Chapter 242: Instead Of Running, She Drew Closer To Me
Halfway through the competition, Xiang Huai Xue’s votes had already been left far behind by the AI Singer, and if this continued, her defeat was certain.
Seeing the vote gap, Yu Wei didn’t even know what to say; Senior, this was really asking for it and getting it…
It was a match that could have been won casually, but she had to pick a slightly tougher opponent; now, the positional gap had been exposed.
Actually, Xiang Huai Xue sang pretty well, but the novelty of a cover song ultimately couldn’t match an original new song.
Moreover, the AI didn’t expose any weaknesses this time; it was a well-rounded fighter, truly hard to beat.
“You gotta step it up.”
Yu Wei didn’t want to be labeled a bad planner; he still hoped the singers in this round could all beat the AI, after all, this was only the second round, and the real competition was still ahead.
Objectively speaking, Xiang Huai Xue’s performance was slightly better than the AI Singer’s, but the high notes in “Left Hand Points to the Moon” spread so quickly that it went viral in no time.
Once the gossipers, bandwagoners, and popularity riders all came to vote, falling behind was inevitable.
Xiang Huai Xue hadn’t expected Yu Wei to go so hard; she had only wanted to challenge herself through the competition, but ended up truly challenged.
Though she wasn’t well-known to the public, she had a great reputation in the industry; probably plenty of colleagues and old veterans wanted to see her make a fool of herself…
If she lost, she probably wouldn’t have the face to hang around in the music scene afterward.
But after racking her brains, Xiang Huai Xue couldn’t find a way to turn the tables; she didn’t have many fans and couldn’t do vote manipulation, hiring internet trolls was even more impossible, and more humiliating than losing.
She couldn’t sleep no matter what, so she got up to scroll her mobile phone, studying Yu Wei’s new song; was this song really that hard?
Xiang Huai Xue listened to the original version a few times on the short video platform and felt quite tempted; she had asked Yu Wei to switch to a harder song precisely so she could choose her own.
Though victory was hopeless now, she still liked this song.
She tapped into the related entries and scrolled casually, unconsciously spotting a short video titled “Challenging the High Note in Left Hand Points to the Moon”; a female internet celebrity strained her voice, singing red-faced and flustered, but still full of flaws.
Different fields are like different worlds; Xiang Huai Xue felt she had been better than that even ten years ago, though the challenge failed, the video’s data was great, so she had ridden the popularity.
She scrolled a few more challenge videos, each one worse than the last; do online singers nowadays not even know basic vocal techniques?
Either they couldn’t hit the high note, or they ran out of breath.
The melody of this song was fairly easy to remember, so there were plenty of bloggers and civilians challenging it on the video platform, but forget succeeding, few even looked decent.
“If they can challenge like this, so can I!”
Xiang Huai Xue got a bit angry watching; Yu Wei’s great song, and you challenge it with that level? Petty tricks daring to show off in front of an expert, letting a senior show you up…
Actually, she was a bit outdated; now many high note challenge short videos get views from the high note trainwreck scenes, full of comedic effect.
Her idea was actually to save face for herself; if she succeeded in challenging “Left Hand Points to the Moon,” even if she lost, it wouldn’t be embarrassing.
Then she could claim she lost to Yu Wei’s song, not the AI; Yu Wei’s strength was beyond doubt, was losing to him embarrassing?
At this thought, Xiang Huai Xue couldn’t sleep even more, so she got up and started filming a video overnight; just high notes, what’s so hard?
……
“Senior’s got some real skill.”
The next morning when Yu Wei scrolled to Xiang Huai Xue’s challenge video, he was shocked; do musicians nowadays surf the internet this fast?
The video title was “Amateur Contestant Tries Left Hand Points to the Moon, Light Roasts OK”; amateur where? She even had the nerve to call herself amateur.
When the accompaniment started and she opened her mouth to sing, Yu Wei sat straight up from his half-reclined position, nearly dropping his mobile phone.
This wasn’t a challenge; it was a conquest.
Her high note was like lightning splitting the night sky, clear, powerful, effortless, piercing through the screen straight to the soul.
No wonder even Teacher Meng Han couldn’t stop praising her singing skill; with this level, no need for originals, a voice made for singing.
When the most shocking part came, she even smiled at the camera, as if saying “watch this,” then effortlessly nailed that highest note spanning three octaves.
The composure of veteran artists…
Since it was a high note challenge, she didn’t sing the full song, but just these lines were still shocking, and the video data was pretty good.
“Thought it was a gimmick challenge, didn’t expect a master.”
“Real name online, how come challenging the opponent’s song?”
“Looks like victory’s hopeless, I’m switching votes.”
“No way, she sounds way more comfortable than the AI, human voice is smoother; I’m going to vote for Huai Xue!”
As the only successful challenger, Xiang Huai Xue’s video data was rising rapidly, and accordingly, the comment section had quite a few passersby spontaneously soliciting votes for her.
Yu Wei checked the vote gap; Xiang Huai Xue was still behind, but clearly catching up, overtaking was just a matter of time.
As expected, if she won, she’d probably pick this song too, fulfilling netizens’ wish to hear the full version.
In a sense, it was a win-win; other singers probably wouldn’t dare pick this song, better for her to showcase it than let it go cold.
Yu Wei didn’t keep watching; he had to go film the program soon; the last two episodes of Music Blind Box were being recorded in a new location, and he needed to head over early.
The original broadcast hall was a bit small; nearing the finale, time for some big production, after all, the program team had made plenty of money.
The program team specially chose a large stadium that could hold tens of thousands as the recording venue; ticket info was already up, titled “Blind Box, Ten Thousand Person Venue.”
Hope the program team acts decently and doesn’t price tickets too high…
In the center of the stadium, the stage framework had risen up, staff bustling like ants among the steel frames.
The setup wasn’t finished, but today was just filming the opening blind box segment, going through the process; Yu Wei looked around until someone called him.
“Teacher Yu? You’re here so early?” Executive Director Xiao Lin jogged over, fine beads of sweat on his forehead.
It hadn’t been many days since the last episode’s recording, but Yu Wei’s change was so big he almost didn’t recognize him; things were different now.
“Seeing the world, gathering some material.”
Yu Wei really hadn’t seen stage setup before, so he treated it as material collection.
The executive director scratched his head, not knowing how to respond; sure enough, wherever he went, he was thinking about his novel.
“Still installing lights and screens; sound system testing starts in an hour.” He handed Yu Wei a bottle of water. “But since you’re here, want to learn about the rules for the last two episodes?”
“Rules?”
Yu Wei knew right away the last two episodes had rule changes; previously it was civilian blind boxes, so what for the last two, blind box blind boxes?
Turns out it really was; the civilians who partnered with him before would return, and he’d draw one again from them.
This… Yu Wei realized a crucial issue.
“What about the guest performers’ partners?”
Every episode had guest performers, plus the episodes he and Meng Han missed; those civilians who partnered with replacement stars, whose were they? Couldn’t leave them unclaimed.
Fellow civilians, but guest performers’ partners get neglected?
Guests unloved by program team, so tragic…
“No way, we definitely have arrangements.”
The executive director smiled; any civilian contestant who’d been on the program, they wouldn’t overlook; that was the program’s core audience.
“Got it.”
Yu Wei recalled his partners, once again remembering those painful experiences; too many bad teammates, scary just thinking about it.
Good at nothing; if singing skill good, mentality bad; mentality good, singing skill bad; both good but doesn’t speak Chinese, pretty absurd.
If he could choose a partner, he might pick failure Hu Xing or long-haul driver Liu Wang; their singing skills were good, voices unique, perfect for chorus.
Sadly, he had no choice.
When Qi Luo An was among the so-called options, the single-choice answer was already set…
While he was pondering how to draw that “only solution,” the second guest Su Xinnan arrived; she looked beaming, totally different from her sighing state before leaving.
Looked like she’d gotten over the shadow of not getting an invitation; just one concert, plenty of opportunities later.
Actually, another reason Su Xinnan was so happy was that her arch-rival Gu Ningyue went but didn’t get any popularity.
Yu Wei did great, blocking her with two songs front and back; an outsider like Gu Ningyue couldn’t play hero anymore.
No singing skill, no marketing; performance directly turned into background material, just desserts.
“Sister Nan’s in great state.”
“Thanks to you.”
Yu Wei was well aware, so he proactively brought up how Gu Ningyue had probed him back then; Su Xinnan cursed her shameless several times, pure hate.
Badmouthing her to friends while she was away, that deserved cursing; but hearing Chen Jinyi had scolded her off, Su Xinnan felt much better.
Good thing Jinyi Sister came, or with Gu Ningyue’s mouth, who knows what she’d say…
“But that one’s vindictive; you embarrassed her at the concert this time, she’ll definitely try to save face from the film industry.”
Yu Wei perked up; such a good thing?
He was just worrying how to free-of-charge rope Sister Nan into filming; Su Xinnan wasn’t from the music field, new songs wouldn’t attract her; Gu Ningyue came at the perfect time.
Enemy’s enemy is friend; Sister Nan hated her this much, time to join their movie for revenge?
He just tested the waters mentioning it, and Su Xinnan agreed instantly, without hesitation.
Su Xinnan’s reason went beyond just competing with her rival; through this concert “fall from favor” incident, she’d seen clear: sticking with Yu Wei was the way.
Even newcomer Chi Leying got to the table thanks to Yu Wei, becoming famous at the concert and earning favor from above; what was there to hesitate?
Making Gu Ningyue jealous was just a bonus; her main goal right now was to go viral.
While the two discussed cooperation details, the third guest Meng Han arrived; he wasn’t alone, a familiar face following behind.
“Long time no see, kid.”
If it wasn’t Lin Puyan, the fierce-yet-timid music senior who’d left a deep impression on Yu Wei by chickening out before the battle.
Of course, his music standard was high too; Yu Wei acknowledged that last guitar vocal performance; he’d definitely rank in the current top ten musicians.
At the music awards ceremony, many powerhouse music masters didn’t come; they’d basically won awards long ago, no need for such events.
As for the veteran artists in the front row then, they were mostly retired, unknown strength.
For singers in their prime, it was Meng Han and Lin Puyan’s generation, right in their ambitious years.
“Teacher Lin, this is guest performer?”
Lin Puyan coming to the program recording site definitely wasn’t for sightseeing; high chance Meng Han dragged him in as guest performer.
For the finale, needed a strong musician to hold the stage.
“Came to see the world.”
After the capital concert, Lin Puyan was full of curiosity about Yu Wei; how was this kid so freakish?
Heard he had strong creative ability on the program; had to come see for himself.
This time two righteous ones two against one, couldn’t lose to this kid again…
“Oh ho, coming toward me? Approaching instead of running.”
Yu Wei feared two against one the least.
