Chapter 195 - 145: Teacher Gao Yuan (3)
Chapter 195: Chapter 145: Teacher Gao Yuan (3)
Everyone else at the table held their breath, their gazes fixed on the two men, but especially on Gao Yuan. The chance to hear him sing up close, and even take pictures, was a rare one.
They stopped drinking, waiting to see how it would all end.
A moment later, the bar’s DJ spoke up.
"Tonight, Young Master Wang is buying a round of cocktails for everyone here!"
"Let’s thank Young Master Wang for his generosity!"
Instantly, all eyes in the bar turned back to the VIP booth.
Seizing the moment, the DJ’s voice boomed once more.
"We’ve got a special event for you all tonight."
"We’re about to have a two-song showdown. Let’s see which one is more emo, which one better represents your dead-and-gone love!"
As the DJ made the announcement, the bar manager hurried over with two microphones.
"For our first song, Miss Shuya, who just sang ’Hollow Heart,’ will be performing ’Ask’ for us!"
A spotlight landed on Shuya, her white dress flowing, and her image appeared on the bar’s large screen.
She glanced at Gao Yuan, took the microphone from the manager, and said, "This song is dedicated to all my friends here tonight!"
"Who makes your heart flutter, who makes it ache."
"Who makes you sometimes want to hold her in your arms."
...
Shuya’s performance was truly excellent. The bar’s lights dimmed, leaving only the single spotlight, and everyone listened quietly, engrossed in the song.
Shuya’s unique, smoky voice had a paradoxical purity to it, yet it also carried a heart-wrenching, tearing quality.
As the song ended, the bar erupted in thunderous applause.
"See? That’s what a professional sounds like!"
Li Yu shouted triumphantly, taking in the atmosphere.
The next moment, the DJ’s voice rang out once more.
"And for our second song, we have Gao Yuan himself, performing ’After I Leave’!"
The spotlight shifted to Gao Yuan, and he took the microphone offered by the bar manager.
Before the spotlight hit him, some people in the crowd were still wondering who Gao Yuan was. But when the light found him and his face appeared on the big screen...
Many recognized him at once and began hyping him up to those around them.
Before Gao Yuan even began to sing, shouts and murmurs rose from the audience.
"So this is the guy who can sing people to tears?"
"He sings nursery rhymes too?"
...
Gao Yuan took a step forward, bringing the microphone to his lips.
"To all my friends here, good evening!"
With just that opening line, Gao Yuan already proved himself to be miles ahead of Shuya.
A single sentence was all it took to capture everyone’s hearts. All eyes were fixed on him.
This was stage presence. A good singer must have an impeccable command of their audience.
Gao Yuan’s gaze swept across the entire bar, even over the people in the booth behind them. He looked them over once before speaking again in a low voice, "I’ll give you ten seconds. Get your tissues ready."
"Just grandstanding!"
Li Yu, slouched on the sofa, curled his lip at Gao Yuan on the stage. He wasn’t as confrontational as before, but he was still thoroughly unconvinced.
Wang Sichao glanced at Li Yu in surprise. ’Did that kid just use an idiom?’
"If, after I leave..."
"What will I have gained..."
...
Gao Yuan silently counted to ten in his head. Then, with the beat of the music, he began to sing.
He sang slowly, as if narrating a love story. For the entire first half, he used just a touch of light vocal fry.
"After I leave, don’t you think of me."
"Even though it’s so hard to let go."
"This is the freedom you wanted, so I’m giving it back to you."
...
As the song reached its climax, its emotional peak, all technique vanished from Gao Yuan’s voice. All that remained was a raw, tearing sob.
It was as if a Demon was slowly tearing a person’s heart to shreds, then placing the pieces in its mouth to chew, one by one.
When the final line was sung, Gao Yuan stood motionless for a long time.
He had truly poured his heart into this song. He thought of all his past girlfriends, and the song became a final farewell.
A clean break, letting each other go completely. From now on, they would just be strangers.
The entire bar was eerily silent. He could hear bursts of sobbing from in front of and behind him. Yaoyao, her face streaked with tears, ran to him and threw her arms around him from behind, hugging him tightly.
Li Yu’s expression was unbelievably foul. ’Didn’t the marketing team say this guy was a fake? That it was all studio autotune?’
Li Yu kept muttering under his breath, "Why did they lie to me!"
At that moment, he was so furious he could have dismembered the company’s marketing team. Their single lie had led to him being utterly humiliated here.
But he was oblivious to the fact that he had brought this all upon himself.
Instead of just being a perfectly good, brainless rich kid, he had to go and try to start a business like other people.
He was just a rich heir who knew nothing but partying and wasting time. He mindlessly charged ahead into family matters that even his father and older brother couldn’t resolve.
He didn’t even realize when he’d fallen into his older brother’s trap.
And yet he was always going around, claiming he had a shot at inheriting the Li Group one day.
Heh. The boy was so naive.
Gao Yuan sat back down on the sofa, once again swirling the wine in his glass with a leisurely air.
He decided he was done managing the bar’s atmosphere for the night. ’If they cry, let them cry. What’s it got to do with me?’
Then again, crying had its perks. It made people drink faster.
Gao Yuan leaned back against the sofa and clinked glasses with Yaoyao.
Just then, Shuya walked over, her face flushed with excitement.
"Gao Yuan, that was absolutely incredible! I was actually crying."
As she spoke, Shuya grabbed Gao Yuan’s hand, and he clearly felt a tickling sensation in his palm.
’This woman is trying to seduce me in front of all these people!’
Suddenly,
Gao Yuan wondered why the System hadn’t notified him of the mission’s completion.
’Could it be...?’