Chapter 57: Has Water Entered Your Brain?

All the publicity efforts Pan Chengyi had previously arranged for Lu Zhou’s new song, “First Love,” had finally paid off. The song had been used a total of 4.88 million times, and tonight alone it hit a single-day usage peak, topping the DouMusic chart. The real reason, however, lay in how snippets of the song, paired with scenes from the film “That Year, We,” struck a deep chord with students currently experiencing graduation season.

A major influencer with a million followers, “Guo the Student,” took the lead, using “First Love” as the background music for a video montage of memories with his first love in college—sweet moments together, culminating in a bittersweet parting at graduation.

“Young man, be brave and look forward.”
“This made me cry. I broke up with my first love after graduation too. Looking back, I realize first love really was the purest.”
“‘What if we break up in the future?’ ‘Then…I’ll chase you all over again.’ But in the end, we still broke up, and I never did chase her again.”
“Time waits for no one. So many years have passed—I wonder if she’s still as beautiful as she was.”
“If only she’d looked back at me once, my youth wouldn’t have been so full of regret.”

The comments beneath the video were a torrent of emotion. After simmering for several days, the video suddenly exploded in popularity, igniting a wave of nostalgia for youthful regrets and graduation breakups. Graduates of all ages began to share stories of their own first loves, driving the song’s usage numbers even higher.

The snowball kept rolling, and tonight, it hit the top of the charts.

Lu Zhou sent Pan Chengyi a screenshot of Guo the Student’s video:

“Brother Yi, you found a great marketing account for this.”

But Pan Chengyi replied, “We didn’t contact that account…it was all spontaneous…and then it just blew up.”

Was there really such good luck? Lu Zhou chuckled.

Lu Zhou: “Seems like this song has real viral potential.”
Pan Chengyi: “Haha.”
Lu Zhou then took a screenshot of the more than two million in backend revenue he’d seen and sent it to Pan Chengyi.
“First bucket of gold.”
Pan Chengyi replied with a celebratory emoji.
Pan Chengyi: “Is that the DouMusic original music reward?”
Lu Zhou: “Yes.”
Pan Chengyi: “Awesome.”
Pan Chengyi: “Looks like DouMusic is actually willing to spend money to support original musicians.”
Lu Zhou, seeing the response, joked, “Maybe I should just sign with DouMusic directly?”
Pan Chengyi sent a kneeling emoji with the caption: “Don’t be rash, boss!”

After a bit more banter, Lu Zhou exited the chat with a laugh.

As he left, he noticed a message from Nan Qiao, whom he hadn’t spoken to in a long time. Curious, he opened it and found she’d left quite a few messages.

First, she congratulated him on his new song’s success and then asked if he was free, inviting him to her birthday party the next day.

Lu Zhou didn’t have any pressing matters the next day, so he agreed to come. After dealing with his messages, he couldn’t resist his fatigue any longer and collapsed into bed for a deep sleep.

That night, he sank into a strange dream. It wasn’t until his alarm blared the next morning that he woke with a start. Staring at the ceiling, he could still recall fragments of the dream with uncanny clarity, leaving him momentarily dazed—what year was it, again? He grabbed his noisy phone and checked the date, confirming it had all been a dream.

He rubbed his face and got out of bed.

With no shows to record lately, freed from the scrutiny of cameras, Lu Zhou felt completely at ease. He began his morning with exercise and routine skills practice. It wasn’t until evening that he remembered to tidy up his appearance, then went to the mall to buy a suitable birthday gift for a woman before heading out to Nan Qiao’s birthday party.

He and Nan Qiao weren’t particularly close in real life. Their social connection was simply that he had once helped her, and in return, she had given him some industry resources—nothing more. They didn’t usually interact.

Normally, unless a birthday party was a grand affair, you’d only invite close friends, wouldn’t you? Why invite him?

Lu Zhou couldn’t help but feel curious.

Still, Nan Qiao had helped him quite a bit in certain respects, and now that she’d invited him, it was only right to attend.

When Lu Zhou arrived, the party was already bustling. A glance around revealed mostly familiar faces from the entertainment industry, some affiliated with Jinhua Entertainment.

Lu Zhou was a relative nobody in the industry—a small, almost invisible figure. Carrying his gift, he made his way through the crowd, drawing a few curious glances.

After searching for a while, he finally spotted the birthday girl. Smiling, he approached her.

“Happy birthday, Sister Nan.” Lu Zhou handed her the gift, offering his best wishes.

“Lu Zhou, long time no see. I’m so glad you could make it. You didn’t need to bring a gift,” Nan Qiao replied with a smile as she accepted it.

“It’s only right,” Lu Zhou said.

Nan Qiao chatted with him for a bit in front of her other friends. Some artists, curious, asked Nan Qiao to introduce her friend.

“This is Lu Zhou. He used to be an artist with our Jinhua Entertainment. The breakout song ‘First Love’ on the DouMusic chart right now? That’s his. Haven’t you guys been on DouMusic lately?”

With Nan Qiao’s introduction, the others began to look at Lu Zhou with new eyes.

“Nan Nan, happy birthday!”

A somewhat familiar female voice called out from behind.

Lu Zhou turned and saw that Liu Yali, Jinhua Entertainment’s director of artist management, had also come to the party. With her was his former agent Xu Mengdan, as well as the members of the Chasing Light Boys, who had once trained alongside him during their trainee days...

Lu Zhou: “…”

The five members of the Chasing Light Boys were now thriving, their faces radiating confidence and dressed to impress—a far cry from their trainee days.

Nan Qiao was soon surrounded by a crowd again, with the usual polite exchanges and well-wishes.

Lu Zhou, not wanting to be caught up in a scene unrelated to him, turned to find something to eat.

“What a coincidence, Lu Zhou, you’re here too?” called Ling Jie, one of the Chasing Light Boys.

Ling Jie had once been Lu Zhou’s closest friend during their trainee days. But that was in the past now.

He still remembered the night before their final evaluation: after extra training, they’d returned to the dorm, and Ling Jie had poured him a glass of orange juice. Lu Zhou had thanked him and downed it in one go, only to notice Ling Jie’s hesitant expression. The next morning, though normally an early riser, Lu Zhou almost overslept and missed the evaluation entirely.

He made it in the end, but his performance was a mess.

Ling Jie, always ranked sixth, made the final five-member debut group.

Once again, Lu Zhou missed his shot at debut.

Looking back, he’d pieced together what had probably happened, but with no proof, he could only accept it.

Lu Zhou glanced at Ling Jie but didn’t respond.

“I heard you released a new song recently. It’s doing well, right?” Ling Jie strolled up, his tone less than sincere, laced with a hint of skepticism.

“It’s alright,” Lu Zhou replied blandly.

“Modest, aren’t you?” Ling Jie raised an eyebrow, still insincere. “I heard you wrote the song yourself?”

At that moment, the main vocalist of the Chasing Light Boys, Fang Yanbin, joined the conversation.

“You wrote it yourself and it’s done so well? Lu Zhou, looks like you’re about to make it big!” he said with a smile.

Lu Zhou forced a smile. “I’ll take that as a blessing.”

“Since you left Jinhua, which company are you with now?” Fang Yanbin probed. “I saw Ye Fangfei helped boost your song. With all that buzz, did you join Huaxuan Music?”

Ling Jie looked surprised. “Really? Then Lu Zhou, you’ve finally made it. If you got into Huaxuan Music, you’re half-successful already.”

Lu Zhou couldn’t help but think how well the two played off each other. Outwardly, he remained calm. “Oh, is that so? But I actually turned down Huaxuan. No plans to sign with any company for now—I’m doing things on my own.”

Ling Jie: “?!”

Fang Yanbin: “?!”

Did they hear that right? Did he just say he turned down Huaxuan Music?

This company, notorious for its inscrutable artist selection, had produced countless hits and stars, with resources overflowing—countless newcomers in the industry would give anything for a shot…

And Lu Zhou had turned them down?!

Had he lost his mind?