Chapter 22: Angered by Failure to Make Good 2.0 Part 2

She wasn’t really angry. She could clearly distinguish priorities.

~

After dropping Xi He off, Li Tingzhou returned to the Studio.

The Basement Level 1 conference room was brightly lit. Not only was the full Heartbreak team present, but Qu Yanni and her assistant had also come.

“Whether we skyrocket or fire a blank, it all depends on tonight.”

At 8 PM sharp, “All-Star Launch” began airing.

With the stunning success of the first season’s female version, the second season’s flow was steadier. From the Trainees’ entrance to their initial showcase, whether the Mentors’ evaluations or the Trainees’ reactions, the camera rhythm tightly followed the storyline. The criticized slow-motion shots from Season 1 disappeared; the snark commentator and the praise squad each played their roles. Highlights were there, but explosive points still needed observation to see if subsequent Themes suitable for rumination and viral spread could emerge.

Overall, it was the kind of quality where you could see the artificial script marks but still maintain interest to follow.

“Seems like Whale played a conservative card too.”

Liu Lusi agreed with Qu Yanni’s assessment: “The Male Trainees’ caliber clearly isn’t on par with last season’s female trainees. Men too aware of their own charm lose a great deal of appeal.”

“Haha, exactly!”

In the second half, the Trainees, after finishing initial grading, began class-specific training on the theme song.

The song was a good song, paired with choreography that balanced difficulty and spectacle.

However, this batch of Trainees had uneven skill levels, a very few reaching the point of utter absurdity, making viewers grimace and frown.

“I can’t take it anymore. When this segment is over, that’s when I’ll come back. Going out for a smoke!” Saying this, Mao Maoyu grabbed a pack of cigarettes and slipped out. Not only did he slip out himself, he wanted to bring Li Tingzhou along.

Li Tingzhou grabbed the cat food tin, taking the chance to feed Qiaoqiao.

While the two hid outside from the awkward scenes, the variety show inside continued.

The further she watched, the smoother Qu Yanni’s mood became. Her confidence in “Sing My Heart Tonight” was full: “Old classmate, you can rest easy now. The audiences for these two shows are fundamentally different. Night Heart Seven can get hotter and more mellow the more it sings. But talent shows are different; if the first shot doesn’t bang, it’s very hard to chase that peak later.”

Liu Lusi didn’t trust gut feelings, only data.

Whale had increased marketing investment across all platforms, Trending Topics everywhere. Judging solely from audience reaction, viewers were still interested in talent shows. In any competition show, as long as a single high-quality stage appeared, everything could resurrect again…

She asked: “A mega-hit needs the right timing, true, but the results can still qualify, right?”

“About right. With so many ads, losing money is near impossible.”

As they spoke, Qu Yanni received a call: “Okay, I’m making preparations on my end too.”

After she hung up, Liu Lusi understood.

She suddenly summoned her energy: “Come on, everyone ready!”

A little past 9 PM, the famous paparazzo Little Melon Jiang suddenly, without warning, dropped new material: 【Recently, Little Melon filmed a familiar friend. Who is it? So hard to guess!】

This 15-second short video looked like it was shot with a door lock.

But door-lock quality had its advantage: haziness.

The lens suddenly brightened; distant neon lights lost focus. The young couple nestled together in the frame, their indescribable intimacy almost bursting out of the screen!

【I’m really terrible, by the time I figured out what I was watching, I’d already finished it.】

【Hello, this is a public street, no smooching allowed.】

【Was the deal not reached or is this anti-hype? I ask you? The show is airing at 10!】

【Just when the second episode preview got Mengmeng fans feeling good, you can’t wait to come and disgust people?】

【Little Melon Jiang, if you’ve got nothing to do, go sweep the village’s public toilet, okay?】

【That’s it? Already saw the text version reposted at Sister-in-Law Station (wiping tears emoji)】

【Picked this time because he has a stage tonight to drop the scoop, right?】

【Doesn’t anyone who likes Mengmeng tacitly accept he has a girlfriend by default? You still needed to expose it?】

Little Melon Jiang’s expose was sudden, and its popularity shot up instantly.

He was used to being scolded, thick-skinned like a boiled pig. Netizens thought he exposed celebrity gossip for that PR payout, but in reality, Little Melon Jiang had many ways to make money.

The more the scolding, the louder it got, the more his bank account kept ka-chinging!

He was very satisfied with this job today.

As a band Lead Singer publicly active for less than three months, Mengmeng, with a fanbase of under a million behind him, had been used—with his old, un-fresh relationship scoop serving as leverage against the marketing matrix of the neighboring “All-Star Launch”—forcibly tearing open a huge gap.

Whatever the netizens’ opinions, just say whether it was profitable or not?

He, Little Melon Jiang, took the order and made a huge profit. And the real client behind the demand was probably grinning from ear to ear right now!

Zhou Ling had already called to “report the good news”:

“The response is great, exactly this flavor.”

What flavor?

Naturally, the flavor of the vast Melon-eating Spectators feeling that frustration of “Angered by their failure to make good”!

@DoYouThinkYouPlayWellBot:

Washed fruit, prepped snacks, ready to watch, started by eating half alongside the Mengmeng gossip.

Old brothers, old sisters, I know everyone’s worked hard pretending to be clueless for so long. Tonight, can we not criticize the kid first? Whatever, it’s already like this. As long as his stage doesn’t drag him down, let’s just endure it (kneeling in thanks emoji)

– Can’t endure one bit. Can’t they go kiss in the car?

– Can Mengmeng date a short-haired girl next time? Her long hair blocks my view.

– Scold, keep scolding. Once the stage comes out, you’ll be kissing up to him again immediately anyway.

– Work schedule so busy, how does he have time for dating?

– Have to say, that video makes Mengmeng look like an idol drama…

– So good at kissing, why not come try kissing me? My tongue can tie a cherry stem.

– What’s the word from next-door Sister-in-Law Station? How bad is the meltdown?

– Massively melting down. They dug up the social circle post Sister-in-Law Meng posted Wednesday, now judging her for showing off her relationship, saying she’s acting out of insecurity seeing the ex reappear.

@DoYouThinkYouPlayWellBot:

Noooo, the Main Poster released that pre-broadcast Weibo to calm everyone down, so the gossip wouldn’t affect the mood for watching the show. Gotta tune in and support. How did the chat veer off-topic? Sister-in-Law Station’s business stays at Sister-in-Law Station. We don’t allow cross-site enforcement like this.

– Sister-in-Law Station is the group least likely to let Mengmeng go unsupervised.

– If aliens invaded, let Sister-in-Law Station hold the front line first; they’re stubborn.

– Still too few Regular Army. Whenever facing this typical anti-hype tactic, before they can even agree on a countermeasure, their own formation panics first. It’s exactly aimed at you, and you’re really playing into their hands, starting a fight.

– Two shows going head-to-head, why did Mengmeng become cannon fodder?

– Striking Mengmeng indirectly impacts First Sister. Very cost-effective, ah.

– Constantly camping on Mengmeng’s homepage to watch total fan count change.

– Lost fans?

– Nope, gained nearly twenty thousand.

~

“All-Star Launch” had a massive scale, far exceeding “Sing My Heart Tonight” from a week ago.

After the first episode aired, the Trending Topics across all web platforms numbered no less than 100, if not 80.

Such a crazy promotional push clearly showed the intent to suck up all the market’s heat.

But plans often failed to keep up with changes.

Just as the Trainees were painfully practicing the theme song, with comedic moments pouring out, momentum looking great—Little Melon Jiang unexpectedly dropped a relationship gossip bomb that was old news, yet sufficiently satisfying, exploding netizens with both shock and delight!

Shocking because the two shows’ showdown was now openly on the table; there would be no peace for a while.

Delighting because this gossip left a somewhat lingering aftertaste…

Although Mengmeng was suspected of being pushed out as cannon fodder, Little Melon Jiang really did a job that brought people joy: you normally shoot people pulling curtains closed, sneaking through alleys, but for Mengmeng, you shot it so hazily dreamlike? What’s the meaning of this?

The Melon-eating Spectators remained hyperactive. #LittleMelonJiangFilmsMengmeng rapidly climbed to the top Trending Topics.

Little Melon Jiang earned like crazy. Other gossip bloggers who saw this truly regretted it.

Watching a peer make money was even more infuriating than not making money themselves. Why couldn’t I make this money?

It wasn’t that they didn’t know, nor that they lacked material.

It was just that nobody had dared to be first, everyone tacitly not touching civilians, both to obey unspoken industry rules and to avoid legal issues, preventing future accountability.

Now that Little Melon Jiang had taken the lead and eaten so well, who could sit still?

So, one word from you, one sentence from me; everyone started leaking.

Little Melon Jiang fired the first shot charging at Mengmeng; if accountability was sought, it’d hit him first!

In the following short half-hour, various variety show projects from Whale and Tide were split up like a big pizza and distributed piece by piece. This blogger leaked a bit, that blogger leaked a bit. The Melon-eating Spectators couldn’t be bothered with how the zero-basis Trainees were taming their limbs. Piecing things together, they finally assembled the two major highlights for the third quarter—

Tide was launching an unprecedented fully-mature-age female talent show.

Whale was producing a one-of-a-kind marriage documentary observation reality show.

Within these highlights, large and small tidbits landed like pearls on a jade plate:

For Whale’s marriage observation reality show’s tentatively invited couple, one of them had deep connections to Mengmeng, had even already collaborated with Mengmeng and First Sister, and would soon share a stage.

The Sister Fans currently patrolling First Sister’s Super Topic: What, how is this related to Sis?

Upon closer inspection: Scared themselves for nothing.

From start to finish, it all circled back to Mengmeng!

Now the Sister Fans couldn’t say much more. From their perspective, Mengmeng was purely collateral damage from the two platforms’ war. Because dragging a big shot like First Sister into this was too difficult, they chose the defenseless Mengmeng nearby.

Hurting Mengmeng meant hurting First Sister’s camp.

So, unprecedentedly, the Sister Fans also began speaking up for Mengmeng.

– Just say it outright, whose path is Mengmeng blocking?

– It’s obvious, with quality like Next Door’s, they truly can’t compete against Night Heart Seven.

– Picking the time Night Heart Seven’s first public performance airs to make trouble. Has anyone considered that a relationship exposé fundamentally can’t affect Mengmeng? He’s not an idol; let him date. Mengmeng fans and Sister Fans will continue supporting him just the same!

Mengmeng fans: …Fine, still love Mengmeng.

Noisily clamoring until almost 10 PM, “All-Star Launch” indeed launched with massive momentum, but the first episode’s finale looked utterly undignified no matter how you sliced it. A full two hours, as if presenting a show that started with a tiger’s head and ended with a snake’s tail.

Many content-creating film/TV bloggers saw the commotion and couldn’t resist stepping in.

【Clearly could’ve aired back-to-back for a win-win. Why resort to this sniping?】

【Night Heart, pull yourself together! They’re sniping you like this [FIGHTING.JPG]】

Tonight, the “Sing My Heart Tonight” team, putting on a grand act, watched the farce with smiles. The Official Weibo Account only came out to greet guests with a leisurely tea-like fragrance right before broadcast:

【Stop scolding, stop scolding. Everyone come watch First Sister and Mengmeng’s stage!】

And shamelessly attached a big-head special effect shot of Mengmeng.

This cheeky attitude predictably angered Music Circle fans. Although the music fans were few, they weren’t nonexistent. Everyone timidly vented their frustration in the comments section, then were very easily coaxed back by the unreleased Mengmeng photos…