly.

  Zhou Xiao was somewhat impatient: "You always say big sister, big sister, but this big sister has never arrived. Does you and your company really have sincerity? Moreover, who is this big sister anyway? Why the mysterious attitude?"

  "Uh..." Kawashima looked around cautiously, then leaned in close to Zhou Xiao's ear and whispered: "It's a bit inconvenient to say it directly, but the truth is... Big Sister's identity is actually..."

  "Sorry I'm late!" Just as Kawashima was about to reveal the identity of his older sister, a voice rang out beside the two.

  P.S., was delayed by many things, and finally managed to squeeze out a chapter...