I'm Really a Superstar

Did this request seem too hard to apply?

Petal Shower fell silent!

Sunset Glow fell silent!

The judges fell silent as well!

After he finished performing, The Clown took a deep breath and bowed to the audience. Then he turned around and calmed himself. Feelings of disappointment and anger were written all over his back!

The audience roared!

Based on what they saw and heard, The Clown's song and his singing weren't even good. The song did not have any showy high notes or any portamento techniques. He did not even care about his stage presence or the atmosphere and just quietly stood there singing, telling a story, a story about himself.

The sheer power of the song was immense!

It resonated deeply with the crowd!

" I'm a Small, Little Bird 1 ."

Some of the audience members started crying when they thought of their experiences!

Some others clenched their fists angrily when they recalled their past!

The studio erupted into thunderous applause!

"He's so cool!"

"The Clown is so cool!"

"It's really good! He sang really well!"

"I don't know how to describe it!"

"Someone really stepped forward!"

"Damn, who was saying earlier that this was a children's song? Come out! I promise that I won't beat you up!"

"The Clown!"

"The Clown!"

"The Clown!"

A lot of people started chanting his stage name, soon joining in unison!

Dong Shanshan walked onto the stage and looked deep into The Clown's eyes before announcing, "Let's welcome Flowing Time back to the stage. Next is the voting."

Flowing Time gave a bitter laugh!

Why the fuck is it me again?

Why am I always being placed next to him in such critical moments during a battle?

Flowing Time really did not wish to go up on stage as he knew that it would be meaningless whether he went up or not. In this first round of performances, it was impossible for Flowing Time to beat The Clown no matter what. Even he himself did not have any hopes of winning. In fact, he had also been moved by the song, but he concealed it very well and did not let show his eyes it. For a slight moment, he was very impressed with the song. He was not impressed by The Clown's singing but by the person who wrote it.

Yao Jiancai could not wait to speak. "I'll leave the professional comments to the other teachers since I can't make any professional judgments when it comes to music. But I want to give my vote to The Clown. It definitely has to be him!"

Chen Guang said, "I'm voting for The Clown."

Zhang Xia: "The Clown."

Amy: "The Clown."

Wang Zhuishu: "The Clown."

Chen Yidong: "I'll vote for The Clown too."

The judges did not say more than what was necessary as they were at a critical juncture where the relevant associations were conducting a large scale boycott of negative and pessimistic music pieces. They couldn't say anything at all since no matter what evaluation they gave, it would still be seen as wrong. This was because "I'm a Small, Little Bird" was a song full of negative energy. There was not a trace of positivity in it! However, they did not try to avoid the matter and used the most straightforward way to express their opinions!

They just gave their votes to The Clown!

They gave no reason for their choice!

The audience voting began and ended very quickly.

The Clown: 422 votes!

Flowing Time: 78 votes!

The Clown won!

...

Offstage.

Hou Ge said with a wry smile, "Brother Hu, when The Clown submitted the song, it was without any lyrics. We still thought that this would be a children's song and didn't think much of it, but who could have expected…"

Dafei said worriedly, "Can this part be broadcast?"

Hu Fei looked at the two of them. "Why not?"

Dafei said, "But didn't those associations…"

Xiao Lu also asked, "What if they come here and find fault with us? Will we be able to handle them?"

At this, Hu Fei suddenly said, "I also used to feel that we should follow the guidelines from the relevant organizations and make sure that 'positive energy' songs are sung. But when I heard The Clown's song, I suddenly had a change of heart! Find fault with us? Let them come then! Zhang Ye's the most troublesome person of all, but we still hired the biggest troublemaker in the entertainment industry to be our program's executive producer. Why should we be afraid of attracting any other trouble?"

Dafei chuckled, "Alright!"

Xiao Lu also got excited all at once. "Understood!"

Suddenly, Petal Shower came over.

Hu Fei started and looked at her.

Petal Shower said, "Director Hu, since we're currently in the intermission, I came over to look for you about something."

Hu Fei said, "Just speak. What's the matter?"

Petal Shower solemnly said, "I'd like to change my second round song."

Dafei was taken aback. "Change your song? At this time?"

Petal Shower nodded. "Yes."

Sunset Glow also walked over from afar. When she saw Petal Shower, she was surprised as well. Then, without saying anything to her, she walked up to Hu Fei and said, "Director Hu, I'd like to change my second song."

Xiao Lu exclaimed, "You want to change your song too?"

Hu Fei looked at the two of them. "Can you tell me why?"

Petal Shower thought for a while. "For the sake of dignity."

Sunset Glow looked at her and nodded. "For dignity."

Xiao Lu said anxiously, "But it's too late for that now. We're already—"

"OK!" Hu Fei cut her off. "I'll approve it!"

Xiao Lu groaned, "But, Brother Hu, this—"

Hu Fei dismissed her complaint with a wave of his hands. "It's settled. Please get ready!"

...

In the waiting room.

Zhang Ye came back alone and sat down on the sofa. He drank some water and continued to stay silent. He had sung all that he wanted to say about his past few years of experiences and plights. But for some reason, he was still unable to calm down on the inside. Instead, he was angering even further!

He felt a cell phone's vibration come from his bag.

Zhang Ye looked over and dug out the offending cell phone. It was his personal cell phone, and the caller ID was displaying the name of Wu Zeqing's secretary: Bai Li.

He picked up.

Zhang Ye said: "Hello?"

Secretary Bai immediately said: "Is this Teacher Zhang?"

Zhang Ye said, "This is he."

"Chief Wu is away on an overseas business trip, so it's not convenient for her to contact you. She wanted me to pass you the message that she already knows about what's going on here and that she'll handle it as soon as possible. I'll also be helping to sort out the issue regarding your two songs and—"

Zhang Ye interrupted: "I don't care about my affairs. Secretary Bai, you all may ban 'A Letter to Home' and 'The King Sent Me on Mountain Patrol' as you wish. I'll accept it without grudges. I was already mentally prepared for all of this. It's also fine if you want to withdraw the Brain Gold advertisement and any of my other works. I can deal with all the trouble that I've caused on my own. If I can't handle it, I'll accept the consequences! But what has this got to do with King of Masked Singers? What has this got to do with the other singers in show business? Can't you all leave the contestants in peace? Can't you all leave a way out for the television variety industry's workers who are battling on the front lines? Can't you guys do that?"

Secretary Bai hurriedly replied: "Teacher Zhang, you've misunderstood, you've really misunderstood. The matter this time was really not handled by us at the SARFT. We wrote up a guiding white paper related to musical and film work directives, but it was definitely not supposed to be like this. I assure you that this was not our original intent, and that this was just the Beijing Ministry of Culture making things up by themselves! It was just those television associations talking nonsense! We definitely did not issue such guidelines regarding musical pieces! We did not ask for all songs to only spread inspirational messages or positive energy!"

Bai Li did not know what the relationship between Zhang Ye and Wu Zeqing was even now. But she understood quite clearly that the relationship between them was definitely very close. That was why Bai Li spoke to Zhang Ye in a very polite manner, approaching him very professionally from her official standpoint. She spoke to Zhang Ye in the same way she would speak to Chief Wu.

Secretary Bai said: "Teacher Zhang, I'll handle this matter from here on out, and I'll get it taken care of immediately. The lower-downs are much too outrageous! Leave this matter to me!"

She ended the call.

A knock on the door followed.

Zhang Ye tucked his cell phone away and said to the outside, "Please come in."

Han Qi, Xiao Lu, and a few others came into the room. "Teacher Clown."

"What's the matter?" Zhang Ye asked.

Xiao Lu replied, "It's nothing. W-We're just here to see you."

Worried, Han Qi asked, "Teacher, are you alright?"

Zhang Ye nodded. "I'm fine."

Han Qi said, "Your condition today as compared to the previous times…I'm afraid…"

Today, The Clown was indeed different from before. Han Qi and the program team staff felt an ominous feeling about it and were afraid that The Clown would start having negative thoughts and do something irrational due to those associations taking large-scale actions to ban music pieces. Maybe he would withdraw from the competition?

The program team staff were trying very hard for the longest time to find out what he was thinking.

Zhang Ye took a while before he finally understood their worries and concerns. Then he laughed.

Withdraw from the competition?

Don't worry, I won't do that!

Even if the sky is falling, I won't run away!

Besides, the sky hasn't even fallen yet, right?

When he thought about this, Zhang Ye froze.

His works were taken down!

His commercial was taken down!

Getting banned!

His musical pieces got restricted!

Several associations all came pointing their fingers at him!

If it were anyone else, they would probably have quit at such a time. Even a clay figure would retain some fire, let alone such a notorious figure like Zhang Ye. Who in the entertainment industry didn't know about that foul temper of his? But with everything turning out this way, Zhang Ye suddenly realized that while he was angry and disappointed, he still believed deep down inside that everything would work out!

Only then did he realize that he was never a pessimistic person to begin with. He was more of a natural fighter. He might feel dejected, lonely, and hopeless at times, but he would never shirk from a battle he had to fight!