82: Chapter 82 The Heavenly Voice is broadcast live online; the lottery begins.

Sounds of other teams moving about could be heard from the corridor outside, someone shouting into a walkie-talkie, "Are the lighting crew in place yet?" and others asking what time the lunch boxes would be delivered.

At ten o'clock sharp, the broadcast in the Studio rang out.

"Teachers, the stage rehearsal is starting now. Please take the stage in order of your dressing room numbers."

Jiang Fan took Shen Nian from the backstage corridor to the side stage area.

The side curtain was pulled open a crack, revealing the entire stage.

In the empty venue, the lighting rigs were fully powered on, illuminating the stage brilliantly.

The five hundred seats for the Audience Jury were arranged in a fan shape; they were empty, but the sheer expanse of that arc was enough to make one's legs feel weak just looking at it.

The first to go up was a male singer, in his early twenties, looking a bit reserved. The director had to shout at him three times from offstage before he found the microphone's position.

The second was Chen Hao.

When he walked out from the right side curtain, the atmosphere of the entire stage changed.

Standing at one meter ninety, just by standing in the center of the stage without doing anything, that sense of oppression was already there.

While testing the mic, he hummed a few notes, the depth of his mid-to-low register echoing throughout the empty venue.

The fifth group, Zhang Yihan.

She went up with a smile, walking with practiced ease. After standing in position, she first waved at the sound console—clearly not her first time on a stage of this scale.

During the mic test, she sang a few lines of an English song; her tone was sweet, and her technique was solid.

She smiled at the director offstage, waved, and walked down.

The whole process took less than four minutes, clean and efficient.

The sixth.

Shen Nian.

When her name was called over the broadcast, she was standing behind the side curtain, both hands clutching her skirt.

Jiang Fan patted her shoulder.

"Go on."

Shen Nian let go, and took two steps forward.

The moment she walked out from the side curtain, her footsteps faltered.

The stage was much larger than she had imagined.

The curved LED screen stretched from overhead down to her feet, and the cool blue light covered the floor.

Shen Nian walked to the center of the stage and stopped.

She looked down at the floor markings, then looked up at the dense lighting rigs above.

The sound engineer's voice came through her earpiece: "Teacher Shen Nian, please test the mic."

She gripped the microphone and opened her mouth.

"The journey stops and starts—"

The moment the sound came out, she froze for a second.

The sound system amplified her voice, causing it to echo throughout the empty venue.

Clean, clear, with a natural vibrato at the end of the notes.

The sound swirled around the dome, and when it fell, even the workers moving equipment stopped what they were doing.

The sound engineer said something to his colleague offstage, and both of them nodded.

On the side curtain, the corners of Jiang Fan's mouth lifted slightly.

No problem.

When she walked back to the side curtain after testing the mic, the nervousness on her face hadn't completely faded.

"How was it?" She walked up to Jiang Fan, her voice very low.

"Didn't you see the sound engineer nod just now?"

Shen Nian blinked. She said "Oh," and her fingers went back to twisting her skirt.

"Stop twisting it." Jiang Fan glanced at the fabric under her hands. "If you wrinkle the dress, you won't have anything to wear tonight."

Shen Nian put her hands down, the tips of her ears turning red.

—

Afternoon rehearsal.

Coordinating with the lighting and camera cues, each group of singers went through the full performance process.

Outsiders were cleared, leaving only the production staff and the core members of each team.

When it was Shen Nian's turn, Jiang Fan stood at the very front of the side curtain.

She sang the chorus of "the wind rises," not pushing at full power.

Director Fang Yiming appeared from the mentor's passage, holding a cup of coffee, standing behind the first row of seats for the Audience Jury.

He just stood there, staring at the stage, not taking a single sip of coffee.

Until Shen Nian finished singing the entire chorus.

Director Fang Yiming then lowered his head to take a sip of coffee, his expression unchanged.

Shen Nian stepped off the stage and walked up to Jiang Fan.

"How was it?"

Before Jiang Fan could speak, Zhou Yutong popped out from the side and grabbed Shen Nian's arm.

"Sister Nian, when you were singing just now, I saw even Director Fang leaning out to look!"

"Don't exaggerate." Shen Nian patted her.

—

Rehearsal ended at three o'clock.

The program team's car took them back to the hotel.

On the car, Zhou Yutong fell asleep against the window, her mouth slightly open, still clutching that Nokia.

Shen Nian sat next to Jiang Fan, not speaking, looking out the window the whole time.

As they approached the hotel, she spoke up.

"Jiang Fan."

"Hm."

"When Tang Yingxue is giving her comments... will she target me?"

Shen Nian turned her head to look at him.

"She is a professional singer. In front of the audience, she wouldn't be stupid enough to openly target a victim who just won a copyright lawsuit."

Jiang Fan leaned back against the seat.

"The only thing you need to do tonight is to sing 'the wind rises' well. Everything else has nothing to do with you."

Shen Nian didn't speak again.

The car stopped.

Zhou Yutong was shaken awake by a speed bump, rubbing her eyes groggily: "Are we here?"

Entering the hotel lobby, they ran into Zhang Yihan and two assistants coming out of the elevator.

Zhang Yihan saw Shen Nian and nodded politely.

The short-haired assistant beside her let her gaze linger on Shen Nian's face for a second, then lowered her head to whisper something to Zhang Yihan.

Zhang Yihan didn't look back and walked away with her people.

Upon reaching their floor, Jiang Fan walked Shen Nian to her room door.

Shen Nian unlocked the door, standing at the entrance without going in.

Zhou Yutong, very perceptive, dashed inside first, shouting "I'm going to take a shower first," and the bathroom door slammed shut.

The corridor fell silent, leaving only the two of them.

Shen Nian lowered her head, rubbing her toes against the carpet.

"Tonight... will you be watching me from offstage?"

"In the side stage area, I'll be there the whole time."

Shen Nian looked up, pursing her lips.

"That's good."

She retreated into the room, and before the door closed, her gaze met Jiang Fan's.

—

7:30 PM.

The livestream preview had already begun.

Inside the venue, the five hundred onsite Audience Jury members took their seats one after another, while the five hundred offsite Audience Jury members voted in real-time via the livestream.

The number of online viewers in the Livestream Room had already jumped past six million, and the comments were scrolling by rapidly.

[It's here, it's here! How's the lineup this year?]

[Chen Hao must be number one, no arguments accepted]

[Zhang Yihan, Zhang Yihan, Zhang Yihan!!!]

[Wait, Shen Nian? That Shen Nian who won the copyright lawsuit? She's here too?]

[The one whose song Hua Xingyu plagiarized? This show dares to invite her?]

The discussion about Shen Nian in the comments grew denser; some dug up the full story of the copyright case, some posted screenshots of Hua Xingyu's apology video, and others were asking "How good is her singing, really?"

The eight groups of singers made their final preparations in their respective dressing rooms.

The three mentors entered through the dedicated passage.

Tang Yingxue walked in the front, wearing a black tight-fitting skirt with pearl earrings.

The Livestream Room exploded instantly.

[Sister Xue is so fair and beautiful!]

The eight groups of singers made their final preparations in their respective dressing rooms.

The three mentors entered through the dedicated passage.

Tang Yingxue walked in the front, wearing a black suit skirt with pearl earrings.

Following behind was a man in his early fifties—Heavenly King Zhou, an evergreen of the mainland music scene, who had won the Golden Melody Awards four times.

Finally, there was the gold-medal Producer Chen Kexin, who had produced over a dozen platinum records.

The three mentor chairs were placed in front of the stage, facing the stage.

Host Teacher He stood in the center of the stage, waiting for the applause to die down.

"Dear audience friends, friends of the Audience Jury, welcome to '2014 The Sound of Nature'!"

The cheers nearly blew the roof off.

The number of online viewers in the Livestream Room jumped to 8.8 million and was still rising.

Teacher He waited a few seconds.

"The rules for our first episode are very simple—a ranking competition. Eight singers will each sing a song, with one thousand Audience Jury members voting in real-time. Each person gets three votes, which can only be cast for different singers. This episode is for ranking only, not elimination."

He paused.

"However—the second episode is a challenge match."

"Two singers eliminated from the previous season will initiate a challenge. If the challenge is successful, the two singers with the lowest total ranking from the two competitions will be eliminated."

The venue went quiet for two seconds, then the murmurs began.

Elimination starts from the second episode.

This competition format was much crueler than expected.

In other words—tonight's ranking directly determines who is in the most danger for the next episode.

The person ranked last will be the target for the next episode.

Teacher He clapped his hands.

"Next—we will draw lots to determine the order of appearance!"