I'm Really a Superstar

A few days later.

On the day of the ninth episode's recording.

The audience was joking and chatting as they entered the studio.

"The Zhang Ye Sprawl has gone viral."

"Yeah, everyone's imitating it now."

"And 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend' is causing a stir around the country."

"Let's see what Zhang Ye will be singing today."

"Yeah, he's definitely going to sing a proper song today, right?"

"Right. If he doesn't do that, that fellow will definitely get eliminated this round."

"Yep, the ninth and tenth episodes are going to be the last qualifying rounds before the grand finals take place. When these two episodes are done, it'll be time for the revival round. It's almost coming to an end."

"Do you guys think that Zhang Ye will advance to the grand finals?"

"If he sings the way he has been, don't even think about it!"

"Actually, I don't think he isn't singing properly. He's actually performed quite well, but you have to take into account who he's up against. Who are all those people with him on this stage? Xiaodong is more popular than Zhang Ye in the Asian scene. And I don't even have to mention Zhang Xia and Chen Guang. Those two are both top singers, pros amongst pros. Even if Zhang Ye gives it his all, he probably can't beat them. He won't even be able to match their singing skills, so this is very normal."

"But he beat Fan Wenli during King of Masked Singers."

"That was because they were masked. Everyone had already guessed the identities of the other masked singers except for The Clown, which was the decisive factor of why he could win. People are curious creatures, after all. Besides, even if Fan Wenli's singing is good, she's still lacking when compared to Chen Guang and Grandma Zhang. Surely you guys agree with that too, right? Moreover, Zhang Ye only won because of the songs that he sang during the King of Masked Singers. All of those songs had very deep meanings and were written well in advance. The audience only voted for him because of the songs. But such good songs are getting harder to come by and more difficult to write these days. Even for Zhang Ye, it's impossible that he can churn out a good song every other day. It would already be ridiculously amazing if he could produce three to five classics per year. So I feel that he overdrew his quota during King of Masked Singers. Just look at 'I Feel So Drained' and 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend.' What kinds of lyrics are those? Even the melody of the songs are so simple. From that, you can get a sense that Zhang Ye's talent has been totally spent. Since he isn't willing to sing the songs that he's sung before, nor those of others, how can he perform well? However, that's also understandable."

"That makes sense."

"True, how can it be so easy to always write good songs?"

"That might not be. We'll see what he sings today."

"Right, we'll know how it goes after today."

"In any case, I'll listen to whatever Zhang Ye sings. I just like him!"

"Who cares if he's lost his touch? It's good enough as long as the song is nice!"

"He's written a song that's become popular all over the country, and you're saying that he's lost his touch? Are you kidding me? It's just that Zhang Ye isn't singing seriously!"

…

Backstage.

Recording had already begun.

The singers were all gathered at the lot picking place and were surrounded by the program team staff and cameras.

"Let's welcome the replacement singer to the show."

"Welcome!"

"Thank you, seniors."

"Who's going to pick first?"

"Not me!"

"How about Grandma Zhang?"

"Me? I'll wait a bit."

Nobody wanted to be the first to pick a lot, so everyone was laughing and joking. The replacement singer for this episode was a C-list celebrity who could also be considered a newcomer to the music industry. He had only debuted two years ago.

Zhang Xia laughed and said, "Amy survived last week's knockout round again."

Amy laughed out loud. "That's because I've been proclaimed as the undying goddess."

Xiaodong mocked, "Well, you're more like an ever-LAST-ing angel!"

Amy did not like hearing that. "Heehee, but I wasn't in last place the previous week."

"So you guys are talking about me now?" Zhang Ye said in amusement. Zhao Wuliu was in seventh place the previous episode and got eliminated from the competition as a result. Excluding him, it wasn't wrong to say that Zhang Ye's sixth place put him in last place.

Huang Cheng laughed and said, "It was a really close call for Director Zhang."

Zhang Ye smiled. "Yeah, I was hanging by a thread."

Everyone actually had very serious questions regarding Zhang Ye's songs choices for the past two episodes. However, they did not think it would be nice to bring it up. What could they say? How could they ask? Could they ask if he couldn't come up with good songs anymore? Ask if he had run out of inspiration? Or ask if his singing had deteriorated? And why he couldn't sing like he did in the past? There was just no way to ask something like that!

Chen Guang looked quite relaxed. "The difference was only a dozen-odd votes, so that was really close. If Director Zhang were eliminated, we would be left without a host."

Zhang Xia looked at Chen Guang. "What are you going to sing today, Little Chen?"

Chen Guang laughed. "Can I keep it a secret for now?"

Amy immediately said, "No, you have to say it now!"

Chen Guang gave it some thought. "I can only say that it's a rock song; I can't reveal the name yet."

Xiaodong blinked. "What about you, Grandma Zhang?"

"Me?" Zhang Xia said, "I'll be singing a love song."

Amy went on to ask Zhang Ye, "Director Zhang, what kind of song will you be singing today?"

Zhang Ye was taken aback but gave a surprising answer, "I'll be singing a love song too."

Everyone was stunned.

A love song?

He was finally going to show what he was capable of?

Truthfully, they hadn't really heard Zhang Ye sing love songs much even though that was his most powerful weapon of all. But whenever he did sing one, it would always be an earth-shattering performance. Like the duet he performed with Zhang Yuanqi, "Love of a Lifetime." It didn't sound like much when you listened to it for the first time, but it would slowly grow on you until you found it to be amazing. In fact, even a lot of industry insiders wrote great reviews of "Love of a Lifetime." They claimed that it was China's best love song this year with no other song coming close!

And today?

Zhang Ye was going to sing a love song again?

Was it going to be a new song too? Or would it be one of his old songs?

Originally, everyone was most concerned about Chen Guang and Zhang Xia's performances. Because these two singers were really strong, everyone wanted to defend against them by trying to find out in advance what they were going to sing so that they could prepare themselves. But when Zhang Ye mentioned that he was going to sing a love song, everyone was caught by surprise and started putting their guards up against him as well. One of the most important reasons for this was that the issue of Zhang Ye's wedding was really too attention-grabbing. Everyone was so curious about who his fiancée was since no one had seen her before. The paparazzi also couldn't find out anything about her, so it could be said that the entire country was still trying to figure out her identity. And to sing a love song at this time, was Zhang Ye going to dedicate it to his fiancée? Or perhaps reveal something about the course of their relationship? If that was the case, could you even imagine the stir that it would cause!

He might even be able to get first place because of it!

Zhang Ye smiled and went forward. "If no one is picking first, I'll go ahead."

He picked out a ball and unwrapped it.

Everyone looked down at it and was amused by what they saw!

"Hahaha!"

"Wow, Director Zhang."

"Seems like your luck isn't that great."

Zhang Ye did not know whether to laugh or cry. The number "1" was written on the ball. "OK, I'll be going onstage then."

The others also picked lots to determine their order of appearance.

Amy said, "I'll head back to the waiting room first. I can't miss out on listening to Director Zhang's love song."

Chen Guang said, "Let's go together."

Xiaodong gave a bitter laugh and said, "Director Zhang will surely be difficult to deal with today."

The tiger was finally baring its fangs, so what should they do?

…

In front.

The audience gave thunderous applause!

"Zhang Ye!"

"He came out!"

"It's starting!"

"I'm so looking forward to it!"

Zhang Ye stood onstage with a smile and said, "Welcome to this episode of I Am a Singer. For this episode, we will be welcoming a new replacement singer. Many of you are very concerned about who he is, and I've interviewed him backstage. He wanted me to pass a message to the audience…"

Before he could finish, the audience was already laughing like crazy!

"Yi!"

"He's at it again!"

"Only a fool would believe you now!"

"There's no need to pass the message, we're not going to listen!"

"Hahahaha!"

"We already know about your tricks and routine!"

Everyone hooted.

The staff in the studio also laughed. Everyone already knows about this approach of yours!

But Zhang Ye just blinked and said, "The replacement singer wanted me to tell the audience: He will try to sing to the best of his abilities."

The audience was taken aback.

Try to sing to the best of his abilities?

Only that?

Eh, why wasn't there any advertising lines this time?

It didn't seem right! What happened to your advertising routine?

While everyone was caught by surprise, Zhang Ye's next words floored everyone. "But his agent wanted me to tell the audience this—" He lowered his head and brought up the cue card. "Thank you to the leading health supplement brand, Brain Gold Company, for being the title sponsors of our show. Thank you to Hubei Pharmaceuticals' strong support for us. If you're going to use a computer tablet, use Lilai's eight-inch tablet with multi-core technology. Honey Sweet fruit juice, so sweet that you can feel it in your heart!"

The audience burst out laughing!

The singers backstage also erupted with laughter!

"Pfft!"

"Hahahahaha!"

"I should have known!"

"He's full of tricks!"

"Zhang Ye, that's enough!"

"When it comes to such tricks, I really have to give it to you!"

It had already been proven that Zhang Ye's tricks could never be predicted by them.

After some hilarity, the atmosphere in the studio was warmed up.

Zhang Ye said, "Next up will be the performances. First up, our first singer will be performing a rare love song. So let's hand the stage over to him."

The audience looked at him doubtfully.

A love song?

What about that?

What was so rare about singing a love song?

But a second later, the lights dimmed.

Zhang Ye did not leave the stage but stayed at center stage in silence. At this moment, the audience finally realized it. Zhang Ye was singing first? And he was going to sing a love song?

The audience burst into an uproar.

"Wow!"

"A love song?"

"This is gonna be good!"

"Is he going to dedicate this to his fiancée?"

"I'm looking forward to hearing it!"

"Zhang Ye is gonna use his ace in the hole!"

"I have a feeling that he'll be getting first place this episode!"

"He's finally going to sing properly!"

"If he sings 'Love of a Lifetime,' he can definitely get into the top three today!"

"It's finally not going to be some viral tune! Singing a love song is the correct choice!"

"Viral tune? How can he have that many viral tunes up his sleeves!"

It was all quiet onstage.

The audience was also quiet.

Zhang Ye slowly closed his eyes as the image of Wu Zeqing floated into his mind.

Backstage.

Zhang Xia watched intently.

Xiaodong had her eyes glued to the screen while she was getting her makeup touched up.

Amy was feeling very nervous and full of anticipation.

What kind of performance would Zhang Ye, who had bared his fangs, give? They were all very curious to find out!

Onstage, Zhang Ye opened his eyes. Under everyone's gaze, the music suddenly came on. A strong beat ripped through the stage in an instant!

The audience was shocked. They suddenly had a bad feeling about this!

This music?

This beat?

Surely not, right?

In the end, everyone lurched the moment Zhang Ye opened his mouth 1 !

"I planted a seed in the earth.

"And it finally bore fruit.

"Today is a glorious day.

"Plucked a star as a gift for you.

"Grabbed the moon as a gift for you.

"Making the sun rise every day for you.

"I turn into a candle and light myself to be a lamp for you.

"Give my everything to you as long as you are happy.

"Because of you, my tomorrows have become meaningful.

"Life may be short, but I'll love you forever—

"Stay! By! Your! Side!

"You are my-a small-a, small apple!

"However much I love you, it'll never be too much!

"Your small blushing face warms my heart!

"It lights my fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"

Zhang Xia: "…"

Huang Cheng: "…"

Chen Guang: "…"

Xiaodong: "…"

Amy: "…"

The audience: "…"

Your sister!

Is this a love song?

You call this a fucking love song?!

Teacher Zhang! How did I fall for your nonsense!

Get lost!

Get lost already!