Just because I wrote "Zhu Xian," the school beauty sent me razor blades.

Shortly after Lin Yuan posted the message, the comment section exploded.

"???"

"You old fool, what do you mean by that?"

"Summer breeze? You old fool, you listen to music too?"

"Wait, I've heard this song before! It's 'Summer Breeze' sung by Xu Nian!"

"Holy crap, this old geezer actually follows the entertainment industry?"

"Wait, you old rascal, how come you, a novelist, suddenly switched to this field?"

"Upstairs, are you stupid? That old idiot is recommending a song! 'Summer Breeze,' sung by Xu Nian. Search it up, it's amazing!"

"Really? I'll go listen to it."

"It sounds beautiful! It really does! It's so gentle and soothing, perfect for summer."

Wow! That old geezer's song recommendation has great taste!

"If that old bastard recommended it, we have to go for it! Brothers, let's get it going!"

The comment section exploded like a firework tube with its fuse lit, crackling and popping.

However, what really caused things to get out of control was not the comments section itself.

Instead, a reader named "Qingfeng Sword Immortal" posted a message in the comments section:

"Fellow cultivators, this old man has brought us the world of Jade Dynasty, and has tormented us with so many chapters. Now that he's recommending a song, shouldn't we show our appreciation?"

"What do you mean?"

"It means—could we help get the things that old rascal recommends onto the list? So that more people can hear the summer breeze?"

"That makes sense! That old bastard has tormented me a thousand times, what's wrong with me helping him climb the rankings?"

"Go! We have to go!"

Brothers and sisters, go search for "Summer Breeze," listen to it once, give it a like, and share it on your WeChat Moments! Let more people feel the summer breeze!

"I hereby declare that this is a collective action by all fellow cultivators! Let's charge up the rankings on our swords!"

"Go go go!"

"I'm already listening to it, on repeat."

"That old rascal's taste is truly exceptional. His stories are so touching, and so are the songs he recommends."

"It's only the first day, let's boost the viewership and get more people to see it!"

"Shared to three groups!"

"Already shared on WeChat Moments! Caption: Recommended by the old man of Mount Akina, verified by fellow players, quality guaranteed!"

Overnight, the viewership curve of "Summer Breeze" seemed to have been injected with adrenaline, and it soared up.

From 1.8 million, to 3 million, and then to 4 million.

It's not linear growth, it's an exponential explosion.

Every reader of "Zhu Xian" is using their own way to spread this song to more people—on WeChat Moments, WeChat groups, QQ Space, Weibo, and Douyin.

They are not hired online trolls, nor are they paid for advertising.

They were just a group of people who had been touched by a story, and now that the author had casually recommended a song, they spontaneously wanted to do something to help with it.

Just like a fan will spontaneously promote their favorite content creator's videos—no reason is needed, and no reward is required.

"I'll take the old scoundrel's razor blade, and I'll ride the wind that old scoundrel has to ride."

One reader wrote this on their WeChat Moments.

It was accompanied by a link to "Summer Wind".

What truly transformed "Summer Wind" from a "hot" hit into a "phenomenon" was Douyin (TikTok).

The way things unfolded completely exceeded everyone's expectations.

The first viral video came from a Douyin blogger named "Aqi by the Sea".

She's a female college student in Liancheng who enjoys filming short videos of herself walking on the beach. Her account isn't large, with less than 50,000 followers, but the footage is incredibly beautiful—sunsets, waves, sand, skirts fluttering in the backlight; each video looks like a clip from a Japanese movie.

That evening, she went for a walk on the beach as usual and recorded a scene on her phone: the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon, the sky was dyed a gentle orange and pink, the waves gently lapped at the beach, and in the distance a couple walked hand in hand, their shadows stretched long by the sunset.

Back in her dorm, while editing videos, she casually searched for the word "summer" in her background music library.

"Summer Wind" jumped out.

She clicked to listen to a sample.

Three seconds later, she stopped everything, took off her headphones, put them back on, and listened to them again.

Then, she set this song as the background music for the video.

A 15-second short video.

No filters, no special effects, no text.

There is only the sea, only the wind, only the sunset.

And the melody of "Summer Wind".

She posted the video at 11 p.m., but didn't take it seriously. She washed up and went to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, my phone almost crashed from all the notifications.

Video views: 14 million.

Likes: 870,000

Comments: 42,000.

The most upvoted comment in the comments section only had four words:

Summer is here.

This video is like a pebble thrown into a lake, creating the first ripples.

Then, the ripples turned into waves.

In the following days, a large number of similar videos began to appear—

Someone took a picture of the evening breeze by the river and uploaded it with the song "Summer Breeze".

Someone was taking a walk on the playground in the evening, with this song playing in their headphones, and filmed a time-lapse video.

Someone was taking pictures of the city at dusk from the rooftop, with the background music being "Summer Wind".

Someone filmed their girlfriend's hair being blown around by the wind at the beach, and then played the chorus of this song—

The summer breeze is blowing warmly, passing through my hair and around my ears…

The comment with the most likes reads:

"I remember now, that summer, the girl I liked was standing in the wind like this too. But I didn't have the courage to speak up then."

Someone also filmed a series of short videos with a campus theme: after school, the setting sun shines through the windows of the classroom, and chalk dust floats in the beams of light; a boy who has finished running on the playground lies on his back on the grass, with a soft melody playing in his headphones; at the entrance of the library, a girl walks out carrying a stack of books, the wind blowing through her hair.

Every frame perfectly matches the mood of "Summer Breeze".

These videos spread like wildfire—not because of algorithmic recommendations, not because of purchased traffic, but because everyone who saw them stopped to watch for a few more seconds.

Then, I couldn't help but click into the comments section and saw the sentence "Summer is here".

Then, without realizing it, I searched for this song.

The viewership curve for "Summer Breeze" changed from a straight line that curves upwards to a rocket trajectory that rises almost vertically.

Within three days, it soared from four million to twenty-three million.

Within five days, it exceeded 50 million.

A week later, it broke through 100 million.

At the same time, the ranking on the Nebula Chart skyrocketed—

The top thirty.

The top twenty.

Top ten.

Top five.

third.

the first.

With unstoppable momentum, "Summer Breeze" overtook "Midsummer" and topped the Nebula Chart.

Its play count, download count, search volume, discussion volume, and popularity are almost all growing exponentially.

Especially its popularity.

The melody of this song is so simple and catchy that anyone who has never studied music can hum along after listening to it twice. And the warm, bittersweet feeling that follows makes you want to listen to it again and again.

On Douyin, videos of covers of "Summer Wind" began to appear on a large scale—some people sang and played guitar in their dorm rooms, some sang in karaoke rooms and made the whole audience cry, and some adapted a pure instrumental version on the piano, which also garnered over a million views.

This song is more than just a song.

It became an emotion, an atmosphere, a shared memory of this summer.