Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts

Chapter 221: Preparations Before the Album Release

When we talk about releasing an album, it generally comes in two forms: physical release and digital release.

Physical release involves applying for copyright licenses and producing the records, which can be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly. For newcomers who haven’t signed with a record label, this is a challenging task. With the increasing prevalence of the internet and smartphones, digital releases have become a popular choice for new artists.

Naturally, as someone from the gaming industry, Mei Fang understood the importance of copyright. In his spare time, he also spent money to commission a third party to help him with the copyright registration of the songs.

Xia Yuan’s first digital album included five songs: Bare Face, A not Far Away Place, I’m Willing, Remembrance of Lanshan, and The Vastness of the Universe.

With only five songs, this album was more of an EP (extended play) rather than a full album. Additionally, calling these songs an album was somewhat of a stretch since traditional albums typically have some consistency in style and theme.

However, since Xia Yuan was a newcomer, people might overlook these details.

Apart from finalizing the song list, Xia Yuan and her team needed to decide on the artist’s stage name and the album’s title.

The five songs included Xia Yuan’s solos, A not Far Away Place and The Vastness of the Universe, Lin Youxi’s solo, Remembrance of Lanshan, Mei Fang’s solo I’m Willing, and a duet between Xia Yuan and Mei Fang, Bare Face. Liu Xiaoyu also contributed some backing vocals, so Xia Yuan initially didn’t want the album to be solely under her name.

But since the album wasn’t created as a band, using a new band name would be inappropriate. After some discussion, they decided that Xia Yuan would use the stage name 【Yuanbao】^[1] for the release, and if they formed a band in the future, they would continue to use this name.

Xibao and Fangbao.

“This way, we’ve also given ourselves new nicknames,” Xia Yuan said excitedly to Lin Youxi and Mei Fang. “It felt a bit cheesy at first, but after getting used to it, it doesn’t feel weird anymore… Fangbao, Xibao… How about we start using these names from now on?”

Mei Fang frowned and said, “Why change something that’s been working fine? I’ve been calling you Yuan Yuan for over ten years. Suddenly switching to Yuanbao feels odd…”

Lin Youxi also shook her head, “When Ah Fang calls me Xibao, it sounds weird. I always hear it as xiba^[2], like he’s cursing at me, which makes me inexplicably angry.”

“Hey, is my pronunciation that bad?”

“Then call me that a few more times so I can hear it.”

“Xibao, Xibao, Xibao… How is it?”

“Be gentler.”

“Xibao?”

Watching Lin Youxi tease Mei Fang into calling her that, Xia Yuan couldn’t help but feel a bit strange. “Well, I think we can use these names just for fun. If it feels awkward, we can just use them at home.”

“Although it feels a bit unfamiliar, I immediately liked the name Yuanbao.”

Mei Fang started his usual balancing act again. He smiled at Xia Yuan and said, “Can I call you ‘Yuanbao’ at school from now on?”

“Hehe… It does sound quite cute when you say it.” Xia Yuan’s face turned red as she squirmed, feeling a bit embarrassed. “It’s just that when high school students use that nickname, it feels a bit like trying to act young when you’re old.”

“How old do you think you are? I want to call you ‘Yuanbao’ because it sounds like I have lots of yuanbao^[3], as if I’ve become rich.”

“What?! Stinky Ah Fang!”

Xia Yuan pushed Mei Fang onto the sofa and playfully beat him up while sitting on top of him.

After deciding on the stage names, it was time to determine the album title.

As mentioned earlier, the album was a mixed bag without a unified style or theme, so Xia Yuan gathered everyone from the Ximilu Studio for a brainstorming session.

Peng Xue, a leading member of the Yuan faction, could hardly contain herself. She thought that since it was Xia Yuan’s album, it should primarily focus on her.

The album titles she suggested were all plays on words related to “yuan.”

“Fated Love”

“A One-Sided Love”

“It Turns Out to Be You”

“Fated to Meet”

Meanwhile, Yue Xinyi, a leading member of the Xi faction, didn’t want to back down. However, since most of the songs were composed by Xia Yuan and the album had little content related to Lin Youxi, she felt it was inappropriate to overshadow Xia Yuan.

So, Yue Xinyi’s titles were more generic, some were directly named after the main songs, and one was an affectionate phrase involving Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi.

“I’m Willing”

“Bare Face”

“Fate Brings Us Together”

Yue Xinyi and Peng Xue debated intensely in the group chat, neither willing to give in, making everyone else hesitant to speak up for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

Just as Mei Fang was debating whether to suggest a generic album name to end the argument, Xia Yuan ended the discussion decisively.

“After discussing it with Youxi just now, we think everyone’s suggestions are good, but we’d like to go with this! It’s an online name Youxi and I have always used together, and it holds special meaning for our first album.”

Xia Yuan’s final decision for the album title was 【Yuan Xi Xiangban】(Together with Yuan Xi). This name could be interpreted as Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi accompanying each other, or as both of them accompanying someone else.

…

Not a single word about Mei Fang, yet every word hinted at him.

Liu Xiaoyu could see right through Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi’s intentions, but out of support for her friends, she simply gave a thumbs up and then fell into thought.

In today’s society, do girls really share a boy’s love? If it were me… I definitely couldn’t accept it.

But since the people involved don’t mind, who am I to force my thoughts on them?

Besides, who am I to accept or reject?

Liu Xiaoyu shook her head with a bitter smile, not sure what she was thinking.

Since returning from the spring outing, Liu Xiaoyu found herself increasingly attentive to Mei Fang’s actions.

She started paying more attention to Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi’s daily conversations, especially when they mentioned what Mei Fang had been up to.

She found herself stealing glances at Mei Fang whenever she saw him but would avoid him awkwardly whenever he tried to talk to her.

When I first met Mei Fang, I actually had a pretty good impression of him…

He seems like a genuinely kind and pure guy. He’s always so gentle with Youxi and Yuan Yuan.

And… towards me too——

Although Liu Xiaoyu had said she preferred boys who were not too outstanding, it’s really hard to take your eyes off an ideal type like Mei Fang.

It’s just a shame he’s a scumbag.

Ugh… if only I hadn’t seen all that!

Liu Xiaoyu buried her head under her pillow, distressed, while her roommates teased her, thinking she had a crush on someone.

After finishing the album, Mei Fang planned to release the songs on QQ Music first but also wanted to test the promotional potential of C Site.

Mei Fang and Lin Youxi decided to have Xia Yuan film a short promotional video, which they planned to feature on the homepage and relevant sections of C Site to leverage its traffic for Xia Yuan’s publicity.

Translator's Notes: