Chapter 36: You Dare Hit Me?

Chapter 36: You Dare Hit Me?

Lin Youyi nodded repeatedly. “Yes, she didn’t give any face. Newcomers these days are really hard to handle.”

“It’s not that newcomers nowadays are hard to handle. Easygoing newcomers always exist, but those people are usually not very useful. Newcomers who are capable and can even make money for the company in return, who among them is easy to handle?”

Lin Youyi nodded helplessly.

“You offered such a good contract this time and still got rejected, so there must be a problem with your attitude during the communication. Go back and reflect on it properly.”

“Okay, I understand.”

After leaving the boss’s office, Lin Youyi gritted his teeth fiercely, feeling countless grievances in his chest with nowhere to vent them.

After Zhou A hung up the call with Lin Youyi, he started smashing things like crazy in his own office.

Even his close confidant couldn’t understand where his anger came from.

It was clearly just a small matter. Why was Zhou A so furious?

The confidant wanted to advise him to calm down but knew it would be useless.

Anyway, he had money. It didn’t matter if things got broken; letting him smash until he was satisfied was fine.

“Arrange for Lao Hu’s talent agency to contact her proactively. Sign her and make her life miserable. No one who offends me has ever gotten off unscathed and carefree!”

The confidant originally wanted to advise against it.

That person was already popular now, the trend was set. Trying to go against her again would require too great a cost. Why cling to it?

But in the end, the confidant didn’t speak up.

That afternoon, before leaving work, Chen Feng briefly checked the data for “Dullness”.

A shocking situation appeared.

The number of comments had already reached fifty thousand, and the streaming count had broken through a million right then!

The number of paid downloads for the lossless audio version had actually reached over eighty thousand already!

According to Q Music’s pricing, these eighty thousand plus downloads meant at least over fourteen thousand yuan earned for Chen Feng!

And this was just half a day!

Is money this easy to make?

What’s going on?

He opened WeChat and asked the Q Music business representative responsible for communicating with him, finally understanding the general situation.

The initial data performance during the first wave was already considered explosive by the Q Music data department.

But it was within reason. With considerable promotional resources invested upfront, such a sensational effect upon release was natural.

However, based on typical experience, in the first hour, the potential listeners accumulated from pre-release promotion would be quickly exhausted.

After that, the song’s data growth would slow down slightly.

If it was a good song, then after word-of-mouth spread, it could experience another oscillating, slow rise.

If the song’s quality was average, then after the initial spike, all data metrics would gradually enter a declining trend.

Apart from these regular trends, a song’s data changes could also be influenced by many factors.

Reposts by big influencers, authorized plays by famous radio stations, and many other reasons could cause data fluctuations.

“Dullness”s performance today had only one explanation: the phenomenon of netizens spontaneously acting as unpaid promoters was too strong.

One told ten, ten told a hundred, a hundred told a thousand, a thousand told ten thousand, like the formation of a tornado, its influence continuously expanding and spreading on its own, forming an unstoppable public opinion storm.

As a top-tier major platform in the country, Q Music didn’t lack good songs in the ordinary sense. Good songs with similar data curves had appeared before.

But no song’s curve had ever been as steep as this one’s.

“Mr. Chen, you should go check Weibo quickly. This popularity is really scary. It’s truly exploding all over the internet!”

The Q Music business representative said this last on WeChat.

Chen Feng opened Weibo and saw it was indeed true. In just one afternoon, the topic heat for “Dullness” had rapidly surged into the top twenty trending topics for the day across the entire internet.

And this was just half a day!

Chen Feng clicked into the trending topic list and skimmed through it. It was overwhelmingly positive.

Full of rave reviews, comments like “made me cry listening to it,” and such.

Among the many netizen reviews, there were also many in-depth critiques from well-known music critics.

In short, it was praise from ten thousand angles, all kinds of fancy compliments, even better than what Chen Feng himself could have said.

Chen Feng kept clicking his tongue in amazement as he read.

Although he knew from the start that this song would be popular, things still exceeded his expectations.

Zhong Lei’s status as a top figure for centuries could stand the test of time, and he had removed all obstacles for her. The popularity of “Dullness” was inevitable.

He didn’t expect it to explode so rapidly.

Every pebble’s position in the long river of time follows its own eternal rules.

A single small change can stir up earth-shattering transformations in the era.

Previously, Chen Feng’s changes to the era were limited to his personal surroundings.

To see the changes clearly, he needed to enter the dream and peek at “history” by reading Zhong Lei’s biography from a thousand years later.

But from now on, he no longer needed to do that.

He could be sure that every day of history from now on would be brand new.

“Chen Feng, why aren’t you leaving after work?”

While Chen Feng was absorbed in reading, a sarcastic voice suddenly sounded behind him.

Turning around, the speaker was Lin De.

Chen Feng swiveled his chair around. “Can’t I work overtime voluntarily?”

Lin De glanced at the computer monitor. “Are you telling me this is working overtime?”

Chen Feng looked back. The CRT monitor clearly still showed the Weibo page.

“Yes, I’m working overtime. What’s the matter?”

“Do you think I’m blind?”

“As an employee of an internet company, keeping up with the times by checking Weibo and understanding popular trends, what’s wrong with that?”

Lin De was confused by his sophistry.

“Stop playing word games here! I don’t agree with you using the company’s electricity to browse Weibo! Tsk tsk, look at what you’re reading! Celebrities? New songs? Oh, I really didn’t see it, Chen Feng, you’re a fanboy, huh? Let me see who this big shot is. Zhong Lei? Who’s that! Never heard of her, what low-rate character? What kind of stars are you chasing? Can’t you chase some decent stars?”

Lin De deliberately raised his voice, aiming to embarrass Chen Feng.

Unexpectedly, before Chen Feng could react, an unpleasant voice came from elsewhere.

“Manager Lin, don’t be like that. Although Zhong Lei is a newcomer, she’s really amazing. If you heard her song, you’d understand. It’s really good.”

The one who stood up to speak for Chen Feng was Tang Shuang, who hadn’t left yet.

Lin De glared at her, thinking she talked too much.

Tang Shuang seemed a bit indignant. “This song was only released at noon today, and now over a million people have already listened to it. Weibo is full of people discussing this song everywhere.”

Lin De was slightly surprised. “It got popular in one afternoon?”

Tang Shuang raised her head, with a strong sense of pride for her idol. “Yes! I heard she’s from Hanzhou. Last month, she was still a resident singer in a bar in Hanzhou, but she kept persisting for her dream. She really had a hard time. Now she’s finally famous. As fellow Hanzhou natives, we should support her more.”

Chen Feng, listening nearby, felt speechless.

That Zhong Lei used to be a resident singer would definitely be dug up by people.

After all, every night venue has many audience members; someone must have recorded videos, which are solid evidence.

But there’s nothing to hide about it; it’s nothing shameful.

Chen Feng just didn’t expect that in just half a day, netizens had already fabricated a complete backstory and persona for Zhong Lei.

Who knows how many touching details those story-makers had embellished into this persona.

Chen Feng just wanted to say, Zhong Lei did persist.

But she didn’t have a hard time at all!

She clearly won by lying down!

If I hadn’t written songs for her…

Wait, did she write the song herself?

Chen Feng’s logic got stuck here.

He decided not to think about the philosophical question of which came first, the chicken or the egg.

On the other side, Lin De finally felt a bit awkward from Tang Shuang’s words but remained stubborn verbally. “Stop talking nonsense. I have zero interest in these entertainers. Who knows how dirty and disgusting these so-called stars are behind their glamorous surface.”

Tang Shuang argued, “That’s not true!”

Lin De glared at Tang Shuang viciously. “Don’t you disagree. Everyone knows what I’m saying is the truth! A resident singer in night venues, having a hard time? If she didn’t do some shady deals, how could she become an overnight sensation? What you see is just the surface these people show you. Do you think they’d let you know how many beds she rolled in to get famous?”

“You…”

Now, not only Tang Shuang, but even the other onlookers nearby who were just watching the drama couldn’t stand it anymore.

But these people only showed indignant expressions; still, no one stepped forward to speak up.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

Chen Feng pushed his chair back hard and stood up from his seat.

Then came a clear, crisp sound.

Slap!

The sound echoed repeatedly in the slightly empty office hall after work hours.

Seeing this scene, the onlookers all opened their mouths wide, eyes wide with disbelief.

He’s crazy!

Tang Shuang, who had been arguing with Lin De most fiercely just moments ago, covered her mouth, her eyes full of horror.

The sudden change came too fast; she was completely stunned.

Lin De was now holding his face.

Half of his face was red from the slap.

The other half was pale, unsure if from pain or anger.

“You… you actually dare to hit me? You slapped me?”

Lin De screamed hysterically.

Chen Feng waved his hand slightly. “Yeah, my hand suddenly felt a bit itchy just now. Couldn’t control it. Sorry about that.”