Chapter 230: Show Off Without Me
“Chorus can win Best Female Voice? Then I’m not convinced about my ‘Under the Flying Clouds’.”
“Not as good as ‘Invisible Wings’. Saying it’s this year’s Best Female Voice Single wouldn’t be over the top.”
“These two suffered because they’re not stars.”
Netizens were discussing heatedly in the live broadcast room. In short, it boiled down to one sentence: this award wasn’t given fairly. It could be given, but it felt forced.
The reason for this situation was simply that the hottest female voice songs this year were all sung by civilians in Yu Wei’s Music Blind Box.
These people didn’t receive activity invitations, let alone nominations and award winning. The hot songs didn’t come, but the songs that did come weren’t as popular as Lu Li’s song, which is why she kept winning awards.
Typically, when there are no heroes in the times, it makes a brat famous. If any civilian female singer who cooperated with Yu Wei was on site, the award’s ownership would have suspense.
But netizens wouldn’t say much about it. Complaining a couple times about this kind of thing and moving on was fine, after all, it had nothing to do with them.
Passersby are ultimately passersby; they wouldn’t argue logically or spontaneously stand up for a certain side. Only fans could do that.
This was exactly what the organizer wanted. Except for Shen Yutong’s three teammates’ fans who had slight complaints, there was basically no controversy over the award. No public opinion issues meant it was good.
Meanwhile, Lu Li’s “Lychee” fans had already started marketing and hyping. Not only would they help the organizer with data, they would also boost the award’s gold content to praise their own artist. This was undoubtedly a win-win.
Yu Wei could probably understand the organizer’s intention. Sometimes popularity is right; choosing niche masterpieces wouldn’t be bought by most people, while blindly choosing the popular one could satisfy more people.
Lu Li’s song was popular, regardless of whether it was chorus. Choosing the most popular as the golden song wasn’t reasonable?
Not black curtain. How could something that satisfied most people be called black curtain…
Not just fans and audience, on-site colleagues definitely accepted this result more too. After all, Lu Li did very well in both marketing and strength.
Everyone was doing it, but she went further, so winning the award was reasonable.
In contrast, Shen Yutong didn’t care about anything and just focused on making music. If everyone learned from her, they’d probably starve to death long ago.
Compared to an eccentric genius, everyone preferred the universally acclaimed top student. That was the voice of the majority.
Though in most cases, the majority was just being represented…
Yu Wei subconsciously sat more upright. Though this seat was hot under the butt, sometimes he had to sit.
The Music Awards Ceremony had been going on for a while, and he seemed to understand a bit why he could sit here. It was still about seniority, but he had “inheritance.”
He had met the most respected one, so when ranking by seniority, they had to consider him.
You recognize Old Senior Chen but not me? I haven’t lost a single one to him!
In a sense, he had eaten a steamed bun with flat blood…
Yu Wei was standing in his seat lost in thought when a staff member suddenly approached cautiously and patted his shoulder.
“Teacher Yu, there’s something over here.”
“Me?”
Yu Wei was stunned upon hearing this. What could it be? He was just here to receive an award today. It had gone smoothly for once, so why suddenly something came up?
The nearby veteran artists looked at him with interest, wondering what mischief this kid was planning this time.
This time it really wasn’t Yu Wei stirring things up. He knew nothing. He was sitting in the inner area, and trouble came from the sky.
“Yes, please come out for a moment. It’s not convenient to talk here.”
Hearing this, Yu Wei was even more confused. What had he done wrong? He hadn’t said the adult gossip out loud earlier.
This change also drew attention from many on site. Yu Wei in the first row was too conspicuous; any movement was hard to miss.
Why was he being taken away by staff? Had Teacher Yu finally been brought to justice?
Those preparing for waiting in the wings performances went to prepare themselves when it was time. Being directly taken away was what?
Others might not know, but Tong Yulu did. She’d asked, and Yu Wei had no performance today. Being taken down clearly had another reason.
After going out, the staff still didn’t speak, so Yu Wei could only follow obediently. No one was waiting outside, so at least he could rule out being in trouble.
“Teacher Yu, there’s something we need to trouble you with.”
The staff brought him toward backstage and asked somewhat awkwardly: “It’s like this. Teacher Yutong plans to sing your song…”
His own song?
Shen Yutong only had that one “Rain Butterfly,” it seemed. She planned to sing it in the interlude performance.
“No problem.”
This was nothing. After singing it on stage, it could still compete. The song was given, so sing it whenever.
Qi Luo An, responsible for the chorus, happened to be there too, and could sing anytime, but whose star assistant goes on stage to sing with the artist?
These two’s ability to stir things up was probably not below his, and even bolder…
He stirred things up while minimizing risk as much as possible, but they played on-site song swaps? This wasn’t performing for the audience, but for the colleagues below the stage.
All industry insiders would inevitably listen with scrutiny. Though the setup wasn’t as grand as a concert, the pressure was greater than a gala performance.
But if they wanted to play something fancy, Yu Wei supported it. Young people should have some drive; it was good. He just didn’t know why the organizer agreed to their outrageous request.
Life wasn’t an entertainment novel. On-the-spot song changes weren’t that simple. If the organizer didn’t agree to the risk, it couldn’t be sung.
Though the award ceremony was the event’s theme, it was a full-network live broadcast, so performances couldn’t be sloppy either.
“It’s just… they want you to provide accompaniment for them.”
“?”
Yu Wei was a bit amused upon hearing this. He thought Shen Yutong just wanted to ask his opinion, but this was the idea they had.
No one bothering him and no performance, he planned to enjoy the smooth award ceremony, but his teammates wanted to start a group fight. Who could withstand that?
Don’t drag me into showing off…
But thinking carefully, it made sense. This song was the debut, and hadn’t rehearsed with the on-site accompaniment team. This was the cost of a last-minute song change.
Besides Yu Wei, there really was no second person on site who could provide accompaniment for this song.
“Alright, how much time left?”
“About ten minutes…”
The staff didn’t expect Yu Wei to agree so readily. With just over ten minutes of prep time, he didn’t hesitate at all. So confident?
Or had they rehearsed together before?
Obviously not. Shen Yutong and Qi Luo An had rehearsed for a while, but Yu Wei had never participated.
But it wasn’t a big problem. He had mastered it perfectly. The group was starting, and he couldn’t sell out his teammates. Yu Wei hadn’t tried a three-person stage, so treat it as an experience.
Yu Wei arrived backstage and saw the two seemingly sharpening the spear just before battle. Since it was a spur-of-the-moment idea, the rehearsal effect probably wasn’t that good.
“You finally came.”
Seeing Yu Wei enter, Qi Luo An almost wanted to pounce into his arms and shout for help. Yutong was crazy!
Qi Luo An, a layman, just wanted to be an assistant for a day to join the fun. Who knew she’d run into such a big thing?
Wasn’t it agreed to record a singing video to compete? How did it suddenly become on-site singing, and a sudden, big shot-filled, full-network live broadcast on-site singing?
Wasn’t this taking her life?
For pitting her best friend, all her efforts weren’t as good as Shen Yutong’s flash of inspiration. This was forcing a duck onto the perch. She wouldn’t have come if she’d known.
But Yutong was boldly decisive for once, so as a friend, she had to help out. Though nervous, wasn’t Yu Wei here?
Big shot, carry us.
“Don’t worry, you’re not a star. Making a fool of yourself won’t cause trouble.”
Hearing this, Qi Luo An felt even worse. She thought Yu Wei would say “Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” but instead it was making a fool wouldn’t matter.
Who wanted to make a fool of themselves for no reason?
“So bold?”
Honestly, Shen Yutong’s decision surprised Yu Wei a lot. She was so detached, calm, even rule-abiding, yet she made such a rash decision.
They’d never rehearsed together. Pulling him up last-minute for accompaniment, wasn’t she afraid he’d be rusty from not playing for a while and miss notes, or mess up the cooperation?
If it was Qi Luo An’s idea, he wouldn’t be surprised, because she was rebellious enough, and impulsive without consequences was normal.
But Shen Yutong was very measured in how she handled things. She was the “other people’s child” in Chen Jinyi’s words, obedient and sensible. He didn’t expect her to lose her cool too.
“Don’t know.”
Calming down, Shen Yutong did feel she’d been a bit impulsive, but didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.
Perhaps after meeting Yu Wei, she’d seen too many unexpected and out-of-line actions, and maybe her heart was itching to try too.
Art required occasional out-of-line moments.
Her standout song at the concert was also influenced by Yu Wei. Excellent experience should be learned.
“Just felt that her half-song beat our song. Pretty unhappy about it.”
Shen Yutong had heard that “Tracing Back.” Quality was mediocre, just catchy melody made it popular.
She didn’t want to strike back, just let everyone have something good. “Rain Butterfly” wasn’t a masterpiece golden song, but better than today’s bubblegum songs by a lot.
“Unhappy? Then battle!”
Qi Luo An seemed to be hyping herself up too. “With Yu Wei, it’ll definitely be fine.”
Yu Wei suddenly understood why the organizer agreed to their request: because of him.
The staff’s question earlier wasn’t asking if he’d help, but using his answer to decide.
If he didn’t help, the song wouldn’t even have accompaniment, giving the organizer a clear reason to refuse.
If he helped, though risky, Yu Wei accompaniment plus Yu Wei new song—the popularity revenue could fully cover the risk.
The organizer wasn’t letting them mess around; they still had their own judgment. It was just his involvement that tipped the scales.
“Then let’s do it.”
Perfectly, this song had the same name as Qi Luo An’s grandmother’s work, so let her uncle-grandpa witness it.
After a few neutral awards went through the process, the grand ceremony naturally came to the interlude performance segment. The curtain parted, and a piano at the stage edge was particularly prominent.
Shen Yutong, in a purple dress, took the stage first, still drawing a wave of cheers in the bullet comments. After the concert, her audience affinity had grown a lot.
Everyone thought it was her solo performance again, but a gray figure followed closely behind.
The charcoal gray loose knit sweater completely mismatched the grand ceremony’s vibe, like something randomly bought online. Those who didn’t know might think she was some random passerby who wandered on site.
But the brown-white houndstooth half-skirt on the lower half looked cleverly crafted, injecting a touch of lively sweetness into the overall look.
It clashed strongly with the stage, but this abrupt beauty was what Qi Luo An was most praised for. She drew everyone’s gaze right upon appearing.
And those glasses on her face… felt like he’d seen them somewhere…
Below the stage, Ye Shengyu rubbed his old eyes, thinking he hadn’t woken up today. Wasn’t that his grandniece? How did she suddenly go on stage?
But it wasn’t over. As soon as Qi Luo An took position, another person walked out behind her: a familiar literary appearance—this was Yu Wei.
He silently sat by the piano, clearly in a posture ready to play anytime.
Below the stage, Tong Yulu was already dizzy. Wasn’t it said there was no performance? Then what was this?
Yu Wei lied. He clearly had a performance, a three-person one.
