Chapter 39

Fei Yue ushered them into the car and shut the door. "While we're at it, let me tell you about the schedule for the rest of this month."

Gu Zhijing melted into his seat like he had no bones. "Whatever we're filming next, can we go home this week?"

They had been staying in hotels for too long.

He really felt too insecure.

"Of course."

"It's fine if you take a little break this week. There won't be any performances in the next episode either. The four collaboration teams with the highest total votes out of the six will advance, and then it'll be the battle to go from eight to four."

They had joined forces with a strong team for this week's performance vote, so they were basically assured of advancing.

So Sheng Chi was only worried about the round after that. "What are the rules for the round of eight?"

Fei Yue glanced at the rules. "The advancing collaboration teams will be split up, and then the contestants will draw lots at random to face off in pairs."

Jiang Yu scoffed, unconcerned. "Isn't that how the preliminary round worked?"

"It's not that simple."

Fei Yue continued reading. "After the draw, each group will be assigned a specific theme. The contestants will need to perform a specific stage based on that theme."

Gu Zhijing listened while playing on his phone. At that, he raised an eyebrow and joked, "Got it. An assigned essay topic."

Fei Yue wasn't as optimistic. "Our first album covers most styles, but if we really draw something particularly obscure, we may still have to pick a song at the last minute."

On that front, the other teams had been around longer and had more works, giving them an advantage.

"Besides that, there's one more thing."

Fei Yue said, "The year-end CMJ Music Awards are coming up soon."

At that, all four of them stopped what they were doing, whether it was playing on their phones or eating snacks, and sat up straight.

The CMJ Music Awards had built a good reputation for rigorous, objective scoring without relying on fan votes, making them the most authoritative and prestigious music awards in the domestic entertainment industry.

Jiang Yu perked up. "We've only debuted for two months, and we already get to go?"

"Of course you can go."

"But winning an award might be difficult."

Fei Yue counted them off on his fingers. "Best singer of the year, best single of the year, best album of the year, best singer-songwriter of the year, and so on and so forth. Just think about it. None of those have much to do with us."

"There aren't many awards for idol groups to begin with."

"The one we can aim for is rookie group of the year."

"But a couple of years ago, CMJ officially made public recognition one of its criteria and issued a clear rule."

"To be eligible for the CMJ nomination candidate list for rookie of the year or best group of the year, you have to have won first place at least once on any music show platform."

The rule had been introduced when music show platforms were newly established and struggling, with the aim of supporting them.

And though the rule looked strict, it was actually fairly reasonable.

A group could release about three albums a year, and even if they didn't release albums, they could still put out EPs or singles.

A group with a little popularity could pick a quiet season to aim for a first-place win. It wasn't particularly difficult.

The rule also kept an unknown flop group from being selected in the end and drawing public criticism.

But things were different for Color4.

Color4 had only debuted two months ago. They had still been flops when they released their debut EP, and although their first album had just come out, their fans still had to vote in Starlight Show every week and hadn't put their full effort into the music shows.

Fei Yue hadn't noticed at first, and he hadn't even expected CMJ to invite a group that had only debuted two months ago.

Then the invitation arrived.

His heart sank.

They were done for.

"Haven't we managed to get first place yet?"

Xu Linyuan couldn't help frowning. "I don't think any popular groups have released an album recently, have they?"

"No popular groups have."

Fei Yue sighed. "By rights, we should have been close to getting there, but it's the end of the year. An artist with a big fanbase who wanted to boost his sales numbers released a new single and landed right ahead of us."

"And there are only three days left until the final deadline for CMJ nomination candidates."

Three days later would also be when all of that week's music shows had finished airing.

"So."

Sheng Chi said, "These last three days are all the time we have left?"

Fei Yue nodded and delivered the bad news with a grim expression. "Yes."

Author's note: It's all fictional, all my own made-up settings! The real domestic entertainment industry could never work like this! (Bangs on blackboard)

(My world, my rules.)

Whenever I write a performance, I get stuck. Thinking about having at least three or four more performances to write is making me break down orz

I'm thinking maybe I should just push the update time back to nine, but I know if I do that, I'll definitely keep putting it off later every day, so never mind _(:з)∠)_

Just so you know, qvq, if I haven't updated at six, it means I'm stuck again. You can come back later qvq. Thanks for understanding.

Thanks to the little angel who threw a landmine: You Yi Yingjun Xiaosa, 1;

Thanks to the little angels who gave nutrient solution: Yi He Ershi and Meng Fuzhou, 12 bottles; Yezi, 10 bottles; Honghong, 7 bottles; Jiang Ting Shi Wo Shenxia Shou, 2 bottles; Xiao Zishu, Tangcu Yu, Yuan Yu Junqi szd, and Songjing Zhengyun, 1 bottle;

Thank you, everyone qvq

Chapter 40

"They say three days, but we don't actually have that long at all."

Drawing on his experience in fandom, Gu Zhijing searched for the chart rules with practiced ease and reached an even grimmer conclusion.

"We've been on three music shows in total."

"Music Show's episode just aired yesterday, and our second place is already set in stone."

"The music channel's show airs tomorrow. That's a very tight window, so it's probably too late to catch up."

"The one left is New Direction, which airs three days from now."

"Data collection closes two hours before the show airs, at seven that evening."

Having laid it all out, Gu Zhijing sighed heavily. "But it's already past midnight. The time we actually have left is only a little over two days."

Fei Yue reluctantly agreed. "That's right."

Xu Linyuan asked, "Who are we up against?"

Gu Zhijing glanced at his phone. "Wei Ming."

The moment Xu Linyuan heard his name, his expression changed slightly.

Jiang Yu, on the other hand, immediately flopped back in his seat. "Then we're screwed. Everyone knows he and his fans have a top obsession that runs bone-deep. If he's on a chart on any platform, they won't stop until he's number one."

"Back when he left his group to go solo, the whole thing caused a huge uproar. If we're up against his fans, we might as well admit defeat now."

Xu Linyuan said, "Keep it down. Do you have a death wish, letting people hear you?"

Sheng Chi had still been in South Korea for the past two years and didn't know the landscape of popular domestic entertainment figures, so he only frowned slightly.

Gu Zhijing knew even less about what kind of person Wei Ming was, but what he heard sounded rather frightening.

After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Let's not give up so quickly. Let me look into the chart rules first."

He searched the supertopic.

He soon found the rules reposted by the official fan club.

But the densely packed chart rules gave him a headache.

Performances accounted for twenty percent, votes on the official platform thirty percent, votes through the sponsor's voting channel ten percent, streams...

Gu Zhijing: "..."

He was already dizzy.

There really was too much.

He had to admit, the women doing the voting and chart work were the most remarkable species in the world.

"This is partly my fault too."

Fei Yue sighed and took the blame. "Mainly, I didn't expect us to have such good momentum right after debuting... The company wasn't even ready before you blew up."

In his original plan, the first year would have been a gradual climb, and only in the second year would they start making a little name for themselves in the entertainment industry.

He hadn't expected Color4 to exceed that goal within two months.

The company's hardware and software couldn't keep up with Color4's growth, and even he, as a decision-maker, had overlooked a lot of things.

After some thought, Gu Zhijing reminded them, "Don't forget, the fans also have to vote for the Starlight Show performance."

Though it was a collaboration between both sides, Light's girl-group fans were relatively laid-back, so Color4's fans would still have to shoulder the bulk of the voting.

The show had just aired, so they needed to promote the group on the trending searches and manage negative opinion on forums.

They had daily data to work on and performance votes to cast.

Now they also had to devote most of their energy to the music shows.

Just thinking about all those tasks piling up, Gu Zhijing felt sorry for the hair of the women doing the voting and chart work.

"Give up."

Sheng Chi, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke. "I don't think there's any need."

Everyone in the car froze for a moment.

"After putting in so much effort, all we'd get is a chance to become candidates."

Sheng Chi raised his eyes and said calmly, "The effort and the return are completely disproportionate."

That was right.

Even if they gave it everything and succeeded, all they would get was a chance.

They weren't the only group that had debuted this year.

Though the groups that had debuted at the beginning of the year weren't as popular as they were, the achievements they had accumulated over the year were bound to surpass theirs.

In other words, even if the fans did win them this chance, their odds of winning an award were slim.

Fei Yue was taken aback.

Sheng Chi's decision was so rational and decisive that he couldn't help asking, "You've decided?"

Sheng Chi nodded, then added after a moment, "I've decided. Let's see what they think."

Xu Linyuan said quietly, "Honestly, I don't think it's necessary either."

He rubbed his hands together, his preference for playing it safe winning out. "We've only just started, so let's take it one step at a time. If the Starlight Show voting falls behind because of this, that'll be a huge loss."

Though Jiang Yu was unwilling to accept it, he could only say, "All right. See you next year. This year, we'll just happily tag along and broaden our horizons."

Gu Zhijing held his phone and scrolled for a bit, then suddenly looked up. "We may want to give up... but will the fans agree?"

Gu Zhijing's words proved prophetic.

Color4 reached an agreement among themselves, and the company also informed the official fan club and the voting and chart team that there was no need to fight for first place.

But the fans refused to accept it.

In fact, they had been working toward it for weeks.

They knew how important a first-place win was to their idols, so whether or not the group could go to CMJ or had a chance of winning, they had to pave the way first.

According to the original plan, winning first place wouldn't have been a problem.

Who could have expected a senior artist with a huge fanbase to release a song at the last minute and drop straight into first place without even a teaser?

The fans were so worried they were going bald, and even their enthusiasm for selling vegetables had waned.

So at this critical moment, the official fan club heard from the company that they should just do their best and didn't need to push too hard.

The fans immediately rebelled.

You may want to take it easy, but we don't.

There are only three days left. So what?

I'm going to push myself anyway.

And so, over the next few days, a remarkable sight appeared in Color4's fandom.

In the solo fans' supertopics, big fans called people out.

[You have time to drool over pictures, fangirl, and shower them with rainbow farts, but no time to claim a few more sets of accounts and work on the data?]

In the group fans' supertopic, big fans called people out.

[You have time to watch the group variety show and catch up on content, but no time to buy a couple more albums?]

In the CP fans' supertopics, big fans called people out.

[You have time to savor sweet moments and ship your CP, but no time to run up a few more sets of streams?]

Within Color4's fandom, fans of every type and affiliation were now united.

They were giving it everything to win first place for the group.

However, Wei Ming's fans seemed to have heard about Color4's movements too. To defend first place, his fans also got fired up, using one fan-torturing tactic after another, talking as if their gege would instantly become a flop if he lost first place even once.

The ranking data wasn't public.

No one could see the gap, so until the final reveal, they were almost all voting blind.

But clever people could extract different data from each channel and calculate and compare them to arrive at a rough estimate of the gap.

As of now...