Chapter 30: Thank the Bodhisattva Part 2

So, not all flowers will slowly wither on the branch in a final act. Perhaps after a night of fierce wind, they are all blown down, trampled into mud and dust. As for their already faint fragrance, it is even more so scattered by the wind…

The cigarette burned down to the end, and the sky slowly brightened.

Calculating the time, he’d have less than four hours of sleep before he had to get up and catch a flight.

Li Tingzhou simply decided not to sleep. He called Eldan via video to get him working. The two brothers were once again unlucky in love together. This wave of emotions had to be utilized; he couldn’t waste it.

As expected, in the on-set photos from the return trip to J City, Mengmeng was once again photographed with his pretty eye bags.

@SisHasSomeMoneyBot:

【789】

Can I say something?

Every time I see his eye bags, I know for sure he’s been up all night, maybe even pulling an all-nighter.

For what reason, I want to ask.

Busy for two days in a venue as hot and old as Spirit Confluence, and you’re not tired?

But my intuition tells me it’s definitely not just about work.

Don’t let me catch any hints…

【790】

(Doesn’t matter if it’s heavily blurred or not, I’ll just resurrect myself anyway)

For past public performances or broadcasts, he would always subtly post a status update. This time, he didn’t.

I’m a little happy but also a little sad.

Really want to find a fellow fan to analyze this with, but afraid of being backstabbed. Can only submit to Sis Has Money.

So, is it like that or not?

【791】

(Please blur heavily, I want to save face)

[Screenshot of a fansite photo from Mengmeng’s 3rd Public Performance]x2

I didn’t win the offline lottery, so I specifically commissioned someone to record a live photo with a fixed camera angle. But I didn’t want to post it for others to see, so I gritted my teeth and bought the rights. But after buying it out, secretly watching it myself seemed to lack a certain flavor. So, I thought, I might as well let everyone take a look too.

@SisHasSomeMoneyBot:

I have to say, some people shouldn’t go too far. You’ve already hidden it away to secretly watch it yourself. What more are you not satisfied with? What, do you want us to call you a Wealthy Lady so you’ll dole out two fansite photos?

This Poster deeply abhors such behavior, unless you DM me the video.

-Your Meng is so popular now that submissions to the Poster don’t even need to add a subject line…

-It’s still the offline stage that draws in fans the most. A thousand, ten thousand boasts online are no match for seeing it with your own eyes live.

-Tomorrow is the broadcast of the third episode too. Life is getting better.

-Gotta say, that Wealthy Lady’s money was well spent. Just looking at the screenshots is thrilling.

-The footlights from the side are absolutely perfect, shining right through the shirt making it transparent (spicy emoji)

-Even the Regular Army has to come and say “Thank the Bodhisattva.”

-This would need an R21 warning label if it were in the main feature.

It was Friday again. Tide and Whale started battling it out once more.

On Tide’s side, the previous day’s 3rd Public Performance continuously fueled the heat. Already lacking no attention, as this season’s word-of-mouth slowly fermented, initial signs of audience retention began to show. The full online version and stage clips entered a very good ruminating period, with view counts and topic reads steadily rising.

Clearly, people were watching the show with genuine care.

Many detailed highlights and bright spots only belatedly erupted into the heat they deserved during this ruminating period.

As for Whale, because the quality of this batch of trainees was truly a mess, their initial opening advantage was nearly cut off at the knees. This scared both the show and the platform, who no longer dared to mess around. They honestly served up what everyone loved to watch: a special episode similar to a sports meet was used to replace the usual behind-the-scenes footage, barely managing to soothe the huge disappointment the second evaluation brought to fans.

Not only that, the “All-Star Launch” Official Weibo Account had already opened voting for the song selections for the second Positioning Round on Wednesday.

What did that mean?

Trainees with high popularity could directly lock in a good song because of their high vote count. Those with low popularity either picked through the leftover songs others didn’t want, or fended for themselves, praying they could latch onto some big shots and get carried along by the 3-pick system.

This was essentially making fans invest their “military funds” early to participate in a drill.

Burning through combat power early might have consequences, but overall, it successfully sustained the heat.

Over on Zhou Ling’s side, he specifically gave Liu Lusi a heads-up about this. Although it wasn’t his place to curry favor, what harm was a quick mention? He spoke genuinely from the heart: “Mengmeng has a track he composed for the second Positioning Round. You need to have someone keep an eye on it, so you’re not caught unprepared if it gets tangled up in something.”

Liu Lusi wasn’t about to retort: What on earth could this have to do with our Mengmeng?

In fact, she was already prepared.

The Mengmeng Fan Support Club had come to communicate the moment they saw Whale officially announce [Music Support]. They were asking whether to manage things when the neighboring show aired. Liu Lusi’s opinion was to wait and see.

Meaning, fans could watch if they wanted, they just needed to mainly support “Sing My Heart Tonight.”

Of course, she had also discussed Mengmeng’s scope of work with the admins.

Once the song was submitted, it was out of Mengmeng’s hands. The subsequent choreography arrangements and distribution of the lyrics were entirely up to the show’s production team. No matter how fiercely the trainee fandoms fought later on, no matter how bloody it got, it had nothing to do with Mengmeng, the composer, arranger, and producer.

That was the official line, but the fans’ attitudes had always been the most uncontrollable thing.

At noon on Friday, with still half a day before the 8 PM “All-Star Launch” and the 10 PM “Sing My Heart Tonight” would air, the talent show fans indeed erupted in the biggest spectacle since the show began—

The fandoms of the Initial Center, Third Place, and Fourth Place joined forces to vote together, successfully locking up all spots for the most popular dance track in the Positioning Round, completing an exclusion of First Place!

And the producer of this dance track? None other than Mengmeng.

First Place’s fans could just swallow this hidden loss?

Of course, they chose to blow the matter wide open with large character posters, even claiming they would report vote-rigging to the relevant authorities, demanding a vote recount and forbidding such collective isolation incidents from happening again.

The other three fandoms weren’t pushovers either.

If they could find this loophole, they naturally had some confidence it would succeed. Besides, the law doesn’t punish the multitude. Could “All-Star Launch” possibly overturn the voting results of all its fans over an entire 48-hour period just for one group’s complaint?

Drama-loving netizens commented: Man, you guys are fighting fiercely.

Some also had to ask: What kind of song is it that you’d exhaust all these scheming little tricks to fight for it? Is it a guarantee you’ll win if you dance to this song?

Conveniently, the voting page had an external link. You could click in and listen.

Without listening, you might just enjoy the spectacle. But after listening… the peanut gallery was also left speechless:

It was like among a pile of assignments following a template just to fool the teacher, there suddenly appeared a perfectly structured, well-argued, and novelly-perspective essay. The rhythm, the emotion—it was simply too outstanding…

【When to Criminalize Lip-syncing and Fake Playing | Mengmeng’s Music Vault is Unfathomable】

————

Right on topic.

Came back after watching the talent show voting spectacle. Posting my thoughts.

Your Meng truly is a beast who single-handedly led Heartbreak to independence. Casually pulling a song from his vault to support the neighboring show, those talent show fans are fighting like cats and dogs. The Fan Support Clubs are playing scheming games, employing some kind of encirclement tactic just to kick First Place’s trainee out of this song’s list…

This song, taken on its own, is indeed pretty damn exhilarating. You can imagine how cool the performance would be.

1L: Mengmeng pulls a few small strings, talent show fans fight until their heads bleed.

5L: Now you know just how well-fed the Heartbreakers are…

9L: Mainly because there’s no huge gap between the contestants in this year’s show. Everyone has hopes of snatching a top spot. One stage can indeed overtake and skyrocket—not just empty words. Mengmeng’s song indeed has a bit of a hit aura. There’s a section with drum beats in the middle, not sure what simulated instrument it is, but it’s super ear-catching! From my past experience in the K-pop scene, it’s 80% the killing part.

15L: The cleverest part is that the song’s framework is actually very simple, easy to perform well.

21L: There’s an AI version of Mengmeng on Douyin, brothers and sisters can go listen…

28L: Holy shit, it sounds just like the real thing (spicy emoji)

34L: Too bad Mengmeng won’t become a little idol, otherwise, I’d make him suffer at a fan signing event.

49L: Who hasn’t seen Mengmeng bite a badge?

This guy is actually really good at fan service too (spicy emoji)

55L: Can’t imagine a man like Mengmeng, who can’t live without being in love, becoming an idol. Wouldn’t he collapse into ruins on his debut day? Fandom fights, even the material would be readily available…

68L: I gotta say, that AI mix is pretty authentic. It sounds so good, I love listening to it!

72L: Already added to the playlist.

75L: With all this Promotional Material the last couple of days, I’m a bit blissfully dizzy. Don’t stop!

80L: Giving everyone a heads-up in advance. Mengmeng isn’t just supplying one song for this talent show. There’s a more important one later, the one for the final 2-choice song that will be included in the debut album.

I saw this news from the Fan Support Club group. It should be reliable.

83L: Meaning there will be more fights in the future?

If there are fights, can they please not hit us? Go fight the Regular Army.

88L: In the past, exposure was limited. I wished Mengmeng would take on external gigs every day. Now that external gigs are picking up, there’s always fighting. I don’t know when a fist might suddenly fly at Mengmeng Fans’ faces…

90L: Accept it. Your Meng is just this kind of stormy, bloody figure (smoking emoji)