Chapter 71: Public Performance
Su Jinli's vocal warm-ups naturally call to mind his usual singing.
As he takes the microphone, humming in between verses, his airy melody is moving enough to bring tears to one's eyes.
A traditional-style song paired with his clear and bright voice, like a dreamy melody, reaches the ears of the audience.
Su Jinli is indeed a powerhouse. It's difficult to argue against this fact now.
If during the first round, some said Su Jinli had little talent beyond his good looks, and gained attention merely through acting foolishly and stumbling upon success by accident...
And still, during the second round, his performance was considered nothing outstanding...
Then from the third round onwards, Su Jinli has been hitting a spark, repeatedly showcasing his brilliant talent and receiving recognition from fans.
This time, Su Jinli once more surprises everyone with his prowess.
First, you notice his striking red attire, and then you're drawn to his captivating song.
Once Su Jinli finishes his performance, An Zhiyan takes the stage once more, speaking into the microphone: "This performance remains very important for the contestants. As you all probably know, this is the competition to advance from 15 to 9. The contestant who ranks first in the live vote will receive 150,000 votes. The second place will receive 140,000 votes, and so on."
As An Zhiyan speaks, the screams in the venue haven't subsided, so he has to pause.
Standing next to Su Jinli, An Zhiyan feels as if he's riding on Su Jinli's coattails.
Su Jinli also smiles and waves to the audience below the stage.
Once there's some peace in the venue, An Zhiyan continues: "As you might know, the contestants' votes are very close, so your on-site voting today is extremely important. Understand? Make sure to vote fairly because you may influence their futures. Don't let a talented contestant be eliminated with regrets."
"Got it!" The audience responds enthusiastically.
"The results of the votes from both the on-site and off-site will be combined in two days to calculate the total number of votes, which will ultimately determine who advances. Now there are only 10 seconds left to vote for Su Jinli. 10, 9, 8... 2, 1. Voting is closed."
"Are you tired?" An Zhiyan finally has a chance to chat with Su Jinli.
"Not really, but while I was up there, I felt a little shaky. I'm afraid of heights."
"Well, now you're like a flying fish."
Su Jinli responds with a smile, not continuing the conversation.
"I know you have to change your outfit soon—today's two looks are completely different, so I won't keep you any longer. You can go change now, and we're looking forward to your next song."
"Alright." Su Jinli bows to thank everyone and then leaves the stage.
________________________
Once he enters backstage, Lily is waiting for him.
As he walks and removes his jacket, the tall Lily helps him take off his wig, saying next to him, "You don't need to wash your face—I will remove your eye makeup specifically for you later. Don't panic, I'm experienced."
"Alright."
"The clothes are already with me, and Bobo will come over to help later."
"Okay."
As Su Jinli enters the makeup room and sits for a moment, An Zhiyan surprisingly comes in and says to the three of them, "No worries — I'll try to delay as much as possible when I'm hosting later, so you can take your time here."
"Are you going to be fine hosting?" Su Jinli turns and asks An Zhiyan.
"No problem. I just wanted to let you guys know." With those words, An Zhiyan leaves the makeup room.
Bobo is here to help. Once things are almost settled here, he still has to go to help other contestants change their costumes.
Seeing An Zhiyan make a special trip back, Bobo can't help but exclaim, "Young Master An is pretty good to you."
"It's more than good, it's excellent," Lily adds.
Not knowing what to say, Su Jinli just closes his eyes and cooperates with the two of them.
The first part of Su Jinli's makeup is done while standing. Lily is applying the makeup and Bobo is helping him change his clothes next to him, into the costume for the next scene.
At this point, Su Jinli can no longer worry about feeling awkward—he is fully cooperative.
Bobo, who has a sharp tongue, can't help but exclaim while helping Su Jinli get into his pants: "Wow, these long legs, this slender waist, so envy-inducing."
"You're teasing him in front of our Young Master An, he might be mad at you," Lily says with a smile.
Bobo giggles gleefully.
When things are almost done on this side, Bobo returns to the group makeup room.
Sitting alone in the makeup room, Su Jinli doesn't know how things are going on the other side and his heart is suspended with anxiety.
After a while, a staff member knocks on the door and comes in to remind them: "Sister Lily, about 5 minutes left."
"I'm fully OK here!" Lily replies, her hands never stopping.
By the time the staff members usher Su Jinli onstage, Lily is still with him, standing by the side of the stage, helping Su Jinli arrange his hairstyle and spraying setting spray relentlessly.
Su Jinli bows his head to cooperate, and he sees An Zhihan's shoe tips.
"It's starting to drizzle," An Zhihan tells Su Jinli. "Be careful when you go on stage."
"Eh?!" Su Jinli is startled.
Lily immediately says, "Don't worry, I was prepared for this, your makeup won't smudge as it's waterproof."
"If it's raining, do we have to perform as originally planned?" Su Jinli asks.
"Absolutely! There was a performer who sang and danced without any mistakes in a concert during heavy rain. He wasn't being pretentious at all, and he's been praised for it for many years after."
Su Jinli clenches his fists tightly, anxiously waiting at the edge of the stage.
________________________
The staff has them go on stage, and they get to the platform in turn, announcing the votes from the last round.
This time, the votes for Su Jinli and Wu Yu are still very close.
First place, Su Jinli: 2752 votes.
Second place, Wu Yu: 2743 votes.
Third place, Wei Jiayu: 2598 votes.
Fourth place, An Zhihan: 2418 votes.
......
Eighth place, Fan Qianting: 1845 votes.
Ninth place, Chang Siyin: 1723 votes.
......
Twelfth place, Zhang Caini: 1498 votes.
The contestants thought that it would be over when the votes were announced, but to their surprise, an additional segment suddenly popped up.
This segment is a classic melodramatic scene in talent shows. If there's a talent show, this segment must be included. It's as if they would feel embarrassed to call themselves a talent show without this segment.
However, the viewers lap it up, they love to watch it.
This is the section where VCRs of contestants' families cheering them on are played.
This time, they start playing from the 15th place onwards.
While watching, An Zhihan leans in to Su Jinli and asks, "Who do you think would be in your video? Your brother?"
"I don't know, he never told me," Su Jinli replies in a low voice.
Zhang Caini's family video can be described as an all-out mobilization. Surprisingly, they even recorded a segment of her grandmother square dancing, claiming that Zhang Caini inherited her artistic talent from her grandmother.
Zhang Caini both cries and laughs, and performs a bit of square dancing along with the VCR.
Chang Siyin's family is pretty average. After the father speaks, the mother speaks; after the mother speaks, the father speaks. Then the couple exchange glances and smile. You can tell their family has a great atmosphere — otherwise, Chang Siyin wouldn't be so easy-going.
Fan Qianting's family is hilarious. They urged Fan Qianting not to come back, claiming they have transformed his room into a pet room. Meaning, if Fan Qianting returned, he'd have nowhere to stay.
He's apparently less valuable at home than the family's cat and dog.
When it became An Zhihan's turn, the whole audience gasped.
An Zhihan's mother is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty with a wonderful demeanor. Surprisingly, she speaks fluent Northeastern Chinese dialect.
She calls An Zhihan her 'little baby' and his sibling, An Zhiyan, her 'big baby'. The fact that the brothers do not in any way have "baby" faces makes for an awkward atmosphere.
"My mom used to be a supermodel. If she was still modeling today, she could totally walk for the Victoria Secret's show. She's 181cm tall, exactly like Wu Yu, which is why I always think of Wu Yu as being so petite and delicate," An Zhihan says to Su Jinli.
Then Wu Yu shoots him a glare.
When it was Wu Yu's turn, his friends from when he was a trainee appeared in the footage, with no family members present.
When it came time for Su Jinli, the screen suddenly went black. Su Jinli initially thought the equipment was broken.
As he lifts his head, he sees that it has started drizzling. So, he can only do so much with his limited magic power to maintain his image.
At this moment, a voice suddenly rises from the black screen: "Are you sure you can record with the lens cover on?"
The voice is gentle and undeniably familiar.
The next voice that can be heard is an awkward laugh from a staff member. "Sorry, I was too nervous seeing you."
Then a phrase appeared on the screen: Who can make our staff members this nervous?
Next, the video feed finally resumes, presenting Shen Cheng on the giant screen.
The audience gasps.
Chang Siyin opens his mouth wide in astonishment. "It really is your brother!"
Su Jinli is also taken by surprise, not having expected Shen Cheng to agree to the interview.
"Lately, people have been tagging me on Weibo saying 'Shen Cheng, look, doesn't this kid look like you? Are you sure he's not your long-lost brother?', I was puzzled because why would someone else have to introduce me to my own brother?" Shen Cheng says on the big screen with a smile.
The screams of excitement aren't confined to the audience, even the other competitors are howling.
Zhang Caini screams "ahhhhhhh" for a while, then turns to look at Su Jinli, and then at Shen Cheng, she finally asks Su Jinli: "Your brother is so handsome, how did you end up looking like this?!"
Su Jinli feels helpless. He now truly understands how An Zhiyan felt in the previous large-scale fan derailment incident.
"Jinli, truth be told, I haven't seen you for many years. Due to some circumstances, we have been in different places with different surnames. I..." Shen Cheng pauses here, looking somewhat downcast.
Su Jinli knows that Shen Cheng is deliberately leading on, allowing everyone to mistakenly believe there had been some family turmoil, which is why their surnames were different.
With Shen Cheng's acting skills, handling this situation is a piece of cake.
"I may not be a dutiful elder brother. I have been busy with work for all these years and never returned to see you. You came out into the world alone because you missed me and accidentally participated in an audition. The last time we saw each other was when you were injured, and I visited you in the hospital... during that time, I was really upset," Shen Cheng says, his voice trembling a bit as his eyes turn red.
Seeing this, Su Jinli's eyes also well up with tears. But then he hears An Zhihan ask, "Did your brother only acknowledge you because you're famous now?"
Su Jinli immediately responds, "No."
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