After offending capital, my songs became more and more popular.

Chapter 14 Life is as easy as turning your hand!
"Ah!"

"Damn it, who's cursing me...?"

Emperor Ming'en studied diligently until late last night, even hanging his head from the rafters and pricking his thigh with an awl. He woke up a little late today and saw a message from Feng Yucan on his phone.

Feng Yucan: "Did you see the trending topics, bro? The show's producers set a question for this episode, which is most likely aimed at you."

"A topic?" Shen Ming'en rubbed his messy hair and opened Weibo to check.

"These old bastards..." Shen Ming'en grinned, thinking to himself that the production team really had no intention of killing him.

Their choice of the theme "darkness" was truly brilliant; there aren't many revolutionary songs related to "darkness," and Shen Ming'en couldn't think of a song to use for the time being...

Putting down his phone, Shen Ming'en stood up, drew back the curtains, and stretched, yawning as he looked out at the sea view. He muttered to himself, "It really wasn't that easy."

Thinking about it too much is pointless. Anyway, there's still almost a week before the official recording of the show. I should go out and get something to eat first...

After leaving the hotel room, we walked up the outdoor stairs to the restaurant. Unlike yesterday's deserted scene, there were quite a few people in the restaurant, probably because Shen Ming'en had gotten up early. Almost everyone had arrived.

The program "Chinese Music Center" has a total of eight guests. In addition to Shen Ming'en, Feng Yucan, and Yao Shuli, they are Xu Kequn, a representative figure of Hong Kong music, Lu Anqing, a veteran love song queen, Hua Zichen, a genius music creator, Zheng Yun, a rock veteran, and Ji Cheng, a niche folk singer.

Basically, apart from Shen Mingen, they are all well-known singers with very distinctive personalities and who are very representative in their respective fields.

Even so, Shen Ming'en wasn't particularly fond of these guests. Apart from greeting Feng Yucan, he exchanged a glance with Yao Shuli and nodded and smiled.

It's worth mentioning that Shen Ming'en spotted a figure in the crowd who shouldn't have been there. When Shen Ming'en looked over, the person was also looking at him. Shen Ming'en immediately blurted out:
"Weren't you eliminated? What are you doing here?"

Ji Cheng: "(╬￣ Pan￣)"

Ji Cheng is the same person who was completely outmatched by Shen Ming'en's rendition of "I Love You, China" in the previous "extra round".

At the time, the production team had no choice but to let Shen Ming'en pass the test, and Ji Cheng was naturally eliminated. However, since Ji Cheng still had three episodes left on his contract, the production team later launched an online poll, letting netizens vote for the past singers they most wanted to see return to the show...

In just one day, they voted him back, and he was eliminated for nothing.

Shen Ming'en wasn't unaware of this matter. The main reason he asked now was because after Ji Cheng was eliminated in the previous episode, he posted a long article online mocking him...

Ji Cheng, nicknamed "Ji Girl!"

This guy is incredibly petty; nobody can say a bad word about him. He can even shut down his own fans, let alone Shen Mingen.
In the previous episode, he was implicated by Shen Mingen, which resulted in him having to sing an extra song and being eliminated. He even had to come back through the show's manipulation of the vote. Naturally, he held a grudge against Shen Mingen. So afterwards, he wrote a long essay criticizing Shen Mingen, with every word filled with complaints about Shen Mingen being a "troublemaker."

Guess how Shen Mingen replied?
Shen Ming'en immediately retorted, "So cute~"

Those netizens who were just watching the show have made a fortune laughing!

Shen Ming'en was deliberately getting close to him and going all out right now. He was an honest person; if he wanted to scold you, he would do it directly and would never resort to any sarcastic or insincere tactics.

"Haha... netizens are still too reluctant to part with Ji Cheng, so they voted him back." Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, senior Xu Kequn, who was sitting not far away, simply came out to change the subject: "Sit down first, Ming En."

Shen Ming'en had no intention of arguing with Ji Cheng. He glanced around several times, unsure of where to sit...

“Over here…” Feng Yucan waved to Shen Mingen, but our Emperor Mingen already had his mind on something else and went straight to Yao Shuli’s side.

Poor Feng Yucan, the words "this way" attracted everyone's attention, and to avoid embarrassment, he forced himself to continue!

"Here... I'd like a glass of water!"

"Pfft..." The nearby staff almost burst out laughing. "Is anyone here?" Shen Ming'en asked as he approached Yao Shuli.

"No, no one is here." Yao Shuli tidied her hair slightly and nodded gently.

Perhaps because it wasn't a formal recording, Yao Shuli wasn't dressed as glamorously today. She wore a gray bodycon long dress with a pure white coat over it, revealing a large expanse of her snow-white chest, which was quite alluring.

The slender and bony beauty still exudes a cool and aloof aura, and her casual outfits also accentuate her great figure.

"What kind of event is this today?" Shen Ming'en asked curiously.

"Just a routine, taking a picture of us having dinner together." Yao Shuli asked, somewhat puzzled, "You didn't receive a notification?"

"...They seem to have kicked me out of the group a long time ago, right?" Shen Ming'en scratched his head and glanced around the table. "Why do I feel like these people are looking at me with some hostility?"

This wasn't a misperception. From the moment he arrived, Shen Ming'en felt that everyone except Yao Shuli and Feng Yucan was looking at him strangely...

Even Zheng Yun, that veteran rocker, looked at him with a hint of malice, leaving Shen Ming'en somewhat bewildered.

"It must be because of the assigned writing topic." Yao Shuli pursed her pink lips slightly and looked at Shen Ming'en with sympathy.

Shen Ming'en was taken aback at first, then fell silent...

"So, they're trying to pin the responsibility of setting the questions on me?"

"Chinese Music Center" is an original music show. There are no requirements in terms of creative topics. Everyone has their own musical style, and it is enough for them to bring out their own works to create different sparks.

Before this, most of the participants had used their own previously created works to compete. However, the program team suddenly assigned a creative task, so all their previous works became unusable, and they all had to write songs on the spot...

Young people like Hua Zichen and Ji Cheng are fine, but middle-aged people like Zheng Yun, Xu Kequn, and Lu Anqing don't have the energy to keep up. How could they possibly create a decent piece of a given work in a week?
If it weren't for Shen Ming'en, they wouldn't have had to suffer like this.
Of course I'll hate Shen Ming'en...

"They're all spoiled!" Shen Ming'en thought to himself. Jay Chou used to release an album with ten songs a day, but now singers are already proud and complacent about releasing an album a year.

What a barren wasteland...

The Chinese entertainment industry needs to be properly disciplined; it's full of pretentious idiots.

Just as the two were chatting, Zheng Yun, a veteran rocker not far away, suddenly asked, "How's Xiao Shen Ge's writing going?"

This wasn't the first time he'd asked, and it wasn't just Shen Mingen who was being asked. Everyone else looked annoyed, complaining about the assigned writing task, or rather, about being dragged down by Shen Mingen...

Now that Zheng Yun is asking about the "culprit," everyone naturally focuses their hostile gaze on Shen Ming'en.

If someone with a weaker mental fortitude were to ask this, they would probably be stumped...

But who is our Emperor Ming En?

Without even thinking, Hakim waved his hand and said:
“Easy peasy lemon squeezy~”

Life is easy.

……

(End of this chapter)