Chapter 32: High Pitch
The lift-stage rose slowly, and with their appearance, the cheers from the audience heightened.
In the girls' screaming voices, interestingly, there were a few males fans’ screams mixed in.
Su Jinli gazed downward, swiftly glancing at the crowd. Seeing the sea of people, many of them holding light signs, his nerves heightened and he cast his eyes down again.
Music had already started playing, and he transported himself to his position according to the script from earlier rehearsals.
During rehearsals, An Zhihan, using his privileges, had their group rehearse for the longest time. He informed Su Jinli about each of the camera positions and how to find them, teaching in greater detail than the TV crew did.
After a few rehearsals, he managed to grasp the switching rhythm of the camera positions. Therefore, during his performance, he wasn't too worried.
All he needed to do was complete his performance.
The high pitch part of the song was to be sung by Su Jinli.
They chose this song during their selection, precisely for that reason. This type of song, with its explosive power, was what Wu Yu was renowned for.
Previously, the songs Su Jinli sang were relatively soothing, and he had never attempted this type of song before.
When they were choosing the song, An Zhihan patted Su Jinli's back of hand after listening, saying: "You can definitely sing this song."
"Mmhm, I also want to try," was Su Jinli's reply.
After several attempts, Su Jinli found himself unable to make any movements when he sang the high pitch of the song. When it came to his part, he decided to keep it simple by just standing and focusing on his singing.
Wu Yu's high notes could reach C6. He was considered a technical singer, consistently scoring the highest in the whole event due to that capability.
This time, Su Jinli seemed to perform even better than during rehearsals. His high notes astonished the entire audience.
Han Kai, pulling on his headset, couldn't help but ask, "Can it reach F6 now?"
Cang Ai nodded along, equally at a loss for words, "This falsetto is impressive, very impressive."
Immediately following this, Su Jinli astonishingly transitioned the pitch from B5 to an even higher note.
Xiao Yuhe, overwhelmed, stood up and waved his arms cheering for Su Jinli. He had always been indifferent about Su Jinli, but today he suddenly saw potential in him. Hhe liked him instantly.
The staff's voice could be heard in their headphones, "He's reached C7."
Gu Ju was taken aback, his eyes wide in surprise, and he could only exclaim, "Wow."
Han Kai also joined in to applaud.
Focused on his performance, Su Jinli didn't notice their reactions. After he finished singing this part, he returned to his position to continue his dance, displaying perfect control.
Unfazed by the ongoing screams from the audience, Su Jinli didn't realize how loud they had just been.
An Zhiyan, having watched from the side for a while, could only comment, "This kid has a good voice."
Not knowing much about singing or dancing, and only tasked with keeping the audience engaged as a host, An Zhiyan's comments often lacked professionalism.
After the song was over, An Zhiyan returned to the stage and told them, "Take a break, then say hi to the audience." Members of the team introduced themselves in turn. An Zhiyan would then chat with them for a moment, allowing them to build rapport with the audience and gain votes.
When it came to Su Jinli, An Zhiyan intentionally turned his back to the audience. He made a hinting gesture behind him, then said to Su Jinli, "Your performance just now wasn't too good. You over sang."
Su Jinli was taken aback and didn’t realize that An Zhiyan was trying to provoke him. Thinking he genuinely didn't perform well, Su Jinli's eyes reddened as he responded, "Maybe I… I tried too hard just now, and didn't control it well."
An Zhiyan didn’t expect Su Jinli to actually believe him, nor for him to look on the verge of tears. He stuttered for the first time ever that evening, "No... actually... actually... you were pretty good. You were just not as good as you were during rehearsal."
"I will practice hard in the future." Su Jinli said, pressing his lips together. His eyes were moist, but he was still fighting back the tears.
On the big screen, Su Jinli’s aggrieved face tugged the heartstrings of everyone watching.
"Uh..." An Zhiyan laughed awkwardly as he heard fans from the audience shouting, "Su Jinli, you sang amazingly!"
"He's lying to you!"
"So mean!"
"Ah ah ah ah ah, really mean!"
However, An Zhiyan stuck to his plan. “You mentioned before that you have a special talent you’ve been keeping as a secret weapon. Would you like to show it now to gather votes, and have the audience here give you a vote?”
Su Jinli composed himself, nodded his approval, and took a deep breath. His tears finally stopped before he responded, "Many people say that it looks ugly when I make these sounds. Can I cover my mouth?"
"Yes, you can." An Zhiyan agreed.
"And then you shouldn't say anything," Su Jinli told An Zhiyan.
An Zhiyan was a bit puzzled but nodded his agreement anyway.
Su Jinli covered his mouth with his hand and slightly turned sideways. He then mimicked An Zhiyan's words from earlier, “You mentioned before that you have a special talent you’ve been keeping as a secret weapon. Would you like to show it now to gather votes, and have the audience here give you a vote?”
Looking at Su Jinli in confusion, An Zhiyan didn’t quite catch what was happening.
An Zhihan then turned to him and asked, "Su Jinli, did you just say that sentence?"
Su Jinli nodded.
"The voice is exactly the same, even a younger brother wouldn't be able to identify the difference."
Su Jinli then told An Zhihan, "You also should not say anything."
An Zhihan performed a zip-it gesture over his lips, then gave an "OK" hand sign.
Following that, Su Jinli mimicked An Zhihan’s voice, "The voice is exactly the same, even a younger brother wouldn't be able to identify the difference."
An Zhiyan finally reacted with surprise, nodding his consent, "Even an elder brother wouldn't be able to identify the difference in voice, so your special talent is to imitate other people’s voices?"
"Moreover," Su Jinli finished speaking, gesturing to the audience with a "shushing" sign.
The audience unusually quieted down quite a bit.
Su Jinli cleared his throat and began to imitate the sound of music, specifically the song that Wu Yu and the others had just sung – from the beginning background music to the singing accompanied by the music later on.
This time, the entire audience was shocked.
An Zhihan purposely leaned towards Su Jinli to listen closely, confirming that the sound was indeed coming from Su Jinli's mouth. An Zhihan was left completely astonished.
An Zhiyan took some time before he could say anything.
Several of the judges in their seats exaggerated their surprise. After Su Jinli finished his imitation, Han Kai even asked, "Why didn't you imitate the whole song? We didn't dare to interrupt you."
"It's my limit. If I imitate for too long, I won't be able to breathe properly."
An Zhihan responded with one sentence, "You're incredibly talented."
Patting his face to pull himself together, An Zhiyan asked, "Is this considered ventriloquism?"
Su Jinli nodded and then shook his head. "I'm not sure. It's more like parroting, I guess my imitation ability is just quite strong."
"Your imitation skills are very strong," An Zhiyan exclaimed, then quickly recalled the flow of the show.
________________________
Soon, the voting stage began.
The on-site audience were to cast votes for the contestants. Each audience member could vote for three people, preventing a situation where if one contestant in a group was highly popular, it could leave the other contestants embarrassed with no votes.
After the results were out, An Zhiyan listened to the voice in his earpiece then made the announcement.
“This round is interesting, another record has broken, more than half of the audience voted for one person.”
As a result, it seemed the audience was not very supportive, and there were even fans shouting, "An Zhiyan, you are so bad!"
"Really bad!"
"Really bad!"
This running joke couldn't be avoided.
An Zhiyan didn't take it to heart and simply smiled as he announced the vote counts. When it came to An Zhihan, he announced, "An Zhihan... 437 votes. Did you guys forget that he's my younger brother?"
The stage was then filled with a wave of screams from the audience.
"Stop canvassing for me; it’s so annoying. I don't need your votes," An Zhihan mockingly stated.
At a loss for words, An Zhiyan was left laughing, thinking perhaps he was indeed being a bit pesky.
Now, there was only one contestant's vote count left to announce. Everyone had already guessed that the contestant with over half of the vote was Su Jinli.
The venue erupted again in a stream of shrieking.
Attempting to control the situation, right when An Zhiyan managed to calm everyone down, a girl unexpectedly cried out, "Don’t cry, Li Li!" This abrupt outburst once more left him speechless.
"Okay, okay, I admit I might’ve been slightly mean. If you all keep reacting like this, I might not reveal the vote count," An Zhiyan chuckled, surprised his teasing of Su Jinli had provoked such an outcry from the fans.
I wonder if there are people among these shouting fans who are holding up signs with his name. Did they instantaneously "derail" from their support?
Caught off guard by this unprecedented turn of events, An Zhiyan was flustered.
It was only when the place calmed down, that he eventually announced Su Jinli's vote count, "Su Jinli, today’s onsite vote count is... 839 votes."
Upon hearing the count, Su Jinli was stunned.
An Zhihan was shocked as well. He expected Su Jinli to have more votes, but nearly double his own count seemed excessive.
"Why am I even in this group?" An Zhihan muttered. After thinking for a while, he finally remembered, "Oh right, I'm the team leader."
Although annoyed, he patted the dumbfounded Su Jinli on the shoulder.
"Do you have anything to say to your fans?" An Zhiyan offered Su Jinli the microphone. Just as Su Jinli was about to speak, An Zhiyan pulled the microphone back, announcing, "Alright, let's welcome the next group."
This time, the audience members all shouted in unison, "So bad!"
The scene amused all four judges, leaving An Zhiyan slightly frustrated. He addressed the audience, "Yesterday, you claimed to like me, and now you're collectively abandoning your support? Ah, women."
At this point, An Zhiyan's fans began cheering him on:
"Little Yan is the most handsome!"
"I love you, Little Yan!"
An Zihan coldly hummed into the microphone, "During the New Year, do you folks only have filling when eating dumplings, having squandered your dough during regular days? Is it good to be so cheeky?"
This prompted the fans to tease An Zhiyan even more.
"Watch how I'll deal with you all in the future," An Zhiyan retorted.
The whole venue erupted into shrieks.
In the end, Su Jinli followed An Zhihan back to the backstage in a daze. Once backstage, Su Jinli asked An Zhihan, "Did I sing off-key?"
"No, not at all, you sang pretty well. My brother was just teasing you. He simply wanted you to show off your hidden skills."
Upon comprehending the circumstances, Su Jinli huffed indignantly, "So bad!"
"Exactly, so bad!" An Zhihan completely agreed.
When Su Jinli arrived at the dressing room, various people congratulated him. While Su Jinli was responding with his laughter, he was even embraced by Zhang Caini for a moment before they quickly separated.
"Su Jinli, you were amazing!" exclaimed Zhang Caini.
"Thank you," Su Jinli returned the compliment with a smile.
________________________
As the recording of the show was about to end, Su Jinli was once again called onto stage.
Being the highest vote earner of the entire venue, he had a champion perk of being able to fulfill a fan request, hence he was invited back on stage.
Knowing that everyone in the venue was waiting for him, Su Jinli quickly sprinted towards the stage after a brief moment of surprise. He slowed down once he reached the edge of the stage and walked to the middle of the stage in a graceful manner, where he stood next to An Zhiyan.
An Zhiyan turned towards him and said, "What I have in my hand are various tasks our fans have expressed wanting you to perform."
After taking a look, Su Jinli nodded in agreement.
"The first request here says: 'Su Jinli, I really enjoy listening to your voice. Can you call me 'baby' and express a sweet sentiment?' "
Holding the microphone, Su Jinli was somewhat at a loss. After thinking for a bit, he asked, "What qualifies as a sweet sentiment?"
"Something you'd like to tell your girlfriend."
Su Jinli acknowledged this, then turned towards the camera and said, "Baby, it's truly wonderful having met you."
Upon hearing this, the whole venue erupted into cheering.
An Zhiyan nodded. Suddenly, he found himself taking pleasure in standing on stage and listening to Su Jinli talk.
Very quickly, he grabbed the next piece of paper: "Little Jinli, I'd like to see you play the xiao. Uh... why is it 'see you play the xiao' rather than 'hear'?"
Before An Zhiyan finished reading, a fan shouted out: "Little Yan, stop thinking so indecently!"
An Zhiyan immediately clarified, "I'm not thinking anything indecent this time."
A staff member brought a xiao. Su Jinli reached out to take it, thanking the staffer, before starting to play after looking at it in his hands.
Su Jinli's xiao playing was not just a hobby.
From an early age, he had listened to performances by renowned musicians in private and had quickly grown fond of them. he began practicing constantly, honing his skills to a master's level.
After finishing his piece, the auditorium filled with applause.
In the green room, An Zhihan, leaning on Wu Yu's chair back, said, "With that performance, Su Jinli will certainly gain a great deal of fans."
"Actually, without this segment, his dolphin tone alone would've had him standing out."
"Indeed, he has unique talent that certain people can only envy."
Wu You turned back to look at An Zhihan, then shifted his chair, nearly causing An Zhihan to stumble and fall.
On the stage, An Zhiyan read another request: "Su Jinli, I saw your promotional video. Your 'warding off mercury retrograde' move seemed like a seaweed dance. I'd love to see you perform a sea-grass dance."
Not knowing what a sea-grass dance was, Su Jinli responded, "I'm not sure how to do that."
The production team was very cooperative. They put a video of a seaweed dance on the large screen. After looking back and watching it once, Su Jinli nodded and asked An Zhiyan into the microphone, "Brother An, could you do this dance with me?"
Brother An: ...
An Zhiyan managed to maintain his smile, immediately refusing, "The fans want to see you dance."
"I guess the fans would love to see both of us dance."
"They wouldn't."
Su Jinli turned his head to ask the fans below the stage, "Would you?"
The fans all answered in unison: "Yes!"
Su Jinli looked at An Zhiyan again, "They want to see it."
In the backstage, An Zhihan chuckled loudly, "Su Jinli is counterattacking! Serves you right, old thief An!"
As An Zhiyan's younger brother, he naturally knew that his older brother's dancing skills were rather uncoordinated. He sat back and waited for An Zhiyan to make a fool out of himself.
________________________
Author's Note:
Your younger brother, indeed your blood-related younger brother.
The pit you are digging now is going to store the tears you will shed when courting your wife.
The joy of teasing is short-lived but the consequences can be grave when it comes to winning your wife's heart.
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