Chapter 22: The First Step in Abusing Fans Without Gaining Them.
Shi Yao squatted by the roadside outside Factory No. 1 and waited for more than an hour without seeing a single person come out. If she hadn't been able to see that there were still lights on inside, she would have already taken her suitcase and gone home.
Bored with waiting, Shi Yao started urging the system to use its functions to secretly check if Yingxu was in the practice room in Factory No. 1, where the lights were still on.
However, the system firmly rejected the request.
“Host, I don’t have that function, and even if I did, I can’t do this, this is…”
"I know it's against the rules," Shi Yao said weakly. "Sigh, I just want to know if my waiting is worthwhile, if I can wait for the person I want to wait for. Oh well, I'll keep waiting."
Seeing Shi Yao's listless appearance, and remembering how busy she had been on the trending topics yesterday, and how she had rushed from Haishi to Yuyang today without even a break, and how she still had her suitcase next to her, the system felt a little sorry for her.
Just as it was wrestling with the question of whether to break the rules or not in Shi Yao's mind, the promise came forth.
In fact, Shi Yao recognized Ying Xu at a glance, but it was too dark and she was a little dizzy and her eyes were blurry after squatting for a long time. In order to make sure that she had not mistaken him, she stared at him for a long time. Fortunately, he was very cooperative and stood obediently for her to see.
Okay, that's right. She's a good child, and it was worth the trip she made from so far away.
Seeing the child come out of the practice room all alone, late at night, and on his birthday, Shi Yao almost instantly understood the other person's situation over the past few days, and her resolve to change became even stronger.
While waiting, Shi Yao gradually clarified her plans for the day. She was the kind of person who wouldn't do anything without a reason; she was indeed here to cheer on Ying Xu for his birthday, but she was also gathering material.
She had previously comforted the other person by saying that she would make sure they got a debut spot when the rankings were announced next time.
This is not an exaggeration. Now is the best opportunity.
Shi Yao pressed the record button and began the most important task of her trip.
“Promise! It really is you, thank goodness you haven’t left.”
The boy was wearing the training clothes provided by the program team, a black sports short-sleeved shirt paired with cargo pants. His dark hair was fluffy and soft, and he looked clean and refreshing. Perhaps because it was too hot from dancing, he used a headband to tie up his bangs, revealing his full forehead and clear peach blossom eyes. His lively little mole was faintly visible in the moonlight.
"You...were waiting for me?" The other person's voice sounded surprised.
Shi Yao nodded emphatically: "Yes, I've been waiting for you. I've been waiting for you for so long."
Seeing that the other person's eyes were gradually reddening, Shi Yao intensified her efforts, saying, "Yingxu, why are you practicing so late again? You must be very tired these days. You've worked so hard!"
Upon hearing this promise, his pupils constricted sharply, and he turned to the side, rubbing his eyes vigorously with his arm.
Shi Yao looked at the image on her phone screen, a slight smile playing on her lips.
It's safe now.
...
Three days later, the fifth episode of "Shining Idol" was released, and the first round of rankings was announced, bringing joy to some and sorrow to others.
The staff management for this season of "Shining Idol" is very strict. In previous seasons, after the ranking announcement and recording, some gossip would leak out, hinting at who would advance and who would be eliminated, and how the top-ranked contestants would be ranked, etc.
But there's been no juicy gossip this season, leaving fans anxiously waiting, especially those fans of the contestants who are close to securing a spot and the fans of the most popular contestants. They're wailing and praying in the Green Petal group every day, hoping their favorites can achieve an ideal ranking.
After the fifth episode was released, everyone immediately scrolled to the bottom to see the complete ranking list. Those who ranked well happily participated in a lucky draw in their groups, while those who were eliminated cursed the production team in their groups.
Soon after, people discovered that Yingxu, who had become somewhat popular in the group for a few days due to the CP post, had not been eliminated and was even ranked forty-fourth, which sparked a lot of discussion.
Some say the show's producers are justified and deserve to stay in the competition because of his looks and talent; others say the producers rigged the votes, pointing out the previous NBCS situation—how could he possibly be ranked 44th? The voting had already ended when the CP post came out, so where did people come from to vote him so high?
The claim of vote rigging has been met with much refutation, because everyone knows how much screen time Yu has. He could never be the kind of contestant the show's producers would choose to guarantee, and besides, who would rig votes specifically to put someone in 44th place?
But before they could even argue their point, a member who watched the full episode seriously pointed out the key issue: the "Shining Idol" production team had actually cut out Yingxu's acceptance speech for advancing!
Contestants often ramble on when giving their acceptance speeches, and since many people advanced in the first round, the production team usually cuts it down to some extent. However, Xu's speech wasn't just cut down; it was completely edited out. He wasn't given a single second of his speech, not even a self-introduction.
Now the claim of vote rigging is completely unfounded. If the production team really rigged the votes for Yingxu, how could they not let him say a word, as if they were afraid he would get even a second more exposure?
Moreover, according to statistics compiled by enthusiastic netizens in the group, among the sixty trainees who advanced, only Yingxu's speech was cut. Although some of the others' speeches were particularly short, they at least left a sentence or two. Only Yingxu didn't get a single second of his speech.
In the past, the fact that Yingxu's scenes were cut wouldn't have caused any discussion, because no one would have noticed him. The production team simply cut him out because of this subconscious habit. But the Yingxu of today is not the same Yingxu of the past. Thanks to that CP post, he has suddenly become the object of many netizens' regret.
As it turned out, they weren't eliminated in the first round, but it looked no different from being eliminated in the first round.
After the production team edited out this scene, who would still know that Yingxu advanced?
[Oh my god, I just watched the whole thing too, and the guy's lines about having a crush on her were really cut.]
[This is actually kind of funny. I didn't notice it when Tao had less screen time in the group before, since he wasn't the only one with less screen time. But the fact that his speech was the only one cut from the advancement speech is really legendary.]
This is practically solid evidence of targeting, otherwise how could they so precisely cut out the 44th place ranking? Is this some kind of special ranking?
To be honest, ranking 44th is quite special.
[Syad really hasn't changed. The script is practically written in people's faces these past two seasons. He's not even trying to hide how he manipulates the contestants' screen time. Why bother with a talent show? He might as well just make a variety show featuring his favorite members debuting as a group.]
[It's not syad you...]
The group became as lively as if they had discovered a new continent. In the past few days, because an employee of YueDong came out to reveal that they bought a debut spot for Jian Mingzhou three years ago, the "Shining Idol" program team has been attacked a lot. Many posts discussing the black box of vote rigging in talent shows have appeared online, and the "Shining Idol" production team can't delete them all.
As stakeholders, the fans in the group were naturally paying close attention to this matter. When they noticed that Yingxu's acceptance speech had been deleted, they immediately thought of the vote-rigging scandal that had been making headlines in recent days. Although Yingxu was only ranked 44th, he was the only one who didn't give an acceptance speech, which was obviously a targeted move. Combined with his ridiculously low screen time and the obvious storylines surrounding some of the more popular contestants, it was clear that there were many shady dealings within "Shining Idol," and its reputation was in jeopardy.
The production team of "Shining Idol" never expected that Yingxu's popularity would rise so high without anyone noticing. Just deleting an advancement speech was escalated into accusations of rigging the show. Both trainee fans and casual viewers were in an uproar, and the production team was in a bit of a mess.
Shi Yao kept an eye on the public opinion trend in the Green Petal Show group. When the discussion in the group reached a fever pitch, she logged into her newly prepared Weibo account and sent out the video with the edited text. She also posted a copy on Bilibili and Sweet Potato.
"Tong, use that 12-hour basic exposure coupon on the Weibo post I just made, and then redeem two 3-hour coupons to use on Bilibili and Sweet Potato."
The system responded immediately, and the initial exposure coupon took effect the next second.
It was almost midnight when I finished all this. I spent a lot of time editing this video these past few days, going through more than a dozen versions before finally finishing this last one.
She wanted to capitalize on the last vestiges of the Jian Mingzhou incident and let the "Shining Idol" program team know what it felt like to shoot yourself in the foot.
Shi Yao turned off all the alarms and went straight to sleep, eagerly anticipating the battle that would unfold when she woke up.
-
Xiao Ai is a long-time fan of talent shows. She first watched a talent show in her senior year of high school. At that time, she was busy with the college entrance examination and was under a lot of pressure. The more pressure a person is under, the less they want to complete what they are supposed to do step by step. Xiao Ai was no exception.
She was overwhelmed by mountains of test papers, and her parents only talked about her grades. Just then, she saw the theme song of "Shining Idol" and became obsessed with it.
Although Xiao Ai didn't achieve her best score in the college entrance examination because she was too concerned about the results of the talent show, she didn't regret it. Instead, she fell completely into the talent show pit and never missed a single season of "Shining Idol".
It's strange, though. She's been watching since the first season, and now it's the fifth season, yet she hasn't found a single official main member. She's quite serious about the talent show, watching every episode and rewatching the performances and individual fancams countless times, but she just can't find a favorite pick like others and vote for that one person.
She follows every season of "Shining Idol" live and has quite a few favorite trainees, but she's not very interested in voting for them. She'll cast a couple of votes when she remembers, and if she doesn't, she just doesn't. Xiao Ai admires those data workers who buy hundreds or thousands of accounts to vote every day, or those rich women who spend huge sums of money buying dozens or hundreds of boxes of milk. She doesn't want to, and can't, do that.
Recently, due to the series of scandals involving an idol named Jian Mingzhou, the show "Shining Idol" has also been dragged into the mess. Xiao Ai is paying close attention to this because she was following the show in real time.
When she saw the trending topic about the trading of debut positions, she specifically recalled the situation of that season of "Shining Idol" and found that Jian Mingzhou did indeed have a lot of screen time in the show, and each round of performances had a complete storyline. Moreover, he was not the only one; there were trainees with similar situations in later seasons.
At the time, she was just a naive viewer and didn't think much of it. She thought that these trainees were just good-natured and more likely to stand out in front of the camera, which was why the production team treated them so well.
It turns out that all of that was a pre-arranged script.
Xiao Ai's feelings were complicated. As a loyal viewer of "Shining Idol" for five years, she had to admit that she had a certain affection for the show and would occasionally follow the latest developments of each debut group. She has always preferred talent shows because she felt that the competition system was very fair, leaving everything to the stage and the audience, and putting the right to debut in the hands of the audience.
Now they've told her it was all fake, all scripted and manipulated. The charismatic contestants the audience sees are carefully presented to them by the production team.
She would sometimes browse Green Petal, but most of the time she would look at Super Topic. There were too many coded terms in Green Petal, and she was always confused by them. She would only go there when she wanted to gossip.
There have been so many scandals lately that it's hard to understand just by looking at Weibo. So Xiao Ai had to download Green Petal again, and as soon as she opened the Show Group, she found out about new gossip.
On the show "Shining Idol," Yi Shun deleted a trainee's advancement speech. That trainee was ranked 44th and was relatively unknown, yet the production team specifically picked him out and deleted him. Or perhaps, the reason that trainee was relatively unknown was because the production team was specifically targeting him.
Xiao Ai frowned as she scrolled through the posts on the homepage and found that the name of this unknown trainee looked somewhat familiar: Yingxu.
She had also seen that CP post that went viral overnight. Although she felt that its popularity was a bit inexplicable, she did manage to remember the name in that post, which was this Promise.
After reading the post, she casually strolled over to Yingxu's super topic and found that this person really didn't get much screen time. The clips compiled by fans only showed less than a minute of screen time. She even remarked, "It's amazing that someone so good-looking doesn't get any screen time."
Now these two things are connected: because there is no background, there is no screen time; because she is too good-looking and has no background, her scenes are deliberately deleted.
A feeling of pity arose in Xiao Ai's heart, and she clicked on the official website link to cast her vote for Yingxu.
She had mixed feelings. What she had initially thought was a fair competition and impartial voting had now become a joke. The production team could easily manipulate the votes, and even if they couldn't, they could simply change them. Because they didn't want the trainees who weren't part of the planned program and hadn't paid any money to get attention, they simply cut all their scenes from the show.
Arrogance to the extreme.
But the more they did this, the less Xiao Ai wanted them to have their way. A rare rebellious thought arose in Xiao Ai's heart, and she decided to go to Yingxu's super topic to see if his fan club had been established and if there was a voting group. She wanted to help.
She searched for Yingxu's super topic and was surprised to find that it already had 30,000 followers. She remembered that the last time she came here because of the CP, it only had 3,000 followers. Sure enough, the power of gossip is strong.
Xiao Ai originally wanted to search for the fan club account in the super topic, but when she clicked in, she was unexpectedly attracted by the post at the very top.
It was a video. Judging from the poster's profile picture and ID, it should be a fan site administrator.
Not bad, they even have fan site admins now.
Xiao Ai nodded with satisfaction, then glanced at the video's stats and was surprised to find that it had been shared over 10,000 times, commented 8,000 times, and liked over 100,000 times.
The video was posted two hours ago. This data is quite impressive even for trainees who rank high in popularity on "Shining Idol," let alone for a relatively unknown trainee like Yingxu.
Xiao Ai even noticed that in the few minutes she stopped to observe, the number of reposts increased by another thousand, which is definitely a huge breakthrough!
Xiao Ai immediately became interested. She had to see what the video was about. Most of the captions posted by those who shared it were crying emojis or tagging the official Weibo account of Shining Idol to vent their anger. What content could make so many people feel both sad and angry?
The video is a little over three minutes long, which is not short. It starts with a full screen of black, followed by the subtitles: 8.7, 22:37, finally the promised end of the workday.
Then the subtitles disappeared, and a gentle yet powerful female voice background music started playing. The screen gradually lit up, and a familiar building appeared on the screen. Xiao Ai often watched the trainees' materials and knew that it was the trainees' practice venue, Factory No. 1. The screen was vertical, and the picture quality was not very clear. It was obviously taken with a mobile phone and was quite far away.
The phone's owner appeared to be crouching, with the camera looking up at the gate of Factory No. 1. Suddenly, the camera began to shake violently, followed by the phone owner's joyful voice: "Yingxu! It really is you! Thank goodness you haven't left yet!"
The video feed returned to calm, revealing a tall boy in a black training uniform. He had long legs and muscular, toned forearms. His skin was incredibly fair, almost glowing in the dark. Perhaps because he had just finished dance practice, his cheeks were still slightly flushed. His jawline was perfectly proportioned, as if measured with a protractor. He had a high, straight nose and prominent brow bones. His overall features were actually quite striking and deep-set, but they were softened by his long, narrow, almond-shaped eyes.
The night breeze gently blew through his fluffy, soft hair. He was completely without makeup and had almost no style, which only made his striking features stand out even more.
"My God..." Xiao Ai couldn't help but gasp. She knew Ying Xu was good-looking, but this was the first time she realized he was this good-looking. The video wasn't even very clear, but she felt a sense of being captivated after watching it.
The person on the screen was clearly unaware that his current appearance had caused so many people to gasp. His handsome face was full of confusion, and he pointed at himself as if incredulous, saying, "You...were you waiting for me?"
The phone owner nodded without hesitation, causing the phone screen to shake violently: "Yes, I've been waiting for you for ages!"
Yingxu's eyes welled up with tears almost immediately, making Xiao Ai's heart ache. She knew that Yingxu didn't have any fansite admins before, and it seemed that he didn't have any fans who went offline. How long must he have been looking forward to this and how many times must he have been disappointed before he reacted like this?
"Yingxu, why are you practicing so late again? You must be very tired these days. You've been working so hard!"
On the screen, the redness at the corners of her eyes was impossible to hide; she turned around and vigorously wiped the corners of her eyes.
Xiao Ai exclaimed "Oh dear!" upon seeing this and picked up a pack of tissues from the table next to her.
"I heard you've already finished recording the first round. Although I believe you've definitely advanced, no matter what the outcome is, I want to say that you're really amazing. Please, please don't lack confidence! Your performance is the best I've ever seen!"
Yingxu forced a smile, nodded vigorously at the camera, and then rubbed the corners of her eyes several times.
"The reason I came here today is actually to tell you a secret. If you want to hear it, just nod, okay?"
He nodded without hesitation.
The woman's voice paused for two seconds, then said seriously, "The secret I want to tell you is that I actually traveled back from five years in the future."
"Five years from now, you will have become a household name and a superstar. You will have created many excellent works, won many awards, and everyone will be able to sing your songs. Your stage will have reached the world, and everyone will be captivated by your stage presence. You will have many, many people who love you and you will be living a very, very happy life!"
"I know you must be having a tough time right now, and you must have had many moments of confusion and pain. That's why I traveled back in time specifically to tell you that you will have everything you want in the future. No matter how difficult the road you are on right now, or what obstacles you may encounter in the future, please, please don't give up. Please think more about this moment, and please remember what I came back in time specifically to tell you."
"Keep going! I'll be waiting for you in the future!"
Xiao Ai could tell that the phone owner was deliberately speaking to Ying Xu in a playful tone, trying to make him happy. Unfortunately, with each additional word she spoke, Ying Xu cried even harder, until finally he started sobbing uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, Xiao Ai, watching from the screen, unknowingly became just like Ying Xu, her face streaked with tears. She sniffed and frantically grabbed several tissues from the side, then looked in the mirror and found that her eyes were swollen like walnuts.
Yingxu really wanted to say something to Shiyao, but unfortunately, he choked up and couldn't utter a single complete word.
He has been under immense pressure these past few days. The unexpected advancement and the failure of his interpersonal relationships have left him bewildered. In his panic, he could only try to escape the problems by spending time in the practice room to avoid social interaction, but this only made him more stressed.
He felt he was about to explode at any moment, then compromise, and finally fall into complete silence.
And just then, in the last hour of his birthday, he met this fan and heard these words.
He thought to himself, thankfully he hadn't given up yet.
This talent show was worth it.
"Oh, right." The female voice rang out again, and Yingxu looked up, meeting a pair of smiling eyes. "Yingxu, happy birthday."
Yingxu stood frozen in place, her thin lips pressed tightly together, her dark raven feathers trembling rapidly like a butterfly about to take flight, and a single, glistening tear fell from the corner of her eye.
After a long while, he straightened his back, faced the camera, and bowed deeply.
Xiao Ai cried her eyes out in front of the screen. If the encouragement from the phone owner made her feel both tender and warm, then the final "Happy Birthday" completely shattered her defenses.
No wonder Yingxu's state was so strange, no wonder he asked so cautiously if she was waiting for him, no wonder he cried when she just said "thank you for your hard work", no wonder the phone owner said "thank you for not leaving".
It turned out that it was his birthday that day.
Although it wasn't explicitly stated in the video, Xiao Ai could guess from Yingxu's reaction that the phone owner's congratulations were probably the only "Happy Birthday" he received that day.
What an incredibly pitiful little thing!
Xiao Ai wished she could rush to Yingxu's Weibo right now and leave him a hundred happy birthday messages. Although the boy looks good when he cries, she still wants to see him smile more.
Xiao Ai thought the video was over, but the screen lit up again. She perked up and sat up straighter, ready to see what was left.
The screen that lit up again was much clearer than the previous one, clearly taken with a different device. The viewpoint was through a window, and outside the window was Yingxu, wearing training clothes and Bluetooth headphones. He was facing the rising sun, dancing to the theme song with a bright smile. His movements were powerful and detailed, making it very pleasant to watch.
Sunlight shone on him, filtering through his hair and falling on his vibrant face, giving him a golden glow.
He kept dancing with all his might, over and over again, as if he were facing a camera, as if he were facing hope.
The screen went dark again, and the subtitles lit up:
"The dawn before you become a butterfly is always very dark, but I believe you will eventually break free from your cocoon."
Xiao Ai cried like a fool again. After confirming the video had finished playing, she exited and gave it a triple like, only then did she notice the caption of this Weibo post:
[@A Ray of Light·Promise: They tried to gag you and cover our ears, but so what? I still have eyes, and I saw.]
Xiao Ai instantly understood the true meaning of the text and finally realized why there were so many people tagging Shining Idol's official Weibo account in the repost and comment sections. She wiped away her tears and, like everyone else, reposted it again.
[@ShiningIdol, give back the promised screen time!]
Author's Note: I'm here~ Thank you all for waiting, and thank you for the nutrient solution. Sending you all love ovo
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2024-06-09 23:57:00 and 2024-06-11 22:53:47!
Thank you to the little angels who threw landmines: 58007458, Aqi w, and Liangliang1;
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Zhao (Daily Version) 20 bottles; Gugu Pigeon, Hahaha, Steam Squad, and Green Plum Wine 10 bottles; Dilireba and White Bone Hill Mountain 5 bottles; LZ's Pig Rabbit and A Tu 3 bottles; ~Walk Alone in the Future 2 bottles; Yi Yi World, Want to Enjoy Peace and Happiness for No Reason, Han Yue, An_seven, Bamboo, Iloveyuna, Seven Wants to Be a Farmer, Getting Richer and Richer, Candy Box, Salt Sticky Shell Drill, Yanghe Qizhe, Liangliang, and Salmon 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
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