After finishing their meal, Su Yu and Lin Yanyu walked home in the evening breeze.
They had a very enjoyable day, feeling more relaxed than they had in a long time.
Upon returning home, Lin Yanyu went upstairs to check on a bird's nest in a tree outside her window. To her surprise, she found two eggs inside, and a sparrow chirped busily on a branch.
Afraid of startling the birds, she took some rice from the kitchen and placed it on the windowsill before leaving them undisturbed.
Then, she retreated to her study to organize the video footage. She selected the best clips and sent them to Xinghui's film and television department to be edited into a romantic vlog.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was on another computer, browsing the forum for "The Legend of Sword and Fairy III."
The prequel storyline for "The Legend of Sword and Fairy III" was complete, and the main plot had begun to unfold. All the necessary characters had appeared. Jing Tian and Xu Changqing had received their mission from the Shu Mountain sect leader to find the five spiritual pearls and send the malevolent thoughts to the Heavenly Pool in the Divine Realm. Shortly after leaving Shu Mountain, they encountered the death of Tang Xuejian's grandfather, leading to her expulsion from the Tang family.
"Looking at it so far, it's almost certain this novel will have a single female lead."
"To the earlier commenters, where do you stand on my 'White Tofu'?"
"Haha, I ship Jing Tian and Xu Changqing too!"
"Exactly, who needs a female lead? Jing Tian is lively and witty, and Xu Changqing is righteous and kind. This pairing is just perfect."
"I agree, Old Thief Jiangnan, stop writing a female lead and just go for BL."
"What kind of cult organizations are you all?"
"Haha, men together are true love; women are just for procreation."
"I often feel out of place because I'm not perverse enough..."
Because the initial plot didn't feature the female lead extensively, and there was a segment where Jing Tian and Xu Changqing ascended Shu Mountain, readers didn't develop much affection for the female lead. Instead, they were quite fond of Xu Changqing. Consequently, many fans in the forum urged "Old Thief Jiangnan" to omit a female lead.
Seeing this, Su Yu could only close the forum without replying. The plot had just begun, and it was normal for people to joke around. When the romantic storylines developed later, these people wouldn't think the same way, especially concerning Xu Changqing and Zi Xuan's three lifetimes of love... Just thinking about it, Su Yu could already imagine the readers' angry expressions.
"System, customize 'Prose Poem Written by My Father' for me."
[Successfully customized 'Prose Poem Written by My Father' for the host, automatically placed in the system warehouse. Thirty million has been donated to a charity fund on behalf of the host.]
Indeed, this song was perfect for Jiang Xiao'e, both in terms of difficulty, vocal range, and emotional delivery. The song didn't have any explosive high notes; the entire piece was a narrative, telling a story in a gentle, storytelling manner. Yet, this calmness was more moving than a heart-wrenching outburst. There were many middle-aged fans online who wanted him to write songs for them, and this song was just right. He wondered if these older fans would be happy after listening to it.
"Heartbeat Melody" was a singing variety show on Watermelon TV. Its popularity among variety shows was only moderate. The hottest music programs were "The Masked Singer" and "I Am a Singer," as these shows were directly linked to the title of "Singer King" and possessed strong professionalism, making them popular with many viewers. "Heartbeat Melody" was a smaller singing program and naturally couldn't compare to these giants. Coincidentally, all three programs aired at the same time. The viewership ratings for each episode of "Heartbeat Melody" didn't even reach a fraction of the other two "Singer King" programs.
The rules of "Heartbeat Melody" were that five singers would compete on stage, primarily performing sad and tear-jerking songs. Although the competitive aspect wasn't strong, there was an elimination system. This particular episode was an elimination round. Five super-A-list singers would face challenges from newcomers.
#Listening to Rain Singer Group, Jiang Xiao'e will participate in 'Heartbeat Melody'. Challenging Super-A-List Singers!#
This trending topic didn't appear out of nowhere; the program team had specifically purchased it. The reason was, of course, to piggyback on Listening to Rain's popularity and boost the show's ratings. After all, Listening to Rain's current popularity could be described as terrifying. Trending topics were like his wife; he could get on them whenever he pleased. Anything associated with him gained immense popularity.
When this trending topic entered the top ten, it indeed attracted considerable attention. Then, Listening to Rain's Weibo account posted a comment, instantly pushing the trending topic to the first position.
"The new song will be premiered by singer Jiang Xiao'e on the show. Please show your support!"
This comment left netizens bewildered. What did it mean? A new song?
"Damn, Listening to Rain is releasing another new song?"
"Isn't he saving it for the city competition?"
"He just released ten divine square dance anthems and is releasing another song?"
"Hiss... I'm numb. Even though I'm used to this diarrhea-like release of songs, seeing this comment still makes my scalp tingle."
"Heartbeat Melody, isn't that the variety show whose ratings are crushed by the two 'Singer King' shows?"
"Why is Listening to Rain premiering his new song on such a small program? He should be premiering it on one of the 'Singer King' variety shows..."
"It's already great that Jiang Xiao'e can appear on such a program; she can't get onto 'Singer King', so it's quite normal."
"No matter which program, I'm looking forward to the new song!"
"..."
Listening to Rain's fans were ecstatic. Fans of other producers expressed envy, tagging their own producers on Weibo, urging them to learn from Listening to Rain. Those producers who were tagged also posted on Weibo, making their statements.
"I am but an ordinary person, I shall not compete for glory with Haoyue..."
"Can't compare, can't compare. Whoever wants to compare can go ahead."
"You want me to compete with a prodigy? I'm out, I'm out..."
"I'm in the countryside without internet, do not disturb."
These producers all stated that who on earth would compete with Listening to Rain? Learn from him? Learn what! With what could they learn, and with what qualifications? Now, who dared to make bold statements in front of him without fear of having over a dozen songs thrown in their faces? Liu Qiliang was a living example. Liu Qiliang's popularity had also been quite high recently. Netizens used his name as a unit of measurement for song quantity. That is to say, one Liang equaled ten songs. One song was 0.1 Liang. He had been played with by netizens as a meme to the point of almost being ruined. These cowed producers remained unmoved despite the constant goading from their fans.
The producers who had already released songs also began to worry about the genre of Listening to Rain's new song.
...
The senior management of the "Heartbeat Melody" program team was holding an emergency meeting. The chief director gesticulated wildly, "Quick, throw all the budget into this! We must make the topic of Listening to Rain's new song premiere this episode go viral!"
The head of the publicity team nodded repeatedly, "I've already instructed the workgroup, Director, rest assured." They had been nervously piggybacking on Listening to Rain's popularity, fearing that Listening to Rain's fans would hold them accountable and bombard their program team for蹭热度. Unexpectedly, Listening to Rain not only didn't hold a grudge but also helped promote them. If they didn't seize this rare opportunity, they shouldn't be in this line of work.
"I believe everyone already knows why Listening to Rain is doing this, right?" the chief director asked, taking a deep breath.
The head of artist management replied, "Of course, Listening to Rain is promoting Jiang Xiao'e."
The chief director nodded, "Good that you know. Therefore, your artist management team is of utmost importance. You must take good care of Jiang Xiao'e. Treat her with the highest specifications, so she fully experiences what it means to feel at home!" The head of artist management quickly patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Director, I've already informed the people below!"
"This time, our viewership ratings might be the highest ever, so everyone be prepared and get moving!!" the chief director exclaimed, banging the table.
"Don't worry, Director!"
"We definitely won't waste such a good opportunity!"
The people below were also excited. They hadn't expected that inviting Jiang Xiao'e to the program would cause the great deity Listening to Rain himself to come and promote her. The program team was naturally overjoyed.
Everyone has dreams. Even a salted fish wants to turn over. Whether their program team, this salted fish that had been lying dormant for so long, could turn over depended on this episode.
...