Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Other than Xiao Wu, there was no lack of outstanding contestants in China. However, because they had limited competition experience, they had been too nervous about going on stage and this had affected their performance, causing it to be average.

  Therefore, most likely, none of the domestic contestants would be able to enter the top ten. All of them would be eliminated and they wouldn’t have the chance to enter the final.

  This was heartbreaking. Originally, they’d had an advantage, as the preliminary round was held in their country. They should have used their advantage, but they’d ended up like this instead.

  Everyone was disappointed and sad, but they still had to hear the results. There were also performances today, but Xiao Wu didn’t go on stage this time. After the performances ended, the most agonizing moment arrived.

  The ranking was announced starting from the tenth place. There was no controversy about it, but what was sad was that there were really no domestic contestants.

  The higher the ranking, the more hopeless they all felt. By the time the fourth place had been announced, everyone knew that they had really been wiped out this time.

  Everyone was no longer in the mood to watch the emcee announce the top three of the preliminary round.

  First, the third place was announced. There was no dispute about this. Next, the second place was announced. This time, the results were unexpected, as the runner-up was Conan.

  According to everyone, this time, Conan’s performance had been stunning and spectacular. No contestant had performed better than him. If nothing went wrong, he should be first. However, it was announced that he was second.

  Everyone was surprised, and so was Conan. It was normally a good thing to be in second place, as even though it was only second place, it was something many people couldn’t achieve. However, Conan’s face turned as cold as if he had just been eliminated.

  Although Conan smiled when he went up to receive the award, his smile was brief and his acceptance speech wasn’t long.

  He only wanted to know who had gotten first place!

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  Everyone was guessing who it was. As they all nervously anticipated the result, the emcee finally started announcing who had won the first prize.

  “The winner is… Shao Zhong.”

  When the emcee finished announcing the name, there was a moment of silence. Everyone frowned. Shao Zhong? How was that possible?

  While everyone wondered, the emcee chuckled. “I know everyone is surprised, but it’s true that our Xiao Wu, Shao Zhong, won first place.”

  Xiao Wu’s nickname was already famous, but at that moment, no one cared about Xiao Wu’s nickname. The emcee even excitedly invited Xiao Wu on stage so that the guest presenter could present him with the award. Meanwhile, the discussion and doubts below the stage grew.

  Conan, who had gotten second place, couldn’t help but stand up and ask directly why Xiao Wu had won. He refused to accept it and felt that Xiao Wu didn’t deserve it.

  If it weren’t for the fact that there were judges from all over the country there, Conan would have said that the judges were corrupt.

  When Conan stood up, he acted a little rashly. After all, when he had signed up for the competition, he had been told that the judges’ evaluation was an irreversible decision. The contestants had to unconditionally respect the judges’ grading.

  This was also why he had obediently gone up to receive the award when he had gotten second place previously. However, although he might have been a little unwilling to accept it if some other similarly outstanding person had gotten first place, he would only have thought about defeating them in the real final.

  Things were different now that the person in question was Xiao Wu. In Conan’s eyes, Xiao Wu was already a loser who had been eliminated in the preliminary round. How could he deserve to be first?

  “I need a believable explanation.”

  His tone was unpleasant, but the emcee was smiling and wasn’t anxious or flustered at all. “I’ll give you an explanation. Actually, I didn’t understand it at first either. It wasn’t until I saw it with my own eyes that I felt that he deserved the first place.”

  The emcee took a deep breath. “When we listen to Shao Zhong’s music, we don’t feel that it’s warm or healing because his music doesn’t target ordinary people but autistic individuals. The healing warmth of his music is only effective on autism.”

  As soon as the emcee finished speaking, the crowd fell silent for a moment before they started discussing this. “Really?”

  Some people asked about autism, while others discussed whether this was true or not. Afraid that the contestants wouldn’t understand, the emcee explained in several different languages and briefly introduced autism. Although the emcee seemed very ordinary, he had come to host this event because he was proficient in many languages.

  Conan, who knew a lot about autism, lost his composure and asked, “Is it really effective on autism?”

  “It’s true. The judges have already verified it.” The emcee confirmed it.

  After Xiao Wu’s performance, everyone had seen the judges discussing among themselves. They had thought that it was because he hadn’t performed well. However, they didn’t know that the judges had been discussing if this song was really for autistic patients. Was it really effective on autistic patients?

  When Xiao Wu’s song had been submitted, the origins and story of the song had been explained in detail. The target audience had also been specified.

  After the judges had finished reading and hearing the song, they hadn’t dared confirm it at first. Later on, they had personally confirmed it before announcing the scores.

  The preliminary round had ended in surprise and shock, but this was only the beginning.

  Everyone who listened to the radio or watched the television broadcast later started discussing and paying attention to autism.

  Compared to many people in the modern era, who knew that autism was different, this was the first time many people heard of autism in this era.

  However, it was a fact that autism was getting more and more attention. It was also the main topic that everyone had started discussing recently because there were more and more autistic children.

  Previously, people hadn’t known much about this illness. However, the research on autism had entered a new stage now. Everyone started to abandon the hypothesis that the illness was caused by so-called ‘inappropriate parental raising methods’ and they explored the causes of autism in the field of biology, completely separating autism from schizophrenia in terms of clinical diagnosis.

  This was an improvement, but there wasn’t any special medicine to treat this illness. Early diagnosis and intervention could improve the outcome. There were also some concrete, effective methods, but there were still many difficulties.

  No one had expected Xiao Wu to target children with autism. The biggest characteristics of autistic children were awkward social interactions, communication disorders, narrow interests, and inflexible behavior. In the eyes of outsiders, they were immersed in their own world and rarely played with other children. They often played alone and didn’t listen to their teachers or parents, as if they couldn’t even hear them.

  However, Xiao Wu’s music was effective on them. It didn’t heal them, but as long as they heard Xiao Wu’s music, it seemed able to make them come out of their world and listen seriously.

  In fact, if their emotions were unstable, they could calm down after hearing it. If one took the opportunity to communicate with them while the music played, it would allow some autistic children to temporarily hear what their parents said to them.

  Music therapy had also been repeatedly discussed. It was still uncertain how effective it would be on autism, but this was undoubtedly a viable path.

  The judges had also tried to play the music of the other contestants to children with autism, but the songs that felt warm to ordinary people didn’t have much of an effect on them. They either didn’t like them or didn’t react at all.

  They only heard Xiao Wu’s song, which meant that it was effective. They would listen quietly, and some of them would even smile, as if the song had a warm, healing effect on them.

  Given this outcome, how could they not give the first place to him?