Chapter 266 - He Waited for the Storm to Come (1)
Fang JunRong didn't belong to that circle but she had learned a thing or two from all the banquets that she had attended in the past. She had never been a fan of Begonia Entertainment and, now that she learned that they had been plotting against XinYun and Zhong Yi, her opinion on them could not be lower.
"What are your plans?" Zhou Yang had always had a good relationship with Fang JunRong and, since Fang JunRong had given her some Beautify Pills and Hair Growing Cream, she had been touting herself as a good friend of Fang JunRong's. Besides, Fang JunRong had high status. With Fang JunRong looking out for her, it had saved her much hassles. As such, she sided with Fang JunRong more and more.
Take this competition as an example. She had put a lot of work into it and had referred quite a few guests. She even came in person to the final.
"The way Begonia Entertainment looks at it, they can maximize their gains regardless of the outcome. Specifically, they would be able to maximize their gains if Dong JunMing was to lose. So most likely they are hoping that he will lose."
After all, only when Dong JunMing lost the competition could Begonia market him as the tragic hero who refused to provide the "unspoken favor". He would immediately gain a lot of fondness from the public. He may not have won the competition but he might as well have.
"It is a disgusting thought to just make him the winner but it would minimize the damage for XinYun." Zhou Yang offered her objective opinion.
Fang JunRong said coldly. "That would be too nice to them. The whole point of this competition is that the winner will be selected fair and square. If he is to win it with his own ability, good for him. Nevertheless, he had chosen such revolting means."
Her words let Zhou Yang knew her thoughts clearly. Fang JunRong was never one to compromise. The more others come at her, the less likely she would compromise.
She saw a light smile appeared on Fang JunRong and heard her said, "Fame is what they are after, right? Fame I will give them then."
She may have a smile on her, but her eyes were not smiling.
Fang JunRong had came up with the idea to fight back in that short while. She had some exposure in the area of marketing in the past year for the sake of Meifang Corporation. She was familiar with a couple of for-profit accounts. Naturally, she wasn't going to do so personally and leave a trail for others to follow. She started making calls to her Public Relation team to start acting.
Watching Fang JunRong in action stupefied Zhou Yang. She was baffled by Fang JunRong's strategy. Fang JunRong had someone wrote two versions of paid articles. Her interest perked when she heard the names of those for-profit accounts. How was Fang JunRong so familiar with them? Did she read about these gossips all the time during her free time?
"Shocker. The strong candidate Dong JunMing lost because of this reason?"
"The well-deserved winner, our beloved Dong JunMing."
"Losing the competition because he had declined to offer unspoken favor, Dong JunMing wept on stage."
"Dong JunMing, the angel on stage."
"Ren DongZhi, the most shameless winner in history."
"Sacrificing himself for your future? Is that how it is, Ren DongZhi?"
After Fang JunRong had gotten off her call, Zhou Yang asked her in a low voice, "What are you doing? Are you writing the for-profit articles for them?"
Fang JunRong felt better now and the smile on her deepened. "What time are we starting"
"9:30."
Fang JunRong nodded, "And we won't know the result until 10:30, right?"
"That's why we are going to release these articles 10 minutes early, without any tags."
Zhou Yang figured it out right away. Fang JunRong was, essentially, bringing the for-profit articles to everyone's attention and letting everyone know that many of these for-profit channels were already in the works preparing to smear Ren DongZhi. They had articles ready well before the outcome had been determined. They were purposefully leaving out the tags so it would take the others more time to notice.
Fang JunRong unfurrowed her brows and said, "Let's go. It's almost time."
Chapter 267 - He Waited for the Storm to Come (2)
Both Fang JunRong and Zhou Yang returned to the competition location. Both of them had a slight smile on them, looking like they were in a good mood.
The competition began officially at 9:30.
Number 7, Dong JunMing, looked delicate and docile but was explosive when he sang. His dancing was particular impressive. Truth was, he didn't need any of the gimmicks. He was talented enough to make a name for himself regardless. Nevertheless, he was impatient and wanted to take short cuts.
Fang JunRong had spent some time in learning the rules before she came. The total score for each competitor would earn was the sum from the audiences, the judges, and the guests. Among them, scores from the audiences would contribution total 40% of the total and those from the judges and guests would contribute 30% each.
Fang JunRong was not a big fan of him but she was fair when it came to scoring him. She did not purposefully give him a low score but gave him 92 points. The total scores would be announced at the very end after all competitors had performed. It was part of the draw.
After his performance, Dong JunMing gave a very touching speech on stage after his performance. Something about how far he had gone to be there today. That he was a sickly child and that his mother thought of him as a burden and had left him and his father behind. His father was not of good health either and was sick a lot. And that he had chosen to become a single and would perform at bars to earn money for his father to visit doctors and to enjoy his gold years.
He had gone through a lot as he did not have a strong family to back him up. That many of his opportunities were snatched by others and that he was scammed out of his saving by someone who said they would release a record of his. When he got to the sad parts, he even cried on stage. Many of his fans' eyes reddened below the stage.
Clips of what his relatives and good friends had said about him was played on the stage behind him. Mostly how what a mature child he was since a young age.
All in all, Dong JunMing was able to successfully create a pitiful, mature, and strong image for himself.
Ren DongZhi was the one performing after Dong JunMing.
With his guitar in hand, his sat down and started stroking the cords. A melodious tone began to play. He did not need any more background music and he started to sing. The sound from the guitar made his voice seemed even more magnetic and gentle. It was a fast and cheerful tune but, with his voice, it almost sounded blue.
From the lyrics, this was a song given from a boy to his ex-girlfriend. His ex-girlfriend was about to get married and the boy, filled with sadness, wished her happiness with a light-hearted and cheerful song. Throughout the song was his unchanging love and protection for the girl.
Fang JunRong was genuinely surprised by it. She had never heard this song before. It was probably written by him.
The venue was silent after the song was over before it broke into thunderous applause.
Fang JunRong, too, applauded with the others. Ren DongZhi's performance had truly exceeded her expectation.
After his performance, Ren DongZhi thought about it for a little while and said, "I have no idea what to say to you all. What would you like me to say?"
He had prominent features and looked like someone with an edge but, when he talked, he came across as cute.
"Encore!"
"Encore!"
Ren DongZhi thought about it a little and nodded. "Okay, I'll just come up with someone random. Please don't take it too seriously."
He sat back down, started strumming his guitar and sang. The large screen behind him was already about to start playing the video clips from his friends and family. Now that Ren DongZhi decided to sing a second song, that put the workers in the backstage in a very awkward situation. It felt odd to skip that part of the program.
They couldn't help but turned to look at Zhong Yi.
Chapter 268 - He Waited for the Storm to Come (3)
Zhong Yi couldn't help but smiled. Clearing her throat, she said, "Go ahead. It'll be background for his song. If he is going to be a troublemaker for us, we shall reciprocate." She didn't believe that Ren DongZhi would be distracted by that. She had been working with him for a while now and recognized that he was truly talented when it came to composing. Sometimes, when an idea struck him, he would start to sing while strolling.
Hence the comical scene on stage. Ren DongZhi was singing at the same time the video clips were being played, and a song that he composed for his fans on the fly at that. Whenever he ran out of ideas, he would turn around and look at the video clips and weaved in all the rainbow farts from his friends and families. That was quite an shameless act on his part.
"He's smart and confident. He deserves any kind of praises."
"Please be mad and crazy for me. To a point that you would bump into walls when you walk."
Everybody at the venue burst out into laughter.
Fang JunRong, "... ..."
She shook her head but her lips curved upward as though they had minds of their own. She lowered her head and gave him a 95.
All the scores were announced 10 minutes later.
Ren DongZhi received 98, 95, and 96 from audiences, judges, and guests, respectively and Tong Jiaming received 93, 94, and 92, respectively.
Ren DongZhi surpassed him in all areas, especially score from the audiences. Being 5 points higher, he had, without a doubt, win the competition.
Which made sense if one was to think about it. With the exception of one's fans, most other audiences had already been desensitized by one's tragic past. What he had done was out of the box and brought about a pleasant surprise for the live audiences. Which would explain why they were willing to give him high scores.
As soon as the scores were announced, Tong Jiaming had a shocked look on him. He blinked and forced a smile on himself. "Congratulations on your win."
Then tears rolled down his face, as though he had been wronged.
Under the stage, Li Xuan sent out a text.
[Ren DongZhi won the competition.]
He placed his phone down with the screen facing down. There was a light smile on him. Seeing Fang JunRong's elegant and calm smile, he snickered to himself. He hoped she could remain this calm all the way. He was going to warn her but now, now he was just going to sit back and enjoy the drama as they unfold themselves.
He waited for the arrival of the storm.
Just as Fang JunRong had expected, Begonia Entertainment couldn't wait to smear the talent show Star of the Future as soon as it was over. All of the for-profit accounts shouted out loudly and hinted that the winner had been decided ahead of time and that all the other competitors were just pawns in Ren DongZhi's victory.
[Ren DongZhi had been determined to be the winner ahead of time? How shameless!]
[Losing because he had turned down offering up unspoken favors? Tong Jiaming lost but didn't lose.]
[Ren DongZhi v. Tong Jiaming, who is the real winner?]
All these big-name internet influencers expressed that every competitor had performed spectacularly but, unfortunately, the winner had been decided long ago and it didn't matter how well the others did on the show. They also expressed that they were not just making things up and posted pictures of Ren DongZhi and Zhong Yi together. The two of them had their heads together looking very affectionate with each other.
They ended it with a very provoking line, "All fans should just go turn in now. He had hugged the biggest of all thighs. It was too bad that your idol was not mature enough to know to put out."
The talent show had gone on for two months in total. In addition, all of the competitors were talented, had their own personalities, and shined in their own ways on stage. That was the reason the show had gained popularities over time. Especially for the fans who were there for their candidates the entire time, they all became so upset that they could have strokes when they clicked into the articles.
Fans always had filters for their own idols and thought that they were the best of the best and naturally deserve to be the winner. It would have been no big deal if the competition had just ended the way that it did. But now that someone had provided evidences that their idols didn't lose because of their abilities but they lost to someone who pulled strings behind the scene? How could they remain silent after that?!
Shengxing get out and give us an explanation! All the fans banded together and demanded justice for their poor, victimized idols.