Chapter 55: Free Stuff Makes Me Happy

Why did I get teary-eyed after listening to it?

I thought I had forgotten him, but as soon as I read the lyrics, every memory flashed back in my mind—painful as it was, I simply couldn’t stop.

This is the best love song I’ve heard this year, utterly crushing every fake masterpiece in the domestic scene!

Those who criticized “Shang Zhongyong,” can you please come out and apologize to Luo Quan?

Luo Quan, who wrote this song—what must she have felt watching those clowns spout nonsense? It must have been hilarious.

Just this one song is enough to carry the entire album “Rite of Passage”—even if the other nine tracks are trash, I’m buying it anyway!

This incident teaches us: never use your mediocrity to judge or doubt a genius’s ability, especially in art—human rights may be equal, but talent and inspiration vary wildly.

In just ten minutes, the comment section flipped entirely; praise flooded the screen, mixed with a few of Luo Quan’s fans directly mocking the trolls.

For days, Luo Quan had been relentlessly criticized; her few Weibo fans tried to defend her, but they were powerless—even basic comment control was impossible, so all they could do was avoid Weibo altogether to avoid the pain.

Now the tide had turned—they were determined to vent every ounce of their pent-up frustration, and wouldn’t leave Weibo until they’d fully purged the bitterness of these past days.

Seeing that “Firstlove” had achieved its intended effect, Luo Quan didn’t get carried away; as planned, she posted another Weibo:

“I don’t need to ask—I know everyone will love this song, but this is only the beginning. Tomorrow at the same time, the demo of the album’s second track will be released.”

“Special note: I wrote two versions of this song—a Japanese version titled ‘Yakimochi (Jealousy)’ and a Chinese version titled ‘The Wind Has Risen.’ Same melody, different stories. Please remember to listen on time!”

The opening words sounded arrogant, but now no one dared question them. Earlier, so many had sworn the album was a scam, exploiting fans like pigs—yet the moment the lead single dropped, everyone got slapped in the face.

Everyone’s not deaf—“Firstlove” has decisively crushed every hit on the charts over the past few years, in every possible way!

The lyrics might be hard to judge due to language barriers, but the melody doesn’t require refined taste to tell good from bad—right now, in Huaxia, there’s simply no song that can compare.

Some might still twist their conscience to nitpick and deny Luo Quan’s work from every angle, but normal people know she’s already shattered all doubt with her talent—“Shang Zhongyong” and “Jiang Lang Cai Jin” have become jokes.

And as she said, this is only the beginning—“Rite of Passage” has ten full tracks. This is barely the start!

What’s even more interesting is that for this second song, Luo Quan wrote two different lyrics—many only then remembered she’s a native Huaxian.

Many had blackened her simply because she debuted in Japan, thinking it was patriotic to do so, forgetting she was their own countrywoman—until this Weibo made them suddenly wake up.

Shame was their first reaction: some suddenly realized their mistakes, reflected on their actions, and hoped to make amends; others, humiliated and furious, chose to dig in deeper.

Differences in character led to different choices—some good, some bad—but regardless, the public opinion on domestic Weibo had been completely reversed by Luo Quan.

Tonight, Luo Quan topped the trending list again; the demo of “Firstlove” reached number one on the hot songs chart. According to statistics, over a million people across three major music platforms were listening to it simultaneously—a spectacle unprecedented in history.

No one would complain anymore about Luo Quan trending again—“Firstlove” spread across all short-video platforms and Bilibili at an unimaginable speed; even with only half the song, it drew countless fans flocking to it.

Eventually, people found their way to Weibo, learned this was the lead single of “Rite of Passage,” and though it was in Japanese, music knows no borders—any album with a song like this was worth buying.

Then they saw the pre-order price: 300 RMB, and the special edition a staggering 500………………

Alright, fine—I’ll just stick to free piracy. This price is brutal for students; I’ll wait for the free version.

This is the reality of the Huaxia market: physical albums have no sales potential. Prices this high deter the vast majority of casual listeners, and even true fans can’t all afford them.

So even though this song received overwhelming praise across the internet, “Rite of Passage” pre-orders only reached a mere thousand copies by midnight—less than one percent of Japan’s numbers!

In Japan, “Rite of Passage” had already surpassed five hundred thousand pre-orders, quietly breaking another record as the highest-preordered album since the new century.

In Huaxia, where language is a barrier, “Firstlove” topped every music platform—in Japan, it was a given. It swiftly dominated the new song and streaming charts, and radio request counts hit new highs tonight.

All over Japan, music fans were looping the song in ecstatic frenzy. Renowned critic Ohnoji Ryūkai wrote overnight:

“This is the pinnacle of Japanese pop music in over a decade. If this song doesn’t win this year’s Japan Record Award for Song of the Year, the judges must have taken bribes!”

Such high praise had never come from Ohnoji Ryūkai before—clearly, this song had moved him profoundly.

If nothing goes wrong, with “Firstlove” as its foundation, “Rite of Passage” is guaranteed to be a massive hit—surpassing “Spring Water”’s two million sales won’t be an issue; many even predict its final sales could reach a staggering four million!

Before today, some might have doubted this number—but after today, no one doubts “Rite of Passage” has this potential. The data from every platform doesn’t lie, and the steadily climbing pre-order numbers don’t lie.

That night, Sony Records’ executives increased promotional investment for “Rite of Passage,” buying all of Tokyo’s digital billboards for the coming week, determined to make this album a true nationwide phenomenon.

The “Spring Water” phenomenon, which had just calmed down days ago, seemed on the verge of sweeping Japan once again.

Everything was moving in the right direction.