Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 316 - 309: Still Overate

Chapter 316: Chapter 309: Still Overate

"It’s not Qin Guanglin that’s on fire, but his comic."

Real-time hot search topic #BestManBestMaidProposalAtWedding#, ranking third in popularity.

Netizens’ discussions are hot and lively.

Ant Carrying a Pig up a Tree: If someone pulled this stunt at my wedding, we’d definitely cut ties! No question about it! A wedding is the most important moment in a person’s life; it has to be flawless. Why should the bride and groom be overshadowed at their own wedding?!

Eating Cat Xingxing: The person above is too agitated. Marriage is such a joyous occasion. What’s wrong with doubling the joy? I actually think it makes the event more memorable.

Shadow Shadow Where Are You: It’s someone else’s pocket that paid for the venue. Why exploit their setup for your own agenda? Freeloading must feel great. You propose perfectly, but please split the cost of the venue setup, thank you.

Naming Really is a Hassle: +1 to the second comment above. More happiness is always welcome. Years later, this will certainly bring back unique feelings. Besides, since everyone knows each other so well, it must have been discussed beforehand, and only proceeded with the bride and groom’s consent.

I’m Little Duck Bird: The person above hasn’t seen the comic, have they? It wasn’t ’probably discussed’. It was indeed discussed. Dog groom and dog best man secretly arranged it, to surprise the maid of honor.

Face the Wind: Little Duck Bird is jealous! You’re jealous! Hahaha... sniff sniff... I also want a girlfriend like that, I also want a buddy like that...

A Pair of Butterflies: Another fine young woman enters the exploitative institution of marriage, disgusting lecherous man, ugh, puking.

Cola Without Ice is Soulless: No way, sir, are we boxing over this? But seriously, it really doesn’t seem appropriate. Just attendees of the wedding, why steal the spotlight from the newlyweds? I definitely wouldn’t be pleased, but it’s just discomfort, not worth cutting ties over... Speaking of which, anyone up for a romantic wedding with me?

Not Losing 30 Pounds, Not Changing Name: The two guys discussed it amongst themselves, what’s it to all of you? Purely idle, just overfed people.

...

Qin Guanglin was scrolling through the comments when Chen Rui’s WeChat came through.

Chen Rui: Have you seen it?

Qin Guanglin typed a few characters, thought better of it, deleted them, typing too slow, he simply dialed Chen Rui over WeChat.

"Just glanced over it briefly, what’s going on?" he asked.

The proposal comic was released last Friday night, now it’s Wednesday, just five short days, yet it had hit the real-time hot search, unexpectedly.

Before coming to He City, he had thought this was just a minor climax, but it turned out... indeed it was a climax, but not in the expected way.

"It’s exactly as you saw... it all started when someone causally shared their feelings on Weibo. Then a little broadcaster saw it, maybe it triggered some bad memories for him, so he dissed it a bit, and then more and more people joined the discussion..."

As Chen Rui explained, sounds of keyboard typing occasionally transmitted from the phone, "At first, I didn’t take it seriously, who would have thought it would ferment for two days and shoot up to hot search, now our website’s traffic has soared by ten percent, still increasing... How about you rush out an issue to explain using the form of a comic?"

Chen Rui was excited; no matter how fierce the debate on the hot search was, as long as there was a topic, there was a talking point, and exposure.

That’s much more effective than any advertisement—just all positive reviews are useless, it’s the conflicts and arguments that really spark flames.

Qin Guanglin was somewhat speechless, "What explanation do I still have to give... isn’t the whole cause and consequence already there in the comic? Geez, it’s just people being too full—okay, I’ll look more into it, as long as it doesn’t affect life, it doesn’t matter, if you hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t even know, who checks this broken stuff every day."

"Alright, I’m busy here, you think about it, better to explain anyway, otherwise too many people blindly follow, now your comic’s rating has already dropped by four percent, the full five stars is gone... md they say your values are skewed, do these morons even know what values are? Hanging up now."

Chen Rui ended the call, looked at the backend data on his computer and burst into joy, then dialed another number.

"Hello, it’s me, come over, let’s discuss the anti-piracy measures."

After a few brief words, he put down the phone, leaned back in his chair, letting out a breath. His gaze drifted to the window, watching the distant blue sky and clouds, thoughts rolling in his mind over the next steps.

Now that the popularity was about to breach the circle, pirated versions were no longer needed. Better to knock them off early, and then...

The creation of a god was already halfway successful, not far from taking off.

...

Qin Guanglin hung up the phone and continued to open Weibo to check the comments.

He Fang asked him, noticing his expression, "What’s wrong? Trouble at work?"

"Just a minor issue, nothing much."

The whole matter started with a discussion by a small broadcaster, then it spread to more people, and somehow even drew in a Boxer in a chaotic mix, and suddenly the topic heated up drastically.

Just trying to draw a comic, how did it end up in this mess?

He Fang leaned against him and glanced at the comments about the comic. Showing little interest, she picked up an apple from the table and started peeling it, "Do you want some? You seem like you’re about to become popular."

"What’s there to be popular about... you eat it."

Qin Guanglin casually scrolled through the comments, pondering whether to call Xiao Yu and tell him about it.

"Did they say your drawing wasn’t good?"

"Uh, it’s been said."

Discussion topics have everything under the sun.

Fat Guy: Seeing how highly you all spoke of it, I went specifically to take a look. It’s just so-so. Although I don’t have a girlfriend, I didn’t find it particularly sweet.

Not Worth a Dime: No way no way, what’s so interesting about a man and a woman talking about their feelings? I couldn’t keep watching after just a glance, trash.

UU Loves Flowers: No way no way, do people still think if they don’t like something, nobody else likes it either? What kind of bizarre thought process is this? Scared now, better block them first, I’m talking about you, the person above.

Grassland Waiting for Wolves: Haha, you’re right. Even RMB isn’t interesting to some people... But I think the manga is pretty good. It’s just the wedding part I don’t agree with; of course, if it was discussed with the bride and groom in advance, there certainly wouldn’t be a problem. I’m talking about those who didn’t discuss and stole the spotlight—it’s simply juvenile.

...

Qin Guanglin found it amusing. If everyone liked it, he figured he’d become disinterested in RMB too, and then what’s the point of drawing? He’d just wander around with his wife every day.

He took a chunk of apple that He Fang passed him, thought for a moment, then got up to the balcony to give Xiao Yu a call.

However, after only two rings, Xiao Yu answered, his voice coming through the phone, "Hello, what’s up, Lin?"

Qin Guanglin smacked his lips and said, "You’ve gone viral."

Xiao Yu had just finished dining and was resting. Suddenly receiving a call from Qin Guanglin telling him he’d gone viral left him a bit confused, "What?"

"Uh... It’s the manga I drew. Never mind, you’ll see it yourself. Do you have Weibo on your phone?"

"Yeah, I have it but don’t use it much. How did I go viral? Did someone confess their love to me? What should I search for?"

"Look at the trending real-time searches, the ones about the wedding. We’ll chat on WeChat in a bit."

Qin Guanglin hung up and went back inside, waiting for Xiao Yu’s message after he finished checking.

The wedding wasn’t crowded but had a good number of close friends and family. From the discussion, one could easily guess it involved Xiao Yu... especially since the character Iron Crown in the comic was drawn to resemble Xiao Yu, as per his request.

"Holy shit, are these people nuts?"

"It’s my wedding, why should they care? It was also my idea to have a little show."

"Are they sick or something? How are you holding up? Have you gotten any private messages?"

Xiao Yu’s messages on WeChat quickly followed, one after another in quick succession, Qin Guanglin’s phone continuously dinging as he typed.

As the drama intensified, many newcomers who hadn’t read the manga and didn’t know the full story blindly followed others, unconsciously projecting themselves into the role of the newlyweds at that wedding, then perceived the best man’s and bridesmaid’s spotlight-stealing behavior as extremely rude, naturally morphing into keyboard warriors.

Hands flying, they began voicing their opinions on the proposal, driving manga fans into a retreat, harsh words against the best man occasionally popping up, making Xiao Yu feel flames of anger.

Who appointed them the arbiters of justice, anyway?

A bunch of lunatics!

Qin Guanglin:"I’m not involved in any trouble, don’t worry. It’s our business, none of theirs.

Mainly, I wanted to tell you, you’ve gone viral, and there are a lot of comments in my manga that like you guys as a couple. Have you thought about turning it into its own thing, maybe you drawing it yourself? With the popularity of my manga and this incident boosting it, it could really take off."

Qin Guanglin had already harbored this idea, and seeing the online discussions only confirmed he had gained quite a bit from Xiao Yu without asking. He casually made this suggestion.

It’d be an extra income, after all. Xiao Yu was preparing to start a family, every bit would help.

Xiao Yu, holding his phone, messaged back in confusion, "What do you mean, have me switch careers to drawing manga? Stop joking..."

"No, just draw casually in your spare time. It’s straightforward, just follow my style and structure; you’ll get the hang of it quickly. Post it on the platform of my current company, if it catches fire, consider it a side job. Didn’t you say you were looking for part-time work? This fits the bill."

Xiao Yu:"Wouldn’t that be plagiarism? You keep drawing. I’m already up to my ears in video editing work every day, I don’t have time to draw little figures... Wait, I’ll clarify for you online, these people are crazy."

After some back-and-forth on WeChat, Qin Guanglin couldn’t persuade him, rubbed his forehead, and set down his phone.

The manga was free on the platform; these kinds of traffic and popularity couldn’t be directly converted into money. Moreover, in this manga, Xiao Yu only made up a tiny fraction of the total content. Qin Guanglin pondered how much of the revenue he should share with Xiao Yu, if any.

Too much wouldn’t be appropriate, too little would look bad, and knowing Xiao Yu, he wouldn’t accept no matter the amount...

He’d have to think it over properly—perhaps when his nephew or niece was born, he could send an expensive zodiac pendant Xiao Yu would be less likely to refuse.

...

That evening, the man of the moment, Xiao Yu, set his own photo as his profile picture on Weibo and called out a few who were leading the heated discussion.

"#BestManBridesmaidProposalAtWedding# It’s my damn wedding, I’ll arrange whatever I want. My buddy proposing was something I had to talk him into, what’s it to you people? Got nothing better to do, huh?!"

With that statement, the narrative immediately reversed.

"Stealing the spotlight" turned into "an extension of happiness," and the topic’s popularity soared even higher.