Chapter 123: Why Are You Looking At Me? Listening To Music
“Xiao Lei didn’t know your situation and still troubled you. I’ve already scolded him.”
On the day of the recording for the fifth episode of Music Blind Box, Meng Han explained the situation about his own son registering for Yu Wei’s competition.
“No problem, we’re friends too.”
He didn’t like hearing this from Yu Wei. What did he mean by not knowing the situation? What was wrong with him?
These past few days practicing singing, he had already finished writing for those artists who came to join in the fun. Today was just right to arrange Meng Lei’s part.
They were really something—out of six people, five were slacking off trying to lose, and the one who didn’t slack off seriously prepared and then lost…
Ever since Xia Zan told fans to vote for Huang Chuyang and then lost by sheer strength, every subsequent match had been playing mind games, one after another.
Either crazily voting for the opposite side or simply buying internet trolls for the opponent—this competition’s style was completely different from the previous ones, all about striving to come last without regrets.
Honestly, Yu Wei was a bit impressed by them. They were so relentless in trying to lose. If he weren’t the organizer, he might have believed that losers got the rewards.
“Another new song?”
Shen Yutong was visibly tanned, it seemed she had been seriously working as a traffic cop these past few days, really out in the sun instead of posing.
“An old song, written before. Just right to use it this time.”
A song like Someone Like Me, with a touch of melancholy and self-mockery of mediocrity, was very suitable for those four years when no one paid attention to him before, so Yu Wei said it was written previously.
Hearing him say this, Meng Han and Su Xinnan immediately became interested.
Everyone could see this kid’s current creation standard, but his works before fame—whether they were any good or not was hard to say. They had to listen carefully later.
Especially Meng Han, he was quite curious about Yu Wei’s past, which might be related to the cause of the illness…
“Then I’ll look forward to it.”
Shen Yutong and Qi Luo An were the same age, both two years younger than Yu Wei. Yu Wei must have been around her current age back then.
In horizontal comparison, Yu Wei’s this song corresponded to her current stage. She wondered if she could take advantage in such a situation.
The program’s recording officially began. This interview segment was very interesting because the calligraphy-practicing venerable elder was a bit hard of hearing and couldn’t hear the host’s questions clearly, answering randomly all over the place.
Yu Wei watched with shining eyes from the side. The downstairs venerable elder from Charlotte Troubles was found—he’d go find him later!
He couldn’t even hear the words clearly, and no one knew how Meng Han sang a chorus with him…
This episode of the program was the only one where Yu Wei arranged for Hu Xing to sing solo. At first, he absolutely refused because he didn’t dare to sing alone on stage, but after seeing Yu Wei’s song, he agreed.
This song really wasn’t suitable for chorus, and a few lyrics hit right to his heart. He liked this song.
The first group of competing guests was Su Xinnan and the pet shop owner. They actually chose an English children’s song titled Magical Pet Shop.
The dialogue-style singing was just like a fairy tale, with some small pet sounds added in—it was pretty cute to listen to.
It seemed Sister Nan really liked small animals; a lot of thought went into this arrangement.
Meng Han and the old calligrapher’s second song was a bit awkward because the venerable elder was hard of hearing, not only going off-key but also rushing the beat. Meng Han wanted to save it but couldn’t.
But the old man sang happily, dancing with hands and feet. As long as he gained happiness, it was worth the trip.
“Where’s that alcohol smell coming from?”
The third group on stage was Hu Xing, but as soon as he stood up, Meng Han noticed something off. As a drinker, he couldn’t be wrong.
“I’m nervous. Yu Wei told me to drink it, said it would bolster courage.”
His words directly made the on-site audience laugh. Drinking to bolster courage? Yu Wei was ridiculous too—how could he give such a bad idea?
Who said he doesn’t pit readers? Step forward!
Yu Wei had something to say. Drinking to bolster courage on the program—he had reference material. The one who did this was the original author of Someone Like Me.
Citing classics—how could that be pit readers?
It was clear it had some effect. Normally Hu Xing called him Gu Shen every time, but just now he directly called him Yu Wei by name.
The clamor from the audience seats surged in like tides and quickly receded. The lights focused on the young figure in a simple white shirt at the center of the stage.
No one knew what kind of song this boy who drank to bolster courage would bring. Since he bolstered courage, he must be quite nervous.
Hu Xing stood in the shadow of the side curtain, fingers unconsciously clutching the hem of his clothes. He could hear his own heartbeat, thumping against his eardrums like an out-of-control drum.
The director’s voice came from behind, muffled and unclear, yet like a death knell. It was time for his performance.
He took a deep breath, trying to adjust his breathing using the method Yu Wei taught during rehearsal: inhale like smelling flower fragrance, exhale like drawing silk.
But his nasal cavity felt stuffed with cotton; the airflow only swirled at his throat. The dark crowd below surged with countless gazes like invisible needles, pricking his skin numb.
For an introverted otaku, this situation would scare him awake even in dreams…
But the prelude’s piano sound rang out at this moment—a few simple chords like raindrops hitting a silent lake surface. Hu Xing stiffly gripped the microphone stand, fingertips ice-cold.
He didn’t dare look at the audience, so following the suggestion, he stared straight at the darkness of the last row in the distance, pretending he was just rehearsing in a familiar recording studio.
“Someone as excellent as me
Should have lived a brilliant life
How is it after more than twenty years
Still drifting in the sea of people.”
His voice carried a nearly hoarse sincerity. The whispers below stage vanished; they caught a familiar stinging sensation in these seemingly plain lyrics.
No wonder Yu Wei said this song was written by him before. Now he was high-spirited; he shouldn’t have such self-mockery anymore.
It seemed those four years really made him realize many things.
“Someone as smart as me
Long bid farewell to innocence
How did I still use one relationship
To exchange for a body full of scars.”
The voice remained hoarse, but now with a choked texture.
Everyone turned to look at Yu Wei in unison upon hearing this. One relationship? Scars? When? With whom?
Shen Yutong frowned directly upon listening. Real or fake? This kid actually had heartbreak before—does An An know…
Why are you looking at me? Listen to the song!
Yu Wei wanted to stand up for his readers. Although Hu Xing seemed nervous, he was actually the smoothest opening in the five episodes.
The others only got into state midway through singing; he steadied himself right from the start. Not bad.
Social anxiety is like that—pure social anxiety doesn’t even dare to be nervous. Once on stage, the brain bluescreens, and not daring to overthink prevents mistakes.
“Someone as lost as me
Someone as searching as me
Someone as mediocre as me
How many people have you seen like that?”
In the chorus part, Hu Xing’s voice line suddenly rose, like a crack splitting the calm lake surface, plus a follow-up question, successfully resonating with many in the audience.
At this moment, he was no longer the introverted silent graduate but a narrator questioning destiny with his singing.
Yu Wei’s lyrics were enough to transcend individual experience and evoke everyone’s resonance.
Who hasn’t struggled between ideals and reality, wavered between others’ expectations and self-desires?
So Yu Wei back then was lost too…
Meng Han listened carefully; words solidified in his throat, ultimately becoming a silent sigh. How much hardship and confusion did he have to go through to write such lyrics?
This child finally came through those unbearable years, and here he was fighting in the arena with him?
He was such a beast!
Shen Yutong didn’t think that much; she just clearly felt the gap between herself and Yu Wei because she couldn’t write this song at her current stage.
She really liked studying lyrics. The lyrics of this Someone Like Me were quite simple, but the contradictory expression in self-confessional style and the artistic structure of emotional progression were perfect.
The gap between “excellent” and “drifting,” the paradox of “smart” and “scars”—this contradictory rhetoric rejected single labels, restoring people to complex, three-dimensional existence.
Resenting mediocrity yet being mediocre, vulgar and worldly yet craving sincerity.
Hard to imagine he could write such things a few years ago. Was this talent?
“Someone as vulgar as me
Never liked pretending to be profound
How is it that occasionally hearing an old song
Suddenly zones out too.”
Hu Xing’s voice revealed a rare candidness. These were his two favorite lines; he couldn’t say why, just liked them.
The author dream written in his notebook in high school, the uncompleted script in university club, and that dusty Writing Skill book in his father’s bookcase.
Those subtle “zoning out” moments were the true spark in his inner heart.
These were also the two lines Shen Yutong found most stunning. Old songs are memory carriers, triggering “zoning out” moments that reveal the soft inner heart disguised by adults’ “vulgarity.”
She thought of Yu Wei’s Treading Waves, which also used this memory kill trick…
Shen Yutong cared most about the poetic quality and depth of lyrics, but Yu Wei’s this song with no technique but all emotion taught her a lesson.
“Why are you looking at me? Listen to the song.”
Seeing the song about to reach its end, Yu Wei quietly reminded the Shen Yutong beside him. Could it be that even singing after drinking was regulated by traffic cops?
She didn’t speak, just silently refocused on the stage. The performance of this song had reached its final moment.
Hu Xing almost forgot all technique, just hoarsely shouting: “Someone as inexplicable as me, will anyone feel sorry for…”
When the ending note fell, the whole venue was silent for a second, then erupted in thunderous applause. Only then did he dare open his eyes, unexpectedly meeting the teary light in an aunt’s eyes in the front row.
In that instant, his nose soured, eyes red as he bowed to the audience.
Yu Wei was also clapping. His social anxiety reader was terrifyingly steady; the overall performance was the best of the five episodes, absolutely worth his shout-out praise.
You know, even Qi Luo An with foundation and experience made mistakes at the start. For someone with poor mentality like him to stay steady was quite difficult.
Maybe this kid could really write a good result. In web novels, having a delicate but stable mentality is definitely a good thing.
“Does your book still lack contestants?”
Shen Yutong, also clapping, suddenly asked. Even as the next group guest, she had to ask this now.
“Qi Luo An isn’t competing…”
“I know.”
Shen Yutong had indeed only wanted to compete with Qi Luo An once before, but after hearing this song, she changed her mind.
It felt like she grasped something, but it was unclear. Maybe only by participating in this absurd fake competition and going all the way to the end could she find the answer she wanted.
“Definitely lacking.”
Real stars—the more the better. With Shen Yutong’s strength, if she really competed, she’d be champion reserve.
After getting the definite answer, Shen Yutong then went on stage. Yu Wei watched her leaving back and quickly decided her next opponent.
Meng Lei: ?
Me fighting the strongest new generation female singer? Real or fake?
Day three of Ri Wan check-in.
