Entertainment: A song that brought his deceased wife back to life.

Blue Star, Linhai City.

Yunding Tiangong Villa Area.

As the highest-paid top female celebrity in the Chinese entertainment industry, Luo Qianyu was currently sprawled out on a leather sofa without any regard for her image.

She had an expensive deep-sea mud mask on her face and a handful of potato chips in her hand.

Those legs, hailed as "1.8 meters long," were casually draped over the coffee table.

On the huge television screen, the hottest talent show, "The Coming One," is playing.

"Is this what new recruits are like these days? All they do is work with technology and grueling tasks."

Luo Qianyu pointed at a trainee dancing on the screen and complained, "He's completely off-key and can't even keep his breath steady."

She picked up the remote control, about to change the channel.

The camera cut to the waiting area on the side of the stage.

A man wearing a faded shirt and holding a broken wooden guitar sat quietly in the shadows.

Luo Qianyu's fingers froze in mid-air.

The potato chip was crushed with a "crack".

That's Xu Qing.

Xu Qing, who disappeared for a whole year.

She had an online relationship with her ex-boyfriend for three years using a secondary account, and they even met in person more than ten times.

Later, Sister Hong told her that Xu Qing had changed cities, changed phone numbers, and blocked all social media accounts. She thought about sending her assistant to check, but Sister Hong stopped her on the grounds that it would "affect her career" and destroyed the fragmented information she found.

"What is he doing here?"

Luo Qianyu suddenly sat up straight, and her face mask almost cracked.

She remembered that Xu Qing hated being in the public eye and only wanted to write his novels quietly.

Is it for the money?

Luo Qianyu felt a pang of sadness.

At that time, Luo Qianyu was at the peak of her popularity, and the exposure of her relationship would definitely have an impact.

So, when the agent, Sister Hong, handled this relationship, she said she gave Xu Qing a hush money payment, and the two broke up peacefully.

"Damn it, he took the money and came to work in the entertainment industry?"

Luo Qianyu cursed, but her eyes were glued to the screen.

……

Backstage at the recording site of the "Rising Star" program.

The air was filled with the mixed smells of hairspray and cheap takeout.

Director Wang Gang was banging on the table, a project proposal twirling in his hand, spittle flying from his mouth.

"Xu Qing, let me confirm the script with you one more time!"

Wang Gang stared at the excessively silent man before him, his tone full of impatience, "When you get on stage, don't rush to sing. You must cry first! The emotion has to be right!"

Xu Qing lowered her head, her slender fingers gently caressing the neck of the guitar.

There's a sticker of a cartoon fish on the soundhole of this guitar.

"Did you hear me?"

Wang Gang raised his voice, "According to the script, you're the only breadwinner in the family. Your grandmother is bedridden and urgently needs 500,000 yuan for surgery! Your father ran away due to gambling debts, and your mother remarried! You came here to fight for your grandmother in this cruel world!"

"This is the kind of ordinary person persona that went viral last week. You can't go wrong by copying it."

The staff around them didn't feel like laughing; this kind of scenario was quite common here.

These days, if you don't play the victim in talent shows, you're almost embarrassed to call yourself a dreamer.

No one is qualified to hold a microphone unless they have a paralyzed relative.

Xu Qing finally raised her head.

His eyes were slightly red, probably from not sleeping well these past few days, and he exuded a broken and decadent feeling.

"Director, there seems to be a discrepancy in the information."

Xu Qing's voice was a little hoarse.

"Go in and out my ass!"

Wang Gang shoved the script into Xu Qing's arms, saying, "We'll act out whatever the audience wants to see! That's the secret to attracting viewers! You're just an ordinary person, with no connections or company. If you don't play the victim, who will vote for you? Who will remember you?"

Xu Qing looked at the A4 paper in her hand, which was covered with marks such as "tragic", "kneeling", and "weeping".

He couldn't help but laugh.

Life itself is absurd enough, so why fabricate suffering?

True pain is silent.

"OK."

Xu Qing folded the script and put it in her pocket. "I know what to do."

Wang Gang nodded in satisfaction and patted Xu Qing on the shoulder.

"That's right."

"These days, only the obedient get to eat. Go on, it's your turn. Remember, you have to be miserable, the more miserable the better!"

The stage lights suddenly came on.

Xu Qing, holding her guitar, walked step by step towards the center of the circle of light.

The audience was a sea of ​​black, with countless glow sticks waving in the darkness.

The three judges sat in high mentor chairs, their faces bearing professional, fake smiles.

Sitting in the middle is Ke Min, the sharp-tongued queen of the music scene. She had just made a trainee who was singing, dancing and rapping cry, and was idly twirling a pen in her hand.

"Next, Xu Qing."

Xu Qing stood in front of the microphone and adjusted its height.

The blinding spotlight shone on his face, making his thin face appear even paler.

On the big screen, the director had already switched to the prepared VCR title—"A Filial Piety Teenager Fights for His Paralyzed Grandma."

Wearing a headset, Wang Gang excitedly directed the broadcast from the control room: "Close-up! Give it a close-up! Get ready for a sad background music! As soon as he mentions his grandmother, immediately cut to a shot of the audience wiping away tears!"

on the stage.

Xu Qing did not speak.

He didn't even glance at the high-and-mighty judges.

He simply closed his eyes and gently plucked the strings with his fingers.

The sound was unlike anything a broken instrument could produce; there was not a trace of extraneous noise, but rather a warm and mellow quality, like aged wine—simple at first listen, but with a lingering aftertaste upon closer listening. There was only a subtle hint of dampness, making it seem understated at first, but with a lingering aftertaste upon closer listening.

The chatter paused subconsciously for half a second. Ke Min raised an eyebrow, a barely perceptible hint of surprise flashing in her eyes—this kind of tone was definitely not something a cheap firewood stick costing a few hundred yuan could produce.

But the surprise was fleeting; after all, with the instrument in such dilapidated condition, no one would think much of it.

Then, Xu Qing spoke.

Without any intro, the very first line of lyrics hit everyone's ears.

"When I'm far away, I miss you so much that tears stream down my face..."

The sound wasn't loud; there were no flashy high notes or deliberate vibrato.

There was only one kind of tranquility... deathly stillness.

"Those who have experienced this kind of affected wording will understand."

"Those unspeakable pains are the result of my own actions."

In the control room, Wang Gang was dumbfounded.

"What is he doing? Where's the script? Where's Grandma? Where's the surgery fee?!"

Wang Gang roared into the walkie-talkie, "What kind of rubbish is this?! Cut the microphone right now... no, wait!"

Wang Gang suddenly realized that something was wrong with the footage on the monitor.

The previously noisy whispers at the scene vanished in an instant.

A girl in the front row gradually lowered the light stick in her hand.

"You're not pretending to be deaf; you're genuinely unmoved."

"When I'm alone, I secretly look at your Weibo."

"The song you're broadcasting sounds familiar; we've listened to it together before."

in front of the TV.

The bag of potato chips in Luo Qianyu's hand slipped and fell to the ground.

The face mask wrinkled up due to the drastic change in facial expression, which looked somewhat comical.

But this song...

The melody, the lyrics.

Three years ago, in winter.

In the central park of Linhai City, a thin layer of snow has accumulated on the benches.

She wore a mask, sunglasses, and a hat, wrapping herself up like a dumpling.

Because she was a newly debuted idol singer, she dared not be exposed to the public eye.

She lied to her naive online boyfriend, Xu Qing, saying that she had a severe hereditary skin disease and couldn't stand the wind or be seen by people.