Yiyiyi, I'm Going Crazy!

Feng Bingbing was feeling smug when something suddenly changed onstage.

"Fearless as a giant."

"I let the demons in my heart run wild."

"But I'm not worthy."

The chorus should obviously have started here, but the voice behind the curtain suddenly stopped.

The audience and mentors, who had been immersed in the song, all froze for a moment.

"Did he get too nervous and forget the lyrics?"

As people guessed, the singing resumed onstage:

"Ugly Monster, could you please not turn on the lights?"

"The love I want appears on a stage shrouded in darkness."

The chorus came abruptly, but it was full of passion, with a raspy, heart-wrenching rock edge.

That's right, it was rock.

Because at that moment, Dawei Tianlong suddenly switched to playing bass.

The instrument's distinctive, ripping sound paired with his suddenly husky, rich voice.

It conjured up the image of an ugly monster who dared only to hide in a corner and dream, yet couldn't accept his lot in life.

"Oh my God, I can picture it!"

"That's right, it's me! Boo-hoo!"

Whether they were extras or genuinely moved, quite a few people in the audience were wiping away tears.

And rather tellingly, every person moved to tears by the song was an ordinary-looking person of modest appearance.

In this world that judged people by their looks, ordinary-looking people had it way too rough. Boo-hoo!

The audience was deeply moved, but the mentors weren't quite as affected. After all, they were all former idols or current stars.

Of course, Zhang Zheng was the exception.

This time, he really couldn't hold it together.

As he listened, he wiped his eyes with a tissue.

Wang Xinzhe turned to him in surprise. "Teacher Zhang, what's wrong?"

Zhang Zheng glared at him. "You handsome people could never understand my pain!"

Wang Xinzhe jumped. He looked at Zhang Zheng's rugged face and his rustic leather jacket, then silently reached over and patted his shoulder to show his understanding.

With your looks and taste, you're definitely qualified to relate.

People like me and Feng Bingbing could never understand the world of the ugly.

Ha ha ha!

Huh?

Wang Xinzhe's gaze paused. He saw Feng Bingbing staring intently at the stage, her eyes seeming a little red too.

He was stunned.

No way, Bingbing?

You look like that, what does this song have to do with you?

Why are your eyes getting red?

Wang Xinzhe didn't know that Feng Bingbing's eyes were red not because the song had moved her, but because she felt disappointed, confused, and unwilling to give up.

Aaargh!!!

I'm so mad!!

Why did this guy's voice change again?

When my senior used to sing, he sounded like a wailing ghost, but his voice had never been this raspy and rock-inspired.

But just now, it clearly sounded like my senior again?

Was this guy my senior or not?

She'd been so smug and delighted a moment ago. Now she was just confused and frustrated.

If they hadn't been in front of so many people, Feng Bingbing would have pulled at her hair.

Yiyiyi, I'm going crazy!

It was as if the guy behind the curtain could sense Feng Bingbing's frustration.

When the first chorus ended and the second verse began,

the melody stopped again.

As if under his control, people craned their necks once more, their hearts suspended in midair.

Was he going to switch instruments again?

Thump, thump, thump!

Sure enough, Dawei Tianlong lived up to expectations and changed instruments.

This time, it wasn't a stringed instrument. He switched to a percussion instrument: the drum kit!

The rhythm started out smooth and gradually built into a fast, dense drumbeat that made people's scalps tingle.

This guy really knew his stuff!

Zhou Yiyi's expression darkened. He wondered if they'd recorded the part where he'd shaken his head and said Dawei Tianlong only knew piano and guitar.

No, after the recording, he'd have to find Chen Xin and get her to cut that part out in post!

As Zhou Yiyi was thinking, the drums onstage stopped, and the sound of an erhu soon filled the room.

He had to admit, the erhu went pretty well with this gloomy, resentful song, "Ugly Monster."

A mournful erhu passage made quite a few more audience members cry.

Then, at last, the melody returned to the piano.

Wang Xinzhe glanced at Zhou Yiyi's face, which looked like a dye shop had exploded on it, and bit his lip hard to keep from laughing.

For some reason, he couldn't help feeling that Dawei Tianlong had brought out all those instruments just to get back at Zhou Yiyi.

You said my instrumental skills were no good? Now I'll show you all these instruments and let you see whether I'm any good!

But then Wang Xinzhe thought he might be overthinking it.

No matter how talented Dawei Tianlong was, he was still just an amateur. There was no point in picking a fight with a top star.

Maybe he was just socially clueless and liked arguing with people?

Geniuses were all a little eccentric.

Before he knew it, Wang Xinzhe had already counted Dawei Tianlong among the ranks of genius musicians.

"Ugly Monster~~ Once you've seen enough, nothing seems strange."

"Go wild and have fun~~ Stomp hard on that fragile whiteness!"

"Ugly Monster~~ This is our era!"

"I don't exist~~ That's the real surprise."

When the final lyric fell, the entire audience stood up again.

"Brother Long!"

"Brother Long!"

"Brother Long, I love you!"

"Brother Long, I want to have your babies!"

Applause, cheers, cries for sex... all kinds of feverish, explosive sounds filled the recording hall, nearly lifting the roof off.

The audience was flushed with excitement.

They'd heard four or five instruments and two or three different voices in a single song.

This was such a great deal!

"Old Wang, I guess we weren't wrong to call him Brother Long, huh?"

Zhang Zheng said to Wang Xinzhe with a grin.

He hadn't even given his critique yet, but those words were already worth more than a dozen reviews.

Wang Xinzhe was much more level-headed. "I haven't bought a single song from him yet. Unless he sells me all three songs, don't expect me to call him Brother Long again!"

Zhang Zheng stared at him. "Old Wang, when did you get so crass? What happened to the Love Song Prince you used to be?"

Wang Xinzhe ignored him. Before Li Lan, the host, had even made it onto the stage, he called directly toward the curtain:

"Brother Long, how much for the rights to this song?"

Zhang Zheng looked at Wang Xinzhe in disbelief. Damn, Old Wang, you're shameless!

He hurriedly said, "Brother Long, Wang Xinzhe's way too handsome. This song doesn't suit him. Look at my face—only I can sing the true meaning of this song!"

The audience burst out laughing.

Teacher Zhang, what do you mean, "true meaning"? Are you fighting monsters or something?

Wang Xinzhe shot Zhang Zheng a sidelong glance. "Teacher Zhang, you write songs yourself. Isn't it embarrassing to buy someone else's?"

Zhang Zheng didn't fall for it. He grinned. "For the sake of my musical dream, it's not embarrassing."

Li Lan hurried onto the stage and said helplessly to the two of them, "Teacher Wang, Teacher Zhang, could you do me a favor? I'm the host, after all."

The audience erupted in laughter again.

Only then did the two of them finally quiet down. Li Lan smiled toward the curtain and said:

"Brother Long, your song was amazing. It struck a powerful chord with so many ordinary-looking people, myself included,

so I'm very curious: what were you feeling when you wrote it?"