76: Is Chapter 76 another original work?

"What are you doing, big brother? Stop chatting and pick a song already."

"Little brother really isn't in a hurry; he's still chatting."

"Why is his progress the slowest every time? It's making me anxious for him."

Lu Qingyu, who was being criticized by netizens for his slow progress, was currently in a battle with Chen Ting.

Chen Ting also wanted to choose "a dream in the mortal world" this time, but he was too slow. When he mentioned the title, the Program Production Team informed him that Song Ke's side had already chosen it.

Chen Ting frowned. The Program Production Team, never one to shy away from drama, said, "Teacher Chen, if you want to sing this, you can."

Chen Ting resolutely refused. Two groups picking the same song wasn't just stirring up trouble; it was targeted!

It wasn't that he was afraid of losing, but rather that it would be too obvious who sang better and who sang worse. Doing that would be too offensive.

Chen Ting didn't want to cause such a scene; his relationship with Jiang Yu was actually quite good.

Chen Ting looked at Lu Qingyu. "Qingyu, I'll leave it to you. You pick a song."

Chen Ting gave Lu Qingyu the authority; he also wanted to see what Lu Qingyu's thoughts were.

Lu Qingyu didn't know much about the original songs of this world, but when it came to a duet, a certain song did come to mind.

Lu Qingyu: "I actually have a new song. Brother Chen, do you want to give it a try?"

Hearing Lu Qingyu say this, Chen Ting became interested. From the first episode until now, none of Lu Qingyu's songs had disappointed him, and he was curious about what Lu Qingyu wanted to sing.

"The decision is yours. We'll sing whatever you say."

Seeing this, Lu Qingyu opened his laptop and began typing lyrics on the keyboard.

In less than three minutes, Lu Qingyu had finished typing the lyrics and printed them out.

Before handing the lyrics to Chen Ting, Lu Qingyu suddenly realized a problem: this song was in Cantonese. Did Chen Ting know Cantonese? If not, he would have to create a phonetic guide.

Lu Qingyu: "Brother Chen, do you know Cantonese?"

Hearing Lu Qingyu's question, Chen Ting shot him a haughty look. "Underestimating me? I'm from Guangdong."

Lu Qingyu's eyes lit up. "That's great then." A big problem solved!

Lu Qingyu: "Brother Chen, I remember you memorize lyrics really fast."

Chen Ting's body tensed up as he recalled the dense lyrics of the previous song, "guest," which had almost triggered his trypophobia.

"I don't! Don't slander me."

Lu Qingyu handed over the lyrics. "Brother Chen, I learned Cantonese later on, so my pronunciation definitely isn't as standard as yours. You should sing a few more lines."

Unlike Mandarin, which only has four tones, Cantonese has nine, making it quite difficult to practice.

Since Lu Qingyu put it that way, Chen Ting thought it would be fine to sing a few extra lines for him. But after seeing the lyrics, Chen Ting firmly refused.

The lyrics on the paper were divided into red and blue. The very first line was in red, but then he saw that the rest of the first A4 sheet was all in blue.

You f*cking call this 'a few more lines'?

"No way. I'm getting old and my memory isn't good. I'll take the shorter part."

He wouldn't be fooled; he had definitely learned his lesson. He knew exactly how exhausted he had been from that previous song.

In the end, under Chen Ting's strong insistence, Lu Qingyu sang the long part.

While practicing the song, Chen Ting started sweating again.

Why are all the songs this kid comes up with so hard to sing!

In Chen Ting's mind, a duet was just taking turns line by line and then singing a few lines together. But after seeing Lu Qingyu's arrangement, Chen Ting truly felt it was ridiculous.

He originally thought the distribution was unbalanced and wouldn't work, but after one rehearsal with Lu Qingyu, he found it was incredibly good.

Especially the part at the end where the two of them sang different lyrics over the same rhythm; this form of expression didn't seem chaotic at all, but rather very layered.

Chen Ting couldn't help but want to give Lu Qingyu a big kiss.

Two hours passed quickly, and everyone had mostly finished practicing.

The groups of Song Ke, Zhang Xiaoxiao, and Lou Qingran emerged from the practice rooms. Lu Qingyu's group was the last one again, likely coming out just in the nick of time.

The show had already released the song titles. When they saw Lu Qingyu's group, they were stunned. "rashomon"? They had never heard of this song.

Looking further down at the lyrics and composition columns, Lu Qingyu's name had actually been added.

Song Ke: ??? Damn, I really don't know whether to say Lu Qingyu has guts or is just arrogant. Another original?

Why does he love showing off so much? His own group's choice of "a dream in the mortal world" was basically a safe bet. Maybe Lu Qingyu would crash and burn this time, Song Ke thought with a cold sneer.

Lou Qingran and Zhang Xiaoxiao, on the other hand, were very interested in the song.

Zhang Xiaoxiao: "I'm looking forward to Little Brother Qingyu's song."

Lou Qingran was rarely interested in such topics: "Me too. 'rashomon'—the name itself is quite intriguing."

With the show's countdown at one minute, Lu Qingyu and Chen Ting slowly walked out from backstage, right on time.

Having lost to Lu Qingyu in the previous episode, Song Ke was very concerned about their group. However, after Chen Ting and the other appeared, Song Ke's wariness vanished.

Chen Ting's state didn't seem very good. He walked all the way from backstage with a furrowed brow, muttering under his breath, and the way he looked at Lu Qingyu made it seem like he wanted to give him a couple of wallops.

A smile appeared on Song Ke's face. He guessed that their song selection and practice process must not have gone smoothly.

But the less smoothly things went for them, the happier he became.

The show began. This time, the performance order was determined by drawing lots. The Program Production Team prepared four balls, and the four people, including Lu Qingyu, went on stage to draw. The final order was Zhang Xiaoxiao first, Song Ke second, Lu Qingyu third, and Lou Qingran last.

The guests took their places, and the live broadcast continued.

Zhang Xiaoxiao and Wang Hai walked onto the stage. The audience members waving Zhang Xiaoxiao's light boards cheered for her in unison.

Zhang Xiaoxiao waved to the audience.

In front of Lu Qingyu and the others was also a live broadcast monitor. It had to be said that while Zhang Xiaoxiao's results weren't the best, her presence in every live broadcast was certainly the most impressive.

"Fly bravely, Xiaoxiao; your family will always be with you."

"I'm here to send gifts to my daughter and support her."

"We don't care how far Xiaoxiao goes; we only care if Xiaoxiao is happy."

"Xiaoxiao, your brother is here. Just focus on the competition."

The Lamborghinis, Big Rockets, and Rainbow Castles on the screen never stopped. It had to be said that the Top Donor looked really cool while showering her with gifts profusely.

On stage, the song Zhang Xiaoxiao and her partner chose was also a sweet duet, currently ranked in the top ten hits on TikTok.

Zhang Xiaoxiao was naturally suited for this type of song, and the overall performance was excellent.

In the end, Zhang Xiaoxiao received 1.66 million votes.

This vote count surpassed Zhang Xiaoxiao's previous record, but she knew in her heart that this achievement was still at the bottom of the pack.

The second to go on stage was Song Ke.

Song Ke was full of confidence. "a dream in the mortal world" was written by a top lyricist from the Dragon Country. The song had remained popular for ten years, with dozens of cover versions, which was enough to prove its greatness.

The song Song Ke and his partner chose was inherently attractive.

On stage, Song Ke and Jiang Yu stood on the left and right. As the lights dimmed, scenes from the movie adapted to "a dream in the mortal world" flashed across the large screen behind them.