Ye Zhonghuai was grinding his teeth with hatred, while the online onlookers were exploding with excitement.
"Xu Qingqiu is coming?! Wow! That's amazing! My goddess!"
"Is President Xu finally going to release a new song? That's awesome!"
Xu Qingqiu had an aloof face and preferred quietness. Whether singing or in her everyday life, she always maintained a cool, composed, high-and-mighty demeanor, much like an ice queen. She resembled the domineering female CEO often found in novels, so her fans affectionately called her President Xu.
You could tell this comment was from one of her fans.
"Wow, wow, wow! President Xu is finally releasing a new song! It's been so long since I've heard new music from her. I've been looping her old songs for a year; I can finally update my playlist!"
"To be honest, songs nowadays are so hard to listen to. Many veteran singers are just following trends, producing either electronic music or meaningless pop. Xu Qingqiu isn't going to do that, is she?"
"Who knows? We'll find out when the show airs, right?"
"Speaking of which, this program is all about vocal prowess. President Xu's skills are definitely up to par, but she's a junior, after all. I hope she doesn't get eliminated in the first round."
"No way! She's the Queen, which already puts her ahead of many others. How could she possibly be eliminated so soon?"
"So what if she's the Queen? She retreated to do commercial gigs before her legend was even fully established. Her fan base was never properly built, and it's infuriating just to think about it!"
Of course, there were also netizens who didn't recognize her or weren't very familiar with her name.
"Who is Xu Qingqiu? Is she famous?"
"Bro, you don't know Xu Qingqiu? She's a singer! You mean you don't know the most beautiful female singer? What about her songs 'Wish,' 'Lyrics,' 'Three Years, Three Months, Three Days'—ever heard those?"
"Oh, now I remember! You mention her songs, and I know who you're talking about. But hasn't she been out of the spotlight for several years? I heard she went off to have kids?"
"Bullshit! President Xu has been working all this time, alright? She's still single, so what baby are you talking about?! This is infuriating!"
"Eh? But I feel like I haven't heard any news about her for a long time—I thought she had left the industry."
"This... it's all because of that damn Baise Entertainment. For over a year, they haven't let her release a new song, just making her do commercial performances to rake in money..."
Thinking about Xu Qingqiu's recent ordeals, fans were full of grievances, rattling off Baise Entertainment's unscrupulous actions.
With the release of "The Sound of Nature" announcement, netizens suddenly remembered her. She was the woman once hailed, a few years ago, as the strongest new-generation female singer and the one many hoped would revitalize the Chinese music industry.
Both professionals and fans held her in high regard. Unfortunately, Xu Qingqiu didn't like to market herself; she just wanted to sing in peace. Thus, there was a phenomenon of her songs being popular, but the singer herself not so much.
That in itself might have been acceptable. However, in the internet age, traffic is the lifeblood of a star. Without traffic, a star's commercial value plummets. Ye Zhonghuai and Jiang Wangtao coincidentally thought to promote replacements for this very reason.
In terms of status, Xu Qingqiu was clearly a tier above Qin Xiao, Lin Junsu, and others. But in terms of audience recognition, and especially fan loyalty, to put it bluntly, Xu Qingqiu was at the bottom of this group.
On the other side, in the studio, Li Chunhua was looking at the lively online discussions, her face creased with a smile so wide she couldn't hide her happiness. It was a simple announcement. Without any extra effort or expense, it had not only catapulted them onto the trending searches but also effectively promoted the new song. As long as the quality was solid, the song was undoubtedly going to do well.
As for the song's quality? She had heard it with her own ears. It was definitely a top-tier classic—how could it possibly be bad?
Unlike the joyful Li Chunhua, Chu Tian was slumped in his chair, listlessly staring at the new account he had just logged into on his computer.
Come on, this is a daily account? Who the hell set this up?
No verification, not to mention it's just unengaging—no followers, no popularity.
Looking at the past posts, it's all mundane updates.
[Today, attended an event at a certain shopping mall. The fans on-site were very enthusiastic; President Xu was very happy.]
[On the 26th, it rained in Jiang City. President Xu braved the rain to attend the event. Isn't that a surprise?]
Surprise? Surprise my ass! What is all this crap?
Is this how you're supposed to run an account? What's the fun in being so conventional? Shouldn't you be able to do whatever you want with it?
Utterly boring. Who ever said the boss's daily account can only post about the boss? So narrow-minded!
He looked down at the time. Perfect, it was time to clock out.
Worker's body, worker's soul, only the laborer is the true noble! he thought, then typed: "That's it for today's damn shift. Boss is away, time to slip away, slip away!"
He nonchalantly left these words on Weibo and hit send.
Chu Tian hummed a little tune to himself, glanced around furtively, and then bolted out, not dawdling a bit.
By the time Li Chunhua thought his idea was good and wanted to commend him, all she saw was an empty desk and a computer tower that had long since gone cold.
「Soon, it was time for the program recording.」
As the only major event recently, "The Sound of Nature" recording became the studio's absolute top priority.
"Quick, quick, quick, is everything ready?"
"Is the car here? President Xu is about to go downstairs!"
"Is Assistant Zhou around? Isn't there an assistant?"
"Sister Hua, Assistant Zhou isn't here. Who should we give these things to?"