Chapter Fifty-Six: Filming in Progress (Double-Length)

In the afternoon, the crew finally arrived safely at the filming location. They found a flat patch of land to set up camp, and Zhou Miao, quite intrigued by the process, eagerly went over to help. Before long, however, Yang Xiaoya persuaded him to step aside. "Bro, don’t mess things up. If you don’t know what you’re doing, just sit over there. Here, have some sunflower seeds."

Feeling a little embarrassed, Zhou Miao found a rock to sit on and started cracking seeds. Honestly, in this picturesque and tranquil setting, it was quite pleasant. Zhou Miao had never been camping before; he’d always imagined the charm of sleeping under the open sky, the earth as his bed.

But soon enough, he realized this lifestyle was hardly idyllic—the mosquitoes in the mountains were relentless and gigantic. How could they possibly grow so big? Spending a night out here would be enough to leave anyone drained dry by morning.

Zhou Miao fared better than some. Lin Ke’er, with her long legs exposed, was suffering; she’d slapped herself red trying to shoo away the bugs. Brow furrowed, she was also bothered by a stomachache—how was she even supposed to relieve herself out in the wild?

It’s only when removed from the city that people truly sense the difficulties of survival—everything from food and clothing to shelter and transportation becomes a challenge.

That night, beneath a sparse, starry moon, the director decided on a whim to film some night scenes, as visibility was still good. Under the beautiful night sky, Zhou Miao hugged Lin Ke’er from behind. His mind was clear, but he felt a little dizzy—the girl was saturated with the scent of medicated oil, and it was almost overwhelming.

"Sorry, the mosquitoes here are just too much," Lin Ke’er whispered.

"Put some on me later, too," Zhou Miao replied.

By the time they finished shooting, it was already nine in the evening. After a full day of hiking, everyone was exhausted. They ate quickly and burrowed into their tents for the night.

At dawn the next day, Zhou Miao woke up desperate to relieve himself. He dashed up the hill and found a mountain stream to take care of business. When he made his way back down, he discovered the whole crew lined up by the stream, washing their faces and brushing their teeth.

Scratching his head, Zhou Miao saw the director, freshly washed, wave at him. "What are you up to, Miao? Up so early?"

Sheepishly, Zhou Miao stretched, trying to look casual. "Just… going for a walk, getting some fresh air."

Lin Ke’er, holding a small cup, filled it from the stream and brushed her teeth carefully. Zhou Miao hesitated, wanting to say something, but thought better of it. With the speed the water flowed, whatever he did upstream must’ve been swept away by now…

Filming went smoothly. Lin Ke’er’s acting was impressive—she perfectly embodied the innocence and simplicity of a mountain girl. Zuo Qiu had chosen her out of hundreds of trainees for good reason. In contrast, Zhou Miao was awkward during the more intimate scenes, causing several retakes.

Due to the challenging conditions in the mountains, it took three full days to finish shooting the "Sun and Moon in My Heart" music video. Before leaving, Zhou Miao even snagged a few jars of chili powder from Lin Yanan’s home.

With the videos for "Rice Fields" and "Sun and Moon in My Heart" wrapped up, only "Nunchaku" remained, which proved trickier—mainly because Zhou Miao didn’t know how to wield nunchaku. He had to formally find someone to train him for several days.

All in all, the three music videos took over half a month to complete. Filming the ice cream jingle for CuteMore took another two days. Now, less than a month remained before the new school term began.

One month to record all the songs—time was tight.

Meanwhile, in the week before Zhou Miao returned, the self-titled "Summer of Bubbles" album had officially launched and already sold two hundred thousand digital copies. Although this number seemed modest compared to the millions racked up by top idols, it actually broke the sales record for girl groups in the past two years.

The album’s lead single, "Love Ya Love Ya," personally crafted by Zhou Miao, went viral upon release, instantly topping the charts and becoming a KTV favorite for countless young women, firmly securing the number one spot on the KTV request list.

At a time when girl groups were fading from the music scene, the emergence of Summer of Bubbles was a refreshing surprise. Their dancing, singing, and the quality of their songs all easily outshone those of girl groups debuting through popular talent shows in recent years.

Of course, not everyone agreed with this view. A few days ago, someone left a comment on Weibo: "The only difference between Summer of Bubbles and the Glimmer Girls group is that the former has Zhou Miao writing their lead singles, and the latter doesn’t."

This quickly backfired when netizens discovered the commenter was actually a member of Glimmer Girls using a secondary account—the jealousy was so obvious, it made everyone laugh.

Meanwhile, the official CuteMore social media account announced Zhou Miao as their brand ambassador, declaring that a theme song tailored for the brand would be released online in a week.

To coordinate with CuteMore’s promotion, Zhou Miao recorded "Sweet Sweet" in advance.

The result made Cumin burst out laughing. "All this time, I thought you looked down on writing sweet songs. Not only did you write one, you made it so good!"

Zhou Miao was a bit embarrassed. Honestly, if it weren’t for the endorsement, he never would have included this song on the album.

Not that the song was bad—on the contrary, it was the epitome of sweet pop. If sung by a girl, it would surely melt a whole audience.

But with a guy singing it… Zhou Miao worried people might accuse him of acting cutesy.

Cumin assured him repeatedly that it sounded perfectly normal, not awkward at all, but his barely contained laughter was hard to believe.

Despite his misgivings, Zhou Miao had already recorded it; there was nothing else to do.

A week later, "Sweet Sweet" was released.

As Zhou Miao’s number one fan, Hu San stayed up until midnight to hear his latest work the moment it dropped.

But the song’s title… didn’t seem like Zhou Miao’s style at all.

Hu San donned her headphones with anticipation and pressed play.

Almost immediately, her eyes widened in disbelief at what she heard.

"I gently taste your love, still savoring your tenderness."

"I gently taste this rich temptation; you have every trait I adore."

"You love me so much you promised me a honey-flavored life."

"I stir in a milk ball, bashfully blending it, turn up the sweetness, then hold your hand. Your love is so much, I want to take it everywhere—when I miss you, I take a bite."

"I cherish the warmth of being cared for, but worry the heat will fade. I savor the creaminess in your words, every sentence delicious to the ear."

"All the unnecessary scenes are skipped; in your eyes, there’s only me."

"Chu~"

Hu San stared at her phone in shock. These lyrics, that soft babyish voice…

And a "chu~"?

"Ahahahahahahaha!"

Hu Dad and Hu Mom, startled by her wild laughter from the next room in the middle of the night, woke up instantly. "What’s that girl doing, giggling like a fool at this hour?"

"You go give her a scolding," Hu Dad prodded.

Hu Mom rolled over and mumbled, "If you want to do it, go yourself. You always make me do the dirty work while you play the good guy."

Hu Dad just pouted and went back to sleep.

Hu San, realizing she’d laughed too loudly, quickly covered her mouth, her eyes curving like little crescent moons as she continued listening to Zhou Miao’s "groundbreaking" song.

"I smile and let the fragrance linger, fate arriving here and refusing to leave, like the sweet center of a sandwich cookie, carrying on for no reason at all."

"I savor the creaminess in your words, every sentence delicious to the ear."

"All the unnecessary scenes are skipped; in your eyes, there’s only me…"

Caught up in the music, Hu San couldn’t help but bop her head along. Setting everything else aside, this was genuinely a great song.

The melody and lyrics were so sweet, they seemed to melt right into your heart.

The song captured the bliss of young love, turning it into words that caressed your ears and sweetened your soul.

Curious, Hu San opened the comments section—just as she’d expected, it was full of wailing and disbelief.

"No! I refuse to believe this is Miao singing!"

"Miao’s changed—he’s not the fierce, wild one anymore; now he even goes ‘chu~’!"

"Help, I can’t get Miao’s ‘chu~’ out of my mind!"

"Thank you, Miao. The cavity that’s plagued me for ten years was sweetened away by this song today."

"Hahaha, that soft baby voice is just too cute. I adore this song!"

"This guy must have a thousand princesses living in his heart—how else could he write lyrics like these?"

The CuteMore official account posted the music video immediately, captioning it with a single word: "Chu~"

In just ten minutes, tens of thousands of netizens had flooded the comments—all echoing the same: "Chu~"

Before long, "Chu~" shot up the trending searches. Zhou Miao scrolled through Weibo, his feelings complicated.

"If I’d known it would be like this, I never should have taken this endorsement…"

Hu San sent a WeChat message with just one word: "Chu~"

"Go to bed!" Zhou Miao shot back.

Joking aside, the listeners genuinely loved "Sweet Sweet."

It’s common for singers to write promotional songs for brands, but most of them barely make a splash.

The challenge lies in the lyrics: they must highlight the brand’s strengths and prestige without sounding forced or sycophantic, and must pair well with the melody. Most commercial jingles consider these three points, but usually fail at all of them.

But "Sweet Sweet" perfectly matched the CuteMore brand’s style, offered just the right amount of praise, and felt completely natural.

If the title didn’t say "CuteMore Promotional Song," you’d never guess it was a jingle.

A commercial song that doesn't sound like one—that’s the mark of a true promotional masterpiece.

What’s more, the song sparked tremendous discussion. Before CuteMore even had time to buy a trending spot, the song had already gone viral on its own!

That three million fee was money well spent!

Official social media accounts of other brands flooded CuteMore’s comments: "We want a jingle like this, too!"

In just two days, Gu Zhiyin received over thirty endorsement offers from various brands, all hoping Zhou Miao would write a song for them as well, with negotiable fees. But Zhou Miao was swamped with recording, working late every night, and hadn’t had time to look at them.

It took over twenty days of non-stop recording before the album was finally complete, and Cumin let out a long sigh of relief.

Unlike Zhou Miao, who was just eighteen, Cumin was pushing forty—he couldn’t handle so many late nights in a row. Even his beer belly had shrunk, and his dark circles were enough to frighten anyone.

Still, to witness the birth of such a legendary album firsthand, Cumin felt it was all worth it—plus, his name would be listed as the album’s producer. He could die happy!

"Miao, have you decided on an album title?" Cumin suddenly remembered the crucial detail.

Zhou Miao had struggled with this for a long time, brainstorming countless cool, flashy titles, but ultimately decided simpler was better.

"Let’s call it ‘Listen.’"

Music, after all, is for listening.

Cumin stroked his chin thoughtfully, then nodded in approval. "I like it—simple yet profound."

The album cover had also been shot in several versions. In the end, Zhou Miao chose the photo of him and Milk Candy lying in the grass, serenading softly into the puppy’s ear—a fresh, natural image that echoed the album’s name.

Although this was now the era of digital music, Zuo Qiu still arranged for five thousand physical copies of Zhou Miao’s debut album to be produced. As long as the album’s quality was high enough, many people would still want a physical copy as a keepsake. After hearing the album, she was even more confident in its success.

To promote Zhou Miao’s album, Rainbow Records activated all its marketing channels. The moment pre-sales started, over ten million yuan was poured into publicity—a sum that made the two girls from Summer of Bubbles wince.

That’s the money we worked so hard to earn from commercial gigs—when our album came out, barely a fraction was spent…

If the album sold fewer than two million copies, Rainbow Records wouldn’t even recoup its costs.

But whether or not the costs could be recovered didn’t bother Zuo Qiu in the slightest. She wanted to use this album to announce to the entire Chinese music industry: Rainbow Records is back!

The results were astounding. Ads for "Listen" blanketed the front pages of all major music apps, user feeds on every social platform, and posters filled subway and bus stations across the city.

In just three days, pre-sales of "Listen" surpassed one million! At twenty yuan per digital album, that was twenty million in revenue!

Was this good? Absolutely! But it wasn’t good enough—the current pre-sale record for digital albums in the Chinese music scene was five million, set by a boy band, with sales topping one hundred million yuan before the album even launched.

It sounded unbelievable, like fake news, but it was real.

Though Zhou Miao had earned a stellar reputation among music lovers, his lack of variety show appearances meant his name recognition and fan engagement still lagged behind.

But Zuo Qiu wasn’t worried. This was just the beginning—once the album was officially released and all the songs went live, the real show would start!

News of Zhou Miao’s impending album launch spread quickly, catching the top idols, who’d originally planned to compete with him, completely off guard.

How could he be this fast? Only a few months from rumors to release? They hadn’t even finished picking their own songs yet…

Still, they weren’t panicked. Let Zhou Miao release his album first—it didn’t matter. Once their own albums dropped, the first week’s sales would easily crush Zhou Miao’s total for the entire year!

Then we’ll see where this so-called creative genius hides his face!