Chapter 1076: Wild Rose's mask falls off!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
King of Oddity stepped down from the stage and returned to his front row seat.
"Congratulations."
"You're guaranteed to finish in the top three."
"If it's close, you might even get first place."
"Haha, your tally will be moving into first place soon."
Jiang Hanwei and a few others offered their congratulations.
King of Oddity was also looking at his own tally. He got very excited knowing that he would be surpassing the first place Flowing Time in a moment. As a singer who was still considered half a newcomer to the industry and not really that popular yet, King of Oddity was pleased to have achieved such results in the King of Masked Singers' grand finals. Sunset Glow had finished performing, so it should be impossible for her to catch up to him. Although The Clown had not yet performed, as his tally was too far behind, he could be left out of consideration for the top three places, in which King of Oddity was pretty much assured a spot!
He might even get second?
There were three divisions in the ranking based on the tallies displayed on the big screen.
The first and second place votes were very close.
The third and fourth place votes were quite similar.
The last rung of the rankings belonged only to The Clown, whose number of votes was falling far behind.
"It's Petal Shower's turn!"
"Let's see how Old Fan does with her song."
"This performance is too important for Old Fan."
"Who will get crowned Masked King?"
"Flowing Time's chances are the best! He's leading by too much in the voting!"
Gradually, the number of people discussing The Clown lessened. Some of those who supported him were left cursing and protesting for him. But as this was a competition, and with the live tallies displayed openly, they had no recourse but to continue watching the competition. Their attention was instead focused onto the battle between Petal Shower, King of Oddity, and Flowing Time.
Fan Wenli went onstage.
Chen Guang was watching her from the seats with a smile.
A lot of people were also watching her in anticipation.
Sure enough, Fan Wenli did not disappoint.
"Piercing lights hang overhead.
"I can hear the calls the crowd led.
"I stand at center stage, the only place I can, endlessly singing with a sweet smile spread.
"The sky is so blue.
"The water is so clear.
"How white the clouds are.
"The people are so kind.
"Love is so pure.
"How beautiful this world is."
All of a sudden, Fan Wenli raised her voice!
"But I don't wanna sing!
"I don't wanna sing today!
"I just wanna let the loneliness eat me away!
"I don't wanna sing!
"I just don't wanna sing!
"Those rotten lyrics that ain't worth a thing!"
The earlier duet had limited much of Fan Wenli's singing from being showcased. But in her solo performance, she was not bound by anything. She was able to let go and put all of her emotions and feelings into her singing. The title of this song was "I Don't Wanna Sing." It was an alternative rock song that Chen Guang wrote in his early days when he was in his most down-and-out period. This song meant a lot to Chen Guang, as well as Fan Wenli.
Zhang Xia stood up and clapped!
Xiaodong, Li Xiaoxian, and Amy also stood up and clapped!
Petal Shower's tally rocketed up!
3.2 million!
3.5 million!
3.6 million!
She surpassed King of Oddity and Flowing Time to take first place!
The rankings instantly changed!
Petal Shower was in first place!
Flowing Time was in second place!
King of Oddity was third!
"Petal Shower!"
"Petal Shower!"
"Great song!"
"Let's go Petal Shower!"
The audience was shouting her name!
Li Xiaoxian (Sunset Glow) was delighted. "Sister Fan will definitely become the champion!" She and The Clown were already out of the race, but she was hoping that Fan Wenli could at least become the champion of this competition. It wasn't that they were both women, or that they had a good personal relationship. It was because Li Xiaoxian felt that Fan Wenli had sung much better than both Flowing Time and King of Oddity!
Yao Jiancai said happily, "Congratulations."
Chen Guang smiled and said, "Old Zhao has not sung yet."
As Flowing Time's guest partner and a friend of many years, Jiang Hanwei chuckled. "Old Zhao still has a killer move lined up for his last song. Just watch."
Zhang Xia said curiously, "Oh?"
Onstage, Dong Shanshan announced, "Let's welcome the next contestant—Flowing Time!"
Flowing Time took the stage.
Soothing music played.
However, what came on over the sound system was not a singing voice but Flowing Time speaking. "Today is the one-hundred-day anniversary of my marriage to my wife. I would like to thank her for staying with me through the most difficult period of my life and encouraging me. I have written a special song for today's grand finals as a present for her."
Hu Fei's face sank!
The program team staff looked at each other!
During the rehearsal, this part was not mentioned, and he was not supposed to have made a speech. Why was he not singing, and instead, using an opening speech to set up the atmosphere? Usually, having speech within a song was fine. It wasn't like it was prohibited. But the program team felt that there was something very wrong with Flowing Time's speech. He was once again trying to play the emotional card and use it to canvass for more votes. If Flowing Time had mentioned he'd give this speech during the rehearsal, Hu Fei, as the executive director, would definitely not allow him to add it to the performance. But who could have expected that he would resort to a fait accompli instead of mentioning it to them in the first place!
Flowing Time sang.
"Dearest wife.
"Please hold me tight.
"Without you, I can't live.
"Without you, I won't survive."
Seated in the audience was Wang Zhuishu, an accomplished professional composer and lyricist. He had written many songs, so when he heard this song and its lyrics, he knew right off the bat that Flowing Time did not really know how to write songs. The lyrics were middling, although the melody was decent.
Zhang Xia glanced at Jiang Hanwei.
Xiaodong, who was sitting quite close to Jiang Hanwei, laughed dryly.
Was this the killer move you mentioned?
This song…
Ai, I'd rather not talk about it.
Jiang Hanwei was an outsider to the music industry, not someone who did music professionally. As such, the professional singers and musicians seated around him did not really say much about this.
But what surprised them was that the audience had actually bought into Flowing Time's gimmick!
Because of that opening speech in which Flowing Time mentioned that he was gifting the song to his wife!
"What a good man!"
"My impression of Flowing Time has changed for the better!"
"It's not easy on him either."
"Yeah, all that bad press about him in the past. Ai, I guess I could let it slide. I should vote for him just for this song of his, or else I won't feel good."
"Flowing Time is quite sentimental!"
"When he got divorced, Old Zhao's ex-wife posted on Weibo alleging that he had beaten her up. I suppose that was just a rumor. Old Zhao has a great character and is also pretty gentle."
"This song sounds really touching."
"Who on earth is his wife?"
"I really wanna find out! Quick, let's vote for him. Didn't Teacher Jiang Hanwei say? As long as Flowing Time becomes the grand champion, he'll reveal the details of their marriage!"
"That's right, that's right!"
The tally kept changing!
Zhang Xia was dumbfounded!
Chen Guang and the others were also stunned!
The song was not over yet, but Flowing Time's tally had caught up to Petal Shower's!
By the time the song was over, he had surpassed her tally with an astonishing 4 million votes. This number made those professional singers and guests' jaws drop. Even Yao Jiancai had to have some admiration for Zhao Qiquan. Although the song was not that good, he really knew how to spice things up to get the votes. His gimmicks kept coming one after another. From his first song onward, he was in total control of the audience's emotions. He had planned it all out, from start to finish. Clearly, his emotional card had struck a chord with the audience better than King of Oddity's charity card. Most critically, everyone still did not know who his wife was. This anticipation left them wanting more!
After his performance.
Flowing Time came down from the stage.
Jiang Hanwei stood up and gave him a hug. "Haha, you sang well!"
"Thanks." Then Flowing Time walked to Fan Wenli.
Fan Wenli also gave him a hug and smiled.
Li Xiaoxian stood up as well. "Congratulations."
"Thank you." Next, Flowing Time went over to Wild Rose.
Such hugs were quite common to see in theaters. It was a form of congratulations and encouragement.
Flowing Time bent forward a slight bit and already had his arms out.
However, surprising many people, Wild Rose did not even get up from her seat. She just put up a hand. "Don't mind me. You didn't sing too bad. Hurry up and sit."
Flowing Time was taken aback too.
Damn! She was not giving any face to him at all?
The live broadcast cut to Flowing Time's hugs with the other contestant and guests. But in a twist of fate, this moment was captured by the cameras, leaving the cameraman to sweat nervously. He yanked the shot away from them, but that scene had already been seen by everyone. No matter if it was the live audience or the home viewers, everyone was taken aback.
"Pfft!"
"Who is this woman?"
"How face smacking!"
"She's not even returning the gesture to the grand champion?"
"Who are you referring to as the grand champion? The competition hasn't ended yet."
"It's already over, OK?"
"Yeah, the Masked King has already been decided. It's definitely going to be Zhao Qiquan!"
"It doesn't matter whether The Clown goes up on stage or not anymore."
"Hahaha, this Wild Rose is interesting. I'm very curious about who she is. It looks like what the netizens said about both her and The Clown were right. They're definitely newcomers who don't know how to play by the rules!"
"Wild Rose has offended Flowing Time!"
Some of Flowing Time's fans were cursing at this.
"Fuck."
"Who is this woman!"
"She's so disrespectful!"
"Why's a newcomer like you getting all arrogant!"
Flowing Time also looked a little unhappy. He was irate but maintained the smile on his face. He didn't seem like he minded it at all. Then he went over to Jiang Hanwei and had a few words with him before sitting down.
Xiaodong and Amy looked at Wild Rose in amazement.
Zhang Xia and Fan Wenli were also staring at her.
Dong Shanshan announced, "Next, let's welcome the last contestant—The Clown!"
Applause sounded.
In reality, it was just encouraging applause. The gap between the tallies was too large. The only person who could catch up to Flowing Time now was Petal Shower, but even that didn't seem too likely anymore. The difference was already more than 300,000 votes, while The Clown, in the last place, was still at his previous tally of just over a million. He was behind Flowing Time by almost 3 million votes!
How could he possibly catch up?
It was totally impossible!
As a result, the championship was practically in Flowing Time's hands. The last song of the competition had lost all meaning since it didn't matter whether The Clown sang or not!
Some of the audience members sighed sadly.
"The Clown should have placed much higher than this."
"Yeah, that should absolutely not have been a problem with the strength that he has."
"Ai, he deserved it for being so stubborn. Who told him to not take off his mask?"
"It's not that he doesn't want to do it. I'm sure it's because he and Wild Rose, who he invited, are both little-known, so no one would recognize them even if they took off their masks. If they did, it might cause a reverse effect instead, so they might as well try to keep it mysterious."
"You're right! But that's why Flowing Time will win. His reputation was already quite big to begin with, and he even got A-lister Jiang Hanwei to be his guest partner!"
"Showbiz is still very dependent on one's popularity."
"The Clown didn't lose for no reason."
"He's just a newcomer, so he can still slowly work his way up."
The Clown had already stepped onto the stage.
But right at this moment, an accident occurred!
Wild Rose's hair was a little messy, so she put her hand behind her head and straightened it a little. But, intentional or not, the mask on her face loosened and thudded onto the floor!
Her mask fell off!
A perfectly sculpted face was exposed to everyone's sight!
When Jiang Hanwei heard the commotion, he instinctively turned his head. He was just about to bend down to pick up the mask for Wild Rose like a gentleman would when he saw her face. He was immediately stunned!
Zhang Xia was stunned!
Li Xiaoxian was stunned!
Flowing Time was stunned!
Hu Fei was stunned!
The program team was stunned!
The entire live audience was so shocked that their jaws dropped to the floor!