"Oh, okay. Who's my sister-in-law? A college classmate of yours? Do I know her? Is she nice? Pretty? Does she treat you well?" Ye Yao couldn't help peppering him with questions.
Ye Chen remembered the several posters and piles of merchandise featuring Su Ningwei in Ye Yao's bedroom. "Well, I guess you could say I know her."
"Who?"
"Su Ningwei."
"Who did you say?"
Ye Yao's voice shot up on the other end of the phone. She couldn't believe it.
"The lead singer of Rose Girl Group, Su Ningwei. You could say you know her."
"Ah!! Bro, you're incredible! You actually had a baby with my idol? Oh my god! I'm going to lose my mind! I heard you right, didn't I? Su Ningwei is going to be my sister-in-law?"
Ye Yao excitedly pinched her thigh hard. Tears welled in her beautiful eyes from the pain.
This wasn't a dream!
It was actually true!
"You heard right. Don't get too excited, and keep your voice down. We have to keep this a secret for now," Ye Chen said.
Ye Yao tried to rein in her excitement and took several deep breaths before saying, "Okay, there's no one around me. I understand. My sister-in-law is a public figure, after all. Don't worry, I'll absolutely keep my mouth shut. Bro, I've taken quite a few drawing commissions lately and made a lot of money. I'll transfer some to you first. You've become a dad, so you must have lots of expenses."
"No need. Keep your money for yourself. I'm not short on cash right now. I was actually planning to transfer your allowance for this month this afternoon."
Ye Yao hesitated, then asked quietly, "Bro... you're not living off your sister-in-law, are you...?"
"What are you talking about? Do you think your brother is the kind of guy who lives off a woman? I made my money trading stocks and investing," Ye Chen replied.
At most, he was living off the system. How could that be the same as living off his wife?
"Oh, I see. Then can I come visit you this weekend? It only takes two or three hours to get from Jiang City to Magic City by high-speed train."
"Come if you want, but don't let it interfere with your studies."
"Don't worry. I'll take the train this Friday evening."
Ye Yao was practically bursting with excitement. She couldn't wait to see her idol and her three little nieces and nephews.
"Okay. Call me when you're almost there, and I'll pick you up at the station."
"Okay, bro. I'll hang up now. I have to go to class."
"Mm. Study hard."
After hanging up with Ye Yao, Ye Chen took calls from Zhu Peng, Zhou Tao, and the others.
Only his closest buddies would call him like this.
They were basically all congratulating him on his sudden rise to fame and showering him with blessings and admiration.
Worried that Ye Yao might not have enough spending money, Ye Chen transferred ten thousand yuan to her.
Girls needed to be raised with plenty of resources. He hadn't been able to afford it before.
Now that he could, Ye Chen naturally wouldn't be stingy with his family.
His phone kept ringing.
Ye Chen took it out and glanced at the screen.
Good grief!
In such a short time, the two videos had already surpassed a hundred thousand views.
The likes and shares had topped thirty thousand.
His follower count had also passed ten thousand.
The comments section was full of praise and approval.
Naturally, there were skeptics, too.
"Is this lip-syncing? Maybe he used a sound card or edited the audio. If he's got what it takes, let's see him livestream."
"He only posted a tiny clip. There's no way it's original."
"I looked him up, and there's barely any information about him online. With that face, voice, and talent, he should've been famous ages ago. How is he still a nobody?"
"I also think there's no way he wrote both songs himself. They're completely different styles. Being able to sing them well is impressive enough. I don't believe anyone could write two songs like that."
"..."
Ye Chen wasn't in a hurry. He set all the platform notifications to Do Not Disturb.
He'd let things play out for a while.
Ye Chen turned the recording mode back on,
thinking about his good friends, Cheng Tong and the others.
He picked up his guitar and put his heart into singing a clip of "Friends."
After finishing the recording,
Ye Chen still wasn't in a hurry to post it. He saved it for later.
[ Ding! Congratulations on completing the hidden task: reaching ten thousand followers. ]
[ Congratulations! You have unlocked the Dance Master Skill. ]
Was he on his way to becoming an all-around singer who could sing and dance?
Ye Chen raised an eyebrow. He'd been completely hopeless at dancing before.
His mind could grasp the moves, but his body simply wouldn't cooperate.
In an instant, a wealth of dance techniques flooded into Ye Chen's mind.
All the joints in his body cracked and popped for five whole minutes.
Once the strange sensation passed,
Ye Chen immediately did the splits, lowering himself with ease.
His pajama pants were good quality. They hadn't torn at all.
He followed it with a backbend. It was effortless and didn't hurt a bit.
He did a backflip and landed steadily.
He could spin in place a hundred times without even getting dizzy.
Beautiful!
His posture.
His technique.
His flexibility.
His fundamentals were rock-solid.
Ye Chen was very pleased.
The moonwalk, popping...
He could do them all with ease.
o(*￣︶￣*)o
Ye Chen was in a great mood. He'd save his dancing skills for another time.
With "Baby," "Friends," and "Lonely Warrior," he should have no trouble breaking out of obscurity in a short time.
Let's see who still dared to say he wasn't good enough for Su Ningwei.
Ye Chen checked the time.
The three kids would wake up soon.
He put his phone away and happily went to take care of the kids.
As the view count on Ye Chen's video surpassed a million,
the staff behind the scenes at various platforms also noticed the unusual activity on his account.
Cai Jing, a manager at Dou-Shark, looked at the data on her screen and frowned.
Looking displeased, Cai Jing picked up the internal phone and summoned one of her employees.
"What's going on with this new account? It's only posted two videos, so why is it getting so much traffic? Did it post something it shouldn't have? Xiao Wang from the content review team—does he not want to work here anymore?" Cai Jing asked with a frown.
"Manager Cai, I noticed this account too. There's nothing wrong with his videos. He just posted a clean, original performance, singing and playing guitar. He hasn't manipulated the numbers, either."
"Oh? He only posted a performance? Has he manipulated the numbers? If he has, ban him immediately," Cai Jing said dismissively.
These days, the chances of someone suddenly going viral from a single video were very slim.
Nine times out of ten, the numbers were fake.
"I checked. They're not fake. I haven't found any sign of bot accounts boosting his numbers. They're all active Dou-Shark users. There's not a hint of inflated traffic."
"What?! They're all active Dou-Shark users? That can't be right. What kind of video did he post? Could it be that the singing king Fu Yi made a new account to post a new song? I heard Fu Yi hadn't released anything in a long time, ever since Su Ningwei left the music scene."
Cai Jing jumped to her feet in shock.
This was terrifying!
Aside from Fu Yi—the singing king who'd become famous as a teenager and was both handsome and talented—Cai Jing couldn't think of anyone who could get such impressive numbers with just one new song.
"No. He showed his face. He's a new face, and he isn't signed with a company. His real-name verification says Ye Chen. Ye Chen really is handsome, and his song is genuinely good. I followed him and liked the video, too. I'm looking forward to his next work—or the full version."