Chapter 10 Shining Idol Scoops Up a Poor Little Guy

Yuyang Film and Television Base is a new film and television base that was built last year. It is not very large and the sets are relatively limited. Therefore, although it is very close to the capital, not many film crews choose to shoot there. On the contrary, some variety show crews that need to find special studio sets prefer to go there.

"Shining Idol" is one of them.

There aren't many production teams that are permanently based at the Yuyang Film and Television Base. As one of the most popular variety shows right now, the production team of "Shining Idol" is very generous and directly booked half of the base as the recording and performance venue for the new season of "Shining Idol".

This season of "Shining Idol" is about selecting a boy group. Among the participants are not only entertainment companies that are known as the "trainee factory", but also some idols who already have fans. They are commonly known as "recycled idols". Overall, the show has received a lot of attention.

As the saying goes, show fans are forever young and forever fooled. Although there are scandals every year such as vote rigging, scripted voting, inflated numbers, and favored favorites, show fans still pounce on the new season of the talent show like hungry wolves smelling meat.

Shi Yao's potential client was one of the contestants, but he wasn't a trainee from a well-known company, nor was he a popular idol with his own fans. He was just an unknown nobody, someone whose name was almost unknown, and who didn't even have a fan site administrator.

Promise.

Promise appears quite late in the book, in the latter half. At that time, he became a sensation after starring in a movie, but after his sudden fame, he did not continue acting. Instead, he participated in a singing and dancing variety show, which puzzled people in the industry.

Many people who disapproved of his rapid rise mocked him for not cherishing his reputation, thinking he was just envious of idols and wanted to take the traffic route. However, they were proven wrong by his performance on variety shows.

Promises are practically the complete formula for an idol's success.

On the variety show, everyone else except him was a professional idol, but he completely ripped off all of them. When the show ended and he agreed to give an interview, everyone realized that he had participated in a talent show a long time ago, namely "Shining Idol," which was suspended two years ago due to a vote-rigging scandal.

Netizens were surprised to find out which season Ying Xu participated in. Logically speaking, with his excellent skills and outstanding appearance, he shouldn't have been completely unknown in the variety show.

The result was astonishing; goodness, Promise barely appeared on screen!

What's even more amazing is that the variety show had a total of twelve episodes, and Yingxu wasn't eliminated until the second round, appearing in a full eight episodes. Furthermore, he received an A grade in both evaluations, yet his total screen time across those eight episodes was less than ten minutes.

He wasn't in the center position in either of the two performances, had no storyline, and was just a supporting character on stage. So, his actual screen time was only three minutes, and he was either a background character or a minor character. Even his speeches when he advanced and was eliminated were cut, and he wasn't given a chance to show his face at all.

Netizens exclaimed that it was outrageous.

In a behind-the-scenes interview, Yingxu revealed that the reason he was able to make it to the second round with very few shots was not because he was seen on stage, but because his family spent a lot of money to buy milk tickets.

Xiaocai Niu Yogurt is a sponsor of "Shining Idol". Every year, they produce special milk for the talent show. Buy a box and get a milk ticket. One milk ticket is worth fifty votes. Yingxu survived the first round by relying on her family's milk tickets.

But perhaps the number of votes required for the second round was too high, or perhaps the production team didn't want him to continue relying on milk votes to stay, he ultimately failed to survive the second round.

Although I knew long ago that "Shining Idol" was rife with behind-the-scenes manipulation and vote rigging, and that the debut lineup for each season except the first two was basically predetermined before the show started, the storylines during filming focused on the pre-arranged individuals, and the camera focused on the trainees from the partner companies. Those who didn't pay to get a chance to appear on screen were basically out of the question.

However, as a top-notch trainee who received straight A grades twice, Yingxu had already done his best in the show and achieved the best results he could. His strength was enough to stand at the top of all the trainees, and his appearance was no less than anyone else's, yet he still had difficulty even getting a chance to show his face. This variety show is really shockingly rife with behind-the-scenes manipulation.

So he thoroughly humiliated his fans and firmly established himself as a top star. Only then did netizens understand why he participated in a singing and dancing variety show despite everyone's objections after becoming famous. It turned out that it was to fulfill a dream he had when he was young. He instantly won the sympathy of countless netizens, and the producer of "Shining Idol," who had already been arrested and forced to work on a sewing machine, was also dragged out and criticized by netizens again.

Later, Ying Xu collaborated with the female lead, Qiao Xi, on a film. The two got along very well on set and became friends. Ying Xu later introduced Qiao Xi to many resources, contributing to her journey to becoming a three-time Golden Horse Award-winning actress.

The two were rumored to be dating because of their close relationship, and they had a lot of fans who shipped them as a couple. The male lead, Cheng Muzhi, regarded her as a strong rival, and the two sides' fans fought endlessly. In the end, it was only after Ying Xu himself said that he wanted to focus on his career and would not consider dating, and that he and Qiao Xi were just friends, that the rumors gradually subsided.

According to Shi Yao's calculations, she discovered that Ying Xu would be participating in "Shining Idol" this year. She specifically searched for it on the official Weibo account of "Shining Idol" and only felt relieved after confirming that she saw Ying Xu's name.

Nineteen years old... Wow, this kid is actually three years younger than her. She basically speed-read through the plot and didn't pay attention to details like age. She really didn't know that Ying Xu was so young.

Just like in the book, Yingxu in "Shining Idol" doesn't get much attention. His super topic only has a pitiful 300 fans, many of whom are experienced, simple-minded, and habitual fans who buy into the show in advance.

Shi Yao tried signing in and found that she was the seventh person to sign in today, which made her feel a pang of affection.

This kid's start is just too tragic, even her super topic has 3,000 followers!

Shi Yao refused to believe it and searched for Yingxu's name on Weibo and Green Petal Sweet Potato. She found that there were very few posts mentioning him, and they were mostly just reposting official photos. Unlike those popular players, there were a lot of leaked photos before they even entered the factory.

She went to admire the official photos of Yingxu, since these were some of his few releases, and almost got blinded by the sheer brilliance.

The official photos from "Shining Idol" aren't exactly bad, they're downright malicious. It's as if the retoucher was deliberately trying to prevent the photos from going viral, turning a handsome guy with excellent features, deep-set eyes, and beautiful eyebrows into a smooth beauty blender.

Her facial features were so straight and angular, her skin was so shiny it looked like she'd been smeared with lard from her grandma's house for Chinese New Year, and her lips were an incredibly bright red. Shi Yao dares to say that even Yingxu's parents wouldn't recognize her in this picture.

To verify her conjecture, she specifically compared the official photos of other trainees and discovered a pattern: the official photos of the pre-competition favorites, trainees from well-known companies, and the "royal family" members selected by the program team were all quite normal. They weren't particularly good-looking, but at least they didn't look like they had undergone plastic surgery.

However, the remaining trainees, especially those like Ying Xu who have no background or power but are good-looking and talented, all have strange and bizarre appearances in their official photos.

Currently, "Shining Idol" has released three episodes, including the theme song. The next episode will be the first public performance, and the one after that will be the first ranking announcement, which is where the original promise in the book was to be eliminated.

Shi Yao glanced at the theme song and, sure enough, Ying Xu only had three shots: two as background figures and one where only half her face was shown. Seven members of Class A had solo endings, but only two didn't, one of whom was Ying Xu. Ying Xu also didn't appear in the main episode where all the Class A members battled to choose their center position; it was as if she had vanished from the show.

Shi Yao was almost laughing out loud in anger. The production team was really cunning. They probably knew that with Ying Xu's qualifications, he would gain fans as long as he showed his face. So they simply didn't give him any chance to show his face. No matter how many A grades he got, they didn't show any of them in the main program. Instead, they threw them all into the extended clips for members.

How many people would actually watch the extended episodes for members?

This is supposedly the fairest and most popular talent show in China, and it's blatantly arrogant.

He had done his best, getting every possible A grade, giving his all on every stage, and practicing thousands of times just to achieve the best results and leave a good impression on the mentors and producers. He thought that this would get him screen time, but all he got was a cold, unedited cut.

How did Yingxu feel when she found out she was eliminated in the second round? She must have been very confused. She had received two A grades, but still couldn't win the audience's favor?

When he gets his phone and watches the full episode after he leaves the factory, he'll probably laugh out loud in disbelief. All his performance scenes have been cut, and his face is relegated to the background in various corners. Even his elimination speech has been completely cut out.

It was as if he had never been there.

Shi Yao propped her chin up and stared at the official Weibo account on the screen. Finally, she clicked her tongue in a sarcastic tone and then opened the official website to vote for Ying Xu.

What a poor little thing! Just wait, I'll help you reclaim the destiny that's rightfully yours!

...

Ying Xu, who was practicing diligently in the No. 1 studio of Yuyang Film and Television Base, suddenly sneezed. A hint of doubt appeared on the young man's handsome face. His fair face was flushed with a pinkish hue from dancing. He stared at himself in the mirror and then sneezed twice more.

Promise: ...

Could it be that he has caught a cold?

A note from the author:

"Thin gauze" is a homophone for "explode/kill," but I changed it to a similar-sounding word to avoid censorship.

My update schedule has been a bit irregular these past few days, I apologize to all my lovely followers. I'll be on the list tomorrow, and I'll resume regular updates from now on~