You're about to retire from the entertainment industry, yet your concerts are still so popular?

The car door swung open with a whoosh.

As soon as the assistant got out of the car, he saw a figure rushing towards him at the speed of a hundred-meter sprint!

Director Yang Can was all smiles, rubbing his hands together rapidly in front of him.

"Professor Ye Chen! You've finally arrived! Your presence here makes the entire production team shine!"

The assistant following behind Yang Can almost had his eyes pop out!

She had worked with Yang Can on variety shows for several years and had seen this director criticize everything and everyone, including capital, and stand as straight as a steel bar!

How come my back, which has been straight all my life, bent over in front of Ye Chen?

"Thank you for your hard work, Director Yang." Ye Chen nodded calmly as he got out of the car.

"It's no trouble at all!" Yang Can bowed slightly and raised his hand in a gesture of invitation.

"We've prepared a private dressing room for you, with top-notch soundproofing, and the fruit is freshly air-freighted in. You can rest in there, and after the previous contestants finish singing, you can come back and give them feedback on their shortcomings. We won't let you get tired during this time!"

Ye Chen walked along the red carpet and said, "Director Yang doesn't need to go to so much trouble."

The assistant followed behind, and seeing the director's demeanor, like a greeter at a hotel entrance, her worldview shattered.

"Ms. Fang Qian, shouldn't we go in too?" the assistant director reminded her.

The shocked assistant quickly followed.

……

Shortly after, the studio lights came on.

"The Voice of Dreams" is recorded on time.

Before filming began.

Director Yang Can cleared his throat and addressed everyone again:

"We have a special guest for this episode who will appear after all the contestants have finished performing. Please perform as you normally would and don't feel pressured."

The voice just fell.

Han Hong and Lin Zhiwei exchanged glances.

Both of them had their brows furrowed in a deep frown, clearly indicating that neither of them had any clue what was going on.

Han Hong stubbed out his cigar, a mocking smile playing on his lips:

"Ha, I thought he was some big shot, turns out he's just a contestant. Yang Can really knows how to create a spectacle these days, laying out red carpets and displaying luxury cars. I thought some retired superstar was coming to steal my mentor position."

Lin Zhiwei snapped the makeup mirror shut and lazily echoed:

"Making such a big fuss, only to find out it's a newcomer? Director Yang is putting on such a show, I feel tired just watching him."

Consultant Wu wiped his glasses and shook his head expressionlessly:

"These days, any ordinary person on variety shows is packaged as a mystery guest, with hype outweighing substance, which is putting the cart before the horse."

Han Hong shook her head and walked to Celine beside her: "Do you know who this newcomer is?"

Celine shook her head without saying a word, but a hint of curiosity flickered in her blue eyes.

The contestant area remained completely calm.

Several new contestants whispered among themselves, some sighing, others looking indifferent.

"Even Han Hong hasn't made a sound? Looks like Director Yang Can is keeping his mouth shut this time!"

"One more competitor? We're not even afraid of Teacher Han Hong, so why would we be afraid of a mystery guest?"

"Exactly, it's probably just some backer from some financial firm, using some mysterious pretext."

For a moment, everyone was whispering and speculating, but they still couldn't guess the possibility of the mystery guest.

The fish next to him, upon hearing the word "contestant," felt its previously pounding heart finally settle back down!

It almost made him laugh out loud!

That scared the hell out of me! I thought some superstar was going to steal the spotlight!

If they were true superstars, they would have already shown up to increase the show's exposure!

As long as it's not some superstar competing with me for a spot in the next round, my difficult song will still become a huge hit and everyone else will just be supporting actors!

Thinking this through, his initial doubts vanished, replaced by a surge of confidence: "Even if the biggest stars don't show up, my song is guaranteed to be a massive hit!"

Yang Can looked at the group's expressions, which were all "nothing special," and smiled meaningfully.

"Alright, everyone get ready, the live stream is about to begin."

No one noticed how much smug satisfaction he was hiding in that smile, a smile that seemed to be for the sake of creating a good show.

……

The recording and live broadcast of the program will begin simultaneously.

The live stream had just started when the number of viewers was average, and the chat was sparse.

However, at the same time, the most popular live stream on the platform was the one where people were challenging themselves to cover Ye Chen's new song.

The live stream with the hashtag #YeChenNewSongCoverChallenge# is incredibly popular!

With the recent hit film "The Wind Rises," its popularity has exploded.

Hundreds and thousands of ordinary people sang "The Wind Rises" into their phones, some off-key, some with cracked voices, and some even singing until they were out of breath.

"I'm really bad at other songs. Singing 'I'll Love You Till I Die' will send me straight to the ICU, and 'Left Finger Pointing to the Moon' will send me straight to my grave... But 'The Wind Rises'! I feel like I can really master this one!"

"..."

At this moment, in Ye Chen's main support group...

Group messages are being sent faster than concert tickets are being snapped up!

[Ye Shen is amazing! "The Wind Rises" has boosted the entire Hangzhou cultural and tourism industry! West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce sold out, and even the sewers became popular photo spots! Chen Ge's one song has boosted the GDP of an entire city!]

[Ye Shen's Hangzhou concert! Twelve new songs! Each one a different style! He wrote the E5 love song "Our Love" live, and the B5 ethereal "Left Finger Pointing to the Moon." He acted like nothing happened when faced with a barrage of poems from thousands of people?! Is this even humanly possible?!]

[And there's Kim Hae-gil's concert! Yip Sings "I'll Love You Till I Die" in Korean! His pronunciation is even more authentic than people from Yanbian! He completely blew up the crowd and made Kim Hae-gil cry!]

The most outrageous thing is that phrase, "China's own Seumida"! This joke is stuck in my head right now!

[Have you guys noticed? Ye Shen speaks Korean! He knows opera! He can do coloratura! He can rap! He can even do musicals! I suspect he was just playing along with us at the Hangzhou stop!]

[To tone it down? To hell with it! If he keeps toning it down, what chance do the rest of the music industry have?!]

Just as everyone was chatting enthusiastically!

A group announcement suddenly popped up: [Brothers and sisters! A family member submitted a message saying that Ye Chen is sitting in the live broadcast room of "Voice of Dreams" today!]

The announcement caused an uproar in the group!

【Wait, wasn't he supposed to retire from the entertainment industry? How come he's busier than when he debuted?!】

What are you waiting for? Post the link now! I want to see Ye Shen!!!

Let's go see our Ye Shen on "Voice of Dreams"!

Wait a minute! He's not going to be a contestant, is he? Then all the other contestants can just withdraw!

[A contestant? Who do you think you are? My brother Chen has the connections; he's at least there to be a judge and cause trouble!]

[Quick! Here's the link! If we're any later, I'm afraid he'll write a song on the spot and buy out the entire show!]

[Ye Shen is awesome!!!]

……

A separate review room.

The order in which the singers would appear was determined by drawing lots during the program.

"Teacher Ye Chen, the theme of this episode of 'Voice of Dreams' is 'Human Matters,' which we usually refer to as life."

The solo host, Su Jinyun, explained to Ye Chen.

"You stay here and watch. After all the contestants have finished singing, we'll ask you to come out and give us your feedback."

"Hmm," Ye Chen nodded, pondering, "The theme is 'human touch'?"