Chapter 17

In the blink of an eye, it was November 11. Though it was winter, neither the howling northwesterly winds nor the light snow fluttering down from the sky could extinguish the fans' fervent passion. Before seven in the morning, while the sky was still dark, groups of fans had already gathered outside the stadium. Holding Yuan Haobin posters, CDs, and all sorts of merchandise, they stood in the bitterly cold morning wind, freezing enough to want to tuck in their hands and stamp their feet. Yet when they talked about their idol, their laughter carried far into the distance.

Soon, daylight broke, and the drink stalls and snack stands outside the stadium were set up as well. The crowd gradually became livelier, and Yuan Haobin's fan support clubs from all over had arrived. They began setting up all kinds of little stalls outside the stadium, selling merchandise related to their idol. Naturally, there were also officially licensed stalls. Since the official merchandise was more exquisitely made, fans flocked to them as well.

When Yuan Haobin and Chen Mo's van arrived at the stadium, all they could see was a bustling sea of people stretching beyond sight. Whether they were lively young boys and girls or more mature-looking office workers, they all stood in the frigid wind holding glow sticks or Yuan Haobin posters. The moment Yuan Haobin's van pulled up, shrieks erupted from the crowd like a tidal wave assaulting their eardrums.

Back when Chen Mo had still been a rich second-generation heir in his previous life, he had taken his girlfriend to concerts by superstar singers. He was very familiar with scenes like this.

But now that he was about to take the stage himself, looking at the vast sea of fans—even though none of them had come for him—Chen Mo could not help feeling a trace of nervousness rising from the depths of his heart. A tremor from his soul spread uncontrollably through his body, and adrenaline surged through him.

Chen Mo looked down at his slightly trembling hands in surprise. At that moment, he suddenly understood Yuan Haobin's thoughts.

Perhaps standing before the world and using one's singing to command other people's emotions and lives was the greatest thrill of being a singer.

Chapter 17

Even while resting backstage, Chen Mo's ears were still filled with the fans' frenzied screams from the front. Yuan Haobin had long since gone onstage. His first high-energy rock song had set the entire venue ablaze, followed by two dance tracks that left the fans below utterly entranced. Then one familiar intro after another began to play, and Yuan Haobin sang songs carrying years of memories with deep emotion. The fans below sang along with him. Glow sticks and light signs swayed endlessly through the dark stadium, gathering into a sea of stars.

Chen Mo sat quietly in his chair with his eyes closed, listening to the music as the concert makeup artist applied makeup to his face. Though he had not seen Yuan Haobin's brilliance onstage with his own eyes, he still remembered the unparalleled elegance Yuan Haobin had displayed during rehearsals. The media had once called Yuan Haobin the most outstanding soul singer in the Chinese music scene in the past thirty years. Chen Mo believed that assessment was not exaggerated at all.

Though Chen Mo showed no pressure in front of others at the prospect of performing with such an exceptional singer, he had worked himself to the bone behind the scenes. To avoid embarrassing himself, he had spent so much time practicing piano pieces in the system that it could drive a person mad. For a while, he had practiced until both hands were nearly cramping.

Fortunately, after today, he would finally be free. Listening to the fans screaming outside, Chen Mo relaxed a little.

Because the company was extremely cautious about Chen Mo's debut performance, even the makeup artist applied his makeup with the utmost care, afraid that the slightest oversight might affect Chen Mo's charm.

Even though the cosmetics were all from top international brands, for someone who did not wear makeup often, having thick powder layered over his face along with eyelashes, lip gloss, and the rest was not a pleasant feeling. After the makeup artist was finally done, Chen Mo blinked at the mirror and felt that he was still more handsome without makeup.

Sister Liao, the makeup artist, watched Chen Mo stare fixedly at the mirror with a furrowed brow and could not help laughing. "It's a little uncomfortable the first time you wear this kind of stage makeup. You'll get used to it."

Chen Mo gave the mirror a faint smile but said nothing.

Because the makeup had already taken some time, Chen Mo waited backstage for less than half an hour before a staff member led him to the lift platform.

A white Steinway grand piano sat quietly on the platform. It was the very one Chen Mo had been using for practice these past few days. Chen Mo stepped onto the lift, slowly sat before the piano, and placed both hands quietly on the keys. He took a deep breath.

At center stage, the Heavenly King Yuan's previous song had just ended. Breathing slightly hard, he swept his gaze over the fans below, who were screaming wildly to declare their love, and said with feeling, "Wow, I've been singing and dancing up here for over an hour. I'm exhausted. You've been yelling down there for so long—aren't you tired?"

Before he had even finished speaking, the fans below screamed themselves hoarse again, and countless people shouted together, "Not tired..."

"I love you—"

"I love you too." Yuan Haobin smiled as he picked up the words, waving to the fans below. He continued, "The next song, 'True Love,' is a new song I specially wrote for my lovely fans. It's for all of you who have accompanied me through ten years of hardship and never abandoned me."

"Ahhhhhhh..."

Many singers wrote songs for one reason or another, but singers like the Heavenly King Yuan, who wrote a song specifically for their fans at a tenth-anniversary concert, were rare—one could even say they had never existed before. Thus, Yuan Haobin's simple words set the entire venue ablaze. So many fans who had followed him faithfully since his debut could no longer hold back their tears, crying out loud as they screamed, "I love you."

Two beams of white light descended from above. One shone on Yuan Haobin, while the other illuminated the lift platform holding the white piano. A gentle piano melody slowly began. After an intro as soothing as flowing water, Yuan Haobin began to sing, "After the storm / I'll see who understands me best / Even if the years pass swiftly / I will not forget / You, who were once in my life / Thank you for everything we have experienced together along the way..."

Many songs were not particularly dazzling or technically showy from a professional standpoint. But what was most precious was the ability to sing the truest emotions through simple words. Yuan Haobin's song was exactly like that.

After the first minor climax passed, most of the fans below had already remembered the catchy melody. By the time the chorus came around, the entire crowd was singing the climactic section along with Yuan Haobin. The sound of crying and declarations of love erupted once more.

When the song ended, even the calmest people with the highest tear threshold could not help reddening their eyes.

It was nostalgia fermenting, memories spreading. They certainly loved Yuan Haobin, radiant and peerless upon the stage, but they also loved their younger selves, made all the more endearing by their love for Yuan Haobin, as well as those bright and uninhibited years of youth.

Looking at the scattered glow sticks and light signs below, Yuan Haobin could not help smiling. "Ah, I'm so tired after singing for so long. Let's take a break. How about a cigarette?"

The fans below were somewhat baffled, but their habit of blindly following their idol still made them scream their agreement.

Yuan Haobin curled his lips into a mischievous smile. The handsome face displayed on the big screen set the fans screaming again. He pretended to ask the staff for a cigarette. At first, they ignored him, but Yuan Haobin pestered them until they grew impatient and reluctantly brought him one. However, they did not bring a lighter.

Yuan Haobin held the cigarette beneath his nose and took a sniff, then frowned theatrically again as if troubled. "Do you think I can't light a cigarette without a flame? You really underestimate me. I may not have a lighter, but I have the best partner in the world, okay!"

As he spoke, Yuan Haobin carried the cigarette over to the white piano. He gently placed it on the piano and smiled at Chen Mo. "To my all-powerful partner, would you be willing to help me light this cigarette?"

Chen Mo smiled at Yuan Haobin, then lightly tapped the piano keys twice with his fingers. Using the piano to mimic human speech, he "said," "I do."

The fans below had not expected this at all, and surprised cries rose from the crowd. However, they all assumed Chen Mo had a lighter. They never expected Yuan Haobin to bow to the audience and say with a smile, "For the next part, my good partner will demonstrate how to light a cigarette without a lighter. Please open your eyes wide, prick up your ears, and don't look too surprised."

With that, he smilingly handed the stage over to Chen Mo. Taking the opportunity, he returned backstage to change clothes and rest for a while.

While the fans below were still left dumbfounded by their idol, a burst of piano music suddenly rang out, as urgent as a violent storm battering against windowpanes, as wild and shrill as a swarm of bees in flight.

Before the fans below could even prepare themselves, their entire attention was seized by the powerful rhythm, so intense that merely hearing the intro made their scalps tingle. The rapid piano notes were like countless arrows tearing through the air, like bullets bursting from a barrel after a gunshot, crashing into them without warning. Everyone who heard the music suddenly felt the urgent danger of being watched by a predator.

As Chen Mo played, every camera turned toward him. On the big screen, his hands striking the keys had become countless afterimages. The fans instinctively stared at those blurs while listening to the bright, crisp notes, like jade beads spilling onto a jade plate. They felt as though they were small boats adrift upon a sea ravaged by a tornado, sometimes smashed beneath the waves, sometimes thrown back above the surface by the current, rising and falling beyond their control. Under the overwhelming visual and auditory impact of such extreme virtuosity, everyone was too stunned to even think.

Even after the piece ended, the fans below continued staring blankly at Chen Mo onstage. The stadium, filled with seventy thousand people, was astonishingly quiet at that moment. There were no more cheers, no more screams, no more sobs—only the sound of seventy thousand people breathing together, loud enough to be frightening.

The next second, Chen Mo stood and brought the cigarette atop the piano close to the strings. The camera that had been fixed on him immediately zoomed in, fully displaying before all seventy thousand people the unbelievable scene of a cigarette being lit by the scorching piano strings.

Having witnessed that miraculous scene with their own eyes, the seventy thousand fans sucked in a breath in disbelief. The next second, uncontrollable screams and applause resounded through the entire stadium.

Having changed into a cool leather outfit, Yuan Haobin proudly took the cigarette from Chen Mo's hand, inhaled deeply in delight, then blew out one smoke ring after another with even more flamboyance. He shouted, "Was that cool?"

All seventy thousand fans shouted in unison, "Cool!"

"How cool?"

They screamed even louder, "Super cool!"

"Who's cooler, me or him?"

"You're the coolest!"

Yuan Haobin smugly curled his lips at Chen Mo, then asked the fans below, "Do you want to know who this handsome piano guy beside me is?"

They shouted with all their strength, "Yes!"

"Good!" Yuan Haobin answered decisively. Smiling, he slung an arm around Chen Mo's shoulders and held the microphone toward him. "Handsome guy, why don't you introduce yourself to everyone?"

But at that moment, Chen Mo had no mood to pay attention to Yuan Haobin. He discovered in astonishment that after he had just performed Lighting Cigarettes with a Piano, after the entire crowd had screamed and focused all their attention on him, an unbelievable force had suddenly erupted from the depths of his body and spread through him. That sensation of instantly being restored to full energy after centuries of exhaustion, of suddenly becoming completely refreshed after a long period of mental fatigue, struck him again—

Perhaps it was not an illusion. This time, Chen Mo could clearly feel that mysterious power exploding repeatedly within his body, forcefully making its presence known. And each eruption was more intense than the last... Then the sensation of being completely at ease, as though his entire body were basking in warm sunlight, washed over him again. It was as if he had been cleansed to the marrow. Incredibly, Chen Mo felt as though he had been reborn.