Vivianne's thread, "Has Anyone Heard This Song Before?", was posted at 11:10 p.m. in the [Pop Music] section of Hong Kong Island Forum. In just a little over half an hour, it had already climbed onto the forum homepage's trending threads list, with over 20,000+ views and more than 1,000+ replies.
Although numbers like these were hardly worth mentioning compared to the hottest threads on some major mainland forums, on the Hong Kong Island Forum, this already counted as a viral thread.
A large part of the credit belonged to [Three Bowls of Wine] and his venomous remarks. Quite a few forum members were so enraged by his mocking comments that they lashed out with endless profanity, forcing moderators to personally step in, delete comments, and issue warnings.
Yet even after midnight, the thread's popularity showed no sign of slowing down; in fact, it only grew hotter, with more and more people joining the discussion.
As the original poster, Vivianne clearly hadn't expected her thread to trigger a full-scale "war." More than an hour after posting, she timidly asked [Three Bowls of Wine] who exactly this handsome guy was.
Only then did everyone realize that after arguing for so long, they still didn't even know who the person in question actually was.
For a girl, [Three Bowls of Wine] was obviously a bit more polite.
He replied:
"This handsome guy who played and sang by himself is called Lu Chen. He's the leading figure among the new generation of Mainland pop artists. In just a little over a year since debuting, he has already released two albums and filmed two TV dramas. Not only did he break viewership records domestically, but he also achieved tremendous success in South Korea."
"So when I say you people are ignorant, I mean it. You spend all day clinging to Hong Kong Island Forum and blogs, completely unaware of how exciting the outside world is. The Mainland's entertainment industry has long since surpassed Hong Kong's. Whether in pop music or film and television, it's overflowing with talent, and its market size and growth potential are many times stronger than Hong Kong's!"
This reply from [Three Bowls of Wine] was like a massive boulder crashing into a deep pond, instantly stirring up countless ripples and waves. Within just a few minutes, a flood of responses poured in.
Some were surprised, some were impressed, but far more were furious, some even denounced him as a "Hong Kong traitor."
His words had truly hit a nerve.
Not just for the people in the thread, but for many Hong Kong people in general.
The uncomfortable truth was that the Mainland was now surpassing Hong Kong in nearly every aspect, while most Hong Kong people were still immersed in memories of past glory, unwilling to properly acknowledge the Mainland's development and progress, and still clinging to their former sense of superiority.
This social atmosphere was reflected in the media as well. Whether on local TV stations, newspapers, or magazines, coverage of the Mainland was overwhelmingly focused on politics. Social and entertainment news from the Mainland was extremely rare; when it did appear, it was usually limited to major disasters or tragic events, other topics simply weren't considered interesting by most Hong Kong audiences.
As a result, when Lu Chen, who had only debuted a little over a year ago, arrived in Hong Kong for the first time, the vast majority of people neither recognized him nor knew anything about his background.
Clearly, [Three Bowls of Wine] was not among them.
Facing a tidal wave of attacks, he remained as steady as a mountain and calmly posted another reply:
"Some people are always pretending to be asleep, so let me tell you about Lu Chen's achievements on the Mainland. His first album, 'You Who Sat Next to Me', has already surpassed 2 million copies in total sales. His second album, 'Ordinary Road', is approaching 3 million, with a strong chance of reaching the 5-million Crown achievement!"
"And that's not all. The album 'Flower Woman', which Lu Chen personally produced for his girlfriend Chen Fei'er, has already sold over 5 million copies. The TV drama 'Full House', which he created and starred in, achieved a 42% ratings share in South Korea!"
"Tell me yourselves, which Hong Kong singer today can match achievements like these? Which Hong Kong TV drama exported to South Korea has ever achieved ratings like that?"
"And if you don't believe me, go search it up yourselves on Mainland search engines. Don't tell me you can't read simplified Chinese!"
Hong Kong's commonly used languages included Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. Compared to the past, far more people could now speak Mandarin, but Hong Kong's written language had always retained traditional Chinese characters and had not followed the Mainland's reform to simplified Chinese.
The debate between traditional and simplified Chinese had existed for a long time. Hong Kong people were generally stubborn in their belief that traditional Chinese was the "authentic" form, which was also one of the major reasons many Hong Kong netizens refused to browse Mainland websites, even though many Mainland websites and forums already offered automatic switching between simplified and traditional Chinese text.
With [Three Bowls of Wine] throwing out such a heavy punch, a lot of people instantly fell silent.
A combined 5 million sales from two albums, plus another album he produced for someone else also exceeding 5 million, if this had been Hong Kong twenty years ago, when Hong Kong's music industry enjoyed both the local market and the huge Mainland market, top Hong Kong singers could probably have competed with those numbers.
But now?
Better not even joke about it.
Everyone knew that Hong Kong's pop music scene was in serious decline these days. The new generation was lacking strength, veteran stars were running out of creative steam, and most importantly, Hong Kong had lost access to the vast Mainland market. Nowadays, if a new album could sell a few hundred thousand copies, it was already considered a major success.
Moreover, singers and entertainers no longer relied on album sales to make money. Instead, they all followed the so-called "pan-entertainment" route. Meanwhile, many of the excellent songwriters and composers from the past had either faded away or retired, leaving fewer and fewer original creators.
There hadn't been a truly classic Cantonese pop song in a very long time.
Outstanding songs still existed, of course, but compared to Hong Kong pop music's former golden age, the gap was enough to make people sigh in regret.
Lu Chen's self-accompanied performance of "Favorite in Life" was undoubtedly a refreshing surprise. To be fair, Hong Kong's pop music scene hadn't produced a better work than this in recent years.
But why was its singer an artist from the Mainland?
Quite a few forum members, whose heads had grown hot from all the arguing, finally calmed down and began rationally discussing the song itself rather than endlessly debating the differences between Hong Kong and the Mainland.
The night was long, and some people had no desire to sleep.
Meanwhile, Lu Chen was sleeping soundly in his new Hong Kong home, all the way until six in the morning.
After washing up, he habitually changed into his workout clothes and running shoes before leaving the apartment. Outside, he jogged along the seawall by Repulse Bay Beach, then found a secluded, deserted spot to practice martial arts and footwork.
By the time he returned, drenched in sweat, he stopped at a convenience store not far from the apartment and bought a hot breakfast to take home.
While paying, his eyes suddenly landed on the newspaper rack standing beside the cashier.
Among the dazzling, flashy newspapers hanging there, one photo looked strangely familiar.
These newspapers were all displayed unfolded in thick stacks. The one Lu Chen noticed was called Bolo Daily. The photo was printed prominently on page two, paired with an eye-catching headline:
"Shu Jing's Late-Night Rendezvous with Mysterious Handsome Guy, Suspected New Romance!"
Damn it!
Lu Chen couldn't help cursing under his breath.
The photo was clearly from last night, after he and Shu Jing had finished drinking coffee, just as he was seeing her off into her car.
He had actually been secretly photographed by paparazzi.
Hong Kong paparazzi truly lived up to their fearsome reputation!
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 60 chapters on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395