Chapter 1033: Someone provokes The Clown!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Goof Group.
The big names in the group were engaging in intense conversation.
"Sister Zhang is in first place now."
"But she's not leading by much."
"Little Hu is catching up too? Oh, that's right, she's promoting her new show right now."
"Haha, quick, go and take a look at the Ugliest Celebrities Rankings poll."
"Ah?"
"Aiyo, Boss Zhang has gotten onto the list again!"
"In the Most Unpopular Celebrity Awards poll a few months back, Zhang Ye took first place without a doubt. Pfft, and now he's in the Ugliest Celebrities Rankings poll too? Second place? Not bad, not bad."
"I'm dying of laughter."
"Boss Zhang's social skills are terrible!"
"Who told him to offend that many people!"
"Yeah. Just two days ago at Beijing Television, he drove away those fans of Old Li's as well?"
"Why is The Clown also on the poll? He's even in first place?"
These people sounded rather happy.
Zhang Ye rolled his eyes and typed: "Don't bother me. I need some quiet time."
This has gone too far! Why do I always end up on the negative polls? In the past, it was OK since the worst that could happen was me taking first place. But look at this now! I've taken both first and second place!
...
On Weibo.
The netizens were laughing nonstop!
"Zhang Ye has appeared once again!"
"Hahahaha, there are always bits of Teacher Zhang in these polls!"
"I nearly pissed myself laughing!"
"Why did everyone give their votes to Zhang Ye? Teacher Zhang might not exactly be handsome, but he still looks decent and is considered average!"
"Teacher Zhang has offended too many people. Just look at those comments of many of Li Yu's fans, all scolding him and voting for him. They're even calling on others to vote for Zhang Ye in the Ugliest Celebrities Rankings poll, so it'd be a wonder if he didn't have a ton of votes. But I'm not surprised that Teacher Zhang got second since those diehard fans of his are all people who enjoy such polls and would surely have voted for Zhang Ye as the ugliest celebrity. That's just how his fans are, treating Zhang Ye more ruthlessly than others would, haha. But why would The Clown be in first place? That's something I can't work out!"
"The Clown purposely conceded so that he could head into the King of Masked Singers elimination round to knock Li Yu off the show. That alone is enough for all the hate, so how would Li Yu's fans not answer the call?"
"That's true."
"Besides, the idea of a clown 1 is already pretty ugly!"
"Actually, I've done some analysis and found that The Clown is likely not good‑looking either. Why? Here's my explanation. We've stated before that The Clown mentioned on the show that he's at least a B-list celebrity. But after speculating for the longest time and with all the comparisons, there wasn't anyone on the B-list and above who could sing that well or even someone who matches his figure. Coupled with him singing those lines of 'My ol' home is right in this hamlet' and 'My home's in the northeast,' we know that his words are untrustworthy. Rather, we should consider him a nonsensical person who isn't even a B-lister to begin with. Therefore, I have reached my conclusion. A person who can sing this well and has such good songs but still isn't at least a B-list celeb? He's managed to stay unnoticed by the audience all this while? There can only be one reason for this. His looks are probably not that good, or perhaps even ugly, so even if he could sing great, no one bothered to listen to him. Thus, he went unnoticed all this time!"
"Godly analysis!"
"Good reasoning!"
"Right, that's very logical!"
"Wow, you're right!"
"Holy cow, godly prediction there. Give us your name!"
"Name yourself! This thread will definitely go viral!"
When this analysis was posted, a lot of those who read it felt that it was a very justified and on point argument.
As a side effect, The Clown's votes increased even further. By 1 PM, The Clown was far in the lead in the Ugliest Celebrities Rankings poll!
Meanwhile, the Beautifulest Celebrities Rankings poll was still a very close and intense competition.
"The Clown has already secured first place!"
"Hahahahaha!"
"Yeah, there's no more suspense to the results!"
"If there's anyone who could catch up, only Zhang Ye has a chance!"
"Teacher Zhang, we're cheering you on!"
"Go, go, go, The Clown!"
"Let's see which of them will get ranked as ugliest!"
...
At home.
Zhang Ye nearly vomited blood a few times as he browsed through the Weibo comments!
Fight for the ugliest?
Fight, my ass!
They're both fucking me!
Who the hell came up with this poll? Could they be any more mean than this? Who in the world voted for me? Could they be any more awful than this?! His own fans, Li Yu's fans, the fans of those celebrities he had offended, all of them were rushing to vote for him. Zhang Ye had no words!
And yet, someone decided it was the perfect time to come and provoke him!
Due to the masked singers not being able to reveal their true selves, Beijing Television had even prepared some verified Weibo accounts based on their stage names. However, these accounts were not really used much other than the times some of the singers used them to say a few words of gratitude after they were eliminated.
Out of the blue, someone posted on one of these Weibo accounts.
The Weibo name was: Masked Singer "Flowing Time."
Those who had watched King of Masked Singers until the third episode would know that "Flowing Time" and another contestant were the replacement singers for the fourth episode. They had been given a special introduction in a clip of the next episode's preview. In the clip's introduction, Flowing Time had left the deepest impression on everyone. The narration introduced him as someone who only came onto the show after great efforts by the program team to invite him. He was a very famous singer in a niche genre in the industry and had very few rivals in his field. As such, after the audience had seen the preview, a lot of them started guessing as to who Flowing Time was.
But today, Flowing Time had fired a direct shot at The Clown: "I've been a good friend of Li Yu's for many years. After watching the third episode, I can't help but say a few words. Is this a tag team competition? How could Petal Shower and The Clown take turns like that? There was even a need to admit defeat so that he could get into the elimination round? Is such behavior even allowed in the rules? And Petal Shower and Spinach switching their appearance orders, isn't that horrible?"
This Weibo post resonated with quite a few of Li Yu's fans!
"Those two bastards!"
"Right!"
"This is going too far!"
"It was a tag team tactic!"
"Brother Li Yu was cheated by them!"
"Especially that Clown, he's vile!"
"Well said! Supporting Teacher Flowing Time! There's finally someone who's willing to put in a fair word for Brother Li Yu! I can see that The Clown is not a good person. Just look at how he's already first place on the Ugliest Celebrity Rankings poll!"
"Li Yu lost in such an unfair manner!"
"Teacher Flowing Time, please avenge Brother Li Yu!"
"Right, kill The Clown!"
"Destroy him!"
Of course, more of the reactions were questioning voices.
Quite a few people who saw the post were shaking their heads.
"Li Yu broke the rules by paying for PR campaigns and revealing himself. If you want to criticize others, why don't you criticize that so-called good friend of yours of many years instead?"
"Li Yu is clearly a sore loser."
"After asking for all those votes, he still lost?"
"I don't think that Petal Shower and The Clown went overboard!"
"That's right. Li Yu was in the wrong to use his popularity to crush the other contestants. How laughable. Why are there still people trying to seek justice for him?"
"Haha, someone who doesn't side with reason has made an appearance!"
"No wonder he's good friends with Li Yu! These two people are cut from the same cloth! They can't even differentiate between right and wrong? Or are they pretending not to know?"
In reality, the problem Li Yu caused had been resolved some time ago. After Beijing Television broadcast the third episode, a statement was released to announce that Li Yu had breached his contract, thus his agreed upon joining fee would be reduced by half. On top of that, Beijing Television's higher management also expressed that they would no longer collaborate with Li Yu. Li Yu's team had yet to comment on the matter.
The media reported this.
The fans discussed it.
But no one expected that someone would come and "defend" Li Yu at this time. It was even one of the replacement masked singers scheduled for the upcoming episode!
It could be seen from this that Flowing Time and Little Yu's relationship was especially good. And Flowing Time posted on Weibo again. "What's happened has happened and whatever's said won't matter, so I won't harp on it. @MaskedSingerTheClown Dare you compete honestly against me in the next episode? Dare you accept my challenge?"
The netizens were puzzled.
"Who's that?"
"He's talking this arrogantly?
"Hur hur!"
"Could it be another big shot?"
"That might be possible!"
"This person should be a somebody."
In the end, the Weibo of Masked Singer Petal Shower showed that she came online. She replied: "I don't think it's nice to send a Weibo like this, is it? An honest competition? You make it sound like the match we had was not honest. If you're unhappy for Li Yu, let's meet onstage. What's the point of saying all this?"
The conversation stopped at that.
The reason for that was because the posts on Flowing Time's Weibo were deleted very quickly after that. The same happened for Petal Shower's Weibo, so obviously, Beijing Television intervened. Such negativity and infighting among the show's contestants were definitely not something they wanted out in the open. These Weibo accounts were all officially registered by Beijing Television, so they naturally could delete any posts or take back the singers' access rights.
But the netizens had already taken screenshots of the exchange.
Instantly, another uproar broke out on Weibo!
"Flowing Time wants to challenge The Clown!"
"Yeah, the next episode is gonna be exciting!"
"Who could Flowing Time be?"
"He's definitely a famous singer in the industry!"
"Haha, the next episode's competition is going to be intense as well!"
"Where does Flowing Time's confidence come from?"
"Li Yu's good friend? Li Yu has too many friends, but if it's someone who is very close to him, there seems to be only one person? Could it be his sworn brother, Zhao Qiquan?"
"Ah?"
"Teacher Zhao Qiquan?"
"Aiyo, that might be possible!"
"Their tempers are also alike. The two of them are of the same mind!"
"I was wondering how he could be so bold. But if it's Zhao Qiquan, then that's just how he is!"
Zhao Qiquan.
A famous Hokkien 2 singer.
In this world, Hokkien songs were considered a very niche market in the music industry. Not many people sang them and there weren't a lot of good songs either. However, there were still famous Hokkien singers around. If there had to be one representative of Hokkien singers, then Zhao Qiquan would definitely be the first person to come to mind! In the genre of Hokkien songs, Zhao Qiquan indeed had no rivals. He was even very popular as a Hokkien singer and had a large score of diehard fans from the region!
Could it be him?
If it was him, it would be really difficult to say who would win and lose!
The Clown had been singing for three straight episodes, and starting contestants who made it this far into most singing shows would enter an audience appreciation fatigue period. The audience would know the style of the singer and how well they could sing by this point, so there was nothing fresh for them to look forward to. Unless you could step it up in your singing, or come up with something novel, it would be very difficult to impress the audience. But it was exactly at this time that the incoming contestants had an advantage since the audience had not seen them before. As a result, as long as they could perform good enough, the audience would love them!
And since Zhao Qiquan was obviously a supporting pillar of the Hokkien music scene, there were no doubts about his singing. There was also no one who could compete against him in this market, making him a unique personality in the industry!
...
It was late afternoon when Zhang Ye found out that somebody had openly challenged him.
The Goof Group also discussed this event.
Ning Lan: "Is it really Zhao Qiquan?"
Huo Dongfang: "It's probably him. I heard from a friend that Zhao Qiquan sidelined all activities this week and said that he would be coming to Beijing, so it should be him."
Xiaodong: "Big Brother Zhao is quite the rash person!"
Chen Guang commented: "But he's a very strong competitor."
Zhang Yuanqi said: "In the area of Hokkien music, it's all about Old Zhao. If the audience truly gets impressed by his performance, The Clown might not be able to beat him."
When he read that, Zhang Ye chuckled in spite of himself.
I can't beat him?
Bullshit!
Zhang Ye was in a terrible mood today. Yes, if it anyone placed first in the Ugliest Celebrities Rankings, they wouldn't be in a good mood either. And now that someone had come to provoke him over an obviously unreasonable matter, how could Zhang Ye not get angry!