Master Shen, I Want to Sing

It was Sunday, and Fang Yongkang was in high spirits. He'd managed to book a fortune-telling appointment!!!

After breakfast, he slipped out while his family wasn't paying attention, took the subway to the nearest high-speed rail station, and caught a train to Lingxi City.

He'd been there a few times already, so Fang Yongkang knew the route very well and didn't waste much time on the way.

By now, his mind was filled with thoughts of Master Shen. He hurried along, his heart constantly praying for the outcome he wanted.

Standing outside the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, he felt extremely nervous, as if he were about to travel far away to take the college entrance exam.

Ren Tianxue had stayed up all night talking with her best friend, so she arrived late today. She asked in surprise, "Aren't you going in?"

Fang Yongkang jumped in fright and turned around. What a pretty young woman! His nervousness vanished at once.

He grinned. "I'm going in. I've been waiting for this day for ages."

Ren Tianxue had a pretty good memory. She remembered that this student had come to have his talent assessed. Not many students came for fortune-telling, after all. Most people with a higher education looked down on such things.

Someone like Yuan Jiancheng had only thought of asking Shen Qiong for a reading when he was at the end of his rope.

Fang Yongkang gritted his teeth and walked inside.

Shen Qiong had already been waiting for him. Seeing that Fang Yongkang had finally arrived, Shen Qiong was relieved. After all, this guest was a rare talent.

Ever since unlocking the Talent Skill information, he hadn't come across anyone with a talent skill above 60. But the student in front of him, wearing glasses and looking a little stiff, had a singing skill of 68.

Since this was his first time encountering such a case, Shen Qiong couldn't tell what level 68 actually represented.

Fang Yongkang hadn't expected Master Shen to be so young. He looked only six or seven years older than Fang Yongkang himself.

Seeing that the other boy was still nervous and ill at ease, Shen Qiong smiled. "Your eyes seem to be longing for something."

A stock line!!!

That was Shen Qiong's stock line. Anyone who came to have their talent assessed was bound to have something they were striving for; otherwise, they wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of booking an appointment.

Fang Yongkang sat down and clenched his fists slightly. He looked up at Shen Qiong with sincere eyes. "Master Shen, I want to sing."

Shen Qiong froze. That sounded so familiar. He remembered a stirring line from Slam Dunk: "Coach, I want to play basketball!"

He immediately dropped his playful air and asked seriously, "Are you sure you want to take this difficult road?"

Fang Yongkang raised his voice. "Yes! Master Shen, can I really sing?"

The corner of Shen Qiong's mouth lifted in a slight smile. Good! Very good!

"If you have a dream, you have to chase it!" Shen Qiong encouraged him.

Fang Yongkang frowned. "But my classmates all say singing isn't right for me. They... they laugh at me for being too short!" He struggled to get the words out.

Shen Qiong pursed his lips and thought for a moment. No wonder Fang Yongkang had a skill value close to 70 but still lacked confidence. This was what was holding him back.

"What a joke. Let me ask you this: have any of them actually heard you sing?"

Fang Yongkang thought it over. None of them had. He shook his head decisively.

The corners of Shen Qiong's mouth rose slightly. He'd guessed right. Fang Yongkang was indeed at a disadvantage when it came to his height, but with such a high singing skill value, anyone who had heard him would surely have taken him seriously. The only explanation was that his classmates had never heard him sing.

"I think I sing pretty well," Fang Yongkang said shyly. "I've recorded songs and uploaded them online."

Shen Qiong's eyes lit up. "Oh? How have they done?"

"I have more than a thousand followers now. They're the only reason I've kept going." Fang Yongkang gritted his teeth and spoke earnestly.

"Then there you go!" Shen Qiong smiled. "You came to see me because you want to know whether you really have a talent for singing, right?"

Fang Yongkang nodded.

Shen Qiong smiled slightly. "Sing a few lines for me..."

Though he already had a pretty good idea, Shen Qiong still wanted to know what someone with a singing skill of 68 sounded like.

Fang Yongkang blushed. "Isn't that a little embarrassing?"

"It seems the real demon holding you back isn't anyone else. It's you," Shen Qiong said smoothly.

Fang Yongkang froze and asked in astonishment, "What do you mean?"

"You're far too lacking in confidence. You can face more than a thousand followers online, but now you don't dare open your mouth?" Shen Qiong bluntly pointed out his flaw.

In the end, Fang Yongkang could only shake his head with a bitter smile. "I can't! I always record my songs alone in my room."

Shen Qiong furrowed his brow. The root of Fang Yongkang's lack of confidence was that he didn't understand his own talent well enough. That was exactly why he'd come to Shen Qiong.

It wouldn't be difficult to build up his confidence. As long as he really could sing well, Shen Qiong already had an idea. He asked at once, "You said you've uploaded songs online?"

"Yes! On Song Dream. My ID is my own name, Fang Yongkang." He stumbled over the words.

Shen Qiong smiled faintly. "That's all I need to know! I'll help you."

Fang Yongkang stared at Shen Qiong in surprise. "Help me?"

"I'll tell you clearly: you have exceptional talent for singing. You must stick with this path!" Shen Qiong said, looking at him earnestly.

"But you haven't even heard me sing," Fang Yongkang murmured.

Shen Qiong laughed. "I'm no music teacher. I tell people's fortunes. The reading shows that your fate is already intertwined with music."

"Really?" Fang Yongkang stared at Shen Qiong with wide eyes.

"I know you don't believe me. When I read fortunes for other people, they didn't believe me either!" Shen Qiong said with a smile. "But in the end, they had no choice but to believe."

Fang Yongkang took a deep breath. "Thank you! I'll keep going."

That evening, Shen Qiong and Gu Liming sat in the living room while Shen Qiong searched Song Dream for the songs Fang Yongkang had uploaded.

Gu Liming smiled. "Play them. I saw that kid today."

As soon as the first line of the song rang out, Shen Qiong and Gu Liming exchanged a look. That voice, that feeling—it was every bit as good as the popular cover singers online!

"Not bad! I guess you really can't judge by appearances." Gu Liming nodded repeatedly.

Shen Qiong smiled slightly. He finally had a sense of what a singing skill value of 68 meant. He figured that many of today's popular singers probably had singing skills just over 70.

But the thing was, those singers had all received professional training, while Fang Yongkang hadn't.

Shen Qiong raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I'm thinking of promoting him so more people can hear his voice."

Gu Liming knew exactly what Shen Qiong was getting at and immediately teased him. "No problem. A high schooler with big dreams and plenty of potential—his voice has finally reached the world thanks to Master Shen's discovery!"

Gu Liming typed a line on the computer: "He said, 'Master Shen, I want to sing!' And I thought everyone should get to hear his voice. He's a high school student who loves music. I hope you'll support him!"

Then he added a link to one of Fang Yongkang's songs and clicked send.

By then, Master Shen's Weibo account had just over twenty thousand followers. As soon as the post went up, it received more than a dozen comments.

A netizen with the handle San Pao Ding Jiang Shan replied, "Huh? Has Master Shen started taking sponsorships?"

"Let's hear it. He's singing 'A Few Miles Around,' a song I really like. Hope he doesn't butcher it!"

"Master Shen's talent readings have uncovered a new talent? I'd better listen..." A Weibo user named Loves Reading Novels Egg immediately clicked the song link.

Fang Yongkang had no idea that his songs, which had only been played two or three hundred times before, would suddenly rack up over a thousand plays overnight...

One new comment after another appeared below.

"Nice singing. At first, I thought Master Shen's talent readings were just a gimmick. I didn't expect him to actually be able to discover talent."

"Keep it up! You're still in high school, right? I'll support you."

"I can't tell from the voice at all that a high schooler is singing. You convey the emotion really well. Thumbs up."

Gu Liming was very pleased with the promotional results. Good work found support from people quickly.

Shen Qiong, on the other hand, was lost in thought. In his view, Fang Yongkang's songs had already been recognized online. There just weren't many listeners.

But the internet was still disconnected from real life. If Fang Yongkang was going to truly build up his confidence, they'd have to work on it in the real world.

After hearing Shen Qiong's idea, Gu Liming immediately came up with a plan and smiled. "No problem. I'll take care of it!"

Shen Qiong looked at him in amusement. "Oh?"