Chapter 76 The Targeted Music Library

After the grouping was completed, all the trainees were divided into five teams, each with six or seven members.

Wu Junchen’s team still boasted a star-studded lineup.

The five from TideSound continued their alliance, joined by two other top-ranking contestants. Judging by popularity alone, their team was a squad of gods.

Once all teams had submitted their member lists, Tong Fei began announcing the theme for the Debut Sprint Night:

“For Debut Sprint Night, there will be five teams, competing in two rounds, so each team must prepare two songs.

“The theme is ‘Ancient Style and Charm.’

“In other words, every team must prepare two songs in the ‘Ancient Style’ genre.

“You may choose the songs yourselves—they can be original compositions, covers, or adaptations.”

With the rules announced, this segment of filming ended, and the production team sent each group back to discuss their song choices.

…

The five teams returned to their respective practice rooms.

Wu Junchen’s team of seven closed the door and began their discussion.

Liu Yichen had already been brought back, which came as no surprise. After this elimination, his attitude had grown more assertive, and he said in a low voice, “We absolutely cannot lose this time, so you two must follow our lead.”

He was addressing the two trainees in their group who weren’t from TideSound. These two were also hot picks for debut, and since they would soon be under TideSound’s management, it was only natural they’d have to listen.

Both replied readily:

“Of course, I have no problem with that.”

“Me neither.”

After a while, one of them, Guo Haoyu, asked, “The theme this time is ‘Ancient Style and Charm’—that’s a tough one. Didn’t TideSound have a say? Why choose this theme?”

Wu Junchen smiled mysteriously. “You all know the six songs Fang Xing has performed so far, right? There’s inspirational, rap, harmonized, romantic, even main melody tracks.

“He’s dabbled in many genres, but he can’t possibly excel at all of them, can he? So which genre hasn’t he touched yet?”

Guo Haoyu’s eyes lit up. “I see! He hasn’t performed a classic ancient-style song yet.”

After Wu Junchen’s explanation, the team understood the reasoning behind the theme.

It was plain to see—they were searching for Fang Xing’s weakness, aiming for a fatal blow.

Everyone present had guessed as much, and there were even rumors that TideSound had contacted the renowned music producer Li Yucheng.

And Li Yucheng was most famous for ancient-style songs, with quite a reputation in the industry.

Clearly, TideSound had done their research before settling on this theme.

It could be said that TideSound came prepared this time, targeting Fang Xing’s repertoire directly.

…

Meanwhile.

In Fang Xing’s team’s practice room.

Guo Keda, having gathered some intel, returned and reported, “Captain, I just found out—the theme was set by TideSound, specifically aimed at you.”

“Aimed at me?” Fang Xing blinked, not immediately catching the implication.

“Yeah. They think you haven’t sung any classic ancient-style songs yet, so TideSound picked this theme to target your hero pool,” Guo Keda explained.

Lu Ming leaned in, asking in all seriousness, “So here’s the question—Captain, are you a hero coin, or a hero spoon?”

Fang Xing pondered a moment, then replied, “I suppose… I’m more like a sea of stars?”

“So dramatic? Then what are we singing for Debut Sprint Night? Do you have something in mind?” Guo Keda’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

Lu Ming was equally curious. “Captain, do you really have ancient-style songs?”

Fang Xing chuckled. “It’s not a matter of having them or not—they’ve just walked right into my line of fire, and it’s a six-barreled Vulcan cannon. Even I think unleashing these ancient-style songs is brutal.”

“Then sing one for us! Let us hear it,” Lu Ming could barely contain his curiosity.

“I’ll send you the demo tonight after I finish the arrangement,” Fang Xing replied. He already had several songs in mind but hadn’t made a final decision.

Since this Debut Sprint Night would be broadcast live, they had two weeks to prepare—a generous amount of time.

Besides preparing songs for Debut Sprint Night, there was still work to do at Songstone Records.

Debut Sprint Night would also feature guest performers, and the company needed to help secure them.

There was another matter to deal with as well.

Although the earlier “hitting incident” had been resolved, a girl’s violin really had been broken at the time.

Even if he wasn’t mainly responsible, he still felt he should reach out and see if he could help.

Besides, Fang Xing found himself thinking about that violin girl from time to time these days.

There was something endearingly lovely about the way she cried, like pear blossoms in the rain—he almost wanted to make her cry again.

It was a strange feeling, like a little boy in kindergarten who liked a girl so much he couldn’t help but tease her.

…

Students at art colleges are few in number, only a tenth or even a twentieth of those at comprehensive universities.

Thus, Donghai Conservatory of Music had just over two thousand students.

Split among various majors and year groups, the numbers dwindled even further.

Given the small population and tightly knit circles, it was easy to find someone—especially if you knew their major.

The girl had been carrying a violin, so she was most likely in the orchestral department.

With a photo from that day’s Weibo post, Fang Xing asked around in some class and campus groups, and quickly someone recognized her.

Some classmates even joked in the WeChat group:

“Isn’t that Lu Xiang’er from the orchestral department? Fang Xing, are you planning to go after her?”

“See, men really do go bad once they get money—barely famous and already moving on.”

“Big star, don’t forget us old classmates when you’re famous!”

Since they were classmates and got along well, the banter was unrestrained.

Fang Xing simply sent a message to silence them: “I broke her violin, which cost a hundred thousand. Should we start a class fundraiser to pay her back?”

Immediately, the group chat fell silent.

The next day.

Fang Xing first went to Songstone Records to discuss the Debut Night and Team Battle with Liang Yusong.

Now that he’d signed with the company, this was no longer just a contest between Fang Xing and Wu Junchen—it was a showdown between Songstone Records and TideSound.

Liang Yusong was not one for underhanded tactics; if TideSound wanted to play dirty, he would beat them fair and square onstage.

Songstone had already caught wind that TideSound, desperate to win the upcoming rounds, was ready to spend heavily to boost their popularity.

Since both Debut Sprint Night and Team Battle would be live broadcast, victory would depend entirely on audience votes.

In such circumstances, vocal skills alone wouldn’t guarantee a win.

With the outcome determined by votes, it was a battle of popularity.

In this context, TideSound’s offstage operations would have a huge impact on the popularity rankings.

This fight would have to be waged both on and off the stage—if they lost outside the arena, winning would be all the more difficult.