Chapter 49: Nameless Person, I Toast You A Cup
“Very nice.”
After Qi Yuan finished singing, Yu Wei was the first to applaud. He wasn’t doing it for the live broadcast audience; Qi Yuan’s performance today was really quite good.
In the novel, he had the protagonist give Same Dust a 7.5, which was above average, but for this version today, he could give it an 8.
This song was a bit empty and grandiose, but Qi Yuan’s emotion made up for it very well. He seemed to have truly found his own Ordinary Road.
No matter the result today, Qi Yuan had gained something.
Yu Wei didn’t hold back and directly gave his opinion. Qi Yuan naturally understood his meaning and nodded with a smile.
“That’s an 8, so you sing a 9?”
“That’s an 8, what about the remaining 92 points?”
“Only an 8? I cried listening to it.”
“Do you understand Same Dust? Just giving it an 8, assuming too much?”
Qi Yuan’s fans and netizen trolls were mixed together. Yu Wei couldn’t tell who was who for a moment. Sometimes, no matter how hard trolls tried, they couldn’t match the genuine emotion from fans.
The film and television industry was in dire straits, but the comment section was experiencing a renaissance.
He didn’t say much more, just got up and sat by the piano. Yu Wei closed his eyes, spread his ten fingers, and gently stroked the black and white keys on the piano.
The next moment, he moved… but then nothing happened. Yu Wei made a feint, raising his hand but not pressing down.
“The dog author would cliffhanger.”
“You even have to drag out playing the piano?”
Netizens had just cursed a couple times when suddenly the live broadcast was filled with bullet comments questioning it, all complaining about Yu Wei’s poor piano skills.
What the heck? Yu Wei hasn’t even played yet?
Who sent these pulling-down bullet comments? So hard to guess…
Good grief, a feint to bait skills, huh.
Yu Yuan, who had accidentally sent a black review early, felt a bit embarrassed. Who knew this kid would pull this trick and fool them.
Now it was fine; they’d used their move early, so sending more later wouldn’t work…
While everyone was focused on the fan circle fun, Yu Wei suddenly started playing. The piano sound came unexpectedly, and even Qi Yuan nearby reacted half a beat slow.
There was no imagined beautiful prelude or flashy technique. Yu Wei just played a melody made of simple notes, then repeated it continuously.
But this simple melody gave people an inexplicable sense of familiarity. It was clearly the first time hearing it, yet it felt like they’d heard it many times before.
After repeating it fully three times, with two heavy accents struck, Yu Wei began singing along with the fourth melody.
“I’m a nameless person on this road
I have no news, no one comments
Struggling with all I have for an ordinary script
Twists and turns, just to make a living.”
He changed his singing method?
Qi Yuan instantly heard the change in Yu Wei’s technique. He abandoned head voice and used chest cavity resonance singing method to interpret the strength of silence.
This was completely different in style from Yu Wei’s previous two songs. Those two had some technique, but this Nameless Person, from start to now, had extremely simple lyrics and music, even the singing method was ordinary “confessional” style.
He was analyzing from a professional angle, but to other listeners, this song felt entirely different.
It wouldn’t make them burst into tears after two lines, but upon hearing “I’m a nameless person on this road,” they still felt a sudden jolt.
Over these years, too many so-called musicians and film and television dramas had told stories of so-called “ordinary people,” waving the flag of ordinary folks, but without exception, they were upper-class narratives of “why not eat meat?”
They had no big house, no designer cosmetics, no endless positive energy. They didn’t love their work, but they wouldn’t smash things in a client’s face over nitpicking…
What are the intentions of those who glorify suffering?
What are the intentions of those who vilify the poor?
No one can represent them, nor do they deserve to be represented by anyone. Everyone is just a nameless ordinary person.
Even exhausting everything, they can only get the most ordinary script.
The opening lines of this song were already countless levels stronger than those lofty works.
“I’m a person who left a small town
A person who ate while crying and laughing
A person hurrying on the road, a person supporting the family
A silent background in the city.”
Whether past life or this one, Yu Wei was also an ordinary person. He left his hometown small town, spoke standard Mandarin, yet was nostalgic for that thick local accent…
He had his own moments of glory, and also swallowed bitterness while eating.
Supporting the family was even more unnecessary to mention; he couldn’t even save enough for the bride price.
Hearing “a person hurrying on the road,” everyone finally understood why the earlier simple melody felt familiar. It repeated endlessly, like footsteps on the road, already imprinted in everyone’s heart.
They’d heard it countless times.
“I just want to touch with my own hands
Every moment of bending over
Whether the soaked footprints left behind are worth it.”
Changed singing method again?
The silent explosion turned into oral resonance, the deep ending note shifting from the earlier confession, like just an ordinary question from a friend: worth it?
Qi Yuan felt his scalp tingle from this question. In that narrow artist apartment, did Yu Wei also ask himself this in countless quiet nights?
The answer was yes, because he asked too. Everyone advancing in the steel torrent asked themselves this: is it really worth it?
They all moved forward bearing heavy loads, shoulders carrying family duties and dreams. Not pitying themselves because life was hard, but because there was no choice.
Even purely listening to the song without its expression, hearing this was hard not to be moved. Even for non-ordinary people, there were always those around them struggling forward.
Everyone was trapped by life yet strove to live better, bustling their whole lives for it.
Even those listening with bias in front of the screen, they were ultimately just you, me, and him in life. Even if bias couldn’t be resolved, at least…
Not today.
“Nameless person, I toast you a glass
To your silence and every roar.”
If he started directly with this line, everyone might think he was glorifying suffering and praising the ordinary again, but with the step-by-step buildup before, they were more willing to believe it was Yu Wei’s sincere words.
The verse seemed flat but was actually buildup. Notes had no big rises or falls, purely simple and clear, showing genuine confession and advancing the true theme.
A person from ordinary origins striving to change themselves and their life unworthy of respect?
A person refusing to bow to life, striving no matter the setbacks, unworthy of respect?
A person leaving parents and home to bravely move forward unworthy of respect?
This song wasn’t pity, not sympathy, not glorifying suffering, but mutual appreciation among every ordinary person.
This song was different from those praising the ordinary because Yu Wei was like them. They didn’t understand art, but could still tell genuine emotion from fake.
Between the two songs, which was better? Everyone, including Qi Yuan’s fans, already had the answer in their hearts, but Yu Wei’s song was only halfway done.
“You come from a southern village
From rough hands
You stand in the gaps of buildings
But you didn’t shrink back.”
If the first part of the song built ordinary music, the second part sublimated it to ordinary poetry. Still no flowery rhetoric, but it used the nostalgia kill move.
They say don’t use memory blades to kill, because that move is indeed hard to resist.
Yu Wei’s previous two love songs didn’t resonate with everyone, but compared to them, lyrics depicting hometown and childhood easily hit listeners’ hearts.
Southern villages, northern springs—these were emotional symbols transcending regional barriers. With fusion of scenery and emotion, emotional resonance was inevitable.
As the song progressed, the bullet comments on the screen slowed down. No one would sob uncontrollably like in the novel, but they were still willing to stay for the time of one song.
This dog author has something…
“It’s done!”
Almost all the higher-ups at Ying Huo Hua Wen were watching this live broadcast, but after hearing this Nameless Person, the last bit of hesitation in their hearts was gone.
Yu Wei’s song handed in a perfect answer sheet, not only successfully resolving the contradiction but also further boosting reputation. After this song, he had touched the threshold of an A-list singer.
Even if Yu Wei did nothing, once this song fully spread, he would still become the hottest A-list singer in the circle, the kind with unlimited potential.
As long as he didn’t pull any stunts, his future achievements were unimaginable.
“I told you he wins for sure.”
Qi Luo An had at some point squatted on the ground, chin resting on the sofa back, hair tips brushing her ear, that ear already showing a faint blush.
Her eyelids slightly lowered, but the corners of her mouth clearly held an irrepressible smile. Compared to finally seeing her brother lose, she seemed happier that Yu Wei won…
A kind of excitement from a recommended treasure being recognized.
“Lost fair and square.”
Qi Yunming, who had started off nonchalant, was now fully drawn in by Yu Wei’s performance, but Chen Jinyi, who had always been concerned about her son, lowered her brows as if recalling some insignificant little thing.
She remembered the towering figure in her memory. He was also so incredible, and he had once told her that greatness comes from the ordinary.
It seemed like it…
