Chapter 158: The Grand Final! To Have One's Name Inscribed on the Golden Roll!

"Lin Ze, first place!"

Seeing this, everyone was momentarily dumbfounded.

[Lin Ze! You should just keep something like this to yourself! How could you actually write it down?]

[That's right, what if people with ulterior motives try to spin a narrative out of it?]

[So foolish. Even if you had listed everyone's names in reverse order, it would have been fine.]

Lin Ze smiled mysteriously at the camera and then flipped his board face down.

After a short wait, everyone finally finished writing on their boards amidst much internal struggle, striving for a result that would offend absolutely no one.

"Has everyone finished writing? In that case, let's reveal them one by one, starting with... Chen Nan!"

Suddenly called out, Chen Nan looked a bit embarrassed. He glanced around at everyone, then scratched his head and took out what he had written.

First, Lin Ze; second, Xu Shenshen; third, Panda...

Everyone looked down the list from top to bottom and shook their heads, inwardly sighing at what an honest fellow he was.

His ranking completely mirrored what everyone was thinking, based strictly on individual strength.

"Hey? Why am I sixth?" Liang Xiang asked, pursing her lips in dissatisfaction.

"I thought Senior Liang Xiang has always excelled at singing sweet songs, but this time she might be performing a lot of tracks that don't match her usual style, so..." Chen Nan explained to Liang Xiang.

"Well... Li Xiyan is only fifth." Rong Zhengyu shook his head. "This kid is far too honest."

There was a hint of teasing in his tone, causing everyone to burst into laughter with a sense of tacit understanding.

Finally, it was Li Xiyan's turn.

Li Xiyan's face was still flushed, and it remained bright red as she revealed her board.

At the top was Lin Ze, but the second place immediately shifted to Chen Nan.

"Ahem, I just really, really like Chen Nan's voice, so no matter what song he sings, he gets extra points from me..."

"Ooh~"

The sound of light-hearted teasing rippled through the room.

One by one, they went down the line, coming dangerously close to writing the words "social tact" right across their foreheads.

The last one was Lin Ze. The director had caught sight of what Lin Ze had written through the monitor, so he deliberately left him for last.

When Lin Ze held up his board, the expressions on everyone's faces turned strange.

On the board, Lin Ze was first, Panda second, Elder Shi and Xu Shenshen tied for third, followed by Rong Zhengyu, Li Xiyan, Chen Nan, and Liang Xiang.

"Teacher Lin, you've gone too far this time. How could you rank me all the way at the bottom?" Liang Xiang's jaw dropped.

"Ah, wasn't the game supposed to match the predictions as closely as possible?"

Lin Ze pointed at the prediction sheet resting on top of the television.

"I happened to read this prediction when I had some free time earlier, and that's exactly how it was predicted."

"..."

[Fine, and here I was wondering why Lin Ze was being so arrogant!]

[Liang Xiang ranked everyone else first and herself second—I thought that was already clever enough and the least offensive way to do it, but I never expected someone to already have the official answer key in hand...]

[Who even is this director? I need to look them up. They're always trying to manufacture buzz, cutting the trailers like that last time, and now getting exposed right on the live stream?]

Everyone fell silent at once, and even the director fell silent.

Who could have foreseen this?

They had originally planned to stir up just a tiny bit of controversy...

"Ahem, alright, let's all take a look at this prediction."

The director brought up the prediction document for everyone to see. It matched Lin Ze's board word for word. Lin Ze's strength was obvious to everyone, so placing him first naturally won the approval of many.

However, having Panda in second place sparked some controversy.

First, Panda's background as an internet singer led many of the later contestants to underestimate Panda's actual strength.

Moreover, with Elder Shi and the little diva in the mix, there was no way the second-place spot should go to Panda.

Yet, the detailed analysis within the document made everyone's hearts relent and accept it.

"That makes sense. Then I suppose we really should be third..." Xu Shenshen said thoughtfully.

"Smack!"

Elder Shi gave the back of Xu Shenshen's head an irritated slap.

"What third? Are you just going to resign yourself to third place without even a fight?"

"First! We are aiming for first place!"

It was rare for Elder Shi to speak up during the program, and this time he finally showed some intent to integrate into the group.

"Right! First!" Liang Xiang clenched her fist and punched the air. "I want first place too, I still have a chance!"

"First! First!" Li Xiyan joined in the chant.

"First!"

Everyone shouted together, finally infusing the scene with a passionate, fighting spirit.

It was time for the familiar drawing of lots.

The prop this time was finally different from the usual routine.

The director rolled out the kind of golden prize-draw eggs typically found at the entrance of a shopping mall.

There were seven golden eggs in total, corresponding to the seven performance slots.

Everyone crowded around, picking and choosing until each person was holding a golden egg.

"Crack!"

With a sharp sound, Liang Xiang excitedly pulled a slip of paper from her egg, only for her face to instantly twist into a bitter melon expression upon unfolding it.

"1!"

As one by one the golden eggs were smashed open, Lin Ze pinched a slip reading "7" between his fingers.

"Pardon me, I graciously accept everyone's concession!"

The finals format was much more interesting than before, offering a choice among four distinct themes.

Since Lin Ze had drawn the seventh slot, the others stopped eyeing him with concern.

Before this round began, everyone had to choose which theme they would use to meet the challenge.

After a moment of thought, Lin Ze selected the final phrase:

The Moment of Success in the Imperial Examinations!

Since Liang Xiang was performing first, she naturally chose the theme that suited her best:

The Night of the Bridal Chamber.

The song she sang was so sweet it nearly gave Elder Shi a diabetic episode.

It was cloyingly sweet to the teeth!

[Oh my goodness, who would have thought this sweet young girl singing and dancing on stage is already nearing thirty?]

[I know right, her face and skin are so well maintained. I'm almost thirty too, and my skin isn't nearly as firm anymore...]

[Still, the great thing about her style of sweet-romance singers is that her sweetness doesn't alienate female viewers.]

The second performer, Chen Nan, also chose The Night of the Bridal Chamber, but his version carried a bitter undertone.

Ah, the flavor of an arranged marriage.

Lin Ze evaluated it silently.

[So bitter, especially right after listening to a sweet song...]

[Whoever marries Chen Nan is doomed. Singing songs like this all day at home, how could life ever be happy?]

Song after song passed. Panda's choice of The Moment of Success in the Imperial Examinations turned out, as expected, to be a youth-infused piece of ancient-style music.

It carried the power to help every lost youth break through their confusion.

Panda... was about to blow up!

Finally, it was Lin Ze's turn. To everyone's surprise, Lin Ze also stepped out wearing traditional Hanfu.

However, unlike those exquisite and polished historical garments, the outfit Lin Ze wore was patched and tattered, and his hair was messy and disheveled—the spitting image of a scholar who had studied himself half-mad.