Chapter 87: The Battle for the Top Spot on the Hot Songs Chart

The next day.

Liang Yusong called, “Professor Chen has recommended two professors from the Eastern Music Academy who are willing to help you record the guzheng and pipa accompaniments. But they don’t have time to rehearse—there’s only time to record one master accompaniment. Are you available today? If so, come over.”

Fang Xing received the call and immediately rushed to Songshi Records.

By the time he arrived at the company, his agent Qiao Yinghong and Li Caiwei had already received the two professors from the Eastern Music Academy.

When Fang Xing met the two professors from the academy’s folk music department, he warmly shook their hands, then accompanied them into the recording studio.

Both professors had brought their own instruments from the school—clearly performance-grade.

Fang Xing and Liang Yusong donned headphones in the studio and listened as the two professors played the guzheng and pipa live.

After listening, they exchanged glances and both gave a thumbs up.

Both professors were masters in their field, so the recording went smoothly, with nearly every take up to standard on the first try.

Still, to ensure the best mix later, they recorded two more takes.

After finishing the guzheng and pipa accompaniments, Fang Xing and Li Caiwei personally escorted the two professors back to the academy.

…

The following week was devoted to intense rehearsals.

The song they were preparing this time included a B5 high-pitched vocal passage and a technically demanding water-sleeve dance.

Both tasks fell to Li Caiwei.

Moreover, the singing and dancing had to be performed simultaneously, which made things even harder.

During the first two days, Li Caiwei’s rehearsals didn’t go well.

The water-sleeve dance was physically exhausting, and midway through, it began to affect the steadiness of her singing.

After several attempts, Fang Xing suggested, “Maybe we should let the dance teacher handle the dance instead.”

Li Caiwei lowered her head and remained silent for a long while before insisting, “Give me two more days. I’ll meet your standards. I admit I’ve let my opera skills lapse for too many years, so I’m a little rusty. But if you give me two more days, and if I still can’t do it, then let the dance teacher take over.”

In her eyes, Fang Xing saw something called determination, and he agreed, “Alright, you have two more days.”

From that day, Li Caiwei reserved a practice room for herself and trained alone, day and night, on that water-sleeve dance.

…

While the show’s production team was frantically preparing for the final sprint toward group formation night, the battle on the Music Storm Chart had grown even fiercer.

Each time “Nocturne” advanced a spot, closing in on “Young and Reckless,” Chao Yin Culture would pour money into the chart, mobilizing fans to crowdfund and boost the rankings.

When there’s a strong rival, fans’ enthusiasm for crowdfunded chart-boosting burns even hotter.

When “Nocturne” climbed to third place on the Hot Songs Chart, the fans of Wu Junchen and Liu Yichen went wild, pushing “Young and Reckless” up to first place.

For this, both fandoms celebrated across microblogs and short video platforms.

Everywhere, comments and barrage messages proclaimed “Young and Reckless” reaching the top of the Hot Songs Chart.

But less than three hours had passed before “Nocturne” advanced again to second place.

Moreover, the hot song index for “Nocturne” was still rapidly climbing, drawing ever closer to “Young and Reckless.”

Wu Junchen and Liu Yichen’s fans had barely begun their celebration before they were once again in danger of being overtaken.

Fans frantically pleaded online for help with voting and boosting the chart.

Yet, the money poured in had already reached astronomical figures.

Furthermore, the hot song index for “Young and Reckless” looked increasingly skewed.

For “Nocturne,” the ratio of sales to plays exceeded 1:12.

This meant that each listener who bought “Nocturne” played the song an average of twelve times.

But for “Young and Reckless,” the sales outpaced the number of plays.

This indicated that, on average, those who bought “Young and Reckless” played it less than once.

If one factored in the data from fans looping the song 24/7, the play count would look even more distorted.

…

At Chao Yin Culture’s operations department.

The operations director dragged Liu Rongxuan, the head of the artists’ department, with him to see the big boss, He Hongtu.

“Chairman, our budget for ‘Young and Reckless’ chart-promotion is running dry,” the operations director said, steeling himself.

He Hongtu frowned in displeasure. “Didn’t I just approve twenty million last week?”

The operations director replied helplessly, “It’s almost all spent. ‘Young and Reckless’ is already at number one, so in terms of results, the promotion has been effective.”

“So isn’t that good enough? The song’s already at the top—why apply for more funds?” He Hongtu, busy with countless affairs daily, had no interest in following the Music Storm Chart.

The operations director nudged Liu Rongxuan.

Reluctantly, Liu Rongxuan explained, “The hot song index for ‘Nocturne’ is rising fast. If we don’t increase the budget, it might surpass ‘Young and Reckless’ in the next day or two.”

He finished by pulling out his phone, opening the Hot Songs Chart, and showing it to He Hongtu.

He Hongtu glanced at it, scowling. “It’s that Fang Xing again? Can’t you think of some other way? With all the money thrown at this, you can’t even suppress a single song? Do some promotion—get our song on programs.”

The operations director had no choice but to explain, “Chairman, the speed at which ‘Nocturne’ is rising on the chart is unprecedented in the past three years.

“We’ve already used our highest-level promotion strategies, but our songs still can’t stand against Fang Xing’s two tracks.

“Moreover, Fang Xing’s ‘Wild Bird’ has already surpassed our ‘Here We Come,’ reaching sixth place.

“If we don’t increase the budget, we might not even be able to hold onto the top spot with ‘Young and Reckless.’”

He Hongtu pondered for a moment and asked, “How much would it take to secure the top spot?”

“That depends on how long you want to hold it,” said the operations director, not giving a direct answer.

“Hold it until the final camp battle of ‘Star of Tomorrow’ is over,” He Hongtu set the goal.

The operations director stiffened and raised a finger: “If you want to hold on that long, at least this much.”

“Ten million? Fine, I can do that!” He Hongtu gritted his teeth, ready to fund it.

“That’s not it…”

The operations director hurriedly clarified, “Chairman, to last until the ‘Star of Tomorrow’ finals, we’d have to dominate the chart for four weeks. That would need at least a hundred million.”

He Hongtu’s eyes widened in anger. “Makes me want to smack you!”

Seeing the boss’s fury, the operations director quickly explained, “Mainly, there are four episodes left of ‘Star of Tomorrow’—that’s four weeks.

“For ‘Young and Reckless’ to dominate the Music Storm Chart for four weeks, even if it’s not a hundred million, it would still be seventy to eighty million.

“And this is just the operations budget. Once spent, some of it would be recouped through song plays and sales.

“Plus, we have dedicated channels for boosting chart rankings, which can lower costs—the overall loss shouldn’t exceed thirty percent.

“Also, with fans crowdfunding and the revenue from ‘Young and Reckless’ itself, we should just about break even.”

No entertainment company throws money at the charts just to play the fool.

There’s profit to be made, or they wouldn’t bother.

However, Chao Yin Culture’s operations department had already run the numbers.

If, according to He Hongtu’s goal, “Young and Reckless” was to dominate the Music Storm Chart for four weeks, it would require a massive outlay.

The so-called break-even point was only a preliminary calculation.

Whether there would actually be profit or loss was uncertain.

If “Young and Reckless” didn’t perform well, and returns were low, the project could end up losing tens of millions.

He Hongtu ran his company to make money, not to burn it.

If you pour money into making someone a top star, but can’t profit from it, what’s the point?

After thinking for a moment, He Hongtu asked, “Is there any other solution? The company isn’t throwing money away for you to lose.”

The operations director replied, “Then we’ll just boost the chart moderately. If expenses cross the red line, we stop immediately—that’s the safest way.”

He Hongtu considered, then said, “Then squeeze more from the fans. From what I see, Wu Junchen and Liu Yichen’s fans are still very loyal. Assign tasks to the fan leaders—organize the fans to work harder on the charts.

“Even if ‘Young and Reckless’ gets overtaken by ‘Nocturne,’ it doesn’t matter. We can use that as an opportunity to stir up fan sentiment.”

The operations director nodded, “Understood, I’ll arrange it now.”

After the operations director left, He Hongtu glared irritably at Liu Rongxuan. “If we’d signed Fang Xing from the start, none of this would be happening.”

Liu Rongxuan could only cry out in his heart, thinking: Back when I suggested signing Fang Xing with a platinum contract, you didn’t agree, either.