Chapter 96: Breaking the Monopoly

Hello, teachers.

After delivering a performance that stunned everyone in the hall, Zhao Ziqi came to greet the senior singers with a humble bow.

Zhou Delin led the praise, commending her singing, and the singers one by one shook hands with the super rookie.

When Li Xuan shook hands with Zhao Ziqi, she smiled and offered a few words of encouragement, urging her to keep working hard, but inwardly she was probably cursing the girl to death.

This little girl was using Li Xuan’s own song to challenge her. How could that be tolerated?

Li Xuan fervently hoped that Zhao Ziqi would break into the top three in this round, so that in the future she could properly “teach” the girl a lesson.

When Zhao Ziqi shook her hand and gave Li Xuan a slight bow, it was obvious there was a fighting spirit hidden in her sidelong glance.

Li Xuan was her target. Coming to Singing Me this time, even if she could not overturn Li Xuan, she still intended to use Li Xuan’s fame and popularity to make a name for herself.

When the time was ripe, she would step on Li Xuan’s shoulders in one stroke and climb toward an even higher throne as queen of song.

Hello, Teacher Qiyang.

After greeting Li Xuan, Zhao Ziqi moved to Zhang Qiyang and, with utmost courtesy, extended her hand to him as well.

Zhang Qiyang lightly shook her small hand and said, “Just call me Brother Cannon. I’m not worthy of being your teacher.”

Zhao Ziqi froze, somewhat startled by his words, as though she had somehow offended Zhang Qiyang.

She had not offended Zhang Qiyang at all, but she had offended Li Xuan, and she had offended Eastern Entertainment.

An outsider daring to come knocking at their own gate—of course Zhang Qiyang could not stand for that.

He also hoped that Zhao Ziqi would make it into the top three this round.

The girl was still unripe; although the strength and presence she showed were already formidable, one could sense that, in both singing skill and willpower, she had not yet reached Li Xuan’s level of dominating the throne.

Now was the best time for Li Xuan to strike at her.

Crush the weak while they are ill; beat the young until they cry.

If this chance were missed, then once Zhao Ziqi grew into her own, anyone who wanted to destroy her would find it no easy task.

While Zhao Ziqi was greeting the senior singers in the hall one by one, the giant screen in front of the stage was looping highlights from tonight’s competition.

It was almost time for the official vote.

The five hundred audience judges were deeply torn, unable to decide whom to cast their votes for.

The singers’ performances tonight had all been excellent.

Aside from the consistently powerful Zhou Delin and Li Xuan, the two newcomers, Zhang Qiyang and Zhao Ziqi, had also left a deep impression on the audience.

The other singers, freed from the burden of competition, also shone brightly. Zhao Lei sang an especially moving folk ballad, Lin Haoran’s rhythm-and-blues performance stirred every soul in the room, Yue Li’s healing voice felt like drinking a bowl of nourishing soup, and although Ji Chunying’s performance was a little weaker by comparison to Zhao Ziqi’s, she still delivered a very explosive show.

The audience was dazzled, truly unable to decide where to place their precious vote, and in the end could only follow their personal preference.

Many viewers were reminded at that moment that tonight was a challenger match, and if they ever saw Zhao Ziqi perform again in the future, they would vote for her.

With that mindset, many people gave their precious vote to Zhao Ziqi tonight.

During the fifteen minutes the live audience spent agonizing over their choice, the Singing Me forum was flooded with discussion about Zhao Ziqi.

Although the heated atmosphere had been fueled by the PR team from the Chu Entertainment Group, the fact that she could snatch the forum’s attention away from the red-hot Zhang Qiyang and Li Xuan showed just how outstanding her performance had been.

After watching Zhao Ziqi’s competition performance, many people could not help falling hopelessly in love with her—

"At 9:11 p.m. on September 30, 2017, I met my destined goddess, Zhao Ziqi. I love you!"

"To the person above, I fell in love with her two minutes earlier than you did. The moment she opened her mouth, I fell for her."

"Zhao Ziqi is my wife. None of you get to daydream about her!"

"This newcomer sings so well! This is what real strength sounds like! She beats Zhang Cannon by more than a mile!"

"If Zhao Ziqi can’t win her challenger spot, then Singing Me might as well shut down!"

"I think I’m about to fall for this girl’s voice. What do I do?"

"This version of I Do Not Love You sounds even better than Goddess Xuan’s. Xuan fans, don’t hit me—I’m speaking from the heart."

"Being able to hear a performance like this before dying would make it worth it."

"Just listening to her voice, this girl is practically an angel! Was she sent by God to save Singing Me? Hurry up and send Zhang Cannon packing; that trash is dragging Singing Me into hell."

"Brother Cannon has finally met his match. This girl on stage gives off a bit of a male version of Little Cannon Brother’s vibe."

"Damn it, you cannon fodder idiots, can you stop slapping makeup on your own faces? That pile of trash Zhang Cannon counts as singing? Zhao Ziqi singing with her mouth shut would still be ten thousand times stronger than Zhang Cannon!"

"This newcomer really does sing beautifully, but have you noticed how huge her mouth is? It looks like it could swallow the microphone."

"Haha, I noticed that too. This girl’s mouth is enormous! I suspect that if someone with a smaller head stood in front of her, she could swallow their head whole."

"This round of Singing Me is getting interesting. A true powerhouse newcomer has burst forth. If the production team isn’t brain-dead, they’ll definitely keep this big-mouthed girl. Her voice is too captivating."

"Zhang Cannon, did you hear that? That’s what singing is! You’d better pack up your bedding and scram already! This is a stage only real singers deserve to stand on!"

...

Back to the live venue.

Soon the audience made their choice.

The five hundred audience members cast their precious votes through electronic voting devices.

After the technical department tallied the results, they printed them out and handed them to the director, Luo Tao.

In previous rounds, whenever Luo Tao saw the results, his heart would always give a jolt.

Today was no different.

Seeing this round’s result, Luo Tao’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

"How could this happen? This is unbelievable! This joke has gone too far!"

A very strange smile appeared on Luo Tao’s face.

Although the result this round was absurd, for their program it was simply perfect.

This time, their show would have plenty to talk about.

The ratings they lost this round could very likely be recovered next week.

Suppressing the joy in his heart, Luo Tao walked into the singers’ hall with a solemn expression.

Without wasting words, he announced the final result of this challenger round to the singers and to the countless viewers in front of their televisions.

This time Luo Tao did not play up the suspense; instead, he announced the results from first place downward.

"The winner of this round is Li Xuan!"

Luo Tao gestured toward Li Xuan. "Congratulations, Li Xuan. Today, with a song dedicated to your grandmother, you moved every single audience member. Their choice is surely the greatest tribute both to you and to your filial devotion."

Luo Tao personally presented the championship trophy to Li Xuan.

The other singers all applauded her in praise.

After three weeks apart, Li Xuan finally once again took home a single-episode championship trophy on Singing Me.

At last, the audience no longer had to be disgusted by Zhang Qiyang.

In many people’s eyes, Goddess Xuan had broken Zhang Cannon’s dark, rigged streak of consecutive victories and fired the first shot in Singing Me’s bright revival!

Because of Zhang Qiyang, many people who had been holding back their anger for nearly a month finally had it vented for them by Li Xuan.

Little did they know that Li Xuan had won this championship thanks to the help of the cleaver.

One could even say that this week, the cleaver had handed the title over to Li Xuan of its own accord.

And if they knew that the cleaver was Brother Cannon, there would surely be people pounding their chests in grief, crying to the heavens, and wanting to smash their televisions again.