Thank you @mato for the kofi !~
Yanran’s group not only won first place in the first public performance with their song “Not Me,” earning each of them a bonus of 100,000 votes, but their stunning stage performance also won the audience’s favor. Their votes skyrocketed, and their rankings moved up significantly.
When the final rankings were announced, Xia Xingxing and Ji Shuai made it into the top thirty.
The group’s lowest-ranked members, Gao Yu and Jin Letian, were at 47th and 48th place, respectively. They had both thought they would be eliminated, but the 100,000 bonus votes saved them, pushing them into 44th and 45th place, allowing them to advance.
After the performance, the other three groups suffered heavy losses. Tangtang’s group, in particular, had six members eliminated.
However, in Lin Yanran’s group, all fifteen trainees advanced together.
The “cannon fodder” group, which no one had high hopes for, successfully pulled off an incredible comeback with one performance, reversing their fate and gaining a massive number of fans.
The eliminated trainees and their fans from other groups were all incredibly envious and filled with regret.
The more they disliked Lin Yanran in the beginning, the more regret they feel now.
After the nearly three-hour live broadcast ended, hashtags like #NotMeSoAmazing, #YanranGroupComeback, and #SuperIdolYanranGroup trended on social media.
The individual performance videos of the trainees and the “Not Me” stage performance also saw a massive increase in views.
Without a doubt, the “Not Me” stage was a smash hit!
The audience wrote small essays analyzing every aspect of the performance, from the trainees’ expressions, dance, and vocals to the makeup, stage design, concept, and even the storyline.
Specifically, regarding the dance’s plot, people stayed up all night, using magnifying glasses to analyze screenshots frame by frame to figure out who fired the gun and if the killer was truly the young aristocrat or all fourteen of them working together.
In the words of the audience, the “Not Me” performance had a powerful and lasting effect.
However, the most lasting impact on the audience wasn’t just the plot analysis. What truly kept them up at night was how this group managed to achieve such a monumental comeback!
The more a mystery remains unsolved, the more intriguing it becomes.
Since Yanran, the mentor for the “Not Me” group, was known for having poor ability, many people assumed that the group’s rapid progress was due to the guidance of the little brother in white, the “outside helper.”
As this speculation spread, fans of the other groups became upset, especially the fans of Pei Luo’s group, which came in second.
Seeing Yanran’s group, who they believed were inferior in every way, now shining and receiving all the praise and attention thanks to an outside helper, the fans of other groups turned green with envy as their idols’ rankings were surpassed.
So the trainees’ fan clubs, led by Xuan Yihan’s fans, posted on Weibo to question the production team. They demanded an explanation, tagging the official Super Idol account and the show’s director, Song Yingming.
Just one thing to say: @Super Idol Official Weibo, @Super Idol Director Song Yingming, didn’t you promise that for the first public performance, each group would be guided only by their respective mentors? Why did some groups get to have an outside helper? Is being a mentor that easy? Why should other mentors have to work so hard? And is this fair to the trainees in other groups? Please, the production team, give us a reasonable explanation. Thank you!
In a reality show like this, fans often get into arguments over minor issues due to the competitive nature of the trainees.
With someone taking the lead and inciting them, fans of the eliminated trainees also joined in, flooding the show’s official Weibo with comments demanding an explanation.
Half of the top comments were filled with “It’s not fair.” “This is rigged,” and “Why are you giving Yanran special treatment?”
The other half were occupied with comments like “Who is the little brother in white?” and “Release the unreleased footage!”
Although one side was demanding justice and the other was curious about the truth, their goal was the same: they wanted the production team to release the behind-the-scenes footage of the “Not Me” group so they could find out who was so amazing that they brought the group’s performance back from the dead in just two days!
With so many people demanding answers, the Super Idol production team held an emergency meeting that night.
The social media manager, “Wuwuwu, Director Song, I can’t take it anymore. They’re threatening to renew the official fan club membership for a hundred years if I don’t reveal the truth! They want me to run this Weibo account for life!”
The video editor chimed in, “Someone who claims to be a hacker said they’ll hack into my computer tonight and steal all my footage…”
Hearing this, the assistant director patted his chest and sighed in relief. “That’s brutal! Glad I wasn’t threatened.”
He then looked at the director with an innocent expression. “But I was bribed. They probably mistook me for Director Song and told me that if I showed up right away with the behind-the-scenes footage, they’d introduce me to a hair growth serum that would make my hair grow…”
He then glanced at Director Song’s increasingly sparse hair…
The other assistant director, who was leisurely sipping tea, nearly spit it out laughing and scalded his hand.
Song Yingming, whose baldness had just been subtly brought up, carefully touched his own hair and looked at the assistant director. “Ask him what brand it is.”
The assistant director, who was about to take another sip of tea, laughed so hard his hand shook, and he burned himself again.
The quick-witted editor immediately understood the director’s intention. “Okay, so I’ll have my apprentices add all the footage of Yanran teaching them to sing, dance, and choreograph. Everything else is pretty much done. We can pull an all-nighter and have it ready by tomorrow morning.” He was about to send a message to his editing team when the director stopped him.
“If you put everything in, there won’t be as much suspense later! What are you going to give the audience to watch next time?”
The assistant director disagreed, “Is that really necessary… Is Yanran that important?”
Song Yingming scoffed and asked with a smile, “Who brought the most attention to our show recently?”
The assistant director fell silent.
Everyone knew the answer.
From the supposed conflict between Yanran and Xuan Yihan in the first three episodes to the massively popular “Not Me” conceptual stage tonight, Yanran had been the one driving the trending topics and bringing in the viewership over the past two weeks.
And so, at 8 p.m. the next evening, the Super Idol production team uploaded the new episode they had edited overnight.
In addition to the first public performance from the previous night, the video also included a lot of behind-the-scenes footage.
The moment the video went live, curious viewers and Lin Yanran’s haters alike rushed to watch it.
They saw Lin Yanran, facing the skeptical stares of the trainees, redistributing the lyrics for the song.
They watched a visibly exhausted Lin Yanran teach each person the choreography, then quickly eat a few bites of bread before tirelessly leading the trainees in practice until 3 a.m.
The editor followed the director’s instructions, omitting the footage of Lin Yanran teaching the trainees to sing and rearranging the music.
However, they did show him communicating with the production team about lighting and stage design and patiently explaining each person’s character and the story’s plot.
After watching the new episode, everyone finally solved the mystery from the day before!
The one who brought the “Not Me” group back from the dead was none other than their mentor, Yanran!
There was no “outside helper” at all.
Even the little brother in white, who had stunned countless people, was Yanran, wearing a white T-shirt and completely without makeup, teaching Ji Shuai to dance!
This twist was even more shocking than the surprise comeback of the “Not Me” stage itself.
Who would have thought that the mentor they all deliberately ignored and dismissed as the worst, the one most disliked by the audience and trainees, was the real demon king?
After watching the video, many people became fans of Lin Yanran.
[Ahhhh, Yanran is so handsome!]
[I declare that from now on, Yanran is my new husband!]
[A ten-year fan of Yanran coming in uninvited. It’s been so hard QWQ]
[He’s so dedicated to his trainees. You can see from the lyric distribution that he knows each of his trainees well, so he knew what was best for each person.]
[He’s so handsome when he dances. I wonder how his singing is…]
[Sisters, I just listened to his songs on QQ Music[mfn]One of the largest music streaming services in China owned by Tencent Music.[/mfn]. You should just stick to watching him dance. Let’s not talk about his singing.]
[Hahaha, no one’s perfect. It’s enough that he’s handsome and can dance well.]
[I remember watching him sing and dance a few years ago, but his performance was like gorilla boxing. How come he’s suddenly so good at dancing now?]
[He’s allowed to learn and improve, isn’t he?]
[He’s made so much progress. He’s really an inspiration… He must have put in a lot of effort in private.]
[So where are the haters who were doubting Yanran and accusing him of getting an outside helper? Get out and apologize!]
[Yeah, some people are so funny. They slander Yanran for having an outside helper, while their own mentor got a famous musician to arrange their music. Tsk tsk, how does it feel to hammer your own foot?]
Apologizing was not going to happen.
The haters and anti who had been the most vocal, shouting about the show being unfair, immediately deleted their previous comments after being proven wrong.
Once the comments were deleted, it was as if they never existed.
In less than three days, Lin Yanran had helped his entire group achieve an incredible reversal, a beautiful victory. Many viewers rewatched the group’s segments with a magnifying glass, and in doing so, they discovered something interesting.
Rising little sun: Last night, I got bored and made cuts of everyone’s parts in the ‘Not Me’ group, and I found something amazing. The song is 4 minutes and 16 seconds long, which is 256 seconds. After subtracting the 90 seconds of group choreography, everyone got an average of 10 seconds of solo screen time. Ji Shuai and Lu Tianlang, as the center and main highlights, got an extra 8 seconds each. It all adds up to exactly 256 seconds!”
To prove their discovery, the fan posted screenshots of all the solo and group shots.
Everyone who saw this was stunned; it was exactly as the fan had described.
[Holy sh*t, is that for real?]
[Could this have been designed by Yanran too? It took me a while to understand what the original poster was saying, so how did he design this in such a short amount of time?]
[It really is exactly ten seconds for everyone, not a second more or less. Everyone in the group got their share perfectly.]
[Hahaha, Yanran is the master of fairness!]
This kind of precise and equal distribution of screen time had never been seen before on a talent show.
It was so incredible that everyone started discussing it.
Soon, #YanranTheMasterOfFairness was trending again.
Fans of the other trainees were heartbroken after seeing this trending topic, especially the fans of the fourteen trainees in Pei Luo’s group.
Because their group’s center and main focus was all on Xuan Yihan, the entire performance became a one-man show, with the others serving as his backup dancers.
Before, without a comparison, they could comfort themselves by thinking that it was normal for the center to get more screen time. But after seeing Yanran’s group’s stage, they realized how wrong they were.
The trainees who weren’t in the center of Yanran’s group were treated fairly by their mentor. They each got a solo part and a good character role that allowed them to showcase themselves.
Meanwhile, their darlings could only swallow their anger and serve as Xuan Yihan’s backup dancers, with a pitifully small amount of screen time.
Many of them performed the entire song, but passersby couldn’t even remember their faces.
No wonder the trainees on stage couldn’t help but cry when Yanran asked Pei Luo what their years of practice were for…
Was this the difference between a good mentor and a bad one?
These fans were green with envy after seeing how other trainees were treated.
As if to rub salt in the wound, a fan-made compilation of Yanran’s motivational quotes went viral on a video-sharing site. The video was titled “A Daily Dose of Chicken Soup to Prevent Depression.”
It featured a collection of Lin Yanran’s encouraging words to his group of dejected trainees.
When the trainees were reluctantly placed in his group, he comforted them—
“On this stage, only if you work hard to stay will you be remembered and change your fate.”
“Let’s make a comeback from the brink.”
When they were devastated by the rules of the first public performance, he encouraged them—
“If you don’t even believe in yourselves, how will the audience and your fans trust in you?”
When they were doubting themselves because their rehearsal was going poorly, he cheered everyone on—
“We still have time. It’s not too late.”
When the trainees thought this would be their last performance, he motivated them—
“When we are unable to change others, we must hold fast to ourselves.”
When trainees from other groups were forced to give up their center positions to be backup dancers, he stood up for them—
“As a mentor, if I can’t be fair to everyone, then what does that say about the years they have spent as trainees?”
When his own trainees were not favored by anyone, he vouched for them—
“Even if no one expects you to succeed, you should still strive to be your own hero.”
The video ended with Lin Yanran’s confident and warm smile.
In the past two days, more and more people had come to appreciate Lin Yanran, and their fondness for him grew.
When they saw these moments, specifically compiled for them, many viewers were moved to tears.
[He’s so gentle, wuwuwu.]
[I watched this with tears streaming down my face. How can someone be this kind?]
[He’s so protective of his trainees and so mindful of their self-respect.]
[The key is that he isn’t just mindlessly spouting empty platitudes. He actually followed through on what he said.]
[Teacher Yanran, I’ll drink this bowl of chicken soup first as a token of my respect!]
[I’ve been feeling down lately, but after hearing what he said, I feel motivated again.]
[I really dig Teacher Yanran’s chicken-soup persona.]
[Yesterday you were the ‘master of fairness,’ and today you’re a ‘spiritual guide.’ Teacher Yanran, what other surprises do you have for us?]
[Wuwuwu, who is this hidden gem of a mentor? My babies are so lucky!]
The fans of trainees in other groups were practically drooling with envy. They wondered if they, too, could have such a treasure of a mentor.
*
On the second day after the show aired, the production team found all the trainees from the “Not Me” group.
As a reward for winning first place, their group could film a short video to thank their fans.
That night, the production team played out these few minutes of bonus footage.
The trainees, dressed in their practice clothes, stood in a row with their left hands outstretched, fingers splayed.
Fifteen people said in unison: “Hello everyone, we are the ‘Healthy Fragrance’ group!”
Then, each person began to introduce themselves.
Xia Xingxing: “Hi, everyone, I’m Xia Xingxing! I’m 18 years old and already love keeping healthy. I can’t fall asleep at night without soaking my feet!”
Gao Yu: “Hi, everyone, I’m Gao Yu! I’m the ‘Health Fragrance’ expert who initially hated the idea of soaking my feet but ended up loving it!”
….
The viewers who clicked on the video burst out laughing at the strange group name and even stranger introductions.
[??? What the heck? They soak their feet every night?]
[Isn’t foot-soaking a favorite pastime of middle-aged people? Where did they get foot basins…]
As soon as that comment appeared, the video showed Xia Xingxing explaining where the foot basins came from.
Xia Xingxing: “They’re a gift from my idol, Teacher Yanran! He even gave us different foot-soaking bags with various functions.”
Ji Shuai: “To be honest, at first, I thought, ‘Isn’t this something for middle-aged people? Do I really need this at my age?'”
Lu Tianlang: “After staying up for two nights in a row, we realized, ‘Yes, we really do!’ Hahahaha.”
Lu Xiaomeng: “This is so perfect for us. Ever since I started soaking my feet, I’ve been sleeping better, my skin has improved, and I don’t get pimples anymore.”
Then, they held up a photo of all fifteen of them sitting in a row, soaking their feet.
[?????]
[Hahahaha.]
[I’ll take the recommendation!]
[This group’s vibe is so weird, hahaha.]
[I really want to know what’s going on in Yanran’s head.]
[They’re so cute, help! I love the atmosphere of their whole group.]
Through this short video, everyone got a sense of Lin Yanran’s new “health enthusiast” persona. The foot basins and foot-soaking bags he gave to the trainees immediately became popular and sold out on Taobao.
After serving as a judge at an international dance competition abroad, Xie Roufei returned home to visit her mother.
Kang Huixian, soaking her feet, noticed her daughter looked tired after a ten-hour flight and asked her to sit over.
“Roufei, come and soak your feet. It’ll relieve some of the fatigue.”
Xie Roufei laughed and joked, “We young people don’t need that.”
Kang Huixian shook her head and showed her a video on her phone. “Those people who are even younger than you are using them.”
She handed the phone to Xie Roufei, who lowered her head with a casual smile. But then she heard the name “Yanran” mentioned in the video. Her heart skipped a beat, and her eyes lit up as she watched the video intently.
Unfortunately, after watching the entire video, she realized it was just a group of boys chatting and joking, with no more mention of Yanran.
“Yanran…” Xie Roufei whispered the name, and the softest part of her heart ached slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Kang Huixian asked.
Xie Roufei shook her head. “Nothing. I just feel like that name has been popping up a lot lately.”
Kang Huixian smiled faintly. “He’s quite popular right now. My students have been talking about him these past two days, saying he choreographed a great dance.”
“Really?”
As a master dancer herself, Xie Roufei was very interested in hearing about a great dance.
After leaving her mother’s house, she went online to find the video.
Xie Roufei watched it with high expectations.
From a professional’s perspective, watching a dance choreographed by someone with amateur skills would normally be disappointing.
However, after watching the “Not Me” stage, she was incredibly pleased and became even more interested in Yanran.
She immediately contacted Lin Yunzhe and expressed her desire to meet with Yanran if the opportunity arose.
Lin Yunzhe agreed, saying he would arrange it once his mother was free.
After Xie Roufei hung up, Lin Yunzhe called his secretary.
The secretary had just reported the production team’s request to him earlier that day.
He had initially felt that the secretary shouldn’t have bothered him, as the production team could have made the decision on their own.
After all, Yanran was just an insignificant character to him. His company’s investment in Super Idol was merely the first step into the entertainment industry, and he wasn’t concerned with who the mentors were.
However, since his mother had mentioned him again and was very interested, it was no problem to keep him around.
That same evening, Song Yingming received a clear message from his higher-ups: the sponsor had no issues with Lin Yanran.
Song Yingming’s worries finally subsided. Even if the sponsor hadn’t said anything, he had planned to keep Lin Yanran.
After all, he was bringing in a massive amount of traffic to the show. And while the Xuan family was wealthy, they weren’t the show’s main sponsor, so why should the production team have to obey them when they tried to interfere with other people’s business?
But now that the main sponsor had spoken, he had a legitimate reason to protect Lin Yanran, which saved him a lot of trouble.
After receiving the news, Song Yingming called Lin Yanran directly.
“Yanran, are you in need of money lately?”
Song Yingming got straight to the point.
Lin Yanran wasn’t embarrassed and immediately admitted, “Yes.”
Song Yingming chuckled. “Hehe, that’s perfect. I have some friends who think you’re great for variety shows. They’ve asked me to connect them with you and invite you to be a guest on their shows. They pay directly, so you can rest assured.”
Since work had come his way, and with it, a chance to make a living, Lin Yanran naturally didn’t refuse.
He accepted the offer immediately.
“Alright, there’s a variety show you can film tomorrow. I’ll let Old Li know,” Song Yingming said.
Lin Yanran was surprised.
Tomorrow…
Director Song was incredibly efficient at finding work!
“Okay, if it’s confirmed, I’ll have Yingying handle the arrangements,” Lin Yanran replied.
After hanging up, he told Yingying about the work Director Song had set up.
Yingying was ecstatic. She then shared another piece of good news with Lin Yanran.
“Brother Yanran, a sponsor wants you to endorse their product!”
Based on his previous experience with the baby product endorsement, Lin Yanran, for some reason, had another bad feeling. But, adhering to the principle of making a living and not missing any useful resources, he asked Yingying anyway.
“What kind of endorsement?”
“It’s not a baby product this time!” Yingying seemed to sense Lin Yanran’s concern and immediately reassured him.
Once she’d put his mind at ease, she showed him her phone, looking delighted. “It’s a chicken soup endorsement!”
Lin Yanran: ???
![The Strongest Auxiliary[Holographic]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The-Strongest-Auxiliary.jpg "The Strongest Auxiliary[Holographic]")
Hahaha I hope Yanran gets a good sponsor for something he can actually understand soon 😂