Chapter 180: He’s Showing Off His Skills Again!

Upon hearing Chen Qi announce Li Hongti's ranking, the few people present offered polite applause to show their congratulations.

"Thank you, thank you." Li Hongti stood up to acknowledge the gesture, saying with a great sense of contentment, "Honestly, I'm quite satisfied with this ranking. Before coming here, I had even prepared myself to finish dead last."

She was speaking the truth.

She had a sufficient understanding of her own abilities, and at the same time, a very clear awareness of her own level of fame.

Because the voting audience were not professionals, their thinking was easily swayed by fame and the popularity of the songs.

Most of the audience only cared about whether a song sounded good or not; as for vocal techniques and singing skills, they simply didn't care.

To put it bluntly, the audience voted entirely based on their personal preferences.

Just as Chen Qi had said, he himself was a cautionary tale!

With insufficient popularity, coupled with the fact that she wasn't singing a mainstream pop song, she was genuinely thrilled to have secured fourth place.

With the fourth place announced, the remaining person was naturally in seventh.

"I'll strive to win back some votes in the next episode, so I don't end up following in the director's footsteps," the singer who took seventh place joked quite optimistically.

"Hahahaha..."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire room burst into laughter.

Chen Qi also chuckled before announcing the conclusion of the current episode.

After seeing the guests off, he hugged the newly filmed footage and dove straight into the post-production office, just like he always did.

The editing and post-production of this show were entirely directed by him.

Only he truly knew what kind of effect he wanted to achieve.

However, much to Chen Qi's surprise, *Singer*, which had been sailing smoothly ever since its premiere, finally encountered a bit of turbulence.

A little over two hours after the recording of the show was completed, an entertainment media outlet suddenly broke the news online that Li Hongti was a substitute singer.

The report was written with vivid details, as if the writer had witnessed it with their own eyes.

Chen Qi received the news at the very first moment.

Upon hearing the news, Chen Qi was momentarily dumbfounded.

"I've already contacted this media outlet, but they refuse to reveal their source." Su Xiaoxiao looked somewhat anxious.

She knew how much importance Chen Qi attached to the show's confidentiality.

Now that the news about Li Hongti had been leaked in advance, it meant all their previous confidentiality efforts had gone to waste.

Forget the boss; even she was quite angry.

What surprised her a little, however, was that Chen Qi didn't seem particularly angry at all.

Chen Qi lowered his gaze to look at the report on Su Xiaoxiao's phone. After pausing for several full seconds, he let out a wry chuckle, sighed, and shook his head with utter helplessness.

"Forget it, let them be."

Things had already reached this point; there was no way for him to salvage it now.

He couldn't possibly replace Li Hongti all over again just because of a news leak, could he?

How innocent would she be?

Let them report it. Consider it free promotion for them.

Chen Qi was quite open-minded about it.

Although he didn't know specifically who had leaked the news, he could make a rough guess.

It certainly wasn't from the guests' side; they wouldn't do something so tedious.

If he guessed correctly, there must have been a traitor among the live audience.

The live audience for this episode had registered voluntarily, and clearly, some media insiders had sneaked in.

A media person had registered and, by sheer luck, happened to be selected by the system.

Could it get any more coincidental?

Although the audience was repeatedly urged upon entry not to disclose any information regarding the show, he knew that such verbal warnings held virtually no binding power.

"Go have a word with Vice President Wang and tell her to notify the television station not to make any response to this matter. Let the rest take its course," Chen Qi instructed Su Xiaoxiao.

"Alright." Su Xiaoxiao acknowledged and hurried away.

"Wait a moment." Chen Qi suddenly called out to her and asked, "Where do you think this news was leaked from?"

"I think the possibility is higher from the live audience side," Su Xiaoxiao replied.

Chen Qi smiled and asked no further questions.

After slightly settling his mood, he continued to direct the post-production of the current episode.

He didn't contact Tian Tian Music to ask them to raise the threshold for the live audience or to screen them more rigorously.

Because doing so had little meaning.

As far as he knew, as many as sixty to seventy thousand viewers had applied to come to the live audience for this episode.

There would definitely be even more for the next episode!

To select just over five hundred people out of sixty, seventy, or even over a hundred thousand, and for those five hundred people to happen to include a media mole—the probability of that was simply too low.

If his luck really was bad enough that a media mole sneaked in every single episode... then he would just consider himself unlucky!

He would accept it!

Moreover, he didn't believe such a low-probability event would happen to him frequently. After all...

Wasn't he the Son of Destiny?

When it came to pushing his luck, he had never feared anyone!

This minor interlude didn't have much of an impact on Chen Qi.

And because neither Chen Qi nor Beijing卫视 (Beijing TV) made any response to the matter, the outside world remained unaware that the news had been stolen by unscrupulous means by a certain media outlet.

Everyone outside assumed that Chen Qi was using this method to promote *Singer*.

With the attention and heat surrounding *Singer* remaining sky-high, this news genuinely stirred up quite a sensation online.

"Who on earth is Li Hongti? Such an unfamiliar name!"

"Is this news real or fake? Why does it sound a bit unreliable?"

"What's going on? Shouldn't a substitute singer be a major A-list star?"

Upon seeing the identity of the substitute singer, the vast majority of netizens were disappointed.

Although they immediately searched for information on Li Hongti, and though quite a few netizens remembered after seeing that information that they seemed to have seen her on the Spring Festival Gala, they remained disappointed.

This wasn't the singer they wanted!

What they wanted was a clash of titans!

What they wanted was a head-on confrontation among various powerhouses!

Li Hongti?

She seemed rather weak.

Even though these netizens tried very hard to understand Li Hongti, it still couldn't change her image of being "weak."

The information available online about Li Hongti was pitifully scarce.

Aside from some basic details, there were a few honors that most people hadn't heard of, and finally, the fact that she had performed on the Spring Festival Gala twice.

And that was it.

Beyond that, the only performances of hers that could be found online were from those two Spring Festival Galas.

After re-watching her performances on the Spring Festival Gala, many netizens wore rather complicated expressions.

Umm... how should they put it?

They felt that Li Hongti shouldn't be categorized into the same singer group as people like Qin Mengxue and the others.

She was a vocal artist!

This wasn't meant as a derogatory term.

She looked like someone living above the clouds.

To put it more colloquially, she wasn't down-to-earth.

She had a huge sense of distance from them, the audience.

Leaving aside whether she had what it took, just this stage itself didn't seem very suitable for her!

She looked somewhat out of place.

With a style like hers, she clearly wouldn't have any advantage, right?

Almost all the viewers were doubtful.

They asked themselves that if they were in the audience, they probably wouldn't vote for her.

Carrying this skepticism, the level of online discussion surrounding the matter grew increasingly heated.

Some said Chen Qi was losing his nerve and deliberately found a cannon fodder.

Others claimed Chen Qi didn't dare offend those big-name singers and actually eliminate them, so eliminating himself was most likely a helpless move.

Still others said that all subsequent substitute singers would probably be like Li Hongti, lacking in popularity, claiming Chen Qi's goal was to protect his starting lineup.

For a time, skepticism was everywhere!

"So disappointing!"

"What a pity for this show; with such a high starting point, it could have been a massive hit!"

"I really can't wrap my head around it. What on earth is Chen Qi doing?"

"Haha, I've long said this show wouldn't work. Eliminate singers? How is that even possible? Do you really think those singers don't have their pride?"

"Barring any accidents, this show will lose a lot of viewers after the next episode."

As more and more netizens paid attention to this incident, the skepticism multiplied.

Of course, these were merely the remarks of ordinary netizens. Those who had paid attention to Chen Qi from the very beginning felt their eyes light up slightly upon hearing the news.

Good grief, how long has it been since things quieted down, and he's at it again courting death?

Disappointed?

Skeptical?

Non-existent!

Based on their understanding of Chen Qi, this guy was most likely about to pull off another flashy move!

Just wait, there would definitely be a twist, and the final result would probably make countless people exclaim in shock!

When it came to playing flashy moves, Chen Qi seemed never to have lost to anyone!

However, given that the wave of skepticism online was truly massive, they wisely refrained from stepping out to say anything.

Some people not only didn't step out to speak up for Chen Qi, but they also shamelessly joined the ranks of questioning him.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

"Exactly!"

"You put it so well!"

"Disappointment, I'm disappointed too!"

Fearing no chaos in the world, they unsparingly liked and cheered for those very active skeptical voices.

Anyway, it wouldn't be their faces getting slapped later on.

...

These outside doubts soon caught the attention of Beijing TV.

Relevant staff members immediately detected this abnormality and reported it to the leadership.

Beijing TV currently placed an extremely high value on *Singer*, to the point where everything else had to make way for it.

This was Beijing TV's first program with the potential to sweep the nation, and they were practically ready to enshrine it.

Therefore, upon hearing the news, Vice President Wang did not dare to be careless and immediately sought out Chen Qi.

Upon seeing these clearly organized and premeditated doubts, Chen Qi's expression also turned somewhat peculiar.

This scene... why did it look a bit familiar?

"Vice President Wang, don't tell me these voices were genuinely made by ordinary netizens."

"That's not important." Vice President Wang shook her head, saying with a solemn tone, "What's important is, how is the quality of the third episode?"

What kind of fierce storms had she not seen? She could tell at a glance that someone was fueling the flames behind the scenes!

However, this was normal.

Extremely normal!

Mediocre people are not envied, and the same goes for programs.

The world is so big, and not everyone possesses such high awareness.

*Singer* clearly possessed the potential to become a phenomenal hit, and those with vested interests were probably lurking in the shadows long ago. Now that they finally found a breakthrough, they were naturally going to smear it to death!

Whether these people were targeting Beijing TV, targeting Chen Qi, or acting for other interests, none of this was surprising.

Listening to Vice President Wang's words, Chen Qi was left speechless for a moment.

None of that was important?

Fine, if you say it's not important, then it's not important.

"Vice President Wang, as people in the same major system, you should understand Li Hongti better than I do, right? You don't know what kind of strength she has?" he asked.