The Book of All Things: Born for Joy

159.

When Li Zichun returned half an hour after finishing the accompaniment, Zhao Qianfan and Du Zihua had already reconciled and even become good friends.

Li Zichun's gaze swept back and forth between the two men, and seeing their open expressions and cheerful conversation, he was utterly perplexed. He tentatively asked, "Have you two finished fighting?"

The two exchanged a smile, and Du Zihua shook his head helplessly, saying, "I just understand now that someone as radiant as you shouldn't belong to just one person."

Zhao Qianfan looked at him and said with a smile, "What? You really want us to fight over you so you can dump both of us in the end?"

Li Zichun smiled awkwardly, coughed, and said, "I just find it a bit unbelievable. Oh well, whatever. Come on over and familiarize yourselves with the songs for tonight."

Because of the tight schedule, they didn't pay much attention to it. Zhao Qianfan took the lyrics from his hand and seemed to return to the days when they struggled together. He smiled happily.

Du Zihua also breathed a sigh of relief. They had sneaked out for a trip, but it had turned into a performance.

Each of the three had their own role. He wasn't worried about Zhao Qianfan's comprehension, and Du Zihua quickly mastered the song with his help. It was only when things quieted down that the atmosphere among the three became somewhat subtle.

Li Zichun coughed and quietly looked at the lyrics.

Qi Tong watched the three of them with a half-smile, yawned, and ate his cat food.

Evening arrived quickly, and many tourists gathered in the square. The village chief, holding a microphone, explained the rules and regulations of Crescent Moon Village, as well as its customs, and also gave a live broadcast to the entire internet, so that future tourists wouldn't go too far and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings with the locals.

Crescent Moon Village doesn't have particularly outstanding tourism resources in Northwest China. Apart from the lake, the only scenery worth mentioning is the surrounding yellow sand. However, despite this, the number of viewers for this live stream has already approached the top three on the entire internet. It's surprising that so many people are watching before the celebrities even appear.

The village chief even urgently borrowed vocal performance equipment from nearby prefectures and counties so that the audience could hear all the sounds clearly.

After the village chief finished his ten-minute speech, several locals dressed in traditional costumes appeared on stage. A traditional song with distinctive local characteristics, similar to throat singing for blessings, opened the entire performance stage. It was both popular and elegant, mysterious and solemn.

Then Li Zichun, Du Zihua, and Zhao Qianfan took the stage one by one.

A commotion erupted at the scene.

Because they only knew that Li Zichun and Du Zihua were there, they didn't expect to meet Zhao Qianfan. The second and third place winners of the singing competition appeared, as well as the appearance of Li Zichun, the uncrowned king. The audience immediately burst into enthusiastic applause.

The three sat on a tall tree stump bench in the square, and after the host gave an introduction, they got to the main topic of the event.

Li Zichun took the microphone, smiled and greeted everyone. He was a little nervous because he hadn't done a live broadcast in more than half a year, but he quickly recovered. He still has long hair and hasn't thought about cutting it. He just started singing.

After taking a deep breath, Li Zichun began to sing F.I.R.'s "Crescent Bay" in a female voice, accompanied by music:

The sand in the sky above Dunhuang carries our memories.

Looking back from halfway, this love story is long and winding.

Dreams traversed the Western Regions, containing so much Zen wisdom.

Love is like a travelogue; I will search for its riddles.

See the tearful light under Crescent Bay

Forgotten along the Silk Road

Whose heart is left behind in solitude?

Is he alright? I want to love him so much.

A single sentence, frozen in eternal tears, may perhaps evaporate.

Whose love is stronger than tears?

A soft call will melt my heart.

Every drop of rain transformed into my wings.

Go after the one I love...

The lyrics of "Crescent Bay" are inspired by the Crescent Lake in Dunhuang, a world-renowned scenic spot that is on the verge of disappearing. Due to the excessive exploitation of groundwater resources in the area, this wonder is gradually drying up and is about to vanish. After learning about the situation of Crescent Lake in Dunhuang through the internet, the F.I.R. band was deeply moved and thus came up with the idea to create this song.

This song was quite popular back then. After singing it, Li Zichun looked at the lake in front of him and was moved by the thought that one day the lake would also disappear. Even though the village's rules and regulations were so strict, they were nothing more than dispensable supplements in the face of nature. No one could stop the inevitable passing of life, and all people could do was accept it with sorrow.

Singing "Crescent Bay" by Crescent Lake in Crescent Village is quite fitting for the occasion.

Even the villagers themselves can't explain how the lake in Crescent Moon Village came to be. They only know that these things have existed since they were born, and generation after generation has followed the rules and tried their best to maintain the local landscape.

In Li Zichun's eyes, they were more like a group of gravediggers, guarding the beauty of this desert that would eventually fade away.

Li Zichun sang in a pure female voice. When the wind blew up his long hair, which he had grown for half a year, his delicate and beautiful face had a bewitching beauty in this oasis of yellow sand.

People both at the scene and online were stunned.

Li Zichun didn't care about any of this. After finishing his song, he bowed, turned around, clapped hands with Zhao Qianfan, and handed him the microphone.

Zhao Qianfan picked up the microphone and said generously, "Because no one knows what this lake is actually called, only that it's shaped like a crescent moon, we've just called it whatever makes you happy. This desert wonder is shrinking every year, and if we don't protect it, it might disappear from everyone's sight in our lifetime, becoming nothing more than a sunken village in the desert. It's the New Year, and everyone is out having fun. We're all citizens of the Great Zhou Kingdom, and protecting the environment is everyone's responsibility. Let's not hurt each other's feelings or harm our own people."

The audience nodded and cheered, but it was unclear how many people actually listened. Zhao Qianfan nodded to Li Zichun and began to sing "Passionate Desert," a song Li Zichun had given him, to the accompaniment of the music:

My passion is like a fire that burns across the entire desert.

Even the sun hides from me when it sees me; it fears the fire of my love.

With me, the desert is never lonely; it's blooming with the flowers of youth.

I sing loudly, you harmonize softly, lost in the little love river in the desert.

You gave me raindrops to nourish my heart.

I'll give you a gentle breeze to open your flowers.

The little flowers in our love belong to you and me.

Our love is like a passionate desert.

......

My passion is like a blazing fire.

The entire desert was burned

Even the sun avoids me.

Even it fears the fire of my love.

Li Zichun sat to the side watching Zhao Qianfan's energetic stage performance. He was like a burning flame, dazzling and radiant. But then he thought of what Zhao Qianfan had said to him, and realized there must be some secret behind it. Just like this flame, he could bring warmth, but at the same time, getting too close could burn you.

If Li Zichun's performance was merely to immerse everyone in the atmosphere, then Zhao Qianfan's performance completely ignited the entire scene, with many tourists starting to sway and dance in the desert to the music.

After Zhao Qianfan finished singing, the entire venue was buzzing with excitement, with cheers and shouts of approval echoing throughout. He truly deserves to be one of only two leading figures of the new generation, second only to the veteran singer.

Li Zichun looked at Du Zihua and said with a smile, "Don't feel pressured. We don't need to compete with him. Just sing your own songs well."

Du Zihua nodded, gave Li Zichun a hug, smiled, took the microphone from Zhao Qianfan, said a few words, and then began to sing Dick Cowboy's "Wind and Sand":

Wandering the frontier, my face weathered by wind and frost, I can no longer see my homeland.

A landscape of yellow sand, winding scars, yet no tears flowed.

I'm like the wind and sand, when will it ever stop?

I cried out to the heavens, but we were already separated by a precipice.

The moonlight on my shoulders broke through the snowflakes; I miss your wedding dress.

Ruthless steps, unrepentant words of love, hoarse voice in a foreign land

I am like the wind and sand, unable to let go of my longing for you.

Unfortunately, time waits for no one, and my hair has already turned white.

My love, would you long for my return home?

My love, even if I am at the ends of the earth

The wind and sand fly, like me, I don't know when or how I will fall and return to your side.

......

My love, do you long for me to come home? My love, even if I'm at the ends of the earth, the wind and sand are like me, I don't know when I'll fall again, to return to your side.

This song is the Mandarin version of Dick Cowboy's cover of the wildly popular Taiwanese song "Sea Waves." In Li Zichun's memory, it wasn't particularly outstanding, and it wasn't even widely circulated. The Mandarin version didn't have the poignant and melancholic charm of the original Taiwanese version, but it was impossible for him to think of so many songs at once, so he used this one first.

This song is both heroic and sad, expressing the feelings of many people who have left their hometowns to work hard, just like the locals who have moved here and never returned home.

The first round of the three-person singing came to an end, followed by a traditional local wind instrument performance prepared by the village chief, interspersed with a desert dance full of exotic charm. The lead dancer was a pretty young girl, and Li Zichun gave her a few casual pointers. Although her movements were a bit clumsy, she had a graceful demeanor; while not seductive, she was full of girlish charm.

Li Zichun provided them with three performance stages, with a transition between every three songs, so he only needed to prepare seven songs. There weren't actually that many songs about the desert, but Li Zichun had a good memory, so finding them was a piece of cake for him. He was also the one who wrapped things up last.

PS: Data is from the internet.

"Crescent Bay" is a song performed by F.I.R., with lyrics by Hsieh Yu-hui and Yi Chia-yang, music by A-Qin, and arrangement by Oscar. It was included in F.I.R.'s album "Love Diva," released on September 28, 2007. In 2008, the song won the "Hong Kong and Taiwan Song of the Year Award" at the MusicRadio China TOP Chart Awards.

"Passionate Desert" is a song with lyrics by Li Jiexin, music by Kunihiko Kase, arrangement by Wang Zhiping, and sung by Harlem Yu. It was included in Harlem Yu's album "Harlem Nightclub" released in 1995 and is one of Harlem Yu's representative works.

"Wind and Sand" is a song with lyrics by Ma Songwei, music by Guo Guibin, and sung by Dick Cowboy. It is included in the album of the same name, "Wind and Sand," which was released on June 1, 2007.