"I'm going to take a bath. Gouzi, you'll have a lot to do tomorrow for school, so get some rest. Goodnight.＾3＾"
"Mhm, goodnight, little fairy."
Putting down his phone, a gentle smile curved Su Yu's lips.
The girl named "Yan Yu Jiang Nan" was Su Yu's girlfriend of three years, whom he had met online.
Strictly speaking, it was the previous Su Yu.
That's right, he had transmigrated.
He had been here for a month.
In his previous life, he was an orphan. With his natural vocal talent and opportunities, by the age of twenty-four, he had become a household name, living under the spotlight every day, supported by millions of fans.
While enjoying this glory, he also paid a price.
For every compliment received, there were curses.
With a halo surrounding him, he was destined to live in the public eye.
Eventually, he feared being secretly photographed even when going to the restroom.
Crazy sasaeng fans were everywhere. Once, while staying at a hotel, they somehow got a room key and entered his room, sleeping in the same bed as him.
Over time, Su Yu grew restless and began to resent his celebrity status.
Suffering from severe depression, he chose to end his life by jumping into a river.
"This life, this is what I want."
He had a complete family. Although not wealthy, even a bit poor, his parents had a good and harmonious relationship.
His online girlfriend was understanding. Though he didn't even know her appearance, through a month of chatting, he could feel her goodness. Perhaps this was a connection of souls.
Overall, this current peaceful life brought him peace and immense enjoyment.
*Creak!*
As Su Yu was lost in thought, the room door opened.
His mother, Zhang Guizhi, walked in with a bowl of soup.
"Drink your medicine and go to bed early. You have school tomorrow. I've already packed your things. I'm taking half a day off tomorrow to accompany you to school."
She approached Su Yu's bed and handed him the bowl.
"Mom, you don't need to take time off. Zhang Yang and I will go together tomorrow. He'll help me carry my things."
Su Yu sat up and drank the medicinal soup in one gulp.
This was a prescription Zhang Guizhi had obtained from an old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in the countryside. After a month, he had gotten used to the bitter taste of the decoction.
"Alright, school starts tomorrow, and the noodle shop will be busy. With Zhang Yang there with you, I feel at ease."
"Here, take this candy. Eat it later."
Zhang Guizhi took the medicine bowl, pulled out a handful of candies from her pocket, and smiled as she handed them to Su Yu.
Then, she tidied his blanket for him and turned to leave.
She knew Zhang Yang was Su Yu's childhood friend. Su Yu had always been sickly since he was little, and Zhang Yang had always taken good care of him. She felt more at ease with them together.
"My body is still weak after recovering for so long. Fortunately, I've completely merged with the original host's memories."
Watching his mother's retreating back, Su Yu took a deep breath, a smile gracing his lips.
Because of his weak physique and low blood sugar, he had to eat candy often. So, every time he finished his medicine, his mother would give him candy, as she always had since he was a child.
In fact, the original host, aside from being a bit thin, had excellent looks. However, due to his weaker constitution, his skin was a bit pale, giving him a refined aura.
His father, Su Zhengguo, was a sanitation worker, earning just over a thousand yuan a month with subsidies. His mother, Zhang Guizhi, worked as a dishwasher in a small noodle shop, and her salary wasn't high either.
Over the years, most of the family's money had been spent on the original host's medical treatment. Later, when they ran out of money for hospital medication, Zhang Guizhi was forced to seek out an old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in the countryside, as herbal medicine was much cheaper.
A month ago, the original host had fainted on his way home, and then Su Yu transmigrated.
He didn't know if the original host had died or if their consciousness had switched, with him going to the original host's world.
All he knew was that in the original host's memories, there was a constant sense of guilt towards his parents, feeling like a burden who had dragged them down for so many years.
That's why he studied so hard.
Graduating early, earning money, and giving his parents a better life was the original host's lifelong wish.
"Since I'm living a second life using your identity, I will also strive to fulfill your wish."
Perhaps due to having something on his mind, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Su Yu picked up his phone from the bedside table.
With a complex expression, he opened the music player.
His past experiences seemed to have made him somewhat resistant to music.
For so long, he hadn't listened to a single song from this world.
However, through the original host's memories, he had a general understanding of this world.
This was a parallel space called Blue Star, with a background extremely similar to Earth.
But there was one difference: this world had a very strong cultural atmosphere, with the entertainment fields of film, music, painting, and literature flourishing immensely.
This led to art universities being accessible with decent grades, even without a strong foundation.
Although the original host was not healthy, he had studied diligently and his grades were always among the top. He was even the top scorer in the liberal arts for the college entrance examination in Shuangqing City.
When everyone expected him to choose a top domestic university, he chose Shuangqing Arts Academy, opting for the less popular composition major.
Su Yu also learned from the original host's memories that China seemed to have entered a strange state. The era of traffic had arrived, and everyone's pursuit of art was gradually shifting towards the pursuit of traffic.
Countless people did absurd things to grab attention. Dignity and dreams were insignificant in the face of traffic.
Traffic is king; this was the current state of China.
This situation also led to the fact that despite the immense prosperity of the cultural and entertainment fields, the works produced were somewhat disappointing.
The film industry was filled with bad movies, treating the audience like fools.
These works earned money from the fans of traffic stars.
Acting skills were unimportant, as fans provided a filter. Dialogue was also unimportant, as it could be dubbed later. Actors just needed to mouth "one, two, three, four, five."
What was important?
What was important were those traffic stars.
As long as they had traffic, even with a negative rating, they could make a fortune.
As for music...
"Let's learn to bark like dogs together, woof woof woof woof woof..."
The singing from his earphones made Su Yu frown, his entire face contorting into an expression of utter disbelief.
He had clicked on the hot song charts, and this "learning to bark" song was number one.
"Thunderous clap, such heavenly cultivation..."
"Alone I drink until I'm drunk, drunk until my wine bottles are a pair..."
As he continued to click "next song," Su Yu's frown deepened.
Finally, he put down his phone and let out a long sigh: "What the hell is all this???"
He couldn't understand how these songs, some of which barely qualified as songs, managed to climb the charts.
Wait!
A flash of inspiration struck Su Yu.
If these could become popular, wouldn't a song from his previous life simply dominate the charts?
Although in his previous life he only focused on vocal technique and didn't delve into composition, he could copy... cough... borrow.
In this world, there was no Pu Shu, no Xu Wei, and no Jay Chou...
Any single song from these artists could make a huge splash here.
Thinking of this, a surge of impulse welled up in Su Yu. This impulse lasted only two seconds before he suppressed it.
He feared becoming popular again and being unable to continue his peaceful life.
However, singing was his major and a quick path to earning money. If not singing, how could he make money?
Write novels?
Su Yu shook his head. He had read many novels, but without photographic memory, he mostly remembered the general plot.
Things like "Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat the myriad things as straw dogs..." "Dou Zong powerhouses are terrifyingly strong..." "My son Wang Teng has the aura of a Great Emperor..." "Ah Bin's high school grades were not ideal..."
Although these few books could sustain him for a lifetime, he had forgotten the specific details, only a vague plot. This was not enough to support him in writing something successful.
Pushing away unrealistic thoughts, Su Yu put down his phone.
He was thinking of a compromise, a way to leverage his strengths to earn money while still living a peaceful life.
[Ding, Binding entertainment system...]
Just then, a mechanical female voice suddenly appeared in his mind.
System?
Su Yu, who frequently read online novels, was not unfamiliar with this.
Therefore, he did not panic excessively and lay still, waiting for the system to bind.