Chapter 159: Self-Deprecation is the Easiest Way to Clear One's Name
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As excited cheers rose from the audience, Young Master Liu immediately called out, “Let us welcome our mentor, Cai Xukun, onto the stage with the warmest applause!”
“Whoa!”
“Time never lets down those who journey onward, and starlight never lets down Cai Xukun! Falling blossoms and flying snow fill the sky, but my heart holds only Cai Xukun!”
“The dream-chasing youth never loses sleep; Cai Xukun’s future is limitless! Deaf to the world outside, with a single-minded devotion to Cai Xukun!”
“Crowned in gold, sailing far with Kun! Handsome Kun, handsome Kun, commander of IKUN! IKUN, IKUN, we love Kun-Kun the most!”
“Flowers and trees facing the sun usher in spring; I hear you love Cai Xukun!”
“Play is play, mischief is mischief, but Cai Xukun is no joke you can afford to make! Keep it low-key, keep it low-key—Kun-Kun has arrived! No applause, just screams!”
“Protect the best Cai Xukun in the whole world! Oh!”
...
Since Star of Tomorrow was a program created to select idols for the younger generation, most of the audience members were quite young—the perfect age to fall under Cai Xukun’s spell.
So whether it was mere coincidence or Cai Xukun truly had an enormous fan base, a large portion of the audience consisted of his fans.
Amid their cheers, Cai Xukun walked onto the stage in a pair of overalls and waved to the audience.
“Hello, everyone. I’m the artist who has been training for two and a half years, Cai Xukun!”
The audience exploded the moment they saw him.
Some time ago, Cai Xukun had taken on the role of NAB’s promotional ambassador in the country, and the contents of the promotional video had subsequently been exposed. In it, he wore black-and-white overalls, parted his hair down the middle, and performed an awkward dance in front of the camera.
Because of that dance, Cai Xukun had shot to the top of Bilibili’s parody-video section overnight. A group of uploaders maliciously edited his image and turned him into a source of online traffic.
All of Cai Xukun’s fans felt wronged on his behalf and stood up for him, yet Cai Xukun had never directly responded to the actions of those haters.
But today, when Cai Xukun appeared onstage wearing the exact same overalls as in the parody videos, with a precisely recreated center part, everyone understood the meaning behind his entrance.
He did not care about the mockery of his haters. If it could bring people happiness, then he was willing to let himself become the object of their jokes.
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That sight brought tears to the eyes of every IKUN. They covered their mouths, their eyes red, and kept shaking their heads at Cai Xukun.
“Kun! Don’t do this!”
“Kun-Kun, don’t be afraid. We’re behind you. You deserve the very best!”
“From today onward, my position is simple: I stand with Cai Xukun!”
...
Cai Xukun’s choice changed the minds not only of the IKUN who were already his die-hard fans, but also of many casual viewers.
After all, as the parody videos on Bilibili had spread, most people’s impression of Cai Xukun had been fairly ordinary. NAB was a sport everyone loved watching, and putting a fair-skinned celebrity who did not look particularly capable on the basketball court in charge of promoting it was bound to create a great deal of friction.
Thus, after Cai Xukun dominated Bilibili’s parody-video section, many casual viewers who did not know him formed their opinions of him in advance. As a result, although his number of fans had risen considerably during this period, the number of haters had not diminished.
Today, on the stage of Star of Tomorrow—one of the hottest variety shows in the country—Cai Xukun gave his answer.
He picked up the microphone and said with a smile, “Do you think these overalls look good on me?”
“They look great!”
The cry from the audience was deafening.
“Haha, I think they look great too. The overalls go quite well with my center part.”
“If you like them, and you like watching me in them, then shall I wear them throughout my concerts and sing and dance for you? How about it?”
“Yes!”
At Cai Xukun’s words, the crowd below the stage erupted into even more jubilant cheers.
Those few sentences were enough to win over not only the IKUN and the casual viewers, but even some of the haters who had already been influenced by Bilibili. They found him rather entertaining.
After all, self-mockery was the simplest—and most effective—way to win an audience’s goodwill.
Cai Xukun stood onstage and waited for the audience to calm down a little before continuing, “All right, all right. That’s enough small talk for now. After all, I’m here to serve as a mentor... To be honest, even now, I still find it a little unreal that I received this invitation.”
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“After all, I’ve only been in the industry for a few years. Thanks to everyone’s affection, I’ve managed to achieve what is, in the grand scheme of things, a rather insignificant amount of success.”
“So when I was notified that I was coming to Star of Tomorrow as a mentor, my first thought was: Am I qualified?”
“After thinking about it for an entire night, I decided that I wasn’t. The other three mentors have all accomplished great things in their respective fields, whereas, when I thought about it carefully, my greatest contribution might have been accelerating the development of parody videos. That certainly isn’t something worth mentioning on a stage like this.”
As the audience listened to Cai Xukun’s self-deprecating remarks, some laughed, some cried, and some laughed through their tears.
The ones laughing were generally casual viewers. The ones crying were naturally the IKUN.
And those laughing while crying were the less devoted IKUN.
If the IKUN fan club wanted to test the loyalty of its members, they could determine it with a single glance.
“So, on the second day, I gave Director Wu Tong my answer. I told him that I didn’t think I was qualified enough. Whether in terms of age or accomplishments, I felt that I was still just like the contestants on this stage. Perhaps I had simply been luckier than most.”
“I felt rather uneasy about becoming a mentor merely because I had been lucky.”
Cai Xukun smiled before continuing. “But after I told Director Wu Tong what I thought, he said something that made me feel perhaps I could give it a try.”
“He said that perhaps I had more experience and a better understanding of the market than the contestants. That alone was enough. If I could help these contestants avoid a few wrong turns, that in itself would be a mentor’s contribution.”
“When I heard that, I thought it made a lot of sense. Besides, I had also debuted through a talent competition, and it would be a lie to say that a variety show as large as Star of Tomorrow didn’t appeal to me. Even I wouldn’t believe that, haha.”
“So... here I am. I’ve come with the heart of an apprentice and my most sincere blessings for the contestants. I’ll do everything I can during the upcoming episodes of Star of Tomorrow to prove worthy of the title of mentor.”
After saying all this, Cai Xukun bowed deeply toward the camera, drawing cheers from the entire venue.
Young Master Liu first invited Cai Xukun to take his place at the mentors’ table, then turned to the audience and said, “Thank you, Mentor Cai Xukun, for that wonderful speech. Next, let us once again welcome our other three mentors with a warm round of applause!”
“Please welcome Zhou Zhiqian, Han Hong, and our mentor Yan Mi!”
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