Chapter 65

The head of the Performing Arts Department, Wan Qingtian, saw Lin Zai Shan step onto the stage with an old guitar and asked Diao Yuehan, who was standing beside him, with interest: "This contestant is quite interesting. Is this image designed by your team? The contrast of his ruggedness is really good!"

Before becoming the head of the Performing Arts Department, Wan Qingtian had worked in television variety shows for over 30 years, and his insight and experience were far sharper than those of his junior colleagues like Park Daesung. The moment he saw Lin Zai Shan's image, Wan Qingtian had a premonition that this contestant would likely become a major highlight of the show.

As the producer, Diao Yuehan naturally wanted to claim credit for the program. She boldly stated that the contestant's image was designed by their team, but she didn't dare tell Wan Qingtian that it was Lin Zai Shan, to avoid him watching Lin Zai Shan's performance with a biased attitude.

With over a thousand audience members, the sight of a handsome silver-haired uncle holding an old guitar immediately ignited their enthusiasm!

The cheers were even louder than those for the second contestant, a beautiful female singer-songwriter!

Unable to see the backstage situation, the four mentors were left in the dark, feeling extremely curious.

Guan Yaling sat in the middle-left position among the four mentor chairs.

A deep red military-style high-collar dress cleverly concealed the two large "melons" on the chest of the well-endowed female mentor using 3D cutting.

Looking at Guan Yaling's upper body, it seemed like she was wearing a deep red military uniform, exuding a unique, elegant, and sophisticated charm!

Seeing the audience's enthusiasm, Guan Yaling frowned slightly, leaning forward with a smile, propping her chin with her hand, looking very curious.

She really wanted to turn around and see what was happening on the stage.

Unfortunately, the red mentor chair she was sitting on had a very wide back, so even if she turned around, she couldn't see what was happening behind her.

On Guan Yaling's left, "New Rock Father" Luo Benxiong, as usual, wore his favorite black rock shirt with diamond-patterned embroidery on the left chest, black leather pants, and combat boots.

Behind the thick black-rimmed glasses, Luo Benxiong's slightly crossed eyes also showed a curious expression. What kind of contestant had just appeared?

Judging from the reaction of the family and friends in the audience, this should be a father-level figure, not a beautiful woman. Why would the audience react so strongly?

Luo Benxiong, who enjoyed watching beautiful women, couldn't understand why this was happening.

On Guan Yaling's right, the "Big Brother" of the music industry, Li Zongheng, was sitting in the middle of the four mentor chairs. Dressed in a white shirt and gray suit, his mature and handsome image could instantly outshine many top movie stars.

Li Zongheng was the undisputed "Big Brother" of the Chinese music industry.

In the Chinese music industry, saying "Big Brother" always referred to Li Zongheng.

His status was even higher than that of Li Zongsheng from another dimension.

His talent required no further praise.

What was frustrating was that Li Zongheng was also very refined!

Wearing a tortoiseshell retro glasses, he was a perfect replica of Wu Xiubo from another dimension, with white hair and a white beard!

Like Lin Zai Shan, this "Big Brother" of the Chinese music industry was also a mature and rugged silver-haired uncle.

However, Li Zongheng's refined ruggedness and maturity were the result of normal aging and experience, a fully matured kind of maturity.

Unlike Lin Zai Shan, who had been rapidly matured, with a hint of the original uncle's mischief still in his eyes.

If Li Zongheng were compared to a vast mountain formed by the gradual compression and accumulation of the earth's crust over ten thousand years, then Lin Zai Shan would be a demonic peak that suddenly erupted during an earthquake and tsunami!

In the future, these two mountains of the Chinese music industry would have intense confrontations.

But now, Li Zongheng, sitting there, was still smiling elegantly, curious about the new contestant who had just appeared.

Next to Li Zongheng was "Super Giant Killer" Zhou Qinghua, wearing a white suit, no sunglasses, and a head of curly hair, resembling the Taiwanese host Zhang Fei from another dimension.

As the mentor responsible for setting the rhythm, Zhou Qinghua's mood was always lively.

Seeing the enthusiastic atmosphere, Zhou Qinghua leaned forward, jokingly teasing Luo Benxiong across Li Zongheng and Guan Yaling: "Teacher Benxiong, the new contestant must be a beautiful female singer-songwriter. I bet you'll turn around this time."

Guan Yaling covered her mouth and laughed.

Luo Benxiong was extremely helpless. Zhou Qinghua, the wise senior, must have known that the person behind them was a father-level figure, and was just teasing him. But there was nothing he could do; in front of these super seniors, he could only be teased.

The four large mentor chairs were only twelve yards away from Lin Zai Shan on the stage, the same distance as a penalty kick, intentionally designed by the program.

This first round of "Singer-Songwriter" was a brutal penalty shootout for the contestants. They only had one chance, to see if they could seize it or not.

In the previous life, Lin Zai Shan had not participated in "The Voice," and he estimated that the distance between the four mentor chairs and the stage in "Singer-Songwriter" was much closer than in "The Voice."

The audience seats were also close to the stage, and they were in a high position, forming a ring around the stage.

Under the gaze of over a thousand eyes, and with the four golden-edged, luxurious chairs overshadowing them, the pressure on the contestants would be greatly increased.

Fortunately, they had already rehearsed, so they were prepared for this.

After drawing more confidence and courage from the family and friends of Bai Ge and Lu Chen, Lin Zai Shan gradually calmed down.

He bowed slightly to the direction of the on-site monitoring station where Park Daesung was.

The audience thought Lin Zai Shan was bowing to the music team, as they were very close, and this was the signal to start singing!

The audience's enthusiasm immediately subsided, creating a quiet atmosphere to focus on the performance of the uncle with the old guitar.

Park Daesung and his deputy, Shen Haoran, felt a warm feeling in their hearts when they saw Lin Zai Shan bow to them, but they were also very nervous.

For a moment, Park Daesung even had the thought: If Lin Zai Shan made a mistake or didn't perform well, he would use his privilege to give Lin Zai Shan a second chance. He was determined to make Lin Zai Shan perform at his best today.

This first round of self-selected original songs might not show Lin Zai Shan's true strength, but in the later stages of the competition, where the contestants had to create songs based on given themes, this uncle would definitely have a god-like performance! Park Daesung was firmly convinced of this!

Having personally experienced Lin Zai Shan's incredible "improvisational" creative talent, Park Daesung knew that Lin Zai Shan would shine more as the competition progressed, making him a perfect fit for this "Singer-Songwriter" competition.

So, no matter what, he would do everything to keep Lin Zai Shan on the stage. Then, time would prove that his choice and bet were correct!

The music team, seeing Lin Zai Shan bow to the monitoring station but not to them, felt very helpless.

Each contestant would usually bow to the music team before performing. But for Lin Zai Shan, the music team had no choice; they hadn't provided much support to him, only technical support for the sound. It was understandable that Lin Zai Shan didn't bow to them.

The members of the music team were very clear that the "culprit" behind the current situation was not Lin Zai Shan, but their leader, Ma Xiaodong.

But Ma Xiaodong had the ability and authority to make things difficult for Lin Zai Shan. They were helpless, even if they were angry, they couldn't say anything.

They all knew that Ma Xiaodong was the type of person who would seek revenge, so no one dared to provoke this well-connected, fat man easily.

Even Luo Boning, who was promoted by Ma Xiaodong, was quite helpless about Ma Xiaodong's actions this time.

If Luo Boning hadn't strongly suggested to Ma Xiaodong to use Lin Zai Shan's arrangement after being rejected by Lin Zai Shan, Ma Xiaodong wouldn't have allowed Lin Zai Shan to use the original arrangement.

But Lin Zai Shan was even more determined, refusing the original arrangement and insisting on doing it himself! This left Luo Boning speechless, and he really couldn't understand why this silver-haired uncle was so stubborn.

At this moment, seeing Lin Zai Shan standing alone on the stage with a faded old guitar, without any support from the music team, Luo Boning felt a pang of guilt, thinking it was a disgrace to music.

Ma Xiaodong, however, didn't have Luo Boning's naive compassion.

In Ma Xiaodong's view, Lin Zai Shan's bow to Park Daesung was a deliberate act to show him up!

You're awesome!

I'll see how long you can stay awesome!

Without the arrangement, how will you sing?

Ma Xiaodong coldly crossed his arms, thinking that since the song had nothing to do with the music team, the camera wouldn't focus on him. He decided to watch with a cold eye and see how Lin Zai Shan would perform.

Liu Mengmeng, wearing a red long skirt and a white long shirt to show off her long legs, seeing Ma Xiaodong's expression, really wanted to kick him from the side with her high heels, sending him to the stage to kneel and listen to Lin Zai Shan's performance!

If Ma Xiaodong's interference affected Lin Zai Shan's future and prevented him from advancing, Liu Mengmeng would definitely make Ma Xiaodong pay!

Having been Ma Xiaodong's assistant for so many years, Liu Mengmeng had learned a lot about catching people's mistakes.

She had several of Ma Xiaodong's "braid" in her hands.

She had the capital to confront Ma Xiaodong, but the time wasn't right yet.

After the entire venue fell silent, Sun Yuzhen in the backstage area couldn't hold back and ran to the back of the red door, pushing it open slightly, and watched Lin Zai Shan's performance from the side with Camera 3.

"Uncle, you must do your best! You must prove that you are the best!"

In the calm before the storm of the music, Sun Yuzhen was so nervous and excited that her body was almost trembling!

"Phew—"

In the center of the stage, feeling the complete silence in the venue, Lin Zai Shan took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

He pushed his left index finger into his earpiece, making the universal earpiece fit a bit tighter.

Then, he glanced at Bai Ge, who was holding her hands in prayer in front of her chest in the family and friends section, and smiled, closing his eyes, transforming the oppressive world in front of him into a dark space.

His left hand held the strings of the old guitar, which had accumulated 24 years of memories, while his right hand gently touched the new strings. It was as if the guitar had connected with his heart, and many memories of the original uncle suddenly flooded his mind.

Enjoying this "heart-to-heart" connection, Lin Zai Shan tried to release his imagination, completely transforming himself into the original uncle—this was the famous "getting into character"!

He would use the original uncle's unwillingness to leave this world, his life experiences, and insights to perform this song, "Hills," which encapsulated a lifetime.

All the feelings were in place.

When he opened his eyes again, it was as if the original uncle had opened his eyes, seeing this world he was unwilling to leave. His gaze immediately became deep and profound, filled with indescribable emotions.

Seeing Lin Zai Shan's close-up on the monitoring screen, Park Daesung felt a surge of electricity. He suddenly felt that Lin Zai Shan seemed like a different person, with a gaze that was incredibly dramatic!

This magical performance state had not appeared during the rehearsal yesterday.

Feeling a burning sensation, Park Daesung subconsciously unbuttoned his shirt collar to cool down.

He had a premonition that this silver-haired uncle was about to shock the entire venue!

Indeed, as Park Daesung had predicted.

In the complete silence of the venue, where even the sound of a needle dropping could be heard, Lin Zai Shan used his deeply moving, weathered voice to sing the first verse of "Hills" without any accompaniment—

...

There are things I want to say but haven't yet~

(Guitar enters)

There are still many~

...

I save them because I want to write them into a song~

To let people sing them softly~

Remember them faintly~

Even if