Chapter 79

After a half-month of recording ended, Cheng Chen departed Jingcheng by air for Lu Sheng.

The scenes for "The Great Dye House" in Modu had already been filmed; most of the crew had now rushed to Zhou Cun Gu Shang Cheng.

In later generations, Zhou Cun became a famous tourist attraction due to the popularity of "The Great Dye House" and other dramas.

Shortly after Cheng Chen arrived in Lu Sheng, the finals of the Singer Competition aired on the Arts Channel.

Before the finals aired, the Arts Channel released a teaser trailer.

In the trailer, Cheng Chen stood on stage holding a microphone, singing with deep emotion.

The video's caption stated: "Cheng Heavenly King pours his heart into a new song, supporting the Singer Competition."

In the video, Cheng Chen was only shown opening his mouth to sing—no audio was included—leaving his fans deeply disappointed.

We can't even hear the boss's new song!!!

Meanwhile, someone leaked online that Cheng Chen had intense conflicts with his old rival Li Daoquan at the finals, even coming to blows!

But the Singer Competition official gave no response, leaving many bystanders itching to see the finals immediately.

Finally, the long-awaited Saturday arrived.

After so much media hype online, we can finally see it!

Many people had been waiting by their TVs since early morning, watching the show with rapt attention.

Wang Pingchuan was an office worker and also a die-hard fan of Cheng Chen—he owned all of Cheng Chen's albums and attended every signing event.

He was also a member of Cheng's Army.

Cheng's Army was Cheng Chen's fan support group; these people frequently interacted on Cheng Chen's blog.

They spontaneously organized online, calling themselves Cheng's Army, signing in daily on Cheng Chen's blog comment section.

"Ding ling ling."

A shrill phone ringtone sounded.

Wang Pingchuan saw it was his boss's call, hesitated a moment, then answered:

"Pingchuan, where are you? The company has a new task—the client is waiting for the proposal. Could you come in?"

Wang Pingchuan cursed under his breath but replied:

"Boss Zhang, I'm in the delivery room right now—my wife is about to give birth. Find Xiao Wang instead; his proposal is pretty good too!"

"Huh? Aren't you single? Where did you get a wife?"

Wang Pingchuan looked down at his pale palm and continued:

"We met through a blind date in March—we got married but didn't hold a wedding banquet. No more talking, my wife's coming out now—gotta go!"

Boss Zhang listened to the dial tone on the other end, stunned for a long while.

They met through a blind date in March—if she got pregnant in March, it's only early November now…

Boss Zhang silently mourned for his top employee in his heart.

"Achoo!"

Wang Pingchuan, eagerly awaiting Cheng Chen's appearance, suddenly sneezed and muttered:

"Who's talking about me… These songs are totally boring—who's that idiot singing and dancing?"

Why's he singing Korean songs? I can't even understand a word—how the hell did he even make it to the finals? When's the boss coming on?!"

"Here he comes!"

After Piao Zhengshuang finished his singing and dancing, the judges began their critiques; upon hearing Cheng Chen's name, Wang Pingchuan nodded in agreement.

Though he wasn't as professional as the judges, he just felt something was off—this pretty-boy singing Korean songs really wasn't good.

"On this stage, only Piao Zhengshuang's K-pop singing and dancing is the best—completely crushing the other contestants!"

On TV, Li Daoquan was speaking these words with righteous indignation.

Wang Pingchuan was so furious he wanted to smash the remote control into that old man's face.

"What country is this old guy even from? What's so great about Korean songs?!"

This was also the confusion of every viewer watching TV—but regardless, they all felt furious at Li Daoquan's behavior!

After a commercial break, host Xu Chunni explained that the two judges had decided to each perform a song to cheer on the contestants.

They decided to each perform a song.

Wang Pingchuan's heart tightened—finally, the real show was about to begin!

After Li Daoquan finished his song, Wang Pingchuan, despite his dislike, had to admit:

Leaving aside the old man's character, his vocal skills were top-tier—his strength was undeniable.

This made him even more eager for Cheng Chen's next performance.

Here he comes!

When he saw Cheng Chen close his eyes and stand on stage, Wang Pingchuan's heart surged with excitement.

He was finally about to hear the boss's new song!

"The red sun rises in the east, its great path bathed in radiant light.

How fortunate I am to be born in your embrace, carrying one pulse of your blood…"

The moment the voice sounded, Wang Pingchuan froze.

At that moment, everyone waiting by their TVs for Cheng Chen's appearance froze just like Wang Pingchuan.

Cheng Chen's unprecedented musical style and vocal delivery were rare even in the entire Chinese-language music scene.

But some discerning fans immediately recognized the genre of Cheng Chen's new song.

In fact, while such songs were rare in the Chinese-language music scene, they were not unheard of.

As early as 1992, Chen Sheng had released an album titled "Don't Let Me Cry."

It included a song blending rock and traditional Beijing opera: "Beijing Night."

That's right—she was the original singer of "The Wolf Tribe of the North," the costume-change anthem that went viral on short-video platforms in later generations.

The Beijing-opera passage in this song:

"They say deep in the land of a hundred flowers lives an old lover, stitching embroidered shoes.

The old woman with a serene face still waits for the one who marched off to return."

became a hugely popular sentimental caption in later generations, quoted by countless artsy youths on their social platforms.

And Cheng Chen's song was the kind of deeply emotional main-melody piece, its opera passage fusing patriotic feeling right into it.

Listening to it gave you goosebumps all over.

So good!!!

Countless listeners felt patriotic emotion well up and surge out from within this song.

"Th-this song is definitely going to be another smash hit for the boss! Definitely!!!"

Wang Pingchuan's heart surged; before the television he gripped the remote in excitement, and that exhilaration peaked after Cheng Chen finished singing and said into the microphone:

"Don't let the Korean wave get more and more arrogant—Chinese pop is the baddest of them all!"

After that… everything Wang Pingchuan looked at lost all flavor.

……

The next day, in the Arts Channel's large conference room.

Everyone sat ramrod-straight, their gazes flicking toward the door every so often.

As the person in charge of the Singer Competition, Department Director Wang Yiting was at this moment even more anxious than words could say.

Yesterday's first Singer Competition finale had already aired; how the ratings turned out would be revealed today.

But normally the ratings should have come out long ago—why were they so slow today? Don't tell me something went wrong!

"Director, we broke the record! We broke the record!"

At the doorway, the figure everyone had been waiting for finally appeared, and the news he brought let everyone swallow a pill of reassurance.

"How much? Out with it!"

"What's the rating?"

"Xiao Li, tell us the rating already!"

Faces bright with joy, the crowd all turned to the young man holding the ratings report and pressed him.

Director Wang, however, was lounging at his ease in his chair, lighting a cigarette; watching his subordinates all clamoring for the ratings report, he said with a smile:

"Anyway, we've already broken the ratings record—our Singer Competition can finally give the other programs a good run for their money!"

"More than that, Director! Not only did we break our own past ratings record, we beat our channel's flagship show—even the main station's ratings in the same time slot got crushed by us!"

Xiao Li said excitedly.

Hearing Xiao Li's words, Director Wang stumbled and nearly fell out of his chair.

"What?!!!"

……