My agency went bankrupt before I even got on stage.

The lights went out.

Lin Fan stood in the center, and as the stage lights came on, he began to sing softly to the rhythm of the music.

Lin Fan's voice is highly recognizable. Coupled with his superb skills such as intermediate singing ability, perfect pitch, and never singing off-key, he immediately captivated the audience's ears, calming them down from their previous excitement and leading them into the world of music.

This song is different from "Confession" that Lin Fan chose for the first public performance. "Confession" starts with a high note that immediately grabs the audience's attention, while this song is sung softly and gently, carrying the feeling of a group of sunny teenagers eating fruit, drinking cold drinks, and enjoying the sea breeze on a hot summer day, feeling the vigor of youth.

The song itself is rather weak, but the atmosphere it evokes is very strong.

Lin Fan sang just one line on stage, and before he even finished the line, Zhang Xinlan on the judges' panel showed a satisfied smile.

Ding Erxun went even further, saying, "This Lin Fan's singing has improved again! I won't be able to give him any more confident feedback anymore!"

Ke Xirui felt a little jealous. He had participated in the show with Ding Erxun and become a mentor on the show. They had worked together for so long, but Ding Erxun had never praised him once.

However, Lin Fan's progress is obvious to everyone. With each performance, Lin Fan shows obvious improvement, and Ke Xirui couldn't help but chime in: "Yes, Lin Fan's progress is indeed quite significant."

Ding Erxun was quite pleased to hear that his opinion had been recognized, and sincerely said, "Xiao Ke, you, as a senior, also need to work hard, otherwise you'll be overtaken by the younger generation!"

Ke Xirui: ...I regret it! Really! Why did I even respond to you, giving you the chance to argue with me?

……

On stage, after Lin Fan's part ended, Li Xiaodong took over the singing. As soon as he opened his mouth, the difference in quality was immediately apparent. It wasn't that Li Xiaodong sang badly; he sang quite well, displaying the skill of a standard idol.

It's a pity that the idol singer encountered a powerful vocalist; it can be said that they lost with honor. This feeling became even more pronounced when the three singers performed later, but there's nothing that can be done about it; everyone's abilities are just uneven.

The song is not long, just over four minutes long. Lin Fan and his four teammates fully performed the atmosphere and artistic conception of the song, and ended the song with a gorgeous trill. The overall performance was not only not bad, but also had many highlights.

The audience thoroughly enjoyed the performance and responded with enthusiastic applause.

After Lin Fan and his team left the stage, Team B took over the performance.

When Li Xiaodong and the others waiting backstage heard Team B's performance, they immediately felt half relieved, because the other team's singing skills were about the same as theirs, and their overall performance was passable, but rather flat and lacked any distinctive features.

However, Team A has Lin Fan, and Lin Fan is the defining characteristic of Team A. With the others being of similar strength, Lin Fan is practically a bug in the system. Even though Team B has a hidden powerhouse, Li Xiaodong and the others don't think they're doomed to lose.

……

After both teams finished their performances, they sat together in the small backstage broadcast booth, waiting for the final vote count to be announced.

The votes were very close, with three consecutive team members receiving almost identical scores, creating a tense atmosphere. Then, the votes for Li Xiaodong and the second-place team from Team B were announced.

"Wow!"

Li Xiaodong received 133 votes! The opposing team's second-place finisher only received 67 votes! The vote difference widened dramatically!

"Great!" Lin Fan patted Li Xiaodong on the shoulder, and Li Xiaodong was overjoyed.

Team A has now received a total of 202 votes, with Lin Fan's vote count yet to be announced. Team B has only received 121 votes, with Tu Jingyi's vote count yet to be announced.

However, the gap was quite large, and the people on Team B didn't look too happy.

……

The performance on stage continued. Because there were 6 songs and 12 teams, and the number of people was 40 fewer than the first performance, this performance lasted a full hour less than the last one. This was really touching for Lin Fan, the lazybones!

Let's finish this quickly!

Go back to sleep!

It would be even better if we could be eliminated in the shortest possible time!

The second public performance ended around 10:30 p.m.

It takes time for the audience to leave the stage. If it is a pre-recorded broadcast, the trainees can wait until the venue is cleared before returning to the stage to wait for the final results to be announced.

However, this time, the sixth season of Morning Star was broadcast live. If the production team had to wait for the audience to leave, they would have been bombarded with criticism from viewers and fans watching the live stream! Therefore, the production team chose to announce the final results directly in the waiting room.

Luo Yu led the other mentors to the waiting room: "Everyone performed exceptionally well tonight. Let's give a round of applause to our outstanding selves!"

The students cheered and applauded, replying, "Thank you, teacher."

Luo Yu, holding the table card, said, "It's getting late, and everyone must be tired, so I won't take up any more of your time. Let's get straight to the vote count!"

Zhang Xinlan, still smiling, asked, "Is there any trainee whose vote count you'd particularly like to know?"

The trainees perked up.

"Yes! Zhuo Yuanquan's!"

"I want to hear Lu Bingyang's vote count, teacher!"

"It has to be Brother Fan!"

……

Ding Erxun also said, "I also want to know Lin Fan's vote count."

Ke Xirui continued, "Alright, now I'll announce Lin Fan's... vote count for Group B, and Tu Jingyi's!"

The trainees, having been tricked, began to murmur and boo, "Whoa—!"

"Teacher, you've gone astray too!"

Although the trainees protested, they eventually accepted the reality and watched the vote count displayed on the big screen.

Tu Jingyi: 241 votes!

"Wow!" The scene erupted in astonishment!

"This number of votes?"

"That tall?"

Wow, that's amazing!

……

This number of votes is indeed impressive. With Tu Jingyi's high number of votes, Team B's total votes reached 362!

Before anyone could react, Ke Xirui revealed Lin Fan's vote count!

159 votes.

Team A received a total of 361 votes, exactly one less than Team B!

In an instant, many students understood what had happened.

The royal family has finally stopped hiding their true nature and stepped into the public eye.

Everyone's expressions were somewhat strange. The young idol trainees were not yet sophisticated enough. They opened their mouths, looked at Tu Jingyi, then at Lin Fan, and then at Li Xiaodong. They all fell silent in a tacit understanding.

The mentors already knew the vote count, so they didn't react much. Only Zhang Xinlan glanced at Lin Fan through the crowd and saw him beaming with joy amidst a group of people whose atmosphere had clearly become somber!

Lin Fan was naturally delighted!

The low number of votes means that the fans who came to the scene are starting to listen to his pleas and are no longer insisting on voting for him! Then he's not far from being eliminated!

As for royalty and ticket rigging, what does it have to do with me? They can't contribute to my guesthouse, they can't increase the downloads of my songs, and they can't give me RMB directly, so who cares?