Reborn in 1970, I thrived in Hong Kong.

When Li Huai-ren arrived at Phoenix Records on the third floor, Huang Zhan and Gu Jia-hui were already there. Huang Zhan paced anxiously back and forth in the corridor of the office building.

This was the first album released by Phoenix Records since its establishment. Although Wong Jim knew that the quality of the songs was beyond question, it was, after all, an album of all-English songs sung by a Chinese female singer, so he was not confident.

Li Huai-ren smiled, greeted Gu Jia-hui who was rather composed beside him, and patted Huang Zhan on the shoulder as he passed by, saying:

"Calm down, calm down!"

Huang Laoxie, didn't I tell you before that my target market for Ah Jun's album is Europe and America and Commonwealth countries?

Hong Kong is such a tiny place, what difference does a few thousand more or less records make?

Huang Zhan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening and immediately rushed towards the marketing department's office area:

"Damn it! Warner Music has been handling the record distribution for a week already, why haven't we heard anything yet?"

Just then, the fax machine in the corner of the office suddenly rang, and a fax machine began to print out.

The female clerk responsible for receiving faxes glanced at the half-printed fax and counted:

"One zero, two zeros, three zeros... five zeros."

She immediately screamed loudly:

"My God, my God, nine, nine hundred thousand records!"

Everyone was startled by her. Huang Zhan reacted extremely quickly, his body, which was lunging towards the marketing department, was turned sharply to the right at a speed that almost broke the limits of human capability!

He rushed to the fax machine, which was still printing, stared at the nearly finished fax, and laughed heartily.

"Hahaha, damn it! Nine hundred thousand records sold, and that's just one week's sales in the US!"

After laughing, he turned around and hugged and kissed everyone he saw, regardless of gender or social status, his eyes already moist.

In the United States in 1970, a newly released vinyl record typically cost $5-7. Phoenix Records' distribution agreement with Warner Music was as follows:

Warner paid Phoenix Records $2 for every record sold, and Warner handled distribution outside of Asia.

The gross profit of $2 per record was partly due to Huang Laoxie and Gu Jiahui getting help from old friends at Warner, but the main reason was that Warner was quite satisfied with the record's quality after internal evaluation, which led to this price.

Warner sold 90 records in the United States, which means Phoenix Records will soon be rolling in a huge sum of $180 million!

The key point is that this is only the album's first-week sales in the United States. Warner Music has not yet sold it in Canada, South America, Australia, and various European countries!

If you were a shareholder holding 20% ​​of Phoenix Records, you'd probably act just as mad as James Wong.

Li Huai-ren quickly pulled Teresa Teng aside, and after Wong Jim and Joseph Koo had finished their excited embrace and calmed down, he said to Wong Jim:

"Hurry up and prepare the press release according to the original plan, and have someone deliver it to Phoenix News Agency, Phoenix Daily, Phoenix TV, and major newspapers in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Middle East."

"I want to make sure that, in the shortest possible time, everyone in Asia except mainland China, North Vietnam, and North Korea knows that Li Jun's record sold 180 million copies in its first week in the United States!"

Teresa Teng was taken aback:

"Wasn't it only 90 copies? How did it become 180 million?"

Li Huai-ren smiled and explained:

"This is just for the sake of packaging and propaganda. Now, all of Asia, except for mainland China, North Korea, and North Vietnam, worships the United States and puts the United States first in everything. Even the farts of the Americans smell sweet."

That's why I had Huang Laoxie arrange the premiere of your English song album in the United States instead of Hong Kong.

If the record sells well in the US launch, then you can go all out with the packaging and promotion, getting Asians who idolize America to quickly open their wallets and buy your record following their "American daddy," hehehehe.

Teresa Teng covered her mouth and chuckled. Before she could say anything, Wong Jim, who had already approached the two and was still not completely calm, chimed in:

"180 million? That's too little, too little. 250 million doesn't sound good. Add 50, and it'll be 230 million. All press releases will say the record sold 230 million copies in its first week in the US!"

Li Huai-ren nodded:

"Okay, it's settled then!"

After saying that, he recalled the headlines of his past life on Toutiao (a Chinese news and information platform), where the headlines were as sensational as possible, making people cringe, but they were undeniably eye-catching. So he gave Huang Zhan some further instructions:

"Oh, and don't forget to mention that this is an Asian female singer breaking the record for the highest first-week sales of an English song, or something like that. The title needs to be really shocking..."

In just a few words, the two came up with a complete plan on how to package and promote Teresa Teng and her records.

Standing to the side, Teresa Teng felt increasingly guilty and began to doubt her own existence as she listened.

"Is Li Huairen and Huang Laoxie talking about me? Am I really as powerful and good as they say?"

"Wouldn't this be inappropriate? I'm so embarrassed, I hate it, Li is such a jerk..."

Just then, the phone in the marketing department started ringing incessantly, with multiple calls coming in simultaneously. The marketing staff immediately picked up the phone:

"Hey, oh what? Your Wai Heung Bookstore in Central sold out of 600 records? Need to restock? How many? What, the foreigners are scrambling to buy them, and you need to restock two thousand?"

……

"Hey, what? All the records at Man Ho Records in Causeway Bay are sold out? Restock? How much...?"

"Hey, what? The Temple Street Big Wave Records store needs to restock? Restock...!"

The calls were all from bookstores, record shops, and record stores in Hong Kong, requesting to restock dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of records.

Li Huai-ren, Huang Zhan, and Gu Jia-hui exchanged glances and said in unison:

"Done!"

Wong Jim then sprinted into his office at top speed and personally drafted and polished the press release he had just discussed with Lee Huai-ren.

A few minutes later, he rushed out and personally delivered the press release to Phoenix News Agency, Phoenix TV, Phoenix Daily and other sister companies.

At that time, almost every record store, bookstore, and record shop in Hong Kong was playing Teresa Teng's new album, and her title track "Yesterday Once More" was playing everywhere.

"When I was young I'd listen to the radio/Waiting for my favorite songs/When they played I'd sing along/It made me smile.

Those were such happy times and not so long ago/How I wondered where they'd gone/But they're back again just like a long lost friend/All the songs I love so well.

Every sha la la la.

Every wo o wo o.

Still shines.

Every shing a ling a ling.

They're starting to sing.

It's so fine.

... "

These days, foreigners working and living in Hong Kong are definitely the main force in buying English records.

Li Huai-ren went so far as to compile twelve classic English songs into an album. No matter what kind of songs these foreigners liked, there were always one or more songs on this album that they would enjoy.

So whenever foreigners go out, if they hear Teresa Teng's songs when they pass by record stores or bookstores, they immediately stop in their tracks and can't help but buy a copy.

Many discerning foreigners even bought several copies at once. These people would typically buy at least two: one to listen to and one to keep as a collectible!

What followed was a series of events that many Hong Kong people still remember vividly many years later:

At 9:00 AM, Phoenix TV suddenly broadcast a news report: Teresa Teng's English album broke the record for first-week sales of a record in the United States, reaching 2.3 million copies!

The news was continuously reported throughout the following day.

At 11:00 AM, Phoenix Daily issued an additional 100,000 temporarily printed copies of the newspaper, which were distributed free of charge.

The newspaper had only one page with four pages. In addition to headlines such as Teresa Teng breaking the record for the longest-selling album by a white person in its first week, it also published many photos of Americans lining up in front of record stores across the United States to buy Teresa Teng's records. Pictures don't lie!

However, the angles of these photos are quite strange, only capturing the foreigners queuing and not showing the entire street and record store. Many Hong Kong people vaguely felt that the background of the photos looked somewhat familiar...

Li Huai-ren really went all out this time to promote Teresa Teng and release her first album with Phoenix Records!

Driven by the power of money, around 2 PM, radio and television stations of all sizes in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asian countries were already broadcasting that Teresa Teng's latest album had broken records by selling 2.3 million copies in its first week in the United States.

By evening, the Middle Eastern princes and Indian men also learned that the Chinese female singer Teresa Teng's album had broken the first-week sales record...

On this day, under Li Huai-ren's guidance, Teresa Teng's name spread throughout Asia except for mainland China, North Korea, and North Vietnam.

She rose to fame overnight, earning the title given to her by Phoenix News Agency—the Queen of Asia!