Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts - Chapter 223: Ive Become Famous Today?

After Wan Chaoxiong finished editing the video, Xia Yuan’s promotional video was released via her personal C Site account, 【Yuanbao】.

This account naturally had significant traffic because its UID was 2, signifying the second registered user on C Site.

Mei Fang didn’t seem to mind that Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi often collaborated. After all, the album was called 【Together with Yuan Xi】, the site webmaster’s name was 【Mountain Has Lush Forest】, and one of the singers on the album was 【Xibao】. Coupled with the strong promotion of Xia Yuan’s video on their web portal, even an idiot could see the connection between the two.

Moreover, Mei Fang knew that his childhood sweetheart’s talent couldn’t be hidden. Once she started to shine, she wouldn’t stop dazzling.

Xia Yuan’s promotional video, along with her new album, was simultaneously uploaded to C Site and QQ Forum.

On the first day, the video garnered over 10,000 views, with hundreds of comments flooding in.

【What a cute little beauty!】

【You look so beautiful playing the guitar, worthy of being my wife】

【Reminds me of the goddess in my class when I was still in school】

【C Site is really amazing, it gave me a new wife today】

【The girl has a bright future!】

【That guitar is so big!】

【What has blinded my eyes?】

【Quick, go to QQ Music and add her album to your favorites, everyone】

【Guys, go listen to her songs, each one is better than the last!】

【Why is there a guy singing with her in the album? Could it be her boyfriend? Ahhhhh! My first love is lost!】

By the second day, the views skyrocketed to over 100,000. Besides the admiration for Xia Yuan’s performance similar to the first day’s comments, many viewers started to notice other interesting details.

【Wait, am I the only one who noticed her UID?】

【Wow, UID 2!】

【By the way, her album is called Together with Yuan Xi, doesn’t that include our webmaster’s username?】

【One of her good friends is named Xibao, could Xibao be the webmaster herself?】

【Eight or nine out of ten chances it is】

【No way, no way, no way that people really believe Mountain Has Lush Forest is a girl】

【Believe it or not, I do】

The comment section began to fill with analysis posts, uncovering all the clues Mei Fang had predicted earlier. Eventually, these netizens formed three camps.

The Orthodox Xi Faction Theory:

This group believes that one of the album singers, 【Xibao】, is actually 【Mountain Has Lush Forest】, and that Yuanbao is Mountain Has Lush Forest’s childhood friend. Because of their close relationship, Mountain Has Lush Forest has given Yuanbao a lot of promotional resources. This is the mainstream opinion among most netizens.

The Yuan Xi Are One Theory:

Some believe that Xia Yuan is actually 【Mountain Has Lush Forest】, and Yuanbao is just her alternate persona. They theorize that she is a very introverted, technically skilled, oppai l*li who created an imaginary friend due to having no real friends. The interactions shown in the video are just an act.

Fangbao Theory:

A small group supports the idea that Fangbao, the singer of the song I’m Willing, is the true identity of 【Mountain Has Lush Forest】. Yuanbao is his girlfriend, and C Site and the album are his gifts to make her famous.

Though the Fangbao Theory had the least support, it shared a common trait with the Orthodox Xi Faction Theory—they were both based on supposed “facts.”

This just went to show that the commenters and netizens on C Site were incredibly imaginative.

By the third day, the video titled “C Site Debut Day: Yuanbao Brings You My New Album” reached 500,000 views. The exaggerated traffic and overwhelming number of comments provided a shocking visual impact to everyone in the know, except Mei Fang and Lin Youxi. This surge in traffic was entirely within their expectations.

Last year, Lin Youxi led a team of part-time employees to develop and launch C Site’s mobile app for Android and iOS. Since then, the site’s traffic has been steadily increasing each month.

This rise in traffic brought numerous issues, mainly server crashes and the maintenance of various new features. These problems required Lin Youxi’s personal attention, which also impacted the progress of the new game project.

Nonetheless, the value gained from resolving these issues was the rapidly growing number of newly registered official members on C Site.

Despite a strict membership registration system, C Site’s official members have now reached 500,000.

These 500,000 members had all passed the challenging quizzes prepared by Mei Fang and Lin Youxi, and nearly a fifth of these registered members had submitted video content to the site, making them the core loyal fans of C Site.

Therefore, to meet the growing business demands, Mei Fang realized it was time to consider registering the company earlier than planned. Coincidentally, his sister Yue Yue would be visiting his school this weekend, so it was time to bring a new core member on board.

“Yuan Yuan, you’ve become famous today! Aren’t you going to check out the situation?”

“Emmmm…”

After releasing the album, Xia Yuan had been restraining herself from checking the updates and comments for two days. On the third day, she finally couldn’t resist and, at Mei Fang’s urging, started browsing C Site on her phone. She saw the comments and bullet comments under her video.

“What on earth are these comments?!”

Although Xia Yuan was already quite popular at school and used to attention, seeing herself become so famous online for the first time was a bit beyond her expectations.

She tirelessly scrolled through the comments and bullet comments. Most of them were very positive and supportive, which made her very happy, but some comments made her quite angry.

“Some of these comments are really annoying. Why do they keep calling you ‘Fang Dog’? It’s so unpleasant. Can we use our admin privileges to delete them?”

“Some of it is just harmless teasing. If they want to insult me, let them. I don’t mind. However, if the insults get too severe, there’s naturally a censorship and punishment mechanism for inappropriate language.”

“It’s not just about whether you mind… I mind.”

Xia Yuan grumbled, “You’ve put so much effort into this album, and yet people are calling you names like this…”

“That’s how it is for idols. If you’re seen being very close with someone of the opposite sex, fans get upset.”

“I don’t want to be an idol, and I don’t need any fans. I just want to sing, make money, and support you and our studio.”

Mei Fang smiled slightly, “You’re still thinking about supporting me, huh?”

“Of course… But our album was released as a free digital download, so we probably won’t make any money from it.”

The concept of intellectual property didn’t start gaining traction until after 2015. Without a record label contract, physical albums, and concert ticket sales, Xia Yuan practically had no income at this point.

However, in Mei Fang’s view, Xia Yuan’s promotional video was actually very successful. It might help their C Site reach an even wider audience, providing excellent mutual promotion.

“We can start producing physical albums next week. Fans who support us will buy them. As for other way to make money out of it, I think it’s still early… Yuan Yuan, you’ve just started to get famous. We can let the buzz build a bit more. Making good money is just a matter of time.”

“So, it seems that I’m still a little far from making enough money to support you.”

Xia Yuan stuck out her tongue sheepishly. “But since we’re done with the album, I can start helping you with the game.”

“Mm-hmm, that’s true,” Mei Fang said, pinching Xia Yuan’s cheek. “The development progress of Cloudy Journey on your side is almost zero. You need to get to work.”

“Alright, alright, I get it.”

Xia Yuan rubbed her slightly reddened cheek and stared up at Mei Fang’s face.

Liang Meijuan had gone out to buy groceries, and Lin Youxi was washing her hair. This was the perfect opportunity.

Xia Yuan patted Mei Fang’s chest. “By the way… you’ve been working so hard. Don’t you want a little reward? You know, like a celebration or something——”

“Why are you the one giving me a reward?”

Mei Fang teased Xia Yuan, “You’re the one who said you were going to support me. Now that you’ve just completed the first phase, I should be the one rewarding you.”

“Oh, whatever… you just like to argue.”

Xia Yuan threw herself into Mei Fang’s arms, first rubbing her nose against his chin and then slowly lifting her head. Mei Fang also hugged her tightly and they began their lovey-dovey moment.

…

After being intimate for who knows how long, Lin Youxi came out of the bathroom after washing her hair, and Mei Fang quickly took a break from his “fight” with Xia Yuan.

Lin Youxi, drying her hair, curiously looked at both of them who seemed a bit embarrassed. This was the first time she’d caught them being affectionate after they tacitly acknowledged each other’s feelings.

But Lin Youxi just smiled at them.

“Don’t mind me, you two can continue.”

“H-How could we continue like this?!”

Xia Yuan’s face turned red. “Youxi, you’re too easy-going… I sneaked out today, so I can cover for you tonight.”

Lin Youxi smiled. “Why wait until tonight? If you’re really that embarrassed to be affectionate with Ah Fang in front of me, I could actually join in——”

“Let’s not do that!” Mei Fang, not wanting Xia Yuan to deal with such a shock right now, stopped Lin Youxi before she could finish.

“It’s better to be affectionate one-on-one. After all, we’re still young… let’s talk about this later.”