Chapter 627: Concert Dog Food

June 25, Sunday.

As time gradually passed, Yuan Wanqing's concert was about to begin.

Qianzhou took a taxi to the venue entrance, got out with several fellow editors, and saw Ying Chanxi waiting there.

"Hello, editor." Ying Chanxi greeted Qianzhou politely, "Li Luo will be performing tonight and has already gone in to prepare, so he asked me to wait here for you."

"Thanks so much, thanks so much." Qianzhou quickly thanked her, "We could've just gone in ourselves."

"It's no trouble—I have nothing else to do." Ying Chanxi smiled and led the way into the venue, using the staff credential given by Yan Zhusheng to enter from the backstage.

The other editors followed behind Qianzhou; one male editor, gazing at Ying Chanxi's slender back, couldn't help whispering: "Who is she?"

"Uh…" Qianzhou was about to say she was Chongran's partner, but remembering that most of his colleagues had heard the gossip about Chongran and Zao Shui, he thought better of it and whispered, "She's Chongran's sister."

"No way, his sister is this gorgeous?"

"I advise you to think twice," Qianzhou smirked, "Chongran will beat you up."

"I'm just expressing admiration," the male editor sighed, "Who'd even notice a lowly office drone like me?"

The group followed Ying Chanxi and soon sat down in the front-row seats, ready to enjoy the upcoming concert.

The female editor sitting beside them in this prime viewing spot glanced around excitedly, then whispered, "Even just slightly forward seats inside the venue are already being resold for thousands on the black market."

"Our seats? We probably couldn't buy them even if we paid ten thousand."

"Chongran really pulled through for us, huh?"

"Cough." Hearing his colleagues talk about this, Qianzhou paused, then added slyly, "Zao Shui asked Chongran for these tickets, but she couldn't come because she had final exams."

The editors all nodded, understanding.

After years of navigating the workplace, Qianzhou was no longer the rookie he'd been three years ago—he knew exactly how to work the system.

The editors invited here were carefully selected by him.

On one hand, they were already personally close to him.

On the other, none of them currently managed authors who could compete with Xu Youyu.

Two of them did have potential big-name authors under them, but those authors' success was already locked in.

The other three editors had no strong authors at all this year and were ineligible for the big-name competition—they could vote for anyone.

If just two or three of these five voted for Xu Youyu, the big-name slot would be practically secured.

Today's Qianzhou was no longer the rookie editor of the past.

Though he hadn't worked as long as the veteran editors, during his tenure he had nurtured multiple powerful Lv5 authors like Zao Shui, and even Chongran, that oddball.

Still, Qianzhou had self-awareness—he knew he was just lucky to have decisively signed Li Luo back then.

In truth, he hadn't helped much; Li Luo had crushed everyone through sheer talent.

Even the breakout success of I Am Really Not a Star came from external traffic Li Luo attracted himself, not from Qianzhou's efforts as an editor.

So whenever Li Luo requested something, as long as it didn't violate basic principles, Qianzhou would do his best to fulfill it and serve as a proper editor.

When he received the concert tickets from Li Luo, even though Li Luo hadn't explicitly said so, Qianzhou understood his intent.

The editors all knew without saying a word and dropped the subject.

Soon, the concert was about to begin.

On Tencent Video's live stream, the chatroom was growing increasingly lively.

【Hasn't Shen Shen been appearing at each of the last few shows?】

【After the Gaokao, she's got time—this is already the third show in a row.】

【What about Chongran? Gaokao's over—why isn't he here too?】

【He's busy writing—he's doing about fifteen thousand words a day across two novels.】

The concert's starting—will the novel update at the same time?

【I've been waiting on Qidian all along.】

In the backstage dressing room, after finishing his makeup, Li Luo pulled out his phone and checked it.

Beside him, Yan Zhusheng had already stood up and walked straight out of the dressing room toward the stage.

The next second.

As the stage lights blazed on and the music began, Yan Zhusheng appeared on stage, her voice instantly igniting the crowd.

"People only see the result, never the process~"

"They use scores to decide your life~"

In the dressing room, a live broadcast screen showed the stage; Li Luo watched Yan Zhusheng shining brightly under the lights and the roaring crowd, and smiled.

"Someone who didn't know would think this was Yan Zhusheng's solo concert."

After all, it was the opening song of the concert—normally the singer wouldn't let someone else perform it instead.

But at Yuan Wanqing's concert, no audience member found it odd.

The song Yan Zhusheng was singing now, "Be Your Own Light," had already been performed in the first three concerts; the audience was very familiar with it.

"Be your own light~ No need to shine too bright~"

"Who says you must fly against the wind to soar?"

The lyrics were simple and clear: don't obsess over scores, focus on yourself.

Sung after the Gaokao, the song perfectly matched the current theme, echoing the sentiment of "Don't Waste the Splendor of Youth."

One song before the exam, one after—it was a seamless, perfect pairing.

After finishing "Be Your Own Light," Yan Zhusheng left the stage and returned to the dressing room, where Yuan Wanqing took over for the rest of the performance.

During the show, Yan Zhusheng returned to the stage multiple times: first wearing her school uniform to duet with Yuan Wanqing on "Mother and Daughter," then switching to her favorite white dress to sing "Countdown" and "Light Years Away."

With Yan Zhusheng's frequent appearances, Yuan Wanqing gained more rest time during the concert; with reduced pressure, her performance became noticeably more composed.

Li Luo watched the performance backstage and simultaneously published tonight's update of I Am Really Not a Star.

As the release date of "Little Joy" draws nearer, the reading metrics for "I Am Really Not a Star" have been rising steadily.

Li Luo had laid the groundwork for this for months, releasing original songs multiple times in between, raising readers' anticipation to fever pitch.

Especially this tactic of real-world crossover—other cultural and entertainment novelists simply can't replicate it; they can't even learn it!

So far, among Qidian's cultural and entertainment novels, those with an average subscription of 20,000 are rare, let alone this one with 60,000—essentially siphoning the entire reader traffic pool of the genre.

Whenever the protagonist inserts a few copied songs, the comment sections on major music platforms are immediately overrun by reader comments about those songs written into the novel.

Even now, behind the scenes, more and more talent agencies are approaching Chongran Culture under the guise of singers, inquiring about the feasibility of featuring their singers' songs in Li Luo's novel.

Some singers may only become famous for one song in their entire lifetime.

If they can gain more traffic through Li Luo, that would certainly be a good thing.

"It's time to go on stage."

As Li Luo was pondering these trivial matters, Xiao Wen reminded him, "It's the final song."

"Alright." Li Luo nodded, stood up, looked at Yan Zhusheng, and walked out of the dressing room with her toward the stage.

At this moment, Yuan Wanqing had just finished performing "The Most Beautiful Expectation," caught her breath on stage, then smiled at the audience below.

"Today, besides my beloved daughter, there's another guest who has come to the venue—can you guess who it is?"

As soon as she spoke, the audience erupted in enthusiastic cheers, and within moments, one name rose to the top frequency.

"Chongran!"

"Chongran!!"

"Chongran!!!"

Yuan Wanqing cupped her hand to her ear, heard their answer, and smiled in satisfaction: "Looks like everyone's quite clever—you guessed it right away."

"But today, he's here with a mission."

"Chongran's adaptation of 'Little Joy' will premiere this month on the 30th, in the evening, to meet all of you."

"So today, taking advantage of my concert, Chongran and my Zhusheng will present the theme song of 'Little Joy' for you."

"Please welcome~"

After speaking, Yuan Wanqing smiled and stepped offstage.

The stage lights dimmed.

When the bright lights flared up again, Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng had already appeared on stage.

At this moment, Yan Zhusheng wore a casual white shirt and short skirt, standing prettily in the center of the stage.

Li Luo held Ji Zhi Cheng's guitar in his arms, sat on a long bench, smiled at the audience below, and waved to them.

Then Li Luo lowered his head, calmed himself, took a shallow breath amid the audience's cheers, and his fingers landed on the guitar strings.

A simple, relaxed melody flowed from Li Luo's fingertips.

Yan Zhusheng raised the microphone and, unusually, sang in a light, cheerful voice:

"No big wishes~ nothing urgent to rush~"

"Seeing the red light at the intersection flash endlessly~ it's like a blinking little sun~"

As soon as the song began, it filled the air with a light, joyful atmosphere—the lyrics were playful, cute, healing, and warm.

Li Luo's clean, simple guitar music, blending with Yan Zhusheng's soft humming, gradually built to the climax.

"Look, the puppy is barking~ the leaves are laughing~ the wind is whispering~"

"Why not just savor one second~ of this drowsy romance~"

On the large screen behind them, timely clips from "Little Joy" appeared.

Unlike the earlier teaser trailer designed to guide passersby's attention.

This video, paired with the lyrics of "Little Joy," truly embodied the meaning of the TV drama's title.

It featured mostly warm, gentle scenes from the drama.

Completely different from the teaser, which had cut out only family conflicts and oppositions.

Yan Zhusheng sang happily, walking around Li Luo, spinning in circles, and secretly reaching out to mess up his hair.

Li Luo smiled indulgently, his guitar never stopping.

Yan Zhusheng moved behind Li Luo, sometimes peering over his right shoulder, sometimes handing the microphone to his lips, urging him to hum a few lines.

The Danmu in the Tencent Video livestream became richer.

【I came for the concert, not to eat dog food!】

【Holy crap! This is way too sweet!】

【Alright alright, playing it like this, huh?】

【Where's Sister Qing? Come up and manage them! We don't allow early romance!】

【They've finished the Gaokao—Sister Qing probably hopes her daughter ends up with Chongran anyway.】

【Kek! Kek! Kek! All of you, ship it!】

【This song sounds cheerful, but not as good as I expected.】

【It's very relaxed, ties in with the drama's title—perfect as a theme song.】

【But I still prefer "Don't Waste the Years."】

【"Be Your Own Light" is also good.】

【By the way, is Chongran Shen composing every single song for his own TV drama? Not letting anyone else make money, huh?】

【He wrote the original novel, served as screenwriter, composed the music himself, and even reused his own novel's copied songs—double-dipping! I'm truly impressed.】

"Believe in what you will~ and see the world as such~"

"When problems add weight~ keep spinning lightly~"

"So no matter what~ remember to preserve~ the little halo~"

"Laugh if you want~ Cry if you want~ Today is the best companion for tomorrow~"

By the end of the song, Yan Zhusheng had completely slumped onto Li Luo's back, his head poking out from Li Luo's left shoulder, the microphone extending from his right shoulder and pressed against Li Luo's mouth.

Then the two of them sang together to the very end.

Below the stage, Ying Chanxi watched this scene and subtly pouted, feeling a little upset.

If only I could also, like this, show affection with Li Luo in front of so many people… Ying Chanxi thought to herself, filled with envy.

Qianzhou, watching the interaction between Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng, silently worried for him.

Glancing at Ying Chanxi's expression and listening to the murmurs of his colleagues beside him, Qianzhou could only admire Li Luo's skill in juggling three relationships at once.

"Aren't Chongran and Zao Shui a couple? Isn't it inappropriate to be so intimate with Yuan Wanqing's daughter on stage?" the female editor whispered privately.

"It's just promotional staging for the TV drama," another male editor chimed in to smooth things over. "Just like filming a scene—married actors do kissing scenes all the time."

Qianzhou exhaled in relief.

The concert ended smoothly.

…

Back at the hotel that night, Li Luo pulled out his phone and checked Weibo, seeing that Yin Zhicheng had already begun pushing behind the scenes.

Everywhere was filled with promotion for "Little Joys."

Coupled with the buzz from Yuan Wanqing's concert and the traffic tied to the college entrance exam, everything was primed and ready—only waiting for the right wind.

But before "Little Joys" premiered, there was another matter needing greater attention.

Tomorrow, June 26th, the college entrance exam results will be released!

(End of Chapter)