From unemployment in crosstalk to top star in Chinese entertainment

In the preparation area, Zhou Xiao'ou and Zhai Tianlin leaned back on the sofa, a slight smile playing on their lips. Bai Baihe put down her phone and focused her gaze entirely on the giant screen.

Dilireba clasped her hands together. "Strange, why am I getting nervous too?" she muttered to herself.

Hua Chenyu held his coffee cup but didn't drink it.

If Yu Liang makes a fool of himself, then it will be much easier for him to be the finale.

The scene went dark.

Then, the light shone.

Yu Liang stood in the light.

The buzzing from the audience, the whispers from the judges, and the scrolling comments in the live stream—all of these were shut out by that beam of amber light.

The light contained only the microphone and himself.

Yu Liang closed her eyes.

With a soft sigh,

Very light,

It was as light as a person sitting on the threshold of dusk, sighing out all the regrets of a lifetime.

"Have you not heard that time flies like a galloping horse, and years pass like fallen petals on flowing water..."

An aged, hoarse voice, dulled by the passage of time, welled up from the depths of his throat.

Each word is like ashes scattered by the wind.

"Some resign from their official posts and return to their hometowns, while others rush to the imperial examinations under the starry night. Youth knows no sorrow, only old age reveals the hardships of the journey—"

The syllable "na" was drawn out very long. So long that it sounded like a sigh carried by the wind across the entire street.

This voice sounds so much like Tong Guowei from the TV series "Yongzheng Dynasty"!

The audience fell silent.

It was a silence where everyone held their breath. The scrolling speed of the comments suddenly slowed down, as if the fingers typing had stopped in mid-air.

On the judges' panel, Nayoung slowly straightened up from her chair. Wu Yifan's cue cards were somehow placed on the table. Yang Mi's gaze remained fixed.

The sound stopped.

It doesn't stop abruptly; it's like the needle of an old-fashioned phonograph being gently lifted, leaving a vent.

Yu Liang's Adam's apple bobbed. His breath rose an inch from the depths of his chest.

The hoarseness of old age faded. A kind of unwavering confidence, born from experience, grew from his straight spine.

The sound emanated from between the pharynx and nasal cavity, carrying a slightly nonchalant clarity.

As the saying goes, "Where there are high mountains, there are roads for travelers; where there are deep waters, there are ferries for ferries."

Like a person riding a horse at dusk, knowing that there are mountains and rivers ahead, and having the certainty that the mountains and rivers will meet again.

In the preparation area, Zhai Tianlin nodded slightly.

Zhou Xiao'ou's lips curled up slightly.

They've been making films for so many years, they know what this kind of voice control means.

Flowers may bloom again, but youth never returns.

Suddenly, everyone's minds went blank!

"A true man is born between heaven and earth; how can he remain subservient to others for long!"

That breath exploded completely.

That voice sounds so much like Jiang Wen's!

Zhang Mazi's clear, sharp, and arrogant nature.

Like a newly sharpened knife, turned over in the sunlight, the light on the blade is so bright it hurts your eyes.

Dilireba gripped the sofa armrest tightly with his hand.

Zhai Tianlin, who was next to her, raised his chin slightly, as if he had been given a breath by that voice.

Tong Guowei, Sun Wukong, Zhang Mazi, Lü Bu... he can be paired with any character perfectly!

One person plays six roles!

The comments section froze completely in that second.

The screen is still filled with "?", no one is typing.

The first comment appeared.

Holy crap.

Immediately afterwards, the screen was flooded with the same sentence:

I got goosebumps.

I got goosebumps.

I got goosebumps.

The knife was put away.

Yu Liang's breath fell back into his chest from above. His shoulders slumped, and his chin tucked in slightly. The sharpness of his blade was sheathed, but everyone knew it was still there.

The voice was no longer high-pitched or impassioned. It was low, restrained, and carried a strength that had been tempered by life's repeated trials. The speech was slow, each word seeming to be squeezed out from the very bone.

"Being born into poverty is not a disgrace. A true man is one who can bend and stretch."

When the last four words fell, his voice was almost a whisper. He wasn't lecturing; he was talking to himself. Like someone who had walked a long road nodding to himself in the night.

Yu Liang's Adam's apple bobbed again, and his voice retreated from the depths of his chest, settling into a position somewhere between aged and composed.

Have you not heard that time flies like a galloping horse, and life is like fallen flowers and flowing water?

The exact same words as in the first paragraph.

But the voice had completely changed.

The first paragraph is a sigh of old age, this paragraph is a clarity of middle age. The same person, the same words, yet separated by decades.

In the preparation area, Zhou Xiaogou and Zhai Tianlin sat up straight at the same time.

They understood.

This isn't just six lines of dialogue; it's him stringing together a person's life into a single thread using six different voices.

Yu Liang closed her eyes.

The light was still shining, warm and comforting. He stood in the light, motionless.

The studio was silent for a full five seconds.

Then applause erupted.

An uncontrollable burst of applause, accompanied by screams and shouts, surged from the depths of the audience.

Someone stood up, then a second, then a third.

In the densely packed stands, layers of people stood up.

In the preparation area, Zhai Tianlin was the first to stand up and applaud. Zhou Xiao'ou and Jia Jialiang followed suit.

Bai Baihe glanced at Hua Chenyu, her eyes filled with a mixture of worry and relief.

Hua Chenyu's heart sank.

He's a professional singer. He knows better than anyone else present that Yu Liang used several different vocal positions during that performance.

From the aged pharyngeal voice, to the steady chest resonance, then to the youthful high head voice, and finally back to the restrained throat voice.

This is not dubbing.

This is acting with voice.

Hua Chenyu, a professional singer, is going up later... to recite his lines.

The coffee had gone cold. He suddenly found it a little bitter.

Yu Liang bowed to the audience.

The applause grew louder.

On the giant screen, Wang Han walked back to the center of the stage. He glanced at Yu Liang, then turned to the camera.

"Thank you, Teacher Yu Liang, for the wonderful performance."

He paused, then pushed up his black-rimmed glasses.

"To be honest, in all my years of hosting shows, this is the first time I've seen a 'dialogue medley' format on a dubbing competition stage. I just listened to the whole thing from the wings—"

"Wait a minute! Teacher Wang Han."

Yang Mi's voice came from the judges' panel.

Wang Han stopped talking and turned to her. The camera cut to Yang Mi. She leaned forward slightly, one hand resting on the judges' table, her fingertips lightly tapping the surface.

"I would like to ask Professor Yu Liang a question."

She used the word "ask for advice." Yu Liang stood on the stage, looking at the woman sitting on the judges' panel. Her expression was very serious, so serious that it was somewhat unlike Yang Mi's usual self.

"Please speak."

"Of the six lines just now, I could find the source for the last five. But the first line, 'Time flies like a galloping horse,' which drama is it from? There's no corresponding scene on the big screen."

"Yes, that's right!"

There was a lot of discussion in the audience.

Nayoung and Wu Yifan both looked at Yu Liang.

They were also a little puzzled when the screen went black just now.

That's what they wanted to ask too.

They all looked at Yu Liang standing on the stage. If Yu Liang really couldn't answer, it would mean that he was cheating.