Chapter 81: Li Xiang is Appointed Zhang Liangying’s First Disciple
“Our Myriad Lands are built on benevolence.”
“A faith that will never be extinguished for a thousand years.”
“The Red Sun rises in the east, its great path filling the sky with radiance.”
The song ends!
Zhang Liangying spread her arms wide and bowed grandly.
After finishing this song, she felt the pressure on her body instantly disappear, as if everything had vanished into thin air, leaving her incredibly relaxed.
She looked in Shen Qing’s direction and saw him give her a thumbs-up. Zhang Liangying’s smile bloomed instantly.
The live broadcast camera captured this moment. After singing Myriad Lands, Zhang Liangying’s smile exuded a sense of dignified grace.
Perhaps it was due to Liangying’s state of mind, but it was undoubtedly inseparable from her fans’ favoritism.
Stage side.
Li Xiang and Wang Han stood next to Li Yuchun and Zhou Bichang, stunned for several seconds before going on stage to host.
A gap appeared in the live broadcast.
Only Zhang Liangying stood alone in the center of the stage.
This was a live broadcast accident!
The on-site director kept reminding them, and only then did Li Xiang and Wang Han react. They hurried onto the stage.
After they resumed hosting normally, they both let out a sigh of relief.
They were indeed shocked by Zhang Liangying just now, because the music from the sound equipment suspended above them was as powerful as a great bell.
Li Xiang: “Allow me to say to Zhang Liangying, you sang brilliantly! One song, Myriad Lands, made me forget I was hosting the show.”
Wang Han: “Witnessing a grand patriotic song performed on our Super Girl stage is the happiest day of my hosting career.”
Li Xiang: “Exactly! Did you all like this song?”
From the audience, both Liangfen fans and the judges loudly replied: “We like it! We like it very much.”
The stronger the feedback from the people present, the more disheartened Li Yuchun and Wang Peng became.
If they saw the reaction of the viewers in front of their televisions, they would probably be even more disheartened—many Corn fans and Biqin fans had defected.
At this moment.
With less than 15 minutes left until the end of the live broadcast, the competition results were basically locked in. How much could they change?
Wang Peng immediately had staff contact the mobile operators to obtain first-hand data.
While waiting for the data, Wang Peng felt immense agony.
In fact, he could guess who had the highest number of text message votes without seeing the results, but he was unwilling to give up and did not want to accept this outcome.
“The gap must not be too large.”
“Not too large!”
“It absolutely must not exceed 500,000…”
…
Stage.
Wang Han: “Look at the songs the three of them sang: ‘The Mountains and Rivers Are Always Full of Love,’ ‘Hometown Clouds,’ and ‘Myriad Lands.’ Each song touches our hearts.”
Li Xiang: “Yes! Especially for those who are watching our live broadcast as expatriates, they will surely feel deeply moved.”
Wang Han had a high favorability towards Shen Qing, and when hosting, he subconsciously leaned towards Shen Qing’s side.
It was the same now.
He smiled and said, “Oh, Li Xiang, the competition is about to end. Which song sung by the contestants tonight best suits your taste? I’ll go first, I like Myriad Lands—Long live our motherland!”
Oh, this…
Wang Han, you bastard!!
With you saying that, what else can I say?
Do we have a choice?
We can only choose “Long live.”
But Li Xiang also had a need to show off, and she didn’t want Wang Han to be the only one doing so.
So she smiled charmingly at the camera and said with an extremely solemn expression and announcer’s voice, “I also like Myriad Lands as much as you do, because on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Victory of the Anti-Japanese War, I wish our great motherland prosperity and longevity!”
Buzz…
Everyone’s heads were buzzing…
Holy crap, you can elevate the theme like that?
Wang Han stared blankly at Li Xiang, filled with regret, “Damn it, why didn’t I think of that line? She beat me to it!”
He Jiong, a fellow host, was the first to react and shouted, “Me too! Wishing our great motherland longevity!”
The Liangfen fans cheered in unison: “We are all the same!”
The other judges might have been more reserved.
But they all applauded and cheered.
The cameraman’s lens swept across the people in the first row; everyone had a smile on their faces that came from the heart.
However, in the director’s room, Wang Peng clenched his fists: “You all enjoyed showing off, but what about me? Answer me!!!”
Shen Qing laughed heartily, “Good one, Li Xiang… a stroke of genius! I didn’t even expect this segment to happen, elevating it…”
Now, Li Xiang’s heartfelt words had directly linked Myriad Lands with the 60th Anniversary of the Victory of the Anti-Japanese War.
Viewers in front of their televisions, do you know who to vote for now?
It can be said that Liangying has secured her protective charm!
Who dares to speak ill of her again!?
Without any official intervention, fans could drown anyone who spoke ill of her with a single spit.
But…
Shen Qing didn’t relax; instead, his breathing quickened. “In a few days, it will be the 60th Anniversary cultural gala. Beijing will have a grand celebration, and other provinces and cities will too. Will someone invite Zhang Liangying?”
Of course, this possibility was very small, but it couldn’t be entirely ruled out.
After all, Super Girl is too popular right now.
Moreover, Zhang Liangying had appeared on Central Media news for songs like Farewell and Father’s Prose Poem, her image was sufficiently positive.
It wasn’t entirely impossible for her to receive an invitation.
After all, these gala organizers also wanted to further expand their influence—inviting the hottest and most popular singers would be most appropriate.
Look, isn’t the Spring Festival Gala every year like this!?
The singers who perform at the Spring Festival Gala are the hottest ones of the year. In the 2005 Spring Festival Gala, even Yang Chenggang, who sang “The Mouse Loves Rice,” appeared!
Why couldn’t Liangying appear at these large-scale galas?
…
“Oh my god, it’s been elevated, it’s been elevated.”
“This song can be interpreted like this?”
“I’m willing to recognize Li Xiang as Liangying’s top disciple; she’s so good at elevating the theme.”
“Suddenly, I feel like Super Girl isn’t so unworthy of the stage anymore. What do you guys think? This battle tonight has killed any future Super Girl competitions.”
The audience was in heated discussion. No one had expected this scene to unfold. Li Xiang’s single sentence had completely ignited their emotions.
Zhang Liangying’s expression at this moment could only be described as shocked and surprised. She stared blankly at Li Xiang, suddenly feeling how grand Sister Xiang was tonight.
Shen Qing hadn’t told her about these things, yet Li Xiang had a flash of inspiration and elevated Myriad Lands to such a height.
Sister Xiang, you’re amazing!
Satisfying!
The smile on Liangying’s face was almost uncontrollable.
But she couldn’t smile yet.
Because the current situation was under Li Xiang’s control, and she had to follow Li Xiang’s rhythm. Smiling would be out of place.
As the person involved, Li Xiang was also a little stunned.
At this moment, she looked at the wildly cheering Liangfen fans in the audience and witnessed the most enthusiastic applause of the night…
It was only at this moment that Li Xiang realized the weight of her previous statement and that the opportunity for widespread fame was right before her…
Her reaction was super fast, and she immediately said, “Dear audience, dear judges, let us all applaud for our motherland, and also applaud Zhang Liangying, who sang Myriad Lands, shall we?”
The applause lasted for a full 20 seconds!
Everyone cheered heartily from the bottom of their hearts.
Seeing that Li Xiang had stolen the spotlight, Wang Han felt terrible and quickly followed suit, trying to take credit: “Thank you, thank you Liangying. Wishing our great motherland prosperity and longevity!”
The atmosphere in the entire venue was completely ignited.
The emotions of the viewers in front of their televisions were equally fervent.
An emotion called tears of joy spread in everyone’s hearts.
At this very moment, Shen Qing was also infected by the atmosphere and was on the verge of losing control. He smiled and said, “Damn it, I’m moved.”
Wang Han: “Only now do I understand the saying from the Book of Rites, ‘The Book of Music’: Only joy cannot be faked!”
In front of the television, the esteemed elder Wu Zhuqiang, former dean of the Central Conservatory of Music, had tears welling up in his cloudy eyes. He murmured:
“Only joy cannot be faked! Only music is not false! The musical path for these two young comrades who wrote and sang this song is limitless~”
…
Director’s room.
Wang Peng no longer wanted to listen to the noise from the studio. He looked at the data he had just obtained and shook his head helplessly.
“Zhang Liangying is leading by nearly 2.5 million votes!”
“She now has 5.42 million votes, an increase of over 3 million in just one week. This is unscientific… Is this data fake?”
“Quick, verify it again! This data must be wrong!!”
Just then~
The woman responsible for handling the text message data looked at the messages from the mobile operator and swallowed. “Mr. Wang, people from Mobile say the text message data is surging…”
Wang Peng stepped forward: “Who is surging?”
The woman replied: “They didn’t say who…”
A name popped into Wang Peng’s mind: Zhang Liangying, because the scene in the studio at the moment could explain the problem.
Who among the viewers in front of the television could resist voting?
In the last ten minutes, the operators still hadn’t provided accurate data because Zhang Liangying’s vote count was increasing significantly every moment.
Wang Peng was very helpless.
At this moment.
Facing the highly emotional audience, Wang Peng was also scared!
That red light hanging overhead made him afraid to do anything that crossed the line. He felt a chill just thinking about it.
…
To let things continue to ferment, Li Xiang gave the interview opportunity to Hei Nan, knowing that Hei Nan would never speak carelessly.
Hei Nan picked up the microphone, first praised Zhang Liangying’s Myriad Lands profusely, and then commented from a professional perspective:
“Why does Myriad Lands sound grand and solemn? Why does it so perfectly fit Chinese aesthetics? Why does it resonate so strongly with people?”
“Because it uses a pentatonic scale arrangement—Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zhi, Yu, which are the five notes ‘12356,’ without the semitones ‘4 and 7’.”
“Coupled with its magnificent and majestic lyrics…”
After listening to Hei Nan’s explanation, many ordinary viewers began to understand the song, and their favorability towards Myriad Lands increased by another notch.
“Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zhi, Yu, the pentatonic scale, this is ancient court music passed down from our ancestors!”
“Mango TV, a hall of elegance!”
“A song like this actually appeared on the Super Girl stage? Did I tune into the wrong channel? I thought this was CCTV3!”
“The lyricist, composer, and arranger are incredibly skilled.”
“There’s no suspense for the championship!”
“I originally thought Zhang Liangying would kill the competition with an adapted version of ‘Crazy for Love,’ but then she sang a great song, ‘Moonlight,’ and just when I thought… she sang ‘Myriad Lands’ again… Liangying, where is your limit!!”
“I want to know how many votes Liangying has, has it exceeded 5 million?”
“…”
Li Xiang glanced at the time and realized five minutes had passed. She quickly pulled back the momentum and began the final round of lucky draws.
On the other side.
Wang Peng looked at the text message voting situation as of 10:40 PM and sighed deeply.
There was no chance.
He couldn’t muster the slightest thought of tampering with the data.
Heartbroken.
He walked to the door and stopped, turning back to say, “Please report the data provided by the operators truthfully and as soon as possible.”
…
Backstage, in the prop room.
Several staff members received the text message vote counts and began making props according to the numbers.
They used something similar to a basketball scoreboard, with 10 flip positions, but only used 7 digits.
“Did I read that number wrong?”
“Didn’t Zhang Liangying have over 5 million votes just now? How did she gain another 800,000 votes in a few minutes? My god, the total has exceeded 6 million votes…”
“It must be the credit of Myriad Lands. Sister Xiang’s words just now moved even me.”
“Me too! Zhang Liangying is just too strong.”
“If she wins the championship, what about Li Yuchun?”
“Are you stupid? Who would dare to change the data at this point? Would you dare? I wouldn’t, anyway. Hurry up and make it. It needs to be up there within two minutes.”
“…”
Thanks to Leshi for the 1500-point reward, and thanks to Yumeng Chige and Ruo Ruo Chujian for the 100-point rewards.
