Being a gigolo was too much for him, so he had to become a music superstar.

The four mentors appeared in turn on the judging panel: Fang Yizhou, Xue Xinghe, Zhou Wanting, and Deng Ziheng.

Eight contestants will perform on stage in turn, and the last two will be eliminated after the mentors score them.

The performances of the first few contestants were mediocre. There were singing and dancing performances, ballads, and R&B performances, all of which were formulaic performances prepared by their respective companies. They didn't make any mistakes, but there weren't many surprises either.

Lin Buyi watched their performance on the monitor backstage, making a final assessment in his mind.

The fifth person to take the stage was Zhou Qian.

Zhou Qian walked onto the stage alone, without backup dancers or fancy lighting effects.

He sang a challenging ancient-style art song with a grand and majestic arrangement.

His voice was pure and clear, without a trace of impurity in the high register, and his transitions were so smooth that no sharp edges could be heard. His technique was mature, his pitch accurate, and his breath control steady, completely exceeding the level of a twenty-year-old student.

Fang Yizhou tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table—a gesture he rarely made.

Xue Xinghe sat up straight, which was unusual for him.

After the song ended, the entire audience was silent for about two seconds.

Then applause erupted.

Fang Yizhou picked up the microphone: "Your name is Zhou Qian? From Longcheng Conservatory of Music?"

"Yes, Teacher Fang."

"Your vocal foundation is very solid; there are almost no obvious flaws in your technique. Very good."

Fang Yizhou didn't say anything more, but everyone present understood the weight of the word "very good" he uttered.

The contestants backstage all changed their expressions. This level of skill was truly overwhelming.

Shen Yihe whispered from the side, "So amazing..." Her voice was filled with admiration, but also a hint of self-doubt that she was afraid to admit.

Lin Buyi watched Zhou Qian calmly step down from the stage on the screen, feeling no fear.

On the contrary, I felt a little excited.

The stronger the opponent, the more significant Xiaochou's strength becomes. This is exactly the situation he's been waiting for—a situation where everyone ahead is a technically dominant force, and then he steps in with a completely different playing style.

……

"Next contestant—Lin Buyi."

When the host announced the name, there was almost no reaction from the audience. There were no screams from fans, and no light sticks for cheering.

Several people who knew the inside story even booed: "Who is that?" "Isn't that the amateur who was filling in for the re-enrollment?"

Lin Buyi walked onto the stage with his guitar on his back.

The stage lights shone on him, and he squinted. It takes a few seconds for the eyes to adjust after suddenly going from the dim backstage area to a brightly lit place.

He walked to the center of the stage and stood still.

Nearly two thousand eyes were on him. Lights, cameras, LED screens—everything told him that this was a real, live-fire exercise.

He adjusted the height of the microphone stand, then sat down on the wooden stool and placed the guitar on his lap.

The host prompted, "Please introduce yourself first."

Lin Buyi said something into the microphone.

"Hello everyone, my name is Lin Buyi. I'm not a music major, and I've never been signed to any company. Today I'll sing a song for you called 'Eliminating Sorrow.'"

There was no sentimental backstory, and no fancy opening remarks.

A few snickers came from the audience.

On the mentor's panel, Fang Yizhou's expression remained unchanged as he quietly watched him. Xue Xinghe leaned forward slightly, his gaze sharpening—he recognized this person; it was the ordinary person he had single-handedly supported during the preliminary selection.

Deng Ziheng whispered to Zhou Wanting beside him, "Another folk singer who plays guitar. This formula is so outdated."

Zhou Wanting smiled but didn't reply.

Lin Buyi ignored all the sounds.

He closed his eyes.

Fingers pluck the strings.

A simple guitar intro filled the huge studio, the three notes falling clearly into the air.

Then he spoke.

"When you step into this place of joy, carrying all your dreams and aspirations..."

His voice was different from all the previous contestants' performances from the very first sentence. It wasn't a difference in technique, but a difference in quality.

Zhou Qian's voice is meticulously polished, clean, gorgeous, and perfect—while Lin Buyi's voice is rough and worn, yet it manages to touch the softest part of your heart.

He wasn't singing a song. He was singing about his own life.

"Various faces, various makeup, no one remembers what you look like..."

Every lyric comes straight from his own body. There's no need for fancy arrangements or flashy vocal techniques; just a guitar and a voice.

When the first verse finished, Deng Ziheng, who had been leaning back in his chair with a nonchalant air, stopped smiling. His brows furrowed.

Zhou Wanting raised her hand at some point and covered her lips.

"One cup to the rising sun, one cup to the moonlight—"

When the first chorus came on, the audience fell silent.

It wasn't a polite silence; it was a stunned silence.

Some people put down their phones.

"Awakening my longing, softening the cold window—"

"And so you can fly against the wind without looking back—"

"I am not afraid of rain in my heart, nor frost in my eyes—"

Lin Buyi's voice trembled slightly on the word "frost." It wasn't a technical mistake, but rather a natural tremor in his throat as he was moved to that point.

Fang Yizhou leaned back slightly, but his gaze became extremely focused. He tilted his head slightly, as if trying to discern something in the voice that he hadn't heard in a long time.

The second verse.

"The restless guests, putting on an arrogant show..."

"Pretending, dancing, exhausted—"

A girl in the front row of the audience started wiping away tears. The person next to her glanced at her but didn't laugh, because their own eyes were also red.

The second chorus pushes the bar even higher.

"One cup to my hometown, one cup to the distant land—"

"It protects my kindness and urges me to grow—"

"Therefore, the journey between north and south is no longer long—"

"The soul is no longer adrift—"

Xue Xinghe clenched his fist under the table. He didn't even realize he was doing it. He remembered when he first started out, singing at an underground music festival, and there were only three people standing in the audience. Two of those three were there to take shelter from the rain.

Then came the last paragraph.

"One cup to tomorrow, one cup to the past—"

"Supporting my body, providing strong support to my shoulders—"

Although I've never believed in the saying "mountains are high and rivers are long"—

Life is too short to dwell on the past.

Lin Buyi's voice deepened in these few sentences. It wasn't a deliberate lowering of his voice; rather, it was as if something too heavy was weighing on his body, pulling his voice downwards.

The last glass of wine.

"One cup to freedom, one cup to death—"

Lin Buyi opened his eyes.

He stared straight ahead. His gaze pierced through the lights, through the cameras, and through the nearly two thousand spectators.

His voice trembled slightly at the word "death." His hoarse voice strained to its limit at those two words, almost breaking.

"Forgive my ordinariness, and the confusion will be dispelled—"