The tables had turned!
Countless people who were previously calling out The Clown and showing disdain for him fell silent when "Opera" was performed. The media outlets vomited blood at the turn of events! Quite a few people were touched by this song, while there were many others who did not get affected by it. But even those who did not like this song could not say that this man's singing was not good. His falsetto had reached the stage of perfection!
"B-list?"
"There are only a few possibilities on the B-list and above!"
"Fuck, who is this guy!"
"I think I've become a fan of his!"
"Me too!"
"From hater to fan! He's amazing!"
"Ah, The Clown won!"
"He beat Petal Shower!"
"Poor Petal Shower!"
"Yeah, if Petal Shower had faced any of the others, she would've won!"
"Could The Clown have really been crowned Masked King?"
"Quick, quick, quick! When will The Clown sing his next song?"
The show continued.
However, the audience seemed to have been affected by the lyricless song. A minority of the audience was not even interested when the other contestants came on nor cared about the identity of whoever was taking off their masks. They were simply waiting to watch The Clown sing his second song!
Finally, the second episode's Masked King battle began.
The Clown was the first to perform!
He was using his real voice this time!
"I wanna walk from south to north!
"I wanna walk from day til night!
"I want people to look at me!
"But not know who I am!"
The moment "Fake Monk" was performed, it made quite a few viewers' pulses race!
"It's someone famous!"
"This definitely has to be a famous person in the music industry!"
"I don't like this song. It doesn't sound good."
"It's clearly very good!"
"I like this song a lot! It's so good on a spiritual level!"
"Me too, I love this song to death!"
"Petal Shower was unexpectedly sent into the elimination round, and Sunflower did not fulfill his potential either with a very average choice of song today. There's no one else who can compete with The Clown on today's stage!"
"'Fake Monk' is a good song!"
"This song alone can sweep everyone aside!"
"He put so much emotion into his performance!"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I'm not so smitten with the song. Although the lyrics were very well written, the melody was run of the mill. But for some reason, when The Clown was singing this song, it kinda got to me. If I was at the studio, I would definitely have voted for him! This guy is super charismatic!"
...
Within the music industry.
Quite a few key decision making people were shocked!
On a phone call:
"Old Hu, go and watch Beijing TV!"
"What's the matter? I'm recording a new song right now."
"Go and listen already. The latest episode of King of Masked Singers is really godly!"
"Who's godly?"
"The Clown!"
"With that voice of his, how godly can his singing possibly be?"
"Go and listen to it then! Listen to what his voice sounds like after he recovered from his cold! When did such an experienced veteran appear in the music scene! Go listen to it and tell me if he's one of our old friends."
...
At Zhang Ye's maternal grandma's house.
His mother and aunts did not feel much for this song.
But his father and uncles were mesmerized.
His second uncle said, "This song…is so well-written!"
His third sister suddenly shouted, "I'm defecting!"
"Ah?" His eldest sister did not get what she meant.
His third sister replied, "I'm not gonna give my support to Petal Shower anymore. From today onwards, I will support The Clown!"
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "You can understand this song?"
His third sister said, "I don't understand it, but I like it anyway!"
His eldest sister said, "I like 'Opera.' His singing is so amazing. Brother, who is he? Hurry up and tell us!"
"I don't know either," Zhang Ye said happily.
his second sister said, "You must know who he is!"
Zhang Ye smiled but did not say anything.
His father suddenly spoke up. "Little Ye."
Zhang Ye turned around. "Yes?"
His father said, "Get two tickets to the live recording of King of Masked Singers for your mom and me."
Zhang Ye was stunned. "What for? Do you plan to go and watch?"
His father nodded.
His mother immediately said, "Right, get us two tickets!"
This was his mother's usual behavior. Zhang Ye was already used to it. But his dad, who was a calmer and more traditional person, had almost never asked for anything from Zhang Ye before. Since his dad surprisingly made such a rare request today, he naturally agreed to it.
Zhang Ye nodded. "Alright."
His third sister's eyes lit up. "Brother, I wanna go too!"
Seeing this, his second sister went over and tugged Zhang Ye's arm and said coyly, "Brother."
His eldest sister coughed and also said a little embarrassed, "Me too."
They tugged at Zhang Ye for a long time before he finally smiled and said, "Alright, alright, everyone will get a ticket each."
As the matter of the tickets was settled, the Masked King battle on the television came to an end as the three singers finished with performing.
His family immediately shifted their attention back to the TV, wanting to see who would be crowned Masked King this episode. But they got a surprise instead!
The Clown opened his mouth to sing again!
This was a song he came up with on the spot!
...
"Are you a singer from Hong Kong?"
"Where is your hometown?"
The netizens were made speechless at the next moment!
Their jaws dropped as they saw The Clown raise his microphone and singing passionately into it.
"My ol' home, hey, is right in this hamlet!
"I was born and raised here in this hamlet!
"Though our village isn't much, we have hills, mountains, and forests.
"The villagers are friendly and everyone gets on well.
"So many things have happened inside this hamlet. Thinking back on them, it's speshly funny. If you friends are in-ter-est-ed, I can show you, show you around.
"And have you meet our villagers!"
This Cantonese song blinded everyone who heard it!
A group of people were doubled over in laughter!
"Hahahahaha!"
"Aiyo, I can't take it!"
"How can he be so funny?"
"Where is this joker from?"
"Can he really be a celebrity that's above the B-list?"
"Pfft, judging from his manner, this fellow is probably bullshitting! You even proclaimed yourself to be from Hong Kong? Hong Kong, your sister! Aren't you just making things up! Hahahaha, I guess he's lying about being at least a B-lister too!"
"That's also possible. There isn't any celebrity above the B-list who matches his profile!"
"Masked King!"
"The Clown has been crowned Masked King!"
"Amazing!"
"He really deserved the win this episode!"
"Yeah, The Clown was truly without equal today!"
"I'm looking forward to the third episode!"
"The next episode will be even more exciting!"
"Yeah, Petal Shower and Sunflower were not in good shape this episode, but they'll definitely fight back in the next episode!"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"That was really exciting!"
"Why I can't find 'Fake Monk' online?"
"'Opera' can't be found either! What's going on here?"
"They're originals, so they can't be found online."
"Ah?"
"Does The Clown intend to sing his originals for the entire competition?"
"No way, right? His company or his musician friends should've only written these four songs that were good enough for him perform onstage. Once there are no more originals left to use, he'll have to start covering the songs of other singers."
The broadcast ended.
Night fell.
But the discussions online and in the homes of the country's people did not stop.
...
The day after.
Sunday.
The viewership rating for the second episode of King of Masked Singers was out!
It was a figure that would send the industry into an uproar again—2.98%!
At Central TV.
Department 1.
Director Jiang Naixiong was silent.
Scowling, Jiang Yuan lost his temper with his subordinates. "How many episodes has our new show been broadcasting for already? Huh? Why are you all just unable to bring up the viewership ratings for it? Just have look at the viewership ratings for yourselves! Ah?"
The Department 1 staff did not dare make a sound.
There's nothing we can do even if the viewership ratings are poor!
It was all because of your insistence on fighting that lawsuit with Zhang Ye and freezing him that led to this!
If our station had not forced him away, the King of Masked Singers would definitely have been ours! What's the point of blaming us now?
On the Top Chinese Music Chart.
The songs that were performed on the King of Masked Singers were doing brilliantly on the chart!
The Clown's "Opera" and "Fake Monk" had already climbed up to the top three spots of the daily chart, while Petal Shower and Sunset Glow's songs from yesterday's television broadcast had climbed into the top six spots!
The songs were on fire!
The entire music chart had almost become wholly occupied by the King of Masked Singers' songs!
The entire music industry's attention was now focused on King of Masked Singers!
And the most unexpected thing was that The Clown's Cantonese song he performed at the end of the episode called "Our Villagers" had also shot up to the top 15 songs on the daily rankings. Many of the netizens were repeatedly playing it, laughing as they listened to it each time! The song was hilarious! It was totally a prank!
At home.
Zhang Ye's popularity score was still slipping on the Celebrity Rankings Index.
In contrast, his Reputation Points in the game ring were increasing rapidly. It seemed that with glancing minute, his Reputation Points would shoot up. Since no one knew that he was The Clown, the popularity gained by The Clown would naturally not be added to his name. But the game ring did not have this limitation. Everyone who liked The Clown would give Zhang Ye additional Reputation Points without fail!
This was great!
He would just carry on like this!
It looks like this bro's decision to cross over into the music industry was the right one!