A band, or a battleground?

Zhou Taishan laughed and continued, "Liang Fei is right, those high notes are really powerful. But what I want to praise even more is your lyrics and music. The lyrics are clearly just plain language, seemingly without any rhetoric, but when put together, they have a special charm!"

Qi Yuan: "Thank you, Teacher Zhou..."

The veteran rocker suddenly waved his hand: "I'm not finished yet. Not just the lyrics, but the music too. I've already heard you guys rehearse this song, but I still can't help but wonder, how is your head made of anything? How can these melodies keep popping out one after another?"

Qi Yuan smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Teacher Zhou."

He Dong turned his gaze to the last mentor: "What about Teacher Jia Shu? What do you think of this performance?"

Chen Jiashu looked at the four people on the stage, his smile appearing incredibly sincere, even tinged with admiration.

"I think there's really no need for further evaluation. Kasuga Kage's talent has clearly surpassed the scope of this program."

Upon hearing this, the entire room fell silent, and even Liang Fei and Zhou Taishan, who were standing nearby, couldn't help but turn to look at him.

Chen Jiashu continued, "Qi Yuan, your creative talent is absolutely among the best in the Chinese pop music scene in the last decade. This song 'Mountains and Seas' is so good that I think it would be worthy of winning first place in tonight's semi-finals, let alone competing for the Golden Melody Award."

Qi Yuan was taken aback.

Chen Jiashu paused for a moment, then continued to praise, "You guys are too dazzling, so dazzling that even the other bands in the other groups tonight, who are also very good, seem a bit dim in your light. Putting you on the stage of 'Tomorrow's Band' to compete with other contestants is simply cruel to the others."

These words were spoken at an extremely high level, reaching the clouds.

A cheer erupted from the audience in the studio, after all, they had heard the highest level of praise.

However, Qi Yuan, standing on the stage, slightly lowered his gaze.

Meanwhile, on the mentor's panel, Zhou Taishan's brow furrowed imperceptibly. These were all seasoned veterans of the entertainment industry; who couldn't see the hidden meaning in his words?

This isn't just simple praise; it's clearly a case of flattery to kill!

Chen Jiashu positioned his band, and even all the other bands in the audience, as "weak" and "victims," ​​elevating Chunriying to the status of an invincible demon king. If Chunriying's second song had even the slightest flaw, or if they didn't deliver a crushing performance in the finals, this excessively high expectation would turn into a poisonous backlash.

He Dong clearly sensed the subtle shift in the atmosphere, but as a professional host, he immediately seized the opportunity: "Teacher Chen Jiashu gave it extremely high praise! Indeed, Spring Shadow's first song tonight was so stunning. Now, it's time to vote. Please pick up your phones, register or log in to the voting page, and begin the first round of voting!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"This is praise to death! This is praise to death!"

In the waiting area, Qiu Mengxue lowered her voice, but her tone was full of anger.

Regardless of how good the song "Shan Hai" is, this is ultimately a competition, and it involves audience voting. Chen Jiashu's words, while certainly a compliment, will definitely raise the audience's expectations even higher.

Qiu Mengxue continued, "The audience already has high expectations for us. So what if there are mistakes on stage later? No band can say that they will never make a mistake in their performance!"

Ning Qianyu and Jiang Yi lost their playful mood and their expressions became increasingly serious.

However, Qi Yuan picked at his ear and leisurely asked, "What does this prove?"

Qiu Mengxue was taken aback: "What does that mean?"

Qi Yuan laughed and said, "Of the ten bands in the semi-finals, only our group is left from Teacher Zhou's group, three from Teacher Liang Fei's group, and six bands from Teacher Chen Jiashu's group are still alive, more than Teachers Zhou and Liang Fei combined. But none of them are favorites to win. If Chen Jiashu wants his group to win, he can only hope that we make a mistake."

Qiu Mengxue: "Yes, that's why he's trying to flatter us to our detriment, that's what I mean—"

"So what?" Qi Yuan interrupted. "As a mentor, he should have some power within the production team, and he's also a top-tier veteran in the music industry. The fact that he can only resort to such petty tricks shows what?"

Qiu Mengxue thought for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Does he have no other choice?"

Qi Yuan nodded and smiled, "That's right, it means he's out of options! At this stage of the show, he can't pull any tricks or use underhanded tactics, so he can only try to flatter us and raise the audience's expectations, hoping we'll make a mistake. What if we don't make a mistake?"

Qiu Mengxue's brows relaxed: "So all we need to do is be ourselves."

Qi Yuan: "That's exactly right!"

Jiang Yi suddenly spoke up: "Sister Liu?"

Upon hearing this, the others turned around and saw agent Liu Weiting enter the waiting area and walk towards them.

This semi-final was broadcast live, so there was no need to film footage for the final cut. Therefore, unlike previous rounds, there weren't constant cameras focused on the contestants in the waiting area. Looking at the other bands, they were all quite a distance away from the young men and women of Haruhi Kage, allowing the managers to speak more freely.

As soon as Liu Weiting arrived, she whispered, "Breaking news: all ten bands from the semi-finals have signed with record labels. Especially Chen Jiashu, four out of the six bands in his group have signed with Jufeng Records."

Qi Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly: "What about Tianhua Entertainment?"

Liu Weiting laughed and said, "To be honest, the bands our company signed before were all useless and were eliminated before the semi-finals. So now, it's just you guys left."

Qiu Mengxue pondered, "No wonder Chen Jiashu wanted to flatter us to death; it might be related to Jufeng..."

Ning Qianyu pursed her lips: "Actually, I think Jufeng was also involved in the incident where Qi Yuan was smeared. We only rejected them, and Qi Yuan rejected their boss to his face, so their boss definitely wanted to get revenge."

Liu Weiting scratched her head: "I was going to say something to warn you to be careful of Chen Jiashu, that he was just trying to kill you with flattery... Turns out, you all saw through it already."

“We’re not little brats who get smug just because we hear a few nice words,” Qi Yuan smiled and pointed to his temple. “Our brains are capable of doing anything.”

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

115 fans are so energetic!

The semi-final format is that all bands perform once, and then ten minutes are reserved for voting.

Once the voting results are in, the two bands with the fewest votes are eliminated, and the remaining eight bands perform in a second round, followed by another vote. The top five bands with the most votes advance to the finals.

For online viewers, this voting period consisted of ten minutes of commercials before the camera finally returned to the stage.

As for the 500 audience members, they simply sat there waiting until He Dong made his announcement:

"The ten-minute voting period is now closed. Let's look at the big screen; the data is being compiled in real time!"

Ten bars representing the bands' vote counts appeared at the bottom of the screen. Accompanied by the sound of guitar strumming, the bars began to rise.

The audience erupted in commotion.

Chen Jiashu, sitting slightly upright on the mentor's panel, kept his eyes glued to the screen. Jufeng Music had mobilized considerable resources; his group of bands should be fine.

Suddenly, the bar charts for two bands froze, no longer rising.

"We see that the Old Sweater Band is in tenth place with 620,000 votes; the Zebra Crossing Band is in ninth place with 750,000 votes. Let's give them a round of applause and thank them for their wonderful performances all the way!"

Both bands were eliminated in the first round, but the vote counting is still ongoing.

"Eighth place, Traffic Lights Band, 1.1 million votes!"

"Seventh place, Moss Band, 1.3 million votes!"

"Sixth place, Insomniacs Band, 1.8 million votes!"

"Fifth place, Reverse Gear Band, 2.2 million votes!"

"Fourth place, Paper Wind Chimes Band, 2.6 million votes!"

He Dong's voice grew louder and louder.

"Next up are our top three. Third place goes to the Katz Band from Professor Chen Jiashu's group! They received 3.8 million votes!"

"Second place goes to the Polar Day Band, also from Professor Chen Jiashu's group. They received 4.5 million votes!"

Chen Jiashu's lips curled into a satisfied smile. Both Jizhou and Kaz were rising stars signed and heavily promoted by Jufeng Music. Their combined votes of over eight million proved Jufeng's operational capabilities. Even if Chunri Ying won first place, as long as the vote difference wasn't too large, they still had a chance in the finals.

Furthermore, the people from Kyoho had told him that the Katz band would try to drag Kasuga Kage into their scheme. Although Chen Jiashu didn't know exactly what the three Katz members were planning, or what the so-called 'dragging into' meant, since there was such a claim, Kasuga Kage's kids should be affected... right?

However, when everyone's attention turned to the last bar chart belonging to the "Spring Shadow Band", the entire audience erupted in an even greater commotion.

Because that pillar showed no sign of stopping.

Five million... eight million... ten million!

The pillars exceeded the original scale limit set on the screen, broke through the top dotted line of the chart, and even gave everyone the illusion that the vote counting system was lagging.

Finally, an eight-digit number appeared at the top of the screen.

He Dong's voice trembled slightly: "First place, from Teacher Zhou Taishan's group, the Spring Shadow Band! Votes... 14.2 million!"

The studio seemed to be overturned by the roar of the audience.

More than 14 million votes, which is more than the total number of votes for the second to fifth place.

Under the "one phone, one ticket" rule, this means that in just ten minutes, more than 14 million people across the internet picked up their phones for this band.

What is fault compaction?

On the mentor's panel, Zhou Taishan didn't laugh out loud, but he couldn't stop smiling.

Although Chen Jiashu was also smiling, his gaze was somewhat stiff.

Amid cheers, He Dong continued, "Let's congratulate the eight bands who have successfully advanced. Next, the second round of the semi-finals will begin. Each band, please prepare your performance in the order of your vote count. Please welcome the Traffic Lights band to perform their second semi-final song!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"yeah!"

When the vote count for Spring Day Film was released, Shen Yihan, dressed in her costume, couldn't help but pump her fist and shout.

The male actor from the idol drama sitting across from her asked with a smile, "Are you watching that band show too?"

Shen Yihan immediately composed herself, leaving only a necessary smile: "Yes, I'm watching it now."

The male actor asked, "Which band do you like?"

Shen Yihan answered without hesitation, "Spring Shadow."

The actor asked with a smile, "I heard you've worked with them before, is that why?"

Shen Yihan thought for a moment. If she directly said that she liked this band before she went on the show, it would make her seem like a little fangirl, and that she was openly chasing stars by taking advantage of her position in the entertainment industry.

So she said, "Yes."

That was all.

The exceptionally handsome actor hesitated for a while, but seeing that Shen Yihan was looking down at her phone and not paying any attention to him, he didn't know how to start a conversation. So he could only put down the lunchbox he had just finished eating and walk away helplessly.

The empty seat he left behind was then occupied by Assistant Zeng.

"Miss, he seems to want to chat with you."

"Maybe so, but I don't really want to talk about it."

Assistant Zeng sighed: "I initially thought this was normal; you've always been like this. But now that I think about it, you and Chunriying were having a great time chatting during your live stream, weren't you? Is Qi Yuan really that special?"

Shen Yihan quickly explained, "I wasn't just talking to Qi Yuan alone, I was also talking to Qian Yu, Meng Xue, and Yi Yi! You have to understand, I don't just like one person, I like their whole band!"

Assistant Zeng was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Miss, you're spacing out."

Shen Yihan: "I'm not really interested in the Traffic Lights band. Their songs are too ordinary."

Assistant Zeng asked, "Besides Spring Shadow, are there any other bands on this show that interest you?"

Shen Yihan honestly shook her head. Then, she simply exited the live stream, opened the official fan group of the Spring Shadow Band, and started spamming.

Assistant Zeng didn't even need to look at her screen; a quick glance was enough to tell what she was looking at. After all, it was Assistant Zeng who helped her get the opportunity to join that fan group.

Then Assistant Zeng said helplessly, "Miss, you should also look at your own fan groups. You have far more fan groups than Chunriying. They only have about twenty groups, while you have almost a hundred."

Shen Yihan said without looking up, "But they are a newly created group."

Is there any difference?

"The new group members are more lively and interesting. The emojis they post and the jokes they use are more interesting... How should I put it, they feel more real, don't you think?"

The assistant complained, "Don't you think your own fans are like real people?"

Shen Yihan stuck out her tongue: "It's not a problem with my fans, it seems like this happens after the group has been around for a long time. But you're right, I should take a look at my own fan group too."

Then she left the Haruhi Kage fan group and randomly opened one of her own fan groups, where she saw the latest message:

[A summary of Yihan's most memorable ugly moments! Number one: She fell down on the show "Who's the Murderer," her nostrils pointing directly at the camera...]

One group member replied: [This isn't just pretending to be ugly, this is genuinely embarrassing.]

Shen Yihan immediately turned off her phone screen: "I shouldn't have opened this stupid group!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

116 knows you can make things up, but this is just too much!

The semi-finals have finally reached their final match.

Qi Yuan led his three female teammates onto the stage, waiting for the curtain to rise.

A commotion arose outside the screen, with many audience members chanting "Spring Day Shadow," though their chants were not in unison.

He took a deep breath.

Throughout the entire semi-final, Qi Yuan seemed so calm and mature to everyone, as if his emotions wouldn't fluctuate at all... But how could that be?