A song called "The You of the Past" has prompted the entire internet to beg me not to leav

Friday, 11:55 a.m.

Only five minutes remain until the release of the official promotional song for Xinghai City Museum.

The entire internet's traffic was almost completely drained.

Tens of millions of onlookers, music critics, and even paparazzi were all glued to the official accounts of Xinghai City Museum and Qingqiu Studio's Weibo account.

The top-floor conference room of Xingyao Entertainment.

With his head wrapped in bandages, General Manager Zhao stared intently at the countdown on the screen, gritting his teeth.

"Publicity Department! How's the arrangement for our song 'Eternal Galaxy' going?" He slammed his hand on the table.

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhao! All four trending topics have been arranged, and we've hired the well-known Mr. Qu to handle them." The publicity manager was sweating profusely.

"The moment it hits midnight, the theme song we donated ten million and sang for free will immediately be featured!"

The supervisor paused for a moment, then quickly pledged his loyalty.

"No matter how much buzz Qingqiu Studio gets, it's just gossip. Faced with the national cultural mainstream, our song will definitely crush Lin Yan underfoot and incidentally clear the company's negative image!"

"Great!" President Zhao slammed his fist on the table.

"That ingrate Lin Yan, he thinks he's something special just because he writes some crappy pop songs? What kind of rubbish could a trainee who didn't even properly attend university possibly write for a cultural propaganda song that requires a deep understanding of history?"

"I'm going to watch him get ridiculed by the entire internet today!"

The hour hand moves toward exactly twelve o'clock.

At the very same second.

Starry Entertainment's influential KOLs went all out, and a song called "Eternal Galaxy" accompanied by exquisite CG animation suddenly appeared at number five on the trending search list.

However, only ten seconds passed.

Everyone's attention was completely drawn to another entry that had suddenly appeared at the top of the list, displaying a striking dark red color.

No one paid any attention to Xingyao Entertainment's death throes.

#Xinghai City Museum Official Promotional Song: Lin Yan's "Blue and White Porcelain"#

Not only that, the sheer number of reposts of this Weibo post was astounding.

[Huaxia Music Association V: The harbinger of the rise of Chinese pop music! Unprecedentedly beautiful lyrics and music, this is the ultimate romance belonging to the Chinese people! @Qingqiu Studio Lin Yan]

[Sun Changgeng V from the China Historical and Cultural Relics Protection Institute: This old man doesn't understand music, but in this song, I saw the soul of that Xuande blue and white lotus-patterned plum vase. Consultant Lin, you're a genius.]

[Ping An Huaxia General Administration V: Forwarded. A melody of misty rain, a prosperous China.]

The endorsement from these three bigwigs was like three insurmountable mountains, crashing onto the screens of all the onlookers.

"Holy crap!! What's going on? Wasn't Lin Yan just taken away by the police for questioning because of writing 'The Grave Robbers' Chronicles'? How come Ping An Huaxia is personally promoting his song?!"

"Professor Sun Changgeng? He's a leading figure at the National Museum! He calls Lin Yan 'Advisor'? Am I blind?"

"Old Li is involved too? My goodness, what a show of power! Is Lin Yan the Jade Emperor's favorite son?"

Forget about trending topics, go listen to the song!! This song is absolutely amazing!!

Countless netizens, their fingers trembling, clicked on the five-minute-long official music video.

The screen was initially completely black.

A few seconds later, the screen lit up.

Aerial footage sweeps across the misty, rain-drenched water towns of Jiangnan, revealing white walls, black tiles, small bridges, and flowing water.

Immediately afterwards, a series of crisp, ethereal musical instrument sounds, full of classical Eastern charm, exploded in my ears like pearls falling onto a jade plate.

It was a perfect interweaving of the guzheng, clapper, and pipa.

It doesn't have the ear-splitting bass of mass-produced pop songs, nor the hysterical electric guitar.

The brief pentatonic prelude alone made everyone feel as if they could smell the faint fragrance of ink that had traveled through thousands of years.

"The blue and white porcelain is outlined on the unglazed porcelain, with the brushstrokes going from thick to thin."

"The peony depicted on the bottle is just like your first makeup."

"The rising sandalwood incense through the window reveals my unspoken thoughts."

"The brush stops halfway on the Xuan paper."

Lin Yan's clear, languid yet somewhat transparent voice flowed slowly into the minds of tens of millions of listeners through the headphone wires.

There was no somber melancholy, no sense of relief or vastness.

At this moment, Lin Yan seemed like a scholar with a brush, gently depicting a timeless porcelain piece in the misty rain of the Jiangnan water town.

In the music video, the camera work perfectly matches the lyrics.

In the center of the Xinghai City Museum's main hall, a Ming Dynasty Xuande blue-and-white plum vase with a lotus scroll design stands quietly under the soft lighting.

The black-and-white images of artisans outlining lines on unglazed clay alternate with close-ups of precious artifacts in modern museums.

The comments section froze for a full thirty seconds.

It's not that no one is reading; it's that everyone is so captivated by these brilliantly crafted words that they forget to type.

"The charm of the glaze rendering the lady painting is kept privately."

"And your radiant smile is like a bud about to bloom."

"Your beauty has faded away."

"Go to places I can't go."

Half-mountain villa in Xinghai City.

Shen Qingqiu was nestled in a beanbag chair, wearing headphones.

The moment those lyrics were uttered, this usually aloof diva caught her breath.

A blush involuntarily rose around her eyes.

"The sky is the color of rain after a storm, and I am waiting for you."

"Smoke rises from chimneys, thousands of miles away across the river."

"The bottom of the bottle is inscribed with Han Dynasty clerical script, imitating the elegance of the previous dynasty."

"Consider this a prelude to my meeting with you."

The climax of the chorus bursts forth!

Lin Yan's voice, accompanied by the crisp tapping of the dental fretboard, pushed that unforgettable waiting and the subtle, restrained Eastern romance to the extreme!

The live stream and Weibo comment section erupted like a nuclear fission at that moment!

"This is insane!! How much cultural depth does it take to write lyrics like this?!"

"'The sky is the color of rain after a storm, and I am waiting for you'? My scalp tingled, and I got goosebumps all over! Holy crap!"

"Compared to this, Xingyao is just a pile of dissertations! Purely assembly-line pop songs!"

"The rhyme! The imagery! Five thousand years of Chinese cultural heritage have been completely crushed and stuffed into this song by Lin Yan!"

"The azure color can only be achieved on a misty, rainy day. Lin Yan is saying that to get the most beautiful azure color, one must wait for an unknown misty rain. Absolutely brilliant!"

The song continues.

"The sky is the color of rain after a storm, and I am waiting for you."

"The moonlight was scooped up, blurring the ending."

"Like a piece of blue and white porcelain passed down through generations, it is beautiful in its own right."

Your eyes are smiling.

As the song ended, the last scene of the music video froze on the gate of Xinghai City Museum.

A line of vigorous, flowing calligraphy appears: [A tribute to Xinghai City's centennial celebration, honoring the inheritance of Chinese civilization.]

The power of this song extends far beyond the euphoria of ordinary listeners.

Beijing, the office of the president of Huaxia Conservatory of Music.

A group of elderly professors with white hair gathered around a computer and played the song on repeat five times.

"This young man named Lin Yan is simply a monster!"

An old professor who had taught composition his whole life was so excited that his hands trembled.

"Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zhi, Yu! The most traditional pentatonic scale, yet it incorporates modern R&B rhythms? The connection between the guzheng and the clapper is seamless!"

"This isn't just lyrics; it's a modern-day masterpiece of Song Dynasty poetry! It wouldn't be an exaggeration to include it in a middle school Chinese textbook!"

"With Mr. Li personally endorsing the music, I knew I hadn't misjudged him. The Chinese music scene is about to change."

Meanwhile, in the conference room of Xingyao Entertainment.

It was as silent as a real morgue.

General Manager Zhao slumped in his boss's chair, staring blankly at the various data on the screen.

Xingyao spent ten million yuan in donations and several million yuan buying trending topics to create "Eternal Galaxy".

Ten minutes after the release of "Blue and White Porcelain", it was immediately pushed to outside the top 30 on the trending search list by a huge amount of unsolicited comments.

Even more damagingly, a large number of angry netizens followed the trail and went to Xingyao Entertainment's official account to unleash a torrent of criticism.

"That's it? You Xingyao are going to use this kind of flowery, pretentious garbage to fool a museum?"

"This is hilarious! You think you can compete with Lin Yan? His song 'Blue and White Porcelain' brings Chinese culture to life, while yours sounds like something you'd hear at a rural wedding or funeral. And you dare to buy trending topics?"

"You can't even get a decent living by trying to ride the wave of popularity; you're the clowns yourselves are. Go bankrupt, Xingyao!"

"Investigate whether their ten million yuan donation was fraudulent! This kind of company has no bottom line!"

Mr. Zhao felt a metallic taste rise in his throat, and he grabbed the edge of the table so hard he almost fainted.

"Where are the online trolls... Keep buying them! Say they ghostwrote Lin Yan's song!" Boss Zhao roared hysterically.

The PR manager was almost in tears: "President Zhao, it's no use! Professor Sun Changgeng and Chairman Li Mingchang have personally endorsed it, and even the Ping An Huaxia headquarters has forwarded it! Who would dare take on a job smearing Lin Yan now? That's practically suicide!"

"Bang!"

Mr. Zhao's vision went black, and he and his chair crashed heavily to the ground again, throwing the conference room into chaos.

……

Meanwhile, Lin Yan was at a villa halfway up the mountain.

He was barefoot, comfortably lounging on a beanbag chair in the recording studio.

He held a controller in his hand and frantically pressed the roll button at a giant toad monster on the screen.

"Beautiful! Crushing blow! Take this! This is a sure win!" Lin Yan shouted excitedly.

Shen Qingqiu pushed open the door and walked in.

Looking at the huge "YOU DIED" on the screen and Lin Yan's displeased expression, she sighed helplessly.

"Did you know that your song 'Blue and White Porcelain' not only topped the charts on three major music platforms, but it was even featured on CCTV's news broadcast?"

Shen Qingqiu walked to his side.

"Director Chen at the museum has been on the phone non-stop. He said that this afternoon the number of visitors completely exceeded the venue's capacity, and they almost had to implement traffic control."

Lin Yan tossed the controller aside and lazily yawned.

"What do I care? The song is finished, and now it's my regular rest time. Boss, let's order barbecue tonight, I want thick-cut beef brisket."

Looking at Lin Yan, who looked like a salted fish who would use the sky as a blanket even if it fell down.

Shen Qingqiu's eyes softened more than ever before.

She walked up to Lin Yan, suddenly reached out, and gently ruffled his messy hair to his astonishment.

"Okay," Shen Qingqiu said softly, "I'll do whatever you say."

Lin Yan froze.

A cool touch came from the top of my head, and a faint scent of Chanel No. 5 perfume lingered around my nose.

"Damn it, boss, don't do this, I'm an artist, not a prostitute..." Lin Yan said rudely, but his body obediently did not dodge.

Shen Qingqiu withdrew her hand, a stunning smile curving her lips.

"I was the one who held your hand, and I was the one who made those remarks. Did you think I was joking when I said on Weibo that I was pursuing you?"

Leaving behind this domineering and straightforward quote, Shen Qingqiu turned and walked out of the recording studio.

Lin Yan touched his nose and muttered, "Damn, this rich woman is too good at flirting. I feel like I'm about to give in."

Before he could calm his racing heart, the phone on the table suddenly started vibrating frantically, as if it were a death knell.

An unfamiliar local number was flashing on the screen.

Lin Yan sighed, pressed the answer button, and skillfully switched to his usual dismissive mode: "Hello, who is this? I'm not available for songwriting, I don't accept commercial performances, please contact my boss to discuss collaborations."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a strong, energetic voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"Young friend Lin! I am Director Chen of the Xinghai City Museum! I'm so sorry to bother you!"

Lin Yan paused for a moment, then sat up straight: "Director Chen? Is something wrong? Is there something wrong with the song?"

"No problem! It's absolutely perfect! Without exaggeration, your song has given our museum a fifty-year boost in popularity!"

Director Chen was so excited that his voice was trembling, and then he abruptly changed the subject.

"But this time, I've shamelessly come to you not for the song, but for that line of cursive calligraphy that appears at the end of the music video!"

"Even Professor Sun Changgeng was amazed, saying that the calligraphy possessed the masterful spirit of Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan! I wonder if you, young friend, could spare some time to personally inscribe a piece for our museum's prized possession? Name your fee, and feel free to set any conditions!"

Lin Yan held his phone, glanced at the game interface that was still open on the screen, and then looked at Shen Qingqiu outside the door who was holding his phone and preparing to order thick-cut beef brisket.

"No..." Lin Yan scratched his head, completely speechless.

"You want me, a trainee who didn't even finish college, to write inscriptions for national-level cultural relics?"

He leaned back tactically into the phone and said, "Director Chen, aren't you overestimating me?"