Chapter 267: Chapter 267 - 267 - 193: Uncontainable Popularity, Three Times Top Trending Overnight, Gift "Fragrance of Rice" _2

I’m off to take a shower: “The directors have changed several times, and the gimmicks are becoming increasingly prominent. It’s a program that purely attends to the sponsors, who would watch it without gimmicks?”

Chevo Der Chicken Chop: “Didn’t watch ’I Am the Song King’ yesterday, went to see the fifth episode of the love reality show. Was just watching the three-person date, and felt so jealous of Xu Qingyan making his buddies green with envy.”

After a quick look, Xu Qingyan withdrew his gaze and couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

The internet trolls hired by the production team didn’t cause too much trouble, and the production team even failed to suppress the trending searches. This post’s popularity had just picked up, and he didn’t know how long it would stay hot.

This was all thanks to Xu Qingyan not staying silent yesterday. He rolled up his sleeves and jumped right in to spray the production team. The popularity indeed picked up, and it didn’t look too bad.

It was still raining outside, and it was early.

He hadn’t slept long last night, but it was the best quality sleep he’d had in two months. Before the big success of everything, they must all endure the darkest night.

Ninety-five, the soaring dragon is in the sky, beneficial to meet the senior official.

This was probably the peak of popularity, the love reality show’s accumulated heat, and the release of “Qing Tian.” The traffic that had built up over these two months had been completely blown up by the MV brought by Xu Qingyan and the earth-shattering scoop.

He was in a good mood as he got up, washed, and replied to the messages he hadn’t responded to last night.

Pei Muchan sent him a message at four in the morning, and Lin Wanzhou also texted him in the middle of the night. Besides them, there were Shen Jinyue, Li Yang, Zhou Mian, Lin Chuan, and Jiang Ling.

Almost everyone slightly closer to him had sent him quite a few messages.

He replied to the messages one by one, and just after he sent them, Pei Muchan called him directly. There was a rustling noise, and he could hear the rain suddenly getting louder on the other side.

Seems like she opened a window. Why has the rain gotten heavier again?

“Hmm? You’re up this early?” he asked in surprise.

“Can’t sleep.” Pei Muchan’s voice was hoarse, sounding listless, “Are you at home? I’ll come over to talk to you in person.”

What could be so important that it had to be said face-to-face? Xu Qingyan found it strange but didn’t think too much of it.

“Sure, aren’t you going to catch up on sleep?”

“I’ll nap at noon, there’s a blanket in the studio.”

He quickly ended the call, feeling uneasy, he walked to the balcony to check the rain. The sky was shrouded in grey, and the rain fell like white ribbons from the sky.

Continuing to reply to messages, Lin Wanzhou seemed to be up as well, sending over a video call. Xu Qingyan had been washing up and spit out the toothpaste foam in his mouth before accepting the video call.

With a swoosh, half of Lin Wanzhou’s face appeared on the screen. Girls seemed to fear that videos could expose any flaw, so showing just half a face was the safest way.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Did you… fall asleep last night?” Lin Wanzhou was concerned about his sleep, but she looked like she hadn’t slept well either, languid in her pajamas.

“Slept quite well. Woke up this morning to find the situation isn’t too bad.” Xu Qingyan placed the phone casually in front of the mirror and started washing his face.

“Yeah, there was quite a fierce debate last night.” Lin Wanzhou stared at Xu Qingyan as he appeared in the video from different angles, his hair dripping wet.

“Really?” The bathroom echoed as he moved, “What’s strange is that the production team even spent money to withdraw from the trending searches.”

“They withdrew, huh? Two hot posts were taken down last night.” Lin Wanzhou blinked, suddenly realizing he might have really gone to sleep as soon as he got home, “You didn’t see it?”

“No.”

Lin: “…..”

“So, the production team suppressed the trending searches, yet why is the post still number one on trending?” he asked.

“It’s a new post, seems like it was spontaneous.” Lin Wanzhou said, “Although you told me not to intervene beforehand, I was really about to lose it and make a post.”

“But before I did, a new post was already topped as number one on trending.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Xu Qingyan hadn’t expected to discover this kind of thing, which also indirectly proved something. Most of the negative news about him online had been debunked, and netizens were tired of the smear campaigns against him.

No longer in the mood to join the commotion, they were more willing to believe Xu Qingyan. It might have been the appearance of the seven songs, not only reversing the public opinion, but also attracting a new wave of fans for him.

“Yes!” Lin Wanzhou’s voice was tinged with excitement, “It was so fierce last night, do you know? Under the withdrawn posts, there were lots of your fans.”

“Fans?”

He was still somewhat unfamiliar with the term; humans are complex creatures who might curse you one minute and then do a complete reversal the next over some incident.

Fame is something that subtly infiltrates and even comes with a delay. People surfing the web might occasionally come across “Qing Tian”, or stumble upon a reality dating show.

“Yes, I’m your fan too.” Lin Wanzhou’s eyes curved with a smile, then she suddenly became coy, “Um… do you have time today?”

“I should, I’m not doing much here anyway. What’s up?”

Lin Wanzhou blinked and said in a soft voice.

“I want you to record a version of ’Fragrance of Rice’. I’ve already recorded one, but it hasn’t been released. You said this is a gift, so I hope it’s sung by you.”

He hadn’t expected Lin Wanzhou to bring this up. Previously, he had covered “Qing Tian” to ride on the popularity of the reality show. Though he had hitched the ride, the follow-up response wasn’t significant.

Recording a version of “Fragrance of Rice” shouldn’t be too formal; probably just an acoustic guitar accompaniment.

“Okay, I’ll come over to your place today.” He agreed.

“Not at the studio; our studio doesn’t have good recording equipment,” Lin Wanzhou said, “It’s at the place where I last recorded a song. I’ll make the arrangements now.”@@novelbin@@

“Is this going to be released?” Xu Qingyan was slightly taken aback.

“Yes.”

“But this song is a gift for you, and you’re releasing it?”

“Since you gave it to me, of course I can do whatever I want with it.” Lin Wanzhou’s gaze flitted, and she pursed her lips, “You just promised me.”

“Alright.”

After ending the video call, Xu Qingyan went downstairs to buy breakfast, quickly walking into the rain with a black umbrella. Guessing when Pei Muchan would arrive, he bought an extra breakfast.

As the elevator ascended, he casually opened the message Lin Chuan had sent in the middle of the night.

“I showed your music video to my teacher, and Mr. Hou really likes it. He said he might recommend you tomorrow, see if you can catch the eyes of some leaders.”

“Brother Xu, don’t be angry, some TV crews are just used to being high-handed. It’s not worth it to get angry with them; adjusting your attitude is what’s most important. Take care of your health.”

He felt no particular emotion; he had slept well. But there was no need to mention that. Continuing to read the messages, he realized that Lin Chuan had sent a few short ones in a row until half past three in the morning.

“Brother Xu, your trending topic just got taken down and another popped up!”

Xu Qingyan glanced at it and replied to a few messages. As for Hou Xueheng offering to recommend him, he simply expressed his thanks without getting his hopes up.

Sometimes, people might just be paying lip service, and it’s best to keep a level head until things are settled.

The music video wasn’t much; it was pieced together from a few snippets in his mind. Time had been too tight, and the music video had too many restrictions, but if there were an opportunity…

Ding!

The elevator doors opened, and Xu Qingyan stepped out, replying to Shen Jinyue’s messages one by one. She seemed to have been anxious all night, sending numerous messages, unable to reach him.

Filled with apprehension, she thought something might have happened to him.

Li Yang’s messages seemed more cautious, with three lengthy ones sent quite some time apart. She wrote with such care, who knows how long she deliberated over them.

“Bro, I saw the trending topics, you…”

The message was long, and he didn’t read it in detail, just skimmed and started replying. Essentially saying I’m fine, I fell asleep last night, and the current situation is quite clear.

As for Zhou Mian, the very first sentence almost made Xu Qingyan lose his composure.

“Brother Xu, you finally made it on the trending charts for something other than getting criticized.”

Pretty much everyone in the small group had shown support for Xu Qingyan; they all had some sort of relationship after all. Once the music video was out, there wasn’t a single person in the group who didn’t praise it; everyone could see his talent for directing.

A storm begins with but a single breeze, and a wave starts from a mere ripple.

And this, was just the beginning.

Just as he arrived home, Pei Muchan called, saying she was at XX intersection and would arrive at the underground garage in five minutes.