Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

All the lights in the venue went out.

The breathing of the five hundred people stopped instantly.

In the darkness, the outline of the grand piano was outlined by a very narrow beam of top light.

The live stream chat paused for three seconds.

Then it started rolling wildly.

"Piano? He can play the piano?"

"Doesn't he play guitar?"

Director Liang Boyuan sat in front of the monitor and pressed the button on the walkie-talkie: "All cameras, follow him closely."

Jiang Fan walked out of the passage.

A black suit jacket, a black shirt, and no accessories.

He sat down at the piano bench and opened the piano lid.

Lin Wei stood to the right rear, holding a cello.

The drummer took his seat, while the guitarist, bassist, and others lined up on either side.

The full band lineup is set up.

The audience in the front row raised their hands, ready to make a fuss, but after seeing the instruments, they put their hands down.

Jiang Fan's fingers touched the piano keys.

The first note of the intro falls.

Crisp, cool, and imbued with the tragic quality unique to classical music.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Wei pressed her bow onto the strings.

The cello's bass rises from the piano's crisp sound, the two distinctly different timbres intertwining to create a powerful tension.

The guitar arpeggios followed closely, and the muffled bass drum hit the beat precisely.

The audience looked at each other in bewilderment.

No one has ever heard this melody before.

But that instinctive, gripping sensation penetrates directly into the eardrum.

Xue Zhiheng's eyes widened, his body suddenly leaned forward, and he stared intently at the stage.

Su Yuyan froze, her body stiffening as she leaned back in her chair, her expression freezing on her face as she prepared to nitpick.

Jiang Fan leaned closer to the microphone.

There were no high notes, no fancy techniques, and the tone was casual and lazy as he began to sing directly.

"A swarm of bloodthirsty ants is attracted to carrion."

"I gaze at the lonely landscape with a blank expression."

"Love and hate become clear after losing you."

"What else is there to care about after losing you?"

It has a very large number of words and a very fast pace.

But Jiang Fan's pronunciation was clear and crisp, without any ambiguity.

The audience members below the stage stopped waving their glow sticks in unison.

This style of arrangement has never appeared before in the Chinese music scene.

Dark, gorgeous, decadent, and extremely aggressive.

"I'll play Chopin's Nocturne for you, in memory of my dead love."

"A sound like the night wind, heartbreakingly beautiful."

My hands tap lightly on the keyboard, and my longing for you is expressed with utmost care.

"The place where you are buried is called the Underworld."

The chorus explodes.

There was no heart-wrenching scream.

The cello strains wildly in the low register, while the piano strikes with a cool, clear tone in the high register.

Jiang Fan's voice moved effortlessly between the two instruments.

Backend access.

Zhao Tianyu stood in front of the monitor screen, his hands icy cold.

Several girls in the front row covered their mouths, their eyes fixed on the stage.

An eerie silence fell over the studio.

Of the five hundred audience members, not a single one uttered a sound.

Those fans who were there specifically to support Zhao Tianyu stood there, holding up light sticks.

Li Cheng stood behind the blackout curtain of the side stage.

He had already listened to it five times during rehearsals.

Even now, hearing this still gives me goosebumps.

Bridge section.

The entire band went silent.

Only the piano remained.

Jiang Fan lowered his head, his ten fingers moving rapidly across the black and white piano keys.

The notes are dense, yet the sound is perfectly clear, converging into an extremely precise and melancholic melody.

Applause erupted from a corner of the audience.

It wasn't a polite encouragement; it was an irrepressible, instinctive reaction.

Applause quickly spread, covering the entire audience.

The chorus begins a second time.

"I'll play Chopin's Nocturne for you, in memory of my dead love."

"And I will play the zither for you under the moonlight, hiding my identity."

"The feeling of your heartbeat is still so warm and intimate."

I miss your bright red lipstick mark.

The last syllable falls.

The studio fell silent for two seconds.

Applause erupted like a burst dam.

The screen went completely white as the comments section was flooded.

"What on earth is this thing??"

"Songs can be written like this??"

Is there still any suspense regarding the championship?

"Zhao Tianyu's fans, I'm leaving now. Goodbye."

Teacher He walked quickly to the center of the stage.

"Jiang Fan, what's the name of this song—"

"Nocturne." Jiang Fan stood up from the piano bench. "An original composition."

Xue Zhiheng was the first to grab the microphone.

"After 20 years in the industry, I can't define this song using any existing genre. All I can say is—I want to buy the rights to it right now."

Laughter and applause mingled from the audience.

Xu Qingya picked up the microphone.

"The lyrics, composition, arrangement, and vocals are all top-notch."

The entire room fell silent for a moment.

Everyone knew that this was the highest praise Xu Qingya had given tonight.

Su Yuyan's finger pressed on the microphone.

She stared at the black figure on the stage, her mind blank.

This isn't in the script.

Times Media wrote three strategies for her: ignore mediocre performance, nitpick good performance, and shift the focus to Zhao Tianyu if her performance exceeds expectations.

There is no fourth point.

No one told her what to do if a song was so good that she couldn't find a single flaw in it.

Su Yuyan picked up the microphone.

"Many people have tried to blend classical and rap music," she said, her pace slower than usual. "But no one has succeeded."

She took a deep breath.

"You're the first one."

On the big screen, the voting channel was opened.

The numbers jumped. One million, three million, eight million—the growth rate was twice that of Zhao Tianyu.

Ten million, fifteen million—

The voting page suddenly froze.

The barrage of comments exploded again.

"The vote failed??"

"The Penguin server crashed???"

"How many people are online at the same time?"

In the back-end technical room, the Penguin Video operations director stared at the red screen alarm, frantically wiping away sweat.

The audience burst into laughter.

Someone yelled at the top of their lungs, "Jiang Fan! You crashed the Tencent servers!"

Teacher He stepped in to save the day, going on stage and reading a long passage of GG.

Five minutes later, the backup server came online, and voting resumed.

The numbers finally settled.

Jiang Fan, 19 million votes.

Zhao Tianyu's thirteen million votes couldn't even keep up with Jiang Fan's taillights.

"Congratulations to Jiang Fan!" Teacher He shouted hoarsely, "The national champion of 'Rising Star' has been born!"

Above the stage, golden ribbons and fireworks exploded and fell in a flurry.

Jiang Fan stood in the center of the stage, neither raising his hand to cheer nor shedding tears of excitement.

He accepted the trophy presented by the director and stood in the center of the stage.

Golden ribbons were still fluttering overhead, and the applause from the five hundred audience members below the stage was deafening.

Teacher He handed the microphone to him.

Jiang Fan glanced down at the trophy in his hand and remained silent for two seconds.

Then he spoke, his voice not loud, but the studio fell silent instantly.

"I didn't prepare any remarks," Jiang Fan paused, "because I'm not very good at saying nice things."

"I only want to say one thing."

He raised his head and his gaze swept across the entire room.

"Don't let the Korean wave get too rampant; the Chinese wave is the best."

-

The recording of the program has ended.

The audience began to leave, and staff rushed onto the stage to dismantle the equipment.

Side platform passage.

"Zhang Lei from Tencent Music sent a fourth message," Li Cheng said, following behind Jiang Fan. "He said the contract terms could be renegotiated, and the revenue sharing ratio could be negotiated."

Jiang Fan picked up the bottled water from the corner, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip.

"Let him wait."

"There's one more thing," Li Cheng said in a low voice. "Su Yuyan's assistant just came to deliver a message. Teacher Su would like to speak with you privately after the program ends."

Jiang Fan screwed the bottle cap back on.

"What are you going to talk about?"

"Su Yuyan said that the arrangement of 'Nocturne' is too complicated, and she didn't understand many of the professional questions. She would like to have a private chat with you in the executive suite on the top floor of the hotel after the program ends."

Li Cheng looked at Jiang Fan's profile.

In the entertainment industry, those who know, know the reason.

"Okay." Jiang Fan threw the mineral water bottle into the trash can and strode towards the lounge.