Chapter 24: Blatantly Riding the Coattails

Everyone who comes to like Mengmeng inevitably goes through a real struggle.

After seeing this face of his, the first step is doubting whether you’re just swayed by lust.

Yet, after doing your utmost to stay rational, you still end up being utterly captivated.

Taking it a step further, you can then match Mengmeng’s face with his voice.

At this stage, you have to question your own taste in music again: Am I unconditionally tolerating his songs because I like his face too much, or do his songs really sound that good?

During this process, the doubt often vanishes quickly.

It’s replaced by bewilderment, deep bewilderment: Can a person really be so emotionally abundant that they’re constantly cycling through being in love—breaking up—in love—breaking up, without developing any psychological issues, being fully invested in every relationship, each breakup being completely clean, and every ex having a commemorative signature song?

Is Li Tingzhou actually a living, breathing person, and not a songwriting android?

New fans inevitably fall into deep thought.

It’s not that they don’t want to mind.

But then they think again, on what grounds should they mind?

Mengmeng’s “factory settings” came with three relationship histories pre-installed.

He’s never flaunted being a pure-hearted boy or an innocent virgin, nor has he hidden his relationship experiences. Mengmeng isn’t an idol, so the unofficial rule that “dating is a capital offense” can’t even constrain him.

If after understanding all of the above, you still can’t resist…

Congratulations, your life’s basically set in stone, you’ve been reshaped into the form of a Mengmeng Fan!

And the biggest trait of a Mengmeng Fan is being stubborn in denial—

I won’t admit I really like Mengmeng, but I buy and collect every single one of his songs without missing a single one; I know the accompaniment melodies of his live performances by heart and can accurately identify which performance it is from a multitude of video clips; the moment his limited commercial endorsements come out, I buy samples to try; any information related to him, whether it comes from toilet stations or sister-in-law stations, I hold my nose and read it all anyway.

It’s not like I’m doing a lot, just checking in on him when I have time.

The established vibes of the Meng fandom inevitably influence new Mengmeng fans.

The assistant had heard about this, so seeing his boss’s stubborn denial wasn’t surprising.

Back when he was playing Heartbreak’s songs in the car, he never imagined this day would come, because for industry insiders, “chasing stars” is simply too convenient!

Asking for an autograph is the smallest of small things.

Once connected, arranging to have a meal together is also common.

Those with some resource connections can even directly facilitate collaborations…

“What’s there to be surprised about? A handsome guy like Mengmeng is meant to date.”

Chi Yue, having happy things on his mind, found everything amusing. He glanced at Cui Lin’s dark face and burst out laughing: “He hasn’t dated anyone himself, how could he stand seeing others date?”

Cui Lin immediately retorted: “Don’t slander me!”

Probably because his reaction was too intense, he quickly tried to cover: “He just debuted, not focusing on his career but thinking about dating all day. Can’t he just bear it for the few days of recording the show? Does he have to bring his girlfriend along too?”

The assistant argued reasonably: “Boss, your thinking is a little vulgar.”

Between men and women, can only that kind of thing exist?

“If Mengmeng doesn’t date, where would Heartbreak get new songs?”

“Is that how those songs are written?”

Cui Lin felt this was simply absurd.

The assistant nodded matter-of-factly: “Heartbreak is self-sufficient.”

“I saw video clips of the Mint Candy Band’s live stream before. They said the pay in the band scene hasn’t really increased, but spending is basically on par with the inner entertainment circle. Commissioning songs or lyrics is very expensive now. Collaborative songs like they used to make are rare now, mainly because splitting things is too troublesome. Everyone feels they’re getting the short end, so they gradually stopped collaborating.”

“How expensive could it be?”

Chi Yue cleared his throat: “Hard to say, the price range varies wildly.”

Since even Chi Yue said so, Cui Lin’s expression softened a bit: “Fine.”

Small bands don’t make easy money, buying songs is expensive, commissioning songs is expensive, and profits from collaborations are tight. Well… then Mengmeng dating can be reluctantly forgiven. Let him date, just not too much.

~

The first round of public performances for “Sing My Heart Tonight” concluded perfectly, much to Tide’s satisfaction.

Although Saturday was a rest day, the official Weibo account still released a performance report.

For example, how many hot searches they hit across all platforms, how many billions of views; how the personal indices of the main guest singers broke their previous peaks, how the stage performance views broke millions, tens of millions.

This kind of “everyone wins” performance report had every name on the list.

The main point was that no one came in vain.

Oh, forgot to mention, while Mengmeng himself was completely unaware, probably still asleep, a sponsor swiftly made him the brand ambassador for a high-end product line and started working overtime to roll out offline promotional materials…

Liu Lusi stayed up all night, sleeping only three hours before getting back to work.

Early in the morning, good-news birds were chirping non-stop. She was naturally refreshed and full of drive: “A single-line brand ambassador is still an ambassador. Having a title is better than nothing. Keep an eye out, the new contract will be sent over at 10.”

The assistant could tell she was happy, so he ordered a more expensive coffee than usual.

“Oh right, if anything happens on Whale’s side, you need to notify me promptly.”

“Got it, Sis.”

This past night, it might seem on the surface that Whale missed a move, failing to sustain its initial advantage. In reality, both sides won, it’s just that Tide’s victory was more stable.

Grab any random person on the street, they’ll know two shows are currently competing.

If we step out of the audience perspective and back into the viewing position of an industry insider, the situation unfolding might be clearer:

Mengmeng, or rather Heartbreak, indeed has considerable potential.

Especially Mengmeng as an individual.

He has an innate ability to stir the winds and clouds, to lead trends.

Back then, although Whale was the first to make contact with Mengmeng, it was Tide and “Sing My Heart Tonight” that benefited first.

This engagement clearly shows Whale’s rejection failed; they couldn’t truly bring him into their fold. They can only say they didn’t lose out; it’s the lowest tier of expectations. After retreating unscathed from that public opinion war, Mengmeng has already fully gained momentum and cannot be stopped. In response, Whale will change its strategy, in the later stages of “All-Star Launch,” prominently highlighting his role.

Since they can’t suppress him, they’ll just blatantly ride his coattails.

Not only will the male idol talent show ride them, the subsequent marriage observation reality show will too.

Soon, Liu Lusi received an invitation from Whale: “Have Mengmeng join the observation panel? That’s not really suitable, is it! Mengmeng isn’t even married, where would he get thoughts and experiences about marriage?”

She absolutely couldn’t imagine Li Tingzhou sitting in an observation room, watching his ex-girlfriend and her current husband resolve marital conflicts.

Letting them borrow his name to ride the heat was already the limit of her tolerance.

And go watch it live?

There’s no need to promote the spirit of “entertainment to death” quite so vigorously…

“Won’t work, President Fang, this really won’t do! You know Mengmeng is in a relationship right now. I’ll be honest with you, their breakup back then wasn’t very pleasant. The split was clean, but the emotional knots are hard to undo! During our Night Heart Second Public Performance rehearsal, Mengmeng didn’t say a single word to her, avoiding suspicion the whole way.”

The person on the other end of the phone tried persuading her again and again, but Liu Lusi refused to budge.

“It won’t work, President Fang. I could persuade Mengmeng to be a flying guest on one episode of ‘All-Star Launch,’ but this matter is non-negotiable.”

Anyway, this was also one of the terms in Liu Lusi and Zhou Ling’s exchange.

Only then did the other party take what they could get, negotiating other content terms.

Liu Lusi patiently continued the negotiation. When she saw Li Tingzhou and Mao Maoyu arrive at work one after another, she just waved her hand.

“Sister Lusi must be made of iron, she never needs sleep.”

Li Tingzhou took the coffee his assistant handed over and said: “Stop messing with your hair, okay? If we can’t finish today’s work, stay and work overtime with me.”

The entire Heartbreak Band needed to appear in the third episode, so Mao Maoyu came back and dyed his hair.

It was a head of sleek, shiny green spikes.

To be fair, although this color comes with built-in stereotypes, it actually looked quite good with Mao Maoyu’s round head and face, even a little handsome. Naturally, Mao Maoyu started loving to style his hair. He bought a massive stock of color-fixing and hair care products like he was stocking up wholesale; his whole being seemed to have undergone some epiphany and evolution.

Not only did he do his own, he wanted to do his bandmates’ hair too.

“Mengmeng, let me do yours too, I’m really good at it now!”

“No, thanks though.”

All of Li Tingzhou’s current styling was handled by a contracted team Liu Lusi had found.

From the overall outfit down to details like necklaces and rings, when it came to public appearances, he didn’t need to think about how to dress at all; the professionals took care of it.

Liu Lusi had initially wanted to stop Mao Maoyu from messing around, but then thought again—having a signature visual point wasn’t a bad thing, so she just let him be.

Busy all morning, at noon they received a large sponsorship package from other brands.

It was a lot of stuff; the courier’s entire cart was a special delivery for Heartbreak.

“Is this the benefit of being popular?”

Li Tingzhou wasn’t in the mood to open packages. He brought up another matter: “We probably need to install two more cameras outside our studio, especially one aimed at the parking lot.”

Liu Lusi immediately became alert: “Is someone following you?”

“My license plate number isn’t exactly a secret, people have always been following.”

Heartbreak Label was registered in J City, with the studio at a fixed office location. Occasionally, fans pretending to be passersby would check in. Barring special circumstances like business trips, they weren’t much different from regular office workers—earlier or later, it didn’t matter, they all came to work anyway. It wasn’t strange for fans to recognize the license plate.

Mao Maoyu was shocked: “Why didn’t you mention it before?”

“They don’t block the car or tailgate aggressively, they’re just curious. What can I do?”

Liu Lusi sighed: “Well, there’s no helping it then, you just have to be careful yourself.”

“Yeah, I just suddenly thought of it.”

Actually, Li Tingzhou was afraid someone might steal Qiaoqiao.

He’d posted a photo with Qiaoqiao on Weibo that morning, and tons of people liked it, to an absurd degree, so naturally he couldn’t help but overthink…

~

After getting popular, being followed by fans isn’t unusual.

If you get even more popular, there’ll also be paparazzi and proxy photographers following your schedule.

They don’t necessarily like Heartbreak or Li Tingzhou that much, they just want to make money off him. Like investments, only those willing to invest earliest can potentially get the highest returns. How long Heartbreak can stay popular thanks to Night Heart Seven is still unknown, but Mengmeng’s upward trend is visibly on the rise; a few preview photos can sell for high prices, so at least they won’t lose money.

Among these followers, the paparazzi are actually somewhat more “amicable.”

Proxy photographers will get right in your face, but paparazzi just follow from a distance.

Sometimes, if Li Tingzhou’s car stops, or if he stays in the car without starting it for a while, and they get anxious, they’ll even come over and ask if there’s something wrong with the car.

Look at this situation…

“Should we be thanking them or what?”

Mao Maoyu didn’t know whether to be angry or not, so he just swallowed his feelings in a huff.

Dai Jier quickly changed the subject: “I watched yesterday’s stage many more times later. When will the audio source for this version of ‘Telepathy’ be released?”

Li Tingzhou replied: “It’ll be released uniformly on Monday.”

The production team needed time for the online broadcast’s buzz to ferment.

After that, they chatted about some fun anecdotes from the first episode’s recording.

Fun anecdotes, though they weren’t necessarily that amusing.

It was only because they came from Li Tingzhou’s mouth, processed through his linguistic habits, that Mao Maoyu and the others with limited perspectives found them interesting. After all, they had been at the venue too; everyone was so busy they couldn’t touch the floor, how could it really be relaxed and cheerful?

“So did they keep arguing afterwards? I didn’t really follow that group.”

“They still argue when they need to, but Wang Chao only dares to use words.”

Every recording session, Ancient Style King had to clash with Zhuang Yifan.

After clashing so much, everyone got used to it, as if it had become a fixed segment of the show.

Upon hearing this, Liu Lusi only gave one comment: Ancient Style King is a clever character!

Besides Zhuang Yifan, he gets along with everyone. He has strong social skills, his conversations are interesting and fun, and although his professional ability isn’t top-tier, it’s fully sufficient. So, whenever the two of them argue, no one thinks it’s Ancient Style King’s fault. After all, everyone knows Zhuang Yifan is stubborn, rigid, and obstinate.

To a certain extent, whenever Wang Chao argues, his guaranteed screen time is secured.

But this isn’t a long-term solution.

Because the audience will get tired of seeing the same act too many times.

After the first episode’s recording, Wang Chao had privately messaged Li Tingzhou wanting to follow each other, and Li Tingzhou agreed. After that, they chatted a few times. Perhaps with more information, his impression was refreshed, and Li Tingzhou’s view of him changed.

“I later found out he almost became my schoolmate.”

“Why didn’t it happen then?” Dai Jier asked.

“The class one year before his application had a serious breach-of-contract incident. Their major’s enrollment was restricted. They admitted 3 per cohort, and it stopped right when they reached Wang Chao.”

Even Mao Maoyu fell silent for a few seconds: “That’s a real shame.”

“But he’s made a name for himself now, focusing and deeply cultivating one track. That choice is actually quite wise.” Maximizing his strengths within his capabilities, so whenever a platform, drama production, or music producer thinks of candidates for an OST performance, the first one that comes to mind is the quality-and-affordable Wang Chao.

Li Tingzhou was a little envious: “He’s already preparing his solo concert.”

“Our Heartbreak will have one in the future too.”

Mao Maoyu suddenly felt heroic and ambitious: “In the future, we’ll play even bigger venues, whatever—Bird’s Nest, Radiant Frost Palace, we’ll check them all off one by one!”

~

The happy weekend passed, and it was time to go to G City on business again.

After two consecutive weeks, Li Tingzhou was starting to get used to it.

This time, the accompanying cameraman was different.

“What happened to the previous one? Did he quit?”

The new PD hesitated: “Not exactly… he was transferred to another post.”

Li Tingzhou didn’t ask further, just let out a soft “mm” to show he understood.

Following the tradition of previous seasons, the third public performance was always held at an outdoor venue. This season was no exception, at the Spirit Confluence Hall in G City. Although it was an old venue built last century, it had undergone a major renovation five years prior, and its current capacity had been expanded to eight thousand seats.

As soon as Heartbreak landed, they rushed to Spirit Confluence Hall to meet up with First Sister.

Unexpectedly, Zhuang Yifan’s group was also there at the same time.

Today, Zhuang Yifan had an uncharacteristically pleasant expression and wasn’t late.

Sadly, everyone was already used to not communicating with him too much.

Holding a small fan, Ancient Style King leaned in to whisper to Li Tingzhou: “This round is the call-to-action format, right? I have a feeling my group’s going to struggle.”

“What are you afraid of? You’ve got the main guest holding up the sky.”

So he said, but Li Tingzhou actually felt a bit uneasy too.

He was both afraid that Heartbreak wouldn’t have many fans attending, and afraid that fans wouldn’t be able to get tickets.

“The production team will probably release tickets in a balanced way, right?” Wang Chao said, opening his phone to search and muttering, “In past seasons, those less popular guests singing in the third-round elimination call-to-action, weren’t there still fans showing up holding light boards? Look, this XXX, when the camera panned over, his fans were crying tears of excitement!”

Li Tingzhou was momentarily speechless: …

“What’s that expression?”

“You’ve been eating from the inner entertainment trough two years longer than me, how can you not tell that’s a fixed audience plant?”

This fixed NPC had even long become a scenic attraction at Blue Ocean TV.

Spring, he appears in talk show audiences silently shedding tears; summer, he flashes into music variety shows shouting and waving in response to the camera; autumn, he cameos as a passerby at a crime scene providing clues to help guests solve mysteries; winter, he wears appropriately festive bright red clothes at Blue Ocean TV’s Spring Gala, responsible for leading the whole audience in roaring laughter.

Wang Chao also fell silent…

“Alright, he’s a damn good actor.”

The two chatted for a while when Associate Director Pan Jun jogged over: “Hey, Teacher Mengmeng, I have something I want to discuss with you.”

The astute Ancient Style King immediately said: “Then I’ll head backstage to enjoy the AC.”

Pan Jun smiled with satisfaction, then turned an even broader smile towards Li Tingzhou: “Teacher Mengmeng, it’s like this. This round of public performance happens to coincide with the TV station director and city leaders coming for an inspection. Considering that some guests might be nervous or not handle it well, our subsequent draw ceremony might…”

The smile faded from Li Tingzhou’s face: “You should discuss it with Sister Shiyu’s team first.”

Pan Jun looked very apologetic: “Then I definitely still need to ask Teacher Mengmeng your opinion!”

At this point, there was no need to spell it out.

Pan Jun was indeed aiming for this.

He was certain that Ren Shiyu would cooperate one hundred percent, and was equally sure the producer and general director would endorse his decision. All conditions didn’t need consideration—except for Li Tingzhou’s opinion.