Awakening Elementary School System in University
Chapter 31 - 29: Please Find Someone More Capable

Chapter 31: Chapter 29: Please Find Someone More Capable

The DJ at the bar was so excited his voice trembled. He slammed down the button on his mic and practically roared, "A huge thanks to our patrons for tipping Chen Lin—1,163 yuan!"

Chen Lin was ecstatic.

Adding that to the 896 from earlier, he had already raked in 2,059 yuan tonight! In the six-plus months he’d been a resident singer, this was absolutely the most he’d ever made, and it felt incredible!

He walked off the stage and handed the still-warm microphone to Song Cheng.

Song Cheng, still seemingly dazed from the shock, took the microphone absently and walked onto the stage in silence.

The moment he stepped into the spotlight, Song Cheng felt his heart begin to race.

A wave of unprecedented nervousness gripped his heart.

Even during the finals of the Campus Top Ten Singers competition, facing an audience of over a thousand people and a panel of professional judges, he had never been this nervous.

Because Chen Lin was just too good.

Most of the customers in the audience were probably just there for the lively atmosphere, but he was different. He was a professional.

He could clearly hear that on a technical level, Chen Lin’s performance of "Moonlight" had left him in the dust.

In terms of emotional expression, Chen Lin was still a bit green; you could sense the deliberate effort to infuse the song with feeling, a sign that it wasn’t yet second nature.

But "Moonlight" was an incredibly difficult song! It was so demanding that a technically perfect performance alone was enough to create a stage presence that could stun the entire audience.

Song Cheng couldn’t accept it.

He couldn’t accept being defeated on pure technical skill by some unknown, part-time resident singer in a hole-in-the-wall bar like this.

He took a deep breath, trying to relax, but it seemed useless.

Just then, in the direction of the booth, the figure he knew best stood up.

It was the girl with the high ponytail, Qi Wanwan.

Qi Wanwan’s face was flushed, her eyes filled with anxiety, but she still raised her fist and shouted with all her might, "Song Cheng, don’t be nervous! You got this! I know you’ll be amazing!"

As her clear voice rang out with encouragement, it was as if the entire bar fell silent.

Song Cheng smiled.

It was the same smile he wore the first time he sang a love song for Qi Wanwan and saw that shy, sweet expression on her face.

His heart instantly calmed.

He nodded to the staff member, signaling for the backing track to begin.

A prelude began to play, an interwoven melody of guzheng and xiao flute that carried a sense of desolate world-weariness.

Song Cheng began to sing.

"Red beans grow in southern lands, a thing of a distant age,"

"What’s this longing called love? No one cares for it anymore."

"Drunk I lie in the sleepless city, bathed in neon glow,"

"In my wine glass, a world of fleeting, cheap affection."

"So quick to forget the poets of old, so quick to scorn this pining love,"

"Guarding a love, afraid of laughter, more afraid of being seen."

"Spring returns to watch the red beans bloom, yet sees no lovers there to pick them,"

"Fireworks embrace a passing fancy; true feeling is not there."

In the booth, He Fei listened with a hint of confusion. She whispered to Yunqing, "Song Cheng still sounds amazing, but the melody of this song seems so simple. Can he really beat Chen Lin with this?"

He Xi was about to speak, but Yunqing cut in first.

Yunqing’s gaze was locked on the stage as she softly explained, "With this song, you can’t just listen to the melody. On the surface, it’s about romantic love, but in the original performance by Mao Amin, she sang of a greater love for all of humanity."

She paused before continuing, "Right now, Song Cheng is also aiming for that ’macrocosm in the microcosm’ effect. He’s trying to convey the merciless passage of time, where right and wrong are no longer clear. He’s singing about the long road of life, the feeling of having gained everything and, at the same time, having lost it all."

He Xi, sitting beside them, nodded in agreement and added, "Exactly. Song Cheng is smart. He realized Chen Lin was a cut above him in vocal technique, so he decisively abandoned a technical competition and is instead looking for a breakthrough in emotional expression and humanistic interpretation."

Listening to their analysis, Qi Wanwan felt her heart jump into her throat. Her hands unconsciously clenched into fists, nails digging deep into her palms.

"So quick to forget the poets of old, so quick to scorn this pining love,"

"Guarding a love, afraid of laughter, more afraid of being seen."

"Spring returns to watch the red beans bloom, yet sees no lovers there to pick them,"

"Fireworks embrace a passing fancy; true feeling is not there."

...

"Fireworks embrace a passing fancy; true feeling is not there..."

The last note faded into the air.

This time, Chen Lin was the first to start clapping.

He had to admit it: this Senior Brother Song really had substance when he sang.

After Chen Lin had brought the house down with his technical performance of "Moonlight," Song Cheng hadn’t crumbled. Instead, he’d quickly adjusted his strategy, responding with a song like "Xiangsi," which was full of humanistic feeling.

Chen Lin was a Chinese Language and Literature major, after all, so he possessed a decent ability to appreciate artistic works.

He could hear that Song Cheng’s voice held stories, held weight. That wasn’t something you could achieve with technique alone; it required life experience or a deep intellectual foundation.

’Looks like this Senior Brother Song has a story of his own.’

Applause and cheers erupted in the bar once more. Chen Lin noticed that at several tables in the front row, women had been moved to tears and were furtively wiping them away.

A few other customers in the front row were discussing it in low voices. "I thought the first guy was already incredible. But the second guy’s song... it just hit me harder, you know? Even though it didn’t sound that complicated..."

"Yeah, totally. It made me think about so many people and things from my past... Listening to it while drinking really gets to you..."

The DJ hit his mic at the perfect moment and announced the final result in his magnetic voice:

"Thanks to our generous patrons for tipping this handsome guy—1,279 yuan!"

Chen Lin didn’t care about winning or losing. He’d already raked in over two thousand yuan in one night and was more than satisfied.

Besides, he understood the audience’s reaction. Pitch and rhythm were far from the only things that made a song.

A singer’s artistic choices, their emotional expression, and even the context of the performance could all be more important than pure technical skill.

From that perspective, it proved what Yunqing had said earlier: Song Cheng had truly taught Chen Lin a great deal tonight.

Song Cheng stepped off the stage, walked straight up to Chen Lin, and asked seriously, "Have you ever considered becoming a professional singer? With your technical talent, you could have a great career."

Chen Lin just smiled and shook his head.

Seeing this, Song Cheng didn’t press the issue. He just gave Chen Lin a long, deep look before turning and heading back to his booth.

Immediately after, Chen Lin saw Yunqing walking toward him.

"Yunqing," Chen Lin said with a cheeky grin, getting his word in first. "So? What’d I tell you? Guaranteed to leave you speechless, right?"

This time, Yunqing ignored his teasing. Instead, she looked at him with an unprecedentedly serious expression and said, "Chen Lin, consider this: join our school band. I’ll give you the lead vocalist position."

Chen Lin froze, then quickly processed her offer and, without a second thought, shook his head again. "I only sing part-time for the money. If something more important comes up, I might just quit at any moment."

This wasn’t an empty excuse. If his paid consulting business stabilized, or if he found a more profitable venture, he would indeed drop this part-time singing gig without a moment’s hesitation.

He looked at Yunqing and spoke frankly, "I don’t have any real artistic aspirations. I’m not like you professionals from the arts academy. So, Yunqing, you’d be better off finding someone else."

Yunqing stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly smiled, a complex expression in her eyes that Chen Lin had never seen before. "Fine. But in the future, if I come to you for help, you can’t say no, okay?"

Chen Lin: "No problem."