After the dust settled on the competition, Sister Na thoughtfully organized a get-together for Little Class Two, rallying everyone to put in their utmost effort and go all out for the upcoming Peak Night showdown, vowing to bring the championship trophy back home!
The day after Qin Tian returned home, he received a message from Sun Qian. Well, would you look at that—the woman was playing it mysterious, saying she had some good news and some bad news.
The good news was that word had come down from company headquarters: right after Peak Night concluded, they would strike while the iron was hot and release a free digital album of singer-songwriters from I Am a Singer on PP Music. That would be immediately followed by an unrequited love album, and then they would make a push for the Spring Festival Gala stage. If he actually managed to land a spot on the Spring Festival Gala, his second Chinese-style album could be scheduled right after it. That way, they were guaranteed to put out at least one digital album a year.
As for the bad news, the company flatly refused to shoot any music videos. Their reasoning was that since these weren't physical albums—and nobody bought records anymore anyway—making music videos was a waste of resources that nobody would watch.
Hearing this, Qin Tian felt a wave of helplessness wash over him. "Fine," he thought to himself, "I don't want to hear your excuses anymore. I'll just shoot them myself, and that's that. No point arguing with you guys." He did a quick mental calculation: shooting a music video would cost around tens of thousands, and actor fees would be another tens of thousands, bringing the total to roughly one hundred thousand. Two music videos would come to under two hundred thousand. Releasing an album these days was hardly profitable, and he figured he'd probably end up losing money on it anyway.
Qin Tian laughed at his own plight. "Here I am, broke as can be, yet I'm still out here chasing stars in the entertainment industry—talk about unprecedented." Online piracy was only just starting to be heavily cracked down on that year by platforms like Tencent, Kugou, and Kuwo, who were actively boycotting pirated content. Nobody could say for sure how physical album sales would hold up. If he wanted to make music videos, he was going to have to make and save some money first.
So, Qin Tian contacted Sun Qian to inquire about his commercial appearance rates. Since only the initial blind audition phase had aired so far, and the second round—Little Class Two's head-to-head battle—wouldn't air until next week, performing "Wukong" commanded fifty thousand per show, while adding "The Young China Speaks" could net him one hundred and fifty thousand a show. Nobody had ever heard "The Young China Speaks" yet, as only a short snippet had been performed by someone, leaving a great many people deeply curious.
Sun Qian earnestly tried to talk Qin Tian out of it. "Xiaotian, I really wouldn't advise you to take on commercial gigs. For one, it doesn't look great in the news, and for another, the pay is on the low side right now. Once the second episode of the competition airs, your market value is guaranteed to double. If you make it to the third broadcast, it'll climb even higher, and if you end up winning the overall championship, there's just no telling how far it could go. Besides, as for the music video issue, I don't think it's an absolute must. You really shouldn't be so stubborn."
Of course, this was Qin Tian they were talking about—talent made a person reckless. Any ordinary rookie signed to a company would be brought completely to heel if they dared to disobey management's arrangements.
In the end, Sun Qian still couldn't talk Qin Tian out of it, nor did she want to let him squander his current popularity right now. Ultimately, she decided to lend him three hundred thousand. She knew full well that Qin Tian would be able to earn that money back in a matter of minutes later on. After all, icing the cake was never as good as sending charcoal in the snow; since she couldn't stop him, she might as well resign herself to it.
Sun Qian's assessment was spot on—at this very moment, Qin Tian was genuinely grateful. It wasn't that he didn't know what was good for him, but he simply couldn't afford to wait. Little Zhazha had just broken up with Scumbag Feng—wait, Scumbag Wang, right? If he didn't go rescue her now, she might run right into Scumbag Feng next. If he didn't make a move soon, his hair would be turning a blinding shade of green, and the female lead would end up pivoting over to Pang Di instead.
Qin Tian felt a bitter ache in his heart. "I have it way too hard..."
Come, come, come, let's talk a bit more about that rising sophomore star of the year—Naza. You know, ever since Xuan-Yuan Sword broadcasted, this girl practically debuted on a rocket ship, and a modest level of fame was an absolute given. Word has it she's even joining the cast of Police Story 2013 in November; such incredible debut resources were enough to make anyone green with envy! Since she happened to be in a gap between projects right now, they simply had to seize the opportunity.
That crafty Qin Tian had his gears turning faster than anyone, and he immediately tracked down Sister Qian, having her contact Chinese Entertainment to secure a booking with Naza for the music video shoot. Just think: when she first debuted in Xuan-Yuan Sword, she was only making a few thousand per episode, as those folks at Chinese Entertainment were notorious for squeezing their own people on pay. Yet when it came to a one-week schedule plus a promotional cover shoot, Boss Cai actually opened her mouth wide and demanded 200,500—no, 200,000! Wasn't that daylight robbery?
Yet Qin Tian wasn't a fool either. He and Sister Qian discussed waiting to see how the ratings and buzz for the second competition round turned out. If Qin Tian's popularity proved high enough, they would have Naza star as the female lead in his album music video. That way, Naza wouldn't lose out on anything, and Qin Tian would make out like a bandit.
Just how popular was I Am a Singer right now? Anyone with a pulse knew! Afterward, Sister Qian saw right through Qin Tian's little schemes, smiling warmly as she said, "You rascal, looking all upright and honest, but you're quite the slippery character yourself. I'm willing to bet you're not doing this for the music video at all—you're after the person, aren't you?"
With that, she put on the airs of someone who had seen it all and warned Qin Tian: "Xiaotian, you need to know where to draw the line. You're still on the way up, so don't get so obsessed with all this romance nonsense."
Sister Qian didn't dare push the lecture too far; after all, even though Qin Tian was a bit mature for his age, he was still just a kid at heart with a fiercely rebellious streak. Still, she gave a heads-up to Sun Qian, telling her to keep a close eye on Qin Tian and make sure he didn't go overboard. Otherwise, if Qin Tian were to flash across the sky like a shooting star and vanish just as quickly, it would be an absolute tragedy for the music scene.
As for Qin Tian, he behaved as obediently as a little kitten at that moment, not offering a single word of rebuttal.
Then, the televised broadcast of the second-round internal team battles aired, and right on cue, Qin Tian surged straight to the top of the Weibo hot search list!
Headlines like:
"Qin Tian's new song touches the soul,"
"Qin Tian, the talented singer-songwriter,"
and "Why does the production team show favoritism toward Qin Tian?"
—a total of five or six trending topics hit the charts all at once.
Every episode of The Voice generated a few trending searches, but whenever Qin Tian's performance was featured, he alone would hog the spotlight as the undisputed protagonist.
Still, popularity brings trouble just as a tall tree catches the wind. With Qin Tian's fame skyrocketing, the haters and anti-fans followed right behind.
"Shocking! Qin Tian's new song suspected of plagiarism!"
"Talented singer-songwriter Qin Tian rumored to use ghostwriters!"
"An analysis of Qin Tian's family background!"
All sorts of bizarre rumors and news items flew about wildly.
There was no doubt someone was intentionally stirring the pot behind the scenes. It could have been competing contestants on The Voice, rival television stations pulling strings, or perhaps another record company. This whole ordeal clearly demonstrated that Canxing's public relations department was utterly incompetent; news stories had already broken, yet their reaction was still sluggish. Qin Tian was starting to think he needed to set up his own dedicated internet water army team.
"Sister Qian, go hire some water armies to spin the narrative. I wrote that song live on the spot and earned the recognition of all four mentors—I trust they'll stand up for me. You can call me untalented, but you cannot accuse me of plagiarism!" Qin Tian instructed Sister Qian. He thought to himself, "This persona is my meal ticket and the foundation of I stand on!"
Soon after, Qin Tian also updated his Weibo: "The lyrics of When You Are Old are adapted from a poem by Yeats, while the composition and arrangement are entirely my own, and the copyrights belong to me. I already explained my creative inspiration during the recording, but due to program runtime constraints, it wasn't included in the final edit. I sincerely apologize for any misunderstandings this caused."
As soon as the Weibo post went live, the fans exploded. "I told you my talented songwriter wouldn't plagiarize! If he were a plagiarist, why bother building up a persona like this in the first place?"
"It has to be jealous competitors who can't stand to see our sweet circle doing so well, deliberately trying to smear him!"
The water armies hired by the company also sprang into action. The production team likewise published a public Weibo statement: "We reserve the right to take legal action against rumor-mongers, and evidence has already been secured."
A blessing in disguise! Through this entire ordeal, Qin Tian's fan base—the "Sweet Circle" army—had completely solidified. From now on, if anything like this ever happened again, they probably wouldn't even need a water army to turn the tide. It was just like Liu Shishi's "Little Lion" fan base winning overnight renown in battle.
By now, Qin Tian was already beginning to block other people's paths. After all, there was only one position at the top; others could only hope to have a chance if he stepped down. Especially during the broadcast of The Voice, time slots featuring Qin Tian's performances saw ratings soar straight toward an 8! He was nothing short of a generational phenomenon. His Weibo follower count had already broken the 2 million mark and was still climbing.
With the ratings officially published, Qin Tian sought out Boss Cai of Chinese Entertainment once more to negotiate the price down further. Ultimately, he secured Naza's schedule for eighty thousand. Both Boss Cai and Qin Tian felt they had gotten the better end of the deal.
Boss Cai figured that given Qin Tian's immense popularity—regardless of whether the hype was inflated, high popularity meant high traffic—he would inevitably bring a wave of exposure to Naza. As for why Qin Tian thought he won? Heh-heh, everyone involved knew damn well!