HDIEUMDBTSB #### Chapter 56: 22548742
### Volume 2: The Road to Gaining Fans
#### Chapter 6: 22548742
“Mr. Chu, aren't you going to put on makeup?” Pang Pu noticed that the guest did not go to the makeup artist and directly headed to the living room, so he couldn't help but ask.
“Aren't we filming the daily lives of celebrities in ‘Red Mansion’? I don't wear makeup at home,” Chu Zhi said. “I’ll definitely cooperate with the production team. I remember the other celebrities also appear without makeup.”
Pang Pu wanted to say that it wasn’t necessary, but seeing the sincere look in the guest's eyes, he swallowed his words. Is there really someone this straightforward in the entertainment industry? Hasn’t he heard of no-makeup makeup? Who would actually go on a show without makeup! Everyone knows that celebrities have irregular schedules that mess up their sleep patterns, leaving many with poor skin conditions.
A brief introduction to no-makeup makeup: the core is choosing the foundation color that looks natural as if there’s no makeup on. To choose the right color, look at the veins on your wrist: blue-purple indicates a cool tone, olive green indicates a warm tone, and blue-green is neutral. If you can't see your veins, press on your wrist for a moment and then release.
Although the live stream hadn't started, this segment had to be included in the behind-the-scenes footage, as instructed by the general director, Meng Teng.
Pang Pu said, “Mr. Chu, if you want to drink alcohol, please communicate with me first. Live broadcasts generally can’t show drinking.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll control myself,” Chu Zhi nodded.
Hearing this, Pang Pu silently concluded that the guest had an alcohol addiction.
Major live streaming platforms do not allow smoking or drinking. If a host crosses the line, the platform will directly ban them. Mango TV has some leeway with smoking, but they can’t tolerate drinking. Chu Zhi was aware that on Earth, many film and TV scenes involving smoking and drinking were cut entirely. If they had to appear, it was either at the beginning or the end, but never during the process.
Suspecting it might be forbidden, Chu Zhi had kept around ten empty wine bottles. If not, with just three hangovers, the first two sets of bottles would have been thrown away, leaving no neat rows of empty bottles—mindful boy Chu Zhi.
“This morning, I’ll be reading. In the afternoon, I’ll probably try some arranging,” Chu Zhi outlined his schedule.
Arranging meant going into the practice room. Pang Pu was curious why cameras weren’t allowed in there. He would find out once he took a look.
The live stream was prepared to go live, or rather, the behind-the-scenes footage was ready to turn into the live content, precisely at 8 o’clock.
Many fans, “Little Oranges,” tuned in right on time: “Brother Jiu, I’m here,” “I’m a passerby, why do people call Chu Zhi ‘Brother Jiu’?”, “Checking in,” “Leaving footprints for Juzi,” “Brother Jiu looks a bit tired...”
After breakfast ramen, Chu Zhi continued studying. He wasn’t trying to create a top student persona—his academic record was already there. It was to pave the way for the future, leaving evidence for netizens to trace back to, “Although I don't have a college degree, I love learning and have a high level of knowledge. If I write some groundbreaking poetry in the future, it will be reasonable.”
Reading wasn’t particularly interesting. Besides die-hard fans, few casual viewers enjoyed it, even if Wei Tongzi occasionally struck up a conversation.
Time flew, and it was time for lunch.
Today, Chu Zhi ordered another high-carb meal, but “Red Mansion” wasn’t a mukbang show. On-site writer Frog Sun didn’t give direct shots of him eating, and the staff didn’t notice the large portions.
After eating three meals today, he could achieve [High-Carb Intake for One Day *3], earning three personality coins.
“When I have the chance, I’d like to start an account on Bilibili to share my thoughts on books,” Chu Zhi said as he walked out of the study.
“That’s great! I’d definitely triple-tap like every day,” Wei Tongzi, a long-time Bilibili user, knew the polarized opinions about their idol on the site. Initially criticized for his singing skills, videos of Chu Zhi like “Watching Once a Day to Prevent Puppy Love” often appeared.
Since his performances of “Wind Blows Wheat Waves” and “Against the Light,” the reviews on Bilibili had improved significantly. Chu Zhi was now synonymous with gentleness, enjoying some of the best treatment for a fresh-faced, top-tier celebrity on the platform.
“There’s something I’d like to ask if it’s okay,” Wei Tongzi hesitated.
Chu Zhi prompted, “I think it’s okay. Go ahead, Tongzi.”
“I joined your fan group, and many members hope you can reopen the comment sections on Weibo and Instagram and post more updates,” Wei Tongzi said.
“I’ll do my best to post updates,” Chu Zhi pondered for a moment before apologizing to the camera, “I’m sorry about not opening the comment sections on Weibo. I’m a bit scared. I need some time to get used to it. Give me a bit more time, and I’ll overcome it.”
Ignoring the live audience’s reactions, Wei Tongzi, the on-site fan leader, felt uneasy seeing her idol’s cautious apology. She knew why—she had checked the previous comment sections, filled with vile and nasty remarks.
“Ahem, well, Mr. Chu, I remember you mentioned the new album is pop and rock,” Wei Tongzi quickly changed the topic.
“It’s not just pop and rock; it’s pop and pop-rock,” Chu Zhi corrected.
“Pop-rock? Is that a subgenre of rock? There are many categories of rock, right? Can you explain it to our Mango friends?” Wei Tongzi’s eyes lit up, creating a perfect opportunity for her idol to shine.
“Categorizing pop-rock under rock is less accurate than calling it a branch of modern pop music,” Chu Zhi explained.
Rock is a broad category. Luckily, Chu Zhi liked to be prepared. In music fundamentals, rock isn’t just about flashy rock from the West or visual rock from Japan. True rock isn’t defined by appearance. For example, who listens to Secondhand Rose without a bit of illness? Their rock style can be categorized as flashy rock or “Er Ren Zhuan Rock.” The essence of rock is rebellion, indulgence, and decadence, with lyrics needing to embody this spirit, and melodies primarily featuring guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums.
"In the above melody, with the volume turned up, distorted guitar solo repeated for a long time is heavy metal; similarly, using the guitar as the core but without distortion, lyrics expressing oneself more, is British rock resisting American cultural invasion, hard and stiff. The simple chord progression, casual and unskilled feeling, is punk rock, and Da Zhangwei's early band can be called punk rock. Improvisational three-chord accompaniment with a small jazz band is blues rock; sometimes when you listen to a rock song that's very noisy, with the singer just shouting repeatedly, it's not that your taste is lacking, it's hardcore punk rock, the louder and noisier the shouting, the harder it is.
The above words carry a certain amount of mockery, but common rock classifications are like this. If you break it down, there are dozens of detailed classifications. Rock music originally originated from many musical rhythms, blues, country music, and ethnic music. As for pseudo-rock, if you believe in the spirit of rock, then your world has pseudo-rock. If you think the spirit of rock is nonsense, then everything can rock, even pure music you can say is post-rock (post-modern rock).
The above is a rough description given by Chuzhi to the camera. The original content lasted more than twenty minutes, which was a bit boring so it's not worth going into detail, after all, even traffic costs money.
Taking out a few pieces of sheet music from the study, along with the lyrics of "Burning Liver," Chuzhi was about to start.
"Teacher Chu, can we livestream your new song?" Pang Pu asked.
"Of course, the song is called 'Burning Liver.' It's a time when I was more ambitious and adolescent during my student years. I want to convey that ambition and adolescent spirit," Chuzhi said.
"Teacher Chu is giving our Little Mang Friends an early benefit. Back in the days of all-night gaming, I was also a Liver Emperor," Pang Pu laughed. "Who doesn't have two livers?"
"The sheet music, lyrics, and arranging from scratch for the new album, only Li Ning's Red Mansion program has this treatment," Wei Tongzi said, gesturing for the photographer Jelly to shoot.
Jelly approached with the camera, and the complete sheet music for "Burning Liver" appeared, with many modifications visible.
[1=G4/4, fireworks, with me, all get brighter as it gets darker.
The sun sets, it's my prime time.
It's not that I don't love sleep, it's not that I don't love liver enough.
I just have a lot, a lot, a lot of serious things to do.
......]
Some phones had display issues and couldn't show the numbers and notes on the sheet music, which was understandable.
This song, according to Chuzhi's personal preference, is not one he particularly enjoys listening to, and its popularity isn't high. But having four or five songs in an album that can hit is a divine album. There's no need for every song to be catchy. The key is that there aren't so many hit songs that fit the theme of "A limited world, infinite happiness."
That being said, human species are diverse, and the world has no identical earprints. There are listeners who love the upbeat rhythm of "Burning Liver."
"It looks really good," Wei Tongzi was purely supportive, she couldn't read sheet music at all.
Opening the thick door of the singing room, a clearly soundproofed door, very different from a regular door, Chuzhi walked in front and turned on the lights with a "click," and the others gradually followed. The room of over 80 square meters was fully visible, with a complete set of instruments such as keyboards, drums, guitars, basses, pianos, etc., arranged in the center, and recording equipment such as condenser microphones, microphone amplifiers, vocal effects processors, headphone distributors, mixing consoles, near-field monitors, etc., in the southeast corner.
To say it's a singing room is too polite; it's simply a small recording studio.
The instruments and equipment were eye-catching, but Pang Pu, Wei Tongzi, and the photographer Jelly were instantly attracted by the dense and special patterns on the walls, which looked like a series of blue vines from a distance, connecting the floor and ceiling. The pattern on the ceiling was equally dense but in clusters, more like stars.
"What a unique decoration," Jelly said, holding up the camera and approaching the wall. Upon closer inspection, it became clear that it wasn't vines at all but words—[Woof Woof Loves Chu, Nine Red Bean Buns, のMoon, Holding up a Starry Sky for You, noble~...].
To be precise, they were IDs intertwined with a special curve. From a distance, it looked like a vine pattern.
"Damn!" Jelly couldn't help but swear before the live broadcast. Even though he was holding the camera, the voice definitely got recorded. Pang and Wei frowned, wondering what was going on? Haven't they seen big scenes before?
Jelly didn't care about that and beckoned, "Come and see."
Pang Pu and Wei Tongzi approached, seeing the composition elements of the wall patterns, also looking surprised.
"How many characters is this?" Pang Pu blurted out. He didn't believe that there were so many characters; it was clearly a case of IDs with no meaning at all.
Chuzhi said with pride, "I'm not sure how many characters exactly, but there are 22,548,742 IDs in the entire room."
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