Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Stepping on Faces Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Stepping on Faces Having jumped ship and back to kick him while he’s down, Wu Mu’s forr loyal fans-turned-anti-fans launched a scathing blitz that shot the exposé to the top of the real-ti hot list.
“Inviting such a disgraced artist? Does the new season not want to be broadcast?”
“Everyone is terminating their contracts, and you just want to stand out, huh?”
“Gross, I used to like the singer-songwriter duo, but now it’s blacklist for life!”
“Hey, singer-songwriter official, co out and talk, is this picture real?”
So people also caught on that the show was capitalizing on anti-fan marketing, but these folks weren’t having any of it.
“Clearly the production team is trying to exploit us. Don’t fall for it, everyone. Just go report and boycott them, and don’t give that scumbag a chance to show his face!”
Wu Mu’s anti-fans were riled up, not only furiously ranting on the production team’s official account but also taking their complaints offline with formal reports.
In less than half an hour, Wu Feng received a notice from the station; soone had called the Star City complaints hotline to formally report their TV station, and even phoned the Mayor’s hotline.
Holy shit.
Wu Feng was startled; he knew Wu Mu’s fans were keen to report, but he hadn’t expected them to act so swiftly.
They didn’t even wait for the next move and went straight for the jugular.
Their decisiveness was frightening; they didn’t stick to idle online banter but got seriously real.
A report here or there they could handle, but what if the number of complainants swelled, prompting an official investigation or—worse—what if they found sothing.
Wu Feng hurriedly instructed soone to manipulate the situation to cool things down.
Then, imdiately, a new exposé appeared online.
“Looking at everyone getting so fired up, I thought there was so major scoop. Is this it? Don’t wrongly accuse the production team, guys. Wu Mu joining the new season’s singer-songwriter lineup was decided over a month ago. He’s already been let go.”
The accompanying image was a screenshot of a chat about the guest list for the singer-songwriter show, with nas of five or six other people aside from Wu Mu—so of whom had been announced and so who hadn’t.
It’s a chat screenshot, gotta take it seriously now.
Checking the screenshot’s tistamp indeed reveals it’s from over half a month ago.
And the singers in the screenshot who hadn’t been officially announced took the opportunity to confirm that they were indeed part of the new season’s roster.
Wu Mu’s anti-fans started to doubt if they’d wrongly accused the production team.
Then, when the chatter had died down sufficiently,
the original whistleblower posted on Weibo again.
“Who said it was a matter from over a month ago?”
The image was the sa as before, but this ti the previously obscured docunt date was revealed, clearly showing today’s date.
…
“Nice manipulation.”
Wu Mu, who had been closely monitoring the online buzz, couldn’t help but chuckle. These past few days the production team had been leading the audience around like dogs, tugging them back and forth with various bits of real and fake news.
Even though many folks were catching on to the production team’s motives, it was still hard for most to see clearly.
Finally, three days before the recording of the show, the official account of the singer-songwriter show made an announcent.
Singer-songwriter official: “New guest Wu Mu, @Wu Mu”
As Wu Mu’s anti-fans erupted, gearing up to start reporting once more, they “accidentally” liked a post by a professional whistleblower.
Insider Zhao Lei: “Got a scoop, heard from a friend, the thing about a certain ‘crumbling-roof top celeb’ being invited by the show is true. The show wanting to cancel after the roof caved in is also true. But the well-backed financial patrons of the ‘crumbling-roof celeb’ clamped down hard; the production team really didn’t want to invite him and ruin their reputation, but they just couldn’t resist.”
A group of prepared water armies mobilized, steering the narrative to blast Wu Mu and his backers, pointing out the real culprits. They pitched the production team as the innocent lotus flowers.
Aside from steering the narrative to keep themselves from getting swept away, they’d started to cast Wu Mu in the role of a clown.
The show’s official announcent featured singer-songwriter Xu Zhiwen releasing a lengthy post.
Singer-songwriter Xu Zhiwen: “Ha, the sa person keeps popping up on the trending searches over and over. You guys say you aren’t tired of it, but just looking at it makes sick. I don’t know why there’s even a need for so much discussion about it. So what if he cos? Isn’t his level just clown material? Can he even make it past the second round? You really think high sales an you have skill? Do you even know how your sales ca about? Skill is just a pile, you get it? A pile @Wu Mu.”
Face slapping with full force!
It was practically like ripping off the facade and cursively pointing right at their nose!
The spectators eating lon seeds loved it, and even those anti-fans who knew the show’s intentions thought it was imnsely satisfying.
They felt a certain vindication in seeing that scumbag who didn’t keep to his marital vows, who left them, to be so easily stepped on by any singer and toyed with as a clown by the show’s team.
The winds were slowly being steered towards the direction the show’s team wanted, from boycotting Wu Mu’s participation to speculating about the disaster that would ensue once he joined.
Everyone was in agreent.
If he really went on, he was bound to make a huge fool of himself.
He would just get utterly trounced.
Aside from die-hard fans, what normal person could appreciate the music of top celebrities?
It was common knowledge; the songs from top celebrities were simply ans to milk their fans.
In the following few days, other official singers from the show ca forward one by one to comnt on Wu Mu joining the show.
Those with milder temperants would gently express their skepticism about Wu Mu’s stage performance, feeling no pressure going up against him.
Those with fiery tempers would go face-to-face like Xu Zhiwen, directly blasting Wu Mu’s skills as crap. Once on the show, they’d make sure Wu Mu embarrassed himself.
News about the new season of the singer-songwriter duo hung in the trending searches almost every day.
The audience’s anticipation was completely fueled; they were all eager to see Wu Mu shad on stage by others.
Even the anti-fans were waiting to see him make a fool of himself and get eliminated.
While the outside world was in a frenzy, Wu Mu responded with none, simply lounging at ho scrolling through his phone and playing video gas.
Until the day of the program recording.
…
Star City, Star City Cultural and Sports Center.
It had been transford into a recording stage and the area below was filled with audiences who had already entered.
They murmured amongst themselves while waiting for the recording to begin.
“Is Wu Mu really coming? Isn’t that just asking for humiliation?”
“He must be panicking about his collapsed house; he’s probably trying to scrape together a last desperate al.”
“Ha, a traffic star joining this kind of show? Doesn’t he get that he lacks the talent?”
“With his level of singing? Fooling fans with autotune in a recording studio is one thing, but how’s he going to compare on a professional platform?”
“Singing is one thing, but songwriting and composing are key. At least as a singer he won’t sound terrible. But if he can’t write, it’s going to sound awful. The songs he carefully selects to release are just pop hits; if he has to write on the show, will it be bearable?”
“He’s done for. Besides lacking talent, I saw online that his anti-fans are calling for audience screening to get their revenge. Lots might have been drawn. These people will definitely give him low scores without thinking. Plus, his popularity has nosedived since his building collapsed. Casual viewers won’t rate him highly either.”
The judges for “Singer-Songwriter Duo” are these audience mbers seated beneath the stage.
A total of one thousand people who would later vote to determine the contestants’ rankings.
Even though professional judges were also invited to balance the scoring, the audience’s votes would still account for a significant part.
With Wu Mu being both unpopular and infiltrated by an abundance of anti-fans, you could imagine his predicant.
No one doubted that this ti Wu Mu was bound to be a huge embarrassnt.
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