"I'll choose Liu Li," said Zhou Qingshan, selecting an established singer with whom he had previously collaborated.
"Then I'll pick Li Xiaorui," said Jiang Qian, choosing a renowned songstress.
Both producers had made their choices.
The remaining contestants were Mo Yan and Su Yu.
After a few seconds of silence, Mo Yan spoke, "I choose Zhang Wei." To everyone's surprise, he picked Zhang Wei from the Ting Yu Singer Group.
After making his selection, he looked at Su Yu with a playful smile. Su Yu, though somewhat surprised, responded with a knowing smirk, "I choose Shen Jinghong."
All the viewers watching the live stream were bewildered.
What was this?
A singer swap?
NTR?
"Hahaha, Teacher Mo Yan really knows how to create good television! He picked a singer from Ting Yu's group, so Ting Yu naturally wouldn't be outdone, and Shen Jinghong was the best choice."
"Tsk tsk... is this a 'swapping' mentorship?"
"They really know how to play the game. But Shen Jinghong's face turned pale. No one expected him to collaborate with Ting Yu to sing Ting Yu's song!"
"Actually, even though these two are rivals, their relationship should be quite good. After all, it was rumored they played games together before."
"What I'm looking forward to even more is what happens when Shen Jinghong and Ting Yu go back to the lounge to write songs!"
"Gong Juren: Ting Yu didn't choose me. Has love truly disappeared?"
"Hahaha, I really thought Ting Yu would choose Gong Juren. Who would have thought there would be such a twist."
After the singer selections were complete, everyone led their chosen singers back to the lounge.
The production team had invested heavily in four lounges, all equipped with professional equipment for producers to create songs.
Since everyone was curious about how producers write songs, cameramen would rotate through the four lounges to film.
Mo Yan and Zhang Wei immediately began working on the song after arriving at the lounge.
A song involves lyrics, melody, and arrangement. The process might seem simple, but achieving quality in such a short time was challenging, even for Mo Yan.
"Zhang Wei, what is your most comfortable vocal range?" Since it was a custom song, he needed to understand the singer first.
Although he had heard Zhang Wei sing, Mo Yan was meticulous and wanted to fully understand the singer before starting to write.
"As long as it's not too many notes in the fifth octave, I'm fine," Zhang Wei said. His vocal abilities were quite good among singers in the Chinese music scene.
Moreover, he was excited about singing Mo Yan's song for the first time.
While he still wished to have been chosen by Su Yu, Mo Yan was also a highly respected figure in his eyes. He had always dreamed of singing a song by Mo Yan, and now he was getting a custom-made one. Zhang Wei felt incredibly fortunate.
"Haha, the singers in Ting Yu's group are quite strong," Mo Yan nodded with a smile.
In fact, Mo Yan thought highly of all the singers in Su Yu's group. He chose Zhang Wei because he assumed Su Yu would pick Gong Juren. He didn't expect Su Yu to be so playful and choose his "silly apprentice."
However, this also piqued Mo Yan's interest. What kind of spark would Shen Jinghong create collaborating with Su Yu?
With that thought, he sat down at his computer, looked at the story he had chosen, and began writing lyrics following its narrative.
As for the melody, that would be considerably simpler. For a producer of this caliber, composing love song melodies in his mind was effortless. He would first finalize the lyrics, then compose the melody for the singer to familiarize themselves with.
Finally, they would arrange these melodies and have the singer practice the song.
While every step was difficult for newcomers, for producers like Mo Yan, five hours was more than enough.
While Mo Yan was busy, Zhang Wei stood beside him, feeling a bit constrained.
The audience, witnessing this, couldn't help but find it amusing.
"At thirty years old, standing beside Mo Yan, like a nobody!"
"Haha, I dare say Zhang Wei wasn't this reserved standing next to Ting Yu."
"Even though Teacher Mo Yan is usually very gentle, he has a very special seriousness when he's working. I can feel it just by watching the show."
"There's nothing much to see here, quickly go to the other lounge!"
"What's the cameraman doing? Hurry up and go to Ting Yu's side!!"
After Mo Yan's lounge fell into silence, many viewers began clamoring to see what was happening with Ting Yu.
However, the production team seemed to be deliberately avoiding Ting Yu's lounge and instead headed to Jiang Qian's.
Jiang Qian's chosen singer, Li Xiaorui, was also a familiar face, having participated in both the City Finals and Masked Singer. She was considered a very strong rising singer.
The interaction between the two women was much more harmonious.
They discussed writing the song together.
...
Finally, after a half-hour delay.
The cameraman arrived at Ting Yu's lounge.
However, upon entering the lounge, they were met with a surprising sight.
Su Yu and Shen Jinghong were lying back in their chairs, playing games on their phones!
They were so engrossed that they didn't even notice the camera crew enter.
"Old Shen, your 98k is working great."
"Heh heh, how am I doing, bro? I just love the thrill of headshotting someone!"
"Tsk tsk tsk, quick! Someone's in the distance, targeting us!"
"Don't panic! Watch this!!"
By the time the camera zoomed in on them, Su Yu and Shen Jinghong were completely startled.
Shen Jinghong, who had just aimed at the enemy's head, flinched from the sudden scare, and his shot went wide.
He was then instantly headshot by the opponent.
"W-cough cough, I'm out." Shen Jinghong turned around, saw the production crew, and quickly got up with a sheepish grin.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was still engaged in a firefight with the opponent. However, without a sniper rifle, he was at a disadvantage. Within seconds, he was also headshot.
"Again!" Su Yu said to Shen Jinghong without even looking up.
"Uh... excuse me, shouldn't we say something?" Shen Jinghong tugged at his sleeve.
Su Yu looked up and saw the production crew, his expression a little surprised.
"Teacher Ting Yu, you don't seem to be in a hurry at all?" the crew member asked, a touch of surprise in their voice.
"When I play games, that's when inspiration strikes me. This is my way of writing songs..." Su Yu said, unblushingly.
Why rush? All he needed to do was customize a song and then use music production software to create the arrangement file himself.
Only half an hour had passed, and with an hour remaining, he was confident it would be enough.
If he didn't have to worry about exposing himself, he could have just used the system to produce the backing track.
However, the audience clearly wasn't buying his explanation or his innocent demeanor.
"I don't believe you..."
"Does this mean five hours is too much time for him?"
"Holy cow, I don't believe it, I can't accept this!"
"Otherwise, why would he have the time to play games?"
"By the way, aren't these two rivals? Why are they playing together so happily?"
"What game are they playing? It looks so fun."
"I heard it's a shooting game, produced by a young game studio, and the gameplay was designed by Ting Yu himself."
While other producers were busy running around, these two were playing games.
And weren't these two supposed to be rivals? Why were they calling each other "brother"?
Surface-level brotherhood?
...