After celebrating the New Year backstage at midnight, FTM returned to the hotel with their manager.
On the way, Xu Baichuan returned their phones and instructed: “Everyone post New Year greetings to fans on Weibo. You can post photos, but don’t mention the stage accident.”
Actively saying “the microphone broke” would seem like seeking sympathy.
Current public opinion favored FTM.
The rivals’ negative trending topic purchase had caused a backlash among many real viewers. The topic square had many casual viewers sympathizing with the unknown group.
These people developed great fondness for FTM because of their fully open mic singing and dancing. Public opinion was under control, so there was no need to over-explain. Netizens with eyes and ears would judge for themselves.
After returning to the hotel, Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun posted Weibo messages wishing fans a happy new year.
Many New Year greetings appeared under their posts, along with fans feeling sorry for their stage experience.
In the FTM super topic, talented fans quickly created animated emoticons of them switching microphones, widely spreading in fan groups and forums.
This performance accident actually pushed many hesitant fans completely into the fandom, turning them into die-hard supporters.
Fans were indignant.
“The microphone definitely didn’t suddenly break. I suspect someone deliberately targeted them. Feeling so sorry for them.”
“Our unknown group did nothing wrong, yet their first stage after debut was such a big ordeal!”
“Who did FTM offend to suffer like this? They prepared earnestly for a month, but couldn’t present it properly.”
“Our Yinnian’s verse was missing half. Their first official stage since debut became fan-torturing material!”
“What were they feeling on stage? If it were me, my mind would go blank and I’d forget all the choreography and lyrics!”
“I really hope more people get to know and like FTM.”
“Vocal group, get popular! When you’re popular, there will be more good people around!”
Entertainment groups, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and many social media sites discussed the broken microphone incident.
FTM’s five members began gaining followers rapidly.
It was already 1 AM. Fang Yinnian was tired and wanted to shower and sleep quickly.
Mo Xun had changed out of his performance outfit backstage, but the bow on his shoulder remained to hide the white gauze.
Fang Yinnian pointed to the nearby bed: “Sit here, I’ll help you remove the bow.”
Mo Xun went over and sat down.
Fang Yinnian lowered his head and skillfully untied the bow.
Unexpectedly, the white gauze inside was stained red with blood seepage. The glaring bloodstains made Fang Yinnian’s heart ache.
He frowned slightly: “Didn’t I tell you not to use too much force dancing? Look, the wound is bleeding.”
Mo Xun smiled: “If I don’t use force, the dancing won’t look good. Besides, I was center position leading the dance. This small injury is nothing.”
Fang Yinnian looked at him helplessly: “Then rest well and don’t bleed again.”
Mo Xun hummed, unable to stop smiling.
Being cared for by Yinnian felt good. So, the task of changing gauze would also go to Fang Yinnian. Mo Xun shamelessly raised his arm: “It’s inconvenient to bandage with one hand. Help me change the gauze.”
Fang Yinnian had planned to help Mo Xun anyway. Hearing this, he turned to get the iodine and clean gauze the doctor had given them.
He first removed the blood-soaked gauze and threw it in the trash, then used a cotton swab dipped in iodine to disinfect the wound.
The wound didn’t look deep and shouldn’t leave a scar.
Fang Yinnian carefully used the cotton swab to clean the scabbed blood around the wound, asking softly: “Does it hurt?”
Mo Xun smiled broadly: “Doesn’t hurt. It’ll heal soon.”
Fang Yinnian ignored his joke and continued disinfecting with his head down.
He was positioned sideways, and from Mo Xun’s angle, he could clearly see his fair ear and the prominent red mole on the ear cartilage.
The red mole swayed back and forth…
Mo Xun suddenly remembered the plot from that fan fiction.
He pressed Fang Yinnian to the ground, took that beautiful ear in his mouth, and licked and kissed around the red mole…
Mo Xun swallowed and quickly looked away.
Was he crazy? What was he thinking?
Fang Yinnian patiently cleaned the blood, then took the white gauze to carefully bandage Mo Xun.
His fingers inadvertently brushed against the firm arm muscles. The soft touch sent a strange current through Mo Xun’s spine.
The room was very quiet, and they could hear each other’s breathing.
The sound of Mo Xun’s heartbeat in his chest became increasingly obvious, even more so than during intense dance practice.
After what felt like forever, Fang Yinnian finally withdrew his hands and instructed: “Done. When you shower later, keep your left arm raised so the wound doesn’t get wet.”
Mo Xun’s rationality instantly returned, and he joked: “Got it, thank you Dr. Fang.”
Fang Yinnian glanced at him: “I’m going to shower first.”
He turned and went into the bathroom.
Mo Xun watched his retreating figure, suddenly feeling incredibly happy.
Fang Yinnian was usually gentle and kind, but very calm in crucial moments, with strong principles and bottom lines. If he hadn’t stabilized the verse and main vocals today, FTM’s performance would definitely have been a disaster.
Yinnian was different from all the boys Mo Xun had known before.
Seemingly gentle, but actually resilient.
This made Mo Xun genuinely admire and respect him.
Being teammates with such a person was actually quite fortunate, wasn’t it? Returning to China had truly been a wise choice.
Mo Xun sat on the edge of the bed, completely unaware that his lips had been curving upward uncontrollably.
After a while, Fang Yinnian came out after showering.
The hotel had heating, so he only wore a loose bathrobe, revealing half of his fair, slender legs, with wet hair hanging by his ears.
Mo Xun had seen this “beauty emerging from bath” scene many times—they had always been roommates.
But today… why did he suddenly find Yinnian so attractive?
It made him unable to look away.
Mo Xun stared at Fang Yinnian for a moment, until the other noticed his gaze and turned around: “What’s wrong?”
Mo Xun cleared his throat and pointed at his hair: “Um, dry your hair before sleeping, or you’ll get a headache.”
Fang Yinnian smiled: “I know, I’ll blow-dry it outside. You go shower quickly.”
Mo Xun withdrew his gaze and got up to go to the bathroom.
He had sweated a lot from dancing today and would feel uncomfortable without showering. Following Fang Yinnian’s instructions, he raised his injured left hand to avoid getting it wet and quickly washed with his right hand.
After both finished getting ready, they turned off the lights and went to sleep.
Probably because they were too tired, they all slept deeply and didn’t wake up until almost noon the next day.
Fang Yinnian was woken by messages in the group chat.
Fu Fei: “@everyone, what’s happening? I woke up to find we gained hundreds of thousands of followers, ahhh!”
Fang Yinnian rubbed his eyes. After seeing the screenshot Xiao Fei posted in the group, he was also stunned.
His followers had actually reached 3 million.
When they went to Nancheng to record variety shows and his followers broke 1 million, he had treated his teammates to dinner. Later, during the Mid-Autumn variety show and their five-person live stream, they began closed-door practice for fully open mic singing and dancing.
The cover contest had high popularity, helping FTM gain moderate fame. His Weibo gained followers daily.
Before coming to Yuntu Satellite TV for the New Year’s Eve gala, his followers were around 2.46 million. Gaining 500,000 followers overnight—was this terrifying?
Xu Baichuan appeared in the group: “Several trending videos about you are on Bilibili’s homepage, Xiaohongshu has a post with over 100,000 likes, and Douyin has many casual viewers discussing your mic-switching stage performance.”
“The rivals probably didn’t expect that trying to smear you would backfire and instead send you a huge wave of traffic. FTM’s reputation for fully open mic singing and dancing has been completely established.”
The five: “!!!”
No wonder they gained hundreds of thousands of followers overnight.
Should they thank their rivals for the assist?
Last night’s New Year’s Eve performance, where they switched mics and sang with fully open mics, had actually gone viral across all platforms.
On Bilibili, the roasting UP主[mfn]UP zhǔ[/mfn] “Poisonous Snake Harsh Reviews” made a video called “Chinese Entertainment Boy Bands’ New Year’s Eve Public Execution.”
Fang Yinnian opened the video on his laptop, and the UP主’s familiar robotic voice filled the room—
“Bluewind boy band performed at Dongyang Satellite TV’s New Year’s Eve show with their third album’s title track. Let’s compare it with the original.”
“The backing track almost drowns out the live vocals, right? Let’s say they’re 20% live singing—can’t be more than that.”
A row of emoticons scrolled through the bullet comments.
“20% live singing, hilarious!”
“There’s such an operation?”
“This group has lip-synced 9 out of 10 times since debut”
“No improvement in three years!”
“Top group with terrible vocals, yet fans keep defending them.”
“UP主, you’re so direct, don’t you value your life~”
The UP主 continued: “The same company’s 12star rookie group is quite hardworking. The newcomers bravely used open mics, but the backing track is still huge—it’s making me deaf.”
“Let’s remove the backing track and hear what they’re actually singing.”
The ruthless UP主 technically processed out the backing track again.
Then, Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun heard a bunch of breathless sounds. These gasping sounds were uncomfortable to listen to—you’d want to bring them a ventilator.
The UP主 asked: “How many stars would you give 12-Star’s performance?”
Most viewers gave 1 or 2 stars.
“A bunch of plain voices, only know how to scream wildly~”
“Their stamina can’t keep up at all. Dancing looks okay, but singing while dancing is a disaster!”
“All pale and thin aesthetic, like they haven’t eaten enough. Who likes such groups? Can’t see any male muscle”
“Their target audience might be elementary school students”
“Can’t appreciate it”
UP主: “Next is Sonic group. This limited group is disbanding anyway. They were most exciting during the survival show process. After forming, they started slacking. I found an interesting clip.”
He singled out the person who lip-synced incorrectly for public execution.
It was Sonic’s youngest member Duan Jiayuan. The blonde boy’s eyes were clearly panicked when he mouthed the wrong words.
“Hilarious, the lip movement is wrong but the voice is right”
“So ridiculous, he sang his teammate’s part?”
“This lip-syncing is ironclad evidence!”
The UP主 complained: “The Golden Words pair sold it big last night, dancing pressed together, constantly rubbing bodies, gazing deeply… very hardworking.”
A row of exclamation marks scrolled through the bullet comments.
“Overselling it?”
“Oil soaked in oil, that’s really oily”
“Makeup like monsters, can’t ship it”
“Might as well just kiss and sell it bigger~”
“I came to watch for fun, are all boy bands like this now?”
“When did this symptom start?”
Bilibili users were great at roasting.
Except for #Golden Words# CP fans who loved last night’s stage, at the casual viewer level, this stage was heavily criticized.
Overly flashy makeup, large-scale duet dance design for marketing purposes, and obvious lip-sync mistakes.
Like placing a big glob of sweet cream directly in front of the audience and force-feeding it to them.
UP主: “Last to appear was rookie group FTM. Many people are discussing their broken microphone incident last night. First, undoubtedly, they were singing fully live. Let’s hear how they sang.”
The UP主 continued removing the backing track to play the raw vocals.
Tan Junwen’s rap, except for two words with mic popping, was very smooth with particularly clear articulation and steady rhythm.
Even without backing track in almost a cappella situation, listening to his rap still conveyed a light rhythmic feel that was very catchy.
Fang Yinnian’s opening was missing two lines. After switching mics, only the first two words trembled slightly—probably nervous from just switching microphones—but he sang very steadily afterward.
The other teammates all had minor flaws. The harmony section was missing one voice, but overall everyone held steady.
In the final conclusion, Fang Yinnian’s voice had completely opened up—super full, penetrating high notes that were almost flawless.
This was their first fully open mic live performance.
Compared with the previous groups, the difference was immediately apparent.
UP主: “How many stars would you give FTM’s New Year’s Eve performance?”
A series of four and five stars floated through the bullet comments.
Audiences have ears and eyes.
Last night, the four boy bands performed at different times. Except for Sonic and FTM both at Yuntu Satellite TV, the other two groups were at Dongyang Satellite TV and Nanxing Satellite TV respectively.
Listening separately, you couldn’t hear such a big difference.
But when the UP主 compiled all their performances for comparison, the terrifying gap shocked many casual viewers.
They thought all idols were weak and competing to be worse.
But newly debuted FTM wasn’t weak and hadn’t given up!
They dared to use fully open mics and could complete a song even when the microphone broke, singing quite well.
UP主: “I originally didn’t want to compare and publicly execute, but after watching these four stages last night, I really couldn’t hold back.”
“Let’s separately compare the main rappers, main dancers, and main vocalists of the four groups. Everyone see the difference.”
The UP主 divided the screen into four areas with a cross and separately extracted the four groups’ rap performances.
Audiences: “…”
Two groups’ rap was mumbled and unclear. Sonic’s rap was handled by leader Jin Yiyang, who sang with momentum, but everyone knew he was lip-syncing.
Tan Junwen’s rap was relaxed, natural, and smooth.
Next was main dancers, also divided into four screens for direct comparison. Some danced limply, some were greasy and showing off…
Mo Xun’s dance was full of power, with peak control over his body. Every movement was crisp and decisive. Combined with last night’s cape styling, when spinning, he seemed to create a gorgeous whirlwind on stage.
Audiences: “…”
Mo Xun’s dance still looked most impressive.
Finally comparing main vocalists.
Some were breathless, some cracked, some had plain KTV voices…
Fang Yinnian’s high notes came out and completely crushed them.
Audiences ruthlessly complained—
“No need to compare main vocalists, completely different leagues”
“Vocal group main vocalist terrifyingly powerful~”
“I think the vocal group main vocalist has potential to be a solo singer”
“Whether tone or singing skills, Fang Yinnian NO1 without question”
“What comparison, you’re comparing university students with elementary students”
“Hilarious, other groups’ main vocalists got crushed to dust”
The more they compared, the more obvious it became.
In the collectively slacking idol market, FTM’s appearance as a vocal group was simply a breath of fresh air!
This video’s view count quickly exceeded 3 million, with multiple fandoms reporting it. The bullet comments and comment sections were in chaos, with even higher popularity than the UP主’s previous FTM debut stage video.
Since the UP主 only compared and analyzed without spreading rumors or insults, the video wasn’t taken down despite fan reports.
The more fans come in to argue, the higher the heat—several boy band fans harshly criticized the UP主, combined with sharp counterattacks from casual viewers, directly sending the video to the top of Bilibili’s recent hot list.
Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun exchanged a glance, looking at each other.
Although the UP主’s video would make public opinion among casual viewers favor FTM, such comparative disparagement would definitely trigger a lot of hatred.
Their FTM might become a thorn in the eyes of other boy band fans, and the number of haters would probably surge.
Meanwhile, there was another video on the heat list called “Magic Cube CP New Year’s Sugar,” edited by CP fans.
The video material came from last night’s New Year’s “station sister direct shoot.”
A station sister with the ID “Magic Cube Butler” sat in the front row of the audience at the New Year’s scene yesterday, carrying a high-definition camera, recording the entire interaction between Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun.
Many tacit glances that were not captured during the live broadcast were completely recorded by the station sister’s direct shoot.
More remarkably, the station sister also filmed backstage.
When FTM finished their performance and exited, at the moment they walked down the stairs, Fang Yinnian swayed and almost fell, and Mo Xun hurriedly held his hand.
The CP fans’ screams instantly filled the screen.
“Ahhh, they held hands!”
“My god, the sugar in the dark is even better to ship?”
“Nian Nian almost fell, Captain Mo immediately helped him, who understands this instinctive reaction?”
“I’m dying from shipping!”
Mo Xun held Fang Yinnian and said a few words. The station sister could only capture the scene with a telephoto lens and couldn’t hear the voices so far backstage.
After a brief conversation, Mo Xun suddenly stretched out his arms and tightly hugged Fang Yinnian.
CP fans: “…”
Screams can’t describe the excitement of this moment.
“Is this the national banquet for CP fans?”
“Mo Ge’s hug is killing me!”
“Nian Nian hugged back, my god!”
“Such a warm hug, they must be encouraging each other.”
“Kill me to help them cheer~”
The two hugged tightly, and their teammates were also talking. After a moment, Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun separated, and Mo Xun naturally reached out and gently tidied Fang Yinnian’s messy hair.
“Head pat!”
“Mo Xun, you’re so good, even tidying hair is so warm!”
“Magic Cube is the perfect match. No breaking, no reversing, locked in!”
The station sister’s direct shoot video ended.
CP fans were so happy they were about to celebrate the New Year.
Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun exchanged a glance, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. Last night, they hugged tightly in excitement, but they didn’t expect it to look so ambiguous to outsiders.
Fang Yinnian cleared his throat and said, “Last night, when I was going downstairs, I suddenly felt dizzy. Maybe it was a hypoglycemic attack.”
Mo Xun remembered that Yinnian once bought a lot of chocolate at the supermarket, saying he had hypoglycemia. He hurriedly asked, “Are you still dizzy now?”
Fang Yinnian shook his head: “It’s okay. I only get dizzy when I’m very nervous or hungry.” He took out a few chocolates from his pocket and smiled, “I carry them with me. When I feel dizzy, I just eat one.”
Mo Xun finally relaxed.
He opened his phone and searched for a chocolate brand, saying, “You’re almost out of the chocolate you bought at the supermarket, right? I’ll buy you a few boxes. This brand’s 70% dark chocolate is very tasty, healthy, and nutritious.”
Fang Yinnian said, “Send me the link, I’ll buy it myself.”
Mo Xun smiled, “No need to be polite. I have a membership for this brand. My sister loves chocolate and I’ve bought it for her before.”
He then directly ordered five boxes and sent them to FTM’s dorm in Jiangzhou. The price of the dark chocolate was several times higher than what Fang Yinnian bought at the supermarket, with less fat, higher nutritional value, and even good for weight loss.
Fang Yinnian felt warm in his heart and said, “Thank you.”
Mo Xun said straightforwardly, “No problem. It’s just in time for the New Year events, so I bought a little extra.”
On the morning of January 1st, the CP super topic #Magic Cube World# topped the charts again, quickly surpassing #Golden Words#.
Tan Junwen sent a message in the group: “Jin Yiyang and Qu Yan sold it so hard last night, but it can’t compare to your hug in the backstage corner, haha.”
Tang Che: “Jin Yiyang must be gritting his teeth in anger.”
Fu Fei: “Hard work for nothing.”
Fang Yinnian wanted to laugh—perhaps this is the case of “planting flowers with intention but no bloom, accidentally planting willows that grow into shade.”
Jin Yiyang cared a lot about CP popularity, and their duet dance was very intense. That duet dance after last night’s stage did send #Golden Words# to the top for a while… but so what?
CP fans were shipping hard. But casual viewers heavily criticized the performance as a failure, with teammates’ lip-syncing confirming the fake singing, and hardcore fans cursing angrily.
On the other hand, Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun, to complete the performance, tacitly switched microphones on stage; after the performance, they hugged backstage, encouraging each other.
Casual viewers wouldn’t be too disgusted, group fans could explain it as “just normal team friendship,” and CP fans would continue shipping hard.
CP marketing also requires skill, and too much is as bad as too little.
Mo Xun suddenly said, “Yinnian, let’s do more marketing in the future. Not too much, just more normal interactions.”
Fang Yinnian looked at him puzzled: “Why suddenly want to market?”
Mo Xun said, “We don’t care about CP popularity, but other groups care a lot.”
He paused and smiled: “Since they care so much, why should we give away this cake?”
Fang Yinnian thought carefully, and Mo Xun’s words made sense.
Originally, he just wanted to sing seriously and not care about anything else. But after this New Year’s Eve, he found that the entertainment industry was seriously about power worship and looking down on others. Even if they did nothing, someone would secretly sabotage them.
His Magic Cube CP with Mo Xun was getting more and more popular, already threatening those who wanted to market their own CP.
Jin Yiyang openly mocked him and Mo Xun.
Since all boy bands are marketing CPs, he and Mo Xun had no reason to give away their ready-made cake.
Others wouldn’t be grateful, only jealous.
Fang Yinnian simply nodded: “No problem. If you want to market, just tell me in advance, and I’ll cooperate.”
Mo Xun scratched his head: “Actually, I haven’t thought it through.”
Fang Yinnian: “…”
Mo Xun: “…”
They looked at each other and laughed.
They really didn’t know anything.
Mo Xun said, “I’ll look up some information later, find some inspiration, and when we have public events, we’ll do some interactions. That should be enough.”
Fang Yinnian always felt Mo Xun’s plan was unreliable.
Maybe he should look up some information too?
***
At noon, the five went to the hotel buffet.
Xu Baichuan summarized, “Although your stage performance last night wasn’t perfect, the various UP主’s comparative analyses and 100% open mic live performance going viral across platforms have made FTM stand out among Chinese boy bands.”
Fu Fei excitedly said, “All thanks to the contrast with other groups, right?”
Xu Baichuan said, “Yes. But this also means you’ve made enemies with all the other boy bands.”
Tang Che said coldly, “Doesn’t matter. Even if we do nothing, we’ll still make enemies.”
Fang Yinnian said, “That’s right. Like last night, we didn’t offend anyone, but we were still schemed against. As long as we want a share of the boy band market, other groups won’t be polite to us.”
Xu Baichuan smiled, “Good that you understand this.”
As the first boy band launched by Shengyao Media, they had attracted widespread industry attention since debut.
At first, the industry thought the harmony group route wouldn’t last long, and the small unknown group wouldn’t make much impact.
But with the release of their first single, the cover contest’s moderate popularity, and this New Year’s Eve fully open mic viral performance, FTM would definitely attract more attention and more jealousy.
Last night, FTM’s fan base surged, and the rivals’ smear campaign failed, instead giving them positive promotion across platforms.
The mastermind behind the negative trending topic must be furious.
Fang Yinnian quietly asked, “Brother Xu, was the person who switched my microphone last night found? Will it be dealt with?”
Xu Baichuan sighed, “Of course it will be dealt with. It’s already on the trending list. Yuntu Satellite TV is being criticized as a makeshift team by netizens, which has a considerable negative impact on the TV station.”
“The staff member resigned voluntarily, saying they were too busy and neglected to check, accidentally mixing in a microphone with battery issues.”
“As for whether it was accidental or intentional… we have no evidence. Whoever is behind it won’t be exposed.”
The five fell into silence.
When problems arise, firing the relevant staff is the simplest and fastest solution.
Who dares to expose the big fish behind the scenes? Who can provide evidence?
Tan Junwen speculated, “Could it be Sonic?”
Fu Fei said, “I think it’s more like Xingmang Entertainment’s tactic. Their company specializes in boy bands, and we are the biggest threat to them.”
Xu Baichuan interrupted, “It’s meaningless to argue about this. Maybe all companies wanting to make boy bands are watching FTM, hoping you make mistakes so they can crush you forever.”
Fu Fei gasped, “W-we’ve become public enemies?!”
Fang Yinnian quickly understood the underlying logic.
Originally, the class was full of students who didn’t study well, copying answers during exams, slacking off in class, just barely passing with 60 points.
But then a transfer student came—who not only seriously did the test but also scored an excellent 80 points, shocking the whole school.
Such a contrast would make them look bad.
So the hardworking transfer student would become the thorn in the side of all the poor students, who would want to band together to remove him.
After this New Year’s Eve, FTM naturally became the thorn in the side of other Chinese boy bands, a sharp pain.
Some people don’t improve themselves but envy and sabotage those stronger than them. This is not just in entertainment but in many industries.
Xu Baichuan warned: “The rivals’ goals have not been achieved, there will definitely be other means later. From now on, you must be cautious with your words and actions, don’t let them catch any flaws.”
If you act properly, you won’t fear being slandered.
But Fang Yinnian still had a vague bad premonition.
A storm is coming.
This New Year’s Eve marked their official entry into the entertainment world. He always felt that last night’s stage accident was just an appetizer, and bigger challenges awaited them.
##
![President Huo Wants Me to Restore His Reputation [Entertainment Circle]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/03-cd6f642.jpg "President Huo Wants Me to Restore His Reputation [Entertainment Circle]")
