After the performance ended, Luo Ming took a bow and walked off stage amid the audience’s cheers.
“Wenwen, what’s the name of that a cappella song you sang?” Flash Sister asked as she came up to greet her.
“Light Years Away.”
“Who wrote it?”
Luo Ming didn’t know how to answer that for a moment.
“Don’t tell me it’s your own original?”
“Y-yeah, you could say that!” Luo Ming forced himself to give that reply.
“That’s great! I didn’t know you had this kind of talent. Looks like we’ve got your album’s lead single sorted! I was about to go beg Old Huang for one.”
Luo Ming had no idea who Old Huang was, and sticking to the principle that the more he said, the more mistakes he’d make, he chose to keep playing up his headache.
Seeing that “Lin Shuwen” was feeling so unwell, Flash Sister immediately had the little assistant help her go rest.
Flash Sister could handle all the messy stuff afterward on her own.
Meanwhile, over on “Luo Ming’s” side, Lin Shuwen had taken a shower at the hotel and then just collapsed onto the sofa.
She stared at the ceiling, her mind completely blank.
What on earth was going on?
Something like body-swapping was way too fantastical.
Lin Shuwen still felt like she hadn’t woken up from a dream.
“Ring~” The sudden sound of a phone ringing interrupted Lin Shuwen’s thoughts.
Lin Shuwen picked up the phone and glanced at it. The caller ID showed a name: Wood.
Wood was clearly a nickname. Anyone Luo Ming would call by a nickname had to be a close friend. Afraid of slipping up, Lin Shuwen hesitated for a moment and didn’t answer.
But Wood kept calling every few minutes. With no way around it, Lin Shuwen finally picked up.
“Dude! Er Ming, where are you? Why aren’t you home?”
“I’ve got some stuff to deal with. I’m out right now!” Lin Shuwen made up a random excuse.
“When are you coming back?”
“No idea. It’s a bit complicated.”
“Need my help?”
“No, no, I can handle it myself.”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
After a long pause, Wood finally said, “Alright then! As long as you know what you’re doing. Call me if you need anything.”
“Okay, I’ll reach out if anything comes up.”
Lin Shuwen’s plan was to stall for now—what if they could switch back tomorrow?
At the very least, she needed to have a good chat with Luo Ming tonight and at least get to know the important people on both sides.
Hearing “Luo Ming’s” words, Wood didn’t think much of it. Luo Ming really wasn’t the type to lean on others.
“Oh, by the way, Er Ming, we’re meeting the investor tomorrow. Are all your materials ready? Don’t drop the ball now.”
“Don’t worry, everything’s ready—wait, investor?”
“Yeah! You didn’t forget, did you? Tomorrow’s the day we’re meeting that venture capital firm from Shanghai.”
Lin Shuwen felt a wave of dread wash over her. From what she’d seen on Luo Ming’s computer and what she knew about his college major, she figured he worked in internet-related fields, probably as a programmer or something. As for that industry, her knowledge was limited to the 26 letters of the alphabet and the fact that people in it tended to have thinning hair.
How was she supposed to talk to an investor?
At the same time, Luo Ming was running into his own set of problems over on his side.
Director Liu had been absolutely blown away by his a cappella performance of Light Years Away. In Director Liu’s eyes, this song was tailor-made for his movie.
Being able to sing a movie’s theme song would be a huge boost for Lin Shuwen’s future career too.
But if this song became a movie theme, that meant it would have to follow Director Liu’s film promotion schedule. Lin Shuwen’s album was only in the planning stages—they were still in the process of commissioning songs. By the time it was finished and released, it’d take at least three months.
If they released Light Years Away that early, it definitely couldn’t serve as the album’s lead single.
Besides, this song was Lin Shuwen’s original creation, so she couldn’t just make the decision for her.
With that in mind, Flash Sister said to Director Liu, “Director Liu, let me talk it over with Wenwen. You know she’s preparing her first album, and this song was originally meant to be the lead single.”
Lin Shuwen had won two fairly significant awards at the Golden Melody Awards—Best New Artist and Best Song. As someone in the industry, Director Liu naturally knew that Lin Shuwen should be striking while the iron was hot and releasing an album to solidify her popularity.
Director Liu didn’t have much reason to doubt Flash Sister’s words. The song was of excellent quality and definitely good enough to be an album’s lead single.
But Director Liu genuinely wanted this song: “Flash Sister, how about this—if Wenwen is willing to let this be my movie’s theme song, I’ll offer 20% above the market rate.”
“Director Liu, it’s not about the money. No matter how much you offer, I’ll still need to have a proper discussion with Wenwen before I can give you an answer.”
“I understand that. I just wanted to put my sincerity on the table. The rest is up to you two to work out.”
When Flash Sister came back, she told Luo Ming all about it.
“Wenwen, that’s the situation. What do you think?”
Luo Ming had no clue what to do. Wasn’t this something he’d have to ask Lin Shuwen before making a decision?
So Luo Ming also resorted to stalling: “Flash Sister, my headache’s really bad today. I don’t want to think about this right now. Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
“Alright! Let’s head back then. You really don’t seem to be in good shape today—even your singing was affected.”
By evening, after a long and tiring day, Luo Ming finally returned to Lin Shuwen’s home.
After dropping Lin Shuwen off, Flash Sister and her assistant Miaomiao turned around and left.
Luo Ming pulled out Lin Shuwen’s phone, opened WeChat, scrolled to his own profile picture, and sent a message: “I’m home.”
The very next second, Lin Shuwen’s call came through.
Luo Ming picked up, and Lin Shuwen’s slightly anxious voice came from the receiver: “Luo Ming, are you meeting with an investor tomorrow?”
Luo Ming paused for a moment. The voice was definitely his, but he would never talk in that tone—it sounded so awkward it made his skin crawl.
Suppressing his discomfort, Luo Ming grunted in acknowledgment.
“What—what are we going to do? You’re a programmer, right? I know absolutely nothing about your field.”
Luo Ming scratched his head. He didn’t know what to do either. If they could switch back tomorrow, great. But if not, there was no way he could let a complete outsider go in and handle the meeting.
It wasn’t like he could just leave everything to Wood, right?
Speaking of Wood, Luo Ming felt that his feigned headache from earlier was now starting to feel all too real.
Wood was articulate, reliable, and proactive—he’d been Luo Ming’s best friend throughout all four years of college. The only problem was that his expertise in computer science was barely surface-level. He probably wouldn’t be much help either.
Seeing that Luo Ming had gone quiet, Lin Shuwen hesitated before asking, “Luo Ming, what exactly is this investment about?”
“A game.”
“A game?”
“Yeah! It’s not a big project. I found a graphics studio to help me with the textures, and we’re about two-fifths done.
But I’ll need money for the release and promotion afterward, so I’m hoping to secure some funding through this game and set up a small studio.”
“Could I take a look at the game?”
Luo Ming was taken aback. He hesitated for a moment but didn’t refuse: “Miss Lin, open my computer. Go to the E drive, find the folder called ‘New Folder 3,’ and inside there’s one called Plants vs. Zombies—that’s it.”
