Huayu96: My Thirty Years of a Prodigal Son

Saturday night at 8 PM.

In the cafeteria of Beijing Normal University, a group of girls in pajamas were sitting around the only color television in the cafeteria.

Newspapers have already advertised Qin Sheng's screen debut, which will begin tonight.

As a result, many people, especially the audience of the "Too Softhearted" album and young people, waited in front of the TV on time, just to catch a glimpse of Qin Sheng's true face.

Soon, "Music Billboard" premiered.

The host gave an enthusiastic opening introduction.

After introducing the terrifying achievements Qin Sheng had made in just one month, Qin Sheng prepared to make his appearance.

Under the spotlight, a young man in a casual suit strode to the center of the stage.

He was tall and straight, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes.

What's rare is that the hairstyle is very refreshing, which is quite different from the artistic long hair of celebrities nowadays, or the frizzy and punk-style hair.

The girls, who finally saw Qin Sheng's true face, fell silent for a moment.

A full five seconds passed before a short-haired girl suddenly exclaimed:

"OMG! That's so cool!"

A fangirl born in 96 is still quite crazy and irrational.

One of the girls looked like she was about to faint.

"He's so handsome! I want to have his baby!"

A trendy girl exclaimed, "This is completely out of the mainland's standard!"

Mainland celebrities, look at Sun Nan, he's so unsophisticated!

Only celebrities from Hong Kong and Taiwan would dress so stylishly and neatly.

Another girl chimed in, "He's definitely on par with Li Ming and Guo Fucheng!"

"Quiet down, quiet down, the interview is starting!"

Once the interview began, the girls stopped making noise and started watching the program quietly.

On TV, Qin Sheng speaks humorously and handles situations with ease, showing no signs of naivety of an eighteen-year-old, but rather maturity and composure.

He has a handsome appearance, a mature and steady personality, and unparalleled talent.

Isn't this just an enhanced version of Li Ming?

Such celebrity role models are incredibly effective at captivating girls, almost like a nuclear bomb.

After the interview, the performance began.

The girls watched Qin Sheng's performance with rapt attention.

Many people secretly decided that they must buy another copy of Qin Sheng's "Too Softhearted" album tomorrow to support their idol!

As for Zeng Li's performance after Qin Sheng, it did not arouse much interest among the girls.

However, while the girls weren't very interested, Zeng Li's performance sparked the interest of another group.

Those are the middle-aged men in their thirties and forties.

Men born in the 1950s and 60s rarely disliked listening to opera.

Unfortunately, with the rise of Chinese music, listening to opera has gradually become an outdated aesthetic.

They were forced to start listening to pop songs like the young people.

But apart from a small minority, most people still can't stand it.

They felt that pop songs lacked the melodious and graceful quality of traditional opera.

Until Zeng Li appeared.

The fusion of traditional opera singing and popular music immediately captivated them.

In addition, Zeng Li's dignified and elegant appearance, along with her classic and gentle demeanor, instantly captured the hearts of countless fans.

Beijing, Tiantian Audio-Visual Store.

As soon as the boss, Wang Jianguo, opened the roller shutter door, seven or eight young female students rushed in.

"Boss, do you still have any genuine copies of the 'Too Softhearted' album? Give me two!"

"Do you have any posters of Qin Sheng? Give me two of them too!"

Wang Jianguo was startled by this scene.

He went around to the back of the counter, frantically handing out cassette tapes to the female students while subtly inquiring about what was going on.

The female students chattered amongst themselves about how handsome and talented Qin Sheng was on the talk show last night.

Wang Jianguo suddenly realized.

Having worked in this industry for so many years, he certainly understands what's going on.

Qin Sheng's posters have always been available in the store and have always sold very well.

However, it was the wide reach of television programs that quickly popularized Qin Sheng's image.

In just one morning, female students flocked to the store to buy "Too Softhearted".

The store had prepared more than two hundred albums, which were originally intended to be sold over three or four days.

Unexpectedly, it was sold out in just one morning!

Even so, there are still some that haven't been bought yet.

The female students who hadn't bought any refused to leave, crowding around the counter and urging Wang Jianguo to stock up quickly.

After finally seeing the female students off, Wang Jianguo wiped the sweat from his brow, grabbed the phone, and dialed the general agent's number.

"Mr. Chen, send me another five hundred copies of the 'Too Softhearted' album! Yes! Right now!"

In the afternoon, Wang Jianguo, who had run out of stock, thought he could finally take a break, but unexpectedly, another wave of people started visiting frequently.

They are middle-aged men in their thirties and forties.

Unlike the female students' enthusiasm, outgoing nature, and straightforwardness, the middle-aged men would often linger in the store for a while before casually picking up a box of Zeng Li's "Opera Rhyme and Chinese Style" album, pretending it was just a random choice before paying.

One or two Wang Jianguos are understandable.

But if more than a dozen people come in one afternoon, that's definitely not normal.

After some subtle questioning, Wang Jianguo finally understood the whole story.

It turns out that Qin Sheng promoted his junior sister on a TV show.

After hesitating for a moment, Wang Jianguo thought that since the album "Too Softhearted" was already sold out, he might as well put out this album called Zeng Li for a listen.

Let's see what her true colors are.

Wang Jianguo found a cassette tape titled "Traditional Chinese Opera" and plugged it into the tape recorder, then began to listen.

After the three songs finished playing, Wang Jianguo was immediately captivated.

He is in his thirties and grew up listening to operas.

I have always been very interested in traditional Chinese opera.

Zeng Li's combination of operatic singing style and popular singing style not only sounded pleasing to his ears, but also instantly made him feel incredibly close to her.

Find the poster of Zeng Li that came with the album.

On the cover, Zeng Li is wearing a plain-colored cheongsam, her hair is tied up and adorned with a white jade hairpin, exuding a gentle and dignified classical charm.

Wang Jianguo was momentarily mesmerized by what he saw.

Such traditional, gentle girls are a rare sight these days!

Wang Jianguo, who had no interest in Qin Sheng's handsome appearance, decided to become Zeng Li's fan in an instant.

And decided that for the next few days, the store would only play Zeng Li's albums.

And there are countless middle-aged men like Wang Jianguo who were moved by Zeng Li.

It has to be said that middle-aged men have really strong spending power.

At first, they only secretly bought Zeng Li's albums and posters.

But as Zeng Li's popularity grew, people of all ages and genders gradually began to enjoy listening to her songs.

At this point, listening to Zeng Li's songs no longer needed to be done secretly.

Middle-aged men have also unleashed a terrifying spending power.

People often buy at least three cards at a time, and quite a few buy ten to give to their friends.

They called it "finally, there are songs worth listening to."

Sony Music Beijing Branch, Director's Office.

Chen Heping looked at the sales report in his hand and couldn't stop smiling.

"Zhao Fang, Zhao Fang, you finally didn't embarrass me!"

Sitting opposite her, Zhao Fang couldn't hide her joy.

The surge in Qin Sheng's album sales was within their expectations.

But they really didn't expect that Zeng Li's album sales could reach such exaggerated figures thanks to Qin Sheng's promotion!

An EP with only three songs sold 80,000 copies in its first week!

If we exclude Qin Sheng's "Too Softhearted", this sales figure would already be among the top five in mainland China's history!

They achieved such an impressive result as being among the top five in history with such ease!