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Would you pay a stranger to drop you, or your loved one, a goodnight text?

Some people would, which created a demand for a woman named Weng Bi Ying who sells such text messages at RMB 1 (S$0.21) per text in China.

Over 30,000 texts in 10 years

Known by her alias "Jiu Mei", the 35-year-old started selling these goodnight texts 10 years ago when she was haunted by loneliness and insomnia, according to Yang Tse Wanbao.

Since then, she has sent over 30,000 goodnight texts in total.

Weng shared that it takes time and effort to craft and send these texts.

That said, she does not rely on it to earn money and it's only a small part of her life.

So why does she continue with such a service?

Weng shared that she values the trust of these strangers and being able to provide warmth to them while alleviating her own loneliness.

How it all started

In 2012, Weng was working at an e-commerce company in Shenzhen.

As she had high expectations for herself and was unwilling to trouble others, she did not confide in her family and friends about her stress.

As a result, she was constantly troubled by insomnia.

One late night, Weng was surfing the Internet as she was unable to sleep.

She discovered there were many young people like her who were working in cities and unable to find someone to confide in.

Weng felt that strangers could be connected in this way as mutual confidantes and companions to each other.

Hence, Weng decided to open an online shop to sell goodnight texts in March 2012.

Priced at RMB 1 (S$0.21) per text, customers can order goodnight texts for a week, a month, or a year.

According to Weng, there were no similar online shops back then and she wasn't sure if she would have any customers.

She added that very few people were using SMS text messaging services at that time.

However, she chose to provide her service via SMS text as it feels like writing a letter.

To her surprise, she received orders not long after she opened her shop.

One person ordered one goodnight text without any consultation or sharing their own stories.

After Weng sent the text over, she did not receive a reply.

However, this order gave Weng confidence that there were people out there who "needed these goodnight texts".

Crafting the goodnight text

Weng told Yang Tse Wanbao that there's no fixed format for her goodnight texts.

Sometimes, she just texts "Goodnight" with a smiley face emoji. Sometimes, she includes an anecdote of life's little joys.

There were times when she would share her own story and mood at that time.

If the customer has a special request, she will craft the text according to their story, Weng said.

Every night at around 10pm, Weng starts her work.

Crafting a text message takes around five minutes, with her longest text message having over 200 Chinese characters.

Presently, the shop has around 40 orders every night.

During peak periods, she sends more than 300 text messages in a day.

She said she had sent over 30,000 goodnight texts in the past 10 years.

Most people buy a month's worth of texts, followed by a week's worth of text.

Less than 50 people purchased a year's worth of texts at one short in the past 10 years.

During the early years, she often suffered from insomnia and had more stamina as she was younger, which allowed her to send texts until after 2am.

These days, she no longer has the same stamina she did back then. Hence, she does not accept orders scheduled after 11:30pm.

Sharing about her customer base

Recently, Weng posted a short video titled "Recording 1,000 little things about goodnights".

The stories are short but speak volumes about life, Yang Tse Wanbao reported.

Here are some examples of the anecdotes:

• Someone bought a goodnight text for a crush but asked to be anonymous.
• In another scenario, a husband insisted on going on a road trip in Tibet despite his family's disapproval and his wife asked Weng to help her to send goodnight texts for 15 days. After the order was completed, the husband was still travelling.
• A mother purchased goodnight texts for her daughter who was undergoing a rebellious phase.
• A girl who has been caring for her ill mother and grandmother for half a year decided to buy goodnight texts to seek some warmth.

Others who subscribed to Weng's service include students who want to cheer themselves on, people with severe social anxiety and people who have fallen out of love, just to name a few.

The ratio of male and female customers is around the same, Weng said, with their ages typically falling below 40 years old.

Those above 40 are a number of mothers who buy for their children while those who buy for parents are very little, she added.

The customers who shared with her why they were buying goodnight texts gave Weng a chance to catch a glimpse of the person behind the order.

A woman, who was diagnosed with breast cancer and major depressive disorder, purchased a year's worth of goodnight texts for herself.

This was what she shared with Weng:

"During the period of chemotherapy, my body and mind have undergone intense pain. I only feel less sad when I receive Jiu Mei's goodnight texts every night. Subsequently, I accepted the hospital's plan and did a total mastectomy. I have no parents, no lovers, no children, and no breasts. In the four to five years of battling depression, I've thought of attempting suicide countless times. On my birthday in 2021, I wanted to buy a goodnight text from Jiu Mei and realised the shop was gone. I do not even have a stranger's concern anymore. In the past two days, I saw the top Internet searches and learnt that you've changed shops and see that you're still persisting and I also feel very encouraged. Actually, I had a recurrence last year and lived in fear every day. I wanted to buy myself a year of goodnight texts but was afraid I'll be gone at any moment. Hence, I bought them on a per-month basis. The day when I stop buying, it means I am no longer here anymore."

Weng explained that she had shut her shop during that time to open a cafe in Guangzhou.

Work was busier and her nighttime hours were not stable. Hence, she temporarily disabled took down all her online listings and planned to reopen the shop when "the time was right".

Weng shared that after shutting her online shop for a number of months, a regular customer of hers added her on WeChat and told her that she had purchased goodnight texts previously that had given his life positive meaning.

Weng felt moved and reopened her goodnight texts online shop again.

Many Chinese netizens who read about the stories that Weng shared online were captivated by these anecdotes with one even likening a simple message of goodnight to a lighthouse in the dark night of a lonely person.

Another remarked about the novelty of such a "commodity" and the demand for it shows how lonely people are these days that they have to resort to buying goodnight texts to comfort themselves.

Criticism against her shop

Weng's journey of selling goodnight texts did not only comprise positive feedback from her customers who felt comforted by her.

She admitted that she had endured "a lot of criticism" while selling goodnight texts for the past 10 years.

Many people view sending goodnight texts as something that is very easy with minimal costs and lambasted Weng for charging RMB 1 (S$0.21) for a text that costs RMB 0.01 (less than S$0.01).

Weng defended her pricing by elaborating that she has to adhere to the customer's stipulated timing to send the text.

She also customises additional lines of encouragement after the word "Goodnight", according to the individual customer's message, to offer more comfort.

Weng occasionally questions the meaning of her service when she receives negative feedback.

She revealed that she will choose not to read the reviews that are very scathing in order to continue her work more easily.

There were also times when the receivers of her goodnight texts did not respond positively to her goodnight texts. Some went to the extent of threatening to report Weng to the police if she sends the texts again.

As many senders wish to stay anonymous, such reactions from receivers can put her in a tight spot occasionally.

Seldom texts her own family

Weng started the goodnight text business when she was single and working at her first job after graduation.

Now, she's a mother and has a full-time job in project operations in Shenzhen.

As someone who sends goodnight texts to strangers, one may wonder if Weng has the habit of sending her loved ones goodnight texts.

Weng conceded that she seldom sends texts to her own family.

The last time she sent a text message to her father was three months ago, she disclosed.

She added that her family is very understanding and supportive in everything she does and will always remind her to monitor her health, eat well, stay warm, and avoid giving herself too much stress.

Weng said that she may have to close down this business eventually but for now, she's still bringing warmth and comfort to those who need these texts or need to send out these texts.

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Top images by Pradamas Gifarry on Unsplash (for illustrative purposes) and Yang Tse Wanbao.