HDIEUMDBTSB #### Chapter 34: Conquering the Entire Audience

 ### Volume One: The Road to Comeback

#### Chapter 34: Conquering the Entire Audience

The vocal performance artist, Erli, was itching to speak up at the scene. He was in a half-standing, half-sitting position, primarily because he felt compelled to comment on the vocal aspect.

It wasn't that Gu Nanxi made a mistake in the procedure, voting should have come before the review. But just now, Meng Fan from the production team instructed her via earpiece to first cue the professional judges. Since everyone was still immersed in the aftertaste of "Against the Light," no one noticed the procedural reversal.

"Let's first invite Mr. Erli to give us his review," Gu Nanxi cued Erli for the first time this episode. As the host, she couldn't let the judges stand at the table.

Erli cleared his throat and adopted a formal tone, "I feel that Mr. Chu has the ability to give life to his voice. His singing just now made me feel like it was the voice of a lonely person."

"Wouldn't 'a brave solitary person' be a better description?" Chu Zhi said.

"A solitary brave one, a brave solitary one, a very good description. No wonder Mr. Chu can write lyrics like those in 'The Wind Blows the Wheat.'” Erli continued, "I sincerely hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with Mr. Chu, so my vote... uh... it seems we haven't voted yet."

"..."

Now you know why we don't often cue Erli, Gu Nanxi thought silently. You just know too much. As a quick-witted host, she said, "There was a small mistake in the backstage voting statistics, so let's have the judges give their reviews first while the backstage crew is working on it."

"Oh, I see. No problem, anyway, I really appreciate Mr. Chu's performance, and I will vote." Erli sat down after speaking, and contestant Chu Zhi also thanked the judge as customary.

Not a single substantial comment, and even the praise was lackluster, Gu Nanxi muttered to herself.

Gu Nanxi picked the judge with the most proportionate figure, "Let's have Mr. Li Yu give us his review."

"Mr. Chu, I have a performance on the 25th, and I hope to collaborate with you to create an unforgettable stage." Li Yu said excitedly. Calling him a judge was more like him extending an invitation to an admired artist.

"If there's an opportunity, I would be happy to work with Mr. Li Yu." Chu Zhi responded.

Li Yu smiled at his words. He had been brooding since Yang Guiyun's criticism of his previous review, even vowing to never accept Mango TV's invitations again. But now, he was quite pleased.

"It seems Mr. Chu's performance has left Mr. Li Yu in awe. Now let's hear Mr. Zhang Mingyi's thoughts on 'Against the Light.'"

 

For professionalism, we turn to Zhang Mingyi and Fang Sheng.

"I saw hope, I saw hope, I saw hope." Zhang Mingyi began by repeating this key point three times. He continued, "I previously reviewed Mr. Chu's performance of 'Deserted Island,' calling it experiential singing. Today, I am more certain of this view. The essence of singing is to convey the song's emotions. Techniques like mask resonance, nasal resonance, glissando, and vibrato serve to better express the song's emotions. Mr. Chu's singing made me feel despair, while the song made me see hope."

Then it was Judge Fang Sheng's turn. He stood up, though he was just as tall sitting down, and said, "The piano serves as the main melody, with extensive string accompaniment. The arrangement is clean, and the lyrics follow a typical ABA structure. Even if the lyrics and melody aren't innovative, it's still a classic song, especially with Mr. Chu's rendition."

The previous reviews show that Fang Sheng values technique highly. As a graduate of the Central University of Arts in South Korea, he is a typical professional. His earlier suggestions to Zheng Yingying about improving her singing skills also reflected this.

But facing Chu Zhi, Fang Sheng felt at a loss for words. Does Chu Zhi have technical issues? Of course, he does—his performance is riddled with them. But does it matter? No, it doesn’t. When a song is performed to such an extent, technique becomes irrelevant.

Gu Nanxi felt bitter as well. The production team had her stall for time, letting each judge speak just to pad out the show's duration.

In the gathering hall—

The fourteen music partners and contestants were deeply moved. To put it bluntly, even non-Chinese speakers could grasp the emotion of despair in Chu Zhi's "sound of despair." This was why Chu Zhi believed that the sound of despair was almost equivalent to a special award.

“Cough, cough,” Music partner Zhang Yue’s cough broke the silence in the hall. He said, "Hengkou-san, you have quite a grip, quite a grip."

"Ah... sorry, Zhang-chan." Hengkou Yi immediately let go of Zhang Yue’s hand, which was nearly crushed. He explained, "When I'm under pressure, I always want to grab onto something, just like a drowning person instinctively tries to grab onto anything. Chu-san’s singing just made my heart ache."

This little guy has some real strength, Zhang Yue thought to himself, but he nodded in agreement, "Mr. Chu’s performance was very moving. I even cried just now."

"I'm starting to doubt the rumors circulating online. This Chu clearly seems like a decent person," said Yang Guiyun, the first singer to voice support for Chu Zhi on camera.

"To be blacklisted across the internet and still write 'Against the Light,' hoping others can bask in the sunlight—I couldn’t do it," Yang Guiyun added, though he kept one crucial thought to himself: the key was that Chu Zhi recognized Sor.

There's indeed no evidence for the online rumors, Zheng Yingying wanted to say, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. What if she got implicated by the haters, or what if the mastermind behind this negativity targeted her? After much consideration, she kept quiet and watched the others discuss with her big, watery eyes.

"The performance just now was like a fish leaping out of water or four horses raising their heads, it was truly lingering!" Hou Yubin exclaimed. "A music piece doesn’t necessarily reflect the person, because when writing music, one’s artistic personality can be entirely different from their everyday behavior."

Hou Yubin continued, "But judging from the emotions poured into that performance, it’s clear he’s been deeply affected. I don't know much about the whole situation, so I can't comment, but the song felt very real. If he hadn’t gone through despair, he couldn’t have sung it like that."

"Those who have experienced despair know the terror of being in dire straits." Hou Yubin didn’t outright question the entire situation like Yang Guiyun but offered an analysis. He did this because if the online allegations were true, Chu Zhi would be on the list of disgraced artists.

"Brother Lin, what do you think?" Zheng Yingying asked, noticing that the master of verbose language hadn’t spoken yet.

"What do I think? I was sitting while watching earlier, now I feel like kneeling." Lin Xia said, "The greater the ability, the greater the ability. Mr. Chu has such great ability. As for winning or losing, we’ll see from the vote results."

Lin Xia's inner monologue went: They were all once among the top six trending stars, so why is there such a big gap? I heard that Li Xingwei still has the best skills. Ha!

There was no need to say much; Lin Xia felt that his song “Xuan He” could crush Li Xingwei’s “Ai.” But he was no match for Chu Zhi. Of course, he couldn't admit this publicly, at least not on camera. How could his fans hold their heads high if he admitted he wasn’t as good as his peers?

Was Li Xingwei completely outclassed? Not entirely, but that’s what Lin Xia thought. Coincidentally, Li Xingwei also believed his performance was better than Lin Xia’s, but compared to Chu Zhi…

"This Chu Zhi is not what I expected," Li Xingwei felt the weight of a heavy stone on his chest.

While everyone was marveling at the "Against the Light" stage, the production team was having a hard time. Wang Ke and his team were extremely nervous.


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