Chapter 161: The Seventh Episode Airs

Episode 7 of "Voice of Music" was broadcast.

In this episode, Fang Xing was the last one to perform.

To keep the audience in suspense, the production team started the episode with a pre-interview segment.

During the pre-interview:

The director asked, "What do you think Heavenly King Liu's final ranking will be for this round?"

Fang Xing thought for a moment and replied, "That's hard to say. Maybe... top three?"

Originally, after answering this question, there was a gap of a song before the next question regarding Li Caiwei was asked.

However, during the broadcast, the production team edited all the questions together.

The director continued asking, "Then what do you think Li Caiwei's ranking will be tonight with this song?"

Fang Xing said speechlessly, "You guys just love stirring up trouble."

The director replied, "Just asking. Besides, you're not someone who's afraid of trouble."

Fang Xing sighed, "Fine. I think Li Caiwei's song can make it into the top two tonight."

Liu Hongsheng could make the top three, and Li Caiwei could make the top two.

With the two answers combined, the barrage comments instantly exploded:

[Alright, that is so typically Fang Xing.]

[I just love the trash-talk segment. Regardless of whether he gets slapped in the face later, it's entertaining.]

[If he doesn't get slapped, the variety show effect is maximized. If he does, the variety show effect is explosive.]

[You've got to stir up trouble. A Fang Xing who doesn't stir up trouble is not a good Fang Xing.]

[A Heavenly King in the top three and Caiwei in the top two—he even left a spot for himself. Did you think I wouldn't know what you mean?]

[Now that you've put it this way, I simply have to finish watching this episode. Production team, you've achieved your goal.]

The pre-interview had not ended yet.

The director asked, "Then why not guess first place?"

Fang Xing rolled his eyes and said, "You guys definitely wanted me to answer, 'Because I haven't sung yet.' Fine, you guessed it. There's no reason for tonight's song not to take first place."

The camera cut away for a moment.

Fang Xing continued, "If this song doesn't take first place tonight, it will be a stain on my life."

The director said, "You don't need to put it so seriously."

Fang Xing answered, "No, it is precisely this serious."

Just the pre-interview at the beginning of the show was enough to maximize the topic discussion.

All sorts of barrage comments flew across the screen:

[The scumbag director has finally learned how to make the most of Fang Xing.]

[This technique of stirring up trouble has a strong trace of Tong Fei's influence. The scumbag director has finally learned it.]

Since Zheng Tao always used suspense-building tactics to drag out the time when announcing the rankings, and managed to boost ratings every single time,

yet because this suspense method was far too torturous for the viewers, the audience had collectively given Zheng Tao a unified nickname: "Scumbag Director."

This nickname had existed since the previous seasons,

though it was used even more widely this season.

Zheng Tao had long known about this affectionate moniker from the audience, but he didn't care at all. As long as the ratings went up, the harder the audience cursed him, the happier he was.

After this pre-interview segment aired, trending topics were already up on Weibo,

pushing the ratings of "Voice of Music" to new heights.

Looking at the real-time ratings data, Zheng Tao was grinning from ear to ear.

The show continued to broadcast.

The singers went on stage one after another to perform.

When Li Caiwei sang "Cloud of Hometown," the barrage comments began to surge again.

[Sounds so good, it really didn't disappoint.]

[The most disappointing thing about Fang Xing is that he never disappoints.]

[I just want to watch him flip his car once, but he simply won't.]

[Can you people be decent human beings? Even if you want to watch Fang Xing crash and burn, let him crash by himself, alright? Don't drag Caiwei into it.]

[This song is great, and Li Caiwei's vocal skills are truly impressive, even better than the past few years. What she lacked were good songs, and now she has them.]

[Thanks to Fang Xing.]

[Thanks to Fang Xing +1]

In the end, the barrage comments all turned into a unified [Thanks to Fang Xing], which had already become a tradition.

Every time Li Caiwei took the stage to perform a song produced by Fang Xing, her fans would collectively express their gratitude once.

[For Caiwei to appear on the "Voice of Music" stage, her biggest gain isn't the show itself, but getting to sing three great songs.]

[If this continues, Caiwei has a good chance of breaking into the ranks of first-tier singers.]

[She's already first-tier, or even ultra-first-tier. I won't accept any refutations—arguing with me just means you're right.]

After Li Caiwei finished singing,

it was Xie Yuwen's turn to take the stage.

While interacting with the host on stage, Xie Yuwen delivered another wave of variety show gold.

He Hao: "Yuwen, position number six is the performance slot many singers want. Are you happy to have gotten it?"

Xie Yuwen: "I was pretty happy at first."

He Hao: "When did you stop being happy?"

Xie Yuwen: "Right after listening to 'Cloud of Hometown.'"

He Hao: "So are you feeling very nervous?"

Xie Yuwen: "No, on the contrary, I'm not nervous at all."

He Hao: "Why is that?"

Xie Yuwen: "There's no way I can match it anyway, so being nervous is useless."

Immediately afterward, Xie Yuwen started cueing Fang Xing: "That singer who loves making songs for other singers—how about helping me out next time? I'm pretty good at being a singing tool as well."

Fang Xing replied from the waiting room: "Caiwei, someone is trying to steal your job."

When this segment aired,

the mischievous netizens and trolls laughed out loud:

[Xie Yuwen, you're a first-tier singer too. Can we please maintain a bit of dignity?]

[If being a singing tool means getting to sing "Cloud of Hometown" and "Dawn has Broken," then nobody can maintain their dignity.]

[A first-tier singer has confessed in public. Why don't you reward him with a song?]

The reception for Xie Yuwen's hometown-themed song "Wanderer's Harbor" was decent, but it truly couldn't compare to "Cloud of Hometown."

However, his variety show performance was excellent, and his vote count was not low either.

After all the other singers had finished performing, it was finally Fang Xing's turn to take the stage.

The barrage comments from the trolls and mischievous netizens suddenly shifted style:

[Waiting for the car to flip.]

[Waiting for the car to flip +1]

During the host's Q&A session prior to the competition, Fang Xing revealed some clues about the song.

Among them, the most crucial clue was that the lyrics of this song were written by Mr. Wen Yiduo.

Hearing this clue instantly piqued the audience's curiosity, which, combined with the earlier pre-interview,

had maximized the anticipation for this episode of the show.

Now the audience was simply waiting to hear the final song.

Because the expectations had been hyped up so high, if this song failed to deliver, the consequences would be deeply awkward.

Amidst the overwhelming barrage of [Crash and burn] comments,

Fang Xing began to perform "Song of the Seven Sons." When the opening line, "You must know Macau is not my real surname," rang out,

many of the viewers in front of their televisions froze in place.

Moreover, the older the audience members were, the more intense their emotional fluctuations.

The word Macau was indeed not understood by everyone in terms of its historical weight.

To help more viewers understand the significance of Macau, the production team added another translated name in brackets, "Aomen," during post-production.

Seeing the word "Aomen," many of the older viewers immediately understood its meaning.

When the lines "I have left you for too long, Mother" were sung,

many older audience members who understood the lyrics found their eyes turning red.

When "Song of the Seven Sons" reached the lyric, "Please call me by my childhood pet name, call me by the name Aomen,"

the viewers who initially hadn't understood the lyrics suddenly grasped it completely.

The "wanderer" written about in this song was no ordinary traveler at all; it was a "child" of the motherland snatched away by foreign powers.

The camera swept across the audience seating.

In the frame, many audience members began wiping away tears.

It wasn't just the viewers in the camera shot; many older viewers in front of their televisions also had reddened eyes.

Mr. Wen Yiduo's "Song of the Seven Sons" was truly heart-wrenching to the core.

In that instant, the barrage comments exploded:

[Oh my god! That almost made me cry.]

[As expected of a predecessor's penmanship, my nose feels a bit sour.]

[Holy shit! Why didn't you tell me in advance there was a tear-jerker tonight? I was watching the show with my blind date, and now she caught me crying. What should I do?]

[That's easy to fix. If she's crying too, stay together. If she didn't cry, why aren't you running away yet?]

[I was made to cry by the children's chorus. It sounds so much like a child calling out for their mother. If my little darling called me like that, I really couldn't take it.]

However, some viewers failed to feel the emotion in the song and expressed complete indifference.

[Are you guys all saying you cried? Are you serious? Why can't I feel it? What's there to cry about?]

[I also think there's nothing to cry about. This song is at best just okay.]

The trolls began interacting with these barrage comments:

[Human joys and sorrows are not connected. It's completely normal.]

[Just make friends with people similar to yourself. No one dictates that listening to a song must make you cry. I didn't cry either, I just leaked a bit of nasal mucus.]

[I'm going to share this song on my WeChat Moments. Anyone in my contacts who listens to this song and finds it boring, please be sure to leave a comment.]

As soon as "Song of the Seven Sons" was released, it rapidly surged to the top of the trending searches.

The complete poem of Wen Yiduo's "Song of the Seven Sons" also trended right along with it.

Audience members who were moved by the song and those who found it boring began locking horns on Weibo, fighting fiercely.

Music critic Ni Hongdan, as usual, started a live broadcast to watch the show alongside her netizens.

Many trolls flocked to the live stream to drop by and interact via barrage comments:

[Seeing the host's eyes all red—she's a good one, I'll hit that follow button first.]

Ni Hongdan picked up a tissue, turned slightly away from the camera to dab at the corners of her eyes, turned back, and said, "I'm sorry, it's probably because I have a baby now that I just can't handle this song.

"The moment I imagine my child being snatched away by foreign powers—forget three hundred days, even three days, three hours, or three minutes would make me collapse.

"Besides, Fang Xing is quite cruel; he used a children's chorus for the harmonies.

"I don't know if you guys realize this, but after becoming a mother, you become extremely sensitive to high-pitched sounds.

"At night, when a baby cries, the father can sleep soundly, but the mother will definitely be woken up.

"This is determined by genetics, because children's voices are sharper and pitched higher.

"Since I have a background in vocal music, I heard the harmonies quite clearly. When I heard that single cry from the children's voices, I completely fell apart."

[Kiki's mom is still hardcore. I didn't listen that closely, but my emotional fluctuations were indeed huge.]

[Me too, this song is absolute tear-jerker ammunition.]

[That guy Fang Xing has dropped another ultimate move. I feel like he's going to take first place again tonight.]

[Sigh! I really wanted to watch him crash and burn once. Looks like I'm going to be disappointed again.]

[The most disappointing thing about Fang Xing is that he never disappoints.]