HTI: Chapter 125

The staff of ‘All Walks of Life’ was very good at ‘grabbing attention’. The trailer they released was two minutes long, of which 40 to 50 seconds consisted of Xie Yang and Shen Yan. The cover of the trailer was also a screenshot of Xie Yang.

Xie Yang clicked on this Weibo on the way to work to take a look. The video started with the program’s theme animation. After the animation finished, Bei Cheng’s face appeared on the screen. Then the camera zoomed out and the figures of Xie Yang and another guest appeared in front of Bei Cheng.

Xie Yang raised his eyebrow. It turned out to be the draw. It was indeed a good starting point to make a trailer.

In the video, Bei Cheng was holding two cards in his hand and hinting at Xie Yang, “If you bribe me then I’ll give you a hint.”

Inside and outside the video, Xie Yang smiled. Xie Yang in the video said, “I believe in my luck.”

After that, the drawing of the cards started. Here, the camera slowed down and the drawing process was repeated three times. it clearly showed that the card was drawn by the other guest first and then Xie Yang picked.

The card was pulled out and the camera split into two, showing  the two cards being flipped. The music was very tense and there was a reaction from other guests. It was only at this time that Xie Yang discovered when he was drawing the card, the seemingly calm Shen Yan had actually stretched out his head to take a peek.

The card was turned over but the result was covered in a mosaic. Bei Cheng’s loud announcement was also muted at the key point. There, the video cut to Feng Ziya as she laughed and said, “I believe in my luck. Good luck, hahaha.”

Then the screen changed and turned to a scene of the other two groups leaving for the work location. It took more than 30 seconds to show him and Shen Yan again. The two of them got together and read the content of the task. The content of the task was also muted. Then Shen Yan asked Bei Cheng, “This is the newly added punishment? Only the teammate is punished?”

A ‘wow’ sound effect was added here and then the scene changed again. He and Shen Yan were talking and he promised to complete the task without delay. Shen Yan said he just had to do what he could and Shen Yan would do more.

The program’s staff was very good at doing things. Not only did they slow down the conversation between the two people, they also added a very warm BGM with the subtitles ‘mutual compassion between senior and junior’.

“Heh.”

Xie Yang raised his head and remembered he was going to work with Qiu Xing. He locked the screen of his phone and glanced sideways into Qiu Xing’s eyes, not his nose or mouth. “You are peeking again?”

Qiu Xing gave a smile that wasn’t a smile. “I didn’t want to see it.”

It smelled of vinegar.

Xie Yang approached Qiu Xing. Qiu Xing paused, thinking that Xie Yang was ready to use ‘action’ to coax him. He turned his head toward Xie Yang to facilitate Xie Yang’s action. However, Xie Yang didn’t ‘act’. After leaning over, he pressed the camera button on the phone and took a photo of the two of them.

“……”

Qiu Xing turned to look at Xie Yang’s phone and frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Giving fans some sugar to avoid the emergence of a cult.”

Xie Yang lowered his phone and enjoyed the photo he just took. Then he opened Weibo, changed to his main account, waited for the overwhelming amount of notifications to fade and wrote a Weibo post.

Two minutes later.

[Xie Yang: Stabilize the spirit of the army.]

It was accompanied by the photo he just took. In the photo, he and Qiu Xing were leaning shoulder to shoulder. He was looking at the camera and smiling while Qiu Xing was looking at him sideways. It was probably an illusion caused by the angle but in the photo, Qiu Xing’s mouth was faintly curved up. His expression might be pretending to be indifferent but his eyes were faintly gentle.

There were comments soon after the Weibo was posted. He opened it and they were all screams.

Xie Yang chuckled.

As he did this, he deliberately moved closer to Qiu Xing so that he could comfortably look at the comments. Qiu Xing’s cloudy expression cleared up but his mouth wasn’t soft. “You are too clever.”

***

Thanks to Qiu Xing’s promotion and the lucky draws, on the first day that ‘Second Life’ was sold, the digital and physical sales broke records. This result was definitely a miracle for a newcomer who only had one mini-album and whose debut time was only a year!

The results were too good that it was inevitable some people would feel jealous. Some jealous peers blogged that Xie Yang’s album sold well because he had a rich partner. In fact, the album was just ordinary and Xie Yang spent money to break the records.

Some black fans who didn’t listen to the album said that sales volume didn’t represent word of mouth. The online songs could break records but in fact, they weren’t real music at all. It was just sensationalism.

The sour commentators were quickly punched in the face.

On the night of the album’s release, many professional musicians and music critics gave ‘Second Life’ a super high evaluation. There were some highly respected seniors in the music industry among those who commented. They said that ‘Second Life’ was a rare album with quality, soul, style and advanced aesthetics.

It wasn’t just professionals who had a high evaluation of ‘Second Life’. The fans’ response to the album was also very enthusiastic. Several songs of the album quickly made it into the hit charts of major music playback software. The phenomenon where only fans liked the music that other singers worried about didn’t exist with Xie Yang. Every time the prelude to ‘Golden Age’ played, people couldn’t help stopping and listening.

One of the musicians’ evaluation of ‘Second Life’ accurately summarized the fans’ thoughts after listening to the song.

Old Man with Wicked Ears: Xie Yang’s music is poisonous. Once you listen to it, you will indulge in it and not be able to extricate yourself. Xie Yang perfectly explained what is going on from ‘The Ashes’ to ‘Golden Age’. ‘Golden Age’ is like the original song ‘IUD’. No, ‘Golden Age’ is more brazen than ‘IUD’. I love this ‘Golden Age’!

#Second Life#, #I’m listening while crying and laughing#, #Golden Age# and other topics shot up the hot search one after another. Then MV for ‘Golden Age’ was released by the official Weibo and Xie Yang’s post was placed onto the top of the popular list and happened to be next to the lucky draw Weibo that Qiu Xing posted at midnight.

***

Work flew towards Xie Yang like snowflakes.

Major music platforms handed out olive branches to Xie Yang, hoping to be the first to interview him or win the exclusive copyright of his new album. Numerous variety shows issued invitations to Xie Yang in the hopes of getting his first live performance of his new album. The major brands also set their sights on him and wanted to achieve a win-win situation for both the individual and the brand.

However, Xie Yang didn’t take any jobs. Qiu Xing was about to undergo the third treatment and Mother Qiu’s physical condition wasn’t good either. He needed more time to accumulate his ability and he had no time to work.

On the third day after the album’s release, it was the day when the new episode of ‘All Walks of Life’ would officially air. Suddenly, news was released on the Internet that the MC Bei Cheng of ‘All Walks of Life’ was a gambler and owed huge debts. He was going to leave ‘All Walks of Life’.

At the same time, a recording was anonymously exposed. In the recording, a male voice asked Bei Cheng to find a way to make Xie Yang look ugly on the show. It was best to make Xie Yang feel embarrassed. He promised a lot of money and Bei Cheng agreed instantly, saying to leave this matter to him.

The public was in an uproar once this was released.

Xie Yang’s new album had just been released and it attracted a bunch of new fans and aroused the good feelings in passersby. It was the time when his popularity and good impression with passersby was at its highest. Then this news broke out and it was like stabbing a hornet’s nest.

The voices condemning Bei Cheng and the program constantly rose. The video of Xie Yang hanging for several hours on the outer wall of the building that was shot by passersby was once again dug up. Shen Yan’s Weibo post that spoke up for Xie Yang two days ago was also noticed again.

A few hours later, the show aired. Since the time when the news broke was too close to the airing time, the staff could no longer edit it. They could only play it as usual. Therefore, all the Xie fans who watched the show with a lot of resentment could see that Bei Cheng had been digging holes for Xie Yang starting from the drawing process.

He first deliberately guided the guest from the other group to choose the card with delivery man written on it, leaving the job of cleaning the building’s exterior wall to Xie Yang who was afraid of heights. After that, he repeated the same words to Shen Yan several times, repeatedly hinting to everyone that Xie Yang would hold Shen Yan back.

Later, once Shen Yan reluctantly gave up the task due to physical reasons, Bei Cheng told Xie Yang that he would come back to complete the work after helping Shen Yan. However, he deliberately got lost when finding the doctor and dragged it out until the countdown ended.

If it wasn’t for Xie Yang’s hard work in overcoming his fear of heights and completing the task by himself, Xie Yang would be punished by hanging on the building for a few more hours.

The Xie fans watched Xie Yang, whose cheeks were flushed and his hair was sweaty. They noticed that Xie Yang’s body swayed when he landed and were extremely distressed and furious. Yes, Xie Yang was exposed to the sun for three hours because the task required it and Shen Yan’s body problems was an unexpected accident. However, this still couldn’t hide Bei Cheng’s malice towards Xie Yang!

What if Xie Yang’s fear of heights was particularly severe? What if Xie Yang really believed that Bei Cheng would come back immediately and didn’t have time to complete Shen Yan’s part of the task? The MC of a program actually maliciously designed, deceived and drove the rhythm with a guest. Where were his professional ethics?

Countless people flocked to Bei Cheng’s Weibo to condemn his behaviour of accepting money to pit a guest. The popularity of this episode of ‘All Walks of Life’ rose rapidly and the ratings soon broke the record.

In their extreme anger, everyone suddenly remembered the previous rhythm of ‘Xie Yang deliberately pressured the crew and forcibly chose the job of exterior wall cleaner regardless of Shen Yan’s illness’. Then they thought of the recording of Bei Cheng accepting money and they felt cold, angry and wronged.

Why discredit a newcomer like this? Who bought Bei Cheng? Who wanted to harm Xie Yang?

More people flocked to Bei Cheng’s Weibo, asking Bei Cheng to confess whose money he accepted to do the work. However, Bei Cheng never replied and even cancelled his Weibo.

***

The hospital.

Qiu Xing’s third treatment was underway.

Xie Yang didn’t stay in the treatment room. He instead went downstairs to sit by the flowerbed with his back to a tree, accumulating his ability as he looked at the hot topic #Who wants to harm Xie Yang?#. Then he smiled.

It didn’t matter if it was Tao Yi or the one standing behind Tao Yi who wanted to pit him. No one could dream of it.

The pit had been dug. The day when the question on the hot search was answered would be the day when the person behind the scenes would be completely ruined.

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Proofreader: Paranoid Kitten