This was the second time the five FTM members came to Yun City.
Last time for the New Year’s Eve gala was winter, when Yun City’s temperature was very low. Fang Yinnian wore sweaters and thick coats, plus a fluffy hat.
April in Yun City was warm with blooming flowers, bright sunshine, and pleasant temperatures. The five had very tacitly all worn short sleeves and jeans today.
As soon as they got off the plane, Fang Yinnian heard deafening screams from the distance—
“Ahhh they’re here!”
“Oh my god, they’re so much more handsome in person than in photos!”
“Ahh Mo Xun walking in front is so cool!”
“Yinnian! Yinnian!”
There was even a girl in the crowd screaming at the top of her lungs: “Fang Yinnian, I love you!”
This caused laughter all around.
Fang Yinnian’s ears burned red as he politely smiled at them, triggering a second wave of screams from the crowd.
The screaming accompanied them all the way out of the airport.
FTM’s offline popularity had increased more than tenfold compared to their previous visit to Yuntu Satellite TV for New Year’s.
Looking at the long queue and the huge amber banner reading “FTM Global Fan Club,” all five were quite shocked.
Some girls wore fluffy amber headbands, and others held Q-version portraits of them.
They chattered excitedly, forming long lines on both sides of the airport that seemed endless.
Passersby seeing this scene were curious: “Which celebrity’s fans are picking them up at the airport? Such a big scene!”
“Seems like an idol boy band.”
“The recently popular vocal group—they really have a lot of fans!”
After greeting the fans, Mo Xun, who was last to get in the car, opened the window and waved, smiling: “Thank you everyone, go back home now!”
Mo Xun closed the window, blocking out the screams.
Fu Fei patted his chest, still shaken: “Damn, that scene was so scary. Why were there so many fans picking us up?” He looked out the window, “That must be several hundred people, right?”
Xu Baichuan said: “The fan club made an online call, and fans from nearby cities came in large numbers.”
Fu Fei suddenly understood: “No wonder I saw the fan club banner.”
May Day happened to be a small holiday, and the fans’ enthusiasm made the five very happy—they used to be an unknown small group, but now their popularity had improved and they had more and more offline fans.
Fang Yinnian looked away and asked the manager: “Brother Xu, for the show on the 3rd evening, how many times do we need to rehearse on-site tomorrow?”
Xu Baichuan said: “Music show rehearsals aren’t as complex as New Year’s Eve galas. Tomorrow you just need to go up and walk through positions, sing a few lines briefly, and test the microphones and sound equipment.”
All five nodded.
Since Fang Yinnian’s microphone was switched during New Year’s, they brought their own microphones and earpieces to all subsequent performances. The five’s equipment was kept in a small suitcase managed by Mo Xun.
After returning to the hotel, everyone rested early and went to Yuntu Satellite TV headquarters the next day for rehearsal.
Mo Xun was right—the music show stage was indoors, only about the size of a basketball court, with around 1,000 seats below.
Their debut stage at the Shengyao Family Concert and later New Year’s Eve gala were both massive stadium stages with tens of thousands of audience members.
This indoor small stage didn’t have very impressive stage effects—just lighting equipment arranged around the stage and one LED screen on each side.
It looked somewhat simple.
But it also returned to music’s essence.
After all, this was a stage for live new song competition. On this stage, “live performance” was the only judging standard.
Fancy entrance methods like hanging on wires sitting on moons, flying starships in the sky, or time-space tunnel travel were flashy but impractical. The general judging panel wouldn’t give you extra votes just for unique entrance designs.
The five rehearsed twice. Mo Xun positioned himself at the center of the stage and said quietly: “Let’s remember this floor intersection point and use it as center, dancing like we do in the practice room.”
Everyone nodded in understanding.
Their formations also had center positions during regular practice. When changing formations, everyone would remember their distance from center, so the whole team wouldn’t drift off.
When they finished rehearsal and returned backstage, a cool, handsome boy with red hair and ear piercings ran over smiling and hugged Mo Xun: “Little Mo, long time no see! You’ve gotten even more handsome!”
Mo Xun smiled: “Brother Yan, what a coincidence.”
Fang Yinnian had only seen He Yan once at the original Shengyao Family Concert. He seemed to have a good relationship with Mo Xun.
This time, Teacher Yan Chi’s Angle dance troupe also came specifically to backup dance for He Yan.
Everyone proactively greeted the dance teacher: “Brother Chi.”
Fu Fei said with a bitter face: “You guys aren’t playing fair! We only have 5 people, but you brought 8 backup dancers!”
He Yan laughed heartily: “Right, A Chi is still your dance teacher. It must be stressful to compete against your teacher’s professional dance troupe, right?”
Yan Chi said lightly: “A Yan might not necessarily win the weekly championship either. You don’t need to feel pressured—participation is what matters.”
Hearing this, the five felt much more relaxed. Even He Yan wasn’t confident about winning this episode of “Music Billboard’s” music show.
After all, with veteran Ji Ying holding down the fort, these “juniors” whose ages couldn’t even match her years in the industry just needed to sing through smoothly to pass, right?
After the simple rehearsal ended, He Yan took the initiative to invite everyone to dinner.
Xu Baichuan smiled and asked: “I remember someone promised to invite our FTM as concert guests?”
He Yan slapped his forehead: “Right! I didn’t forget. I’m starting a national tour in the second half of this year. I’ll contact you when it begins, Brother Xu.”
Xu Baichuan clinked glasses with him: “Good. In the second half of the year, our FTM will be releasing an album and might be running around for promotional activities. We’ll coordinate the timing then.”
That evening back at the hotel, Fang Yinnian pulled up He Yan’s previous concert videos to watch.
He Yan was the most popular singing and dancing artist in Chinese pop music. His concerts were famous for their “everyone dancing” atmosphere that was super exciting, making him very popular with young people. He held national tours every year, all sold out.
Last year his concert box office reached over a billion yuan, ranking him among the top ten domestic concert box office artists annually.
He and Tao Yizhou were currently Shengyao’s two most popular male singers, with their fans constantly arguing over who was Shengyao’s number one.
Fang Yinnian used to think the two had different styles and were evenly matched, but now it seemed… He Yan was the one with real talent, at least he dared to sing and dance with fully open mics.
**
On the afternoon of May 3rd, all singers participating in the first episode of “Music Billboard” gathered at Yuntu Satellite TV’s program recording venue.
Reporters conducted brief interviews: “Why did you all come to participate in ‘Music Billboard’?”
Veteran Ji Ying smiled and said: “Because this is the first ‘live music show’ stage in Chinese entertainment, with everyone singing live, no editing, no audio correction, showing the most authentic side of singers. I think it’s very meaningful!”
She paused and continued: “Singing with fully open mics for public voting—though low scores might look bad, at least on such a stage we can train ourselves. As long as we gain something, then we haven’t come in vain!”
This drew warm applause from the surroundings.
The host then asked: “What about FTM’s handsome guys? Why did you want to participate in this episode?”
Mo Xun answered: “We’re participating in this music show stage for two reasons: first, to promote our new song ‘Blazing,’ and second, to accumulate more stage experience.”
He looked at Fang Yinnian, who smiled slightly and added: “We’re just here to learn from our seniors. As Sister Ying just said, regardless of results, if we gain something, then we haven’t come in vain.”
Applause rang out again.
Fang Yinnian’s words positioned FTM very humbly—they were rookies, averaging 19 years old, while veteran Ji Ying had been debuting for 19 years.
So in front of the great senior, they were just newcomers here to learn. Winning would be a pleasant surprise, losing wouldn’t be worth criticizing, right?
Participation was key—they were here to learn anyway!
Viewers watching the live stream filled the comments with bullet chats.
“Fang Yinnian really knows how to talk”
“These humble little idols are quite likeable~”
“Looking forward to FTM’s music show stage!”
“Tonight’s truly a battle of gods, wonder who’ll win!”
“I vote for He Yan, he brought a dance troupe, the stage will definitely be lit”
“I vote for Tang Liao, his love song is really good”
“Tang Liao’s Valentine’s Day song ‘Nights Missing You’ couldn’t even beat Fang Yinnian’s ‘Listening to Snow,’ right? He’s already past his prime!”
“Where do fyn fans get the nerve to say Tang God is past his prime?”
“Can fake fans stop bringing hate to our Yinnian?”
“…”
Before the competition even started, the comment section was already heated.
Many people were stirring up trouble deliberately trying to start fights with FTM, getting sprayed back by FTM fans and reported.
There were also large numbers of He Yan fans, Tang Liao fans, Ji Ying fans and other singers’ fans excitedly spamming their names.
The host walked to center stage.
“Dear viewers in front of Yuntu Satellite TV and Taohe Video platform, good evening!”
“This is the live music show ‘Music Billboard’ jointly hosted by Yuntu Satellite TV and Taohe APP!”
“First week of May, today’s participating singers, please look at the big screen—”
The big screen showed five promotional posters.
With each poster shown, warm applause erupted from the venue.
Finally, FTM’s poster for their new song “Blazing” appeared—five young men walking side by side with brilliant flames filling the background.
“Ahhh the new song poster looks so good!”
“FTM, get popular!”
“The fiery red poster is a good omen~”
Host: “Next, please have the five participating singer groups come on stage to draw lots for performance order.”
Mo Xun represented FTM on stage to draw.
He showed the number to the audience: “Number 1.”
His teammates: “…”
Your unlucky hands!
Mo Xun returned to the group, looking helplessly at Fang Yinnian.
Fang Yinnian smiled: “It’s fine. Going first means no comparison and less pressure.”
He Yan drew number 2, Zhong Xiulin number 3, Tang Liao number 4, and veteran Ji Ying was number 5, performing last.
After determining the order, the host left the stage.
The singers could perform directly.
Familiar musical rhythms began—the intense singing and dancing track “Blazing” that FTM had been practicing recently.
The lyrics were over 60% rap.
This time it wasn’t Tan Junwen opening, but Mo Xun.
Intense drum beats rang in their ears as Mo Xun came to the front center position and performed some super cool mechanical dance moves, then picked up the microphone and started singing.
Extremely fast-paced rap that could tie tongues in knots. But Mo Xun delivered it smoothly, with no audible breathlessness while singing and dancing.
Having been a trainee in Korea for years, his rap style was completely different from Tan Junwen’s. While Tan Junwen was relaxed and smooth, Mo Xun’s rap had a powerful, commanding presence.
The rap opening combined with knife formation dance was so cool it gave people goosebumps.
The comment section was flooded with snowflake-like white text.
“Holy shit, Mo Xun is so cool!”
“This new song has such a fast rhythm, is his tongue okay?”
“Mo Xun can actually rap”
“He was a BNC candidate, is there any question he can rap?”
After Mo Xun finished, Fu Fei followed.
Fu Fei’s voice was sunny and warm, full of energy when rapping, with a brilliant smile.
![After losing all his wealth, the ancestor rose from his coffin [BL]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Your-paragraph-text-1.png "After losing all his wealth, the ancestor rose from his coffin [BL]")
