The King of Song

The King of Song is a long urban entertainment novel by the web author Congbao Yangcong. It was serialized on Qidian.com starting in 2016 and completed in June 2023, totaling 796 chapters and about 3.27 million characters. The story takes place in 2007 in a parallel world, where a "Great Hua Dynasty" exists and the Chinese pop music scene has long been in decline due to rampant piracy and the impact of the Internet's free-content model; no music genius capable of defining an era has emerged. The protagonist, Lin Zaishan, was originally a musician with formal conservatory training. After transmigrating, he enters the body of a 37-year-old down-and-out rock singer who shares his name. The original Lin Zaishan became famous nationwide at 16 with the rock song "Wheat Field" and was hailed as a rock prodigy, but he then indulged in pleasure, exhausted his talent, served time in prison, and ended up impoverished, living with his 19-year-old daughter Baige. After merging with the original owner's memories, the reborn Lin Zaishan feels both the original owner's guilt and love for his daughter and rekindles his own musical ideals. Drawing on the musical works he accumulated in his previous life, he starts over in this dormant market, beginning by singing and playing "It's Not as Bad as You Think" from a hospital bed. He goes on to write songs, enter competitions, form a band, and enter the industry, gradually rebuilding his relationships with his daughter, friends, and peers, and completing his transformation from a fallen prodigy to a legendary King of Song. The book drives its plot with one song after another, linking music, characters' emotions, and the ups and downs of urban life—a typical "rebirth and song-copying" entertainment wish-fulfillment novel.