Chapter 10: Our Mengmeng

A music variety show that offered a real stage was far more attractive than a boy band talent competition.

Since both sides were open to collaboration, the rest was left to the management team to negotiate.

Li Tingzhou refocused his energy on the performance itself.

Y City was indeed scorching. Although the sea breeze blew constantly, the cool relief it brought was limited, and because the wind itself was warm, mixing with moisture, it clung to the skin, sticky and damp.

They heard the next day would be even hotter, with temperatures reaching 35 or 36 degrees Celsius persisting into the evening.

To deal with emergencies like hyperventilation and heatstroke, the organizers temporarily announced they would set up cooling Pulse Water Cannons on both sides of the extended stage.

Upon hearing this news, the female singers set to perform were collectively aghast.

Mao Maoyu asked, bewildered, “Aren’t water cannons supposed to make it cooler?”

Unfortunately, his and Dai Jier’s equipment couldn’t easily get wet; they had to stay on the main stage. Among the three in Heartbreak, only Mengmeng could put down his guitar and briefly run off to play.

Liu Lusi mused: The major attraction of a summer music festival was precisely the Pulse Water Cannons.

Just imagine: under a scorching sun, drenched in sweat, and suddenly, a blessed rain falls from the heavens.

Even if caught completely off guard and soaked, the experience was rare: scorching yet refreshingly cool, your favorite songs ringing in your ears, wiping water droplets from your face only to see the singers on stage equally drenched. Those with good figures were a feast for the eyes; those without still shared in the people’s joy.

Male singers didn’t have much to worry about; their hair wax was usually waterproof.

But for female singers, the outfit, makeup, and hairstyle considerations were endless!

Being captured in a sorry state and mercilessly mocked online, or having a single song become legendary and gaining a life-defining live performance—it all depended on the styling team and the effectiveness of the subsequent marketing push.

After she briefly explained the stakes to the three from Heartbreak, Mao Maoyu’s eyes darted cunningly—

“Then our Mengmeng can’t fall behind either!”

“Of course, we’re prepared. Afraid that the hot weather and the sight of complicated costumes would make people more irritable, we only prepared cargo pants and a sleeveless tank top for him. Summer is the season to show off your body, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.”

Li Tingzhou: “…”

He didn’t care about the principle, but facing the blatant, teasing looks from Dai Jier and Mao Maoyu, he couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward.

Thankfully, the afternoon performance went smoothly.

Hot as it was, it wasn’t unbearable.

For this show, Li Tingzhou wore only a simple white T-shirt with neatly tailored trousers, aiming for a fresh, clean look. Since the setlist was the same as the two songs from the previous T City show, the director didn’t design any complicated choreography or stage movements. Only the middle solo section was remixed beforehand, just to demonstrate to the viewers that they were indeed playing live, no lip-syncing or fake playing involved.

“Hey, where did the accessory on Mengmeng’s belt fly off to?”

The stylist checking the costumes counted it three times: “Did it fall on stage?”

Even Li Tingzhou himself was confused: “I didn’t notice…”

Since it was lost, he simply had the stylist make a list to inform Ms. Lusi later for a replacement. He wanted to say something else but was pulled away by Mao Maoyu and Dai Jier to chat with other bands.

Ah, this time it was again Zheng Bing, the bassist from Mint Candy, who organized the gathering.

His network was surprisingly extensive. High up, he could pick up some inside information from a director of the Tourism Bureau; low down, he could infiltrate the social circle of an 18th-tier obscure singer. When the topic turned to Whale Media’s upcoming boy band talent show, it was a cascade of juicy gossip.

“Hey, our lead singer had a nodule detected, right? Because we just dealt with that Huzi situation, it worried him sick. So he thought of keeping a backup lead singer. Found a fresh graduate from the C Conservatory of Music, decent looking, passed the first audition, everyone was pretty satisfied, terms were quickly settled, even the preliminary contract was signed. The moment the guy heard Whale was launching a male version of a talent show, he packed his suitcase and bolted that very night.”

“Not only that! He even blocked us all!”

Zheng Bing initially had a string of profanity-laced complaints he hadn’t let out.

But the moment his eyes met Li Tingzhou’s gaze, he swallowed them down forcefully.

“Even though no signed contract means it’s void, this still counts as jumping ship, right? It does, right?”

Everyone chimed in their support, chattering noisily:

“How could it not count?”

“It was a mutual understanding, a double selection, just missing the formal contract.”

“Does a preliminary contract mean nothing?”

“At his age, going on that talent show, he’s already ancient, isn’t he?”

“Any photos? Let us see just what kind of devastatingly handsome guy he is.”

Zheng Bing pursed his lips: “Far inferior to our Mengmeng.”

Dai Jier was about to speak when Mao Maoyu swiftly interjected: “What ‘your Mengmeng’? That’s OUR Mengmeng, don’t go calling him whatever you want!”

“What’s wrong with calling him that? I’ll call him that if I want! Mengmeng, Mengmeng, Mengmeng!”

The speaker was Junko, the lead singer of Tipsy Cookie, the one who previously blushed when Li Tingzhou looked at him.

He quickly glanced at the man in question, saw his expression was normal, and steered the topic back to the Whale talent show.

In this circle, a united front against outsiders was important. Whether Mint Candy was in the right or not, they had to forcefully argue their side, let alone this time when the brothers had genuinely been stood up…

“I say, we should get the relevant evidence ready. If that kid gets eliminated in the first round, forget it. But if he actually ranks, just find some bot blogger and submit a tip about him jumping ship! You know bots, right? Those places that specialize in anonymous mudslinging. Every single one of them has a tongue dipped in deadly poison.”

After all the noisy strategizing, this was the only somewhat feasible idea.

While everyone was still giving Mint Candy advice, Li Tingzhou listened and couldn’t help but smile.

Junko asked, “What are you laughing at?”

“Laughing at how kind-hearted you all still are.”

Junko’s face flushed again. He suppressed a smile, murmuring, “W-What, what’s that…”

Suddenly, he stepped forward, moving to sit beside Li Tingzhou.

“That’s why you wanted to laugh? What kind of person are you? Everyone’s trying to help a brother out.”

Li Tingzhou stopped teasing. He stated plainly, “Since you’ve gathered enough evidence, naturally, you should use it at the most opportune moment. You said getting some random burner account to tip off a bot is feasible, but the timing is completely wrong.”

“Don’t just think about submitting it after he gets famous.”

Getting famous on a talent show meant gaining a group of unreasonable, young supporters.

If they were already unreasonable, why would they care about your messy “evidence”?

When the time came, who would land the punch, who was in the right, and calculating the odds of winning became much harder to predict.

“If you really want to suppress this kid, you have to submit the tip right when the show first reveals the trainees. Among the trainees, there are bound to be some pre-exposed ones with their own existing fanbase. They’ll inevitably fight fiercely amongst themselves, digging up each other’s dirt as a basic operation. At that time, it’s the perfect moment to fish in troubled waters.”

Not just Junko, even Zheng Bing was somewhat stunned.

Who didn’t know tricks for messing with people?

The scheming in today’s music circle was no less.

But more often, everyone was fueled by a desperate sense of pride, determined to win at all costs, even if it meant hurting the enemy a thousand while sacrificing eight hundred of their own, or mutually assured destruction.

To put it bluntly, their thinking was too direct, their methods too crude.

Li Tingzhou had casually proposed an optimized plan, and even had the interest to order another signature drink from the owner. The others were still processing it, savoring the idea—

It did seem to make sense!

If they could deal with the “enemy” while he was still small and keep the rhythm in their own hands, there was no need to wait for him to fully mature before fighting. Would doing so make things look better? At this point, who cared about appearances? They had right on their side. Who was afraid of whom?

~

The second day in Y City was indeed hotter. The temperature broke 35 degrees in the morning.

Such high temperatures in a densely populated area easily led to heatstroke. Bright Light Stadium was an open-air venue, enclosed on four sides but with the dome open—it would only get hotter.

Before anyone could worry about whether the audience could endure it, the Main Band had a member collapse from the heat first.

In such situations, bands could generally find a substitute musician. If that failed, some singers didn’t necessarily need the official partner band for live accompaniment; they could choose to use a backing track, and perhaps they were even more suited to that.

But some people couldn’t.

Ren Shiyu was set to passionately sing four songs today and had rehearsed the most with the Main Band beforehand. If one member went down now and she had to adapt to a substitute, adjust herself to them—then what were First Sister’s decades in the industry worth?

So, after going around in circles, this opportunity to build goodwill came to Heartbreak.

“Of course, I can.”

Li Tingzhou had no baggage like “What does it make me if I accompany someone else?”

Was that just anyone?

That was First Sister! That was a benefactor!

It was because she made a hit out of a song he wrote that Li Tingzhou’s market value had risen.

Even with limited time, it didn’t matter. Ren Shiyu’s performance setlist was all popular hits, every professional musician in the circle was familiar with them; it was effortless. Li Tingzhou only rehearsed twice with the band, and First Sister got a feel for it.

“When the time comes, you’ll come to the front with me. Here, your position is fixed right here.”

To avoid the spray range of the Pulse Water Cannons, the safe zone was actually very limited, so the fixed positions were all in the same area. As such, First Sister had even chosen his presentation angle for him. Li Tingzhou nodded, and then Ren Shiyu took him to lunch together.

After finishing a lunch that exceeded the average four-figure daily meal allowance, returning to Heartbreak’s area inevitably caused mixed feelings.

“What’s wrong, Mengmeng? You look unhappy.”

Dai Jier stopped surfing the web, put down his phone, and came over.

Li Tingzhou pulled a thread from his mind and followed it, expanding his thoughts: “In July and August, let’s not be too idle. That program I’m doing won’t take many days. We should take on whatever performances we can get.”

“Absolutely no idling then, it’ll just be hard on you.”

Mao Maoyu was already envisioning a summer single: “My mother asked the Bodhisattva. She said everything will be auspicious for us next. Don’t worry, Mengmeng, the new song will definitely be fine.”

With such resolute faith power entering the entertainment industry, what need was there for 800 marketing accounts…