After Being Hopeless at Singing and Dancing, I Exploded in Popularity Due to My Appetite - Chapter 28

That milk was the one Tao Nian chugged down in one go during the last live stream.

Actually, after that live stream, many netizens who watched it said the milk looked delicious, being able to make Tao Nian drink an entire bottle in one go.

At that time, the sponsor dad was already considering having Tao Nian film an advertisement. It wouldn’t replace the official endorser, but just be broadcast within this show.

However, Tao Nian’s public image wasn’t very good back then. Although everyone was very interested in Tao Nian’s appetite, all the negative comments surrounding Tao Nian were about Lin Qianman.

So, the sponsor dad decided to wait and see.

When they discovered that Tao Nian’s popularity was growing, she gained fans, and her public image… had gradually gone off-kilter but was still much better than at the very beginning, they immediately decided to have Tao Nian film the advertisement.

After negotiating with the production team and Lin Qianman’s studio, and settling various matters, Tao Nian, who had gone out to eat with the producer, accidentally slipped and chipped a tooth, and her face swelled up…

Between replacing the advertisement’s main character and waiting for Tao Nian’s face to de-swell before filming, the genius in the publicity department came up with a third option.

Just film it as is. Anyway, this advertisement would be broadcast during the “Idol 101” show. People watching the show would more or less know Tao Nian and why her face was swollen. As long as Tao Nian still looked good on camera, there was no need to wait for her swelling to subside.

Filming with a swollen face might even generate more buzz.

The advertising team revised the plan overnight, having the makeup artist prepare several looks.

By the third day, when Tao Nian arrived at the photography studio, her face was no longer as swollen.

Actually, the Taotie’s teeth are very healthy and strong. Even when she was very young, she could bite Lin Qianman’s horn. Now that she’s grown, her biting force is even more astonishing, basically unstoppable. This time was truly unlucky; she accidentally hit the Xuanwu’s (Wu Xuan’s divine beast form) back hard, which is why she only lost one tooth.

If she were in her original form, it would only take half a month to grow a new one.

However, in her human form, she not only needed to go to the hospital but also had to restrict her diet to heal.

Losing a tooth was tolerable, but restricting her diet was not!

Fortunately, Lin Qianman had given her a “buff” by touching her a few days ago, and had been letting her “suck” from her for the past two days, and also giving her easy-to-chew foods.

Tao Nian’s face was not very swollen now, just looking a little puffier than normal.

As soon as she arrived at the photography studio, she was pulled away for makeup and wardrobe. The director told her what she needed to do and say later.

Tao Nian was in a daze, nodding distractedly.

It was just an advertisement; it was filmed in half a day. Tao Nian was rushed there and then rushed back to the production team for more practice.

A week later, the advertisement was launched. The official Weibo not only released the advertisement but also a behind-the-scenes clip.

In the behind-the-scenes clip, Tao Nian’s face was still slightly swollen, and she was sitting in a chair getting her makeup done. Her eyes were a bit bewildered but darting around, looking everywhere in the photography studio.

She looked like a large cat being held down in a sink for a bath. If she weren’t getting her makeup done, it seemed like she would dart away the next second.

After finally finishing her makeup, the director spoke to her. She nodded while picking up the prop milk beside her, covertly unscrewing the cap behind her back. Then, she continued to nod perfunctorily at the director, quickly brought the milk to her mouth, and took a sip.

Director: “…”

The director continued to speak.

The milk not only had original flavor but also many peach, strawberry, and banana flavors. There were also some fruits placed in the studio, intended for a shot later.

Tao Nian glanced and spotted them.

Then she quietly reached out, touched a strawberry, and quickly put it in her mouth.

She bit into it and found she couldn’t chew it. No sour-sweet juice burst out, only a hard, strange taste.

This time, the director couldn’t help himself: “That’s a model; you can’t eat it.”

Fresh fruits rot easily, and some colors aren’t vibrant or pretty enough. For ease of filming, most of the fruits used were fruit models.

Tao Nian: “…”

She was speechless, spit out the model, placed it back on the plate, then pretended as if nothing had happened, feigning attention to the director, nodding.

The director looked at Tao Nian, paused for a moment, and told her: “Everything here is a model, except for the milk.”

Tao Nian, who had originally planned to try the bananas and peaches, froze upon hearing this, disbelief quickly surfacing in her eyes.

Then came the official shooting, which required Tao Nian to make a milk-drinking motion.

Tao Nian held a bottle of milk, completely uninhibited, chugged down more than half, then put the milk down and said her lines.

The post-production team repeated Tao Nian’s milk-drinking motion many times, adding cute stickers above Tao Nian’s head with the text “Super satisfied!”

The video ended with Tao Nian leaving after the shoot.

The director saw Tao Nian off, while the assistant behind him diligently loaded items into Tao Nian’s nanny van.

Box after box of milk, and a box of large, red strawberries.

The post-production added text, stating that their milk uses fresh fruit, guaranteeing quality and taste, and so on.

Actually, the “Idol 101” show had just updated two days prior, coinciding with the period when Tao Nian chipped her tooth.

In the first half of the episode, Tao Nian was radiant, with a small face. Although she had a slight layer of baby fat, her small face made it appear like abundant collagen. She practiced dance diligently every day, was adorable when eating, and got along well with her teammates. She looked like a cute girl working hard for her singing and dancing dreams.

In the second half, because Tao Nian chipped her tooth, they had to urgently revise her makeup, reallocate lyrics, and deal with all sorts of scrambling.

Netizens then realized how much the “Tao Nian chipped a tooth” incident, which they had seen as a joke, affected her personally. They found it both funny and heartbreaking, feeling that these young ladies who could come up with solutions so quickly after a sudden incident were truly amazing.

The production team was very clever. They initially showed a glimpse of Tao Nian’s group’s original stage effect during rehearsal, then showed the arguments over revising the plan due to the sudden incident, but they didn’t reveal the final plan that was decided upon. They only added tense background music and the remaining time until the final performance.

Just when netizens were itching to know if this group had managed to turn the tables, they saw the final stage presentation…

“?! So beautiful!”

“Ahhhhh, sister, I can! The effect is even better with masks!”

“Finally, I understand King Zhou’s joy. I love little foxes!”

“My nosebleed is gushing to the ground!”

“I unilaterally declare this stage the best of the entire show!”

“Sister is truly beautiful!”

After the performance, everyone hadn’t yet emerged from the trance induced by the beautiful sisters when the sisters collectively removed their masks.

“Hahahahahaha, why is her face so swollen?!”

“Hahaha, truly miserable.”

Then, watching the interaction between Tao Nian and Lin Qianman below, they exclaimed how cute it was.

The production team also released a short daily life clip of Tao Nian.

On the day she chipped her tooth, the jade, which was said to be from the same auction as a famous piece, with many appraisal experts confidently stating its value, not only having excellent jade but also ancient handcraftsmanship with historical research value, was shattered.

Zhang Jingyue wrapped the fragments in a handkerchief and gave them to her, saying: “Your jade from yesterday, it broke. These are the fragments.”

The experienced runaway princess, Zhang Jingyue, placed the fragments on the table, picked up a piece, looked it over, and said: “It’s very beautiful, a shame it broke. I’ll recommend a goldsmith to you; you can see if it can be repaired. If not, it can be made into gold-inlaid jade, which also looks good.”

Tao Nian’s face was still swollen. She looked at the pile of fragments, touched the string around her neck, and disbelievingly pulled the string out. Only an empty string remained.

Just as everyone was worried about what to do with such an expensive shattered jade, Tao Nian nonchalantly borrowed a bottle of glue, haphazardly glued the fragments together, and threaded them onto the string. Then she placed it on the table.

Zhang Jingyue seemed to want to say something, but in the end, said nothing. She only, in a daze, reminded Tao Nian: “You can only wear it after the glue dries.”

Netizens: “…”

So, this wasn’t actually a very expensive or good piece of jade, was it? It might have just been bought casually at a roadside stall. Judging by Tao Nian’s attitude, it was at most fifty yuan!

“No, no, no, she’s very careful about her thirty-yuan t-shirts getting oil on them. This jade is at most ten yuan!”

“No, no, no, that t-shirt was twenty-nine yuan ninety with free shipping!”

Everyone felt they had solved the case.

Tao Nian was no capitalist; she was just a pauper who could only afford a twenty-nine yuan ninety, free-shipping t-shirt.

But such a pauper was actually slandered and disparaged as “royalty” backed by capital!

#TwentyNinePointNineYuanRoyalty

#ThisFortuneIsTooGreat,ACertainOrdinaryPersonDareNotAcceptIt

When the advertisement behind-the-scenes clip was released, it was perfectly timed with everyone having just finished the show and still being hyped up. They also felt Tao Nian had been wronged and wanted to compensate her, so they were searching for Tao Nian’s content everywhere.

Everyone watched Tao Nian’s still-puffy face, so naturally putting everything that looked edible into her mouth, forwarding and commenting, laughing so hard that the sound-activated lights in the entire building lit up.

And the “QianNian” (Thousand Year) supertopic was celebrating like New Year.

Ever since that live stream, some sharp-eyed people felt there was something between Lin Qianman and Tao Nian.

As the show continued to air, everyone increasingly discovered that there was “something” between these two.

Admittedly, Lin Qianman, as a mentor, didn’t show favoritism towards Tao Nian. She voted for stages she liked, and in her daily life, she wouldn’t show favoritism or give Tao Nian advantages that other contestants didn’t have.

However, the two of them were just so, unconsciously real!

One episode of the show was only about two hours long, with nearly a hundred contestants. Each contestant only got a small amount of screen time. To allow the audience to understand the contestants more, the production team would also edit and release some small daily clips of the contestants.

Others’ daily routines were usually diverse and multi-talented. The young ladies were skilled with their hands, reading, crafting, exercising, journaling, knitting…

Tao Nian’s daily life usually revolved around eating. She ate during practice breaks, during meals, and in the dorm.

It was only in her daily routines that Lin Qianman’s figure often appeared.

Usually just a hand, or an arm. Holding snacks, drinks, or fruits.

All kinds of feeding.

Tell me, isn’t this love?!

After this episode aired, “QianNian” fans were even more overjoyed, wishing they could directly move the civil affairs bureau over and make them get married!

Look, besides Tao Nian, can anyone make Sister Lin laugh like this? Three parts doting, three parts helplessness, four parts tenderness. Besides Tao Nian, who else?!

No one! In front of others, Lin Qianman is a cold, aloof ‘golden melon,’ a literary goddess, an industry titan, an all-around movie queen whom heaven chases to feed. But in front of Tao Nian, Lin Qianman is just a gentle feeder who can’t stop smiling when she sees her little piggy!

Tao Nian, from the very beginning, said Lin Qianman smelled fragrant.

Hot knowledge — girls do have a natural body scent, and only the people they like can smell it!

And Lin Qianman has filmed so many movies and had so many popular CP pairings, but Tao Nian is the only one who said Lin Qianman smelled fragrant! And she didn’t just say it once; she repeated it twice. Later, even during a live broadcast, with so many people scolding her, she still insisted that Lin Qianman smelled fragrant!

On the surface, the most direct “sugar” is like this: Tao Nian is a straightforward, innocent little puppy, capturing Sister Lin’s heart with her persistence and stubbornness!

If one thinks deeper, perhaps what Tao Nian said wasn’t just a simple body scent, but also some… unspeakable meaning.

Slippery, that is… suddenly turning yellow. Thinking Tao Nian wasn’t just innocently silly, but perhaps also… “white-cut yellow” (innocent-looking but actually suggestive)?

“White-cut yellow” is good! “White-cut yellow” is fragrant!

“QianNian” fans were extremely excited, as if they could already see them bowing to heaven and earth right under their noses, and then the unspeakable would happen!

Lin Qianman’s “CP” fans weren’t just “QianNian”; there were many other pairings. Other fans, seeing “QianNian” CP’s strong momentum, felt it was a scandal while also thinking it must be that trash contestant trying to cling to Sister Lin for marketing.

So, they couldn’t stand “QianNian” being so joyful, feeling that everything they consumed was fake “sugar” deliberately manufactured by Tao Nian’s scheming.

Solo fans: “This is fake sugar! Sister Lin is beautiful on her own! Reject bundling!”

QianNian CP fans: “Not listening, not listening. Sister Lin has even fed her; isn’t this love?! QianNian is real!”

Other CP fans: “Clearly, Sister Lin and Director Zhang are the best match! They’ve collaborated on three movies! Sister Lin is absolutely stunning in Director Zhang’s shots! If it weren’t for love, how could such sparks fly?!”

QianNian CP fans: “Not listening, not listening. Sister Lin only feeds Tao Nian. Do you have any feeding?! QianNian is real!”

Another CP fan: “You’re all scandals! Sister Lin and Xi Xi are the real deal! They’ve collaborated on two movies and meet privately! Look at that gaze, it can only be love! [View image]”

QianNian CP fans: “Not listening, not listening! Isn’t it just a gaze? We have one too! QianNian is real! [View image]”

Confused passersby clicked in.

The first image was a screenshot from a movie where Lin Qianman collaborated with another film actor. Two women in luxurious ancient costumes stood face to face, with exquisite makeup, smiling faces, and eyes and eyebrows filled with two words — “story.” The entire photo was full of sexual tension, the kind that makes you want to save it and watch the movie.

The image below that.

Tao Nian, with a swollen face, stood on stage, pouting angrily and rolling her eyes. In the corner, Lin Qianman watched Tao Nian on stage, laughing so hard she lost all image control.

Passerby: “…”

One fan can truly be worse than ten haters!