Free Web NovelChapter 772: Chapter 743: Gage Grant vs. Maeve [005]
Although the trending topic about a wealthy fan spending fifteen million two hundred thousand to reward Maeve was promptly taken down, the news was still quickly screenshotted by some of Maeve’s loyal fans and widely discussed in various groups. Some fans even said they would try any means to contact this fan and nominate him as one of Maeve’s Head Fans, hoping he might be able to snag some resources for Maeve.
Fans sent private messages and various forwards to this wealthy fan’s Weibo three times a day, with at least tens of thousands doing so at once, likely overwhelming his inbox.
During those days, everyone was having a blast in the group, with all the chatter revolving around this wealthy fan. Eventually, his nickname among the fans turned into "1520."
"Another day without any news from 1520..."
"Do you think 1520 is a man or a woman?"
"Isn’t it written in the profile that the gender is male?"
"Then he must be tall, rich, and handsome! May the goddess marry him!"
A few fans who knew Maeve liked girls quickly changed the topic: "Is Maeve attending the recording of ’Original Female Voice’ this afternoon? When will this episode be aired?"
"Seems like next Saturday at eight in the evening."
"Everyone set your alarms!"
...
The fans enthusiastically moved on to discussing Maeve’s new show.
Maeve exited the Weibo group chat and looked at herself in the mirror. The stylist was spraying temporary deep blue hair dye on her hair, helping her with an androgynous look.
"Maeve," the assistant came in, "there’s a gentleman outside looking for you."
Maeve frowned, looking at the assistant in the mirror.
Aside from male colleagues at work and her high school classmate Zion Quincy who also worked in Brimfield, she had no dealings with any men here.
"Who is it?"
"He didn’t say his name. He just said you’d know who he is and would meet him."
Maeve tilted her chin slightly at the mirror and said coolly, "I won’t see him, tell him to leave."
"Okay, Maeve."
After the assistant left, the stylist laughed, "Is the security taking a nap? How did they let just anyone in, I’ll file a complaint later."
Maeve smiled but didn’t respond.
A moment later, the assistant came back in: "Maeve, he’s not leaving. I asked his name, and he said he’s called Ashton Grant."
The stylist chuckled, "What a name!"
Maeve found the name oddly familiar as if she’d heard it somewhere before but couldn’t remember who it was after thinking for a few seconds: "Don’t know him, tell security to kick him out."
"Okay."
The assistant left again.
The stylist finished Maeve’s hairstyle and held up a mirror to show her the back.
"Fans are crazy these days, thinking they can see their idol just by giving a random name—it’s not that easy." The stylist laughed, "At least come up with a normal name, like ’Ashton Grant,’ in this day and age who still has such a name..."
Maeve sneered, "Exactly..."
Before finishing her sentence, a dense sound of footsteps accompanied by the sound of bold high heels was heard coming from the hallway, approaching rapidly.
"Oh, isn’t this Maeve?"
Candice Chase, wearing an off-the-shoulder fitted dress, took a few steps toward Maeve, her fully made-up face filled with smugness, "I heard your concert tour plans got canceled? Oh, let me tell you, there’s really nothing interesting about holding concerts! Especially someone like you, who couldn’t even find a sponsor. Don’t be so foolish to put up your own money for it, it’s really meaningless..."
Maeve smiled, "When it comes to holding concert tours, you’re the senior, outstanding. I was just thinking of asking for your advice on how to negotiate with sponsors to increase the chances."
To someone unaware of the inside story, this sounded normal, but Candice, who had secured sponsorships through underhanded means, guilty, heard Maeve’s sarcasm implying she slept her way to the sponsorships, and her expression quickly turned awkward.
"Of course," Candice raised her chin, "come to my studio sometime, I’ll tell you everything!" Pretending to be strong, she left with her entourage towards the makeup section.
Maeve’s lips curved slightly as she tilted her body slightly, watching the group retreat with a not entirely kind smile, then slowly sat back in her seat.
The stylist whispered, "That person really doesn’t know when to quit, even knowing there’s nothing to gain here, she just keeps asking for a beating."
Maeve snorted, "Pathetic."
She looked at herself in the mirror.
Short hair, light makeup, flat chest, slender, pale.
Then looked at the sultry Candice.
She knew clearly, there were some things she couldn’t have, but also because of that, she didn’t lose others, and that was enough.
She didn’t like making deals with the devil.
...
’Original Female Voice’ is a competitive music show developed by the hottest domestic streaming platform, where the directors bring together over thirty original female singers from across the country to compete through a series of performances to select the top three. The winners receive comprehensive promotion and resources from the platform.
Throughout these years, Maeve has attended all the normal notifications and shows, so when the show’s directors approached her and mentioned it was an original competitive show, she agreed immediately. She just didn’t expect Candice to be invited as well.
In recent years, influenced by Hong Kong and Taiwan, the domestic music scene has increasingly welcomed original singers in the market, so many singers debut trying to package themselves as originals, regardless if they truly write songs or not.
The ones who can truly write, of course, are deserving of the title ’original singer.’ Those who can’t, like Candice, rely on their good looks to find ghostwriters to buy songs and put her name on them, flaunting themselves as ’original beauty singers’ to cheat the music scene.
Since they debuted the same year and signed with rival companies respectively, they were doomed to compete from the start. Over the years, Candice’s team frequently tried to smear Maeve, but due to Maeve’s lack of fame and a clean record, it never really sparked much.
The two were of similar age and both were quite noticed original female singers in the current music scene, the circle was small, and they often encountered each other on the same shows. But Maeve was surprised to learn Candice signed up for this show too, as she knew the show later required impromptu songwriting which Candice’s half-baked skills clearly couldn’t handle. Wasn’t she courting disgrace?
The initial recording of the show went from three in the afternoon till midnight, with over thirty female singers taking turns on stage performing their original songs, getting scores from the live audience and judges.
After the first round, half of the contestants were eliminated. Maeve ranked thirteenth, advancing to the second round, while Candice became the dark horse, placing third. Her sweet appearance and upbeat song were popular with most of the ’90s and ’00s live audience, and her score surpassed several more experienced veteran singers. After the show aired, various media outlets were rushing to cover her, and Candice was riding high.
During this period, that wealthy fan nicknamed 1520 who spent fifteen million two hundred thousand on Maeve also secretly joined her fan’s Weibo group.
