Chapter 51: Will We See You Again, Mengmeng? Part 2

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【When to Criminalize Lip-syncing and Fake Playing | Congrats First Sister!】

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Hedgehog is a guaranteed hit; those two chorus sections will probably blow up separately.

The A section is so neurotic, I love this mental state!

The B section has this faint, dead-inside feeling of having to go back to work after two days of crazy fun. Mengmeng handled it very cleanly, giving me the illusion that I could sing this well just by casually belting it out…

But honestly, I still have to say:

Thought the Top Five Vocal Concert was full-on evolution, but the final round’s original songs proved who’s truly the real deal.

Some people can take a 90-point song and sing a 120-point flavor; others have a song that’s only worth 70 points, and no matter how well they sing, the ceiling is 100 points…

There’s a gap between singing and composing after all. (smoking emoji)

1L: So First Sister’s ultimate move was waiting here all along.

6L: This green dress instantly surpasses that previous lab-grown diamond black feather dress.

14L: There was a part where your Meng’s fingers were literally a blur! [Mengmeng stage screenshots]x4

99L: What are you all simping over?

I’m asking you, what exactly are you simping over?! (angry emoji)

104L: All the ghosts and monsters revealed their true forms tonight. (pinching philtrum emoji)

110L: On a serious note, Mengmeng was very restrained tonight. It wasn’t exactly holding back, more like a very measured, particular kind of flavor. In previous episodes, you could see him fighting hard, wanting to perfect every stage, but after the Top Five Vocal Concert, he clearly reached enlightenment, with a kind of steadiness once you’ve grasped it, no longer anxious or worried.

119L: Brother 110 spoke my feelings. It’s the feeling of being at ease.

117L: Heartbreak didn’t waste this trip on Night Heart Seven, gained a lot.

121L: First Sister definitely didn’t come in vain either, completely figured out her comfort zone after the transformation.

…

199L: What suspense is there left to unveil? Just give the trophy to First Sister directly.

202: Let’s congratulate Sis and Mengmeng together!

221L: The way Mengmeng casually curled the corner of his lip… I’ll spend my whole life learning this expression.

229L: He’s pulled it off, that smug little Meng. (angry emoji)

244L: A perfect finish!

251L: Will we see you again, Mengmeng? I’ll miss you, Mengmeng…

256L: Why are you crying? At 10 PM, Star Two still has one more episode with Mengmeng. (smoking emoji)

260L: Oh, never mind then. (spicy emoji)

~

First Sister won the Season 7 overall championship of “Sing My Heart Tonight,” crying on the spot.

Li Tingzhou didn’t feel the urge to cry; he only smiled faintly.

After leaving the stage to First Sister alone for the encore, the backstage crew immediately notified him that he’d received a bouquet. Before he could even see the whole thing, that splash of blue-violet leaped into view impatiently—

It was an elegantly arranged, fresh and delicate bouquet of blue hyacinths.

On the sky-blue note card, there was only a drawn smiley face. : )

Those two dots were clearly drawn with the top one bigger than the bottom one, so a stroke was added below, but then the bottom became bigger than the top, so another stroke was added on top, and so on—the more he added, the bigger they got, and the less round they became, turning into a comically lopsided, big-eyed smiling face.

Who sent this?

Li Tingzhou couldn’t imagine anyone other than Cui Lin.

He took a photo and sent it to him: 【Thank you for the flowers.】

Cui Lin replied instantly: 【S City suddenly had a downpour, was worried it wouldn’t make it in time】

Because he feared the special delivery would miss the train, he’d revised the blessing he wanted to write over and over, wasting six or seven of the shop’s note cards, before finally giving up in frustration and drawing a smiley face, with two eyes not even the same size.

Forget it. Whatever he wrote wasn’t that important anymore.

Anyway, in Mengmeng’s eyes, he was just a rather comical, rather random ordinary friend. As long as he could make Mengmeng happy, make him laugh out loud, didn’t the way it was sent ultimately not matter?

Li Tingzhou knew cameras were filming behind-the-scenes materials, so he didn’t reply immediately.

Who knew, a few seconds later, Cui Lin sent another message:

【Last time you said you liked Tong An’s movies, he has a new film screening at the film festival. I think you’ll like this style. If you come, I’ll get the tickets and watch it with you, okay? [Qiaoqiao Tentatively Reaching Out Paw.JPG]】

Without overthinking it, Li Tingzhou casually replied: 【Thank you】

He took the water handed to him by an Assistant, took two small sips through the straw. During this time, the makeup artist quickly leaned in to touch up his makeup. Simultaneously, Liu Lusi handed him the Cue Cards for a quick review. Once he’d digested the content, he had to go for individual interviews without pause…

The recording of “Sing My Heart Tonight” Season 7 had essentially ended here.

The subsequent Appreciation Performance, following old season traditions, would likely be scheduled for later in the month.

Meaning, from tonight onward, all of Li Tingzhou’s recording work had come to a close. He removed the receiver fastened at his lower back and placed it together with the Headliner’s designated microphone. After staring at them fixedly for a moment, he got up to head to the interview room.

On his way to the interview, Li Tingzhou also ran into Zhao Chenmin.

The legendary ‘devoted husband’ was quietly staying by her side. The two were chatting and laughing.

Returning from the interview, the waiting room was already packed with people coming to congratulate First Sister.

The excitement belonged to others. From start to finish, Li Tingzhou did not touch the trophy even once.

After offering their congratulations with full courtesy, the several members of Heartbreak slowly edged out of the main circle.

Before leaving, Si Yuan glanced back at Ren Shiyu, surrounded like the moon by stars. He felt envy and aspiration, but within these few short days, he had also genuinely recognized the gap between himself and a true singer. So he no longer lingered, hastening to keep up with the footsteps of Mengmeng and the others ahead…

That night, it was nearly midnight by the time everyone returned to J City.

Star Two, which everyone had said they’d watch to follow up on Mengmeng training the newbie, had also finished airing.

Liu Lusi and Qu Yanni were still working overtime. They remained mentally fired up, looking like they could battle for three hundred more rounds, brainstorming good marketing angles to help Mengmeng’s Weibo followers smoothly cross the five-million mark.

Eldan lived together with Li Tingzhou. The two were driving home from the Studio.

Halfway there, Eldan’s stomach started rumbling like thunder.

He put on an innocent face. “What are you looking at me for? Buy me something to eat.”

So they turned around and found a small eatery for a late-night snack. On the way, they encountered paparazzi tailing their car. Not only that, the guy even offered Li Tingzhou a cigarette, trying to strike up a conversation…

Li Fushun was astonished. “What does he want with you? Aren’t you already broken up?”

Li Tingzhou scanned the QR code to pay and pushed his fluffy head away. “Just eat your food.”

The paparazzo was, unsurprisingly, from Little Melon Jiang Studio. Seeing Mengmeng as a clear ‘potential stock,’ and having previously built a tacit understanding, they wanted to negotiate a long-term collaboration. In other words: from now on, big or small matters, we’ll cover for you first; if Heartbreak has any marketing needs, Little Melon Jiang Studio will coordinate and target the hot trends for maximum blast. You win, we win.

Eldan chewed on his meat skewer, pondering for a moment. “He’s thought it through quite nicely.”

Li Tingzhou laughed. “Do you even understand what he meant?”

“How could I not?”

He wanted to add more, but Li Tingzhou had already lowered his eyes, concentrating on his food.

In the latter half of the night, J City also began to rain.

Summer rain comes in spurts. Eldan said he wanted to go to the port to watch people night fishing. Li Tingzhou had no desire to accompany him to feed the mosquitoes, but he still drove him to see the sea, exasperatedly saying, “Why didn’t you come during the day? We could’ve seen the old men diving then…”

After watching for a while, the rain stopped. An uncle night fishing turned his head, hesitant to speak.

“Ever since you two showed up, I haven’t caught a single fish.”

Li Tingzhou instantly flushed crimson and hauled Eldan away immediately!

~

The day after recording ended, everyone sat in the Studio, still not quite used to it.

By the time Li Tingzhou and Eldan arrived, Qu Yanni was reading aloud the post-game report Tide had compiled overnight. In short, it was awesome—a solid triple-crown yearly champion secured across all platforms.

Dai Jier was listening so intently he didn’t even notice he’d emptied his fish food bag.

Mao Maoyu yawned. “I concede Tide is quite impressive, but when it comes to money-grubbing, Whale still wins.”

After entering the Top 18 Final Phase Public Performance, Whale dropped all pretense and started harvesting their leeks.

Following the new episode that aired last night, their Official Weibo Account store directly launched promotional merchandise for all 18 Trainees. Though it was only two tentative items—Badges and name cards—this still proved Whale’s ambition to extract money.

Not only did they want to extract money, they also wanted to start early in testing the spending power of the Show Fans.

Li Tingzhou, mimicking the yawn that had been going around, added: “I see…”

“Night Heart Seven has already finished airing. If Star Two can’t seize the open market share, it would truly be a waste of their meticulously chosen premiere slot. Anyway, these goods aren’t that expensive. I’m not saying a few dozen bucks isn’t money, I mean, a few dozen bucks is truly insignificant for Show Fans and idol-chasers.”

Eldan suddenly said, “A few dozen bucks can’t even buy a music festival ticket.”

Dai Jier couldn’t help but choke. “Fushun, your remarks are getting sharper and sharper.”

At 9 o’clock, Si Yuan stumbled in as well.

“Sorry, I took the wrong bus direction!”

Mao Maoyu laughed. “It’s fine. When Mengmeng first returned to the country, he also rode the subway in the wrong direction.”

From this day on, the rest of Heartbreak began taking turns guiding Si Yuan. Li Tingzhou occasionally sought him out for a chat, starting by cultivating his aesthetic habits and probing his sensitivity level.

Fortunately, Si Yuan didn’t disappoint.

His talent was still there, and his mindset was rapidly settling. He no longer urgently sought a contract but instead calmed down to learn from everyone, enjoying his fulfilling and busy internship life.

Tuesday, after waiting and waiting, Cui Lin called Li Tingzhou.

“You haven’t forgotten what you promised me, right?”

Li Tingzhou gestured to Si Yuan, “Keep practicing—” then took his phone and pushed open the door to step outside. Within a few steps, he remembered. “Oh, right, Tong An’s movie. You got the screening tickets?”

Cui Lin forcibly suppressed the corners of his mouth and replied reservedly, “Mm, it’s on the very first day of the festival.”