My Landlord is an Idol Singer - Chapter 169

After Gu Zhinan finished singing, he tried to steady himself, but still couldn’t help coughing twice. Singing was exhausting, especially when putting genuine effort into a song. Xia An’ge heard the coughs and frowned slightly.

Those two coughs finally snapped the dazed host back to his senses. He hurried onto the stage to resume hosting. Viewers watching the livestream also came back to their senses.

“Damn, that was pretty good!”

“I don’t know why, but even though his voice cracked, I still cried. It felt like I was watching my own story.”

“Don’t cry upstairs! The neighbors downstairs are about to file a complaint against you!”

“The melody’s great, but his singing wasn’t that strong. I bet his votes won’t be high. Looks like our Bro Sun-and-Moon Frog will end up in the revival round!”

Not only the audience, Lai Jingming and the others had also broken into a cold sweat when Gu Zhinan’s voice cracked. That was a huge taboo on stage! Everything had been fine earlier. Why did he suddenly get carried away at the end?

“Ai, what a pity. He went off-key at the end. The song was so nice though, and the title was clever.” Ruan Ying shook her head in regret for him.

“Yeah, a shame. The melody was really good.” Cheng Mengying nodded in agreement.

Only Xia An’ge was quietly fiddling with her phone, searching for something. Regardless of their discussions, the votes still had to be cast.

Lin Xi naturally voted for him. He thought Gu Zhinan’s performance was excellent up until the end, when he failed to control his voice. But the fact that an original song could receive such a response on Masked Singer was rare and commendable.

“The votes are in. Please look at the big screen.”

Following the host’s gaze, Gu Zhinan turned to look. The frog icon showed a score of 1,362 votes, with three judges giving him a vote. That put him in sixth place.

“Not bad.” Gu Zhinan had already prepared himself to rank near the bottom, eighth or worse. With two more contestants left, he assumed he’d be tenth. But now, it looked like he might actually advance.

“Alright, 1,362 votes. There’s a strong chance of moving to the next round. And since Frog is the current popularity king, even if he gets eliminated later, he’ll have the revival round as backup.” The host smiled and turned to the judges’ panel.

“Our five judges can now each ask Frog one question about his identity.”

Lin Xi kept quiet. The program team had hinted that this contestant was connected to the Poetry Association. The other four judges, after some discussion, figured that since Gu Zhinan’s voice cracked, he probably wasn’t a professionally trained singer. But then again, he had sung an original song!

The key problem was, they had never heard his voice before. There was no clue to guess from.

“The hint says you’re with the Poetry Association. So are you a poet or a musician?” That was the question they finally agreed on, at least it gave them some range to narrow down.

But Gu Zhinan shook his head. His voice came through the altered mic filter, “Neither.” (Well, sorry, not a poet or musician. I write novels!)

“What the hell? Neither?!”

“You open with ‘hand clasping the bright moon, plucking the stars,’ and you tell me you’re not a poet?!”

“He even denied being a musician!”

“With all due respect, I’ve got no guesses left. That range is as big as the Pacific Ocean!”

“Ridiculous! He says he’s neither, but feels like he could be both!”

“No, he flatly denied it. Definitely not. But wow, judges, what a useless question. Why not ask something more direct?”

Lin Xi was satisfied. Aside from getting too hyped at the end, the performance was solid. The votes landed him in the lower-middle range. And even if he was eliminated, his popularity would carry him through the revival round.

“Alright then, Frog can head back to the waiting room and rest. Results will be announced once the remaining contestants finish.”

Gu Zhinan nodded. Job done. Whether he advanced or not wasn’t his problem anymore.

“Don’t be discouraged, Teacher Gu. You still have a chance. The song was really good. Maybe you just sang too hard yesterday and hurt your throat. That’s on me, I should’ve kept you in check.”

Xiao Li felt guilty watching Gu Zhinan silently head back to the waiting room. Yesterday’s rehearsal had been smoother, with no voice cracks.

“You can tell I’m discouraged even with the mask on?”

Back in the lounge, Gu Zhinan removed the frog head and took a deep breath. Discouraged? Hardly. The money was already in his account, job done. Soon he’d be back at Natural Entertainment.

The contest went on, but Gu Zhinan had already texted Lai Jingming to pick him up.

When Lai Jingming got the message, he sighed. Clearly, Gu Zhinan thought he wouldn’t advance and was ready to give up even on the revival round.

Just after hanging up, another text came from his landlady, “You’re heading back to your company after this, right? What’s the address?”

Gu Zhinan blinked. Why was she asking about his company address, “Hangzhou…”

“Mm.” A pause of several minutes. Then another message, “You sang really well. I really liked it, Mr. Frog.”

“…” So much for hiding. No matter how much he tried, the landlady’s sharp eyes saw right through him.

Glancing at his phone, Gu Zhinan saw messages from Situ Hongwei, Yun Yinxue, and Chen Yuze too. Lai Jingming must have told them he was the frog. They all said the song was great, not to be discouraged, and that he could always come back and focus on films.

Gu Zhinan felt warm. Honestly, he wasn’t discouraged at all, if anything, he was a little pleased.

Half an hour later, when the last contestant finished and the votes were tallied, Gu Zhinan was almost asleep in the lounge. Poor sleep quality lately, definitely not as good as at his little apartment.

“Teacher Gu! Teacher Gu!” Xiao Li shook him awake, face full of excitement. “You don’t have to do the revival round! You advanced! Seventh place!”

“Huh?” Gu Zhinan rubbed his eyes, staring at the screen. Sure enough, the frog icon sat in seventh place. He blinked, so he’d get another episode’s pay? And the pay went up to 150,000!

Take a nap, wake up richer, Gu Zhinan couldn’t help but smile. Xiao Li escorted him out. The episode had ended; the next round would be a week later.

Just as he was about to leave, Lin Xi came by the lounge to congratulate him. Per their agreement, the next appearance fee was now 150,000. If he advanced again, it’d rise to 200,000. He encouraged Gu Zhinan to keep pushing, after all, Gu Zhinan was the only contestant he personally brought in.

In the underground garage, as the elevator doors opened, several reporters who had been staking out rushed in with cameras raised. But when they saw the people inside, they froze. 

Five frog-masked figures, all identical builds to Gu Zhinan, stepped out. A decoy tactic. Xiao Li had arranged this, every advancing contestant used doubles to throw off the press.

“Which one’s the real frog?!”

“Doesn’t matter, stop one and ask!”

“Go, go! Don’t lose them! You, follow that one! No, this one!”

The five frog-headed figures scattered instantly, leaving the reporters completely baffled.

“Excuse me, are you the real Frog contestant?”

“Any thoughts on making it to the next round?”

“Will your next song also be original?”

One of the “frogs” they stopped turned out to be… Xiao Li himself!

He had agreed with Gu Zhinan to draw attention away. Since Gu Zhinan had arranged for a friend to pick him up, Xiao Li would step out and act as bait.

Imitating Gu’s manner, he turned his back to the two reporters and declared, “Hmph, hand clasping the bright moon, plucking down the stars, there’s no one like me in the world!”

“…” The reporters were speechless. Obviously fake.

Meanwhile, the real Gu Zhinan was already in Lai Jingming’s car, on his way out.