novelraw Chapter 131 - 128: It Won’t Be This Simple Next Time
Chapter 131 - 128: It Won’t Be This Simple Next Time
After being cursed out by Master Yu, the assistant quickly said, "Brother Hua, Second-Life Star uploaded that song, ’Can’t Help Falling in Love.’ And its numbers have far surpassed Li Yueling’s. People in the industry are predicting its sales could break ten million."
"???" In that instant, Master Yu’s eyes went wide as saucers. He stared at his assistant, trying to determine if he was joking.
"Brother Hua, you just misspoke again," the assistant said awkwardly.
Master Yu immediately recalled what he had just said to Chen Jie—that he had zero expectations for Chen Jincheng’s song. He had even used his own two-million-selling single as an example, publicly stating that the other guy’s song could never reach those numbers. And now he was being told it might sell over ten million?
He suddenly felt as if he’d been ruthlessly slapped across the face.
He hurriedly pulled out his phone, logged into Tiao Yin, and entered the official livestream. When he saw the sales data for the three songs, his expression turned utterly grim. "This shouldn’t be happening. How can a mere internet celebrity pull this off?"
Master Yu immediately took out his phone again, logged into Penguin Music, and bought "Can’t Help Falling in Love" to play it.
"Every day, I need your love, my thoughts are for you to guess..."
As the song played, especially when the music video started, the color drained completely from his face.
He was arrogant, looking down on even the ’Heavenly Kings’ of the industry, but he wasn’t incapable of judging quality. One listen was all it took to know this song would be unbeatable in the sweet-pop genre this year.
So, it wasn’t surprising that the song could potentially sell ten million copies.
But he, in his ignorance, had apparently said something terribly wrong. Thinking back to the Weibo posts he’d made, he scrambled to delete the ones where he had dissed Chen Jincheng.
But while he could delete his Weibo posts, there was no way to delete the words he’d just spoken to Chen Jie.
He immediately whipped out his phone and called the show’s director. The moment the call connected, he pleaded, "Director, could you please help me cut my comments about Chen Jincheng from earlier? I just spoke my mind without thinking and said the wrong thing."
Hearing this, the director hurriedly replied, "Teacher Hua, I was about to remind you just now, but it’s too late. Besides, with so many people in the audience, quite a few of them recorded it. It’s already been uploaded to Tiao Yin. So even if I delete it, it’s useless. We might as well keep it as material. It’ll generate more buzz for the show and for you."
"What?! It’s already online?" Master Yu’s face fell.
"That’s right!" the director replied before immediately hanging up. He turned to the assistant director beside him and gave him a thumbs-up. "You’re the clever one, uploading the video online first. Now he can’t say a thing."
The assistant director said with a sly grin, "Who knows when that guy will ever learn to stop being so arrogant, conceited, and full of hot air. He doesn’t even realize how many people he’s offended. The day his company stops promoting him so heavily, he’ll find out what the consequences are."
After hanging up, Master Yu immediately went on Tiao Yin. He did a quick keyword search and, sure enough, saw his conversation with Chen Jie had been uploaded.
The clip of Chen Jie goading him into saying those things, in particular, was drawing a ton of criticism.
"Nice one, Chen Jie."
"Haha, everyone’s predicting ’Can’t Help Falling in Love’ will sell over ten million. Where does he get the nerve to say it’s not as good as his work?"
"Two million sales? Wow, so amazing. And ’high quality,’ too."
"I’m following just because Chen Jie taught this ’Master’ a lesson."
"..."
Master Yu’s face was dark as a thundercloud as he read the comments.
’They’re all just jealous of me.’
As time went on, the atmosphere over at Second-Life Star, in contrast, was exceptionally good.
Because "Can’t Help Falling in Love" quickly broke one million in sales, hitting number one on Penguin’s daily sales chart.
Sister Hong, beaming, reported to Chen Jincheng, "Boss, Penguin Music contacted us. They gave us a featured spot on their homepage."
She was overjoyed.
The song’s explosive popularity raised Second-Life Star’s prestige, which meant she could now send out new recruitment notices.
Hearing Sister Hong’s report, Chen Jincheng took out his phone and checked QQ Music. Sure enough, "Can’t Help Falling in Love" was in the featured ad slot on the homepage, placed even before Li Yueling’s "Must Love."
This featured spot wasn’t something just anyone could get. Only powerful record labels could secure it, and even then, it usually required taking the single’s artist to go drinking with Penguin Music’s management.
But sometimes, Penguin would be the one to come knocking. When sales were good, Penguin Music needed to make money and hit its performance targets, too.
Take "Can’t Help Falling in Love," for example. Their original revenue split was 40%. After crossing one million sales, their cut would increase by 5%, bringing it to just 45%.
The better the song sold, the more Penguin Music stood to gain; they took the lion’s share. If the song could really sell over ten million copies, it was only natural for them to actively arrange promotional ads.
However, with "Can’t Help Falling in Love" as a safety net, he wouldn’t necessarily settle for a mere 45% cut on Penguin Music next time. He could just as easily go to KuMao Music or NetEase Cloud Music.
Sister Hong added, "It’s not just the sales that are climbing. Xiaobai’s follower count is also constantly rising. I expect she’ll gain another two or three million fans without a problem, easily breaking the five-million-follower mark. With her and Yinyin, our Second-Life Star will have produced two of our own five-million-follower influencers."
"You, on the other hand... your follower growth is slower than Xiaobai’s, but you’ve certainly gained a lot of female fans. A scumbag makes girls keep their distance, but a talented scumbag is still very attractive to them."
Chen Jincheng could only give a helpless sigh at that. There was nothing to be done about male content creators gaining fans more slowly.
’Just think about that other world. Mao Buyi could break ten million in sales with just a few songs, but his Tiao Yin account only had a little over two million followers. Meanwhile, girls who just do cover songs can easily get several million followers.’
’Of course, when it came to actual influence and social status, ten of those girls with millions of followers for their covers couldn’t hold a candle to Mao Buyi.’
Just then, an employee rushed in to report, "Boss, Sister Hong, that Master Yu is trending because he’s getting flamed online! And it’s related to you, Boss."
"What is the ’Eternal God of the Chinese Music Scene’ up to now?" Chen Jincheng said, stunned. Hearing it had to do with him, he pulled out his phone to check online and found the trending video.
The video started with an explosive line: "You’re still the impressive one, Teacher Hua. The eternal... buffoon of the Chinese music scene!"
"Holy shit! Who is this guy? What a badass!" Chen Jincheng was astonished. ’This must be the first time Master Yu has ever been called out like that to his face on a show, right?’
He was immediately intrigued by the whole affair.
’After watching, he understood what had happened. That Master Yu really has a problem. The guy didn’t do anything to provoke him, just sang a couple of lines, and he gets interrupted with all sorts of passive-aggressive digs. The key thing is, he even dragged me into it.’
’Damn, it’d be weirder if the guy *didn’t* take a shot at you after that.’
’And he’s so arrogant he took the bait easily. Well, look at him now. He’s really become a buffoon.’
’Seriously, it seems like this guy was looked down on when he first debuted, so now that he’s famous, he looks down on everyone else. He looked down on Mao Mao and got thoroughly humbled. He tried to show off his skills in front of Zhang Jie, and his face was metaphorically swollen before Zhang Jie even had to do anything.’
’He tried to act all high and mighty in front of Chairman Zhou for no reason, and Chairman Zhou just posted his awards with the line, "I’m only interested in first place," leaving the ’Eternal God of the Chinese Music Scene’ unable to show his face.’
’He went on a show and just had to brag about how popular and famous his songs were, and Shen Teng just bluntly said he’d never heard a single one.’
’Honestly, even if this ’Master’ has some real talent, sometimes the word ’buffoon’ just fits him perfectly.’
"The guy had it coming. Let’s just ignore him," Chen Jincheng said with a laugh.
Just then, he received two messages in quick succession:
"Congratulations, Senior Brother. ’Can’t Help Falling in Love’ is a huge hit." - Lin Leqing.
"Congratulations, Boss, on the massive success of ’Can’t Help Falling in Love.’ I was wondering if there might be a chance for you to write a song for me." - Sister Feiye.
Chen Jincheng saw the two messages. He sent a smiley emoji back to Lin Leqing, then replied to Sister Feiye, "There will be a chance."
On the other side, Sister Feiye had just finished packing up the things from her old studio with her team and was getting ready to ship them. When she received Chen Jincheng’s reply, a smile appeared on her face.
’Seriously,’ she thought, ’I’m discovering more and more just how much this boss of mine is worth.’
’Aside from being a scumbag, he’s truly outstanding in every other way.’
’He can run a company as the boss, plan and shoot videos, produce high-quality commercials, and now he’s this amazing at writing and singing songs. And the crucial part is, he’s handsome, too...’
’Honestly, if he weren’t such a scumbag and a philanderer, he’d be the perfect dreamboat.’
"I’ll be waiting, then," Sister Feiye replied. She knew it was likely just a polite remark, but that didn’t stop a flicker of anticipation. ’What if the boss really does write a song for me?’
Although her main work was directing commercials, she had graduated with a degree in vocal music and had once dreamed of becoming a singer. Being able to sing a popular original song would be a way to make up for that past regret.
Chen Jincheng chuckled when he saw Sister Feiye’s reply. ’Her waiting won’t do any good,’ he thought. ’It all depends on whether the "Life Simulation Game" does me a favor and rewards me with a suitable song.’
’A song like "Little Dimples" definitely wouldn’t suit a seductive beauty who gives off MILF-like vibes.’
Just as Chen Jincheng was thinking this, his phone suddenly rang. He glanced at the number and saw it was that guy.