Chapter 115: Just Good Brothers
“Stop trying to pair everyone up! They’re just good brothers, nothing more!”
“I don’t care, I’m still shipping it!”
...
The banter between Lin Yu and Wang Fei was perfectly timed, drawing laughter from the audience—that was their goal. After all, any artists performing together do so for mutual benefit.
Lin Yu wanted to sing as well, but he was afraid of stealing Wang Fei’s spotlight. Since Wang Fei didn’t mind, they might as well share the attention from the music festival—a win-win for both, and who would object?
“Everyone, let me ask on your behalf: Mr. Lin, would you sing a song for us live? Or perhaps a duet with me—I certainly wouldn’t mind.”
“Duet! Duet!”
“Solo! Solo!”
Clearly, the calls for a solo drowned out those for a duet. Moments ago, the audience was joking about their special relationship, but now all they wanted was to hear Lin Yu’s unforgettable voice.
Who wouldn’t want to enjoy an unexpected, free surprise all to themselves?
“Everyone, please quiet down. I’d like to hear your suggestions—which solo song would you like me to perform?”
Wang Fei immediately stepped aside, happy to let Lin Yu sing alone if that’s what the crowd wanted.
After Lin Yu posed the question, the crowd’s shouts alternated between “Love Song” and “Dignity.”
No surprise there—these two songs were wildly popular online.
Lin Yu raised an eyebrow. Whichever song he chose, some people would be disappointed. If he sang both, he’d overshadow the host. So perhaps...
“Senior Wang, this workload will cost you at least five hotpot dinners!”
Before Wang Fei could respond, Lin Yu took his silence as consent and turned back to the audience with a grin. “Everyone, I have a new song. Would you like to hear it?”
A new song?!
Of course they wanted to hear it! A hit singer, with a brand-new, unreleased song, and so soon after his rise to fame—everyone was eager to see what surprise Lin Yu would bring.
Yes! The new song!
Wang Fei felt a jolt in his heart. “Love Song” had just been released, and now there was already a new one? His creative energy was truly remarkable.
And to debut a new song at a festival, an informal event, was a real sacrifice! Five hotpot dinners were a bargain compared to the publicity and income from singing new songs at a concert.
He was really giving Wang Fei a great deal.
“Everyone, next I’ll be performing ‘Not Only Time We Can’t Return To.’ Music director, please cue the backing track for the new song.”
Lin Yu had already handed the tape to the stage crew. The organizers had prepared as soon as he agreed to sing.
Wang Fei stepped aside as the spotlight centered on Lin Yu. He took the wristband from the crew and adjusted it to Lin Yu’s favorite color—sky blue, pure and clear, the embodiment of a bright, youthful boy.
The audience below spontaneously switched their support lights to blue as well, creating a vast blue sea that illuminated Lin Yu on stage, as if he were a boy who had just emerged from the ocean.
The prelude began with a violin, filling the air with melancholy. The audience swayed to the rhythm.
That familiar ethereal sadness arose once more, his tone like a mischievous fairy dancing on everyone’s heartstrings.
“The wind brushes my hair,
Memories howl once more.
Tears trace my cheek,
Falling in the crowd.
You see, even unstained memories
Can’t withstand the passing of time.
Those once-familiar scenes,
This faded room,
It’s not just time we can’t return to.”
Lin Yu’s voice started softly, yet the lyrics weighed heavily. What college student hadn’t been in love? The straightforward lyrics evoked a tide of memories—the room you once shared, the bittersweet image of parting despite love.
Wang Fei found his gaze drawn to Lin Yu as well. Under the lights, the youth seemed to glow, a luminous god in sorrowful song, radiant and lonely in the moonlight.
“The wind rises, the wind rises, leaves fall to the ground.”
Suddenly, the accompaniment swelled, and Lin Yu’s enunciation grew more intense, his tone heavier. The pause before the refrain struck a chord deep within the heart.
“The longing grows stronger.
Since we parted, it hasn’t stopped!
I want to see you, hold you.
I want to see you again.
But it’s already too late.
Looking at the worn-out camera,
Saving yellowed memories,
Blurring someone’s eyes—
What people call ‘the past’
Can never be returned to.”
Lin Yu’s sudden shift to a deeper, magnetic voice, its explosion of feeling, expressed both reluctance and yearning, yet also helplessness.
His ethereal voice evoked the echoing loneliness of missing someone in a vast empty room—only longing and sorrow responding.
The entire audience sat in silence, immersed in the sorrow.
A timely gust of wind seemed to hint at her return, but opening your eyes, only endless grief and loneliness remained. The pain and yearning had no listener. Once missed, it was truly missed.
The wind would still blow, but she was gone. No matter how much you longed, all that remained was infinite sadness.
“The wind rises,
The wind rises, leaves fall to the ground,
Longing grows stronger,
Since we parted, it hasn’t stopped.
I want to see you, hold you.
I want to see you again.
But it’s already too late.
Looking at the worn-out camera,
Saving yellowed memories,
Blurring someone’s eyes—
What people call ‘the past’
Can never be returned to.”
As Lin Yu sang, he was drawn into his memories.
He had once thought that four years of love had consumed his all. Only those who give feel regret; he had given so much he couldn’t let go.
Sometimes he thought of her—after all, there had been sweet moments, even if they’d been an illusion.
What she chased was material and vanity. She didn’t love him; she loved being cherished, adored, and financially supported.
Four years—he gave everything, and in the end, lost his life just for a reasonable explanation.
Even though her betrayal was cold and heartless, even though she mocked the sincerity he had given, those who love deeply cannot simply withdraw their hearts.
The wind rises...
Leaves fall...
She had once been kind to him, even if it was all for her own ends. He had given willingly. The pain of realizing he’d been played—how could he forget it so quickly?
On the live stream and the big screen, his eyes brimmed with sadness. In this moment, he was the main character of the story, the star in everyone’s eyes.
“The longing grows stronger.
Since we parted, it hasn’t stopped!
I want to see you, hold you.
I want to see you again.
But it’s already too late.
Looking at the worn-out camera,
Saving yellowed memories,
Blurring someone’s eyes—
What people call ‘the past’
Can never be returned to.”
Unable to restrain himself, he sang the refrain once more. The backing music had already faded, but the accompanist, lost in the performance, only realized after the second line to resume the music. The performance was so moving that recreating it was no challenge.
That opening, sung a cappella—“the wind rises, leaves fall to the ground”—was all the more touching.
The final line, echoing the song’s theme, was filled with resignation toward the past, unable to move on. Everything was already beyond reach, but still, he missed her.