51: Chapter 51 describes a real object.

"Han Hong."

"Han Hong, Han Hong..."

It was unclear who in the audience shouted first, but soon a crowd joined in.

"Hello everyone, I am Han Hong."

"Hello, teachers." Han Hong bowed to the three teachers who were already seated.

Han Hong had short hair, was not very tall, and was a bit stout.

But her voice was truly top-tier, whether in high or low notes.

“The judges have introduced four of themselves, so let's keep the momentum going and invite the fifth judge out.”

“He is hailed as a master of ancient-style lyrics—Fang Wenshan.”

“His lyrical works have greatly promoted the popularity of 'Dragon Country Style' music, perfectly combining traditional culture with modern pop music.”

Fang Wenshan wore a simple hat and a pair of black-rimmed glasses. His eyes were calm, his face lean, and his clothing plain. A hint of a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth, carrying the reserved shyness of a scholar.

“Hello everyone, I am Fang Wenshan. Please guide me!”

“Finally, please allow me to introduce our hundred-person audience jury.”

“Among them are music teachers, university professors, and even street performers... the members have diverse backgrounds, but all are bound by music.”

After the introductions, the five judges and the hundred-person audience jury were all seated.

Lin Xin smiled and began to introduce the program rules.

“Five teachers and a hundred-member jury, welcome to the set of 'the singer & songwriter'.”

“From this moment on, the footage from the six creative studios will be broadcast live on online platforms. The audience can enter any live room from No. 1 to No. 6 to watch.”

“The creative topic for this episode must be released before five o'clock. After the topic is given to the six groups of contestants, the footage will mainly focus on their creative process, which will be broadcast live on the internet.”

“They have three hours to complete their works.”

“Works must be submitted before eight o'clock; otherwise, they will be deemed unable to complete and will be directly eliminated.”

“After eight o'clock, the performance order will be decided by drawing lots. The performance segment will be presented in a live broadcast format...”

“At that time, this opening segment and the creative process of the six groups will be aired on CCTV using time-lapse editing.”

“After the performance, the five teachers and the hundred-member jury will vote on the works.”

“Each teacher has 1 vote, and each member of the jury has only one vote. The maximum score for a piece of work is 150 votes.”

“If the total votes for two works are the same, the one with more votes from the professional judges wins.”

“If the professional judges' votes are also the same, the five judges will conduct a second round of voting, in which each judge holds only one vote.”

“Therefore, there will be no tied rankings in this program.”

Lin Xin paused here and asked gently with a smile, “Teachers, jury members, do you have any questions?”

Seeing that no one had any questions, Lin Xin continued to introduce the rules for setting the topic.

“The rule for setting the topic for this program is as follows: each of the five teachers and the hundred-member jury has a ball next to them, and there is one ball in the audience.”

“Please write down the topic you have in mind and put it into the ball at your side.”

“We will collect the balls from the five judges, the one ball from the audience, and 20 balls randomly selected from the hundred-member jury.”

“Finally, the 35 balls will be put into this tumbling machine. The first ball to come out will be our creative topic for this episode.”

Still, no one raised any questions. Lin Xin announced loudly, “The topic selection for this episode officially begins.”

The judges, the jury, and the audience were all writing down topics. The stage went quiet, with only the sound of 'rustling' to be heard.

Soon, the staff collected the 35 balls and put them all into the tumbling machine. The machine was transparent, so the balls inside could be seen clearly.

“Let's invite the staff to start the tumbling machine,” Lin Xin shouted.

A man wearing sunglasses walked up and pressed the start button on the machine.

Everyone's eyes were focused on the tumbling machine. Those who had written on a ball hoped theirs would be the first one tumbled out.

Those who hadn't written on a ball wanted to know what the topic was as soon as possible.

Twenty seconds later, a ball rolled out of the machine. Lin Xin was already waiting there.

She carefully picked up the ball, held it high, and showed it to the entire audience.

The audience immediately erupted into enthusiastic cheers and shouts.

The contestants in the creative studios couldn't see what was happening outside; they could only faintly hear the cheers and applause.

“Next, we invite Teacher Han Hong to open the ball and read out the topic for the first episode.”

Hearing this, Han Hong stood up, straightened her clothes, and walked straight to the center of the stage.

She took the ball from Lin Xin's hand, carefully opened it, and took out the slip of paper inside.

She took a deep breath and said teasingly, “This topic is interesting. The scope is too broad, which actually makes it hard to write.”

Teacher Liu Huan said, “Teacher Han Hong, just hurry up. The suspense is killing us.”

Han Hong chuckled and read out loudly with her explosive and penetrating voice, “The creative topic for this episode is: Write about a physical object.”

“What??”

“???”

“!!!”

Facing everyone's confusion, Han Hong spread her hands, indicating she was also helpless: “That's why I said it's hard to write.”

She showed both sides of the paper with the topic to the camera and then walked off the stage.

Lin Xin, after seeing the number at the bottom of the ball clearly, said, “This topic comes from our hundred-member jury.”

A thin, small man wearing glasses stood up, indicating that he was the one who came up with the topic.

After Han Hong sat down, she turned her head and asked Li Zhongsheng, “Teacher Li, if you were to write on this topic, where would you start?”

Li Zhongsheng put down his pen and adjusted his glasses. “I would first decide what to write about, and then consider how to write it.”

“There are many songs about emotions, love, and feelings, but really not many about physical objects.”

“This topic is very challenging.”

After Li Zhongsheng finished speaking, he picked up his pen again, presumably also thinking about how to start.

At 17:00, the six groups of contestants received the topic at the same time.

Some began to analyze the topic immediately, while others just sat there in a daze.

Netizens also flocked to the live rooms of each group.

In Yangcheng, at Tongxing Entertainment Company.

Six women gathered to watch the live broadcast, with six phones in front of them, each playing the real-time footage from one of the six creative rooms.

They looked relaxed, with snacks like sunflower seeds, peanuts, and fruit in front of them, clearly prepared for a "protracted war."

“CEO Li, what is Mr. Chen doing? Isn't he worried?” Zhou Juan asked in confusion, eating peanuts.

CEO Li was speechless and frowned as she looked at Chen Shaoping and the other two on camera. “Maybe he's meditating.”

“Sister Ying, look. It seems the third group has already started writing.”

“The fifth group is also having an intense discussion!”

...

In the No. 6 live room, when the three of them learned the topic.

Wang Bo spoke first: “A physical object? This scope is too broad. Where do we even start?”

Zhou Bule also said blankly, “Write about a stone? A cup? How can that be made into a song...”

Chen Shaoping spoke calmly, “Stay calm, don't rush. The more it's this kind of topic, the more you need to quiet your mind first.”

Wang Bo and Zhou Bule stared straight at Chen Shaoping.

Their meaning was clear: the two of us can't do it, so it's up to you.

Chen Shaoping said only this one sentence and spoke no more. He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to rest.

The two had no choice and didn't dare to disturb him, so they could only follow Chen Shaoping's lead and sit down as well.