77: Chapter 77 Birds of a Feather

This was his first one since his transmigration.

Wu Yue nodded. "Yeah, it's a domestic brand. They felt you were a great fit for their brand image, so they came to me."

Lin Chuyan was genuinely excited. "They certainly have a sharp eye. The thing is, I don't really have any works right now. If I had to name one, it's just this song, 'ambush from ten sides'. And that's enough to land an endorsement?"

"That's the power of trending searches. You're still hanging up there right now. Do you have any idea how many trending searches you've been on lately? You don't understand the true value of this..."

Wu Yue grinned from ear to ear. "That's what you call popularity. And most importantly, your opponent was a notorious paparazzi! You went toe-to-toe with them and won! Regardless of the past, this time your image isn't negative. You should take a look at how many followers you've gained on Weibo."

Lin Chuyan realized, so this is why traffic artists are always thinking about crafting personas and buying their way onto trending searches? They don't even need actual works; as long as the fans are buying it, that's enough.

As for him? At least he had one song, 'ambush from ten sides'!

Lin Chuyan started to laugh, too. "I think I get it... I have to say, this brand has great taste. I'm very optimistic about it! This is what they call 'heroes recognize heroes,' right?"

"...If you say so."

"At the very least, they aren't afraid of Haters. Seriously, there are so many people hating on me online; is this brand really that fearless?"

Wu Yue asked a question that left him speechless. "Actually, no matter how many Haters you have, do you have more than your girlfriend? She already has plenty of endorsements."

"...True. Honestly, I had assumed she was universally loved and that no one hated her."

This incident with the paparazzi made him realize that even the most popular people have Haters. Fans of several rivals had all mobilized—good grief, they even dug up ancient history like her winning 'King of Singers' and questioned it all over again.

Lin Chuyan steered the conversation back to the original topic. "You still haven't told me: which brand has such great taste?"

"Have you ever had snail rice noodles?"

"?"

"Yeah, it's snail rice noodles. They felt that you and the scent... no, wait, sorry, they felt you were a perfect fit for their brand image."

"..."

Lin Chuyan didn't know what to say; he even started to reflect on where his persona had gone wrong.

What could possibly be the reason that a snail rice noodle brand thought he was the perfect person to endorse their products?

It must be because he was universally loved, just like snail rice noodles, right? That had to be it, right?

"I mean, I've definitely had snail rice noodles before, but won't it be... a bit too down-to-earth?"

Wu Yue didn't think it was strange at all. The brand wasn't some shady, unbranded product. Given Lin Chuyan's current stage, what was there to be picky about?

"The brand name is pretty straightforward; it's called Chouchou. I looked it up—it's not the best-selling in the industry, but the good thing is it has a loyal fan base, so it must have its own unique appeal... I think it's worth making contact. If you're okay with it, I'll continue the discussions with them."

"I can tell it's not a big brand; otherwise, they wouldn't be looking for me, hahaha." Complaining aside, Lin Chuyan didn't have any real reservations about it; after all, it would be foolish to turn down money. "I'm fine with it, Brother Yue, but there's one thing we must clarify—it would be best to conduct an on-site inspection of their factory. We don't want any food safety issues popping up later; that wouldn't be worth it."

Lin Chuyan suddenly remembered a major instant noodle brand from his past life. Such a huge brand, and who would have thought their pickled vegetables were stomped on by bare feet? Gross.

Wu Yue nodded. "Of course, I'll definitely be vetting that. You're the only artist I have, so I'm even more worried about something going wrong than you are! Anyway, leave it to me; you can rest easy."

Lin Chuyan was a bit curious. "So, how much money are we looking at for the endorsement?"

"We haven't discussed that yet. I've seen plenty of these second-tier brands that want to expand and use artists to boost their profile, but can't afford the big bucks... I don't know if you're a perfect fit for their brand, but they definitely know your current endorsement fee isn't high."

"Alright, I hope it pays better than acting..."

"That's a safe bet. A million or so should be easy."

Lin Chuyan silently gave Wu Yue a thumbs up in his heart. "Awesome!"

"What's so awesome about that... Do you have any idea how much one endorsement costs for your diva girlfriend?"

"No idea. I don't pay attention to that, and we don't talk about it."

"Damn it, you're starting to humble-brag again!"

"Hey! It's common knowledge that she's richer than me anyway."

"That's true. And who do you think the 'Xing' in 'Tianxing' refers to?"

"Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me. Why do you think Tianxing makes so much money? Ruan Xingyu holds up half the sky by herself. You told me back then that you were dating a Tianxing employee... The problem is, who would think Ruan Xingyu is just an employee? She has a huge amount of influence at Tianxing."

Lin Chuyan thought about it and realized it was true. She said she'd film an MV with him, so she did. She said she'd come to Shancheng, so she did. The public opinion storm hadn't even passed, and she said she'd follow him, so she did...

He had underestimated his girlfriend.

Wu Yue steered the conversation back to the topic of endorsements. "'ambush from ten sides' was an unexpected release, and the others are still being held back. We're not in any rush to talk money with them. At the very least, let's wait until you release those songs from 'rebirth'. Once you have the status of a Singer, we'll set up a studio, and then I'll go discuss the money. Taxes have to be paid, of course, but without a studio, the rate is indeed a bit too harsh..."

"Reliable! Brother Yue is as thoughtful as ever!"

Lin Chuyan immediately flattered him.

The storm from the paparazzi's exposé had subsided, and Lin Chuyan had finally dropped off the trending searches.

He checked his current follower count—4.7 million.

He didn't know what kind of people were following him, but Lin Chuyan analyzed it and felt they could be roughly divided into three categories.

Trolls, Haters, and music fans.

The trolls, needless to say, just found him interesting and wanted to see if they could get a laugh out of him.

As for the Haters, Lin Chuyan was well aware of the reality—no matter how well he performed, he wouldn't be naive enough to think that everyone would like him. On the contrary, those who were bound to dislike him would continue to do so.

As for the music fans, all he could say was that from Earth to Blue Star, the resonance of 'ambush from ten sides' continued unabated.

Besides that, it seemed he had gained quite a few female fans.

Lin Chuyan looked at the comments, which could roughly be divided into two categories:

One type had come out of curiosity, but after seeing his photos, they were hooked.

The other type completely ignored his denials and were firmly convinced that he and Ruan Xingyu were having an affair, even imagining up all sorts of scenarios and shipping them obsessively...

It was hard to say what to make of that.

Putting these trivial matters behind him, Lin Chuyan began to focus on the real work—

Zheng Hai had sent a message: 'rebirth' was finally going to be released.