Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

Two days is enough time for a war to spread across the entire internet.

On the second day after Su Yuyan's "Longing" was released, Tencent Music reported that the single had sold over 30 million copies.

The marketing team at Times Media is throwing money around like it doesn't matter.

On the trending topics list, the hashtag #SuYuyanLonging# has garnered nearly 500 million views.

But to the surprise of Times Media, the buzz surrounding Tianyu Media was not suppressed at all.

On the contrary, it's getting higher and higher.

the reason is simple.

Following Jiang Fan's strategy, Chen Lan instructed the publicity team to release signals rhythmically across various platforms.

Without arguing or explaining, they only did one thing: bring the opposing narrative of "Xu Qingya VS Su Yuyan" to the forefront.

Many marketing accounts come here simply because they smell blood.

"Two top female singers releasing albums at the same time: a coincidence or a declaration of war?"

"Is Hsu Ching-ya's new album going head-to-head with Su Yu-yen?"

"An insider revealed that the two songs have a very similar style, suggesting that they may have been produced by the same person."

As soon as these headlines appeared, netizens flocked to them.

The entertainment industry is never short of people who enjoy watching the drama unfold.

A showdown between two divas of the same caliber is a spectacle that happens only once a year.

A poll even appeared on Weibo asking, "Do you support Xu Qingya or Su Yuyan?"

The fans on both sides were completely enraged.

We used every available means—supertopic, comment section, private message reporting—to report them.

Tianyu Media Publicity Department

Director Liu Fang slammed the latest public opinion report on the table, a rare smile appearing on her face.

"In just two days, the total exposure of topics related to Xu Qingya exceeded one billion. And our publicity budget only accounted for one-third of theirs."

She handed the data to Chen Lan.

"Every extra penny that Times Media spends promoting 'Lovesickness' brings Xu Qingya more traffic. It's like the other side is paying to help us lose."

Chen Lan took the report and flipped through two pages.

The numbers are indeed impressive.

Chen Lan put down the report and, reflecting on her time working with Jiang Fan, she finally understood what was going on.

This twenty-year-old always wears the same expression no matter the situation—unhurried.

What makes others anxious and flustered, he simply says: "Let the bullets fly for a while."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Chen Weiyang's office at Times Media.

There were three empty coffee cups on the table, and seven or eight tabs were open on the laptop screen.

Xu Qingya made no move for two days.

There was no rebuttal, no postponement, and not even a change to the publicity plan.

This silence made Chen Weiyang uncomfortable.

His phone vibrated; it was a message from Wang Hao.

"Wei Yang, Xu Qingya's album will be released at midnight. The online marketing team is all in place. Don't worry, let her handle it."

Chen Weiyang replied with an "OK" emoji.

-

Xu Qingya's new album "Red Bean" was released on time on three major platforms: Tencent Music, NetEase Cloud Music, and Kuwo Music.

There's no splash screen with a GG logo, and no featured section on the homepage.

Tianyu's publicity team simply posted a message on their official Weibo account.

"Xu Qingya's new album is now available online."

The accompanying image is the album cover.

A pure black background with a single red bean in the center.

Within two minutes, 30,000 comments flooded the comment section.

"They're here! We've been waiting for two days!"

"Sister Ya, you've finally decided to release an album!"

"Two songs, one in Mandarin and one in Cantonese, which should I listen to first? I need an answer urgently!"

At 12:03 AM, the data in the Penguin Music backend started jumping.

Zhang Lei was woken up by a message notification on his phone. Still half asleep, he opened the app and jumped out of bed.

In three minutes, the single "Red Bean" surpassed one million plays.

He dialed the technical department's number.

"Can the server handle it?"

"No problem for now. We tripled the capacity after the crash with 'Nocturne' last time."

"Keep a close eye on it. Contact me immediately if any problems arise."

-

The initial online reaction came faster than anyone expected.

The first song to be played was the title track, "Red Bean".

After all, the whole internet has been discussing "Xu Qingya VS Su Yuyan" these past two days, and everyone wants to hear what level this song is at.

Within the first ten seconds of the intro, the comment section was flooded with messages.

"Wait a minute, why does this intro sound so much like 'Longing'?"

"The styles are similar... Could Xu Qingya really be following the trend?"

"Disappointing. I thought they would come up with something new, but it turns out they're just following the same path as Su Yuyan."

The online troll team from Times Media had been lurking in the comment sections of various platforms for some time.

These accounts were registered at different times, with different profile pictures, posing as ordinary listeners.

"Isn't the plagiarism confirmed? 'Acacia' was released two days earlier than 'Red Bean,' so it's obvious who copied whom."

"The similarity between 'Red Bean' and 'Longing' is about 80%. Is Xu Qingya just following the trend?"

"No wonder Tianyu Media didn't dare to release any songs before, they were feeling guilty."

"Support Sister Yu Yan in defending her rights! Plagiarism is shameful!"

Immediately, the comment sections of the three major platforms were filled with doubts.

On Weibo, the hashtag #RedBeanPlagiarizesAcacia# was artificially boosted to eleventh place on the trending topics list by online trolls.

The speed is abnormally fast.

When Liu Fang from Tianyu Media's publicity department saw this topic, she almost dropped her phone.

She picked up the phone and called Chen Lan.

"Sister Chen! The online trolls on the other side are too powerful; the 'plagiarism' topic is already trending! Should we buy our way out of the trending topics?"

"Don't remove it." Chen Lan's voice was unusually calm. "Let it hang there."

"What?!"

"Let the bullets fly for a while."

Liu Fang held her phone, remaining silent for a long time.

-

But as lively as it may be, music ultimately needs to be heard.

At 1 a.m., the data for another song quietly started to rise.

"The Woman Who Is Easily Hurt"

In the first hour after its release, this Cantonese song only received one-third of the number of listens as "Red Bean".

After all, mainland audiences have limited acceptance of Cantonese songs, and most people came for "Red Bean".

But those who have heard it have completely different opinions.

"I've been listening to Cantonese songs for twenty years, and this one is definitely in my Top 3 of the year."

"The breathy vocals in the chorus are amazing; I've been listening to it on repeat ever since."

"As a native of the Greater Bay Area, I feel this song reminds me of those classic songs that played on the radio when I was a child. But it's even better than those."

There were no paid commenters or controlled comments; all the evaluations were spontaneous from genuine listeners.

The number of views for "Easily Hurt Woman" quietly surpassed that of "Red Bean" at 3 a.m.

No one anticipated this situation.

Even the publicity department of Tianyu Media didn't expect this.

The tone of the comments section has completely changed.

"My God... I don't understand Cantonese, but I cried when I heard this."

"I knew this song was something special from the very first line. The melody was completely different from 'Red Bean,' but it was just as incredibly beautiful."

"Sisters, I'm doomed, I'm going to listen to this song on repeat until dawn."

"Wait a minute, can you guys listen to 'Legend' from this album???"

"legend".

Another deadly weapon.

When the first listeners clicked on "Legend," someone typed a line in the comments section:

"I had just come from 'Easily Hurt Woman' and thought I wouldn't be surprised again tonight. Then I clicked on 'Legend'."

Immediately afterwards, the comment section completely spiraled out of control.

"Three songs, three completely different styles. One is a traditional Chinese love song, one is a classic Cantonese song, and one is a grand love song. Each one is worthy of being called an annual masterpiece."

"This is not an album, this is a massacre."

"Who's still talking about plagiarism? You go ahead and copy three songs of this caliber!"

At 4 a.m., the trending topic #RedBeanPlagiarizesLovesickness# started to drop in the rankings.

Instead, another topic emerged—#Xu Qingya's New Album Reaches Godhood#.

No one is paying to promote this topic.

It was a spontaneous discussion among ordinary people that somehow managed to climb to eighth place on the trending topics list.