Yan Yu's Suggestion

A week had passed since recording those two songs.

Senior Brother Hu Wei chatted with him almost every day on Carrier Pigeon, checking in with warmth, discussing and exchanging ideas about music.

Through their conversations, Song Dao also came to understand more of his temperament.

He was already prepared to hand over A Lifetime of Loneliness to him.

Hu Wei's voice was too similar to Zhang Yu's!

Although Shiyilang wasn't by his side, he was fortunate to have this system-wielding cheat.

Song Dao had also considered a question before—if he took old songs from the nineties and released them today, would they still be that popular?

After all, people now had too many entertainment options to choose from.

Just like back when rental bookstores were scattered across every corner of the city, no one ever imagined they would one day be eliminated by the times.

The newsstand owners of the past never thought they'd close their doors either.

But there was one thing.

Whether on Earth before or in this parallel world now, the vast majority of people's playlists were always filled with old songs!

Those songs carried their youth and memories—that was one thing. On the other hand, classics were classics.

Good music was good music!

He believed that a moving melody would never go out of style.

Perhaps in this parallel world's Xia Kingdom, his intervention would inject new vitality into the once-lifeless music scene.

Bringing it back to brilliant life.

Just as many had hoped back when Lin Fei rose to fame, that the Chinese music scene would successfully live a second life.

Today was also the sixth day since Sad City was uploaded to the Penguin Music platform.

Everyone said Song Dao hadn't taken that massive wave of traffic.

But in reality, he hadn't missed out on any of the benefits.

Without any promotion, it was met with a flood of praise the moment it went live!

Unlike the straightforward critique of See Through, Sad City clearly resonated with more people.

Because those wounded by love were never only men.

This song, which both men and women could relate to, conveyed more of a struggling emotion beneath the sadness.

It was easy for people to empathize with.

And in this regard, women clearly surpassed men.

So besides the mainstream, the internet was once again flooded with praise for Song Dao.

The style of comments across major forums was basically like this—

"Brother Dog is mighty!"

"I willingly crown Brother Dog as the Lick King (dog head)"

"Jingcheng's Number One Deep Liver lives up to the name (crying with laughter)"

"I was actually crying from listening, but seeing your comments made me laugh again..."

Chen Xu was a programmer.

She worked at a major internet company in Yuezhou.

The workload was heavy, but she earned a decent salary—considered high income in that city.

Half a year ago.

She broke up with her boyfriend of five years.

Then came the endless cycle of breaking up and getting back together, the torment.

Leaving her battered and bruised.

There wasn't much to say about the story—it was the same clichéd, melodramatic plot.

Her boyfriend was keeping his options open, and after finding a suitable replacement, he didn't immediately break up.

Instead, he used all kinds of cold treatment and PUA on her.

Turning things upside down, he complained that she wasn't ambitious enough, that she didn't spend enough time with him, that she wasn't gentle or considerate.

In short, he nitpicked everything.

At first, Chen Xu didn't notice anything unusual. She even felt a little guilty inside, thinking her boyfriend had a point.

She was a very traditional girl. Once she was with someone, she wanted to spend her whole life with them.

So she tried everything to appease him.

The latest model phone, top-tier graphics cards, all kinds of name-brand clothes, belts, shoes...

She took out the money she'd saved for a down payment and bought her boyfriend a ton of luxury goods.

Even the male colleagues around her straight-up said she had a screw loose.

They joked that if they'd known earlier, they'd have pursued her like crazy.

But she wasn't truly stupid.

She quickly sensed something off about her boyfriend. Faced with all kinds of carefully crafted lies, she forced herself to believe them.

Until one time, she came back early from a business trip and caught her boyfriend with an old auntie old enough to be his mother, holed up in their love nest.

Chen Xu couldn't take it anymore and broke up with him.

Less than a week later, her boyfriend called her crying on a rainy night, saying he'd been momentarily confused and now knew he was wrong.

Her heart softened, and she agreed to get back together.

But just a few days later, she found out the scumbag was still entangled with that woman, keeping in touch.

Chen Xu couldn't understand. If it had been a young, pretty girl, she might have accepted it, but what kind of feelings could there be between him and an auntie over a decade older?

Over the next few months, they went through multiple rounds of breaking up and getting back together.

It wasn't until recently, when Song Dao's song "See Through Love, See Through You" came out, that she suddenly had a realization.

She belatedly understood: her boyfriend might not have liked the old auntie—he liked the money!

Because when they got back together, he'd mentioned that the old auntie lived alone in a big villa.

With five or six cars at home, super rich!

At that moment, she woke up and made up her mind to break up with that man.

She submitted her resignation to the company.

She didn't want to keep staying in this bustling big city.

She'd saved up some money over the years and planned to go back to her hometown, buy a house, and find some decent job.

Love, marriage—she no longer had any hope for them.

She was a key employee at the company, so her boss was desperately trying to keep her.

After all, she wasn't thirty-five yet, still useful.

She was actually hesitating.

From graduating college to now, this city held too many youthful memories of her and him.

Her entire social circle was here.

If she really left, she'd be Reluctant to Part.

Her boyfriend—well, ex-boyfriend—texted her again today. Since she'd blocked his calls and Carrier Pigeon, he could only reach her via SMS.

Still begging to get back together.

Saying this time he really knew he was wrong—

"She's not some rich woman at all. The house is rented, the car is rented. She specializes in running pig-butchering scams to trick ignorant men like me..."

"She didn't just scam me, she scammed a lot of people."

Her ex-boyfriend said that woman had even cleaned out his meager tens of thousands in savings, and now she was nowhere to be found.

Chen Xu looked at the message, feeling both pathetic and ridiculous.

Pathetic that she'd found a man like this and still treated him like a treasure.

Ridiculous that she hadn't seen through it all these years—a pure love-brain, truly a bit dumb.

Expressionless, she set the number that sent the text to reject, then opened her Audio-Visual favorites.

She needed to listen to "See Through Love, See Through You" a few more times.

To remind herself not to soften her heart!

Tap tap tap!

A knock came from outside.

She ignored it.

Instead, she put on her earphones.

Then she saw countless people in the danmaku all spamming the same message—Jingcheng's Number One Deep Lover has a new song out!

Jingcheng's Number One Deep Lover, Brother Dog—these were nicknames netizens had given Song Dao.

No real malice behind them, mostly just teasing.

Chen Xu had never called him that herself.

Because she wasn't much better off.

Graduated from a top school, not bad-looking, and her income wasn't low.

But she was a female simp!

Song Dao didn't get to sleep with her—she slept with him.

And he'd been getting slept with for years!

Soon, she spotted the title of Song Dao's new song in the barrage comments.

"Sad City?"

She immediately opened Penguin Music and easily found the song on the recommendation page.

She tapped play.

After a gentle piano intro—

[About the story between you and me, you always have a forced excuse]

[I don't want to hear your poison vows anymore, because this isn't the first time]

The voice was clear and soft, tinged with a hint of melancholy.

Chen Xu was momentarily dazed.

[You carefully wove your lies, I don't want to be hurt by you again]

[I've long grown tired of your stale clichés, is it too late to turn back now?]

Chen Xu broke down.

Song Dao, how could you be so cruel?

Wasn't "See Through Love, See Through You" enough? You had to keep stabbing my heart, right?

Did you see my miserable experience?

This song fit her current state of mind perfectly.

The people outside hadn't left.

Every so often, there was a knock on the door, accompanied by her ex-boyfriend's tearful pleas.

"When did I ever not find this little puppy act of his utterly disgusting?" Chen Xu asked herself.

If she didn't leave this city, she'd never truly shake off this man, or this heart-wrenching... failed relationship!

[I want to forget, the vows we made under the sky]

[Try to get used to, the days without you]

[About to say goodbye, to this sad city]

[Everything will start anew, all over again]

Song Dao's voice in her ear was telling the story gently, sad and beautiful, as if persuading her, this heartbroken soul.

Go, say goodbye, get used to it!

With the drums, guitar, and bass kicking in, the song's emotion built layer by layer.

Chen Xu couldn't hold back her grief, tears streaming down her face, overcome with sorrow.

From silent tears to soft sobs, finally unable to bear it, she buried herself under the covers and cried out loud.

An adult's collapse happens in an instant.

But after the collapse, there's no turning back.

Song Dao was checking the data.

See Through Love, See Through You—

Soaring Chart: 13th, New Song Chart: 11th, Original Ranking: 10th.

Non-member downloads: 149,345!

Sad City—

Soaring Chart: 16th, New Song Chart: 15th, Original Ranking: 12th.

Non-member downloads: 104,406!

As the two songs continued to ferment, download and purchase numbers surged. "See Through" had finally broken into the top ten!

Song Dao was quite satisfied with these results.

They were dazzling enough to blind anyone.

Not to mention the even larger number of member downloads and the ad revenue share from the platform.

All in all, another substantial income.

This was achieved with no backing or connections whatsoever!

Above him were the hot new artists pushed by the big companies.

Their member and non-member download numbers were far beyond what he could reach.

After all, with a big company backing you, you can just throw money at it.

He couldn't. He was still counting on these two songs to make money!

Not to mention he had no money—even if he did, he wouldn't do it that way.

His songs were meant to make money!

With Sad City going viral, Song Dao, who had churned out two hit songs in quick succession, finally became the internet celebrity of the moment.

His follower count on Audio-Visual broke through the million mark.

But the voices targeting him also started to grow louder.

While the vast majority of netizens praised him, more so-called mainstream musicians stepped in to critique his songs.

In short, the same old line—catchy songs with no musicality, not sophisticated enough, too shallow, assembly-line work.

The songs were internet hits, and the man was an internet star.

No matter how good the sales, they were still lowbrow!

Song Dao was also mulling over a countermeasure.

Actually, the best move was to join a company with real power.

That way, he could earn more under the company's management and have someone to shield him from the storm.

But as a newcomer, finding the right company wasn't easy.

He felt a bit frustrated inside.

He wanted to live an easier life.

But in this world, without strength, how could you ever take it easy?

If you wanted strength, you had to damn well fight for it.

Luckily, his luck had been good ever since he transmigrated.

When he felt like sleeping, a pillow came along.

Yan Yu, who had been keeping in touch with him lately, had probably noticed the online noise too.

She called him specifically.

She suggested Song Dao join a professional music company.

The reason was simple.

With Song Dao's creative talent, he could write many songs in the future and train different singers—going solo was fine for that.

But the problem was, Song Dao himself was also a singer!

Once the mainstream voices defined his image, it would be hard to shake off later.

"You've probably noticed that Penguin Music has been supporting you heavily, but on the Soaring Chart, New Song Chart, and Original Chart, breaking into the top ten is basically your limit."

"Yes, your limit—not necessarily the songs' limit. But if you keep fighting alone, then that's the shared limit for you and your songs!"

Yan Yu really appreciated Song Dao and spoke very directly.

"Even though you studied music, you don't know this circle deeply, so you might not have noticed that the number of people criticizing you has been increasing lately, and their status isn't low either."

"This isn't a good sign. They're definitely not overflowing with a sense of justice."

"If you let this voice keep spreading, what happened to Sister Fei back then could very well be what you're about to face!"

"You're blocking some people's path!"

"The music scene is indeed stagnant, but that doesn't stop those big entertainment companies from pushing out new faces every year."

"All kinds of flashy titles, awards coming in droves."

"Then they start raking in cash."

"For them, the simplest move is to push their artists' songs onto those three charts."

"Originally, the big entertainment companies had an unspoken agreement—when you push, I don't push. How to divvy up the charts when everyone pushes together—that was all discussed behind closed doors."

"But now, you're like a catfish charging into a school of sardines, barging in and about to take two spots in the top ten. Song Dao, this is seriously affecting their interests!"

"They've spent a lot of money, and you're squeezing them out. To get back up, they'd have to invest even more."

"Anyone would be pissed at you."

"So my suggestion is, find a professional company with relatively loose terms and, most importantly, a solid background."

"Negotiate a revenue split you can accept, give up that portion of profit, and think of it as buying yourself insurance."

"Actually, you won't lose out. The revenue from songs with company backing is definitely different from going it alone."

"Not every song will be like your current two."

"A phenomenon can't be treated as the norm."