Chapter 18: The One Who Should Be Sad Isn’t You

After submitting his personal information, it took less than two minutes for the account to pass verification. The official platform even added a V to his account. His Weibo username was simply his real name, Xu Ze.

What he didn't know was that the Weibo verification team had all received a special notification that night: upon seeing Xu Ze's account application, they were to approve it immediately once everything checked out.

After creating his account, Xu Ze promptly posted his first message.

“Hello everyone, I am Xu Ze. Tonight, my song ‘Breaking East Wind’ will be uploaded to the music platform.”

As soon as the post went live, the official account of the show gave him a like right away. Soon after, the mentors Jiang Yiyan, Wei Ping, and Zhang Yingjing also liked his post in quick succession.

This sudden attention brought a tidal wave of traffic to Xu Ze’s account. Within moments, new trending topics emerged:

#XuZeWeiboAccount#
#ZhangYingjingLikesXuZe#

People began commenting excitedly.

“Caught Xu Ze alive!”
“Is this the real Xu Ze?”
“Of course! The official account gave him the V badge.”
“Wow, is ‘Breaking East Wind’ really going to be uploaded?”
“Waiting, waiting!”
“I can’t wait any longer.”
...

In just half an hour, Xu Ze’s Weibo followers surpassed 500,000—a terrifying speed, especially considering he was still an amateur with no company backing him.

“Ding! New task: Total followers across all online accounts surpass 5 million to receive a reward. Current followers: 950,000.”

At this moment, the system's voice suddenly rang out in Xu Ze's mind.

“950,000?” Xu Ze was stunned. Then he asked, “Total online followers—does that mean all my accounts online, including Weibo, novel sites, and music platforms?”

System: “Yes.”

Xu Ze understood. Currently, his Weibo had 500,000 followers, his “Salted Fish” account on the music platform had 400,000, his novel had 60,000 bookmarks, but apparently only 50,000 were counted as followers.

“Time to ramp up the follower count.” Xu Ze was still in dire need of the system’s vocal fruit rewards.

He feared that one day he’d run out of fruits on the show, and then he’d really be finished.

Although he noticed that every time he consumed a fruit, his singing skills received a permanent boost, his abilities were still far from enough.

With this in mind, Xu Ze opened the music platform, created an account using his real name and ID, and uploaded the song. After passing verification, with the anticipation from his Weibo teaser, “Breaking East Wind” quickly soared to the top of the new songs chart for online singers.

An hour later, the song’s downloads broke 80,000, shooting up to eighth place on the November new song chart.

Meanwhile, Zheng Yu had just finished an engagement and was sitting in his van, too busy for a break. He opened the new song chart to check his own ranking.

Seeing he was still in second place, he let out a long sigh of relief, grabbed his water bottle, and gulped it down.

All day, he had been distracted, fixated on his song’s ranking.

Last night, he and his manager agreed that his second-place spot wouldn’t last; the only question was how many days he could hold on.

His manager predicted ten days, he predicted five.

But he had a nightmare last night—he dreamt he’d be bumped from second place today. He woke up drenched in cold sweat.

After finishing his water, he began checking the download numbers of each song.

First place was still Wang Yihan’s “Because You’re Too Beautiful,” with 300,000 downloads—an astonishing figure.

He was in second place, with 150,000.

Third was Salted Fish’s “Who Will You Think of When You’re Lonely,” currently at 120,000 downloads.

“Wait, 120,000?” Zheng Yu nearly spat out his water.

What was happening? That morning, the song had barely 50,000 downloads, and now, just this afternoon, it had soared to 120,000?

That jump was terrifying.

What Zheng Yu didn’t know was that the platform had given the song a small featured spot. Even a minor recommendation was enough for a good song—just a bit of exposure, and it could explode in popularity.

At that moment, his manager opened the car door, ready to get in, and saw Zheng Yu’s shocked expression.

He asked in surprise, “What, you’ve seen ‘Breaking East Wind’ too?”

Zheng Yu’s expression grew even more alarmed. He stammered, “Breaking what?”

The manager got in, sighed, and pointed at “Breaking East Wind,” now eighth on the new song chart. “A song composed by an amateur singer, Xu Ze, who participates in Wang Yihan’s show ‘I Am a Singer-Songwriter.’ An hour ago, the song was released on the platform and has already reached 80,000 downloads, eighth place overall. At this rate, it’ll soon break into the top three—it’s even more aggressive than Salted Fish’s song!”

“Ugh...” Zheng Yu rolled his eyes and nearly fainted.

The manager reacted quickly, slapping him back to his senses.

Zheng Yu then looked miserable and said weakly, “Bro, does this mean we won’t even make the top three?”

The manager patted Zheng Yu’s shoulder, comforting him, “It’s fine, Zheng Yu. If we lose third place, we’ll just be fourth.”

Zheng Yu’s eyes were dull; he said helplessly, “The difference between third and fourth is huge. At least with third, I can claim I’m in the top three. But fourth... what does that mean?”

The manager sighed, glanced at the chart—and was startled again.

He suddenly noticed that in just a blink, “Breaking East Wind” had jumped from eighth to seventh.

He knew the song was strong, but this was almost frightening.

He looked up abruptly and smiled at Zheng Yu. “Maybe the one who should really be worried isn’t you, but Wang Yihan!”

“Oh?” Zheng Yu’s spirit revived, “Bro, what do you mean?”

If a miserable person can take comfort in anything, it’s seeing someone even more miserable.

The manager blinked and said, “I have a feeling ‘Breaking East Wind’ will take first place on the new song chart this month!”

Zheng Yu stroked his chin, puzzled. “Bro, even if the song is good, Xu Ze is still just an amateur. He has no company promoting him, no fan support—his only traffic comes from the show ‘I Am a Singer-Songwriter.’ And Wang Yihan is on that show too, as a mentor.”

The manager shook his head. “Zheng Yu, you should listen closely to ‘Breaking East Wind.’ This song is pioneering a new style called ‘Chinese Wind.’ With its numbers, it might well become the founding anthem of a new genre.”

“Wang Yihan won’t be able to stop this genre’s pioneer.”

Zheng Yu was skeptical—how could someone just become a genre pioneer overnight? After all these years of musical development, only a handful are called true pioneers. What gives Xu Ze that status?

He then opened the music platform on his tablet, put on his headphones, and listened.

As he listened, he closed his eyes, completely absorbed. When he finished the song and slowly opened his eyes, he saw his manager poised, as if ready for action.

Zheng Yu instantly grabbed his manager’s wrist and said seriously, “Bro, I surrender. Being fourth isn’t unjust!”

The next morning, Xu Ze’s first act upon waking was to check his Weibo followers—now at 800,000.

He then opened the music platform: his own account had 600,000 followers, and the Salted Fish account had 420,000.

Xu Ze was surprised—his new account on the music platform had gained him an extra 600,000 followers overnight.

But when he summoned the system panel to check his total follower count, he noticed something was off.