Chapter 113: Broken Bridge Remnant Applies to Join the Battle?
Chen Gang’s intentions were clear to Shen Qing, he wanted Shen Qing to create a big stir to boost viewership, but Brother Qing was young, not stupid.
How to create a stir?
Scandal?
Write new songs for the contestants?
Or perhaps Zhang Liangying announcing that a new album was in preparation?
Regardless of which, none of it would benefit Shen Qing.
Once a scandal failed, it would be like splashing dirty water on oneself.
Writing new songs for the contestants was even less likely! They weren’t Shen Qing’s people, so writing for them would make him a sucker?
Announcing a new album was in preparation?
That was also a possibility…
But Chen Gang didn’t understand: Zhao Lei was his person.
Shen Qing wished for Lei Zi’s popularity to be as high as possible, then after the competition, he could release an album and earn tens of millions.
Shen Qing pretended to take a sip of water and glanced back at Zhang Liangying~
Liangying was very smart!
She immediately picked up the conversation: “Director Chen, don’t worry, the contestants from our Shanghai division are also very outstanding. Xu Song’s 《Rose Funeral》 is very popular online. Isn’t it said that he’s also singing an original song this time?”
Shen Qing liked girls like Liangying; with just a look, she knew the next step, unlike some young girls who only knew to close their eyes and pretend not to see.
…
At this moment.
Long Danni also saw Shen Qing’s ‘difficulty’ and stepped in to help: “Director Chen, you don’t need to worry. That contestant named Xu Song is also very capable. He wrote a quite nice original song called: Snow on the Broken Bridge!”
Li Jing: “I heard it during the rehearsal this afternoon, it’s quite good.”
Chen Gang: “Sigh, but I’m still worried… Xu Song’s singing skills are really average, he probably won’t attract many fans.”
Actually, Xu Song’s ability to attract fans wasn’t weak; in his past life, he had many female fans.
Old Chen was too anxious…
He was in overall charge of the entire 《Come On! Boys》 competition. If it failed, criticism from above would be a minor issue; his future prospects would be in jeopardy.
He might not be able to advance further before retirement,
and perhaps in a short while, he would have to yield to the young newcomer at Dragon TV.
The pressure of being a rival to Mango TV was indeed great…
Chen Gang: “Little Shen, I know it’s a bit difficult for you to write songs, how about this, can you and Liangying go and guide Xu Song a bit, so he sings better?”
This, could be arranged~
Shen Qing also wanted to mentor Xu Song, who was called one of the ‘three giants of online music’ in his past life, and see what his singing skills were really like.
Meanwhile.
Mango TV’s elimination rounds were still ongoing.
A group of people watched while eating.
After the commercial break, He Jiong led Xie Na onto the stage.
He Jiong said: “After three rounds of PK, six contestants have already left our stage, but there’s also good news: two contestants will directly advance to the national finals later.”
Xie Na: “As for the remaining contestants who are pending, one will be eliminated by the three judges and one by text message votes.”
He Jiong took the data handed to him by a staff member and said: “Now, let’s first reveal the winners of the three rounds of PK! They will compete for two spots to advance early. First, in the Changsha VS Guangzhou group, the winner is Amulong, with 52,874 votes.”
Xie Na: “Congratulations, congratulations!”
He Jiong: “In the Xi’an VS Chengdu group, the winner is Zhao Lei, with 108,927 votes. Congratulations, Zhao Lei.”
Holy crap?
Double?
Before this, Zhao Lei’s highest lead was only a few thousand votes, and now one song directly doubled his opponent’s score?
And this was only the data up to two minutes ago.
It might be even higher now!
Zhao Lei was met with enthusiastic applause from the audience.
His fans were shouting very loudly.
The fighting power of artistic youths was no less than that of the corn fans!
He Jiong: “In the Jinan VS Nanjing group, the highest vote count goes to King Group, with 60,369 votes.”
Xie Na: “The highest vote count among the three groups has been determined. Next, two winners will be chosen from them to directly advance to the national finals. Wow, the exciting moment has arrived.”
Zhao Lei, Amulong, and King Group stood on the high platform built behind the stage. Their styles were very different.
Zhao Lei had the cool vibe of an artistic youth.
Amulong was from Inner Mongolia, a bit unrestrained,
King Group consisted of two young men with no memorable features; one looked like Zeng Yi, and the other looked like an enhanced version of Li Xingliang.
…
He Jiong: “The vote counts for our three contestants have now been reset to zero.”
Xie Na: “Later, they will each perform a song to make their final campaign for votes. The first and second place finishers will directly advance to the finals, and the rest will continue to participate in tomorrow’s breakthrough competition.”
He Jiong: “Fans who like them, please vote quickly. Your support will determine who can go all the way!”
Zhao Lei’s heart was pounding wildly~
He wanted to advance so badly.
That was the stage of the national finals!
Even just appearing on stage would be better than singing in bars for ten years. One competition might earn him hundreds of thousands of fans.
Who wouldn’t yearn for that!!
Thinking of his mentor’s wife, Zhang Liangying’s successful path, Zhao Lei clenched his fist, his gaze fixed forward with determination, “Come on, Zhao Lei! You must sing!”
But he also knew that his chance might be only this one!
If he couldn’t make it to the finals later, it would be dangerous.
He couldn’t delay; he had to finish quickly.
He glanced at his opponents beside him, feeling confident, “They are not strong. As long as I sing the song Teacher Shen wrote for me, the audience and judges will definitely choose me. I’m just afraid of unexpected complications.”
…
Meanwhile, Wang Peng was in a dilemma.
“Damn it, the same situation again! Are all these talented contestants so stubborn!?”
“Last year it was Zhang Liangying, relying on her strong singing skills and Shen Qing’s backing, she haggled with me for two months… This year it’s Zhao Lei again! Relying on my appreciation for talent to not dare eliminate you?”
“Damn it, it really hit my weak spot.”
“That kid’s performance of 《Anhe Bridge》 just now was really awesome, I really like it… But I hope he doesn’t act too much like Shen Qing.”
“No! No! I can’t place my hopes on others. I won’t make the same mistake twice. If he absolutely refuses to sign today, he must be kicked out.”
“I’ll go talk to him now…”
With that thought, Wang Peng went to the stage.
…
Center stage.
He Jiong and Xie Na were inviting the judges to comment on the remaining contestants. While Yang Erche Namu was commenting, He Jiong’s mind was not on the pending contestants.
He saw Wang Peng approaching with an imposing aura.
A bad premonition surfaced: Zhao Lei is in danger!
Most of the unsigned contestants on this stage have been eliminated. Zhao Lei is the only one left. Wang Peng has held back for so long, he must be impatient now.
He is going to talk to Zhao Lei.
He Jiong watched helplessly as Wang Peng went around to the back of the stage, feeling a bit anxious, worried that Zhao Lei’s stubborn temper would lead to an argument with Wang Peng.
If that happened, there would be no chance at all.
He Jiong had always liked Zhao Lei because Lei Zi’s stubborn temper suited him. And his singing was good too.
Those familiar with He Jiong might know that he has a bit of a good-natured personality, being amiable to everyone, and for those he likes, he wears ‘protection’ on his face.
For example, when Zhang Liangying and Shen Qing participated in Happy Camp before, He Jiong vigorously recommended Liangying to the audience and canvassed votes for her; for over a month before her album was released, He Jiong also promoted her album on Happy Camp.
Another example is very telling: when Wang Hedi participated in 《Super Dimension Idol》 in 2017, judge He Bing wanted to eliminate him in the first round, but He Jiong managed to save him.
In that talent show, Wang Hedi was the only amateur; all other contestants were signed artists from major management companies.
Wang Hedi’s ability to dominate the competition was largely due to his strength, but it was also inseparable from He Jiong’s support, otherwise, he wouldn’t have even had the chance to continue participating.
At this moment,
Zhao Lei’s situation was very similar to Wang Hedi’s.
He was the only amateur in the entire venue; all other contestants were signed artists from Tianyu, although Tianyu didn’t care about （many of them having poor skills）.
…
After the judges finished commenting on the pending contestants, Yu Hongjun and Gong Ge’er from the Xi’an division were eliminated by the judges and text messages respectively. He Jiong bid them farewell, and the live broadcast went into a commercial break.
He Jiong’s love for talent overflowed again, and he immediately took the time to go behind the high platform.
At this time, Wang Peng was talking with Zhao Lei.
“Zhao Lei, I’ll remind you one last time. Although I, Wang Peng, appreciate your talent, the Super Boy stage will not be a stepping stone for others. If you don’t sign a contract today, the spot to advance will definitely not be yours!”
King Group and Amulong, who heard this, were very excited. They were both cheering for Zhao Lei!
They desperately hoped Lei Zi would hold firm and absolutely not sign.
After all, if he didn’t sign, the two of them would advance.
“Mr. Wang, my personality is not suited for Tianyu. I’m a young man from the hutongs of Beijing who likes to ride a small motorcycle around. If you make me sign for ten years, I might get depression.”
Depression warning!
But that wasn’t popular now.
Wang Peng didn’t care about that.
“Zhao Lei, I’ll advise you one last time. If you miss this stage, you won’t get another chance. Life doesn’t give you a second chance. You must know that you only have 《Anhe Bridge》, you don’t have Shen Qing behind you, you can’t learn from Zhang Liangying…”
Seeing that Zhao Lei was about to retort, He Jiong immediately stopped him and pulled Wang Peng aside, “Brother Wang, I want to have a few words with you…”
Zhao Lei didn’t know what He Jiong did. When Wang Peng returned, he didn’t even look at him and went straight back to the director’s room, no longer bothering him.
He Jiong patted Zhao Lei’s arm: “Focus on the competition, don’t think too much.”
Zhao Lei’s nose felt a little sore, “Thanks, Teacher He!”
King Group and Amulong were stunned.
Wait, Teacher He, what are you doing?!
…
After the commercial break, the live broadcast continued.
The atmosphere at the venue and in front of the television was even more fervent.
“Zhao Lei, Zhao Lei, a thunderclap from flat ground!”
“Lei Zi, keep it up.”
“Amulong, you are the mightiest prairie eagle!”
“King…”
“First to perform is Amulong, he brings us 《Calling》!” After He Jiong introduced the rules, he started letting the contestants perform.
This was a song by Chyi Chin.
When Chyi Chin released this album back then, it was said that the publicity and production costs were 30 million, and yet it didn’t even recoup its costs.
Well, there was no other reason, the song was just mediocre.
Lacking passion.
This was the most taboo thing in a competition.
In a life-or-death PK round, one must choose a song with enough impact, either by hitting high notes, accompanying oneself on guitar, or showcasing rich technique.
But 《Calling》 was mediocre in all aspects.
It was truly unwise for Amulong to sing it in such a critical round.
…
The second to perform was King Group, they brought David Tao’s 《Susan Says》.
The two had mostly sung English songs before, and their coordination was good.
Perhaps because most people didn’t understand English, they couldn’t detect many issues?
This time, when they performed a Chinese song, it was truly mediocre. During the harmony, they were almost singing their own parts, completely exposing their weaknesses.
Finally.
Zhao Lei took the stage.
He was still carrying a guitar.
