August 4th, “Chinese Good Songs” episode 10—the other two mentors’ team 7-to-4 internal battles. Fang Yinnian didn’t need to go to Beijing for recording, continuing to stay in Jiangzhou recording his new album.
At noon, the hashtag #Mo Xun Dating Mysterious Girlfriend# suddenly air-dropped to trending #1!
An industry paparazzi account called “Professional Gossip” released a video.
The video captured Mo Xun in black clothes, wearing a baseball cap with sunglasses and mask heading to a hotel. Beside him followed a tall girl with long hair. He had one arm around the girl’s shoulders, she looked back at him, and they whispered closely together—extremely intimate behavior.
The timestamp was from a week earlier, shortly after he wrapped filming.
Such an intimate video easily led people to imagine that after wrapping and leaving the production, he hurriedly went on a secret date with his girlfriend. What else could a man and woman do alone at a hotel? The answer was obvious.
After seeing the trending topic, Fang Yinnian couldn’t help but be stunned. He and Mo Xun had already established their romantic relationship. Though it was long-distance, they maintained constant contact. Of course he didn’t believe Mo Xun would cheat… what was this situation?
Just as Fang Yinnian was about to message Mo Xun to ask, Mo Xun directly called him.
“Hello, Yinnian, did you see the trending topic?” The man’s voice was low and gentle. “Don’t overthink it—I could never betray you.”
Fang Yinnian smiled: “I saw it. Is that you in the video? Can you give me an explanation?”
Mo Xun sighed in relief, explaining: “President Zhou definitely wants to cause trouble to force us to renew contracts, digging up dirt on us everywhere. The person in the video is indeed me, but the girl beside me isn’t a girlfriend—she’s my sister Mo Yao. My recent schedule has been too full to go home, so I arranged to meet her a few days ago. She’s helping me with something—I’ll explain the details later.”
Flight boarding announcements came through the phone background—he should be at the airport. Despite being so busy, he still called his boyfriend first to explain clearly. Fang Yinnian’s heart warmed as he said softly: “I understand. I believe you.”
Mo Xun’s lips curved upward as he continued: “Sheng Yao has obviously received the contract termination notices. They might continue exposing dirt on us next. Don’t worry—we’ve all been especially careful these two years. President Zhou has no substantial evidence and can’t stir up any real storms.”
Fang Yinnian nodded: “Mm, let’s meet after you all officially leave Sheng Yao.”
The next day, Tang Che was also sent to trending with vague rumors about his chaotic private life. Paparazzi released photos of him drinking with women at bars. Following that, Tan Junwen was exposed for allegedly having unclear entanglements with some wealthy industry lady boss, while Fu Fei was accused of acting like a diva, being late, and losing his temper with staff.
Netizens: “???”
What was happening? One exposure after another—was FTM doing group activities on negative trending again?
Shortly after FTM’s debut, they’d also been collectively negative trending. That wave of exposures claimed Tan Junwen plagiarized artwork, Tang Che’s mother was a mistress, and Mo Xun bullied teammates during his Korean trainee period—all ultimately proven false.
After experiencing that wave of cyberbullying, FTM thought there was no more dirt to dig up.
Yet recently, various gossip news kept emerging, leaving former group fans bewildered.
“What’s happening? New round of dirt on former FTM members?”
“Something feels strange—why are they all being exposed in these two days?”
“FTM disbanded two and a half years ago—who hates them this much?”
“Could rivals be causing trouble?”
“Why do I feel like a management company is behind this? I smell something fishy”
President Zhou seized the opportunity to call Mo Xun, saying with a smile: “Mo Xun, you’ve been at Sheng Yao so many years—we really can’t bear to let you go. Why not renew with the company? I’ve negotiated several big-budget films for you. I’ll help with PR to handle recent negative news—rising male stars being exposed in dating scandals can cause fatal damage to popularity.”
Mo Xun almost laughed from anger.
How absolutely ridiculous—exposing dirt on departing artists to retain them? A slap followed by a sweet treat?
Some management companies in the industry were indeed shameless. He’d heard many artists leaving original companies had to shed a layer of skin.
Mo Xun said flatly: “Thank you, President Zhou. It seems you’ve received the contract termination notice, right? Let’s each go our separate ways in the future. I’ll handle my own affairs—no need to trouble yourself.”
With that, he hung up decisively.
Zhou Haoran was furious.
Mo Xun quickly posted a clarification on Weibo: “The girl in the video is my younger sister. Please don’t disturb my family, paparazzi.”
Fans immediately jumped out to curse the paparazzi.
“Mo Xun said that’s his younger sister!”
“He indeed has a sister—fans all know~”
“Are your eyes so damaged you see cheating everywhere?”
“Stupid paparazzi always making false reports—this generation of paparazzi is really too incompetent”
Tang Che, Tan Junwen, and Fu Fei also successively issued clarifications.
Tang Che was photographed gathering with university classmates at a bar. Tan Junwen’s gossip was all speculation without solid evidence. Fu Fei’s alleged tardiness and diva behavior was due to being stuck in traffic from highway pile-up accidents—he apologized after being late and treated everyone to bubble tea and lunch, with industry witnesses.
Netizens: “Seems like someone deliberately smeared them?”
The four seemed to have anticipated this, with extremely fast PR responses and same-day clarifications for all negative news. President Zhou suddenly realized he could no longer manipulate these four.
As contract expiration approached, whether from legal or moral perspectives, he could no longer make things difficult for these four artists determined to leave the company.
***
August 11th, “Chinese Good Songs” episode 11.
Four mentors brought their respective team’s final four contestants into the finals circle.
Starting from this episode would be inter-team battles, with mentors sending students to compete 1v1 against other mentors’ students. Live audience voting determined advancement, with each match eliminating half the contestants—extremely cruel competition.
The top 16 to top 8 elimination round.
Mentor Luo Hua’s team member Fang Yinnian faced Mentor Ji Ying’s team singer Zhao Yang.
Fang Yinnian brought an original song “Moon Harbor,” delivered a perfect live performance, and successfully advanced!
#Fang Yinnian Advances to Good Songs Top 8#
This news stirred up massive waves. After archaeological armies discovered Fang Yinnian’s original song compilations, they were shocked—he was a rare creative singer!
His first single “Listening to Snow” released on Valentine’s Day years ago had already surpassed 1 million saves. During that cold air invasion when central and western China experienced widespread snowfall, “Listening to Snow’s” timely melody had spread through streets and alleys—many people remembered this song.
This was actually a song he wrote at age 16.
A song written at such a young age already brimmed with inspiration.
Now as CCTV’s “Chinese Good Songs” competition intensified, Fang Yinnian’s original songs “Jiangnan Misty Rain,” “Grandma’s Bridge,” and “Moon Harbor” were all beautiful.
Producers who could write one good song weren’t rare, but those where every song was good were truly precious!
“Fang Yinnian is truly a pearl covered in dust! How many years was he buried by that dog company Sheng Yao?”
“When his debut ‘Listening to Snow’ went viral online, Sheng Yao should have let him continue writing songs and releasing albums!”
“Sheng Yao was so short-sighted—did they completely miss Fang Yinnian’s potential?”
“Staying at such a trashy company burying his talent—no wonder he suddenly terminated and left. I would’ve left too!”
“Good thing he didn’t give up and came back to continue writing and singing—people who like ballads are blessed~”
Meanwhile, Tan Junwen’s new drama “Midsummer” was currently airing.
In “Midsummer,” Tan Junwen played an elegant senior. Being naturally intelligent and learning quickly, after two years of tempering, his acting had qualitatively improved.
The university campus drama plot was sweet, with both leads being communicative. The male lead was gentle, gentlemanly, and especially doting on the female lead—even misunderstandings were quickly resolved.
Tan Junwen’s perfect 188cm physique, outstanding appearance, and chestnut curly hair gave him an artistic temperament. The male lead’s specialty happened to be painting, often drawing the female lead into his artwork.
Tan Junwen’s natural performance captivated audiences. The ending theme “Entering the Painting” was written and composed by Xu Feng, sung by Tan Junwen himself. His husky voice carried lazy sensuality, making even ballads very pleasant.
As this campus drama exploded in popularity, Tan Junwen’s OST also became popular.
Who wouldn’t want such a secure, gentle boyfriend!
One week after “Midsummer” premiered, its popularity on Taohe Platform rapidly exceeded 10,000. Tan Junwen’s senior character became countless girls’ beloved “national senior.”
Tan Junwen’s Weibo also began gaining followers crazily.
This summer, while neighboring platforms’ period romance blockbusters flopped successively, Tan Junwen’s modern romance unexpectedly broke through and exploded beyond circles, with peak daily views reaching 80 million.
The industry was shocked.
“It’s been years since a modern romance exploded, right!”
“Tan Junwen’s temperament is indeed good—one drama can elevate him to traffic star status”
“Explosive drama male leads have amazing fan-drawing ability—his Weibo followers reached 20 million+ in a blink”
“Lukewarm for years, suddenly exploded this year—such good fortune!”
“Remove Tan Junwen’s ‘about-to-explode star’ title—officially entering the ‘explosive drama star’ competition queue”
“Tired of those greasy, pretentious domineering CEOs—Tan Junwen’s temperament is fresh and natural, a gentle handsome guy. Film more modern romances for us!”
Of course, many haters took the opportunity to mock—
“Tan Junwen’s eternal modern romance—can’t act in other genres, right?”
“With his trashy acting, even modern romance is barely passable”
“How many modern romances in a row? Really wants to be the modern romance emperor”
“Besides modern romance, he can’t get other roles—isn’t he embarrassed”
Fans immediately fought back sharply—
“He’s only 23—what’s wrong with filming some idol dramas? Must someone so young transform to dig coal?”
“I love watching his modern romances—who’ll film good campus dramas for us if he leaves!”
“Exactly—domestic entertainment rarely has non-greasy male leads. Go watch your mining dramas yourselves. We want to see handsome guys in idol dramas—handsome guys are friendly to our eyes”
“Love watching, film more. Don’t complain if you don’t watch.”
With Tan Junwen’s recent popularity surge, he was cooperating with the production team for promotional activities—various building visits, livestreams, interviews—incredibly busy.
Mo Xun was doing previously agreed commercial promotions, while Tang Che and Fu Fei were also busy wrapping up their work.
August 18th—FTM’s fifth anniversary.
Fang Yinnian participated in CCTV’s “Chinese Good Songs” episode 12, the top 8 to top 4 elimination round.
He brought out his very satisfying work “When We Were Young.”
This song told the story of a group of young people chasing their dreams. The lyrics were heartfelt and sincere, with melody transitioning from gentle verses to passionate, soaring choruses—quite a wide range with significantly increased vocal difficulty.
Fang Yinnian’s performance remained perfect.
In the brutal competition, he received 80% support from the live audience and successfully advanced!
The host excitedly announced: “Congratulations to Fang Yinnian for entering the finals of ‘Chinese Good Songs’ Season 3!”
Teacher Luo Hua gratifyingly came on stage to hug him.
On the evening of August 18th, just as the hashtag #Fang Yinnian Advances to Good Songs Top 4# shot to trending, a piece of news exploded like a bomb dropped into a lake, instantly stirring up bloody storms in the entertainment industry!
Mo Xun’s Weibo: “Thank you @Sheng Yao Media for five years of cultivation. My contract with the company expires today—no renewal. Wish Sheng Yao Media prosperity.”
Tan Junwen’s Weibo: “Thank you @Sheng Yao Media for five years of cultivation. My contract with the company expires today—no renewal. Wish Sheng Yao Media prosperity.”
Tang Che and Fu Fei’s Weibos had the same message: “Thank you @Sheng Yao Media…”
Netizens: “!!!”
Holy crap, did you guys coordinate this? Direct copy-paste?
Sheng Yao Media reposted each of their Weibos, gritting their teeth as they typed: “Very honored to accompany you through these five years. Wish you bright futures.”
Standard industry contract expiration mutual blessing copy—nothing to fault.
President Zhou privately raged with liver pain.
Four money trees insisted on leaving, costing him significant income. Yet despite assigning assistants to watch all four these years, he couldn’t catch any dirt on them!
Earlier, they finally photographed Mo Xun going to a hotel with a girl—only to discover it was his sister! Without dirt, he couldn’t threaten contract renewals, only watching helplessly as cooked ducks flew away!
President Zhou wanted to travel back in time and strangle Sheng Yao’s previous idiot CEO—signing contracts based on debut dates for only five years. He’d never seen such a stupid boss!
With all four simultaneously leaving Sheng Yao, former group fans mysteriously sensed something different.
“Shocking—FTM’s remaining four all fled after contract expiration?!”
“What’s happening? None renewed with Sheng Yao?”
“The dog company’s conditions were so harsh, not treating them as human beings, scheduling year-round activities without rest—only idiots would renew!”
“Has anyone found out which management companies they’ll sign with?”
“They probably negotiated next companies already? Mo Xun and Junwen might sign with companies with good film/TV resources, Xiao Fei might sign hosting contracts directly with TV stations, Tang Che unclear—isn’t his band following him?”
“Dream big—FTM reuniting and signing together!”
“Speaking of which, which company did Yinnian sign with? Any channels to check his management contract location?”
“Holy crap sisters! I saw Fang Yinnian’s name on Tianyancha APP—he opened his own company, Sound Wave Entertainment, with Xu Baichuan as another shareholder!”
“Xu Baichuan? Isn’t that FTM’s former manager?”
“Ahhh Old Xu was indeed FTM’s manager! Could… could we really dream of a reunion?”
“My god! This unusual recent atmosphere—could the music group actually reunite?”
“Today’s FTM’s fifth debut anniversary, Fang Yinnian made Good Songs top 4, teammates all left Sheng Yao regaining freedom—double celebration!”
“Excited heart, trembling hands—can I dream of finals venue friend group support!”
“Dream boldly—I really hope those four can attend Yinnian’s finals…”
“Impossible, right? Those four are very busy with their own work.”
“Can group fans stop dreaming about reunions daily? Five people’s development paths are obviously different—unite what!”
“Former teammates refuse bundling, please walk independently, each stay well!”
“Mo Xun already transitioned to film/TV, exploded with three consecutive dramas, stable status—former CP don’t come leeching.”
“Hilarious, who cares about your former CP? Our Yinnian is most capable of being a singer, can even write songs himself. Mo Xun had the worst vocals in FTM—tolerated him long enough.”
“Why don’t you mention Fang Yinnian always slacking in dance? Without Brother Mo teaching him, with his ballet foundation would he perform swan takeoff on stage?”
“Can these two’s solo fans stop fighting and give CP fans breathing space?”
“Keep fighting and I’ll bless MoFang forever, Mo Xun Fang Yinnian locked together thanks.”
“Can MoFang CP fans and solo fans go start separate threads to fight? Leave this battlefield for us group fans!”
The forum fought fiercely, actually building a skyscraper thread over 2000 floors.
Bystanders sighed: “FTM’s group fans, CP fans, solo fans, even haters—is this a collective mobilization? This group is truly legendary, every move brings bloody storms~”
Recent signs were all strange.
When Fang Yinnian returned, four former teammates collectively ignored him with cold treatment.
Yet after contract expiration, all four suddenly left their old company Sheng Yao Media together.
What was happening?
Group fans daily hoped for reunion but feared dreams shattering again. Solo fans especially hated their idols being bundled with “former teammates,” cursing “please walk independently, refuse bundling” on forums.
Forums fought quite lively.
***
After the competition ended and reaching the rest room, Fang Yinnian called Tan Junwen.
A familiar voice came through: “Hello, who is this?”
Fang Yinnian had changed phone numbers after returning—Tan Junwen didn’t have this new number saved. Fang Yinnian smiled: “Junwen, it’s Yinnian.”
Tan Junwen: “Wait, let me find a quiet place to talk.”
Light footsteps came through the earpiece, followed by door opening and locking sounds.
Moments later, Tan Junwen said with amusement: “Okay, speak—why the sudden call?”
Fang Yinnian said directly: “‘Chinese Good Songs’ finals next Saturday needs featured guests. The song I chose happens to have a long rap section—can you be my featured guest?”
“Such high regard for me?” Tan Junwen’s voice had matured somewhat, carrying lazy amusement. “But I haven’t sung on stage for two and a half years—aren’t you afraid I’ll be a burden?”
Fang Yinnian said: “You won’t. I trust your abilities.”
Tan Junwen: “Alright then. Is Brother Mo going?”
Fang Yinnian: “He’s flying to Beijing tomorrow to help with choreography.”
Tan Junwen: “No problem! I’ll book tickets to Beijing to find you guys.”
That evening, the long-dormant FTM group chat suddenly burst with messages.
Mo Xun: “@Everyone, finally made it to contract termination [firecrackers][firecrackers].”
Fu Fei: “Free air feels so good! [firecrackers][firecrackers]”
Tang Che: “[firecrackers][firecrackers]”
Mo Xun: “Congratulations Yinnian for making finals [confetti][confetti]”
Tang Che, Fu Fei, and Junwen also sent confetti.
The group was instantly flooded with firecrackers and flowers, lively as New Year celebrations.
Tang Che: “@Fang Yinnian, how’s finals preparation? Found featured guests?”
Tan Junwen: “Raising hand, Yinnian asked me to feature [proud face].”
Fang Yinnian appeared: “Finals song selection is set. This song was originally written for FTM, but time’s limited—no time to practice harmonies and group dance. Lyrics have rap parts, so I found Junwen. Junwen alone is enough for featuring—we’ll record a five-person version later.”
Fu Fei: “Excellent! Looking forward to Brother Nian’s new song~”
Tang Che: “@Tan Junwen, don’t drag Yinnian down! [drawing sword]”
Tan Junwen: “Hehe, I’m flying to Beijing tomorrow, will definitely give my all to help Yinnian win championship~ [fighting]”
Mo Xun: “I’m also flying to Beijing tomorrow. Are Tang Che and Xiao Fei coming to watch Yinnian’s finals?”
Tang Che and Fu Fei replied in unison: “Of course!”
Watching rapidly jumping messages in the group, Fang Yinnian felt warmth suddenly flood some quiet corner deep in his heart. Teenage memories kept surging—from their hasty team formation five years ago through countless ups and downs to today, every moment of laughter and tears was deeply etched.
Two and a half years had passed. Many people and things in the entertainment industry had changed.
But their feelings hadn’t diminished one bit due to time and distance.
**
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
