Chapter Ninety-Three: Hao Mingxing, the Disposable Pawn (Second Update, Please Subscribe)

In the Magic City, at Tomato TV headquarters, the production crew of Singer Flair watched the show rocket onto multiple trending lists in less than a day, and many of them could not hide their excitement.

“The director really is a genius.”

“Only the director could pull this off.”

“Just one poster, and the whole thing exploded.”

Launching a show always required enormous financial backing and publicity. But for a wave of this magnitude to erupt in such a short time, it took a certain flair for hype.

One staff member shook his head and sighed. “I never imagined a single poster could stir up this much discussion.”

The director smiled. “What’s so surprising about that? Let me tell you something: fans are the easiest crowd to stir up. Give them even the smallest talking point, and they will spin it into a frenzy. Not to mention that this poster involved more than a dozen celebrity fan groups. Of course the heat exploded.

“You can look at Weibo’s trending list on any given day. Nine times out of ten, the top spot is just some fabricated little story cooked up by self-media accounts. They know exactly how to hit the nerve of online users and devoted fans. As for whether the content is true, almost no one cares.”

Everyone nodded in silent agreement.

Especially the few people in charge of publicity and promotion. They were already pulling out little notebooks and recording furiously.

These were all hard-earned lessons.

Someone else asked, “But this wave of hype has dragged Hao Mingxing into the eye of the storm. Won’t it hurt him?”

The director glanced at the speaker and said coolly, “Have you never heard this before? The harder a spring is pressed down, the stronger it rebounds. Do you really think I was stupid enough to put Hao Mingxing in the second row? To be honest, if I hadn’t been worried about backlash, I would have put him in the front row!”

The front row!

At those words, everyone was stunned all over again.

Even within the production team, many staff members still did not know that, for this season of Singer Flair, Wang Mo had written Hao Mingxing two new songs at once.

So when they heard the director speak like that, they felt a little dazed. What did he mean? Did he actually believe Hao Mingxing had the strength to stand in the second row?

Wasn’t this supposed to be hype?

Was it not hype after all?

Could it be... the truth?

At that thought, everyone grew even more unsettled.

Why him?

Why?

Director, we’re on your team. We’re one of yours.

Could you at least stop keeping things from us too?

That night, at eight o’clock, Wang Mo finally left Qingbei Victory Courtyard.

When he went, Tongtong clung to his neck and refused to let go, tears spilling down her cheeks in a string of pearls. “Big brother, you promised to bring me a gift. You have to come back and see me soon, okay?”

Wang Mo had not expected Tongtong to be so attached to him.

After coaxing her for a long time, he finally managed to hand her over to He Zhixing, who looked thoroughly depressed.

Still, he promised that he would come see Tongtong again within a month.

Fortunately, the child had no real sense of what a month meant.

Outside the courtyard, Yuan Xiong was already waiting in the car.

After getting in, Wang Mo briefly told him what had happened that day.

Yuan Xiong listened until the corner of his mouth started twitching. “I’ll say it straight, brother. Your one day is more dramatic than my entire year.”

Wang Mo smiled modestly. “You flatter me.”

Yuan Xiong said, “There’s one thing you handled badly. Since Old Master He’s granddaughter is so attached to you, you should have told her she could come see you anytime. Or that if Tongtong missed you, she could call you. For a child that age, that’s the best tool for building a relationship with Old Master He. As long as you’ve got her, you’ve got him completely.

“And the more often you meet Old Master He, the more benefits you’ll get.

“People of a feather flock together. The circles of the powerful are usually full of other powerful people. The more time you spend by Old Master He’s side, the more people in his circle you’ll come into contact with.

“Take today, for instance. You met someone like Zhao Shu, a true titan of music. From now on, you can openly ask Professor Zhao for advice on piano technique, and then... huh? Wait a second!”

His expression darkened. He slammed on the brakes and turned to stare at Wang Mo, his face suddenly savage.

“Wang Mo, you bastard, explain this to me right now. Since when did your piano skills get this good?

“Why didn’t I know?

“Why?

“Why the hell not?

“Last time, you swore up and down that you weren’t hiding anything from me!”

Wang Mo gave an awkward laugh. “That...”

Yuan Xiong snapped, “Fine. You did this to me first, so I’m doing it to you now. Starting tonight, I’m sleeping in your bed!”

“...”

Wang Mo’s smile froze.

Big brother, don’t do this.

If you do, what happens to your wife?

A long while later, Yuan Xiong finally calmed down enough to speak again.

“There’s something else I need to tell you. Singer Flair has already started promoting itself and is about to air. But Hao Mingxing has been used by the production team and thrown right into the center of the storm.”

“Oh?” Wang Mo immediately pulled out his phone and went online.

More than ten minutes later, his expression turned calm. “No need to worry. I believe Brother Xing can handle the pressure.”

Yuan Xiong nodded. “If you say so, then I won’t interfere. But if you think it’s inappropriate, I can call the production team and tell them to handle it more discreetly. After all, this round of hype from Singer Flair is only happening because you wrote two songs for Hao Mingxing. But are you sure Hao Mingxing can hold his place in the second row with those two songs?”

Wang Mo smiled. “Not sure.”

Yuan Xiong blinked. “Then why are you still letting Hao Mingxing take the risk?”

Wang Mo said, “If two songs aren’t enough, then make it three. If three still aren’t enough, then four.”

“Damn!”

Yuan Xiong spat out a curse and was left speechless.

But in truth, Wang Mo had no intention of writing Hao Mingxing any more songs.

Indifferent, Empty City, and He Must Love You Very Much.

If those three songs still could not handle a mere music variety show, then the show was truly hopeless.

Those three songs were the dual-blade combination of Brother Kun and A-Du.

To say they would conquer the entire music scene might be too much, but crushing a variety show should not be a problem.

A week later, under Tomato TV’s relentless promotion, Singer Flair had reached an almost absurd level of popularity.

On Saturday night, the first episode finally aired to the eager anticipation of the masses.

A total of thirty-two singers competed on the same stage.

For the music world as a whole, that was already a major event.

Of course, it was impossible for all thirty-two to perform in the first episode.

They had been divided by lottery into four groups of eight.

That night, two singers would be eliminated from each group, and six would advance to the next round.

And Hao Mingxing happened to appear in the very first episode.

Because of the poster, and because Singer Flair had deliberately fueled the hype, Hao Mingxing surged onto the trending lists as soon as the show aired.

How will Hao Mingxing perform tonight?

Can he display overwhelming strength?

Those few trending topics captured exactly what the audience wanted most to see.

Many people stubbornly believed this: if the official Singer Flair promotion team dared place Hao Mingxing in such a prominent spot on the poster, then he must have something exceptional about him. Yes, he had to.

“Hao Mingxing is definitely going to shock everyone tonight.”

“I believe in him!”

“The production team isn’t suicidal.”

“...”

And yet, by the time the episode ended, Hao Mingxing had shown nothing especially dazzling. He had only sung the song he was best known for: Indifferent.

“That’s it?”

“That’s all?”

“Where’s the surprise?”

“...”

No one could deny that Indifferent was an excellent song. But the eight singers who appeared tonight all opened with the songs that made them famous, didn’t they?

None of the songs was much worse than Indifferent.

But the problem was...

In the next round, the other singers would still have more good songs to sing, while Hao Mingxing had none left.

After finishing Indifferent, what could he sing next?

Nothing.

At least no one had ever heard of Hao Mingxing having any other song worth mentioning besides Indifferent.

This was the sign of an early exit...

After some analysis, someone claimed to have seen through Tomato TV’s hype strategy:

“Ha! This round of hype from Tomato TV is definitely playing the opposite hand on purpose. They deliberately placed Hao Mingxing in a conspicuous position on the poster because he became famous with a single song, yet had shaky foundations, all to stir up public discussion.

“I have to say, it worked. Everyone started arguing over Hao Mingxing’s placement, and that generated a huge amount of attention, pushing the show’s heat to the peak.

“And for a singer like Hao Mingxing, even if he gets caught in the public storm, it won’t really hurt the production. Once he’s eliminated, the team just swaps in a new poster.”

As soon as that opinion appeared, many people immediately upvoted it.

“OP’s analysis is spot-on.”

“Very reasonable. I’m convinced.”

“Honestly, the only one who’s probably miserable in this whole hype campaign is Hao Mingxing. He became the center of Singer Flair’s publicity machine, but he’ll only last one episode. Pure cannon fodder!”

Cannon fodder!

Once that phrase was brought up, more and more people began to feel that Hao Mingxing was nothing more than disposable material for the show, destined to be eliminated in the first round.

On Weibo, someone even started a topic called Pity Cannon Fodder Hao Mingxing.

Because Hao Mingxing only had one song.

Because Hao Mingxing had been used by the production team.

Because Hao Mingxing had been cursed at by many other singers’ fans.

Because Hao Mingxing would be eliminated in the next round.

Were those reasons not enough to pity him?

Under the push of many passersby online, the topic Pity Cannon Fodder Hao Mingxing even climbed into the top ten of Weibo’s trending chart.

When Hao Mingxing heard the news, he was completely dumbfounded.

Pity him?

That worked too?

Only an hour earlier, countless fans had been hunting him down at his doorstep to scold him for overstepping his place.

How had the situation flipped so suddenly, with so many people now feeling sorry for him?

In the days that followed, the topic Pity Cannon Fodder Hao Mingxing never once dropped out of the top fifty.

Until the second elimination round began.

Then, incredibly, the topic’s popularity surged again and shot all the way up to third place on Weibo’s trending chart.

The key point was this:

The topic had received no promotion whatsoever, yet it still overtook several topics Singer Flair had spent heavily to push.

Even the director was left staring in disbelief.

What kind of maneuver was this?

He could not make sense of it at all.

Under the topic, many netizens left comments.

“Hao Mingxing is getting eliminated tonight.”

“Pity him for a hundred seconds. The Singer Flair production team used him like a pawn.”

“Hao Mingxing was somehow cursed at by so many singers’ fans for an entire week. Even I, a passerby, can’t stand it anymore.”

“Hao Mingxing is about to be eliminated tonight.”

“Just seeing this topic makes me feel bad for him.”

“Hao Mingxing is really so pitiful...”

Amid all this discussion, Singer Flair Season Three aired once again on Tomato TV.

And tonight, Hao Mingxing would step onto the stage for a second time.

Countless netizens were waiting for his elimination.

And then... to pity him with all their might.

The End.