Lin Fei

Always Been Quiet, sung by Kong Xi, was still playing on repeat through the speakers.

"The empty streetscape, searching for someone to pour my feelings into."

"Making this decision, with loneliness as my neighbor."

The voice was soft and pleasant, carrying a faint sadness.

Lin Fei quickly calmed down. After hesitating, she placed her hand over the post's delete button.

After a moment of hesitation, she gave a self-mocking smile.

"Why can they attack and smear me however they want without ever caring whether I'm happy? Why do I have to think about so much?"

"I want to say it, so I said it. What can they do about it?"

She turned off the speakers, stood up, and walked out of the office feeling refreshed.

After greeting a group of people with a smile, she drove her newly purchased sports sedan out.

Her mood suddenly improved again. Time for a spa!

Nine in the morning.

Song Dao was studying the electronic contract Tencent Music had sent over.

This wave of traffic had let them taste the benefits, bringing in quite a few new users. Flush with cash, Tencent Music immediately recognized the value of a newcomer like Song Dao.

In order to tie him down long-term, they promptly offered him a generous new contract.

For See Through Love, See Through You, which had not even begun generating revenue shares yet, the split was directly changed from forty-sixty to thirty-seventy.

Tencent Music got thirty, Song Dao got seventy!

Don't underestimate that extra ten percent. For Song Dao right now, it was a considerable sum!

It was not easy to make a living in Beijing.

Even if the original owner had not squandered that money playing simp, buying a home and settling down here would still have been difficult.

Not to mention the little money he had left now. He did not even dare replace his phone with the latest smartphone model.

So Tencent Music's gesture truly warmed his heart.

This contract had been revised from the previous standard agreement. Other than the compensation and some promotional recommendations, nothing else had changed.

Song Dao was very satisfied. After replying to confirm it, he saw a flood of messages from Kong Xi, several of his roommates, and other people he knew.

What was going on this time?

Although the buzz was still there, he had never shown himself or responded, so people had already stopped bothering him every day.

He opened Kong Xi's messages.

"Senior, my boss spoke up for you!"

"It's seriously incredible! My boss hasn't posted anything on Shuibo in years. At most, she would halfheartedly post something for a holiday, like 'Happy New Year,' but she actually made a post for you!"

"Oh, right, Senior, I didn't tell anyone that you're Teacher Sanqian, who wrote Always Been Quiet, so don't misunderstand! Sister Yan Yu specifically told me not to say anything carelessly. I didn't show the contract to anyone either, so please rest assured, Senior. I won't go around telling anyone!"

Reading that girl's messages was no different from not reading them. How was Song Dao supposed to know who Kong Xi's boss was?

She seemed pretty important.

After reading messages from several roommates and some fellow students, he finally pieced together the full picture.

He also understood why Kong Xi had been so excited.

Her boss was actually Lin Fei?!

The National Goddess, hailed as Xia Kingdom's Last Heavenly Queen, was the owner of the company behind Kong Xi?

And this sister, who had been retired for a long time, had personally stepped in to speak up for him after being dissed once again by music critic Cui Luo...

It felt utterly surreal.

Song Dao opened Shuibo and immediately spotted several topics about Lin Fei on the trending list.

Whoa!

He could not help muttering to himself, Well, damn.

As expected of a Heavenly Queen-level figure. One casual post, and she had taken over three trending spots!

The top-ranked topic was: [After years in hiding, young Heavenly Queen speaks out for newcomer in music industry!]

The fifth-ranked topic was: [Sister Fei has appeared!]

The ninth-ranked topic was: [What is the relationship between Lin Fei and Song Dao?]

After opening Lin Fei's post, Song Dao finally witnessed how terrifying the influence of a Heavenly Queen could be.

At most an hour had passed since it was posted, yet it already had more than seven hundred thousand likes and nearly two hundred thousand replies!

This was not an era in which major entertainment companies bought traffic for their top stars. Lin Fei would not be bored enough to pay to boost her own post, either.

For it to create such massive impact in so little time only proved that Lin Fei's nationwide popularity was truly frightening.

Then he looked at the post itself—

[Apparently, Central Conservatory of Music has recently produced a pretty impressive young talent. I listened to that song. The melody is catchy, and the lyrics strike straight at the heart.

I do not think it is a retaliatory song.

If even telling the truth counts as retaliation, then all I can say is that people's values these days are beyond understanding.

He has not used this wave of traffic to do anything at all, and that is already the best proof.

Songs are like literary works. They contain both artistic refinement and down-to-earth realism.

How do you judge whether a song is good?

Very simple!

Give the power to judge it back to the listeners.

Music is meant to be heard!

As long as people enjoy listening to it, it resonates emotionally, and its values are not problematic, then I think it is a good song!

As for everyone else—so you do not like it. Who the hell do you think you are?]

After reading it, Song Dao could only think, Well, damn, once again.

This sister was fierce!

She had not mentioned Ma Shen or Cui Luo even once, not giving them a single bit of attention.

Yet every word was refuting their arguments.

It hit hard.

The comments below had exploded as well.

"Holy shit, Sister actually showed up!"

"Who is Song Dao? Sister actually spoke up for him? Fei Hongs, three minutes. This palace demands every last detail on this Song Dao!"

"Drop the 'this palace,' sister. You seriously do not even know Song Dao? Go browse Audio-Visual. You can catch some fresh, guaranteed juicy gossip there!"

"Waaah, Sister Fei finally came out! I missed you so much! I waited from high school until graduating college. When are you coming back to sing?"

"One of those 'while I'm still alive' moments. When I first heard Sister Fei, I was still in middle school, a flower of the motherland. Now I've successfully entered a factory to screw in bolts and become a glorious corporate drone."

"Finally, a heavyweight has stepped out to say something fair for our Brother Dog! Horse-Face Shen and Black-Mouth Cui, every one of you acts like the embodiment of truth. If you say it's good, it's good; if you say it's bad, it's bad. To borrow Sister Fei's words—so you do not like it. Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Sister Fei is so badass! Powerful and majestic!"

"I'm just a passerby. I haven't listened to much of Lin Fei's music, but there's genuinely nothing wrong with what she said. Some people are simply too full of themselves. They spend all day provoking people and chasing clout like horny poodles. It was about time someone put them in their place!"

"Person above, don't insult poodles, okay? Animal protection warning!"

"I've always felt that some people deliberately twisted Song Dao's song. Rather than revenge against his ex-girlfriend, it is more like a critique of this whole phenomenon!"

"Exactly. If his ex-girlfriend had not shamelessly started streaming to catch this wave of traffic, would anyone even know who she was? And she still had the nerve to claim people were cyberbullying her. Song Dao never even mentioned her name, okay?"

In truth, Song Dao was not the type to enjoy gossip.

But he still spent the entire morning reading the replies in Lin Fei's comment section.

He also noticed something.

There were actually no paid trolls here!

Song Dao blindly guessed that they could not win and did not dare come fight.

Even though Lin Fei had been retired for years, her fans' combat power was genuinely formidable!

There was no shortage of snide remarks in the comments, such as people mocking Lin Fei and Song Dao for being "birds of a feather."

They claimed both of them only sang brainless pop songs with no substance.

Others dredged up old matters and called Lin Fei shameless.

But they were quickly overwhelmed by Lin Fei's terrifyingly numerous fans.

There was no helping it. This woman had not seriously posted on Shuibo in years. To her fans, this post felt like New Year's.

They even saw a glimmer of hope.

Maybe Sister Fei still had a chance to make a comeback!

Facing those haters, they immediately launched into a frenzied barrage, venting all the emotions they had bottled up for years.

Very quickly, aside from a handful of diehards who hid behind private accounts and continued yapping stubbornly, everyone else was forced to delete their posts.

If they did not, they might even get doxxed...

Song Dao did not know what had happened to Lin Fei. Five or six years ago, the original owner had still been in high school.

He only had a vague impression of the matter.

It seemed that the producer who had made her famous had died unexpectedly, and then her father suddenly stabbed her in the back, coming forward to accuse her of being unfilial.

After that came overwhelming abuse across the internet, with all sorts of scandals targeting her being exposed at once.

He did not know the specifics.

The original owner had been busy with school at the time and had no interest in following it.

By the time he entered college, the matter had already passed.

Then he had been busy simping, circling around Miao Xiu every day, with even less energy to care about what was happening outside.

Song Dao thought about it, then searched Zhi Fou.

He actually found several highly upvoted, detailed analysis posts and gained a rough understanding of how it had all unfolded.

Lin Fei had displayed extraordinary musical talent from a young age. If she had been born into a happy family, she might have become famous before turning eighteen.

Unfortunately, her parents divorced early.

Her father, who drifted around the entertainment industry as a minor actor, was a complete scumbag in every way except for being handsome.

He drank, slept around, gambled, and beat his wife.

Drinking and sleeping around were nothing unusual, not just in the entertainment industry but anywhere else. People had long grown numb to it.

But gambling and domestic violence were behaviors people simply could not accept.

If her father had been a celebrity, his career would probably have collapsed long ago.

As a minor actor, even if he caused a huge scene, not many people beyond those around him would pay attention.

When Lin Fei was in her teens, her mother could no longer endure it and filed for divorce in court.

Afterward, she brought Lin Fei to Beijing, working while supporting her schooling and music lessons.

Having finally escaped, Lin Fei did not disappoint.

Not only did every teacher who taught her music praise her endlessly, but she did not fall behind in her academic studies either.

What made her fans proudest was neither Lin Fei's breathtaking voice nor her unparalleled singing skills, nor even the titles of National Goddess and Heavenly Queen.

It was her alma mater: Jing University!

This was not some special admission after she became famous just to polish her image. She had gotten in through her own abilities during the year she debuted!

Her four years in college were also her four most popular years, with an astounding number of performances and promotional appearances.

Even so, Lin Fei relied on her immense perseverance to pass every course, earn enough credits, and graduate successfully from Jing University!

Even one of her professors at Jing University jokingly remarked during an interview, "Lin Fei is too outstanding. She never even gives us a chance to go easy on her."

Why had she exploded in popularity as soon as she debuted?

The halo of being an academic achiever had also been a huge bonus.

Yet fate was unpredictable. Just as her career was at its peak, heaven played a cruel joke on her.

Dong Hui, the gold-medal composer who had discovered her and personally placed the eighteen-year-old girl on the thrones of [National Goddess] and [Xia Kingdom's Last Heavenly Queen], suddenly died of illness.