Huayu: Starting from the top talent show

Chapter 524 My buddy has nothing else to offer but madness.

After a night of thoroughly investigating all the tax evasion activities of the investigators, the crew arrived early on the 30th at the Dunhuang Singing Sand Dunes, a national key tourist scenic spot located five kilometers south of Dunhuang city, on the edge of the Kumtag Desert, named for the sound of the sand moving.

The desert scenery depicted in the drama was all filmed here.

Wang Churan, who had been selling Coca-Cola until dawn last night, was now nestled in Shen Juan's arms, gently rubbing the sunscreen she had just applied to her face with both hands, and casually asked in a soft, sweet voice, "Baby, my husband~ the episode of Happy Camp you recorded before aired last night, did you see the comments online?"

"No, what did they say?"

Shen Juan was a little tired after emptying his magazine, so he had been catching up on sleep on the way here this morning and hadn't had time to pay attention to these things.

As for the strange nickname "husband baby"
Let her be.

Chuanbao always has a very imaginative way of thinking about what to call this piece.

Wang Churan wiped his hands, then took out his phone from his pocket, opened Weibo, and showed the comments to Shen Juan.

[Is this guy, Juanchu, completely ungrateful? If Yuehua hadn't pushed him into "The Rap of China," would he be where he is today? Now that he's famous, he's putting down his former company and deliberately dragging Wang Yibo into it—his scheming is deep! Isn't he just trying to use Du Hua to create a persona? He's incredibly arrogant; only Du Hua's good temper prevented her from arguing with him. Anyone else would have humiliated him! And why didn't he criticize the company when he was with Yuehua? Now that he has his own company, he's putting down his former company to elevate himself—his behavior is disgusting! He even said he could win the championship in the competition next door—isn't that just putting down Mao Buyi? A confirmed scheming man! Only his fans think he's outspoken; to me, it's just rudeness. Is he supposed to be unafraid of hurting feelings by putting down people like this? I suspect he sees everyone as trash!]

It's normal for people in the same industry to look down on each other.

He truly looks down on those so-called "international superstars" who lack real talent and rely solely on information asymmetry marketing to exploit Chinese people.

But if you insist that I look down on everyone and try to make everyone and every social circle my enemy, that's going too far.

Shen Juan is only so arrogant because he's famous now! If Le Hua hadn't helped him with public relations and handled the public opinion back then, he would have been torn apart by haters! Now he's turning around and undermining Le Hua, and he even has the nerve to say that he's the key figure. He really thinks he's something! This kind of ungrateful behavior is incredibly low!

[Even Mao Buyi himself has no objections, but you do?]

[They even dare to criticize a golden retriever, who does Du Hua think she is?]

As a fan, I think Shen Juan is right. Yuehua Entertainment's weakness in training artists is an open secret! How many artists debut at their peak? Yi Bo became famous through BL dramas, Justin through variety shows, Meng Meiqi and Wu Xuanyi through talent shows—which of these was the company's initial plan? And Shen Juan said he could win even if he signed up himself, I don't think he's exaggerating! His talent and popularity were already significantly lower when he returned to China; Yuehua's media support was nothing compared to his ability! Perhaps Yuehua's only contribution was not interfering with Shen Juan's career or arranging work he didn't like.

After seeing Wang Yibo's viral success last year, I realized that even Gouhua (a famous Taiwanese entertainment company) buys positive trending topics for its artists.

Yesterday, my friends and I spent over an hour ranting about private equity firm Lehua, but I still felt unsatisfied! They've forgotten all the hardships Shen Juan endured, how difficult his journey has been, and how can you treat him like this?! Using the fashion resources Shen Juan earned to promote newcomers—as a fan, it's truly speechless and disgusting. Some people start in a dark basement, while others begin with top-tier luxury brands like Chanel!

[Of course, Yuehua Entertainment can use its profits to invest in and nurture other artists, but Yuehua, don't forget who worked so hard to earn that money for you. If Yuehua had treated Shen Juan even slightly better (so many things have been made public: not only did they not provide any support or assistance to Shen Juan as he ventured to the US alone, but booking him economy class to save money caused an airport disturbance and he was verbally abused by passersby—I was truly amazed! And you didn't even promote the 18 Coca-Cola World Cup theme song in China?), we wouldn't be reacting so strongly. I just really hope Yuehua goes bankrupt soon. I've never felt so disgusted in my life; I'm utterly fed up!]

Actually, Shen Juanyuan wasn't as miserable as these fans made him out to be. Some things were just coincidences and had nothing to do with Le Hua.

But they were already hooked.

Therefore, Shen Juan felt it would be better to wait until they had vented their pent-up anger before coming out to calm things down.

After all, idols can only guide their fans.

They cannot control and rule their fans like an emperor.

After reading the comments, I returned the phone.

As soon as Wang Churan took the phone, she looked up at him curiously: "They said that when you played that banter game, you made Du Hua lose face, but you were actually taking the opportunity to hint to your fans to cyberbully and settle scores with Le Hua. So, honey, do you really hate them?"

Why would I hate them?

"Because they didn't do anything for the first two years, yet they still received a steady stream of money from you! It was like they were winning without lifting a finger!"

"They get very little money, which is nothing to me. Besides, this money has to be distributed eventually. If there's no Lehua, there will be other Hua. Generally, only those big brothers who have never seen money before would think of keeping all the income in their own hands. Before finding a backer, it's best not to become a self-employed individual."

Whenever Shen Juan talks about matters related to artist management contracts, he can't help but marvel at the incredible wisdom of this group of people.

He took advantage of the resources and became famous, then terminated his contract and ran away. So, none of the many celebrities in the entertainment industry over the past few decades have ever thought of doing this?
Dude, did you perhaps transmigrate into a fantasy novel world where "when I woke up, the IQ of all humanity had dropped by 99%, but mine remained unchanged"?

There is a kind of beauty in a mind that has not been polluted by knowledge.

But such people are indeed a valuable asset to society.

They are the kind of people who believe everything they hear.

He can easily release a few press releases, and these brothers and sisters who lack independent thinking will foolishly be used by him.

To some extent, he should indeed express his gratitude.

After spreading the sunscreen evenly on her own face, Wang Churan took Shen Juan's hand and began to carefully apply sunscreen to him.

"Oh right, didn't Tian Xiwei and Zhou also have a fight on the show? Why didn't I see that part in the show?"

"Why else? I just cut it!"

"Oh? That's a pity." Wang Churan made no attempt to hide his desire to watch the drama unfold and his wish to remain on the sidelines.

Shen Juan couldn't help but chuckle. "How could I be so foolish as to put something like this in a public place for the public to discuss at will?"

"But I think the public is already discussing it casually."

"That's their right to freedom of speech."

"Oh right, it seems some fans are using drones to find us." Wang Churan read aloud the trending topic she had just seen.

"So exaggerated?"

Wang Churan nodded, "After all, you're here! If I were a fan, I might have even brought a drone to find you."

"But weren't you a fan at the beginning?"

"But I am different from them now."

"What's the difference?"

"Because I can see you every day now!"

"You're such a sweet girl."

"I'm a sweet girl."

Not long after Wang Churan applied sunscreen to all the exposed parts of himself and Shen Juan, the stagehand came over.

The very first scene of the entire series is about to be filmed.

Everything was arranged and the actors were ready.

Because the female lead, Qiao Jingjing, was filming at the moment, she asked her assistant, Xiao Zhu, to pick up the male lead, Yu Tu, who was visiting the set. So Xiao Zhu stood on the box and waited and waited. After who knows how long, a faint black shadow finally appeared in the yellow sand.

The black SUV drove straight toward her at a steady speed and then came to a smooth stop in front of the film crew's tent.

As the dust rose from the ground, the car door opened from the inside, and Shen Juan stepped out. Today, he was wearing sunglasses, a neat windbreaker, and black high-top military boots. Even his walk exuded a free and unrestrained sexual tension. Who knows how many people he will become Daddy and husband!

Xiao Zhu was speechless; he was just too handsome!
"Xiao Zhu, long time no see." Shen Juan walked slowly to her with an aura of authority, took off his sunglasses, and smiled.

Excited, Xiao Zhu hurriedly ran towards Shen Juan, her voice filled with the warmth of a long-awaited reunion.

"Teacher Yu, it's been a long time!"

The two stopped and looked at each other.

Shen Juan's stunningly handsome face, which amazed countless female fans both at home and abroad, instantly left Xiao Zhu, a hidden fan of good looks, dumbfounded.

Teacher Yu is so good-looking
Jingjing is so lucky!
And the other side.

Shen Juan was overjoyed to be reunited with his old friend after so long, and the smile on his lips grew wider and wider.

But Xiao Zhu seemed to be mesmerized, standing there dumbfounded, without any further reaction.

Having no other choice, Shen Juan gestured to her, and she finally snapped out of her daze and said, "Oh, I'll take you there!"

After saying that, she led Shen Juan towards the film set, her expression changing from wanting to laugh to being nervous, which was quite amusing.

"Okay, cut! That's a good take!" the director shouted, standing up and praising loudly, "Both actors were in great form!"

This scene wasn't difficult to film.

To break it down simply: Shen Juan parks the car in the designated spot, opens the car door and gets out, walks, and delivers his lines.

It's equivalent to making Shen Juan walk the runway in the desert.

Apart from a few expressions and subtle body language that were a piece of cake for him, there was basically no difficulty in performing.

It's the same old story.

His acting skills are only slightly inferior to other award-winning actors, but in the realm of idol dramas, they are a complete game-changer!
He's definitely overkill for acting in idol dramas.

Then the scene shifts to the second scene for the entire cast.

That is, the filming of the scene where the male and female leads reunite after a long separation.

Xiao Zhu brought Shen Juan to the film set.

The two stood quietly to one side. "Jingjing, I think we should do that shot again, the one where you just crawled out of the desert and looked up," Wang Churan said, discussing something with the director in front of the monitor.

"Okay, thank you for your hard work, director!" Wang Churan nodded, then turned and walked towards the center of the set.

It was only then that she noticed Shen Juan, who had been standing silently watching and waiting for her on the periphery of the set. Her face instantly lit up with a joyful smile. Her performance was very natural, perfectly capturing the surprise in her eyes and the involuntary excitement of reuniting with her boyfriend after a long separation.

Shen Juan, on the other hand, maintained Yu Tu's persona of being cold on the outside but warm on the inside. He didn't say anything, but just smiled and gave her a thumbs up, as if gently saying to her that it had been a long time.

"Stop, we've already passed that line!"

The director of the play-within-a-play yelled "Cut!"

Wang Churan tried her best to suppress her excitement. First, she carefully went to the director to check the effect of the scene she had just filmed. After confirming that there were no mistakes and that it did not need to be reshot, she swaggered towards her boyfriend.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Then Wang Churan could no longer contain her excitement. She abandoned her reserve, ran over, and bumped straight into Shen Juan's arms. Shen Juan also dropped his backpack and caught her steadily.

This hug was incredibly impactful, with both of them unconsciously investing more emotion into it. The multi-camera, 360-degree surround shot captured every subtle movement and change in their eyes perfectly, highlighting the sweet happiness of a couple in the throes of new love!

Wang Zhi, who was intently watching the monitor, even had the feeling that the two of them often ran towards each other like this, and this time it was purely a paid romance on the set. It was impossible to tell that this was the first day of filming. The two of them were so in sync, and there was no sign of them avoiding each other or being shy.

Seeing the harmonious and natural atmosphere when the two embraced, Gu Man couldn't help but smile like an aunt.

It is a happy thing to have your favorite actors bring the characters you created to the big screen.

What if the actor is the real-life inspiration for the character?

This happiness index will only double and then double again!
Ultimately
What an author wants to see is the vividness and realism of their characters breaking through the dimensional barrier and entering reality.

She found all the feelings she had never found in Yang Yang before, unsurprisingly, in Shen Juan today.

There was no intention to express any dissatisfaction with Teacher Yang Yang, but Gu Man did feel that the biggest difference between Shen Juan and Yang Yang was:
Yang Yang is the kind of handsome guy who knows he's good-looking and popular with women, so he deliberately tries to look cool in everything he does, exuding an aura that says, "Woman, you must be fascinated by me."

But Shen Juan is different.

Although Shen Juan knew he was handsome, he remained calm and composed, having long been accustomed to it, and would not deliberately try to show off or be cool.

He believed that even if he did nothing, just standing there expressionless was enough to attract girls, and there was no need to pose or deliberately exude charm.

So even though they are equally confident and even narcissistic.

But Shen Juan has a more relaxed and detached feel to him.

He doesn't deliberately put on airs like Yang Yang.

Because he genuinely believes that others cannot compare to him.

There is no such thing as being all bark and no bite, or being strong on the outside but weak on the inside.
He was that confident to the extreme.

That's just how real he is.

The first day of filming went smoothly.

Time has come to the last day of August.

On the morning of the 31st, a piece of news that suddenly came from across the ocean startled Shen Juan, who was diligently filming in the northwestern desert.

The VMAs were held as scheduled.

The complete list of winners has been announced.

The acceptance speeches that Shen Juan had pre-recorded and sent to Republic Records based on the nomination results also came in handy.

The record-breaking 19 nominations, which swept almost all major awards, successfully earned Shen Juan nine astronaut trophies.

They are the most valuable music videos of the year, namely "STAY".

It beat Billie Eilish's "Everything I Wanted", Eminem's "Godzilla" with the late singer Juice Wrld, Taylor Swift's "The Man", Future's "Life Is Good" with Drake, and Shen Juan's new single "Rain On Me" with Ariana Grande.

Not much to say.

STAY's commercial performance is phenomenal.

Not only is it about to tie Mariah Carey's record for number one on the charts with "One Sweet Day" and "Despacito", but it is also highly likely to become the number one single of the year on the Billboard charts with five months of success (the rankings are generally from November of last year to the end of October of this year, so some songs that are released later will be at a disadvantage in the rankings).

Artist of the Year.

Shen Juan defeated this year's hottest stars, DaBaby, Lady Gaga, The Bonsai, and his good homie Bieber and Malone.

Song of the Year: "Rain On Me".

The best collaboration was awarded to Shen Juan for his hip-hop single "INDUSTRY BABY" with Li Nacha (the music video was reshot later).

The organizers originally intended to award the Best Pop Music Video award to BTS, but considering that they had already offended many people by awarding Shen Juan a record-breaking 19 nominations last month, if they offended Shen Juan's fans this time, it would be a complete loss.

So I had no choice but to honestly refrain from doing anything fancy.

After all, they already have Shen Juan, so why would they need BTS?

Perhaps only in the dreams of the most naive and narrow-minded South Koreans can ARMY be compared to Alovers.

Best R&B music video: "Leave The Door Open".

Half of Shen Juan's album "Sisyphus" consists of R&B singles, but the most commercially successful one is undoubtedly "Menbieguan".

Moreover, considering that this song won the award in its original timeline 21 years ago, this can be considered a return to its rightful owner.

It also won three awards: Best Home Music Video "Stuck With U", Best Cinematography "Rain On Me", and Best Choreography "Go Crazy".

The phenomenal awards ceremony not only drew comments from several mainstream media outlets, including Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times, contributing to the continued spread of the news, but also successfully attracted a large number of netizens to join in the discussion, offering their opinions and exchanging their thoughts.

[Alex is still dominating the VMAs this year! "STAY" deserves its Music Video of the Year award; its commercial success speaks for itself. Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga are also good, but "STAY's" streaming dominance is unstoppable. He's also Artist of the Year. Who's hotter than him this year? A well-deserved win!]

[9 out of 19 nominations were accepted, even more impressive than 6 out of 14 nominations last year! Juanjuan single-handedly defeated all the new generation singers, she's absolutely slaying them!]

[Alex Shen, the undisputed king of vocal prowess in his generation! Alex Shen, winner of the 62nd Grammy Album of the Year! Alex Shen, a triple-threat superstar in film, television, and music! Alex Shen, a true streaming god! Alex Shen, the leader of GenZ! Alex Shen, the global sales king! Alex Shen, a philanthropist! I'm screaming like crazy for my Alex!]

The New York Times published an article stating that this year's VMAs have completely degenerated into a press conference for Alex Shen's acceptance speech.

I think the VMAs should give Alex a Best Anti-Dressing Award; he even wore a mask during his pre-recorded acceptance speech.

[The VMAs have become a global practice ground for Alovers' English speaking and listening skills. VMAs, you've finally met your match, hahaha!]

[Alexana is so sweet! Ari looked even more excited and thrilled when she went on stage to accept the award for Alex than when she received it herself, hahaha! Honestly, I genuinely think they are really soulmates. After a series of events last year and this year, Alex chose to reconcile with his inner desires and truly confirmed that he wanted to pursue fame and fortune. And Ari, to be honest, they are very similar. They are both talented people who love music, both enjoy the world of fame and fortune, both crave excitement and emotional investment, both have a good business sense, and even both know how to use the media. They completely understand each other's musical pursuits and life philosophies, and they really compete with each other. Even though Alex is so fickle and promiscuous, I still feel incredibly happy and excited for any public interaction between this PR-romantic couple.]

Look at Ariana's expressions on stage and her statements during media interviews. I genuinely think Ariana really likes Alex. It's a classic good girl and bad boy pairing. They even reminded me of Haylor and Jelena, except Alex left much earlier than Justin and Harry. He was like a gentle breeze in the mountains, seemingly never investing much emotion in the relationship. The line from *Senorita*, "You say we're just friends, but how do friends know how delicious you are? You know I've liked you for a long time, don't disappoint me," perfectly encapsulates their story.

The only regret this year is not being able to see Sisyphus live. If Alex continues to release an album every year, won't Sisyphus really become a forgotten brand? No way!!! I absolutely love "Good Days," and even if there's no performance this year, there must be one next year or the year after!

[Please be aware that Shen Juan has already won 15 awards in just three VMAs (including 4 nominations and 0 wins in the inaugural VMAs in 18), making him the third most awarded male singer after Beyoncé and Madonna, and the first among all male singers of his generation! This is undoubtedly the beginning and prelude to a legendary era!]

Some fans offered their heartfelt and pure praise.

They couldn't wait to announce in advance: 2019 belonged to Shen Juan, and 2020 will also belong to Shen Juan!

Some haters made sarcastic and critical remarks.

19 nominations, 9 wins—that's fucking insane! Was this Chinese boy born to break these records?

Drake, are you even capable?

You've been so terrible this year, your new song is such a flop, it makes our support for you back then so damn embarrassing!
If you don't stand up and give this pretty-faced Chinese boy some serious attention, I'm going to turn around and yell at you! You filthy, dark-skinned, white-hearted, freckled fat pig!
Some passersby praised him without asking for money.

Boast when you're awesome, criticize when you're useless!

I can scold you yesterday, but I can still praise you today.

Anyway, I only follow the trend and fight when things are going well.

As for the truth of the matter? Who is right and who is wrong?
What does it have to do with me sending it?

I'm not in the entertainment industry!
There was also a passionate celebration among CP fans.

As the only friend of Shen Juan to attend the VMAs tonight, Ariana Grande naturally took on the task of accepting the award on his behalf. At the same time, she also announced on stage that Shen Juan had been highly involved in the production of her new album, instantly attracting a lot of attention and buzz. That's how effective it is to be a top influencer!

As for Shen Juan?
He has already expressed his gratitude via video.

So he just quietly updated his Instagram.

In the photos taken by Ariana Grande, nine gleaming silver astronaut trophies sit alone on the ground.

Alexs: [I need some new haters; the old ones have all disappeared for various reasons.]

(Image of the VMA trophy)
(End of this chapter)