The live broadcast of the finals was held in a much larger venue, a stadium packed with tens of thousands of people.
As Lin Mucian entered, the crowd roared her name, wave after wave crashing like a tide. She could hear them clearly.
"Lin Mucian! We love you!"
Online, fans and anti-fans might argue and trade insults.
But in reality, she could only hear her fans shouting her name.
With so many audience members at this performance, the fan club couldn't lock tickets; attendees had to snatch them up on a website. Consequently, Lin Mucian's fans quickly secured the majority.
Haters could engage in verbal battles.
But it was the true fans who were willing to put their money where their mouths were.
So, at the moment tens of thousands were chanting her name, she momentarily felt a sense of daze.
Her system buzzed with excitement.
"Host, charge forward! Take first place, gain fame, and save Ms. Lin! Upgrade the medical system and save the villain Ling Qianhe!"
The system had everything perfectly arranged for her.
Lin Mucian stepped onto the stage.
"Hello everyone, I am Lin Mucian."
Her mere introduction was met with thunderous cheers from the entire stadium.
As the camera focused on her face, she announced,
"For this performance, I have prepared a team stage."
The audience was taken aback.
"Huh? A team stage? Little Ci isn't performing solo?"
But Lin Mucian pulled Yang Weiyang and the others from behind her. She introduced them meticulously, one by one, careful that the camera wouldn't cut away from them.
"Lead vocalist, Aurora!"
"Lead dancer, Lin Mucian!"
"Vocalist, Yang Weiyang!"
"Dancer, Han Jiuzhen!"
"Our group also has a special guest providing the background vocals."
"Alright, next, we will bring you our performance. We hope you enjoy it!"
The lights dimmed, and the entire venue fell silent.
Falling leaves like fire, butterflies stained with blood, why does the bride weep? The one she loved betrayed her.
Year after year, on cold winter nights, red candles drip tears, waiting for his return.
Aurora's opening lines sent shivers down everyone's spines!
On stage, red candles swayed.
A maiden in a red gown was lifted into a sedan chair. Her figure was as delicate as a piece of paper. In the bitter cold of winter, her eyes were slightly closed. She was too beautiful, as lovely as a porcelain doll.
The big screen zoomed in on Lin Mucian's face.
The audience held their breath. So beautiful, this makeup, beautiful enough to make one's heart tremble.
The viewers watching the live stream were truly going wild with excitement over this performance.
"It's 'Red Butterfly'!"
"Holy cow, it's 'Red Butterfly' from five years ago that made me cry! It's the paper bride and her faithless lover, it's so heartbreaking, I'm already in tears, everyone! Little Ci is absolutely killing it!"
"When 'Red Butterfly' plays, tears fly everywhere. Who else still remembers the song 'Red Butterfly' from five years ago? It's me, I praise the great lyricist and composer, *wuwuwu*."
The sensational song "Red Butterfly," which had garnered over a hundred million clicks five years ago, had been rearranged by her.
The sedan chair swayed. Aurora's voice was deep and grand, stirring emotions and drawing everyone into the song's narrative.
He promised her a lifetime of devotion, he praised her delicate beauty.
But why hasn't her beloved returned?
Her infatuation turned to ashes, a dagger pierced her heart. The blood burned her eyes, yet she still smiled. Her parents embraced her, weeping.
Whose tears turned into flying butterflies?
Then came the low hum of the paper bride.
It was like a magnificent nightmare!
The matching knot, the lock of life, their vows of living and dying together still echoed, but he turned and married a new bride. Did that man ever love me? How can the one I loved still live in this world?
His wedding feast spanned ten miles.
But I died on that very day.
Red lanterns swayed, and the sound of suona began to play.
The curtain of the sedan chair shook, and the crowd's eyes widened as they watched the maiden inside slowly rise.
The red candles flickered, illuminating a face as beautiful as a painting.
The paper figure resurrected.
Lin Mucian began to dance. Every movement was exquisitely beautiful, like a dying swan, graceful to the extreme.
The maids beside her danced with her. This duet was incomparably beautiful, smooth and fluid. As her fingertips trembled, her fans felt their hearts clench.
She lowered her head, her toes like dragonflies touching water.
She was so light, like a feather.
Han Jiuzhen was already struggling to keep up with her movements, and it became Lin Mucian's solo dance, but it was exquisitely tragic!
It was the paper bride's final defiance and madness.
Everyone was rendered speechless.
"She's gone insane, she's absolutely killing it. These are moves that even a principal dancer from the National Ballet wouldn't be able to perform, that sense of lightness. We're all human, why can she defy gravity?"
"It's so heartbreaking, *uwuwu*. What fault was hers? She just loved the wrong person."
"Faithless men are everywhere in this world. But being able to retaliate heartily is also satisfying, isn't it?"
You thought that was the peak.
You thought that was the emotional climax.
But the next moment.
A low male voice suddenly resonated in their ears, like a whisper in the wind.
"First bow to heaven and earth, second bow to the elders."
"Husband and wife bow to each other!"
The voice was deep and clear, pleasant yet sorrowful, carrying an extreme impact that brought them to the verge of tears in an instant.
"It's the faithless man!"
"But this voice sounds so familiar."
"Who's singing?"
The same thought crossed almost everyone's minds.
"Who's singing?"
On the high platform, the maiden in red, with exquisite and tragically beautiful features, adorned in a phoenix coronet and robes, grasped at an empty wisp of wind.
"I loved you.
I hated you.
For all eternity, I will never forgive you!"
The paper bride plunged from the high platform. Her red attire burned like blood. Yang Weiyang, dressed as a scholar in male attire, caught Lin Mucian. She trembled violently, afraid she wouldn't be able to hold her.
Fortunately, the outcome was good. Lin Mucian also had safety equipment attached to her back – transparent ropes.
The audience held their breath, the chanting continuing, unfazed.
Aurora's voice rejoined.
Year after year, on cold winter nights, red candles drip tears, waiting for his return.
The red candles burn out with the traveler's tears, forever severed from you.
The paper bride's lips were stained with blood.
Tragically beautiful!
It was nearing the end, but no one dared to applaud.
As Yang Weiyang carried the paper bride away, the phrase "First bow to heaven and earth, second bow to the elders" rang out again. Yang Weiyang's retreating figure no longer held any hesitation, utterly resolute.
Then came the flames.
Blazing flames consumed the sedan chair, and their figures disappeared from the stage's focus.
Everyone remained in a daze for a long time.
It took several minutes before Lin Mucian, Aurora, Han Jiuzhen, and Yang Weiyang returned to the stage.
"Thank you, everyone."
"Our performance is complete."
Only then did the entire stadium snap back to reality. Everyone stood up and erupted in a frenzy of applause!
"Who can compare to her? This is a trump card, a divine performance."
"Lin Mucian, Lin Mucian!"
The entire concert venue surged like a tide, shouting her name like a hurricane. They hugged each other. Yang Weiyang, the little crybaby, was weeping uncontrollably, her voice hoarse.
"We really did it, it was so perfect."
Lin Mucian stood there, her fingers trembling slightly.
Yang Weiyang then noticed.
"Little Ci, your hand is injured?"
When the paper bride fell from the stage, her palm was scratched by a steel wire. That's why her lips appeared blood-stained at the end; it was her own blood smudged near her lips that achieved such a great effect.
Yang Weiyang fumbled to get her a band-aid.
But from the side of the stage, behind the curtain, the man who provided their background vocals walked slowly forward.
Then he picked up the microphone.
"Thank you, everyone. I am Ling Qianhe, who collaborated to complete this stage."
The fans were stunned.
The viewers watching the live stream were also taken aback. Three seconds later, the bullet comments exploded.
"Damn, I knew that faithless man's voice sounded so familiar, I didn't dare to confirm. Is it Qianhe? Ahhh, he sang 'First bow to heaven and earth, second bow to the elders,' I'm dead again."
"Whose tears are flying? It's my tears."
"I won't be able to get over this stage for at least a month."
The audience was dumbfounded.
The next moment, they watched Ling Qianhe on camera.
He personally handed Lin Mucian a band-aid.
Yang Weiyang reached out to take it for Lin Mucian, but Ling Qianhe leaned closer to Lin Mucian, his eyelashes fluttering.
"Do I have the face of a faithless man?"
Lin Mucian did not answer him.
On the big screen, it began to flash. The voting channel for the final performance is now officially open!