Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

Just as she sat down and glanced at the computer screen, Manager Sun didn't scold Xiao Yan for watching variety shows but instead let out a small sound. Pointing at Xu Qingyan on the screen, his finger trembled slightly.

"I've heard the songs this guy wrote, they're pretty good. There's also a music video, it blew up the trending searches."

As he spoke, Manager Sun hit the pause button.

The camera kept rolling, Xiao Yan was holding a phone and filming Manager Sun. She thought he was just joking around, but then he actually opened up a music video.

The song's intro played, Xiao Yan and Xiao Qing were still laughing.

"It sounds quite nice, Manager Sun."

"Of course, could my taste be bad?" Manager Sun, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses and appearing like a frail scholar, made a cool gesture as he sat in his computer chair.

The two girls burst into laughter, until... that moment a loud, resounding operatic voice came out. Xiao Yan immediately froze, suddenly overwhelmed with an indescribable feeling.

She felt electric shocks running through her body, from her brain all the way to the tip of her heart.

"Manager Sun, what song is this?" Xiao Qing, who wasn't much of a talker, took the initiative to ask, her eyes sparkling.

"I saw it trending. Don't you guys love watching music shows?" Manager Sun turned his head, looking at them with an expression like he was looking at country bumpkins, "How could you not even check out the trending searches, criticising the program's songwriter."

He let out a sigh and gave a thumbs up.

"This guy is really something; he did both the MV and the song. Guess what place this song got—second to last, now that's what I call being underrated."

"We had a day off yesterday, Xiao Qing and I slept from the afternoon straight through to this afternoon," Xiao Yan said, "Who has time for trending searches? Woke up, had some food, and came straight to work."

"Are you trying to lure me with pie in the sky again, huh? PUA boss?" Manager Sun looked wary.

"If this song is second to last, the first place must be really good to listen to, huh?" Xiao Qing, looking at the silhouette of the horse rider in the MV ending, felt a bit downhearted.

"The first-place song was also written by him, I've heard it, and it's really nice too." Manager Sun obligingly played "If You've Heard" again.

To those unaware, it could seem like a group of college classmates hanging out together rather than a workplace.

After the song finished, the empathetic Xiao Qing had already started shedding tears. Manager Sun, who got himself into this mess, could only take responsibility and handed tissues to Xiao Qing.

Xiao Yan, heartless as ever, laughed heartily and recorded everything on her phone.

"Are the other songs as good as 'Riding a White Horse'? Then I'll have to check out this variety show," Xiao Qing said, wiping her tears and pulling out her phone.

"I'm not stopping you, but I don't recommend it," Manager Sun said, "because you'll..."

"Manager Sun, you mustn't say things carelessly!"

After some playful banter, the group clustered around a computer desktop to review the just-filmed footage. They collectively brainstormed editing ideas, most of which were in agreement.

However, on one particular point...

"Boss, it's fine to include snippets from those two songs, not exceeding three sentences; it wouldn't count as copyright infringement," Xiao Yan said, "but... might we offend the program's crew?"

"We're on the verge of closing down, what do we have to fear about offending anyone?" Manager Sun half-jokingly said, "There's nothing to be afraid of, we aren't naming names; just cut it out and it'll be fine."

Although the studio staff always complained that Manager Sun didn't act like a boss, when it came to making crucial decisions, it was mostly Manager Sun's call.

"Alright," Xiao Yan agreed.

After repeatedly discussing the editing ideas, Xiao Yan got down to editing. Once finished, she directly uploaded the video to all of the studio's accounts.

Almost within two minutes after the video was published, ten comments immediately appeared. The surge in traffic required validation, and those who arrived early were the active fans.

"Damn, I actually saw Xu Qingyan in the 'Bird Talk' memes. I complained about it yesterday too, at this point the program really doesn't need to continue, it's all rigged."

"Yeah, I watched his love-themed variety show too, it was quite interesting. Don't understand why so many people are dissing him, didn't get it then but it seems reasonable now."

"That's how talented people are, maybe nobody could see it at the time. But I feel like Pei Muchan and Zhouzhou saw it, haha."

"I thought I was following a romance reality show down below, but who knew it's actually a workplace romance series. The sight of two pop princesses competing over a songwriter is just too funny, do celebrities also get wrapped up in this rat race?"

"The key is that they actually know each other! Zhouzhou and Xu Qingyan were middle school classmates, the childhood friends turned power couple are so sweet to ship! Who understands, that feeling of both growing up to become bosses!"

"Power couple, right, 👍, it really is sweet to ship! If I hadn't watched 'I Am a Singer,' I wouldn't have known Xu Qingyan wrote seven songs in two months!"

"You guys are totally out of the loop, Zhouzhou posted today. She teased the eighth song written by Xu Qingyan, in our field, he's absolutely a godfather of composition!"

"I saw that post too, it's said to be 'Fragrant Paddy,' and Teacher Xu even recorded a version himself. Zhouzhou said, this is a childhood gift from Teacher Xu!! Ahhh!! Who gets this kind of romance!"

"What exactly is their relationship? I'm a bit confused, I've been shipping them recently, Xu Qingyan seems to be in the same studio as Sister Pei!"

After one night, Xiao Yan was stunned when she turned on her computer at work the next day.

"Xiao Qing, pinch me!"

"What for? Still half asleep?" Xiao Qing rolled over in her chair, glanced at the screen, "Three million views? Is this from the video edited last night?"

"Yes... yes, three thousand comments, I thought we got reported." Xiao Yan was finding it hard to speak, overwhelmed by the explosive overnight data.

Just then, President Sun happened to yawn his way past and was forcibly dragged over by Xiao Yan.

"President Sun, look! It's blown up!"

"What's blown up?" President Sun adjusted his glasses, bent down for a look, "Oh~ I thought it was something else. Making a fuss, isn't it normal for videos to go viral?"

"Why... why is that?" Xiao Yan was completely bewildered.

"It's not us that's blown up, it's them who's become a sensation." President Sun took out his phone, "Look at the trending searches, there are ten, five of them trending, star of the day."

"That many?" Xiao Qing was stunned.

"Of course, they've been gathering strength to make a sudden success, got trending because of that spat with the production team. And then all the songs they wrote got listened to again, all went viral at once."

President Sun was gleefully foolish, as if this was his own accomplishment.

"What's this called, they've been gathering strength to make a sudden success, from adversity comes prosperity. It proves that hardship is the last dark night before success, I think we can survive this too."

"Hope the company doesn't go bankrupt!" President Sun shouted the rather weak slogan.

Scenes like this were happening in different places, people looking down at their phones. They saw the video push, and more and more bloggers started chasing the heat to make videos about Xu Qingyan.

More people heard 'Qing Tian,' heard 'The One I Miss.' People were moved by the most sincere and unpretentious singing voice and realized... Your journey continues with empire

That in this impetuous era, there were still people insisting on originality. Not making cheesy pop songs, not plagiarizing nor producing knock-offs, he wrote seven songs in two months!

And, the eighth song coming soon.

...

Cicada Studio.

Pei Muchan stretched at her desk, her figure full and shapely. Her eyes slightly narrowed, she pressed down on her eyebrows and looked at Xu Qingyan across from her, and asked.

"Do you remember that TV drama? The one that bought 'Qing Tian' as its theme song."

"'A Journey of Flowers'?" Xu Qingyan thought for a while before he remembered, it was something from over a month ago, "What about it, is it airing soon?"

"Yeah, they contacted me." Pei Muchan leaned back in her chair and said lazily, "It was originally set to be 'Youthful Journey,' but after much hesitation they ultimately refused."

"What song did they choose?" Xu Qingyan was curious.

Pei Muchan's expression darkened a bit, she pressed her lips together silently for a moment before speaking.

"A song by Ji Chen."

"Huh? Does the production team have no taste at all?" Xu Qingyan almost sprayed out his tea, "A rock anthem for youth?"