My agency went bankrupt before I even got on stage.

"Whoa—!"

The crowd booed.

"Only trained for a month? This guy dares to compete with us for a debut spot? Is the idol industry that easy to get into now?"

Back in the waiting room, Lu Cheng scoffed, "Trying to attract attention!"

"Versailles! Versailles! A newcomer to the industry, without any professional training, wrote a song like this? Isn't this a slap in the face to us formally trained students?"

"But it's really difficult for him to continue!"

"You're so blunt about making money, your agent... no, you don't have an agent anymore!"

……

The trainees at the scene went wild. Only a small number of people knew Lin Fan's basic information before, and no one expected that such a song was created by Lin Fan, a newcomer who had only been in the industry for a month.

[I'm not sleepy when I go to bed: Wow, my Fanfan is so amazing! He's handsome, and even his songwriting is so talented! I thought this song was written by some master!]

[Happy Citizen Xiao Zhang: So real, so straightforward, I like it. Unlike those pretentious guys before, they were all so hypocritical. Who comes here not to become famous? Who isn't here to make money? They all have to talk about realizing their life's value, their musical dreams, and making everyone see them! Ha, men!]

[1. Laugh at me: Look at those students, they're all sour grapes!]

[Chengzai, my love: You're the one who's jealous! Our Chengcheng isn't jealous at all. It's a terrible song, not even a single complete line of lyrics, and you guys are just showering it with compliments!]

……

The students at the scene were electrifying, and the viewers in front of the live broadcast screen went even crazier. No one expected that such a song was created by an ordinary milk tea shop worker.

Even the mentors nodded in approval. No matter what, this kid was quite genuine, frankly admitting he was in it for the money. Moreover, Lin Fan's background was indeed very appealing. An orphan is a contestant worth exploring on any talent show stage. If he had a more tragic backstory, he could probably debut on the spot.

The fourth mentor, Ke Xirui, who hadn't gotten a chance to speak yet and debuted as the center of last season's "Morning Star," quickly spoke up: "So, if you leave this stage, what are your dreams?"

Here it comes!

The classic three-part routine on talent show stages: Tell us about your backer, tell us your story, and tell us your dream!

Lin Fan inwardly scoffed, never imagining that one day he would stand on a stage in front of thousands of people, answering this amazing question.

Lin Fan thought about it and felt that since he was going to leave anyway, he might as well try to get some benefits for himself.

"Speaking of dreams, my biggest dream is actually to leave the big company and open my own guesthouse in a beautiful tourist area, catering only to single ladies!"

As soon as Lin Fan finished speaking, the room fell silent.

"What the heck? They only accept single ladies?"

"What kind of contestant is this? Without a management company to keep him in check, has he just let himself go like this?"

"I'm afraid I've participated in a fake talent show!"

……

Ke Xirui didn't expect his question to get such an answer. He had asked many students, and which student didn't start by talking about their musical dreams? Which student didn't start by saying they wanted to change the world?

Running a bed and breakfast is one thing, but only accepting single ladies is just bizarre.

Why do you only serve single women?

As a woman, mentor Zhang Xinlan was even more curious about this answer, and she voiced everyone's thoughts.

"What's so strange about that? I'm a single guy, and if I want to find a girlfriend, I'll definitely only serve single ladies!" Lin Fan smiled. As a homebody, finding a girlfriend is his top priority; everything else is secondary.

"Getting out of being single? Aren't you going to be an idol?"

"Idols aren't allowed to date!"

"He's going home soon, what's the point of being an idol?"

……

The trainees started making a ruckus again. Everyone who came to the training camp wanted to debut as an idol. The first rule of becoming an idol is that you can't be in a relationship. Hearing Lin Fan's quirky answer, everyone was speechless. There are trainees like this?

[Chrysanthemums bloom everywhere: What the heck? Is he here to find a wife? That's incredibly disrespectful to this stage!]

[My name is too long to fit here, so I'll just say: I don't see anything wrong with it. Idols are people too, it's normal for them to want to date! But, Fanfan, your girlfriend can only be me!]

[Splitting a durian with bare hands: Wow! I want to take Fanfan home! No need to run a guesthouse anymore, no need to cater to single ladies anymore, I was born for you!]

……

The mentors were both amused and exasperated. The director backstage frowned at first, but after seeing the data, he immediately burst into laughter and gave instructions to the mentors again through the headset.

Luo Yu turned his head nonchalantly and smiled at the other three mentors, saying, "Lin Fan's dream is indeed unique; he has absolutely no idol baggage. It's getting late, let's assign him a rating!"

The rating system for the "Morning Star" stage is divided into four levels: A, B, C, and F. After each stage performance, the rating is reassessed. Except for the initial stage performance, which is decided by the mentors, all subsequent performances are decided by votes from fans in the live stream. This gives the audience the greatest possible power of choice, but it is also where manipulation is possible; vote rigging will always exist.

During the evaluation, the other three trainees in Lin Fan's group were also invited to the stage to await the mentors' final evaluation.

When evaluating the other three students, the instructor had virtually no objections and smoothly assigned one to Class B and one to Class F.

Surprisingly, Lu Cheng, who had just provoked Lin Fan at the platform entrance, received a C rating.

Lu Cheng looked rather embarrassed. He had been very confident, thinking he would at least get a B rating, but he only got a C.

This made Lu Cheng a little doubtful whether his agency was really as powerful as they claimed, since they hadn't managed to get him a good initial rating.

In fact, many people have the illusion that they are invincible and can defeat all enemies. However, once they are put in the spotlight, their true colors will be revealed.

When it was Lin Fan's turn, the four mentors seemed to have a disagreement.

They instinctively moved closer together to make it easier to discuss.

Because it was a live broadcast, although the four mentors lowered their voices, many people still heard that the mentors had some different opinions. Unexpectedly, the sharp-tongued Ding Erxun did not give Lin Fan a very low initial grade, and Zhang Xinlan reached the same opinion as Ding Erxun. One minute later, Luo Yu picked up the microphone.

"Lin Fan, guess what your initial evaluation was?"

Lin Fan smiled and spoke his mind: "I hope I'm F, since I won't go very far and won't block other people's debut spots! Of course, it would be even better if I were eliminated directly!"

The entire audience erupted in uproar!

The live chat exploded!