Jiang Cheng stood there, looking completely dazed.

"Release... how do we release it?"

He was currently a standard 'three-nothing' person.

No company, no channels, no funds.

He couldn't exactly carry a speaker and busk under a bridge, could he? Although it wasn't impossible, it felt like the style was drifting off course.

"How else would we release it?" Lu Zhixian yawned, leaning lazily back in his chair with his legs crossed on the mixing console.

He looked the picture of 'finishing the job and hiding his name,' a truly punchable expression.

"Upload it."

"Up... upload it where?"

"Penguin Music, NetEase Cloud, Kumao... upload a copy to every music platform there is." Lu Zhixian pulled out his phone, his finger swiping across the screen.

"Register an account, do the real-name authentication, upload the work, and you're done."

Jiang Cheng's eyelid twitched.

Bro, are you serious?

What's the difference between this and throwing a pebble into the Pacific Ocean? You won't even see a splash!

Who releases a song nowadays without buying some promotion, inflating some data, or finding a few big influencers to shout it out?

Releasing it naked with zero promotion—isn't that just waiting to fail?

"Teacher Lu, will this... really work?" Jiang Cheng's voice was filled with uncertainty.

"Why wouldn't it?" Lu Zhixian didn't even look up, speaking while operating his phone.

"Gold will always shine, unless it's covered in crap. Don't worry, I've already wiped the crap clean for you."

Jiang Cheng: "..."

Although it sounded a bit strange, he couldn't find a way to refute it.

In no time at all, Jiang Cheng used his identity information to register musician accounts on several platforms.

The name was simply "Jiang Cheng."

Simple, blunt, and recognizable.

Then, he uploaded the final audio file of "dispelling sorrow."

Cover art? Non-existent.

The system defaulted to a gray musical note icon, screaming the word "poor."

Song introduction?

None.

Jiang Cheng watched from the side, nearly having a heart attack.

Bro! Dear brother! Can we not be so impulsive?

"Done." Lu Zhixian clapped his hands, pocketed his phone, and stood up.

"Alright, the song is out. Now we just leave it to fate. I'm going back for a nap."

After saying that, he waved his hand coolly and actually just left.

He left a stunned Jiang Cheng standing in the recording studio, confused.

That's... it?

He looked at the prompts on the computer screen saying "Upload successful, under review," feeling like he was in a dream.

One yuan, one song, one afternoon.

He had bet his entire future.

And that man, the man who had handed him that future, was actually going back to sleep?

His heart was way too big!

...

The night deepened.

Lu Zhixian was indeed sleeping, and quite soundly at that.

He even had a dream where he was being chased and beaten by a group of wealthy older women, who cursed at him as they struck.

"Damn it! Why won't you accept our support! Do you look down on us?!"

Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng didn't sleep all night.

He stayed by the computer, refreshing the page every few minutes.

Penguin Music: Review passed.

NetEase Cloud: Review passed.

Kumao: Review passed.

Song: "dispelling sorrow," Vocals: Jiang Cheng, Lyrics/Composition/Arrangement: Lu Zhixian.

It sat quietly in an obscure corner of the new song charts, with a lonely "0" in the play count column.

One hour passed.

Play count: 3.

Jiang Cheng guessed that of these three plays, one was himself, one was the recording studio owner, and the other was likely a passerby who accidentally clicked on it.

Two hours passed.

Play count: 7.

The great singer Jiang's mental state was starting to crumble.

He even began to suspect if Lu Zhixian was playing him.

Could this song... really work?

Just as Jiang Cheng was about to crush his mouse, in another corner of the internet, several late-night music section uploaders were also boredly scrolling through the new song charts.

"Holy crap, brothers, today's new song chart is another chaotic mess."

The uploader "Lao Pao Music Review," a critic known for his sharp tongue, was live-streaming and ruthlessly critiquing the top songs on the chart.

"Look at this title, 'My Heart is Thumping.' Thumping my foot! I clicked in to listen, and it's all electronic, singing like they're freaking chanting scriptures."

"And this one, Li Zhili's 'Monologue Under the Stars.' Oh boy, we just heard the god-level live performance yesterday, and it's on the chart today? The tuner must have worked overtime overnight! They tuned a Parkinson's patient into a normal person—it's a medical miracle!"

The live stream chat was filled with "Hahaha" and "Old Cannon leaves no one alive."

"Boring, so boring." Old Cannon scrolled through the chart listlessly. "The music scene nowadays is just a pile of... huh?"

His mouse pointer stopped on an inconspicuous song.

"dispelling sorrow."

Singer Jiang Cheng, a name he had some impression of but was long past his prime.

Lyrics and composition by Lu Zhixian—never heard of him.

Cover... no cover.

"Oh, there are still such plain contestants these days?" Old Cannon was amused. "What's the intro say? Nothing? The more it's like this, the more excited I get!"

With the intention of finding fault, he clicked the play button.

The tens of thousands of viewers in the live stream also perked up their ears along with him.

The intro began.

A clean guitar arpeggio, without any flashy additions.

"Hmm?" The mockery on Old Cannon's face faded slightly. "This intro... is a bit interesting."

The chat also began to change.

[Huh, it's not electronic?]

[This guitar is quite comfortable.]

The next second, Jiang Cheng's voice, carrying a hint of raspiness, flowed out.

"When you walk into this place of joy, carrying all your dreams and desires..."

Old Cannon froze.

The chat in the live stream also experienced a momentary halt.

Jiang Cheng's voice was like an old friend who had experienced the world, slowly telling a story in your ear. No vocal gymnastics, no screaming, only a perfectly measured sense of fatigue and helplessness.

"Various faces with various makeup, no one remembers your appearance..."

Old Cannon subconsciously sat up straight.

Having been a music critic for so many years, his ears were very picky. The lyrics of this song were too piercing!

The chorus arrived without warning.

"One cup to the morning sun, one cup to the moonlight, awakening my aspirations, softening the cold window."

"So I can fly against the wind without looking back, unafraid of the rain in my heart or the frost in my eyes."

Old Cannon's mouth opened slightly.

He felt his scalp go a bit numb.

The live stream chat exploded.

[Holy crap! Who wrote these lyrics?!]

[WTF WTF WTF! I have goosebumps!]

[One cup to the morning sun, one cup to the moonlight... Damn, I'm a grown man, why do I feel like crying?]

[This is singing about me, right? Squeezing onto the subway every day for an 8 AM shift, being gaslit by the boss in an office building—isn't it all just for those damn aspirations?]

Old Cannon didn't look at the chat; his entire mind was captured by the song.

"One cup to my hometown, one cup to the distance, guarding my kindness, urging me to grow."

"So the road between north and south is no longer long, and the soul is no longer without a place to rest."

A series of eight "one cup to" lines progressed layer by layer, like eight heavy hammer blows striking the hearts of all listeners one by one.

Old Cannon's eyes turned red.

He remembered when he was young, also carrying a broken guitar and harboring music dreams when he came to Jingzhou, only to be battered and bruised by reality.

This song wasn't singing about Jiang Cheng.

It was singing about every ordinary person who struggles, feels exhausted, but still refuses to give up in life!

The song reached its end.

"One cup to tomorrow, one cup to the past."

"One cup to freedom, one cup to death."

"Forgive my mediocrity, dispel the confusion."

"Fine, after dawn there is always a messy exit; the soberest people are the most absurd."

When the last note fell, the entire live stream was dead silent.

A few seconds later, the chat erupted like a volcanic eruption, instantly flooding the entire screen!

[The soberest people are the most absurd... My defenses are down, brothers, I'm really broken!]

[One cup to freedom, one cup to death! This line is legendary!!! These lyrics, I'm willing to call them the ultimate finisher!]

[This is what you call music! This is a song meant for humans!]

[Uploader, don't just sit there, pin this song for me! Play it on loop! I want to hear it until dawn!]

Old Cannon snapped out of it. He looked at the screen, took a deep breath, and then slammed the table! He hit it so hard the microphone buzzed!

"Brothers!" His voice trembled with excitement. "Go listen to it! Now! Immediately! Right away! Push this 'dispelling sorrow' to the top for me!"

"If this song doesn't go viral, I, Old Cannon, will swallow this keyboard whole today!"

At the same time, it wasn't just "Lao Pao Music Review." Several music section uploaders who were still active late at night all recommended "dispelling sorrow" as if they had discovered a new continent.

The word of mouth began to ferment.

From a few live streams to hundreds of small groups, and then to thousands upon thousands of ordinary people awake late at night.

This song was like a depth charge dropped into a calm lake, setting off a massive wave!

On Weibo, the hashtag #OneCupToFreedomOneCupToDeath climbed to the bottom of the trending list at an incredible speed and was still climbing frantically!

And the culprit behind all this, Lu Zhixian, just rolled over, smacked his lips, and continued his dream of battling wits with wealthy older women.

It wasn't until early the next morning that he was woken up by a series of urgent system prompts.

[Ding! Detected that the song 'dispelling sorrow' has triggered large-scale emotional resonance. Popularity +10,000!]

[Ding! The song 'dispelling sorrow' has topped the NetEase Cloud New Song Chart. Popularity +50,000!]

[Ding! The hashtag #OneCupToFreedomOneCupToDeath has entered the top ten on Weibo's trending list. Popularity +100,000!]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host, cumulative popularity has exceeded 200,000! The 'Professional Level Arrangement' trial card (24 hours) is about to expire. Would you like to consume 200,000 popularity points to exchange for the permanent skill [Intermediate Music Guidance Talent]?]

Lu Zhixian opened his eyes dizzily, looking at the light blue panel scrolling before him. His brain stalled for three seconds.

Then, he sat up in bed with a start.

Holy crap?

It blew up?!

It just blew up like that?!

He didn't have time to think much. Looking at the trial card that was about to expire, he roared in his mind without hesitation: "Exchange! Exchange immediately!"

[Ding! Consuming 200,000 popularity points... Exchange successful!]

[Congratulations to the host, you now permanently possess Intermediate Music Guidance Talent!]

As the words fell, the massive stream of information that had merged into his body yesterday and felt like it could slip away at any moment completely settled and solidified, becoming a part of his body and soul.

Like an innate instinct.

Lu Zhixian slowly clenched his fist, feeling the crystal-clear music theory and inspiration in his mind.

It was done.

This life-sustaining skill had finally returned!

The arc of his mouth widened more and more, looking like a ghost.

Just then, his phone rang like a death knell, and two words jumped on the screen—Jiang Cheng.