I'm Really a Superstar

In the recording studio.

All of the audience had taken their seats; the cameras were about to start rolling.

Dafei found his way over. "Brother Hu, some contestants have expressed their views on the matter."

Hu Fei sighed. "What did they say?"

Dafei smiled wryly. "Last time it was Li Yu, now it's Flowing Time. One of the masked singers said that if she were allowed to bring people from her hometown to attend the recording, she could even beat Petal Shower and The Clown!"

"Brother Hu, what do we do now?" Xiao Lu came back after informing the contestants.

Hu Fei said remorsefully, "What else can we do? All we can do is record. Since everyone has arrived and they're from our sponsors, we can't possibly chase them off, right? We only have ourselves to blame for not clarifying and asking clearly what they needed the tickets for when they requested them. We just assumed that they would use it for a nationwide lottery event. If it was that, the gender and geographical demographics would've been more evenly distributed. Hai, we can only blame ourselves for being inexperienced at handling such a large singing variety show like this one. That's why it led to a series of consecutive problems occurring like it had. It was all due to my negligence. If Zhang Ye had been appointed as the executive director, such things would not have happened! If I had known that it would be like this, I would have made him accept the position of executive director no matter what. I'd have just stuck to being the executive producer and supervised from the side! That would have been so much easier!"

Dafei immediately said, "We can't blame it on you. We don't have the necessary experience either."

Xiao Lu wondered, "Has Director Zhang gone missing again?"

"He probably went back?" Dafei turned and looked around.

Hu Fei said, "Let's just go ahead and record. Things can't be changed no matter what. I'll personally go and talk to the contestants after we finish recording. Come, we'll start record in one minute."

...

Applause rang out through the studio!

"Hello, everyone."

"Welcome to this episode of King of Masked Singers!"

"I'm your host—Dong Shanshan."

Many in the audience started to scream in excitement.

And a lot of the guys were wolf whistling.

This scene was not planned by the program team beforehand. They had not requested for the audience to clap and scream to enhance the recording effects, but was rather the most authentic representation of the atmosphere in the studio. As Dong Shanshan had gotten very popular now and the King of Masked Singers becoming the top rated show in the nationwide viewership ratings, everyone was very excited that they could come attend the live studio recording where they could also vote to determine the "life and death" of the contestants. Their emotions were running high right from the start.

Dong Shanshan was still wearing that black women's suit and those gold-rimmed glasses.

After a string of advertising messages, Dong Shanshan looked at the audience and said with a smile, "I saw on the Internet that a lot of people are asking me why I keep wearing the same outfit for every episode."

Quite a few audience members looked at her curiously.

Dong Shanshan said, "It's because the program team does not have any money!"

In return, the audience heckled her!

"Yi!"

"Yi!"

"Hahaha!"

No money?

You're the richest program team in the country right now, alright?

Hearing that, Dong Shanshan looked at Yao Jiancai, who was seated at the judging panel, and said with a smile, "What a familiar sound this is! Teacher Yao, are they jeering at you?"

The other judges laughed.

Yao Jiancai pointed at Dong Shanshan. This Little Dong is even making fun of me now?

The host had a bigger part in the recording of today's episode. It was rare for Dong Shanshan to get the opportunity to say more than a bit during the opening speech, even though it was just a few lines. "I know that everyone has been waiting. Now, let's hand things over to the contestants, so please welcome our first singer onto the stage—Spinach."

The contestant was ready and waiting in the waiting area.

The audience started applauding!

"She's coming out!"

"It's Spinach!"

"She's the first one today?"

Spinach came onto the stage feeling a little unhappy. But she managed to recover from it very quickly after a few deep breaths while she stood onstage. Then she nodded at the band to signal that she was ready.

The music played.

She began to sing.

It turned out that Spinach chose a song that was based heavily on opera music and was aptly titled "Chinese Opera." There were parts of the song where it was sung in the controlled pitch style of Peking Opera 1 . When these notes went higher, the audience responded excitedly with round after round of applause!

When she finished performing, Spinach bowed and exited the stage.

Chen Guang exclaimed, "This?"

Wang Zhuishu was also stunned. "She is?"

"Now you know who she?" Zhang Xia said with a smile.

Chen Yidong said, "I think I've got it!"

"It's her?" Amy seemed to have recognized her as well.

Zhang Xia enjoyed a good relationship with Spinach, and they had worked together a few times as well. So Zhang Xia figured out who she was during the previous episode while the other judges finally guessed her identity today.

Yao Jiancai commented, "Her singing is quite good."

Zhang Xia smiled and said, "When she gets older, she'll definitely be even better."

Onstage, Dong Shanshan said, "Let's welcome our next contestant—Flowing Time."

The audience immediately cheered and screamed enthusiastically. Compared to the reception when Spinach came onstage, it was louder by several times, especially in two areas where there were about a hundred people. Many of them were wearing the same outfit and were cheering in Hokkien for Flowing Time. Maybe they had also read the online news, but a lot of them probably assumed this person was Teacher Zhao Qiquan.

Amy looked into the crowd. "They're all speaking in Hokkien?"

"Why are there so many of them?" Yao Jiancai exclaimed.

Zhang Xia knew a little about this as she had heard from the program team staff before recording began. "They're employees from one of the sponsors." Then she filled them in on the situation.

Chen Guang said, "There are this many of them?"

Chen Yidong said, "It's gonna be very difficult for the other contestants to win."

"It's far more than very difficult." Amy said in a speechless manner, "If it's really Teacher Zhao who has come onto the show, then the results are already set, aren't they? He practically has over a hundred guaranteed votes!"

They thought the audience was too one-sided this time. Did they come and attend the recording session solely because of Flowing Time?

Flowing Time took the stage.

Applause sounded once again.

In the end, Flowing Time slowly pressed his arms down to signal the audience to be quiet and finally halted the applause.

Flowing Time smiled. At the same time, the music started.

Everyone was looking at him and waiting for him to open his mouth.

"Please look at me.

"Is this the person you loved so deeply?

"Why, when you were in your hardest times, did she turn to go?

"Please look at me.

"Is this the friend you trusted so much?

"Why, when you were down on your luck, did he never look back?"

It turned out to be a Mandarin song!

It was that very famous song called " Please Look at Me 2 "!

The audience was very excited!

"It's in Mandarin?"

"Shouldn't he be singing a Hokkien song?"

"Could it be that he is not Zhao Qiquan?"

"That's not right, just listen to his accent!"

"His Mandarin has a Hokkien accent to it!"

"That's right, it's indeed so!"

"It really sounds like it's from that area!"

"It's really Zhao Qiquan!"

"This is awesome! His singing is so wonderful!"

"Looks like there's something to look forward to today! Teacher Zhao has really joined the show!"

"Haha, The Clown has met his match this time!"

The cheers of those Xiamen and Chaoshan people were especially deafening. The majority of them were Zhao Qiquan's fans and loved listening to Hokkien songs!

When Spinach saw this from the wings, she felt only a sense of powerlessness.

When he finished performing, Flowing Time bowed in thanks. He was clearly quite pleased with his performance today.

Spinach was then invited back onto the stage by the host, Dong Shanshan.

The judges began commenting.

Zhang Xia said, "They were both great, truly great."

Wang Zhuishu said, "I felt very satisfied listening to those two songs. They were quite enjoyable."

Chen Yidong said with a smile, "I like Spinach's performance more, and I think I have guessed who you are as well."

Spinach nodded in thanks.

Yao Jiancai said, "I prefer Flowing Time's performance more as I feel that he sang with deeper feeling."

"Each of them has their individual strong points, so it's really difficult to judge who was better." Chen Guang looked at them and said, "Hur hur, let's leave this difficult decision to the audience."

The styles of their songs were completely different with no overlapping qualities, so it was really quite difficult to say whose singing was better. Spinach was superior in terms of her clearer voice that had more carrying power, while her operatic parts had a very special feel to it. Meanwhile, Flowing Time was superior in terms of his experience and the control of his voice, and the projection of his emotions was quite good as well. Therefore, the judges considered the first match quite even. Even if Flowing Time was slightly better, the difference was not that great. But when the voting started and the outcome was shown, the judges fell silent!

The voting ended!

Spinach: 107 votes!

Flowing Time: 381 votes!

Flowing Time emerged victorious!

The difference was much too great!

Almost all of the audience had given their support to Flowing Time!

The program team staff looked at each other in dismay.

The other contestants who were in their waiting rooms looked downhearted!

Clearly, the audience has already recognized Zhao Qiquan through his slight accent and voice even though he had not sung a Hokkien song yet. He had only demonstrated a bit of his Hokkien accent through his Mandarin pronunciation, yet he had nearly four times more votes. With an advantage this overwhelming, if Flowing Time actually sang a Hokkien song, who would be his match?

This "home field advantage" he had was simply too great!