AITFYMIBP Chapter 68

TL: Hua

In the audience, Hong Huixue watched Lin Yanran’s performance with a smile. She raised her hands and began to applaud him.

It was no wonder that back when he was fighting alone without a management team—knowing full well the production team had malicious intentions—he still dared to agree without hesitation.

But Yanran was clearly even smarter than anyone had imagined.

He was kind to others, but he didn’t let himself be easily bullied.

The positive gains brought about by this wave of “reverse hype” had already far exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Watching the shining Lin Yanran on stage, Hong Huixue turned and left the studio gracefully.

Her artist was performing so brilliantly; as his manager, she couldn’t afford to drag him down.

The marketing and promotion regarding his vocal skills definitely had to keep up, but beyond that, she also needed to have a serious talk with the person in charge of this program.

Previously, this show had maliciously exploited Lin Yanran without any bottom line. At the time, she had purposely turned a blind eye and remained silent, fearing a leak of information.

But remaining silent then didn’t mean they were a soft persimmon.

Now that the good show was over, she had to give these people a warning and a lesson.

Otherwise, people in the industry would truly think Siyu didn’t value Lin Yanran and believe he was easy to bully.

Thus, as soon as Lin Yanran arrived backstage after his performance, he saw the head of the production team coming to apologize for the previous Weibo promotions and hype.

Lin Yanran looked up in surprise and saw Hong Huixue behind the director, who had her arms crossed in front of her chest with an air of nonchalance, indicating that he should not be polite to these people.

Although the performance had ended, the heat surrounding it was not so easily dissipated.

After a night of fermenting, by the next day, Lin Yanran’s performance on “Guess Who I Am” directly hit #1 on the Hot Search list. Netizens dubbed it a “God-tier (Slap-in-the-Face) Live Performance.”

Beautiful music always resonates.

Lin Yanran’s soulful and gentle Moonlight Serenade, paired with the fresh and energetic Missing Period, showcased two different styles that satisfied viewers with varying musical aesthetics.

Add to that his impeccable vocal skills, and it wasn’t just his fans who were stunned; even ordinary passersby were full of praise.

The audio of these two songs performed live by Lin Yanran lived up to expectations, quickly topping the charts of all music software overnight. On short-video platforms, clips of the performance garnered millions of likes.

This wasn’t Lin Yanran’s first time on the Hot Search, but as everyone looked at him again, it felt as if they were getting to know him for the first time.

[He knows how to sing, dance, and compose. As a singer, does he even have any flaws?]

[I used to think he just knew a bit of guzheng and followed a traditional style. I didn’t expect him to be this powerful!]

[I’m already starting to look forward to what kind of surprise Yanran will bring next!!]

[I don’t know when the next time will be, but right now I just want to ask: Yanran, why haven’t you released an album or performed live in so many years?!]

[Exactly! How are only two songs enough? As a singer, Yanran, doesn’t your heart ache if you don’t release an album? Are you even doing justice to your identity as a singer if you don’t go on more shows and sing live?]

[Begging for a release! I will definitely buy it out!]

Song Zhu looked at the Hot Search and the various comments praising Lin Yanran with a self-torturing intensity. He felt like his head was about to explode.

Originally, he thought that by demanding Lin Yanran sing another song live, he could expose the truth of his lip-syncing.

He never expected that he was actually providing the other party with a golden opportunity to clarify his vocal abilities.

Thinking of how Lin Yanran had specifically learned and showcased that violin piece on the spot…

Song Zhu felt nothing but bitter regret.

Not only did he fail to crush Lin Yanran’s singing, but he also fell behind in terms of musical instruments.

Comparing them now, it appeared that he was inferior to the other person in every single way.

But now that things had come to this, there was really no other way to salvage the situation except to travel back in time and cover his own mouth.

Song Zhu could only accept his bad luck.

Closing Weibo, Song Zhu originally thought that the matter between him and Lin Yanran would end with him simply handing the other man a “highlight moment” for nothing.

But he never expected that ten minutes later, his act of belittling Lin Yanran would be exposed.

The matter was brought to light by a netizen.

Little Sheep Likes To Eat Grass: Reviewing the livestream of “Guess Who I Am” last night, I found that Teacher Song Zhu was practically a ‘God-tier Assist.’ Originally, I thought this was a task arranged by the production team for Teacher Song Zhu, so I searched the web using the keywords ‘Song Zhu Yanran.’

Holy cow, and then I actually found this!

This netizen posted many screenshots below. The content was entirely press releases from Song Zhu’s team belittling Lin Yanran’s “trash” vocal skills, along with screenshots from several marketing accounts praising Song Zhu while stepping on Lin Yanran.

The general content stated: While Lin Yanran and Song Zhu are equally skilled at the guzheng, when it comes to singing, Lin Yanran is completely outclassed by Song Zhu.

One marketing account even made a bold, arrogant claim: This is why, when the two are on the same stage, Song Zhu can be a judge while Yanran can only be judged.

Fearing that people wouldn’t understand, the netizen specifically circled the timestamps of these press releases. They were almost all sent out simultaneously at 9:00 PM.

The netizen added a paragraph:

[If I remember correctly, at 9 o’clock, Yanran hadn’t even gone on stage to sing yet, right? How did these marketing accounts open their ‘Third Eye’ to know that Yanran’s singing was ‘shattered to pieces’ and that he would be crushed by the equally ethereal guzheng-playing Teacher Song Zhu? ^_^]

Everyone in the industry is a “thousand-year-old fox”; they could tell at a glance that these were pre-arranged smear campaigns from Song Zhu’s side.

But even though a reversal had occurred later, the other party hadn’t thought to delete them.

This news was so surreal and hilarious that as soon as “Little Sheep Likes To Eat Grass” posted it, it was rapidly shared by netizens.

[Hahahahahaha this is too stupid!]

[Song Zhu’s actions deserve a place on the list of most baffling behaviors.]

[Does the team have no brains? Or no ears? They actually dared to post this?]

[These are all bought in advance. Probably the marketing accounts didn’t watch the livestream and just posted them without knowing what was happening.]

[Song Zhu’s side is quite skilled at ‘pushing and stepping,’ but they didn’t expect Yanran to be such a good singer, hahahaha.]

[I can’t take it, this is hilarious. Song Zhu, you’re inferior to him in every way, where do you get the confidence to step on Yanran?]

[I felt his words to Yanran at the scene were quite hostile. Song Zhu fans kept insisting that making Yanran add a song was a segment arranged by the show. Arranged my foot! I bet he just thought Yanran couldn’t sing and wanted to make things difficult for him on purpose.]

[Why does Song Zhu have such great hostility toward Yanran? I feel like he’s always had a gentle immortal persona and shouldn’t have much overlap or conflict with Yanran, right?]

Not only this netizen, but most others were curious about Song Zhu’s motive.

Through collective effort, an incredibly resourceful netizen finally dug out the reason.

A few weeks ago, Song Zhu’s team had darkly hinted that the viral song “Shui Long Yin” was originally supposed to be performed by him.

Seeing this, everyone understood!

[Does he mean Yanran snatched his resources?]

[If that’s the case, no wonder Song Zhu hates him so much. ‘Shui Long Yin’ is such a classic; whoever performs it benefits.]

Song Zhu’s fans had been rendered speechless by the embarrassing smear campaign.

Now that they had a reason, they immediately felt they were in the right. They began using various whitewashing techniques, trying to shift all the blame onto the “stolen resources” incident.

After all, if the logic of the smear campaign was based on having one’s resources stolen, the whole thing seemed to become justified and harmless.

[Doesn’t Yanran deserve to be stepped on for stealing someone’s resources?]

[I suddenly remember my brother said in a livestream once that he was practicing ‘Shui Long Yin.’ I was wondering why he ended up going to a different show. Turns out his resources were stolen! ^_^]

[This is the character of the Yanran you guys praise? Heh.]

[How shameless. As expected of someone from a big company—stealing whatever resource is hot.]

Song Zhu and his manager were originally arguing with the marketing accounts, blaming them for being careless and getting caught. They were thinking about how to handle the PR.

When they saw that netizens had actually handed them a whitewashing excuse, they quickly bought water armies to start selling the misery narrative, trying to steer the public opinion toward Lin Yanran stealing resources.

Since that event happened a while ago, viewers wouldn’t know the specifics when looking back now.

Song Zhu’s side had calculated well, wanting to use this to shift the topic.

However, they didn’t expect that just as they deployed their water army—before Lin Yanran’s team even came out to debunk the rumors—the production team of “Historical National Treasures” came out to personally slap them in the face.

Historical National Treasures Official: Today, this baby discovered that our handsome Teacher @Yanran topped the Hot Search list! Once again, this baby is deeply shocked by the teacher’s vocal skills and strength! Always cheering for Teacher Yanran! After watching the video, this baby couldn’t help but dig out the footage of the teacher’s rehearsal for “Shui Long Yin.” Thank you, Teacher Yanran, for stepping in at the last minute to save the show! Without you, the audience might not have been able to see this program! Teacher Yanran, this baby will love you forever! [Cute]

As soon as the Weibo post went out, someone immediately spotted the key point.

Netizen: Stepping in at the last minute? It was Song Zhu before?

The official account replied: It was indeed a last-minute rescue! Teacher Yanran is such a kind person; he didn’t even mind that our show’s appearance fee is low and the performance difficulty is high.

The tone of the Historical National Treasures official Weibo was truly a masterclass in sarcasm—on the surface, it was showering Lin Yanran with rainbow farts, but in reality, it was ruthlessly dissing Song Zhu.

Following the official post, a staff member leaked the original communication logs with Song Zhu. The screenshots showed that his side had initially agreed, but when it came time to finalize arrangements, they ghosted them and ignored all messages.

The three-pronged attack—the official post, the staff leak, and the live performance evidence—hammered the final nail into Song Zhu’s coffin.

Netizens who had been feeling dizzy from the water army’s manipulation finally saw the truth.

[Good grief, is the guilty party accusing the innocent first?]

[So basically, Song Zhu looked down on the show because the pay was low and the difficulty was high, so he just stood them up?]

[And then he didn’t expect Yanran, who came to the rescue, to blow up! He couldn’t stand seeing someone else ‘pick up his scraps,’ so he tried to step on him in ‘Guess Who I Am’ out of spite?]

[It turns out I’ve been watching a serialized drama this whole time!]

[I never would have guessed… the legendary ‘Shui Long Yin’ performance only happened because Yanran saved the day??]

[I thought he had rehearsed for ages because he played so well! He actually did that on short notice!]

[Ugh, reading the official Weibo’s words… Today is another day of being a die-hard Yanran fan.]

[No wonder Yanran became famous!]

After thoroughly understanding what was going on, netizens’ favorability towards Lin Yanran was unprecedented.

Having heard him live, fans were now addicted and craved more. However, they found that aside from the recent Guess Who I Am clips, there was almost no other professional live footage online.

Naturally, all eyes turned toward the upcoming finals of Super Idol.

[Sisters! ‘Super Idol’ is about to have its finals, and there’s a Mentor Performance segment! Make Yanran sing!!”

The comment sections of the official “Super Idol” account, the show’s videos, and Director Song Yingming’s personal Weibo were instantly flooded.

Since fans now knew he was an all-rounder who could sing and dance, they began speculating: would his collaboration stage be a dance-heavy performance or a pure vocal showcase?

Amidst the buzz, the hype for the Super Idol finals skyrocketed.

Watching the comments, Song Yingming felt a surge of emotion.

Only three or four months had passed since the show began, but he had watched Lin Yanran’s reputation undergo a complete 180-degree reversal.

He dug up the Weibo comments from when the third episode aired and found that everyone was still cursing Yanran, threatening him, demanding that he be replaced immediately, and telling him to get out of the entertainment industry…

Now, those same people were kneeling and begging for him to appear on more shows.

Song Yingming took screenshots of the fans’ messages and sent them to Lin Yanran.

Song Yingming: They’re asking me to find out what you’re performing for the finals [strokes chin].

Song Yingming sent this WeChat message exactly at midnight.

And from that moment on, the countdown to the Super Idol finale officially began.

Please consider supporting me on Ko-fi if you like what I’m doing. Thank you for reading! (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)