Chapter 163: Fighting Alone
The first dilemma for Yan Mi and Cai Xukun was deciding who would spin the wheel first.
However, Cai Xukun appeared indifferent and simply said, “Sister Mi, ladies first. You decide, okay?”
Cai Xukun was quite magnanimous; he didn’t even insist that Yan Mi take the first random spin. Instead, he let her choose whether she wanted to go first or second.
His words put Yan Mi at ease. Compared to that idiot Zheng Huayu, this young man was at least more pleasant to look at and far more polite.
Although the internet often mocked Cai Xukun, and many netizens questioned some of the awards he had received, no one had uncovered any real scandals about him.
Moreover, Cai Xukun’s self-deprecating humor during his debut had cleared up some of the few criticisms against him.
“Thanks, Kun Kun~” Yan Mi smiled warmly at Cai Xukun. “I won’t be pretentious, and since you’re the new mentor, you should let me set an example. So I’ll spin the left wheel first.”
Upon hearing this, Cai Xukun promptly expressed his gratitude repeatedly, emphasizing his politeness to a degree that made him seem almost too humble for a mentor.
But in China, such behavior always won the public’s favor.
“Wow! Kun Kun is so polite and humble! He perfectly embodies the image of a gentle gentleman!”
“I imagine that’s how those scholarly families in ancient times behaved. Kun Kun really seems like a man stepped out from ancient poetry!”
“Falling blossoms and drifting snow, my heart belongs only to Cai Xukun! Stardust rewards the traveler, and time does not fail Cai Xukun!”
“Ahhhh! A thousand troops and horses belong to Ikun, Ikun will always love Kun Kun!!!”
...
Amidst the wild cheers from the audience, Yan Mi pressed the button to spin the wheel displayed on the screen.
In the next moment, the wheel began to turn slowly, the pointer swiftly passing over categories like tragic love songs, rock, rap, folk, and ancient-style music.
No one knew where it would stop, but everyone excitedly shouted for their favorites or the genres they wished to hear.
“Tragic love songs! Tragic love songs!!! I want to hear Su Chen’s new tragic love song!!!”
“What’s so good about tragic love songs? Su Chen’s folk songs are the real deal! Choose folk!!!”
“What’s the point of always listening to tragic love songs and folk? Men want rock! Su Chen has never sung rock!!!”
“Rap is fine too! The Chinese rap scene is a mess right now; we need Su Chen to straighten it out!!!”
...
Amidst these fervent and wild reactions, the pointer on the screen’s wheel slowly came to a halt, landing squarely on the ancient-style music section!
Everyone’s eyes widened in shock, including the four mentors and six professional music critics seated at the judges’ panel.
Their surprise was understandable; ancient-style music was such a niche category that it had nearly vanished from the market in recent years!
“...What? Ancient-style music? There hasn’t been any ancient-style song that’s gone mainstream in China over the past two years, right?”
“Wake up, what does ‘going mainstream’ even mean? If no one’s writing songs, they obviously can’t go mainstream!”
“I’m just curious what the contestants will sing later. I bet they can’t even find suitable songs!”
“What they sing isn’t important. The key is what Su Chen will compose! I can’t imagine any good ancient-style songs!”
“Do you think it’s possible that even Su Chen can’t write anything in this genre?”
...
The six professional critics whispered among themselves.
“Ancient-style songs… I haven’t paid attention to this style in ages.”
“The ancient-style songs on the market are too outdated, either Peking opera or Huangmei opera, totally disconnected from pop music, and no one can break that deadlock.”
“I wonder if this young man named Su Chen can create something refreshing in the ancient-style genre.”
“Alas… this is going to be difficult. This competition just got harder!”
...
The six judges quietly reached a consensus on the challenge this theme presented.
On stage, after the result was announced, Liu Shao immediately spoke: “It looks like the left wheel has been decided. Our mentor Yan Mi has randomly landed on the ancient-style music category!”
“So, all contestants in this round must perform ancient-style songs!”
“As for the specific theme of those ancient-style songs, let’s see what mentor Cai Xukun’s wheel will randomly select!”
After Liu Shao finished speaking, the camera shifted back to Cai Xukun on the mentors’ panel.
Without hesitation, Cai Xukun, like Yan Mi, pressed the button to spin the right wheel on the screen.
In the next moment, the wheel began to turn slowly, the pointer swiftly passing over porcelain, bridges, moonlight, table lamps, and the theme of new loves and old flames.
This time, no one showed much enthusiasm. For them, having confirmed the broad category of ancient-style music, whatever the wheel landed on next hardly mattered.
After all, none of it sounded appealing!
In this world, ancient-style music could hardly be said to be developing; it was more accurate to say it was stagnant.
The ancient-style songs people could think of were either Huangmei opera or Peking opera fragments, full of drawn-out and nasal sounds that no young person liked.
As a result, ancient-style music gradually fell into decline, and nowadays, it was rare to hear even one such song in the market each year.
Under these circumstances, who could have any real expectations for this category?
So when Cai Xukun’s wheel stopped at “Porcelain,” the audience watched quietly, their boredom palpable.
“Sigh… I’m going to be imprisoned here, listening to opera for so long. I’d rather go home and play games!”
“Sleeping sounds good too… Maybe I’ll take a nap now? Wake me when Su Chen comes on?”
“Same here. If Su Chen’s song is also opera, don’t bother waking me.”
...
Comments like these flooded the live broadcast’s chat room, and even the viewer count dropped after the opera segment began.
Meanwhile, on stage, Liu Shao announced: “Alright, it seems mentor Cai Xukun has spun the theme as well—Porcelain!”
“So, the final double themes for this round are ancient-style music and porcelain!”
“Contestants must perform ancient-style songs that describe or incorporate porcelain!”
“Now that the themes are confirmed, let’s look forward to the contestants’ performances!”
After finishing, Liu Shao stepped off the stage, and the lights dimmed.
Backstage in the waiting area, all the contestants except Su Chen wore anxious expressions, including Meng Xiaotian.
His original mentor, Zheng Huayu, had been arrested, and no instructions had come from Starry Entertainment, leaving Meng Xiaotian completely on his own this time!