Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

The second day of the National Day holiday.

Inside the film set at Songjiang Middle School, the crew was still working non-stop, but outside, the entertainment industry was in complete chaos.

The number of views for "As You Wish" on various platforms has skyrocketed.

At 8 PM on October 2nd, Penguin Music's backend report showed that the daily play count exceeded 80 million.

Douyin (TikTok) was particularly hard hit, with over 400,000 fan-made videos about "Ru Yuan" appearing in just two days, and the song was used as the background music for all of them.

Soldiers returning home from visiting their families, veterans saluting in the street, fathers and daughters seeing each other off at the train station.

They post any kind of tear-jerking theme on it, and as soon as the chorus "And I will love the world you love" plays, the comment section is full of tears.

The most viewed video is a short film of a border guard standing guard in the wind and snow.

The scene shows heavy snow falling, with thick frost on the soldiers' eyelashes. During the changing of the guard, the two men face each other and give a standard military salute.

The background music just reached its climax.

Within ten hours of its release, it garnered over eight million likes and over one hundred million views.

The top-rated comment below only has eight characters: "The mountains and rivers are safe and sound, and life is as normal as ever."

On October 3rd, the authorities intervened.

CCTV News' Douyin account posted a tweet with a very apt title: "A song that expresses the sentiments of three generations."

The video features a compilation of precious historical footage from the founding of the People's Republic of China, with background audio from Xu Qingya's live recording at the National Day Gala.

Following that, China Daily reposted it.

Forwarded by the Office of the Central Commission for Guiding Cultural and Ethical Progress.

People's Daily Online reposted this.

..........

"As You Wish" has become a huge hit, transforming from a popular song into a mainstream hit.

Jiang Fan sat on a folding chair on set, holding his phone.

Ning Yuan was giving Shen Feng acting instructions in front of him, while Shen Feng looked down and swiped his phone screen to open Weibo.

At this time, Xu Qingya's Weibo followers were growing at a faster rate than the stock market.

Before going on stage at the October 1st gala, Xu Qingya had 81.8 million followers on Weibo.

It is 2 PM on October 3rd.

Number of fans: 1.02 million.

This number has far surpassed the line that had held her back for four years.

Tang Yingxue has 9876 million followers.

For four years, Xu Qingya remained in third place.

Now, a song, a gala, and it's all over.

The Chinese New Year celebrations have already begun in Xu Qingya's fan community.

Big fans spearheaded a lucky draw, giving away lipsticks, cell phones, and concert tickets, creating a frenzy.

Three terms stood out among the top ten trending topics.

#The landscape of the four divas has changed# — second on the trending topics list.

#Xu Qingya's fans surpass Tang Yingxue's# - Fifth on the trending topics list.

#Xu Qingya's National Day Gala Views Exceed 1 Billion# - 7th on the trending topics list.

Jiang Fan clicked on the second most searched term.

It's far more than just a simple fan war between two groups.

Several influential marketing accounts worked overnight to create a chart comparing various data points of the four top female stars.

At the very top is Ye Anran, whose indicators are all at their peak, sitting comfortably on the sidelines.

The main events are in the two columns below—

In terms of total record sales, Hsu Ching-ya achieved 4.3 million copies, while Tang Ying-hsueh achieved 4.1 million. Hsu Ching-ya has surpassed Tang Ying-hsueh.

Hsu Ching-ya won 2 Best Female Singer awards, while Tang Ying-hsueh won 3. They are lagging behind.

In terms of total online followers, Xu Qingya has 1.02 million, while Tang Yingxue has 9876 million. A complete domination.

Of the three core indicators, Xu Qingya leads in two. The conclusion is very clear when you look at the chart.

The comments section is in complete chaos.

"The Golden Melody Awards are the highest honor in the Chinese music scene! Without three Golden Melody Awards to back you up, what makes you think you're second best?"

"Hilarious! What does 100 million followers even mean? How many artists in the Chinese entertainment industry have that many? Xu Qingya's song was praised by CCTV. How could Tang Yingxue possibly compete?"

"Xu Qingya's fans, don't be so arrogant. It's just a patriotic song; anyone else could sing it and it would be just as popular!"

"Go ahead and let Tang Yingxue sing! CCTV specifically requested her, why don't you try someone else?"

"How many years has Tang Yingxue been relying on her old hit 'Light Year'? With Xu Qingya's 'As You Wish', 'Light Year' is simply no match for it."

"Let's see what you have to say after Hsu Ching-ya wins her third Golden Melody Award."

Once the war between fan groups starts, there is no room for reason.

Jiang Fan scrolled down two screens and closed Weibo.

The ranking battle in the entertainment industry has always been a life-or-death struggle. Resources are limited; if you rise, others have to fall.

He switched to WeChat and opened the pinned chat box.

Jiang Fan: Congratulations to Empress Xu, you've surpassed 100 million followers.

The "typing" message flashed for a while before finally arriving.

Xu Qingya: Stop being sarcastic. I just want to get back to Shanghai right now.

Jiang Fan: What time is the flight?

Xu Qingya: We will land at 9:30 tonight.

Xu Qingya: After completing the follow-up interviews with the two CCTVs, I left overnight.

Xu Qingya: What about you? Still on set?

Jiang Fan: Hmm.

Xu Qingya: Then I'll go back and wait for you.

Before he could lock his phone, another chat window popped up.

It was Tang Yingxue.

Tang Yingxue: Jiang Fan, you did this on purpose, didn't you?

Jiang Fan's finger hovered over the top of the screen; this woman must have seen the trending topic too.

Jiang Fan: Teacher Tang, what do you mean by that?

Tang Yingxue: When you wrote "As You Wish" for Xu Qingya, did you anticipate this day?

Jiang Fan: If I were a fortune teller, I'd be setting up a stall under the overpass right now.

Tang Yingxue: Enough nonsense. My song is almost finished recording, and I'll be uploading it in the next couple of days.

Jiang Fan: Why are you in such a hurry?

Tang Yingxue: Nonsense! Someone's already stepped on my face! Should I applaud her if I'm not worried?

Kyoto, the recording studio on the top floor of Tang Yingxue's studio.

Tang Yingxue slammed a bottle of mineral water onto the table, splashing a few drops that landed on the mixing console.

The sound engineer next to him was startled and shrank back, not daring to utter a sound.

This song has been recorded for three whole days, and Tang Yingxue has been extremely ruthless to herself.

In an attempt to find that bittersweet feeling of relief and regret after missing out, she locked herself in the shed and stopped eating.

The final version was not finalized until noon today.

Tang Yingxue stared at her phone screen, her chest heaving.

The comments on the trending topics were like daggers piercing her lungs.

She climbed her way up in this industry for twelve years, stepping on the shoulders of countless others to finally secure the second-in-command position.

Has Xu Qingya overturned everything with just one song?

Absolutely not.

She lowered her head and typed quickly.

Tang Yingxue: I've got the whole company working overtime for post-production, and it'll be released online tomorrow night at 8 PM sharp.

Shanghai, on a film set.

Jiang Fan looked at the words on the screen.

Jiang Fan: Releasing the song is fine. Please credit my real name when arranging it.

Tang Yingxue: Why?

Jiang Fan: Xu Qingya just took off with "As You Wish", and you turn around and release a song I wrote to attack her. Xu Qingya will tear me apart.

Tang Yingxue: Hmph, you're afraid too?

Tang Yingxue: I'll use it.

Tang Yingxue: I want the whole internet to know that you, Jiang Fan, are not Xu Qingya's exclusive protégé. You can also write masterpieces for me.

Jiang Fan leaned back in his folding chair and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Xu Qingya landed at 9:30 tonight and was bursting with excitement, eager to share it with him.

Tang Yingxue is releasing a song tomorrow night, clearly intending to use him to slap Xu Qingya in the face.

Being caught in the middle, this is a really difficult situation.

He stuffed his phone into his pocket, stood up, and dusted off his trousers.

"Jiang Fan, come and see this good show!"

Ning Yuan called out from the front.