215 How Straightforward Is She
Walking onto the stage, Pei Ningle glanced around and saw the packed audience seats. One hundred, two hundred, or three hundred? Anyway, countless people.
Besides the audience, there were four mentors, all very familiar. Although she didn’t listen to much mainstream pop music, the names of these four mentors were truly thunderous. Knowing she was going to be on the show was one thing, but actually coming here, seeing these audiences and star mentors, and starting to experience it personally, the feeling was another thing.
So Pei Ningle felt that she could hardly control the heartbeat in her chest.
She bowed to the band teachers, and when she turned back to face the mentors and the audience, she closed her eyes.
Not looking, pretending they didn’t exist, the pressure naturally disappeared.
Listening to the familiar intro melody, Pei Ningle immediately calmed down, opened her mouth, and sang softly:
“I want to let go of every dream from before,
Let go of the impulse to pursue perfection,
Let go of the glamorous vanity,
Hide in a cave alone…”
Singing like this, Pei Ningle suddenly realized that this song fit her current mood and situation very well.
She still didn’t dare to open her eyes. If she saw a mentor push the lever and reveal their face, she was sure she would be excited, and then there would be a risk of underperforming; if she saw no mentor pushing the lever, there would be even more psychological pressure and a greater possibility of mistakes.
And the verse part at the beginning of this song required quite subtle emotional foreshadowing, so she dared not let extra emotions disturb her state.
“I see the brilliant sunset hiding behind the dark clouds,
Mist lingers around, front and back, left and right,
Lonely people are most afraid of loneliness,
The hardest thing is to move forward bravely…”
Singing and singing, just as described in the lyrics, the girl suddenly felt a little lonely.
She often felt lonely, but after meeting Wang Heng, especially in the days when Wang Heng was not by her side recently, even if Han Yixuan or Ye Xun accompanied her, she would inevitably feel a little unsatisfied.
Sure enough, was it because she liked him?
The food that used to make her happiest, the hobbies that made her most comfortable, all became a little empty in this loneliness that was hard to cast aside. And this emptiness brought more creative inspiration… It’s really funny, should this be considered M? Or tsundere?
Finally, it was time to sing the climax of the final chorus.
Only then did Pei Ningle, who felt she had performed well, open her eyes. She saw that the screens of three mentors were still blocking in front of them, and only the only female mentor pushed down the screen, revealing her face.
The girl breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Maybe the performance wasn’t as good as the previous contestants, but at least she wouldn’t come up empty, right?
A mentor chose her, which meant that her part in this show shouldn’t be over yet, right?
Pei Ningle took a deep breath and started the final high notes:
“I see every ordinary day,
Turning into a fresh miracle…”
Singing up to here, Liang Kun’s screen lowered, revealing his face.
“I see those brilliant rainbows,
Shining into lonely dreams,
I hear the harp playing crystals,
Weaving into beautiful poems,
I see you…”
After the last sentence was sung, while the lingering sound was still in the air, Chu Tianjian and Liu Jiang, the two most experienced mentors, also pushed the levers at the same time.
Pei Ningle took a few breaths, calmed her mood, and was shocked to find that all four mentors had expressed their approval of her. In an instant, her emotions soared again.
Liang Kun spoke first, “Introduce yourself first.”
The girl patted her chest and said into the microphone, “Hello everyone, hello mentors, my name is Pei Ningle, I am 19 years old this year, and I am a resident singer in a bar.”
Chu Tianjian couldn’t help laughing. “We were just saying, the musicians coming on stage are getting younger and younger, all in their early twenties. Here comes an even younger one, not even twenty yet.”
Liu Jiang asked, “You’re only nineteen, and you’re already a bar singer? Didn’t you continue your studies?”
Pei Ningle bit her lower lip, feeling that this question seemed a bit tricky… After graduating from high school, she didn’t go to university or vocational college, but ran to a bar to sing. Would this answer seem bad?
But since this was the truth, what was there to avoid?
The girl suddenly calmed down and answered frankly, “My college entrance exam results were not ideal, and I couldn’t go to the university I liked, so I wanted to do something else I liked. I made a bet with my parents that if I couldn’t make a name for myself within a year, I would obediently go home and continue studying.”
Peng Xiaoya asked, “Then if there is no improvement within a year, will you really give up music?”
“I will go back to study,” Pei Ningle shook her head gently, “but I won’t give up music. In the future, I’ll find an ordinary job to support myself, and then I will continue to make my own music.”
Peng Xiaoya pressed, “What makes you so persistent?”
Pei Ningle: “Passion. Whatever I love, I must pursue it with all my life’s strength until the dream comes true.”
The four mentors applauded in unison. Applause also rang out in the audience seats.
“This child is really ambitious!”
“Impressive, firm mind!”
In the audience, unlike those around him who were whispering, Wang Heng crossed his arms and remained motionless, like an expressionless wax figure.
On the stage, after listening to the mentors’ praise and solicitation, Pei Ningle finally had to face that question.
Liang Kun asked, “Please choose, among the four of us mentors, who do you choose?”
Pei Ningle looked at the only female mentor almost without hesitation: “I choose Teacher Peng Xiaoya, because she was the first to recognize me.”
Liang Kun was stunned on the spot. “Just because of this?”
Pei Ningle blinked and asked back, “Is this not enough?”
Liang Kun: “…”
Chu Tianjian: “…”
Liu Jiang clapped his hands and laughed. “What a straightforward young person, so good!”
**
The recording of the first episode ended.
As soon as Liang Kun walked out of the scene, he called his old friend.
Soon, Chang Wen answered and asked, “What’s up?”
Liang Kun: “That little girl, I don’t need to help you look after her anymore. She didn’t choose me, she chose Peng Xiaoya!”
Chang Wen: “She shouldn’t be a fan of Peng Xiaoya, why?”
Liang Kun recalled the scene not long ago and whispered, “She said, whoever chose her first, she would choose them…”
“Hahahaha,” Chang Wen burst out laughing, “Can’t help it, who told you to be slow? You’ve heard that song, why didn’t you decide earlier?”
Liang Kun said helplessly, “I wanted to hear her high notes. Otherwise, how would I know if her high notes were really sung or fixed in post-production?”
Chang Wen: “I told you, I’ve heard her live, definitely no problem!”
Liang Kun: “A mentor’s rigor, do you understand a mentor’s rigor!”
Chang Wen laughed. “Can’t help it, you are as rigorous as she is straightforward.”
“This is too straightforward…” Liang Kun sighed. “After recording a whole episode, Liu Jiang chose three, Chu Tianjian two, and Peng Xiaoya also two. Only I have none!”
Chang Wen: “Can’t help it, try hard in the next episode. By the way, for your competition, do the contestants need to write new songs later?”
Liang Kun: “No new songs needed, just this one, re-arranged, and later might sing with us mentors again, find some music media judges.”
Chang Wen: “That’s good… Her songs are still few, none on the same level as ‘Dawn’. If she had to pick a second song, she would be at a disadvantage.”
Liang Kun teased, “If I hadn’t seen what she looks like in person, seeing how concerned you are, I would definitely think she’s your illegitimate daughter!”
Chang Wen couldn’t help asking, “Why do you think she can’t be related to me after seeing her in person?”
Liang Kun: “She’s much cuter than you…”
Chang Wen: “Get lost!”
