Chapter 21 2/4

Jin Jiu was startled. Subconsciously, he raised his hand and lightly touched his throat.

He hesitated and was somewhat uncertain. “Is my voice… good?”

“Sounds great! Seriously, you didn’t know? Your voice has a natural charm. It might not be evident in short sentences, but when you sing longer ones, it really comes out. I envy you for having such a good voice. You’ll definitely make it to the next round.”

An Baixing looked around and said, “Why don’t we practice singing while your makeup artist isn’t here yet? Let’s keep it quiet and give each other some feedback before going on stage.”

“I don’t…” Jin Jiu didn’t finish his sentence when An Baixing began singing softly, with a smile on his face, gesturing for Jin Jiu to listen attentively.

Jin Jiu could only silently swallow the rest of his words. After listening for a while, he couldn’t help but say, “Your pitch is a bit too high.”

He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. As fellow contestants, he had no right to teach others, and An Baixing might get upset.

Jin Jiu’s lips sealed shut again, but An Baixing stopped. “Really? Then I’ll lower it a bit.”

He sang again, pleasantly surprised, “It’s indeed better. You’re really good; are you from a professional school? You’ve got a style.”

“Come on, let me continue singing, and you give me some advice. Let’s see if I can make a stunning appearance and catch Director Sheng’s eye. If I only sell my art and not myself, I’m willing to be her little canary!”

In Jin Jiu’s mind, he thought, “Your bird is too noisy.”

An Baixing said, “Don’t think I’m being sycophantic. I bet most of the people among these eighty contestants want Sheng Quan’s favor. I still think she must like one of us eighty. No, not just me, everyone thinks so.”

He took out his phone and checked it, then leaned in front of Jin Jiu and said, “Perfect, look, there’s an analysis post by a pro. Let’s check it out together.”

Jin Jiu didn’t want to, but An Baixing was already casually bringing the phone to his face. He had no choice but to look. The post’s title was straightforward: “Let’s analyze why Sheng Quan came to ‘Your Song.'”

Main post: “Why am I so sure that Sheng Quan must be here for a specific contestant? It’s simple because if it’s not for someone, with so many programs, she wouldn’t choose this small and insignificant one.

In terms of commercial value, this program had almost zero. In terms of social relationships, judging by the recent miraculous performance of the production team, it can be inferred that she doesn’t have any connection with them.

Most importantly, everyone knows that Sheng Quan saw the link in the ‘Life Road’ book fan group and expressed her interest only after seeing it. In that link, there were only photos, names, and ages of the contestants.

It’s only possible that she saw the name or photo of someone in there, so she decided to come to the program.

Moreover, Sheng Quan said it was too late and she wanted to give up. But pay attention; not long after she said that, Strawberry changed the time for ‘Your Song.’

Before the change, didn’t they have to have a meeting? They had to discuss it, right? I asked my friends who work in TV, and this kind of situation is not a decision made on the spur of the moment by the management. They must have a meeting, which means that removing the time spent on these discussions, it’s almost like Sheng Quan spoke, and they knew immediately.

So, the question is, how did they know when that screenshot hadn’t even started trending? And isn’t Strawberry afraid that changing the time might result in Sheng Quan not coming, causing them to lose the opportunity to go on air? If Sheng Quan doesn’t come, the rising popularity will instantly drop, and the whole Strawberry Channel will become a joke.

It’s only possible that they were confident that Sheng Quan would come after changing the time, so they made that decision.

Therefore, there’s only one truth: after Sheng Quan spoke in the group, she privately contacted Strawberry, hoping they could change the time. Assuming my hypothesis is correct, here are more details:

The original broadcast time of ‘Your Song’ was almost at a time when almost no one would watch, around 1 a.m. Now it has been changed to the peak time of 8 p.m., simply because Sheng Quan wanted to sleep early?

Is it possible that Sheng Quan had her eye on a certain contestant and signaled the production team to give this contestant a prime time slot?

Of course, this is just my guess, but now there are rumors that Sheng Quan will come to the program live.

If she really comes, I can be sure that she came for one of the eighty contestants, maybe even several.

Anyway, I’ve been waiting eagerly for the broadcast. Whether my speculation is true or false, we’ll know tonight.”

I have to say that the original poster was indeed analyzed with logic and evidence, and even Jin Jiu found it quite reasonable.

But what does this have to do with him? Anyway, Sheng Quan couldn’t possibly come for him.

However, An Baixing felt that this was a big deal for them: “The pro is indeed a pro; it makes so much sense. It seems like one of us eighty might be the lucky one. I wonder if it could be me.”

“Come on, let’s read the replies. Oh, this post has only been up for a short time, and there are already over three thousand comments.”

User “SayLeaf”: “666666”

User “LoveCandyLovePettingCats”: “OP is so strong!”

User “FreeSoulWildSpirit”: “Yeah, unless all of Strawberry Channel’s staff collectively become idiots, they wouldn’t change the time just because of a screenshot. People who work in TV know that suddenly changing the time involves redoing a lot of work, and it’s not easy.”

 “Hope the author bursts with another 100,000 words: [They’re trying to please Director Sheng, I believe that, but changing the time just because she might not come is not possible.]”

“You’re right, OP. I’ve been feeling that something was off.”

“Everyone, have you guys checked the list of contestants? They’re all so outstanding; who could Sheng Quan possibly be interested in?”

“Agreed. I feel like each of them looks like a fairy coming out of a cave.”

“OP, that looks more like a makeup issue. With the current high popularity, the production team probably won’t make them look like ghosts anymore.”

“Enthusiastic citizen YaoYaoLing: OP, you’re mighty! Say more! You’re the next big OP!”

“Everyone’s makeup looks ugly. So, Sheng Quan is not likely looking at their faces. Is it just their names she’s interested in?”

“Most of the contestants seem to be amateurs, right?”

“Not all amateurs. I searched for names one by one. I found four: Yu Hongdou, Ma Wei, Jin Jiu, and Ai Taiying. These are not newcomers.”

An Baixing scrolled down with great interest, and when he saw Jin Jiu’s name, he looked surprised and turned to the person beside him: