CHAPTER 129: CHAPTER 121: CRAZY REPUTATION POINTS, HUGE HARVEST

As of now, nobody knew about the moves of other companies. Everyone at the studio was immersed in the joy of the album’s massive sales.

This joy naturally included the main characters, even though both protagonists were still deeply engaged in strenuous training.

Actually, that wasn’t quite right. It seemed only one person was suffering; the other appeared quite relaxed.

"Qingqiu! Guess how many albums we’ve sold now?"

After finishing her work, Li Chunhua rushed excitedly into the recording studio to share this joyful moment with Xu Qingqiu.

In the recording studio, Chu Tian lay on the couch, seemingly carefree as he played with his phone. Xu Qingqiu, on the other hand, sat on a small stool, listlessly staring at a stack of printed training materials, her eyes vacant.

Hearing Li Chunhua’s voice, Chu Tian merely glanced up before losing interest. It wasn’t his album, so he didn’t care how many copies it sold. He had enough money, and any extra was just a bonus, a way to put his residual fame to some use. Of course, more money was always better, and he wouldn’t refuse it, but he just wasn’t as motivated anymore.

Xu Qingqiu, however, was very concerned. Unfortunately, despite her concern, she simply lacked the energy.

She slowly lifted her head, revealing two dark circles under her eyes, and asked weakly, "Sister Hua, how many have we sold?"

"Oh my goodness, Qingqiu, are you alright?"

"Huh? I’m fine, just a bit tired."

Just a bit tired? Your dark circles make you look like a giant panda! Li Chunhua felt both distressed and helpless as she looked at her.

She glanced back at Chu Tian. Even though she knew this was all for Xu Qingqiu’s benefit, she still felt a twinge of resentment. She had clearly told him to take good care of Xu Qingqiu. How could she have ended up in this state? If she didn’t know they were training, anyone would misunderstand and assume they were up to something else in here. It was just that the roles seemed reversed: Chu Tian was perfectly fine, while Xu Qingqiu looked completely drained.

"Sigh, what am I supposed to say to you two?" Li Chunhua said. "I know training is hard, but you need to take it easy. Can Qingqiu’s body even handle this?"

Needless to say, this comment was directed at Chu Tian.

"Well... I did tell her to rest," Chu Tian explained. "But she’s too driven, always pushing herself. What can I do?"

This was indeed the truth. Initially, Chu Tian hadn’t been in such a rush. But Xu Qingqiu was like a woman possessed, determined to cram three years of lessons into three days, hardly resting day or night. Chu Tian couldn’t dissuade her and could only slow down the teaching pace. But then Xu Qingqiu just found more things to do on her own.

This did have one benefit: her foundation became even more solid, allowing her to learn new things faster. The only downside was that her physical condition was suffering.

"Sister Hua, I’m the one who’s impatient," Xu Qingqiu interjected weakly. "It has nothing to do with him."

After hearing both of them speak, Li Chunhua realized her concern had been somewhat misplaced, so she didn’t say anything further.

"Alright, do whatever you two want; I’m staying out of it," Li Chunhua announced, changing the subject. "The new album’s sales are excellent—it has already surpassed 2.8 million copies, making it this year’s best-selling album."

It was called this year’s best-selling because the sales figures for current top-tier artists were astronomical. Unlike Xu Qingqiu, who relied purely on the quality of her songs to drive sales, the album sales of top-tier singers were often a blatant cash grab, exploiting their fanbases.

Chu Tian had experienced this in his previous life. Back then, Jay Chou’s album "The Greatest Work" sold over seven million copies—genuine sales. But these numbers were nothing in the current fan culture. Some top-tier stars easily reached tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, in sales, which was somewhat absurd. Of course, such figures were generally not acknowledged by the music industry. This was because there were too many shady tactics involved: constant brainwashing in fan groups, akin to pyramid schemes, practically expecting every fan to buy thousands, even tens of thousands, of copies. What meaning did such numbers even hold? Apart from raking in money, it was meaningless. Take, for example, a certain top male singer with a two-character name who had over a hundred million digital album sales. At that scale, spread among 1.4 billion people, at least one in every fourteen people must have bought it, right? Yet, who has actually heard a single song from that album? Even a lead single would do. Were there any songs that broke out into wider popularity? None. Not a single one! It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Over a hundred million in sales, yet not a single breakout song. Even the star himself doesn’t have a signature song to perform when appearing on shows. What value does such an album truly hold?

But enough digression. When Xu Qingqiu heard that sales had reached 2.8 million, her expression froze for a moment before she broke into a joyful smile.

"Really? That’s amazing!"

She quickly rushed towards Chu Tian, who was still lying on the couch.

"What do you think you’re doing?!"

Chu Tian sensed trouble and quickly tried to sit up, but it was too late.

"SOB... Chu Tian, thank you!" Xu Qingqiu wailed, tears streaming.

He winced, a wry expression on his face, as Xu Qingqiu threw herself down beside him, hugging him and sobbing uncontrollably. Still, he was inwardly relieved. Thankfully, she hadn’t jumped directly *on* him. Otherwise, he probably would have broken a few bones. That would have been terrifying.

"Alright, alright," Chu Tian said, patting her back gently. "It’s your album. Why are you crying all over me?"

"If it weren’t for you, it definitely wouldn’t have achieved this much! Thank you!" she sobbed.

"What are you talking about?" Chu Tian replied. "I didn’t write the songs, so I can’t take all the credit. Besides, you put in so much effort yourself. You should be thanking yourself too."