CH 37

Chapter 37: The Aired Program

Listening to the tone of the other party, it seemed that Yao Manhuai had a deep relationship with Shao Junling. However, after experiencing the online storm, a resolute decision had been made by Yin Chang not to drag Shao Junling into this circle.

However, things didn't seem as simple as he had thought. In turned out that he and Shao Junling were captured on camera at the New Year's Eve concert at Starlight TV. The screenshots were uploaded online by malicious netizens, sparking a heated discussion.

"So this is the orphan who was almost adopted by Yin Dong?"

"Having a celebrity brother really makes a difference, I almost didn't recognize him..."

"Why does Chang Chang look at him with such a gentle expression? He’s an angel!"

"It seems like these two brothers have a good relationship!"

"Can we still have a chance to be adopted as Yin Chang's little sister if we go to the orphanage now? [envious] x3"

Bao Xiaozhi saw this post when he was browsing Weibo. He forwarded it to Yin Chang in a direct message.

Bao Xiaozhi: "Is this your brother?"

Bao Xiaozhi: "He looks quite cute, doesn't seem that naughty."

Yin Chang clicked on the link he sent and was stunned for a moment. He had thought that he and Shao Junling might be caught by the camera during the live broadcast, but he didn't expect the TV station to capture them so clearly.

Yin Chang immediately contacted Yao Manhuai and told her about it, asking if she could find a way to remove those photos.

Yao Manhuai said, "The photos were taken well. This topic will boost your popularity, there's no need to remove them."

"But Shao Junling is still a child." Yin Chang was still concerned.

Yao Manhuai remained silent for two seconds before saying, "Yin Chang, ever since Shao Junling was exposed as Yin Dong's illegitimate son, he's no longer just an ordinary child."

Yin Chang didn't know how to refute for a moment.

After hanging up the phone, Yao Manhuai smiled and shook her head. This child, just like his father back then, hasn't fully adjusted his mindset yet.

Ten days later, the episode of "Idol Face-to-Face" that Yin Chang and his friends recorded started airing. In addition to showing on Fragrant Grass TV, the program would also be simultaneously released on various major online platforms.

Yin Chang and his friends had promoted the show on Weibo in advance. They’d also agreed in the group chat to watch it online together in the evening, so that they could observe the real-time reaction of the netizens.

After dinner, Yin Chang returned to his bedroom early with his iPad. This was his first time appearing on a TV show. He cared a lot about his image on TV and the post-production effects of the show.

"Let your idols get up close and personal - welcome to the large-scale variety talk show 'Idol Face-to-Face'!!"

With the host's opening remarks, the five guest celebrities entered the view, but Yin Chang couldn't even see his own figure as the barrage of comments from the netizens flooded the screen.

"Wang Chen! Wang Chen! Wang Chen is the best! Wang Chen! Wang Chen! We love Wang Chen!!"

"First time seeing Chang Chang in action, so excited!!"

"Ah, it’s Dong Ge’s child, Mommy's here!"

"Wang Chen!! You will always be the lead in my heart!!!"

By the time Yin Chang finished lowering the intensity of the barrage, the host had already finished the opening speech.

"Great to have all five handsome guys here! Let's get straight to the main course and begin 'Idol Face-to-Face' rapid-fire questions!" The host looked at Yin Chang, "Let's start with you, Yin Chang! Ten questions, you must respond within three seconds for each question. If you go over time, there will be corresponding penalties. Are you ready?"

Yin Chang was taken aback. He remembered the host asked Wang Chen a question first, why wasn't it shown?

Glancing at the WeChat group, the others were also discussing this.

Yu Rui Ze: "Why was the part where the host asked Wang Chen why he reposted the Weibo cut out?"

Jia Si Qi: "Yeah, I found it strange too!"

Bai Xiao Zhi: "Maybe there weren't any highlights, so they just deleted it."

Yu Rui Ze: "Oh, I see. No wonder. It's better this way! I was worried that Wang Chen's fans would make a fuss about us skipping over him..."

Yin Chang on TV straightened his posture slightly, ready to answer the host's questions.

The rapid-fire questions were mentioned in the script, and Yin Chang had prepared in advance. However, for the sake of the show's effect, the host would randomly change two to three questions to test their ability to think on their feet. If they couldn't answer within three seconds, they would receive a penalty from the production team - being blown on the head with a giant powerful hairdryer.

Don't underestimate the hairdryer punishment! For celebrities who relied on their carefully styled hair to elevate their looks, it was equivalent to torture.

Especially for those with thinning hair, a high hairline, or less defined facial features! If you couldn't react calmly on the spot, you’d be caught off guard by the strong wind... the sight would be truly unbearable.

"Age?" The host started the rapid fire.

"Eighteen."

"Height?"

"184."

The main purpose of the earlier questions was to familiarize the audience with Yin Chang's basic information. Yin Chang responded fluidly up until the seventh question, it changed. Originally, it was supposed to be about "interests and hobbies", but it turned into "favorite person".

Yin Chang hesitated for a second. He instinctively blurted out, "My dad."

There was a moment of silence at the scene, and the barrage in the live chat reacted to this answer with various comments -

"Aw, thinking about Yin Dong, so sad..."

"Poor child, come here for a hug, sis..."

"He's riding on his dad's popularity again... Ugh!"

"What's wrong with saying your favorite person is your own dad?"

"People can't come back to life, condolences to Chang Chang."

"He's still using Yin Dong's death to promote himself, so disgusting!"

"It's been half a year since Yin Dong passed away, and his son’s not allowed to mention him? What kind of logic is this?"

After Yin Chang mentioned "Yin Dong," there were some unpleasant comments in the barrage.

Yin Change felt a constricting feeling in his chest. Yao Manhuai would tell him not to mind the criticisms. That controversies are actually good because they attract attention. But even knowing this, he couldn't help but be bothered.

Yin Chang felt perhaps he’d better not mention Yin Dong in public in the future.

But even if he didn't mention it, people still wouldn’t completely separate him from Yin Dong.

Fortunately, the host didn't dwell on this point and moved on.

"How many girlfriends have you had?" the host asked according to the script.

"Three," he replied.

"Are you single now?"

"Yes."

According to the script, the last question the host would ask was about Yin Chang's dream, but it was changed to "what do you currently care about the most."

"About my younger brother..." In this answer, Yin Chang recalled that he’d almost said "about my younger brother's background" initially, but then caught himself and instead said, "about my younger brother's grades."

With that, all ten questions were answered. Yin Chang reacted quickly, so he didn't have to face any punishment. However the host latched onto the topics about "girlfriends" and "his younger brother's grades."

The host smiled cunningly. "Yin Chang, you said you’ve had three girlfriends. But you're only eighteen now! Don’t tell me all these relationships were when you were very young?"

Originally, Lu Lingjuan suggested that Yin Chang should simply answer "no" to the girlfriends question, but Yin Chang didn't like lying. Also he had previously posted pictures of himself with his girlfriends on social media, which had been exposed by Chinese netizens. If he deliberately concealed it, it would seem hypocritical.

"Yeah, I went abroad when I was five, and I had my first girlfriend at fifteen. Maybe it's because of the environment, this kind of thing was very common around me."

"Fifteen, how tall were you then?"

"Hmm? 182?"

The scene instantly erupted in screams. The camera cut to the audience, capturing close-up shots of several female fans with infatuated expressions. "Fangirl" tags had been added above their heads in post-production.

The host also made a surprised gesture, covering her mouth. "So tall? Isn't your current height about the same?"

Yin Chang replied, "I was a little thinner back then compared to now."

The host said, "Thinner than now? How could that be? You hardly have any fat!"

"My bone structure hadn't fully developed back then, but after three years of practicing Thai boxing, my body has become more toned than before..."

The audience cheered again. In the audience, many female fans had "fangirl" tags popping up above their heads, creating the visual effect of Yin Chang's rapidly growing fan base.

"Well..." the host smiled mysteriously, "During your romantic relationships, did you... do anything in that regard with the girls?" She stopped at a suggestive place.

Yin Chang didn't pretend to be ignorant. He smiled and said frankly, "Of course not, it was all just innocent dating."

The host asked, "How innocent?"

Yin Chang replied, "Attending parties together, occasionally sharing a kiss, that's about it."

Yin Dong didn't object to him having early relationships, but he had specifically warned him not to engage in sexual activities before reaching adulthood. Yin Chang had wanted to experience it with his last girlfriend, but they had broken up before they got to that step…

And at the moment he was so busy with work and taking care of Shao Junling, he didn’t have the energy to date at all.

Due to his words, during post-production, 'pure' and 'virgin' stickers were put on Yin Chang.

"The barrage was flooded with laughter.

Of course, there were also obsessed fans who were heartbroken because Yin Chang had already lost his first kiss, but they were a small minority. Most of them were brainless fans who were mesmerized by Yin Chang's looks.

"I completely ignored what Yin Chang was saying, and just kept staring at his Adam's apple, fingers, and long legs! I’m going crazy..."

"Ah, ah, ah, wait for me to talk about Adam's apple, fingers, and long legs. You're not alone!"

"And also, even though we were all sitting, I felt like Yin Chang's sitting posture was more elegant and good-looking than anyone else's!"

"Fire sitting posture +10086."

"I originally came for Wang Chen... How did I end up becoming a fan of Yin Chang for his hand gestures for no reason?"

Yin Chang couldn't stand the emphatic comments from the female fans. He simply turned off the barrage, and the screen instantly cleared up.

The host asked again, "Why are you most concerned about your younger brother's grades? Is your younger brother not doing well in school?"

Yin Chang's expression immediately became serious, and he pondered, "Hmm... he's struggling with some subjects."

Later, in coordination with his expression, two wobbling "worrying" tags were added over him.

Host: "You care so much about your younger brother's grades, are you a top student yourself?"

Yin Chang: "I was alright, I had A's and B's."

At this point, the program directly inserted a segment about the private school Yin Chang attended abroad. It was a prestigious "Blue Ribbon High School" with the highest honors in American high schools. Partly due to the fact that the school was located in the same region as the California Institute of Technology, they had ten times the number of students admitted to Caltech every year than other public high schools. Caltech was a world-renowned Ivy League school in the fields of physics, planetary science, and geography... Compared to domestic high schools, Yin Chang studied at a high school with an admission rate to such a powerhouse college of over 30%, and his grades were considered above average. If he were to take the college entrance exam, getting into a prestigious university would be a no brainer.

Yin Chang's head was adorned with glittering "top student" tags.

This VCR segment introducing the school was not included during the recording of the program. Yin Chang only remembered explaining during the interview that his science scores were average and he had no interest in Caltech. At the school he attended, the most popular classmates were never the straight-A students.

But for some reason, this segment was also cut out. The program jumped directly to the host's last sentence to him: "It seems that our Yin Chang is also a responsible older brother, is there anything you want to say on this program to your younger brother?”

Yin Chang smiled. "Study hard and aim high."

The live audience and host laughed. She then also asked the other four people present about their grades. Wang Chen was the first to be targeted.

Wang Chen smiled and said his grades were really good. Except for English, where he only scored in the nineties. He had several "confident" tags added to him.

But the host didn't ask about the subjects in which he did well; instead, she gossiped about how bad his English grades were. Wang Chen cleverly responded, "It's so bad that I can only rely on rote memorization to sing English songs."

The host timely complimented, "Wow! That's still impressive, you know. I've heard you rap in English, and your pronunciation is very precise!"

There was a long segment that followed, asking the other three people about their grades. Yu Ruizhe had good grades, Baixiaozhi and Jia Siqi were struggling students, but this segment was quickly edited and only a few sentences were shown. The production team only gave Baixiaozhi and Jia Siqi a shot when Yu Ruizhe said he had ranked first in his grade during the high school entrance exam. The two of them were edited to look like "fanboys" with shining eyes full of envy.

Fortunately, the rapid-fire Q&A was a segment enjoyed by everyone. After Yin Chang, it was Yu Ruizhe, Baixiaozhi, Jia Siqi, and then Wang Chen.

The Wang Chen fans who had been waiting impatiently saw that the production team had specially made an animation with a grand procession for their idol. They instantly burst into laughter.

But unexpectedly, the first question in Wang Chen's ten questions was changed, and he was stunned for three seconds without being able to answer. The punishment alert sounded, and the wind machine moved in front of him. With a "boom," Wang Chen's face was almost blown flat.

The entire audience burst into laughter. Even the host couldn't help but say, "Wang Chen, were you so distracted because you waited so long to speak?"

She continued to ask, "As the first guest to be punished in this round, how do you feel?"

Wang Chen hadn't recovered from the shock of being blown by the wind machine. He dumbfoundedly asked, "Why me?"

Yin Chang couldn't help but open the barrage to see the audience's reactions--

"Hahaha, Wang Chen's bewildered expression is so cute!"

"It's okay, it's okay. Our Chen Chen has amazing hair volume. He's not afraid of wind and rain!"

"Why 'Why me' hahaha, because you're the finale, the main character! Of course, the production team has to tease you!"

The host continued with the next nine questions. When she reached the eighth question, she had a clever idea and changed it to "Tell us who your favorite guest is among the ones here today."

Wang Chen was caught off guard again. He didn't really know three of them, but he paid the most attention to Yin Chang. However, that didn't mean he liked him...

In fact, at this moment, he could just randomly pick someone, but he was afraid the host would follow up with more questions, asking him why he liked that person. He would feel even more embarrassed if he couldn't come up with an answer.

Just as he hesitated, three seconds quickly passed, and the punishment prompt sounded again with a "boom"... he was wind blown again.

Back then, when they were on set, they had a great time laughing when Wang Chen was punished twice in a row. Now, looking at the edited footage, the group chat was filled with "hahaha".

Moreover, the mischievous production team replayed in slow motion the process of Wang Chen hesitating over this question. He kept glancing at Yin Chang, and Yin Chang was also looking at him. But compared to Wang Chen's furtive glances, Yin Chang looked very relaxed. He had a slight smirk at the corner of his mouth. The post-production team added two words next to him: "playful smile".

When Wang Chen withdrew his gaze and fell silent, the post-production team added a thought bubble above his head: "I like him, but I dare not say it..."

With the addition of bouncy pink font and magical sound effects that slowly appeared, the show made Wang Chen look like a teenage girl with a lot on her mind.

Yin Chang: "???"

The barrage went crazy.

The group chat went crazy too.

Jia Siqi: "Hahaha, look at Wang Chen's expression!!"

Bai Xiaozhi: "Is this post-production magic? I'm dying of laughter!"

Yu Ruize: "My eyes, hahaha... [covering eyes]"

Yin Chang was puzzled and asked in the group chat, "Wait, I mean, the host was asking Wang Chen, and we were all looking at him, right?"

Bai Xiaozhi: "Who else should we hype up if not you two with the highest popularity?"

Yin Chang: "..."

Several kilometers away, Wang Chen, who was watching the show at home, also exploded: "What the f*ck… This post-production is so poisonous!?"

After the rapid-fire question and answer segment, it was the talent performance section where each celebrity would typically perform their representative works.

Wang Chen was the first to go on stage and performed his winning song "The King”. The performance was a hit and hyped everyone up.

Next was Yu Ruize, who performed a scene from the drama he was involved in, which was also impressive.

Bai Xiaozhi and Jia Siqi went on stage together and sang their debut song from last year, "Call me". Originally, this song was supposed to be performed with Yan Yan, but now that the group had disbanded, Bai Xiaozhi and Jia Siqi had to improvise and adapt it into a duet. Bai Xiaozhi handled the high and middle harmonies on his own, and surprisingly, the result was pretty good.

The barrage flooded with praise. Some people started digging into Bao Xiao Zhi and Jia Si Qi's background.

"They sang so well! I searched and found out it was from their album last year. How come I've never heard it before?"

"These two boys are really talented. Why didn't they participate in 'Absolute Idol'?"

"I used to follow them. Bao Xiao Zhi and Jia Si Qi were the main vocalists and dancers in the YJB group, very capable. Yan Yan was more of the face of the group, but now he's gone into acting..."

"The name of this group feels really out of place, YJB? Hard and thin[1]?... Now it's just JB left after Yan Yan went solo?"

"Hey, the one who mentioned JB, are you trying to make me laugh to death to inherit my company? Hahaha!"

"Quick, go check out their Weibo accounts! Especially Jia Si Qi's! He's hilarious!"

In the WeChat group:

Jia Siqi: "I cried."

Bai Xiaozhi: "Me too..."

Jia Siqi: "Even though my Weibo followers increased, I can't be completely happy..."

Bai Xiaozhi: "Those weirdos started leaving 'JB' comments all over my Weibo..."

Jia Siqi: "Xiao Zhi, let's break up."

Bai Xiaozhi: "Did we even date?"

Yin Chang was the last to perform. While others excelled in talent performances, it was Yin Chang's weakest point.

Therefore, before the show, Yin Chang specifically practiced a song under the guidance of a vocal teacher. This song didn't require professional singing skills. As long as he sang with enough emotion and stayed on key, he could hold the stage.

Before his performance, Yin Chang changed into a white suit. As the music started playing, he slowly walked out from backstage, gripping the microphone. He sang the first line, "How many times I woke up from dreams, seeing you lost in thought, not knowing where your heart has flown, whether I am by your side..."

"How many times I turned back suddenly, seeing your teary-eyed look, not knowing what troubles you, can you tell me, let me share your sadness...

My dear, just think of my love for your eyes...

Please don't be afraid, don't cry, I'm willing to give you all my tenderness..."

Yin Chang sang the song "I'm Willing to Give You All My Tenderness" that he had listened to frequently from childhood to adulthood.

As long as he sang the first line, he could naturally immerse himself into the emotions of this song. Coupled with his perfect image and his deep and pleasing voice, before the song even finished, the entire audience was moved to tears.

However, the comments in the barrage on the video website and the discussions under the official account of the show were not as harmonious as the scene.

"Isn't this Yin Dong's song?"

"Seems Yin Chang still hasn’t recovered from the pain of losing his father. So pitiful..."

"Not recovered? More like, is he going to dance on his father's grave next?"

"To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to middle-aged celebrities before. After listening to this song, I want to get to know Yin Dong."

"He's using his father for hype again, why is this person so disgusting!"

"Younger sister, go watch Yin Dong's movie 'East West South North', highly recommend it. Yin Dong portrays the historical figure of economist Chen Daisun, you'll fall in love with him!"

"I really don't want to see Yin Chang piggybacking on his father. There are so many other songs he could have chosen..."

"I think he sang it well. It's the first time I've heard this song, why can't he sing it?"

In the show, everyone's performance was outstanding, but only the topic of Yin Chang singing "I'm Willing to Give You All My Tenderness" became a hot topic on Weibo, with netizens debating back and forth.

At the same time, Yao Manhuai, who was working overtime at the company, received real-time data from the various departments.

"Baidu search volume and encyclopedia visits for Yin Dong have increased..."

"The download rate of the original version of 'I'm Willing to Give You All My Tenderness' on Feifei Music website has exceeded 300% of similar music."

"Yin Chang's Weibo visits have surpassed all the other guests during the same period, and his fan base continues to grow."

Yao Manhuai nodded in satisfaction and instructed, "Good, let the marketing department push that topic even higher."

Vignette

Wang Chen: "Damn, I have to demand justice from the 'Idol Face-to-Face' program team!"

Manager: "Calm down, listen to me first: since the program aired tonight, you have gained over four million fans, and it's projected to continue..."

Wang Chen: "I fucking have over ten million fans, why do I care about four million? Hurry up and give me..."

Manager: "Active fans."

Wang Chen: "Oh."

Five seconds later.

Manager: "I think promoting a CP (celebrity pairing) with Yin Chang will help boost your popularity. How about trying in that direction in the future?"

Wang Chen: "Get lost!!!"

Translator's Note

1: Hard and thin = yìng jí bó which is also YJB. I *think* maybe it's funny because yìng jí bó is a way to say hard and thin, but jí bó by itself means barren? Not quite sure myself..