Huayu96: My Thirty Years of a Prodigal Son

Beijing, Tiantian Audio-Visual Store.

The boss, Wang Jianguo, was squatting on the ground sorting goods, with the old, worn-out "Autumn 1996 Popular Trends" playing from the stereo... specifically the song "Too Softhearted".

There's no other way; just letting it out works.

If you put them out, people will come to ask and buy them; if you don't put them out, you really can't do it.

"Boss, do you have 'Too Softhearted'?"

A young man wearing a denim jacket walked in and asked.

In the current market, no one would call it "The Golden Autumn of 1996 Pop Trend"; everyone assumes the album is called "Too Softhearted".

Wang Jianguo got up and quickly and enthusiastically led the person to the shelf.

"Yes, ten yuan, do you want it? It sounds really good."

The young man glanced at the enthusiastic shopkeeper with a puzzled look, then took a box, paid, and left.

Wang Jianguo breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the stock of "The Golden Autumn of 1996" dwindle on the shelves.

Almost sold out.

Starting tomorrow, I will no longer be ordering new stock.

The top distributor has already given the go-ahead.

Soon, Qin Sheng, who sang "Too Softhearted," will officially release his first solo original album.

It's said that the album is called "Too Softhearted"!

When the real artist comes out, who will still buy this compilation of "The Golden Autumn of 1996"?

So these past two days, everyone has been rushing to clear out their stock.

As we continued taking inventory, suddenly, a bread truck screeched to a halt in front of the store.

The main distributor has delivered new stock.

Driver Xiao Zhang jumped out of the car, sweating profusely, and carried two large cardboard boxes, placing them heavily on the counter.

"Brother Wang, take stock of the goods."

Wang Jianguo took a utility knife, cut open the tape on the cardboard box, and began to look through the cassette tapes inside.

The top cassette tape cover features a man's profile against a backdrop of a deep blue sea.

The sign above reads in large characters: "Too Softhearted".

Below is a line of smaller print: Qin Sheng's first solo original album.

Wang Jianguo's eyes widened in surprise.

"Qin Sheng's new album is out? So fast!"

Xiao Zhang smiled and took out another roll of posters from his bag, handing it to Wang Jianguo.

"It's said that Sony worked overtime overnight to produce this after signing Qin Sheng."

Wang Jianguo didn't care about any of that.

He only knew that Qin Sheng's compilation album "Too Softhearted" sold well before, and now that a new album containing "Too Softhearted" has been released, it will only sell better!

After flipping through the cassette tapes at the bottom, Wang Jianguo's eyes lit up. "Are both of these boxes full of Qin Sheng's new albums?"

Xiao Zhang gave a wry smile.

"There aren't that many. Production capacity hasn't come up yet. One store only received two hundred boxes, which we'll sell first."

We'll deliver it as soon as the factory finishes production.

Wang Jianguo nodded with some regret.

"All right."

The young man who had just bought "The Golden Autumn Trend of 1996" was buying fruit next door.

After overhearing Wang Jianguo and Xiao Zhang's conversation, he immediately became unwilling.

Dissatisfied, he walked back into the store, slammed the "1996 Golden Autumn Trend" magazine on the table, and angrily said:

"Boss, that's so unfair! Qin Sheng released a new album, but you didn't even tell me, and now you want me to buy the old one!"

Wang Jianguo felt somewhat guilty and didn't dare to argue back, only smiling and saying:

"Brother, you saw it too, this just arrived. I couldn't sell it to you earlier!"

"Perfect timing, here, I'll change it for you, you can take the new one."

As he spoke, Wang Jianguo took the old copy of "1996 Golden Hits" from the other party and handed over a new copy of "Too Softhearted".

"Wait a minute."

The young man took out another ten yuan from his pocket and handed it to Wang Jianguo.

"I'll take two boxes, the new 'Too Softhearted'."

With a pang of heartache, Wang Jianguo pulled out another box of "Too Softhearted" and handed it to the young man.

He couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Two hundred boxes, if there's no limit, they should sell out within two days.

Given the nature of the distributor, it will take at least three days for the next batch of goods to arrive.

In other words, if it sells out quickly, he will have to run out of stock for a day.

It's bad for reputation!

Therefore, he has to try to sell as sparingly as possible.

The young man left, and so did Xiao Zhang.

Wang Jianguo opened a cassette tape and plugged it into his tape recorder, which was connected to a large speaker.

Click to play.

When he first heard the new album, he had to listen to all the songs before he knew how to promote it to his customers.

As each song played, Wang Jianguo grew increasingly astonished.

Based on his years of experience as a record store owner, this is not a low-quality album hastily put together to boost sales.

On the contrary, its quality is ridiculously high!

Moreover, Wang Jianguo's album clearly exudes a strong Hong Kong and Taiwan style.

This flavor is the most popular right now.

In just a moment, Wang Jianguo was certain that the album "Too Softhearted" would sell well!

It's even highly likely that it will sell very well!

Thinking that this album could easily ship more than a thousand boxes a month, earning two yuan per box, and that he could easily earn more than two thousand yuan a month just from this one item, Wang Jianguo couldn't help but smile from ear to ear.

The same scene unfolded in record stores across the country on this day.

Sony has demonstrated its formidable power as a top global record company.

Within two days, the distribution channels had covered almost all prefecture-level cities in mainland China.

If it weren't for the factory's limited capacity and insufficient output, it could have filled up all the audio-visual stores in thousands of counties across the country!

As for the propaganda campaign, it was absolutely overwhelming!

Music radio stations in major cities played the album's title track around the clock.

Sony even bought the headlines in the newspaper's entertainment section to promote Qin Sheng.

After the first three weeks of the compilation album's release, Qin Sheng and the name "Too Softhearted" have become household names in mainland China.

Now that the official album "Too Softhearted" has been released, and the songs have been well-received on the radio, listeners have generously offered their support.

Sony Music Beijing Branch, Director's Office.

Chen Heping stared at the wall clock; with each tick of the second hand, he tapped his finger on the table.

Han Jinhua sat on the sofa, holding a thermos, and blew on the tea leaves on it.

"Old Chen, could you please stop banging? It's hurting my ears."

Chen Heping stopped what he was doing and sighed.

"Old Han, you only need to focus on production, you don't need to be responsible for sales, so you can relax."

But I can't do it!

With all the resources I've invested, the album "Too Softhearted" is definitely going to be a hit.

And it has to be a huge hit! Otherwise, the company will lose money!

Han Jinhua took a sip of tea and slowly replied, "Whether it explodes or not depends on the market. There's no use in you worrying here."

Chen Heping took a deep breath and sat back down in the boss's chair.

"The goods have already been distributed. If sales are good tonight, the distributors should be contacting me to place their next order."

Once the sales department tallies the number of orders placed, we can roughly predict the sales volume of "Too Softhearted".

Just then, the phone rang.