Chapter 115: Qiu Zhen's Subtle Intentions

When the host invited Qiu Zhen onto the stage, he was completely dazed.

After singing his own song, he did not return backstage. He simply stood by the entrance to the passage and watched. In any case, he would have to go onstage in the end, so there was no point going back only to come out again.

By the time the song had ended, he was no longer leaning against the wall; he had already moved to the edge of the audience area.

The effect of hearing it live was especially overwhelming. Tang Zhichu’s vocal ability was astonishingly strong, and such a massive song had been delivered with almost no flaws.

Onstage, when Qiu Zhen shook hands with Tang Zhichu, he felt his own hand trembling slightly. In his heart, he had to admit one thing: if it were only about singing, he would never beat him, not even by a little.

It was the crushing force of pure talent, an unavoidable truth.

But then Qiu Zhen suddenly smiled and said, during the handshake, “That was fierce. I’m afraid only Shu Yuan could face you head-on. If he doesn’t hold back, he’s strong too.”

Tang Zhichu glanced at him and smiled. “Just singing casually. I can’t compare, really.”

Hearing that, Qiu Zhen’s eyes lit up. To him, Tang Zhichu’s attitude meant he clearly wasn’t taking it seriously.

Still, he did not press further. “You’re being modest!”

Unknowingly, Qiu Zhen had grown rather fond of Tang Zhichu.

He thought to himself that this trip had been worth it. He himself could not outsing this man, and He Shuyuan might not be able to either. He Shuyuan’s biggest label was live performance, followed by songwriting.

If this young man surnamed Tang set his sights on us, then the one most affected would be He Shuyuan.

Seen this way, it was actually to Qiu Zhen’s advantage.

After all, when the sky falls, the tall ones get hit first. Qiu Zhen would love nothing more than for Tang Zhichu to drag He Shuyuan from the top tier down to the first tier. If that happened at Tianhe, then the power to speak would be his to reclaim.

Under the host’s guidance, Qiu Zhen stood beside Tang Zhichu, and in his heart he began to think that he absolutely had to arrange a proper showdown between Tang Zhichu and He Shuyuan.

Let them go at it for real.

“Wow! There it is—the highest score from the audience since the recording of Original Music Alliance began: 196 points...” the host exclaimed, his voice rising several notches in excitement.

Tang Zhichu bowed in thanks.

Across the way, the project team stood up again to applaud, each of them looking excited.

The result was hardly surprising. Several people in the project team felt as though they had struck gold.

At first, the scriptwriter had worried that choosing this song might overshadow the film, but in such a feverish atmosphere, those concerns had long been cast aside.

It was like a premium marketing event, with the entire audience as paid plants, peeling back the top of your skull and telling you to buy it, damn it.

The crowd kept egging things on, and the project team even had the strange feeling that if they bought this song, the film had to take off.

“I wasn’t planning to say much, since I don’t really know music,” one of the project team members said loudly, “but I just can’t help myself. Sorry to trouble the post-production team—damn, Tang Zhichu, I remember you now. You’re seriously amazing.”

At first, the audience did not quite understand why he was troubling post-production. Now they got it: he was asking them to mute him later, which drew a wave of laughter.

Another member of the project team continued, “I honestly never really understood it. My child always likes going to concerts, and now I get it. It really is hard to resist. This trip was absolutely worth it. Thanks to the program team, thanks to Director Yu Hua. I’ll trouble the post-production teachers too—Little Tang, you’re amazing!”

More laughter followed.

Upstairs, Yu Hua folded his arms and let out a long, relieved breath. This program had truly made it.

Yu Hua understood music. Tang Zhichu had now written three songs: Drunken Red Cliff fused lyrics and composition into one, and it was a notoriously difficult work in the style of traditional Chinese music. Even across all such songs in the country, it would rank near the top.

Let Alone Passing Through Human World need not be mentioned at all. Tang Zhichu had paid for an entire apartment with that song.

Now there was Bloody Love Story as well, and his singing ability had been pushed to the limit.

Was he strong or not?

One glance below answered that question. He had nearly conquered everyone.

One thing Yu Hua could be absolutely certain of was that both he and Tang Zhichu had bright futures ahead of them.

His family had always thought he was wasting his time, always wanting to fool around in some entertainment circle. That was Yu Hua’s answer.

For him, it was an incomparable kind of wonderful feeling.

“I also need to apologize to the other teachers and musicians who are equally outstanding, because our choice is unquestionably Teacher Tang Zhichu. I won’t be adding to the post-production teachers’ workload. This trip has been worth every bit, and I firmly believe the show we are on right now is going to be a hit. Please keep working hard—I’ll keep watching this program as well. Thank you, everyone!”

After the last member of the project team finished speaking, the audience once again broke into thunderous applause.

Onstage, Yun Miao tilted her head to look at Tang Zhichu and said with a radiant smile, “Thank you.”

She was thanking him for standing up for her, otherwise the pressure on Yun Miao would have been immense.

Tang Zhichu turned slightly and, seeing her smiling face, shook his head. “Sorry. I stole your thunder.”

Yun Miao laughed even louder.

She was somewhat dazed, and she also understood something. Whether it was Zhou Yun, Jiang Lan, or even Chen Siyang, none of them had been wrong to choose Tang Zhichu.

A person overflowing with talent truly did seem to glow.

He could conquer everyone beneath the stage, like some high-level scheme of persuasion.

Those top-tier idols’ live performances were even more terrifying than this.

That was why so many people longed for the stage: it possessed an irresistible magic.

In a place unseen by the crowd, a graceful figure was fixedly watching the figure onstage. She felt proud of him, and when everyone in the audience stood up, she covered her face with both hands, her entire face flushing bright red.

...

After the formalities were completed and they returned backstage, the moment the door opened they were swarmed by people.

“God Tang! God Tang! God Tang!”

Someone started the chant, and soon a whole crowd was calling him God Tang.

Tonight, setting aside all other factors, Tang Zhichu had conquered most of the musicians.

When people discover that someone is only a little better than themselves, they may challenge him, envy him, even slander him.

But when what that person shows makes them feel there is truly no comparison, it becomes something entirely different.

After a long round of greetings, Tang Zhichu finally returned to the Wildfire Alliance’s side.

The most exaggerated of all were the two musicians who had been just going through the motions; they even used their sleeves to wipe the seat for Tang Zhichu.

It ended up with Tang Zhichu directly taking Si Ge’s spot.

“You have no idea. We were all stunned backstage. Teacher Shen said that your diction above C5 exceeded one hundred and fifty times. He said that across the whole country, among all male pop singers, there are only a tiny handful who can sustain such high-quality explosive singing for such a long stretch...” Si Ge said excitedly, recounting the commotion from earlier.

It was as if they had witnessed a major event in the music world.

A few minutes later, the host came in, said a few polite closing remarks, and the stage recording ended.

Although Stellar Alliance had accumulated two losses, it had not met the condition of being rejected by two different project teams, so this episode produced no elimination spot either.