Chapter 64: Climbing The Charts, Making The List
Although Qu Xingxuan was unreliable and veered off after saying half of it to express his own emotions, Xuan Xia had already pieced together everything he wanted to say from his half-spoken words.
“You mean Daoist Master Qin has inconvenient legs and feet, so he’s not as efficient as those Cui Family younger generation in handling affairs and breaking illusionary scenery, and he can’t even participate in some more complex matters or illusionary scenery yet, so that’s why he refused to join the list, right?”
Xuan Xia sent her summarized content to Qu Xingxuan to confirm if that was correct.
‘Qu Xingxuan: That’s what you said, I didn’t say that.’
Qu Xingxuan firmly denied it.
‘Qu Xingxuan: I really didn’t think that! You can’t go blabbering nonsense to Daoist Master Qin later.’
Seeing how vehemently he denied it, Xuan Xia couldn’t help but curl her lips in amusement.
In that split second, Xuan Xia suddenly had an idea.
She organized the idea that had popped up, then edited it into a message and sent it to Qu Xingxuan.
Xuan Xia: “You said that ranking on the list is based on the quantity of affairs handled and the size of illusionary scenery, so could someone exploit loopholes and deliberately game the list?”
‘Qu Xingxuan: Huh?’
Xuan Xia: “If someone deliberately creates illusionary scenery or that kind of thing, and then others go break it, wouldn’t the ranking go up?”
‘Qu Xingxuan: Uh…’
‘Qu Xingxuan: Probably not.’
Qu Xingxuan used the word “probably,” indicating he couldn’t be sure either.
Because he had never thought in that direction before.
After a while, he asked Xuan Xia in return.
‘Qu Xingxuan: Is that feasible?’
Xuan Xia: “How would I know? I’m just raising a question.”
‘Qu Xingxuan: …’
‘Qu Xingxuan: Probably impossible. Faking it in this aspect brings no benefits. Like you said, there’s no bonus to claim, so why bother?’
‘Qu Xingxuan: Besides. Deliberately creating illusionary scenery and such, not to mention if it’s possible, it’s an act that damages one’s virtue, and they’d be kicked out—no family would keep such a person.’
‘Qu Xingxuan: Once reported and kicked out, that person can’t survive in this field anymore. Impossible, no one would be dumb enough to do it.’
Although Qu Xingxuan insisted it was impossible, Xuan Xia felt that human hearts are fickle, and no one could absolutely guarantee it.
After a moment, Xuan Xia messaged Qu Xingxuan again, asking him: “Do people on the list need any qualifications? Can someone like me join the list?”
‘Qu Xingxuan: Huh? You want to join the list?’
Xuan Xia: “Can’t I?”
‘Qu Xingxuan: You can. Just sign up.’
Xuan Xia unexpectedly raised her eyebrow.
Qu Xingxuan explained to her that this list was open to mystic sect people—as long as the age fits and the affairs handled are legitimate, regardless of background, anyone could sign up for the list.
There were two registration methods: one was self-recommendation, finding a Cui Family Member in charge of this to fill out the form, then waiting for approval to join the list.
The other was recommendation by a mystic sect person, with a similar process but faster, sometimes with leeway, and the review not as strict as self-recommendation.
Of course, how much leeway and leniency depended entirely on the recommender’s status in the mystic sect.
After hearing about the registration methods, Xuan Xia directly asked: “Can you be my recommender?”
‘Qu Xingxuan: What? You want me to be your recommender?’
Immediately after, Qu Xingxuan sent a bunch of expression packs.
Xuan Xia saw the screen full of little people dancing.
Was being a recommender such a particularly honorable thing? Look how excited he was.
But since he was so thrilled, Xuan Xia couldn’t dampen his enthusiasm.
Xuan Xia: “Yes, yes, can you recommend me?”
‘Qu Xingxuan: Hehehe, I’d have to think about others, but for you, I’ll do it for Daoist Master Qin’s sake.’
Xuan Xia: “Thanks. I feel very honored.”
For this recommendation matter, Qu Xingxuan didn’t say to wait until after his exam.
He eagerly asked Xuan Xia for some information, then said he’d handle it for her tomorrow.
With that, the two said goodbye first and stopped chatting.
Xuan Xia told Qu Xingxuan to hurry up and do his homework, though she doubted he was in the mood for it.
She told Yang Wanxiu to ask Zhou Shiqing’s assistant if they could help get autographs from everyone in their group.
Yang Wanxiu said she’d go handle it right away.
***
The next day was Saturday.
In the afternoon, Qu Xingxuan messaged Xuan Xia, saying he had already submitted her information to the data entry person.
If all went well, she could join the list on Monday.
Xuan Xia hadn’t expected it to be so efficient.
At this point, Qu Xingxuan couldn’t help but show off a bit.
‘Qu Xingxuan: Of course it’s efficient—don’t you know who my master is.’
Xuan Xia couldn’t say that she still didn’t know who his master was.
Of course, she knew the name—Yuan Tian Shu. She just had no concept of how prestigious the title was.
Luckily, they weren’t face-to-face, so Qu Xingxuan couldn’t see the expression on her face.
……
In the evening, “Puttong Puttong, Those of Us Falling in Love in Summer” officially aired.
The content of the first official episode was an edited version of the live broadcast.
The live broadcast that took a whole day, after editing by the program group, became a highlight reel over two hours long.
A lot of awkward content was cut, but some was kept.
For example, the before-and-after of Xuan Xia and An Qi rolling together was trimmed, while Xuan Xia’s two confrontations with Xie Yun were retained.
As soon as the program aired, the internet immediately erupted in heated discussion.
Many viewers who watched the full live broadcast began reminiscing.
“That part where Zhou Shiqing’s mic was cut off was really hilarious.”
“Hahaha, and Xuan Xia’s line ‘I’ll rest a bit’—I remember lots of people were playing with that meme at the time.”
“Yeah, yeah, and later she fell together with An Qi—why did the program group cut that?”
Xuan Xia and An Qi’s CP fans, amid the discussion, started cursing the program group for being inhumane, cutting all the big sweet moments of their “Qi Miao Summer,” so how could they attract new fans to ship it?
Luckily, the internet has a memory. The screen recordings from back then had already been edited by editing lady into various CP videos, paired with all sorts of different music, as sweet as could be.
“Qi Miao Summer community, welcome everyone to join and play. Men will only slow down our speed of drawing swords—we’ll walk the flower road with the two misses together!”
“You’re that one in the live bullet comments shipping the weird CP? You’re still shipping it?”
“Babe, don’t tell me you’re the one who recommended Xuan Xia Xie Yun CP to me?”
“That’s me.”
“Ah, babe. Let’s follow each other? Wanna come ship with us? We’re super sweet. ‘Video link’ ‘Video link’ ‘Video link'”
“Not shipping, not following, get lost.”
“Babe, you’re so fierce.”
“…”
In addition, data fans calculated the camera shot time for each guest.
In the end, the male and female guests with the most camera time were He Tiandong and Xie Yun, followed by Zhou Shiqing and Nan Fu.
As for Xuan Xia, she was naturally at the bottom.
But no one would nitpick Xuan Xia’s camera time.
Unlike Zhou Shiqing’s fans, who upon seeing the time stats, went full throttle with both hands—one tearing into the program group, the other pinning down He Tiandong’s fans for a beating.
Their combat power was so fierce that Xuan Xia temporarily set aside her notebook, got online, logged in, and watched the spectacle.
The program’s popularity was directly boosted to another level by Zhou Shiqing’s fans’ scolding.
