Chapter 130: Knowing How to Spend Money
The lights went out again, and the trainees on stage exited quickly. Yu Yingying, Wu Aiai, and Zhou Siyin almost simultaneously exclaimed, “This is also a new song!”
“Idol 101 is playing it really big, actually putting new songs on the Grand Finale stage,” Wu Aiai said excitedly.
“The concept is absolutely killer!” Yu Yingying added. “The concepts for both songs are killer! Styles that only an adult boy group can handle. Male models, they are all male models!”
Wu Aiai nodded frantically in total agreement, echoing excitedly, “Yes, yes, yes!” Then she added with an ambiguous tone, “The first group ‘killed’ me, the second group I want to ‘kill’ them, ahhhhhh!”
Gu Wanrong teased along, “How exactly are you going to ‘kill’ them?” Her eyes held a playful look, full of implicit meaning that ‘you know, I know, everyone knows.’ “What kind of dirty things are in your brain…”
“Ahhhhh!” Being exposed, Wu Aiai screamed repeatedly. It wasn’t abrupt at all in the venue at this moment; everywhere was filled with such excited, thrilled screams.
After watching the trainees leave the stage one by one, host Li Daoyu received instructions from the program director through his earpiece, took the card handed by the assistant, and stood back in the center of the stage.
Li Daoyu smiled and spoke amiably, “Are the National Producers on site and online satisfied with the boys’ new song stages?”
“Satisfied—” The audience below was already heated up by these two stages. Now, with the host’s question, the word “Satisfied” seemed ready to overturn the entire venue.
The wave of sound was so loud that it seemed it could be clearly heard even kilometers away from the venue.
“The two new songs in this session were specially produced by gold-medal composers from Huanyin Entertainment and will serve as pre-release tracks for the first album after the group is formed.” Li Daoyu gently pressed down with the host card in his hand. “Of course, the album’s title track is also produced by Huanyin Entertainment.”
Topic: Repo/After watching the 101 group stages, put me on a ventilator!
“Ahhhhhhhhh, screaming thread.”
“Screaming x1, ahhhhhh”
…
“Tonight’s group stages were simply a kill! High-quality idol stages never seen before in domestic entertainment!”
“The person upstairs is too absolute. Haven’t the several public performances of 101 also far exceeded domestic entertainment stages?”
“Replying to upstairs, this is definitely different! Concept, stage art, trainee strength—everything has been raised by a large margin again.”
“Picture jpg. Who understands me! I watched everything from the first performance to the finals without missing a beat, just didn’t fall into the Jing Xiu pit. Result: tonight’s vampire look hammered me straight into the bottom of the pit!”
“My mouth opened and hasn’t closed since. Jianghu Guest and Shackles are absolutely amazing!!!”
“From today on, my life’s stages are Jianghu Guest and Shackles.”
“Upstairs, your previous ‘life stage’ was Jing Xiu’s solo just a moment ago…”
“I want to know what the planner was thinking. My son was so handsome in Jianghu Guest, on-site Mom fan instantly turned into Girlfriend fan!”
“Amazing!”
“Did you hear that? Yishang has already locked down an album with Huanyin. Plus tonight’s pre-release track stages, it’s secure!”
“Dying of envy. The songs my bias’s company gives are so ugly. Yishang, come and sign my bias quickly.”
“Who holds an album produced by Huanyin before even debuting? Oh, it’s my bias.”
“Yishang not only has top-tier fashion resources but also such a good relationship with Huanyin. Real-name envy.”
“They are also famous for knowing how to spend money. You can see from tonight’s stage that they spent a lot. Just look at their wigs—black, smooth, and fitting the head shape. Even some costume dramas can’t achieve that.”
“And the chokers worn in Shackles have genuine rubies on them.”
“It’s under Qianyuan Group after all…”
“Can anyone guess the album concept based on the pre-release tracks? The styles of Jianghu Guest and Shackles are quite different.”
“Can’t guess… but since the pre-release tracks are so top-tier, the title track won’t be bad either.”
Backstage, the trainees quickly changed into white uniforms and ascended the main stage again.
They all knew that the final result of tonight was about to be born.
At this moment, Li Daoyu held a new host card. “As of now, the number of online viewers for the Idol 101 Grand Finale live broadcast has exceeded 100 million.”
The hearts of the fans and the top fifteen trainees hung high, beating fiercely and nervously, thump thump thump.
“What is this? I thought they were going to announce the vote count.”
“Holy crap, 100 million!”
“Save me, my heart is going to jump out, why aren’t they announcing the votes yet!”
“The total number of votes has exceeded 300 million.” Li Daoyu continued speaking. “The voting for this Idol 101 Grand Finale is fully supervised by two notaries from the Puqin Notary Office of Heng City—Xue Junshi and Chen Chuan.”
After speaking, the two notaries on the side of the stage appeared in the lens. Wearing unified work uniforms, they waved to the camera and nodded.
Then the camera cut back to Li Daoyu, who was smiling at the initiator. “As the initiator, having accompanied the trainees for these two months, do you have anything you want to say to them?”
The initiator took the mic and spoke with fervor.
The fifteen trainees on stage stood with nervous expressions. They had guesses about the final result, but until the last moment, no one could be sure.
“Jing Xiu C-position debut!”
“Absolutely debuting!”
“The program group is just pushing for votes.”
“Vote quickly, Mom will definitely get you to debut.”
“Ahhhhh, fighting!”
The atmosphere at the venue was anxious. No fan below the stage could listen to what was being said on stage; they just shouted their bias’s name nonstop, shouting guarantees of debut to the trainees.
At this critical juncture, fans both online and offline were not only suffocating but also driven to anxiety by this stalling, thinking of ways to cast one more vote for the trainees without thinking.
For trainees on the borderline, the companies and fan clubs behind them were constantly smashing money into the voting pool, hoping for a successful debut.
The companies and fan clubs of trainees securely in the debut lineup were also nervously mass-voting, hoping to send the trainees to a higher rank.
And the companies and fan clubs behind the high-ranking trainees were smashing money with a bang-bang sound. What they were fighting for was the C-position (Center), the center of the group, the center where future resources would tilt.
From the beginning, Idol 101 refused to cooperate with any entertainment company and only accepted sponsorship. Therefore, no entertainment company could dictate terms to Idol 101, nor could they buy a debut spot, nor could they exchange resources for a spot.
Although Idol 101‘s blatant refusal of the unspoken rules of domestic entertainment made a crowd of people grit their teeth, the benefits it brought were greater, forcing them to compromise and follow its rules.
Yishang was the producer of Idol 101, and Jing Xiu was its signed artist. To avoid suspicion, Gu Wanrong did not allow Yishang to participate in voting for Jing Xiu from the beginning.
Although Yishang Entertainment couldn’t, Gu Wanrong privately could.
Sitting among a group of CEOs, Gu Wanrong and the other three weren’t focusing on the stage; each was holding a phone, making the final votes for their bias.
Gu Wanrong used her rich fan account in Jing Xiu’s fan circle to smash money into the fan club’s account, making everyone in the fan club group chat stare with their jaws dropped.
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