Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

"If he can't take first or second place, he's the one who can't handle losing,"

Besides the paid posters, another part of the netizens was just confused. They had no idea what happened and rushed in with eager faces to find out the juicy details.

Looking up in surprise, with a confused expression, they had no choice but to follow the faint clues to search for the original post.

"What the heck happened?"

"Is nobody here? The post is going to sink soon anyway. I'll declare something, I'm a big loser!"

"I took a drag of the Furong King cigarette my buddy handed me and realized it still couldn't compare... Hold on, let me see what exactly happened?"

A small group of netizens still spoke up for Xu Qingyan, with half of them fans of Pei Muchan and Lin Wanzhou's music, attacking the alleged manipulation behind the "I Am the King of Songs" show.

"Hilarious, like this show has a shortage of scandals?"

"I've got to say, every song Xu Qingyan wrote is a gem. They're definitely not just catchy tunes, are the voting listeners boorish pigs who can't appreciate fine rice bran?"

"Exactly, nowadays 'I Am the King of Songs' is just a cover contest. No one brings original works to the stage. Finally, when Xu Qingyan showed up, he was eliminated by a behind-the-scenes scheme."

After skimming the comments casually, Lin Chuan left and opened Xu Qingyan's original post to have another look. He discovered that aside from criticizing the production team, Qingyan also released a music video.

A music video?

Cicada Studio released the same music video without mentioning a word about the production team. The accompanying text only mentioned that it was the music video for "Riding a White Horse," which took a week to make.

A week's time? Lin Chuan was both puzzled and amazed.

He had experience making music videos, and knew that high-quality ones took at least half a month, or even several months, to produce, given the extensive filming and post-production costs involved.

Even shooting at the fastest pace would take about ten days for a music video to be finalized. A week's time likely wasn't a full seven days but rather a rough estimate.

However, music videos aren't as popular now. Virtually 99% of them are made just for the fans. From a profit perspective, they almost always lose money.

Clicking on the video, Lin Chuan still looked somewhat dazed, wondering how to persuade Xu Qingyan not to escalate the situation.

The prelude to "Riding a White Horse" slowly started playing, with a rendered scene and the essence of traditional drama hitting you right in the face. The dim picture, the wide aperture, the refined elegance.

For a moment, Lin Chuan even forgot about the incident with the production team. His gaze was fixed on the phone screen, watching the images in the camera lens and getting lost in thought.

The visuals pierced through the screen, the rich colors immediately catching the eye.

The camera follows Pei Muchan's perspective, in a flowing silver moon-colored cheongsam. We see the male and female leads grow from childhood friends to drama actors.

A bit of flirtation leads to their eventual happy marriage, continuously interconnected by the narrative of Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan's drama, from practicing the basics to getting married.

The camera constantly switches, telling the audience this is the fixed marriage drama for the leads.

The story takes a sharp turn with three months of wartime chaos and national tragedy. The male lead dresses in military uniform, preparing to go to the front lines, and the newlyweds share a moment at the alleyway.

The light drizzle, one red and one green, the wedding gown, and the military uniform, they finish the last act.

The song "Riding a White Horse" also reaches its most intense part, and Lin Chuan watches intently, waiting for the next scene to unfold when suddenly the screen slowly darkens.

Red flames flicker, an explosive bomb falls, and detonates prominently in front of the lens. From the male lead's perspective, everything in sight turns red and shakes uncontrollably.

Comrades step over him to continue the charge, leaving a silhouette of someone charging forward in the red haze. The deep hum continues, as if hallucinations appear.

Hum!

All sounds vanish in an instant, replaced by the soul-stirring wail of a suona. Its mournful cry, like butterflies bleeding, empties the heavens and earth.

The moment Lin Chuan heard the suona, his whole body got goosebumps. He did not expect such a segment, and the appearance of the suona at this moment was breathtakingly stunning.

Before he could catch his breath, he suddenly heard a few lines of rare "Kunqu" opera singing.

"Having left Xiliang Guan on horseback, I hurry back to the cold furnace to see Bao Chuan. The Xue residence tallies grain and enters the court, happy and joyous, they reunite."

The suona intensifies again, but this time it doesn't seem out of place. The opera singing penetrates straight to the soul, a massive outpouring of Chinese essence, providing an exquisitely beautiful audio-visual experience.

The director infused all sorts of Chinese romance into it, perfectly conveying the feeling, "Full of scars yet unable to feel the pain in the rush, it is the clear sensation guiding me back to you," through the song.

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That unwavering emotion in this scene carried a double meaning—it spoke of loyalty to the nation and to a newlywed wife. Scars and all, she must keep moving forward.

Pei Muchan's singing suddenly cut in, "I ride a white horse through the three passes, change into simple clothes and return to the Central Plains." It abruptly woke Lin Chuan up, and he couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

As he listened to the rousing suona melodies, the accompaniment of the traditional opera, the sound slowly faded away.

Video over.

The director's name appeared on the screen—Xu Qingyan also the producer, art director. Then came the singer's name, the lyricist, the composer, the actors, and so on.

Xu Qingyan's name kept appearing, and Lin Chuan's mind buzzed.

He exited and refreshed the page to see if Xu Qingyan had posted anything else criticizing the show's staff. As he scrolled, he tried to sort out his brain, which was as messy as paste.

"He directed this?" Lin Chuan touched his face, and on a whim, he forwarded it to his teacher Hou Xueheng, muttering to himself, "No wonder he was so pissed off."

"Such a good song, and they didn't even provide proper stage design for her. Deliberately restricting ticket sales, tsk tsk, if I had made this, I would have cussed out the show's staff too."

More and more people saw the trending searches and watched the "Riding a White Horse" MV. The emotions of netizens accumulated and quietly began to ferment.

At the same time, Jiang Ling had just finished watching the MV when she looked up, her body numb with shock.

How could this guy be so talented? It's one thing to write songs quickly, but also to direct an MV? For real? This MV was made... it seemed too polished for a newbie.

What "weird version," what "strongest newcomer," first time directing?

As she looked at Xu Qingyan on her chat list, who showed no intention of replying, her heart suddenly made excuses for him—it must be because he's too busy to reply right now.

Right… it must be that. Definitely. Thinking so, Jiang Ling's fingers trembled slightly as she silently pinned Xu Qingyan's WeChat contact to the top.

As she thought about it, she couldn't resist sending a message to her agent, Sister Hong. Find exclusive stories on empire

"Has the company given any statement yet?"

"I really can't wait any longer, Sister Hong, please pass on the message for me. Tell the leaders that my time is really running out, if there's no other way, I'll have to negotiate by myself."

Elsewhere.

Pei Muchan and Lin Wanzhou were enduring an awkward shopping trip until they both checked the trending searches and found out that Xu Qingyan had fallen out with the show's staff.

Xu Qingyan had mentioned this to them in advance, though without going into detail. He hinted there would be a bit of conflict with the show's staff, and how to proceed would depend on the reaction.

After asking where Xu Qingyan was and finding out he was at the studio, they headed straight there. Qi Ting and Shen Jinyue exchanged glances, and the pair shopping minions followed suit.

"What happened?"

"Just look at the trending searches, there's been a fallout." Qi Ting said, as she fastened her seatbelt, ready to drive, with Pei Muchan already ahead in her car.

The drive was silent; Shen Jinyue also reviewed the whole story.

Arriving at Chanming Studio, the four women rushed upstairs.

It was deep into the night, and only the second-floor office light was still on. Through the glass door on the second floor, they could see Xu Qingyan sitting in front of the computer, looking exhausted.

The door opened, and the sound of the women's footsteps echoed as they entered. Just as they walked in, they heard his voice, angry and resentful,

"That's too much! What kind of people are they!"

Pei Muchan and Lin Wanzhou's expressions shifted slightly, thinking that this matter had gotten out of hand. After all, he was taking a firm stance against the show's staff, amidst such pressure.

As the women walked over, thinking of what to say, they finally made out what he was saying in full.

"Can't a top laner pick an AD champion?"

"Who cares what I am, so what if my hands are a bit long?"

After speaking, he paused and looked up, noticing the four women standing still at the entrance.

"Hm? Why have all of you come?"

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