Chapter 63

"Teacher Lin, everything is going smoothly on the music team side, keep it up!"

Over the past two weeks, Liu Mengmeng had been reporting the music team's situation to Lin Zai Shan. Whenever anything happened concerning him, Liu Mengmeng would send him a text message right away. She was playing the role of a little spy with ease.

Lin Zai Shan found this quite helpless.

The road to a comeback was filled with twists and obstacles from the very beginning. He couldn't even sing a song in peace.

But this was reality.

There was no way around it.

He had to start all over again.

He couldn't let the rugged path of his comeback make his body bend, nor could he let the long journey of chasing his dreams slow down his steps.

As long as he kept moving forward, no matter how rugged the road, it would eventually be flattened.

For the strong, ruggedness is like a bellows that stokes the fire, the more it blows, the fiercer the flames.

Without arranging the music, he decided to make this song "Hills" more heartfelt and moving.

"Zi... Zi..."

Soon, Liu Mengmeng sent another text message to Lin Zai Shan—

"Keep it up, Teacher Lin!"

Lin Zai Shan smiled and replied with a confident smile.

At the corner outside the mentor's lounge, seeing Lin Zai Shan's smiling reply, Liu Mengmeng clenched her small pink fist and shouted in her heart, "You must keep it up, Uncle!"

The flames burning in her almond-shaped eyes were even more intense than Lin Zai Shan's, as if she were the one about to compete.

The reason for this was that Liu Mengmeng had been truly provoked by Ma Xiaodong over the past few days.

Ma Xiaodong had no idea about the relationship between Liu Mengmeng and Lin Zai Shan. He still thought Liu Mengmeng was his obedient little assistant.

In private, Ma Xiaodong had complained to Liu Mengmeng several times, criticizing Lin Zai Shan for being ungrateful, not wanting his music arranged, and acting like a fool. In short, he said whatever he could to make Lin Zai Shan look bad.

He wanted to see how Lin Zai Shan would compete with just a single guitar. He was waiting to see Lin Zai Shan's failure and elimination.

Every time she saw Ma Xiaodong's opportunistic behavior, Liu Mengmeng wanted to punch him, making his fat face look like a deflated bun.

She had been with Ma Xiaodong for more than four years. From initial trust, anticipation, and even dependence, to later frustration, disappointment, and regret, the bitterness of this journey was something only Liu Mengmeng could truly understand.

When she first entered the industry, she really believed in Ma Xiaodong's character, thinking he was a reliable big brother.

But over time, she realized that in this bizarre and colorful industry, all kinds of people existed, and hypocritical successful people were everywhere.

You shouldn't believe in the promises others make to you, not even the punctuation marks.

In this industry, no one can truly help you; only you can help yourself.

About a year and a half ago, after the last discussion about her future with Ma Xiaodong, and receiving his vague and grandiose promises, Liu Mengmeng completely lost hope in him. She knew this fat man didn't take her future seriously and wouldn't guide her.

Understanding this, Liu Mengmeng no longer followed Ma Xiaodong as naively as before, listening to and believing everything.

With a mindset of self-rescue, she continued to work as Ma Xiaodong's assistant, secretly making her own wings stronger, hoping to one day fly in this industry on her own.

Now, seeing a real eagle flying overhead, Liu Mengmeng didn't want to miss this opportunity to fly with the eagle. She no longer wanted to hop around with Ma Xiaodong, the fat chicken.

The door to the mentor's lounge opened.

Ma Xiaodong and Luo Boning came out, and Liu Mengmeng put on a new face and went to greet them.

Just now, Ma Xiaodong had taken Luo Boning to visit the four mentors in the lounge.

The opening performance of the first episode of "The Strongest Singer" was a joint performance by the four mentors, singing Li Zongheng's hit song "Music Rises" to kick off the show.

Since it was a joint performance by the four mentors, the song needed to be rearranged, and Ma Xiaodong personally took charge of this task. To guide Luo Boning, Ma Xiaodong had him participate in the rearrangement.

Just now, Ma Xiaodong used this opportunity to introduce Luo Boning to super senior figures like Li Zongheng and Zhou Qinghua.

In Liu Mengmeng's view, this was genuine guidance.

Unfortunately, she didn't have a famous uncle like Luo Benxiong.

Just now, Ma Xiaodong had her wait at the door while he took Luo Boning in to meet the seniors. Liu Mengmeng felt extremely bitter.

Why couldn't she go in with them to meet the seniors?

Why didn't Ma Xiaodong take her in?

Liu Mengmeng was really angry! She angrily sent a text message to Lin Zai Shan, urging him to keep it up and to make Ma Xiaodong's fat face as round as the moon today! She wanted to see him fail!

...

3:30 PM.

The huge stage suddenly went dark, just like the lights being turned off at the beginning of a movie.

The on-site director reminded the over a thousand audience members to prepare their applause and cheers. The highly anticipated first episode of "The Strongest Singer" was about to start!

The audience immediately became noisy, with Bai Ge and others enthusiastically clapping. Everyone was looking forward to this new music show.

The mature and handsome host of Oriental TV's variety shows, Xu Shaowei, walked to a fixed position on the west side of the stage under a beam of pale blue light, speaking passionately as he walked, "Welcome to 'The Strongest Singer,' sponsored by Dongxing Auto! I am Xu Shaowei!"

"Ooh ooh ooh~~~~~~~"

Led by the on-site art director, the audience cheered for Xu Shaowei.

At the same time, the four heavyweight mentors were led by the staff along a dark blue light path to quietly ascend the stage, preparing for the opening performance.

A large music team of 30 people, led by Ma Xiaodong, was already in place in the performance area on the east side of the stage.

Park Dae-cheng, with his deputy, stood behind the monitoring station next to the music team, in a position very close to the stage, overseeing the production.

After nearly eight months of preparation, this war that Park Dae-cheng could not afford to lose was finally about to begin!

With 18 years of experience in the industry, having seen many big scenes, Park Dae-cheng was still very nervous and excited.

This show was the largest-scale production he had organized in his career and the biggest investment in variety shows by Oriental TV for the fourth quarter of the year.

Whether his life and career could break through depended on this one move!

Success would mean a meteoric rise!

Failure could mean a long fall!

This battle, which had been gripping from the start, was extremely important to Park Dae-cheng.

While Xu Shaowei introduced the unique features of "The Strongest Singer" to the on-site and TV audiences, Park Dae-cheng kept asking about the status of each camera position: "… Camera 3, are you in position at the contestant entrance?"

"Already in position."

"Yuzhen, have the first contestant prepare to go on stage in 15 minutes!"

"Understood."

Unfortunately, Sun Yuzhen was assigned to lead the contestants into the stage from the backstage passage today.

She couldn't witness the contestants' performances firsthand.

She could only listen to Lin Zai Shan's performance with her ears.

This was actually better.

Otherwise, if she had to watch Lin Zai Shan's performance, she would be too nervous.

In the backstage holding room, there was no live video feed, but there was a reverse audio feed that transmitted the performance sounds from the stage.

The waiting contestants could clearly hear the performances, which was both a pressure and a stimulation.

If the previous contestants performed well, and the next contestants could withstand the pressure and be inspired, it would greatly enhance their performance.

But if their mental fortitude was weak and they were affected by the previous contestants, the next contestants would be in trouble.

Lin Zai Shan was the oldest contestant in the first episode.

There was also a senior producer, Wang Zhenlei, who was a B-level contestant, 35 years old, but he looked much younger than Lin Zai Shan.

His tight leather pants and slim white shirt were more fashionable than Lin Zai Shan's rolled-up white shirt and jeans.

Lin Zai Shan and Wang Zhenlei were the two most calm people in the room. The other contestants looked calm, but they were just pretending; they were very nervous inside.

Only Lin Zai Shan and Wang Zhenlei were truly not nervous.

Lin Zai Shan, having lived two lifetimes and experienced even time travel, had a strong ability to regulate his mental state.

He might feel a bit nervous when he actually went on stage, but for now, he was not at all nervous.

Wang Zhenlei was not nervous for several reasons. Besides his long career and rich performance experience, his performance order was very late, being the last to perform in this episode.

More importantly, Wang Zhenlei was a producer and singer signed to Luo Benxiong's agency and had a very good personal relationship with Luo Benxiong. He was very confident.

He came to the show at Luo Benxiong's recommendation.

He didn't have to worry about being eliminated in the first round. Even if he performed poorly, he would definitely join Luo Benxiong's mentor team.

Not to mention making it to the top 32, with his relationship with Luo Benxiong, making it to the top 20 or even the top 10 was a sure thing.

There were many interests involved, so Wang Zhenlei didn't have to worry about messing up, and thus had nothing to be nervous about.

He just needed to act well and pretend to be distant from Luo Benxiong on camera.

Originally, with Wang Zhenlei's experience and talent, he should have been an A-level contestant.

Initially, the production team selected 10 A-level contestants, and Wang Zhenlei was among them.

Later, the production team reclassified the contestants, removing 4 A-level contestants and placing them in the B+ category, and Wang Zhenlei was one of these four.

Wang Zhenlei, being an insider, knew about these behind-the-scenes details.

He was very unhappy about being downgraded from A to B+!

Although Ma Xiaodong told him that as an A-level contestant, Lin Zai Shan might be directly cut by the higher-ups, meaning the highlight of the first episode would still be Wang Zhenlei. The production team's decision to have Wang Zhenlei perform last was to provide a double insurance for the first episode.

But even so, Wang Zhenlei was still very unhappy.

Why was he downgraded to B? Why was Lin Zai Shan, that old troublemaker, classified as A?

This old troublemaker's hair was already white, just like his old guitar, and his life had long faded. Why did he dare to return to the stage to sing? Was he crazy? Was he trying to stir up trouble in the industry again?

Seeing Lin Zai Shan, Wang Zhenlei was very unhappy, even feeling a bit resentful towards the production team. He thought the production team was quite interesting, allowing someone like Lin Zai Shan to participate. Even if they wanted to hype the show, they didn't have to use such low tactics.

According to Ma Xiaodong, Lin Zai Shan's musical skills were still as good as before, and he had a solid foundation.

But Wang Zhenlei thought that Lin Zai Shan was just that. Besides his good voice and one super hit song, there wasn't much to be proud of. Now that he was so old, could he really still sing?

Wang Zhenlei wanted to see what kind of performance this old troublemaker would give on the stage of "The Strongest Singer."

Like Ma Xiaodong, Wang Zhenlei was eagerly waiting to see Lin Zai Shan's failure.

Lin Zai Shan was scheduled to perform fourth today.

The production team had a specific design for the performance order.

Since the show aired on Sunday night at 8 PM, "The Strongest Singer" had to compete with the popular variety show "Happy World" on Haixing TV, which aired at 9 PM and had a regular viewership of over 4 million, making it the top-rated Sunday night variety show in the country.

"The Strongest Singer," with its grand production, aimed to be the top Sunday night variety show!

So their target was to surpass the highest-rated "Happy World."

Lin Zai Shan's performance, according to the estimated editing timeline, would start around 8:53 PM with his introduction video and his actual performance around 8:55 PM.

If he could captivate the audience with his story and moving voice, it would significantly impact the ratings of "Happy World" and truly snatch the audience from its grasp.

But the prerequisite was that Lin Zai Shan's performance would pass the test screening and the higher-ups at Oriental TV would decide to keep it.

If Lin Zai Shan's performance was cut short or completely removed, it would greatly reduce the appeal of the first episode of "The Strongest Singer."

Park Dae-cheng was taking a big risk on Lin Zai Shan and sincerely hoped that Lin Zai Shan could bring some pride to their production team.

Of course, he was also closely watching and eagerly anticipating the performances of the other contestants and the more important aspect of the show—the mentors' on-the-spot reactions.

The recording of the show went smoothly that day. The opening performance by the four mentors was very impressive, immediately setting a high tone for the show.

The innovative and exciting "turning chairs" segment also made the mentors and the audience feel new and thrilling.

Although the first two contestants were a bit nervous and didn't fully showcase their talents, the novel listening experience still made the enthusiastic Zhou Qinghua and the gentle Guan Yaling turn their chairs for them.

The first two contestants were both recruited.

The third contestant was a bit unlucky.

After the novel and exciting listening experience, Zhou Qinghua and Guan Yaling became slightly more cautious and didn't turn their chairs so easily.

The four mentors were very clear that each could only recruit 8 contestants.

With six preliminary episodes, this meant they could only recruit 1-2 contestants per episode from the 10 contestants who appeared.

If they recruited too quickly, their teams would be full, and they wouldn't be able to recruit talented contestants later.

If purely based on the live performance and originality of the songs, the third contestant today was better than the first two.

But Li Zongheng, being a master, required the performance to truly touch him to turn his chair. The first three contestants didn't touch his heart, so he didn't turn his chair.

Zhou Qinghua was more lenient and spontaneous. He thought the third contestant's writing and singing were good, but he had already recruited the first contestant. If he turned his chair again, he would have recruited too many. So he held back and didn't turn his chair.

Guan Yaling had a similar mindset. She thought the third contestant was very talented, but she had already recruited the second contestant, and this third contestant didn't particularly touch her. So she also held back and didn't turn her chair.

Luo Benxiong's goal for the first episode was Wang Zhenlei. He would only turn his chair for contestants with very high talent, otherwise, he would wait for Wang Zhenlei.

The third contestant didn't touch Luo Benxiong, so unfortunately, this contestant became the first to be eliminated in the history of "The Strongest Singer."

While the third contestant was giving his farewell speech, Lin Zai Shan was already being led by Sun Yuzhen to the contestant entrance to prepare for his final appearance.

In the holding room, Wang Zhenlei, upon hearing that the third contestant was eliminated, felt secretly pleased. He thought this might put pressure on Lin Zai Shan's performance and he was even more eager to see the old troublemaker's embarrassing performance.

He even had the thought that the production team might have brought Lin Zai Shan in just to see his failure and use it as a publicity point for the show.

Carrying an old guitar onto the stage, that was really embarrassing!

Wang Zhenlei was so excited that he wanted to sneak out to watch Lin Zai Shan's live performance.

The other contestants in the holding room, seeing the intense competition, became even more nervous.

It was important to note that although the first three contestants performed, only two mentors turned their chairs.

The high standards of the four mentors were far beyond their expectations.

Even Lin Zai Shan didn't expect that the first three contestants' performances would only receive two turns from the mentors.

Perhaps he had watched too many episodes of "The Voice," where multiple mentors often turned their chairs for a single contestant. He had subconsciously expected the same for "The Strongest Singer."

But clearly, the four mentors' high standards for originality and performance were beyond his expectations.

This added a bit of pressure to