Chapter 179: Endure Is The Only Choice
Yan Xingzhou wrote the article that very evening, sent it to Wang Heng, and after confirming there were no issues, uploaded it that same night.
The next day when he woke up, he saw that his article had indeed gained quite a bit of playback volume, and it was still steadily rising. Looking at the transfer text messages again made him even more delighted.
After hesitating for a long time, he decided to make another phone call, considering it after-sales service. Thirty-year-old Yan Xingzhou had good writing skills, but after dialing, he was somewhat clumsy with words: “I’ve received the money… Um, thanks, Brother Wang.”
Wang Heng: “No problem. If we have the opportunity, we can cooperate again next time. Your official account articles are very well written. Persevere, and you have a promising future.”
Yan Xingzhou: “Thanks, Brother Wang. It’s not that I wrote well; it’s that your singer is amazing.”
Wang Heng: “No need to be so polite. We’ll cooperate again next time anyway.”
Yan Xingzhou: “Of course, of course. For next cooperation… Then I won’t disturb you?”
“Mm, goodbye.”
After saying that, Wang Heng heard another string from the other end: “Okay, okay, goodbye Brother Wang, goodbye!”
Wang Heng hung up the phone, put away his mobile phone, and knocked on the door in front of him.
While taking the call just now, he had already arrived downstairs at Pei Ningle’s rental room. After finishing the call, he went up the stairs and reached the door.
But when the door opened, Wang Heng saw a young girl with slightly reddened eyes.
“You’re here…” Pei Ningle’s voice was very low, still carrying a hint of an irrepressible sob.
Wang Heng was startled: “What’s wrong with you?”
Pei Ningle grabbed his arm and pulled him to the sofa: “Take a look!”
Sitting on the sofa, Wang Heng quickly saw the thing causing the girl’s emotional change—the computer screen showed Wangyu Music’s player, covered with new comments from last night to today.
“The song is great, haven’t heard such an amazing voice in a long time…” Wang Heng read one of the comments and asked, “Isn’t this a good review?”
Pei Ningle pointed to the one below it: “Take a look at this one!”
【Came from Yan Sheng’s recommendation, hugely disappointed. The voice is nothing special, just the common little girl voice in non-mainstream, and the lyrics and music are mediocre. For Yan Sheng to praise it like that, probably stuffed with black money, right?】
Wang Heng had just finished reading this one and was about to say something when he saw Pei Ningle scroll down further, and soon another bad review appeared.
【Boring, utterly boring. The meaning of this song is that making music is hard, right? We’re the audience, we want good-sounding songs, who cares if it’s hard for you?】
Scrolling further down, another unsparing bad review appeared.
【So boring, I even specially downloaded the Wangyu Music APP for your song, wasting my storage space.】
And below this comment was a reply: 【Me too, but no problem, I’ll delete it right away anyway. Unfollowing Yan Sheng too, that guy definitely took money.】
Pei Ningle was about to scroll further when Wang Heng suddenly pressed her hand.
After thinking it over, he said: “As you can see, good reviews still outnumber bad reviews. Why fixate on those few bad reviews?”
Pei Ningle: “There are plenty of bad reviews, not just a few!”
Wang Heng: “But good reviews are still more. The key is, Yan Xingzhou’s article praised it quite heavily, so some people’s expectations might indeed be higher. And since your song didn’t suit their taste, it’s normal for them to give bad reviews.”
“Then why can’t you make him…” The girl bit her lower lip, “Make him not praise it so heavily?”
Wang Heng shook his head: “No. If you’re going to praise, praise properly. Besides, you need to understand that only if you give others high enough expectation will they specially come to listen to your song. If you had to choose, would you pick a thousand people listening and leaving five bad reviews, or five thousand people listening and leaving fifty bad reviews?”
Pei Ningle lowered her head in silence, seemingly not knowing what to say.
After a while, she asked softly: “Can’t the playback volume be higher, without those bad reviews?”
Wang Heng sneered: “I advise you to drop that idea early. As long as you’re releasing songs and hope others hear them, you can’t eliminate bad reviews. Only good reviews and no bad reviews is meaningless.”
“Can’t eliminate bad reviews…” Pei Ningle murmured, sitting on the sofa with her head down.
Wang Heng sat beside her and continued: “Every singer is like this. As soon as there’s a bit of playback volume, there will naturally be bad reviews. The difference between you and professional singers is just that they have professional agent teams and don’t look at comments themselves.”
Pei Ningle suddenly looked up, staring at him: “You’re also my agent team.”
“Right, so this is agent work now.”
As he spoke, Wang Heng held the mouse, right-clicked on a bad review, and left-clicked to report.
Then, he reported all the bad reviews with overly harsh language.
“Wangyu Music doesn’t have delete or blacklist settings for reviews, so we can only report to the official. Statements like threatening to uninstall the APP, the official probably won’t ignore.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Pei Ningle couldn’t help saying: “What if the official doesn’t care?”
Wang Heng: “Then you’ll just have to endure it. Otherwise, simply don’t look at comments; that’s a way too.”
Pei Ningle said weakly: “I originally… really liked reading comments.”
When she opened the door earlier, her eyes were already red. But after this conversation with Wang Heng, the tears that had been welling up were forcibly held back.
For this eighteen- or nineteen-year-old girl, encountering dozens of bad reviews in a row like today was undoubtedly a first in her life. But now, only one sentence from Wang Heng echoed in her mind: ‘Only good reviews and no bad reviews is meaningless.’
To keep singing, she must face more bad reviews and endure them…
Wang Heng shrugged and suddenly asked: “By the way, what’s the inspiration for your next song?”
Pei Ningle picked up the notebook beside her, opened it, and handed it over: “Still expressing my own mood, this one.”
Wang Heng took the notebook and saw 【Dawn】 in big characters.
So he said: “Isn’t this perfect? If there’s only dawn, such a song would be too thin. Only with night and dark clouds can the beauty and preciousness of dawn stand out.”
Pei Ningle: “Negative moods too, write them into the song?”
Wang Heng: “Yes, remember this mood and keep writing. Can’t say bad reviews are another kind of wealth, but at least, for you, this is a new experience.”
Pei Ningle hugged her knees, lowered her head, and fell into contemplation.
Wang Heng took out his mobile phone, opened Wangyu Music, and left a message under the first bad review:
【If you don’t need your eardrums, you can donate them to someone who does, thanks.】
He muttered almost inaudibly to himself: “She has to endure, but I don’t have to. Already polite not to use Zu’an grammar on you…”
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