Tang Tu handed the microphone to Xue Yunfei, and Xue Yunfei said, “Although I’m the composer of ‘Sound of the Wind’, I feel like Tang Tu’s rearranged version sounds much better than mine. Initially, I wrote it as a piano duet, but I never thought about having the violin and piano playing together can sound so brilliant. Probably because both performers are also the characters’ actors, they put the essence of the story into the music. It counts as inputting their emotions into the music…”
Xue Yunfei was good at public speaking. He used all kinds of positive adjectives and complimented both Tang Tu and Liu Man. At last, he said,
“Today, I got invited by Tang Tu to come to Capital Music University. Same as him, I’ve been asked by Director Ye Zian to advertise the film, ‘The Sound of the Wind”. We are hoping to make everyone feel the beauty of the movie through music before the movie gets released. Now, Tang Tu, singer Coco, and I will be playing everyone the movie’s ending song, ‘Thinking About Her’.”
Coco!
Coco is here, too?
Xue Yunfei’s words instantly hyped everyone and all the viewers in the live-stream.
The audiences in the concert hall all started glancing around, and some even stood up out of excitement. All kinds of screaming came. Coco was extremely popular on the internet and was number one on the cyber singer popularity leaderboard for many continuous months. She was as popular as Tang Tu among netizens.
With everyone waiting enthusiastically, Coco finally got onto the stage. The surprise on Liu Man’s face was obvious when she saw Coco.
Coco also felt very glad. She couldn’t wait and got up to hug Liu Man.
She said in Liu Man’s ear, “I missed you so much.”
“Me, too. Long time no see,” Liu Man really missed Coco.
Coco’s profession as a singer prohibited her from staying in the same location long-termed. She had to travel everywhere because of her busy schedule, so they could barely meet each other.
The netizens in front of the screen went wild.
“Sure enough, the Hanfu Goddess is Coco’s true life! They are hugging each other so lightly.”
“I’ve said this a long time ago. They are very fitting as a couple. One’s tall, one’s short, one pretty, and one’s cute. They’re perfect together.”
“Liu Man couldn’t have liked Tang Tu because she’s lesbian, right?”
“Hahaha, you have an interesting way of thinking.”
…
Releasing Liu Man, Coco took over Xue Yunfei’s microphone, which he handed to her. She used a cute expression, but her voice was pure and tranquil, “Hello, everyone. I’m Coco, and this is my first time at the Capital Music University’s stage. I feel both excited and nervous. To be honest, I was afraid when I came here, knowing I will be bringing many of you, ingenious music students, my own song. Capital Music University has been my dream school since I was just a kid, but because of my family conditions, I was not able to come to such a high-tiered school for my studies.
Through my hard work and fighting, I finally became a not-so-prominent star in the music industry. However, I know I have a lot to improve on compared to those singers who had been through professional education. Therefore, I am very afraid to sing here and disgust everyone. You are all professionals, so you must be more impressive than me.”
“Now that I’ve left these words, you are not allowed to throw stinky tomatoes at me! You are only allowed to drop likes!”
Everyone thought Coco was pretending to be pitiful. Unexpectedly, she changed a tone and started to humorously mock herself. However, everyone felt sour, knowing about her past painful struggles in the entertainment circle.
Liu Man could see, from Coco’s eyes, that her words weren’t fake. She had wished to be able to study in such a place.
“Thank you to Teacher Tang Tu for giving me this opportunity to perform here, and thank you to my Goddess for introducing me to Teacher Xue Yunfei and Teacher Tang Tu,” Coco was very humble. Tang Tu was one year younger than her, but she still referred to him as a teacher.
Coco finished her speech and bowed at all three of them.
Xue Yunfei appreciated Coco’s talents, and he gradually led her into the main music circle in China. Coco had also been slowly washing off her name as a cyber singer. For the past six months, she had already participated in many dinner parties of official TV departments and sang for everyone. This was unimaginable for the past Coco.
“‘Thinking About Her’, the ending song of ‘The Sound of the Wind’, is recomposed from a song I composed in my early time, ‘Thinking About You’. I wrote the new lyrics and Teacher Xue rearranged them. This is my first time singing this new song in the public, and I hope everyone else will enjoy it along with enjoying the new movie that’s coming out, ‘The Sound of the Wind.’”
Coco finished her sentence, and the stage lights gradually darkened. When the lights got turned back on, Liu Man’s silhouette was already nowhere to be found.
Xue Yunfei was the new pianist, and Tang Tu held his violin as he stood beside the piano.
Coco stood between them, holding the microphone.
“Xue Yunfei knows how to play the piano, too.”
“Normally, people who compose all play an instrument, and the piano is the most basic instrument of all. Besides, he’s an outstanding graduate from Berkeley, so his talents should be as good as Tang Tu’s if not better.”
“Now I feel like people who know how to play the piano all automatically have a halo on their body.”
“Haha, on the premise that they can play well.”
…
Liu Man didn’t leave after getting off stage. She stayed below the stage with the others to watch their performance.
Under the anticipating look of everyone,
Xue Yunfei started playing the prelude of “Thinking About Her” using the piano. The rearranged “Thinking About Her” sounded much more modern than “Thinking About You”s’ original melody.
After all, “Thinking About You” was an ancient folktale, and even the lyrics were ancient-styled. Xue Yunfei received real music education in a foreign country and wasn’t good at Chinese music. After his revision, “Thinking About Her” now contained a taste of western music.
And after matching it with Tang Tu’s violin playing, it sounded very different from the original song.
Coco opened her mouth and started to sing:
“Thinking about her, not missing the past life and not regretting this life; thinking about her, you can see my longing past all these mountains and seas; thinking about her, my thoughts flow past the entire city and to somewhere ten thousand miles away…”
Coco’s rewritten lyrics was even more touching than the ones in “Thinking About You”, and the words were more high-tiered. These lyrics were revised by the perfectionist, Ye Zian, out of his spare time. He wrote drafts after drafts… After more than a month, he finally decided on the final draft.
“The lyrics are written so well.”
“I feel like this sounds better than ‘Thinking About You’; the emotions seem to be more realistic.”
“After all, there’s a story plot behind it. I just don’t know who is this ‘her’ in the lyrics. Feng Qingyu or Yang Huayue?”
“Probably Feng Qingyu. She’s the female lead, so there’s nothing wrong with the ending song being about her.”
“I’m feeling even more curious about what this movie’s about. The theme song and the ending song sound so sad. Didn’t they say to the public that this is a movie centered around a mystery? They make it seem like a tragic love story.”
…
With Xue Yunfei’s lectures, Coco’s singing skills were becoming better, too. She no longer used a hoarse voice to pretend to be sad and concealing her feelings, which most cyber singers liked to use. Now, she used her voice, making her voice more fresh and recognizable.
“… We part here in this life. When will we meet again? We made a promise in this life, but we won’t remember it.”
Translated by: Sydney