How tacky are the songs “Drunken Darling” and “Heart, Oh My Heart”?
Tacky enough to be a hit in every household in an eighteenth-tier small county town, a must-have on the car stereo of every coal baron’s family.
The throbbing love of life and death, especially fitting the rugged aesthetic of some middle-aged men.
The lyrics need no substance, either “Oh my dear sister, my little darling heart” or “You’re drunk, drunk, drunk, drunk like a rose,” the counterpoint bass and minor triads are written so seamlessly, all it takes is for the sound to start and the nightclub goes wild.
Jiang Shu has lost the ability to manage his expressions, covering his head with both hands and yelling, “Come here! Explain to me!! How many contracts have you taken on these years??”
Xie Lianyun strokes his chin and says, “Your Porsche’s select CD has been played many times, hasn’t it?”
Jiang Shu is blank: “All of them?!”
“Well, it’s a selection,” Xie Lianyun waves his hand generously, “All chosen to your taste. I’m quite considerate as a nephew, right?”
Uncle Jiang suddenly stands up.
“You—hiss—damn—Xie Lianyun, oh Xie Lianyun!”
Huo Ren quickly shields Brother Yun, reminding him to tie his towel tighter to avoid exposure.
Writing a song for Corona’s album might take half a day to a day, focusing more on arrangement and continuous fine-tuning.
But formulaic works only take twenty minutes to write a song, even face-rolling on the keyboard works.
In recent years, the most explosive boy band in the country is Corona, their songs played in every nook and cranny.
Huo Ren and the others are already sick of listening to their own songs on repeat in the studio. They’d rather listen to tacky tunes than the works they slaved over all night, knowing many of them by heart.
Like the tacky love song.
“Do you love me, love me, if not, I’m just a dog on the street that won’t say a word.”
“Flower-like beauty, oh my sweet darling, come into my arms, let me wipe your tears.”
And the tacky ancient style.
“Love lost through the years, boundless sorrow with wine brewed~
Sandstorms and wandering years~
Just waiting for you to look back~~”
“Fireworks bloom, three lifetimes turn to sand between brows~~
Fallen blossoms in shock~~
Dew-soaked in white, only admiring your elegance~~
Whether you return or not~
I still wait beneath the willow~~”
And the tacky nightclub style.
“Ohohoh I am the wolf of the nightclub~~~!!!
My waist twists the wildest~~!!!
Ohohoh I am the wolf of the nightclub~~!!!
Wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf!!!”
“Everyone with me, let’s get high~~!!!
Whoever doesn’t, pays~~~!!!”
Huo Ren, sitting in the passenger seat, felt that CD was demonic, like a curse in his ears. Now that Xie Lianyun admits it, he has a sense of ‘as expected’.
In these minutes, Jiang Shu’s facial expressions have changed more than a dozen times, his eyebrows and beard nearly twisting into knots.
Chi Ji carefully observes the current topic of conversation, quietly sighing in relief.
He knows playing along with the joke would make him seem open and generous, but he really doesn’t want to.
…Thankfully, Xie’s help is appreciated.
“You have to understand, your current image is a celibate, icy-faced idol, an idol not a freelance fiend.” Uncle Jiang, rubbing his hair in frustration, says, “Your parents manage your money fearing you’d waste it on games, don’t you consider the consequences of diverting it?”
Xie Lianyun has already taken a seat behind Chi Ji, watching Mei Shengyao cut fruits for them, he reached out and grabbed a piece of mango to eat.
“This consequence isn’t too bad.”
“I think it’s possible.” Huo Ren suddenly speaks up, “Brother Xie has at least eighteen pseudonyms. Taking a month to expose them one by one, from electronic music, hip-hop, tacky to ancient style, the hot search won’t stop, also convenient for promoting Corona’s new album.”
He always felt they had a good chance at winning the Crown award this year. If another wave hits, the popularity could push the odds close to eighty percent.
—And for the rivals stirring up trouble again, they’d have to spend much more to compete for the hot search, nowhere near the explosive dissemination of such news.
Holding on to this critical moment is very necessary as Han Qu is likely to seek attention and stir up trouble in the second half of the year.
With the Han’s backing being so substantial, they couldn’t just burn down Eshan Venture Capital in one go, so seizing the right moment to control the situation is crucial.
Whether it’s starting rumors on Crown Live to prove oneself, or hoping Chi Ji would play along with the joke, the essence is to transform the negative direction into a positive impact at a high return rate.
Xie Lianyun’s pseudonyms, while seeming like ironclad evidence of a persona collapse, actually bring him closer to his fans and could completely wash away the negative remnants of past plagiarism scandals.
As Huo Ren’s words hang in the air, Xie Lianyun squints his eyes again.
“Ren Ren, how do you know how many pseudonyms I have?”
Before he finished, everyone else sneered in unison: “You don’t know you talk in your sleep, do you?”
“Mumbling lyrics and humming like a wild boar in your dreams.” Mei Shengyao disdainfully says, “Next time, you share a room with Long-ge, I won’t sleep with you.”
Xie Lianyun: ???
Uncle Jiang felt like he was dreaming as he left the seventeenth floor.
Going downstairs, he found his Porsche on the underground second floor and listened to those songs all over again in the car.
Damn, no wonder that kid always looks so smug when he sees me bobbing my head—He’s not getting any New Year’s money this year!
The next morning at eight, a marketing account posted a submission.
The entertainment circle is abuzz: Ah, I’m submitting a scoop, feeling like I’ve dug up a big scoop!! XLY’s commonly used game ID is ‘Mr. Baji’, and this year’s super hit “Drunken Darling” is credited to Baji, this is definitely not a coincidence!!!
As this scoop breaks, many casual fans and official fans rush out to defend.
“Brother Yun can write English and French songs, how could he possibly indulge in tacky music? Marketing accounts, use your brains a bit, please!”
“My brother and the Chopin champion are close friends, if he really were into tacky music, wouldn’t that be like dry highlands without a stream, where’s the resonance of high mountains and flowing rivers?”
“Don’t joke, if you want to clickbait, there’s no need to fabricate this kind of story. Having burner accounts on Weibo is no big deal.”
#XieLianyunSuspectedCreatorOfDrunkBaby# quickly topped the trending searches, drawing out entertainment circle bystanders and netizens alike to dig for more information.
“Isn’t that song played every day by the square dancing crowd downstairs? It’s driving me insane, okay?”
“Corona releases albums yearly, so busy… He can’t possibly be freelancing, XLY is at such a status, how could he possibly be short on money.”
As the discussion heated up, the original singer of “Drunken Darling” actually came forward to claim the song.
Chu Sisi: Thank you, everyone, for liking my work, I’m honored to collaborate with a certain genius [kiss][kiss][kiss]
Usually, only the song becomes popular, not the artist, so many people rushed to question whether she was riding the wave of popularity.
This happened to be on a Sunday, also the live stream time for the Crown Prosecutor.
Xie Lianyun stood in front of the camera, turned his head to look at the top question, and nodded openly: “Yes, I wrote it.”
Those completely convinced of his aloof iceberg persona: ?!
The female fans completely convinced of their brother’s composed, mature taste: ??!!
The career fans who fully believed in the genius’s consistent behavior from young: Heh, I knew it.
Before the commotion could settle, another wave of revelations surged online within a few days.
“How do I feel this ancient style song was also written by him???”
“Hisss, that rap’s credit looks familiar…”
Xie Lianyun didn’t hide it; when netizens tagged him asking if he was the pseudonym behind certain songs, he would readily retweet and admit it.
This led to widespread confusion among netizens.
—How could this guy possibly write in every style? Isn’t he Corona’s main creator? Where does he find the international time to play games and still freelance??
—Damn, this song fits the CP I ship so well! My brother Yun writing tacky music is just my type, my favorite really is my favorite!!
—So why did Xie Lianyun join a boy band?? After all these years, has anyone told me why these geniuses decided to form a band?? Any of them going solo would be unbeatable, right???
Huo Ren flipped through a few pages of the data report, genuinely sighing in relief.
Once this broke out, ‘Xie Lianyun’, ‘Corona’, ‘Role-Playing’, and several other keywords’ search indices instantly skyrocketed, driving album sales up for the third time this year.
“This has already become a legend in the marketing world,” said Director Su, sipping his coffee. “Most artists promote a bit before and after releasing an album, but your fifth album has already broken historical sales records and our competitors thought it was a big event we planned.”
Huo Ren smiled, “After all, we’re Corona.”
They were about to depart for the recording of “Crown Wanted,” and before heading to the airport, Uncle Jiang took Huo Ren to meet two old friends.
It was Aunt Lu and Chen Xiaoyan.
“Aunt Lu was discharged from the hospital at the beginning of this year. Her kidney transplant surgery was very successful, and now she can live a normal life.”
Jiang Shu had always silently helped Huo Ren with his family, grateful for their assistance during the abuse scandal.
“Xiao Chen is engaged to his girlfriend, planning a wedding next Valentine’s Day. I’ll arrange a half-day off for you to go see.”
Huo Ren, who had been busy with work for so long, was surprised and happy to see his completely transformed family again, chatting for a long time before embracing them goodbye.
Back in the car, Jiang Shu handed him two booklets, steering north.
“One is a firearms catalog, the other is for off-road vehicles. Flip through them, and once we land, someone from the program team will take you to pick.”
“The city you’re escaping in is even bigger than usual; you’ll have to struggle to escape for seven days, the team leader must be stable.”
Huo Ren flipped a few pages, then suddenly remembered something.
“So, the royal hunting ground is also open to us?”
“Indeed,” Jiang Shu said leisurely. “Wolves, rabbits, foxes, it has everything.”
“My advice is, while escaping is escaping, having a team-building wild cookout would also be nice—I’ve put a bottle of Lao Gan Ma in your luggage.”