Chapter 47: Mengmeng (Cute Edition) Becomes Famous in One Battle!

It was no surprise to the audience that A Courtyard of Fragrance ranked first in the 4th Public Performance.

From preparation to rehearsal, First Sister’s full cooperation and Mengmeng’s 200% dedication were evident to all. Zhong Peiyao’s violin solo was the soul-like, brilliant core.

Beyond that, the stage design and visual effects were pushed to the extreme.

With so many departments working together, only then did the perfect A Courtyard of Fragrance live stage come to be.

Led by the super high-quality A Courtyard of Fragrance, the stages of the other groups in the 4th Performance also rode the trending search rocket. Positive review rates and platform view counts entered a period of explosive growth. Under the influence of healthy competition and mutual traffic redirection, they naturally became the second batch of hit live performances for Sing My Heart Tonight Season 7.

But this wasn’t the full extent of Night Heart Seven’s power displayed tonight.

A little later, the behind-the-scenes footage for the 4th Performance was released on Tidal Net.

The shot of Mengmeng holding pure white petals, scattering them along the path from the stage through the backstage corridors, and then, as the waiting room door opened and the lights suddenly brightened, showering them over Eldan with a smile instantly blooming on his face—that shot broke the internet.

Thus, Mengmeng (the cute version) became famous in one battle!

The last time Mengmeng trended solely for his looks was the blue spotlight during his debut.

Just an ordinary music festival stage performance, but it coincidentally caught the atmospheric white spotlight during the evening blue hour. This turned a plain official cam cover photo into a trend that sparked makeup imitation across multiple platforms.

This time, in terms of lighting and styling, the difficulty of imitation wasn’t actually high.

But to capture that effect of Mengmeng’s smile brightening along with the incoming light, that heart-fluttering effect, required repeatedly adjusting the angle. Smile too brightly, and the person looks a bit foolish or naive. Smile too restrained, and it gives a stiff, measured, deliberate feel. If the light comes too early, the emotional build-up lacks layers. If the light comes too late, the smile isn’t fully displayed…

It was a shot so perfect—a convergence of timing, place, and people—it was considered the holiest of holy shots.

But Tidal Net made a stupid mistake, stuffing it into the behind-the-scenes footage.

Come on, if you weren’t a fan of the guests, a loyal Tidal Net subscriber, or a paying annual member, who would be bored enough to watch every single frame of the behind-the-scenes clips?

Fortunately, Tidal Net wasn’t completely stupid and arranged a solo trending topic for Mengmeng.

Qu Yanni, exhausted from a night of work, wanted to say something but stopped. “Forget it, fans are easier to fool when they’re simple-minded.”

Since the credit for this was being claimed by the platform and the production team, the Heartbreak team simply kept their involvement invisible with a clear conscience.

To the broader netizen view, the Heartbreak Label was just a refined little workshop, slightly better than a poorly run team. It could produce quality works and snag collaboration opportunities with big names, but its resource and influence were ultimately limited. How many good marketing opportunities had been missed? This time, if fans hadn’t fished it out of the behind-the-scenes footage, they might have nearly missed this version of Mengmeng!

But in reality?

Liu Lusi, who held screening privileges, would never let any potential hot topic slip by.

“From the fans’ perspective, of course they want everyone to like Mengmeng. But you can’t be too greedy. If you try to have everything, even if people don’t say it to your face, they’ll curse you viciously behind your back.”

You take all the benefits and don’t get scolded? No such good deal exists.

The marketing choices First Sister made in her journey on this variety show were worth studying.

At her current stage, what was most important?

It was improving her reputation, completing her transformation.

Beyond that, topics like beauty, makeup, style, outfit matching—or kindness, affability, supporting newcomers—these were old topics discussed online hundreds of times. None were as important as her core need. Only building momentum around her own progress and transformation was worth such a massive effort.

Taking reference from this, Liu Lusi and Qu Yanni should also focus on Mengmeng’s core needs.

So, what did Mengmeng need?

He needed to prove he was the soul figure of the Heartbreak Label.

A soul figure needed too many things: astonishing creative talent, exceptional vocal talent to stand alone at the top, restrained yet powerful leadership, super-strong execution in coordinating conflicts and solving problems, and even the charisma to harmonize team relationships and unify the hearts of those around him.

Sing My Heart Tonight Season 7 was slated for 7 regular episodes plus 1 Appreciation Performance.

So, within these 8 episodes, how could they maximize their self-presentation?

For the Heartbreak team, this task was incredibly urgent.

Weighing the options, everyone simply didn’t have enough energy or resources to market irrelevant content. Although Mengmeng’s handsomeness was obvious, and occasionally riding the wave for a larger-scale trend could be handled adeptly, Heartbreak had more urgent work at this stage…

Sing My Heart Tonight had progressed to the King of Singers Night. The race was reaching its end.

After this, Mengmeng, or rather Heartbreak, would likely struggle to find such a good platform and such a polished production team again.

How to maximize their presence in the final episode?

When it came to professional matters, Liu Lusi and Qu Yanni couldn’t help Li Tingzhou. Even Mao Maoyu and Dai Jier could only offer limited assistance. Only Eldan could engage in deep discussion.

Their current work focus was song selection for the King of Singers Night.

Even after cooperating so harmoniously with Ren Shiyu for so many episodes, producing two hit live stages, Li Tingzhou still couldn’t be 100% certain he’d have control over the finale song selection.

He told Eldan bluntly, “The finale song selection isn’t guaranteed to be ours.”

Involving a major turning point in Ren Shiyu’s career, no amount of caution was too much.

“You know that old man, Pang. He’s ready at any moment to plunder Diamond Records’ song library to support his disciple. If we can’t produce a better song, First Sister can just choose her master’s song.”

It made no sense to have control over the previous five rounds, only to lose it in the finale.

This was absolutely an unacceptable outcome for Li Tingzhou.

He became more urgent, and Eldan equally treated it as a serious challenge.

The Heartbreak group didn’t even stay in G City to have a celebratory dinner with First Sister for A Courtyard of Fragrance restarting the nostalgia trend for film/TV classic songs. They returned to J City at noon on Saturday to prepare.

Of course, they also missed Cui Lin.

Although Cui Lin was still brooding over Mengmeng’s differential treatment of the two bouquets, from a friend’s standpoint, he indeed had no right to interfere. He could only blame himself for not understanding Mengmeng’s preferences, not knowing how to please him.

So what if the flowers were air-freighted from S City?

So what if one bouquet cost as much as ten others?

As long as Mengmeng liked it, even flowers picked from a roadside flowerbed, he’d willingly hold them and happily take photos.

Cui Lin drew lessons, summarized his experience, and didn’t seek out Chi Yue, that dog-headed advisor who couldn’t even get a “second marriage.” Instead, he brought his script for a new drama starting next year to his uncle, under the guise of building his own production team, and incidentally took a tutorial.

After discussing serious matters, Duan Xinze didn’t mind listening to his nephew talk about his crush.

“He is indeed a very attractive young man.”

Since Cui Lin talked about him so much, Duan Xinze couldn’t help but pay attention to the rival network’s variety show.

If First Sister was the anchor guaranteeing ratings, then Mengmeng was the complete dark horse. His presence thoroughly elevated the quality and watchability of this season of Sing My Heart Tonight.

It was no exaggeration to say that without Mengmeng, Season 7 would have lost much of its color.

Because of Mengmeng, even the fact that First Sister was going to win the overall championship seemed more acceptable.

A person with such full charm—even if he had a bad temper, plenty of people would still rush to curry favor, let alone the fact that he was indeed very cultivated. Like humble bamboo, like a solemn wind. That gentleness that could melt into your bones, yet when stubborn and defiant, revealed a trace of heartbreaking vulnerability. The contradiction doubled, and so did the attraction.

Cui Lin’s infatuation wasn’t unjustified; being bewitched was understandable.

He was too materially wealthy and only needed lots and lots of love.

And Mengmeng was visibly emotionally abundant, flowing endlessly…

“He said he values feelings. So clearly, gender isn’t an issue.”

Having stayed backstage for a while, and having eaten late-night snacks with the Heartbreak and First Sister teams, Cui Lin felt he had more understanding. When you’re in the situation, you might not see clearly, but now, calming down and thinking, he realized Eldan’s existence was a kind of Schrödinger’s proof.

He could prove Mengmeng was indeed capable of accepting relationships beyond friendship.

Because of that trust, unmatched by anyone else.

Furthermore, he could prove Mengmeng possessed a transcendent calmness towards relationships. Because he was calm, he was fearless; because he was calm, he could tolerate friends occasionally joking about his own breakups.

Even if hearing those words made Cui Lin feel terribly stifled inside.

Duan Xinze extracted key information from his nephew’s rambling and made a simple summary.

“You’re essentially saying he can accept men, but that person definitely won’t be his business partner, right? Did I understand correctly?”

Cui Lin’s little scheme was exposed. “…Yeah.”

If someone truly had those intentions, they’d cherish and protect him cautiously, let alone be willing to hurt his feelings, even with a casual, offhand joke.

Duan Xinze thought for a moment, then actually laughed.

“Having this confidence is a good thing. So many people can’t even lift their heads in front of their secret crush. At least you still dare to think about it.”

Was this consolation or encouragement?

Cui Lin was speechless for a moment, yet had to admit his uncle was right.

The fact was, when he faced Mengmeng, a single placid look from him would make Cui Lin feel overwhelmingly flattered. Whenever the distance between them closed to a shoulder-brushing level, Cui Lin would automatically lose 80% of his hearing and become mentally dazed.

How on earth could he control this perverse sense of satisfaction?

Even a dog gnawing a bone demands some meat still attached!

And Mengmeng had only smiled at him just once…

“Once your film with White Beard wraps up, we’ll see if you can carve out time for a season of a special show.” A matter that could be solved with a signature and project approval, Duan Xinze didn’t mind using this method to help his nephew out.

“But you know this. You must mind your boundaries.”

Cui Lin’s face lit up with joy. “I know!”

Having experienced what it felt like to be Mengmeng’s friend, he also figured out the benefits of taking it slow. Truly, little by little surpassing Mengmeng’s other friends, capturing more of his attention and care, had its own unique sense of accomplishment…

~

A busy Sunday, another busy Monday, and the results were out.

Among the two songs Heartbreak provided and the three songs Diamond provided, Ren Shiyu ultimately chose Heartbreak’s song.

In truth, Li Tingzhou had already played her the demos before. With that first impression, First Sister agonized back and forth but still followed her heart and chose this song, “Hedgehog.”

She felt “Hedgehog” was a summary of a certain phase in her life.

Empathy and resonance were ranked as the highest-level feelings.

Ren Shiyu couldn’t resist this feeling. She could only tell her master she was sorry for wasting his goodwill.

A song composed by Mengmeng, co-arranged with Eldan, with lyrics by the same veteran lyricist who worked on Brittle Glass and Endless Summer—this “Hedgehog,” Ren Shiyu simply couldn’t bear to let a second person sing it.

She couldn’t even wait for the Heartbreak crew to arrive in G City before starting practice early.

Every season’s King of Singers Night, the main event was the main guests’ original song.

In the past, there were second-tier, third-tier singers who completely turned their careers around with one song on King of Singers Night. Whether participating in Sing My Heart Tonight was ultimately worth it depended entirely on the effort in this final episode. Ren Shiyu didn’t care what good songs others had prepared for this performance, but she had already figured out how to interpret this song.

The three parallel tracks of styling, stage design, and visual effects all launched simultaneously.

By the time Li Tingzhou and the others flew to G City, progress was already very advanced.

“I’ll include this song ‘Hedgehog’ in my 20th-anniversary collection.”

Li Tingzhou, hearing this casually, nodded subconsciously, then thought: 20th anniversary?

Oh, right, so two years later.

It sounded far away, but in reality, it was only a year and a half.

In the second decade of her debut, Ren Shiyu had released dozens of singles and three studio albums. This output frequency was considered quite stable and dedicated among singers. The three studio albums had their ups and downs—some wildly successful, some barely satisfactory, and one netizens laughingly called a “massive flop.”

But a greatest hits collection meant differently.

It simply showed Ren Shiyu truly liked this song “Hedgehog.”

Mao Maoyu, however, mused: “When will we release a 10th-anniversary collection?”

Counting their unorganized, undisciplined live performance period, Heartbreak had indeed been around for over 10 years.

But what broken little band cared about that?

Since its establishment, Heartbreak had never deliberately celebrated any anniversary. Instead, Mengmeng fans, digging through Heartbreak’s official blog history, found the date Heartbreak officially announced Mengmeng joining, and used that date as Mengmeng’s official debut anniversary.

Dai Jier had no interest in an anniversary collection; he just wanted to get to work quickly.

Because it was a new song, the workload was completely different in magnitude compared to previous adaptations and covers. There were countless details to adjust. If Eldan hadn’t arrived, it was hard to imagine how long it would take with just the three of them at their previous efficiency…

Fortunately, the recording date for King of Singers Night was set for Sunday.

G City’s sports center and stadium were extremely hard to book in the third quarter. Sing My Heart Tonight could only use the stadium for the Appreciation Performance. For events like the Top Five and King of Singers Night, only the sports center was available.

Of course, an old venue like Spirit Confluence Hall wasn’t even considered.

That would be way too hard on people.

Not only would the guests suffer, but so would the audience coming to watch.

The day before rehearsal, Ancient Style King came by to deliver iced drinks.

He seemed to be showing signs of “success nourishing one’s appearance.” Liu Lusi mentioned this guy’s performance fee had nearly doubled; he was somewhat a name now. The frustrations from so many episodes weren’t for nothing; he’d successfully cashed in.

“So, are you going on stage to sing for the finale?”

Li Tingzhou shook his head, then nodded. “Guest Singer for First Sister.”

It wasn’t that he wasn’t singing; of course, seeing things through as the Guest Singer was the most perfect.

But one couldn’t be too greedy.

Looking at the other four groups’ Guest Singer treatments, Li Tingzhou also had this self-awareness. He could be playfully teased by the audience as “the championship trophy should give Mengmeng a base,” reaping a good name while also harvesting the public’s sympathy.

But he couldn’t truly steal the spotlight. That would be incredibly tactless.

So, for the final episode, Mengmeng would retreat to the position of a regular Guest Singer.

“Hedgehog” had two sides, one bright, one dark. He would play the dark side.

After watching the rehearsal, Ancient Style King’s envious drool practically leaked from the corner of his eye. “Bro, I don’t even need a song as godly as ‘Hedgehog.’ Give me just one ‘Thorn’ and that’s enough.”

“Are you serious? There does seem to be a song like that in the library.”

Wang Chao was overjoyed. “Ah? Then I want it!”

Eldan told him, “It’s a love song about heartbreak. You think that’s suitable?”

He almost said directly that this was Mengmeng’s emotional outlet piece.

About romantic feelings, about a man’s melancholy and desolation.

Under the mixed-race Russian’s all-knowing gaze, Ancient Style King’s cheeks slowly reddened. He glanced at Mengmeng, then bit his straw twice, his other hand busy adjusting his cap brim, as if afraid of getting sunburned. “Then I still want it! Anyway… anyway, the fans who should know already know.”

Li Tingzhou looked bewildered. “Know what?”

Comrade Li Fushun crossed his arms. “If you haven’t noticed, forget it.”

Ancient Style King’s eyes darted around. “It’s too hot here. I’m going inside to chat with First Sister.”

~

Thinking back to the first recording session in G City, they were truly green and clueless back then.

Sitting in the small dark room, Li Tingzhou could now handle the solo interview with a blank expression.

PD: “Do you have confidence in Teacher Shiyu?”

Li Tingzhou: “I only believe in her. She possesses the strongest competitive edge to win.”

PD: “Since starting this recording, which stage has left the deepest impression on you?”

Li Tingzhou: “A Woman’s Heart, without a doubt. Although viewers and fans may have different preferences, for me, A Woman’s Heart was a very special stage. From that performance onwards, everyone started entering a better state. After that, the 4th Performance, the Top Five—each one got more brilliant than the last. I think the process of that turning point is also worthy of recognition.”

PD: “Who do you think is the most improved guest?”

Li Tingzhou: “With my seniority, I’m not qualified to judge the guests.”

PD: “But this is a question you must answer.”

Li Tingzhou: “I’ll vote for myself, okay? I believe that at any time, one must trust their own ability. Although individual strength is limited, if you don’t try, you’ll never know how far you can go.”

PD: “Alright, congratulations. You surpassed Teacher Shiyu by one vote!”

Li Tingzhou: “Then I’ll recast my vote!”