Chapter 411: 《At Least I Still Have You》 and 《Moonlight over the Lotus Pond》

The final points-based round of the *King of Love Songs* has a theme.

The theme is 【Stay】.

This is a relatively broad theme, and many love songs can be fitted into it.

For the behind-the-scenes teams of the other competing Singers, seeing a theme like this makes them heave a sigh of relief.

As for Luo Mo—it's annoying as hell!

There are too many songs; if the scope of the theme were a bit smaller, it would be much easier to choose.

With so many classic love songs, he has to think for a long time before he can make a decision.

On the side of the Fengge Group, things are actually quite relaxed. For Tong Shu, there are just too many, many options to choose from.

At this moment, backstage at the *King of Love Songs* recording site, a staff member runs over to report to Ke Ming and Ning Dan: "Director, the opening viewership ratings for this episode are 6% higher than last week!"

Ke Ming and Ning Dan exchange a glance, both feeling that this is within expectations.

At this time, the program has just begun its Live Broadcast, and the female host is on stage thanking the major sponsors.

Luo Mo is only set to make a glorious return during the Semi-finals. In other words, he will only come in the next episode.

But this has also driven up the show's popularity, causing this episode's viewership to have a small increase.

This is the viewership appeal of Luo Mo's stage presence.

Of course, it is also possible that some viewers are not careful and thought today was the Semi-finals...

If you open the bullet comments now, you can see a large number of people spamming Luo Mo's name...

Tong Shu and the Fengge Group are still the same as usual, only casting 30 points for the 【King's Authority Points】.

—"Corporate Culture."

And the songs Luo Mo prepared for them in this episode are *Love You* and *Moonlight over the Lotus Pond*, respectively.

The former is one of Lin Yilian's representative works, a song that many people can sing along to from the beginning to the chorus.

The lyrics of the entire song are also written in a very beautiful and affectionate way.

The 【Stay】 in this song is about staying by each other's side.

As soon as Tong Shu gets on stage and starts Singing, the bullet comments go crazy.

"【I'm afraid I won't make it in time, I want to hold you.】"

"【Until I feel the traces of time in your wrinkles.】"

"【Until I'm sure you're real, until I lose my strength.】"

"【For you, I am willing.】"

That gentle and clear feeling is truly unique in terms of creating an atmosphere.

His voice is one that makes people feel Gentle.

"It sounds so good!"

"I love it, I love it! Tong Shu, Mom will always love you!"

"Damn, isn't this a total slaughter?"

"Sounds great!"

And as soon as the chorus part appears, the image that flashes in many people's minds is the Changting Recognition between Princess Nihuang and Mei Zhangsu in *Nirvana in Fire*.

"【If I could give up the whole world,】"

"【At least I still have you worth cherishing.】"

"【And you are here, that is the miracle of life.】"

"【Perhaps I could forget the whole world,】"

"【I just don't want to lose news of you.】"

"【I always remember where the mole on your palm is.】"

Even though the lyrics write about a mole on the palm, it is not completely consistent with the plot in *Nirvana in Fire*.

Yet, many viewers still thought of that line from Nihuang: "There is clearly a mole here, I remember there is a mole here!"

The bullet comments surge.

"I cried with a 'wow', thinking of Nihuang and Mei Zhangsu again!"

"This shouldn't count as a dream crossover, right?"

"*Nirvana in Fire*, sigh."

This makes many viewers who haven't watched *Nirvana in Fire* start to get curious: "Does this show really have such a lasting impact?"

I can find time to go watch it and see if it's really that Ox!

Once Tong Shu finishes Singing, the professional judging panel naturally gives nothing but praise.

This song, *Love You*, is one of the classic love songs on Earth; it has been over twenty years since its release, and its popularity remains extremely high.

Many people born in the 90s or even the 00s have listened to it since they were children.

However, the beautiful atmosphere of this song is quickly ruined by the Fengge Group.

Once upon a time, on Earth, *Moonlight over the Lotus Pond* was one of the rare songs by Phoenix Legend that could be associated with the word "beautiful."

However, heaven knows that years later, a culture of... fish-farming became popular.

Sea Kings, Sea Queens, fish-farming experts... the appearance of these people has changed the flavor of this song.

Originally, that famous line, "【I am like a fish in your lotus pond】," was quite affectionate.

Now, it's been taken and quoted by many people.

But regardless, the appearance of *Moonlight over the Lotus Pond* still makes many viewers feel a sense of freshness.

The performance of the Fengge Group on *King of Love Songs* has always been known for its grandeur.

Pairing with a symphony orchestra twice makes it even more magnificent to the extreme.

Now that he has changed his style and sung a song like this, he has not only showcased a different musical path for himself but can also broaden his audience reach.

Come to think of it, this song is quite magical.

The songs of Phoenix Legend mostly reign supreme in the realm of square dancing.

Yet this song, "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond," frequently appears on the stages of kindergartens and elementary schools, for the children to dance to.

As the song ended, Lv Yi was the first to start praising.

Today, he specifically praised Xue Ning, feeling that her singing style and vocal timbre gave people a brand-new feeling in this song of a different style.

Actually, Tian Ming was also very hardworking in this song.

He restrained himself and did not crazily sing "Yo-yo" and "Oh yeah."

As the episode ended, the ranking was without suspense; Tong Shu and Fengge Group continued to dominate the top two seats, advancing to the Semi-finals with absolute high scores.

The netizens in the bullet comments started to joke.

"Is it confirmed to be the Semi-finals next week? The 【Contentment with Mo】 is a bit high!"

"Why do I feel like it's the Luo Mo Studio annual meeting?"

"Looking forward to next week's 【Luo Mo Studio Team Building】."

There is no help for it; five Singers are entering the Semi-finals, which means singing five songs.

Adding Luo Mo's glorious return performance, there will only be six songs in total next week.

Good heavens, Luo Mo Studio is taking up half of them directly!

Moreover, judging from the current momentum, this year's 【King of Love Songs】 will likely be produced from either Tong Shu or Fengge Group.

They can be considered Luo Mo's "Disciples."

Therefore, some netizens have already started giving Luo Mo some new nicknames.

"Luo Mo, the First-Generation King of Love Songs!"

"What first-generation, I would like to call him the 【King of Kings of Love Songs】!"

As for Luo Mo himself, what is he busy with now?

He is busy practicing songs.

The production of "Monkey King: Hero is Back" is proceeding in an orderly manner.

After the 【Ancient Costume Trilogy】 ends, Luo Mo is also prepared to take a break and pause his television drama filming.

Therefore, he actually has plenty of free time.

He had long since decided what song to sing in the "King of Love Songs" Semi-finals.

As mentioned before, when he received the invitation from Run Jie and Ke Ming, he had already decided which song to sing.

On Earth, when it comes to love songs, there is one male Singer who cannot be bypassed.

As for singing it for Xu Chujing to hear, isn't that just because the atmosphere has been brought to this point!

If one doesn't seize the time to take a step further now, when else would one wait for?

………

………

A new week arrived just like that.

Time passed very quickly; in the blink of an eye, it was deep winter.

Xu Chujing has been quite busy these past few days and has not spent much time in Shanghai.

In reality, even if she were free in the past, she would return to Beijing and would not stay in the Yucheng Residential District in Shanghai.

It was only after the program "Creating Idols" ended that she frequently stayed in Yucheng.

The most intimate interaction between the two at present is sending "Good night" via voice message before going to sleep at night.

On the contrary, Cheng Wen has sought out Luo Mo several times, and his intention is very obvious—he wants to continue collaborating.

Following Luo Mo's past style, he would certainly already be busy preparing for his next drama without stopping.

But as "Nirvana in Fire" is the finale of the 【Ancient Costume Trilogy】, after it aired, Luo Mo seemingly had no intention of making any big moves.

In Cheng Wen's view, the total of 50 million members is just announcing that a grand era of gathering winds and clouds is about to begin.

Everyone's journey is to break 100 million!

The industry is about to welcome a true explosive growth period; at such a critical juncture, Penguin needs Luo Mo too much!

Cheng Wen has indicated, either explicitly or implicitly, several times over the phone that Penguin will fully support him and is very much looking forward to his direct joining, which could unfold a collaboration similar to that between Luo Mo Studio and Xinyu.

When he "visited the thatched cottage three times" and expressed this meaning to Luo Mo for the third time, Luo Mo finally relented and indicated that he would consider it carefully.

At the same time, he also said with a smile: "Brother Cheng, even if I were willing to join, you might not necessarily agree to the conditions I set out."

"You can say them first." Seeing there was a chance, Cheng Wen said immediately.

Conditions are things that can be sat down and discussed slowly.

Penguin has a lot of experience in this regard.

But when he listened to Luo Mo reciting them one by one, he was still stunned.

"You had this all planned out, didn't you?" Cheng Wen couldn't help but laugh and scold.

This is too meticulous, and... he is asking for too much!

At such a critical juncture, Penguin Video is willing to make concessions to a certain extent.

Money, after all, can be conceded a little.

But among Luo Mo's many conditions, profit is actually not the most important.

He is not just asking Penguin Video to concede profit; he is also asking Penguin Video to delegate power!

Because he has always collaborated very happily with Luo Mo, this was the first time Cheng Wen felt the sharpness revealed by this young man.

He now somewhat understands the feelings Wang Shisong and Shen Shaoqiu had when they were drawing up the Contract with Luo Mo during the "Creating Idols" period.

Cheng Wen thought for a moment and said, "I can tell you very clearly that the other three major video platforms would absolutely refuse your conditions without even thinking about it."

"I know," Luo Mo said directly.

Cheng Wen really wanted to retort, "If you know, how dare you bring them up!"

It could only be said that the timing Luo Mo chose was too perfect.

Moreover, the two "calling cards" of the *Sword Fairy* series and *Nirvana in Fire* were simply too impressive.

At the end of the call, Cheng Wen remembered one thing and said, "Right, you previously said you wanted to start a special 【Theater】 that only broadcasts one type of genre; does that still stand?"

"It stands," Luo Mo said directly. "Brother Cheng, you saw that *Nine Sins* on Pineapple TV; even though its various metrics were all worse than *Jade Pearl City*, its subscriber growth data was about the same as *Jade Pearl City*."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Wen's eyes immediately lit up and he said, "Are you saying that you want to do a Suspense one too?"

Luo Mo said directly, "Yes, and I've even thought of the name for the 【Theater】."

"What is it called?" Cheng Wen pressed.

"【Mist Theater】," Luo Mo said.

(PS: First update, requesting monthly tickets!

A clarification: 【Mist Theater】 will be changed.)

(End of this chapter)