MBFAAO 6: Successful Counterattack
by starlightxel“Second place: Tongtong! 272 votes!”
On the large screen, Ya Yilun’s pleasantly surprised expression was shown first, followed immediately by Tongtong’s coldly indifferent face being projected.
He had always had this arrogant style lacking in smiles, and didn’t like interacting with other contestants. He looked like this when he normally got first place, and he had this expression now too, but given a close-up by the camera, it was a bit subtle.
The host, in order to create a talking point for the broadcast, specifically handed the microphone to Tongtong. “What does Tongtong think of Ya Yilun’s performance this time?”
Qin Xiaofeng gasped in the back row. “This host really knows how to stir up trouble!”
As expected, Tongtong raised his eyes, gave the host an indifferent look, not even offering a smile. “Mm, he danced well.”
Qin Xiaofeng covered her face, wailing in her heart: Oh my god, this brat, he just doesn’t know how to say something polite. What do you mean ‘danced well,’ the guy obviously sang too!
When people with ulterior motives hear this, it will be seen as mocking Ya Yilun for only knowing how to dance!
She pulled a bitter face and whispered to Zheng Qingqing, “I can already guess how your fandom will blacken1In internet fandom slang, “to black” someone means to smear their name, spread hate, or leave nasty comments about a celebrity. our Tongtong. ‘The aloof noble young master persona collapses—dissatisfied with taking second place, shows a black face2This means to look sullen, annoyed, or overtly angry in public. on the spot’.”
Zheng Qingqing was smiling so broadly her eyes disappeared, currently happy about Ya Yilun getting first place. “Isn’t it the same? Won’t your fandom smear our Yilun with, ‘First time turning the tables against the wind3A gaming/sports term popularized in mainstream slang. It means making a miraculous comeback from a heavily disadvantaged, “losing” position (against the wind)., Ya Yilun smiles crazily, loses control of his expression’—Hahahaha!”
The two friends were both gentle girls, not brainless toxic fans4Literally translates to “brain-damaged fans.” It refers to extreme, irrational fans who blindly defend their idol and viciously attack anyone who criticizes them.. They usually joked around and mocked each other’s idols, but it didn’t actually affect their friendship, much less would they truly viciously attack the person the other liked.
As the two spoke, they listened intently to the continued vote announcements on stage, and involuntarily both became a little apprehensive.
“Do you think Cheng Yan will advance?”
“I think it’s very risky—they’ve already announced up to eighth place now,” Qin Xiaofeng murmured, feeling a bit disappointed in her heart, but she could also understand.
After all, this is an idol survival show. What everyone needs to show is energetic singing and hot dancing. Otherwise, you either have to dance exceptionally well, or have amazing vocal skills.
From the first season until now, there really hadn’t been any pure instrumentalists who made it into the final round.
The following competitions would be even more intense and exciting. The other contestants could all change between different styles of songs, and there would be a large amount of group singing and dancing to present. This little brother… Was he going to be stuck in the team as a laughingstock like before?
The names of the top ten were finished being announced. Bright lights gathered in the center of the stage, and the large screen showed the votes for the top ten.
Zheng Qingqing and Qin Xiaofeng both sighed in disappointment.
No Cheng Yan.
Just then, the camera’s close-up suddenly switched. The lens that had been gathered on those popular contestants moved toward the edge and landed in the corner.
For some unknown reason, that young man suddenly quietly raised his head and accurately met the camera lens.
The innate camera sense remaining from many years ago still existed. He instantly caught the camera, but similarly, the habit of over ten years made him reflexively and hurriedly lower his head again.
It wasn’t until a moment later that he absentmindedly remembered something.
He didn’t need to lower his head anymore. He didn’t need to be afraid of his own face scaring others anymore. He didn’t need to hide in places without light anymore.
The host regretfully said, “The contestant ranked eleventh is the contestant who amazed the entire audience today with a guitar piece, Cheng Yan.”
The high-definition camera effect was too good. On that beautiful and delicate face projected on the large screen, the momentary dodging was clearly captured. The way his eyes, which had just been blooming with brilliance, now looked dim, was all revealed in minute detail.
Qin Xiaofeng reached out and rubbed her red eyes. “Why am I crying again? Why?…”
Her friend beside her also choked up. “The program group is just like this, they just push hard to stir up emotions—so annoying!”
The host, however, did not immediately announce the final eliminations. He called out, purposely being mystifying, “Oh right, I forgot. The five expert judges haven’t read their votes yet—ten votes per person. I’m very curious right now, who will the votes in their hands be cast for?”
The contestants ranked in the bottom two or three instantly became nervous. D*mn it, did the previous vote counts not include the expert judges?
All the previous competitions were mainly based on online voting. This top 20 to top 10 was the first time the results were generated entirely by live voting. Everyone thought the expert votes and the public votes were already calculated together!
Zheng Qingqing and Qin Xiaofeng’s hearts suddenly started pounding, and they tightly grabbed each other’s hands.
Could it be? That beautiful little brother Cheng Yan was in eleventh place, only one spot away. Would any judges vote for him?
The host raised the envelope in his hand like a magic trick, joking, “The judges’ votes are already in my hand. It’s too late to change them now. Next, let’s take a look!”
One camera pointed at his hand, while the other pointed at the expressions of the teachers on the judging panel.
“Tongtong, ten votes!”
The host held up the first card and read aloud incitingly, “The first place that contestant Ya Yilun just sat on has been overturned again. I wonder if it will reverse again next? Let’s wait and see!”
The camera swept past his face. That expression suddenly looked a bit strange, as if he couldn’t quite believe his eyes.
“A rather magical scene has appeared. The remaining four professional judging teachers—” The remaining four cards were revealed by him all at once, held high like a small fan.
The host read out excitedly, “They all cast the precious ten votes in their hands for the same contestant!”
On the massive LCD screen, Cheng Yan’s name jumped out. The 165 votes under his name rapidly fluttered and soared. A few seconds later, it froze at 205 votes, and his ranking also suddenly surged to sixth place!
…
Vocal and Visual Idol had strict agreements with all the live audience members and judges. Although they didn’t have legal effect, everyone basically was able to abide by them.
Due to the live recording being done a week in advance to leave time for post-production and editing, everyone was required absolutely not to give advanced spoilers on any occasion.
Otherwise, if the TV viewers knew who was eliminated, who stayed, and who was first in this round, what viewing pleasure would there be left?
However, early that morning, under the Weibo of Teacher Huang Yi, one of the judges, a highly shared and followed Weibo post appeared.
“There was a miracle at the live scene today. One contestant’s performance was exceptionally astonishing.”
Huang Yi was a famous lyricist, extremely beautiful in appearance, and belonged to the relatively active “Big V5Refers to heavily followed, verified users/influencers on Weibo (China’s equivalent to Twitter). They are called “Big V” because of the “V” badge next to their usernames denoting verification.“s on Weibo.
Ever since she became a judge for Vocal and Visual Idol, she was considered the one who loved posting on Weibo the most among the five judges. Naturally, she also attracted many fans of the show, who each came to her Weibo regularly to clock in and report6Literally “punching the clock” like at a job. In fan culture, it means regularly checking a social media page, leaving comments, or engaging daily to boost an idol’s statistics or show presence., to see if they could dig up even a word or two about their own idols.
This post didn’t have any obvious spoilers, so it was considered within the boundaries tacitly approved by the production team. However, the amount of information it revealed was not small, and it immediately attracted the attention of many people.
First, a miracle.
Second, exceptionally astonishing.
Below it, the one pushed to the very top was a comment like this.
【Astonishing with one song, it must be none other than our Tongtong—no rebuttals accepted.】
【Agree and like with my real name.】
【+10086.】
Further down, closely following behind it was another one.
【Hehe, someone who always stands there motionless singing can be called astonishing. The people upstairs must be a bunch of reincarnated pillar spirits7“Jing” refers to inanimate objects or animals gaining consciousness/spirits. Calling someone a “pillar spirit” is a creative insult for an idol who just stands completely stiff and motionless on stage..】
【A certain fandom really is… automatically claiming every good thing for themselves. Sitting and waiting for the face-slap8A very common trope/slang phrase meaning to be proven wrong in a humiliating way, usually right after acting arrogant or making a bold claim. in the next episode.】
【Also sitting and waiting for the face-slap.】
【Just wait for a face-slap, you motherf*cker. Teacher Huang has always highly appreciated our Tongtong. The brainless fans of a certain ADHD patient are really annoying, hurry up and roll far away.】
【Carrying away9Fandom slang. Fans will “carry away” their idol from a dramatic thread to show they refuse to participate in the drama or be compared to others. our Tongtong, have some self-respect instead of latching on, we decline your clout-chasing.】
At first, it was relatively harmonious, but soon, fans from several fandoms caught wind and rushed over, starting a chaotic brawl in the comments below, whipping up a storm of blood and gore.
Huang Yi probably got a headache from reading it. Half an hour later, she picked another netizen’s comment and replied: “It’s not these two.”
Not long after this was posted, another judge named Li Pei suddenly joined the fun and retweeted it: “Yeah, it shocked me.”
With this, the number of retweets suddenly skyrocketed!
Li Pei was a pop singer who had been active in the industry for a decade or two. He had several representative works in his early years. He was older now, but his fame was still there, and he frequently appeared in some music programs. His number of fans was, after all, larger than a lyricist’s.
With this retweet, the heat really went up.
Huang Yi clarified that it wasn’t those two, originally because she was annoyed seeing the arguing under her Weibo. However, when this comment came out, coupled with Li Pei’s assistance, not only did the fire not die down, but it became even more intense.
【Hehe, not our Tongtong, and not Ya Yilun—is there anyone else who can be called amazing?】
【Could it be Huang Dajie is cooperating with the program group to build hype?】
【If it’s amazing… could it be our Yunying?】 Immediately, someone posted a photo below. It was Zhou Yunying, who was also a popular contestant. It was a still from a web drama he had just finished filming. The angle of the candid shot was good, and he could indeed be considered a flower boy.
At this point, the fans of several other contestants couldn’t sit still either, and one after another took to the field to canvas votes for their own idols. How could the fans of Tongtong and Ya Yilun be easy targets? Each with fierce combat power, they began to team up and tear into the few who posted to steal the spotlight.
In the midst of the multi-fandom melee, a new Weibo comment finally leaped out and was quickly pushed to the front.
【When it comes to amazing, I don’t know who it is, but for frightening, I know for sure—it must be this one.】
Clicking open the accompanying picture, it was exactly an old, ugly photo of Cheng Yan from a previous episode, with dyed green hair and heavy eyeshadow. Words were photoshopped next to it: “I’m green today, and you?”
The fans engaged in fierce battle had their attention temporarily drawn away, and one after another, they jokingly ran to like this post. In an instant, it harvested hundreds of likes.
Originally, it was just for fun, but for some unknown reason, the replies under this comment grew more and more. Before their eyes, it was built into a hot thread with thousands of replies.
For no other reason than because under this hate comment, a very ordinary girl’s Weibo posted a strange reply, resolute and decisive: “He doesn’t look like this! He obviously looks like this!”
The accompanying picture was an extremely high-definition headshot, obviously taken with a phone’s front-facing camera.
In the photo, the blogger posing with him on the left was too embarrassed to be on camera and cropped herself out, leaving only a handsome, flawless face with bright eyes and white teeth, smiling towards the camera with a particularly clear and gentle gaze.
Completely bare-faced, one could tell at a glance that no beauty filter was used. The skin tone was fair but natural, not impossibly fake frosted skin, and the pitch-black in his eyes was vivid and bright, not the terrifyingly black effect of cosmetic contact lenses.
In the background, one could vaguely see what seemed to be a hospital ward, and some simple medical instruments?
The replies below were extremely enthusiastic:
【Holy sh*t, sh*t, sh*t—whose company’s rookie is this?! I need to know his name within ten minutes, no more than that.】
【The clothes he’s wearing are ordinary. Is it a school heartthrob still in school?】
【This fairy declares that this photo didn’t use a beauty filter, don’t ask me how I know.】
【The person upstairs don’t derail the thread10“Crooked building.” It means taking the conversation completely off-topic from the original post., the point isn’t whether a beauty filter was used or not—it’s his name!】
【Which company’s rookie is coming to chase clout again, have some shame! No matter how pretty or how eager to debut, is it interesting to run under another production team’s comment section?】
【I think he’s just average, kind of like a discount version11Literally “low-configuration version” (like buying the cheapest model of a car). It means a lesser, knock-off lookalike of someone famous. of Film Emperor Zhao Feng. Today’s little fresh meats really have no distinctiveness, they all get plastic surgery to look like the Film Emperor.】
【Plastic surgery your head—this little brother is obviously completely natural okay? Do you think everyone is blind?】
Finally, someone asked a question weakly below.
【Is nobody looking at the original poster? ‘He doesn’t look like this! He obviously looks like this!’—Who on earth is this talking about?】
Finally, more and more people realized: This reply with the photo, seems to be refuting that hate photo of Cheng Yan?!
【I’m a bit confused, who will tell me—does this girl mean ‘This is Cheng Yan, Cheng Yan looks like this’? …】
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