Chapter 51: It Seems Rather Inappropriate

A hundred thousand comments?

Manager Chen stared in disbelief at her computer. Had she really just uploaded the song right after calling me? In just a few minutes, the comments had already surpassed a hundred thousand? This was terrifying! And this was only on CoolSong! The song would be released on other music platforms as well!

She clicked into the comment section, and at a glance, all the comments were marked as just posted. The comment section offered options to sort by time, newest, or most popular. She selected the time sort, which arranged the comments from the earliest onward. The very first comment had been posted only five minutes ago!

In other words, in just five minutes since its release, “Afterwards” had already garnered over a hundred thousand comments? It was unbelievable! The fan cohesion was simply too strong. But then again, when it came to fan loyalty, wasn’t Qin Haiyu’s husband’s readers even more united?

She had just looked up information about Yu Zhile and discovered how extraordinary Qin Haiyu’s husband really was. Yu Zhile, pen name: Zi Feiyu. In this era of a declining publishing industry, he had managed to sell over a hundred million copies of his novels in a single year—a truly monstrous achievement! These sales figures were more outrageous than even the most globally popular comics. Many hit comics might sell tens of millions in a year, but selling a hundred million copies in a year was unheard of in recent times!

So, she realized the real powerhouse wasn’t Qin Haiyu, but her husband! And the three songs that had recently made Qin Haiyu so popular were all created by him!

Manager Chen opened “Sakura Grass” for a quick look. This song had also been released for five minutes, and its comment count had already exceeded fifty thousand. Although not as high as “Afterwards,” compared to other singers’ new releases, the buzz was extravagant! Many singers’ new songs didn’t even reach fifty thousand comments after a whole week, let alone Qin Haiyu’s songs reaching these numbers in just five minutes!

She was puzzled—why had Yu Zhile suddenly wanted Qin Haiyu to endorse their yogurt drink and even written a special song for it?

But if the song was truly good and became a hit, then this sort of star-plus-work endorsement Yu Zhile described might actually be an excellent strategy!

She decided to wait until Yu Zhile sent over the song, listen to it, and then discuss with her superiors whether Qin Haiyu should endorse their yogurt drink.

…

At home, Yu Zhile was composing in the study.

In the living room, Qin Haiyu suddenly grabbed the remote and muted the TV, then wondered aloud in surprise, “Could it be that my husband plans to use a song to negotiate the endorsement deal?”

“A song?” Xu Ling asked, “What good would that do? Product endorsements are about the celebrity’s image—how could a song serve as an endorsement?”

Qin Haiyu countered, “What if it’s a jingle? Honestly, those catchy little jingles in commercials can be pretty effective.”

Xu Ling rolled her eyes and retorted, “If it’s one of those mindless jingles, isn’t that a bit undignified? You two are public figures, after all!”

Qin Haiyu listened carefully to the melody coming from the study and said, “But this tune is actually quite nice! I’ll go have a look!”

She headed upstairs, with Xu Ling tagging along out of curiosity.

They opened the door to find Yu Zhile, headphones on, engrossed in composition, completely oblivious to the fact that his wife and Xu Ling had come in.

Qin Haiyu watched for a while and asked, “Weren’t you going to negotiate an endorsement? Why are you suddenly composing?”

Yu Zhile took off his headphones and replied, “The endorsement deal is already settled.”

Qin Haiyu was taken aback. “It’s settled? How’s the fee being calculated? How did they agree to let me endorse the product?”

Yu Zhile said, “We haven’t discussed the fee yet.”

Qin Haiyu rolled her eyes at him. “Then how can you say it’s settled?”

“In theory, it’s settled!” Yu Zhile laughed. “Because I honestly don’t see any reason they’d turn me down! Once I finish this song, I’m sure they’ll agree as soon as they hear it!”

Xu Ling was dumbfounded. So he really was planning to use a song to negotiate the endorsement!

Qin Haiyu hadn’t expected her guess to be right either. Curious, she asked, “What kind of song is it?”

Yu Zhile replied, “A song tailor-made for the endorsement.”

“Huh?”

Qin Haiyu stared in disbelief. “It’s not actually one of those brainwashing jingles, is it?”

Yu Zhile replied, “The melody is indeed a bit catchy, but it’s not a jingle—it’s a theme song! I’m making some adjustments now. Once it’s finished, you’ll understand why I’m so confident they won’t refuse.”

“Alright then, good luck, honey! We won’t disturb you anymore!” Qin Haiyu ushered Xu Ling out and closed the door.

Xu Ling was still baffled. “What’s going through your husband’s mind? What use is a theme song for an ad endorsement? And he says there’s no way they’d refuse after hearing it? Sounds like he’s daydreaming to me.”

“You’re the one dreaming!” Qin Haiyu retorted. “If my husband says so, it means he has faith in the song, which means it’ll definitely give him an unexpected edge in landing the endorsement!”

“Yeah, yeah, your husband is amazing, your husband is invincible, your husband is a genius!” Xu Ling said sarcastically. “Some people are fiercely protective wives, but you’re a fiercely protective wife when it comes to your husband—and there’s no saving you!”

“Hmph, as long as you know!” Qin Haiyu replied, smiling smugly.

Afternoon.

Xu Ling decided to stay a while longer. Since the baby had just woken from her nap, she could enjoy playing with the little cutie.

By then, Yu Zhile felt his work was almost done. He opened the door and called, “Honey, come upstairs and help me check out this song—see if anything needs improving.”

Qin Haiyu jumped up eagerly, handed the baby to Xu Ling, and hurried upstairs to the study.

She looked at the lyrics and score on the computer, astonished. “Honey, did you just compose this now?”

Yu Zhile explained, “I adapted an unfinished song I wrote earlier. Take a look and see if there are any issues.”

Qin Haiyu sat down in front of the computer and said, “Sweet and tangy, that’s me? Honey, you really did adapt this with yogurt in mind!”

She tried singing along while reading the lyrics and was surprised to find the song was actually quite good! It had a youthful, girlish charm.

But she hesitated. “But honey, is it really suitable for me to sing this? I’m already a mother—wouldn’t it seem odd for me to sing such a youthful song?”

Yu Zhile paused, realizing she had a point. He quickly reassured her, “It’s fine! Your image and voice have that youthful quality, so you can definitely pull it off. Besides, when people see how young and girlish you look, and then realize you’re already married with a child, it’ll only make you and the song more memorable!”