Chapter Ninety-Six: The Show Has Truly Become a Sensation!
“What do you mean, it’s gone viral? Let me take a look!”
Yu Zhile leaned in, and Qin Haiyu pointed at the trending list. “Honey, look at this—it’s already on the hot search!”
She opened the related trend, and there it was: the birthday song her husband had posted less than an hour ago. Just a simple little melody had somehow been reposted and discussed by so many social-media accounts and netizens.
Qin Haiyu said in bewilderment, “Honey, this birthday song is obviously very ordinary. Why did it suddenly blow up? So many people are saying that from now on, they’ll sing this song to celebrate birthdays!”
Yu Zhile smiled. “Sometimes the more straightforward a song is, the easier it is for people to remember. Take ‘Two Tigers,’ for example—a children’s song that simple, and now it’s spread everywhere.”
“Maybe that’s true,” Qin Haiyu said. “Before, when people celebrated birthdays, they would only shout ‘Happy Birthday’ and offer a few blessings. Now that there’s this birthday song, everyone can sing it when they celebrate.”
Yu Zhile thought for a moment, then said, “Honey, come on, let’s go to the study and add a little more to it.”
Qin Haiyu blinked in surprise. “Huh? Again? Honey, aren’t you tired?”
“…”
Yu Zhile pinched his wife’s cheek. “What are you thinking? I mean we should add a little more to this birthday song!”
“Oh…”
Qin Haiyu stuck out her tongue in embarrassment and shyness. She had thought that her husband hadn’t been satisfied after their shower and wanted another round.
It turned out he had meant adding to the song.
She hooked her arm through Yu Zhile’s as they went upstairs to the study and asked, “Honey, how are we supposed to add to the birthday song?”
“You’ll know very soon.”
Once inside the study, Yu Zhile sat down in front of the piano, lifted the lid, and said, “Honey, just record your charming husband from behind.”
“Pfft, so vain,” Qin Haiyu teased, but she still obediently held up her phone and asked from behind him, “Ready? Then I’m starting now!”
“Mhm.”
Yu Zhile answered, then began to play the piano. As the birthday melody rang out, he sang through the Chinese version once, then immediately after, sang the birthday song again in English.
At that moment, Qin Haiyu was utterly stunned.
The birthday song could be sung like this?
The Chinese and English versions actually fit together without the slightest conflict.
With the piano accompaniment, the simple little song instantly took on style; and the English version, in particular, carried a distinctly international flavor.
When foreigners celebrated birthdays in the future, who knew—they might end up singing the English version of her husband’s birthday song too.
Just imagining it made her beam with pride.
Soon, with the final piano key pressed, Yu Zhile had finished adding to the birthday song.
After Qin Haiyu finished recording, she suddenly wore the face of an adoring fangirl and said, “Honey, honey! The birthday song you’re singing right now suddenly sounds so good!”
Yu Zhile said, “A cappella and with accompaniment are still pretty different.”
“So good, so good!” Qin Haiyu said happily. “Honey, I’m posting this video on Weibo!”
“Mhm.”
Yu Zhile had let his wife film him from behind precisely so she could post the complete version of the birthday song.
He believed that from today onward, as people celebrated birthdays, more and more of them would gradually start singing this song.
That way, birthdays would finally have that familiar feeling.
Once Qin Haiyu uploaded the video to Weibo, Yu Zhile instantly drew a great many of her fans over.
“Your husband is way too talented! Tell him to debut already! Don’t let his gift go to waste! The Chinese music scene can do without you, but not without your husband!”
“Ah! That damned back view! Why didn’t you film his face? I want to know what your little eunuch fish actually looks like!”
“666! One line of lyrics and he can turn it into a song! This is what a true master looks like!”
Qin Haiyu looked at the comments with sweet delight. “Honey, they’re all telling you to debut! They say you’re too talented!”
Yu Zhile said, “Why would I debut? Isn’t it much nicer to live off my wife?”
“Pfft!” Qin Haiyu laughed at him, then retorted, “But you’re not living off me at all—you’re keeping a celebrity wife!”
Yu Zhile teased, “Mm, that’s true. It’s not living off soft rice. It’s living off soft milk.”
“…”
Qin Haiyu smacked his arm. “You’re being improper again!”
“Haha.”
Yu Zhile chuckled and wrapped his arm around her as they left the study. “I’m sleepy, I’m sleepy. Let’s go to bed.”
...
The next morning.
Overnight, Yu Zhile’s birthday song, which could be sung in both Chinese and English, truly exploded in popularity.
In this age when short videos dominated the internet, a great many birthday videos suddenly appeared overnight, all of them hugely popular—and in those videos, everyone was singing Yu Zhile’s birthday song.
This birthday trend, almost like a custom, had so naturally blended into people’s everyday lives.
Yu Zhile had once again gone viral across the entire internet.
More and more people were paying attention to him, and more and more were hoping he would debut.
But the regrettable thing was that Yu Zhile not only had no intention of debuting, even Qin Haiyu had stopped releasing new songs and no longer appeared on variety shows.
It really felt as though this couple was hopelessly unprofessional at being celebrities.
...
Five days later.
The second episode of I Am a Singer aired. After the first broadcast, the show had been met with a flood of praise, winning over countless viewers with the singers’ strength.
After the second episode aired, the singers’ performances were still widely praised and admired.
As for the challenger singer in the next episode, the silhouette on the head had borrowed from Yu Zhile’s dog-head image, which caused the mysterious challenger to shoot up the hot search as soon as this episode aired.
Many people suddenly began to wonder: could this dog-headed mysterious singer be Qin Haiyu’s husband, Yu Zhile?
And so, with countless viewers and netizens guessing and speculating, the show’s popularity surged out of control.
Even Yu Zhile was impressed.
The production team really knew how to play the game.
They had actually ridden the wave of his dog-head meme.
It had to be said: this move was unbeatable.
Not only had it brought the show plenty of attention, it had also sent a great deal of heat and curiosity toward the next episode.
...
The next day, once the ratings for the second episode of I Am a Singer came out, Yang Bing was so excited he nearly fainted.
1.74 percent.
The ratings had actually soared to 1.74 percent.
The premiere rating had been 1.21 percent, and the second episode had shot up by this much in one go.
At this rate, it seemed entirely possible that the show might even break 2 percent in the episodes to come.
It had exploded.
This program had truly exploded.
He hurried back at a trot to report the thrilling ratings to his colleagues.
When the figure came out of his mouth, even Director Zhang suspected the boy must have read it wrong. He took the ratings sheet and looked closely, and his breathing immediately began to quicken.
After a brief silence...
He suddenly clapped Yang Bing hard on the shoulder. “Hahaha! These ratings are incredible! Xiao Yang, you were right! For a tired, overused music show like this, we have to go against the mainstream and do the opposite if we want good results!”
Yang Bing could barely contain his joy and excitement. The leaders and colleagues all praised it as his achievement, but he knew in his heart that the reason I Am a Singer had achieved this result was all thanks to Yu Zhile.