Song Appointment

"The fuck are you playing at, you bitch?!"

"Did you see what someone exposed in the comments under that video? Four years, he spent over a million on you!"

"That was money his parents' accident left him—compensation paid with their lives! A man's unreserved love for you! And you fucking found someone else and dumped him just like that? Are you even human?"

"I almost bought your innocent act—Song Dao's a petty scumbag? Then he drops a million on you?"

"He treated you like a goddess, and you treated him like an idiot!"

"You reeled him in until his mouth was gaping, and when he finally woke up and wrote a song, you and your bots said he was trying to ruin you, that he named you? A gold-digger like you has no dignity—does it even need ruining?"

"Gold-digger, get your little car and roll out of the internet!"

"Don't sit there crying and pretending to be pure. I bet you're with the car owner right now, or how else would those dickhead bots have swarmed in so fast?"

"First step after climbing up: cut off the one who helped you. Damn it, everyone, scatter—don't give this trash any more attention!"

"Unfollow! Unfollow!"

"I just tipped two Sunglasses a minute ago—MB, give me my money back!"

The entire comment section exploded almost instantly. Countless people scrambled like mad, hopping between two comment sections like weasels, shuttling back and forth.

Some even went further—sharp-eyed netizens spotted inconsistencies from the details.

"Look at her background. The decor looks like Wangfu Hotel—five-star, crazy expensive. Could she afford this place without a simp? So who's she with now? Do you even need to guess?"

Staring at the endless barrage of comments scrolling across her phone screen, even the hotel she was staying at guessed correctly.

Miao Xiu finally couldn't hold it in anymore. She burst into tears with a wail.

This time, it was far more real than any of her previous crying.

Her delicate face twisted into a knot as she fumbled to turn off the livestream.

Then, regardless of everything, she buried her head in her arms and sobbed on the table.

She had hesitated before, not because she still had feelings for Song Dao, but because she knew deep down—over these years, Song Dao had given her everything he had!

He'd spent so much money on her!

Her old fans who used to watch her streams regularly knew all this too. She'd often bragged smugly about various luxury items.

All that youthful ignorance had become landmines she buried for herself.

Not only that—Song Dao was also her "top fan"!

In the past few years alone, the gifts he'd thrown in her livestreams exceeded two hundred thousand yuan, and he only ever spent money on her.

He wouldn't even light up a fan badge for anyone else, but with her, his fan level was past seventeen.

His account was over level forty—the kind that gets DMs from girls!

Netizens might have no memory, but the internet remembers.

Plenty of people had saved screenshots out of spite.

So with the heat blowing up like this, chances were high that all this would be dug up.

Which meant—she was finished!

She regretted it more than anything now. Why had she been stupid enough to agree to Lu Wen's suggestion? If she hadn't gone live tonight and chosen to let it cool off quietly, then sent her bots to steer the narrative—

As long as she twisted it into a gender war, framed it as a woman's right to choose her own happiness, she could have come out unscathed.

What "all publicity is good publicity"?

Now look. She wasn't just a gold-digging leech—she was an ingrate who drained her ex-boyfriend's savings, then kicked him to the curb for a replacement!

And the worst part? After all those years with Song Dao, they'd never even slept together!

She'd bragged about that too, smugly, during a previous livestream to her fans!

Her main point had been to show off her purity and conservatism.

If they had actually slept together, she might still have a chance to spin it.

But the real killer? Just now, to play the innocent, she'd gone on stream again and, in front of thousands of viewers, emphasized that her relationship with Song Dao was completely pure.

Just holding hands, studying together, eating together—study buddies.

If you had to call it a boyfriend-girlfriend thing, it was that simple, pure campus romance.

—So breaking up with him was totally normal!

If she'd just said they were a normal couple who did everything couples do, the backlash wouldn't have hit this fast, this hard!

Lu Wen, who had watched the whole thing unfold, was also stunned.

He'd only known that Miao Xiu was still a virgin, and had been pretty smug about it, thinking Song Dao was a complete fool.

But he had no idea that young man had spent the entire four years' worth of compensation from his parents' accidental deaths on her.

That was just too morally bankrupt!

He wasn't a good person himself, but if he'd known this beforehand, he probably wouldn't have touched Miao Xiu.

God knows how a young man who gave everything would react after his girlfriend was stolen and slept with.

He just wrote a song to vent his emotions, never saying a single excessive word from start to finish.

That already made him a first-class civilized person, for fuck's sake, right?

So Lu Wen also regretted it a bit. He thought she was a pretty girl willing to sell out for a leg up, but who would've guessed she was this kind of gold-digger?

But he also knew that if he walked away now, Miao Xiu might go to extremes.

That extreme could be inward, but it could just as easily be outward!

Either way, it wasn't good for him.

He had to stabilize her emotions first.

With that in mind, Lu Wen spoke to soothe her: "Don't worry, this isn't something without a solution."

Hearing this, Miao Xiu stopped crying immediately, looked up at him, her eyes red and frightening.

Lu Wen chose his words carefully: "Lay low for a while. Stay here, order whatever you want to eat, and I'll figure out the rest."

"What else can I do? I, I did spend his money, but he spent it too, it wasn't just me. Now everyone's cursing me out..."

Miao Xiu choked up, her face full of grievance.

Lu Wen glanced at the Orange Horse bag worth seventy or eighty thousand that Miao Xiu had tossed on the sofa.

"Right, right, right, he spent it too. Don't panic, let me go back and think of something first."

Her classmates had already leaked that the guy was pretty stingy with himself, his phone was from years ago!

But look at what you're wearing, carrying, and using—what's all that?

So trying to whitewash from the angle of "he spent it too" wasn't just pointless—

It would get her roasted even harder.

"Huh? You're leaving?" Miao Xiu looked at Lu Wen, her eyes full of reluctance.

Right now, the only person she could rely on was him.

"I could stay with you, but now..." Lu Wen's tone was very gentle, "Baby, the news that you spent so much of his money has already been leaked. I have to find a way to fix this for you!"

Miao Xiu suddenly panicked. She wasn't afraid of netizens calling her a gold-digger, but she was terrified that Lu Wen might think the same of her.

After all, what she wanted from Lu Wen wasn't money—it was fame!

She wanted to be famous!

"Honey, I..."

Lu Wen waved his hand: "Alright, I know what you're thinking, and I don't care about the gold-digging thing. I'm a gold-digger too! So don't worry, I won't short you on what I promised. That's it, you're tired too, take a shower and get some sleep early."

He put on his coat and left in a hurry.

There was something else he was more worried about that he couldn't tell Miao Xiu: people online had already guessed which hotel she was staying at.

Given the absurd level of attention he himself had caused, if someone found out he was here too, the trouble would be huge!

The woman at home turned a blind eye to his fooling around outside, but it couldn't be exposed!

So he didn't even call his driver to bring his luxury "little car" from the underground parking. Instead, he just hailed a rideshare.

And fled in a panic.

As for how to handle this?

Handle my ass!

Wait for the buzz to die down naturally, and deal with it later!

He didn't want to get burned himself.

The countless netizens who had been enjoying the gossip and dishing out curses, after Miao Xiu's livestream shut down, found themselves with nowhere to go and returned to the comment section of the original video to keep fighting.

The paid shills had already pulled out.

Not because the enemy was too strong, but because their own side was too fucking brainless!

With leaks everywhere, she still dared to go live and whine, trying to whitewash herself. Was her head full of shit?

With the internet as it is today, things blow up way faster than in the past.

So reversal plots happen all the time.

But tonight's scandal from the Central Conservatory of Music, in most people's eyes, had almost no chance of a reversal.

And as time passed, more and more info was dug up.

Just as Miao Xiu had expected, even the fact that Song Dao was her top fan in the livestream and had tipped a lot of money was exposed.

Some old fans were stirred up and came to join the fun.

Someone even dropped video clips and screenshots of Miao Xiu showing off the gifts Song Dao had bought her.

Many sharp-eyed bloggers had already started organizing the whole story by timeline.

He clipped, captioned, and posted his own commentary at lightning speed.

This trending wave was too easy to ride.

Zero risk, and absolutely delicious.

With how far this had already spread outside the original circles, if no other explosive news popped up, it could last for ages.

By the time Song Dao finally signed the exclusive electronic contract for this song, finished the upload process, and was ready to send the audio file to Penguin Platform, it was already past midnight.

He stretched wearily, picked up his phone, and saw the red dot on Carrier Pigeon showing 99+.

When he opened it, countless messages flooded in, nearly freezing his old, beat-up phone.

"Damn, forgot to mute!"

He couldn't help grumbling again about the original owner of this body—that idiot, always buying his girlfriend the latest flagship phone every year while using some ancient relic himself.

Skimming through, he was a bit surprised. Was this song really that powerful?

He ignored the flood of friend requests.

In the end, he just turned off Carrier Pigeon's add-friend function.

No choice. As a Central Conservatory of Music student, his phone number wasn't exactly a secret. Without even needing to be doxxed, countless people could find his info.

He glanced at the messages from his dorm buddies, then checked the time, and didn't bother replying.

After all, they weren't close, and he didn't know what to say.

Right now, he was supposed to be "heartbroken," so quietly nursing his wounds alone made perfect sense.

The other messages were all similar—some comforting him, some saying he was amazing, some telling him he'd blown up and to take them along.

Until he opened the messages from Kong Xi, whom he'd just added tonight. He paused, then couldn't help a soft laugh.

Earlier, he'd been curious how a Bronze Treasure Chest from the system could yield a song like this.

Now he had his answer.

It seemed the system was "trigger-based."

"Senior Brother, you've blown up!"

"Oh my god, how did it spread so fast?"

"Not good, the other side hired bots to smear you!"

"Scared me to death, I thought you were going to get blackwashed by those bots, but then there was a huge reversal!"

[Screenshot][Screenshot][Screenshot]

"Senior Brother, what are you busy with? Can you reply for a second?"

"There's something I want to ask your help with, actually, I want to commission a song from you."

Probably seeing that Song Dao never replied, Kong Xi finally couldn't hold back.

She rambled on, voluntarily explaining the whole situation.

Including the film company offering a million for a song—she couldn't hide it anyway, since the production team would inevitably use it for promotion.

"If Senior Brother can help me, I'm willing to buy it out at a high price..."

"If Senior Brother prefers a royalty split, I can give you twenty-five percent."

That was already the standard for a well-known lyricist-composer.

Of course, for a top-tier gold-medal lyricist-composer, or even a higher-level hall-of-fame godfather, it wouldn't be as simple as a split.

Those big shots start their own companies, write their own lyrics and music, and handle everything from arrangement to production entirely by themselves.

Then they find a singer to perform it and take a bigger cut.

Those kinds of giants could even treat Heavenly Kings and Queens as tools—and those stars would still flock to them.

For a newcomer just out of the Music Conservatory like Song Dao, the already somewhat famous Kong Xi offering these terms was already the utmost sincerity.

The girl seemed very straightforward, as if she just wanted to get this task done.

Of course, if this song made her even more famous and pushed her up another level, she could earn much more in other fields later.

Making some concessions now was no big deal.

So you could also say she was very clever.

From his past life to this life's original owner, both had suffered greatly because of women.

Especially the latter—he simped until he had nothing left, even lost his life!

Dealing with girls... you had to be careful!

Song Dao pondered.

What a coincidence.

He actually had a song in hand that was quite suitable!

This song was once a well-known interlude from a popular xianxia drama back in the day.

The lyricist was even more of a heavyweight.

When Song Dao unboxed this song, he could hardly believe his own eyes.

He spent a good while grumbling about the system's song classification.

It felt like this cold, rigid system was just like those musicians perched at the top of the food chain, looking down on pop songs!

But that didn't matter. In his current state, it made perfect sense for him to "create" a song like this.

He checked the time. He figured someone as young as Kong Xi probably wouldn't be asleep yet, so he replied: "I wrote a song a while back, but it's not ancient style. I'll record a demo for you later, and you can send it over to see if it fits. But fair warning, I'm short on cash lately."

"Wow!"

"Senior Brother, you finally replied!"

"You already have a song written? That's great, that's great!"

"We can talk about the price, as long as the song works, no problem!"

"Can I come find you now?"

This girl had been on the verge of an emotional breakdown lately, and seeing his reply sent her into an excited frenzy.

At the same time, she felt a bit indignant on Senior Brother's behalf.

Why would Senior Brother be short on cash?

It had to be because he'd spent too much on that woman, eating through his savings without earning anything!

Song Dao was a little speechless. With a face full of exasperation, he replied: "It's too late now. Let's do it tomorrow."

"Uh, sorry, sorry, I didn't even check the time. It's a deal then, Senior Brother. I'll come find you tomorrow..."

"Don't come find me. Pick a quiet spot, and we'll head there separately," Song Dao replied, frowning as he scrolled through the comments on that viral video. "If people see you with me, who knows what they'll say."

"Senior Brother, you're so thoughtful. I know a place. I'll go there first tomorrow and wait for you, then send you the location!"

"Alright, good night."

Song Dao didn't reply again.

Kong Xi, wearing her fluffy pajamas with her smooth, long hair draped over her shoulders, tossed her phone aside after sending that last message and pumped her fair little fist in the air.

"Oh yeah!"

"Awesome!"

"Senior Brother's a bit aloof, but it seems like there's a chance!"

She hadn't really thought about whether the song Senior Brother wrote would actually suit the drama.

But she was treating this as a desperate last resort!

Sure, she was popular right now, but in the eyes of the mainstream, she was still just a flash-in-the-pan internet celebrity.

People like her—not many each year, but three or five would always pop up.

Some burned out like shooting stars, others managed to stay famous.

Either way, making some money from streaming was no problem. But trying to break into the entertainment industry, going from internet celebrity to real star? That was way too hard!

So her company had tried to book a song for her. After all, the film company was offering a lot of money, and their requirements weren't high.

But every famous name they approached politely declined the moment they heard her name.

Those people were online too.

How could they not have heard of Somersault Cat Girl's "infamous reputation"?

A folk-singing internet celebrity?

No thanks!

They didn't want to ruin their hard-earned reputation for a little cash.

These days, big stars could go live-stream and sell products without issue, but many people still carried a deep-seated prejudice and bias against the internet celebrity crowd.

Her company was helpless about it too. That was just the current situation. The old-school lyricists and composers had already made their names and fortunes, and they didn't need the money.

The new generation of creators had no status and no standout works to show.

The entire songwriting industry was stagnant!

Almost no one could change it.

But for Kong Xi, none of that mattered. She could already see a glimmer of hope to break through.

She started looking forward to tomorrow's meeting.

She even wanted to call her manager and share the good news.

But she checked the time and decided against it. Besides, nothing was set in stone yet—she couldn't pop the champagne halfway through.

So she picked up her phone again and started scrolling through the big drama of the night.

As she scrolled, she made a new discovery.

She immediately grabbed her earphones, put them on, and opened Penguin Music.

She searched for the song that netizens had posted in the comments of that viral video... See Through Love, See Through You!

"The sound quality is a little better than the live version... just a bit. At least it's not noisy. But the emotion doesn't seem as strong as the live performance. Senior Brother must have recorded this at some cheap studio near the school gate, right? I should introduce him to a better one tomorrow..."