Backstage.
Bai Youlou and Long Ziqiang leaned against the corridor wall, wondering whether they should find somewhere to smoke.
Who knew how long they would have to wait before going on?
Just as Long Ziqiang was looking around for a smoking room or something, he suddenly let out an "Oh."
"Old Bai, isn't that kid holding a guitar also carrying a bottle of Erguotou? Whoa! He really took a swig!"
Bai Youlou followed the direction of his finger and grinned. It really was.
"This show's kind of interesting. There are actually people drinking before going onstage~"
"He's probably nervous. After all, the two of us are just here to go through the motions and get some screen time. For him, this might be the realization of a dream." Long Ziqiang sounded a little sentimental.
"Looks like it's his turn. The staff are calling him over. Holy crap, he downed the whole thing in one go?!"
Clearly, the "heroic" feat of downing an entire bottle of Erguotou before going onstage had shocked Bai Youlou and Long Ziqiang.
Just how nervous did he have to be?
Bai Youlou grew interested. "Come on, let's go take a look and see whether he can go berserk after getting drunk."
They couldn't actually see anything, but the two of them could squat near the entrance and listen.
Although they couldn't see what was happening onstage, the sound carried clearly.
The kid who had been drinking was named Tong Fangming. He sang and played a song he had apparently written himself.
Long Ziqiang couldn't help commenting, "The song's average, but he's still a creative talent! What do you think, Old Bai? Will he make it through?"
"With that drinking stunt before going onstage, he'll definitely pass. It makes for great television, and his singing isn't bad either."
Sure enough, after the judges had given him a sharp critique, Tong Fangming returned with a flushed but cheerful face.
His red face might have been from nervousness, but it was probably mostly from the alcohol.
However, when he saw Bai Youlou and Long Ziqiang, Tong Fangming instinctively shuddered. It was as if even the alcohol had been frightened out of him.
One of the two men was a completely bald man standing there with his arms crossed like a door god. He wasn't especially bulky, but the muscle lines on his arms were strikingly defined. He was also wearing tight-fitting clothes, giving him a strong air of someone from the streets.
The other stood casually against the wall, but his face was simply too handsome, drawing the eye. He was tall as well, with an inexplicably carefree air about him.
Tong Fangming was a little flustered. He had just been gloating over making it through the first round, only to run into two "experts"!
Why was he so certain that these two were experts?
Instinct!
He could tell just from their postures that they were terrifyingly strong!
But before the two old hooligans could tease this somewhat chuunibyou kid, a staff member suddenly came looking for them.
"Teacher Bai, there's a problem with the USB drive you gave us."
"What happened?"
"It's broken. Do you have a backup?"
"Nope."
When faced with this situation, Bai Youlou didn't suspect that anyone had deliberately sabotaged him. If someone really wanted to mess with him, they would have done it on Talent Show—turning off the backing track halfway through his song, for example.
This was just an unexpected accident.
But he really didn't have a backup. He hadn't even brought the USB drive containing his other songs. He had given it to Old Zhou, who had taken it to Hangcheng ahead of them.
"How about this? Find me a guitar. I'll switch to a folk song and sing while playing."
"We didn't prepare any instruments."
The staff member answered helplessly, then suddenly brightened. "Oh, that contestant has a guitar. How about borrowing his?"
In an instant, Bai Youlou and Long Ziqiang's gazes returned to Tong Fangming.
Tong Fangming: Did I dare say no?
Before Bai Youlou could say anything, he handed over his beloved guitar and said somewhat nervously, "Bro, give it back when you're done."
Bai Youlou was puzzled. He had a bit of a "bad reputation," but surely that wasn't enough to make people afraid of him at first sight?
Then a thought struck him, and he made a guess. "Are you married?"
"Huh?! No, I don't even have a girlfriend."
Well, that made even less sense. I'm just known as Cao thief. It's not like I'm some maniacal serial killer. What are you afraid of?
"Thanks for the guitar. But I'm going on last, so I might have to trouble you to wait a while."
"No problem, no problem."
The alcohol had been partly scared out of Tong Fangming, so he wasn't quite as afraid anymore. But he was also curious whether these two really were experts, just as he had sensed.
He might as well wait here and take a look.
Before long, it was Long Ziqiang's turn to go onstage.
He was already quite accustomed to stages like this. He grinned. "Old Bai, I'm off. I'll get them hyped up."
Bai Youlou couldn't even be bothered to answer. He made a shooing motion, signaling him to get lost.
But before going onstage, the man still didn't forget to show off to Tong Fangming, the younger brother he had just met. "Your Long Bro sings original songs too, you know~ They're way better than what you wrote, kid."
Tong Fangming's eyes lit up. "Bro, you're a songwriter too?"
"Ahem, it wasn't written by me. Old Bai wrote it. He's the real—"
After catching Bai Youlou's murderous glare, which clearly said If you don't get lost this instant, I'm going to do something to you, Long Ziqiang didn't dare waste another word. He scampered onto the stage.
That left Tong Fangming and Bai Youlou staring at each other.
Not long afterward, singing came from the direction of the stage beyond the door.
"Girl, my story began because of you
For you I learned patience, for you I changed all my bad habits
Girl, I don't want to see you suffer the same wounds
So I learned to dote on you"
"..."
"This song... why did you add DJ to it?!"
Tong Fangming asked in amazement while bouncing his leg.
He wrote songs himself, so he could naturally hear that something was different.
Bai Youlou bounced his leg as well as he satisfied Tong Fangming's curiosity. "Because your Long Bro likes this style."
"Oh~ Bro! You really wrote this?"
"Yeah~"
"Impressive! It's just that the way the lyrics describe the romance is a little strange," Tong Fangming said cautiously.
This kid was pretty good at flattery~
Bai Youlou didn't disappoint him. "It's not romance. It's actually about fatherly love."
So that was it! Tong Fangming suddenly understood, but then he was startled. "Huh? Bro, you already have kids?"
"Heh heh, yeah. He's singing onstage right now."
Well, that was something~
However, the events that followed were something Tong Fangming hadn't expected.
Long Ziqiang was actually eliminated!
"Huh?!"
To be honest, although he didn't want to admit it, Tong Fangming felt that the ridiculous little song he had sung while drunk was inferior in quality to Long Ziqiang's song, even with the DJ added.
Yet he had advanced, while Long Ziqiang had been eliminated. It left him genuinely confused.
Bai Youlou patted him on the shoulder. "Don't overthink it. He was eliminated purely because he's ugly. Keep it up."
Wait!
Tong Fangming seemed to realize something. Although he was a little hazy from the alcohol, Bai Youlou's face looked increasingly familiar. He instinctively asked, "Brother Bai, is your surname Bai?"
"No kidding."
"What's your given name?"
"Piao."
"...Then what's the name of the song you're going to sing?"
"'Miss Dong.'"
Bai Youlou had still been wondering what song to sing and hadn't made up his mind.
But when Tong Fangming asked, he chose the song that had just come to mind. In a way, the kid had chosen it for him, since he was using the kid's guitar.
At that moment, Long Ziqiang, who had already been eliminated, was saying his final few words onstage.
"This is an original song. I'm already very satisfied that everyone got to hear it."
Judge Yu Zhan had only been instructed to eliminate this overly streetwise-looking guy. He didn't know about the relationship between him and Bai Youlou, so while expressing his regret, he asked, "You didn't write it? Who did?"
Long Ziqiang seized the opportunity. He gripped his T-shirt, making the words "Whiplash" stand out even more. "The director wrote it. I'm an actor in the film."
Even Zhen Dongjun became interested. After all, acting was his main profession. "Which director?"
Long Ziqiang grinned, his bald head shining even more brightly, and shouted, "Bai Youlou!"
Brothers, the new book's results have been a little unstable, and I'm feeling somewhat anxious. I'm shamelessly asking for some Monthly votes and recommendation votes. Let me know that someone's reading, all right?
P.S. Brothers who are saving up chapters, please follow the new releases on Tuesday. Qidian uses Tuesday's follow-up reading numbers to decide recommendation placements. I'm begging you—bang! Bang! Bang!
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