The afternoon preliminary rounds officially started at 1:30, which was still more than half an hour before the official competition. Liang Liang regretted arriving too early.
If he had known these judges were like this, he wouldn't have been a judge.
"Young man! Who sent you here, or rather, who found you?"
An old lady to Liang Liang's right also spoke up.
How to describe the old lady's expression? It couldn't be described as contempt or disdain; in her eyes, Liang Liang seemed to be non-existent.
This was utter indifference! She didn't even glance at Liang Liang, and when she spoke to Liang Liang, her eyes were fixed straight ahead.
"Is it the organizer?" Liang Liang replied vaguely.
"Ridiculous! Would the organizers invite someone like you to be a judge? What qualifications do you have to sit in the middle? Everyone here is a senior figure in the arts and culture scene of Yahe City. What qualifications do you have to sit in the very center?"
"Actually, I didn't want to sit here; it was arranged by someone else!"
"Since you didn't think about it, you should be sensible and go sit somewhere else. This is not a place for you to sit."
Liang Liang thought the old lady was right; she really didn't deserve to sit in the middle. So he stood up, but hesitated for a moment and then sat down again.
He suddenly realized that what the old woman said was wrong.
Where should I sit? It's not my place to tell this old lady what to do. Just because you're old doesn't mean I'll say a word about you.
Is it really worth it for a seat?
"Ma'am! This seat was assigned to me by the organizers. You don't seem to have the right to ask me to move aside, do you?"
"Young man, don't speak so impulsively. You should learn to respect the elderly and care for the young!" another senior colleague spoke up.
Liang Liang was somewhat displeased with this.
So you're bullying me because I'm young?
Although I also have the noble virtue of respecting the elderly and caring for the young, it seems that this situation is not quite permissible.
This is bullying the weak, which is fundamentally different from respecting the elderly and caring for the young.
However, Liang Liang still felt it was too unseemly to argue with a group of people who were older than his father, so he didn't say anything, stood up and left.
After thinking about it, Liang Liang decided that he should talk to Qin Wenju, so he told Qin Wenju about his problem.
Qin Wenju patted her head: "I really hadn't thought about this. There was definitely a miscalculation. A group of people in their fifties and sixties, and someone like you popping up in there..."
"Who are you calling a thing?"
"You're wrong! You're no good."
"You dare say I'm not a thing?"
"Hahaha!" Qin Wenju laughed heartily.
“But the preliminary rounds are about to start, where am I supposed to find a new judge for you?” Qin Wenju said seriously after she finished laughing.
"Sigh! It seems like this is the only way. Have you introduced me to them yet?"
If Qin Wenju introduced Liang Liang to these veteran judges, and they still reacted this way, then it would be intentional.
If Qin Wenju hadn't explained his identity in detail, that would have been... a bit too much.
"Do I even need to introduce them? I didn't introduce these judges to each other when I invited them."
"I understand!" Liang Liang didn't say anything more.
The inaugural Yahe Oriental Harvest Cup Farmers' Singer Grand Prix kicked off at 1 p.m.
When Liang Liang returned to the judges' table, she felt that the atmosphere was a little strange, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why.
The judges to his left and right all kept their eyes straight ahead, looking very serious.
Without much thought, Liang Liang began preparing.
The first singer to perform was a middle-aged male singer from Sanjiashan Township, who sang the song "Little White Poplar".
The singer's accompaniment is done using a backing track.
This is a purely folk singer, meaning she has not received any vocal training. Although her voice is very loud, her singing skills are not impressive. Perhaps due to being middle-aged, her breath control is also somewhat short.
The performance of the song was not very good, and it did not capture the spirit of the little white poplar growing strong.
Liang Liang thought for a moment and wrote down the time as 9:48 on the cardboard.
After scoring, Liang Liang turned his scorecard around and placed it upright on the table.
Liang Liang discovered that he was the first to give a score. After he revealed his score, the other eight judges then revealed their scores.
The host began announcing the scores, and Liang Liang's score was surprisingly the lowest, while the other judges' scores were generally around 9.6.
"After removing the highest score of 9.69 and the lowest score of 9.48, the final score of singer number one is 9.62."
Liang Liang frowned. This was an unreasonable score. Based on the singer's performance, his score should definitely not have exceeded 9.60.
However, he was the first singer to perform, and the judges may not yet understand the scoring rules, so it's understandable that their scores were slightly higher or lower.
Next came the second singer, then the third singer, making a total of seven singers perform in one hour.
Liang Liang always scores based on the principle of fairness and does not give scores based on personal preferences.
However, an hour later, he felt something was wrong.
"The next singer is Han Chunli from Gaobao Township. She will be singing 'The Crescent Moon'."
Upon hearing that the singer was from his hometown, Liang Liang's expression turned solemn.
"In a distant land, there is a crescent moon, and beneath that crescent moon, there is a winding little bridge..."
This farmer-singer named Han Chunli has a nice voice. Although she hasn't received professional training, she has a high level of understanding and appreciation of the song, and she brings out its tender side to the fullest.
This was the best performance out of the seven or eight singers who performed today.
After the performance, Liang Liang gave it a high score of 9.68, which was the highest score he had given so far today.
"Judge number one's score is 9.45, judge number two's score is 9.47, judge number three's score is 9.48..."
Apart from Liang Liang, none of the judges gave a score higher than 9.5.
The singer's final score was 9.47, and he was eliminated because of his wide-eyed stare.
Liang Liang's expression darkened when he saw Han Chunli's face, which looked like she was about to cry.
Only then did he realize that the other eight judges had conspired to give him a hard time.
If he gives a low score, people will give a high score; if he gives a high score, people will give a low score.
This is not how things are handled. You can have opinions about me, but you can't joke about the competition.
These farmers came here with ideals, and now they're making fun of them?
"Han Chunli is actually a pretty good singer. She has a soft voice and a sweet singing style. It's just a pity that she wasn't very lucky today. I hope you won't be discouraged. As long as you persevere, you might have a day when you make it big."
Liang Liang saying she was unlucky was already quite mild; what else could he say?
After the eighth singer finished performing, Liang Liang didn't give a score this time. He sat there and waited for others to finish giving their scores before he did.
But a strange scene unfolded: he neither gave a score nor a discount; people just stared at each other, wide-eyed.
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