My Landlord is an Idol Singer - Chapter 181

“Let’s go!” Xiao Li urged the driver to start the car. It was just two turns before they reached the hotel anyway. As the car started, Xiao Li finally noticed the guitar Gu Zhinan was holding. It was tucked inside a worn gig bag. He had been in such a rush earlier that he hadn’t even realized Gu Zhinan was carrying such a big instrument.

“Teacher Gu, that’s a guitar in there, right?”

Wasn’t that obvious? Gu Zhinan looked at him like he was an idiot, his eyes full of disdain.

“No, I just thought the case looked a little old. If you want to use a guitar on stage, the station can provide you with excellent ones. We’ve got guitars worth over a hundred thousand, our TV network has plenty of them.” Xiao Li quickly explained.

“So extravagant?” Gu Zhinan was startled. Zhi Jiang TV really lived up to its reputation for being loaded. “No need, I’ll just use this one.”

“But yours looks so ordinary… the station has a lot of great guitars.”

“It’s expensive.”

Xiao Li was puzzled. Judging from that shabby gig bag, this guitar was expensive? “But, it looks like—”

Gu Zhinan gave him a light glance and smiled. “Xiao Li, which characters from Sword and Fairy do you like?”

“Huh? I like—oh no, I don’t like any of them. Not even the Drunken Sword Immortal.” He almost blurted out his real answer but corrected himself immediately. Facing Gu Zhinan, he didn’t dare say anything wrong now. “I also think this guitar is great! I’m sure it’ll make you shine on stage, Teacher Gu!”

Gu Zhinan nodded in satisfaction.

Once they got into the hotel room, Xiao Li didn’t leave. Instead, he continued explaining the new rules. “Here’s the thing, Teacher Gu, the rules for tomorrow’s third round have changed. Our group still has six contestants, but this time we’ll be directly merged with six from another group.”

“Twelve contestants? Won’t that take forever?” Gu Zhinan hated waiting. He was convinced he’d draw one of the later performance slots again.

“Because they’ve invited guest singers this time. There will be six guest singers, and the rule is twelve into six, half will be eliminated at once! Plus, the number of public judges has been increased to 800, the venue’s full capacity.”

Xiao Li himself was a little curious about the change. Probably a gimmick to attract more attention.

“The six who advance to the fourth round can choose a guest singer to partner with, based on their ranking. For example, if you’re ranked first, you get the first choice of guest singer. If that singer also chooses you back, you’ll perform together in round four.”

“What if they don’t want me?” Gu Zhinan frowned. “If I’m first, shouldn’t I just be able to pick whoever I want? Why do we need this mutual selection nonsense?”

“That depends on who the guest singers choose. If there’s a conflict, maybe there’ll be a PK battle… I’m not clear on the details either.” Xiao Li scratched his head. He’d only just learned the outline of the rules and hadn’t studied the fine print yet.

“Your show is really something,” Gu Zhinan sneered.

“I’ll go back and study the rules properly. Teacher Gu, please rest well and don’t wander around. The hotel isn’t just housing contestants, those guest singers are here too. I don’t know who they are yet. Mostly, we just want to avoid reporters catching anything. The media usually has the fastest intel, they might already know the rules.”

Gu Zhinan waved him off. He wasn’t here to sightsee, just to check in and get paid. Why would he wander around for no reason?

“Teacher Gu, are you sure you don’t need accompaniment this time?” Xiao Li still wasn’t reassured. He knew Gu Zhinan was performing another original song. Outrageously, another original! But accompaniment made a huge difference. 

Without it, the gap was massive. His first performance had only scraped by because of the backing track!

“The guitar is enough. I want to try it. Don’t worry, I won’t tank it. You’ll see when we rehearse tomorrow.” This song had its own charm without accompaniment. He wanted to test it out. Bro Zhou, who had been listening, was relieved. Finally, someone else was under pressure instead of him!

Xiao Li eventually left, agreeing to pick up Gu Zhinan the next morning.

Gu Zhinan’s room was on the 18th floor. What he didn’t know was that not long after he and Xiao Li went inside, someone else checked in on the 20th floor.

Xia An’ge.

She had just met up with Ruan Ying, who was placed in a different hotel, while she herself was lodged in the same hotel as Gu Zhinan, arranged by the Zhi Jiang TV staff. For guest singers like her, the network didn’t restrict their freedom much, just asked them not to go out often or interact with contestants.

“I’ve arrived at the event hotel,” Xia An’ge texted Gu Zhinan. She knew he was staying there too, just not which floor.

Two minutes later, Gu Zhinan replied, “I’m here too. What a coincidence?”

He had been about to nap early so he could practice with full energy tomorrow. With only a guitar accompaniment, he needed to be extra careful, or he’d be doomed.

“I heard this round of Masked Singer will have guest singers,” Xia An’ge messaged casually. Gu Zhinan didn’t doubt her words at all.

“Yeah, I just heard too.” No surprise, he’d already seen it on Weibo right after Xiao Li explained it. He had gone there to check the official page, but all they had revealed were six shadowy silhouettes, like the “men in black” from Detective Conan. No clues at all.

They looked like one big black cloud huddled together. At most, he could tell the middle figure was a woman, the two on either side were also women, and the three tall ones must be men. And somehow, that teaser even made it to the top of trending. Likely a deliberate hype move, since they had changed the rules.

“Landlord, do you think the guest singers will include any beautiful female singers?” Gu Zhinan suddenly asked. It was so mysterious, should he pick a safer song? Maybe he’d get an unexpected bonus.

“If you think they’re beautiful, then yes.” Xia An’ge frowned at his reply. “Shouldn’t he be more concerned about whether they can sing well, not how they look?”

Was he really just a shallow straight guy?

“I think if they really were beautiful, they wouldn’t be hiding their faces. Doesn’t that make sense?” Gu Zhinan answered seriously.

“?” Xia An’ge took a deep breath, tossed her phone aside, and stopped replying.

All he got back was a single question mark. Gu Zhinan was puzzled. ‘What’s wrong with that logic? They’re keeping it a mystery, it’s just like with “Blue and White Porcelain.”’

Speaking of which, he suddenly remembered he still had to record the theme song for Huayang’s Blue and White Porcelain program! They had said it would premiere in January, but there had been no notice for him to record yet.

The money didn’t matter, he mainly wanted to help promote the culture of blue and white porcelain.

The next morning, without needing Xiao Li to push him, Gu Zhinan showed up with his guitar. He even ate breakfast in the rehearsal room. Since he wasn’t using a backing track, only David was there to accompany him. David had practically become his personal rehearsal partner for this season of Masked Singer.

“Really no accompaniment?” After hearing him sing once, David was as amazed as ever by Gu Zhinan’s terrifying creativity. But going without accompaniment meant much more pressure on the singer-songwriter, it was easy to slip up.

“Exactly. But we still have time. I can call the other three back and we can whip up a backing track.” Xiao Li suggested.

“Add accompaniment?” Gu Zhinan muttered. “Have the guest singers been announced yet?”

“Not yet. Why ask?” Xiao Li asked curiously.

“No reason. Don’t call them back. David alone is enough. If we add something, let’s try combining traditional Chinese instruments with the guitar. It might blend better.”

David was confused, so Gu Zhinan wrote out a score by hand. Luckily, he had been cramming music theory hard lately. With his foundation and a good teacher, he had picked it back up quickly.

Originally, he could have finished by the afternoon, but he and David worked until after 9 p.m. Xiao Li stayed with them, until finally hearing the new version with added traditional instruments. 

The song had leveled up. Paired with Gu Zhinan’s deep voice, it carried a desolate grandeur, like a ruler standing above the world in loneliness. It even stirred Xiao Li’s emotions.

This was solid! A perfect rehearsal.

Gu Zhinan packed up and returned to the hotel with Xiao Li.

Outside, reporters had gathered in greater numbers because of the new rules. He even saw a few people being interviewed, but of course, not him. He just wanted to get some good sleep.

Since that “?” last night, the landlord hadn’t replied to any of his follow-up messages. But he didn’t push it. That was just her personality, switching moods quickly.

The night passed uneventfully.

The next morning, Xiao Li rushed in, face full of shock. “Mr. Gu! The guest singer list is out! Guess who’s on it?”

“Are you going to say it or not?”

“Female singers: Wang Yuyan! Du Yu and Xia An’ge! Male singers: Wang An, Han Junfeng, and Gao Wenxuan!”

When Xiao Li said “Xia An’ge,” he glanced at Gu Zhinan. But his expression stayed completely calm. Weren’t the two of them frequent collaborators?

“Oh.”

“You know them all, right?”

“Yeah. Wang Yuyan and Xia An’ge.”

“And the others?”

“Hmm… I’ll Baidu them later.”

On the outside, Gu Zhinan looked calm as ever. But inside, he suddenly realized why the landlord had sent that question mark the other night, he’d walked straight into it without knowing!