Chapter Nineteen: Let the Bullets Fly for a While

In recent days, Wang Mo had not visited the Vocal Department at all. Yet the department was far from peaceful.

The turmoil centered on one thing: He Zhi had personally requested Wang Mo to write a second song for her, but he had refused. Instead, Wang Mo gave the song to the little-known Su Xueyao.

No one knew exactly how the news got out, but soon the entire Vocal Department was abuzz with it.

“He’s gotten too full of himself!”

“Damn, does he really think he’s still a top star?”

“He’s absolutely lost his mind.”

“Sister Zhi herself asked for his song, and not only did he refuse, he went out of his way to give it to a singer far less prominent than her?”

“I heard Sister Zhi didn’t say anything on the surface, but she’s truly angry.”

“Who wouldn’t be? Wang Mo really thinks that just because his last song, ‘Whatever,’ topped the Newcomer Chart, he can do as he pleases? Truth is, he should thank Hao Mingxing’s gifted voice for that song’s success—without it, it would have been nothing. Look at the other company singers—none of them can sing it well except Hao Mingxing.”

But before this wave of gossip had died down, an even more shocking piece of news swept through.

That very afternoon at three o’clock, Su Xueyao released a new single.

The song was called “Invisible Wings.”

The songwriter and composer was listed as: Silent.

It was immediately clear that this was the very song Wang Mo had written—the one he’d refused to give to He Zhi.

The office area instantly exploded with chatter.

“Did I hear that right? Su Xueyao’s releasing a new song today?”

“What’s this move supposed to mean?”

“Is she giving up on the charts completely?”

“I mean, come on, releasing on the fifth is basically throwing in the towel.”

“If you ask me, it makes sense for Su Xueyao to release today. She doesn’t have any other option. Why? She’s already released two songs before, so she can’t count as a newcomer anymore. That means her songs can only compete on the New Song Chart. Just look at this month’s New Song Chart—it’s a battleground for the gods. Forget Su Xueyao, even Sister Zhi would likely be crushed if she released a song now.”

“That makes no sense. If Su Xueyao thinks she can’t compete, why not wait until October to release? What’s the rush?”

“Maybe she has a lot of faith in Wang Mo.”

“Ha! Faith? Let me put it this way: even if Wang Mo writes another song as good as ‘Whatever,’ releasing five days late means there’s no chance at all on the New Song Chart!”

“…”

This discussion wasn’t confined to the Vocal Department. Soon, it spread to the Composition Department as well.

However, the chatter there was kinder—after all, last month Wang Mo had won them a hundred thousand yuan in bonuses.

A favor is a favor, after all.

Still, no one could figure out why Wang Mo was in such a hurry to release the song.

Liu Zhengwen burst over to Wang Mo’s side, flustered: “Brother, I call you elder brother—why did you have to release the song today?”

Wang Mo said, “Is that not allowed?”

“Of course it’s not!” Liu Zhengwen exclaimed.

“But it’s already been released,” Wang Mo replied.

Liu Zhengwen looked at Wang Mo’s innocent expression and nearly wanted to strangle him. “Do you know what releasing on September fifth means? It means you’ve already lost your shot at the charts! It means you’ve wasted a great song! It means all the fame you built up with ‘Whatever’ is gone! You’re just too willful, way too willful!

“With your last song’s success, if this one had been released on the first, I could’ve talked to Director Qian and had the publicity department give you even more and better resources for promotion. Even if you didn’t give the song to He Zhi, you might still have had a shot at the top ten on the Newcomer Chart. But now, it’s all wasted!

“A winning hand, and you’ve scattered it to the wind.”

Wang Mo remained silent.

After ranting for a while, Liu Zhengwen, still frustrated, said, “Forget it, I’ll try anyway. I’m going to find Qian Lun and ask for some resources. Even if the publicity is late, it’s better than nothing. Maybe we can get this song into the top fifty of the Newcomer Chart. Even that would be some comfort.”

With that, he turned to leave.

Wang Mo called out, “Director Liu, I forgot to mention—Su Xueyao isn’t a newcomer. She’s released songs before, so this track can only compete on the New Song Chart!”

Liu Zhengwen’s foot slipped, and he nearly fell flat on his face.

…

After Liu Zhengwen left, Wang Mo opened the Cloud Music Network.

He’d heard that the New Song Chart for September was particularly fierce this month and wanted to see for himself.

He first checked on “Invisible Wings.”

As everyone had expected, the song had just been released and was instantly swallowed up in a sea of new tracks.

On the Cloud Music Network’s New Song Chart, only songs ranked in the top five hundred display their real-time ranking on their page.

At that moment, “Invisible Wings” had no ranking data at all.

This meant it hadn’t even reached the threshold for the top five hundred.

Starting from the five-hundredth song, Wang Mo scrolled through the chart, one entry at a time.

Only then did he realize why Liu Zhengwen had nearly fainted upon hearing that “Invisible Wings” could only compete on the New Song Chart.

Even the songs just making it into the top five hundred had popularity on par with the top fifty of the Newcomer Chart.

After all, each singer brought their own fanbase.

That alone made all the difference.

As Wang Mo continued up the chart toward the top one hundred, he saw that the data for the songs there matched closely with the top ten of the Newcomer Chart. Many of the artists were already somewhat well-known.

“Impressive!” Wang Mo nodded to himself.

He clicked on a few songs at random and listened for a bit; the quality was consistently high.

To make it into the top hundred of the New Song Chart was to enter the battlefield of the major entertainment companies.

An independent singer, no matter how good their songs, would need incredible luck to break into the top hundred.

Looking at the entire music industry, was there a single famous singer who’d clawed their way up from the bottom without signing with a company?

None.

Not a single one.

Any independent singer with even a hint of talent would be snapped up by the big entertainment companies.

Without the packaging, promotion, and advertising provided by these companies, an independent singer’s odds of breaking out aren’t just close to zero—they are zero.

Wang Mo took note: From the top two hundred of the New Song Chart onward, all the singers were signed artists with the major entertainment companies.

Not a single independent singer made it into the top two hundred.

As he ventured further up, he began to see many familiar names from the entertainment world.

“Cui Can, Xue Miaomiao, Yu Hui, He Junchi…”

By his rough estimation, there were at least twenty or thirty well-known artists on the chart.

As for the top ten of the New Song Chart:

Six were second-tier stars.

Three were first-tier stars.

Currently holding first place was a quasi-superstar known as Ye Yuanhang.

In just five days, Ye Yuanhang’s new song had racked up five million plays!

The songs in second and third place were also by two red-hot first-tier stars.

Second place: 4.62 million plays.

Third place: 4.39 million plays.

The gap among the top three wasn’t that wide, so the New Song Chart was now a fierce battlefield between two first-tier stars and a quasi-superstar.

Everyone wanted to claim the number one spot.

Topping the New Song Chart carried far more prestige than any Newcomer Chart win!

Even those in the top ten were fighting tooth and nail—those ahead wanted to hold their ground, while those behind tried to push forward.

It was no exaggeration to say that September’s New Song Chart was a battle of the titans.

“Incredible, absolutely incredible,” Wang Mo nodded again, though his heart remained calm.

Since it was a clash of titans, let them fight it out for a few more days.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any fighting left to watch.

So what if he was five days late to release?

So what if the New Song Chart competition was fierce?

In the music world of Huaxia, Wang Mo had never had as much faith in any second song as he did in “Invisible Wings.”

In his past life!

A solo performance on the 2007 Spring Festival Gala.

A pillar of hope after the great earthquake of 2008.

The subject of the college entrance exam essay in 2009.

Any one of these feats would have made a song legendary.

But “Invisible Wings” achieved all three.

Looking across the entire music industry, nothing could compare.

And so—

Wang Mo felt not the slightest worry.

Let the bullets fly for a while.