Chinese Entertainment King: Starting as a Fat Boy and Becoming a Singing King

"This is such a difficult choice, I'm really torn between these two groups..."

Yang Kun remained silent for a few more seconds.

Then he looked up.

"Excuse me, the one who advanced is..."

"Xu Yao".

Xu Yao stood there, his heart unmoved.

He already knew this result, but he also knew that with his current form, he could only reach the quarterfinals.

The production team won't let a 250-pound fat person make it into the top four.

He turned his head and looked at Li Wenqi.

The girl stood there, her expression calm.

She didn't cry, she wasn't disappointed, she just nodded slightly, as if to say "I understand".

Li Wenqi turned her head, looked at Xu Yao, and smiled.

"Yao-ge," she said, extending her hand, "keep going, you have to go all the way."

Xu Yao grasped her hand and squeezed it firmly: "You sang very well. There are winners and losers in competitions, but music has no hierarchy."

"I know." Li Wenqi's smile widened. "You said that no matter who wins or loses, we will keep in touch."

"Yes," Xu Yao said. "Keep in touch. Your brother will support you in pursuing your musical dreams."

"Yeah, I'm so lucky to have met you, Yao-ge. I'm off now."

When Li Wenqi stepped off the stage, her steps were as light as if she were hopscotch.

As she walked to the edge of the curtain, she turned around and waved to Xu Yao.

Xu Yao also waved his hand, having a different understanding of the word "luck".

When they reached a secluded spot, Li Wenqi burst into tears, but quickly smiled through her tears. She comforted herself: "I lost a competition, but I gained a brother on my musical journey, so it doesn't seem like such a failure."

After filming wrapped, I finally got a few days of rest.

Xu Yao lay on the sofa in his rented room, the air conditioner humming, but the air blowing out never felt cool enough.

This room was rented by him and Zhou Shen before the training camp. It had two bedrooms and a living room. Xu Yao was still too fat, and he would sink into the sofa when he sat on it.

The blind auditions aired on a Friday.

The two ordered takeout early, tidied up the coffee table, and each occupied one end of the sofa, waiting for the show to start.

"Brother Yao, how do you think my blind audition will be edited?" Zhou Shen sat cross-legged, glued to the TV.

Xu Yao said, "The impression your blind auditions gave the audience should have been one of curiosity and surprise, right?"

GG finally finished his journey, as the opening credits began.

Hua Shao appeared on the screen, speaking at a machine-gun-like pace: "Authentic good herbal tea, authentic good voice. Welcome to 'JDB Herbal Tea China's Best Voice,' sponsored by JDB, the leading herbal tea brand..."

Zhou Shen was amused by the speed of his speech: "Teacher Hua Shao speaks so fast, without even taking a breath. He'd probably be suited to rap."

Xu Yao nodded without saying anything.

He couldn't help but think of a joke that would become even more famous than his fast talk: a person who had eaten caviar.

Kao Yi-hsiang fainted on set, but Hua Shao shouted, "You can break through your limits." Li Wen's leg injury relapsed and he fell, but Hua Shao watched coldly until the recording ended.

Everything is for the sake of purpose and benefit.

There is nothing new under the sun.

Hua Shao read out the list of sponsors, the competition format, and the mentor lineup in one breath, and the camera cut to the backs of the four mentors sitting in their swivel chairs.

The blind selection review has officially begun.

When the first group of trainees appeared on the screen, Zhou Shen was still staring at them nervously.

With every turn and every round of applause, he would unconsciously clench his fist.

The program progressed frame by frame, and Zhou Shen's blind audition was cut to the middle part of the program.

When the screen displayed the words "Zhou Shen, Guiyang, Guizhou, 21 years old," Zhou Shen grabbed Xu Yao's arm.

"Here it comes, here it comes, it's my turn! I'm so nervous, hahaha..."

In the video, he is wearing a loose white T-shirt and standing on the stage, looking as thin as a bamboo pole.

The light shone on his face, and his expression was indeed tense.

Then he spoke.

As the prelude to "Joyful Face" began, his voice came through the screen.

Clean, ethereal, like a breeze drifting from a distant place.

The living room was extremely quiet.

Zhou Shen fell silent, and so did Xu Yao.

Both of them stared at the screen, one tense and excited, the other listening intently.

When the chorus came, Qi Qin turned around.

The screen showed gasps from the audience, then Na Ying turned around, and then Yang Kun appeared.

Three turns.

Zhou Shen covered his mouth.

In the video, he is standing on the stage with red eyes, bowing to the judges.

Na Ying said, "Your voice is so unique, I really like it." Qi Qin said, "You remind me of my older sister when she was young."

When the show ended, Zhou Shen was still covering his mouth, his eyes red.

"Brother Yao," his voice was a little hoarse, "I was on TV."

"Congratulations," Xu Yao said.

"I'm a third-turn player."

"Didn't we already know that?"

"I..." Zhou sniffed deeply, "Am I pretty amazing?"

Xu Yao could understand why Zhou Shen's eyes were filled with tears at that moment.

He recalled the fragments he had seen in those documents. In junior high school, the boys of the same age all began to change their voices, their voices becoming rough and powerful, but Zhou Shen's voice remained at the child's voice stage, clear and bright like a girl's.

Some unkind classmates called him a "transvestite" or a "sissy," words that pierced the self-esteem of a teenage boy like knives.

He remembered Zhou Shen saying that for a period of time he didn't dare to speak, didn't dare to answer questions in class, and didn't dare to make a sound in crowded places.

He even deliberately lowered his voice, trying to make himself sound more normal, but the more he did so, the stranger he seemed.

Zhou Shen became an oddball.

Xu Yao recalled that Zhou Shen went to Ukraine to study medicine, not because he liked it, but because "the path of singing is too difficult."

A person who was ridiculed throughout their adolescence finally learned to protect themselves by not touching what they loved most, so they wouldn't get hurt.

Zhou Shen gave up music from then on.

Later, by chance, Zhou Shen transferred from a medical school in Ukraine to a music academy, from Lviv to Kyiv, from a baritone teacher to a tenor teacher, from vocal cord nodules to returning to China for treatment, and then back to Ukraine to continue his studies.

Every step felt like wading through mud; every step was difficult.

At this moment, Zhou Shen's tears were not mere affectation.

The boy who was ridiculed throughout his adolescence finally received an answer: "My voice is not wrong. My voice is not a sin."

Xu Yao pulled out a tissue, handed it over, and comforted him with a smile: "I remember there's a saying, 'When God closes a door, he opens a window.' Start your musical dream with a good voice."

Zhou Shen finally couldn't hold back his tears.

He took Xu Yao's tissue and quickly wiped his face, then smiled sheepishly, "I'm just... so happy. My family, my mom and dad, must be very happy and relieved too."

"They...they no longer have to live in fear of my voice."

Xu Yao didn't say anything, but pushed the tissue box over and patted him on the shoulder.

Zhou Shen's voice may sound like a woman's, but he is a true man at heart. A man doesn't easily shed tears, unless he is deeply hurt.