Looking at these comments, Chu Tian couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"HEH HEH HEH, these netizens are really talented."

Just as he was grinning and laughing, his phone suddenly rang. It was a call from his girlfriend, and a video call at that.

Chu Tian quickly composed himself and answered the call.

"What's up, dear? No work today?"

On the other side of the phone, Xu Qingqiu leaned back in her chair, looking exhausted but still smiling at him.

"Not really, just finished recording a show, now taking a break."

"What's the matter? Is recording the show tiring, or did you not get good rest last night?"

Seeing her tired appearance, Chu Tian felt a pinch of heartache, but even more so, he was worried.

"It's okay, you know, recording the show can be troublesome. The director keeps cueing me to react in certain ways, but I don't want to."

Chu Tian understood what she meant. That's how it goes with variety shows; many of them want the guests to spark some topics for the sake of ratings.

So they keep looking for opportunities to elicit various reactions from the guests, and if you do as they ask, you're done for.

Good reactions would have the online community saying you have a 'Variety Sense,' which enhances the show.

Bad reactions, and instantly the internet turns against you, creating a hot topic of conversation.

To put it plainly, a lot of it is scripted, with even traps that directors and screenwriters have carefully planned.

No matter your reaction, as long as you follow their baton, the production team makes a sure profit, whether the buzz is good or bad.

This is why many celebrities frequently get bashed by netizens due to certain edits or manipulations in the shows.

But Chu Tian also knew that the whole business with sparking topics really came down to not being famous enough.

If you were super famous, you wouldn't need to react at all. As soon as you showed up, the director would treat you like royalty, and just your presence would be the center of attention.

"If you don't like it, we don't have to record these shows anymore. Let's make our own show, create a few phenomenal ones, and you can go on whichever ones you want!"

Listening to his girlfriend's plight, Chu Tian felt anger brewing inside him, but he wasn't invincible just because he had traversed worlds; there were things he was powerless to change.

"What are you talking about? Don't talk nonsense... We've taken the money."

Xu Qingqiu rolled her eyes at him, first saying it with annoyance, but the emphasis was on those last four words.

With her reaction, Chu Tian couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright then, but I mean it. If you don't like it, come back. Trust me, I can make several variety shows just for you, definitely no worse than theirs."

Seeing his sincere and determined look, Xu Qingqiu was deeply moved.

"I believe you, but these are also experiences that I need to go through. I have to grow, right?"

After smiling and saying this, Chu Tian saw not much reluctance in her eyes, but rather a sense of relief.

"Alright, it's not just about the TV show. I didn't rest well last night either."

"What happened? Insomnia or feeling unwell?"

"No, we finished recording around 2 a.m. I slept in a little, and then there was a group doing square dancing outside; I don't know where they came from."

As she spoke, Xu Qingqiu suddenly became spirited, waving her little fists in anger while she cautiously looked around to make sure no one was nearby before whispering into the phone:

"Chu Tian, you have no idea. Recently, there's been this song that's gone viral; you can hear it everywhere."

Seeing her excited demeanor, Chu Tian had a bad premonition.

"I'm telling you, I went to the mall, and I heard it in the milk tea shop next door. Then I walked across the street, and the clothing store on the other side was playing it too. Aside from the high-end stores, I feel like all the more affordable shops have been conquered by this song."

"And then, everywhere you go there are those square dancers. Maybe I never paid attention before, but now it seems like they all use the same song; it's gotten to the point where I can sing it."

"'The vast sky is my love, the rolling green hills, at the foot blooms the flower—'"

"This song, actually, isn't so bad, but it gets nauseating after a while. You have no idea what it's like to hear it wherever you go."

"I even wonder if I've fallen into this song's lair. I'm dying to know who sang such a song; it's unbelievable!"

"By the way, is it popular in the Capital too? If not, that's good, but if it is, oh my god, tell me how am I supposed to avoid it when I get back?"

Watching Xu Qingqiu on his phone, endlessly complaining and showing a disgusted face about the song, Chu Tian's expression was extremely rich.

"What's wrong? Chu Tian? Chu Tian? Is it freezing? Weird..."

"Uh... COUGH, COUGH, no, it's not frozen."

"Not frozen? Then why aren't you talking?"

"I..."

Chu Tian opened his mouth and suddenly felt quite parched.

"What were you going to say? Louder, please, I didn't catch it just now."

Looking at Xu Qingqiu, who was completely unaware, to avoid her saying something hurtful when she returned and to protect the fragile self-esteem of the studio's new artists, Chu Tian still decided to tell the truth, at least to warn her beforehand.

"So, is there a chance that the song you were talking about is the one our studio released?"

"Huh? What did you say?"

"I said, the song you said you were sick of, was it sung by a Singer from your studio, Phoenix Legend? Didn't you check who the Singer was?"

"...Really? It's not something you wrote... is it?"

Chu Tian nodded with a helpless look on his face.

"Yes, I did write it."

"Ah... well, can I take back what I just said? Actually, it's quite nice, right? HEH HEH HEH..."

Looking at Xu Qingqiu's forced laugh, Chu Tian was speechless but couldn't help laughing a bit himself.

"Alright, don't worry about it with me, just make sure you don't say anything like that when you get back. They've both been getting hammered by netizens for days, and after a lot of consoling from me, I even had to get them psychological counseling. Don't go causing them depression."

"Of course not, how could I..."

Xu Qingqiu quickly gestured with her hands, not really believing her own words.

Feeling humiliated, Xu Qingqiu's face turned red, and she felt extremely embarrassed on the inside.

After forcing herself to chat for a bit longer, she finally couldn't stand it anymore, made up an excuse to end the call quickly, then slammed her phone down and buried her face, refusing to get up.

"SOB SOB SOB, I can't show my face ever again!"

How could anything be more embarrassing than dissing the song to the person who wrote it? And it was even worse because that person was her boyfriend.

To someone more experienced, this might seem trivial, right?

What couple hasn't had embarrassing moments together? This is just child's play.

But since it was both of their first relationships, and they hadn't even moved in together due to work, let alone gone further, naturally they lacked experience, so none of the embarrassment was spared.

"HAH, TSK TSK..."

Staring at the empty screen of his phone, Chu Tian smacked his lips, also feeling a bit speechless.

Being criticized for his own song by his girlfriend... that was indeed an odd feeling.

Putting aside these thoughts, he remembered the call from Sister Hua and picked up his phone again, deciding to check out what was going on with the hot song chart.

He went to his usual Green Orange Music platform, and right after logging in, he saw the chart button on the homepage.

The charts listed all sorts of rankings, with the hot song chart at the very top.

When Chu Tian saw the song in first place, he was slightly taken aback.

Originally, the first place was taken by a classic hit that had become red-hot again from a veteran singer.

Later, it became another popular song that went viral on short video platforms.

Then, with Xu Qingqiu's sudden fame, "Morning bound for midnight" took over, but its popularity fluctuated, sometimes high, sometimes low.

But after Xu Qingqiu's concert ended, "Song of the wind" shot up to dominate the hot song chart, consistently defending its top spot, even steadier than a Weeble.

At one point, the top ten were all Xu Qingqiu's new songs, from her new album to the concert singles, which made every other singer desperate.

However, other songs would eventually creep up.

But now, it felt like they were back to the days of releasing the album and having concerts.

The top ten of the hot song chart were filled with [Singer—Xu Qingqiu].

If you clicked in, you'd even see the uniform tag [Lyrics/Music: Youmeng].

What surprised Chu Tian was that "Song of the wind," which used to have a firm grip on the pole position, had somehow slipped to second place, with "Teenager" overtaking it to claim the top spot, and even "Peach Blossom Promise" had moved up to third.

But no matter how the order changed, there was no doubt that either Xu Qingqiu's songs or the ones she did with Chu Tian had once again dominated the charts.

And this time, the domination was exceptionally complete.

Before, there might have been a song or two from other singers in the mix, but now, not a single one.

What's happening? What happened again?

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