Chapter 224

Chapter 224: Am I Going to Be Famous Today?

After Wan Chaoxiong finished editing the video, Xia Yuan’s promotional video was released through her personal C Station account, 【Yuanbao】.

This account itself already had a lot of traffic because its UID was 2, representing the second registered user on C Station.

Mei Fang wasn’t too worried about Xia Yuan and Lin You Xi often collaborating in their “fantasy联动” (fantasy联动 seems like a mix of “collaboration” and “fantasy联动”, which might refer to a fantasy-like or dreamy collaboration). After all, the album’s name was “Yuan Xi Together,” the station’s name was 【Shan You Lin Xi】, one of the songs in the album was performed by 【Xi Bao】, and with their official website heavily promoting Xia Yuan’s promotional video, even an idiot could see the connection between them.

Moreover, he knew that his little “qingmei” (a term used for a childhood friend or close female companion) was too outstanding to hide; once she shone, she wouldn’t stop.

Xia Yuan’s promotional video was uploaded simultaneously with her new album on C Station and the Penguin Forum.

On the first day, the video’s views broke 10,000, with hundreds of bullet comments flying by:

– “So cute!”

– “You look so beautiful playing the guitar! No wonder you’re my wife.”

– “It reminds me of the goddess in my class back in school.”

– “C Station is amazing! They keep giving me new ‘wives’ today.”

– “Little sister has a bright future ahead!”

– “That guitar is huge!”

– “What’s blinding my eyes?”

– “Go save her album on Penguin Music, everyone!”

– “Family, go listen to the girl’s songs! One song after another, they’re all great!”

– “Why is there a guy singing in the album? Is he her boyfriend? Oh no, I’m heartbroken!”

On the second day, the views broke 100,000, and while many people continued to appreciate Xia Yuan’s performance, others began to notice other interesting things:

– “Wait, did anyone else notice her UID?”

– “Wow, UID 2!”

– “Speaking of which, the album name is ‘Yuan Xi Together,’ isn’t that our station manager’s name?”

– “One of her good friends is called ‘Xi Bao.’ Could ‘Xi Bao’ be the real ‘Miss’? ”

– “I’d say it’s almost certain.”

– “Come on, don’t tell me someone actually believes Miss Shan You Lin Xi is a girl.”

– “Whether you believe it or not, I do.”

Comment sections started to fill with analysis posts. The few clues Mei Fang had predicted were all uncovered by these netizens, who ultimately formed three factions:

– **The orthodox Xi hypothesis:** They believed that the “Xi Bao” in the album is Shan You Lin Xi, and Yuan Bao is her childhood friend. Because of their close relationship, Shan You Lin Xi would give Yuan Bao so much promotion, which was the mainstream view.

– **The Yuan Xi一体 theory:** Some believed that Xia Yuan is actually “Shan You Lin Xi,” and Yuan Bao is just a pseudonym. Shan You Lin Xi (Yuan Bao) is a very introverted, tech-savvy beauty, who created a “friend” due to lack of friends, and the interactions in the videos are all staged.

– **The very unpopular Fang Bao hypothesis:** The creator of the song “Willing” in the album, Fang Bao, is actually Shan You Lin Xi herself. Yuan Bao is his girlfriend, and both the C Station and the album are gifts from Fang Bao to make his girlfriend famous.

Although the third hypothesis had the least support, it shared a similar characteristic with the orthodox Xi hypothesis — they were mostly fact-based.

This can only mean that the netizens who could post comments on C Station were all talents.

On the third day, the video titled “C Station Debut Day, Yuan Bao Brings My New Album” surpassed 500,000 views. The overwhelming traffic and bullet comments gave everyone except Mei Fang and Lin You Xi a shocking visual impact.

But this level of traffic was exactly what Mei and Lin had expected.

Since the second half of last year, when Lin You Xi led a group of part-time employees to develop the APK, the monthly traffic on C Station had been steadily increasing.

As a result, many issues arose, mainly website crashes and maintenance for various new features, all of which required Lin You Xi’s direct involvement, even affecting the development of new games.

Of course, the value gained from solving these problems was the increasingly large number of new registered members on C Station.

Despite having very strict membership registration rules, C Station now had 500,000 registered members.

All 500,000 members had answered the difficult questions prepared by Mei Fang and Lin You Xi, and nearly one-fifth of these members had submitted video articles, making them core loyal fans of C Station.

Thus, to meet the growing business needs, Mei Fang had to consider setting up a company soon. Coincidentally, Sister Yueyue would visit his school this weekend, and it was time to recruit a new core member.

“Yuan Yuan, aren’t you going to check out the scene? You’re famous now.”

“Emmm…”

For two days after releasing the album, Xia Yuan had resisted looking at various messages. On the third day, under Mei Fang’s persuasion, she finally couldn’t resist and played with her phone, logging onto C Station to see the comments and bullet comments under her video.

“These bullet comments, what the heck are these!”

Although Xia Yuan was already quite popular at school, being adored was almost routine for her, but seeing how popular she was online for the first time, she was somewhat surprised.

She flipped through the bullet comments and comments, most of which were very positive and supportive, which made her happy, but some comments also made her angry.

“Some of these bullet comments are annoying. Why are they always calling me a dog? It’s uncomfortable. Can we delete them using backend permissions?”

“Some are just jokes, let them say what they want. But if they get too harsh, there will be a filter mechanism.”

“Just because you don’t mind doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

Xia Yuan hummed, “You’ve put in so much effort for this album, and people still insult you…”

“That’s the price of being an idol. If you have a close relationship with a male, your fans won’t be happy.”

“I don’t want to be an idol, and I don’t need fans. I just want to sing, earn money, and take care of you and our studio.”

Mei Fang smiled slightly, “Still thinking about taking care of me, huh?”

“Of course, but our album is a free digital version, so we won’t make much money.”

The concept of intellectual property didn’t become widespread until 2015. Without a record label contract, physical albums, or concert ticket sales, Xia Yuan had virtually no income.

However, in Mei Fang’s view, Xia Yuan’s promotional video was effective and could help his C Station reach a wider audience, creating a mutually beneficial effect.

“We can start commissioning physical albums next week. Once we have supporters, they’ll buy our stuff. Other income streams can wait… Yuan Yuan, you’ve just started getting popular, let the buzz build up more. Making big money is inevitable.”

“So it seems like there’s still a long way before I can earn enough to take care of you.”

Xia Yuan stuck out her tongue, embarrassed, “But now that the album is done, I can start helping you with the game.”

“Hmm, indeed.” Mei Fang pinched Xia Yuan’s cheek, “The progress on ‘Cloud Journey’ is almost zero. You need to get to work.”

“Alright, alright.”

Xia Yuan rubbed her slightly red cheek and looked up at Mei Fang.

Madam Liang was out buying groceries, and You Xi was washing her hair. This was the perfect opportunity.

Xia Yuan patted Mei Fang’s chest, “By the way… After all this hard work, don’t you want any rewards? Or, something like a celebration—”

“Why should you be the one rewarding me?”

Mei Fang teased Xia Yuan, “You’re the one planning to take care of me. Since you’ve completed the first phase, I should reward you.”

“Oh, never mind… You always argue.”

Xia Yuan threw herself into Mei Fang’s arms, first rubbing his chin with her nose, then slowly lifting her head. Mei Fang also actively embraced Xia Yuan and started to be intimate.

…

After an unknown amount of time, Lin You Xi came out of the bathroom after washing her hair. Mei Fang quickly stopped their intimacy.

Lin You Xi, drying her hair, curiously looked at the two who seemed awkward. This was the first time she caught them being intimate since they understood each other.

But Lin You Xi just smiled at them.

“Don’t mind me, continue.”

“How can we continue like this?”

Xia Yuan’s face turned red, “You Xi, you’re too lenient… I ran away today, I can cover for you tonight.”

Lin You Xi smiled, “Why wait until tonight? If you feel uncomfortable being intimate with Fang in front of me, I could join in—”

“No, no, that’s not necessary!”

Mei Fang didn’t want Yuan Yuan to be overwhelmed by You Xi’s presence, so he interrupted her before she finished speaking.

“It’s better to be intimate alone. We’re still young… We’ll talk about it later!”

*Hehe, hehe. Sister You Xi is really teasing.*

(End of Chapter)