Chapter 73: Already Far Removed From Humanity
The moment the private room door closed, the outside clamor was completely shut out.
Qi Yuan and Zhang Lingye sat facing each other on the soft leather sofa, several empty beer bottles scattered haphazardly on the table, with two newly opened cans of original pulp fizzing with fine white foam.
“I won’t drink anymore first thing; I have to record a variety show tomorrow morning, and getting too drunk could lead to mistakes.”
Zhang Lingye was filming a travel variety show called “Travel the World,” with the filming location not far from Qi Yuan’s home. He knew his former teammate’s temperament well, so he used this excuse to invite him out.
It was called a gathering, but really it was a heart-to-heart talk…
Qi Yuan tilted his head back and chugged a big mouthful, his Adam’s apple bobbing as the cold liquid slid down, but his throat felt like it had been scorched by fire, making him wince with a hiss.
For some reason, he suddenly recalled the scene before the Tear Group disbandment when he handed water to Yu Wei; at that time, he had also tilted his head back and gulped down a big mouthful.
That was then, this is now; the hot-headed kid who used to need his care had now surpassed him and become a hot commodity in the entertainment industry.
Beer stains trickled from the corner of his mouth to the collar of his black T-shirt, soaking into a dark patch. Qi Yuan casually wiped his mouth with his sleeve and crushed the empty can with a clang before tossing it into the trash bin in the corner.
“You’re isolating me, aren’t you?”
Actually, Yu Wei’s acting skills crushing his in “Sound Mixer” wasn’t what upset him the most; what really hurt was feeling like an outsider, knowing nothing…
But he also knew this wasn’t anyone else’s fault; neither Zhang Lingye nor An An had any obligation to report to him. In the end, it was his own mindset that had the problem.
Losing is easy; admitting defeat is hard, really.
Zhang Lingye didn’t respond, just pushed over the half-full pull-tab can in his hand and tapped his fingertips on the aluminum can.
Actually, people are all the same; seeing a former teammate rise to the top overnight, it’s impossible to say he felt no imbalance in his heart, but compared to Qi Yuan, he had a clearer sense of his own position.
There’s no need for an ordinary person to compete with a superior one; for him, following Yu Wei might be the best way forward.
“Sound Mixer” had only been popular for a couple of days when he got a new variety show gig; it was hard to say there wasn’t a factor involving Yu Wei, thanks to him.
“Have you heard this saying?” Qi Yuan raised his hand and poured the rest of the beer down his throat. “All tragedies in the world happen because the people involved lack the ability.”
“Whose famous quote is that?”
“It’s from Yu Wei’s book.”
“…”
That kid’s book was all cheesy hype, and it had this kind of philosophical copywriting too?
“Me breaking down ultimately comes down to me being too weak.” Qi Yuan looked up, a faint smile showing in the shadow of his cap brim.
Right? Zhang Lingye couldn’t say for sure; if Qi Yuan’s standard were a bit higher, he might indeed feel much better…
“So what next for you?”
“Continue to settle down.” Qi Yuan was clearly showing some drunkenness as he suddenly leaned in and whispered, “My grandmother said that if I can graduate this time, she’ll give me a good thing.”
“What good thing?”
Talking about this, Zhang Lingye wasn’t sleepy at all; compared to strong or weak life philosophies, gossip was way more interesting.
“A family letter left by my grandfather.”
…
“You don’t feel confident, huh.”
Backstage at Music Blind Box, as a contestant about to take the stage to sing, Qi Luo An was still a bit nervous.
After practicing songs with Yu Wei for a few days, she had regained quite a bit of her proficiency; after all, she wasn’t a complete layman but an old player returning.
But even so, she was still far from perfectly mastering this song, especially those few high-mix lines above C5, which needed to maintain stable pitch while keeping timbre penetration—remarkably difficult…
Compared to her, Yu Wei was practically a monster; not only was his mistake rate low, his state was exaggeratedly good, always performing at over ninety percent of his standard.
That wasn’t what her grandmother had told her.
She said a singer’s performance relies on state and emotion, and mistakes are normal, but with Yu Wei, forget mistakes—he barely had any pitch distortions.
Certified as an MP3 turned spirit.
When she was little, her grandmother said she had high talent and the appearance of an old friend; Qi Luo An’s disdain for the entertainment industry stemmed partly from this—she was the real deal.
But compared to Yu Wei, her bit of talent wasn’t enough to see…
The better her cooperation partner sang, the greater her pressure; messing up her own part was nothing, losing a bit of face didn’t matter, but she didn’t want to lose face for Yu Wei.
“Let’s go, time to take the stage.”
Yu Wei patted her shoulder, signaling to follow the staff member ahead.
Honestly, after these few days of practice, he had a very good impression of Qi Luo An; though she complained nonstop, she didn’t slack off when it was time to work hard, and last night she even proactively asked for extra practice, wearing him out.
Her progress was remarkably rapid; though she still couldn’t perform perfectly every time, out of ten chorus runs, she could do seven or eight without obvious mistakes—that was already quite good.
As for stage effect, Yu Wei couldn’t say for sure; live performance still depended on some luck, and there were plenty of recording studio warriors in the entertainment industry. He could only hope Qi Luo An was the type who excelled in big competitions.
“Just don’t be nervous.”
“Fast-forward to nervously forgetting the lyrics.”
The group followed the staff onto the stage and sat down according to the arranged process: the four guests sat on the high platform, and the four civilian contestants sat not far away.
Nervousness was common to all contestants; even Qi Luo An with some experience was like this, let alone the other amateur music enthusiasts, who sat there more silent than the last.
If it were other music variety shows, facing this situation they would definitely arrange semi-open mics, but Music Blind Box emphasizes “everyone’s voice,” so the more authentic the better, the more abstract the civilians sing the more the program can go viral.
In the first episode, four groups of people coincidentally chose chorus, ordinary contestants have no music dreams, solo isn’t very useful, but chorus with stars has more commemorative significance.
“After a week of observation period, I’m sure the four guests have selected music for their respective blind box friends, but before formally entering the music showcase segment, let’s first simply chat about impressions of each other.”
“Xinnan, you chat first.”
The program’s arrangement is quite interesting, going directly from reality show recording stories to stage performance feels a bit disjointed.
But arranging a heartfelt interview in between not only summarizes this experience, but also gives the audience an emotional buffer.
Su Xinnan has high emotional intelligence, first affirming the nurse older sister’s hard work, praising the other’s personality many times, finally talking about feelings from these days saying she’s very happy and will always remember.
Perfect answer, copied.
In comparison, the nurse contestant’s answer is more genuine and emotional, her whole family are Sister Nan’s fans, didn’t expect Su Xinnan to make time to specially go back to her hometown with her once, which moved her deeply.
Yu Wei just heard about this too, it was just casually mentioned during idle chat, but Su Xinnan took it to heart, not only helping her get leave overnight, but also paying out of pocket for two days’ salary, arranging the trip with the program team overnight.
Hard to imagine the nurse older sister’s mood the next day when discovering the program team’s car heading to her hometown, after all it’s a surprise personally prepared by her idol…
Combined with Su Xinnan’s consistently good reputation, Yu Wei is willing to believe this isn’t for show, the entertainment industry deep in the mud should have a bit of warmth, if everything has to be conspiracy theory, that would be too tiring.
He hasn’t had time to exploit the perfect template yet, the third to speak Jiang Li used it first, the neighborhood committee auntie also highly recognizes his work, calling him good comrade one after another.
Not sure exactly what family trivia he handled, he looks quite dejected, clearly this experience wasn’t very pleasant.
“Teacher Yu Wei, what about you?” The host’s gaze toward him is clearly off, obviously got some message from the program team, “What do you think of your partner?”
The other three guests all turn to look at him in unison, this kind of gaze, he only sees on other classmates’ faces when being questioned by the teacher.
Watching the show.jpg.
“College life is good, these days have been very happy.”
Yu Wei paused, at a time like this he still has to say some formalities, “But at the same time, I also felt the employment pressure on college students, many liberal arts students are more trapped in the graduation equals unemployment dilemma.”
Then a few lines of positive energy encouragement talking points, he doesn’t dare say anything too empty and grand, otherwise it’s easy to be accused of talking without back pain while standing.
Very official answer, basically didn’t mention much about views of the other, the host didn’t get the answer wanted from Yu Wei’s mouth, and immediately looked toward Qi Luo An in the corner.
“Him…” Qi Luo An hesitated for a bit, seeming to consider if the next words should be said.
“Feels like, he’s very close to god, but already very far from humans.”
