I Am A Prodigy

ye lingchen calmly looked at the eight sharks speedily swimming at him. maintaining his calm, his unearthly composure affected everyone else, garnering their respect.

with everyone watching him, ye lingchen slowly fished out a leaf from his pocket.

the leaf was mundane, but its shape was extremely even with clearly pronounced veins.

‘what’s that for?’

everyone was dumbfounded. right at that moment, the eight sharks had ye lingchen surrounded, seemingly ready to attack the very next instant.

chen xiaoyan similarly looked at ye lingchen. him paddling away earlier was just to find this leaf.

“mr. y is…” arnelle bit her lips, staring blankly at ye lingchen, feeling confused.

unexpectedly, ye lingchen raised his hands and put that leaf in between his lips.

the next moment—

a lengthy melody could be heard. the tune was very soft, yet it drifted into everyone’s ears. it sounded like a murmur that instantly caused a ripple in their hearts.

that melody was unlike the sound of any other instrument. it was something played by ye lingchen with a single leaf, natural sound at its most fundamental form, directly affecting the soul and lulling the listeners with the tune.

the sound was not hurried but slow and sustained. at that moment, everyone’s eyes glossed over. they felt relaxed, emptying their minds. apart from the tune, they could not hear anything else. they were in a deep trance, tuning out all the noise, forgetting all their stress from work. achievements, fame, profits, and labor were all left behind, experiencing the world as a newborn infant once more.

the comments in the livestream stopped. arnelle and the program team, who were despairing earlier, calmed down, their hearts achieving a state of peace.

the eight sharks that were surrounding the kayak slowed down. finally, they were swimming ever so slowly around the kayak, flapping their tails gently, no longer showing any signs of ferocity as before.

with ye lingchen as the center, the sound spread outwards. although it was not loud, the sound traveled extremely well.

under the sea, schools of fishes slowly broke to the surface, blowing bubbles. the birds in the sky slowed down and landed on branches, listening intently. even the sound of the wind calmed down.

up until the moment ye lingchen put down the leaf in his hand, the group had yet to awaken from their daze. in their ears, the music did not stop but continued to hum on gently.

the sonorous sounds lingered for days! [1]

after a long time, they finally awaken from their dream-like state. their eyes still showed signs of being lost in thought. most of them were still stuck recollecting the experience in silence.

at that moment, their hearts were calmed, giving them a sense of enlightenment.

“look, director! the sharks are gone!” shouted someone in the program team. his voice was filled with excitement and astonishment.

“they’re really gone, and they went peacefully too!”

“look at y’s surroundings, he’s surrounded by schools of fish!” someone stated as he pointed in ye lingchen’s direction.

when everyone looked over, they invariably let out a surprised gasp.

they could see that around ye lingchen, countless fishes had their heads out of the water, blowing bubbles, as though on a pilgrimage. occasionally, some of them would even jump out of the water, painting the water around with splashes.

above ye lingchen, a flock of birds were circling around, chirping along as though in reply to ye lingchen.

[f*ck! f*ck! f*ck!]

[this is too amazing! heaven defying! scary! awesome!]

[what just happened? i lost my ability to think! damn it, how could such beautiful music exist in this world?!]

[ahhh, i’m going crazy. it’s too good! it’s too melodious! i feel that my soul has been refreshed!]

[what tune was that from earlier? to think that it’s played with a single leaf. that’s just too incredible!]

[even sharks were affected by this music and stopped attacking. that’s just waaaaaay too monstrous!]

[sonic blast! i never thought the long lost sonic blast skill would once again see the light of day!]

[stop it with your bullsh*t. i’m almost brainwashed! i hereby formally announce that from this day on, i’m y’s die-hard fan!]

…

by the time everyone recovered from their daze, the stream exploded with activity. the number of viewers increased drastically, flooding with so many comments that the servers were almost overloaded!

“mr. y, you’re just amazing. can you tell me what tune is that?” asked arnelle as she stared intently at ye lingchen, slowly inching closer.

“it’s just a random tune. let’s call it…calm,” said ye lingchen nonchalantly.

heavenly sound’s effects were more overpowered than ye lingchen had anticipated. although it was not world-changing, it had far-reaching effects, allowing it to affect someone’s mental state via their hearing.

earlier, he intended to have the sharks calm down and let go of their intention to hunt. he never expected it to succeed.

“what a fitting name,” arnelle commented. “listening to this tune, i’ve even forgotten about my fears. thank you.”

being terrorized by sharks would usually result in a lifetime of trauma that would lead to recurring nightmares. however, under the effects of ye lingchen’s tune, arnelle was sure that she had truly let go of her fears!

“brother y, i, da lei, owe you my life. i’ll be straight to the point. if you have anything to ask of me in the future, just say the word!”

“same here!” brother yang joined in as well. “brother y, you’re a true hero, a great man!”

“y, thank you very much!” the program team joined in to thank him sincerely.

without going through despair, one would never know how to treasure the chance to live through a calamity.

ye lingchen nodded at them. “it’s just a small matter, no need to dwell on it.”

due to this accident, the program team dared not continue the show. the group had also lost their interest to continue taking part in the program. this round of survival on deserted island ended right there. nevertheless, this round outperformed the previous one. not only that, but it also outperformed any other variety show.

y was a super heavyweight. from the start to the end, he had no flaws, and successfully captured the heart of the viewers.

everyone disembarked from the cruise and began their farewells.

just as ye lingchen was ready to leave with chen xiaoyan, arnelle took a deep breath and walked up to ye lingchen. her deep blue eyes focused on him, glimmering mysteriously.

“y god, you’re truly a prince. i’m about to return to my country. can you give me a formal farewell?”

as she was speaking, she lifted her left hand.

ye lingchen was caught off guard, not expecting arnelle to return home just like that.

after a moment of consideration, he took up arnelle’s hand, bowed, and kissed her palm. “miss arnelle, i bid you safe travel!”

“mr. y, you’ve opened my eyes to the wonders of china. this is truly an amazing country. you’re also an amazing person! i’ll remember your house, delicacies, music, and…heroism! i hope we’ll meet again!”

…

[1] 余音绕梁,三日不绝 (yu yin rao liang, san ri bu jue) – literal translation would be the lingering sounds echoes through the beams for three days unending. this is a chinese saying that was used to praise a good performance (of music) in an exaggerated manner by claiming that the lingering sounds could be heard throughout the beams (of the ceiling) for days.