Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

"I love who I cannot surmount, and never once felt it a mistake."

The deep singing voice on the TV resonated in the living room; Jiang Ling leaned lightly on the sofa, listening intently to each line. The more she listened, the more astonished she became—it was yet another original masterpiece.

While she was daydreaming, suddenly, a Minnan opera tune reached her ears.

"I ride a white horse, passing through the three barriers! Change into plain clothes, return to the Central Plains."

Jiang Ling's head shot up, a glimmer of excitement in her eyes. The opera tune was earth-shattering, like a beam of golden sunlight breaking through the clouds, in that piercing moment, driving the song's emotion to its peak.

From tales of petty love, it suddenly elevated to the expanse of traditional folk culture. Not to mention anything else, but the song instantly acquired a different level of sophistication, instantaneously gaining deeper connotations.

This layer of connotation might seem unimportant, yet if singers can integrate traditional culture into their own style appropriately, they're more likely to win favor from the officials.

What surprised her was that Xu Qingyan's previous songs had varied styles. Now, he edged towards traditional culture, and his first attempt was so bold.

In the music scene of Xia Country, originality was highly prized. It was not difficult to cut and paste songs from the internet. Nor was it difficult to take old songs, re-arrange them and cover them, just fooling the layman.

Originality was the challenge; very few could make a name for themselves with their original work. Creating lyrics and music was an extremely difficult task, to the point where there were fewer and fewer good original songs.

At the same time, the staff of the "I Am the King of Songs" TV show was stunned.

They were used to guests on stage doing various cover versions or singing the artists' old songs, but it was the first time they saw a singer present high-quality new songs twice in a row.

"Riding the white horse" had stunned them, no less shocking than seeing a bottle of ice-cold cola on a hot summer day. The other songs were also good, but coming across this one, they were thoroughly refreshed.

Until... the voting results were announced. On the screen, the camera suddenly moved away from the rapidly increasing voting numbers. It made a transition to the stage, then broadcasted the expressions of several audience members.

Consequently, what the TV viewers saw were several voters either knitting their brows or showing a faint smile, others with a stern face.

Clearly, the editing of the show was meant to suggest something to the viewers in front of the screens: this song wasn't popular, indicating that not all the jury members liked it.

This sudden move completely baffled the viewers in front of the TV broadcast. They might not understand music that well, but the public wasn't foolish.

Whether a song is good or not, can't they discern it themselves, without needing someone to spoon-feed them?

Zhou Lili, camped in front of the computer, was also dumbfounded, her face full of question marks.

"What the hell is the crew up to?"

For the first four singers who went on stage, the camera captured the audience's enraptured faces, even close-ups of people wiping tears during the voting segment.

But when it came to Pei Muchan, why did the style suddenly change? Not to mention being enraptured, they all looked as if they were listening to a funeral dirge, completely displeased.

One minute later, the camera flickered, and Pei Muchan's "Riding the white horse" voting result was shown. Six hundred thirty-one votes, not a low number, but still the lowest to date.

At the moment, two people had yet to perform, namely Wen Shuanghua and Lin Wanzhou. Lin Wanzhou's strength was well recognized; it was impossible for him to have a mere six hundred and thirty votes.

But regardless of Wen Shuanghua's score, it wouldn't affect Pei Muchan's bottom ranking.

"This... must be a mistake, right? She sang really well, didn't she?" She opened her phone, and the group chat was like a machine-gun tirade, fiercely criticizing the show crew's neurosis.

"This trashy show had a scandal in its third season; now what's it playing at again, with that random selection of audience reactions filmed who-knows-when?"

"Yeah, Pei's song was so good, why were people frowning? One person is fine, but the crew made it look like a lot of people didn't like the song."

"Heh, 'I Am the King of Songs' is a repeat offender when it comes to shady dealings, it's not the first time they've done this."

"Yeah, the first season was pretty clean. But by the second and third seasons, it started to become increasingly outrageous, with all kinds of devilish tricks, even tampering with the singers' microphones."

Though the group was full of harsh critics, there were also voices of reason. Your next journey awaits at empire

"Pei's song is really nice to listen to, but the votes aren't that low. Maybe it's just bad luck, not many people there appreciated the song."

"Yeah, although it's not nice to say, Pei's use of the Minnan opera tune seemed a little bit off. I'm from Minnan, and I could tell right away."

"Are you pretending to be from Minnan? Are you the one who sets the standard?"

"Lol, I grew up in Minnan, am I not a Minnan person? Six-six-six, municipality revoked just like that? You're really something, getting upset over a comment."

A voice message popped up all of a sudden, clear and well enunciated.

"F*ck your ma!"

Seeing the group chat about to explode into a flame war, Zhou Lili promptly muted the two individuals. Looking up at the screen, Wen Shuanghua had gone on stage, but Pei Muchan hadn't returned to the guest gathering hall.

Pei must be angry, right?

Zhou Lili's heart thumped wildly, thinking that the recording should have happened a week ago. She wanted to send something to her cousin on WeChat to ask.

After hesitating for a moment, she held back and didn't send anything.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

She decided to wait and see. She had wanted to post about it, but acting without a clear understanding of Pei's attitude might be inappropriate in this situation.

Jianghan City.

Jiang Ling watched Pei Muchan's final result and couldn't help but chuckle. When you're not famous, that's how it is, even if the creation is original and the song is good, it's not enough.