Chapter 297: Asking Little Kids to sh**t Ads? Seriously?
The next day.
When Lin Tian woke up from bed, it was already close to noon.
However, after sitting up,
Lin Tian still felt that the air he breathed was refreshingly cool!
Truly, joy makes one feel refreshed.
Recalling the events of last night’s New Year’s Eve, Lin Tian felt like everything was still a dream.
He just wasn’t sure whether Gan Yan Yu, who finally went back home, liked the New Year’s gift he had given her.
Actually, when Lin Tian gave her that little doll, he secretly fantasized a bit:
Wouldn’t Gan Yan Yu also send him the same one as well?
He really wanted that.
If she could send him a full-sized one, that would be even better.
“Ding-dong—”
Lin Tian was still lost in his thoughts when the doorbell rang.
He got out of bed, slipped on some slippers, and walked to the living room. Upon opening the door, he saw something quite unsettling.
Outside, wearing a very casual dress, stood Gan Yan Yu, holding a chicken she had presumably killed.
Holding what???
“Lin Tian,”
Gan Yan Yu held the chicken by its neck, raised it, and smiled,
“Come eat some chicken with me!”
“???”
Dumb Gan Yan Yu, what exactly are you doing with your cute body!?
Lin Tian internally raged.
Just imagining Gan Yan Yu carrying a chicken through the streets, Lin Tian felt quite horrifying.
He mustered the strength to ask,
“Where did you get the chicken?”
“I bought it early this morning at the market.”
“You buy chicken just for that?”
“Of course, for eating!”
Gan Yan Yu revealed a nonchalant expression, then lifted the chicken again and said,
“Not eating chicken for New Year would be strange, right?”
“Just… why insist on eating chicken now?”
Halfway through his complaint, Lin Tian remembered that Gan Yan Yu was born in Guangxi.
Two Guangs, it made sense indeed.
Last time, she created a dish called Pineapple Chicken which was quite eye-opening for Lin Tian.
This time, she might just have awoken a bloodline trait.
Seeing Gan Yan Yu’s funny look, Lin Tian couldn’t help but laugh.
“Alright, go put it inside.”
“Yeah, hurry up! I’m starving.”
“How do we prepare this?”
“It’s just boiled in water.”
“Then isn’t that blanching? Can it have any flavor?”
“You don’t understand. We need ginger and scallion too, then I’ll make a chili sauce for you.”
“…”
“You put down that kn*fe, I’ll handle it!”
“Lin Tian.”
After their bickering, suddenly everything went quiet. A young woman spoke up.
Lin Tian turned his head to see.
Gan Yan Yu had tied her hair into a high ponytail and wore an apron. She looked at him with a sidelong glance and a smile,
“Happy New Year!”
“…”
Lin Tian was momentarily stunned but then laughed too.
Yes,
This year’s Spring Festival was no longer lonely.
“Mmm, Happy New Year,”
Spring Festival passed in a blink.
After spending days eating nothing but food with Gan Yan Yu,
It was only a moment before millions of workers started heading back to work.
Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu were no exception.
Once the Spring Festival ended, Lin Tian received a message from his homeroom teacher Zhang Juan, informing him of his return-to-school date.
Similarly, Gan Yan Yu also received a message from her own teacher.
The final semester of senior year came with no holidays, not even for the relatively relaxed Qingzhou No. 7 High School. The school adopted the traditional yet harsh half-holiday system, which meant students basically returned to school immediately after the Spring Festival holiday.
However, considering Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu’s special circumstances,
Zhang Juan told Lin Tian that the school allowed them to study at home, returning to school to take the college entrance examination later. All they needed was to submit an application form afterwards.
In truth, this wasn’t unusual.
Almost every year, there were many students in the final semester who applied for “self-study at home.” Most were students struggling with depression or anxiety due to immense pressure.
This wasn’t surprising since the stressful environment of the final semester led to yearly incidents of students jumping, so if there weren’t such a green channel, the school would likely be in trouble.
However, approval for such applications often depended on the attitude of the class teacher and the dean of studies.
Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu luckily weren’t facing these troubles.
They had become the golden brand for the school. There were rumors that because of them, next year, Qingzhou No. 7 High School planned to invest more money in expanding music arts slots, placing greater emphasis on nurturing musical talents.
And the happiest was Zhang Juan.
As the homeroom teacher, when Lin Tian initially decided to change to artistic exams, Zhang Juan had tried hard to convince him, afraid of losing her ace candidate and being unable to answer to the school.
Now, although Lin Tian would definitely fall behind in his college entrance examination, she had already done so much for the school!
For bringing up Rlin Tian, as the homeroom teacher of Class A, she was looking forward to huge promotions next year.
But Lin Tian didn’t particularly care about this.
Speaking of which,
The Tianchao Conservatory of Music’s entrance exam was starting this month.
Fortunately, this year, the Tianchao Conservatory of Music set up a testing site in Qingzhou city!
This saved Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu a lot of trouble and time; all they’d have to do is take a taxi to the site.
However, historically, the Tianchao Conservatory of Music set up 2 to 3 test sites nationwide, always excluding Qingjiang province. This year, they surprisingly added a new site.
Rumors online suggested that this was because of their outstanding performance in the recent Yingqin Cup competition, which highlighted their “music powerhouse” reputation, leading to the unprecedented addition of a testing site in the province.
And most of the credit went to Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu.
Saying the Tianchao Conservatory of Music specially came to Qingjiang province for them wasn’t an exaggeration.
The truthfulness of this rumor was hard to verify.
But for Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu, already top scorers for the music art exam in Qingjiang province, the entrance exam wouldn’t be difficult.
What was truly challenging was the college entrance exam.
While they had free rein over their studies at home, how well Lin Tian would arrange everything mattered greatly.
Lin Tian had excellent grades and with the skill of efficient learning, there wasn’t a problem.
But it was different for Gan Yan Yu. She had fallen too far behind to catch up quickly.
So, deciding when to start studying was crucial.
“May, let’s start studying in May.”
While discussing with Gan Yan Yu at home, she said thus.
June was the college entrance exam.
“I’ll review my books in my spare time, but I’m planning to really prepare myself by May,”
Gan Yan Yu said seriously.
Similarly,
In Gan Yan Yu’s eyes, attending a conservatory of music was never out of reach.
From their experience in various competitions,
A top music university’s background held immense importance in the music industry.
It represented not only a musician’s basic credentials but also their networking and international recognition, ensuring that they could find help from others anywhere.
Lin Tian, of course, could choose to be an independent musician, but a background like a major sect would undoubtedly make him more convenient in handling matters everywhere.
Certainly, the main reason was—
Tianchao Conservatory of Music had long been part of Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu’s future plans.
“Sounds good.”
Lin Tian approved, “By then, we’ll decline our work commitments for a month and focus solely on preparation.”
Although it seemed crazy and disrespectful to other examinees—
How could someone who has studied diligently for months expect to beat us after taking a year off to play music and then cram for a month?
But at this point, Lin Tian had no choice.
Given that he and Gan Yan Yu couldn’t balance music and schooling at the same time, he could only hope for her effective learning skills.
They just had to achieve it!
Lin Tian couldn’t imagine a scenario where either of them failed.
After getting through this biggest battle of their student days—
After the college entrance exam—
Both would fully dive into preparations for the Dragon Zither Cup.
Only a few months separated them from the national finals.
“Let’s do our best!” Lin Tian encouraged.
To sum it up, there was still a lot to do!
The second day after returning to work after the holidays.
That day, Lin Tian dressed himself nicely, combed his hair, and set off with Gan Yan Yu, under He Zhichen’s escort, to the DePu Dairy Products Qingzhou branch.
Preparations had been completed by the agent He Zhichen and the company representative.
Today, apart from signing the endorsement contract officially, another goal was an office visit.
As endorsers, Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu must thoroughly understand the company and product details;
Not just a surface-level overview.
“Guangming and the Cat” duo musicians were active until now. Lin Tian cherished his reputation.
Gan Yan Yu was even more so. When the two were merely internet personalities, receiving orders from Le Tian Piano store, she had to personally try the instruments after receiving them before agreeing!
Even though He Zhichen now represented Guangming and the Cat, agreeing to this partnership, if there turned out to be an issue, with Gan Yan Yu’s personality, she’d certainly demand solutions before proceeding with filming.
Onstage.
As Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu signed the contract,
Applause broke out in the office area.
The company’s product manager shook Lin Tian’s hand and cheered,
“Teacher Guangming, wishing our collaboration success!”
“…”
Following the manager’s lead, several key personnel accompanied Lin Tian and his group to tour the facilities of DePu Company.
DePu, one of the three giants of China’s dairy industry, was akin to YiLi and Mengniu of the past era, a household name.
During holidays and festivals, sending gifts or gifts for the New Year almost always included items from “DePu”.
Approaching a large wall,
The manager stopped, introducing them,
“These are the various products DePu has currently on sale.”
Lin Tian looked up.
The wall featured a giant image of a cow.
Beside the cow, many lines extended—
“DePu Pure Milk”, “DePu Yogurt,” “DePu ‘Little Pudding’ Ice Cream,” …
Gan Yan Yu pointed at one pattern, slightly widening her eyes in surprise, and said to Lin Tian,
“Their super sour milk drink was great; I used it often when making desserts.”
Upon hearing this, the manager’s face lit up with a kind smile,
“Our sour series has contracts with many large cake chains across the country, like places you might know like ‘Five-Z’ and ‘Amreth’.”
“So that’s how it is.”
Lin Tian nodded.
He hadn’t expected that the cafe where he took Gan Yan Yu, ‘Five-Z’, was connected to DePu too.
With this information,
Gan Yan Yu surely already had a favorable impression of the drinks.
Lin Tian understood. Much like when he first fell in love with Tao Naimika and realized she starred in many famous works, it felt almost fated.
Further ahead, the group arrived at a wall filled with portraits.
“This is the list of DePu’s official endorsers over the years.”
Next to each endorser’s photo were years of service and endorsed products.
This record symbolized the company’s respect and remembrance of endorsers.
Indeed, some endorsers could share deep connections with the company.
Take Wahaha Mineral Water for example.
How many recognized Wang Li Hong because of Wahaha? And conversely, how many continued buying Wahaha just because of Wang LiHong?
For many years, Wahaha and Wang Li Hong were inseparable, becoming the collective memory of the “mineral water” drink in an era.
Wahaha contributed to Wang Li Hong’s fame, and likewise, Wang Li Hong became Wahaha’s first mainland star. It could be said that both created each other.
To express gratitude, Wahaha kept Wang Li Hong’s endorsement fee consistent for over 20 years, while Wahaha never changed its endorser through those years.
Thus, stories of companies respecting their endorsers were passed down through generations.
However, by 2018, with new CEO Song Hongli taking charge, Wahaha abruptly terminated the 20-year relationship with Wang Li Hong, citing age and product positioning as reasons.
It’s unknown what outcomes resulted, but nowadays,
Wahaha hardly appears in the market; mineral water purchases primarily favor Nongfu Spring and Epras.
Contrastingly,
In 2024, during a concert, Wang Li Hong still promoted Wahaha Mineral Water.
Even after the termination, Wahaha’s legacy remained in his heart.
“…”
Such tales of loyalty were rare; most large corporations frequently changed their endorsers.
What Lin Tian saw next was a massive lineup.
At a glance,
Over the thirty years, DePu had used over twenty endorsers.
Some were Hong Kong stars from the 90s while others were recent male idols.
Unsurprisingly, they were all iconic stars of their era.
That explained why Agent He cautioned him beforehand.
Endorsing DePu would rapidly boost one’s fame!
Each of these endorsers was a star,
But what would adding an artisan musician duo like him and Gan Yan Yu accomplish?
Even if they weren’t endorsing principal products, rather sub-brands, it still seemed awkward.
After all, how widely known were Guangming and the Cat compared to the entertainment industry?
Seemingly noticing Lin Tian’s concerns,
He Zhuochen patted Lin Tian’s shoulder with confidence,
“Just wait until you see the product!”
Finally, they arrived at DePu’s production lab.
There, Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu saw their endorsement item.
The manager held a box of blue-packaged milk, introducing it:
“This is our new product, Hamurre Finnish Yogurt, set to debut this year.”
“We use organic milk from a premium farm, with no additives, only preserving pure flavor.”
Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu inserted straws into the milk and tasted it.
As Lin Tian savored the thick yogurt, a burst of sweetness filled his mouth.
Even before reacting, Gan Yan Yu uttered a contented, “Hmm—”
“It’s delicious,” she remarked, lifting her head and asking, “How much does it cost?”
“For a single box, the price stands at nine yuan,” the manager replied.
“Nine yuan!”
Hearing this, Lin Tian couldn’t help but loosen his grip on the milk bottle.
“Premium milk, huh?”
Was Finland-made yogurt really that impressive?
Nine yuan! That was nearly the price of a bubble tea!
This could be enough for a refreshing cup of milk at Snow Mountain Ice City.
Even for similar types of yogurt, prices rarely exceeded six yuan.
Could this sell for nine yuan?
“Well, our product follows an upscale route… Our target customer base is different,”
The manager appeared to be concerned about Lin Tian and Gan YanYu—who looked like high school students—understanding non-musical affairs. He tactfully offered, “We’re not aiming for budget-conscious consumers.”
Lin Tian got the message.
Translation complete!
