Entertainment Era: Starting with Teaching Sister Meng to Sing

Friday, 7 p.m.

This time slot is when the semi-finals of "The Voice of China" will begin.

However, unlike previous seasons, today's premiere of "I Am a Singer" is also airing alongside "The Voice of China".

While the four mentors on The Voice of China are undeniably attractive, and the contestants each possess their own unique charm, most of the contestants on The Singer are comparable to the mentors on The Voice of China.

So as soon as the show started, the two variety shows began a tug-of-war, with real-time viewership data fluctuating wildly, sometimes one gaining the upper hand and sometimes the other trailing behind.

As Mao Xiaotong watched the fluctuating viewership numbers of the two phenomenal shows on the platform, he felt a surge of excitement.

To succeed in the entertainment industry, you should reach this level: have countless people eagerly anticipating your appearance, and be able to generate immense excitement by simply announcing a show's broadcast time!

Now that he knew Meng Ziyi wouldn't be appearing on The Voice of China, Mao Xiaotong didn't pay much attention to the show and planned to check the data after the show ended.

I randomly clicked on the poster for "I Am a Singer," and the show had already started. Mao Xiaotong ordered some dried fruit delivery and watched while eating.

Every performance by the older generation of singers was a pleasant surprise. Even though Meng Ziyi didn't appear for a long time, Mao Xiaotong still enjoyed watching it.

"They're all experts! Their singing skills are terrifyingly polished. They can hit high notes effortlessly, like drinking water."

Mao Xiaotong was also extremely envious.

She felt even more envious when Meng Ziyi appeared on stage and the stage announcer lit up.

Song: "Red Dust Inn"

Singer: Meng Ziyi

Original singer: Meng Ziyi

Lyrics by: Wang Xiaozhou

Composer: Wang Xiaozhou

......

The impeccably clean program schedule always made Mao Xiaotong imagine what it would be like if she were the one singing on stage.

Perhaps then Mom wouldn't have to get up early to sell vegetables at the market anymore. I could buy her a big house with luxurious decorations, so she could have time to play mahjong and go shopping like the other moms of her classmates.

As Meng Ziyi's song began playing on her phone, Mao Xiaotong stopped her thoughts and became completely immersed in the song's atmosphere.

After listening to the song, Mao Xiaotong was surprised to find that Meng Ziyi's song was in no way inferior to the famous works of the older generation of singers!

Wang Xiaozhou's songwriting ability had silently reached a new level in her mind.

Some netizens say that a certain singer and a certain lyricist complement each other and achieve mutual success, but in Mao Xiaotong's opinion, Wang Xiaozhou and Meng Ziyi definitely do not belong to this category.

Wang Xiaozhou is just too versatile. Since the beginning of The Voice of China, he has released a total of four songs, each with a different style.

Admittedly, Meng Ziyi performed these songs very well, but if we put ourselves in Wang Xiaozhou's shoes, what if he gave these songs to someone else?

Those suited to singing grand songs should only sing songs like "The World" and "As You Wish," those suited to singing tender love songs should only sing songs like "One Meat, One Vegetable," and those suited to singing heroic songs should only sing songs like "Red Dust Inn."

Even with her eyes closed, Mao Xiaotong could already imagine the terrifying scene of Wang Xiaozhou using three songs to promote three second-tier singers.

And he's so prolific, it's like there's no barrier to creation...

After closing the video platform, Mao Xiaotong opened Weibo and found that Meng Ziyi's number of followers had surged again, now reaching the four million mark.

The only personal Weibo post on the homepage has received over 700,000 comments, demonstrating that none of Meng Ziyi's followers are inactive; they are all real people!

Looking at the program data of the two variety shows online, in the early stages, The Voice of China was barely on par with Singer, but in the second half of the program, Singer's viewership gradually surpassed that of The Voice of China, and by the end, it was far ahead.

By casually browsing through the program's comments, Mao Xiaotong found that most netizens were criticizing the Voice of China production team, saying that they didn't even issue an announcement when Meng Ziyi withdrew from the competition, and would simply blacklist her in the next episode.

The show's production team was also very astute; almost as soon as the online sentiment began to take hold, they changed the singer's official photos to those of Meng Ziyi.

As a result, Meng Ziyi and the program team complemented each other, and the popularity of both parties spread further.

Meng Ziyi is even more popular now!

Realizing this, Mao Xiaotong suddenly shut down her computer, quickly went to her bedroom, picked up her makeup bag, and began to put on makeup.

At 9:30 p.m., just after two phenomenal music variety shows ended and Wang Xiaozhou finished a phone call with Meng Ziyi after receiving feedback on his career progress, he heard a knock on the door.

Upon opening the door, one sees Mao Xiaotong, her makeup impeccable, standing gracefully at the entrance with her hands behind her back.

"I haven't had dinner yet. I ordered takeout, want to grab some together?"

Wang Xiaozhou pointed inside the room: "Is there a share for them?"

Mao Xiaotong shook her head as if she had done something wrong and said, "No, I didn't."

Wang Xiaozhou put on his shoes, gestured towards the door, and said in a low voice, "Go to your room!..."

Mao Xiaotong chuckled to herself, realizing that this young man, aside from his songwriting and other personal matters, was actually a very interesting person.

The two sneaked downstairs and only dared to speak loudly when they reached Mao Xiaotong's apartment next door.

"This is so exciting! Eating takeout with you feels like having an affair."

Seeing that Mao Xiaotong's favorability rating had risen to 30%, Wang Xiaozhou, though unaware of the reason, became much bolder in his speech.

Mao Xiaotong blushed: "What are you saying? I just want to eat lake crabs. I can't finish a serving of six."

"Tsk tsk." Wang Xiaozhou clicked his tongue. "This international metropolis is really going too far; even crabs have to be sold in groups of six?"

Mao Xiaotong opened the takeout box on the table and rolled her eyes at Wang Xiaozhou: "Hurry up and eat, you talk too much."

So Wang Xiaozhou stopped talking and sat down to slowly gnaw on the crab. This made Mao Xiaotong feel awkward: "How was your outing today? Is there still any hope for the short film?"

"How can it be so unreliable?"

Wang Xiaozhou put down the food and counted on his fingers for Mao Xiaotong: "I finished writing the script this morning, and I gave you the ending theme song a long time ago. There are only a few of us as actors, and Wenye took care of the theater and extras this morning. What else is there to worry about?"

"So fast?" Mao Xiaotong was a little surprised. "That college student was quite efficient. I thought he didn't know anything."

"They're students at Kyoto Film Academy, how come you don't know anything?"

Mao Xiaotong peeled a crab for Wang Xiaozhou, put the meat back in the shell, and handed it to him, asking, "How much longer are we going to stay in Shanghai? When will filming start?"

"tomorrow."

Wang Xiaozhou had never eaten crabs like this before; he used chopsticks to shovel them directly into his mouth.

"Am I playing the female lead...? Who is the male lead?"

Wang Xiaozhou paused for a moment, then looked up at Mao Xiaotong: "Me?"

Seeing the uncertain look in Mao Xiaotong's eyes, Wang Xiaozhou added, "Me? I'll play the male lead for you."

If Wang Xiaozhou is playing the male lead for me, that doesn't seem so boring anymore, it'll be interesting...

Mao Xiaotong suddenly looked forward to tomorrow's filming and stopped talking about the previous topic. She leaned forward and asked shyly, "Are you really sleeping on the sofa where you are?"

After finishing one crab, Wang Xiaozhou picked up another and peeled it himself, casually replying, "Yeah, the sofa in this rented apartment is too soft; it makes my back hurt."

Mao Xiaotong also peeled crabs, and the two didn't speak for a while before Mao Xiaotong suddenly spoke.

"It must be inconvenient for a bunch of grown men to live together, right? Why don't you come and make do with this place for a while, sleep on the floor?"