Chapter 90 Zhao Zhao is angry

Lu Yinzhao: "..."

Why are there always these recurring programs where children have to perform?

To try and teach a master craftsman is to make oneself a laughingstock.

Besides, singing is what he's least good at!

He can manage to wiggle his hips a couple of times, but he's really hopeless at singing!

"Uncle Mu, I can't sing, my voice isn't nice." Lu Yinzhao waved his hand, buried his head in his rice, and avoided the other person's gaze.

"How could that be? A child's voice is the most beautiful. I think your voice is quite nice." Mu Shaoquan clearly didn't believe it.

Helpless, Lu Yinzhao turned his gaze to Bian Ji, his eyes filled with a pleading look.

Bian Ji paused, chopsticks in hand. "Teacher, Zhao Zhao means that he is tone-deaf."

Lu Yinzhao nodded repeatedly.

Yes, yes, I sing off-key.

Mu Shaoquan was somewhat surprised. He turned to Yin Song with suspicion and asked, "Really?"

Yin Song chuckled awkwardly, realizing Mu Shaoquan's unspoken message.

His eyes seemed to say: You're a Golden Melody Award-winning singer, you can sing so well, how come your son is tone-deaf! Is this really your son?

"Teacher Mu, please don't make things difficult for the child. Our family has not restricted Zhaozhao's development. He can do whatever he wants. No one stipulates that a singer's son must be a singer, right?"

Yin Song's words cleverly resolved Lu Yinzhao's embarrassment.

Mu Shaoquan stopped dwelling on it and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Xiao Zhaozhao, I was being presumptuous."

Bian Ji also comforted Lu Yinzhao: "The teacher is just having an occupational hazard, you don't need to worry about it."

"Hmm! Brother Aji, I didn't mind."

Mu Shaoquan: "..." He really is his good student, he understands him so well.

However, what Lu Yinzhao was curious about was that his mother and Bian Ji actually knew that he was tone-deaf.

He has never sung at home before, so how did they find out?

With this question in mind, Lu Yinzhao quietly asked them after dinner.

Yin Song took out his phone and showed it to Zhao Zhao, "Your teacher recorded your performance in class and sent it to me. Although you sang off-key, I think you sang very cutely. I guess this can be considered... freestyle?"

"!!" Lu Yinzhao's eyes widened suddenly.

He had completely forgotten about that.

Bian Ji was also watching this video for the first time, and politely asked, "Aunt Yin, could you send me a copy of the video as well?"

"??"

Boss, what do you need all of these for?

Should you two avoid making the deal with me first?

"Brother Aji, what about you? How did you know I sang off-key?"

Since this is his first time watching this video, he shouldn't know anything about it.

"Just a guess."

Bian Ji responded calmly, but that was not actually the case.

Lu Yinzhao himself probably didn't realize that when he was in a particularly good mood, he would occasionally hum a little tune unintentionally.

Bian Ji's ears were certified by music masters for their sensitivity.

Just from listening to this little tune, you can basically tell that Lu Yinzhao isn't good at singing.

Bian Ji would never look down on Lu Yinzhao because of this. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and Lu Yinzhao has qualities that Bian Ji lacks.

*

The day of the children's group finals.

Lu Yinzhao and his group entered the audience seats in advance according to the requirements of the competition venue.

The lights below gradually dimmed, and at the same time, the spotlights on the stage suddenly turned on.

The host came out from behind the scenes, gave an opening speech, and then explained the scoring rules for the final round, following the content displayed on the big screen.

There are 10 contestants participating in the finals, and they will compete in three stages.

Besides "Solar Grin", Bian Ji also selected two songs written by his teacher as cover songs for the first two rounds.

The final victory is determined by the total score. In each round, the highest and lowest scores from the judges' panel are removed, and the average score of the remaining judges is taken as the score for that round.

The order of appearance will be determined by drawing lots in each round.

Bian Ji himself doesn't care much about the order, but for competitive matches, the order is still somewhat important.

Appearing too early or too late is not good. If the judges don't hear the comparison at the beginning, they may give lower scores to the earlier contestants. If they appear too late, it may lead to auditory fatigue and a lack of novelty.

After all, they are all 7-10 year old children, and participating in such a competition will more or less make them feel nervous.

Some children started shaking when they came on stage to introduce themselves. There were many audience members today, which was very different from when they participated in the preliminary and semi-final rounds.

Some inexperienced young athletes are easily influenced by these environments.

He remained calm and composed, with even his heart rate barely fluctuating. While others went on stage, he would close his eyes to rest and mentally review the lyrics.

His luck was unbelievable; he drew the last digit in the first two rounds.

This resulted in a long waiting period.

Lu Yinzhao watched expectantly from below the stage, "Why hasn't it been Brother Aji's turn yet?"

Bian Nan already had a vague premonition, "I'm afraid I drew the last one..."

Yin Song smiled and said, "Let's wait patiently for a while. Xiao Ji will amaze everyone when she makes her final appearance."

Wen Su arrived just in time for her son's competition, standing next to her best friend Yin Song with a glow stick in her hand.

"I see that several children ahead of me have made mistakes, I hope my Aji won't be nervous..."

Lu Yinzhao thought to herself, "Your son is probably not as nervous as I am."

His heart was pounding in his throat. Lu Yinzhao was prone to nervousness in crowded places. For example, he had embarrassed himself during a live broadcast while recording a variety show.

Now he completely put himself in Bian Ji's situation, and the thought of performing in front of so many people made him afraid.

"Next, please welcome contestant number 10 to the stage! The piece he will be performing is..."

As soon as the host read it aloud, Lu Yinzhao and his group perked up and looked over.

Bian Ji was wearing a medieval shirt and riding breeches today. The shirt had wide ruffles on the cuffs, and the riding breeches cinched her waist.

Under the light, the boy's skin glowed white, like a little prince descended from the heavens.

How come this guy is already so handsome when he's only ten years old?

Lu Yinzhao couldn't quite put his finger on the kind of boyish handsomeness that Bian Ji possessed. In any case, the moment Bian Ji appeared, he was the most dazzling person in the entire venue. Lu Yinzhao couldn't take his eyes off him for a moment, his gaze fixed intently on the "little prince" on the stage.

The host introduced Bian Ji in English, and the audience knew that this cool and handsome boy with an Eastern face came from China.

As soon as the music started, Bian Ji's voice was perfectly in sync with the beat, the rhythm was just right, and he even changed his vocal tone in the middle.

Soon, the three-minute performance ended, and a round of applause erupted in the audience.

The foreign judges sitting on the judging panel all showed expressions of surprise.

After listening to the songs sung by the previous children, they didn't have high expectations for the last contestant, thinking that he might perform at a similar level as the others.

After all, they are still children. It is already very impressive that they were able to come to this stage and finish singing.

To everyone's surprise, the young contestant performed so perfectly that they couldn't find a single mistake in Bian Ji's voice.

This song is in Chinese, and the judges could only understand it by referring to the translation on paper. Although they couldn't understand the meaning, Bian Ji's musical performance was flawless.

Perhaps it was because a different song stood out among countless similar tracks that surprised the judges, who were generous with their points, and Bian Ji received the highest score in this round.

"Wow! Brother Ji is number one! That's amazing!"

Lu Yinzhao waved his hands frantically in the audience, unable to contain his excitement.

This amused Mu Shaoquan, who was standing to the side. "This is only the first round. Just wait and see. They won't let Xiao Ji be first in the next round."

Such an international competition brings together athletes from many countries, 95% of whom are children from Western countries. It's not that Mu Shaoquan is conspiring; he's just been living for so many years and is used to the routines of this kind of competition. As the only child from the East, Bian Ji is bound to be suppressed a little.

However, the organizers didn't make it too obvious, so they gave this young boy from the East plenty of respect in the first round of the competition.

As expected, after the second round of the competition, Bian Ji ranked fifth in total score.

Lu Yinzhao's face immediately fell.

Are these judges even competent? They deduct points just because they don't understand Chinese? They can't even understand this bunch of old German chatter!

Bian Ji was unaware that Lu Yinzhao was secretly angry at the moment; he really didn't care much about the results of this competition.

For his teacher, it was just a casual visit to experience the competition atmosphere and broaden his horizons.

He did indeed learn about different musicalities and singing styles from the performances of other contestants.

In the final round, Bian Ji surprisingly drew number 1.

He just finished the last round and is about to take the stage again.

It's not his fault that he's having bad luck... It's better to finish the competition sooner, he's getting a little bored waiting here.

When Bian Ji returned to the stage, he noticed a blonde middle-aged woman on the judges' panel smiling at him the whole time.

He didn't care much, focusing on the flow of the music and immersing himself in it.

The moment the intro started, his entire attention was focused on the song.

He played this piece no less than a hundred times; it was his own composition… a piece that belonged to his memories…

“Sunbeams stitch the morning sky…”

(Sunlight stitches the morning sky together)

“With threads of tangerine and gold…”

(Using orange-red and golden-yellow silk threads)

"..."

The moment he spoke, the surroundings unconsciously fell silent.

The echoes from the stage were ethereal and clear, melting everyone's hearts like a pool of snowmelt.

The boy looked in a certain direction from below the stage and curled his lips into a smile.

Passing through beams of pure white light, Lu Yinzhao met a pair of eyes so full of emotion they were almost overflowing.

The tune sounded familiar; he was certain he had heard it countless times in the voice messages Bian Ji had sent him.

But after adding content, it looks quite different.

Lu Yinzhao didn't really know anything about singing, but listening to this song, countless images inexplicably came to mind.

The little orange cat beside the piano, the egg tarts in the oven, the little tricycle in the yard, the clover in the flowerpot... and more...

The shadows beneath the clouds and them under the starry sky.

Lu Yinzhao suddenly realized that he and Bian Ji had actually spent many days and nights together.

“Even the moon peeks early, shy…”

(The moon also peeked out early, shyly.)

"To steal a spark from solar's smile…"

(A smile that wants to steal a ray of sunshine)

"..."

After a soothing and tranquil song was performed, the judges remained silent for a long time.

It's as if breaking this beauty would be disrespectful to it.

It wasn't until Bian Ji abandoned his gentle demeanor while singing and reverted to a cool and handsome expression, bowing deeply to the audience, that the host regained his composure and asked the judges to give some feedback on the contestant's performance.

The first to speak was the blonde woman, who made no attempt to hide her affection for Bian Ji.

"Oh my God, I had completely forgotten that I was in a competition venue. It felt like I was enjoying your personal concert."

“Handsome little guy, your voice is very different. I believe it is your unique weapon, and no one can defeat you.”

Another male judge with curly hair also revealed a fatherly smile, "Your singing style is very clean. I feel like my ears are about to get pregnant. I also have a son at home who is about the same age as you. For a moment, I thought of him. Thank you for your performance. Your singing can create vivid images for people."

Even though the judges spoke a little slowly, Lu Yinzhao could still understand the general meaning.

However, in front of everyone, he still pretended not to understand.

He asked, bewildered, "Why are they laughing so happily?"

Mu Shaoquan stroked his chin and said, "They're praising Xiao Ji so much now, what if they don't even give her a championship later..."

Lu Yinzhao was genuinely afraid that Mu Shaoquan might be a jinx.

Although Bian Ji was just there to have fun, Lu Yinzhao really wanted him to win the championship!

After watching this match, Lu Yinzhao has become a die-hard fan of Bian Ji.

If anyone criticizes Bian Ji's singing, he'll be the first to get angry.

Because Bian Ji was the first to finish performing, there was still a while before the final results were announced, but he was able to leave work early.

He saw Lu Yinzhao in the audience when he was singing.

The little guy stared at him blankly, his eyes sparkling.

Bian Ji felt that he had performed well and had achieved his goal for this trip: to perform the piece to his heart's content.

Moreover... I've already sung it formally in front of Lu Yinzhao, so I have no regrets.

After all the contestants finished performing, the host announced the final results based on the scores reported by the judges.

"The champion of this children's singing competition is..."

It's a border palpitation! It's a border palpitation! Please!

Lu Yinzhao clasped his hands together and bowed.

"Luca!"

Lu Yinzhao's expression changed instantly, "..."

The jinx came true.

Seriously, what are these judges doing?!

He was absolutely furious!

He's going to cause trouble! Aaaaaah!

The host then announced that the runner-up was Bian Ji and the third place was Sofia.

Mu Shaoquan seemed to have expected this, shrugged, and said nonchalantly, "Second place is not bad either. Alright, the competition is over, let's go home!"

Yin Song looked at his baby's sullen face and gently rubbed his cheeks to comfort him. "Alright, baby, there will be plenty of opportunities for Xiao Ji to compete in the future. Don't worry about this result."

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Author's Note: Zhao Zhao: There's a conspiracy! There's a conspiracy! I disagree! [Crying]