232 The Little Princess in the Blue Dress
Eight people stood in a row on the stage, male and female, tall and short, wearing different clothes, but all with the same solemn expression.
This was the recording site of ‘Sing My Song’. Besides the mentors and students, there was also a packed audience, and a jury composed of dozens of professional judges. With so many people, even if everyone whispered, the accumulated noise was like an old mechanical hard drive running at full speed.
“Mentor Peng Xiaoya’s exclusive original album has been revealed. But among these eight original songs, we still have to select two title songs to participate in the final next episode…”
Wang Heng and Han Yixuan sat in the audience, listening to the host’s voice, but their eyes remained on the most petite girl among the eight.
The competition format was still not complicated. The eight contestants sang in turn, the 51 people on the jury voted, plus the three mentors Liu Jiang, Liang Kun, and Chu Tianjian each had 5 points, and the one with the highest score advanced directly. Then, Peng Xiaoya, the main mentor, could directly select another contestant. In this way, two title songs were selected, and the two contestants entering the final would also be revealed.
After the host finished the introduction, the contestants left the stage.
Mentor Peng Xiaoya went on stage to say a few words, and sang a song by an eliminated contestant.
The music paused, Peng Xiaoya casually tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, brewed for a moment, and said:
“My core requirement for Chinese original music is that you should have your own ideas. This program said from the beginning that we don’t want melodrama, we don’t want clichés, we want the personality of the new era, and we want to grab the audience’s ears and hearts directly with sincere expression. So the student who is coming out next, I thought about it for a long time, her song should be the most suitable to appear first, to inspire every student after…”
In the audience, Wang Heng and Han Yixuan whispered.
Han Yixuan: “She’s talking about Little Le!”
Wang Heng: “Yes, didn’t she say yesterday that she was going first?”
Han Yixuan: “Will there be a lot of pressure going on stage first?”
Wang Heng: “Hard to say, there are pros and cons… Suppose you appear later, and then you see that several people’s scores are particularly high, will there be greater psychological pressure?”
Han Yixuan sighed. “Can only trust Little Le.”
Wang Heng turned his head and glanced at her.
From the tone just now, he could only hear worry and concern. It seemed that Han Yixuan was really thinking about Pei Ningle, without any distracting thoughts?
This was a really good sign.
“I followed the whole rehearsal the day before yesterday,” Han Yixuan whispered again, “She rehearsed five times on stage. If you ask me, these five times were actually great, but Little Le put a lot of effort into every adjustment. So I think, with Little Le being so serious, there will definitely be no problem.”
Wang Heng recalled. Except for not following the rehearsal the day before yesterday, other times, such as Pei Ningle’s repeated pondering before coming to the Imperial Capital, and how she discussed arrangement and singing methods with Peng Xiaoya after arriving in the Imperial Capital, Wang Heng had witnessed all these with his own eyes. But he knew better that the difficulty of this program should not be underestimated.
Hesitating for a few seconds, he said, “But other competitors are also very diligent.”
Han Yixuan: “But Little Le is a genius!”
Wang Heng didn’t speak anymore, just watched the stage quietly.
Peng Xiaoya had already left the stage, and the one walking up at this moment was the girl with a determined look on her small face.
Today she was wearing a knee-length blue dress. The upper body was light blue, and the color became darker as it went down, and there were many stars dotted in that dark blue. Under the stage lights, those stars twinkled, dreamlike—but Han Yixuan and Wang Heng knew that this dress was not expensive, and those glowing things were just inlaid broken glass.
In the past, Pei Ningle had a ponytail hairstyle like a middle school student, occasionally pigtails, anyway, it was straight hair. But tonight, the lower end of the straight hair was curled and draped down, not looking very mature, but adding a princess-like quiet elegance.
The girl held a guitar with both hands and sat on a round stool in the center of the stage. The microphone stand was in front of her, so she didn’t need to hold the microphone and could play the guitar properly.
Taking a deep breath, she strummed the guitar strings and began to sing.
“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…”
The still stable singing voice was like a girl in a poem humming her sorrow in a low voice.
This time, she didn’t close her eyes. Sometimes looking at the guitar in her hand, sometimes looking at the audience, trying to find that familiar person in the darkness against the light.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t find him on stage.
But singing and singing, the girl recalled the bits and pieces of getting along with him, imagining that he was watching her live performance at this moment—no, the fact was that he was below the stage, he was really watching her.
So in the final chorus climax, she smiled, the pitch rose, and the whole song bloomed like a flower.
At the same time, the lights spread out, shining on the band musicians in the corner of the stage. The drummer, keyboardist, bassist, and the added cello all sounded together, playing a short but magnificent chapter.
“…I see those brilliant rainbows,
Shining into lonely dreams,
I hear the harp playing crystals,
Weaving into beautiful poems,
I see you…”
Singing the last line of lyrics, Pei Ningle looked affectionately at the audience. She didn’t know the specific seat of that person in the audience, but at least she could imagine that familiar handsome face emerging in the darkness.
The song ended, and the lights in the whole venue lit up again.
On the mentor seat, Peng Xiaoya rushed to say, “It’s great, really great!”
Liu Jiang commented, “This adaptation fully brought out your voice, very good.”
Liang Kun laughed. “In this way, the pressure on the contestants appearing later will be great. You have set a very high benchmark for them!”
Chu Tianjian shook his head slowly. “Surprise, actually gave us another surprise. The emotional grasp at the end is too captivating.”
Peng Xiaoya rolled her eyes at him. “Are you kidding? She is the little princess I chose!”
Liang Kun: “Not just you, we chose her too.”
Peng Xiaoya: “But she didn’t choose you.”
Liang Kun: “…”
At this time, the host said, “So now, it’s time for our professional jury to vote. Fifty-one professional music critics from major music radio stations and websites, please give your opinions. Let’s see what score the first contestant Pei Ningle will get?”
