A Valiant Life

Zhou Hai Tao had a pretty good relationship with Ying Jin and he knew that Wang Yu Chen was the person that she wanted to appraise. But with the current situation, he couldn’t just speak blindly and say that Wang Yu Chen was better than Wu Huan Yue. Even if he decided to do so, the audience would definitely have something to say.

Competitions like this were stressful for the contestants but they were also extremely stressful for the judges. Just a few sentences could decide the fate of a contestant. It would only be good for them to speak the truth. If they were to speak nonsense, it might create an uproar.

Zhou Hai Tao noticed how Ying Jin was looking at him but he pretended not to see it. He didn’t want to be involved in giving false comments. He hesitated for a moment, then spoke his true thoughts.

“With Wang Yu Chen’s performance, she retained her original style and judging by the performance, she did extremely well. She did even better than the previous time but at some of the climaxes, I felt that her voice was rather restricted and she couldn’t hit the notes. If she could improve on that, perhaps the performance would have been even better,” Zhou Hai Tao spoke his mind.

“Thank you, mentor,” Wang Yu Chen said and just nodded. Perhaps she thought that Zhou Hai Tao didn’t think very highly of her performance.

The crowd heaved a sigh at his comments. Even a fool would know that Wang Yu Chen’s performance was not bad at all and if she were to compete with the other contestants, she might have even won them within seconds. But this time, she was up against Wu Huan Yue and the difference was pretty obvious.

The host, Yi Ming, said, “Mr. Zhou Hai Tao, Wu Huan Yue had a brilliant performance this time. What do you think of it?”

Zhou Hai Tao just nodded his head and said, “Since joining ‘The New Voice’ as a judge, today has perhaps been the most rewarding day for me. Wu Huan Yue chose a fantastic song. At the same time, the composer of this song, Master Lin, understood Wu Huan Yue’s voice very well.”

“This original song, ‘Sky’, was beautifully written. Furthermore, with Wu Huan Yue’s mellow voice, it produced a beautiful performance which was aligned with the meaning of the song. She performed it so well that perhaps even I wouldn’t be able to sing it as well as her.”

Wu Huan Yue smiled and said, “Thank you, mentor.”

The crowd applauded excitedly as they were all in favor of Wu Huan Yue’s performance. The song was fantastic and had spoken to their hearts.

In the comments section.

“666… I said it before! Wu Huan Yue is unbeatable, as long as you aren’t an idiot, you would know what I’m talking about.”

“Ying Jin must be so jealous and angry but I am having so much fun watching her.”

“She probably didn’t expect such a thing to happen. Zhou Hai Tao and Ying Jin have a good relationship but now that Zhou Hai Tao has given such comments and sided with Wu Huan Yue, do you think she would still be happy?”

“They’re not blind, these two judges are not blind at all. Let’s see how shameless can Ying Jin get.”

“I’ll call it, if Wu Huan Yue can’t get through to the next round, I swear to stop watching this f*cked up show.”

“We are idiots. We’re too used to the dirty tricks that the judges have used before. Looking at the different tricks of the judges now, I can even guess who the champion will be way before the finals.”

“That’s right, but ‘The New Voice’ is a great show apart from Ying Jin, the black horse. I hope the show will kick her out of the panel of judges.”

The viewers were discussing so much about the show that the comments had covered the entire screen.

The host, Yi Ming, just laughed and said, “Mr. Zhou Hai Tao has rated both of them so highly. What about you, Mentor Qi Ming?”

The crowd held their breath. They had seen through the host’s actions. He asked Mentor Qi Ming first on purpose as he wanted to make Ying Jin speak last. If all three judges said Wu Huan Yue was the better singer and Ying Jin still spoke blindly, things would become even more interesting.

Mentor Qi Ming was in a good mood and he was smiling brilliantly. Just when he started to speak, he already took a dig at Ying Jin, “That’s great. Wang Yu Chen had a good performance but as Zhou Hai Tao said, it did sound like her voice was a little restricted. If she could have sung more freely, it would have been better.”

Qi Ming did not say much as he merely just elaborated on Zhou Hai Tao’s comments. Perhaps he was a little lazy to speak about it. Then, he looked towards Wu Huan Yue as if he had many things to say.

“The lyrics of the song, ‘Sky’, look to be very bland and boring. But after listening to it closely, you will realize that it is actually a very meaningful song. The lyrics, tune and composition were all done by one person and it is such a beautiful song. I have the same wish as Teng Fei. I would like to meet this Master Lin.”

“I am a friends with a brilliant singer cum songwriter from Taiwan and we recently spoke about song composition. He mentioned that a song should be aligned with the feelings that it’s supposed to invoke and the feelings must match its meaning. Most pop songs sound really nice but they do not have any meaning. This song that Wu Huan Yue just sang was good enough to crown her as the champion if this show was only about original songs. It’s literally that good.”

“But in this show, ‘The New Voice’, no matter how good the song may be, the final outcome solely depends on the voice of the contestants. Today, Wu Huan Yue has touched me with her voice.”

*applause*

Mentor Qi Ming had given Wu Huan Yue such positive comments. Meanwhile, in the audience seats. Wang Ming Yang had a big smile on his face as he said, “Did you hear that? This song is too d*mn good. You’re a grandmaster now and I’ll have to call you Grandmaster Lin instead of Master Lin in future.”

Lin Fan smiled helplessly and said, “That’s enough. I’ll KO you if you continue with your banter.”

“No, no, you want to kill me?!” Wang Ming Yang said. He didn’t dare to take on Lin Fan 1-on-1 as that would probably kill him. In the past, he had felt that he was still able to take on Lin Fan in a fight but ever since he found out that Lin Fan was the one who KO-ed Han Lu, he hadn’t entertained the thought of fighting Lin Fan in a long time.

Lin Fan hadn’t expected Qi Ming to rate the song so highly, just like Zuo Teng Fei. It was obtained with only five Encyclopedic Points. He wished they could stop with the compliments. It was making him embarrassed.

“Let’s see how shameless this evil witch really is,” Lin Fan said.

“Alright, I have removed my shoes. If this evil witch dares to speak badly of her, I’ll throw my shoes at her,” Wang Ming Yang said as he removed his shoes as if he was preparing for a war.

Wu Huan Yue bowed and said, “Thank you, mentor.”

Mr. Qi Ming nodded at Wu Huan Yue to give her another affirmation. Then, he said jokingly, “But in future, please refrain from using original songs. Let’s just use classic songs so that we can judge your voices more easily. Old songs can sound amazing too.”

“Alright, mentor,” Wu Huan Yue replied unknowingly.

Ying Jin was extremely furious. What did he mean by ‘in future’? Wasn’t that equivalent to saying that she had already gone through to the next round?

Wang Yu Chen had an unusual expression on stage, she was a little angry but she still forced a smile on her face.

Wu Huan Yue did not react to his statement but to people who were more sensitive, they would definitely have understood what the sentence meant.

Those contestants who were at the backstage all heaved a sigh of relief. If Wu Huan Yue had continued to use original songs, then they would never be able to win her as the song would have given her bonus points.

They were so thankful for Mentor Qi Ming’s comment that they became loyal fans of Qi Ming himself.

Yi Ming then said, “Mentor Ying Jin, what do you think of their performance?”

Ying Jin cleared her throat, shrugged her shoulders and raised her head. She looked like she was in a dilemma, as if she was going to say a shocking statement.

The crowd and Lin Fan were extremely curious as to what she was going to say.

Wang Ming Yang held onto his shoes tightly and listened. We’re waiting for you to open your d*mned mouth.