Entertainment: A song that brought his deceased wife back to life.

Before the applause for Qingniao Feiyu had even subsided, the host continued the conversation.

"The first six groups of guests have all delivered wonderful performances tonight, but our grand finale has not yet taken the stage."

"She once toured overseas and every show was sold out. She is known as a powerful diva by her fans - Su Man."

The big screen lit up.

A 30-second montage of overseas performances played on the screen. Lights flashed, screams were deafening, and the stadium, with tens of thousands of seats filled, was packed.

This is a completely different style from the living room-style setting of the Bluebird and Flying Fish we just saw.

The warm yellow old table lamps were removed, replaced by an entire LED wall. Dozens of light beams hung from the ceiling, and a smoke machine hissed out a cloud of dry ice.

Su Man slowly rose from the elevator platform.

A custom-made sequined dress, exquisite makeup, every single eyelash meticulously trimmed. In-ear monitors are hanging, microphones are clipped in, and wireless monitoring gear is also worn—the whole set is top-of-the-line.

The contrast between that and Xu Qing's shabby attitude—daring to go on stage with just a beat-up guitar—is ridiculously large.

Someone in the audience muttered something.

"The difference in scale is just too much."

"They're big stars, it's normal."

Behind the curtain backstage, Luo Qianyu crossed her arms and looked at the stage.

Xu Qing sat on the folding chair, drinking water, without even looking at anything.

The music started.

As soon as the intro started, Fang Hong straightened up on the judges' panel.

The song features a base of electronic synthesizers, followed by a heavy drum roll, culminating in a two-octave high note in the chorus. The arrangement is extremely precise, with every beat's timbre carefully calculated.

Fang Hong recognized the technique.

Chen Che. A Grammy-nominated producer who spent eight years in Europe. Few people in China can produce this level of arrangement.

Su Man's voice is indeed remarkable. Her high notes are steady, her breath control is long, and her transitions are crisp. When she sings the bridge section, she uses three consecutive coloratura phrases, and her technique is flawless.

After singing for four minutes, the lights dimmed, and Su Man bowed slightly in the smoke as she took her bow.

The applause was very loud.

But Fang Hong noticed a detail—

Compared to the previous round with the Bluebird and Flying Fish, one thing is missing.

No one asked for an encore.

-

Scoring process.

The host stepped to the front of the stage.

"Now we move on to tonight's scoring phase. The rules are simple—live audience votes account for 40%, and scores from the four music critics account for 60%. The final rankings of the seven groups will be announced simultaneously on the big screen."

The audience voting data popped up on the big screen first.

The seven groups are arranged from highest to lowest.

First Place: Bluebird Flying Fish – 92.7

Second place: Lu Xiaoyu – 87.3

Third place: Su Man – 86.1

Fourth place: White Dove Combination – 84.5

Fifth place: Time Machine – 82.0

Sixth place: Zhao Yiming – 79.8

Seventh place: Linbei Band – 76.4

A commotion broke out in the audience.

The audience score for Qingniao Feiyu is six and a half points ahead of Suman.

Backstage, Luo Qianyu stared at the number, her fingers clenching slightly.

Xu Qing sat in the folding chair, not even looking at the screen.

"We're number one in the audience vote."

"It only accounts for 40%."

Luo Qianyu stopped.

She turned to look at the judges' panel.

Four music critics. Fang Hong sat on the far left, next to Wen Xiaoman, the female music critic whose eyes had just reddened. The two on the right were Zhou Zhengping and Yang Fan.

Fang Hong was the first to be called out.

"I'll start with Bluebird and Flying Fish." Fang Hong flipped through his notes. "I'd give this song, 'Plain Face,' a 95 out of 100."

Fang Hong pushed up his glasses.

"Of the seven performances today, only this one got the whole audience singing along. No effects pedals, no backing tracks, just a guitar. But every word was spoken naturally, every note was real. This kind of thing is almost extinct in today's music scene."

Wen Xiaoman gave it 93 points.

"Sincere, pleasant to listen to. Nothing to complain about."

Then it was Zhou Zhengping's turn.

Zhou Zhengping picked up the microphone and smiled.

"Teacher Fang is right. However, as someone with a background in music arrangement, I'd like to offer a few different opinions."

Zhou Zhengping opened the notebook.

"The melody of 'Bare Face' is indeed catchy, but from a professional point of view, the arrangement is too thin. A guitar carries more than four minutes of the song without any variation in its structure. It's fine for street performances, but it sounds too rough on a professional stage."

Zhou Zhengping paused for a moment.

"To put it bluntly, it has the feel of a 'bubbly pop song.' I'd give it a 72."

Luo Qianyu was backstage, her fingernails digging into her palms.

The fourth judge, Yang Fan, was even more straightforward.

"I agree with Professor Zhou's point of view. The melody of 'Plain Face' is catchy, but it lacks artistic depth. I give it a 71."

Yang Fan looked to the other side of the stage.

"On the other hand, Su Man's performance, whether in terms of the precision of the arrangement or the display of vocal skills, is textbook-level. I give Su Man 99 points."

Fang Hong glanced at Yang Fan but didn't say anything.

The host awkwardly took over the role.

"So, what were the teachers' grades for Su Man?"

Fang Hong: "88".

Wen Xiaoman: "87".

Zhou Zhengping: "97".

The judges' scores for the other five groups were also revealed one after another.

Luo Qianyu noticed something—

Zhou Zhengping and Yang Fan gave the other five groups scores ranging from a minimum of 82 to a maximum of 86. These were neither high nor low, perfectly normal.

Only the Bluebird and the Flying Fish were given scores of 72 and 71 respectively.

Only Su Man received 97 and 99.

One criticizes, the other praises.

It's too precise.

The overall rankings on the big screen have been updated.

First place: Su Man – 90.1

Second place: Bluebird Flying Fish – 86.7

Third place: Lu Xiaoyu – 85.2

Fourth place: White Dove Combination – 83.8

Fifth place: Time Machine – 81.5

Sixth place: Zhao Yiming – 80.3

Seventh place: Linbei Band – 78.6

Qingniao Feiyu, who was first in the audience vote, dropped to second place in the overall ranking.

Su Man, who came in third in the audience vote, jumped to first place.

The entire room fell silent for two seconds.

Then a few boos came from the audience.

Someone shouted "That's unfair!" but was immediately pulled back by the people next to them.

Su Man stood in the center of the stage, a polite smile on her face.

"Thank you to all the teachers, and thank you to the audience for your support."

Fang Hong did not applaud.

-

Backstage.

Luo Qianyu stood behind the side curtain, staring at the two lines of text on the big screen.

It won first place in the audience vote.

It ranked second overall.

The sound of the entire audience singing along had been playing in her mind—every single one of them was singing the line, "Sneaking a laugh at someone else's smudged face."

That was a song she sang with Xu Qing.

She was dismissed lightly by two people she didn't even know, using the numbers 72 and 71.

A catchy, shallow song. The arrangement is weak. It lacks artistic depth.

Luo Qianyu bit her lower lip.

She turned her head.

Xu Qing was still sitting in the folding chair. A mask obscured her expression. Her hands rested on the guitar, her fingers plucking the silent strings.

It was slow and rhythmic.

"Xu Qing."

"Um."

"They say our songs are just pop songs."