Chapter 123: There Was Something Wrong with the Way He Looked at My Mother
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94 points...
Far too low!
The smile on Zheng Wenyan’s face finally collapsed.
He had expected a low score, but not one this low. In his mind, the judges would at least give them 95 points.
Reality, however, was merciless.
For a moment, Qiao Yuezhu was stunned as well.
She felt that her performance had been flawless. So why had she failed to reach even 95 points?
She wanted to challenge the judges.
But then she remembered that she was standing onstage before tens of thousands of people, with millions—even tens of millions—of viewers watching online. She forced herself to swallow the impulse.
Zheng Wenyan drew a deep breath.
He had already given up hope.
They had certainly lost the judges’ round.
Now, he could only win through the fans’ votes.
Still, Zheng Wenyan remained fairly confident. When it came to the number of fans, he was a rising pop king with more than fifty million followers on Weibo. Chen Fang and Wang Situ, two newcomers who had only just entered the industry, could not possibly have many followers.
Led by the vixen diva, the other judges spoke in turn.
“Keep working hard. Ninety-five points.”
“Do your best. Ninety-five points.”
“A steaming pile of—no, a sumptuous feast. Ninety-five points.”
No wonder they were hip-hop artists.
They were blunt by nature.
They had nearly said what they really thought.
The two young pop kings and the young diva each gave 95 points, while the vixen diva gave 94.
In truth, the others had wanted to give 94 as well.
But their circumstances were different.
The vixen diva had married a good man and now had two children. She was already well into her thirties and rarely released new songs or deliberately appeared in public anymore. Her current image was that of a happily married, financially comfortable housewife. Offending Zheng Wenyan and Imagination Entertainment meant little to her.
The other three, however, still had to make their way in the industry. They would inevitably have dealings with Imagination Entertainment, so they had to show Zheng Wenyan enough respect.
The judges’ scoring was complete.
Three scores of 95 and one score of 94.
The final result was 94.75.
An astonishingly low score!
It did not even surpass Dong Fen’s group.
The judging round ended there.
Current ranking:
First place: Chen Fang and Wang Situ, 96.75 points.
Second place: Dong Fen’s group, 96.23 points.
Third place: Zheng Wenyan and Qiao Yuezhu, 94.75 points.
Fourth place: Du Ke’s group, 92.08 points.
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Of course, this ranking was only temporary.
The four judges had completed their task. Next came the fan-voting round.
The tens of thousands of spectators at the venue, along with viewers watching the live broadcast online or on television, could all participate in the voting. Each group’s number of votes would be used to calculate its level of support, which would then be converted into a percentage and combined with the judges’ scores.
The entire venue fell silent.
Every audience member took out a phone and began voting for the songs they liked.
Zheng Wenyan and Qiao Yuezhu, meanwhile, had already left the stage and returned to the lounge.
Qiao Yuezhu was in a terrible mood.
She had never imagined that, partnered with Zheng Wenyan, they would fail to take first place—or even second.
Zheng Wenyan was in better spirits. He gently drew Qiao Yuezhu into his arms and comforted her. “As long as we take a commanding lead over the other groups in the fan-voting round, we still have a chance of winning the final championship.”
Ke Min opened her mouth, then hesitated.
In the past, she would have immediately torn into Qiao Yuezhu.
What the hell were you singing? You even lost your voice while trying to hit a high note. If you can sing, then sing. If you can’t, go home and raise pigs.
But she did not dare do that now.
For one thing, the company had become very hostile toward her because of what had happened during the auditions. It was best for her to keep a low profile, behave herself, and avoid causing trouble.
For another, Qiao Yuezhu was Zheng Wenyan’s woman.
Offending Qiao Yuezhu would not have mattered much. She was just a barely grown girl... No, wait. Ke Min suddenly remembered that Qiao Yuezhu was not merely barely grown—she had shaved herself completely clean, which made her even more of a little girl.
What Ke Min really feared was Qiao Yuezhu whispering against her into Zheng Wenyan’s ear.
Then she would be completely finished.
After wavering for a long while, Ke Min decided to play dumb.
Forget it.
Why meddle in so much?
At present, all she wanted was to scrape by and make a living. As long as she got paid, that was enough.
“I sang so well...” Qiao Yuezhu sobbed softly. “Waaah...”
Ke Min rolled her eyes.
What a shameless little hypocrite!
And yet Zheng Wenyan fell for it completely. Patting Qiao Yuezhu on the back, he soothed her. “There, there. Those judges simply didn’t know how to appreciate talent.”
Ke Min was rendered even more speechless.
A man’s mouth truly could produce not one honest word.
Still, she believed there was nothing shameful about making money, so she put on an indignant expression and said, “Exactly. Those four judges were obviously jealous because Yuezhu sang so well. If you ask me, once we get back to the company, I’ll request some resources from the higher-ups and have Yuezhu promoted to young diva as soon as possible. That’ll show them.”
The corner of Zheng Wenyan’s mouth twitched.
Good heavens!
Ke Min was even better at lying than he was.
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Besides, Zheng Wenyan was no fool. The moment he heard Ke Min’s words, he understood her true intentions.
Pretending to seek resources for Qiao Yuezhu was merely an excuse. In reality, she wanted to use this opportunity to line her own pockets, since Ke Min had no idea when she might be forced into retirement.
If she did not grab as much as possible now, there might be nothing left for her later.
Artists?
Managers?
All of it was fake.
Only money was real.
Ke Min now cared about nothing but making money and preparing for her old age.
Elsewhere, Wang Situ was extremely excited.
Chen Fang, by contrast, showed little emotional fluctuation. His result was exactly what he had expected.
Xi Yuanyuan’s expression was equally calm.
She had complete faith in Chen Fang whenever he took action.
Besides, Zheng Wenyan and Qiao Yuezhu—the greatest threats—had both made mistakes during their performance. If Chen Fang’s group failed to take first place with the highest score, it would be absurd.
Xi Yuanyuan was still thinking about the head of Imagination Entertainment when she suddenly startled and turned to Chen Fang.
“Chen Fang, I remember now. I’ve met Ji Donglai before.”
At that, Chen Fang sharpened his attention slightly.
Xi Yuanyuan continued, “At the beginning of this year, Ji Donglai came to my house. There were many guests that day, most of them people from the film and television industry. He came because of a production.”
“A production?”
Chen Fang’s heart stirred.
Surely it could not be such a coincidence.
“What production?” Chen Fang asked.
Xi Yuanyuan’s memory became instantly clear.
“The one that’s about to begin filming, Three Lives, Three Worlds. Ji Donglai recommended an actress to my father for the female lead. She’s very famous, has powerful connections in the capital’s film industry, and is also a capable actress. My father agreed.”
Chen Fang was speechless.
Could there really be such a coincidence in the world?
Out of all the productions, it had to be Three Lives, Three Worlds...
“Ji Donglai spent ages praising me that day and tried to persuade me to leave Future Star Entertainment for Imagination Entertainment, but I refused.”
Xi Yuanyuan’s voice was cold.
“Why?”
In theory, Imagination Entertainment had far better prospects than Future Star Entertainment.
Switching companies should have been the obvious choice.
Xi Yuanyuan’s gaze grew colder still.
“Because of the way he looked at my mother. It was completely wrong—sleazy and lecherous. He was nothing but an old pervert.”
...
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