I am Really a Superstar 3

by Little Merger

Zhang Ye was originally a mundane college graduate with aspiring dreams to become a star, but unfortunately has below average looks and height. However one day, he woke up and suddenly found himself in a parallel world!It’s like the same world, but wait a minute…many brands, celebrities and even famous works from his world changed and are gone in this new world!

8. 1061

I am Really a Superstar #Chapter 1061: Victory for the musicians! - Read I am Really a Superstar Chapter 1061: Victory for the musicians! Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Chapter 1061: Victory for the musicians!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The music industry raised a furor!

The people from the television industry were shocked by what they were seeing.

"The music industry is at war with the associations!"

"How fierce!"

"It's making my blood course with passion!"

"Good showing, brothers!"

"They really spoke up. There are this many of them coming forward? All of the veterans, singers, rookies, lyricists, and composers in the music industry have come forward?"

"This is an event that will definitely go down in the annals of history!"

"Just what will the final outcome of this battle be?"

"Dunno. Now we see how the authorities react!"

"It's definitely going to be hard to deal with. If it were just one or two people, it might not be so bad. But with this large group that even includes some of China's veteran singers, influential singers from the Political Department's Song and Dance Troupe, and the Heavenly Kings and Queens protesting against the ban on musical pieces, how could they handle it? I think this is going to be difficult to answer since the most important factor is still the SARFT's attitude on the issue. But they haven't issued a response to this yet!"

This was a big event in the music industry!

With the involvement of so many celebrities, the news had spread far and wide!

The netizens were very excited!

"Just one song is enough to cause such huge trouble?"

"I have to give it to The Clown!"

"Which celebrity could this fellow be!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Supporting our musicians!"

"They have my support too!"

"I must really give a Like to the music industry this time!"

Many people were paying constant attention to the developments as this issue was getting way too serious. If it was not properly handled, it would cause a major shakeup!

...

Elsewhere.

Bai Li was currently on the phone with someone.

"Hello, Secretary Bai."

"Director Han, I've finally managed to reach you."

"I've been away for a meeting the past few days and just got back today."

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"Have you heard yet?"

"Of course I've heard."

"What's going on over on your side? Why did you guys suddenly decide to roll out a ban on musical pieces? Who approved the decision? Who agreed to it?"

"Wasn't the SARFT going to introduce something similar? And weren't the directives going to be announced very soon as well?"

"We have indeed come up with a new white paper listing some music and film work directives, but when did we state it in a way like you? When did we say that we would not allow the broadcast and composition of music pieces that don't generate positivity? Have you even seen our documents? Do you all know what the intent of the white paper is? We simply wanted to standardize some regulations, not call for restraint or a ban without valid reasons! What has it become now? Look at how things have turned out. Many musicians refuse to accept it. Did you guys consider the consequences of your actions? Did you think of the negative impact caused by your mishandling?"

"Secretary Bai, the SARFT has its considerations and we have ours. After all, the scope of our work is different, and besides—"

"Are you sure you still want to go on about this? Fine, let me tell you this then. This matter was entrusted to me by Chief Wu personally. She's still overseas at the moment and can come back on today's flight. If my words are ineffective, fine. But when Chief Wu gets back tonight, maybe I should get her to contact you personally? Would that be better?"

At this, Director Han anxiously said: "How could I make Chief Wu personally call me?" He gave a bitter laugh and said: "Secretary Bai, please don't get me into trouble."

Bai Li said: "The SARFT is very unhappy with how the Beijing Ministry of Culture has handled things this time. It's not that I'm trying to get you into trouble; it's your own people who are messing things up! We only have one request right now, and that is to call for an immediate withdrawal of the guidelines that you all announced earlier, as well as those so-called directives by the relevant associations! When the finalized white paper is published by the SARFT, any new regulations introduced will be done in consideration of the SARFT's directives!"

Director Han said: "That's not really for me to decide."

Bai Li was annoyed. "Alright, I'll get someone who can make the decision on your behalf then!"

...

An hour later.

An executive from the Ministry of Culture was startled!

This executive was not from the local department of the Ministry of Culture, but a more senior leader above them!

Perhaps it was Bai Li or someone else from the SARFT who had communicated it to him. But it was only then that he realized that the so-called guidelines issued by the local department below was from some hearsay and actually very imprecise due to the fact that the SARFT had not officially passed down their directives yet. But because of the local department's authoritarianism, the other associations had misunderstood and treated the guidelines like an imperial edict by rushing to implement those orders. This resulted in an irreversible situation!

That executive spoke with the SARFT for a very long time.

These two organizations carried out a simple but in-depth discussion of the incident.

In the end, that executive from the Ministry of Culture made a call to the local Beijing office that started this trouble and chewed them out!

"It wasn't easy for our country to get such a high-quality domestic variety show produced. Why are you all causing all this trouble for me now! Don't you all want our domestic works to be successful? Don't you hope that our domestic works can wade into the international market? You're even insisting that all music pieces should only spread positivity? Music is a form of art, and the expression of art is very diverse! Why do they all have to generate positive energy? If you don't even have this bit of tolerance or artistry, how can you continue to be part of the business of cultural undertakings?"

"Sir, we…"

"Withdraw all those guidelines pronto!"

"Yes, alright, we understand!"

"If this happens again, I want you to pack up and get out!"

"We're sorry, sir! We misunderstood the policies! We will not repeat this mistake again. It, it was really a misunderstanding this time!"

"Leave such matters to our SARFT colleagues in the future. Did you all have nothing better to do than get involved in this affair?! Aren't you just stirring up trouble!"

In this world, the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture and the SARFT was without a clear boundary. Some responsibilities overlapped, while some were distinct. However, most of the decision-making on policies regarding the entertainment industry still lay with the SARFT.

"I-I understand!"

"I'll say this again: It better not happen another time!"

"Yes, sir! There won't be another time!"

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As the executive from the Ministry of Culture was very understanding and had a good relationship with Wu Zeqing, the issue was resolved very quickly. Actually, even if this relationship with Wu Zeqing did not exist, he would still have to handle such matters. It was due to the strategic failure of his staff at the local office and their misunderstanding of the policy resolutions that led to such a strong backlash. The entire music industry was angered as a result, so he had to say something even if he did not wish to interfere. If things went on like that, then it would really spiral out of control and cause a huge mess. He had to handle it no matter what. He couldn't possibly let one bad apple spoil the whole barrel. The Ministry of Culture had always been very open-minded about things and seldom interfered with the SARFT's business!

Before long, the guidelines from earlier were withdrawn!

There was no explanation or clarifications made!

There weren't any signs that this would happen!

They were withdrawn just like that!

The netizens soon took notice.

"Aiya!"

"The directives have been withdrawn!"

"Quick, look at this. The guidelines from earlier are gone!"

"Did they accidentally delete them?"

"It's impossible that they'd accidentally delete them!"

"Then does this set the tone?"

"It's set! It's definitely been set!"

"Wow, there's an exec from the Ministry of Culture who gave a Like to 'The Internationale'!"

"Another exec from the Minister of Culture liked it!"

"Damn, you're right!"

Everyone was shocked to find out that The Clown's "The Internationale" had received several Likes from a few executives of the Ministry of Culture's upper management on their Weibo verified accounts.

One of the executives even left a comment. "Hur hur, this is a great song with great lyrics. I was reminded of things from long ago and felt a little touched. I'm really fond of those memories from that time."

The SARFT also issued a statement not long afterwards to appease the musicians. It clarified that the guidelines from before were not introduced by them and that their designated standards would only restrict some song titles and other works that were too vulgar and implied death. There was no intention of a large-scale blanket ban on music pieces and films! In reality, it wasn't that the SARFT or the Ministry of Culture's upper management were seeking to compromise on those measures. From the start, they didn't intend to introduce them at all. It was all blindly caused by those below them!

They set the tone!

The netizens were stunned!

The musicians cheered at once!

And just a few minutes later, Zhang Ye's "A Letter to Home" and "The King Sent Me on Mountain Patrol" returned to the Top Chinese Music Chart and continued to rule the rankings!

Unsurprisingly, the #1 spot went to "The Internationale"!

"The Internationale" seemed to have steamrolled straight to #1 on the Top Chinese Music Chart's daily chart and even to #1 on the monthly chart!

Yes, #1 on the monthly chart!

In just a single day!

It charged its way right up to first place on the monthly chart in just a single day!

This was an extremely rare occurrence in the history of the Top Chinese Music Chart!

But The Clown managed to do it!

This song did it!

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Chapter 1062: The grand finals approach!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Han Qi called The Clown.

"Teacher Clown!"

"Hello."

"We won! We won!"

"Yeah, I already knew."

"You're incredible! That song of yours is incredible! I can't believe that they really gave in!"

"I can't take the credit. This was due to the persistence and hard work of the entire music industry."

"But it was your song that roused the musicians!"

"Surely I'm not that great."

"But you really are that great!"

The guillotine hanging over the head of the music industry had finally been lifted. The music industry was cheering and jumping for joy, celebrating their win. But maybe it was better to say it was music and dignity that won!

Netizens made countless comments.

"We won!"

"The higher-ups are still pretty open-minded about things!"

"I have a feeling that 'The Internationale' will become a legend!"

"With this story, the song should already be considered a legend. Have you ever seen a piece of music that has such great appeal and influence?"

"A legendary song, and a legendary person!"

"But just who could The Clown be?"

"Hurry up and take off your mask! The suspense is killing me!"

"When will the grand finals of King of Masked Singers take place?"

"Yeah, I can't wait either. The Masked King these days is always either Petal Shower, Sunset Glow, or The Clown. It's always them fighting for the throne every episode. The new replacement masked singers aren't really a match for them at all. So I believe that the grand finals should be held quite soon?"

"Who do you guys want to see take off their masks the most?"

"The Clown!"

"Fuck, of course it has to be The Clown!"

"Right, only his identity still remains a mystery. No one has managed to guess it yet!"

On that night.

The King of Masked Singers program team suddenly announced that the next episode of the show would kick off the revival round of the competition. Whether it was the contestants who started in the premiere episode or the replacement masked singers, all of them would be entered into the revival round as long as they had not been crowned Masked King before. Meaning that even those who still remained in the competition, as long as they had not been crowned Masked King before, would be required to compete against the contestants who had been eliminated for the remaining spots in the grand finals, which would be broadcast live. A total of five episodes had been broadcast so far, in which The Clown had taken the throne of the Masked King thrice, Petal Shower once, and Sunset Glow once. That meant that only the three of them could advance straight into the grand finals of the competition.

...

The program team contacted Spinach.

"Teacher Spinach, the revival round will begin soon."

"Alright."

"Please get ready."

"I can't wait."

...

"Teacher Marshal Persona."

"Hello."

"We'll be recording the revival round next week."

"OK, got it."

...

"Teacher King of Oddity."

"Is it beginning soon?"

"Yes, recording will start next week."

"Alright. How many spots will there be in the grand finals?"

"Other than The Clown, Petal Shower, and Sunset Glow holding three spots, three remaining spots are up for grabs."

"Understood."

...

Many of the eliminated contestants received this update from the program team. Some of them were anticipating it, some were nervous about it, and others were worried about it. But without an exception, all of them immediately went to prepare after receiving notification of this news. This was their final chance, and they all wanted to make the best of it!

Zhang Ye also received a call.

But this call was about something different.

Hu Fei said, "Teacher Clown, the issue has been resolved. We want to thank you for doing so much for the show. If it wasn't for you, the restrictions wouldn't have been lifted, and there wouldn't have been any meaning to the grand finals!"

"There's no need to thank me; I didn't do much."

"The revival round will be held next week, and the grand finals the week after that."

Hu Fei had called The Clown's cell phone number. So Zhang Ye had to deliberately disguise and change his vocal register when speaking. He said: "So soon?"

"We initially planned for it to happen after six or seven episodes were broadcast. But the disparity in talent is too great for the next replacement masked singers to compete against. So the program team called for a meeting where we decided that we wouldn't be adding any more replacement masked singers and instead move the date of the grand finals forward."

"I see."

"You won't need to do any prepping for the revival round. The main thing that I want to talk about is the details of the grand finals. These grand finals will be broadcast live nationwide, and the location will change as well to a larger venue. The voting format will also be changed to a public vote, that is to say, the television audience can also take part in the voting. On top of that, the grand finals will have two rounds, with the second round being an individual performance. Meanwhile, we have designed the first round with a segment where a contestant will perform with a guest partner. The contestants can invite a good friend of theirs and get them to put on a mask as well, then sing together on stage. This is an important segment because if the guest partner is not suitable for the competition, the contestant might not be able to advance to the second round and end up getting eliminated. That's why you'd need to prepare well for this and hopefully invite a professional singer. The more popular the guest partner is, the better. It would also help to garner more votes for the contestant."

This was Hu Fei's decision.

Zhang Ye had provided him with a program structure that had several formats for the grand finals. For example, in the Chinese version of King of Masked Singers in his previous world, two contestants were paired up into groups and the groups would verse each other in a knockout format. However, Zhang Ye knew that this format would not make the show exciting to watch, so he added another one that was similar to the format of the finals of I Am a Singer. He left that for Hu Fei to decide, and clearly, he had chosen the latter. This was quite a good choice since it would add to the viewing experience and anticipation of the audience.

"OK."

"Do you have any other questions? I can answer over the phone."

The Clown asked, "Are there any limitations to the choices of song?"

"There are basically no limitations. You can sing anything you want."

The Clown asked further: "For the group segment, can we choose to sing alone and not invite a guest?"

"Sing alone?"

"Is that allowed?"

Hu Fei shook his head. "That's definitely not allowed. As the show rules are set that way, you can either invite one or two guest partners. But they have to at least sing together with you."

"OK, I understand."

"That's good then. We'll see you in the grand finals."

"Alright, I'll prepare well."

After hanging up, Zhang Ye was in a quandary.

A celebrity guest partner?

If the performance wasn't good enough, they might get eliminated in the first round? Then there wouldn't be a chance to take part in the battle round for the overall Masked King of the grand finals? This was a little troublesome to handle. His troubles stemmed from him not wanting anyone to find out about who he really was. If no one knew who he was, then how could he possibly invite anyone? Who could he invite?

His social ties within the entertainment circle was already abysmal, and he didn't know that many people either. There were even fewer choices if he needed someone who could sing. Zhang Xia? She was already on the guessing panel of judges. Chen Guang too. It would be impossible to invite them. How about Fan Wenli? Old Fan was even more impossible! Xiaodong? She was probably going to become someone else's guest partner.

Who could he find?

Someone was friends with him?

And had to sing well?

They even had to be a big name?

There was no one!

As he thought about it, it seemed like there was no one suitable among the people he knew!

Zhang Ye lit a cigarette and pondered for a long time but came up with nothing. This celebrity guest partner was simply too important. It directly affected whether or not he could become the Masked King of the grand finals, so he definitely had to consider everything carefully! Hai, if only he had known. He wouldn't have put this suggestion into the plan in the first place. This was as good as shooting himself in the foot.

There were only two weeks left!

What should he do until then?

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Chapter 1063: A candidate to be the celebrity guest partner!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Next Saturday.

In the evening.

The television was on and tuned into Beijing Television.

His mother was sitting on the sofa and chomping on melon seeds. "Why isn't it starting yet?"

"Little Ye, is today the revival round?" his father asked.

Zhang Ye said, "Yes, and next week will be the grand finals."

His mother asked, "Who will be revived today? Hurry up and tell us!"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "How would I know? I wasn't at the recording yesterday, so we'll find out later as we watch. I feel that Spinach has got quite a good chance though."

His mother said, "That King of Oddity from the first episode is quite good too!"

Ring ring ring. His cell phone rang.

Zhang Ye answered: "Sister Xiaodong?

Xiaodong immediately asked: "Teacher Zhang, whatcha up to?"

"Hai, just watching TV at home," Zhang Ye said.

"Ummm, it's almost time for the college entrance exam. Did you not get selected to be a question setter this year?"

Zhang Ye chuckled and said: "I wasn't called up this year. They originally said that I would be asked to do it again, but with all the negative publicity surrounding me recently, and coupled with the questions that I set at last year's Beijing college entrance exam being a little too difficult, the examinees and their parents started protesting against my appointment two months ago. They were all afraid that I would become the national examination question setter this year, so I ended up not getting appointed. Actually, I don't really want to go too. It's really a thankless task."

"Then about that matter I brought up to you regarding my relative?"

Zhang Ye said: "It's always been on my mind, and I've already asked around for him. As long as your relative's score passes the Peking University cutoff grade, he'll be guaranteed an admission spot for any major that he chooses!"

This was a favor that Xiaodong had asked of him when he first joined the Goof Group last year. He hadn't forgotten all this while and had already helped her ask around. When it came to favors that people asked of him, Zhang Ye had always made sure to do the best he could.

Xiaodong laughed happily. "Thanks, Teacher Zhang."

"Don't mention it. It was no trouble at all." Then, he suddenly remembered the rules of the grand finals and how he didn't have a guest partner yet. He offhandedly asked: "Oh right, Sister Xiaodong, do you have any plans next Saturday?"

Xiaodong was taken aback. "Next Saturday? Isn't that day the night of the King of Masked Singers finale?"

Zhang Ye coughed and said: "Yes."

"Won't you be present at the venue that day? I have something to do that day, so I'll be going too."

Zhang Ye understood immediately. "Oh, so it's like that."

Xiaodong asked: "What about that day?"

"It's nothing. I was just wondering."

Turned out, Xiaodong was going to be at the grand finals.

Actually, Zhang Ye had already figured it to be so, but he wanted to make sure.

Who else was there then? There were only a few other people who he knew who could sing!

The revival round began.

Spinach, King of Oddity, Flowing Time, Marshal Persona, and several other contestants who had either been eliminated or not taken the throne of the Masked King before were all taking part in this episode, with the exception of Li Yu—Sunflower in the Starlight. Due to what had happened, Beijing Television excluded him after vowing never to work with him again, so only Li Yu was not present today.

This week's episode was intense and passionate.

The audience had already gotten to know some of the contestants whose identities have been revealed. At the same time, there was a lot of suspense for those who had not taken off their masks yet, with the identities of a few contestants still remaining a mystery!

...

"The whistling winds!

"Sailing through the waves!

"When will my heart rest easy!

"Vast skies and wide lands!

"The corners of the world!

"But where are you, my dear!"

Spinach's (Liao Yiqi) song shocked the studio!

Compared to her previous performances, Spinach's progress was obviously a big leap forward. Zhang Ye also heard about how Grandma Zhang Xia had personally given her some guidance to help her polish her technique so that she could bring out the best points of her singing. The song she was currently singing may have also had a little to do with Zhang Xia's suggestions to her.

Sure enough, it was quite effective!

She sang this song really well!

...

"Aiyoyo.

"Are you coming?

"Heyoyo.

"Where are you?"

Yesterday's Daylily did not perform too well today. He had chosen an older folk song to sing and even rearranged it, but it did not manage to catch the attention of the audience.

He was probably going to miss out on the grand finals.

...

Performance after performance.

All of the contestants gave their very best!

They threw out all the tricks they had left, all for a ticket to the grand finals!

In the end, the results were out.

On TV, Dong Shanshan announced:

"The first contestant to advance to the grand finals is—Flowing Time!"

A round of applause rang out.

Flowing Time had the most votes out of all the contestants.

"The second contestant to advance to the grand finals is—King of Oddity!"

King of Oddity got very excited and threw his hands into the air!

"The final contestant to advance to the grand finals is—Spinach!"

When Spinach heard, she cried there on the spot!

She was crying!

They were tears of joy!

She had said that she would be back, and now, she had really come back!

With that, the three tickets to advance to the grand finals had all been assigned. The others would miss out on the night of the grand finals, and the eliminated singers gave their blessings and encouragement to the three who made it. They wished for them to carry a part of their desire into the grand finals and hoped that they would get a good place and gain fame along with it!

The revival round was over.

But the show was not done yet. In the closing minutes, a video introduced the finale. It introduced the competition format, how it would be broadcast live nationwide, and the first round segment involving a celebrity guest partner for each contestant. There were even a few gimmicky catchphrases thrown out to increase everyone's anticipation of the grand finals.

A voiceover sounded.

"Sunset Glow's heavyweight celebrity guest partner to aid her in the grand finals!"

The video onscreen cut to the back of a woman who was wearing a mask. But as her back was facing the screen, the viewers were unable to recognize who she was.

"Petal Shower's big name celebrity guest partner from the music scene is someone that no one does not know of."

The picture onscreen was overlaid with the words "mystery guest"!

Following, the celebrity guest partners for Spinach, Flowing Time, and the others were confirmed. Due to the show having been recorded just the day before, the program team had contacted the contestants on the day of after they had made it through to the grand finals to confirm their celebrity guest partners and communicated everything in detail.

The gender of Spinach's celebrity guest partner was unknown, with the image unclear after being pixelated. Only an introduction was made, which did not reveal the person's identity at all.

It was the same for Flowing Time and King of Oddity!

Gimmicky catchphrases were used!

Smokescreens were put up to mislead!

But it was undeniable that this really whetted the appetites of many who were watching. After the introductions were done, everyone was guessing who the invited celebrity guest partners were! They were extremely curious!

...

Back at home.

His mother wondered, "Why wasn't there an introduction for The Clown's celebrity guest partner?"

"Yeah, he was the only one who didn't have an introduction for his guest partner," his father wondered as well.

Zhang Ye gave a wry smile and thought to himself, That's because this bro doesn't know who to invite yet!

At this moment, a call arrived.

It was The Clown's cell phone.

When Zhang Ye saw that, he immediately went into his own room and answered with a disguised voice: "Hello."

Han Qi asked immediately: "Teacher Clown, have you managed to invite your celebrity guest partner yet?"

Zhang Ye stayed silent for a moment. "Not yet."

Han Qi said anxiously: "There's only a week left until the live broadcast of the grand finals. The program team kept urging me to contact you many times. This…"

Zhang Ye said: "Give me a little more time. I'll definitely find someone."

Han Qi said: "Alright, alright. Please hurry then. You really have to get it done as soon as possible. How can someone like you who can sing so well be unable to invite any friends of yours to come? You must be asking for a lot, aren't you?"

Asking a lot, my ass!

This bro really doesn't have that many friends to begin with!

Before long, the news spread all over the Internet.

On Weibo.

"Who could Sunset Glow have invited? Why's it so mysterious?"

"That back looks a little familiar!"

"If she's the person that everyone's guessing she is, then could she have invited our goddess Xiaodong?"

"Wow, are you sure?"

"That would be wonderful!"

"Petal Shower seems to have invited a big name as well!"

"Could it be an A-list celebrity?"

"I heard that an A-lister has really been invited onto the show this time."

"Who, who?"

"I don't know. The biggest name on this stage should have been Li Yu. But he's no longer an A-lister anymore, so could there really be an A-lister coming?"

"I can't wait!"

"Eh, what about The Clown?"

"That's right, we didn't see anything regarding The Clown's celebrity guest partner, right?"

"Why didn't they make any mention of it?"

"I've heard something about that. It seems like The Clown's celebrity guest partner has not been decided yet."

"Surely not, right? He was the among the first batch of contestants to be confirmed for the grand finals. How long has it been since then? The grand finals are next week, but he still hasn't found a partner? Could it be that there's no one he can choose? Or maybe he couldn't get anyone to come onto the show? If that's the case, that'd mean that The Clown lied when he said that he was at least a B-lister. He's probably just some artist who's not that famous. Although he's really shot to fame, since he does not know any fellow big name artists, he couldn't invite any of them onto the show."

"That's quite possible."

"Fuck, can he really be that pathetic?"

"Even if he does not know any big names, he should at least know a few small-timers. Why can't he get them?"

"If he really invites a small-timer as a celebrity guest partner, wouldn't it be as good as giving up on the crown of the Masked King? This is the grand finals we're talking about. The others have all invited big names who're at least B-listers, or if worst comes to worst, C-listers. It's been rumored that there's even an A-lister coming onto the show, but I don't know if that's true or not. If The Clown invites some unknown artist to support him, it'd be awkward if no one knows who that person is when they go onstage. He might even get eliminated right in the first round and lose his qualification to battle for the throne of the Masked King!"

"That's true."

At night.

Zhang Ye was lying in bed and getting ready to sleep. He kept this problem over in his head, unable to fall asleep. So he started browsing his Weibo and saw those comments. He suddenly sat up on his bed and rolled his eyes!

I'm not famous?

I don't know any big names?

Hey, don't make me mad!

All of a sudden, Zhang Ye thought of someone. Then he started thinking about how he should broach the subject and in what way he should do it. He knew that this person would be extremely difficult to invite!

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Chapter 1064: Convincing the Heavenly Queen!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

Zhang Ye got up at five in the morning and started walking around in his room with his hands behind his back. He walked from his room into the living room, then from the living room to the balcony, all the while trying to think of ideas.

His mother yawned as she opened her bedroom door and came out. "Whoa, what are you doing?"

Zhang Ye turned around and said, "Thinking of something."

His mother looked at the clock. "This early?"

Still in his pajamas, his father also came out to have a look. "What are you doing up so early? Do you want to have breakfast?"

"No thanks. Don't worry about me. Go back to bed," Zhang Ye said.

The other contestants had invited very capable guest partners for King of Masked Singers. Although there wasn't a publicized list, Zhang Ye could just about guess who would be there. They were all B-list big shots, so if he wanted to take the crown of the Masked King in the grand finals, the guest partner he invited would be an extremely crucial factor. He already had a candidate in mind. Of all the people he knew, only she was still available as a choice to him.

Yes, that person was Zhang Yuanqi!

The famous Heavenly Queen of the pop music scene and film industry!

This fellow had been stirred up by the netizens' comments that said that he did not know any big name stars! If that was the case, then he would just need to find one to prove them wrong!

An S-list superstar!

The one of very few at the top of the entertainment circle!

How should he ask her?

How should he invite her?

If it were anyone else, they'd definitely not be able to get her to agree!

They wouldn't even have needed to consider it. An S-list celebrity like her would never agree to take part in a singing competition show. If she won on it, it would have been expected. But if she lost, that would be embarrassing. She also didn't need to take part in the show, because at her level, not many things could move her anymore. As such, the biggest celebrity the program team had on their contestants' invitation list when King of Masked Singers started its production was Li Yu, the front runner of the B-list Celebrity Rankings. They did not try to invite any A-list celebrities, much less an S-list Heavenly Queen. Beijing Television and the program team knew that those people would never agree to join their show!

The same was true in Zhang Ye's previous world. It would be almost impossible for the current, most popular Heavenly Kings and Queens to join any singing competitions. Like Faye Wong, would it be possible that she would join one? Or Andy Lau, would that be possible either?

This didn't even need to be touched on!

But luckily, Zhang Ye managed to come up with an idea very quickly. He didn't know if it would work, but with a sparkle in his eye, he quickly returned to his bedroom. He immersed himself into remembering those songs from his previous world that were considered classic male‑female duets. Finally, he chose two of them and started writing the lyrics and musical notation down. Other people might not understand Zhang Yuanqi, but he did. She was someone who was especially nice and friendly to other people in public, but was in fact irascible in private. He knew that Zhang Yuanqi's greatest weakness was that a good song would appeal to her more than anything else.

He kept himself busy with the songwriting until 9 AM, when he finally finished it.

Zhang Ye picked up The Clown's cell phone and called Fang Weihong.

Du du. The call connected.

Zhang Ye spoke very carefully and switched to a gruff voice. "Hello."

Fang Weihong said: "Hello, who is this?"

Zhang Ye: "Is this Zhang Yuanqi's manager, Fang Weihong?"

"This is she," Fang Weihong said.

"This is The Clown." He got straight to the point.

Fang Weihong was stunned. "The Clown? The Clown from King of Masked Singers?"

Zhang Ye said: "Yes."

Fang Weihong immediately said: "We've been trying to find a way to contact you all this time. Sister Zhang has been particularly hoping to get to know you and has mentioned it to me several times already. What is it that you're calling me for?"

"I have something that I would like to seek Teacher Zhang's help for."

"What is it? Can I pass the message along? Or do you want to contact Sister Zhang directly?"

"Well, why don't we do it this way? I'll send two songs over first."

"Songs?"

"Yes."

Fang Weihong was worthy of being an elite manager of the industry. When she heard him say that, she could almost immediately guess what he wanted. "Are you calling about the King of Masked Singers' grand finals? Are you thinking of inviting Sister Zhang to be your celebrity guest partner?"

"Does Teacher Zhang have time?"

"I'm not too sure about that. I have to check."

"OK, I'll send the songs over first then."

"Alright…then. I can only help you ask. But whether it'll work, I can't guarantee. By the way, don't you have a lot of friends in the music scene? Why would you approach Sister Zhang for this?"

"Why does everyone think that I have many friends?"

Fang Weihong chuckled at this.

That's true.

It's not like that was a guaranteed thing.

Just like that Zhang Ye who had a pretty good relationship with Sister Zhang. He was very popular and experienced, but his social ties were just terrible. There was hardly anyone in the entertainment industry who liked him.

Fang Weihong said, "OK, I'll speak to Sister Zhang about this."

"Thank you."

After hanging up, Zhang Ye quietly waited for the outcome.

Ten minutes…

Half an hour…

One hour…

However, Fang Weihong's call did not arrive. Instead, it was Zhang Yuanqi who contacted him. She did not contact him on The Clown's cell phone, but on his personal phone's chat app.

Di di.

Zhang Yuanqi: "Show yourself."

Zhang Ye was startled, then replied: "I'm here."

"Did you write those songs for The Clown?"

Zhang Ye gulped.

"He just sent me two songs and I've taken a look at them. I think they're really good, so tell me the truth, did you write all of his songs for him?"

Zhang Ye played dumb. "Nope."

"Are you friends with The Clown? Are you two on very good terms? I have to spend so much effort just to get you to write me a song, yet you've written so many of them for The Clown in such a short period of time?"

Zhang Ye laughed and typed: "It's really not me."

"He invited me to appear as his celebrity guest partner in the grand finals."

"Oh, is that so?"

"What are your views on that?"

"I don't know. Go if you like, don't go if you don't want to."

"When will you write another two songs for me?"

Zhang Ye coughed. "Let's talk about that some other time."

"Who exactly is The Clown?"

"I'd like to know as well."

Zhang Yuanqi said stiffly: "Alright, I'm off."

Zhang Ye typed: "Bye."

Afterwards, Zhang Ye continued to wait. He was really unsure if he could invite Zhang Yuanqi, so he could only try to do it this way. If it really didn't work, at most he would just go ahead and reveal his identity to her. Based on his relationship with Old Zhang and his reputation, he believed that he would still be able to convince her to join him on the show.

In the afternoon, Fang Weihong's call finally arrived.

Fang Weihong immediately spoke when the call connected: "Is it convenient to ask about your identity?"

"Can I keep it a secret for now?"

"It's like this: You should know that with Sister Zhang's status, she doesn't usually take part in competitive variety shows. Although you're good at singing and Sister Zhang also lacks some good duet songs, but…"

"I know that."

"That's why I'd like to ask you about your identity. Sister Zhang's exact words were: If it were any of my better friends, I'd definitely help out. But if this is just a case of working together, then…"

"Is that how it is?"

"Do you know Sister Zhang?"

"…I know her."

"Are you close with her?"

"…I am."

On the other end of the line, Fang Weihong was surprised by this response.

They really knew each other?

And they're even quite close?

Fang Weihong was a little unsure. She couldn't just take the other party's words at face value as this was not a trivial matter, after all. So she asked: "Sorry for asking you so abruptly, but what does Sister Zhang like to drink?"

The Clown answered: "…Wine."

Fang Weihong was taken aback: "She seldom drinks."

The Clown said: "She often drinks."

Fang Weihong fell silent. Zhang Yuanqi had always been guarded whenever she was in the public eye and was the same even among her normal friends. As such, there were some things about her that no one would know from the news or hearsay from the industry. There really weren't many people who knew that Old Zhang liked to drink, and Fang Weihong was one of the few who did. So when Fang Weihong realized that The Clown did not fall for her trick when she tried to fool him, she understood that The Clown really knew about this!

She was sure of it!

This person definitely knew Sister Zhang well!

Who was he?

Just who could it be?

Fang Weihong wanted to ask, but hesitated and eventually stifled her curiosity. "Alright, I understand. I'll communicate this to Sister Zhang, so wait for my news."

"OK, thank you."

Chapter 1065: Mysterious partners!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On the other end.

After hanging up, Fang Weihong called Zhang Yuanqi.

Zhang Yuanqi was running in her home gym. When she saw her phone ringing, she stopped the treadmill and used a towel to wipe away her sweat before tossing it aside. Then she picked up the phone. She was clearly very curious about The Clown's identity and why he had thought of inviting her to be his guest partner.

"Sister Zhang."

"Did you find out who he is?"

"I didn't manage to find out anything as he didn't want to tell."

"Oh."

"But he knows you."

"How well does he know me?"

"He should be a friend of yours and seems pretty close to you."

"Oh? Did he claim so himself?"

"When I tested him by asking what drinks you liked, he said that you liked to drink wine. But when I tried to fool him by claiming that you don't drink, he didn't fall for it."

"…Pretty close to me?"

"That's for sure. How many people know that you like to drink daily?"

"Not many."

"Is there anyone who matches up with The Clown?"

"No one who can sing as well as him."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Then who could he be!"

"I've got no idea."

"Then what about the King of Masked Singers' grand finals? Will you go?"

"Give me The Clown's contact number."

"Are you really planning on going?"

"Hur hur, I should do him this favor since he's an old friend of mine. I wanna see him when he shows his face at the venue. I want to see just which friend of mine can sing so well yet keep this secret so well hidden."

They hung up.

Zhang Yuanqi kept quiet for a long while before she turned to look for pen and paper. She flipped her planner open to a blank page and scribbled some names on it. Then she shook her head and crossed them out. She wrote down another two names but shook her head and crossed them out as well.

...

The next day.

Beijing Television.

The set for the rehearsal had already been arranged for. Han Qi and some of the program team staff were currently waiting there, with the band also standing by. They were just waiting for the leads to arrive now.

This was not the original recording studio but a bigger set that was arranged for separately and could accommodate more than a thousand audience members. The stage had been redesigned, and it looked much more magnificent than the previous one. It incorporated a lot more advanced equipment that had been designed to the highest standards as specified by the program team. The live broadcast set was specially designed for the show. Beijing Television had started planning for it ever since they'd known the King of Masked Singers premiere episode's viewership rating. To ensure that the show would be produced to perfection, they invested a lot into it regardless of the cost. They had been very "lowkey" in the variety show industry for far too long. As it was not easy for them to get this chance to change things, the station definitely didn't want to miss this opportunity!

Hu Fei walked over. "Are they here yet?"

Han Qi checked her watch. "They should be here soon!"

"Who could The Clown have invited as his guest partner?" Dafei asked curiously.

Han Qi smiled wryly. "I don't know. Teacher Clown didn't say."

Xiao Lu said, "We'll find out in a while when they arrive."

The Clown was the first to arrive. As usual, he was already in his costume with his mask on.

Then, just a few minutes later, The Clown's celebrity guest partner arrived. She walked up to them with her high heels click-clacking. When they heard that and looked to her, all they could see was a person in a red mask!

Hu Fei was taken aback.

The program team staff blinked in surprise.

Zhang Ye disguised his voice and said, "You're here?"

A woman's voice came from beneath the mask. "Yes."

Zhang Ye noticed that Old Zhang had also deliberately lowered the tone of her vocal register. If he didn't know who she was, he probably wouldn't have been able to figure out her identity.

Hu Fei greeted, "Hello, I'm the executive director of King of Masked Singers, Hu Fei."

The masked woman shook hands with him. "Hello."

Hu Fei said, "Can I ask? Who might you be?"

The masked woman said, "I'm not anyone famous, so I won't be giving my name."

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes.

You're not famous?

Even if we don't mention this stage, are there any celebrities who are more famous than you in the entire country?

Dafei said, "Then how should we address you?"

The masked woman thought for a moment before answering with a laugh, "Just call me Wild Rose."

Wild Rose?

The title of that song sung by The Clown?

Hu Fei asked, "Then when can we begin rehearsing?"

Wild Rose said, "Anytime."

Hu Fei looked to the person standing next to her. "Teacher Clown?"

The Clown said, "Anytime."

Hu Fei said, "Alright, let's get started then."

Han Qi immediately led them inside. "Teachers, this way please." She was studying Wild Rose so intensely that she kept looking at her every now and then. But even after looking for a long time, she still could not guess who she was. Not famous? Unwilling to give her name? Afraid that no one would recognize her? Could Teacher Clown really be what the netizens claimed him to be? That he was just lying about himself being a B-list celebrity? So he didn't actually know any famous celebrities? And so got a rando to be his guest partner?

The Miracle Wheels band was already waiting for them.

As well as Music Director Bai Yuanfei, several professional musicians, and piano teachers.

The Clown handed the music score to the band and then gave them some instructions. Following, Wild Rose also went over to communicate with the band for a bit. She listed one by one the things she needed for some parts of the song regarding the rhythm and pauses. At this point, everyone still did not know how Wild Rose would sing.

Then the rehearsal began.

When she opened her mouth to sing, everyone in the studio was stunned!

The Clown was the first to begin.

Wild Rose followed after him.

Everyone already knew that The Clown's singing was very good. As a result, they expected that even if The Clown's invited guest partner was not famous or might even be a newcomer, her singing would surely not be too bad either. But nobody expected that Wild Rose would give such an earth-shattering performance. When she sang, her voice stunned everyone!

They only needed to rehearse it once!

It was flawless!

It was so professional!

After they exited the stage, Xiao Lu rushed up to The Clown and asked, "Teacher, who is she?"

The Clown smiled and said, "If she doesn't want to say, I must keep it a secret as well."

Xiao Lu asked with wide eyes, "Is she really an unknown female singer?"

The Clown did not say anything.

Next to them, Dafei added, "Many newcomers have really good singing nowadays. It's just that there's either no opportunity for them or they only have average looks, so they can't get famous. In reality, there's plenty of people who can sing very well in our country."

Xiao Lu said, "Oh, so that's why."

But Xiao Lu still felt that this woman did not look like a newcomer from any angle!

I'm not well-educated, so please don't try to fool me!

The Clown asked, "Is the melody alright?"

Bai Yuanfei said, "Yes!"

Hu Fei nodded. "It's quite good."

The Clown said, "Then we're good?"

"Yes!" Hu Fei approved of it and said, "I'm looking forward to your two's performance on the night of the finale. Oh right, there's still the second song. Would you like to rehearse it later as well?"

"Sure," The Clown said.

When Wild Rose heard, she said, "I have something to do. If it's alright, I'd like to leave."

Hu Fei was stunned. Why was she in such a hurry? What was so important? Didn't she just arrive a bit ago?

But Zhang Ye knew that she was indeed a busy person. It was quite flattering that she took an hour out of her day to rehearse with him. He said, "Thank you very much."

Wild Rose laughed. "You owe me a favor."

Zhang Ye said, "OK, I'll be sure to return the favor."

"I'm leaving now." Wild Rose turned around and left without saying anything more.

The program team staff looked at Wild Rose's receding figure, then at The Clown. They felt that these two people were a little strange. They were at this stage, so surely there wasn't a need to hide who they were, was there? Weren't they trying too hard to maintain their mysteriousness? They kept themselves so secretive that not even the program team staff knew who they were. How could they go about the promotions now? Hai, they were still hoping to analyze and deduce The Clown's identity based on his invited celebrity guest partner. If they knew who his friend was and which circle they belonged to, his identity should get more obvious as the possibilities would be reduced even further. But it looked like they had overthought things. Since it was like this, they could only respect the contestants not wanting to reveal their identities. There wasn't much they could say about it. The competition's grand finals would be in another few days anyway, so they could still find out when the time came for them to take off their masks. They were also very curious about the identities of this pair of mysterious partners!

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Chapter 1066: The grand finals arrive!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The grand finals were approaching.

The huge promotional campaign for King of Masked Singers was also in its final stages. Whether it was television commercials, online video hosting site advertisements, newspapers, or advertorials, they spared no efforts in the show's advertising.

The discussions online were also in full swing.

"Have you guys seen the new promo?"

"I've seen it, I've seen it!"

"Haha, Sunset Glow's invited celebrity guest partner looks so familiar!"

"The Clown's partner has been decided as well!"

"Why was The Clown's guest partner skimmed over with just one line?"

"Yeah, there wasn't even a back revealed or the likes, nothing at all. What's going on here?"

"The exact words used were 'invited a mysterious guest partner.' Who is this mysterious guest partner? There weren't even any words like 'heavyweight' or 'famous' attached to the introductory lines."

"Could it be that the guest partner isn't someone famous?"

"That might be possible."

"Damn, could our resourceful netizens really have guessed right?"

"Is The Clown really not that famous? Are all the people that he knows just C or D-list celebrities? That's why they didn't even know how to write the introduction and just used 'mysterious guest partner' instead? And simply gloss over it?"

"Surely not, right? I was still looking forward to it quite a bit."

"Then that'd be really bad for The Clown."

"That really is bad. If the guest partner is not someone famous, how can fight for the throne of the Masked King?"

"If this is how it is, then I expect Petal Shower to win even more."

"I'm more optimistic about Sunset Glow's chances!"

"I'm Flowing Time's braindead fan!"

"The overall situation is indeed disadvantageous for The Clown. Although 'The Internationale' brought him a great deal of popularity and supporters, there are also many people who do not like the song. The controversy surrounding it is pretty big."

...

Back at home.

Call after call came in.

Zhang Ye had not been slacking these past two days. Many people were looking for him, mostly for the same reason.

His old colleague, Ha Qiqi.

"Director Zhang, can you get us a few tickets?"

"How many do you need?"

"Our group from the Central TV Documentary Channel would all like to go, so they've appointed me as the representative to ask you about it. I guess about a dozen tickets or so should be enough."

"Sure, that won't be a problem."

"Thanks, Director Zhang."

Then it was his relatives' turn to call.

"Little Ye."

"Oh, Third Uncle."

"A few of my colleagues would like to attend the grand finals of King of Masked Singers. Can you get us a few tickets?"

"Of course."

"Just three tickets would suffice."

"Sure, I'll get them for you."

Finally, even Dong Shanshan came looking for him.

"Zhang'er, help me to reserve five tickets, alright?"

"Damn, you're the host and you're asking me?"

"Hur hur, the tickets for the grand finals are too sought after, with so many people waiting to get one. I can get one or two tickets, but five's too difficult. You have greater influence than me in the program team, so do me this favor, please?"

"Sure, I got it."

"I'll treat you to dinner some other time."

"You keep saying that, but I've never been treated by you before."

"I'll definitely treat you this time."

"Alright, I'll take your word for it."

After handling these trivial matters, Zhang Ye went back to practicing his songs.

He had been practicing the songs he lined up for the grand finals for two full days. For this reason, he even deliberately found a place where no one could disturb him, leaving early in the morning and only coming home late at night. He tirelessly practiced over and over again until he had lost count of the number of times he had sung them. However, he still felt that it was unsatisfactory and even practiced until he nearly lost his voice. Only then did he quickly stop and rest for a while. After eating some instant noodles, he thought about it again and finally realized where the problem lay.

It wasn't that he didn't sing well!

It was just that Zhang Yuanqi had sung too well!

Having eaten all those Singing Skill Experience Books, Zhang Ye thought that he had become invincible by now and would not be inferior to anyone else when it came to singing. But after listening to Zhang Yuanqi's sample of the song, he realized that he was the frog in the well. Actually, even if Zhang Ye were to compare himself to the likes of Petal Shower and Chen Guang, he still probably couldn't sing better than them. He might be a little better in certain areas, but there were also many areas that he did not do as well as them. Zhang Yuanqi's singing had shocked him plenty and made Zhang Ye feel that he couldn't hold the stage alongside her. This was his stage to begin with, but with Old Zhang supporting his act and after hearing a sample of her singing, Zhang Ye knew that he would become the support act instead if it stayed this way. Other people might not be able to hear it, but he could feel it. This definitely wouldn't do!

What should he do?

He couldn't ask Old Zhang to sing badly on purpose, could he? That would be such a loss of face!

The only way was to raise his own level. The grand finals would only be held this once and there was only going to be one winner to speak of. It was even a live broadcast, so Zhang Ye definitely had to give it his all!

He immediately brought up the game ring's virtual screen. He had so many Reputation Points now that he could just use them as he liked. He didn't have to worry about not having enough for now.

He activated the Lucky Halo (Upgraded)!

-100,000!

-100,000!

He immediately tapped on Lottery Draw (One)!

Additional Stakes: 500!

The wheel began to rotate!

The needle started moving!

One revolution…

Two revolutions…

Three revolutions…

It stopped in the Skills Category region.

The Treasure Chests (Small) appeared.

[Musical Arrangement Skill Experience Book] 501.

Musical arrangement?

He received this item from the lottery draw?

Zhang Ye was taken aback but was still pretty satisfied with it. In the past, the arrangement his songs mostly followed were the original arrangement of the songs in his previous world. There were some slight variations, but there wasn't too much. His songs were still mainly based on the arrangement he listened to, and he needed to adhere to the opinions of the band. After all, Zhang Ye was not a professional in this field, so there were some arrangements he could only leave to the band and music director to decide. If he could arrange his own songs, then things would definitely be different. He would be able to experiment more daringly and freely by adding in all the aspects that he liked. Being able to arrange his own music would also make the songs better suited to his style and allow him to perform them even better!

This was good stuff!

He was going to eat it!

Zhang Ye started studying the books one by one.

Next, he began his second round of the lottery draw.

He added an additional stake of 500 just like before.

The Lucky Halo (Upgraded) was once again activated as well!

One revolution…

Two revolutions…

The needle came to a stop!

It was the Skills Category region again!

[Singing Skill Experience Book] 501: Enhances the player's singing technique.

He had received this skill experience book before, the exact same one. It was precisely because of this skill experience book that Zhang Ye was able to make a qualitative leap in his singing, and it was exactly what he needed most right now as well.

Zhang Ye immediately started studying them without hesitation.

He had received 500 books last time and 501 books this time. It wasn't until he "ate" the last book that a system message sounded from the game ring!

He had maxed out on the skill!

There was no way to learn any more!

This was a similar case like the Fruits of Strength and Fruits of Stamina, of which 1,000 Fruits were the maximum amount he could eat. As he could not learn from that last skill experience book, it could only go to waste.

After he deactivated the Lucky Halo, Zhang Ye immediately gave it a try. He tried singing that song again, which he had sung so many times that he was starting to get sick of it. As expected, the effect was entirely different now. Even Zhang Ye himself was surprised at this, although the improvement in his singing was not as obvious as after the first time he had eaten the books. Because, as he gained more of the skill, the effect of the skill experience book would become less obvious. But no matter what, they were still 500 books and they effectively maxed out his level for this item gained from Lottery Draw (One). It was still an improvement, albeit a minor one. Moreover, Zhang Ye's singing skill that had been upgraded was not just in one single aspect. It included improvements to his portamento, technique, breathing, etc. This was considered an overall upgrade! Everything related to his singing skills were improved!

He stayed up for yet another night.

Trying out his singing.

Arranging the music.

Repeating it over and over again.

Then continuing to practice the songs.

Eventually, his parents could no longer look on.

"Little Ye, you must take a break. What are you doing that's keeping you up night after night?" His mother said, "Why are you risking your life like that?"

Zhang Ye laughed. "I'm helping someone write a song. Don't worry about me. Just go to sleep, Mom and Dad."

His father pointed to the sky outside. "Your mom and I have already had enough sleep. Look at what time it is. It's light out."

Zhang Ye replied perfunctorily, "OK, I'll go to bed in a bit."

His mother nagged, "Quickly!"

"I know." Zhang Ye buried himself into his work again.

The fellow always behaved this way. He always wanted to do his work to his very best, or at least to the best of his abilities. Otherwise, he would keep doing it over and over, repeating it until he got it perfect. Perhaps he was a perfectionist deep down. Further, this grand finals were extremely important to him.

It wasn't until the day before the grand finals that Zhang Ye managed to complete things. He had a meeting with Old Zhang over the phone, as well as with Bai Yuanfei and the band afterwards.

Bai Yuanfei was astonished. "Did you arrange the music all by yourself?"

Zhang Ye said: "It's not too bad, right?"

"This is something that even the most professional arrangers would barely be able to do, don't you think? How about the dance choreography and costume effects, have you thought about those yet? I think the duet between you and Wild Rose can have a little more visual effect. I can reveal to you that the other contestants have all given considerable thought to effects like visual presentation and fog machines. It's going to have a great visual impact for sure. I'm not really well-versed in this area, but we have professionals who can help you design something on our team, do you want to—"

"That's not for me," Zhang Ye laughed. "I'll just sing normally."

Bai Yuanfei said: "But you'd be disadvantaged for sure."

Zhang Ye said: "It's fine. I don't like all those fanciful effects anyway."

Bai Yuanfei said: "Alright, I understand."

"You have my gratitude for all your hard work."

With this, Zhang Ye was fully prepared for the grand finals!

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Chapter 1067: The live broadcast begins!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Saturday.

On the day of the grand finals.

Though it was only a bit after three o'clock in the afternoon, large groups of people were already lining up outside of Beijing Television. Some of them were distributing bottled water, some were distributing clothes, while others were distributing LED lightboards. Everyone was behaving in a very orderly manner as they began preparations to show support for their favorite contestants tonight!

"Where are Teacher Flowing Time's fans?"

"Gather over here, please!"

"Fans of Petal Shower, come quickly. We're distributing clothes over here!"

"Everyone, let's standardize our outfits to show our support for Little Sunset (Sunset Glow)!"

"Are there any fans of Teacher Clown around? You guys can get free bottles of water over here!"

"There are still three available LED lightboards for King of Oddity. Are any of you going to be seated in the front rows? Those who are seated near the front rows, please come and get one. Since the cameras focus there, those who are seated at the back, please don't take the LED lightboards."

"King of Oddity posted on Weibo that if he can gain a spot in the top three, he would sign autographs for his fans at the venue after the competition ends. Everyone will get one!"

"Ah? Are you serious?"

"Then how many will he have to sign?"

"Teacher Flowing Time posted that if he gets crowned as the grand champion on King of Masked Singers, he'll move up his new album's release date and hold a fan meeting with everyone this week. He's hoping that everyone can give him their support and vote for him!"

"I've already instructed everyone at home to vote for Flowing Time tonight!"

"Sunset Glow has also been canvassing for votes in advance. She started a lottery on Weibo two days ago! That's how I got my admission pass for today. Someone even won the latest model of a laptop!"

"The celebs have all poured in a lot of money for this!"

"Yeah, the celebrities are all trying their best to get votes."

"Only The Clown's Weibo has been inactive. He never posted anything!"

"Damn, why isn't Teacher Clown asking for votes?"

"Who knows!"

"As they said, he's probably not very famous and the celebrity guest partner he's invited should also be quite an unknown newcomer, so why isn't he worried? All the more he should be asking for votes in advance!"

At the live broadcast venue.

The program staff were having a hectic time.

"Check the equipment again!"

"There's a bit of a problem with Camera 5!"

"Equipment team, handle it!"

"There's only three hours left!"

"Are the contestants and their celebrity guest partners here yet?"

"They're all here except for The Clown's celebrity guest partner!"

"Wild Rose isn't here yet?"

"Not yet."

All the contestants had arrived in advance along with their guest partners.

However, The Clown's celebrity guest partner was the exception. By rights, everyone should have already reached the venue since this was such an important live broadcast event. But Wild Rose was still nowhere to be seen, and they were only missing her presence as of now.

Han Qi rushed to find The Clown. "Where's your partner?"

The Clown said evenly, "She has a busy schedule. Don't worry."

Han Qi didn't know how to react. "You're really calm, aren't you? Could you call her and hurry her up? There's not much time left."

The Clown shook his head. "There's no need."

He understood Old Zhang quite well as she was the same type of person as him. Since she had agreed to do something, she would definitely do it well. So there was no need to hurry her. After knowing each other for some time, there was some trust between them.

A distance away.

Flowing Time and King of Oddity overheard.

Flowing Time said, "Only The Clown's partner isn't here yet?"

Flowing Time's partner sneered, "What's with this diva behavior? We're rehearsing soon. Is she going to make all of us wait for her?"

In a room close by.

King of Oddity was also not too happy to hear this. "What's going to happen now? Are we going to go ahead with the rehearsal?"

The program team employee said, "We're not going to wait. Let's rehearse."

King of Oddity's partner smacked his lips and said, "These newbies are behaving too ridiculously!"

Just as he said that, the program team received an update: Wild Rose has arrived!

The rehearsal began!

In reality, it was not really a rehearsal but simply something for everyone to go through the motions to find their positions. For example, they had to know where the cameras were located and where to stand when they went up onstage. They had to run through the general process once.

The contestants and celebrity guest partners gathered next to the stage all at once.

When Zhang Ye saw Sunset Glow, Petal Shower, and Spinach, he nodded at them in greeting. Then he glanced at the partners beside them. Although they were all wearing masks, their figures looked very familiar. The other contestants and their partners also exchanged greetings as they scrutinized each other. Zhang Ye was naturally one of those whom everyone had their focus on. Many of the contestants and their partners were sizing him up.

Then Wild Rose finally arrived, late.

Flowing Time's partner glanced at her and shook his head slightly.

Petal Shower looked at Wild Rose and blinked several times.

Even though she was late, Wild Rose showed no timidity at all. Instead, she smiled gracefully. "I'm sorry. I got caught in a traffic jam on the way here. Let's get started."

Dafei said, "Alright. Now that everyone is here, we can begin the rehearsal!"

Sunset Glow and her partner were also looking at Wild Rose with eyes full of speculation.

Was she really a newcomer?

She didn't look like it!

Her voice sounded somewhat familiar?

But it also felt like she had deliberately changed the tone of her vocal register?

If she was a newcomer, why would she need to deliberately change her voice? Was she afraid that someone would recognize her?

...

The sky was gradually getting darker.

The time for the grand finals was approaching.

Zhang Ye's parents and several of his relatives also came to attend the recording and were currently lining up with their admission passes. The audience members were already getting admitted into the venue. They were verifying their admission passes and performing security checks at the front gate.

His mother exclaimed, "Why are there so many people?"

His eldest sister smiled and said, "It's the King of Masked Singers' grand finals, and it's even going to be broadcast live, so of course there's going to be a lot of people."

His third sister called out, "Why are the people up ahead not moving? I can't wait!"

His third uncle said, "What are you so anxious for? We'll definitely get in."

His third aunt said, "It's not like the seats will run away. Be patient."

Almost all of Zhang Ye's family members were here today. If not for his grandparents' legs being not as strong as before, coupled with their high blood pressure making them unable to be in crowded places for long, the two seniors would probably have come as well.

Not far away, Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, Little Wang, and the others were also standing in line.

"It's so hot."

"It's not our turn yet?"

"The security check is taking too long."

"Let's patiently wait. If it wasn't for Director Zhang, we wouldn't have even gotten the tickets. How many people do you think have a chance to watch the grand finals at the venue? We're very fortunate."

This was the King of Masked Singers' grand finals!

It was a feast for the music and television show industry!

Attention from the industry insiders, the entertainment industry, the entire country's audience, and even the authorities were all focused here tonight!

...

At Zhang Ye's maternal grandma's house.

His grandpa and grandma turned on the television.

"Has it started yet?"

"Not yet."

...

His paternal aunt's house.

His paternal elder cousin and her best friend who ran a blogshop together had been waiting at their TV for a long time.

"Who do you like?"

"I like all of them."

"I only like The Clown, hehe."

...

At Peking University.

Many Peking University students who weren't on break yet were using the Internet in their dormitories to access the live broadcast on the television station's website. Some students even brought back a TV set from somewhere and hooked it up to an antenna to watch the live broadcast.

"It's about to begin!"

"Hurry and tell everyone!"

"I have a TV in my dorm. Whoever wants to come here and watch, hurry up!"

"We must support the show that was produced by Professor Zhang!"

...

The audience was shown in!

The stage was ready!

The countdown to recording had begun!

It was getting more and more rowdy online!

"There is only one show tonight—King of Masked Singers!"

"It's starting, it's starting!"

"Supporting Petal Shower!"

"I love Sunset Glow the most!"

"Flowing Time!"

"Flowing Time!"

"Let's go, The Clown!"

"Every one of them has a chance of winning tonight!"

"I'm looking forward to the crowning of the grand champion of King of Masked Singers!"

At 8 PM.

Under everyone's attention, the live broadcast of King of Masked Singers' finale began!

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Chapter 1068: Spinach in the lead!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The live broadcast signal came on!

Dong Shanshan appeared on the television screen!

Amid the cheering and screaming, Dong Shanshan descended from above. She was, in fact, sitting on a platform that was being lowered from the rafters. The stage was covered with fog and mesmerizing lights were shining. "Welcome to the King of Masked Singers, brought to you exclusively by Bright Fruit Cocoa. We're in the theater of the live broadcast of tonight's finale, and I am your most lovable, beautiful, sexy, and slightly artistic host—Dong Shanshan!"

A burst of opening remarks.

The audience's applause thundered!

Countless people were waving their LED lightboards and screaming in excitement!

Dong Shanshan's current popularity was much different from before. On the LED lightboards the live audience members were holding up today, other than for the contestants, many had Dong Shanshan's name on them. Some people were attending the event today just to support Dong Shanshan. They were all her diehard fans!

The platform was finally lowered down onto the stage.

Dong Shanshan elegantly walked off it and said as she strode onstage, "It's the night of the grand finals, and we'll see the most exciting battle between experts in this theater tonight. The grand champion of King of Masked Singers will emerge here tonight. The rules of the competition are very simple: The winners and losers will be decided by our live viewers. When the competition begins proper, the contestant's number to vote for will be displayed onscreen. Cast your votes and choose your grand champion so that they may be crowned Masked King tonight!"

The venue was changed.

The stage setup was also changed.

Zhang Xia was seated in the audience in the first row.

Chen Guang, Amy, Wang Zhuishu, and the other judges were also seated in the audience. For tonight's live broadcast, they were not tasked with commenting and were only here to watch the show.

The competition's rules for the grand finals had long since been leaked. The result of today's competition was no longer just for the live audience to decide, but for all viewers. The voting channel would be opened right from the first performance of the first round. Whichever contestant placed last in the celebrity guest partner round would immediately get eliminated and not be able to advance to the next round. Voting would only close after the last contestant performed their song in the second round. The contestant with the highest number of votes at the end would then be crowned Masked King, and the results for the first and second rounds were equally important as the votes were cumulative Further, the program team had planned for a segment during which the contestants could take off their masks at any time between the first and second rounds, meaning they could reveal their identities without needing to wait until the end of the show to do so!

A King of Masked Singers' discussion thread was created on Weibo.

"They're about to begin!"

"Who'll perform first?"

"They go according to the number of times that they've been crowned Masked King."

"Then the first person should be Spinach? She gained entry via the revival round and came in third."

"Who do you guys think will be eliminated in the first round?"

"Other than Petal Shower and The Clown, I think everyone else is in danger of being eliminated!"

"Haha, place your bets!"

"The betting's open! I'll bet on Flowing Time getting eliminated!"

"My bet is on Spinach."

At the venue.

The competition had not yet begun, but the atmosphere was exploding and chaotic!

Zhang Ye's parents, his uncles and aunts, as well as everyone else were all influenced by this atmosphere!

Dong Shanshan announced loudly, "As of now, the voting channels are open. Let's welcome today's first performer onstage—Spinach! And her guest partner—Celery!"

Dong Shanshan immediately exited the stage.

The onstage lights switched to a different style.

The audience was also very cooperative as they immediately turned quiet.

Suddenly, a voice singing in a cappella rang out!

Spinach stepped out onto the stage!

"You said the snow was pure.

"I said the skies were dark."

Another woman's voice followed.

"I said our dreams were forever green.

"You said your soul was gray."

This song became very popular in the past two years and was one of the top ten most requested songs during karaoke. But when it was performed by the two of them, it sounded like it upstaged the original. They actually added some operatic elements into it and the song seemed to have a heavy feel of Peking opera to it. It was especially enjoyable to listen to.

The dancers came out onto the stage, all of them dressed like Peking opera singers!

This was a classic example of a "traditional meets modern" performance!

Old Zhang had already gone to change into her costume. Zhang Ye was watching the TV alone in his waiting room and nodded approvingly. He rather liked this song that Spinach was performing today.

All of a sudden, without any warning.

Spinach's partner was sustaining a high note when she ripped off her mask!

When the audience managed to react, they were stunned!

Chen Guang pointed to the stage. "Han Ke?"

Zhang Xia smiled. "That's my old friend's granddaughter!"

Han Ke, a C-list celebrity and the granddaughter of Han Aiguo, a famous singer of the older generation in China. Han Aiguo was on the same level as Zhang Xia and a friend of hers who debuted together with her. At the same time, Han Aiguo and Liao Yiqi's grandfather were good friends of many years, so Han Ke and Liao Yiqi practically grew up together as best friends. This was why no one found it unexpected that Han Ke would be on the stage today, even though they were surprised!

Spinach smiled and also took off her mask. In fact, she had already taken off her mask, and everyone knew who she was already. But when her face was unmasked, the audience still cheered her on with screams and applause!

The viewers watching their TVs at home were also very excited!

"It's Han Ke!"

"Han Ke really came onto the show?"

"They're no doubt childhood friends! How supportive!"

"I like Han Ke a lot!"

"She was a child star, and I especially liked those TV dramas that she acted in when she was young! She's still as pretty even after growing up! I'm fairly sure it's only because of Liao Yiqi that she's here. If it were anyone else, she probably would not agree to come onto the show as a celebrity guest! After all, she hasn't sung for the past one or two years!"

"Let's vote!"

"Right, let's quickly vote!"

"Vote for Spinach!"

"I'm going to vote for Spinach just because of Han Ke!"

"Haha, I'm doing this for Han Ke too!"

At the bottom of the screen, the tally was being calculated and displayed in real-time.

In an instant, Spinach's tally had jumped to the top—with 870,000 votes and almost breaking a million! Meanwhile, the remaining contestants who had not yet performed also received some votes, although they didn't get much.

The live audience was shouting.

"Liao Yiqi!"

"Liao Yiqi!"

"Han Ke!"

"Han Ke!"

The duo of Spinach and Celery was really not to be underestimated.

When it came to the end of their song, Spinach's tally had reached 990,000 votes. She was in first place for the time being with a rather eye-catching result!

Dong Shanshan came back onto the stage. "Hello, Little Liao. Hello, Little Han."

Han Ke raised her microphone. As she had already taken off her mask, the backstage crew switched off the voice transformer on her microphone. She greeted Shanshan with her real voice, "Hello, Sister Shanshan."

Dong Shanshan smiled and said, "Long time no see."

Han Ke giggled and said, "Yeah, Sister Shanshan has become even more beautiful."

The two of them clearly knew each other. In the past, they had both done an endorsement for the same product and filmed a commercial for it. Sometimes, this was just how small the industry was.

Dong Shanshan said happily, "So you're here tonight to support your best friend?"

Han Ke nodded and looked at the audience. She said, "When Little Liao called me about this, I was actually filming outside of Beijing. After she told me the details, I rushed back without another word. It goes without saying I would've come back even if the sky was falling."

This episode, once a duo finished performing, they were allowed to say some words onstage. They could either have a short chat or canvass for votes; anything was fine. It was not as restrictive as the past episodes. However, Spinach and Celery did not really talk about anything else. Perhaps they were embarrassed about asking for votes, so the two of them just bowed to the audience and left the stage after a few words.

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Chapter 1069: Out of control grand finals!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In the front row.

Zhang Xia commented, "Little Liao sang very well today."

Chen Guang also said, "Yeah, she really did quite well."

Amy laughed and said, "Ever since the revival round, Spinach has transformed into another person. It's like she's suddenly been enlightened. She's a surefire favorite to win today."

Wang Zhuishu said, "I think she'll do well too."

On the last stage, Spinach's popularity was not considered particularly high. At the least, it was quite far off from Petal Shower and The Clown's level of popularity. But ever since the revival round, Spinach had started to really accumulate a good deal of popularity and left an impression on many in the audience. They all started to like her. Although the celebrity guest partner Spinach had invited was not that famous and was just a C-list artist like herself, they sang the song wonderfully.

Following their performance, the next contestant came out!

The second person to take the stage was Sunset Glow!

By rights, Sunset Glow should have appeared much later. After all, she had been crowned the Masked King once. Although she wouldn't have gotten a better spot in the appearance order than The Clown, she could still have chosen between appearing as the second to last or third to last contestant. But as she probably had some considerations regarding her song and the atmosphere in the studio, Sunset Glow chose to be the second contestant to go on stage.

On the stage, a familiar tune started playing!

Zhang Ye also found it very familiar. It turned out to be "Super Star"!

The audience was screaming.

"This song?"

"Sunset Glow is really that singer?"

"This song is the best!"

"Where's her celebrity guest partner?"

"Yeah, where's the celebrity guest partner?"

There was only Sunset Glow onstage.

The masked Sunset Glow raised her microphone and sang.

"Praising your smile,

"Your knitted brows break my heart.

"I cannot notice me,

"I only feel what you feel."

Suddenly, the stage was covered in fog!

With a loud rumble, all the lights went out!

When the lights came back on, another masked woman had appeared onstage. When she opened her mouth to sing, the theater was stunned for a moment before erupting into thunderous applause!

"Wherever you go,

"Bring my soul along with you.

"It's captured in your spell,

"What use is leaving it?"

Her celebrity guest partner had taken the stage as well!

This voice sounded all too familiar!

Zhang Ye smiled.

Zhang Xia smiled.

Many of the audience members knew this voice as well!

But what was even more surprising was yet to come. The lights went out again, with only a few columns of light remaining. The effect was especially artistic.

Vaguely, Zhang Xia, Chen Guang, and the others discovered someone standing up beside them.

The audience also saw this. From out of the blue, Amy had taken out a mask and worn it over her face, then strode forward and made her way up onto the stage as well. With a smile, she stood alongside Sunset Glow and the other celebrity guest partner!

Their three voices chorused in unison!

"You're a zap, you're my light, you're my only fairy tale.

"I love just you. You are my super star.

"You decide, I abide. There is nothing better here. Loving just you. You are my super star."

The audience went crazy!

No one had expected that Amy would also go up onstage!

Sunset Glow chose to remove her mask at this point in time. When it was off, the face of someone who looked particularly quiet was revealed—Spring Garden's Li Xiaoxian!

Next to her, one of them removed their mask as well—Amy!

The last person to take off her mask was Sunset Glow's celebrity guest partner—Xiaodong!

All the members of Spring Garden had assembled!

This lineup was a really powerful one!

At their televisions.

The home audience was also taken by surprise.

"It's really Xiaoxian!"

"Sunset Glow is Li Xiaoxian!"

"Damn, for real?"

"I didn't believe it when the netizens analyzed who she might be!"

"I always thought that the singing of Spring Garden's trio was just so-so. They've always sung group songs that talk about lovey-dovey subjects, so I didn't hear anything special. I never expected Li Xiaoxian's singing to be so good! She can also sing good by herself! So this isn't just some pretty girl group; they really have the skills to back themselves up!"

"Vote for her!"

"Yes, vote!"

Spring Garden was the country's most popular girl group with no others coming close. The group was so popular that all of its members were practically B-list celebrities and worth a lot. If the three members were separated individually and looked at, they might not be much. But when these three B-list celebrities joined together, their influence was absolutely comparable to that of an A-list star!

Zhang Ye's three sisters were also screaming and shouting from their seats in the audience.

When they finished singing, the entire place was chanting their names!

Sunset Glow (Li Xiaoxian) lifted her microphone and said, "Thank you. Thank you, everyone. And thank you to my two sisters who are here to support me. I was actually very nervous for today's grand finals, but I feel much better with them standing here with me. Hello, everyone, I am Li Xiaoxian!"

Applause and screams rang out once more!

"Xiaoxian!"

"Xiaoxian!"

"Xiaoxian!"

Li Xiaoxian said, "I really didn't think that there would be so many people who like me." She smiled. "I wasn't confident at all about joining King of Masked Singers, and I felt really perturbed. I was afraid that I would be too embarrassed if I lost, so I didn't let anyone know that I was joining the show at the beginning. I was too scared to tell anyone about it."

Amy grumbled, "You didn't even let me know."

Xiaodong said with a giggle, "You've kept it under wraps quite well."

Li Xiaoxian blinked. "Sorry about that, my sisters."

Xiaodong laughed. "It's fine, you're forgiven." Then she looked at the audience and into the cameras. "Everyone, remember to vote for our dearest Xiaoxian."

Amy suddenly pointed her microphone at the audience. "Did Xiaoxian sing well today?"

The audience was unanimous. "Yes!"

Amy asked, "Should you vote for her?"

The audience replied, "Yes!"

Amy and Xiaodong were trying their best to get votes for Li Xiaoxian.

Everyone noticed that Sunset Glow's tally was currently soaring. It shot up to two million votes, double that of Spinach's tally. She had replaced Spinach and was in first place for the time being!

The third contestant to appear onstage was King of Oddity!

He had revealed his identity already, so everyone knew who he was. But when the crowd saw him coming onstage with his celebrity guest partner, they were still surprised for a bit!

Their costumes were too extravagant!

They were both wearing golden robes!

They were even wearing bejeweled crowns that looked extremely expensive on their heads. These were definitely not provided for by Beijing Television and were probably rented by their talent agencies!

Their song was titled "The King's Sorrow"!

The audience was startled!

"How much did they spend on that?"

"Wow, they're so stunning!"

"I must vote for them just based on their costumes!"

"They're so willing to spend on their outfits!"

"How extravagant!"

"Awesome!"

"This visual impact is so great!"

They began singing. The entire song felt like some sort of stage play with a lot of people taking part in the performance. At times, people would come out for a dance. At other times, a chorus would come out and accompany the main singers!

When they were a minute and a half into the song, King of Oddity's celebrity guest partner took off his mask!

Li Yue 1 !

A famous singer from Hong Kong!

A B-list celebrity!

When her identity was revealed, King of Oddity's tally rocketed up. King of Oddity was not considered a very popular singer in the music industry, or at least was not known as a great singer. However, it was different for Li Yue. She held a lofty position in the pop music scene, and she was very popular and worth a lot!

The song ended.

When Zhang Ye saw King of Oddity's tally, he was startled and frowned a little. King of Oddity had almost managed to catch up to Sunset Glow with over 1.8 million votes now and was already ahead of Spinach by a mile. In truth, Zhang Ye felt that Spinach's group sang the best among the three groups that went first. The song Sunset Glow had sung was not exactly suited for a competition as it did not allow her to showcase her singing skills. As for the King of Oddity's "The King's Sorrow," he sang average. He clearly made several mistakes and his form today was not really that good. But why did the results of the voting turn out this way?

Zhang Ye realized that something was wrong!

This had deviated from the premise of the show!

When King of Oddity and Li Yue started asking for votes, Zhang Ye felt this feeling even stronger!

King of Oddity said, "I hope that everyone can vote for me. Thank you."

Li Yue smiled and said, "King of Oddity's next album is about to get released, and the album will be titled King of Oddity. Although he doesn't want me to reveal too much, I still want to say this."

King of Oddity looked at her and tugged at her.

However, Li Yue insisted on speaking. "He has decided that all the proceeds for the King of Oddity album will be donated to charity, which will be used to aid children. When I heard about it, I felt really touched. For a singer who is so kind-hearted, he totally deserves your votes!"

King of Oddity quickly waved it off. "I'm just doing something that's within my power."

The applause from the live audience wouldn't end!

"Donating everything?"

"Is he serious?"

"King of Oddity is such a kind-hearted person!"

"Yeah, he definitely deserves praise!"

"It's rare that a celebrity can be so charitable. There really aren't many like him!"

"That's so nice of him!"

"Supporting King of Oddity!"

"Just by that commitment of his, I must support him!"

"How generous!"

But there were also doubters.

"Wasn't there some negative news coverage about King of Oddity some years ago? Something about him verbally abusing a reporter after drinking? Cussing out a waiter? He even beat someone up in the past? What's with this about donating his album sales to charity now? What's with him making this declaration on this occasion? Is he trying to get more people to vote for him? Why do I find him so pretentious?"

"Those are just rumors. How can you believe all that?"

"King of Oddity is a very nice person. He's willing to donate all of his album's proceeds. Why don't you do the same if you can!"

"Passerby transforming into a fan!"

Zhang Ye had also heard of that news regarding King of Oddity. He did not know if they were true, but at least on today's stage, King of Oddity felt like two different persons on and off stage. His talk and attitude were entirely different, and that left Zhang Ye unable to distinguish how he really was. In his opinion, it was a good thing to contribute to charitable causes. But to use that as a tactic to ask for votes on this occasion, it didn't seem to be in good taste!

Meanwhile, King of Oddity's tally kept climbing!

Right after he announced that he would be donating to charity, his tally shot above Sunset Glow's!

Over 2.3 million votes!

King of Oddity was in first place!

And his tally was still continuing to rise!

Hu Fei was very happy.

The program team's staff were also beaming.

This was because they were constantly receiving news updates of the show's viewership rating and the constantly increasing number of people tuning into the show. So they were not exactly bothered by these developments.

Only Zhang Ye fell silent.

He suddenly thought that he should have intervened in the competition's grand finals format and rules, and that he should have participated more actively in the show's production.

It seemed out of control now!

The tallies no longer had anything to do with the performance itself!

Whoever invited the more popular celebrity guest partner?

Whoever had the more extravagant costume?

Whoever gave the most touching speech?

All of that would decide who would get the most votes?

This was not the original vision that King of Masked Singers had!

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Chapter 1070: The Clown's turn to take the stage!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At TVs.

There were numerous sets of eyes focused on Beijing Television.

"King of Oddity is first, while Sunset Glow and Spinach are second and third, respectively!"

"This is so intense!"

"Did King of Oddity really sing that well? How is his tally so high?"

"He did say that he would donate to charity, after all!"

"Isn't that way of canvassing for votes a little disingenuous of him?"

"Yeah, it's too phony. But people still buy into it!"

"I don't like King of Oddity's way of canvassing for votes. If we're talking purely about the songs, Liao Yiqi (Spinach) should be in first place! If not, it should be Sunset Glow instead!"

Many people understood how things ought to be.

But more people who were confused seemed to be around.

Some people did not care about what you did and only cared about what you said. If you said it well and put it beautifully, claiming to do all sorts of extravagant things, then everyone would think that you were good. Furthermore, King of Oddity's outfit was indeed overly extravagant and his invited guest partner was also a big name B-lister. Coupled with his declaration to donate to charity, it was completely within reason that he had such a tally. But as for how he had performed, it probably did not matter any longer.

However, when it came to the next contestant's turn, a lot of people finally understood what it meant when people said that there was always someone who could do something better!

...

The next contestant to appear was Flowing Time!

He was the famous Hokkien singer—Zhao Qiquan!

Flowing Time sang one of his own Hokkien songs but the lyrics had been changed by him. His part in the song was sung in Hokkien but his partner's portion was sung in Mandarin! His partner's singing was not very good and could even be considered amateur. He barely managed to stay on-key, although his intonation wasn't too bad overall. His singing voice was also fine but if it were really to be assessed, then it couldn't be considered good at all. Anyone could come along and probably sing more professionally than him.

At the beginning, the audience was even feeling somewhat disappointed.

But when they came to the end of the song, Flowing Time's guest partner ripped off his mask!

With that, the audience became so excited that they jumped to their feet!

"Holy shit!"

"Jiang Hanwei!"

"It's Jiang Hanwei!"

"Old Jiang got invited onto the show?"

"Indeed! Flowing Time has well-connected friends in the entertainment industry!"

"Even Old Jiang is here?"

"Damn, there's really an A-lister on the show!"

"Yeah, I heard someone mention it before. I thought it was just a rumor!"

"King of Masked Singers has finally managed to invite an A-lister!"

"This is so awesome!"

"Old Jiang sings pretty good!"

Jiang Hanwei!

A famous martial arts star!

The number one star of martial arts movies!

A famous A-lister from China!

Jiang Hanwei had sung the theme songs for his movies before, but he was not a true singer and only did so in the capacity of a guest or as a side job. So he wasn't going to be a complete professional at singing. However, his popularity was still a force to be reckoned with. In fact, he probably did not even need to sing. He could just show his face and the votes would still come in! Zhao Qiquan did not have this kind of influence. His popularity was not considered to be that widespread, but it was different for Jiang Hanwei. He was a true-blue A-list celebrity who was not ranked at the bottom of the A-list rankings!

"Let's vote!"

"There's no need to think any further! Let's just vote for Flowing Time!"

"I'm Old Jiang's diehard fan!"

"Old Jiang must be the most famous celebrity among all the invited guest partners!"

After they finished singing.

Dong Shanshan went back onstage. "I had not expected that Teacher Jiang would be here."

Jiang Hanwei laughed loudly as he clapped Zhao Qiquan on the shoulder. "I had to come and give my support since this old friend of mine invited me. Everyone, please remember to vote for Old Zhao and vote generously. If Old Zhao is crowned as the grand champion of King of Masked Singers, I promise to reveal Old Zhao's wife to everyone!"

Flowing Time gave a wry smile. "Must you be so hard on me?"

Dong Shanshan was surprised. "Teacher Zhao got married?"

Flowing Time coughed, "Yes."

Be it the live audience or the people watching on TV, all of them flew into an uproar!

"What?"

"Didn't Old Zhao get divorced just the year before last?"

"He got married again?"

"With who?"

"Why wasn't there any news about it?"

"Holy shit, what the hell have the paparazzi been doing?"

"Hurry up and tell us! Who is Old Zhao's wife?"

Jiang Hanwei suddenly added, "Haha, I can divulge this right now: Old Zhao's wife is also a celebrity, and you all definitely know who she is!"

All at once, everyone's curiosity was piqued!

Jiang Hanwei said with a laugh, "I promise on Old Zhao's behalf that as long as he gets crowned as the grand champion, I'll expose her to the world! May I do that, Old Zhao?"

Flowing Time said helplessly, "Alright, alright, I give."

The media present at the venue went on high alert!

Jiang Hanwei shouted, "Hurry up and vote. I'll be counting on all of you!"

Flowing Time bowed slightly as he went off the stage with Old Jiang.

The audience at the venue was screaming nonstop.

"Jiang Hanwei!"

"Jiang Hanwei!"

"Jiang Hanwei!"

There was hardly anyone shouting Flowing Time's name. Most of them were directed at Jiang Hanwei. No one present today had not watched Jiang Hanwei's movies before. Almost everyone here was a fan of his!

Immediately, the TV audience started voting!

500,000!

1 million!

2 million!

3 million!

Flowing Time's tally went over 3 million votes!

He had firmly taken first place!

He was far ahead of everyone else!

Zhang Xia laughed and said, "This Old Jiang really knows how to get the votes."

Amy had returned to her seat by now. "He's in first?"

Wang Zhuishu suddenly looked to his left and right. "Eh, where's Old Chen?"

"I don't know. He was still around just a while ago." Chen Yidong was also puzzled.

The next minute, they were surprised to see a familiar figure appearing on stage. This person was wearing the same outfit as Chen Guang had when he was seated beside them earlier. The only difference was that he was now wearing a mask!

It was time for the next group's performance!

They were "Petal Shower" and "Humble Light"!

Petal Shower sang, "Why aren't you leaving yet?"

The Humble Light faced her and sang, "I wanna watch the sea with you here."

This was a song by Chen Guang and Fan Wenli!

It was originally a duet sung by them!

By this point, the audience knew who they were even if they had not yet taken their masks off!

Petal Shower was Fan Wenli!

Humble Light was Chen Guang!

"I guessed long ago that it was Old Fan!"

"It's really her!"

"I like her! I really, really like her!"

"I knew it had to be her!"

"Hahahaha, Old Chen is a judge!"

"Giving the couple who perform together a Like!"

"Their singing is wonderful!"

"Old Chen and Old Fan are so impressive!"

"The two biggest names in the music industry have joined together, and they're even a couple with great understanding. On this stage, who else besides The Clown will be a match for this pair?"

"Even The Clown might not be able to beat them!"

"Right, The Clown's invited guest partner seems like a newcomer."

The performance ended!

Everyone stood up and applauded them!

Dong Shanshan walked onto the stage with a smile. "So Petal Shower's actually Teacher Fan Wenli! No wonder you sang so well. I am a fan of yours."

Fan Wenli smiled and said, "Thank you, Shanshan."

Dong Shanshan looked at Chen Guang. "Teacher Chen has always been a judge on the guessing panel. I understand that the program team had also invited you to join the competition, so why didn't you choose to participate?"

Chen Guang chuckled. "I was considering it, but my wife told me out of the blue one day that she was going to compete on King of Masked Singers to challenge herself. I thought it was better that I didn't join since I was really afraid that it would be too embarrassing if I lost to her on the show."

The audience was tickled!

They chatted for a while but did not ask for any votes.

Chen Guang and Fan Wenli had always been like this. Even if you requested that they shout "quickly vote for me" to the television audience, they would not do it.

When Zhang Ye saw their tally, he frowned again.

Flowing Time was still in first place with 3.8 million votes.

King of Oddity was in second place with 3 million votes.

Petal Shower had taken over third place with 2.9 million votes.

The audience was stunned.

"How can this be?"

"She's only in third place?"

"Old Chen and Old Fan sang so well!"

"Yeah, this song should be the best sung one today, followed by Spinach's song. But why is Petal Shower merely in third place? And why is Spinach in last place?"

"Was it simply because she did not ask for people to vote for her?"

"It shouldn't be like this."

"I didn't vote for Petal Shower because I already knew that she was Fan Wenli and guessed that Chen Guang would be her guest partner. Their performance had nothing to look forward to!"

"Yeah, there was more to look forward to in Flowing Time's performance. Who could his wife be?"

"No one was able to guess who Flowing Time's and King of Oddity's guest partners were!"

"Petal Shower and the others were given too much attention during the course of the competition. So there's nothing fresh and exciting to look forward to with them."

"But Petal Shower sang really well!"

"The other contestants publicized performing charitable acts or exposing their love life. They even invited some big names and spared no efforts in canvassing for votes, so how could Petal Shower and Spinach possibly compete with them? There's nothing wrong with these tallies. If they really want to catch up in the rankings, there's still a chance to do so in the second round where they'll be performing solo!"

"Hopefully, Petal Shower can catch up. I feel that she deserves to become the grand champion!"

A lot of people were very surprised by this tally.

Including Zhang Ye, who was quite unhappy.

If Petal Shower and Spinach had truly sung badly, he likely could have accepted this. But the issue here was that both of them had sung outstandingly. From a professional point of view, they were the two groups who had performed the best today. Hence, Zhang Ye could not accept that they were not higher in the rankings!

It was his turn next!

It was time for him to take the stage!

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Chapter 1071: 'Love of a Lifetime'!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In the waiting area.

Dafei quickly said, "Teacher, it's your turn."

The Clown nodded. "OK."

Xiao Lu asked Wild Rose, "Are you ready?"

"Yes," Wild Rose answered plainly.

As per procedure, Xiao Lu reminded them, "Teachers, you must not get nervous later no matter what. Cameras 2 and 3 are located at the front and the two of you must face the cameras at all times, although you shouldn't look into them. Eh, where are the in-ear monitors?" The program team staff and she were treating Wild Rose like she was a real newcomer.

The Clown said, "I don't need it."

Wild Rose said, "I don't need it either."

Xiao Lu gasped. "All, alright then."

Singers who usually sang in a recording studio would be used to wearing an in-ear monitor. A lot of singers who performed live were also used to wearing them as they were still very effective for listening to their own voices and the music. This gave a better effect and also prevented a desynchronization in the singing with the rhythm of the song. After all, the propagation of sound in such a large venue was usually delayed, so if their awareness of it was not that sharp, a problem would arise where the singing and music were not in sync. Only those singers who were especially professional and adept at live performances would not require such earpieces.

Wild Rose was clearly the latter.

While Zhang Ye was an exception—because this fellow did not know how to use a earpiece at all. Whether it was in the past or right now, he had never worn one in the first place.

It was almost time to take the stage.

The Clown's tally was still at the very bottom with only 200,000 votes. This was because the others had finished performing. He was the only one who had not gone onstage to perform, so his tally was naturally in last place.

Dong Shanshan's voice sounded.

"Next up, let's welcome the last pair of contestants."

"The Clown!"

"Wild Rose!"

Cheers erupted!

Many people were waiting for this last pair of contestants!

"It's time for The Clown's performance!"

"It's finally his turn!"

"Both Sunset Glow and Petal Shower have revealed themselves. There's only him left now!"

"Yeah, it's only The Clown's identity that we don't know!"

"Hurry up and show yourself!"

"I'd also like to see who on earth his partner is!"

"Is it really a newcomer?"

"Even if they're not a newcomer, they shouldn't be a very well-known celebrity, right?"

His mother sat up straight. "It's The Clown's turn!"

His third sister's eyes were glimmering. "I was waiting for him."

Ha Qiqi said, "I've always liked The Clown."

Zhang Zuo said, "Haha, I also like him quite a bit."

There were also countless viewers staring fixedly at their televisions!

After Fan Wenli and Li Xiaoxian finished performing, they returned to their seats offstage and were looking up in wait for the start of The Clown's performance. They were also anticipating the reveal of his identity as no one could guess who The Clown was all this while! As all the others had revealed themselves, their guess was that The Clown was also likely reveal himself to increase his tally in the first round. If he did not put in more effort in the first round to help close the gap, then it would definitely be very difficult to catch up later!

The fog machine was turned on

The stage was covered in fog. Nothing on it could be seen.

At the same time, the music started playing. It was a little sad and ethereal.

After the fog dissipated, The Clown was standing at center stage. He was by himself.

Listening to the melody, Zhang Ye closed his eyes and reminisced about the times with Old Zhang. He experienced a rather complex mix of emotions. The first time he met Old Zhang was two years ago. He could still remember with great clarity how Sister Zhang looked very cheerful and friendly on television back then. She was kind and pleasant to everyone and never put on any airs. Zhang Ye believed it to be real at the time. In the end, someone pressed his doorbell that night. When he opened the door and took a look, Zhang Yuanqi was standing right there at his apartment's door. She spoke in a cold manner and was even drunk. Thinking of it, Zhang Ye found it hilarious and his impression of Old Zhang as a female goddess was shattered on the spot. Since then, the two of them had become good friends. Whenever Old Zhang had time, she would come over to drink wine with him and tell him about things she could not tell others.

Sometimes, Zhang Ye questioned himself as to whether or not he liked Old Zhang.

He didn't know.

He probably did like her, right?

If Old Wu had not agreed to be his girlfriend or if Old Wu had not appeared in his life, he was unsure if he would've tried to woo Old Zhang. Sometimes, fate was really unpredictable. So when he learned that Zhang Yuanqi was going to sing a duet with him, the first song that came mind was this song. Zhang Ye wanted to sing this song with her even though she did not know that The Clown was him. He just really wanted to sing it!

He opened his eyes and raised his microphone 1 .

"The past has passed and won't return to now.

"Scarlet leaves long buried in the dirt."

Wild Rose was the first person to be taken aback. When the two of them were rehearsing earlier, The Clown did not sound like he did now!

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Zhang Xia was also shocked by his voice. Why did she feel that The Clown's singing was even better than before?!

A Cantonese song?

He chose a Cantonese song?

Those two lines pulled the audience into the music!

The audience could feel inexplicable sorrow and seemed to see an image of life and death!

"The start and end can't be changed, anyhow.

"My faraway lover drifting beyond the clouds."

He jumped an octave up.

"The sea of woes rolls with love and hate.

"It's hard to escape this world's fate."

Zhang Ye reached into the distance to grasp at something but was unable to grab anything.

"In love, but each other we must avert.

"Perhaps I should believe this is fate."

There was no applause!

There were no cheers!

Everyone in the audience was carefully controlling their breathing lest they affected him and the song!

Zhang Xia sighed, "This is what you call singing!"

When Wang Zhuishu heard Zhang Xia's comment and realized it implied something more, he could not help but glance at her.

Yes, this was what singing was about. The King of Oddity's and Flowing Time's performances could only be called performances, while The Clown's performance was what one would call real singing!

It was overwhelming!

This was a real singer who did not need to add any gimmicks into his performance!

All of a sudden, a woman's voice sounded from afar.

"Ahhh, ahhh."

The audience turned their heads in surprise!

Wild Rose had appeared behind the audience and was standing on an elevated platform. As she sang, her eyes stayed on the stage while she walked over to it step by step.

Her voice was amazing!

A single vocalization covered countless people in goosebumps!

Some of the audience members probably thought that it sounded nice but did not feel anything more. However, there were many professionals present here today and a lot of them were stunned by this singing!

Zhang Xia got quite the fright. "Who is she?"

Fan Wenli broke out in a cold sweat. "Th-This is…"

Chen Guang, Xiaodong, Li Xiaoxian, Amy, and the others were also shocked. This voice, this singing, this breathing technique! Even the fluctuation of the intensity in her emotions was successfully conveyed within her vocalization!

This was good beyond measure!

Just who did The Clown invite?

Their fellow peers in the music industry were also dumbfounded watching their televisions!

Just The Clown alone was astonishing enough!

And now, there was another person like that in Wild Rose?

These two were fucking exceptional singers!

How could the others have a chance with these two singing together?

The Clown looked toward Wild Rose. "Lovers, once gone, never shall come back."

Wild Rose sang softly, "Disappearing love."

The Clown closed his eyes. "Sitting alone, I stare past this world all slack."

Wild Rose was nearing the stage. "Hope to see you again."

"Though the flower may wither."

Wild Rose sang sadly, "Wishing only…"

"It will bloom back."

Wild Rose looked at The Clown. "For you."

"The love of my life seems to be…"

"Waiting…"

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"Beyond the clouds."

Wild Rose sang, "I hope."

Wild Rose walked onto the stage!

The two of them were facing each other, no more than five meters apart!

Their voices suddenly harmonized.

"The sea of woes rolls with love and hate!

"It's hard to escape this world's fate!"

The two of them walked toward each other slowly and reached their hands out at the same time. It was like they were trying to grab hold of each other's hands, yet when their fingertips came within touching distance, Wild Rose's hand trembled with hesitation as she withdrew it.

The Clown reached further out toward her, then clenched his fist as he started withdrawing his hand as well.

Despite being at such close proximity!

They couldn't close the distance between them!

These few centimeters felt like the furthest distance in the world!

Now they closed their eyes.

"In love, but each other we must avert.

"Perhaps I should believe this is fate.

"The sea of woes rolls with love and hate.

"It's hard to escape this world's fate.

"In love, but each other we must avert.

"Perhaps I should believe this is fate."

A lot of people were deeply engrossed in the song!

This was the charm of music. The song had given many people a vivid experience of a life and death romance in just three minutes, hooking them in and never letting go!

Yao Jiancai asked anxiously, "Who the heck is she!"

Beside him, Zhang Xia said in astonishment, "This voice sounds really familiar!"

Fan Wenli looked over and said, "I also find her voice very familiar!"

Xiaodong exclaimed, "It can't be, it can't be her, right?"

Chen Guang could guess who Xiaodong was referring to. "That's impossible. Who here is qualified enough to invite her? With her status, would she come and compete?"

Fan Wenli said, "The song's too short! I can't truly identify who she is by her voice!"

Amy yelled, "Why are they still not showing themselves? The suspense is killing me!"

The audience suddenly shouted.

"Ah!"

"She's going to take off her mask!"

"She's about to take it off!"

"Who could it be?"

"Who is this woman?"

A lot of people opened their eyes wide in curiosity!

Because at the final moment when the song was coming to an end, Wild Rose placed her hand on her mask and was very close to revealing her mysterious identity!

But unfortunately, her hand stopped right there.

Because The Clown had walked up to her and given her a slight shake of his head.

Wild Rose did not say anything but dropped her hand.

The audience regretted this deeply.

"Aiyo!"

"Take your mask off already!"

"Why isn't she taking it off anymore?"

"What's going on?"

"She was about to take off her mask!"

"Why is she not taking off her mask? Everyone else has revealed themselves!"

"What is The Clown thinking?"

"Does he really intend to wear the mask for the entire duration of the competition?"

"Damn, isn't he overdoing it by a little too much?"

"They're still not going to reveal themselves? I'm just afraid that when they get eliminated after the first round, they won't even have a chance to show who they are even if they want to! This is the best time to show themselves and ask for votes!"

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Chapter 1072: I'm a newcomer!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In the audience.

Zhang Ye's father sighed, "What a nice song this is."

His mother said, "This woman sang really well!"

His eldest sister was shocked. "Yeah, who is she?"

His third sister anxiously said, "I don't know! Why didn't she take off her mask?"

"The Clown stopped her!" His second sister slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "This song is so good! It didn't feel fake, nor was there much flamboyance to it. It was purely singing. It was so damn awesome!"

A duet and a solo were two different concepts. They were completely different!

The difficulty of singing a duet lay in the cooperation between the singers and the "control" of the atmosphere. In fact, the majority of duets were not suited for competitive singing. As such, some of the contestants before them chose to make use of musical instruments to control the atmosphere by putting on electronica the moment they went onstage and using it to pump up the atmosphere. Some others chose to use their performances to control the atmosphere by wearing resplendent outfits like they were staging a play, and adding a dance segment to give the audience a stronger visual impact! But The Clown and Wild Rose's song was all about controlling the stage with their voices and using their singing to excite the audience! This was clearly much more difficult, as even the husband and wife pair of Chen Guang and Fan Wenli could not cooperate to this level in their earlier performance!

The music ended.

The audience were at a loss for a moment, then suddenly erupted into applause!

Hearing the applause and seeing everyone around them standing up from their seats, Zhang Ye was having fun singing. He felt fulfilled with his performance today and could claim to have sung to perfection. He managed to use his own style to sing all that he wanted to say and express. Furthermore, Wild Rose's partnership with him was even better. The two of them seemingly had an unspoken understanding of each other even though their characters and approach to handling things were totally different. For some reason, they resonated very well together on a spiritual and artistic level. Perhaps this was why these two people who were from two completely different worlds could end up as the good friends they were.

Voice?

Rhythm?

Cooperation?

They were flawless in all aspects!

This was a very famous classic from Zhang Ye's previous world called "Love of a Lifetime" that was used as the theme song of A Chinese Odyssey. Zhang Ye had heard of it when he was young but did not have any strong feelings about it. However, when the song was used in the movie, it brought out a different side to the song that sounded quite good. However, he had never had the urge to sing this song. It wasn't until the grand finals when he invited Wild Rose to be his partner that Zhang Ye suddenly thought of this song. It was like it had infected him—he really wanted to sing it. For this reason, Zhang Ye stayed up many nights just to practice the pronunciation of this song's Cantonese lyrics so that he could sing it today! Thinking about it now, it was worth all the effort he put in. He did not fail this song regardless of how the results would turn out.

Dong Shanshan walked back onto the stage with a smile. "Hello, teachers."

The Clown and Wild Rose both smiled.

With the live broadcast camera in front of them, the attention of the entire country's audience was focused on them.

Dong Shanshan looked at them and said, "I don't know how I should greet the two of you right now, because you two have yet to reveal your identities, so I wouldn't know who you are."

Wild Rose smiled as she raised her microphone and said, "I was planning to reveal my face."

Because she did not take off her mask, the vocoder on her microphone was still on.

Curious, Dong Shanshan asked, "Then why didn't you?"

Wild Rose laughed and said, "You have to ask him."

Dong Shanshan looked at The Clown. "Oh?"

The Clown did not answer.

In fact, Zhang Ye and Wild Rose had communicated about this issue beforehand. She was not too inclined to take off her mask during the performance itself as she did not want to destroy the artistic integrity of the performance, which Zhang Ye agreed with. So the two of them did not plan to take off their masks from the start. Zhang Ye did not know why Wild Rose would suddenly change her mind about this. Perhaps she was afraid that he would lose out too much in the voting, but Zhang Ye managed to stop her from doing so. On this stage, Zhang Ye's only intended to sing well. He knew that if Wild Rose had taken off her mask, the competition would probably end early with Zhang Ye gaining a great advantage. But that was not what he wanted.

He wanted to win!

He wanted to win fair and square!

Comparing popularity?

Comparing acting chops?

Comparing misery?

Comparing charitability?

What was the meaning in that!

Zhang Ye did not wish for his show that he brought over from his previous world to become like this!

So The Clown raised his microphone to his mouth as he looked to the singer next to him. "Today, I would like to thank Teacher Wild Rose for taking time off to support me. My deepest gratitude." The vocoder made him sound very strange.

Wild Rose laughed and said, "That's what friends are for."

The Clown looked at the audience. "Next, I would like to thank my parents and family. They're also here today, but I wonder if they liked my song."

Dong Shanshan said in surprise, "Oh? Aunt and uncle are here too?"

Hu Fei, who was giving instructions offstage, was stunned.

Dafei and Xiao Lu were also a little taken aback.

What?

The Clown's family members are here?

That's impossible! The Clown did not request for any admission passes to the grand finals from them!

All the admission passes that were given out had gone through their hands, so they naturally wouldn't remember wrong. Many of the contestants' relatives were attending the grand finals today, like Spinach's aunt and uncle, King of Oddity's mother, and Li Xiaoxian's siblings. The program team had allocated the best tickets for them and arranged for them to be seated in the front rows. However, The Clown's family members were definitely not included in this list!

Hu Fei asked Dafei, "Did you give them passes?"

Dafei replied, "I didn't."

"Little Han, did you give them passes?"

Han Qi stuttered, "It wasn't me either! I don't know anything!"

A lot of people in the audience started looking around!

"The Clown's parents?"

"Who are they?"

"Who are his parents?"

"We should be able to figure out his identity if we can spot them!"

"Where are they?"

Zhang Ye's parents were also searching.

His mother turned to check behind her and to the sides. "There's no one?"

His eldest sister also searched for a long time. "No one stood up."

His father wondered, "Are his parents seated in the front row?"

His mother stretched her neck to have a look. "They're not up front either."

At this time, Dong Shanshan questioned, "Teacher Clown, Teacher Wild Rose, I believe that there are many people who are curious about who you are, including me. In five minutes' time, the voting channels will be suspended. Are the both of you really not planning to reveal your faces and let everyone see who you really are?"

The Clown said, "It's not necessary."

Dong Shanshan blinked. "Then do you want to ask for votes?"

The Clown calmly said, "It's not necessary."

Dong Shanshan did not know what else to say. "Th-Then alright, we will respect the teachers' choice. Let's have them head backstage for a short break. We'll return after these messages."

The TVs cut to commercial break.

Dong Shanshan was sweating from the stage lights as they were too hot. She immediately went offstage to get her makeup touched up. Three makeup artists ran over to assist her. The other members of the staff quickly tidied up the stage.

When they were heading off the stage, Wild Rose, who was walking ahead of The Clown, asked without even looking back, "Are we really not going to reveal our identities?"

The Clown made a noise in the affirmative.

"Not going to ask for votes?"

"No."

"You know, this song was never suitable for a competition."

"I know."

"What if we lose?"

"I'll accept it."

Wild Rose suddenly laughed. She turned around and looked at him for several seconds. "I finally believe that you're really my old friend. I don't have many friends with a temperament like yours. I think I know who you are now, although I'm not very sure because the person I know shouldn't know how to sing."

The Clown spread his hands, not replying.

The staff led them to the front row.

Fan Wenli, Chen Guang, Li Xiaoxian, Xiaodong, Jiang Hanwei, Zhang Xia, and the others were all seated there. This special zone was reserved for the contestants and judges. When the two of them came over, all the contestants and judges stared at them en masse as they took their seats beside them.

Amy spoke up the fastest. "Big Sis, who are you?"

Wild Rose looked at her and chuckled, "Guess."

Flowing Time (Zhao Qiquan) said, "You should have taken your mask off."

King of Oddity agreed, "Yeah."

Wild Rose acknowledged him.

Jiang Hanwei asked suspiciously, "Do we know each other?"

Wild Rose purposely disguised her voice and said, "No, I'm a newcomer."

You're a newcomer?

How is that possible!

The singers nearby nearly fainted!

Especially Flowing Time and the other veteran contestants. They were even more at a loss for words. Damn, if you are a newcomer, then aren't we dead meat?

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Chapter 1073: The Clown on the verge of elimination?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

During the commercial break.

Some of the audience took a bathroom break.

Some of the staff made use of this time to check the equipment.

Li Xiaoxian (Sunset Glow) looked at Wild Rose, who was seated beside The Clown, and asked, "Big Sis, do you know who The Clown is?"

Wild Rose smiled and said, "I don't know, but I have someone in mind."

Xiaodong quickly asked, "Oh? Who?"

Fan Wenli added, "Do we know him?"

Wild Rose glanced at The Clown, then looked back at them. "Hur hur, the person I'm thinking of, you guys definitely know him. Also, I think you should be quite familiar with him."

When The Clown heard that, his eyebrows twitched a little.

Amy exclaimed, "Surely not, right? We're very familiar with him?"

Fan Wenli said with a frown, "Why do I have no memory of someone like that?"

Zhang Xia said, "Just who could it be?"

Wild Rose laughed and said, "It's only a guess. I might be wrong."

Chen Guang didn't know how to react. "If you're not even sure of who The Clown is, why did you agree to come in support?"

Wild Rose smiled without saying another word.

The others could not figure out if she was telling the truth or lying.

Liao Yiqi (Spinach) had not said anything all this time. Her celebrity guest partner, Celery, was talking her ear off, probably worried about her current tally of votes. After all, the numbers were not really ideal.

The host finished touching up her makeup.

The program team counted down to the return of the show.

Three…

Two…

One…

The commercial break was over. The show's broadcast signal came back on!

Dong Shanshan beamed as she announced, "Welcome back to tonight's finale of King of Masked Singers." She pointed down. "At the bottom of your screens, you can see the numbers to call for each contestant. Please support and vote for your favorite contestant so that they might become tonight's Masked King. Your votes decide if they will remain or leave after the first round. The contestant that comes in last won't continue competing tonight. Only five will remain in the battle for the Masked King in the next round. And now that our six contestants have all finished performing, let's bring the real-time tallies up onto the big screen behind me and have a look at the current rankings."

In an instant, the entire venue went quiet.

The TV audience also seemed to be holding their breath!

Spinach looked up!

Fan Wenli took a deep breath.

Flowing Time and Jiang Hanwei were smiling so widely they were squinting.

King of Oddity looked relaxed as he knew he would be safe from elimination with his current tally.

"Who's in first?"

"I don't know."

"Are the results out yet?"

"Who'll be the first one to get eliminated?"

Zhang Ye also looked up at the screen.

With a sudden flash, the tallies appeared on the big screen and updated in real time. The votes were changing every second as the numbers jumped.

When the audience saw the rankings, there was an uproar in the venue!

First: Flowing Time

Second: King of Oddity

Third: Petal Shower

Fourth: Sunset Glow

Fifth: Spinach

Sixth: The Clown

Fan Wenli said in surprise, "What?"

Zhang Xia couldn't believe it either. "The Clown is sixth? He's in the last place?"

Wild Rose gave The Clown a look.

The Clown did not react.

Amy cried out, "What's with this result?"

Flowing Time shook his head. That's what he gets for acting aloof and not wanting to take off his mask!

King of Oddity was also smiling on the inside. He knew that The Clown had sung very well, and he admitted that the best song that he has heard today was The Clown and Wild Rose's "Love of a Lifetime"! They had indeed sung much better than the other contestants by far. However, it seemed like that didn't affect anything at all since how many in the audience would look at their performance from a purely professional point of view? Most people just listened and watched the performances for the fun of it. If you did not take off your mask or ask for votes, and chose not to have any gimmicks to interest the audience, then who would want to vote for you?

Xiaodong was also finding it difficult to understand. "Even if The Clown isn't in first place, he shouldn't be in the last place! There was clearly nothing wrong with his song at all!"

Li Xiaoxian frowned and said, "I just cast a vote for Teacher Clown on my phone. He and Teacher Wild Rose really sang this song well, so how could…"

Even Dong Shanshan, who was currently onstage and facing the cameras, looked a bit startled when she saw the rankings. She hadn't expected to see such a result either!

Zhang Ye's mother was enraged. "What the hell!"

His father could not keep watching. "How are these people even voting?"

His eldest young sister said in shock, "The Clown and Wild Rose sang so great! They should be in first place! But why is their tally so low? This is impossible!"

Ha Qiqi gasped. "Isn't that too low?"

Zhang Zuo said, "No one wants to vote for The Clown? I might not be a professional, but even I could hear that The Clown and Wild Rose sang much better than the others!"

Others in the audience held opposing views.

"I'm giving my vote to Flowing Time anyway."

"Me too, I just want to know who his wife is. Hahaha!"

"The Clown and Wild Rose sang well, great, even. But who would know who they are since they were unwilling to take off their masks? They're probably just some unknown artists who are afraid to show their faces in the first place. Maybe they're scared the audience won't recognize them? Then we might as well give our votes to the celebrities we know. King of Oddity is a good choice to support since he has intents to support charity."

"Right, King of Oddity seems like he has a good character."

"I voted for Zhao Qiquan."

"Likewise, but I'm doing so because I'm giving face to Jiang Hanwei."

"Old Jiang has already done so much to get votes for Flowing Time, so we must definitely give him face! Hehe!"

In the previous episodes of the competition, the contestants were not allowed to speak or ask for votes after their performances, or even take off their masks midway through. There were also no celebrity guest partners at all. But the rules were changed in today's grand finals, and the outcome was clearly very different from before. The program team had not anticipated this, and they also did not think too much of it when Flowing Time and King of Oddity were asking for votes from their supporters. But at this moment, when they saw The Clown's tally, Hu Fei, Hou Ge, and the others suddenly realized that something was not right. This development had gone beyond their expectations and design of the competition format. It had gone utterly off track from their original vision of the competition!

...

In the outside world.

On Weibo.

The fans of the contestants were calling for support and votes everywhere.

"Please vote for Flowing Time! Thank you!"

"Where are King of Oddity's fans? Go vote for him!"

"Let's push King of Oddity up the rankings together! Don't let our big brother fight this battle alone!"

"Where are Old Fan and Old Chen's diehard fans? Let's give our votes to Petal Shower together!"

It was bustling online.

People calling for support everywhere, and some even offered to sell their votes. This was because every phone number could only be used to vote once, so many diehard fans of Flowing Time, King of Oddity, and the others were offering to buy votes for the contestants they supported. Although this behavior was prohibited, it was in fact very difficult to enforce.

Only Spinach and The Clown did not experience much support from their fans.

For Spinach, it was because she was not that well-known. As for The Clown, it was because no one knew who he was.

But there were also fans of The Clown who were very angry.

"Why is he in the last place?"

"The hell!"

"Are they all deaf?"

"Can you people not hear the difference between good and bad?"

"You guys should be voting for The Clown!"

"This is a singing competition! It's not about outdoing each other with gimmicks!"

"Are you kidding me? How can The Clown be last?"

...

At the venue.

Dong Shanshan checked the remaining time. "We're only two minutes away from the end of the first round."

By now, the front runners were leading by a lot of votes compared to those behind them.

Spinach, fifth place: 1.27 million votes.

The Clown, sixth place: 1.26 million votes.

There were only 11,000 votes between them!

There were still two minutes left!

It would be impossible for them to catch up to those in the lead in such a short time. The eliminated contestant would be either Spinach or The Clown!

Spinach looked toward The Clown and let out a sickly laugh.

The Clown looked at her in return.

Dong Shanshan said, "There's still a minute until voting closes. The voting is getting more and more intense."

The Clown had 1.28 million votes!

Spinach was also at 1.28 million votes!

Their two tallies were tied!

Counting down: ten seconds, five seconds, three seconds…

A lot of people were tensing up with nerves!

All of a sudden, Dong Shanshan announced, "OK, the voting window has closed!"

Instantaneously, the tallies on the big screen stopped changing!

Countless home viewers and the live audience immediately looked at it!

Fifth: The Clown

Sixth: Spinach

The difference between their two tallies was just 220 votes!

Spinach was eliminated and would not advance into the battle round!

Hu Fei heaved a sigh of relief.

Xiao Lu patted her breast. "I was scared to death!"

Han Qi's heart nearly jumped out of her chest. "How close! He nearly got eliminated!" Then she got furious and wondered, How could that have happened? Why did it become like this?

The Clown!

Wild Rose!

How could these two singers nearly get eliminated?

Are all of you deaf? Are all of you so easily deceived by those gimmicks rather than listening to their singing?!

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Chapter 1074: The Clown loses his title chances?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The netizens commented on end!

"Spinach was eliminated!"

"The results are out!"

"It was way too close for The Clown!"

"Yeah, he's a favorite to win the title tonight. In fact, he's the favorite to win, so how did he nearly get eliminated in the first round? This doesn't make any sense!"

"Liao Yiqi was eliminated?"

"Damn, I was supporting Spinach!"

"Spinach sang so much better today!"

"Right, Spinach absolutely sang much better than Flowing Time and King of Oddity! At least today, at least this round, Spinach absolutely should not have been eliminated!"

"It's their fault for not trying to get votes."

"Right, I think it was only Spinach and The Clown who didn't canvass for votes!"

"Ai, Spinach was already the contestant with the lowest popularity on this show. It was to her disadvantage as such competitions still depend on one's fame to be successful. I feel so much pity for Spinach!"

"She should have asked for support and votes!"

"Exactly, both her and The Clown miscalculated!"

At the venue.

Dong Shanshan had already announced the results.

She looked down at Spinach from onstage. "We're quite sad and sorry to see that Teacher Liao Yiqi will be leaving this stage early tonight. Could you say something for everyone before you go?"

Spinach stood up and walked onstage.

Dong Shanshan handed the microphone to her.

Spinach forced a smile. "Thank you, everyone. Getting here, reaching the grand finals, I'm very happy with my performance, really."

In the audience.

Quite a number of Spinach's fans stood up.

"Spinach!"

"Little Qi, we're cheering you on!"

"Cheering you on! You're the best!"

"We love you!"

Some fans were already in tears.

Several grown men were wiping tears away as they held up LED lightboards with Spinach's stage name on it. They were holding them high with all their strength, like they were trying to raise the boards into the sky!

When she saw this, Spinach could no longer control her emotions. Her eyes reddened as she said, "Thank you. Thank you, all of you." Pausing, she bit her lip and said, "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to make it to the end." Spinach was a very cheerful person in private and usually had a lot to say. However, the Spinach on stage was not as talkative as she was in private. Just like before, she did not really touch on how she was feeling even after she had been eliminated, much less complain about anything.

When they heard Spinach apologizing, the fans felt even worse!

A lot of them started crying and their hearts went out to her!

Spinach exited the stage.

The other contestants also left and went backstage to prepare for the next round of the competition. Only Wild Rose, Xiaodong, Chen Guang, Jiang Hanwei, and the other celebrity guest partners remained behind in the audience as they were not involved in the next round of competition. Their work here was done for the day.

Backstage.

The Clown did not say anything on the way over.

Fan Wenli looked at him. "You should have been first in the first round."

Li Xiaoxian was no longer wearing her mask. "We were just discussing that if the results were based only on the songs, you'd definitely have gotten first place."

Flowing Time and King of Oddity did not say anything. They were already heading back to their own waiting rooms to change costumes. Their makeup artists were already waiting for them.

The Clown looked at both Fan Wenli and Li Xiaoxian. "Thanks."

Fan Wenli said, "You'll definitely catch up in the second round."

The Clown chuckled but did not speak.

Fan Wenli and Li Xiaoxian also headed back to their waiting rooms.

The Clown was by himself now. He was just about to open the door and go inside his waiting room when he heard footfalls coming from behind. He turned around to look and saw that it was Liao Yiqi who had come backstage.

"Teacher Clown."

Zhang Ye looked at her. "Teacher Spinach, you're looking for me?"

Liao Yiqi asked, "Did I not sing well?"

Zhang Ye firmly shook his head. "It's not that; you sang great. If I'd voted, I would not have given my vote to Sunset Glow or Petal Shower. I would have voted for you."

Liao Yiqi said, "Is that so?"

Zhang Ye reaffirmed, "Yes."

Liao Yiqi smiled wanly and said, "Then why are our tallies so low?"

Zhang Ye did not answer her, nor did he know how to answer her.

"I can't accept it," Liao Yiqi suddenly said. "I really can't accept it."

Zhang Ye waited for her to continue.

Liao Yiqi took a deep breath. "I don't have another chance to sing. So Teacher Clown, I'd like you to do me a favor. You must be crowned Masked King. Can you do that for me?"

Zhang Ye said, "With you gone, I'm the one with the lowest tally amongst the five remaining contestants."

Liao Yiqi was silent for a moment. Then she looked up and said, "I'd like to know if there really is no recognition for those of us who just want to sing in peace."

Zhang Ye comforted, "You're still young. There'll still be a lot of chances in the future."

Liao Yiqi said, "But right now, my beliefs have been shaken."

Zhang Ye understood. He knew exactly what Spinach was feeling at this moment. He was furious about her elimination from the competition. He felt that it was unfair and also found it unbelievable. Not counting his duet with Wild Rose, Zhang Ye felt that Spinach's song was the best one out there tonight. Surprisingly, she performed much better than the husband and wife pair of Chen Guang and Fan Wenli. Because of that, Zhang Ye did not know how he could comfort her when he was faced with this young singer who had just come of age.

One second.

Two seconds.

Zhang Ye suddenly spoke, "Don't be shaken. Believe in yourself, and believe in what you have always thought is right."

Liao Yiqi did not say anything. She was hesitating and looked lost.

Zhang Ye looked at her. "About what you've asked of me, I'll give you my word."

Liao Yiqi was startled by his words.

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "So if I become the Masked King, if I become the grand champion, you must promise me that you'll continue to believe. There's nothing wrong with singing in peace, OK?"

Liao Yiqi's eyes finally lit up. "OK!"

Zhang Ye nodded. "Then it's a deal."

Turning around, Zhang Ye pushed open the waiting room door.

Inside, the makeup artists and wardrobe assistant were having a conversation.

The female makeup artist said, "Well, I suppose that's it for The Clown."

The male makeup artist said, "Both he and Spinach acted too high and mighty. I can tell that they're newcomers at a glance. They're still not used to the pace and rules of the entertainment circle. Even though such shows say that they only listen and judge the music, how many people would know how to do that? This current competition format totally depends on the viewers' votes. How many votes can they get with just their singing alone? They definitely have to incorporate other ways to gain more support. Flowing Time and King of Oddity were fine examples of how it should be done. Their talent agencies must have strategized it for them, using those gimmicks to gain votes that other contestants would have needed to gain with two songs."

The wardrobe assistant sighed and said, "Honestly, The Clown has already fallen out of the race for the Masked King."

The female makeup artist said, "Yeah, the tallies' differences are too large. There's no way he can catch up."

"The Clown has an advantage, though."

"That's right."

"His advantage is that he has not taken his mask off yet. He still has a chance to do so in the second round and gain an explosion of support. But if he insists on keeping his mask on, then he's really done for! He won't even be able to fight for the top three spots!"

The three of them were chatting.

Zhang Ye closed the door behind him.

Only now did they realize that The Clown had come back. They did not know whether he had overheard their conversation, but the three of them looked a little guilty.

"Uh…"

"Teacher Clown."

"Let's do your makeup."

Zhang Ye acknowledged them and sat down at the makeup table without a word!

All of a sudden, he was full of fight. He refused to have his beliefs shaken today!

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Chapter 1075: The second round of the grand finals!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The commercial break ended.

The live broadcast cut back to the theater.

After the elimination of Liao Yiqi, the competition entered its climax. The countless domestic viewers watching their televisions could even smell gunpowder in the air. The atmosphere of the competition was intense!

"What a long commercial break!"

"It's starting!"

"Dong Shanshan is so damn beautiful!"

"Her popularity has taken off due to this show."

"True. Dong Shanshan, Petal Shower, Sunset Glow, The Clown, all of them have become really popular!"

"How can you say that The Clown is popular? He was nearly knocked out of the competition!"

"Isn't there still the second round?"

"He won't be able to catch up even in the second round."

"I now believe that The Clown might really be a newcomer."

"Yeah, he doesn't even know the basic rules and behavior of show business."

"Not necessarily. The Clown might know that it'll affect his votes if he doesn't take off his mask, canvass for votes, or let his celebrity guest partner reveal herself, and that it puts him at a disadvantage. Nonetheless, that's what he's chosen to do. Maybe it's in his principles to win fair and square. Could this be a possibility?"

"Get over it."

"Do you think that everyone thinks like that Zhang Ye fellow?"

...

Onstage.

Dong Shanshan looked into the camera and announced, "Welcome back to the show. And now, let's have our staff reopen the voting channels. The second round of the competition has begun!"

In the second round, which was also the final round, only one song remained for each contestant to perform. Their final song would decide their outcome and spot in the competition. Although there was still one more chance to perform alone after being crowned as Masked King, the prerequisite was winning.

The voting channels were opened!

The real-time tallies were shown on the big screen!

First: Flowing Time, 3.51 million votes

Second: King of Oddity, 2.68 million votes

Third: Petal Shower, 2.35 million votes

Fourth: Sunset Glow, 2 million votes

Fifth: The Clown, 1.3 million votes

The difference was too great!

The Clown had already fallen behind right at the beginning!

Han Qi kept quiet, a dark look on her face.

Hu Fei was not in a good mood either. He felt that he had done The Clown wrong this time, as well as Spinach. Hu Fei had even purposely gone to look for Spinach to offer his apologies to her a bit ago. The format of this competition was a mistake on their program team's part, and Hu Fei felt that he was responsible. However, Spinach did not seem like she was in the mood to talk. Hu Fei could see that Liao Yiqi had been dealt quite a blow, so he got even more worried about The Clown. He was afraid that he would not be able to withstand this pressure. The Clown was the contestant who had become the Masked King the most times so far. He was clearly the favorite to win and become the grand champion, yet he had now fallen all the way to the last place. This disparity was too much for anyone to accept!

But there was nothing they could do. The results were set in stone. The Clown had almost no chance of becoming the champion. They couldn't stop the competition now, nor could they change the rules at the last minute. All they could do was let the competition keep progressing!

A nocked arrow must fly! 1

Beijing Television's Head and several station heads had all come to watch the competition in person and were seated in a remote corner in the theater. After all, this was Beijing Television's most popular variety show in their history of existence. The entire television station's attention was on the team, and everyone had very high hopes for the show.

With Dong Shanshan's announcement, the final round of the competition began!

The audience fell silent!

Li Xiaoxian (Sunset Glow) came onto the stage!

"I've always been told I don't understand lyrics, composing, or singing!

"I've always been told I don't understand comfort, laughter, or living!

"I've always been told I don't understand passion, women, or romance!

"I've always been told I don't understand restraint, flexibility, or smarts!"

It was a rock song!

Sunset Glow was actually singing a rock song!

This song had once been performed by a female contestant on The Voice. But when it was sung by Li Xiaoxian, the style of the song was entirely different. There was very deep emotion within the singing as Li Xiaoxian used a restrained voice with feminine quiet to sing that rebellious shouting of the rock spirit!

"Who told you I can't sing!"

The entire audience perked up!

Scream after scream rang out!

Xiaodong and Amy gave each other a look and broke out into gratified smiles.

Their Spring Garden group was the most popular girl group in the country, but had always been mired in controversy. A lot of people called their singing into question and believed that they depended on their appearances to be successful. They'd heard so much criticism about themselves over the years but had never been able to give a proper response to those critics. But today, Li Xiaoxian had stepped forward. She had used the identity of Sunset Glow to let everyone know that they could also sing well, and that they could sing songs that people thought they couldn't! More importantly, they could sing well!

When her performance was over, Sunset Glow's vote count immediately soared!

The audience could see the constant change in her tallied votes from the real-time update on the big screen.

It increased by several hundreds of thousands of votes, and she surpassed Petal Shower in the rankings!

Li Xiaoxian's solo song required all of her singing skills that Sunset Glow was well-known for!

The next contestant was King of Oddity!

"Child.

"My child.

"How could I have a future without you?

"Child.

"My child.

"Dad will wait for your return!"

This was a charity single that had been released for an anti-human trafficking campaign. The original version had ten celebrities singing in it, and two of those ten were currently seated in the audience. One of them was Grandma Zhang Xia, the other was Jiang Hanwei. This was a song many people had heard before, and it immediately evoked a lot of memories.

Frankly, King of Oddity's singing was just average. He specialized in singing portamento, but this technique did not at all suit some songs. However, he had added some complex portamento and pauses into the song that made it sound a little too over the top. Yet somehow, the audience was touched and bought into it!

Before the song ended, King of Oddity's votes had increased by more than 500,000. It shot up by much more than Sunset Glow's increase, and his tally was now nearly even with Flowing Time's!

Some in the audience kept clapping.

"Great song!"

"How nostalgic it is to hear this again!"

"It looks like King of Oddity is really here to help charity today!"

"Yup, that's how all celebrities should be. Everyone should follow King of Oddity's example!"

"Just based on this charity theme song, I will vote for King of Oddity!"

"I've already voted for him, so I can't vote anymore."

During the first round, most of those watching the show had cast their votes. As a result, there wasn't as much of an increase in the tallies during the second round as compared to the first round where the tallies changed by 1 to 2 million votes per contestant. The uptick of votes for each of them in the second round was only in the region of several hundred thousand. This was expected due to the votes being cast earlier on. This was also the exact reason why all the contestants, other than The Clown, had chosen to take off their masks during the first round. Everyone knew that such a situation would occur, so they took off their masks early on to try to gain an advantage over the others. Otherwise, their chances of winning would have been minimized if they waited until the second round to do so. Unless someone sang an extraordinary song stunningly, there was almost no realistic chance of them bridging the difference in votes. This reason was why the program team and everyone else believed that The Clown had already lost his title chances.

There weren't enough votes!

And it would only lessen toward the end of the show!

...

The tally was constantly changing.

When Li Xiaoxian saw it, she gave a dry laugh.

Xiaodong was speechless. King of Oddity had performed this song about average, but how did he get so many votes? It seemed like Xiaoxian would not even stand a chance of getting placed in the top three.

Zhang Ye had changed into his other costume and had had his makeup done. He watched the TV in the waiting room and shook his head slightly.

This again?

He was playing the charity card again?

He was even starting to overuse this gimmick?

Was there no end to this?

Zhang Ye did not object to charity, so of course he wouldn't oppose it. But to do this on such an occasion, wasn't it too obvious what his objectives were? To put it bluntly, this was as good as moral abduction. He was using means other than singing to get the audience to want to vote for him! Li Xiaoxian had sung great even if she wasn't in her best shape today. She still managed to showcase a large part of her strengths in her performance, yet she did not get as many votes as King of Oddity did?

Immediately, Spinach's words echoed in her mind.

Is there really no recognition for those of us who just want to sing in peace?

Zhang Ye was silent.

Then he clenched his fists tightly!

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Chapter 1076: Wild Rose's mask falls off!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

King of Oddity stepped down from the stage and returned to his front row seat.

"Congratulations."

"You're guaranteed to finish in the top three."

"If it's close, you might even get first place."

"Haha, your tally will be moving into first place soon."

Jiang Hanwei and a few others offered their congratulations.

King of Oddity was also looking at his own tally. He got very excited knowing that he would be surpassing the first place Flowing Time in a moment. As a singer who was still considered half a newcomer to the industry and not really that popular yet, King of Oddity was pleased to have achieved such results in the King of Masked Singers' grand finals. Sunset Glow had finished performing, so it should be impossible for her to catch up to him. Although The Clown had not yet performed, as his tally was too far behind, he could be left out of consideration for the top three places, in which King of Oddity was pretty much assured a spot!

He might even get second?

There were three divisions in the ranking based on the tallies displayed on the big screen.

The first and second place votes were very close.

The third and fourth place votes were quite similar.

The last rung of the rankings belonged only to The Clown, whose number of votes was falling far behind.

"It's Petal Shower's turn!"

"Let's see how Old Fan does with her song."

"This performance is too important for Old Fan."

"Who will get crowned Masked King?"

"Flowing Time's chances are the best! He's leading by too much in the voting!"

Gradually, the number of people discussing The Clown lessened. Some of those who supported him were left cursing and protesting for him. But as this was a competition, and with the live tallies displayed openly, they had no recourse but to continue watching the competition. Their attention was instead focused onto the battle between Petal Shower, King of Oddity, and Flowing Time.

Fan Wenli went onstage.

Chen Guang was watching her from the seats with a smile.

A lot of people were also watching her in anticipation.

Sure enough, Fan Wenli did not disappoint.

"Piercing lights hang overhead.

"I can hear the calls the crowd led.

"I stand at center stage, the only place I can, endlessly singing with a sweet smile spread.

"The sky is so blue.

"The water is so clear.

"How white the clouds are.

"The people are so kind.

"Love is so pure.

"How beautiful this world is."

All of a sudden, Fan Wenli raised her voice!

"But I don't wanna sing!

"I don't wanna sing today!

"I just wanna let the loneliness eat me away!

"I don't wanna sing!

"I just don't wanna sing!

"Those rotten lyrics that ain't worth a thing!"

The earlier duet had limited much of Fan Wenli's singing from being showcased. But in her solo performance, she was not bound by anything. She was able to let go and put all of her emotions and feelings into her singing. The title of this song was "I Don't Wanna Sing." It was an alternative rock song that Chen Guang wrote in his early days when he was in his most down-and-out period. This song meant a lot to Chen Guang, as well as Fan Wenli.

Zhang Xia stood up and clapped!

Xiaodong, Li Xiaoxian, and Amy also stood up and clapped!

Petal Shower's tally rocketed up!

3.2 million!

3.5 million!

3.6 million!

She surpassed King of Oddity and Flowing Time to take first place!

The rankings instantly changed!

Petal Shower was in first place!

Flowing Time was in second place!

King of Oddity was third!

"Petal Shower!"

"Petal Shower!"

"Great song!"

"Let's go Petal Shower!"

The audience was shouting her name!

Li Xiaoxian (Sunset Glow) was delighted. "Sister Fan will definitely become the champion!" She and The Clown were already out of the race, but she was hoping that Fan Wenli could at least become the champion of this competition. It wasn't that they were both women, or that they had a good personal relationship. It was because Li Xiaoxian felt that Fan Wenli had sung much better than both Flowing Time and King of Oddity!

Yao Jiancai said happily, "Congratulations."

Chen Guang smiled and said, "Old Zhao has not sung yet."

As Flowing Time's guest partner and a friend of many years, Jiang Hanwei chuckled. "Old Zhao still has a killer move lined up for his last song. Just watch."

Zhang Xia said curiously, "Oh?"

Onstage, Dong Shanshan announced, "Let's welcome the next contestant—Flowing Time!"

Flowing Time took the stage.

Soothing music played.

However, what came on over the sound system was not a singing voice but Flowing Time speaking. "Today is the one-hundred-day anniversary of my marriage to my wife. I would like to thank her for staying with me through the most difficult period of my life and encouraging me. I have written a special song for today's grand finals as a present for her."

Hu Fei's face sank!

The program team staff looked at each other!

During the rehearsal, this part was not mentioned, and he was not supposed to have made a speech. Why was he not singing, and instead, using an opening speech to set up the atmosphere? Usually, having speech within a song was fine. It wasn't like it was prohibited. But the program team felt that there was something very wrong with Flowing Time's speech. He was once again trying to play the emotional card and use it to canvass for more votes. If Flowing Time had mentioned he'd give this speech during the rehearsal, Hu Fei, as the executive director, would definitely not allow him to add it to the performance. But who could have expected that he would resort to a fait accompli instead of mentioning it to them in the first place!

Flowing Time sang.

"Dearest wife.

"Please hold me tight.

"Without you, I can't live.

"Without you, I won't survive."

Seated in the audience was Wang Zhuishu, an accomplished professional composer and lyricist. He had written many songs, so when he heard this song and its lyrics, he knew right off the bat that Flowing Time did not really know how to write songs. The lyrics were middling, although the melody was decent.

Zhang Xia glanced at Jiang Hanwei.

Xiaodong, who was sitting quite close to Jiang Hanwei, laughed dryly.

Was this the killer move you mentioned?

This song…

Ai, I'd rather not talk about it.

Jiang Hanwei was an outsider to the music industry, not someone who did music professionally. As such, the professional singers and musicians seated around him did not really say much about this.

But what surprised them was that the audience had actually bought into Flowing Time's gimmick!

Because of that opening speech in which Flowing Time mentioned that he was gifting the song to his wife!

"What a good man!"

"My impression of Flowing Time has changed for the better!"

"It's not easy on him either."

"Yeah, all that bad press about him in the past. Ai, I guess I could let it slide. I should vote for him just for this song of his, or else I won't feel good."

"Flowing Time is quite sentimental!"

"When he got divorced, Old Zhao's ex-wife posted on Weibo alleging that he had beaten her up. I suppose that was just a rumor. Old Zhao has a great character and is also pretty gentle."

"This song sounds really touching."

"Who on earth is his wife?"

"I really wanna find out! Quick, let's vote for him. Didn't Teacher Jiang Hanwei say? As long as Flowing Time becomes the grand champion, he'll reveal the details of their marriage!"

"That's right, that's right!"

The tally kept changing!

Zhang Xia was dumbfounded!

Chen Guang and the others were also stunned!

The song was not over yet, but Flowing Time's tally had caught up to Petal Shower's!

By the time the song was over, he had surpassed her tally with an astonishing 4 million votes. This number made those professional singers and guests' jaws drop. Even Yao Jiancai had to have some admiration for Zhao Qiquan. Although the song was not that good, he really knew how to spice things up to get the votes. His gimmicks kept coming one after another. From his first song onward, he was in total control of the audience's emotions. He had planned it all out, from start to finish. Clearly, his emotional card had struck a chord with the audience better than King of Oddity's charity card. Most critically, everyone still did not know who his wife was. This anticipation left them wanting more!

After his performance.

Flowing Time came down from the stage.

Jiang Hanwei stood up and gave him a hug. "Haha, you sang well!"

"Thanks." Then Flowing Time walked to Fan Wenli.

Fan Wenli also gave him a hug and smiled.

Li Xiaoxian stood up as well. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." Next, Flowing Time went over to Wild Rose.

Such hugs were quite common to see in theaters. It was a form of congratulations and encouragement.

Flowing Time bent forward a slight bit and already had his arms out.

However, surprising many people, Wild Rose did not even get up from her seat. She just put up a hand. "Don't mind me. You didn't sing too bad. Hurry up and sit."

Flowing Time was taken aback too.

Damn! She was not giving any face to him at all?

The live broadcast cut to Flowing Time's hugs with the other contestant and guests. But in a twist of fate, this moment was captured by the cameras, leaving the cameraman to sweat nervously. He yanked the shot away from them, but that scene had already been seen by everyone. No matter if it was the live audience or the home viewers, everyone was taken aback.

"Pfft!"

"Who is this woman?"

"How face smacking!"

"She's not even returning the gesture to the grand champion?"

"Who are you referring to as the grand champion? The competition hasn't ended yet."

"It's already over, OK?"

"Yeah, the Masked King has already been decided. It's definitely going to be Zhao Qiquan!"

"It doesn't matter whether The Clown goes up on stage or not anymore."

"Hahaha, this Wild Rose is interesting. I'm very curious about who she is. It looks like what the netizens said about both her and The Clown were right. They're definitely newcomers who don't know how to play by the rules!"

"Wild Rose has offended Flowing Time!"

Some of Flowing Time's fans were cursing at this.

"Fuck."

"Who is this woman!"

"She's so disrespectful!"

"Why's a newcomer like you getting all arrogant!"

Flowing Time also looked a little unhappy. He was irate but maintained the smile on his face. He didn't seem like he minded it at all. Then he went over to Jiang Hanwei and had a few words with him before sitting down.

Xiaodong and Amy looked at Wild Rose in amazement.

Zhang Xia and Fan Wenli were also staring at her.

Dong Shanshan announced, "Next, let's welcome the last contestant—The Clown!"

Applause sounded.

In reality, it was just encouraging applause. The gap between the tallies was too large. The only person who could catch up to Flowing Time now was Petal Shower, but even that didn't seem too likely anymore. The difference was already more than 300,000 votes, while The Clown, in the last place, was still at his previous tally of just over a million. He was behind Flowing Time by almost 3 million votes!

How could he possibly catch up?

It was totally impossible!

As a result, the championship was practically in Flowing Time's hands. The last song of the competition had lost all meaning since it didn't matter whether The Clown sang or not!

Some of the audience members sighed sadly.

"The Clown should have placed much higher than this."

"Yeah, that should absolutely not have been a problem with the strength that he has."

"Ai, he deserved it for being so stubborn. Who told him to not take off his mask?"

"It's not that he doesn't want to do it. I'm sure it's because he and Wild Rose, who he invited, are both little-known, so no one would recognize them even if they took off their masks. If they did, it might cause a reverse effect instead, so they might as well try to keep it mysterious."

"You're right! But that's why Flowing Time will win. His reputation was already quite big to begin with, and he even got A-lister Jiang Hanwei to be his guest partner!"

"Showbiz is still very dependent on one's popularity."

"The Clown didn't lose for no reason."

"He's just a newcomer, so he can still slowly work his way up."

The Clown had already stepped onto the stage.

But right at this moment, an accident occurred!

Wild Rose's hair was a little messy, so she put her hand behind her head and straightened it a little. But, intentional or not, the mask on her face loosened and thudded onto the floor!

Her mask fell off!

A perfectly sculpted face was exposed to everyone's sight!

When Jiang Hanwei heard the commotion, he instinctively turned his head. He was just about to bend down to pick up the mask for Wild Rose like a gentleman would when he saw her face. He was immediately stunned!

Zhang Xia was stunned!

Li Xiaoxian was stunned!

Flowing Time was stunned!

Hu Fei was stunned!

The program team was stunned!

The entire live audience was so shocked that their jaws dropped to the floor!

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Chapter 1077: 'Exaggerated' brought to life!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

It went quiet!

There was dead silence in the theater!

There was also dead silence at home!

When Wild Rose saw that everyone was looking at her, she chuckled and bent down to pick up her mask. "Aiyo, my mask fell off. I'm sorry about that, hur hur."

Zhang Yuanqi!

It was the Heavenly Queen Zhang Yuanqi!

The entire place was shocked!

Or rather, the place was dumbfounded!

Zhang Xia was startled. "Yuanqi?"

Xiaodong stared hard. "Sister Zhang?"

"Sister Zhang, it's you!" Amy and Li Xiaoxian simply could not believe it!

Fan Wenli didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "And I was just wondering who could have sung so well!"

Jiang Hanwei said in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

Flowing Time was sweating nervously now and looked embarrassed. He had wanted to give a hug to Wild Rose earlier, but was rejected with a simple response from her. Flowing Time had been infuriated by her rejection, but now, he could not even get angry. With Zhang Yuanqi's status in the entertainment industry, even if she did not accept his hug and had criticized him on the spot, he would still have to stand there and take the abuse.

Why was it her?

Why was it Zhang Yuanqi?

How could The Clown have possibly managed to invite her!

How could The Clown have possibly moved the Heavenly Queen with his invitation!

In an instant, the place blew up!

A lot of people had only just returned to their senses!

"Holy shit!"

"Oh my god!"

"It's Sister Zhang!"

"It was her who sang 'Love of a Lifetime' just now?"

"Goddamn!"

"This is too insane!"

"How could Sister Zhang take part in a competitive show? It's impossible!"

"Did The Clown invite her? Who on earth is The Clown! He even managed to invite Sister Zhang?"

"A newcomer? Who the fuck said that they were newcomers? Huh?"

"Is Sister Zhang a newcomer? Can you guys not be so funny?"

"I've realized that we were wrong; we've made a colossal mistake! Who said that they didn't take off their masks because they were unknowns? Huh? Who said that? The Clown is amazing! He even invited Sister Zhang to be his celebrity guest partner? What kind of a person is he?"

Everyone was so shocked that they were unable to get a hold of themselves!

Han Qi's jaw dropped!

Even Hu Fei, Hou Ge, Xiao Lu, and the rest of the program team staff went slack-jawed. They did not know who Wild Rose really was either! The Heavenly Queen had come to King of Masked Singers?

Backstage, Spinach was watching the show on TV in shock!

Li Xiaoxian could no longer bear it and asked, "Sister Zhang, why didn't you take off your mask earlier then? If you had done it…"

Zhang Yuanqi smiled. "He wouldn't let me."

Fan Wenli said in surprise, "Why not?"

Zhang Xia said, "Yuanqi, who on earth is he? He could even convince you to come?"

Amy said, "Both of you should have taken off your masks in the first round!"

No one knew what The Clown was thinking. If Zhang Yuanqi had taken off her mask and revealed herself in the first round, The Clown would surely have been crowned champion, without question. No matter if it was King of Oddity using his charity card, or if Flowing Time had invited Huo Dongfang or Jiang Hanwei and played the emotional card, all of those would have been meaningless. As long as Zhang Yuanqi was standing beside The Clown, he would definitely have been the champion tonight!

Yao Jiancai and Zhang Xia looked at The Clown who was already standing onstage!

The live audience looked at him!

The TV viewers looked at him!

It was the second round now and the last song of the competition. How can you still catch up? Even if Sister Zhang's identity has been exposed, you still can't catch up!

You clearly could have won!

You clearly could have taken a huge lead in the first round!

But why?

Just why didn't you?

All eyes fell on The Clown.

Onstage.

Zhang Ye stood there quietly.

He was dressed in a suit, all in white, and looked particularly clean and quiet at present. Spinach's words kept playing in his mind, echoing over and over again. When he saw Spinach getting eliminated, Sunset Glow falling behind in the rankings, and Petal Shower being unable to fight Flowing Time's tally even though she had sung so well, Zhang Ye couldn't help but think of what he had gone through in the past. Without a face, without a background, and without anything to speak of, all he had was a burning passion and his determination. But journeying down this path was so difficult and such a struggle that no one would be able to see or understand it!

Determination, is it wrong?

Hard work, is it wrong?

Why do you guys only see the fancy things in life?

Why don't you even glance at the people working slowly and steadily?

Can't you all see me?

Can you really not see people like us?

Everyone was asking Zhang Ye why!

But in Zhang Ye's heart, he was also asking everyone why!

I'm not going to take off my mask!

I'm not going to canvass for votes!

I'm not doing any gimmicks!

I just want to sing in peace!

Is that not allowed?

Why can't I do that?

The music played!

The notes of the piano flowed like water!

It sounded rather heavy!

It sounded rather sad!

Zhang Ye suddenly opened his eyes and looked at the other contestants, the live audience, the live broadcast cameras. With anger and questioning, he raised his microphone 1 .

"You only see the brightest of stars in the starry night sky.

"In a crowd you adore the one with the hottest stories, the most come by."

The audience was stunned!

Zhang Xia was stunned!

Zhang Yuanqi was also stunned!

This song…

Zhang Ye lightly laughed. "Who doesn't long to stand at the center of the stage."

He looked up at the lights around him. "The halo shining only for me.

"After the show's over and the curtains come down, who cares what you think,

"and who cares what you do then?

"Exaggeration is not a crime.

"It can fill an empty and tedious lifetime.

"Those prying eyes, that gossiping mouth, they spice up every get-together's downtime."

In the audience, those who had been talking and criticizing The Clown for not understanding how to adapt suddenly fell silent. They could not say anything at all!

Zhang Ye's voice went higher as he made a mocking gesture!

He was questioning them!

He was questioning all of them!

"Do we really have to exaggerate?

"Whether it is right or wrong, false or true?

"Comparing style, image, and value!"

Zhang Ye pointed at everyone and sang loudly.

"Who would speak their mind?

"Who would speak their mind?

"As long as the picture is shocking!

"As long as the story blows up in kind!

"Flowing out of my mouth is mocking,

"hyperbole, and laughter aligned!

"Only at night before the mirror can I secretly tell the truth unrefined!"

Zhang Ye now laughed insolently and rudely. It was a laugh of ridicule and derision!

King of Oddity's face had turned green from anger!

Flowing Time's face was at once flush red and flush white!

King of Oddity's and Flowing Time's fans in the audience were also angered!

"What is this!"

"He's obviously implying something!"

"Damn, who're you trying to criticize?"

"This Clown is awful!"

"He's exactly the type of person I dislike!"

"I don't like him either. Why is he accusing our Flowing Time for no reason!"

However, The Clown's voice rang out again!

Zhang Ye sang to those in the audience.

"Whether you like me

"or don't like me,

"that is your choice!"

Those people who had been talking ill of The Clown were stunned!

"I'm just hoping to voice myself sometimes and catch your ear.

"Since I sang the first note of my musical dream,

"I have never given up here!

"There are too many obstacles from myself, circumstances, and onlookers.

"Good or bad, I have bear it."

Zhang Ye sang high.

"So I want to sing a song of praise!

"And in the song set my emotions ablaze!

"Though there's many options, how many good songs are there that can move people and give them feeling?

"Do we really have to exaggerate?

"Whether it is right or wrong, false or true?

"Comparing style, image, and value!

"Who's the big winner!

"Who's the big winner!

"As long as the picture is shocking! / As long as the story blows up in kind!

"Flowing out of my mouth is mocking, hyperbole and laughter aligned. / Only at night before the mirror can I secretly tell the truth unrefined!

"Ahhh.

"Ahhhhh."

Chen Guang could no longer help himself and stood up. "Great!"

Absorbed in the music, Fan Wenli said, "Now this is singing!"

Zhang Yuanqi sighed and said, "Now this is a musical genius, as well as a musical madman!"

For some reasons, Li Xiaoxian's eyes reddened.

Everyone had been shocked by this song!

They were in disbelief that there could be this sort of song! How could anyone sing a song like this! He was a natural-born singer! The Clown really was the favored Son of Heaven! He seemed to have been born just for this industry! Even genius singers like Fan Wenli and Chen Guang felt a little envious of him! A singer like you should've already become world famous. So why? Why was someone as lucky as you—

However, The Clown's next line dumbfounded them once again!

Zhang Ye shook his head and flapped his hands.

"The lucky one is not me.

"Because the path I've chosen is very tough!

"If I'm remarkable but can't stand out enough,

"I must at least make sure there's no one else like me!"

Canvassing for votes?

Resorting to gimmicks?

They could make speeches better than they could sing?

Using charitable acts as a weapon?

Morally abducting the audience?

Should I also do the same?

Do I really have to learn from all that to win?

Zhang Ye suddenly raised his voice and went into his head voice. He grabbed his chest tight and poured all his confusion, doubt, and anger into song.

"Do we really have to exaggerate?

"I too grappled with it in my heart!"

He pointed at himself, jabbed his chest.

"When I was working hard on my own,

"did anyone see me?

"Would anyone know?"

For a song, I did not sleep for two days!

I always try my best in everything I do!

I've really worked my tail off!

But did you guys see?

Did you know?

The audience was falling into low spirits!

They suddenly felt something heavy tie up their hearts, something that made them want to cry!

Meanwhile, Zhang Ye seemed to go crazy. He shout-sang.

"Singing until my thoughts dissolve!

"And until my throat goes hoarse!

"You can say that I am enthralled!

"That I've gone crazy!

"But if I can't be carefree, how can I call myself a singer?

"Ahhh!"

He pointed at the camera, at all of the audience members. He shouted with a staunch and stubborn look in his eyes, "Look at me shining for you-u-u-u-u-u-u-u!"

Spinach cried!

Li Xiaoxian could no longer hold back her tears and they rolled down her cheeks!

They did not know why they were crying, they really did not know why!

But as they watched and cried at The Clown's onstage mournful shout-singing, many other people started crying their hearts out as well!

All of the live audience stood up in shock!

The home viewers got the goosebumps from listening to the song and stood up in shock as well!

Zhang Ye pointed at the audience and yelled.

"Whether you like it or not,

"please accept me graciously!"

All of a sudden, his voice soared an octave higher!

Yelling!

Screaming!

Fury!

"As the next moment is when I'll sparkle for you-u-u-u!

"HEEEEEEEYYYYY!"

Look at me!

Please, all of you. Look at me!

I am The Clown!

I am singing for every one of you!

The place exploded!

Everyone went insane!

Everyone stood up as though they had gone mad and were screaming like crazy!

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Chapter 1078: Shocking the world!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Things got out of hand!

The place blew up!

The entire live broadcast venue was reverberating with The Clown's scream of madness at the end. All that oppression, confusion, rage, and determination were let out with that final scream. He blew up entirely and screamed to the point that his lungs almost tore apart. The artistry and soul of this song from beginning to end were all assimilated into this last outburst!

The entire song.

All of the lyrics.

Every part of his singing.

It could only be described as shocking!

Fan Wenli was shocked!

Zhang Xia, Xiaodong and the rest were also taken aback!

What kind of song was this?

What kind of person was this?

Li Xiaoxian was already in tears. She raised her hand high and gave a thumbs up!

In the staff area, Han Qi was also crying. She was covered in goosebumps and was so emotional that she did not know how to express herself. All she could do was vent in the most primitive of ways by shouting, "The Clown! The Clown! The Clown!"

In the audience.

His mother stood up and shouted, "The Clown!"

Zhang Ye's three sisters literally jumped out of their seats. "The Clown!"

Ha Qiqi shouted, "The Clown!"

Zhang Zuo raised both his hands and shouted loudly, "The Clown!"

A male audience member screamed, "The Clown!"

A female audience member was in tears and saying, "The Clown!"

"The Clown!"

"The Clown!"

"The Clown!"

One person!

A hundred people!

A thousand people!

The shouting was becoming more and more united!

The shouting was getting louder and louder!

Suddenly, someone in the audience shouted out something different that caused everyone to follow suit!

That person shouted, "Cham-pi-on!"

"Cham-pi-on!"

"Cham-pi-on!"

"Cham-pi-on!"

"Cham-pi-on!"

His mother was shouting!

His father was also shouting!

The audience was shouting like crazy. With this song, the previous performances by Flowing Time, Petal Shower, and King of Oddity had all been thrown to the back of everyone's minds. None of those songs mattered anymore!

Onstage, Zhang Ye's voice had gone hoarse. Even after the music had stopped, he was still deeply immersed in the emotions of his singing. It was the shouting that brought him back to reality. When he saw the sea of people in the audience standing up and chanting his stage name, mixed with calls of "champion," Zhang Ye froze for a moment. He suddenly understood why he was able to persevere up till now.

Hu Fei sighed, "He's really, really great!"

Xiao Lu wiped away her tears and said, "Why, why am I reminded of Teacher Zhang!"

Hou Ge said, "Yeah, these lyrics also made me think of Teacher Zhang. He's just like The Clown, always encountering those difficult situations along the way and getting ignored by people. Others may not know and simply criticize him. But those who have ever worked with Teacher Zhang know! Do they even know how much hard work Teacher Zhang puts into making his shows? Have they seen it for themselves? Whether it's Teacher Zhang or The Clown, both of them really have not had it easy!"

Dafei said, "The lyrics were so well-written!"

This song was called "Exaggerated."

The original was Eason Chan's Cantonese version 1 , but Zhang Ye chose to sing Terry Lin's Mandarin version 2 for his performance. These two versions were both very good songs and he liked them very much as well. However, the meanings behind them were polar opposites. He had chosen to sing the Mandarin version because it expressed the exact situation that he was in now, and it was also what he had been hoping to say all these years!

In all fairness, this was not a song that one would be amazed with when they first heard it. At least, Zhang Ye did not feel this way when he first heard the song. Whether it was the Mandarin or the Cantonese version, he did not feel much for either of them and could not remember the lyrics either. In fact, he did not even know what the songs were trying to convey. The melody was also not that beautiful. But when he listened to it for the fifth time, and then the tenth time, he suddenly felt very surprised by it. Afterwards, it was only a matter of falling in love with the song.

This was the type of song that slowly became nicer with time. But today, Zhang Ye made it popular almost immediately due to the atmosphere, setting, and message behind it!

Zhang Ye walked off the stage.

Using the window of time before he returned to his seat, Amy looked at Chen Guang and asked, "Teacher Chen, if you had joined the competition and faced The Clown onstage, who do you think would win?"

She did not mean it maliciously.

Amy really was just being curious.

For those at today's taping, if they mentioned the two best singers present at the venue, the best would definitely be Zhang Yuanqi. But second best would not be Fan Wenli, Zhang Xia, Li Xiaoxian, nor Xiaodong. It would be Chen Guang—this was not Amy's personal ranking of them, but the long accepted opinion of the public and the industry.

Chen Guang smiled wryly. "I wouldn't want to think about that."

Amy did not understand. "Ah? What do you mean?"

Fan Wenli laughed and said, "What Old Chen is trying to say is that he wouldn't want to be standing on the same stage and competing against someone like The Clown." Then, she gave Chen Guang a look. "Afraid you'd lose?"

Chen Guang rolled his eyes but did not answer.

Would he lose?

Chen Guang did not know.

He only knew one thing. To beat The Clown…it would be extremely difficult!

Especially this song The Clown sang today called "Exaggerated." Even if it was Zhang Yuanqi competing against The Clown, she might not be able to beat him. The Clown was really insane today. This song was insane. His singing was insane. Everyone who was here today was seemingly baptized from head to toe by this song! This was the charm of song, the charm of music. But most importantly, it was the charm of the singer. Chen Guang questioned whether he could sing this song as well as The Clown if it had been given to him. That final scream at the end was a mixture of complex emotions and not something that just anyone could sing!

He could not do it.

Fan Wenli could not do it.

Li Xiaoxian could not do it.

Flowing Time could not do it.

Even Sister Zhang would probably not be able to do it.

That scream could only have come from The Clown!

...

In the outside world.

Shock had also descended upon everyone watching at this moment!

Among the viewers who were watching the King of Masked Singers grand finals on their televisions, nine out of ten were stunned by what they saw!

They hadn't been interested in listening to The Clown's last song originally, thinking that the results had already been decided. Every one of them knew that The Clown would not have a chance of being crowned champion anymore. But when Wild Rose's mask fell off, when "Exaggerated" played on TV, almost all of them got a shock!

They had been shocked by "Exaggerated"!

They had been shocked by The Clown's determination and anger!

"Quick, tune into the live broadcast!"

"Holy shit!"

"The Clown has blown his top!"

"This song is just too goddamn awesome, isn't it?"

"Oh God, I'm going crazy from listening to this!"

"What's this song called? Goddammit!"

"It's called 'Exaggerated'!"

"How can there be such an awesome song in this world! It's even an original? Today's the first time it's been sung? Fuck, who the hell wrote this song for him!"

"It's the last song of the finals? Ah! Quickly go and vote!"

"Oh right, voting is still ongoing!"

"I already voted for Flowing Time. What do I do now?"

"My vote has been cast as well. I fucking gave it to King of Oddity! Fuck, curse these hands of mine! If only I had known, I wouldn't have voted so early on! I would definitely, 10,000%, have voted for The Clown! I can't even take back my vote now! No, I can't just let this be. I'll go get my parents' cell phones to vote!"

"Hurry, everyone!"

"We don't have much time!"

"Comrades, give your votes to The Clown!"

"If a singer like him were to place last in this competition, that would really be too deplorable! That would be an insult to the entire music industry!"

"I'm here!"

"I've voted!"

"Damn, do we need you to tell us? I've voted already!"

"I'm gonna call my sister and brother to get them to vote as well!"

"Just based on this song, I don't care who The Clown turns out to be after he unmasks himself. I will fucking become his braindead fan for life! For life! With this post as my witness!"

"Count me in!"

"Count me in too!"

"Since 'The Internationale,' I've been a diehard fan of The Clown. But with this 'Exaggerated,' I'm going to turn into a braindead fan from now on!"

"No impulsiveness, no exaggeration, no bluffing! The Clown is the only true singer!"

"He's the only person to sing with all his soul on this stage!"

There was an explosion of comments on Weibo!

The industry insiders were blowing up with excitement!

"Exaggerated" had shocked the world!

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Chapter 1079: The grand champion is born!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At the venue of the grand finals.

The Clown walked back to his seat in the front row.

Amy came over and asked anxiously, "Teacher, which famous figure are you, really? Can you stop teasing us like this? I beg of you, please tell me! I'm dying of curiosity!"

Xiaodong stared at The Clown.

Li Xiaoxian and the others were also looking at him.

The final song had been performed. However, The Clown still did not take off his mask. A lot of people were very curious but also very worried about The Clown at the same time. There was not much time left as it was the last performance in the battle for the grand champion. Since this was the final sprint, why are you still not taking off your mask? What are you still waiting for? It'll be too late to reveal yourself when the results are announced! You still have some time to increase your number of votes if you reveal your face now!

Flowing Time was feeling rather nervous as he looked at The Clown.

King of Oddity was feeling the same, his fingers continuously fidgeting and tapping his thigh. Clearly, he was not as calm as he looked.

They naturally did not wish for The Clown to reveal himself!

This song had actually impressed the two of them. Although the lyrics were scolding them, they were still impressed with it!

Wang Zhuishu asked, "Who are you?"

The Clown still did not answer.

He had promised Spinach!

Is there no recognition for those of us who just want to sing earnestly?

Zhang Ye wanted to tell her that this path was not a dead end and that she could still continue journeying down it!

Therefore, he was very insistent on not revealing his face!

"Teacher?"

"Famous person?"

"Say something?"

The Clown smiled and shook his head in silence.

Amy huffed and tried again to change his mind.

Li Xiaoxian tugged at her. "Don't."

After listening to the song "Exaggerated," they understood Teacher Clown's character. He definitely would not change his mind once he had decided on something. Li Xiaoxian clearly understood that before the results were announced, The Clown would surely not take off his mask. There was no reason, but she just knew that it would be like this.

Dong Shanshan appeared back onstage.

She checked the remaining time before announcing, "Now that the final song has been performed, we're only three minutes away from the end of the voting. The voting window will close in three minutes!"

In the audience.

His mother quickly said, "I'm going to vote as well. Mengmeng, how do I vote? Help me vote, quickly!"

His third sister took the cell phone from her and asked, "Who do you want to vote for?"

His mother said, "For The Clown, of course! Do you even need to ask? This young man sang so well! His parents are also here today, and they're seated here in the crowd with us. How can we allow his parents to witness him getting last place despite singing so well? Just how heart-wrenching would that be! Hurry up and vote!"

His father nodded firmly. "Well said. Mengmeng, take my cell phone too."

His third sister went right into action. "OK, I'll help the two of you to vote!"

His second sister said loudly, "I voted for The Clown too. Is there still time to catch up? There's probably not enough time for that, right?"

His eldest sister slapped her thigh and said, "The difference in the votes from earlier was just too much! If it was just a difference of a few hundred thousand votes, he could definitely catch up. But the difference was 2 to 3 million votes! So how can he possibly catch up?"

His second sister slapped her forehead and said, "Oh no, oh no! My idol won't be crowned grand champion!"

At the venue, many of the audience members were rushing to vote as well!

There were less than 3 minutes left!

Dong Shanshan announced, "Alright, let's take a look at the latest tallies. Can we have our staff pull it up on the big screen? Thank you."

These words made everyone even more nervous!

When they heard, everyone immediately looked up!

Zhang Yuanqi looked at the screen with narrowed eyes!

Zhang Xia stared with wide eyes!

Chen Guang and Fan Wenli did not blink at all!

Everyone's attention focused on the big screen!

The television viewers were also watching intently!

Li Xiaoxian clenched her fists!

Backstage, Liao Yiqi (Spinach) took a deep breath, as she was so nervous that her hands were trembling!

The Clown's liaison, Han Qi, had already closed her eyes. She was afraid to even peek. Clasping her hands together and facing the big screen, she kept chanting some words that the staff around her could not understand. She sounded like she was praying!

Only King of Oddity and Flowing Time felt a little relaxed. When they heard that The Clown would not be taking off his mask, they felt completely at ease and heaved a long sigh of relief. To them, as long The Clown did not take off his mask, he would have no chance of winning today even if Zhang Yuanqi's identity had already been exposed. The main issue here was that Zhang Yuanqi's mask had fallen off too late, during the last few minutes of the competition before the final song began. It would not help The Clown much even if she was the Heavenly Queen!

First place should stay with Flowing Time!

King of Oddity's position in the top three was also guaranteed!

Xiao Lu said, "What a shame."

Dafei sighed. "It was a bit too late. If it happened a little earlier…hai!"

Hou Ge said, "He really had the ability to be crowned the champion, but it was too little, too late!"

Following that, the tallies were displayed on the big screen!

When they saw the results, the entire venue fell dead silent!

First:

Flowing Time, 4.01 million votes!

Second:

The Clown, 3.56 million votes!

Third:

Petal Shower, 3.21 million votes!

Amy was dumbfounded by the results!

Fan Wenli and Chen Guang looked at each other in astonishment!

Zhang Yuanqi smiled!

Xiaodong screamed, "Oh my goodness!"

The audience suddenly boiled over with excitement!

Many people jumped up in shock!

His parents got very excited!

Zhang Ye's three sisters wore shocked expressions!

Zhang Xia, Yao Jiancai, and the others were all staring at the screen in disbelief!

"He's catching up!"

"Fuck, The Clown is catching up!"

"He's catching up from a million votes behind!"

"His votes tripled?"

"Ahhhh!"

"Are you serious?"

"The difference is only 400,000 votes! It's only a difference of 400,000 now!"

"Oh my God!"

"This is crazy! This is fucking crazy!"

Flowing Time was so shocked that he nearly fell out of his chair!

How is that possible!

Just how is that possible!

How could he have caught up?

There's no reason for him to have caught up!

Jiang Hanwei was stunned and his jaw dropped!

King of Oddity and his guest partner were also stunned!

It…it was just impossible!

There were only 90 seconds left to go!

Flowing Time's tally had already stopped moving. It seemed to have stopped at 4.01 million votes while The Clowns' tally was still surging up at an incredible rate!

3.60 million!

3.70 million!

3.80 million!

Dong Shanshan froze onstage!

No one thought The Clown would actually catch up!

No one thought The Clown would actually achieve a feat that even the gods might not be able to achieve!

There were still 40 seconds to go!

There were still 39 seconds to go!

The entire audience stood up!

A lot of people could not take this excitement and were so nervous that their hearts nearly burst from their chests!

Countless viewers watching TV started screaming. They were witnessing a miracle right now!

3.85 million!

3.90 million!

3.95 million!

Counting down to the last ten seconds!

Backstage, Spinach was finding it hard to stifle her emotions as she rushed back into the theater!

Han Qi looked at the tally on the screen, and tears rolled down uncontrollably!

Dumbfounded, Hu Fei gazed at the screen!

Everyone looked at the screen with stunned faces!

3.98 million!

Five seconds!

Four seconds!

3.99 million!

4 million!

4.01 million!

4.02 million!

At this moment, the voting ended!

Looking at the final results of the voting, everyone was stunned. Then, they suddenly screamed and cheered!

"He won!"

"He won!"

"He really won!"

"The Clown is the Masked King!"

"Ahhhhhhh!"

"Masked King!"

"Masked King!"

"Masked King!"

"Masked King!"

"Masked King!"

The audience started chanting in unison!

Even the ceiling was almost blown away!

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Chapter 1080: Gu Cheng's 'Life Fantasia'!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On the stage.

Dong Shanshan announced loudly, "The grand champion of the first season of King of Masked Singers is—The Clown!"

All the cameras focused on The Clown!

All the guests and audience members stood up to clap for him!

Han Qi cried as she hugged Xiao Lu, who was next to her, and shouted, "We've won! We've won!"

Spinach's tears were also flowing. Teacher Clown! Thank you! Thank you! You've really carried out your promise to me! I will continue journeying down this path. From now on, I won't waver again!

A miracle!

This was a crazy miracle!

The Clown had managed to jump from last place with slightly over a million votes to first place with his final song and in the last few minutes of voting. There had never before been such a turn of events at any of the other singing competitions! Never!

Everyone was dumbfounded!

King of Oddity felt a sense of bitterness.

Flowing Time was crying out "impossible" over and over again in his head!

He should have been the champion!

The grand champion was supposed to be him!

But why did it end up like this?

Why did so many people vote for The Clown?

This influence, this appeal, this singing, they couldn't have come from someone who was just an unknown!

Who are you?

Just who the hell are you?

Suddenly, a female audience member shouted, "Take off your mask and reveal yourself!"

Instantaneously, many others joined with her!

All of the audience started chanting in unison!

"Reveal!"

"Reveal!"

"Reveal!"

"Reveal!"

Then, even the guests followed along and chanted!

Zhang Xia laughed and said, "Reveal!"

Amy said loudly, "Reveal!"

Fan Wenli said, "Reveal"

Li Xiaoxian said, "Reveal!"

Zhang Yuanqi was keeping a close eye on The Clown, who was walking away.

Zhang Ye exited the stage and went backstage to change costumes. He still had another song left to perform as the competition allowed the grand champion to get one final performance!

Dong Shanshan looked slightly excited onstage. She said loudly, "Today, the first grand champion of King of Masked Singers has been born. We're extremely excited to witness the birth of a legendary singer. Perhaps he might have been an unknown singer that few know of. Perhaps he might have been a bright and shining star. We don't know who he was, but we all want to know who he is. We all want to see what the face beneath The Clown's mask looks like, and to know what sort of a person he is!"

The theater fell silent!

The home viewers were staring at their TVs with hanging jaws!

Dong Shanshan said loudly, "Now the chance has finally come after waiting so long. The Clown will be taking his mask off very soon. I know you're all as anxious as I am, but please give Teacher Clown a minute to get changed. He still has one song left to perform. Later, during the song, The Clown's identity shall be revealed!"

...

Weibo was blowing up!

The King of Masked Singers' thread was flooding with comments!

"He really won!"

"He's finally going to reveal himself!"

"Quick, go and watch Beijing TV!"

"The Clown is going to reveal his face soon!"

"I freaking wanna know who the hell this saint is!"

"He's really amazing! Amazing!"

"What? The Clown was crowned champion? Didn't he have no chance? I stopped watching just now! What happened? What happened during the last few minutes?"

"Previous poster, just go and cry yourself to sleep!"

"Something big happened during that time! The Clown totally turned the tide with his efforts!"

"Holy shit! Seriously? He could even catch up in those circumstances? Who on earth is he?"

"That's what we wanna know too!"

"Your question is being asked by people all over the country right now!"

...

Within the industry.

The music industry.

Whether it was the newcomers, the active singers, or even the retired musicians, all of them were alarmed at this moment. They all had their televisions switched on and were currently staring intently at the screen!

"Did anyone manage to guess who he is?"

"No!"

"No one was able to guess at all!"

"Who is he, where did he get his songs—nobody knows!"

"He's about to reveal himself!"

"Wait for him to finish changing his costume!"

It was not only the people from the music industry!

People from other professions in the entertainment industry were also watching their televisions in amazement!

Huo Dongfang was watching!

Ning Lan was watching!

Tang Dazhang was also watching!

...

The viewership rating kept soaring!

The viewership rating for King of Masked Singers at this point in time had reached a historical high. Even when The Clown was singing "Exaggerated," the viewership rating was not as high as this moment!

Backstage.

The waiting room door opened.

Zhang Ye had changed into his costume and was about to walk out!

However, the staff who were standing and waiting outside were all surprised when they saw him!

Han Qi was stunned!

Xiao Lu was dumbfounded!

Dafei nearly fainted on the spot!

Xiao Lu pointed at The Clown's outfit and cried out, "A-Are you gonna wear that?"

Dafei said, "Did you change into the wrong outfit?"

The Clown laughed. "No, this is the correct one."

Han Qi said anxiously, "B-But how can you wear that? How can you wear something like that!"

However, The Clown said, "This is it. Let's go already!"

Along the way, all the staff who saw him were also startled, without an exception. They all stood there and watched him, dumbfounded, then turned to stare at each other with odd expressions!

At the venue.

The piano played!

The music was starting!

The audience was very confused by this.

"Where is he?"

"Why isn't anyone coming out yet?"

"Did they play the music too early?"

"Where's The Clown?"

"Eh, why is there music playing?"

Nobody was sure of what was going on.

In the audience, his mother was blinking and wondering what was happening.

His father peered at the waiting area.

Right at this moment, before even appearing on stage, The Clown's voice rang out through the venue. It was him speaking. He was speaking against a musical backdrop!

"There are always people asking me why I came to this stage. There are always people asking me what is it that I'm trying to achieve. Today, I will happily answer those questions. The reason why I came here and those songs that I chose were all for a dream that I have. A rather laughable, but very great dream."

The Clown's microphone was already connected to the sound system!

He was walking over from backstage!

The mood of the audience was once again lifted. Everyone pricked their ears up to listen!

With the piano accompaniment, The Clown's voice drifted out from all sides as he recited.

"Put my visions and dreams

"in a slender seashell.

"Wind my roof wove of willows

"with the long song of the summer cicada.

"I tighten the stays, the wind blows the sail through the morning fog.

"And I'm off,

"without aim,

"drifting through the blue sky."

The audience was stunned by what they were hearing!

What was this about?

A poem?

A…poem?

Zhang Xia's expression changed!

Jiang Hanwei's pupils dilated!

His mother suddenly stood up. "This…this…"

Zhang Ye's three sisters were also dumbfounded!

A lot of people's jaws dropped!

The Clown smiled.

"Night is a valley,

"the day a mountain peak.

"Sleep! I close my eyes

"and the world falls away.

"The horse of time

"collapses.

"The yellowtail waxwing

"builds a nest in my carriage.

"I want to keep roaming the world—

"To deserts, jungles, the remotest spots.

"I impress my footprints, like seals into the earth

"and the world

"mingles into me."

The Clown's voice was getting louder and louder!

The outline of his figure could be seen. He raised his leg and stepped up onto the stage!

The audience started exclaiming in shock!

They were confused by what The Clown was wearing!

He was in his pajamas!

The Clown had worn his pajamas onto the stage!

He was even barefoot!

No one had dared to dress like this before!

This was a live show!

People from all over the country were watching!

Why aren't you wearing something more proper?

Why are you dressed so casually?

What are you planning to do?

What will you be singing?

The Clown stood onstage and looked at everyone with a smile.

"I want to sing

"a human song

"that ages from now

"will chorus through the universe."

Everyone was stunned with their mouths agape!

All of the audience and guests, as well as all the staff at the venue, had seemingly gotten their tails stepped on as they nearly jumped up in shock!

You…

You…

You're…

Translator's Thoughts

Legge Legge

1. https/en./wiki/Gu_Cheng