"Luning! I'm about to go on!"
"Mhm, don't be nervous. Everything has a first time! After the first time, you won't feel uncomfortable anymore!"
Zhang Xiaorong nodded and prepared to go onstage.
If not for the way she clenched her fists until her knuckles had turned slightly white, she didn't look all that nervous just from the expression on her face. She merely pressed her lips together faintly.
But the instant she stepped onto the stage, a familiar feeling rushed over her.
As a singer, this stage was naturally unfamiliar to her.
But as a dancer, she had seen far too many stages.
It was merely another form of performance.
"Wow!"
Hearing the audience's somewhat restrained gasps, heavenly king-level singer Xia Fang, one of the mentors, raised his eyebrows at the camera. "This contestant is a little unusual! She hasn't even started singing, yet she's already gotten such a big reaction from the audience."
"She must be very beautiful!" another mentor said with a smile.
Zhen Dongjun: ???
Bai Youlou was going onstage this early?!
His mind was filled with Bai Youlou. He always felt that only that guy could make the audience react so dramatically when he went onstage.
At the same time, the music began. The unfamiliar intro made Zhen Dongjun even more certain that it had to be Bai Youlou!
"Another original song?!" Lu Hong, the oldest and most senior mentor, said with bright eyes.
The melody was like snow falling beneath the winter night sky of a fairytale castle.
"That intro is pretty good. There's real skill there!"
Just as Zhen Dongjun hesitated over whether he should turn around, an ethereal female voice rang out, dispelling all his thoughts.
"Moonlight brightens the sky
Scattering rays of light across the ocean
Whenever a shooting star falls from the heavens
The dreams in my heart drift away with the wind"
"..."
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Almost without hesitation, all four mentors pressed their buttons in succession, eliciting a wave of astonished cries from the audience.
But for some reason, many of those cries remained restrained, as though they didn't want to make too much noise and disturb either the song or the beauty singing like an elf.
"Spread transparent wings and leap out the skylight
Searching for the most beautiful hope
Whenever colorful xiaguang rises across the sky
Fly away with memories and dreams"
"..."
Click.
Bai Youlou lit a cigarette and looked from far away through a doorway at Zhang Xiaorong, who stood glittering in the center of the stage.
He seemed to be admiring the girl who had radiated brilliance the moment she stepped onstage. That was what Long Ziqiang and Old Zhou both thought.
But at that moment, even Zhang Xiaorong's beauty couldn't stop the surging tide of memories.
The more he listened to the song, the hazier it became, while his childhood seemed to grow clearer and clearer.
The song was called "Xiaguang."
It might evoke all kinds of feelings in other people, but no matter when Bai Youlou heard it, it always made him sad.
It seemed capable of taking him straight back to that summer filled with the smells of cheap drinks and spicy strips.
The childhood he could never return to, and the imaginings and dreams he could never catch, all gave this song a unique flavor.
Why was it called "Three Hundred Children's Songs"?
Because the songs Bai Youlou had written at the beginning really were all "children's songs."
These songs were farthest from him, and the easiest to forget.
--
"My heavens! She's amazing!" An Luning, who was acting as Zhang Xiaorong's support group, couldn't help exclaiming.
No wonder she hadn't been allowed to listen beforehand! This was too—well, actually, it was mainly because Sister Zhang sang so well. It had little to do with the songs Bai Youlou wrote.
"Yeah, she seems to be sparkling. She was born for the stage!"
Host Xiao Liu, standing beside her, praised her as well, but inwardly wondered why this job was so difficult.
First, Bai Youlou had left her completely dumbfounded, and now she had run into another "airhead."
She felt that the girl hadn't even noticed she had come in. She had gently reminded her several times, but the girl was still staring blankly at the television.
It was just that the more Host Xiao Liu looked at her, the more familiar she seemed. After she spoke, that sense of familiarity grew even stronger.
Xiao Liu really wanted to pull down the mask covering An Luning's face and see what she looked like underneath, but she would never dare do something so presumptuous.
Just then, An Luning felt that the mask was getting in the way of cheering for Zhang Xiaorong, so she yanked it off herself.
Host Xiao Liu immediately stared at her in a daze.
"An, An—"
"Huh? Who are you?" An Luning looked at the female host in surprise, as though she had only just noticed that there was someone beside her.
"I'm the host. You're really An Luning?!"
"The genuine article~ Don't tell anyone, okay? Let's keep it between us."
An Luning gave her a huge smile, then pressed her palms together and made a pleading gesture. Damn, she was explosively cute!
Xiao Liu was left dizzy, a foolish grin unconsciously appearing on her face.
However, once she came to her senses, Xiao Liu was both excited and speechless.
Seriously, the cameras in this room weren't just decorations.
And she still wanted to keep it secret? The production team had probably already fallen apart by now, right?
Exactly.
An Luning's sudden appearance was definitely an unexpected incident for The Voice's production team—of course, it was the kind that developed in a positive direction.
Who wouldn't want a top-tier female celebrity handed to them for free?
But it had also disrupted their plans.
Damn!
Zhang Xiaorong probably had an agency.
Huaxing Entertainment, the major company behind An Luning, was one of the foremost companies in the industry. If Zhang Xiaorong had already signed with Huaxing, then none of the companies collaborating with The Voice could hope to sign her.
The problem was right there!
When she first registered, Zhang Xiaorong had already been designated by the production team as one of the candidates for the championship because of her looks and voice.
As everyone knew, becoming the champion of a talent show like this wasn't easy. It usually involved certain unspoken rules and such.
The unspoken rules here didn't refer to anything between men and women. They referred to benefits.
Why should they promote you to champion? How much money could you make for me?
To put it simply, someone wanted to sign Zhang Xiaorong.
Now, it looked like everything was screwed.
Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaorong onstage was also facing the mentors' "interrogation."
"You wrote the song yourself?! That's amazing!"
Zhang Xiaorong naturally bowed politely first to express her thanks, then said, "I didn't write it. It's a friend's work."
"Is your friend here?"
According to the normal variety-show process, this was when they should show a shot of the "friend."
But no matter how well the cameras at the venue could capture people, they couldn't cross the entire studio and catch Bai Youlou smoking outside.
The live director quite reasonably cut to the support group.
However, when An Luning's somewhat dazed little face suddenly appeared on the big screen, the entire studio exploded.
"Ahhh! An Luning!"
"Lulu!"
"..."
The screams and commotion at that moment nearly blew the roof off the studio.
With her top-tier status and popularity that might even be beyond top-tier, An Luning directly ignited the entire The Voice venue the moment she appeared.
Only after the director and host at the venue had finally managed to calm the audience did the recording continue.
Having already seen herself appear on the monitor, An Luning immediately performed a "transformation." She had been dazed just moments ago, but suddenly perked up, greeting the audience with a brilliant smile. She didn't forget to campaign for Zhang Xiaorong, either. "Please give my best friend lots of support."
Support!
They would definitely support her!
They would cherish her, love her, and give their lives for her!
The mentors at the venue were somewhat at a loss. The rhythm had truly been thrown into chaos.
They exchanged glances. So... should we still ask her what her dream is?
What kind of stupid question was that?!
The quickest-reacting mentor had already begun trying to recruit her!
Before you continue