Chapter 382: “Zhao Zi Long”
“Here they come, here they come!”
“Wow, it’s Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu!”
“Ahhhhh, I’m so excited!”
“It’s really them, I’m not dreaming!”
At this moment,
In the center of Fish Roe Square, where the pedestrian street sees the most foot traffic.
A stage was set up, dazzling lights shining on both sides.
Below the stage, there was a crowd packed so tight that even water couldn’t pass through.
The instant Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu made their grand entrance, the entire street exploded with excitement.
“Sister Gan Yan Yu, I love you!!”
“Lin Tian Ge is so handsome! Even better than on TV!!”
The fans of Moonlight and Cat were shrieking, hands raised high in the air.
This was practically a monthly tradition for Cat’s fans—the first time seeing their idols in person—
They just had to gush over their good looks!
It wasn’t some unwritten rule among the fans.
But an instinctive reaction every fan had the moment they laid eyes on Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu.
—How come they look even better than on TV?!
At this moment, the vendors along the pedestrian street peeked over, astonished.
“What the heck! Weren’t they supposed to be musicians? Why do they look so young?!”
Facing the cheers, Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu waved at the audience.
Soon after, Mao Wei Ang and Bai Junze joined them on stage, both carrying cellos.
At that moment, another group of fans cheered below.
“Brother Mao!!!”
“Teacher Mao is the best!!!”
“Zebao, you better play well!!”
The loudest cheers came mostly from female fans.
As they proclaimed their love, the nearby Cat fans instantly wore disdainful expressions, snorting condescendingly.
“Ugh! Stupid fangirls are everywhere!”
“What’s so exciting about a beanpole? Haven’t you ever seen a good one?”
“They should be happy just jamming with our Moonlight and Cat—what a bunch of opportunistic losers!”
With those words, it was as if a spark ignited a powder keg—the atmosphere instantly exploded.
On the right side of the stage, a few female spectators retaliated fiercely.
“Please! Who’s riding the coattails of whom?!”
“Do they even dare act with our Chinese music scene?”
“Come on, stop your pretentiousness; aside from you crazy folks, seriously, who even likes that long and boring classical music?!”
Before these four performers took the stage, the audience had been calmly waiting for hours without any trouble.
But with their appearance, chaos broke loose.
This is what you call a reputation.
Were it not for a considerable number of police maintaining order, someone might have already thrown a punch.
Watching all this, Lin Tian couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.
You’ve got to hand it to these fans; they really know how to play it real.
They argue and bicker online like pros and bring it right into the flesh and bone in real life, showing no signs of backing down.
Lin Tian was getting a taste of what an Internet battle looks like in real life.
Even passersby wouldn’t help but do a double-take.
If they racked their brains, they’d never believe this was actually a music concert!
Lin Tian looked down from the stage.
Not gonna lie, the crowd’s positioning was quite strategic.
The biggest fanbases for Moonlight and Cat were to the left, while the fans for Mao Wei Ang were to the right.
Lin Tian quickly gauged the bickering crowd.
Honestly, it was okay; aside from some loud mouths, most of the audience were just spectators, munching popcorn, focusing completely on Lin Tian and the others.
This indirectly validated Lin Tian’s thoughts.
Silence was indeed the majority.
Aside from a few extreme fans,
Most people didn’t feel like they were at total war over this.
As long as they could express it through a performance.
This is what this duet was all about.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Tian sat at the piano, raised his fingers toward the sky.
Gradually,
Seeing this gesture, the crowd’s noise quieted down, finally reaching tranquility.
Occasionally, someone still chatting away would quickly be silenced by elbowing from nearby spectators, wearing menacing expressions to intimidate.
The atmosphere spread like wildfire.
Now that’s more like it.
Lin Tian smiled to himself, satisfied.
After all, this was an outdoor concert!
Have you ever seen a cello perform outside?
So—
Quiet, quiet is essential.
Even the slightest sound might turn the bustling venue into a cacophony.
In such a massive pedestrian street, those slightly further away wouldn’t even be able to hear anything.
Lin Tian wasn’t disappointed.
At this moment,
Under the starlit sky, the brilliantly lit pedestrian street.
In a sea of thousands,
Ten thousand pairs of eyes were glued to the stage.
And like well-trained soldiers, they didn’t make a peep.
Such a scene could seem eerie at first glance.
Yet,
Everyone understood.
They weren’t quiet because of Lin Tian’s hand gesture, nor did they do it for their idols’ sake, nor for settling scores with the disputing crowd.
They were simply very clear why they were in this square at eight o’clock tonight.
They were there to genuinely listen to a music performance.
For this reason, they set their disputes aside, reaching consensus.
“…”
Isn’t this pretty great?
In their love for music,
Everyone, every single person, was essentially the same kind of beings.
Lin Tian raised his fingers.
He pressed the piano keys—
“~”
A melodious tune began to play.
Lin Tian closed his eyes, fingers dancing gracefully over the keys.
His piano tone soared and intertwined, possessing a tremendously complex texture.
“It’s started.”
Meanwhile, at their computer screens, Zhang Dong anxiously exclaimed,
“Moonlight Brother has started!”
This event, featuring the four performers collaborating, was live-streamed across the net.
By now, the crowd at Fish Roe Square had swelled beyond capacity, with police cordoning off the perimeter—only letting people out, not letting them in.
After all, it was an outdoor performance.
Many had guessed it would be nearly impossible to snag a spot in person.
So, they tuned into the live stream early.
This concert wasn’t just a frenzy for Weibo users.
It was a huge deal in the music realm, too.
It gathered the genius cellist Bai Junze,
The king of Chinese pop, the top producer Mao Wei Ang,
And the most outstanding classical musicians of contemporary China, Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu.
The assembly of these four musical powers was like a bombshell.
Numerous renowned musicians from both domestic and international scenes were tuning in to watch this live broadcast.
And almost immediately after the web broadcast started,
The live-streaming platform on WeChat crashed.
Soon after, reports flooded in.
Apart from platforms like Douyin and Bilibili, which specialize in live streaming,
Almost every third-party platform that kicked off the stream faced server crash announcements shortly thereafter.
“This is full-on live-streaming!”
In a dimly lit office,
He Shu Mo couldn’t help but exclaim upon hearing this news,
“This is the convergence of the two biggest music streams in classical and pop!”
Even viewers who had never watched a cello performance might find themselves unable to resist watching with such authoritative figures involved, right?
“…”
Beside him, Yao Han smiled silently.
He turned his attention back to the live-streaming screen.
Listening to the intertwining piano notes, Yao Han closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
In sheer enjoyment, he murmured,
“The rhythm of galloping horses.”
“It’s the prelude to a hero’s entrance.”
The next second,
Gan Yan Yu’s cello rang out.
“Zhao Yun is coming!”
In the live chat, Zhang Dong shouted excitedly.
Gan Yan Yu was working her magic over the strings, pulling the bow with increasing intensity!
This tune was both graceful and enchanting, with ups and downs like a rollercoaster ride.
In a daze,
The audience felt as if they were witnessing a spirited young hero galloping fiercely on horseback.
An overwhelming, spirited sensation surged within them.
“What a powerful aura!!”
In almost an instant, Zhang Dong got goosebumps,
“Moonlight Brother’s ‘Zhao Zi Long’ is no joke!”
In fact,
Even before the duet began, across the internet and music circles, many had speculated on the piece’s title.
According to gossip, this duet was once again composed by Lin Tian.
What a surprise that was!
Because everyone knew, Teacher Mao, in the industry, was like a commercial killer—his works fly off the shelves.
Just about any music composed by Teacher Mao was bound to be a hit.
For everyone,
“Mao Zi” had become a golden brand.
Such a figure, even among various commercial collaborations, was often personally requested by big companies.
And for Mao Wei Ang,
He had composed hundreds of works in his life, each one written entirely by himself.
He possessed absolute control over his music.
Yet this time, for such an important performance,
He handed the compositional task to Lin Tian, who clearly had far less experience and fewer works under his belt.
It would be like a seasoned general, having fought countless battles,
In the final fight—where life and d*ath hung in the balance—handing over command of the troops and his life to a rookie officer!
And this rookie,
Had completely no relevant combat experience before this.
This rookie was Lin Tian, who had only debuted a year ago.
And this type of music referred to pop.
Thus, many speculated.
Some said, it was a conditional agreement between Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu.
Others said it was Teacher Mao’s sincere goodwill.
But,
The moment the music began,
Zhang Dong understood.
Those were all wrong.
This was Teacher Mao’s trust in Lin Tian!
Because he believed that Lin Tian was a musician whose talent surpassed his own!
That’s why he willingly entrusted his life into Lin Tian’s hands.
Otherwise,
No amount of fancy reasoning could ever convince a figure like Teacher Mao to hand over composers’ rights in such a performance!!
And the facts proved,
Teacher Mao made no mistake.
Lin Tian not only could do it.
But he also excelled at pop music!
“…”
As Gan Yan Yu’s cello reached its peak,
An overwhelming sensation flooded through!
The dense, intertwined sound of the cello and piano struck the stage like a rain of arrows.
Every audience member caught in this shower felt as if they were right on the battlefield.
In their chests, they could hardly suppress their exhilaration.
“Oh my God, is this really a piece by Moonlight Brother?!”
Some spectators murmured in disbelief.
“Unbelievable! Moonlight Brother can produce such energetic music!”
“This is awesome! Whoa, I feel like this music would fit some epic story—like film scores, it feels unbeatable!”
For long-time fans,
The musical style at this moment felt so unfamiliar it even gave them chills.
Although Moonlight Brother’s composing style had always been known for its wild shifts, from Spanish to Hungarian, he could write anything.
But genuinely, it was rare for them to use “awesome” to describe Moonlight Brother’s pieces.
Usually, they felt more accustomed to this kind of rousing feeling in pop songs.
How to describe it…
“Rock style.”
In the live stream, Zhang Dong said,
“Moonlight Brother has infused rock style into this piece.”
Upon hearing that, the live chat erupted in confusion:
[What?? Rock??]
[Moonlight and Cat, I can’t believe those two words are together!]
[Whoa, Moonlight Brother is hiding his talents well!!]
[Who would’ve imagined, the last time he wrote “Moonlight,” a composer of Impressionism, and today he’s writing rock music?!]
[…]
“This isn’t surprising.”
Zhang Dong continued,
“I’ve always said, if Moonlight Brother just wanted to write something catchy, he’d be a breeze!”
“The structure of this ‘Zhao Zi Long’ merges cello and piano with rock elements. If I’m not mistaken, the original likely included electronic effects, but unfortunately, what we’re hearing is the live performance version without those effects.”
“This arrangement truly lives up to being by Moonlight Brother.”
Zhang Dong let out a deep sigh of admiration.
Then, he shifted gears,
“But honestly, I feel this piece might have fit better with traditional instruments—like the pipa or dizi.”
He frowned,
“Why is it being played with a piano and cello?”
Using Western instruments for ‘Zhao Zi Long’ feels a bit off to me.
[What are you saying?]
[Were traditional instruments used in Moonlight Brother’s original score?]
[Indeed, I also think this piece’s style suits traditional music!]
As the viewers buzzed about this,
A moment later, Zhang Dong smacked his own head.
“I got it!”
Viewers set off a barrage of “???” in the chat.
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Dong declared,
“This has to do with Moonlight Brother’s exceptional arranging skills! On the surface, it gives a traditional vibe, but in reality, this is a piece tailor-made for the cello!”
“Only the cello can create a ‘weight of history’ that no other instrument can, while the piano, as we understand, has ‘time-traveling abilities’!”
“Blending the style of traditional music with the cello and piano, it not only avoids being awkward but instead produced a unique flavor—this is Moonlight Brother playing with a fusion of East and West!”
“This is once again Moonlight Brother being a bit willful with his talents!!” Zhang Dong exclaimed.
Once he said that, the live chat was filled with awe.
[Wow! As expected, it’s Moonlight Brother!]
[Absolutely! Moonlight Brother always brings us subtle yet dazzling tricks in music, and this time Dong Ge spotted them!]
[That’s amazing, oh my God!]
“This isn’t over yet!”
Zhang Dong paused, then said,
“In the Western audience’s perception, the cello has long held a ‘tragic hero’ connotation. This relates to its unique tonal position among instruments.”
“And for Moonlight Brother to choose this way to write, I believe he had his reasons.”
“Just watch, soon this piece will introduce its ‘tragic hero’!”
(End of Chapter)
