Just as everyone held their breath, expecting Zhou Ningbin to make a scene.
The corner of his mouth suddenly lifted, and he continued, "From young friend Su Yu's effortless suona performance just now, I venture to guess that this is not your full strength."
Upon hearing this, Su Yu also smiled, "About seventy percent. The piece you played earlier, old sir, probably only used sixty percent of your strength."
Xu Ming, after all, was a top producer. Although he was a master of many skills, his composition hadn't reached the point where such an old artist would need to use his full strength.
"Haha, not only is your suona skillful, but your ears are also sharp," Zhou Ningbin chuckled heartily upon hearing this.
"You flatter me," Su Yu touched his nose.
"It's not flattery. To possess such profound suona skills at this age is truly a prodigy. Among the younger generation in folk instruments, only that Guqin player, Qingxue, can compare to you. Seeing young talents like you emerge makes us old folks happy!"
Zhou Ningbin did not hide his admiration for Su Yu, his old face crinkling with a smile.
The audience only then realized what was happening.
It turned out Elder Zhou wasn't looking for trouble but was offering praise!
Well, now there was another person added to the "Rain Blowers" fan club, and it was a big shot at that.
"Whatever Elder Mr. Zhou says goes..." Su Yu said with a wry smile.
He didn't argue; if they were happy, then so be it.
Zhou Ningbin was a highly respected elder in the folk music circle, a name Su Yu had heard before. He greatly admired such seniors who were virtuous and accomplished.
"Haha, that's the spirit. Too much humility is not good," Zhou Ningbin chuckled heartily at Su Yu's demeanor.
He scrutinized Su Yu with delight, nodding his head repeatedly.
"By the way... isn't Elder Zhou on our side? Why is he praising the opponent?" Zhang Wenqing, Xu Ming's singer, whispered to Xu Ming beside him, a look of exasperation on his face.
Why was he praising the opponent?
Was he afraid their side wouldn't lose miserably enough?
"How should I know..." Xu Ming was speechless.
He had originally thought victory was assured.
He hadn't expected this "Listening Rain" to also play the suona.
Even more outrageous was how skilled he was with the suona!
He was a master of classical instruments and also played the suona. But the more knowledgeable one was, the more they understood Listening Rain's terrifying talent. He had to admit that in terms of suona, ten of him couldn't match Listening Rain.
No, not just in suona, but also in songwriting...
Damn it!
Why!
I'm the master of many skills!
Songwriting and folk instruments are both my pride...
He had initially felt it was important not to lose in his strongest area, but now he felt that this way was also acceptable.
He was now very grateful that the program had changed the voting rules, so even if the judges' votes weren't favorable later, he still had Jiang Qian's 850 base votes.
Unlike Hu Yang, who was almost completely shut out.
And he was glad the challenger performed first. Without comparison, he had scored 8.5 points... no, Zhou Ningbin had helped him score 8.5 points.
...
"Next, we invite Teacher Jiang Qian to give her score."
The host, seeing that the two had finished their conversation, moved the program forward.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Qian smiled at Zhou Ningbin beside her. After a nod of understanding, he returned the microphone to her.
Jiang Qian, holding the microphone, took a deep breath. "Teacher Zhou has already given his professional critique, so I won't repeat it. The theme of this song astonished me, and the live stage atmosphere along with Listening Rain's suona performance can be described as perfect. If it were just listening to the song, it might only be worth 9 points, but the live performance today was excellent, so I am giving it a score of 9.5 points."
Her words were as confident as ever, direct and to the point.
Good was good, and bad was bad, just like she had frankly stated earlier that Xu Ming's composition didn't match the artistic caliber of the veteran Zhou Ningbin.
And after the immense popularity of "The Hottest Folk Song" last time, both the live audience and the online viewers had begun to trust Jiang Qian.
She truly lived up to her title of "Song God."
Moreover, her judgment was excellent.
The song's style was unconventional, and its live effect was explosive.
Everyone still felt a thrill of apprehension when recalling it. Therefore, after being stunned by the live performance, the audience highly agreed with her scoring.
"Alright, thank you, Teacher Jiang Qian, for your score. Next, we invite the jury to vote!"
The host was not surprised by this score.
His back was still sticky from the cold sweat induced by the atmosphere just now.
Primarily, the song's theme of a ghostly wedding and its depiction of life and death love sent shivers down one's spine.
Moreover, Listening Rain truly lived up to his claim of being versatile.
After releasing a down-to-earth plaza dance anthem, he had once again released a song that was grounded in the underworld.
It connected very well.
And it connected very deeply.
It had reached rock bottom.
...
Listening Rain: 2616 votes
Xu Ming: 1184 votes
That's right, Xu Ming only received 334 votes from the jury.
And a significant portion of those votes were cast for him because of the performance by the veteran artist Zhou Ningbin.
Under these circumstances, the vast difference in votes caused an uproar in the venue.
It was somewhat embarrassing that even a veteran artist and a singing king combined couldn't boost Xu Ming.
"Sigh..." Xu Ming opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.
From feigning weakness before the competition to secretly inviting the veteran artist Zhou Ningbin for help, hoping to defeat Listening Rain through Zhou Ningbin's influence without him noticing. He had indeed seen a glimmer of victory during the performance.
However, this hope had shattered like a bubble.
It wasn't just Xu Ming with a dejected expression.
Even the remaining two top producers in the producer area, Qi Rui and Shen Jinghong, looked grave.
These two were versatile players among the top producers, the type who could do everything.