abcnovels
Chapter 72: Untitled
Chapter 72: Untitled
Chapter 72
The news of Random Entertainment's trainees returning to China caused a stir in the fan circles overnight. All platforms were flooded with this news, to the extent that Random Entertainment's building was surrounded by fans who had rushed there, guessing that the trainees might go to the company and waiting around the company premises.
But in fact, only Jiang Juyou went back to the company.
When she was upstairs, she noticed scattered fans standing outside the company building. She asked security personnel to go out and persuade them, saying the trainees wouldn't come to the company today, but it was useless - they still wouldn't leave.
Yang Siyu, sitting on the sofa with a cup of coffee in hand, persuaded her to come back, "Don't worry about them for now."
Jiang Juyou turned back and glanced at the coffee in her hand, shrugging her shoulders, "It's already 8 PM and you're still drinking coffee. Don't tell me you're planning to stay at the company tonight?"
"I've been staying here for several days already, okay?" Yang Siyu sighed dejectedly.
After Jiang Juyou became the real boss of the company, there were changes in the senior personnel as well. Yang Siyu's position changed from A&R Department Head to Producer, responsible for planning and cultivating girl groups. Assisting her was Zhao Xu, while Li Yao was promoted to A&R Department Head, overseeing album production.
These position changes were closely related to the idol industry, and there were some changes in other departments as well, but those weren't as significant.
Jiang Juyou's main job was still that of Executive Producer, responsible for planning and overseeing the idol industry. Although the girl group produced by Yang Siyu didn't go through her hands, it still needed her approval. The film and TV department was handed over to Cheng Yuan, whose role changed from being an artist's manager to a producer. The variety show department still didn't have someone who could take over, so Jiang Juyou was still in charge of it concurrently.
But her current work focus was on the first batch of trainees. Although the group hadn't been formed yet, four albums had already been produced. She had been running around for the past six months just to produce these albums.
After sitting back down, Jiang Juyou asked her, "What's the situation on your end now?"
Jiang Juyou wasn't very familiar with the situation of the female trainees, so she could only hear about it from Yang Siyu. But judging from her expression, it didn't seem like she was about to share any good news.
Yang Siyu frowned and said, "How should I put it... It's still no comparison to the male trainees. They're not tense enough, not urgent enough. I'm thinking maybe we should hold a survival show, throw some catfish into the pond."
The purpose of that survival show back then was to make the trainees tense, and looking at the results, it was very effective. It not only allowed the trainees to accumulate popularity but also let them grow under pressure.
The situation with the female trainees was quite different. The company's conditions were much better than before. Although there was still a monthly evaluation at the end of each month, everyone's skills weren't improving.
The company had truly become like an interest class.
"Hmm... I remember Pei Luming's sister is also among them, right?" Jiang Juyou had only heard this much initially and hadn't heard any subsequent news about her. She leaned forward and asked, "What's the situation with his sister? I remember Sister Jia didn't say much back then."
There were sixteen female trainees in the company now, and Yang Siyu couldn't name all of them, but she had a deep impression of Pei Zhiping.
She told Jiang Juyou, "Pei Zhiping is currently the best in all aspects among the female trainees. My idea was to produce a girl group centered around her, but it seems we can't find candidates that match her."
"When she was in her previous company, she was already in the debut lineup. They had even shot various concept photos and recorded the debut album. In the end, she was eliminated completely because that company wanted to debut an all-Korean girl group, so she was sent back to Group A, waiting for the next girl group plan."
"Given her age, she can definitely wait, but she might have been disappointed with that company. And being demoted from the debut lineup back to Group A, the psychological gap must have been huge, so she sought other opportunities. Before joining our company, she had already received admission notices from several companies in Korea. She chose us in the end because Pei Luming is here."
As she listened, Jiang Juyou roughly imagined a child who had just graduated from elementary school being scouted by an entertainment company during a trip, training alone in a foreign country for two years, going from not understanding the language and knowing nothing to breaking into the debut lineup as a foreigner. She must have gone through a lot of hardships.
She had already made it to the debut lineup, shot debut posters, recorded songs, and surely even choreographed dances. But then suddenly received a notice saying she couldn't join this girl group and had to return to Group A.
Let alone the psychological gap, just the gazes from other trainees could kill a person.
But empathy was empathy, the market was ruthless. Jiang Juyou couldn't agree to produce a girl group centered around her just because of this point.
So she replied, "Let's go down and meet her someday, and see the situation then."
She did indeed prioritize ability, but ability was just the threshold. After crossing that, there were many other necessary conditions.
"Alright... Oh, by the way, I've had someone buy the tickets, but are we sure we want to go?" Yang Siyu suddenly remembered what Jiang Juyou had instructed a few days ago as she was about to get up.
Jiang Juyou widened her eyes to show her sincerity, "Of course, do I look like I'm joking?"
"..."
Yang Siyu moved her mouth but ended up saying nothing.
-
The internet had been bustling since early morning today. First, photos of Random Entertainment's trainees going to work were reposted by various marketing accounts, then various inside information and rehearsal leaks about the survival show's final performance were released.
Various entertainment accounts practically lived online, afraid of missing any news that might affect their money-making.
Liu Yue, along with her girlfriends, woke up in the afternoon and rushed to the venue of the survival show's final performance to prepare for entry. While queuing, she scrolled through her phone, looking at the news about Random Entertainment's trainees, even feeling a bit like she was caught cheating on her fandom.
The sun overhead didn't care what day it was, it only knew it was still working, and even brought the enthusiasm of a new employee, working hard to shine, determined to make the people below faint from the heat.
The cicadas in the shady trees were screeching at the top of their lungs, as if discussing why these people were standing in the sun queuing on such a hot day.
Not only did the cicadas not understand, Liu Yue herself didn't understand why she hadn't gone to Random Entertainment to photograph Ye Xing, but came here instead.
Thinking of this, she turned to her friend behind her and said, "Look how great our friendship is, I even gave up Ye Xing for you..."
The other girls holding umbrellas also turned their heads ominously to look at the person behind Liu Yue.
Most of them were fans of Random Entertainment's trainees. They came to Shanghai to watch the final performance this time solely because Random Entertainment's trainees hadn't returned to the country yet, the domestic entertainment scene was boring, and this was the only fun thing to do, so they came along.
But as soon as they arrived, they saw the news of Random Entertainment's trainees returning to the country.
However, they had promised to help their friend take fancams of her idol, and they couldn't go back on their word, so they could only queue here with sour faces.
The girl surrounded by their gazes laughed nervously, "...I'll treat everyone to hot pot, cool down, everyone cool down, okay?"
The front of the queue gradually melted away, and they got closer and closer to the ticket check.
As they walked into the shade, Liu Yue also folded her sun umbrella. She squinted and looked around, then checked the time and complained, "Entering at 3 PM, starting at 4 PM, how many hours are they planning to broadcast?"
"At least five hours, I guess."
"Ah... One hot pot meal won't be enough to make up for this!"
"I'll cover all the hot pot meals this month, okay?"
"That's more like it!"
They arrived late, so naturally their queue was at the end. By the time it was their turn, there weren't many people left behind them.
After checking their tickets, they waited a while for their companions. It was during this wait that she seemed to see someone who shouldn't be here.
Liu Yue squinted at a masked person in the distance, tilting her head in doubt, "No way..."
Her companions came in after getting their tickets checked and stuffed the ticket stubs back into their bags, coming to join Liu Yue. But they found her standing still, not moving, so they curiously followed her line of sight, "...What's wrong?"
This caught the attention of several of them who looked out, but none of them could make anything out, so they looked back at Liu Yue.
Liu Yue shook her head, "Nothing."
"Then let's go in, it's boiling out here."
"Why are there still so many people outside?"
"We're here for fan support. I was handed so many things on my way here."
"Damn, 30 yuan for a cup of ice water? The organizers must be robbing people!"
With "21 Heartbeats of Youth" setting the standard, the subsequent talent shows, no matter how much they try to ride its coattails, are still overshadowed. This becomes even more apparent when the stage performances are released.
Today is the final performance, and as soon as a few stages were completed, marketing accounts started making comparisons with "21 Heartbeats of Youth". Even without watching the "pure show", people could judge the quality just from a few clips.
"I feel like the production team is treating me like an idiot..."
"The auto-tune is so heavy it's turned into EDM. Do they think we can't hear it?"
"Random Entertainment made me believe the Chinese entertainment industry had hope, but these laggards just slapped me awake."
"Lip-syncing and auto-tune, how insincere can they be? At least the others were more genuine. Even though they sang poorly, at least they sang live."
"In comparison, Random Entertainment's trainees are truly dominating the industry. And to think some of them were even eliminated..."
"Here's a suggestion: don't find your own trainees. Just take the dozens eliminated by Random Entertainment and you'll have a better show than this."
"After watching these shows, I'm even more excited for Random Entertainment's debut competition."
"I can't imagine how terrifying the skills of those who trained abroad for half a year must be now. I heard they were only allowed to return after Jiang Juyou approved. I'm curious what kind of skills could get Jiang Juyou's approval."
"The superficial reason they only dare to show close-ups: to showcase 'beauty'. The deeper reason: they're not in sync."
"The staff must be quite disheartened. After training for almost half a year, they're still terrible."
"They even have specially made diet meals, yet not one of them has lost weight, some even gained. At Random Entertainment, they eat as much as they want, yet they all look like different people, they've slimmed down so much."
"It's not that we outsiders are trying to bring them down... but this is just too..."
After several stages came out, they were all mocked. The elaborate tackiness of the stages was criticized, the expensive snacks at the venue were complained about, the suspected predetermined debut list was questioned, but what really brought the show's popularity to its peak was someone discovering that Jiang Juyou was at the venue, even in the inner circle.
During the live broadcast, the production team seemed to want to show off the large venue and the almost full audience, with half the screen showing the stage and half showing the audience. Most of the shots were showcasing how full the venue was.
As a result, viewers accidentally noticed Jiang Juyou sitting in the inner circle.
She was dressed very low-key, wearing a hat and mask, even her clothes were deliberately black to blend into the background, but this didn't prevent viewers who couldn't focus on the stage from noticing her.
The main reason was that in the middle of summer, who would wear a mask for no reason?
Popular comments from netizens:
"Jiang Juyou: Let me see what these things that have been riding on my popularity for half a year are all about."
"Jiang Juyou: With you guys in the industry, I can rest easy."
"LOL, who said Jiang Juyou feels reassured after watching this? Hahaha!"
"Jiang Juyou: Thank heavens for this gift."
"Jiang Juyou must be dying of laughter down there, a bunch of copycats who can't even copy properly."
"To be frank, none of these people on stage would survive until the debut competition in 21 Heartbeats."
"Wife is so beautiful, wife has lost more weight!"
"Everyone's comments are so savage, I love it!"
As if intentional, the news of Jiang Juyou appearing at another show's final performance quickly trended, along with people repeatedly urging for the debut competition.
The higher the trending rank, the more people discovered Jiang Juyou, and photos from various angles started appearing.
The show's popularity suddenly took a different turn. Although people were criticizing the poor stage performances earlier, at least it was related to the show's content. But now, Jiang Juyou's name was all over the trending topics and other platforms, even the related trends became about Random Entertainment's debut competition.
Everyone was urging other audience members at the venue to ask Jiang Juyou when the debut competition would be held.
The topic was completely diverted, the forum posts were once again flooded with Random Entertainment related content, and the names of trainees that had been submerged for a while resurfaced in various groups.
Liu Yue, scrolling through her phone at the venue, seemed to sense something, but didn't dare to be certain.
She could only keep refreshing with this poor network, hoping for what she was thinking to happen.
Meanwhile, in the offices of various marketing accounts working overtime tonight, the sound of rapid typing filled the air as everyone busily relayed information and refreshed various platforms, afraid of missing anything.
Jiang Liuxing didn't go to the final performance venue today, she had more important things to do.
Just as she was busy writing a video script, she heard a shout from the office area outside—
"Ahhhhh! It's officially announced! Random Entertainment's debut competition is here!"
"What? What?"
"Where?"
"Quick, quick! Screenshot and send it to me! I'll make a video!"
"Holy crap, it's on fire!"
"Officially announced today!!! The rivalry is heating up!"
"I knew it! I knew it!"
The final performance was reaching the point of announcing rankings, which should have been the peak of the night, but the trending topics were being washed out by other news.
#Random Entertainment Officially Announces Debut Competition#
#Jiang Juyou#
#Debut Competition#
#Time Train Countdown#
Random Entertainment's official account reposted a new Weibo account named @TimeTrain_Timetrain.
This account posted a video at 7 o'clock sharp, with the caption: "We will eventually part, but separation is for reunion. Hello, Moonle."
The video content matched the theme song of "21 Heartbeats of Youth", with elements flashing in the frame instantly bringing everyone back to the initial cyberpunk world.
With the moon as the background, a ship flying through the cosmic river passed by, converging with other flying vehicles and successfully docking, the docked flying vehicles merging into a train.
Seeing this, everyone exclaimed, realizing they had been teasing the concept so early.
After the hatch opened, there were no complex control panels on the train walls, no mechanical equipment inside, and no androids in sight. The camera turned, revealing a lush green interior, with white flowers and swaying green leaves covering the ground.
The scene suddenly switched to first-person view, with the camera scanning a small white flower, revealing its information.
"Species name: Moonle"
"Endangered level: S"
"Mission: Escort Moonle to a new planet, seeking hope for survival."
The flower resembled a jasmine, yet also like a lily of the valley, with white buds hanging down and emerald leaves gently swaying. As it moved, golden particles fell from the flower's center.
The high-tech feel of the train collided with the greenery of nature, like plants cultivated in a laboratory, giving a strong sense of incongruity.
Yet this technological sense matched the concept of the flying train, and the collision of concepts aligned with the initial cyberpunk theme.
Even after watching the minute-long concept clip several times, people still couldn't forget the impact of the concept and visuals.
"...The Chinese entertainment industry has hope."
"Is this plant real, or is it CGI?"
"Wow, so they've been teasing the concept this early."
"I don't get it, so is the group name Moonle? How do you pronounce that?"
"Class rep here, Moonle is the fan name, the group name is Timetrain, and the members are androids escorting Moonle."
"The pronunciation seems to be Moonli, similar to 'molly'."
"Alright, from now on I'm a little jasmine."
"LOL, Random Entertainment, you must be stalking fan circles, how did you know the train captain sisters love to act like little white flowers when fighting?"
When Random Entertainment's official account reposted, they captioned: "The debut competition everyone's been waiting for is here! Let's take a look at the group concept first!"
Then the original @21HeartbeatsofYouth official account changed its name to @TimeTrain_Countdown, and released the survival competition preview poster and concept posters for the twenty-one individuals, officially announcing the date. Dozens of Weibo posts followed, too many to refresh through.
True to Random Entertainment's style of liking to drop bombs, today's announcement means next week's broadcast.
The concept is indeed amazing, but—
"Handsome guys, who are you?"
"Wait, can minors get plastic surgery?"
"Damn... is that Yao Shuo?"
"Pei Luming, you little rascal grew 7cm in half a year??"
"Wow, everyone's 180cm tall!"
"This is great, this is excellent, let's use this standard from now on!"
"Sang Mo 188cm! Wow—my handsome high school husband!"
"Looks like the online rumor that it costs 10,000 yuan a day to feed 21 people is true."
"Korean styling is something else."
"Sisters, what if this is over-edited?"
"Except for Pei Luming, they're all tall high school boys. My goodness, I'm so happy!"
"Random Entertainment is so honest, they even truthfully listed Pei Luming as 179cm."
Although Random Entertainment releases trainee materials every month, they usually only feature the group that ranked first in the monthly evaluation. The footage is from security cameras, making it difficult to see clearly.
For the past six months, fans have been relying on subtitles to identify their favorite trainees. In the videos, the trainees wear baggy training clothes, some even wearing hats. It's really hard to see their faces clearly if they don't look up.
Now that we can see them clearly, they're so handsome it's almost unrecognizable.
Over these six months, these boys have had plenty of protein, worked out, and sculpted their bodies. Not only have they grown taller, but their aura has also changed.
Before, they really gave off the vibe of inexperienced young boys. Only Sang Mo had a high school boy atmosphere. Now it's different—they've all transformed into handsome young husbands.
The tallest are Sang Mo and Chi Qiao, at 188cm and 187cm respectively. The high school boy hormones emanating from them seem to overflow through the screen. Their slightly turned faces showcase their jawlines, and their eyes with a hint of a smile captivate hearts. The repost and comment sections are going crazy.
"Husband—young husband!!!"
"Oh my god! Packing my bags overnight to climb back!"
"Sang Mo, if you don't debut as the center, your wife here won't agree!"
"Chi Qiao's arms... I'm first in line to lick them!"
"Alright, from now on we're the visuals too!"
"Your face was already invincible on the photocards, husband. Now that you've gotten even more handsome, the cards will be even more expensive."
These two have been jokingly called "young husbands" in previous shows, but now it's even more blatant. Fans aren't even trying to hide it anymore, disregarding whether they're minors or not, saying whatever they want here.
The repost and comment numbers for Pei Luming and Ye Xing are even more terrifying, but because their fans are busy boosting numbers, there are fewer interesting comments. Discussions about them can only be found on forums.
"I'm dying of laughter, the only standout is still Pei Luming, just like six months ago!"
"Pei Luming is the only one under 180cm haha, why didn't Random Entertainment lie about an extra centimeter for the kid? Doesn't he need face?"
"I think Ye Xing is unbeatable, that face with that height... He'll dominate the Chinese entertainment industry in the future."
"If Ye Xing is 182cm at 15, he can still grow taller."
"Pei Luming is the most terrifying, growing 7cm in half a year."
"I'm reminded of that insider's complaint from before, it's really hilarious."
"What complaint? Can you bump the post?"
"It's a complaint from someone who seems to be a Random Entertainment employee, saying their trainees eat a lot, 10,000 yuan worth of food a day, and the company can barely survive."
"From now on, survival shows in the Chinese entertainment industry should use Random Entertainment as the benchmark—average height 180cm, no ugly people."
"So, have the competition rules come out yet? How many will be selected?"
"I'm putting up a portrait of the hangover cure medicine today, praying twice a day, blessing my bias to debut for sure!"
"It's so painful, why is there still a week before it airs?"
Jiang Juyou: Very good, the debt for riding the popularity wave has been repaid.
-
Starting to repay the debt today, 6,000 words daily update, debt repayment ends on Wednesday~
-