Chapter 223 The Concert is Lively
Chapter 223
Lin Yuan: "..."
He now understands, to borrow a phrase from the internet, that he and Tang Yonglei are like an atomic bomb: they can do without it, but they cannot live without it.
"If a grown man is determined to kill, he can take on a missile single-handedly without being hurt," Lin Yuan remarked.
Agent: "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Although there were traces of Qin Qiu's hype everywhere, Lin Yuan's side was not affected at all.
“In his mind, you should have already withdrawn from the competition,” Feng Zeng said.
"You look down on me!" Lin Yuan snorted. "Can't you stop with these underhanded tactics and just compete head-on?"
"I'm afraid that won't work; it's path-dependent."
Feng introduced some of Qin Qiu's past marketing examples to Lin Yuan, and Lin Yuan realized that although he did not know the other party well, the other party was actually a marketing tycoon.
He did indeed rise from extras to leading roles, and he has worked with many renowned directors in the industry. However, even now, his fame is still far from sufficient.
The lead actors in low-budget films still don't leave a deep impression on the audience.
Qin Qiu's current level of recognition is essentially the result of hype.
“If he wins this award, he will definitely achieve great success,” Feng Zeng said. “The significance of this award goes beyond just winning it.”
Also, Qin Qiu single-handedly defeated two top male actors.
Recently, Qin Qiu's press releases have been comparing him to He Mian, while Lin Yuan has been completely ignored.
However, once the other party wins the award, Feng once guessed that Lin Yuan's name would most likely appear in his press release.
After all, the other party did indeed "defeat" Lin Yuan in winning the award.
Lin Yuan: "...Wow."
Feng Zeng may have been overthinking things, but in Lin Yuan's career, the agent has indeed experienced a lot. Many things in the industry have nothing to do with Lin Yuan, but they are enough for the agent to gain relevant experience.
“But that’s all he can do.” Feng Zeng lowered his voice, also not taking Qin Qiu seriously. “Just because his popularity has increased doesn’t mean that the production company will necessarily want to use him.”
Lin Yuan only ventured into the film industry after gaining enough audience appeal, which is the exact opposite of Qin Qiu's path.
Film actors may look down on actors who have gradually built their popularity through television dramas, but from an investor's perspective, these actors are quite popular.
At least the audience is willing to pay for them.
But audiences might not be willing to buy into the case of someone like Qin Qiu.
Qin Qiu published numerous articles criticizing He Mian, and He Mian's management company, not to be outdone, responded with a few counterattacks.
This opportunity is important to Qin Qiu, and it is equally important to He Mian.
The two sides traded blows, and He Mian's agency was quite cautious when issuing press releases, because if they weren't careful, Qin Qiu's side could portray He Mian as someone who likes to bully others.
In terms of status, He Mian is certainly superior to Qin Qiu.
He Mianhong's tenure was longer than Qin Qiu's, so relatively speaking, he encountered more hostility.
"It's getting more and more lively," Lin Yuan remarked.
But the most exciting moment was when the two clashed to a fever pitch, and Ye Liuchuan announced his termination of his contract with his agency.
After Wink disbanded, Ye Liuchuan's career progressed uneventfully, falling far short of his own expectations.
From Lin Yuan's perspective as an insider, his agency has been more than kind to him. They've given him all the resources he needed, and when Ye Liuchuan got into trouble, the company did everything they could to help him out.
From Ye Liuchuan's perspective, however, it was the management company that hindered his development.
He has almost no fans now, but he still has some supporters who have regarded him as their idol since "The Road to Tomorrow".
Ye Liuchuan's determination to leave Wink and disband the group stemmed not only from his own desire to go solo, but also from the expectations of his fans.
But Ye Liuchuan did not live up to this expectation.
In the eyes of these fans, Ye Liuchuan was also held back by his agency.
Fans largely approved of Ye Liuchuan's contract termination.
At this very moment, Ye Liuchuan revealed the various unfair treatments he had suffered since signing with the company, including having his desired roles and endorsements rejected by the company.
And—a big shot in the agency oppressed and bullied Ye Liuchuan.
Ye Liuchuan did not name names, but only mentioned them vaguely.
When Wink disbanded, he was one of the most popular members in the group, had a good reputation, and had film and television resources. How did he end up in his current situation?
Ye Liuchuan played the victim card.
Lin Yuan, upon seeing the news: "..."
"In my memory, his agency was quite powerful, wasn't it?" Lin Yuan remembered it very clearly.
“He used to be quite helpful,” Feng Zeng said. “So he turned his conflicts outward, targeting you.”
"Later, his agency stopped supporting him, but in that situation, his agency was already doing quite well. He had lost popularity, was getting older, and had a limited body of work. Isn't it normal for the agency to promote someone else?"
Feng couldn't help but sigh, "In the end, Ye Liuchuan is still Ye Liuchuan."
In Feng Zeng's eyes, Ye Liuchuan and Xie Yu belong to the same type.
No matter how much the management company or fans do for them, they will be very dissatisfied and harbor countless grievances if the things they do not meet their requirements.
They never remember the good things done to them, but they remember the bad things done to them.
It's impossible for celebrities to avoid conflicts with their management companies when they terminate their contracts, so playing the victim is understandable.
In any case, Ye Liuchuan is just a signed artist, and his future is in the hands of his management company.
The problem is that Ye Liuchuan chose a rather clever time to express his dissatisfaction.
This happened precisely during the period when Qin Qiu was intensively criticizing He Mian in his press releases.
Ye Liuchuan, an artist from the same company, dealt He Mian a fatal blow.
Who else could be the big shot Ye Liuchuan was talking about who oppressed and bullied him?
His agency only has He Mian left as a big name.
For a time, He Mian was attacked from two sides.
Even if his fans try their best to prove that Ye Liuchuan is lying, He Mian's status is indeed higher than Ye Liuchuan's. With He Mian's abilities, bullying Ye Liuchuan would be a piece of cake.
The netizens' logic is simple: He Mian has the ability to bully = He Mian will definitely bully.
Lin Yuan: "..."
He felt that He Mian had also had a tough time.
Lin Yuan had dealt with Ye Liuchuan before, so he found the logic of Ye Liuchuan's fans quite peculiar.
It seems he said something like he bullied Ye Liuchuan back then.
In short, Lin Yuan is less famous than Ye Liuchuan, so Lin Yuan bullies Ye Liuchuan; He Mian is more famous than Ye Liuchuan, so He Mian bullies Ye Liuchuan.
Ellipsis is Lin Yuan's native language.
"It's mine too."
"So what do you plan to do?" Lin Yuan asked curiously.
"Don't worry." He Mian didn't take it to heart at all. "Those outside are hard to deal with, but it's easy to deal with our own people."
In Lin Yuan's memory, Ye Liuchuan was a person with a lot of scandals—and that was indeed the case.
Even an outsider like him knew this, so the management company must have known it even better.
A few days later, Lin Yuan saw a flood of negative information about Ye Liuchuan.
Lin Yuan's understanding of Ye Liuchuan was still based on the period of "Tomorrow's Star". He and Tian Yi both knew that Ye Liuchuan was not a good person and could be described as an imposter.
As it turned out, his understanding of Ye Liuchuan was still too superficial.
If the other party's agency handles the process, the reality revealed will be... even more exciting.
In short, Ye Liuchuan is only one step away from becoming a legal expert.
What exactly gave him the courage to launch the first attack?
Lin Yuan and Tian Yi started playing with crickets.
It's not appropriate to discuss this with He Mian. It's obvious that He Mian's agent was involved. It would be too hurtful for Lin Yuan to just ask him directly.
He Tianyi said it was different.
Tian Yi doesn't work in the acting circle, and he hasn't participated in many variety shows in the past two years. He's mostly been attending music festivals and touring.
The two of them, like country bumpkins, commented on Ye Liuchuan's outrageous moves on their phones.
Ye Liuchuan had worked at the agency for many years; the other party had signed with this company when "The Rising Star" was filmed.
His agency started leaking information about him from the time of "Star Road to Tomorrow".
The mystery that Lin Yuan had been living since his time travel has finally been solved—Wink's debut rights were indeed bought.
At that time, Ye Liuchuan's popularity was also in the top eight, so there was no problem with him debuting successfully. Even so, in order to ensure his debut and to get a good ranking on the debut night, his agency provided benefits to the "Tomorrow's Star" program team.
Even for someone like Ye Liuchuan, whose ranking is consistently high, his agency has spent money on him.
Did Xie Yu, who was always outside the top 10 but suddenly jumped into the debut group, really debut "based on her own strength"?
At this point, it's too late to fool the audience.
Or rather, many people were already aware of this on Wink's debut night.
Even when Lin Yuan experienced a slight resurgence in popularity, and a group of people mocked him for trying to piggyback on Wink's fame, many people probably knew that Lin Yuan indeed deserved a debut spot.
Back then, Wink had many fans, and Xie Yu also had many fans.
The regrets and tears Lin Yuan shed on the night of his debut... are things that can be easily overlooked.
It's simply because he's not famous enough.
No one will stand up for him.
Now, justice has surfaced only because Ye Liuchuan and his management company have fallen out, and only because—the once wildly popular Wink members no longer have many supporters.
"For Lin Yuan, and for the members who lost their chance to debut for various reasons, this was a cruel thing that changed their lives."
"The truth has finally come out."
"Many people say that Lin Yuan has become famous, so it doesn't matter, but who will compensate Lin Yuan for the hardships he suffered back then?"
Lin Yuan no longer needs Wink's popularity or pity, but fans still feel sorry for him.
Even after losing those years, Lin Yuan can still stand at the pinnacle of the entertainment industry.
But what if Lin Yuan had a few more years of opportunity? With the other party's strength, he would only have developed even better.
Everything in the entertainment industry is uncertain. Lin Yuan's current strength and honors are more than enough for his fans. For him, this is probably the best time.
However, the fans love Lin Yuan.
Since you love him, you naturally feel that he could have had more opportunities and that he could have been better. This is a sense of indebtedness that arises unconsciously during the process of following a star.
Even if Wink debuts successfully, Lin Yuan might not necessarily be better off—after all, everyone can see that the development of the other members who debuted with Wink is only mediocre.
But that's what fans think; they expect Lin Yuan to get more.
But regret still occurred.
What Ye Liuchuan, Xie Yu, and the others wasted is a treasure that contestants who failed to debut could never find, no matter how hard they tried.
They couldn't compensate anyone either.
Besides the information related to "The Rising Star", Lin Yuan also learned that he was the one who revealed that He Mian had been in contact with "The Powerful Minister", that he was the one who relentlessly attacked the female lead during the filming of a certain drama, and that his agency had been spreading negative information about a retired male actor so that he could access certain resources.
And... a number of scandals.
Lin Yuan: "I can't tell."
"Tsk." Tian Yi sighed, "When Wink was still together, I participated in the same program as them. They acted as if they didn't know me. Later, when we went on stage, the host cued that we were contestants from the same program. Ye Liuchuan said that I was his best friend."
"Are his friends really that worthless?" Tian Yi couldn't help but roll his eyes. "My god, now that I think about it, I'm glad I was just a friend he was pretending to be, not a real friend."
"His true friends all seem to have pretty bad luck."
Lin Yuan and Tian Yi were watching the leak from the agency at the same time. In the leak, it was revealed that those who had been ruthlessly scammed by Ye Liuchuan were indeed his friends.
He doesn't cheat others, he only cheats his friends.
"Tsk tsk." Lin Yuan couldn't help but sigh, "This farce will probably only end after the awards ceremony."
Fortunately, he wasn't a key player this year.
There are quite a few voices online sympathizing with Lin Yuan, but for Lin Yuan, whether it's related to "Tomorrow's Star" or Wink, it all seems like something from the last century.
"It doesn't seem like things will calm down anytime soon," Lin Yuan said, looking up at the sky. "Isn't it unnecessary to argue like this?"
“It doesn’t matter to you, but other people don’t think so.” Feng Zeng rubbed his fingers together. “Okay, I really should find something to do.”
"What?"
"Just wait and see," the agent said casually. "There's no point in making a scene like this."
Ye Liuchuan was essentially defeated by his agency and didn't say anything more. However, Feng Zeng also didn't like Lin Yuan's past being brought up.
When Lin Yuan first became famous, he might still need these sympathy votes.
But now, Lin Yuan no longer needs it.
He got to where he is today because of a lot of hard work and a lot of luck. It has nothing to do with "Tomorrow's Star" and it's not because "Tomorrow's Star" gave up on Lin Yuan that Lin Yuan got his current status.
Who should thank "Stars of Tomorrow"?
At least the agent never had that idea.
Feng Zeng didn't tell Lin Yuan what he was going to do, but a few days later, Lin Yuan found out the answer—
The title is "When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits," and the content is: "Qin Qiu and He Mian, you two, stop fighting! If you keep fighting, the judges will get annoyed and give the award to Lin Yuan and Tang Yonglei. What should we do then?"
The report also interviewed a senior judge from one of the three major awards. This judge clearly stated that the nominee's performance during the awards season was also a criterion for evaluating the final selection.
The three major awards naturally value acting skills, but those who are nominated in the final round are all actors whose acting skills meet the standards. Under these circumstances, actors should try their best to show the true, good and beautiful side of acting.
After all, no one would award a prize to a villain.
The word “commendation” has both the meaning of “to show” and the meaning of “to recognize”.
The world is finally quiet.
Lin Yuan silently gave his agent a thumbs up, praising the agent for doing a good job.
"Where did you find the actors?" Lin Yuan asked curiously.
“I didn’t find him, it’s true.” Feng mentioned the name of a well-known director in the industry. “When he was having dinner with me, he said that if the other two fought too hard, he would rather give you his vote.”
Lin Yuan: "Oh ho."
“They have no reason to lie to you,” Feng Zeng said. “In short, the trouble is finally over.”
Lin Yuan was able to settle down and focus on his own affairs.
"Actually, I wasn't affected too much."
"Yes, yes, I know." The agent waved his hand dismissively.
The concert preparations are finally complete. Sponsors have been found, the venue has been booked, the date has been set, and the ticket sales date has been confirmed. Lin Yuan knows all the songs in the albums "1895" and "009" inside and out.
"Do you think... what if no one pays any attention when the invoices are issued?"
Feng slapped Lin Yuan on the head: "You have to drive even if nobody cares, understand?"
"Yes, sir." Lin Yuan saluted. "And, you've been hitting harder and harder lately."
"There's nothing I can do. The celebrities I work with are just too annoying. What can I do?"
...
The concert's theme was "Adventure." Lin Yuan read the ticket announcement, which contained his reflections and insights on his singing career.
Looking back, it's a bit embarrassing to say, since he only released two albums, what's the point of calling it a "look back"?
However, Lin Yuan did have many insights.
For this concert, Lin Yuan chose indoor venues, after all, he is a new generation singer, and not quite the same as those singers who can afford to open stadiums.
But Lin Yuan didn't deliberately choose a small venue; he chose the largest indoor venue in the city.
This makes it easier for fans to snag tickets, and the sound quality in indoor venues is usually quite good.
Even if no one watches, Lin Yuan can afford the losses.
Although it was his first time holding a concert, Lin Yuan didn't intend to be careless. He chose the best team, and the stage design, visual effects, and accompaniment were all top-notch. Lin Yuan basically chose the same setup as other top singers in the industry who hold concerts in stadiums.
He was mentally prepared for this to be both the first and the last time, but deep down, Lin Yuan naturally hoped for a next time.
He was also motivated by this to write songs.
When the original owner first transmigrated, she sang in a noisy shopping mall in a county town. Gradually, she moved to the stage of music variety shows, and then to New Year's Eve concerts and music festivals.
Now, the concert is here too.
Even Lin Yuan himself hadn't expected to get to this point, but he took it one step at a time and steadily made it through. There were many difficulties along the way, but overall it went relatively smoothly.
On the day tickets for the first concert went on sale, Lin Yuan thought he would try to grab a ticket himself.
If I grab it first, I'll know whether the fans are willing to buy it.
"Have more confidence in yourself." The agent punched him again.
"Don't do that, I'll become stupid."
"It's okay if you become stupid, I'll take care of you."
Lin Yuan looked touched.
"What I mean is, to scam all your money and then support you."
Lin Yuan silently rolled his eyes at him.
As a result... Lin Yuan had been waiting since the one-minute countdown began. He watched the second hand complete a full circle, and the ticket-grabbing button was finally clickable. He pressed it with lightning speed, and then... nothing happened.
The main problem was that Lin Yuan lacked experience in buying tickets. He didn't enter his personal information and contact details beforehand, and by the time he clicked to enter them, the tickets had already been snatched up by others.
"Are they that sought after?" Lin Yuan exclaimed. "I even managed to snag a ticket for the top floor."
"That means you're very popular." The agent smiled slightly. "That means you don't have to worry about losing money."
"Even the inner field tickets are sold out." The agent picked up Lin Yuan's phone. Two minutes had passed since the tickets went on sale, and both the inner field and the stands tickets were completely sold out.
The ticket prices for Lin Yuan's concert this time are not low, comparable to those of other top-tier singers.
An inner-field ticket cost four figures, far more expensive than a music festival ticket.
"That's awesome." Lin Yuan blinked. "I'm talking about myself."
“You really should have a clearer understanding of yourself,” the agent said. “You’re still popular, don’t underestimate yourself, and those two albums were pretty good too.”
Within half an hour of tickets going on sale for the "Adventure" concert, it was trending on Weibo and Xiaohongshu.
"Who on earth managed to snag a ticket?! I set an alarm to try and get one, but I didn't get a single one!!! I'm so angry!! I'm at odds with all the other fans who managed to get tickets!"
"They said they created a seven-person friend group for me to help them grab tickets, and two of my friends managed to get them, hahaha, so happy!!"
"??? Is the person upstairs mocking me for not having friends?"
"Isn't it supposed to be easy to grab? I just grabbed it casually. I don't want to brag, but I just grabbed it casually."
"Assassinate the person upstairs!!! You wait upstairs, I'll come down the internet cable and beat you up!"
Sang Zi breathed a huge sigh of relief.
She was very lucky and managed to snag a ticket. In fact, aside from one time when she had bad luck buying a magazine, she was almost always guaranteed to get tickets for Lin Yuan's events.
She had even met Lin Yuan in person, after all.
Most people don't have her kind of luck.
But Sangzi felt that tickets for the "adventure" shouldn't be so hard to get. In her opinion, Lin Yuan was more famous as an actor, and as for being a singer... that was just a side job for him.
The scene was indeed very nice.
Her friend, who wasn't Lin Yuan's fan but still managed to snag concert tickets with her, told her: "First of all, '009' is quite popular, and it even boosted the popularity of '1895'."
"And then, you don't know, Lin Yuan's performance at the Fence Music Festival went viral, and his performance clips are all over video websites!"
Seeing Sang Zi's surprised expression, her friend sent her the address: "This is one of the video websites. In the music section, Lin Yuan's video has the second highest number of views all year."
"Do you even understand what it means to be second in the entire year?"
"This also includes live performances by K-country groups and overseas singers, but this year, the most popular song is Lin Yuan's 'Neon.' At least in China, I feel that he is the most popular."
Sangzi: "As expected of my fan, that's awesome."
"Actually, Lin Yuan was already very awesome. He didn't become awesome just because he became your patron."
“Don’t worry about the details.” Sangzi watched the video. “I know his live performance was very popular.”
But I never imagined it would be this intensely hot.
The video blogger clearly added a filter to Lin Yuan, making him appear even more popular.
The third most-watched show of the year happened to be a boy group from South Korea.
The other person is very handsome, Sangzi knows that. She occasionally browses gossip forums. Although she doesn't know much about the K country boy group and doesn't follow them, she knows that this is the god-like visual group in the eyes of fans.
But comparing them, Lin Yuan, who has the face of an actor, is more pleasing to the eye.
At least his bone structure is smooth, so whether he performs during the day or in the evening, Lin Yuan's face is small and not limited by the venue at all.
The group behind him, however, seemed to get less screen time.
Sang Zi didn't mean to offend anyone; she just had a strong bias towards Lin Yuan.
In short, Sang Zi understood that Lin Yuan had achieved considerable fame not only as an actor but also as a singer.
That's why tickets to their concerts are so hard to get.
"Sometimes I really wish he wasn't so popular," Sang Zi sighed.
Her friend had known her for a long time and knew that Sangzi had been a fan of Lin Yuan since "Tomorrow's Tomorrow".
Back then, Sangzi would say every day that she had discovered a treasure and hoped that the other person would become even more famous.
She became popular, but then she wasn't satisfied.
Tsk, the fans' feelings are so complicated.
With less than a month between ticket sales and the official performance, Sangzi eagerly awaited the event every day; she had never felt that a month could be so long.
During this time, Sangzi bought concert necessities online and also managed to snag tickets for a second show—she got a seat in the stands for the first show, but managed to get an inner field seat for the second.
Because many fans missed out on tickets in the first show, the competition was even fiercer in the second show. Sangzi felt that her typing speed was even faster than in the first show, but by the time she paid, the tickets were already sold out.
This was a month of intersection, and also a month in which she felt happy.
The thought of going to the concert made her feel really good, and she felt like she had something to look forward to in her life.
Lin Yuan's concert is her only motivation this month.
She didn't want anything else, she just quietly waited for that day to come.
On the forums she frequents, some netizens are asking if Lin Yuan's concert will be a poor success, since it's his first time performing.
No one can give a definite answer.
But Sang Zi guesses it will be fine.
This is the one thing she's most certain of after falling for Lin Yuan, and it's also the happiest thing about being a fan of Lin Yuan.
She always harbors hope, not anxiety.
This confidence came from Lin Yuan, her idol.
Fans just need to look forward to it; Lin Yuan will take care of the hard work and the tough part.
And so, Sangzi arrived at the concert venue.
The stadium may not be as impressive as the sports stadium, but the moment it was full, Sangzi still deeply felt the meaning of the word "massive".
Her heart was pounding, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously curved into a smile.
She felt happy throughout her journey from the subway to the venue.
At 7 p.m. sharp, before it was completely dark, the lights in the stadium suddenly went out, followed by a deafening roar of screams.
Sangzi also joined in the screaming.
The first thing to play was the melody of "Hibernation," a soft and clear voice that seemed to be singing in her ear.
The moment she looked up, an angel descended.
Lin Yuan slowly descended from the sky onto the stage, causing the lights to explode and fireworks to ignite.
The entire scene was illuminated by the light emanating from Lin Yuan.
Sangzi tried to sing along to "Hibernation," but tears welled up in her eyes first.
Lin Yuan, who had been saying he wanted to hold a concert, finally has his own concert!
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Author's Note: [doge][doge] Here it comes!!!
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