267 Presence (1/2)

No one in the room disputed Qin Guiyue's position as the frontrunner after she tallied up 98 points, and she thoroughly deserved to be the winner. However, there were still first and second-runner up positions to compete for, so everyone continued to sing with great enthusiasm.

Some sang love songs, some inspirational songs, and some even performed duets.

Zhang Dashan was a down-to-earth guy, so he chose ”Give Me A Hug, Brother.” He had a rough voice, and that quality was very suitable for this song.

”Give me a hug, brother, tell me your mind,

Tell me all about your sad past and changes of vicissitude all these years.

Give me a hug, brother. If you want to cry, cry it all out,

Cry it all out for all the deep-buried hardships you've had all these years.”

When he belted out the song, all the men listening recalled their younger days when they were both frivolous and fearless in pursuing relationships. It reminded them of the quote from the movie, A Chinese Odyssey: ”the longer one lives, the more dog-like he becomes.” There was some wisdom in that, as time was a great leveler, and social norms would gradually smoothen the rough edges.

Xiao Luo was of a different mind altogether, and shaking his head, he murmured to himself, ”I'm so sick of hearing this song from you!”

Zhang Dashan habitually selected this song to sing at the karaoke, and sometimes he would even sing it twice. Xiao Luo was sick of hearing it. To hear it again, it was merely noise to him, regardless of how well Zhang Dashan delivered the song. However, when compared to Hu Shuiping, his voice was heavenly.

The little loli, Bei Bei, sat obediently beside Xiao Luo, with her two tiny hands on his thigh. Her big eyes were staring at the screen, and she seemed to be very interested in the music videos' content.

”Girl, can you sing?” Xiao Luo asked her jokingly.

The loli nodded and replied eagerly, ”Bei Bei knows how to sing the nursery rhyme mommy taught.”

Xiao Luo patted her head affectionately and nodded silently.

Zhang Dashan finished his song with a flourish, and the system gave a score of 96 points!

What the heck!

It surprised everyone and nearly caused a riot. When did Zhang Dashan ever display any musical talents even from his college years? They couldn't believe that he had gotten such an outrageous high score. They could accept Qin Guiyue receiving 98 points, being the main vocalist of the band during her college years, but Zhang Dashan?

”I'm very much humbled, hahaha...”

Zhang Dashan received the applause with utmost modestly but laughed out loud as he stepped back to his seat.

”F*ck, this system has a definite problem. Even you could get 96 points, while I only score 11! And I even hit the high notes!” Hu Shuiping was all riled up. He always believed that he was on par with Zhang Dashan, in terms of singing ability, so he felt very dissatisfied when Zhang Dashan's score flashed on the screen.

Zhang Dashan patted his shoulder and rubbed it in, saying, ”That's because I've sung it well, you don't know shit.”

Hu Shuiping rolled his eyes, and turning to Guo Qinghe, he said with firm resolve, ”Chairperson, I demand a re-match!”

”Re-what? No, once is more than enough, I'd rather commit suicide than listen to you sing again!”

”My earwax almost flew out just now. Shui, please don't sing again.”

”We'll drag you out and kill you by humiliation if you dare to sing again!”

Everyone was firmly against it, and the thought of it made them want to throw up. Earlier, they had encouraged Hu Shuiping, but only for laughs, and even then, they struggled to sit through his horrible singing. Once was enough!

Guo Qinghe tried to not laugh and simply advised him with all sincerity, ”Shui, everyone's only got one chance. Since the score's out, then you should accept it wholeheartedly, don't feel embarrassed, people won't laugh at you.”

However, those words only made the others burst into more laughter.

Hu Shuiping put up his signature sympathetic face: frowned eyebrows, pouting lips, and droopy eyes. And this brought about even more laughter, and everyone was rocking in their seats, unable to contain themselves.