Those big shots were nothing like what Ye Lingchen had imagined them to be. They all seemed to carry an air of idiocy with them.
Out of curiosity, he took a look at Rugao Under The Bridge’s novel—Claim A Mountain, Be A King.
‘Hm? This book is not bad!’
Furthermore, the reviews were good. It could be considered a minor success with a good following of fans.
The tone was humorous and the plot was more casual. Most importantly the descriptions of various delicacies within made him hungry just from reading.
If this novel were to be read at night, the temptation to ruin one’s diet would be strong.
That guy was most likely a foodie.
Ye Lingchen noted that in Rugao Under The Bridge’s profile. He then exited the group chat and started typing away on his keyboard.
Chapter four—Change
Chapter five—Entry
Chapter six—Master
Three chapters, as usual, totaling about 15,000 words.
As a new novel, it had no exposure. Therefore, the number of readers was few with only meager three comments.
First comment, [I’m an old bookworm. This book managed to catch my attention right from the start. I believe it will be a hit in the future. The first post is mine.]
Second comment, [Dear author, please release more chapters. It’s good!]
Third comment was an ad…
…
Two days later, Song Qian finally sent Ye Lingchen a message. After his persuasion, Panda Streaming finally agreed to Ye Lingchen’s proposed price.
Panda Streaming’s shareholders were anxious too. They had no patience to bargain with Song Qian about the purchasing price.
After all, each passing day would incur more losses for them. They were already running out of funds to operate Panda Streaming. Along with the huge debt, they dared not delay, nor could they afford to!
Y-Cosmetics was progressing smoothly. Zhang Yunxi managed it perfectly. After securing the storefront, they moved on to renovations. That store was previously a cosmetics store, so they only needed to make some minor upgrades on the existing foundation. All they needed was just to put on a new layer of wallpapers and get some equipment.
From the looks of it, they would be able to operate very soon.
On the weekend, Ye Lingchen drove to the Capital City Radio and Television Administration. It was China’s Top Voice’s preliminaries.
Chen Xiaoyan had begged him repeatedly to attend her competition. Ye Lingchen had to agree.
For Chen Xiaoyan, Ye Lingchen had mixed feelings.
Chen Xiaoyan was no doubt a very beautiful and outstanding lady. Most importantly, his first time was taken away by her. Ye Lingchen reminisced, eagerly wanting to experience it once again.
Capital City Radio and Television Administration was a tall sharp-tower shaped building, standing tall as a landmark, an impressive sight to behold.
Meanwhile, the entire administration building’s gate was filled with people. Everyone’s faces were filled with passion and excitement. They were mostly young men and women, constantly looking around them.
In the list of participants for China’s Top Voice were quite a few singers. They were considered rather famous. Apart from that, there were also four famous judges!
Those four judges were big shots of the music industry. All of them were trending celebrities with chart-topping popularity!
“I can’t believe I got tickets for China’s Top Voice! I must be blessed by the heavens!”
“F*ck, you’re so lucky, bro. I got mine from a scalper and ended up paying more than double the price.”
“I’m so excited! I heard that one of the guest judges is Judge Haha[1]!”
“Yeah. I grew up listening to the songs of Judge Haha!”
“I prefer Judge Hong Na. She’s the Music Queen of those times. Her foundation is superb!”
“I heard that Judge Hong Na is very strict and merciless. Didn’t she criticize a participant to tears last time?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that too! She outright said that the participant was trash and would never achieve anything in life with that voice! Merciless!”
…
Along the way, it was very crowded. Everyone formed their own groups, immersed in their own discussions.
Ye Lingchen stood alone, quietly walking towards the competition venue along the path.
On his way, there were quite a number of people setting up shop along both sides of the road, selling glowing lights.
They were mostly students from the vicinity with good business sense, taking this opportunity to get some extra income from the sales.
Ye Lingchen even saw a group of young men holding placards with lights on them. Written on it were cheers for Chen Xiaoyan.
Other than that, there were also several people talking about Chen Xiaoyan. They were paying special attention to this woman that made her way into the scene from being an internet celebrity. Furthermore, she was backed by Singer Y. That led to everyone looking forward to her performance.
It would seem that Chen Xiaoyan was quite popular.
Ye Lingchen smiled, then entered the venue using the e-ticket that Chen Xiaoyan sent him.
He chose a discreet corner seat and quietly waited for China’s Top Voice to begin.
It was noisy at the scene as the audience slowly filled the hall. In the middle was a huge stage along with four chairs for the judges.
Meanwhile in the competition backstage area…
All the participants had arrived. Their faces were lined with worry as they waited quietly for the competition to begin.
“Why hasn’t it started yet?”
“Huff, I’m so nervous. I wonder if the judges are strict.”
My heart is pounding like crazy. Will I be a sudden hit? What should I do if I became a hit? So troublesome.”
“Ahhhh, what should I sing? If only I can get first place…”
…
Each participant had their own thoughts as they conversed with each other.
However, their gaze would occasionally look to a young woman at the side. That young woman wore a black dress that brought out her elegance. Her appearance was extremely pleasing to the eyes. She had a one-meter circle around her that was empty, seemingly isolated by the people around her.
“That’s Chen Xiaoyan right? She sure is lucky to turn from an internet celebrity to a star!”
“That’s right. We have all climbed up from the lowest level just to sing. She really won the lottery for this!”
“It’s because she had met Y. If I were the one to have met Y instead, I’ll surely do better!”
“Hehe, I think so too!”
Chen Xiaoyan’s popularity was far beyond these people. She had a sudden spike in personal worth, sang well, and looked beautiful. Naturally, she became the target of rejection by others.
As a strong competitor, she had no chance to make any friends in that situation.
Furthermore, due to Chen Xiaoyan’s extremely quick rise to fame, it made many of them envious, further driving a wedge between her and the others.
Chen Xiaoyan paid no heed to how the others treated her. She looked indifferent and calm, but in her mind, it was a roiling sea that would not calm down.
Especially when she saw her phone. Her face immediately turned scarlet and her eyes watered, almost at the point of tears.
She received a private message on Weibo, [I’m here. All the best!]
The sender was—Y!
Just a simple message, yet Chen Xiaoyan felt as though electricity ran through her, bringing out a wave of warmth from within her!
‘He really came!’
At the same time, a crew member came in and reminded them, “Everyone get ready. We’re about to start.”
‘I must not let him down!’
A look of determination flashed through Chen Xiaoyan’s eyes. She took a deep breath and calmed herself…
—
[1] 哈哈老师 (Judge Haha). We decided to use “judge” here rather than “teacher” as the show will have the judge pick a candidate to mentor if the participant is good enough. As for the Haha part, we think our readers should realize by now how this author names the characters in this novel. Here’s another one of those instances.