That evening, two hashtags #Fang Yinnian Good Songs Champion# and #FTM Century Frame# both trended together.
FTM’s super topic heat rushed to first place in today’s trending rankings, with massive group fans’ Weibos coming back to life, commemorating this rare “century frame.”
Forums also opened tall discussion threads about Fang Yinnian’s finals song selections.
“Fang Yinnian’s two finals songs were so amazing—singing-dancing song ‘Why’ and high note showcase ‘Sky Mirror,’ all self-written!”
“He’s so bold—is ‘Why’ subtly mocking Sheng Yao?”
“The song’s implications are obvious, right!”
“Not just Sheng Yao—controlling artists like puppets, depriving artists’ individual freedom, many domestic entertainment companies operate this way. Artists are just money-making machines~”
“Actually many company bosses in reality behave the same way—employees just obey quietly, don’t ask why, follow leadership instructions”
“This song has realistic significance—I feel it’ll become popular!”
“Exclusive creativity being secretly plagiarized—a designer who just had plans stolen deeply resonated [crying]”
“Seemingly guiding but more like a cage—is this saying Sheng Yao was like a cage so he left?”
“Mo Xun and Tan Junwen were dragged to film with almost no annual rest—the company truly didn’t treat them as human!”
“Workers at least get weekends and annual leave. FTM members at Sheng Yao were like constantly spinning tops”
“Fang Yinnian really dares to write!”
“This song wasn’t banned? Passed censorship?”
“What’s worth banning? He sang about puppets without naming any specific company”
“Right, Yinnian just wrote songs for puppets, the dance was also puppet mechanical dance~”
“This song’s singing-dancing stage was quite good—Mo Xun’s choreography, Junwen’s rap, Yinnian’s song all superb. Dream of a five-person version stage!”
“Thanks to Fang Yinnian for speaking up for us puppets [dog head]”
Many haters also tried various ways to mock Fang Yinnian.
“Fang Yinnian has such thick skin—calling four former teammates specifically to help canvass votes?”
“Are these four used to being his bodyguards? Really degrading!”
“He could win championship just by relying on his friends and family group’s high popularity and vote-canvassing ability”
“Is Tan Junwen doing rap vote-canvassing fair to other contestants?”
“The haters above are jumping so high—FTM’s five have good relationships, are you mad?”
“Got it—you definitely don’t have any friends or family coming to cheer for you in real life”
“Former teammates collectively showing up for support—Yinnian really has great connections!”
“Audience voting still depends on how well you sing—do you think 50,000 live audience members are idiots?”
“FTM’s century frame today—how many haters can’t sit still”
“I hear lots of defensive breakdowns~”
“Don’t worry—if FTM really reunites, I’m concerned your little hearts might stop from anger [dog head]”
The forum was full of fan-hater battles, creating several HOT tall buildings.
On major video platforms, Fang Yinnian’s “Why” singing-dancing stage views rapidly broke ten million, with dense bullet comments. The song’s themes of control, rules, cages, and creative plagiarism resonated with massive working people. The imposing puppet mechanical dance also received rave reviews—Fang Yinnian’s championship was well-deserved!
Weibo hashtags #FTM Century Frame# and #Fang Yinnian Good Songs Champion# gained such high popularity they quickly earned deep red “explosive” tags with over 100 million views each.
Fang Yinnian singing this song at finals was indeed bold. Many artists felt the same after hearing it. After listening, Sheng Yao’s President Zhou gritted his teeth, wanting to remove Fang Yinnian’s song from all platforms.
This was absolutely the most lively night in domestic entertainment in recent months.
***
After the competition ended, Fang Yinnian hosted dinner for Teacher Luo Hua and today’s friends and family who attended. Everyone happily congratulated Fang Yinnian on winning championship.
After dinner, returning to the hotel and settling his family, Fang Yinnian called the four teammates to his room, closing blackout curtains. This week he’d been busy preparing for finals without properly chatting with them. Now that competition ended, everyone should discuss what to do next.
Tan Junwen brought piles of peanuts, sunflower seeds, nuts, and snacks, filling the entire table.
Xiao Fei said excitedly: “Feels like we’re back to those dorm late-night discussion meetings!”
When they first formed, everyone was unfamiliar with each other. Mo Xun often gathered everyone in the living room for “late-night discussion meetings” to help everyone quickly integrate into FTM.
Hearing Xiao Fei’s words, several people smiled simultaneously—five years had passed quickly, but those warm memories were always treasured in their hearts.
Tan Junwen cracked sunflower seeds while laughing: “Please let our captain speak first.”
Mo Xun lightly coughed: “Assistants already booked tickets—tomorrow noon flight, we’ll all fly to Jiangzhou together. After returning, we’ll first handle Sound Wave Entertainment’s company equity change issues and re-sign management contracts.”
Xiao Fei scratched his hair: “Become shareholders? Meaning in the new company, we’re all bosses?”
Mo Xun: “Exactly—we’ll be our own bosses.”
Xiao Fei said excitedly: “Excellent! No more looking at others’ faces. I really hate President Zhou—always making me take variety shows I don’t like.”
Tan Junwen: “I hate him too—making me act in three consecutive campus idol dramas until I’m sick of it.”
Tang Che asked seriously: “None of us have company management experience. Daily operations and maintenance are quite complex—have you arranged everything?”
Mo Xun said: “Don’t worry, Brother Xu has arranged it. These years we’ve been secretly scouting talent. After Sound Wave Entertainment was established, he invited many experienced industry workers to join. Currently the company is operational with over fifty employees, expanding scale later.”
Fang Yinnian looked at Tang Che: “By the way Tang Che, didn’t your rock band come with you?”
Tang Che shrugged, saying calmly: “That wasn’t my rock band. When Black Sky band’s lead vocalist was arrested for drugs, President Zhou temporarily transferred me to form a band with those people. Actually they were all unconvinced by me—we only had colleague relationships.”
Fang Yinnian gently squeezed Tang Che’s hand. Seems Tang Che hadn’t had smooth times these two years. Black Sky band members didn’t accept him. Staying in that band, every performance was just completing tasks, right?
Just colleagues—no real feelings needed.
Fang Yinnian asked softly: “So next, do you still want to form a rock band?”
Tang Che said: “Of course—I found several old friends from five years ago.”
Hearing this, Xiao Fei couldn’t help saying: “I’ve always wanted to understand this gossip! When Brother Che joined our FTM, you said the rock band disbanded, but we never dared ask—what really happened?”
Tang Che explained: “At 18, I met several seniors at Jiangzhou University who liked rock music and formed a band. But the keyboardist got graduate school admission to study elsewhere, while guitarist and bassist also wanted to complete studies first. They formed bands just for fun, not wanting to formally sign with Sheng Yao for debut, so we disbanded temporarily.”
Fang Yinnian suddenly understood: “So that’s how it was.”
He’d thought there were internal conflicts or betrayal, but it was just different choices about personal futures—only Tang Che wanted to persist in music while others prioritized academics, unable to reach consensus.
Tan Junwen asked curiously: “So you’ve found them back now?”
Tang Che: “Yeah, guitarist and bassist are willing to return and form a band with me. The former keyboardist senior has gone abroad, so I found another Jiangzhou University junior who’ll join our team at year-end.”
Hearing this, Fang Yinnian was also happy for him: “Really good. Forming your own band means performances can be self-determined without following others’ arrangements—time will be very free.”
Fu Fei: “That way, will your entire band be Jiangzhou University alumni?”
Tan Junwen gave thumbs up: “Academic rock band—definitely will be popular in the future!”
Tang Che curved his lips: “Yeah, band matters take time. I’m currently still doing group activities. If we hold concerts in the future, my band can also provide live accompaniment.”
Tan Junwen turned to ask: “By the way Brother Mo, what are our next plans? Will we record albums together?”
Everyone looked at their captain.
Mo Xun said quietly: “First, we must reclaim FTM group name usage rights from Sheng Yao, plus our first album and Yinnian’s ‘Listening to Snow’ and ‘Thank You’—total 12 song copyrights. Though we left Sheng Yao, many things must be settled clearly with them.”
Tang Che raised an eyebrow: “That’s very difficult, right? How could President Zhou give us FTM’s group name?”
Tan Junwen also frowned: “Exactly—that smiling tiger looks kind and gentle but is actually profit-driven and unscrupulous. He definitely hates us for leaving Sheng Yao and won’t let us continue using FTM’s name, much less give us those 12 songs’ copyrights.”
Mo Xun smiled: “You also said he’s ‘profit-driven’—he’s purely a businessman. Businessmen have no permanent enemies or friends, only permanent interests. If benefits are enough to move him, he’ll agree.”
Fang Yinnian looked at Mo Xun: “You want to buy back FTM usage rights and song copyrights with money?”
Mo Xun nodded: “Yes, of course we’ll pay—just depends how much.”
Fang Yinnian thought: “When Sister Shiqi left Sheng Yao, she seemed to spend 100 million buying back her several album song copyrights from her Sheng Yao period.”
Fu Fei’s face paled: “Holy crap, 100 million? Our savings these years aren’t enough?!”
“We won’t need that much. We only have 12 songs, and,” Mo Xun paused, lowering his voice, “I have a very good bargaining chip.”
Everyone immediately became curious: “What chip?”
“The mysterious girlfriend who trended recently was actually my sister Mo Yao. Two years ago I gave her funds to help me do something—disguise as a wealthy fan site master and infiltrate Tao Yizhou’s fan circles.”
“My Mo Yao is now a very powerful Tao Yizhou fan site admin with millions of Weibo followers. After infiltrating core fan circles, she often follows Tao Yizhou to various activities, holding lots of Tao Yizhou dirt—genuine stuff enough to make Tao Yizhou collapse.”
Everyone: “!!”
Mo Xun was amazing—actually sending his sister as an undercover fan!
Fang Yinnian felt complicated: “Last time you said Mo Yao helped you with something—it was going undercover?”
Mo Xun smiled and nodded: “Exactly. Tao Yizhou is Sheng Yao’s real crown prince—he’s the nephew of a major Sheng Yao shareholder. Getting his dirt isn’t easy. Only by infiltrating enemy territory could we possibly catch traces.”
Tan Junwen gave thumbs up: “Incredible—Brother Mo, you’re really suited for spy films.”
Fu Fei said excitedly: “What dirt exactly? Besides plagiarism, anything else?”
Mo Xun: “Also prostitution, and multiplayer.”
Everyone stared in shock.
Tao Yizhou maintained a surface persona of gentle melancholy, pure kindness, and broken-hearted musical genius, but privately played so wildly? Indeed, everything about this young master was fake!
A refined fake person packaged by capital, hiding entertainment industry’s dirtiest, most disgusting side. He was actually a major Sheng Yao shareholder’s nephew—no wonder Sheng Yao promoted him so heavily with massive resources.
Thinking of having one song taken by Tao Yizhou as “original work” for his album, Fang Yinnian felt disgusted. After silence, he asked: “Mo Xun, doesn’t this make your sister suffer too much?”
Mo Xun smiled: “No problem—that girl is clever and enjoys being undercover. She’s your little fan and said she’d definitely help you vent this anger after learning about your situation.”
Tao Yizhou was Sheng Yao’s promoted top star, their biggest money tree. Just his endorsements included over ten brands with annual endorsement fees exceeding 100 million. He was also a luxury jewelry global ambassador with great fashion industry influence.
Once he collapsed, those brands would desperately distance themselves, with penalty fees enough to bankrupt him!
Mo Xun had carefully planned for years—it was finally time to close the net.
***
August 26th, all five FTM members returned to Jiangzhou together.
Fang Yinnian’s fans had guessed he’d return to Jiangzhou and organized a group to see him off at the airport. They were shocked to discover—the four teammates were actually traveling with Fang Yinnian?
This news spread rapidly among fan groups.
Someone on the forum reported: “Fang Yinnian’s fansite photographed all four FTM members returning to Jiangzhou with him!”
Many people excitedly clicked into the thread.
“Holy crap, is this real? All five returning to Jiangzhou together?”
“What’s happening? Last night’s century frame, I thought they just gave their former teammate face by showing up at finals, but are they really reuniting?!”
“If FTM could reunite, that would absolutely be an entertainment industry miracle.”
“Group fans simply can’t believe it [crying]”
“I never even dreamed of such a happy ending!”
Many solo fans also opposed FTM reuniting.
“Please don’t reunite—Mo Xun’s film/TV career is developing so well, why reunite?”
“I’m still waiting for Junwen to continue acting for us to watch—please no~”
“Yinnian solo singing ballads is better. Reuniting means practicing group dances again—so tiring!”
“What about Che Che’s Black Sky rock band? Just disbanding directly?”
“Won’t Xiao Fei host variety shows anymore? Didn’t he sign for a whole season?”
“I won’t believe they can reunite until there’s official announcement!”
Group fans excitedly anticipated FTM’s reunion day, while solo fans worried whether reuniting would affect each member’s individual development. The forum thread quickly became HOT.
Meanwhile, the long-dormant #FTM# super topic on Weibo saw many old fans suddenly resurface.
Online discussions about whether FTM would reunite became exceptionally heated.
August 27th, forums reported again: “Fang Yinnian’s company Sound Wave Entertainment equity change!”
This fan had previously discovered Sound Wave Entertainment’s shareholders were Fang Yinnian and Xu Baichuan. Today they found company equity had changed, adding new shareholders Mo Xun, Fu Fei, Tan Junwen, and Tang Che.
Business inquiry platform information required industrial and commercial bureau approval—impossible to fake.
The equity change screenshots again triggered netizen discussions.
“So all five signed with the same company?”
“Sound Wave Entertainment—Fang Yinnian is the founder. Looks like FTM reunion is certain!”
“Damn, these brothers opened their own company as bosses? So good!”
“All five are excellent people. Now that they’ve partnered to open a company together, whether they group up or go solo in the future, I believe they’ll find the best solution!”
Fans excitedly anticipated the official announcement day.
But the following week brought no news about the five online.
They didn’t appear publicly because they were intensively negotiating with Sheng Yao.
***
This afternoon, all five came together to Sheng Yao Media headquarters.
President Zhou was waiting in his office.
As Mo Xun said, Zhou Haoran was a pure businessman—profit-driven. Despite hating them bitterly, he still maintained a kind smile on the surface, as if meeting old friends, saying with a smile: “What rare guests! Xiao Zhang, quickly serve tea for our big stars.”
Assistant Xiao Zhang quickly brought five cups of tea.
Mo Xun said: “President Zhou, you should guess why we’re here today?”
President Zhou smiled without warmth: “Yes, you partnered to open a company—it’s spread throughout the industry. Netizens all say you’re preparing to reunite and continue activities as a boy group.”
Mo Xun nodded: “Exactly. Let’s not beat around the bush—we want to reclaim FTM’s group name and copyrights to our previous 12 songs at the company. Name your price.”
President Zhou sighed, saying with difficulty: “FTM was built from scratch by Sheng Yao. Sheng Yao also spent great effort cultivating and promoting you. The FTM group name is Sheng Yao’s wealth. You’ve left but still want to take the group name? That’s hardly possible, right?”
Fang Yinnian said calmly: “You also said FTM is a group name—it only has meaning with us five together. Without us five, it’s just three ordinary letters.”
Tan Junwen agreed: “Exactly. When we were forced to disband, group fans were very dissatisfied with Sheng Yao. Even if you release various merchandise and commemorative albums under FTM’s name, few would buy them. This name at Sheng Yao is indeed meaningless letters—only in our hands can it function.”
Tang Che said flatly: “It’s just a name. Do you think we became popular because of this name? If you won’t sell FTM to us, we’ll just change names and still reunite for comeback.”
Fu Fei smiled brightly: “I think just calling ourselves Music Group isn’t bad—that’s what fans nicknamed us, like a pet name. The company didn’t buy that out, right? Or we could change to another name—FTD, TNM, etc. Fans would still support us!”
President Zhou’s mouth twitched slightly.
He’d indeed considered using FTM’s name to make another profit—releasing deluxe physical commemorative editions of the first album priced at 300-400 yuan, adding photos and cards of the five’s youth to harvest fan money…
However, Tan Junwen was right. Group fans all hated Sheng Yao. When FTM disbanded, group fans cursed daily for Sheng Yao to collapse quickly. Now if Sheng Yao shamelessly released FTM merchandise and albums, group fans would definitely curse the company onto trending—how could they possibly pay?
Tang Che’s words also made sense—they could comeback with a different name.
However, FTM was their past after all. Video resources on major websites, music platform collections and comments, massive Weibo super topic posts, fan-created derivative works—this data was very valuable.
Changing names would mean starting from zero—they’d definitely be reluctant too.
President Zhou pretended to consider with difficulty, smiling: “How about this—you want song copyrights and FTM usage rights back, it’s not impossible to negotiate. 100 million, same as Xie Shiqi—I won’t ask for more.”
All five: “…”
Indeed a profit-driven businessman wanting to extort them big time.
Mo Xun raised an eyebrow: “Xie Shiqi signed with Sheng Yao for 10 years and released 5 albums. We only have 1 album—your price is inappropriate, right?”
President Zhou said shamelessly: “Xie Shiqi’s situation differs from yours. She was always an independent singer. FTM was tailored by Sheng Yao for you. Without Sheng Yao there’d be no FTM—you admit this, right?”
