Chapter 90: The Premiere of I Am a Singer

At noon, Yu Zhile’s phone rang.

It was an unfamiliar number from the capital. After he answered, it turned out to be the head of the Ministry of Education calling.

Just as Editor Zhang Xue had said, starting this September, the new first-grade elementary school textbooks were planned to include three highly educational fables: "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," "The Little Horse Crossing the River," and "The Crow Drinks Water."

And in the music textbooks, several nursery rhymes that had by now spread almost throughout the country would also be added, including "Good Little Rabbit," "Two Tigers," and "Count the Ducks."

After this was confirmed, Yu Zhile had barely said anything before Qin Haiyu, who had been watching him on the call, immediately started a video chat with her mother-in-law the moment he hung up, sharing the wonderful news with her.

When his mother heard it, she was thrilled beyond measure.

As an elementary school Chinese teacher, the fact that her son’s work would be included in a textbook filled her with immense pride.

Though excited, she still kept the demeanor of a teacher and reminded him through the video, “Don’t become arrogant or impetuous. Since your work has been included in the textbook, you must keep a humble and enterprising spirit in the future. You must set a good personal example and be a model for education.”

“…”

Hearing his mother’s instructive tone, Yu Zhile instantly felt as if he had gone back to the days when he ranked first in an elementary school exam. Back then, his mother had also been saying something about not becoming arrogant or impetuous.

Sure enough, in every mother’s eyes, no matter how old you are, you are still just a child who has not grown up.

Qin Haiyu smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Only you can keep him in line,” his mother said, then asked, “How’s my little darling granddaughter? Did she take her nap?”

“Mm, she only just fell asleep a little while ago.”

Qin Haiyu went on eagerly, “Mom, there’s another piece of good news! Your son’s book has already sold ten million copies this morning! I heard a lot of elementary school teachers have been recommending that parents buy it!”

His mother nodded and said, “At the elementary school where I teach, the Chinese teachers for first and second grade are also recommending it to parents. It seems to have become quite the trend. It feels like elementary school teachers all over the country are thinking the same way!”

Yu Zhile understood at once. “No wonder the sales of this book have risen so fast! Aside from the charity copies, most of them must have been driven by these teachers organizing group purchases!”

His mother said, “It seems to be because some short video went viral online. A lot of teachers bought your book and told the stories from it in class, and then many students and parents were introduced to it, so they all started buying it together.”

Qin Haiyu laughed. “Mom, when did you learn such online slang as ‘introduced to it’?”

His mother said, “What’s so strange about that? You pick up this kind of internet language just by browsing online and reading the news!”

After chatting for more than ten minutes, Qin Haiyu didn’t want to disturb his mother-in-law’s nap anymore. After ending the video call, she suddenly said to Yu Zhile, “Honey! Did you hear what Mom said? From now on, you mustn’t be arrogant or impatient! You have to keep a humble and ambitious spirit! You have to set a good husbandly image and be a model husband!”

Yu Zhile suddenly reached out and pinched her cheek. “Wife, how did you get so clever? Mom said personal image and a model for education, but in your mouth it turns into husbandly image and husbandly model.”

Qin Haiyu’s cheek was still being pinched as she mumbled, “Thissn’t thut confliction!”

Yu Zhile was amused by how adorable his wife looked. With both hands, he kneaded her cheeks and laughed. “Yes, yes, yes. Whatever my wife says goes.”

“Hee hee!”

Qin Haiyu wore a triumphant smile.

…

A week later, "I Am a Singer" began airing.

“Honey, honey! Are you done washing up? ‘I Am a Singer’ has started!”

Qin Haiyu’s voice came from the bathroom: “Pause it! I’m almost done. Wait for me!”

The baby, cradled in Yu Zhile’s arms, tugged restlessly at his clothes and called, “Mama! Mama!”

Yu Zhile let the little one sit on his lap, kissed that adorable rosy face, and teased her, “What’s itchy? Is it your little hand or your little foot?”

The baby happily waved both tiny hands at the television. Yu Zhile, playing his part to the hilt, caught one of her little hands and said, “Ah, your hand’s itchy! Come on, Daddy will eat your little hand and it won’t itch anymore!”

“Ah!”

Yu Zhile opened his mouth wide and pretended to swallow the baby’s tiny fist, making her laugh nonstop. Her silvery laughter echoed through the whole room.

Qin Haiyu came out while rubbing her long hair with a dry towel. Seeing her childish husband, she couldn’t help but show a tender smile.

Then she said, “You big child.”

Yu Zhile took the baby’s right hand out of his “bloody maw” and suggested, “Honey, you eat the baby’s left hand.”

“Ah!”

Qin Haiyu sat down and, copying her husband like a husky, opened her mouth and took the baby’s left hand into it.

The baby was instantly granted double the joy of hand-sucking. Qin Haiyu suddenly realized that the two of them seemed even more childish than the baby in this moment.

The little one was laughing so hard that tears were almost coming out. Qin Haiyu used the towel to wipe the baby’s little hands and said, “All right, all right, let’s watch TV now, you childish husband.”

Yu Zhile stopped teasing the baby as well. At that moment, "I Am a Singer" was showing the opening sequence of the production team traveling all over the country to bring the singers to the show.

Qin Haiyu suddenly grew curious. “Honey, why does this feel like an outdoor reality show?”

Yu Zhile said, “Compared with ‘I Am a Star’ you took part in last year, this opening is more innovative. It gives off a real reality-show opening vibe.”

After watching for a while, Qin Haiyu asked again, “How did Ni Qiqin end up as a singer’s agent? And who’s the host?”

Yu Zhile explained, “Each singer has a program agent, and all of the agents are TV station hosts. This time, the rule is that when a singer is eliminated, the corresponding program agent is eliminated too.

“So this show doesn’t have a fixed host. Once it starts, the hosting is randomly assigned to the competing singers as a temporary role!”

Qin Haiyu listened with growing anticipation. “That sounds so fun! Why didn’t ‘I Am a Star’ do it like this last year?”

Yu Zhile laughed. “If you like it that much, go on the next season next year.”

Qin Haiyu said, “Then there won’t be a chance!”

Yu Zhile asked, “Why not?”

Qin Haiyu continued rubbing her glossy black hair with the dry towel. “Because by this time next year, we’ll already have our second baby.”

“That does seem to be the idea.”

The family of three kept watching TV. After the seven singers appeared one after another, Qin Haiyu realized that this lineup of singers didn’t seem weak at all.

Several of them had already become famous more than a decade ago, and their representative songs had once swept across the land from end to end, only for the audience to forget them now because of one reason or another.

Some had been shelved by their companies and, after several years, never managed to regain their former popularity.

Some lacked the looks; their songs were famous, but they themselves were not, and in the end they drifted from singer to behind-the-scenes work.

Some, like Qin Haiyu, had stepped away from the music scene for several years because of family and children. With no new works, they had completely faded from the public eye.

But if they all still had the fame they once possessed, this lineup could truly be described as luxurious.

Yet the entertainment world had always been this merciless: new faces replace the old. And those old faces that have been replaced often find it very hard to rise again.

But Yu Zhile believed that after tonight, after the first broadcast of "I Am a Singer" ended, the singers who performed outstandingly would not merely stage a comeback—they would use their strength to prove one thing:

The king has returned.