CH 44

The recording content of the third episode of [For You To Debut] was the practice and the first live performance on stage. There were many fans present at the scene to show support.

Underneath the dazzling and magnificent stage, the area was filled with people, each holding different name banners and cheering lights, including fans of the mentors and the contestants. However, since this was a talent show, the production team limited the number of slots for the mentors' fans. Therefore, the majority of the recording studio was filled with fans of the contestants.

Gaining fans is a mysterious art. After only two episodes aired, the list of top-ranked contestants had already been determined.

Wen Li paid special attention to the support from Xu Li's fans.

The company had brought him to participate in the talent show without intending to debut him. They just wanted him to gain some exposure and recognition before releasing an album, ensuring that he would have fans' support afterward.

Xu Li was a singer-songwriter. Singing while also dancing was not his initial intention. However, in the current industry landscape, it was incredibly challenging for singer-songwriters to break through, while young idols focused on singing and dancing were constantly emerging. Although Xu Li didn't agree with the company's arrangements for him, he came to fulfill his dream of becoming a singer.

Perhaps he inherited his father, Xu Shimao's artistic talent. He shared a similar dream with Wen Li. When Wen Li was young, she was particularly infatuated with overseas idol groups and wanted to become a charismatic singing and dancing idol on stage when she grew up. However, her dream was cut short, and she coincidentally found herself standing under the spotlight as an actress.

Their dreams were not well-regarded by the elder relatives on their mother's side of the family.

Their relatives believed that their dreams were nothing but aspiring to be stars. They saw it as mere vanity and a desire to be adored.

Their strict uncle, who was firm in his actions and even showed a cold attitude towards his nephew, directly expressed his opinion. He said, "You have a roof over your head and food to eat. If you're not grateful for that, fine. If you insist on pursuing this career, rely on yourself. You'll bear the consequences of success or failure."

Xu Li had a delicate and weak appearance. He didn't speak much in front of the camera. Holding the guitar, he quietly sang love songs, giving off an obedient and clean image. In addition, in the previous two episodes, he knew there was a significant gap between him and others in terms of dancing. He made up for it with diligence, often practicing until late at night before returning to the dormitory to rest, one of the most hardworking practice contestants.

Therefore, even though the company didn't make any deals with the organizers, Xu Li's popularity remained in the middle to upper ranks. Although the fans supporting him this time weren't as many as the top-ranked contestants, it still meant that he was becoming a rising star in the practice stage.

Wen Li felt happy for her little younger brother. She also felt a little bit of jealousy.

Having so many fans before even debuting. When Wen Li just started her career, she barely had any followers on Weibo. The company had to buy fake fans just to reach a meager five-digit number.

Xu Li's group performance was in the second group. They performed a relatively easy song for a boy group, with simple movements and choreography. Xu Li, as the main vocal, took on the middle key change bridge. His voice was clean and he handled the falsetto parts extremely well.

As the performance concluded with an ending pose, blue lights descended from the ceiling. Dancing was still a bit challenging for Xu Li, and compared to the others who effortlessly completed the practice, he had sweat on his forehead and was catching his breath, recovering his heartbeat. When he noticed the camera filming him, he belatedly smiled, pursing his lips.

In the close-up shots, he appeared as a shy and earnest young boy.

The screams from the audience were deafening, mixed with the shouts of young girls who weren't much older, chanting, "Mom loves you."

Wen Li's ears couldn't handle it and she tilted her head to adjust her earpiece before taking the microphone and stepping onto the stage.

This current song's main vocalist was not Xu Li. He happened to be standing at the edge, so Wen Li walked over to stand beside him.

Xu Li was just over 1.8 meters tall, while Wen Li was wearing high heels. It wasn't as difficult for her to look at him as it was for Song Yan. She slightly tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at him.

The stinky little brother held the microphone uncomfortably, with a tired blush on his face that hadn't faded yet. He leaned toward his teammate, trying to create some distance between them.

Each mentor gave their comments on the practice contestants in their respective fields of expertise. Xu Li's dance part was mainly reviewed by Xu Xingyue. Finally, Xu Xingyue said to Xu Li, "Your vocals are very good, but you still need to work harder on the dance part."

Xu Li nodded, "Okay, I will."

"When Wen Li moved to stand beside you just now, I saw you dodge a little," Xu Xingyue paused and intentionally dragged out her tone, "Does this action mean you don't like Teacher Wen Li, or you like her?"

The atmosphere immediately took on a meaningful tone.

Wen Li's appearance today leaned towards mature and flamboyant, while Xu Li looked clean and handsome, exuding a youthful charm.

Originally, it didn't mean much, but with Xu Xingyue's comment, it immediately led many people's thoughts in a different direction.

Both the siblings on stage were momentarily stunned.

To others, it sounded like a lighthearted joke to liven up the atmosphere, but to the ears of the fans, it was a different story.

From the perspective of Xu Li's fans in the audience, their little brother was still a practice contestant, he hadn't even debuted yet, his career hadn't taken off, and now he was being linked to a judge. If the news spread, they would definitely be outraged.

Wen Li's fans originally thought their sister was beautiful on her own. Even though they had a brother-in-law in Song Yan and they couldn't find any faults with him, they still didn't like the idea of linking Song Yan and Wen Li together, let alone linking a practice contestant with Wen Li.

Immediately, some fans shouted from the audience, "No, no."

Wen Li frowned. If Xu Li were to say he liked her, it would upset his fans, and if he said he didn't like her, her own fans would definitely be unhappy.

Either way, if they were to appear together in the future, the fans on both sides would definitely have a negative perception.

She raised the microphone, but before she could speak, Xu Li was the first to answer Xu Xingyue's question.

"I am a fan of Teacher Wen Li, not only her fan but also a fan of Teacher Song Yan," Xu Li said calmly, "I moved aside because I just finished dancing and had a sweaty smell. I didn't want to bother her."

Apart from laughter, there were fans jokingly saying, "Our Liza is too clever."

It was a sincere and clever response, not at all like something Xu Li, who was known for his sharp tongue, would say.

Wen Li didn't expect to hear a compliment from her stinky little brother one day.

She wasn't too happy initially, but because of Xu Li's words, she suddenly burst into laughter.

Xu Li didn't know why she was laughing, but her laughter made him feel awkward, so he discreetly used the motion of adjusting the microphone in his hand to cover the shy curve of his lips.

Wen Li looked at him from the side and pretended, "Thank you for liking my husband Song Yan. I will definitely convey your message."

Xu Li thought to himself: I have his WeChat. Do I still need you to convey the message?

But he followed his sister's lead and pretended, "Thank you, Teacher Wen Li."

After completing a performance, Xu Li's group took a short break offstage.

Wen Li smiled and looked at Xu Xingyue, who was sitting on the mentor's seat, "Xingyue, if you make this kind of joke again next time, I, as your senior sister, will scold you."

Xu Xingyue tightened her grip on the microphone and laughed as she explained, "I was worried that Xu Li's dodging motion just now would hurt your feelings, so I vented for you."

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have noticed," Wen Li blinked and casually said, "I'm not as perceptive as you. If it were you up there interviewing them, Xu Li would probably already have a little notebook with your name on it. Fortunately, you're a mentor, sitting below to give comments, so you don't have to worry about being hurt by the practice contestants."

Xu Xingyue's smile froze on her face, feeling somewhat disappointed, "Senior sister, the way you said that makes it sound like I'm petty."

"No, no," Wen Li immediately explained to the fans below, "Our relationship is very good. I know for sure that you were just joking with me, but I genuinely think you're perceptive. Today, deliberately wearing the same watch as me was a surprise, right? It's true that sisters from the same company have telepathy."

Xu Xingyue, puzzled by her mention of the watch, had no choice but to respond, "Senior sister, you found out. What a coincidence."

The matter of the watch can be considered a subtle competition between female celebrities behind the scenes and shouldn't have been brought up on stage. Moreover, Wen Li's watch was not as expensive as Xu Xingyue's. It's unclear why she intentionally mentioned it to draw everyone's attention.

Xu Xingyue wore this watch a few days ago at an offline event, where she saw Wen Li wearing the same watch. She remembered that Director Guo also gave this watch to his daughter on her birthday. It was a global limited edition. However, recently, Director Guo and his daughter had a disagreement because his daughter started dating someone. His daughter returned the watch to him in anger, "Give it to your little girlfriend."

Director Guo was left stunned.

At first, Xu Xingyue didn't want it because she felt like she was taking Director Guo's daughter's gift. But in the end, she acted spoiled and asked for it.

It was all to subtly outdo Wen Li.

However, she didn't expect Wen Li to not recognize this subtle intention and mention it openly.

When it comes to clashes between female celebrities over the same item, they often use mutual understanding as an excuse, but deep down, they each know that whoever has the lower status will be embarrassed.

Although Wen Li and Xu Xingyue's conversation had a hint of sarcasm, both of them managed their expressions perfectly. Only someone who is a bit naïve wouldn't have noticed, but the director, who understood their intentions, naturally instructed the editing team to remove this little incident.

However, with so many eyes and ears in the audience, it was inevitable that the news would spread.

After the recording of this episode, initially, only a few fashion bloggers were discussing the clash between Wen Li and Xu Xingyue's watches. But once this news broke out, other marketing accounts immediately worked overtime to publish articles to stir up conflicts among the fans.

Since Xu Xingyue was shown wearing the watch in close-up shots, the marketing accounts quickly found out the style and price of the watch, almost revealing its global limited edition number.

Indeed, it was a million-dollar limited edition watch, no wonder Xu Xingyue was so confident.

The fans of Xu Xingyue and Wen Li, who were already not on good terms due to the script change incident, became lively again with this news.

Starstar Glitter:「Jealousy drives people crazy. It's clear in their hearts which fans this refers to. No need to name names and look for trouble. Hehe.」

Xxyyyds:「Why is my little sister so pitiful?She earns money to buy a watch and still gets accused. If you have the ability, instead of being sarcastic, buy an even more expensive one to wear.」

The major fan clubs supporting Wen Li received a reminder from their team and didn't rush to join the argument this time.

For some artists, the large fan clubs and fan sites actually have contact with the artist's team. They often receive information about semi-public schedules in advance because the team and management inform them, making it convenient for fans to prepare offline support and promotion in advance.

Except for cases where fans spontaneously boycott due to differences with the artist's team, in most cases, if there was no private approval from the team, it's rare for large-scale actions to occur.

The artist's actions were unrelated to the fans, but the fans have to bear the consequences of their actions. This was an implicit rule in the entertainment industry.

Xu Xingyue's fans were waiting for Wen Li's fans to retaliate, but Wen Li's fans deliberately didn't engage with them. It was only when the official Weibo account of the JL brand, which produced the same watches worn by Wen Li and Xu Xingyue, suddenly came back to life and posted a new Weibo.

JL:「Nighttime moonlight, silver as water. Inspired by the beauty of nature, the new Date Night collection features couple watches that shine with diamonds and platinum, resembling the silver moonlight, illuminating the most special love on your wrist. Hello, @Song Yan.」

The attached image was a promotional photo of Song Yan wearing the male version of the couple's watches.

With this official announcement, the situation surrounding the female version of the watches worn by Wen Li and Xu Xingyue became even more complex.

Just a few minutes after the official announcement, JL posted another new Weibo.

JL:「JL's century-old heritage, in the name of love, specially customized and presented to Song Yan and his wife, @Wen Litchi, the "s" and "w", silver & water, Steven Song & Wendy Wen, globally unique, only this pair.」

The image showed a photo of the customized watches before they left Switzerland, with the pair of watches lying quietly on velvet. The markings on the dial, the 12 indexes, were replaced with the letters "s" and "w".

With the main team paving the way, the fans happily joined in.

As a global limited edition, there were probably only a few dozen of these watches on the entire planet. The customized watches were unique and cannot be estimated in value. They belong to personal collections and cannot be simply summarized as "expensive".