Chapter 78: Wan Feng Is Back to Criticize Again?

“Well then, there’s no need to say more about the singers who have been eliminated…”
The results of the singers’ mutual voting had been announced, and as expected, Murong Xue was hailed as the top performer. Without a doubt, her performance today was worthy of the week’s torment she had endured.

“Thank you to all the seniors… for your encouragement, and thank you, Brother Qian, for… your strict demands this past week. That’s the only reason… I didn’t make any mistakes…”

The girl was still quite nervous, not daring to look at the camera. Instead, she bowed to the other singers to express her thanks.

“This isn’t just encouragement! It’s sincere admiration. Xiaoxue’s performance today was truly stunning,” Sun Munan corrected from the side. In the mutual voting session, there was no room for private motives; every singer knew exactly whose performance was outstanding and whose was lacking. There would be no games played.

After all, each of them had their own principles, not to mention that Ren Qian had made it clear in the past in no uncertain terms.

“Now, let’s announce the singer rankings…”

…

The announcement of the singer rankings was always a tense moment.

Once the singers experienced the magic of the “I Am a Singer” stage, the fear of being ruthlessly eliminated gripped them.

“We’ll start by announcing…”

The singers were on edge, but Ren Qian was completely at ease, occasionally teasing the audience and playing with a few lighthearted jokes.

Of course, he didn’t mean to drag things out on purpose; he knew when to stop.

Even the cameraman beside him couldn’t help but marvel at Ren Qian’s innate sense of rhythm. Perhaps this was the instinct of a true musical genius.

“So, the singer to be eliminated is Cai Chengyu…”

As Ren Qian’s words fell, the other singers all breathed a sigh of relief; in fact, they were inwardly overjoyed. As expected, this fool was finally out. After all, seeing him sprawled out in the audience, crossing his legs and bossing around the singers during rehearsals, was enough to make anyone nauseous.

Every singer wished this guy would disappear for good, never to be seen again!

“What? I’m actually eliminated!? These audience members must be blind. My performance was outstanding, and yet… There must be something going on behind the scenes, right? Ren Qian! You’re behind this, aren’t you?!”

Cai Chengyu leapt from his seat, about to grab Ren Qian and confront him, but the staff acted quickly to restrain him.

“Let me go!”

“If you’re going to play dirty, why not admit it! Get over here and say it to my face. I’ll make you pay!”

Ren Qian stared coldly at the rampaging Cai Chengyu. After a week of excessive praise, Cai Chengyu’s mindset had completely unraveled. Such a state would only make his temper worse and cause him to offend more and more people, ultimately leading to his ruin.

“Turn off the cameras and escort the eliminated singer out. The rest of you, take a day to rest, then prepare your new songs.”

Ren Qian gave a slight smile. In the past, he hadn’t touched Cai Chengyu because the production team had a contract with his agency, and breaking it would have been awkward. There was also the concern that Cai Chengyu might cause a scene on stage and affect the audience’s mood, damaging the show’s reputation.

But now, Ren Qian had nothing to fear. What could Cai Chengyu do to him? Post on Weibo to slander the “I Am a Singer” team?

Once the show aired, it would be a blatant humiliation; even his fans would be disappointed in him and ashamed to support him.

Ren Qian’s methods were ruthlessly efficient. He didn’t blackball Cai Chengyu outright—after all, that would be an underhanded move, and people might gossip behind his back. Instead, he let Cai Chengyu ruin himself, which was the best of both worlds.

“Drag Cai Chengyu out!”

Director Hong Tao stood at the door. He was usually quite refined and cultured, but today he couldn’t stand Cai Chengyu’s rabid display and finally lost his temper.

“Alright! You’ve got guts! Once I’m gone, what ratings will you have left? With just those two washed-up old relics and these two wretched women…”

“Drag him out!” Director Hong added, clearly planning to call Cai Chengyu’s agency with a warning. What kind of so-called stars and singers were they sending these days?

Ren Qian said nothing more. He quietly turned the doorknob and left the room.

“Hello, this is Ren Qian. Why did you want to see me, Father-in-law?”

As he exited the broadcasting building, Ren Qian heard his phone ring.

“You’re busy with preparations for the ‘I Am a Singer’ show at Jiangnan TV these days, right? Any trouble? If there’s any problem at all, just let us know and we’ll sort it out for you right away!”

His father-in-law’s hearty voice came from the other end… Ren Qian was speechless for a moment. Had his father-in-law been living exceedingly well lately?

Hm, something didn’t feel quite right…

“There’s not really any trouble… It’s just, last time I saw the evening news, there seemed to be some homeless people in Jiangnan City complaining about my mother-in-law… You know what I mean…”

“I just wanted to let you know that Feifei will never set foot in the kitchen again! She’s completely turned over a new leaf and is focusing all her energy on work now…”

Ren Qian wiped away a bead of sweat. This was truly uplifting news. Even though he and the nurse lived elsewhere, they’d still have to go back for family gatherings now and then, right?

He would have been forced to suffer otherwise.

After hanging up, Ren Qian saw a message from his nurse girlfriend.

“What happened? King Wan Feng and his fans are attacking you again!”

His fingers flew over the keyboard as he quickly replied, then opened Weibo to take a look.

This time, the pop king came in full force—not only posting his own tirade against Ren Qian, but also rallying many Weibo influencers to repost it.

But on closer inspection, it wasn’t actually Wan Feng who had posted the original Weibo.

It was that stubborn, foul-mouthed blockhead, Cai Chengyu.

The original post read as follows:

[As a top-tier star, I stooped to participate in a music show with only five hundred audience members, only to be tormented for a week. The other six singers were extremely hostile towards me, constantly rolling their eyes. When the results came out, I ranked even lower than two has-been singers. Fine, but a completely unknown newcomer also scored higher than me! I refuse to accept it—this show is full of shady dealings! Garbage show! Garbage Ren Qian! How can Jiangnan TV value such a petty, vengeful person so highly! Pah!]

The ever-forgetful King Wan Feng also came over to repost sadly, adding his own unique perspective:

[No matter what it is, once it’s in Ren Qian’s hands, it drops a level. Like his music—just cheap tricks for attention! Now he’s doing an ‘I Am a Singer’ show? It’s an insult to the very word “singer.”]

Other Weibo influencers, for reasons unknown, began to repost as well, each adding their own disparaging comments about Ren Qian.

Their followers then joined in, and soon a large-scale wave of online personal attacks began to form, all targeting Ren Qian.

Within just a few minutes, Weibo was in an uproar.

“Why does Ren Qian seem to offend everyone? He’s really unpopular. King Wan Feng has never liked him—just goes to show what a terrible person he is.”

“Who is Ren Qian? Just another clown, I guess?”

“Ugly people always stir up the most trouble!”

…

“A bunch of trash-talking trolls above, my Qian God is as low-key as they come. It’s always the jealous dogs barking the loudest.”

“I’ll slap your mom in the face with a handsome photo of Ren Qian. You must have something wrong with your sense of beauty to call him ugly!”