I Am A Prodigy

The furor in Weibo continued heating up. Everyone thought that the show’s production team would consider the opinions of the masses and give Chen Xiaoyan another chance.

That chance, however, never came.

Chen Xiaoyan was eliminated for real.

Ye Lingchen logged in to Singer Y’s Weibo, and as expected, a lot of messages appeared, many of which were people showing their displeasure at him.

The song he wrote was eliminated.

Ye Lingchen pursed his lips. Regardless of what reason it was, even a Prodigy like him could feel the heat on his face. It was rather embarrassing.

It appeared that Singer Y still carried little weight in the eyes of some people!

His eyes narrowed slightly.

He clicked on the ‘original songs’ page of QQ Music, applied to become a singer, and recorded his original songs.

The name he registered as a singer was Y!

After fine-tuning the melody, he was ready…to start!

Ye Linchen was ready to start singing!

The entire plan had already existed previously, but it was brought forward ahead of its schedule. Judging by the current trend of things, it might prove to have a positive impact on his popularity.

Ye Lingchen was naturally good at singing and had already achieved full proficiency.

He had perfect control of emphasis, pause, timbre, and tone. Although he was born with the voice he had and could not change it anymore, it was by no means unmelodious to the ear. At a stretch, his five classes of initial consonants in Chinese phonetics[1] were considered fairly adequate, and there was no issue whatsoever with his skills.

Ye Lingchen took a deep breath and slowly calmed himself down.

A serene and somewhat undulating voice began to unfurl from his mouth.

“Some people travel the world, some people work hard their whole life

Some people sweet-talk, and some have long been numb

Some people think the poor love the rich, some people only think of money

Some people are careful; some, they just don’t care

…

Some people change themselves to try and stand out

Some people hide away from prying eyes around

Some people are devils but pretend to be saints

Some people love blindly, but some can’t see at all

Some give their everything, some don’t say a thing

… ”

Ye Lingchen’s voice was magnetic. His mood shifted as the song progressed—there was calmness at times and then an occasional hint of anger. All those feelings blended perfectly with the melody and lyrics. He was the composer of the song, so there was no need to foreshadow anything. He could devote himself wholeheartedly to it.

At a duration of 4:21, the recording was complete.

It was titled “Some People”.

Ye Lingchen directly clicked upload without listening to it.

The upload was done quietly. No one knew about it and Ye Lingchen did not actively promote it. It was like a stone thrown into the big sea—it did not set off any waves.

It lay in wait amongst countless songs, biding time until it stood out!

Ye Lingchen paid little attention to it and logged out of the recording platform.

Behind the scenes of QQ Music.

Several employees were discussing the latest songs together.

They were all music editors who were responsible for reviewing the songs. A great number of new songs had to be reviewed to eliminate music that was vulgar or of low quality. At the same time, music deemed to have potential would be selected and promoted on the platform. Such songs had the potential to become a hit.

The job of reviewing was boring, so they often discussed in a group and gossiped on occasion.

Little Chen was one of the employees. At that time, he was uploading to “Chaser of the Light”, “Boundless Sea and Sky” and “Light Years Away”.

The copyright of those three songs had been purchased by QQ Music.

Little Chen was also a fan of Chen Xiaoyan. He played those three songs while they were uploading.

“Such a pity for Chen Xiaoyan. She sang so well, but she was eliminated and asked to leave. China’s Top Voice is a really stupid show!”

“Exactly! I don’t know why Hong Na would target Chen Xiaoyan. They didn’t clash with each other before this!”

“What else could it be if not for jealousy? Hong Na’s famous for being petty. She definitely felt uncomfortable that a junior might surpass her. Chen Xiaoyan’s known as the Little Empress of Heaven and had snatched away her fame. How could Hong Na not hate that?”

“Women like Hong Na are plain disgusting. She’s well past her prime but she still wants to target her juniors and do such stupid things!”

“Thank goodness these three songs were bought by QQ Music. Say, how high up the ranking do you think they’ll reach when we release them?”

“From the way I see it, at least the top ten.”

“It’ll be more than that! Although Chen Xiaoyan was eliminated, things are still getting heated up. These three songs might even take all top three spots!”

Hiss—

Everyone inhaled sharply. That was a crazy thought to entertain!

However, it was not impossible at all.

If those songs dominated the first three, Chen Xiaoyan was not that far off from being an Empress of Heaven. China’s Top Voice would probably be dying of regret.

“Hahaha, that’ll be the best. I like Chen Xiaoyan very much anyway, and I support her fully!”

“Not only Chen Xiaoyan, but Y too! Having said that, these Y guys are mysterious, but they’re all amazingly skilled. They make everyone look up to them!”

“Yeah, but these Ys are all my idols. Each one is more bad*ss than the other.”

As they were chatting away, Little Chen was slightly stunned. He looked at the screen and snickered, “I can’t believe someone is trying to take advantage of the Y name.”

“F*ck! Who is this guy? He has the decency to call himself Y?”

“This is an insult to my idol. I’m so going to reject his application!”

“Some People? That’s the title of his song? It’s probably gonna be crap.”

“Let’s just follow protocol and listen to it.”

The auditors started listening with the mindset that they were just taking the song for a spin. They even made preparations if it turned out to be auditory assault. After all, such instances did occur sometimes.

The music played gradually, first the prelude, then the lyrics.

“Some people go with the wind, while others spend their life working hard…”

A very calm voice started the song, but it was the lyrics that moved everyone.

Those lyrics…sounded rather wonderful!

Little Chen was prepared to close the song, but he slowly began to retract his hand and listened quietly.

“Some people sweet-talk, and some, they’ve long been numb

Some people think the poor love the rich, while others only think of profit

Some people are careful; some, they just don’t care”

The voice was ever-so calm and it made everyone’s heart thump.

The melody touched the deepest parts of the hearts and they resonated deeply with it.

At that exact moment, it was like they were watching a person’s life.

People numbered in the tens and thousands, each with their own different attitudes. Who could express them in their entirety?

That song, however, sang of every kind of person.

No wonder the song was named Some People. It was a very fitting title.

Gradually, there was an urgency in the calm voice. It was not very high-pitched, but it had dynamism, filled with unwillingness, praise, anger, and frustration.

“Some people change themselves to try and stand out

Some people hide away from prying eyes around

Some people are devils but pretend to be saints…”

Every kind of person in the world was mentioned. None was left out!

Little by little, Little Chen and the group began to feel a moistness in their eyes. Tears had blurred their vision.

They seemed to see themselves within the song. Were they not one of those mentioned too?

Entering society, bowing down to everyone else, trying hard to reach for success—what did they end up turning into?

[1] 五音 is translated here as five classes of initial consonants in Chinese phonetics. These five classes are 喉音,牙音 ,舌音 ,齿音 ,唇音, corresponding to alveolo-palatal, denti-alveolar, retroflex, velar, and labial. Do note that although 喉音 and 牙音 are technically glottal and dental, the 喉音 and 牙音in this 五音are identified by most authors as referring to alveolo-palatal and denti-alveolar, respectively. However, Chinese phonology is still a subject of debate and interested readers are encouraged to seek out more information. Also worthy of note is the fact that some authorities replace the 齿音 with鼻音 (nasal consonant). Aside from that, 五音 may also refer to the pentatonic scale and may be termed 古代五音 or 五声 (consisting of 宫,商,角,徵,羽, which corresponds with do, re, mi, sol, and la), but in this particular instance, we believe the author is referring to the consonants.