Trending Discussions

After casting her vote, Qin Ran casually checked out the trending topics and popular forums.

Peppa Pig seemed quite wealthy; Ling Miaohan's name was trending at fourth place with the title "Goddess Descends," a term taken straight from the bullet comments. Qin Ran clicked on it, initially wanting to complain about how Peppa Pig wasn't spending money where it mattered, but she ended up laughing instead. This wasn't a positive trend, but rather a negative one.

At the top was a critical post from a bot account, where someone anonymously complained about how Ling Miaohan's entrance disrupted the screen for her teammates and that her reputation was undeserved.

The original complaint read as follows:

"Anonymous complaint about a recent contestant on a certain variety show: First, she's supposed to 'save the entertainment industry,' and now she's the 'Goddess Descends'? How insecure do you have to be to market only your face? Plus, her paid commenters spammed over her teammates' close-ups. How is it that she's not even appeared yet, and she's already being cursed to disappear the next second? I'm not a fan of this show, but the phrase 'save the entertainment industry' caught my attention. The female stars here aren't dead yet, so who are you to say that? Your contestant hasn't even debuted, and she's already offending her seniors. Is that okay? I don't think she's going to make it, hehe."

Several screenshots were attached, including one showing the entire screen filled with "Goddess Descends" comments, which particularly annoyed Qin Ran.

The comment section was even more interesting. The top comment was: "Let me see, let me see what this so-called Goddess looks like... Huh? Just this?!"

As expected from a bot, the users frequenting this kind of bot were highly combative, their sarcastic remarks on full display, which Qin Ran found quite entertaining.

Of course, there were some who spoke up for Ling Miaohan: "To be fair, she's actually pretty good-looking, with a cold, aloof vibe that's my type. She performed quite well in the first three episodes. Let's see how she does moving forward." But under this comment, someone immediately retorted: "Is there something wrong with your eyes? Performed well? Ball ball u, this is a girl group audition show. This girl mostly just did a few moves and sang. Her dancing was decent this episode, but she was completely outshined by her two teammates. And you call that good?"

"To be honest, her singing is top-notch. She's one of the best singers in this show."

"What's the use of just being good at singing? Why didn't she go for a singing competition then?"

A heated argument broke out under that comment, with over 5000 replies excluding the ones that were deleted. No wonder this post made it to the trending topics. Qin Ran, purely in it for the gossip, read through the thread and keenly noticed signs of bot activity. The conversation had shifted to: "Her singing sounds familiar..."

It didn't take much thought to realize that the next step would be the revelation of Ling Miaohan's first, and easiest to uncover, identity: a major figure in the ancient style music circle.

Her account already had a large following—150,000 fans. Compared to popular idols, this might seem low, but in the ancient music circle, where followers are usually genuine and not bought, this number was quite significant.

Not only did she have many fans, but they were also fiercely loyal. Ling Miaohan deliberately didn't use her well-known alias when entering the competition, claiming she wanted a fair fight. In reality, it was due to her pride; she believed she could make a name for herself without relying on her previous identity. However, now that she'd sung her own songs on the show, her other identity was about to be exposed.

Qin Ran wasn't sure who was behind it. She wasn't inside Ling Miaohan or Peppa Pig's head, so she didn't know what they were thinking. Maybe someone genuinely recognized her voice, maybe it was the protagonist's aura at work, or maybe Peppa Pig hired bots to boost Ling Miaohan's fame.

However, the trending topic was still filled with doubt, indicating it probably wasn't Peppa Pig's doing. It was more likely bought by Ling Miaohan's competitor, the girl currently in second place.

But from the looks of it, this trend might not bring Ling Miaohan down; it could even catapult her to stardom.

At this moment, Qin Ran felt a bit like a clever villain. Even though everything was proceeding according to her plan, there was always a brainless teammate who would occasionally mess things up. Everyone wanted the female lead to fall into the mud, but thanks to a thoughtless move by a teammate, the female lead ended up even more popular.

Qin Ran shook her head, reminding herself not to think of herself as a villain.

She just wanted her beautiful senior to have a smooth path, so how could she be a villain?

Qin Ran continued browsing Weibo and noticed that the account of Yu Shuman, managed by Sister Li, had also officially launched. Without hesitation, she followed it and set it to special attention. Yu Shuman didn't have many followers yet, only about 20,000, which probably included some bought by Sister Li.

Sister Li didn't dare buy too many, though; it would be unbelievable if she gained tens of thousands of followers right after her brief appearance on the show.

Qin Ran went through Yu Shuman's entire Weibo page from start to finish, but there wasn't much content, and what was there was quite formal. The first post was a retweet of the official account's introduction of the contestants from "Debut! Girls," with a message asking for everyone's support. Even now, there were only a few dozen comments under it. Qin Ran opened the comment window and started typing her response:

"Keep going! You can definitely become the brightest star!"

Her comment was unremarkable, lost among the dozens of others, but Qin Ran knew Yu Shuman would definitely receive her heartfelt message. With Qin Ran as her protector in this life, Yu Shuman would surely go far.

By the time the show aired, the contestants had already started training for the third public performance. After the second performance, ten more contestants were eliminated, leaving only thirty. They were re-grouped into seven teams. Apart from group rankings, individual rankings were also crucial, determined by a combination of online votes, live audience votes, and judges' votes. If an individual's rank was too low, they could still be eliminated even if their group ranked high. However, the online vote count was the smallest component, so it was barely worth mentioning.

Various companies also engaged in vote manipulation, and they were so skilled that no one would suspect them. Ling Miaohan's inflated vote count was clearly the result of someone else's interference.

In theory, the contestants' phones were confiscated once they entered the show, so they shouldn't be aware of external affairs. But in reality, many contestants, like Yu Shuman, had been secretly given phones by their companies, and the production staff turned a blind eye, allowing them to use them in secret. Naturally, Ling Miaohan saw the comments, and even she couldn't help but grind her teeth in anger, her usually cool demeanor completely gone.

Not long after, Ling Miaohan received a call from Pei Qi. She hid in a small corridor where no one would come and answered the call. Over the phone, Pei Qi comforted her and told her he might expose her secret identity. Ling Miaohan pursed her lips, disagreeing: "Brother Qi, you know I don't like others paying attention to me because of my other identity..."

"Miaomiao, I know, but this is the best way right now. Sorry, I made the decision on my own."

After talking for a while, Ling Miaohan had no choice but to forgive Pei Qi. Just as she hung up, she received another call from her brother: "Miaomiao, don't worry. Those who keep bothering you behind the scenes, I'll make sure they pay the price!"

"Brother!"

Ling Miaohan tried to persuade him, but he didn't listen and hung up directly. Before the call ended, she heard the noisy sounds of her family in the background. She held the phone and a happy smile appeared on her face. Both Pei Qi and her family genuinely cared about her and took action for her sake.

While she was basking in her happiness, she noticed someone passing by and, upon closer inspection, realized it was her former teammate, Yu Shuman. She was dressed in a fitted dance outfit, with a towel draped around her neck, and her slightly curly hair tied into a ponytail. Sweat was still dripping down her cheeks.

"Xiao Ling!" Yu Shuman greeted Ling Miaohan with a bright smile. Her smile was genuine and dazzling, with her eyes curving when she smiled, and her beauty mark below her lip lifting slightly as she did, making her look particularly radiant and hard to look away from.

Through her interactions, Ling Miaohan knew Yu Shuman was a warm person, but she didn't like being called "Xiao Ling." It always made her think of "Lin Daiyu." Maybe her cool demeanor and aura reminded Yu Shuman of Lin Daiyu, but as Ling Miaohan herself, she didn't like the association. After all, Lin Daiyu was frail, lived a difficult life, and died young. The thought of Lin Daiyu's fate always made Ling Miaohan a little unhappy.

She pressed her lips together and nodded at Yu Shuman. Whether Yu Shuman noticed Ling Miaohan's displeasure or not, she continued to smile brightly and chatted with her for a bit before heading back to her dormitory. The girl who had shouted at Yu Shuman before had already been eliminated, just as Yu Shuman predicted. That girl was indeed foolish, unpleasant, and from a small company, so it wasn't surprising she got eliminated.

Yu Shuman considered herself lucky. She was originally with a small company but was unexpectedly bought by 99 Entertainment, becoming someone who could rely on a big company.

At this point in the show, the remaining thirty contestants all had some sort of background. If they didn't have connections, they had at least a certain number of fans before joining, making the production team reluctant to eliminate them.

That's the reality—just having passion isn't enough to make it in this industry.

The only comfort was that the "Debut! Girls" production team wasn't too bad. There were no rumors of casting couch incidents or producers harassing contestants. At least, Yu Shuman hadn't seen anything, and no producers had approached them. What Yu Shuman didn't know was that such shady dealings were most common in talent shows, especially for contestants with little backing. Their show was clean, thanks to two powerful figures exerting pressure from above.

Pei Qi didn't want Ling Miaohan to debut in a show that would later be tainted with scandals, affecting her career; Qin Ran simply couldn't stand the dirty stuff and didn't want her senior to see it either.