On this day.

At Beijing Television.

In the program team office of I Am a Singer.

Today was the day when the program team would finalize the list and also hold the initial meeting for the competition’s contestants. From early in the morning, the staff were getting busy everywhere.

Just a moment ago, Beijing Television had announced the rules and competition format for the battle of the grand champions.

The show would continue using the stage of I Am a Singer, and it would be held live. There would be a total of five grand champions or their stand-ins representing each of the five seasons’ winners, and everyone would have to perform their songs in turn. The format was very brutal, with only two episodes dedicated to the entire competition, and each episode consisting of two elimination rounds. The contestant with the greater number of votes would not get ranked while the one who received the lowest number of votes would have their names announced and eliminated without being allowed to advance to the next round. That was to say, within the first two rounds of the first episode, two grand champions would get eliminated from the competition. The second episode will also see two more grand champions being eliminated, leaving the last surviving contestant as the glorious greatest champion of I Am a Singer’s finale battle of the grand champions.

The citizens would be allowed to vote in real time for their favorite contestants.

Each contestant would be allowed to perform one song per round, and one person would be eliminated afterwards.

Regardless of whether it was in terms of the show’s quality, intensity, or scale, this competition was truly an unprecedented one in history. This was going to be the most brutal battle between the famous singers of the music scene.

The outside world was abuzz with discussion.

The program team was busy preparing for the upcoming battle.

“We’re going to have song rehearsals today. Is the band here yet?”

“They’ll be here right away.”

“What time are the contestants arriving at?”

“We’ve asked them to come at 8 AM.”

“Who is going to be the representative for the first season?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t received any updates on that yet.”

“Logically speaking, it should be Grandma Zhang Xia who is coming.”

“Yeah, even though everyone acknowledges Zhang Ye to be the deserved winner of the first season, and even Grandma Zhang Xia herself said so in the media, the official grand champion of the first season is still Grandma Zhang. If Grandma Zhang decides not to participate due to her age, there will surely be someone to take her place.”

“Who do you guys think will come today?”

“I can’t guess at all.”

At this moment, the executive director arrived.

Everyone immediately greeted her.

“Director Lu!”

“Director Lu, good morning.”

“Sister Lu, you’ve arrived?”

Xiao Lu nodded calmly.

Maturity.

Reliability.

Authoritative.

After several years, a lot of people were no longer the same.

Following close behind, the grand champions also arrived.

The first to step into the team office was the fourth season’s grand champion, Qi Liang, and his agent. Other than that, he also brought along two assistants. Qi Liang hailed from a music family and was young and handsome too. Without any scandalous gossip affecting him, he was one of the more popular male idols at the moment.

Qi Liang wore a very brisk smile and his voice was very crisp. “Director Lu, am I the first to arrive?”

Xiao Lu smiled back politely. “Yes, the others aren’t here yet.”

Qi Liang smiled and said, “Alright then, I’ll wait.”

Xiao Lu acknowledged, “Have a seat.”

Soon after, the first runner-up of the second season, Guan Xue, arrived with the third season’s grand champion, Hai Yifei. They had probably run into each other downstairs before heading up together.

Guan Xue waved and said, “Director Lu, long time no see.”

Xiao Lu said, “Yeah, it’s been two to three years since we saw each other.”

Hai Yifei asked in concern, “Director Lu, which senior will be coming to represent the first season’s participants? Has it been decided yet?”

Xiao Lu shook her head. “I’m also waiting to find out who it will be.”

Qi Liang stood up. He said, “Even you’re not sure who it will be?”

Xiao Lu said, “Yep.”

Behind them, the fifth season’s grand champion arrived with his team.

Qu Dong had only arrived slightly after them. However, there were really too many people with him in his entourage. Not mentioning his agent, there were four other assistants who came along with him. It was obvious just how important this battle of the grand champions meant to him since he had nearly moved out all of his staff for this. Although Qu Dong and Qi Liang were considered to be at the forefront of the Chinese A-list rankings and were highly rated by the media as the most hopeful candidates to replace Heavenly Queen Xu Meilan as the new generation of S-list superstars, I Am a Singer was still a very important show that these male idols would fight hard to win. After all, they also needed to gain the honors of winning such a prestigious competition and the popularity that would come along with it. As such, every one of them treated Xiao Lu very politely as they understood she had the final say on all aspects of the show.

Qu Dong greeted, “Director Lu.”

Xiao Lu replied, “Oh, you’re here?”

Qu Dong’s agent went up to her to shake her hand. “Director Lu, you’ve grown prettier since I last saw you a few days ago.”

Xiao Lu smiled but didn’t carry on the conversation.

Qu Dong’s agent didn’t mind and asked, “Can I check if you have a quieter waiting room somewhere around here? Our Little Qu just got off the plane, so he’s pretty tired, you see. Can you make arrangements?”

Xiao Lu said, “Let’s wait for everyone to arrive first. There’s a lot that I need to brief you all on.”

His agent smiled and said, “Oh, never mind then.”

Hai Yifei asked, “Director Lu, is there a smoking area somewhere?”

Xiao Lu looked at him. “Beijing Television has banned smoking in the entire compound.”

Hai Yifei gave a slightly derisive smile. “Alright then.”

Xiao Lu didn’t talk much with them and did her work.

The four celebrities started chatting.

Qu Dong said, “Sister Guan, your new song is pretty good.”

Guan Xue said, “You’ve heard it?”

Qi Liang replied, “I’ve listened to it as well, and I think it’s nice.”

Guan Xue said, “It’s nothing compared to you guys. My song didn’t even make it into the top ten of the charts.”

Hai Yifei said, “I heard that Grandma Zhang Xia won’t be coming?”

Qu Dong replied, “Grandma Zhang might be a veteran singer, but she’s at that age, y’know.”

Qi Liang said, “I wonder who will be coming as the replacement.”

Guan Xue wondered, “Could it be Big Brother Chen Guang?”

Hai Yifei said, “We’ll find out soon enough.”

Qu Dong said, “Why isn’t he here yet?”

Qi Liang said, “We are scheduled to begin at 8. There are still a few more minutes to go.”

The four of them were confirmed as contestants. The only thing they were unsure of was who the first season’s contestant would be. They were also very concerned about who their opponent was and were hoping that it would be a weaker one since all of them wanted to win. Everyone here knew how valuable the title of the greatest champion was, and it was unlikely that there would be another chance to earn an honor like it in their lifetimes. Winning this competition would likely help bring their popularity to a new high as well.

Zhang Xia?

Chen Guang?

Amy?

He Huan?

Or would it be Zhang Ye?

At 8 AM sharp.

Xiao Lu looked at her watch with a frown.

Qu Dong and the others knew that Director Lu had been angered.

“We’re not waiting anymore!” Xiao Lu took out some documents and handed them out to everyone. “Let me briefly explain the competition format and point out some things to take note of. The live broadcast this time is mainly—”

Behind her, the door opened.

A man wearing sunglasses slowly walked in. When he noticed that Xiao Lu did not see him, he walked up to her with a smile and stretched out a hand. Under the startled gazes of Qu Dong, Qi Liang, Guan Xue, Hai Yifei, and everyone else, he placed a hand on Xiao Lu’s head and noogied her. “I had to send my daughter to school this morning and was held back by her form teacher. Am I late?”

Xiao Lu turned around in shock.

Zhang Ye took off his sunglass and grinned at her. “Comrade Xiao Lu, long time no see.”

Xiao Lu let out a weird shriek. She laughed and pounced on him, giving him a bear hug. “Director Zhang!”

The other members of the program team also got excited!

“Director Zhang!”

“Aiyo, Director Zhang!”

“Director Zhang, you’re finally back!”

A lot of people rushed up to him!

The program team erupted into a frenzy!

Zhang Ye looked at all of his old friends and greeted all of them by name. They were all colleagues that Zhang Ye had worked with. Some of these people had only worked under Zhang Ye once, while others worked under him from the day he joined Beijing Television until the day he left.

Zhang Ye laughed and said, “Don’t keep addressing me as Director Zhang. Director Lu is the one who is our boss now.”

Xiao Lu grinned cheekily. “Are you teasing me? Wasn’t I brought up by you in the first place?”

Zhang Ye said happily, “Where’s Hou Ge and Hou Di? And Dafei?”

Xiao Lu said, “They’ve all been promoted.”

Zhang Ye said, “Well, alright, lunch is on them then.”

Xiao Lu said, “No problem, I’ll go and arrange it!”

Zhang Ye looked at her. “Did you grow taller?”

Xiao Lu rolled her eyes. “What age am I? How could I possibly have grown any taller?”

“But it looks to me like you’re still a child.” Zhang Ye laughed.

Qu Dong stared at Zhang Ye.

Qi Liang and Hai Yifei looked at each other.

When Guan Xue witnessed this scene, she smiled bitterly.

Director Lu’s attitude towards Zhang Ye was completely different from how she treated them. They couldn’t help but think about how Director Lu was behaving like a child in front of him.

Qi Liang said politely, “Senior.”

Zhang Ye looked over. “Hello. Excuse me, but I’ve only just returned to the entertainment circle, so I’m not very familiar with everyone. How should I address you?”

Qi Liang smiled. “My name is Qi Liang.”

Hai Yifei put his hand out. “My name is Hai Yifei.”

Zhang Ye shook his hand. “Hello.”

Qu Dong also introduced himself. “I’m Qu Dong.”

Zhang Ye said, “Hello.”

Guan Xue smiled. “Teacher Zhang, it’s been a long time.”

Zhang Ye said with a sigh, “Yeah, it has. You’re also taking part this time?”

Guan Xue gave a wry smile. “I didn’t expect that you’d be the one joining.”

Zhang Ye threw his hands up. “I didn’t have a choice. Grandma Zhang refused to come, and that Chen Guang kept pushing the responsibility around. He Huan has a contract issue with his talent agency and was frozen by them. In the end, only I could come.”

Zhang Ye knew Guan Xue a little as he had met her during an award ceremony four or five years ago. At that time, Guan Xue was not popular. Although they weren’t exactly close, and he didn’t have many dealings with her, the two of them were still celebrities from the same generation. But for Qi Liang, Hai Yifei, and Qu Dong, Zhang Ye did not know them at all. They were all newcomers who had emerged only after Zhang Ye had been sent to jail. Back when Zhang Ye first debuted in the industry, these three people were probably still in school.

Right now.

All five of the contestants had gathered.

The battle of the grand champions was about to begin!