Chapter 138: Challenge Authority
Yu Wei’s singing continued. He didn’t notice the changes on-site and remained immersed in the song’s performance.
When he sings, he rarely looks at the audience. He just focuses on singing his own well, and others will evaluate it themselves…
“I was once like you, like him
Like that wild grass, wild flowers
Despairing yet longing
Crying and laughing, being ordinary.”
Yu Wei sang with frank determination, interpreting lyrics that might have seemed self-pitying into a sense of recognition and connection.
He only started liking the song The Ordinary Road after beginning to write entertainment novels. He had heard it a few times before, but wasn’t deeply moved.
Until Yu Wei wanted to write this song in his novel. To get into the state, he listened to it repeatedly many times, then inexplicably cried…
At that time, he hadn’t experienced life’s great ups and downs, nor fallen into boundless darkness. Even so, he still wiped his tears for a long time.
Perhaps what he cried for wasn’t this song, but that self who finally dared to face vulnerability.
When the ending note of the final line “Where has your story gotten to” slowly faded, Yu Wei’s guitar played the last note, its lingering sound echoing in the silent theater.
This was absolutely the best state song he had sung since arriving here, because he had personally embarked on an unknown journey and seen a true sea of people.
A true sea of people isn’t in the audience seats, but in life—every kind of person.
The question thrown out by the concert seemed answered at this moment. He sang only for himself, and also for ordinary people like him.
Whether novel, song, or film and television drama, making something the general public likes is more important than anything.
Absolute silence lasting several seconds.
Why is no one applauding?
It wasn’t that Yu Wei was confident. This program emphasized encouragement. After all, many civilians’ singing was average. No matter good or bad, there was usually applause after performances.
What’s the situation today? Have their performances been so bad that no one applauds?
No way…
While bowing, Yu Wei secretly glanced at the audience seats and found everyone looking toward the guest seats. What’s so interesting there?
He followed everyone’s gaze to the guest seats and surprisingly saw Qi Yuan lifting his reddened eyes, tears already silently streaming down his face.
What’s this situation? Moved to tears?
The audience didn’t cry, but you, a guest, cried. Is that appropriate?
Actually, many in the audience seats were also moved to tears, but no one noticed. They adjusted themselves, so no one could tell.
But Qi Yuan, with reddened eyes under so many gazes, was too obvious.
The on-site audience finally reacted belatedly and began applauding. Though a bit late, the applause burst like a long-accumulated flood bursting its banks, thundering and unceasing.
Yu Wei’s song was no weaker than Qi Yuan’s—in fact stronger—especially in emotional resonance. The Ordinary Road undoubtedly did better.
Why? Because the era has changed.
It’s no longer the time of desperately striving for “extraordinary.” Accepting the ordinary is the best answer in this anxious era.
Even if Ordinary is certainly excellent, but it feels somewhat born at the wrong time. That era full of gold everywhere has passed…
In an era of rapid economic development, fatigued individuals need to find dignity and reconciliation in the ordinary. In this aspect, The Ordinary Road undoubtedly does better.
Most crucially, Qi Yuan, a singer, was moved to tears by someone else’s song. What more is there to say? Clearly Yu Wei’s song is better.
Meng Han never expected this development. He thought the two songs were hard to distinguish in terms of music—neither could convince the other. Who knew the singers would be convinced first.
But he could understand. Yu Wei’s The Ordinary Road was designed very cleverly: verses in low voice confession, chorus in frank declaration, easily releasing suppressed emotions.
If he had any sad matters, he’d probably cry too…
“Looks like Yu Wei won.”
Shen Yutong’s words nailed it, putting an end to this contest. Actually, setting aside Qi Yuan, Yu Wei’s song was simply more fitting for the current era.
No work’s success can be separated from era factors. Even if Even if Ordinary has high quality and good performance, it’s somewhat outdated today.
The intent is certainly good, but emotional resonance definitely isn’t as strong as Yu Wei’s The Ordinary Road.
If industry insiders voted, it might be a tie. But if netizens chose favorites, they’d probably all pick accepting the ordinary.
Shen Yutong’s personal feeling: actually, these two songs are essentially the difference between hero’s historical view and people’s historical view.
In recent years, people’s historical view works have undoubtedly been more popular.
“I don’t know which old antique wrote Qi Yuan’s song.”
Beside her, Qi Luo An blinked her eyes and didn’t dare speak. Mainly because she was just guessing and wasn’t sure it was Old Deng’s.
But seeing Yu Wei win made her very happy. This not only showed Yu Wei’s strength, but could also shut up those fan circle fans.
This time she wouldn’t call him big brother. Qi Yuan’s performance was indeed pretty good this time; she still had to praise him a couple times and couldn’t dismiss him outright.
Qi Luo An still understood her brother. If he ended with a calm face holding it in, he definitely hadn’t figured it out. Today, disregarding image and tearfully on-site, he had clearly truly grown…
Temporarily acknowledge him.
Qi Yuan’s fans were numb. We were ready to fight to the death, why did Your Majesty surrender first?
Even if there was a bit of a gap, they had arguments. After all, Music Blind Box has no voting. In the end, win or lose was just their word?
Things like era characteristics aren’t cared about by many listeners. As long as the song itself is good enough, if they said Qi Yuan won, there would definitely be recognition.
They weren’t afraid of online arguments either. If they insisted Even if Ordinary won, it couldn’t be verified, and the other side couldn’t do anything about it.
Now it’s good. Qi Yuan was directly moved to tears by someone else’s song. Though still no win or loss, netizens’ hearts are like clear mirrors.
Next time they want to argue online, so-called win or loss is useless. Others just say “Your brother was moved to tears by Yu Wei’s song” and they’d be speechless…
Big brother, what’s this about? Even if it’s so good you cry, couldn’t you cry privately? Why embarrass them on stage?
Fan circle fans chasing stars is mainly for self-satisfaction. Once the idol does something against their ideas, cursing and unfollowing is inevitable.
Yu Wei thought this was a good thing, just right to detox Qi Yuan. Without this group restricting him, he’d absolutely soar even higher.
Qi Yuan cried not because of so-called conceding or it being good enough to cry. Like his past self, he cried not for the song, but for that self who finally dared to face vulnerability.
He cried just because The Ordinary Road stirred his emotions, which is normal. Sometimes accepting one’s own ordinariness isn’t a bad thing.
But Qi Yuan didn’t keep crying. After being noticed, he quickly adjusted his state. Apart from slightly red eyes, nothing seemed wrong.
Yu Wei went offstage back to his seat. Just a simple eye contact, and he could feel the change in Qi Yuan’s demeanor—like after crying, his whole person seemed much more spirited.
“Great song!”
Qi Yuan’s voice was a bit dry, but the blessing was utterly sincere. Clearly, he had calmly accepted his own ordinariness and failure.
“You’re still more impressive.”
This was Yu Wei’s heartfelt words. He, a cheat writer, had nothing to be proud of. But this guy was truly working hard.
Compared to him, someone like Qi Yuan was undoubtedly more worthy of praise.
As he just sat down, Qi Yuan, who had been sitting properly, suddenly stood and walked onstage. This spectacle startled Yu Wei. What was this? Beating the director?
“The host hasn’t announced yet.”
“I want to say something, about my song.”
Yu Wei was stunned upon hearing this. It seemed others didn’t know yet that the creator of Even if Ordinary was Chen Ping.
Ye Ranzhi had specifically instructed Qi Yuan about this. Though the person was gone, what he left behind still needed to be heard…
Qi Yuan deliberately chose to reveal the producer information after the competition, mainly to eliminate certain interferences.
If everyone knew upfront it was Chen Ping’s song, with preconceived filters, the match would be meaningless.
The difficulty of challenging authority lies here—even before competing, everyone would think the authority is stronger.
Grandmother also agreed with Qi Yuan’s idea, saying she wanted to see what his strength was like without relying on fame.
The situation was: even without his own fame, Chen Ping’s work was still top tier. But the era has changed, sir.
After explaining to the program, Cheng Xu was greatly shocked. Then his shock instantly turned to ecstasy. Old Senior Chen’s posthumous work debuting, and in his own program?
This was popularity blown in by a great wind!
The recording that should have ended was forcibly extended. Qi Yuan held the microphone onstage, as if he had something to say.
Making unknowing audience almost think he couldn’t accept loss and wanted a rematch.
“Although the situation is already clear, I still want to ask everyone: whose performance did you like more just now?”
A few scattered voices came from the audience seats. Directly asking probably wouldn’t yield results; everyone was too lazy to cooperate.
To make the evaluation more obvious, Qi Yuan had them vote by show of hands. With three hundred on-site audience, basically every guest could get over two hundred votes.
But when mentioning Yu Wei, especially many hands went up. Only single digits didn’t…
Undoubtedly, a landslide lead.
Others had no idea what Qi Yuan wanted to do. This program previously had no competition elements. Was he trying to lose upright?
Not so. Qi Yuan no longer cared about so-called win or loss, and he knew he had lost.
He did this just to make everyone recognize one fact.
“Actually, the Even if Ordinary I sang earlier is Chen Ping’s work.”
Qi Yuan’s flat words directly caused everyone’s brains on-site to crash for three seconds.
What? Whose work?
The audience seats instantly fell silent, then exploded with this message. Chen Ping actually had an unpublished work? How is that possible?
Meng Han on the guest seats widened his eyes in some disbelief. No wonder that song felt so familiar—it was him.
Though unexpected, it was reasonable.
But soon, he realized a more important issue…
Chen Ping lost.
Others instantly reacted too. Qi Yuan had deliberately counted votes earlier to confirm the outcome relationship upfront, avoiding everyone changing views because of this news.
If they knew this beforehand, they really might change their minds. What if Old Senior Chen’s work had deeper meanings…
So, Yu Wei, who rose in half a year, beat Domestic Entertainment’s number one person Chen Ping. How could they dream such a thing?
But they had to believe, because the votes were cast by themselves. No time to regret now.
“Actually, setting aside so-called sentiment and fame, which of the two songs is better, everyone surely has their own answer.”
Qi Yuan’s words successfully silenced the chaotic audience seats. If setting aside the number one person’s gimmick, wasn’t their earlier choice from the heart?
Judging just these two songs, they did seem to prefer Yu Wei’s The Ordinary Road.
Authority isn’t invincible.
This sudden thought stunned everyone. This was the first time someone had directly beaten Chen Ping’s work…
Yu Wei accomplished what all artists that year couldn’t.
Qi Yuan onstage smiled faintly. This was the true purpose of his vote count earlier. Legends never fade, but eras will end!
He wasn’t disrespecting his grandfather—quite the opposite. Grandfather was his role model.
But he knew clearly: Chen Ping’s era would end. Valuing the past over the present has no meaning. This era needs someone to take the baton.
This era needs a new legend.
He once thought he was that baton-taker, but later knew he wasn’t qualified. But Yu Wei absolutely had the ability.
Since he couldn’t be the baton-taker, he’d personally facilitate the era’s handover.
Now, no regrets…
Yu Wei on the guest seats was scalp-numbed by Qi Yuan’s operation.
I’m just a stinky writer. What the hell are you doing?
Daily check-in day eight.
Burned out.
