Chapter 114: The Song King!

On stage, Yu Zhile gave off the vibe of a wandering poet. He sat casually on a high stool, strumming his guitar with an air of effortless grace. Dressed head to toe in a full mascot costume, no one could see his expression—not even his mouth as he sang. If it weren’t for the guitar matching the tune, some might have suspected he was lip-syncing.

But none of that mattered now.

What mattered was that yet another beautiful folk song was filling the air.

“If in spring, you do not appear in my dreams,
If in summer, you are nowhere at the street corner,
Even if autumn’s wind can’t bring you back here,
My heart will feel like the cold winter…”

At this point, Teacher Wu nodded approvingly. “You, through spring, summer, autumn, and winter? The lyrics are quite well written, and the title fits perfectly.”

He took off his reading glasses, closed his seemingly clouded eyes, and leaned back quietly in his chair, savoring the soothing folk love song.

Yu Zhile leisurely played his guitar, singing a song he especially cherished. On this stage today, his was the simplest accompaniment—just a lone guitar. In fact, this song needed no other instruments. Folk songs often require only a single guitar to convey their essence, and such simple, unadorned melodies tend to touch the heart more deeply.

The audience listened quietly, and Yu Zhile basked in the satisfaction the stage and music brought him.

He softly sang:

“Watching wild geese return to distant places,
Thinking of the girl who stays by my side,
Watching fallen leaves drift down,
Lost on the way back to my hometown,
Holding on to the habit of imagining…”

In the final lines, Yu Zhile altered one word. The original lyrics said, “thinking of the girl accompanying you,” but he changed it to “my girl.” Because as he sang, his mind was on the girl he called “wife” every day.

When the song ended, Yu Zhile set down his guitar and slipped on the mascot gloves.

As the stage lights brightened after the music stopped, warm applause rose from the audience.

There was no cheering—indicating the song didn’t stir wild excitement—but this applause was the loudest of the day.

Teacher Wu clapped along and, putting on his reading glasses again, praised with curiosity, “This song is really well written! But I’m curious—why does your voice sound so different from before? I even wondered if the production team swapped singers just to mess with us, making it impossible to guess who the singer really is!”

Yu Zhile cleared his throat. “I understand your suspicion. How about this? To prove we didn’t change performers or fake the singing, I’ll turn off the voice changer and sing with two different voices for you.”

“Sure!” Teacher Wu said, intrigued.

Yu Zhile switched off the voice changer and sang the chorus in his original voice:

“Without you through spring, summer, autumn, and winter, how can I get through the year?”

Then he changed to the altered voice, continuing:

“Rambling aimlessly, who’s memory do I recite alone...”

Finishing, he pressed the voice changer button again and lowered his voice. “Now you can be sure we didn’t switch singers, right?”

Teacher Wu immediately gave a thumbs-up. A female judge nearby smiled wryly, saying, “Voice actors are monsters! That’s absolutely true!”

“It’s actually quite common. Many people can imitate other voices. If you study hard, you could do the same. It’s just a vocal technique, nothing special,” Yu Zhile explained.

He spoke truthfully—even his wife, Qin Haiyu, possessed this skill. As a broadcasting major, nine out of ten of her classmates were renowned voice actors. Besides her natural voice, Qin Haiyu could sing using other voices too, though she found it less comfortable. With practice, however, it became second nature.

At that moment, the host Ni Qiqin asked curiously, “So does that mean Teacher Red Rose is also a voice actor? Her voice clearly changed between the first and second rounds.”

Yu Zhile covered for his wife. “She probably sang in her natural voice the first round, then sang with a pressed voice the second. So the difference makes perfect sense.”

Others nodded in agreement, while Qin Haiyu, backstage, quietly chuckled. She was pleased to have hidden it so well. Some had genuinely believed her first-round performance was her real voice. When the show aired, if everyone speculated like Teacher Starfish here, no one would guess that Red Rose was actually her.

Hee hee hee.

Qin Haiyu laughed quietly to herself.

But as the voting for Teacher Starfish began, she quickly grew nervous. Could she take first place in the second round? Could she win the title of Masked Singer’s champion for the premiere episode?

At first, she was confident. But she never expected that Teacher Starfish’s second performance would also be a folk song—and an original one at that.

Most daunting was how beautifully he sang “You Through the Four Seasons.” It seemed the first place might be snatched away...

Qin Haiyu felt a bit regretful and wronged. Yet even if she lost, she would do so gracefully—and besides, losing meant she had a reason to whimper to her husband and beg for comfort!

That thought comforted her.

Soon, Teacher Starfish’s voting ended.

Qin Haiyu and the singer known as Lone Wolf returned to the stage, as the three second-round performances had concluded. Now, the voting results would be revealed.

Yu Zhile was not worried at all. He knew in his heart the champion would be either himself or his wife.

He had the advantage of the song itself.

His wife had the advantage of being a female singer with a striking appearance.

As for Lone Wolf, though his second-round performance was strong, his song choice lacked the resonance needed to truly move the audience.

Therefore, Yu Zhile was certain Lone Wolf’s chance of first place was very slim.

After host Ni Qiqin’s somewhat drawn-out announcement, the vote rankings were finally shown.

When the stage’s large screen revealed the results, Yu Zhile was thrilled.

As expected—ha!

First place was indeed his!

“Sorry, my dear wife, but I, your husband, will have to embarrassingly accept the Masked Singer champion trophy for this premiere episode.”