I'm Really a Superstar

At Old Rao's house.

Zhang Ye was still playing dead on the sofa when he received the call.

"Dafei, it's out?"

"Yeah! It's out!"

"How much?"

"2.51%!"

"Ah? How much again?"

"The premiere episode's viewership was 2.51%!"

"Is that figure from a draft report?"

"It's not! This is the actual viewership rating! Teacher Zhang, we've gotten first nationwide. Our premiere episode has taken the number one spot in the nationwide viewership ratings! You're so incredible!"

Dafei called his coworkers over to the phone.

Xiao Lu ran over and shouted into the phone: "Teacher Zhang, you're so amazing! So, so amazing! Hurry over. Brother Hu says that he'll be treating us to a meal, and the Station Head has announced that they'll be holding a celebratory banquet just for our program team, right after they gave us a letter of commendation and published it to the entire station! We're just lacking your presence now!"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "I won't be joining you guys today. I still have some things to attend to."

After hanging up, Zhang Ye kept quiet for a second before suddenly belly laughing!

#1 nationwide?

2.51%?

Another record has been broken!

In fact, Zhang Ye wasn't too sure how the show would perform before it was broadcast. It wasn't because he was not confident, but just that he was unable to put his finger on it. After all, the King of Masked Singers back in his previous world did not have that great of a viewership rating. It only managed around 1 to 2% tops. Zhang Ye had studied the shortcomings of the show closely in order to make the changes to the version in this world. Thus, he could not predict the results until the final moment when the results were released. From the looks of it, the viewership this time really did not disappoint him. In fact, it even exceeded the expectations that Zhang Ye had set for it by a great deal. It looked like the King of Masked Singers that he had made revisions to had been accepted by everyone. This was no doubt a boost to Zhang Ye, as even though he was neither the executive director nor the host, he was still part of the show. If the show became popular, Zhang Ye's popularity would get higher as a result.

He immediately went to check the Celebrity Rankings Index, hoping to see how much his popularity score had gone up by. He felt that it would surely be a sizable amount. However, when he checked the list, he was shocked to discover that his popularity score was actually dropping, although it was still within the A-list.

Damn!

What was happening?

Then, with a jolt, Zhang Ye facepalmed as he suddenly remembered that he was performing with a mask on, and no one knew that it was him who joined the competition. Therefore, it was impossible that he would be credited with any popularity as Zhang Ye. Having not been onscreen for some time and without a job, the A-list celebrities ranked behind him had started catching up relentlessly while Zhang Ye's popularity score was sliding back. Zhang Ye could only smile helplessly at this. After his fever yesterday, he was probably feeling a little mixed up right now, but that didn't really matter. He would just have to leave this issue of his popularity score aside for now. He was sure that on the day that he revealed himself, all of that accumulated popularity would come back to him. Thinking of the arrival of such a day, Zhang Ye could no longer control his laughter as he wondered when he would achieve that explosion in popularity. But first, he would have to continue singing and not get eliminated midway through the show.

Tired from laughing, Zhang Ye took a breather and suddenly realized that everyone in the apartment was looking at him.

Rao Aimin was looking at him.

Chenchen was also staring at him.

Zhang Ye rubbed his face. "Why you lookin' at me?"

Rao Aimin narrowed her eyes. "Rascal, you're quite full of energy when you're laughing, aren't you?"

With that, Zhang Ye immediately collapsed back onto the sofa and said weakly, "It's the last gasp."

Rao Aimin sent a kick flying at him!

"So you were only pretending earlier?"

"Aiyo, what are you doing!"

"Get up!"

"Don't kick, don't kick!"

Chenchen shouted angrily, "Zhang Ye, you're so shameless! I thought that you were actually seriously injured! I even went to get you a cup of water! You...why are you not behaving like a proper adult!"

Zhang Ye got chased around the apartment. "I'm always the one being ordered around! Can't I be the one to order you guys around for once? Aiyo, Old Rao, you're hitting me for real? Do you think I won't retaliate? Do you think that I can't beat you? You're more seriously injured than I am."

However, the facts had already proved that even if Rao Aimin's injuries have not recovered, even if her injuries were more serious than Zhang Ye's, he still couldn't beat her.

This fellow was actually much better, his injuries under control and regaining 40-50% of his stamina. He now had the foundation of a martial arts master, and his strength and stamina levels were maxed out after having eaten all those level 1 Fruits from the lottery draw. Once his injuries were alleviated and did not affect him as much, Zhang Ye's resilience and recovery rate would naturally be different from normal people's.

...

Medicinal herb concoction three times a day.

Traditional Chinese massage twice daily.

By the second day, Zhang Ye could already do some simple exercises.

By the third day, the rasp in Zhang Ye's voice started to disappear.

By the fourth day, Zhang Ye attempted singing two high notes and could practically hit them, except that he couldn't sustain them for long. If he did, his voice would end up trembling due to his vocal cords tightening.

By the fifth day, the side effects from the cortisone shots had almost subsided.

The doctor was right about the severe side effects of a cortisone shot, let alone the fact that he had received three shots. Even for someone with Zhang Ye's physique and condition, it still took him five days to recover from it. If it were a normal person, they would probably have taken more than a month to recover their voice.

His body was back to normal for now.

His voice had just about recovered.

However, Zhang Ye was still undecided on what songs to sing, and with the second episode's recording of King of Masked Singers coming up, he was starting to panic, too. Everyone knew that he was someone who always set very high standards for himself, so he would be much more stringent when it came to choosing a song. He couldn't even be a little unsatisfied with it.

Which songs should he choose?

He had absolutely no idea whatsoever!

Reuse the song he had rehearsed before he switched songs last time? No good!

Or should he bring out a classic?

...

At this moment, a heated discussion erupted online!

"It will be Saturday in another two days!"

"They'll be recording tomorrow, right?"

"I'm so looking forward to it!"

"King of Masked Singers is so good!"

"I love The Clown the most!"

"Who do you guys think will be crowned as the second episode's Masked King?"

"Petal Shower!"

"Sunset Glow sang really well too! It's just that a lot of the audience members could not understand!"

"It's definitely going to be Sunflower, without a doubt!"

"Eh, why didn't anyone mention The Clown?"

"He's already been crowned as the first episode's Masked King. And besides, everyone knows that his crowning was not exactly well-deserved. He only got it because he was being opportunistic."

"Ah, what do you mean by that?"

"Can't you tell? For someone as sick as him, everyone would surely pity him. A lot of people voted for him out of sympathy. Didn't any of you realize that? The Clown's singing and voice were totally appalling, even though he was really suffering from a cold too, which we won't talk about. His technique actually laid in his lyrics, claiming he was some wolf from the north looking for some beautiful plains, or how he's a beautiful, beautiful wild rose but for the unfair heavens. He only won on the technicalities of his song lyrics which he used to apply to his circumstances at that moment. It's no surprise that he won the vote to become Masked King. But he definitely has no chance in the second episode."

"Finally! There's someone else who noticed it! I also noticed it!"

"Yeah, those two songs by The Clown were good, and I wondered who wrote them too, but I can't help but feel that it wasn't a proper victory. He only did it by gaining pity points!"

"Is that so? I thought it was quite a proper win."

"That's because you're still too young to understand."

"That's quite true, to be honest. You can even say that The Clown's performance that day was the worst of the six participants, but his lyrics were good and he totally took advantage of that. If he really were to sing another song, even if he didn't have a cold and his voice was in the best possible shape, he still couldn't compare to Petal Shower and Sunflower. He probably wouldn't even last in a competition against Sunset Glow and The Yak!"

"Um, that's what I think too."

"There are two possibilities now. One is that The Clown's voice has not recovered yet and he'll continue playing the sympathy card but the audience does not get convinced. That would mean he is almost guaranteed to get eliminated. The second is that The Clown's voice has recovered and he performs to his best. But without the sympathy card, how many people will actually like his songs and singing? Rather than talking about his chances of becoming the second episode's Masked King, I think The Clown will find it hard to even stay in the competition."

On the Top Chinese Music Chart.

"Wild Rose" was already sweeping aside every other song on the charts.

#1 on the daily chart!

#1 on the weekly chart!

#3 on the monthly chart, but already making its way up to first place!

The performance of "Wolf" was quite good and did well on the charts too.

But what was surprising was that in the official poll created by Beijing Television's King of Masked Singers program team, the support for The Clown was dipping.

First: Petal Shower.

Second: Sunflower in the Starlight.

Third: Sunset Glow.

The Clown was ranked fourth.

Followed by the eliminated King of Oddity, who wasn't too far behind The Clown.

A lot of people had been affected by the discussions, or rather a lot of them had the same opinions regarding The Clown and felt that he had won the first episode only because he got lucky.

Some negative news also sprung up after that.

"How far can The Clown go just by relying on sympathy?"

"Sources claim that replacement masked singers on the King of Masked Singers' second episode will include a talented singer!"

"The Clown facing elimination?"

"Wild Rose sweeps the charts, The Clown sweeps the floor!"

"A singing competition or a songwriting competition?"

"Playing the sympathy card on King of Masked Singers gets called out by netizens!"

"The Clown: A flash in the pan?"

"The Clown revealed: Might be an unknown rookie!"

When a person gets popular, gossip will fly.

With the King of Masked Singers so popular now, it was difficult to avoid the doubting voices. But these doubting voices from the media and people regarding The Clown was something that was still rarely seen. In the era of speculation, lies, and sympathy cards, people were getting even more sensitive to it. Together with people fanning the flames behind these claims, everyone started believing it the more they heard them. They thought that it was rather true, since if it weren't for those lyrical verses that resonated with everyone's emotions at that time and gained their sympathy, who would have actually cast their vote for him? Perhaps the King of Masked Singers' program team also had such thoughts. Frankly, a lot of people did not even bother listening to The Clown's voice or heard anything special in his voice. Everyone was purely moved just by the lyrics of those two songs.

"I just dislike people who try to gain sympathy this way!"

"Yeah, it's so disgusting to watch!"

"Didn't he just get those good songs because of his company? It's not like he really has the talent to win!"

The opinions were getting more and more skewed!

...

Zhang Ye found out about this news and these opinions the night before the recording was about to take place.

Depending on lyrics?

Trying to gain sympathy?

He just smiled and did not get bothered by it.

He settled his mind then continued to select songs.