Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Today's episode of *The Voice of Heaven* was different from the previous pre-recorded shows, with 500 lucky audience members present at the venue.

With the audience present, the atmosphere was much more electric than usual.

As soon as the countdown on the screen began to flash, the audience members raised their glow sticks, waving them back and forth in sync, counting down in unison.

When everyone counted down to one, the stage, previously shrouded in darkness, lit up.

The host, dressed in a sharp suit, stepped onto the stage with a microphone, kicking off the show with some lively banter with the audience.

At the same time, the show's online live stream also went live.

However, according to the procedure, only the main live stream was activated first, while the mentors' live streams remained blank.

The audience, seeing the dark mentor live streams, started wondering if there was a problem with the live streams.

Just as they were questioning, the host on the main live stream started introducing the mentors for the night.

He first introduced Wen Yun.

As soon as the host finished saying the name, a spotlight illuminated the mentor's seat, and Wen Yun, wearing a light green shirt, came into view.

Upon hearing Wen Yun's name, the crowd burst into wild cheers and applause.

Many fans were present at the venue today, but since the spots were randomly drawn, some audience members were mentors' fans, while others were fans of the 48 contestants.

However, for the fans of the contestants, everyone respected the mentors, so even though Wen Yun wasn't as popular as some of the other mentors, the crowd's reaction to him was overwhelmingly positive.

Hearing so many audience members cheering for him, Wen Yun waved to everyone, a soft smile on his face that mirrored the gentle hue of his shirt.

The moment the spotlight on Wen Yun's mentor seat lit up, Wen Yun's live stream screen also flickered to life.

It was only then that everyone realized the mentor live streams were activated in the order of their appearances.

After the host introduced Wen Yun, next up was Xu Beizhou.

Following him was Sheng Yan.

As an A-list idol, Sheng Yan was, unsurprisingly, the most popular in the venue.

Even though the fans were randomly selected today, due to his large fan base, plenty of his fans had made it to the venue.

Sheng Yan's reputation among the general audience was also quite good, and many fans of the contestants had a favorable impression of him.

Therefore, when the spotlight on his seat lit up, the crowd immediately erupted into deafening cheers.

Almost 80% of the people were shouting Sheng Yan's name.

In his live stream, the screen was already swamped with fan comments, with only the face filters still visible, as any other background was completely covered by the barrage of comments.

Previously, without live fans, it was fine, but now with live fans, you could instantly gauge each mentor's popularity.

The louder the screams, the more everyone liked you.

Conversely, you were either a nobody or just not liked.

Shen Huaixi, who always liked to compare these things, grew increasingly annoyed by the deafening cheers for Sheng Yan.

His heart felt as if it had been suddenly clenched, and his body tensed up uncontrollably.

In the past, Shen Huaixi wouldn't have feared such a live popularity contest.

He was confident he wouldn't lose and even relished being the center of attention.

But things are different now. Last night and today, he had been constantly bashed by netizens, and even some of his fans had left him...

Thinking about this, Shen Huaixi knew he might not stand a chance against Sheng Yan today.

Realizing he was about to be outshone by Sheng Yan, Shen Huaixi glanced at Sheng Yan in frustration.

Damn it, the production team must have set this up on purpose!!

They deliberately scheduled me after Sheng Yan!!

You can't focus on two things at once, or you'll miss something important.

Just as Shen Huaixi was distracted, cursing the production team, the host suddenly called his name.

The next moment, his live stream went live.

The spotlight hit Shen Huaixi's face.

The audience in the live stream immediately noticed Shen Huaixi's cold expression.

Before this, Shen Huaixi always appeared on camera with a smile, looking like an innocent little flower.

Suddenly seeing him with such a cold, almost fierce expression, his fans were a bit taken aback by it.

"Whoa, that's creepy..."

"Who ticked off the white lotus? Starting off with a scowl?"

"Who's he mad at?"

"Probably Sheng Yan..."

"?"

"Check out where he's looking..."

"Is he nuts? Why's he glaring at Sheng Yan?"

As the audience speculated in the comments whether Shen Huaixi was glaring at Sheng Yan, he realized that he had been broadcasted without managing his expression. He quickly raised his hand to shield his face, pretending the light was too bright.

As he blocked his face, Shen Huaixi forced a smile, quickly adjusted his expression, and then lowered his hand, greeting the viewers with a smile.

"Hi everyone, I'm Shen Huaixi."

The expected cheers didn't come, not even close to what he had feared.

After Shen Huaixi greeted, the only cheers came from his distant fans.

But out of the 500 audience members, only a small fraction were his fans.

Many of the other audience members were fans of the contestants, and they were very dissatisfied with Shen Huaixi for the little tricks he pulled during the initial stage.

They had been enthusiastically cheering for the other mentors earlier, but when it was his turn, they all fell silent.

Some even turned off their support signs right away.

The audience seats were completely dark.

Without the backing of the rest of the audience, the cheers from Shen Huaixi's fans seemed pitifully weak.

Especially since Shen Huaixi was up right after Sheng Yan.

One got nearly the whole audience screaming and cheering, while the other got only scattered cheers from his own fans...

The contrast was absolutely brutal.

Shen Huaixi, who had already done his best to brace himself for this situation, hadn't expected the audience's reaction to be so cold...

It was the first time he had been snubbed by the audience in person, and Shen Huaixi's mind went blank, forgetting what he was supposed to say next, his smile froze in place.

The red light on the camera in front of him flickered.

After a few awkward seconds of silence, Shen Huaixi suddenly remembered this was still live.

Helpless, he could only force a smile and barely keep it on his face.

But he didn't feel like saying another word, so he just sat there, waiting for the next part.

But the host, acting clueless, kept pushing him.

"The competition is about to start. Does Teacher Shen have any words for his team?"

Shen Huaixi just wanted to get off camera, not even thinking about his team, so he half-heartedly said, "I hope everyone does their best."

Seeing Shen Huaixi wasn't in the mood to talk more, the host had no choice but to move on to the other mentors.

In the live stream, with the high-definition camera zoomed in on Shen Huaixi's face, every little expression he made was crystal clear to the netizens.

"Shen Huaixi's expression just now, haha, even a mummy's smile wouldn't be as stiff as his!"

"Translating Shen Huaixi's micro-expression: Damn stupid host, stop bothering me!"

"Laughing to death, the production team really knows how to stir things up, deliberately placing Shen Huaixi after Sheng Yan to mess with his mind."

"Shen Huaixi greeted and no one responded, how much do the audience dislike him, haha!"

"Laughing to death, my cringe-for-others syndrome is acting up again, haha, Shen Huaixi must be furious."

Many in Shen Huaixi's live stream were just there for the drama, originally thinking the good show would only come later tonight.

But they got such a hilarious scene right at the start, so they helped spread the word.

Other netizens, hearing that Shen Huaixi lost control of his expression right at the beginning, quickly came to see for themselves.

In just a few minutes, the number of people in Shen Huaixi's live stream suddenly doubled.

Fu Qingyan had a schedule conflict and didn't come to the scene today, so the host handled all the on-site procedures.

After introducing the four mentors, today's performance officially began.

Before the competition began, the host on stage held a cue card in hand and explained the rules to everyone.

"The battle royale PK will consist of two rounds."

"In each round, the four coaches will draw their opponents, and once their opponents are determined, the coaches will then choose which team members to send into the duel."

After the host announced the rules, the coaches were given blind boxes by the staff to draw their opponents.

Soon, the matchups for the first round were set.

The draw results were: Wen Yun vs. Shen Huaixi, Sheng Yan vs. Xu Beizhou.

As the first pair of coaches to compete tonight, Wen Yun, he surprisingly chose the only lively and fresh group in his team.

The bubbly trio consists of three girls.

They look pure and cute, with the looks of idols and the talent of singers.

The moment they started singing, they radiated a strong campus vibe.

These three contestants didn’t stand out in their initial performance.

But today, through the song selection and guidance from coach Wen Yun, they left the audience feeling refreshed.

After watching his team's performance, Wen Yun was visibly impressed, offering each member professional feedback and praise based on their previous shortcomings and current progress.

After Wen Yun's group's strong start, the audience’s expectations for the night were sky-high.

Soon after this group's performance, it was Shen Huaixi's team's turn.

The camera in the main live broadcast room quickly shifted to him.

This segment featured Shen Huaixi again, and his live stream viewers were glued to their screens.

"Mr. Shen, having watched Mr. Wen's team perform, which team will you send out to face them?"

The host looked at Shen Huaixi and began to ask him according to the show's rules.

Shen Huaixi did not answer but smiled at the camera with a slightly odd expression.

"Well..."

"Mr. Wen's team is so excellent, let me think about how to respond first."

When he said this, Shen Huaixi lowered his eyes in the camera, his gaze somewhat evasive.

The host, unaware of the situation, thought he was creating a show effect and naturally took over the conversation.

"Mr. Wen's team's performance is indeed refreshing, but I think the strength of the team Mr. Shen is about to send out should be equally matched."

Although the show is live, there is still a general time limit.

The host didn't dare to say too much, and after a few simple words, he continued to cue Shen Huaixi, "So... Mr. Shen, which team are you preparing to send out?"

Under the host's expectant gaze, Shen Huaixi still did not name the team.

Instead, he closed his eyes, rubbed his temples, and smiled coquettishly, pleading, "Oh, don't rush, don't rush, let me think a little more."

The host was a bit thrown off but still kindly agreed.

"No worries, we’re not in a rush, Teacher Shen. Take your time to think."

Once the host stopped speaking, Shen Huaixi could hear his heart pounding uncontrollably.

His mind was a complete mess.

In psychology, there’s a principle called Festinger’s Law.

It means 10% of life is out of our control, but 90% of how things turn out depends on how we react.

After being roasted by netizens, Shen Huaixi was deeply shaken.

Since then, he’s been irritable and distracted in everything he does.

This led to his glaring look at Sheng Yan being caught on camera during the live show’s opening.

This bad start made it impossible for him to focus on the live show.

During Wen Yun’s team’s performance, he wasn’t paying attention, too busy regretting his opening blunder.

Only after the other team’s performance did he realize he’d forgotten the materials his manager and Xu Beizhou had prepared.

This was a disaster for him.

Different fields are like different worlds; Shen Huaixi can sing, but he doesn’t really understand music.

He’s always used the contestants to boost his own image.

During the first round of picking replacements, he didn’t remember everyone. Xu Beizhou made all the choices; Shen just read the names on stage.

After the groups were formed, he didn’t care about the songs or rehearsals, leaving it all to Xu Beizhou.

He knew they liked him and never hesitated to use that to his advantage.

He couldn’t care less about the contestants.

During the three days of practice, he did nothing, only showing up to film a visit after Xu Beizhou picked the songs.

But even then, he was just going through the motions.

Xu Beizhou had handled everything, even promising to prepare materials for each group before the competition.

So who was in which group, what songs they were singing, and their styles...

He only had a vague idea in his head.

For today’s live show, Shen Huaixi had planned to cram last minute using the materials Xu Beizhou gave him.

But last night, he got roasted online, and today he was swamped with PR damage control. Then, in the afternoon, his mom found out about the Su Xingyao incident.

All this piled up, and he completely forgot about something he never cared about.

He never bothered to understand the contestants, and now he’d forgotten Xu Beizhou’s materials.

When the host asked, Shen Huaixi scrambled to recall the contestants’ names.

But since Xu Beizhou picked the replacements, many were strangers to him. This led to him not being able to remember the name of one contestant in each of the three-member groups.

He couldn’t name all the members of any of the four groups...

Shen Huaixi grew increasingly anxious.

But the more anxious he became, the less he could remember.

In his moment of utmost frustration, Su Xingyao’s face flashed through his mind.

If his mother hadn’t brought up Su Xingyao earlier today, he wouldn’t have forgotten something so important.

Darn it!

Shen Huaixi was stalling to recall, and initially, the audience thought he was just putting on a show.

But even after the host covered for him once, he still didn’t name his team members, and the audience sensed something was wrong.

“What’s going on with him?”

“Earlier, during Wen Yun’s group’s performance, he seemed distracted.”

“He looks just like I did when I hadn’t memorized my text and got called on by the Chinese teacher to recite...”

“He’s been dodging and hesitating for so long—could he really not know who to send out to compete?”

“He even checked his phone in the middle of it all—so disrespectful to the contestants.”

The live stream was full of onlookers, but there were still plenty of loyal fans sticking by him.

Seeing everyone mock Shen Huaixi, they quickly jumped in to defend him, refusing to believe he could act this way.

“Haters, back off! Huaixi picked his own team—of course he knows what’s going on. Quit the baseless hate.”

“Don’t you get it? It’s all part of the show...”

“Mr. Shen...”

Time was running out, and Shen Huaixi couldn’t stall any longer. After a pause, the host cautiously asked him again.

“Have you made up your mind?”

Shen Huaixi didn’t answer.

Xu Beizhou, standing nearby, also picked up on the issue.

In that moment, he had a flash of insight and discreetly pulled out his phone.

He noticed Shen Huaixi had texted him two minutes earlier, asking who to send out...

Xu Beizhou was stunned.

He’d handed the materials to Shen Huaixi that very morning.

Had he not even looked at them?

But despite his surprise, recalling how Shen Huaixi had been under fire lately, he felt a twinge of sympathy.

Realizing Shen Huaixi’s dilemma, he quickly sent him a text.

Time was running out, and dragging on like this wasn’t going to solve anything.

Just as Shen Huaixi was about to give up and directly name two people, his phone vibrated.

After realizing he hadn’t taken the necessary documents, Shen Huaixi sent messages to both his assistant and Xu Beizhou.

He first instructed his assistant to go back to the resting room to look for the missing documents.

But worried that the assistant might not find them in such a short time, he also sent a message to Xu Beizhou.

With this in mind, he kept an eye on his phone for notifications.

The moment Xu Beizhou’s message arrived, Shen Huaixi immediately sensed it.

However, he didn’t open his phone right away. Instead, he glanced up at the camera in front of him.

With the camera there, Shen Huaixi was acutely aware that his every move was being watched by countless netizens.

Especially now that the focus was still on him, looking down at his phone would definitely be noticed.

But he had no choice but to act.

Having gone through so much in one day, his mind was already a jumble.

If he didn’t look at this message, he really couldn’t come up with the complete names.

Reluctantly, Shen Huaixi pulled out his phone, using his left hand to shield his face from the camera.

He quickly glanced at the names Xu Beizhou had sent.

Finally spotting the name he’d forgotten, Shen Huaixi instantly felt much more confident.

He smiled apologetically at the host, "Teacher Wen’s team is really strong; it’s so hard to compete against them..."

After offering an excuse, he finally named the members of his team, "I’m sending our group’s singing and dancing team to compete."

After that, he quickly listed three names.

Shen Huaixi, having finally muddled through, let out a sigh of relief.

Shen Huaixi thought he’d handled that pretty cleverly.

But he didn’t expect that sharp-eyed netizens caught on the moment he looked down.

"Did Shen Huaixi just glance down at something?"

"I think I saw a reflection—was it his phone?"

"His expression and tone just now seemed really unsure..."

"But it really seemed like he’d been struggling to remember the names before finally getting them out."

"He was stalling and couldn’t come up with anything, but now after looking down at his phone, he can name them... emmmmmm"

"Could someone have sent him a hint?"

"Did he only remember the names after checking his phone?"

"He’s a mentor... is this really that bad?"

"This is so ridiculous it almost feels fake."

The situation was indeed too bizarre, and the audience felt that Shen Huaixi, no matter how foolish, shouldn't be clueless to this extent.

So, while the audience found the whole thing quite strange, they lacked concrete evidence and didn’t press the matter further.

The audience initially thought that as a mentor, Shen Huaixi wouldn’t be this ridiculous.

But they were quickly proven wrong.

After Shen Huaixi announced his group's contestants, the production team, similar to Wen Yun's group, played their group's VCR.

With so many contestants, each got limited screen time, making the practice VCRs a key way to showcase them.

The production team put a lot of effort into this group's VCR, showcasing each member's dedication to the stage from team formation, team bonding, song selection, to practice.

However, after watching the VCR, the previously quiet audience started whispering among themselves.

They all had one question on their minds.

Who’s really mentoring this group—Shen Huaixi or Xu Beizhou?

The live stream audience was also totally confused.

"Wait, did I miss something? Where’s Shen Huaixi?"

"So this mentor only showed up once after the group assignment?"

"If not for the intro, I’d think this was Xu Beizhou’s group... Why’s he training them?"

"I just checked Xu Beizhou’s stream—apparently, he sent a message right before Shen Huaixi announced the names. Shen glanced at his phone and then smoothly listed three names."

"LOL"

"So Shen Huaixi doesn’t even know his own contestants? Xu Beizhou fed him the names, huh?"

"Seriously, Xu Beizhou, what’s going on with you?"

"If you don’t know music, fine, but at least get professionals to help. Instead, you do nothing and can’t even remember names."

"Is Shen Huaixi just here to piss people off?"

"Poor contestants stuck with Shen Huaixi—they really got the short end of the stick."

"Shen Huaixi is such a joke... stop screwing over the contestants."

"Why is someone like this even a mentor? Get out already!"

Once the live stream audience caught Shen Huaixi’s weird move, they roasted him online.

People clipped the part where Xu Beizhou sent the message and shared it everywhere.

Meanwhile, Shen Huaixi, still in the competition, had no idea and was stressing over the VCR.

He knew the production team would film some footage.

But he figured it’d just be a quick behind-the-scenes clip or a small segment.

Who knew the production team would turn it into a full VCR and air it live?

And it was shown in such detail...

Watching Xu Beizhou busily training the contestants back and forth in the VCR, and then seeing himself appearing only once in a leisurely manner, with just a few seconds of footage where he did nothing useful.

Shen Huaixi felt like he'd been slapped in the face.

Wasn't the production team embarrassing him in front of everyone by airing this?

Shen Huaixi's expression was hard to maintain.

Didn't his mom meet with the person in charge this afternoon? Why could such a video be shown?

Shen Huaixi wasn't sure what went wrong, but he couldn't dig into it right then.

The murmurs of discontent in the audience were already loud and clear, and even the host couldn't help but step in to restore order.

Shen Huaixi squirmed as everyone openly discussed him, but he had no choice but to urgently start thinking of excuses for himself.

After the VCR ended, this group of contestants started their performance.

This group of contestants was pretty average overall. Compared to Wen Yun's group earlier, they were neither fresh nor vocally strong, and there was a small mistake in the middle.

The audience was pretty disappointed but also felt a bit sorry for them.

After the performance, it was time for the mentors to give their feedback.

As the mentor of this group, the host gave the opportunity to speak to Shen Huaixi.

Shen Huaixi, who'd been racking his brain for excuses, didn't critique his contestants right away but instead started justifying himself.

"First, I want to address why I wasn't in the VCR much."

After mentioning the VCR, Shen Huaixi glanced at the contestants on stage with an apologetic look.

"I really feel bad for the contestants in my group."

"I was sick those days and even had a minor surgery, so I couldn't spend as much time with them as I wanted."

"I'm also really grateful to Teacher Xu for stepping in. We're good friends, so I asked him to help out."

Shen Huaixi turned to Xu Beizhou and gave him a smile.

"Thank you so much."

Still, Shen Huaixi would never admit he was weak in front of everyone.

So he'd rather blame it on being sick and needing Xu Beizhou's help than admit he was out of his depth and needed backup.

The live audience was already cracking up at Shen Huaixi's act.

"You were laughing and jumping around in the VCR—were you really sick?"

"What surgery? A 'white lotus' surgery?"

"You ignored the contestants and then blamed it on being sick?"

"Just admit you were out of your league and needed Xu Beizhou's help."

"Seriously, how can someone be this vain and such a liar..."

"Is he some kind of born liar... No wonder he could shamelessly mess with Su Xingyao back then, he's really good at lying through his teeth."

"Does he think everyone's an idiot?"

"Can anyone make sense of this? This whole thing is just nuts, but with Shen Huaixi, it just seems par for the course."

"Now I just want to see how much crazier Shen Huaixi can get."

"OMG, as a Xu Beizhou fan, I'm freaking out. Xu Beizhou, are you out of your mind? Get away from this bad news fast!"

Xu Beizhou's fans are really worried about him.

But at the scene, Xu Beizhou, who heard Shen Huaixi's explanation, didn't dare call him out.

Not being a good liar, he just gave a guilty smile and quickly said, "It's fine."

After his explanation, Shen Huaixi wasn't planning to say anything else.

The host noticed he hadn't said anything about his team's performance yet and reminded him, "Mr. Shen, don't you have anything to say about these three performers?"

Shen Huaixi knew he had to say something, but he hadn't been paying attention, too caught up in figuring out how to explain the VCR thing.

Now, without the materials Xu Beizhou had printed out for him earlier, he was scared of saying the wrong thing at this crucial moment, so he tossed out a generic line.

"I think... they're all great."

Shen Huaixi spoke with a sincere expression, and the host nodded along, looking him in the eye, all ears.

However, after a few seconds of silence, the host still didn't hear Shen Huaixi say more.

Surprised, the host looked at Shen Huaixi and pushed for more, "Very good... and then... anything else, Mr. Shen?"

Shen Huaixi's face almost fell.

Irritated by the host's cluelessness.

Keeping his cool, Shen Huaixi, who didn't want to talk anymore, had no choice but to reluctantly continue.

"I don't think there's much more to say, in my book they're the best. Compared to their first performance, they've come a long way, and they've found their worth on stage. I think this is the meaning of this stage."

"It doesn't get better than this."

After saying this, Shen Huaixi, afraid the host would ask more, directly put down the microphone.

The contestants on stage, after hearing Shen Huaixi's perfunctory remarks, were first stunned, then could only helplessly smile and applaud him.

The audience in the live stream, however, found it extremely amusing.

"Listening to your words is like listening to words."

"Truly, the contemporary art of bluffing."

"Laughing to death, compared to Wen Yun's professional and heartfelt evaluation just now, Shen Huaixi's is just too funny."

"Was he even watching their performance? Too amateur to comment on music is one thing, but he could at least mention the small accident that happened on stage..."

"He really doesn't care about the contestants at all..."

"So what is someone like him doing here tonight, shamelessly participating in this live broadcast?"

"Probably here to be the clown."

"The host is totally lost, probably encountering this situation for the first time. I feel bad for him, lol."

"The contestants are the ones who got the short end of the stick. I saw them laughing so awkwardly just now. Other groups have mentors who are all in, but Shen Huaixi's group can't even see their mentor."

"A mentor on a music show, unable to give any professional comments on the contestants' performances, just spouting a bunch of nonsense."

"What qualifications does someone like him have to be a mentor? Replace him with a cat!"

"Don't drag the cat into this!"

"Shen Huaixi, you should just quit being a mentor and try being a contestant instead."

"Don't do the contestants dirty like that!"

"Alright, this is just bad vibes. Get out already—this stage is too good for trash like you."

Shen Huaixi, completely unprepared, kept making a fool of himself.

The continuous failures made him the internet's punching bag.

But clueless as ever, after this group's performance embarrassed him, his assistant finally showed up with the materials and slipped them to him.

With the materials in hand, Shen Huaixi scrambled to catch up and finally sounded a bit more confident, though his remarks were still pretty bland.

But by then, it was way too late.

Soon, after three rounds of battles, only the last round remained.

And this was the round everyone had been waiting for.

Because the five-member cat group everyone had been hyped for was finally about to take the stage.

Before Su Xingyao stepped on stage, Shen Huaixi and Sheng Yan were paired up as opponents for the same group performance.

The audience had been waiting all night, on the edge of their seats for this moment.

But just as everyone was soaking in Sheng Yan's grand introduction, Shen Huaixi, who'd been silent most of the time, suddenly chimed in out of nowhere.

"I've been looking forward to this group of five for ages, and just like everyone else, I can't wait to see what kind of amazing performance they'll deliver."

The moment Shen Huaixi finished talking, his live chat exploded with question marks.

"????? (What the heck?)"

"Who even gave you the right to say that?"