Chapter 76: This Is Way Too Intense

The new round of recording for the Singer Competition has begun.

Before the recording started, the Cultural Channel also began airing the previous round's episodes during prime evening hours.

With Cheng Chen's participation, the Singer Competition became popular again, and many of his fans sat by their TVs to watch punctually.

"I think that singer Zhang Jie is amazing! I've never heard anyone sing folk songs so beautifully before!"

"Zhang Guangfeng isn't bad either—I heard he used to be the top artist at Tianhai Records."

Who would've thought the former top artist of Tianhai Records and the current one would meet on the same stage?

But now the current top artist is a judge—hahaha, that's hilarious!

"There are so many contestants covering the boss's songs this episode—each version has its own charm, but the boss's version still has the most flavor!"

"Did you notice that Li Daoquan had a black face the whole time during recording, especially after learning Zhang Jie is Cheng Chen's fan? His expression—hahaha, priceless!"

"Excuse me, isn't the main highlight of this show Cheng Chen? The other singers… I don't think any of them sing particularly well!"

After everyone finished watching the episode, they all launched heated discussions on forums and blogs.

Cheng Chen and Li Daoquan's feud was dragged out into the open.

Especially Jingtai's devilish editing made a close-up comparison between Li Daoquan's warm expression praising Zhang Jie and his expression after learning Zhang Jie was Cheng Chen's fan.

It directly pushed the rumors of their feud to the front-page headlines.

After learning about their former grudge, Cheng Chen's fans immediately began attacking Li Daoquan.

Li Daoquan, as a long-established artist, naturally had many loyal fans, though most of them were elderly.

They still weren't quite used to these relatively new forms of communication like forums and blogs, so they struggled to learn while trying to formulate their rebuttals.

Registering accounts, posting, reposting—these functions truly tortured these older aunts and uncles.

But they still mustered the same determination they'd had during their college entrance exam prep, starting from zero.

They learned internet memes, how to post, how to comment on each other's posts, how to get moderators to pin their threads…

A massive online battle had officially begun.

…

No matter how fierce the online fighting became, Cheng Chen and Li Daoquan still sat in the recording studio to begin the next round of Singer Competition recordings.

Now only six contestants remained, vying for the final champion, runner-up, and third place.

These six remaining singers had become smarter—after learning about the feud between Li Daoquan and Cheng Chen, no one dared sing Cheng Chen's songs anymore.

Instead, they all pulled out their secret weapons: original compositions!

Original songs carried the risk of elimination, but also a high chance of going viral.

The Korea-obsessed contestant named Piao Zhengshuang performed another Korean-language dance-song today.

After finishing his final move, he froze on stage, striking a pose with piercing eyes.

Beads of sweat glistened on his face as he panted, gazing out at the audience.

"So cool! Oppa, you're amazing!"

"Oppa, you're incredible—I love you so much!"

"Oppa Piao, saranghae!"

A large crowd of fans, especially female fans, erupted into screams.

People excitedly shouted Piao Zhengshuang's name, waves of noise building upon waves, overwhelming in volume.

In the 1990s, the Korean Wave swept into China, bringing with it countless TV dramas and music, sparking a wave of Korea obsession.

In 1999, a reporter from the China Youth Daily in Jingcheng borrowed the homophone of "cold wave" to coin the term "Korean Wave" to describe this phenomenon.

This included CCTV's earliest imported Korean drama, "What Is Love?", in 1997.

And the wildly popular dramas "Autumn in My Heart" and "Winter Sonata," which sold tapes in China in 2001 and began airing nationwide on TV channels in 2002.

These dramas shaped the image of South Korean men as handsome and deeply emotional.

After watching these Korean dramas, many Chinese women declared that Chinese men were chauvinistic and stingy, nothing like the considerate, emotionally attuned South Korean men.

During this period, a flood of Korean songs entered China, sparking a craze and delivering a massive blow to the Chinese music industry!

So, this crowd of fans' adoration for Piao Zhengshuang was entirely grounded in historical context.

"I haven't seen such a brilliant performance on stage in a long time—your musical sense is excellent, your rhythm is solid. Keep it up, Xiao Shuang—I believe in you. Pass!"

Li Daoquan looked at Piao Zhengshuang with clear admiration.

But Cheng Chen shook his head—Piao Zhengshuang's performance excelled mostly in dancing; his singing ability was actually weak.

Especially after dancing exhausted him, he still forced himself to maintain pitch, making his weakness even more obvious.

"I hope you can focus more—your dance talent is stronger than your musical talent.

Or you could train harder, master the full technique of singing while dancing, then come back. Sorry, I can't give you a pass! Pass!"

Cheng Chen said apologetically.

Upon hearing Cheng Chen's words, Piao Zhengshuang's expression turned cold, his gaze toward Cheng Chen now defiant and angry.

His fans erupted in loud protests:

"Do you even understand music?! Oppa's singing and dancing are the best!"

"Just because you're a senior doesn't mean you're above criticism! Oppa, you're the best—don't let rumors get to you!"

"Cheng Chen is just a one-night sensation—what right does he have to be a judge? Only veteran artists like Teacher Li Daoquan have the eyes to recognize true talent!"

Li Daoquan now turned to Cheng Chen and said:

"I think this singing-and-dancing format is excellent, and Piao Zhengshuang debuted as a trainee in South Korea.

From a professional standpoint, both his singing and dancing are flawless. Sure, there are minor flaws, but they don't overshadow his strengths—you can't let our personal grudge influence your judgment of a contestant I support!"

"Whoa!"

The entire studio erupted in chaos!

This was the first time Li Daoquan had openly admitted to a personal grudge between the two of them, and he had even pointed out that Cheng Chen was using his position as a judge to suppress a contestant.

Cheng Chen was amused by Li Daoquan's unhinged remarks.

"A personal grudge? May I ask, Teacher Li Daoquan, are you even worthy?"

If Li Daoquan's earlier remarks had set the entire studio abuzz, then Cheng Chen's words were like directly clamping a hand around everyone's throat.

Not a single sound.

Everyone stared at Cheng Chen in shock.

Is this man insane?!

Cheng Chen, however, paid no heed to any of it, and pointed straight at Piao Zhengshuang, saying:

"He was off from the very first beat, and his breath was unsteady after that—couldn't you hear any of that?

Just because he's a trainee who debuted in South Korea, just because his singing and dancing are flashy and difficult, you think that makes him professional?

It's 2002 already, and you're still playing that 'foreign monks chant better sutras' trick?"

Cheng Chen's three rapid-fire questions left Li Daoquan utterly speechless.

But the audience below was stunned; if they hadn't seen Xu Chunni sitting restlessly off to the side, they would have thought this was a scene deliberately staged by the production team.

Oh my god, this is way too thrilling!