122: Chapter 122 The Little Rich Girl Buys Things

The one-minute countdown ended, and the voting channel closed.

The numbers on the big screen jumped one last time and then froze.

Teacher He stood in the center of the stage holding his cue cards, with the eight singers lined up in a row.

"The results for the fourth round of the ranking competition are out. As per our usual rule, we will start revealing them from eighth place."

Teacher He flipped open the first card.

"Eighth place—Wang Mingxuan, 248 votes."

Wang Mingxuan bit his lip and bowed to the audience.

"Seventh place—Liu Yuhang, 264 votes."

"Sixth place—Han Bing, 283 votes."

"Fifth place—Lin Ke, 289 votes."

Lin Ke smiled, clapped, and stepped back half a pace.

"Fourth place—Fang Xiaoxiao, 341 votes."

Fang Xiaoxiao had come up through the challenger round; being able to achieve this ranking meant she had secured her footing.

Teacher He still had three cards in his hand; he flipped them over, glanced at them, and looked up.

"Next, we will announce the top three."

The venue went quiet for a split second.

"Third place—"

"Zhang Yihan, 452 votes."

Zhang Yihan smiled, nodded, and stepped back half a pace.

Without those 300 guaranteed votes, she was instantly knocked back to her original form.

The Livestream Room was flooded with comments.

[Third? Wasn't she the champion last episode? Hahahaha]

[This is her true strength, right?]

"Second place—Chen Hao, 527 votes."

Chen Hao sighed.

"So then—"

Teacher He flipped over the last card.

"For the fourth round of the ranking competition, the first place is—"

People in the audience had already started shouting.

"Shen Nian! 596 votes!"

Applause and cheers rained down, and people in several sections of the Audience Jury stood up.

596 votes.

That was 69 votes more than second place and a full 144 votes more than Zhang Yihan.

This was the choice made by a thousand people after listening to eight songs.

The Livestream Room was filled with a white wall of scrolling comments.

[596!!! Is this the highest vote count in history?!]

[Compared to the "champion" of some people last episode, this is what you call a real champion.]

Shen Nian stood on stage, and Teacher He handed the microphone to her.

"Teacher Shen Nian, would you like to say a few words to everyone?"

Shen Nian held the microphone steady and stood up straight.

"Thank you all for your support."

She thought for a moment.

"Every time I stand on this stage, I feel—it's so good to be alive."

The audience fell silent for a second.

Applause spread from the front row to the very back.

[I'm crying, from being blacklisted to now, she really has made it through.]

[Heavenly Sounds has witnessed the rebirth of a girl.]

Teacher He took back the microphone and announced the rules for the next round—

The six singers at the bottom of the rankings would compete in one-on-one PK matches, eventually selecting two contestants to join the two with the highest total vote counts in the top four.

Adding up the total votes from the four rounds, Zhang Yihan had a few dozen more than Chen Hao.

She and Shen Nian advanced directly to the top four.

Whereas Chen Hao had to wait for the results of the PK matches.

The tone of the comments in the Livestream Room changed instantly.

[Wait a minute?? Zhang Yihan advances directly to the top four??]

[Does everyone not know how many of her votes in the previous rounds were bought??]

[Chen Hao is so strong and still has to do a PK, while Zhang Yihan just slides into the top four with bought votes; that's absurd.]

—

The recording ended, and they returned backstage.

As soon as Shen Nian entered the dressing room, she kicked off her high heels, walked barefoot on the carpet, and collapsed onto the sofa.

"I'm exhausted."

Jiang Fan handed her a bottle of water.

Shen Nian took it, took two gulps, and leaned back against the sofa with her eyes closed, the Tibetan necklace still around her neck rising and falling with her breathing.

Someone knocked on the door.

Shen Nian hurriedly put her high heels back on.

Chen Hao stood at the doorway, having changed into casual clothes.

His 1.9-meter frame leaned against the doorframe, blocking half the doorway.

"Shen Nian, congratulations."

Shen Nian sat up from the sofa.

"Brother Hao, you sang really well this episode too."

Chen Hao smiled, his hands in his pants pockets.

"Congratulations on advancing directly to the top four. I hope I don't get matched with you when the time comes."

Shen Nian paused, then laughed.

"I hope I don't get matched with you either."

Chen Hao waved to say goodbye and left.

He walked a few steps, then turned back to look at Jiang Fan.

"Teacher Jiang, that Arrangement of yours... was really impressive."

Jiang Fan nodded. "Your rap today was good too."

Chen Hao grinned and strode away.

Shen Nian watched his back disappear around the corner of the corridor, then turned and leaned on Jiang Fan's shoulder.

"That's why he is my strongest opponent."

Jiang Fan ruffled her hair.

"Exactly, strong against strong."

Shen Nian tilted her head to look at him. "You won't let me lose, right?"

"Of course not."

—

The next afternoon, they caught a flight back to Shanghai.

By the time they landed, it was already evening.

Li Cheng was waiting at the arrivals gate and saw Shen Nian walking out, dragging her suitcase from a distance.

Before she even reached him, he shouted out.

"The champion queen has arrived!"

Shen Nian was amused. "Brother Li, keep your voice down."

"Low profile, low profile." Li Cheng took the suitcase and walked toward the car. While he said "low profile," his face was beaming brighter than anyone else's.

In the car, Li Cheng began to report on business matters.

"Regarding the Orphanage, Old Zhou is moving quite fast. He said he can finish everything in about a week."

Jiang Fan grunted in acknowledgment.

Shen Nian sat in the back seat, tapping her fingers on her knees.

"Jiang Fan."

"Hm?"

"Can we go visit the Orphanage tomorrow?"

Li Cheng glanced at her through the rearview mirror.

Jiang Fan turned to look at her. "Aren't you going to rest? You just finished the competition."

"I'm not tired." Shen Nian tucked her phone back into her bag. "Besides, I want to buy some things to bring over. For the children."

—

Early the next morning, Shen Nian woke up at seven.

She opened the notes app on her phone, which had a list written out—

Written after the two of them finished their business last night, it was densely packed across two screens.

After ten o'clock, she dragged Jiang Fan and took a taxi to Nanjing Road.

The first stop was a toy store, where they swept through the aisles.

There were over thirty children, ranging in age from five or six to twelve or thirteen, with an even split of boys and girls.

She had the clerk pick items according to age groups—plush toys, Legos, art sets, and puzzles—filling six large bags.

Passing by a children's clothing store, she ducked inside.

She picked out four size ranges, ten items per size, mostly spring and autumn wear, with a few winter jackets added in.

Seeing the quantity she was buying, the clerk cautiously asked: "Are you a wholesaler?"

"No. It's a gift."

She swiped her card.

They made another sweep through a grocery store—shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, towels...

Tossing items into the cart one by one.

When they came out, both of Jiang Fan's hands were full of bags.

He called Li Cheng directly to come over.

When Li Cheng drove over and saw the pile of things at the entrance, his mouth fell open.

"Are you... moving house?"

Shen Nian brushed the dust off her hands.

"Help me move these into the car."

Li Cheng squatted down and rummaged through the bags—

Toys, clothes, daily necessities; the variety was complete.

He turned his head to look at Jiang Fan.

Jiang Fan shrugged.

Li Cheng looked back at Shen Nian.

"How much did you spend?"

Shen Nian stuffed the receipt into her pocket.

"Not much. A few tens of thousands of yuan."

Li Cheng moved the things into the trunk trip by trip, and when it wouldn't fit, he put it in the back seat, muttering: "Generous."

Jiang Fan watched her without saying a word.

Shen Nian felt uncomfortable under his gaze and raised her hand to smooth the hair behind her ear.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm at least a... little rich woman now."

She laughed herself when she said the words "little rich woman."

Jiang Fan looked away and opened the car door.

"Get in the car, little rich woman."