Entertainment: Starting with a Song of Rice Fragrance

Before we knew it, it was January 25th.

There are only 6 days left until the end of the first-ever online ranking of new songs in Xizhou.

These past few days have brought joy to some and sorrow to others.

Especially those singers who ranked lower, those who didn't even make it into the top 1000, were very worried about their songs and their future.

Before online rankings existed, as long as someone was famous and had many fans, they could use their company to spend money on promotion, packaging, and publicity, and even fabricate sales figures to get their songs ranked relatively high on traditional offline charts run by entertainment companies and media.

But now Feixing Group is such a behemoth that their online music ranking system will not allow anyone to cheat or falsify data.

That's how many times your song has been purchased and downloaded.

No matter how much your company and media package and promote you as a superstar, or how outrageous the hype, this list only recognizes market data.

But some people were overjoyed and cheered.

Those are singers who don't usually get much attention, but have considerable talent.

In this place, which is not absolutely fair, but far more so than in the past when media and entertainment companies engaged in deception, their songs received market recognition many times greater than when they were buried in obscurity.

And some emerging talents also perfectly illustrate through this list that in the Internet age, as long as you have talent, you will not be buried.

Take Zheng Ning for example.

His current hits "Seven Mile Fragrance" and "Tornado" have already seen a meteoric rise in popularity thanks to promotions on Feiyang Entertainment, his own fans' live streams, and Xiaofeiyan's live streams, as well as the positive word-of-mouth generated by "Rice Fragrance" and "Chengdu" online.

The former ranked 198th on the entire list with 387950 downloads.

The latter ranked 202nd with 374980 downloads.

One broke into the top 200, and the other is only two places away from the top 200!

This left countless music critics and market analysts stunned, exclaiming, "Is another superstar about to emerge?"

……

"A future superstar? Hah, I'm still a long way off."

On his way home from get off work today, Zheng Ning encountered a reporter who tried to stop him for the first time.

That was a very famous local newspaper in Shuncheng, the Shuncheng Evening News.

"But everyone says that you debuted as the champion and runner-up of the newcomer chart, which is legendary and a huge publicity stunt in itself. Do you think it's because your songs are good, or because of the influencer effect brought about by the excessive attention you've received?"

The reporter's questions were also tricky and pointed.

"First of all, the fact that I was able to win the championship and runner-up titles in the newcomer championship list proves my strength, right? You can't say that I won these championships and runner-up titles because of my influencer status."

As time goes on and based on feedback from fans online, Zheng Ning is becoming increasingly confident in the system's songs.

Moreover, he now has a clearer understanding of his own voice.

That sounds really good.

Heaven has been kind to him; some music critics even believe that his vocal talent ranks among the top 1% of all singers today.

Of course, some people believe that this was just a publicity stunt orchestrated by Feiyang Entertainment to promote him.

However, many of his fans nodded in agreement with this assessment, and even suggested that he sing more songs that are difficult to sing and require high skills to prove that his voice is indeed outstanding and unique.

Moreover, with six days left until the end of the rankings, he felt that his ranking could still climb higher.

If I'm lucky enough to make it into the top 100, I'll get two more treasure chests.

And if we could go even further... well, the system had already said there was a surprise waiting for us.

As for what the surprise is...

If you find out, can it still be a surprise?

Therefore, he felt that he should make good use of this interview opportunity.

"Please rest assured, fellow citizens of Shuncheng, as a native of this city, I will continue to use my singing to promote our city and increase its visibility."

"I want everyone to know about Shuncheng through me, to understand Shuncheng, and to be willing to travel and invest here, so that the whole world can know about our beautiful and great city."

The reporter was very satisfied with the interview, but Zheng Ning herself still blushed a little.

"Oops, did I just make a bit too much of a statement?"

After the interview, Zheng Ning felt both happy and somewhat apprehensive.

If I don't make it into the top 100 this time and don't get the treasure chest, how will I get the songs in the future?

"Forget about him, just focus on doing your best in the present."

……

"Sis, I'm begging you, please talk to Sister Zhao and ask her to help me choose a good song for February! I'm so fed up with all those awful songs that they don't even bother to get composers to write!"

In his luxurious apartment, Wang Yushu held the phone, complaining and pleading with his sister.

"You're a famous writer, and you and Sister Zhao are childhood friends! Could you say a few more nice words to her and ask her to help me choose a good song? Look at how badly my grades have fallen this month; I haven't even made it into the top 1000!"

When facing his older sister, Wang Yushu no longer had the cold and arrogant demeanor he displayed in front of others. Instead, he became a crybaby and aggrieved little brother, sobbing and pleading with his sister through tears.

"Little tree, it's not that easy. Don't be fooled by how glamorous I seem now, but actually..."

The woman on the other end of the phone paused, then didn't continue.

"Your sister Zhao is having a tough time too. She manages over a dozen artists, and every single one of them wants a good song to help them gain fame."

"Speaking of which, I think Xiaoshu, you're really living in a treasure trove without realizing it. Didn't I have your sister Zhao take you to visit that singer named Zheng Ning before?"

Wang Yushu's sister was giving her foolish brother a lecture over the phone.

"Didn't you say he had a pretty good impression of you? And now that he's joined Shuncheng's composition department, right? Since he's a full-fledged composer, don't you know to formally commission a song from him?"

"That's right! Zheng Ning is a full-fledged composer who has already joined the composition department, so it doesn't matter whose commission he takes! Yes, I can officially place a commission with him for a song! It's just..."

Wang Yushu's eyes lit up with joy as if he had found a lifeline, and he exclaimed in delight!

"Just what?"

"But he's a singer himself, and he'll definitely be releasing his own song in February. How could he possibly write another one for me in such a rush?"

Wang Yushu scratched the back of his head and said somewhat uncertainly.

"Hey, Xiaoshu, are you stupid? He can come up with four songs in a month, what does that mean? It means he has a backlog of songs! Have you ever seen a composer write four songs in a month, and all of them are of this high quality?"

The voice on the other end of the phone paused again, then, as if having made a great decision, continued speaking.

"And to ensure he puts his heart and soul into writing a good song for you, instead of just picking a run-of-the-mill song to fool you out of fear of competition..."

"You can tell him that if he can really write a good song for you, I can help promote it on Weibo. Besides, my new book is coming out soon, and my 200 million followers are eagerly waiting for it!"