If last year’s competition only boosted Li Mengjiao’s popularity at school, the second Super Girl auditions, officially launched in late April 2005, brought a tidal wave of publicity.
Li Mengjiao’s dairy brand advertisement and promotional song saturated the airwaves, cementing her “big star” status at the provincial key high school.
Students didn’t grasp the concept of celebrity tiers; they just knew they’d see Li Mengjiao’s ad every time they turned on the TV. That screamed superstar!
TV ads were just one channel of promotion. The thirty-million-yuan campaign was formidable, and soon people noticed Li Mengjiao’s posters popping up on bus stop billboards.
“Sweet and sour, that’s me!”
In the ads and on the posters, the twin-tailed girl tirelessly repeated this line, its brainwashing power rivalling Brain Platinum.
The brand and its drink exploded in popularity, and Li Mengjiao skyrocketed to fame!
Numerous commercial performance offers flooded in, wanting her to perform the ad song live. Li Mengjiao could only commit to Hunan Satellite TV’s competition promotions and Mr. Liu’s schedule, reluctantly turning down the rest.
Yuan Fenghui, with her long-term vision, didn’t regret missing those performance fees.
At the peak of Li Mengjiao’s exposure and popularity, Mr. Guan did something that amounted to slapping himself in the face.
He had previously pulled Li Mengjiao’s album from shelves to force her compliance.
Later, too stubborn to back down and to promote Xu Mei, he doubled down and kept her album off the market.
This was Mr. Guan’s “ban” on Li Mengjiao!
But with Li Mengjiao securing the dairy brand endorsement and tying herself to this year’s Super Girl auditions, Mr. Guan’s ban became laughable. Could he keep her down? Not a chance!
So, eating his own words, he put Li Mengjiao’s shelved album back on sale.
Having once paid music critics to trash her debut album, he now spent money to hire others to “rehabilitate” its reputation.
Mr. Guan’s flip-flopping confused consumers.
The public’s memory wasn’t that short. They vaguely recalled that just months ago, the internet was flooded with criticism calling Li Mengjiao’s debut album trash, followed by her disappearance from the spotlight.
Yet, in just a few months, not only had Li Mengjiao stormed back into the public eye, but her album’s reviews were suddenly glowing?
By 2005, some consumers weren’t as gullible as in years past. Online skepticism clashed with the critics Mr. Guan had paid, and he shelled out more to hire internet trolls to counter the backlash, sparking heated debates.
Controversy breeds attention, and the skeptics’ critiques ironically boosted album sales—after all, to criticise the album, you had to buy it first.
Li Mengjiao’s sudden surge thrilled her loyal fans from the competition days!
They’d almost thought she’d quit the industry, but their idol made a stunning comeback!
“My adorable star is too amazing!”
Fans cheered and spread the word, rallying to solidify Li Mengjiao’s fanbase.
The ads and promotional song suited her perfectly, drawing new fans to join the old. As auditions kicked off across major regions, contestants mimicking Li Mengjiao’s ad style—knee-high socks and plaid skirts—appeared daily, with those items selling out and twin tails becoming the year’s hottest hairstyle.
Of course, to fans, no one wore the look better than Li Mengjiao.
Others couldn’t compare; their imitation was an unconscious attempt to get closer to her.
Discovering her album back in music stores, Li Mengjiao cursed Mr. Guan’s shamelessness.
“Teacher Yuan, are we just letting him profit?”
Mr. Guan was quick to kick her when she was down, but now, seeing profit, he shamelessly restocked her album. Li Mengjiao was livid.
Yuan Fenghui’s eyes gleamed, “Would I let him off that easily?”
Yuan Fenghui headed to Hunan alone.
When she returned, she brought back a new contract for Li Mengjiao.
She’d forced Mr. Guan to revise the album’s profit-sharing ratio!
The new split wasn’t on par with top-tier singers, but it was far better than Xu Mei’s.
If Mr. Guan wanted to ride Li Mengjiao’s current wave of popularity, he’d have to pay a price!
Thinking of Mr. Guan’s pain, Li Mengjiao turned her anger to joy, “That’s more like it. Even donating the money would be better than letting it go to people like him!”
Li Mengjiao said it casually, but Yuan Fenghui took it to heart.
With Li Mengjiao’s current momentum, her re-released debut album would likely sell very well.
This money was essentially a windfall. Under the original agreement, no matter how much it earned, Li Mengjiao would only get a small cut.
That was the compromise she’d made by not signing a long-term contract.
Now, with Mr. Guan in the wrong and Li Mengjiao’s star rising, he had to grudgingly concede.
No matter how confident Yuan Fenghui was, her years in the industry taught her no star stays at their peak forever. Even global icons like MJ faced career lows, plagued by scandals.
Li Mengjiao was far from MJ’s level.
MJ had career dips; Li Mengjiao’s path would inevitably have ups and downs too.
At her peak, there was little to worry about—her ability to generate profit made the industry tolerate even major flaws. Mr. Guan, for instance, likely fumed at Yuan Fenghui’s demand to revise the profit split but had to agree.
But when Li Mengjiao’s career hit a slump, opportunists like Mr. Guan would eagerly pounce to settle old scores!
Yuan Fenghui’s job was to eliminate such risks before they arose.
Life wasn’t a movie; she couldn’t hire a hitman to take out Mr. Guan for good. But she could make his antics look like a clown’s performance.
With that in mind, Yuan Fenghui asked Li Mengjiao, “If I really donated the profits from your debut album, would you be okay with it?”
Li Mengjiao paused.
Teacher Yuan’s mind jumped fast—most people couldn’t keep up.
But since it was unexpected money, donating it was fine.
Li Mengjiao had no clear idea of how much she’d earn after Yuan Fenghui renegotiated the split. The album was released before she signed with Tianjiao Films, so the profits wouldn’t be shared with Tianjiao, only a portion with Yuan Fenghui. The rest would be hers alone.
It would be a substantial sum.
Li Mengjiao was clueless, and Yuan Fenghui chuckled, “As long as you’re okay with it. But I’ll need to discuss this with your parents.”
“Can I tell Wen Ying?”
“…You can if you want.”
—Wen Ying, Wen Ying, is she your mum or your dad?!
Yuan Fenghui gave Li Mengjiao a look, not wanting to argue further.
As long as the big picture was on track, Yuan Fenghui wouldn’t waste time debating with Li Mengjiao. She’d get dragged into “silly logic” and be outdone by Li Mengjiao’s vast experience in it.
