They had a great time riding bikes that night.

But they got scolded the next day.

The five of them stood in a row, heads bowed, as they received a barrage of scolding from their manager, Yan Jie.

"I've told you guys so many times to report when you want to go out, don't you remember?"

"Don't you know how dangerous it is?"

"Just tell me, what would have happened if you were caught on camera last night? Would the company handle the PR or would you solve it yourselves, huh?"

Cheng Zhen quietly raised her hand to object, "... But it's not a big deal if we were caught on camera, right?"

They were just riding bikes.

They weren't going to a nightclub.

You can't be a girl group idol and not even have the freedom to ride a bike, right?

Yan Jie: "..."

She was even angrier, "You don't think you're wrong, do you?"

"Being caught on camera is a small matter, danger is the bigger issue. After all, you're a few girls, what would have happened if something had happened to you while you were out alone in the middle of the night? Don't you have any common sense!"

She was getting more and more like a mom fan, and in the end, seeing the five of them looking down, she suddenly softened, she just emphasized as she left, "There's no next time!"

After the manager left.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Cheng Zhen covered her ears and shook her head, "I haven't been scolded like that since I graduated."

"..."

Jiang Ye, who had first proposed the idea, confessed, "It's all my fault."

The others quickly comforted her.

"It's not your fault, it's not your fault."

"We all participated, and wasn't it fun?"

"Actually, Manager Yan Jie is right."

Lin Zui said, "It's pretty dangerous to ride bikes at night."

She paused and said, "So, I suggest we do it during the day."

Jiang Ye: "..."

You are not afraid of death, are you?

After a month of struggling through challenges, the first season of their group variety show, "Challenge the Impossible with 5tars", officially aired in August.

Each episode of the variety show was about an hour long, and there were ten episodes in total.

The company's original idea was that the group variety show was just for fans to watch.

After all, for most idol group variety shows, solo fans usually make solo cuts, CP fans watch couple cuts, and only a small number of group fans will watch an episode over and over again.

But unexpectedly, the first episode was cut out and reposted tens of thousands of times because of their amazing performance in the escape room.

【Forward this Cheng Zhen, and you'll become a lucky charm.】

【You might as well forward this Jiang Ye, after that, ghosts will run away from you!】

As the group variety show's popularity grew with each episode, 5tars started planning their second album.

The initial plan for the second album was four songs, each in a different style, and one of them would be the title track with an MV.

"This is different from the debut album."

Yan Jie said, "The title track for the second album will have a special project, it's to see what your attitude is towards bad reviews from the outside world."

"The special project will be released two days before the album is released, as a way to hype up the album."

Jiang Ye flipped through the materials in her hand and asked, "What's the content of the project?"

Yan Jie: "Read bad reviews."

Jiang Ye's movements paused slightly.

Reading bad reviews is also a popular variety show format in recent years.

And it usually gets a lot of attention.

After all, both fans and haters like to watch.

Fans will scold the project while feeling sorry for their idols.

Haters will cut out the part where they read the bad reviews and celebrate.

And passersby will also be interested, either with pity or mockery, but they'll definitely get attention.

The only problem is that reading bad reviews is really a mental burden for the idols themselves.

After all, no one likes to hear people scold them.

Sure enough, everyone in 5tars looked a little stiff when they heard this.

The manager comforted them, "We will screen the bad reviews, we won't include those that are particularly excessive or vulgar, you can rest assured about that."

"And the focus this time isn't the bad reviews, it's your attitude towards responding to bad reviews."

Jiang Ye quickly flipped to the second album's title track.

The song is called "Unworthy", and the lyrics are quite sharp and aggressive.

The first half of the song, the two words "unworthy", are mainly reflected in those malicious comments that scold them for being unworthy, and the second half of the song, "unworthy", is their attitude towards responding to malicious comments, saying that we're unworthy, don't even look at yourself and see if you're worthy.

This song is indeed suitable for the second album.

Because the first album, as their debut album, was mainly to establish the style of the entire group, to open up the market beyond fans.

But starting with the second album, they could express some of their own thoughts.

And 5tars has been doing quite well in the past two months, and their fans have become more relaxed, the content of this project is just right to stimulate the fans' enthusiasm.

Jiang Ye finished reading the lyrics and asked tentatively, "So, our attitude is to fight back?"

"The style of the song is like that, you guys should try to cooperate."

Yan Jie said, "But this isn't a hard requirement, there's no script, if you have your own ideas, you can do it."

Lin Zui clicked her tongue, "Watching us get scolded, then watching us freestyle, how mean."

Yan Jie: "..."

Shen Zhiyi asked, "... When are we recording this?"

Cheng Zhen: "Yeah, at least give us some time to prepare mentally."

Yan Jie: "Soon, in the next couple of days, you guys can start preparing."

Cheng Zhen nervously turned to Tan Meng and asked, "What do you think I'll be scolded for? I'll practice, practice."

Tan Meng: "..."

Tan Meng opened her mouth, but in the end, she was silent for a while and said, "... Nothing."

"No way!"

"You can always point out a bunch of my flaws-"

Jiang Ye also immediately looked at Lin Zui and winked, "What about me? What's wrong with me?"

Lin Zui thought for a moment and said, "You always get first place and put me down, so annoying."

Jiang Ye: "..."

Lin Zui also curiously asked, "What about me?"

Jiang Ye: "You're too rich. I'm envious of the rich."

Lin Zui: "..."

A few days later, 5tars was indeed called to record the reading bad reviews project.

Everyone specially did their makeup for this.

Cheng Zhen whispered, "We have to look so good when we're getting scolded, is it because we'll look better when we cry?"

Jiang Ye thought for a moment, "Maybe it's to make us look more intimidating when we're scolding back."

Cheng Zhen immediately became serious, "Then I have to prepare, I have to think about how to fight back without using curse words."

They chatted happily among themselves, they could make all kinds of jokes.

But when everyone took out their mailboxes, they were all a little hesitant to look.

The camera was pointing at them from a distance.

Jiang Ye thought for a moment and said, "I'll go first, I'll test the waters for you guys."

The others had no objections.

After all, in their hearts, Jiang Ye was almost perfect.

If even Jiang Ye was being scolded, they could not imagine what they would be scolded for.

There were countless folded letters in the mailbox.

Jiang Ye opened them one by one and started to read them word for word.

"Am I the only one who doesn't get Jiang Ye at all? I think her style is so greasy."

"Fans are always blowing her up as a human king, forcing the public's aesthetic standards and blowing her up as the ceiling of the entertainment industry, but she's not that strong, right?"

"Jiang Ye is too obsessed with pleasing fans, so low, is she so worried about losing fans?"

"Jiang Ye's bunny teeth are so ugly, shouldn't she get braces as an idol?"

Jiang Ye: "..."

Actually, the first few were okay, but when she saw the last one, Jiang Ye almost laughed in anger.

Her bunny teeth were something she really liked about herself.

It's true that it's not perfect, but it's precisely because of this imperfection that her smile is very distinctive and recognizable.

And in a way, it was because of her bunny teeth that she gained attention during the seat selection stage, it was her bunny teeth that helped her secure the C position in the coronation ceremony.

Why can internet trolls scold people for anything these days?

After Jiang Ye, the pioneer, read the bad reviews, the others also stepped up and started reading.

"She debuted eight years ago, and she's still the second-place runner-up."

"Are Lin Zui's fans not embarrassed to always call her the Great Demon King?"

"Cheng Zhen, stop eating, stop eating, the foodie persona is so outdated, I'm embarrassed for her."

"Many people don't dare to say it, but Tan Meng's personality is just annoying, who would want to be friends with her in real life? She's a green tea."

"Shen Zhiyi is so petty, I don't know who likes her."

These harshest and most hurtful comments were directly displayed in front of them.

Even though they knew that there were people in the world who didn't like them, they still felt hurt when they faced these malicious comments.

The atmosphere on the set suddenly became heavy.

Then, there was a ripping sound.

Lin Zui directly tore up all the letters.

"I actually find it funny."

"I've found that these people who scold me, not a single one of them has pointed out any actual mistakes I've made, they're all just complaining about boring things."

Lin Zui counted on her fingers, "If you're fat, they'll scold you, if you're too thin, they'll scold you too."

"If you don't interact with fans, they'll say you don't cherish your fans, if you're nice to fans, they'll say you're sucking up to fans."

"I think you guys just want to scold people, right?"

Lin Zui paused and couldn't help but add, "You guys can find reasons to scold Jiang Ye, let alone me."

Jiang Ye: "?"

"My attitude is simple."

Lin Zui, "If you like me, type 1, if you don't like me, go back and gouge out your eyeballs, it's that simple."

Jiang Ye: "..."

Jiang Ye couldn't help but laugh out loud.

As expected of Lin Zui's personality, even if she didn't do this project, she would probably have the same attitude towards bad reviews.

If you like me, your taste is good, if you don't like me, you can go away.

Jiang Ye was quite impressed with Lin Zui's courage.

She thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll respond too."

She flipped through each letter, "If these can be considered suggestions for me, then thank you first, and I want to say."

She threw down a letter, "I won't get braces."

She threw down another, "And I won't change my stage style."

Finally, she crumpled the letter that scolded her for sucking up to fans, "And I won't change how I interact with my fans because of your words."

"I know that after I say this, it will still be cut out and interpreted in many ways, maybe even more people will dislike me, think I'm arrogant, conceited, and think I'm rude and can't take advice."

"But there are so many voices that don't like me, do I really need to listen to them one by one?"

"It's normal for people to dislike me."

"But there are also many people who like me."

"If I spend too much energy listening to these people who don't like me and don't listen to the people who like me."

Jiang Ye looked up and smiled brightly at the camera, "Then the people who like me will be sad."