Chapter 113: No Performer, Yet Surged to the Top of the Charts

Wang Mo felt speechless inside.

Had these industry insiders gone too far with their imaginations?

He admitted that the brilliant promotional strategy for "High Bull" last time was indeed his idea. But he had only proposed a rough outline, nothing remotely as miraculous as the hype on the internet.

As for this latest "Cantonese Culture" promotional campaign, all he had done was post a single Weibo message, that was it.

The rest — the nationwide challenge for the "Digital Song," the millions learning Cantonese numbers, marketing accounts and influencers spreading Cantonese culture — none of these had anything to do with him.

So, when Yuan Xiong and Liu Zhengwen fixed him with intense stares, Wang Mo shook his head firmly. "It has nothing to do with me."

Yuan Xiong pressed, "Are you sure?"

He had already lost serious trust in Wang Mo by now.

Wang Mo shrugged helplessly. "I wish I could claim credit for all these things. That would mean I have the power to manipulate netizens’ behavior online — what kind of skill would that be?"

Yuan Xiong thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it shouldn’t be you. If you really had that kind of control over public opinion and netizens, you wouldn’t have fallen from grace."

Wang Mo was speechless.

Yuan Xiong’s biting remarks remained as sharp as ever; he thought calling him "Yuan One-Cut" would be more fitting in the future.

Although Yuan Xiong and Liu Zhengwen believed Wang Mo’s words, on the internet, marketing accounts smelled blood like cats and began to spin wild stories to attract eyeballs.

"Speechless. A marketing genius."

"Speechless’s real talent isn’t composition, but business."

"One Weibo post stirred the entire internet; Speechless is practically a god of the web."

"After the High Bull incident, Speechless stirs up storms again."

"Some appear as composers on the surface but are marketing wizards behind the scenes."

Such articles flooded the web, leaving netizens dumbfounded.

At a crucial moment, the official "Cantonese Culture" side delivered a strong assist:

During an interview, a reporter asked, "Was this viral Cantonese learning campaign masterminded by your organization?"

The chairman replied, "We did intend to launch a promotional event for ‘Cantonese Culture,’ but we hadn't done anything at the start. Everything was actually handled by Speechless until we took over at the end."

"Everything was done by Speechless..."

That statement instantly confirmed the hype spun by the marketing accounts.

It could be said that after this wave of publicity, Speechless had thoroughly transformed in many people’s eyes into a marketing genius.

This left Wang Mo both amused and exasperated.

He knew nothing about marketing; he didn’t even understand what it truly entailed.

Of course, the vast majority of ordinary netizens scoffed at such marketing news and remained immersed in the joy of learning numbers — "Duck, Two, Three, Sei" — and trying out "Digital Life."

In the first few days, most uploaded works were lackluster, with barely any worth listening to.

But after a week passed, perhaps having undergone rigorous practice in private, the quality of the cover versions uploaded started to rise sharply.

Especially some professional singers’ performances that even Wang Mo nodded to in approval. Of course, they still fell short of the legendary Lin Zixiang’s mastery in his mind.

Among the netizens, several with strong voices and solid foundations emerged—folk talents whose performances rivaled even the professionals.

After listening to these impressive covers, Wang Mo suddenly had an idea. "Director Liu, although these netizens’ renditions of ‘Digital Life’ don’t quite meet my expectations, their fundamentals are quite strong and they have great potential. I think you should propose signing them to Yunhai Media."

Liu Zhengwen’s eyes lit up. “Great idea!”

The few netizens Wang Mo mentioned had been picked from millions. Such talent was undeniably exceptional musically.

Yunhai Media recruited numerous new singers annually; rather than exhausting effort hunting in society, it was better to select these outstanding talents filtered by the netizens themselves.

With this in mind, Liu immediately called Qian Lun to relay Wang Mo’s suggestion and his own thoughts.

Qian Lun became even more excited than Liu Zhengwen.

His vocal department was short-handed! Many people had been poached by Wang Mo, and he was about to become a lone ranger. Liu’s suggestion was like a gift from heaven.

“Director Liu, this is a fantastic idea. Hahaha, those who break through millions and climb the charts must have extraordinary musical talent. Such seedlings need only a little refining before debuting! Normally recruiting new talent is a headache, but this time we get a batch of gems effortlessly. I have to say, you guys really pulled off a great event. Once this succeeds, I owe you a big thank-you.”

Liu Zhengwen replied, “Don’t thank me, it’s all because of Wang Mo. If anyone deserves thanks, it’s him.”

“Who?”

“Wang Mo.”

“Who?”

“Wang Mo.”

“Who? I can’t hear you clearly, maybe the signal’s bad... Oh no, dropped. Talk later.”

“...”

Liu frowned hearing the busy signal. Was there still a dead zone in the company?

He shook his head and looked at Wang Mo. “I’m starting to suspect you do have some talent for marketing or planning. You just casually mentioned something and it might bring the company a batch of excellent new singers with immeasurable future value.”

“Well...” Wang Mo pondered, realizing he had no explanation.

Liu continued, “The higher-ups have noticed your recent achievements. They’re shocked at your apparent strong abilities in marketing and planning. I heard some senior executives mentioned you during management meetings. They might invite you to participate in certain projects, like movie promotions, variety show planning, or TV drama development, just to hear your opinions.”

Higher-ups?

Mentioned him?

Wang Mo looked absurd. “Director Liu, you know I don’t understand marketing or planning at all.”

“No one believes you say that,” Liu chuckled, then quickly grew serious. “Don’t worry, they’re just talking. You probably won’t have to attend meetings. Even if you do, you just need to quietly listen. If they ask for your opinion, you can say anything or just say you don’t know. No one will blame you.”

Wang Mo thought there was nothing to worry about and promptly forgot the matter.

Because all his attention was seized by another thing: "Digital Life" had gone viral!

Well, actually, it had been sweeping the entire internet since Wang Mo posted that Weibo. So it was already incredibly popular.

But this time, the fire was different.

It was something mysterious: on music platforms, in just one week, the song had surpassed ten million plays, with downloads and shares reaching several million.

Such numbers propelled "Digital Life" at a staggering speed past "Empty City" and "Sour Sweet Just Me," climbing to first place on the new song charts!

Considering its nationwide popularity, the top ranking made perfect sense.

However,

The problem was: the song had no singer!

It was only an electronic demo!

An electronic demo claiming the number one spot on the new song charts.

Unprecedented!

The music world shook again over this.

“Is this even possible?”

“An electronic demo topping the new song charts is just absurd.”

“Oh my god, shocked my entire family.”

“This is Speechless’s real power?”

“Respect, no words beyond respect.”

“Speechless is too strong.”

“This freak.”

...

Many singers cried in the restroom.

Ninety-nine percent of them had poured their hearts into their careers and never topped the new song charts even once. Yet Speechless’s electronic demo did it effortlessly — how could that be fair?

Some extremely jealous people even filed complaints with the music platforms, demanding the removal of "Digital Life" from first place.

Their reasoning:

The new song chart is meant for songs with singers, and "Digital Life" has none, so it shouldn't qualify.

But these complaints were uniformly ignored by CloudNet, Penguin Music, and Cool Cat Music.

Music platforms needed traffic to generate profits.

Speechless’s "Digital Life" had brought tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of views to each platform, bringing objective value. Unless they were fools, platform staff wouldn’t remove it from the charts.

But as a result,

The December new song chart showed a suffocating sight:

Number one: "Digital Life."

Number two: "Sour Sweet Just Me."

Number three: "Empty City."

Meaning, the top three spots that month were all Speechless’s songs.

Another first in history.

Since the inception of the new song charts, no artist had ever occupied the top three simultaneously.

Moreover, another unprecedented occurrence:

For the first time ever, a quasi-superstar’s new song failed to enter the top three.

Ye Yuanhang’s new song had already dropped to fourth place!

At Canxing Culture,

The agent cautiously told the lifeless Ye Yuanhang sprawled on the sofa, “Yuanhang, the company said your new song set a record.”

Ye Yuanhang’s spirit flickered with hope. “Did my new song explode? Did it hit number one?”

“Uh, no…”

The agent said, “You set the record for the first quasi-superstar’s new song to not even reach the top three.”

???

Ye Yuanhang stared at the agent, his voice escaping through clenched teeth, “Do you think you’re funny?”

(End of chapter)