162. Musical Lecture

As the final notes of *To the Left Hand, Pointing at the Moon* faded away, the lingering resonance still filled the venue.

The stage lights dimmed, and Ji Fanxing took a soft breath as she slowly walked off the stage.

While the host was delivering the closing remarks on stage, quite a few people were already eagerly crowding around her.

"Ms. Ji, I am the music director of Spark Entertainment. Your creative talent and vocal prowess are simply astonishing! We sincerely invite you to collaborate with our company..."

A middle-aged man in a tailored suit walked briskly up to Ji Fanxing and handed her a business card.

"Ms. Ji, I'm a producer at Huayin Records. Your high notes were breathtaking! As long as you are willing to compose for our company's artists, we are more than willing to make an exception and produce a solo record for you..."

Another stylishly dressed young woman pushed her way through, enthusiastically pitching her own company.

"Ms. Ji..."

"Ms. Ji..."

More and more representatives from various music companies swarmed in, extending olive branches to Ji Fanxing one after another.

These were the very people who had long wanted to sign Ji Fanxing, but had hesitated because of her founding of "Huaxia Media." Now, seeing that her strength was far beyond what they had imagined, their dormant ambitions were reignited.

Everyone vied to introduce themselves to Ji Fanxing. She gracefully accepted their business cards and provided them with her work contact number.

"Thank you all for your kind appreciation; I am deeply honored. However, my primary focus remains firmly on the Exchange Conference for now, but I am certain we will have opportunities to cooperate in the future..."

The entertainment industry is a tight-knit circle, and cooperation is the only way to achieve win-win results.

Although her current goal was to use Huaxia as bait to bring down Tenghai, Huaxia Media would inevitably need to interact with these mainstream companies as it grew and expanded in the future. Naturally, she was not going to put on airs and alienate these people.

Ji Fanxing was notoriously difficult to reach within the industry, rumored to have an eccentric personality. Moreover, right on the first day, she had made a bet with Zhao De with her entire music career on the line.

Therefore, despite her frequent attendance at the exchange conferences, no one had dared to cozy up to her casually.

Now, having secured her contact information along with her promise, they felt no disappointment whatsoever. Instead, they realized that Ji Fanxing was not as arrogant as the rumors made her out to be.

Each of them carefully stored her phone number and tacitly agreed not to share it with anyone else. This was precious resources; the more people who knew, the greater the competition. They were not fools.

"Master Fang, as the person who issued the invitation to Ms. Ji, what are your thoughts on her performance today?"

A reporter who wanted to interview Ji Fanxing but couldn't squeeze through the crowd had to settle for second best and approached Fang Zhijing.

Fang Zhijing stroked his beard, a gratified smile on his face. "Good, good, excellent! She truly lives up to being the child I took a fancy to. This is what our Huaxia music ought to look like!"

"Master Fang, do you mean to say that she is your successor?" The reporter asked excitedly, sensing a major scoop.

Fang Zhijing smiled and nodded at the reporter. "The domestic music scene is in dire need of young people like Ji Fanxing."

Other reporters at the scene keenly captured the moment and quickly turned their camera lenses toward Fang Zhijing.

Anyone with discerning eyes could see that Ji Fanxing's two pieces today far surpassed Qu Feiyang's works, and now Master Fang had made such a statement.

Could this mean that the landscape of domestic pop music was about to undergo a seismic shift?

That very night, sharp-nosed reporters stayed up late drafting their articles. The next day, headlines across major entertainment news outlets were dominated by this single story:

#Fang Zhijing acknowledges Ji Fanxing as his successor#
#Ji Fanxing achieves complete victory over Qu Feiyang, poised to become the next leader of pop music#
#Multiple entertainment agencies vie for Ji Fanxing's collaboration—where will she land?#
……

As expected, these trending keywords immediately sparked heated discussions among netizens.

[Putting everything else aside, if my Goddess Ji claims the number one spot in pop music creation, no one would ever dare to claim the second.]
[Star's fans woke up in tears of joy. Master Fang has great taste; our Goddess Ji totally deserves this!]
[Let me just ask, how many people started paying attention to the domestic music scene solely because of Ji Fanxing? It's no exaggeration to call her the savior of the music industry, right?]
[After all, she's the successor approved by Master Fang. Goddess Ji has a boundless future.]
[What about Qu Feiyang? Master Qu? Isn't he supposed to be the second-in-command of pop music?]
[Him? He's more like yesterday's news in pop music. Losing one song could be chalked up to probability, but having both songs utterly crushed by Goddess Ji simply means inferior skills!]
[Haha, true. Look at today's voting—the popularity of his two songs was even lower than *Pipa Yu*...]
……

Looking at the comments on his phone, Qu Feiyang's face turned livid. His other hand clenched tightly into a fist, his nails digging deeply into his flesh.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" he growled through gritted teeth, his eyes filled with venom and resentment.

Why?

Why should an unknown little girl win the recognition and adoration of so many people?

Why could she effortlessly defeat him and snatch away everything that belonged to him?

The fire of jealousy burned fiercely in Qu Feiyang's heart, threatening to consume him entirely.

He swore that he would make Ji Fanxing completely vanish from the entertainment industry!

At a prestigious high school in the capital, it was the lunch hour, and students who had studied intensively for half the day could finally catch a breath.

"Ahhh! Lu Tianyu's concert! I want to go so badly! But it has to be this exact weekend—this is torture!" a girl wailed, slumped over her desk.

"What are you afraid of? Tianyu said he'll add more dates after the college entrance exams, and he'll even invite Ji Fanxing as a guest artist!" another girl said mysteriously.

"Really? Ji Fanxing is going too? Ahhh! Then I definitely have to go!" The first girl instantly sprang back to life.

As the two were chatting, the class monitor walked in.

"The head teacher just told me she has admission tickets for the student music lecture at the 'National Music Exchange Conference,' which is happening this weekend. Interested classmates can go pick them up from her. Tickets are limited, first-come, first-served."

"That old thing? I went last year. Just a bunch of old men giving dry lectures, and the music at the evening gala afterward wasn't even that great. Total waste of time," a bespectacled boy said without lifting his head.

"Exactly, not going, not going. It's finally a day off, I'm going to sleep!" another boy chimed in.

The two girls who had been chatting earlier also kept their heads down, looking thoroughly disinterested.

The class monitor patted the tickets in his pocket and said with a mischievous grin, "Ji Fanxing is one of the guest speakers this time, you know. Participating students will even have a chance to perform on stage with her!"

Before the monitor's voice had even faded, the students who had just been completely indifferent abruptly lifted their heads. Exchanging a glance, they bolted out of the classroom in a mad rush.

Their shouts echoed down the hallway:
"Didn't you say you've been there before, why are you sprinting out?!"
"Didn't you say you wanted to sleep?!"
"Ahhh! Ji Fanxing! Goddess Ji!! I'm coming!!"

Propping his head up with one hand, Ji Rufeng looked at the empty classroom and let out a disdainful snort.

"Hmph, what's so great about that muscle-bound freak Ji Fanxing? So boring."

Suddenly, a hand reached out in front of him, and the class monitor sneakily slid a ticket toward him.

Ji Rufeng: "???"

The monitor looked somewhat regretful. "Hey, my mom's making me take tutoring lessons this weekend, so I can't go."

"So?" Ji Rufeng didn't take it.

The monitor shoved the ticket directly into his hand.

"Let me tell you, these tickets are insanely hard to grab! The ones who rushed out just now definitely won't get any. Isn't Goddess Ji your older sister? If you feel too awkward about it, just get me a few of her autographed photos as trade."

The monitor's scheming was practically written all over his face. Ji Rufeng's face darkened with black lines, and he frowned, speaking in an unfriendly tone:

"Ji Fanxing has already severed ties... with the family. Didn't you know?"

When he said the word "severed," Ji Rufeng's voice paused imperceptibly for a fraction of a second.

Unfortunately, the monitor didn't notice; he had already turned on his heels and bolted.

Ji Rufeng was not someone to be easily messed with anyway. The message had been delivered, the tickets were free, and if it worked out, it was a win; if he didn't manage to get the autographed photos, he wouldn't lose anything either.

"What are you running for!" With a sour expression, Ji Rufeng made to toss the ticket into the trash can.

Just as half the ticket slipped into the bin, his hand holding it froze.

He thought of his own misunderstandings toward Ji Fanxing, those cold words he had hurled at her, and the conversation between his eldest sister and their mother that day...

His inner feelings were a chaotic mix of complexity.

Pulling his hand back, he roughly shoved the ticket—which should have ended up in the trash—deep into his pocket.

In a five-star hotel suite, Ji Fanxing was sitting at her laptop, preparing the materials for her weekend lecture.