Chapter 138 Su Chen: You are so pretentious.

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Yu Yixin tilted her head and thought for a moment.

“If I had to choose, my favorite song would still be ‘The Prose Poem Written by Father.’”

Li Kang hurriedly reached out and shook her hand in agreement.

“I know that song. It was written by Tang Guo, the gold-medal composer. I’m a huge fan of it myself!”

“As a father, I felt every word of that song. The first time I heard it, I cried my eyes out.”

“Tang Guo truly deserves to be called a genius composer who rose all the way to the top.”

Then he abruptly changed the subject.

“Now, can you guess whether this song made the shortlist?”

Yu Yixin seemed caught off guard that Li Kang had suddenly tossed the question to her.

“I’m not going to guess. Why don’t we hurry up and look at the list?”

The large screen changed, displaying several shortlisted songs.

“Unfortunately, this song didn’t make the cut!”

“As far as I know, it was performed by a newcomer. Perhaps the results weren’t remarkable enough, which affected the judges’ decision.”

“Otherwise, it might well have made the shortlist!”

After hearing Li Kang’s explanation, Yu Yixin also sighed regretfully.

“Let’s see. Who made the shortlist?”

“‘Fireworks of the Mortal World,’ performed by Qin Pei.”

The broadcast camera immediately switched to Qin Pei, focusing directly on her face.

Li Kang took the opportunity to engage her.

“Qin Pei, do you think the composer of this song, Tang Guo, will be named Composer of the Year?”

Qin Pei accepted the microphone handed to her by a staff member and replied with an unreserved smile:

“I’ll certainly be supporting Teacher Tang Guo!”

Her answer was very clever. On the one hand, she showed her support for her composer; on the other, she avoided answering Li Kang’s question directly.

Celebrities in the entertainment industry faced reporters’ cameras every day. A question like this was child’s play to them.

The large screen then switched to the next shortlisted entry: Jiang Yan’s song “A Thousand Songs.”

Li Kang naturally turned the question over to Jiang Yan.

“Jiang Yan, what about your ‘A Thousand Songs’? Do you think it has a chance?”

Jiang Yan smiled.

“I think Su Chen should win!”

This was not an award for Best Singer, so there was no need for either of them to be modest.

No matter what, neither of them could possibly abandon their own composer to support someone else.

Besides, both of them knew that Tang Guo was Su Chen, so either answer would do.

The singers of the other shortlisted songs were asked the same question, and without exception, each supported their own composer.

“All right, then. Let’s find out who has won this year’s Best Composer award!”

Yu Yixin spread open the cue card and was just about to read the name when—

“Wait!”

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“I’d like to interview some of our composers!”

With that, Li Kang interrupted her and walked down from the stage on his own initiative.

Yu Yixin was momentarily dumbfounded. No one had mentioned this segment beforehand!

Meanwhile, after stepping off the stage, Li Kang found several of the shortlisted composers and began asking them a few bland questions.

For example, “Do you think you have a chance?” and “Who do you think is most likely to win?”

Yet while asking these questions, he kept steering the conversation, deliberately or otherwise, toward Su Chen.

Everyone present immediately understood.

This was advance promotion.

It looked as though the winner was almost certainly going to be Su Chen.

After finishing with the others, Li Kang finally came to Su Chen.

“Wow! Su Chen, why are you sitting so far back?”

The camera focused on Su Chen’s face, and a commotion broke out in the venue.

So this was Su Chen?

Most of the people present had never seen a photograph of him online. Seeing him so suddenly, they could not hide their surprise.

Was he really not an entertainer?

That morning, quite a few people had encountered Su Chen while walking through the complex, though none of them had known who he was.

Only now, after hearing Li Kang introduce him, did they realize that this was Su Chen.

“Do you think you’ll win Best Composer today?”

Su Chen shook his head.

“Hard to say.”

“You’re receiving a lot of support right now. If you win, is there anything you’d like to say?”

“Let’s wait until it’s officially announced.”

“Tang Guo didn’t come today. What do you think of him?”

“I think he’s a very talented composer.”

“Compared with you, which of you do you think is stronger?”

Hmm?

Everyone present sensed that something was off.

Normally, hosts interacted with the singers.

It was rare for them to engage with people working behind the scenes.

Usually, those people were simply called onto the stage to accept their awards.

It was one thing to interact with a behind-the-scenes professional today, but why did Li Kang’s words carry such an unmistakable provocation?

What decent person would ask someone to their face, “Which of you is stronger, you or so-and-so?”

Su Chen gave an inward scoff, but outwardly he replied in a half-joking tone:

“I think, compared with the two of us, you might be the stronger one.”

The audience erupted in laughter.

A flash of embarrassment crossed Li Kang’s eyes.

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“You’re quite the comedian, aren’t you?”

“But since I can work as a host, I must have some strengths.”

Li Kang seemed unwilling to let Su Chen off so easily.

“For a while, people online ranked you and Tang Guo as the two most promising composers of the new generation. Tang Guo has now advanced to become a gold-medal composer. When do you plan to do the same?”

Su Chen raised his head calmly and looked at him.

“We’ll see how things go.”

The provocation in Li Kang’s questions was unmistakable, and Su Chen could hardly be called enthusiastic in response.

Though he continued to cooperate, anyone could hear the chill in his voice.

Li Kang asked several more questions, but Su Chen deftly evaded them all. With no other choice, Li Kang quickly brought the interview to an end and returned to the stage.

“All right. Now, let us announce the winner of Best Composer at the thirty-third Huaxia Golden Melody Awards…”

He paused, then called out the name loudly.

“Su Chen!”

Su Chen was slightly startled. Could things have turned out differently from what he had expected? Had Imperial Entertainment not tampered with the list?

This time, the broadcast camera clearly captured his expression.

After a moment’s hesitation, he slowly began to rise.

But just as he had halfway stood up, Li Kang’s voice rang out.

“Su Chen, wait… don’t rush… I just wanted to ask whether you’re nervous.”

The audience erupted.

The crowd below the stage was in an uproar.

What was this supposed to be?

They could actually pull a stunt like that?

Wasn’t this just making a fool of him?

Su Chen’s expression darkened instantly.

Seeing that he had achieved his goal, Li Kang decided to stop while he was ahead.

“All right, all right, I’m only joking!”

“The winner of Best Composer at the thirty-third Huaxia Golden Melody Awards is Tang Guo!”

After the announcement, thunderous applause broke out across the venue. At the same time, many people could not help glancing toward Su Chen.

Li Kang’s behavior had been utterly excessive. If Su Chen had ultimately won Best Composer at the Golden Melody Awards, a joke like that might have been harmless.

But Su Chen had not won.

In that case, Li Kang’s stunt could only be described as humiliating.

As the applause in the venue began to die down, Su Chen waved. An assistant at the side of the stage handed him a microphone.

He tapped it to test the sound, and the entire venue fell silent.

“Has no one ever told you how affected you sound?”

With that single sentence, Su Chen threw the entire venue into an uproar.