Gambling on soccer? That seems to be a common plotline as well, but for Michael Bolton, although he played soccer and remembered the scores of some important matches, the 2006 World Cup had just ended, and the next one was still four years away—totally unreliable. Besides, he didn’t even know where the entrance to a betting company was!

Writing songs to make money? He could sing well and remembered many great songs from the future, but not only did he not know how to read sheet music, he even struggled with numbered musical notation. How could he possibly write music?

But selling songs didn’t necessarily require writing out the sheet music; he could also just record a demo and send it in. In fact, many people did it that way, since a lot of songs were created in the heat of the moment, and there were plenty of people who couldn’t read sheet music at all.

Michael Bolton knew this very well, because in his previous life he worked in the entertainment industry. Even though it was an agency, he still knew a fair bit about these things. The entertainment industry might be a mystery to outsiders, but for someone like Michael Bolton who was also in the business, it was no secret at all.

Michael Bolton had already made up his mind to walk the same path as his previous life and start an agency, since this was what he knew best. It would save him countless efforts and allow him to maximize the advantages of his rebirth!

This time, he would not repeat the mistakes of his past life—he was determined to build the company into a top-tier agency!

Michael Bolton swore to himself!

But to start an agency, you couldn’t lack capital. His plan to write songs and make money was to accumulate his first pot of gold, his seed money. Counting on his parents was impossible. For one, the Bolton family was only just getting by, and supporting him and his younger sister through school was already a struggle, let alone giving him extra money. Even if there was any extra, it would be saved for his college tuition!

Besides, for most people, the entertainment industry was still seen as a rather disreputable place, full of filth and corruption—which, to be fair, was often true!

And according to the laws of our country, minors can’t start companies, and he still had a few months before he turned eighteen, so he couldn’t do it yet. But with just a few months to go, Michael Bolton wasn’t in a rush.

Since he had already decided to make money by writing songs, he needed to start choosing which songs he could sell.

Because he was reborn a bit late, many classic songs had already come out, so his options were actually quite limited.

Michael Bolton took out a blank sheet of paper and wrote down the songs he planned to sell.

“Breathable Pain” (“会呼吸的痛”), a song from Fish Leong’s album released this November, was the first one that came to Michael Bolton’s mind. This song was truly a classic, and Michael Bolton often picked it at KTV, so it left a deep impression on him.

“Invisible Wings” (“隐形的翅膀”), the theme song for Angela Chang’s TV drama “Love Murder 17” (“爱杀17”), included in the album “Pandora” (“潘朵拉”). Because it was easy to understand and sing, it became popular all over the country. The lyrics were healthy and uplifting, and it was also used as an inspirational song.

There were also “Chinese Language” (“中国话”), “Happy in Poverty” (“穷开心”), “Killer” (“杀手”), “Damned Gentleness” (“该死的温柔”), and a few other scattered songs.

And then there were several songs from Jay Chou’s upcoming album “I’m Very Busy” (“我很忙”) to be released this year: “Cowboy on the Run” (“牛仔很忙”), “Blue and White Porcelain” (“青花瓷”), “Sunshine Homeboy” (“阳光宅男”), and “Peerless” (“无双”)—these four songs were also among Michael Bolton’s favorites from that album.

Altogether, ten songs, all of which were quite popular in his previous life. With ten songs, he could definitely put together a best-selling album.

For an album, packaging and promotion were certainly important, but the foundation was still the songs themselves. If the songs were terrible, no matter how well the album was packaged, it would still be rejected by the market.

It was just like how Stanley Huang, even with a rich dad willing to spend money to promote him, didn’t have any real strengths to show, so his album sales were mediocre.

With these ten songs, even if the singer was a complete newcomer, as long as they could sing decently, Michael Bolton was confident he could make them the best new artist.

After all, Michael Bolton was originally a talent agent, so he knew very well that the most important thing in promoting a newcomer was resources. Besides connections and money, these hard resources were the most crucial. In short, strength was what really mattered. Without quality works, no matter how dazzling the start, they would eventually fade away. That was the harsh reality of the entertainment industry.

And after being reborn, the one thing Michael Bolton didn’t lack was this kind of resource!

This was Michael Bolton’s only advantage over others, and one that was hard for anyone else to match.

At some point, Olivia Reed, who had been looking out the window, turned her head and glanced at Michael Bolton, who was busy writing and drawing on the blank paper. A trace of surprise and confusion flashed in her eyes.

Her deskmate had changed!

Because there was a gap of several years before his rebirth, Michael Bolton hadn’t noticed any changes in himself, but Olivia Reed saw it all.

In Olivia Reed’s eyes, Michael Bolton had changed a lot. Before, Michael Bolton only ever buried his head in novels and ignored everyone else, different from other boys. That was why Olivia Reed had told the teacher she wanted to sit next to Michael Bolton.

Everything was just as she had expected. If things kept going this way, everyone would eventually go their separate ways and never cross paths again.