Chapter 57: A Bet

“Dad, look—at least in terms of the result, it turned out well, right?”

Bai Lulu scratched her head and gave an awkward grin.

“But the process was wrong.”

Father Bai looked at his daughter.

“Didn’t you say you’d give me more discretionary power from now on?
Let me practice investment and business management in all aspects?
Isn’t this doing pretty well?”

“But you can’t take risks like that—throwing several million at a newcomer with so many unknown variables.
You were just lucky.
If the theme song had been widely criticized, or even affected the movie’s box office, what would you have done?”

“That’s not gambling, Dad.
Little Xi’s strength and the quality of her work are obvious to anyone.”

“That’s just your built-in fan filter talking.
In reality, whether a work succeeds or not depends on many factors.
Quality is only one of them, and sometimes it’s not even the most important.
What you did is no different from gambling—at best, the odds were slightly better.”

“What investment guarantees profit every single time?
I don’t believe you’ve never taken a loss before~”

“You’re talking back now?!”

“It’s the truth!
We didn’t lose money, so why are you so anxious?
I bet Uncle Li is over the moon right now.
You’re the only one scolding me.
You won’t let me manage this or try that—are you raising a daughter or a decorative vase?”

“You?! ……”

Father Bai was momentarily speechless, sinking into silence on the sofa.

His daughter wasn’t entirely wrong.
She had indeed rendered a great service this time.
It was just that acting first and reporting later was procedurally improper.
At most, her merits offset her faults.
He really didn’t have grounds to pursue the matter further.

“Fine, fine.
Your wings have grown strong, huh?
Feeling capable, are you?
How about this—I’ll give you even more authority.”

“Huh? Really?!
Hehe… um… Dad, I might’ve raised my voice just now.
What I meant was, you should give me more opportunities to train, so I can grow quickly and share your burden.
Look at you, hardly ever home—you must be exhausted~”

Bai Lulu switched to a bright smile in one second flat, even slipping into respectful phrasing.
Father Bai couldn’t help but laugh despite himself.

“That face of yours is a bit shameless.”

“But let me make this clear—I’m not giving you authority to play around.
From now on, every cent you withdraw from the Bai family account, every connection you leverage, every favor you owe—I’ll record it all.”

“I’ll give you one year to stir things up.
The requirement isn’t high.
When we settle the accounts at the end, as long as you haven’t lost money, you win.
And you’ll get even more freedom.”

“But if you lose, you’ll go back to school and focus properly on your studies.
And you can forget about chasing idols for the time being.”

“You like to gamble, right?
Come on—father and daughter, let’s place a bet.
Do you dare?”

Father Bai looked at his daughter and waited calmly for her answer.

In truth, not losing money was simple.
If she did nothing, she certainly wouldn’t lose.
Even putting the money in the bank would yield a small profit.

But then again, this was his daughter.
If she didn’t stir things up, she wouldn’t be Bai Lulu.

“Fine, let’s bet.
Who’s afraid of who?”

“Good.
I’ll draw up the boundaries, and we’ll go over the details.”

……

The Lin Residence

It was already night.

Lin Xiyue lay on her bed, constantly refreshing movie reviews and box office data on her phone.

After all, she had a 0.5% share in this.
Of course she cared—who would argue with money?

Box office revenue was far more concentrated than single sales.
The first week usually determined the overall outcome.

Now that Back in Time had been out for six days, the current box office had reached 1.39 billion yuan.
Based on experience, surpassing 2 billion before the end of its run was practically guaranteed.

That meant Lin Entertainment would receive at least ten million yuan in box office dividends—and that was just the conservative estimate.

In just two more days, once the first week concluded, she could release the song as a standalone single according to the contract.
That would undoubtedly bring another wave of income and traffic.

Now it wasn’t just about scraping together the maintenance fee anymore.
Even next year and the year after seemed secured.

Of course, this money couldn’t simply sit idle waiting to be handed over as a maintenance fee.
Money should generate more money.

The goal shouldn’t be maintaining the status quo.
It should be making Lin Entertainment great again.

Lin Xiyue had never forgotten her primary identity when she joined Lin Entertainment—producer.

A producer, of course, produced works.
But works weren’t limited to songs.
In a broader sense, idols themselves were also products crafted by producers.

Within Country C’s entertainment industry system, there were generally two types of producers.
One focused purely on composing lyrics and music.
The other also managed artist cultivation.
As the heiress of Lin Entertainment, Lin Xiyue was clearly the latter.

Being a producer was her true profession.
Stepping into the spotlight as an idol herself was only because the company lacked someone capable of carrying the banner—and lacked the startup capital for her to operate behind the scenes.

An entertainment company’s rating was determined by many dimensions.
Relying solely on Lin Xiyue and Xia Jinnian alone would never push the company higher, even if both became super first-tier stars.

After discussing it with her mother, Xu Wei, the two agreed that with sufficient liquid funds now available, it was time to restart Lin Entertainment’s auditions and recruit new talent.
The producer team also needed expansion.

[Little Xi, if the company ever needs investment in the future, you can come to me~]

Just as Lin Xiyue was envisioning future plans, Bai Lulu suddenly sent her a message.

[Hm? Lulu, what’s this about?]

[Nothing much. My dad gave me some authority. I can conduct a certain amount of investment activities now. So if Little Xi needs anything, just tell me~]

[Thanks, Lulu. For now, there’s nothing that requires major funding.]

[Mm-hmm. Anyway, if Little Xi needs anything, just let me know. Good night~]

[Good night~]

[Hug!]

[Eh? Okay, okay—hug~]

After putting down her phone, Lin Xiyue fell into brief contemplation.

In truth, even by the standards of a fanatic fan, Bai Lulu’s displayed emotions were a bit too intense.

Although she enjoyed the adoration and affection of her fans, Bai Lulu’s affection somehow felt heavy—so heavy that she didn’t feel she could bear it.

That was why she had told Bai Lulu there was no need for funds at the moment.
She didn’t want to owe her any more favors.

Everything had a price.
Favors were no exception.
The more you owed, the harder they were to repay.

And she didn’t seem to possess anything Miss Bai desired—except herself.

Moreover, in their daily interactions, she could always sense a certain feeling from Bai Lulu.
It resembled the younger, dominant partner’s affection toward the older, submissive one in the CP she shipped.

“Something about Lulu feels… off.”