Chapter 9 Trending Online
As the post gained more and more attention, someone uploaded the video and screenshots from the forum onto Weibo.
Soon, a trending topic appeared on Weibo: #QingbeiUniversityExplosivePost#. In just over ten minutes, the hashtag had soared into the top 10 hot searches.
More and more people watched the video and started leaving comments below.
“This is wonderful!”
“The melody of this song is amazing.”
“The guy sings so gently.”
“It’s a song about loneliness, and yet he sings it with such tenderness.”
“I’ll always yield to gentleness.”
“Aww, this reminds me of my first love.”
“I miss my desk-mate from senior year, but I never got to tell her I liked her.”
“Tomorrow’s my first day of internship. Honestly, I’m not used to living alone yet. Every evening I want to cry. I’m really glad I clicked on this video—it’s so warm, so comforting.”
“Hugs to the commenter above, keep going!”
Just then, someone suddenly asked, “Is this an original song? Did that guy write it himself?”
“It must be original. I’ve never heard it anywhere before.”
“Who is this handsome guy?”
“How do you know he’s handsome? You can’t even see his face.”
“This video came from the Qingbei University forum. Could he be from Qingbei?”
“A top student at Qingbei, huh?”
“No way, Qingbei doesn’t even have a music department.”
“My guess is he’s an artist from some company—maybe this is a promo video?”
“Nonsense, what kind of artist would hide his face in a promo?”
...
As the discussion grew more heated, entertainment media accounts started to repost the video.
Suddenly, half the top ten trending topics on Weibo were related to this event.
#WhenYoureLonelyWhoWillYouRemember#
#LonelyBoy#
#Tenderness#
#MysteriousBarSinger#
For a while, everyone was abuzz with excitement.
In a dorm room, Fatty was scrolling through his phone when, with a surprised shout, he sat straight up, startling his two roommates.
He quickly waved his hand to reassure them, then quietly sent a message to Xu Ze.
“Xu, you’ve gone viral!”
He attached the trending link for Xu Ze.
Xu Ze was checking the dashboard for his novel—it had reached forty thousand words, yet still no invitation from an editor for a contract. Hearing from Fatty, he assumed his novel had finally taken off. But when he clicked the link, he realized it was his singing video that had made the hot search.
“Xu, everyone’s guessing who you are,” Fatty messaged.
Xu Ze smiled, replying, “Let them guess.”
He thoroughly enjoyed his current identity, relishing the chance to be a student again and savor campus life. How pleasant it was. Although he’d joined a singing program for the sake of a task, indulging his dream of being a singer, he had no plans to debut just yet.
Only after stepping into society does one realize how joyful and pure school days truly are.
In the girls’ dorm, room 601, a petite girl exclaimed to Ren Qiu, “Ren Qiu, did you see that post from our school’s forum? It’s trending on Weibo now!”
A slightly plump girl chimed in, “I heard it was at the bar by our school’s east gate. Ren Qiu, didn’t you just come back from a bar with Zhao Xiaofei? Did you see that guy?”
Ren Qiu had just seen the Weibo post herself. It was a strange feeling to see someone she knew trending.
She glanced hesitantly at Zhao Xiaofei, unsure whether to tell them that the guy in the video was Xu Ze.
Zhao Xiaofei replied, “We didn’t see him. We weren’t at the same bar.”
“Oh, I see,” the two girls said, visibly disappointed.
At that moment, Zhao Xiaofei felt conflicted. She didn’t want anyone to know that the mysterious singer was Xu Ze. In her mind, Xu Ze was still the backup who once hung on her every word. As for what Xu Ze said today, she dismissed it as something he only uttered because he was upset—a fit of anger.
“You can only ever be my backup!”
But someone else was having a great time—Xu Qing. She hadn’t expected that her casual decision to feature the post would propel it beyond the campus and onto Weibo’s trending page.
“That young man should really thank me. If I hadn’t highlighted his post, how would he have become a hot topic?”
But before she could savor her delight, she suddenly saw a call from the dean.
“Oh no, am I in trouble for arbitrarily featuring posts?”
She straightened up nervously and answered, “Hello, Dean, is there something I can do for you?”
“Xu, do you know the boy singing in the bar? Is he a student at our university?”
Her heart skipped a beat—so it was about this!
“Dean, I don’t know him either. I just thought his song was great, so I featured the post.”
“I see. All right, get some rest then—I won’t keep you.”
The dean hung up decisively.
Xu Qing stared at her phone in bewilderment. “That’s it?”
The dean called in the middle of the night just to ask if the boy was a student here?
Honestly, she was curious too. But thinking it over, it seemed unlikely—she’d never heard of any student at their school with such musical talent.
Xu Ze was already lying in bed, phone in hand, chatting with bar owner Xu Yan.
“Handsome, you’re famous now.”
“Our bar is famous, too.”
“Lots of people are asking me who you are.”
“It just hit me—I don’t even know your name.”
“Handsome, what’s your name? Don’t worry, I won’t give you away.”
Xu Yan sent a flurry of messages.
Xu Ze chuckled, typing back: “My name is Xu Ze. I hope you’ll keep it a secret. Besides, in a few days, you’ll see me on TV.”
“TV?” Xu Yan replied, surprised.
“I’m participating in the show ‘I Am a Songwriter’,” Xu Ze didn’t hide it.
“I know that show! I’ll be watching for sure!”
“So the song you performed on the show—is it the same one you recorded in my studio the other day?”
“Yes,” Xu Ze answered, rolling over in bed. “Will you be at the studio tomorrow? I’d like to record a few more songs in the afternoon.”
“I’ll be there! Record as much as you want, for as long as you want!” Xu Yan replied readily, even sending a playful finger emoji.
“Thank you, boss.”
Just then, a friend request popped up on Xu Ze’s WeChat.
“Hello, I’m Miaomiao.”
The profile picture was a white kitten.
“Miaomiao? The girl from the bar today?” Xu Ze accepted the friend request.
Miaomiao messaged immediately: “Hi! Next time you sing at the bar, could you let me know in advance? I want to hear you.”
“No problem.”
“Great, good night.”
“Good night.”
Miaomiao ended the conversation quickly, as if the only reason she added Xu Ze was to find out when he’d sing at the bar again.
Xu Ze suddenly thought, if Fatty found out Miaomiao had added him on WeChat, would he think Xu Ze had secretly added her and not told him?
Should he tell him now?
Forget it—no need to explain to a silly Fatty. Time to sleep.