Chapter Twenty-One: The Aftermath of "You’re the Most Talented"

“Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the grand finale of ‘You’ve Got Talent’,” Veler announced.

“That’s right! After eleven episodes together, we’ve finally reached the twelfth and final episode of ‘You’ve Got Talent’,” said Li Meng, her voice full of emotion.

“Tonight, we’ll witness the most heated battle for the championship!”

“Tonight is the night of champions!”

“Let’s give a warm welcome to the Prince of Love Songs, Jiang Yun!”

The spotlight shone on Jiang Yun as he waved to the camera and strode onto the stage. Zhang Yang, Liu Dongli, and Zhou Ziqian followed, each making their entrance in turn.

When the segment of Zhang Yang’s cross-dressing performance aired, Li Gang appeared on stage, and the ratings instantly soared past 2. The viewers at home were thrilled, excitement bubbling over everywhere.

“Zhang Yang’s performance was absolutely stunning!”

“Wow!”

When it came time for Jiang Yun to sing “A Night in Summer Capital,” both the audience at home and those who had been present during the live recording reacted identically—everyone was blown away by the avant-garde song.

Next up was Liu Dongli’s song-and-dance routine, and the ratings broke through to 3.

Then Zhou Ziqian took the stage, performing “Wide Bowl, Wide Noodles,” which prompted viewers in front of their TVs to erupt in outrage.

“What kind of terrible song is this?!”

“If it weren’t for Wang Fei, I’d have already tracked down Zhou Ziqian’s address.”

“And what would you do with that?”

“Send him razor blades, of course!”

When the show reached the ultimate showdown between Jiang Yun and Zhou Ziqian, ratings shot past 5!

During the final round, the editing team’s footage was electrifying. The two teams battled for a spot in the finals, with Jiang Yun and Zhou Ziqian facing off for the championship.

The show then aired interviews with the directors.

“Zhou Ziqian, how do you feel? Are you feeling any pressure?”

“None at all!”

“Do you have the confidence to win the championship?”

“Absolutely! The championship is mine!”

But in the end, Jiang Yun emerged as the champion, with Zhou Ziqian taking only second place—a resounding slap in the face.

“Zhou Ziqian really got served!”

Across the country, viewers were captivated by Jiang Yun’s “Blue and White Porcelain.”

“What style of music is this? It has an ancient charm to it.”

“Didn’t Jiang Yun say? It’s the Huaxia Style!”

“Who would’ve thought—Jiang Yun has pioneered a new genre!”

The twelfth episode of “You’ve Got Talent” came to an end. In the finale, everyone joined in a chorus of the theme song. At that moment, Jiangnan TV’s ratings skyrocketed past 6.

The final episode wrapped up the season perfectly.

After the last episode aired, a new term began to circulate—“Huaxia Style!” Overnight, entertainment companies and studios scrambled to imitate it.

“You’ve Got Talent” had been a massive success, with its highest ratings exceeding 6. For a talent show to achieve numbers like that was beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

Soon, major TV stations began to follow suit, each planning their own talent competitions.

But none of that concerned Jiang Yun anymore.

At that moment, Jiang Yun was holed up in his rented room, sitting in front of his computer, typing away.

“Battle Horses Soaring the Skies” had already reached more than 300,000 words, just at the point where Xiao Yan was leaving Wutan Town.

Editor Zhang Yi from Vertical and Horizontal Chinese Web dialed Jiang Yun’s number.

“Three Fish, what have you been up to lately?”

Jiang Yun yawned. “Sleeping at home! What is it? Something up?”

“It’s about your daily scheduled updates,” Zhang Yi asked.

“Yeah, what about them?”

“Maybe you haven’t checked your dashboard. Just yesterday, your serial ‘Battle Horses Soaring the Skies’ received a Gold Patron. They asked for a bonus chapter, and you didn’t even acknowledge them!” Zhang Yi said on the other end of the line.

“Oh,” Jiang Yun replied nonchalantly. He had expected this—besides, a Gold Patron was only a hundred thousand yuan. Nothing to get excited over.

“Well, alright then.” Zhang Yi felt a bit awkward. He’d called, eager to share the news, but Jiang Yun’s calm reaction left him speechless.

“Your serial is now officially on the shelves and doing great. You should update more—I’ll get you a massive feature promotion in the coming days.”

“Oh,” Jiang Yun replied casually, as if such a major promotion meant nothing to him.

Zhang Yi was stunned by Jiang Yun’s indifference. He twitched his mouth, grumbling inwardly, What a showoff. But then, considering the novel’s stellar performance, Zhang Yi had no choice but to concede.

After chatting for a while longer, they hung up.

Jiang Yun logged in to the Vertical and Horizontal Chinese Web, entered the authors’ section, and accessed his dashboard.

“Ding ding ding!”

Good grief, almost every message was a request for more updates.

“Ding!”

“Xiao Yan has tipped 10,000,000 points, becoming this work’s Gold Patron!”

Jiang Yun posted the day’s 30,000 words, then wrote another 30,000 as a bonus, just to keep up.

He posted an update to his author’s feed: “30,000 words daily, with unscheduled bonuses. Thank you all for your support.”

Pinning the message, he logged out.

Checking the time, he saw it was only noon.

With Li Lulu away, Jiang Yun had been cooking for himself much less often.

On a whim, he decided to order delivery.

Browsing the Meituan app, he checked out nearby restaurants, but nothing looked appetizing.

“I want to try river snail noodle soup!” He’d heard people say it smelled terrible and tasted awful, which only made him more curious.

Jiang Yun lived in an old residential complex, far from the city center, essentially a village within the city.

He found a river snail noodle shop ten kilometers away and placed an order.

Wang Meng, a delivery rider, was scrolling on his phone, with few orders coming in.

The twelfth episode of “You’ve Got Talent” was already available online. Wang Meng, a die-hard fan, never missed an episode.

He often fantasized about one day participating himself, singing “Believe in Yourself” with the other contestants at the finale.

“Wow! This episode already has a hundred million views!”

Eagerly, Wang Meng started watching the episode.

“Welcome to the twelfth episode of ‘You’ve Got Talent’—the grand finale!”

“Ding! You have a new order!”

Without a second thought, Wang Meng closed the notification.

Watching the show was the most important thing in the world.

He kept watching, ignoring several phone calls that came through.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

Jiang Yun opened the door, face dark. Standing outside in a yellow uniform was Wang Meng.

“Hello, here’s your river snail noodle soup. Enjoy your meal!”

Jiang Yun took it, still wearing a scowl, and was about to shut the door.

“Please give me a five-star rating!”

Already in a foul mood, Jiang Yun snapped, “You’re forty minutes late, and you still want a good review?”

Wang Meng bristled at first, but when he took a good look at Jiang Yun’s face, his anger instantly faded.

“You—are you Jiang Yun?”

Jiang Yun was momentarily stunned. At first, he thought they were about to argue, but hadn’t expected the delivery guy’s attitude to change so quickly!