Chapter 27: A Girl’s Thoughts

Seeing the other party’s sudden change in attitude, Lin Xiyue didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Never underestimate the dedication of a CP shipper—she knew very well how terrifyingly persistent they could be.

She thought about it for a long time. Since the company happened to have a day off tomorrow, and she had already agreed to go out with Xia Jinnian, why not meet up with Bai Lulu while she was at it?

And honestly, just like Lulu said—they’d been online friends for years, had worked together many times, got along extremely well, and they even lived in the same city. Meeting up wasn’t a big deal.

So Lin Xiyue agreed, half-reluctantly, half-amused.
Then she lay back on her bed and continued scrolling through her phone, reading comments from fans.

Time passed quickly, and night arrived.

This time, Lin Xiyue didn’t even bother trying to sleep early.
After all, she didn’t have work tomorrow.

Besides—there was no way she would fall asleep tonight anyway.
Once the clock struck midnight, StardustNet would refresh and reveal the sales numbers. She would finally be able to see the single’s first-day sales.

Earlier, she had even gone to ask her mother about it. She learned that in Country C’s entertainment industry, the first-month sales of a single typically accounted for half—or even more—of its lifetime sales. And the first-day sales were usually one-tenth of the first-month’s total.

Meaning: multiply the first-day sales by twenty, and you could roughly estimate the lifetime sales of Stardust Rain.

11:59 PM.

Lin Xiyue’s trembling fingers kept refreshing the page over and over.

Finally—midnight.

In the backend for singers, the sales number jumped from 0 to 114,514.

“Ten… hundred… thousand… ten thousand…”

She counted it several times on her fingers to confirm she hadn’t misread it.

Over 110,000 copies sold on the first day!

In other words, the lifetime sales would likely reach two million copies or more.
She was a newcomer, after all—there were still plenty of veteran listeners waiting to see reviews before purchasing.

“Two million copies… six million yuan in revenue… four point eight million in profit sharing…”

The girl quickly did the math in her head.
At this rate, even without considering the future sponsorships and commercial deals, the income would be more than enough to fill the deficit for Lin Entertainment’s survival fee.

“Mom! We’re rich now—!”

Lin Xiyue ran into her mom’s room in the middle of the night, only to find that her mother wasn’t asleep either.
She was sitting in front of her computer, staring at StardustNet’s backend with reddened eyes.

Because this first-day sales number… was far beyond her expectations.

A 3,000-point StardustNet song sung by a second-tier singer would typically sell around one million, maybe close to two million.

But both her daughter and Xia Jinnian were complete newcomers. She hadn’t expected much—she would’ve been satisfied with 500,000 copies and a gold single. That would earn the company about two million, easing the pressure of the survival fee significantly.

But now the projected sales were over two million—and since they were newcomers, the growth curve would likely exceed the model’s prediction.
This didn’t just cover the deficit—it overflowed!

“First day of debut and already two hundred thousand fans. Not bad, you brat~”

On Xu Wei’s monitor, Lin Xiyue’s profile page was displayed:

Followers: 205,963
Rating: None
Achievements: None
Representative Work: Stardust Rain

And StardustNet required ID verification—one person, one account.
There was no fake traffic here. Every follower was real.

“It’s okay, really~ A lot of people followed but didn’t buy the single, which means there’s still tons of room to grow~”

Lin Xiyue scratched her head and showed her mother Xia Jinnian’s profile.

Xia Jinnian had fewer followers—around 150,000—but for a girl who debuted literally one day ago, this was an astonishing number.

The mother and daughter duo then opened the song’s comment section.
Since StardustNet was a state-run platform, the comments were far cleaner than other sites, focusing more on the song itself.

The feedback was exactly what both expected:

The singing was average, a bit nervous and immature.
The style was old-fashioned.
But the match between song and singers was excellent.
Their cooperation was great.
And the emotional delivery was incredibly full.

After reading that, Lin Xiyue couldn’t wait and immediately sent a message to Xia Jinnian.

【Are you asleep?】

【No, checking the first-day numbers.】

【Hey, didn’t we agree to sleep early and not secretly check the stats?】

【Look who’s talking. You’re clearly awake too. Like I’d believe you’re not checking.】

Lin Xiyue smiled.

They had agreed to look at the numbers together the next day—but of course both ended up secretly checking early.

She couldn’t blame either of them.
The first-day sales of their debut song were too important—too meaningful.
Who could sleep without knowing?

【Let’s go shopping tomorrow. Oh, and I’m meeting an online friend.】

【Hmm? Meeting an online friend? Don’t tell me you secretly got yourself an online boyfriend and now you want me to screen him for you?】

【It’s a girl~】

【Online girlfriend?! Wow, Xixi. Didn’t expect a straight-faced girl like you to like women!】

【Eh?! No no no, what are you even thinking?!】

【Alright alright. You always love shipping yuri couples—didn’t know you were into girls in real life too. Got overwhelmed by a female contact list, huh~】

【No! Jinnian, listen—she’s just a friend! A friend!】

…

…

The Xia Household

Xia Jinnian lay in bed, staring at her phone as her best friend sent wall after wall of frantic explanations.
She laughed so hard she almost curled into a ball.

“Aiya… silly girl. I was just teasing you. And you’re taking it seriously. Tsk tsk~”

She stretched lazily, tossed her phone aside, and decided to mess with her friend a little—pretending to ignore her messages.

“Girls liking girls? That’s all 2D fantasy stuff. No way that happens in real life. And she’s actually explaining it seriously—what a dummy~”

Yawning, she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

But while she slept soundly, Lin Xiyue couldn’t sleep at all.

Seeing the total lack of response on the other end, Lin Xiyue’s heart turned ice cold.

It was over.
She had somehow gotten suspected out of nowhere.
And even if it wasn’t exactly a misunderstanding…
If she really scared Jinnian, then Jinnian would definitely become wary of her in the future.

And then her plan to slowly, subtly bend her wouldn’t be able to continue at all!

She tossed and turned on her soft bed, unable to sleep. Her heart was filled with both joy and worry.

She couldn’t guess what Xia Jinnian was thinking.
She couldn’t even fully figure out her own heart.

Maybe it was exactly like what her mom always said:

A girl’s heart is full of twists and turns—
impossible to read, impossible to guess…