Chapter 7 Suspicion Arises
Chapter Summary: Stage Fancam Trending High
The original owner was signed to Xinghe Culture, a talent agency that had been operating for 5 years and was considered a semi-new or semi-old company in the industry. The boss was once the second-in-command of Xingyao Entertainment, but it is said that he left to start his own business due to differences in management philosophy.
With considerable resources at his disposal, many well-known artists followed him as soon as Xinghe was established.
The owner of Xinghe Culture has a keen business sense. After the company was established, he invested heavily in training trainees, just in time for the rise of talent shows. Over the past five years, several artists sent to participate in talent shows have achieved good results. Among them, Lin Xuan, the company's top female artist, became famous after participating in a talent show three years ago.
Unfortunately, the talent show industry has been in a slump for the past two years.
Like other talent agencies, Xinghe Culture has shifted its focus in training artists to become actors.
The reason why the original owner signed a contract to become an artist under Xinghe Culture is nothing new. She was discovered by a talent scout on the street and signed the contract without thinking. She wanted to earn money as soon as possible to get rid of her original family. She received a guaranteed salary of three thousand yuan per month, took two months of singing and dancing classes, and was sent to participate in the talent show "Chasing the Light Girl" with another girl.
Mu Zhi answered the phone with her agent.
"Hello? Is this Mu Zhi?"
The music on the other end of the phone was a bit loud, and the manager, Shang Jian, could be heard drinking heartily as he spoke.
Drinking at a KTV?
Mu Zhi responded indifferently, "President Shang."
Shang Jian is the talent agent director of Xinghe Culture. He manages the company's top female and male stars, as well as a new boy group and Mu Zhi.
"Muzhi, your stage performance tonight was great. I'm having dinner with President Qiu and President Lu; they're both your fans. Come on, say hello..."
Ha, is that all you wanted to do when you called yourself?
Mu Zhi frowned and moved her phone further away.
I listened to Shang Jian say "hello" for a long time on the other end of the phone.
Just before hanging up, she slowly said, "The signal is bad."
Shang Jian reluctantly apologized to the two bosses beside him and left the private room.
Once outside in the corridor, he asked, "Can you hear me now?" His tone was somewhat displeased. Shang Jian suspected that Mu Zhi had done it on purpose, but he also felt that a little girl like her wouldn't dare to play such a trick on him.
Pretending not to notice the manager's displeasure, Mu Zhi asked excitedly, "President Shang, did you see my second performance? Do you think I'll be able to debut as part of the group smoothly?"
After a moment's hesitation, the person on the other end of the phone replied, "Yes, I saw it."
"Didn't you rank fifth last time? If you make it into the group... keep performing well on the stages ahead. The company, I, and your fans will all support you."
The original owner was a complete novice in the entertainment industry, and Shang Jian might have glossed over the important points with his words.
But that didn't fool Mu Zhi.
At this hour, Shang Jian is at a karaoke bar with the boss she needs to curry favor with, so she definitely doesn't have time to watch the live broadcast of the second performance of "Chasing the Light Girl" tonight. As for why she received this call and was asked to greet two unfamiliar bosses, perhaps one of them saw her performance online and mentioned it, so Shang Jian took the opportunity to be obsequious.
The question of how Shang Jian, who had just debuted as a group, answered correctly gave Mu Zhi a general idea of what was going on.
It seems that Xinghe Culture and its agent Shang Jian do not value the original owner.
When the original owner was being criticized online as a "pretty face," a "useless branch," and trending on the hashtag #MuzhiSlackingOff#, the company was unwilling to spend money to remove the trending topic, did not engage in any public relations efforts, and did nothing at all.
Three months later, Green Apple, the rival platform of Owl Video, will usher in the fourth season of the boy group talent show. Xinghe Culture has a boy group that has been trained for more than a year and is led by Shang Jian. It is likely that they have placed their bets on the boy group. Sending "Mu Zhi" to the talent show is just to show his face and gain fans. There are no plans to debut him.
With only 5 debut spots available, other trainees' companies are eyeing the competition.
Galaxy Culture has no plans to secure debut spots for its artists.
Mu Zhi realized that if she wanted to go all the way, she had to defy fate herself.
He quickly hung up the phone, saying the production crew needed to collect his phone.
There are 30 minutes left.
Mu Zhi quickly logged onto Weibo and saw her name on the trending topics list, with #MuZhiDirectShot# ranking 6th.
My first thought was, "Did I misunderstand the company and my agent?"
Why didn't they handle negative public opinion for themselves before, but instead bought themselves positive trending topics on Weibo?
It immediately became a trending topic.
The top trending Weibo post is from an ordinary blogger with the nickname "Meizhi, grow into a big tree quickly." Half an hour ago, she posted a 3.5-minute video that received over 300,000 likes and over 100,000 reposts.
Clicking on this video will show Mu Zhi performing "Beautiful Skin" on stage tonight!
At the beginning of the video, unlike the live broadcast which only showed a close-up of Mu Zhi's head, this ordinary person recorded Mu Zhi's full back view as she posed. Perhaps it was due to the wind on stage, but the two red ribbons under the red gauze bow on the back of Mu Zhi's red top swayed gently, exuding a seductive sexiness.
A single silhouette is enough to be stunning.
This amateur's camera was incredibly steady. Every second of Mu Zhi's 3.5-minute stage performance was captured by the camera. She was beautiful and cool on stage, shining every second and carrying the whole audience!
During the live stream, some netizens questioned whether Mu Zhi was slacking off when the camera wasn't on her, and this video is the best proof of that.
Mu Zhi opened the comments section and looked at the top-rated comments:
"Didn't she get criticized for not doing her job and trend on social media before? After watching her fancam, I can tell she's quite skilled. This dance suits her so well! She has such a slim waist and long legs. She's so beautiful that I can't take my eyes off her."
The post received 20,000 likes and over 1,000 replies. Besides fans, some passersby also offered explanations, saying, "I watch the practice room's live stream. Mu Zhi has been practicing like a prodigal son lately, arriving first and leaving last every day, making the most of every minute to practice! She probably had a mental breakdown before and couldn't adjust."
"This season of 'Chasing the Light Girls' is a battle of the gods! Every contestant is incredibly strong, let's see who makes it! The competition among these beauties is so pleasing to the eye (doge)"
"This pretty girl's stage presence was absolutely stunning! I love it!"
"I believe Mu Zhi will make it into the group! Go for it!"
Seeing the praise and affirmation from netizens, Mu Zhi felt that her start in this world was not bad.
All the sweat I shed in the practice room this week was worth it.
The Weibo post was made by an ordinary fan and has nothing to do with the company; it wasn't a trending topic bought by the company.
Mu Zhi guessed that the popularity might be due to organic search results, or trending topics captured by the platform.
Or it could be the show's producers' doing; that's quite possible. Her performance went viral, a contestant who was criticized as useless and just coasting on stage made a stunning comeback. This is very inspiring publicity for the show, and the production team is the biggest beneficiary.
The trending topics also included #XiaXinyan50Spaceships#, #XiaXinyanStage#, and #BeautifulSkin#, showing that the program team put a lot of effort into marketing and promotion.
Mu Zhi clicked on the trending topic #Xia Xinyan's 50 Spaceships#.
The top trending Weibo post was a video posted by a marketing account with over 5 million followers. It recorded the screen of Xia Xinyan's wealthy fan giving her virtual gifts on the "Chasing the Light" live stream, and then added Xia Xinyan expressing her gratitude to this mysterious "fan" for their "charitable act" on stage. This led netizens to ship Xia Xinyan and the top-ranking fan as a couple in the comments section.
Mu Zhi recalled the entertainment industry novel, "The Boss Spends Money to Spoil Her Debut," which was tagged as #sweet romance#. She spent about a month reading it back then.
When I got to 80% of the way through the story, the trainee with the same name as her, "Mu Zhi," was killed off, and I was about to give up.
I still watched the rest of it in a rush.
I was completely dumbfounded after watching it.
The author abruptly ended the story after the female lead, Xia Xinyan, debuted as part of a girl group. Aside from a sweet moment with her collaboration with a celebrity senior on stage, the main focus was on her career. Meanwhile, the mysterious tycoon who lavishly spent millions on fan support, as the male lead, is the most mysterious and background-oriented male lead in history, a mere tool with only the code name "H" and no real name.
Two days before the novel was finished, Mu Zhi was nominated for "Best Actress" for the first time. I guess the author probably broke down and couldn't continue writing, so she gave it a bad ending.
It's just a novel, a fictional world. A few complaints about the bad ending are enough to move on.
Now, Mu Zhi finds herself in this virtual yet real world of the novel, and her current experiences are all part of reality. Stepping outside the novel, Xia Xinyan consistently trends on social media for every episode of her show, maintaining her top popularity, and she even has a mysterious tycoon protecting her...
The entertainment industry is a place of fame and fortune, and everything is inseparable from interests.
Mu Zhi felt that Xia Xinyan's "being praised" was by no means a simple Mary Sue heroine halo.
One can't help but wonder, is Xia Xinyan, who returned from overseas, really an individual trainee? The identity of that wealthy tycoon is also very mysterious and suspicious.
Just as I was lost in thought, my phone rang.
Mu Zhi was startled, and when she looked at the phone, she saw the note: "#CollectingPhone".
As soon as the call connected, the staff member asked where I was and that I needed to hand over my phone.
"......"
The next day.
The latest round of voting hasn't ended yet, so the results aren't out.
The production team arranged a #HappyMemories# themed recording for the 48 girls.
Morning schedule: Magazine photoshoot.
"Harper's Bazaar Magazine! A top-tier women's magazine!"
"Mommy, I'm going to be on the cover of Bazaar magazine!"
One in 48 magazine pages.
The girls were happy and excited!
Zhou Jingzhu's gaze swept over the faces that couldn't hide their excitement, then stopped on Mu Zhi's uninterested face. She walked over and asked curiously, "Aren't you excited about being on the cover of a top-tier magazine?"
Mu Zhi thought to herself: She had already achieved a two-round grand slam of covers for top-tier women's magazines. She had even been mocked for neglecting her main job because of the number of covers she had appeared on.
With so many people crowding together, they're just being used as props for a photoshoot; there's nothing to get excited about.
She could have easily put on a show of acting and pretended to be really looking forward to it, but she felt it wasn't necessary. When Zhou Jingzhu asked, she pouted and said, "There are too many people."
Zhou Jingzhu smiled and said, "I think so too."
The theme of this issue's cover shoot is #FlowerGirls#, and the photos were taken outdoors.
The outfits for Mu Zhi and the others were all prepared by the production team. The production team of "Chasing the Light Girls" also provided their own stylists and makeup artists to create sunburn makeup for the girls in accordance with the outdoor theme of the magazine.
Mu Zhi's long hair was styled into two bull horns, paired with sunburn makeup, and she wore a white spaghetti strap dress with a white lace ribbon around her neck.
A smile on his face, but utter despair inside.
Even when she first started shooting for magazines, she had never tried this kind of thing...
"Pure and lovely style! A different kind of beautiful Zhizhi."
Mu Zhi smiled slightly at Liu Cai's sincere praise.
Today, they were photographed by a female photographer named Cici. Zhang Mengyu, one of the trainees who knows a lot about the entertainment industry, stepped forward to explain to everyone that Cici is a very popular photographer in the industry right now. She has shot covers for A-list celebrities and many popular idols, and has many covers that have gone viral.
He can be considered a go-to photographer for popular content creators.
"Xia Xinyan, Liu Cai, Zhang Mengyu, Zhou Jingzhu, Mu Zhi..."
Cici first called out the five popular contestants, looked them up and down a few times, lingering her gaze on Mu Zhi's face for a second longer, and then arranged for them to stand in the middle. She then looked at the girls waiting to be chosen and pointed them out to their respective positions one by one...
Most of the girls were shooting a cover for the first time, and their shyness and nervousness were written all over their faces. Their limbs were stiff, and their poses were particularly unnatural.
Cici has a good temper and patience, and she patiently steps forward to demonstrate or directly correct the movements.
After the group photo was taken, the 48 girls were divided into several groups for further photoshoots.
Mu Zhi, Xia Xinyan, and Liu Cai were grouped together. Cici said that for the sake of a better picture, the short-haired and handsome Liu Cai should be in the middle, with Xia Xinyan and Mu Zhi on either side of him.
Before accepting this shooting job, Cici had already planned out the composition and positioning. When shooting group photos, she directly instructed the trainees to position and perform according to her own ideas. When shooting group photos, she tried to let the individuals find their own feeling.
On the green grass, Liu Cai sat casually, looking cool and stylish at the camera; Xia Xinyan, having no experience in shooting for the first time, put one hand on Liu Cai's shoulder and could only smile sweetly at the camera.
Mu Zhi bent her right leg, rested her face on her knee, and held a bouquet of flowers in her left arm. She looked completely relaxed, like someone who had just finished playing and was sitting on the ground to clear her mind. But her eyes were bright and sparkling, like seedlings sprouting from the soil in spring.
When taking the group photo, Cici noticed Muzhi.
Mu Zhi is hard to ignore in front of the camera. She has a stunning face and outstanding temperament. While waiting for others to make expressions and poses, Mu Zhi got bored and struck several poses to amuse herself. Each expression and pose has a strong sense of camera presence and expressiveness. Each one could be taken out as a solo cover and be a masterpiece.
Cici had the illusion that this newcomer was very professional in shooting the cover. She secretly admired Mu Zhi's beauty and expressiveness in shooting the cover. It wasn't that she was born with a gift from God, but that she was practically fed a meal!
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