AITFYMIBP CHAPTER 48

TL: Hua

As a fan, there’s nothing happier than seeing their idol have a program to appear on.

Upon learning that Lin Yanran was going to Grape TV to record Historical National Treasures today, fans started a giveaway in the super topic to generate buzz and promote the program.

Lin Yanran had just officially announced his signing with Siyu a few days ago with great fanfare, which made many people in the fan community envious.

After all, in many people’s eyes, Lin Yanran signing with Siyu was almost equivalent to having one foot in the door of A-list artists.

Siyu is very powerful and provides excellent resources to its artists.

Although Lin Yanran is still a “no-name” compared to a few of his company seniors, if the company genuinely puts its full weight behind him, soaring to fame is only a matter of time.

So, when people learned he joined Siyu, many were deeply envious of his good fortune.

Initially, everyone guessed that since he signed with Siyu and his recent momentum was good, the first officially announced resource after joining the company would surely be a high-caliber magazine or a high-quality variety show or film/TV project to boost him.

But who knew that the first variety show would be a little-known variety show on Grape TV…

This program was truly far inferior compared to the highly popular Super Idol and Incredible Journey he was on before signing with Siyu.

Therefore, as Lin Yanran’s fans happily conducted giveaways to celebrate his new variety show, some people came to gloat and stir up trouble.

[Signed with Siyu so high-profilely, and this is the first officially announced resource?? Fans are this happy celebrating a flop variety show?]

[LOL, a few days ago, the fans were all acting like ordinary chickens turning into phoenixes, but the first resource is a flop variety show.]

[Let me tell you a joke: I signed with Siyu, and I got to be on Historical National Treasures.]

[They said Siyu gave Yanran a lot of face and took him very seriously, hahaha, the slap in the face came so quickly.]

[So Siyu doesn’t take Yanran that seriously, does it? Maybe he’ll be terminated next year.]

[Yanran… I wonder how he even signed with them.]

These people were openly mocking Lin Yanran, but they were also covertly guiding fans to attack Siyu.

Many of Lin Yanran’s fans are quite experienced. Seeing people trying to stir up trouble and talk him down, and fearing that new fans might follow the negativity and cause issues with Siyu, several major fan accounts came out to calm everyone down.

[Trust Yanran, trust Siyu. Everyone, don’t be led astray by the haters.]

[I didn’t get enough of my idol’s guzheng playing last time when he only played three pieces. I finally have another chance to hear it. As a fan, I am very satisfied. Thank you, Siyu!]

[Everyone, ignore those petty clowns. As long as there is a stage, it is the best for us. Remember to watch Historical National Treasures when the time comes.]

[Looking forward to Yanran’s wonderful performance on Historical National Treasures!]

Fortunately, the fans were relatively rational. Having long seen through these tactics, they couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to these people and focused on supporting Lin Yanran.

The more they talked him down, the more the fans felt they needed to provide the utmost support for their idol.

So, the fans tacitly divided the work. Those who could go to the outside of the Grape TV building to cheer rushed over.

Those who couldn’t go helped with giveaways and forwarding, helping promote Historical National Treasures.

When Lin Yanran arrived at Grape TV, many fans were already waiting for him outside the TV building.

From a distance, he could see a dense crowd of fans from inside his van.

The banners and light boards these fans held had his photos and name printed on them.

It wasn’t that Lin Yanran had never interacted with fans before, but most of the time, the people he encountered were the sporadic few fan photographers outside the Super Idol building.

This was the first time he saw such a large number of fans cheering for him at the venue.

“Did the TV station give them tickets? Why are there so many people here?”

Lin Yanran didn’t know much about the fan community, so he asked Yingying, who was beside him.

Most artist teams monitor the trends related to their artists on various websites. As someone monitoring these trends, Yingying naturally knew what was happening, so she told Lin Yanran the situation as she understood it.

“This morning, a large number of anti-fans came to mock you, saying that you signed with an amazing company like Siyu but ended up taking on such a ‘flop’ resource.”

Lin Yanran: …

No wonder the culture of comparison is so serious in the entertainment industry; anti-fans even dictate what jobs an artist takes.

“Of course, there is actually another reason…” Yingying glanced at the fan group on the opposite side holding white-colored cheering items and whispered, “Bai Tianyu is also recording a program at Grape TV today. Our fans don’t want to lose momentum.”

She then pointed out the equally large fan group on the opposite side to Lin Yanran.

“Those people over there are all Bai Tianyu’s fans.”

Lin Yanran followed Yingying’s gaze.

Sure enough, a huge crowd had also arrived on the opposite side.

This was not the first time Lin Yanran had heard the name Bai Tianyu from someone else.

Since the last time he participated in Almighty Showdown and learned about the feud between the two from Yingying after running into Shang Chengcheng, the first thing he did when he returned was search for the video of the original owner’s conflict with Bai Tianyu.

Since it was quite a long time ago, the video he watched was one preserved by Bai Tianyu’s fans.

The video was very blurry, but the entire process was clearly recorded.

After the original owner finished rehearsing the song “Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon,” he indeed cursed at Bai Tianyu directly in front of the camera.

Lin Yanran remembered that scene: the original owner was wearing an ethereal, ancient-style white outfit, originally chatting and smiling with everyone, looking very handsome.

However, after passing a camera blind spot, when he reappeared, he was backing up and ferociously pointing and cursing at Bai Tianyu ahead: “Bai Tianyu, you trash, get away from me!”

In the eyes of ordinary viewers at the time, for such a beautiful person to speak with such a lack of manners and quality—the stark contrast was too great, which is why he has been criticized to this day.

Given this past conflict, Bai Tianyu’s fans naturally held a grudge against Yanran for many years.

Previously, they considered Yanran to be a small-time celebrity and just cursed him as part of their routine, never really paying attention to him.

In the words of Bai Tianyu’s fans, their criticism of Yanran, this nobody, actually elevated his status as a one-hundred-and-eighty-eighth-tier artist.

But times change. Who knew that Yanran, who had been obscure for so many years, would suddenly become popular recently, and today he and their own idol were both participating in programs at Grape TV.

Although the two were not participating in the same program, the recording times were similar, which made Bai Tianyu’s fans very unhappy.

So, before Lin Yanran arrived, they had been acting sarcastic and provocative in front of Lin Yanran’s fans for a long time.

This caused several short-tempered fans to become furious.

Fortunately, most fans were sober-minded and didn’t want to drag down Lin Yanran, who had finally recovered his public image, by feuding with the other side. They all advised each other not to engage, thus avoiding a physical fight between the fan groups.

The two sides had a long-standing feud and happened to meet today, so both fan groups were secretly competing, comparing their on-site support.

As soon as Lin Yanran got out of the car, sharp-eyed fans saw him and shouted, “Yanran is here!”

Then, the fans all screamed and looked in his direction, enthusiastically waving their cheering items and shouting his name.

Meanwhile, Bai Tianyu’s fans, seeing Lin Yanran approaching, immediately vigorously shook the items they were using to cheer for their own idol and started deliberately shouting Bai Tianyu’s name, trying to drown out Lin Yanran’s name. It was very impolite.

Despite such deliberate targeting, Lin Yanran did not show any anger; he simply waved at his fans to thank them for coming.

After walking into the entrance of Grape TV, Lin Yanran asked Yingying, “What’s the temperature today?”

Yingying opened her phone to check the real-time temperature: “2 degrees Celsius.”

Lin Yanran nodded, looked outside at the fans who were working hard to cheer for him, and said, “It’s quite cold outside. Buy them a cup of hot milk tea.”

Yingying nodded immediately and quickly went to order milk tea for the hard-working fans.

After Yingying left, Lin Yanran went backstage to get his makeup done.

To match the performance tonight, the program’s makeup artist gave Lin Yanran an elegant, antique-style look.

But unlike the ethereal, fairy-like white outfit from his last performance in France, Lin Yanran was in a red outfit this time, with all his hair tied up high behind his head.

He exuded a bit more of a carefree and unrestrained aura, much like the gallant young heroes in Wuxia novels.

Because the program was not very popular and had limited funding, the clothes prepared for the guests were not particularly expensive.

However, Lin Yanran’s skin was very fair, and this kind of red enhanced his complexion even more. Coupled with his bright eyes and outstanding demeanor, the otherwise unremarkable clothes looked as if they were worn by someone straight out of a painting, genuinely astonishing the stylist.

After finishing Lin Yanran’s styling, the stylist insisted on taking several photos with him.

Although the program started recording at seven o’clock, “Shui Long Yin” was scheduled for a later spot, and the staff informed him that he had to wait a little longer.

So, after his makeup was done, Lin Yanran prepared to go downstairs to practice the piece again.

He got into the elevator, and just as the door closed, it was pressed open again from the outside.

Then, a person rushed in.

The person was wearing a baseball cap, an unremarkable black jacket, and a black mask covered the entire face.

Lin Yanran glanced at the person, found them somewhat familiar, and felt like he had seen them somewhere before.

He quickly searched his memory, and a name flashed through his mind.

At this moment, the person also recognized him.

“Yanran?”

Lin Yanran was even more certain of his guess when he heard the voice.

He nodded gently to the person, “Chengcheng.”

Shang Chengcheng pulled down his mask, his eyes curving into a smile. “Long time no see. What a coincidence running into you again.”

Since the last Almighty Showdown, Lin Yanran hadn’t been in much contact with Shang Chengcheng, so it had indeed been a while since they met.

Lin Yanran hadn’t expected to run into him here.

After Shang Chengcheng finished speaking, his gaze subconsciously sized up Lin Yanran.

Just now, he had only caught a glimpse of the other person’s appearance through the elevator wall when he was immediately captivated.

Looking closely face-to-face now, he found the look even more beautiful.

However, Shang Chengcheng’s focus was not on the appearance; associating it with some past events, the smile on his face became slightly unnatural.

“You still look so good in these ancient costumes.”

Shang Chengcheng’s words sounded like praise, but his tone was somewhat awkward.

Lin Yanran found it strange and asked him, “What?”

Shang Chengcheng realized his tone was a bit sour, so he quickly lowered his gaze to conceal the complex emotions in his eyes and quickly explained, “There are many videos of you playing the guzheng on short video platforms recently. Your outfit in those videos looked great.”

He paused, then added, “This one today also suits you very well.”

After saying that, Shang Chengcheng didn’t want to continue the topic and immediately asked, “Are you recording a program here tonight?”

“Yes, recording Historical National Treasures.”

Upon hearing this name, Shang Chengcheng’s expression seemed to relax a bit. “Oh, I see. I watched an episode of that program last time; it’s quite good.”

Lin Yanran smiled and didn’t pursue whether the other party had truly watched it, only politely asking, “Are you on a program too?”

Shang Chengcheng shook his head and offered a wry, vague smile. “No, I’m accompanying a friend.”

The conversation stopped there as the elevator reached the floor.

Shang Chengcheng immediately waved at Lin Yanran and stepped out of the elevator, “I’m heading down first. I have something to take care of today. Let’s make plans next time.”

“Okay.”

Watching the departing figure, Lin Yanran retracted the smile from the corner of his mouth.

Counting the last time at Almighty Showdown, this was his second encounter with Shang Chengcheng.

But compared to the previous time, the other person’s demeanor and tone today were completely different, remarkably strange.

Combining this with the things the other party said during their first meeting, Lin Yanran had a faint suspicion.

Shang Chengcheng likely knew the inside story of the past conflict between the original owner and Bai Tianyu.

After all, Yingying had said that Shang Chengcheng used to be the original owner’s best friend, but the best friend ended up siding with Bai Tianyu.

That suggests there was a problem with their friendship.

The original owner was a gentle person; he could even endure the things his bizarre parents and Xuan Yihan did.

With such a personality, Lin Yanran believed the original owner would never curse someone without reason.

So, the problem must have originated with Bai Tianyu.

But so much time had passed, and he didn’t have the original owner’s memory of that event, so there was no way for him to know the truth.

If he wanted to figure it out, either Shang Chengcheng or Bai Tianyu would have to step forward and explain.

But Bai Tianyu was the beneficiary of that incident; he would certainly never tell the truth to everyone.

And Shang Chengcheng…

His intuition told him that the other party would also not speak up.

The elevator door closed again, completely obscuring Shang Chengcheng’s retreating figure.

Lin Yanran went to the practice room alone and practiced the guzheng for a while. Soon after, Shi Lingxiao and Weng Yancai also arrived.

The three practiced together two more times, and then the staff notified them to head backstage to wait for their turn.

Before going on stage, Shi Lingxiao took out a small mirror to check if her hairstyle and makeup were okay.

Weng Yancai saw this and joked with her, “You’re pretty enough; no need to check anymore.”

Shi Lingxiao smoothed her hair and smiled, “No, no. Many of my friends are coming to support me today, so every detail must be perfect.”

As Shi Lingxiao spoke, her friends had already arrived at the venue and had already watched several segments.

Kang Huixian was among them.

She sat quietly in a seat on the very edge, looking at the stage ahead and listening quietly to the people around her.

“From the host’s introduction, it looks like ‘Shui Long Yin’ is up next.”

“Lingxiao is coming out now.”

“I haven’t heard Old Weng play the erhu in a long time.”

“Is there also a young person performing with them tonight?”

“Yes, there is a young man. Lingxiao spoke highly of him; we can look forward to it.”

Kang Huixian’s heart was filled with anticipation when she heard everyone mention Yanran.

She was truly curious about what kind of surprise this young man, collaborating with two masters, would bring.

After all, ensemble playing is completely different from solo performance.

Especially when placing the guzheng and erhu together, the guzheng player, if they don’t handle the arrangement carefully, can easily be overpowered.

And he was cooperating with Weng Yancai, a legendary master of the erhu…

Thinking of this, Kang Huixian’s anticipation was fully piqued.

Soon, the program host announced the name “Shui Long Yin.”

The stage lights dimmed, and amidst the swirling mist, the profound and lingering sound of the guzheng began.

The stage lights gradually brightened with the music, and the young man in the red outfit on the right side of the stage appeared in everyone’s view.

The elegant and tranquil melody filled the studio, instantly creating a serene, ancient atmosphere.

Everyone’s heart quieted down along with the melody.

Shi Lingxiao’s friends, watching the young man on stage, showed a hint of surprise in their eyes.

The guzheng prelude did sound quite good.

After a brief segment of the melody, the young man gracefully stopped his movements.

Immediately, two spotlights turned on, revealing Weng Yancai and Shi Lingxiao. The erhu and flute joined in simultaneously.

The subtle and serene atmosphere from the beginning of the music took a turn, and the mood instantly became spirited and passionate.

During this segment, Weng Yancai and Shi Lingxiao, one with closed eyes and the other with a gentle smile, appeared quite relaxed and at ease.

As the two musicians played on, the climax of the piece arrived.

The guzheng, which had paused, started playing again.

The young man’s expression was calm, and his finger technique was lively and flexible.

The string sound was no longer the gentle beauty of before but was integrated with the erhu in an ensemble, with controlled intensity and magnificent momentum.

Though young, the performer’s stage presence was grand and assured.

His coordination with the two masters was seamless and responsive; in terms of momentum and skill, he was not inferior to the two grandmasters with many years of experience.

Kang Huixian looked at the young man absorbed in the music, her eyes glowing with admiration.

She had previously only seen him on her phone.

Today, finally seeing him in person, she was indeed not disappointed in any aspect—be it his appearance, temperament, or skill.

In a typical ensemble performance, her attention would usually be on the other two people.

But today, her gaze was involuntarily drawn to this young man, remaining on him from start to finish.

“Shui Long Yin” lasted only about two minutes.

The moving melody quickly came to an end.

After playing the last note, Lin Yanran withdrew his hands, finally raised his head, and stood up to bow to the audience.

Kang Huixian clapped with everyone in the audience, her gaze fixed on the polite young man on the stage.

One was in the light; the other in the dark.

But when her gaze met the young man’s, which was looking towards their side across the distance, something suddenly seemed to pass through her heart.

The movement of her hands paused, and an instinctive feeling of affection and tender care surged in her heart.

For a moment, she felt a sense of familiarity with this young man, like he was family.

This made Kang Huixian feel very strange.

She felt she liked this young man so much that she had only one thought in her mind right now: hurry backstage to find him.

The stage lights dimmed again.

Lin Yanran stepped off the stage and went directly to his dressing room backstage to remove his makeup after the performance.

Because he needed to change clothes, there was no one else in his dressing room.

Just as he was about to take off his red coat, someone knocked on his dressing room door.