Chapter 150: Starting Over From Scratch

Since both the mentors and the contestants were staying at the same hotel, tonight's live broadcast had been going on for three hours and was still not over. It was still proceeding in full swing.

Each mentor sang a song, and the rest of the time was dominated by Teacher Ah Lin. This guy seemed addicted to playing video games; even though he was being cursed out thoroughly by his teammates, he still started match after match.

The viewers found it hilarious—it turned out that the lesser-known side of big stars was no different from ordinary people after all. They still got chewed out by their teammates for playing poorly.

However, those teammates probably had no idea that their absolute worst-performing teammate was actually the renowned mentor Ah Lin.

Mentor Ah Lin wasn't actually that terrible, but being scolded by teammates as a public figure meant he couldn't talk back during the live broadcast; instead, he responded with his actions. He was determined to troll this bunch of brats and ruin their game completely.

Because the live-streaming platform had received news that Su Tong would be bringing guests tonight and made announcements in advance, the peak number of viewers in Niannujiao's chat room almost reached eight million.

These were genuine viewers, with the platform not inflating the numbers by even a tiny fraction. Even among the most hardcore fans, very few bothered to use alternative accounts.

From the platform's past to the present, the highest viewer record for any top-tier streamer had never even reached five million. Su Tong kept breaking records: last time it was seven million, and this time he almost broke through eight million.

Unless Su Tong broke this record himself, given the current development of the live-streaming platform, no one would likely break it for over a decade—perhaps not even until the entire live-streaming era came to an end.

Other top-tier streamers on the platform, who had previously felt some jealousy toward Niannujiao, now felt nothing but envy. This guy was simply exasperated to the core; it was one thing for him to participate in The Voice, but he had actually managed to invite all four major mentors as guests. What kind of magic potion had he given them?

Wealthy patrons were extremely generous, and tonight's tipping record surpassed the previous one. Su Tong had already secured a revenue share of over five million.

That was nearly eight million viewers; if each person tipped just one yuan, it amounted to roughly eight million Great Qin dollars.

Zhang Xin had now officially resigned from her previous position to work exclusively for Su Tong. Before the live broadcast even ended, she contacted her former employers to request a contract renewal. The contract needed to be upgraded to the highest tier—the star-level contract.

The salaries paid by the live-streaming platform to streamers were pitifully small. The most basic contract offered a guaranteed monthly full-attendance base of only a few hundred yuan, with a fifty-fifty split on earnings. Even for a diamond-level contract, the platform only provided a base salary of a few thousand yuan per month, with merely improved revenue-sharing benefits.

A base salary of a few thousand yuan a month was something Su Tong's current status would never deign to look at. Therefore, Zhang Xin naturally had to consider Su Tong's interests and demanded a contract change.

If they didn't change it, the worst that could happen was that Su Tong would stop live-streaming starting next month, meaning there would be no viewers to give tips. Without Su Tong receiving guarantees and tips, the platform wouldn't receive its share of the tips either.

Given Su Tong's current status and the shrewdness of Zhang Xin, his former supervisor, the platform readily agreed to change Su Tong's contract. Under the star-level contract, the required monthly streaming time was reduced from thirty hours to six hours, and the revenue share became ninety-ten.

"Teacher Liu, state-owned enterprises are undergoing reforms, and I heard CCTV has recently been creating public service songs. I have one here for you, see what you think?"

"Teacher A-ji, there is one here for you as well, take a look."

During the mentors' live broadcast, Su Tong had written two songs. One was for Teacher Liu Fan, and the other was for Teacher A-ji.

Liu Fan smiled and took the sheet music and lyrics handed to him by Su Tong. Recently, the reform of state-owned enterprises had been rolling out comprehensively, and state jobs were no longer iron rice bowls. A large number of workers were being laid off. To encourage laid-off workers to rebuild their confidence and summon the courage to re-enter the workforce, CCTV was currently producing a series of public service advertisements themed around re-employment after layoffs.

Teacher Liu Fan held the sheet music and lyrics, humming softly.

"All yesterday's honors
have turned into distant memories.
Having spent half a lifetime in hardship,
tonight I step back into the wind and rain once more."

Humming up to this point, Teacher Liu Fan's expression changed slightly. This song was extraordinary.

"I cannot drift along with the tide,
for the sake of my beloved family.
No matter how bitter or difficult, I must remain strong,
solely for those expectant gazes.
If the heart remains, the dreams remain;
true love still exists between heaven and earth.
Viewing success and failure as heroic ventures in life,
we simply start over from the beginning."

Having finished humming, Teacher Liu Fan could no longer sit still and abruptly stood up.

"This song... CCTV has already released a few public service songs of this type, but this 'Starting Over' will definitely be the most impactful and moving one among them." Teacher Liu Fan couldn't hide his excitement, patting Su Tong on the shoulder and praising him as good several times.

Su Tong laughed heartily. "As long as Teacher Liu likes it. Haha, consider this song as your labor fee for tonight."

Liu Fan also laughed heartily. "For a public service cause, not to mention singing one, doing ten more would be no problem at all. Xiao Tong, let me thank you on behalf of those laid-off veteran employees. Music can give people strength, and the strength of this song is immense. It's not only suitable for those laid-off from state-owned enterprises, but also for anyone who has experienced failure, helping them regain their confidence and fighting spirit."

A-ji also walked over, glanced at the song in Liu Fan's hands, blinked her alluring eyes at Su Tong with a somewhat playful and cute expression, and said, "Xiao Tong is an inspirational ambassador, the songs he writes are so full of positive energy."

Teacher Liu Fan was clearly a bit anxious. "It's a pity we still have to record for the next two days, otherwise I would have run back to Yandu immediately to record this song right away."

The melody of "Starting Over" was catchy, and its vocal delivery was grand and heroic. The lyrics completely broke away from the inherent tone of previous similar public service works, which tended to be flashy, filled with hollow preaching, or even hypocritical. Instead, they were replaced by unadorned simplicity and purity, possessing the trait of piercing straight to the human heart.

Teacher Liu Fan hurried back to his suite; he couldn't wait and wanted to start making preparations right away. Today they had only recorded the first round of PK matches for Naje's group and Ah Lin's group; Liu Fan's and A-ji's groups had not been recorded yet.

The live broadcast was still ongoing; Teacher Ah Lin and a tipsy Naje were still broadcasting.

"May I hug you, baby?" In the living room, only A-ji and Su Tong were left. A-ji opened her arms, blinked at Su Tong, and smiled.

A-ji and Naje could only be considered ordinary beauties, incomparable to goddess-level figures like Yang Feifei. What made A-ji most attractive were her eyes, which were deeply charming.

"Of course." Su Tong laughed, stepped forward, and gave A-ji a solid hug. A mature womanly scent drifted into his nose, making him feel a bit hot and flustered.

Perhaps influenced by the original Su Tong—a young man who had lost his mother and was full of a longing for maternal love—he had a particular soft spot for older girls. But then again, it was no wonder; having skipped two grades, all the female classmates he interacted with were older than him.

Women really were made of water; they were so soft. Su Tong felt that hugging a woman was unexpectedly comfortable—boneless and soft.

"Puchi." Su Tong felt a bit awkward and quickly released A-ji. Just as he was about to step away, a faint lipstick mark was left on his cheek.

A-ji had kissed him.

"Ah, you two..." Naje, driven by some alcoholic impulse, had wandered out of her room instead of continuing her broadcast. Upon coming out and seeing this scene, she couldn't help but cry out in a mixture of shock and annoyance. (To be continued...)