The next afternoon, Lin Jin was unexpectedly confronted with his own image on the QQ app’s frontpage.
What the f*ck?
Lin Jin was utterly bewildered, his face a mask of confusion. Why was his face appearing in the news?
Last night, the official video of the New Year's Eve gala had been posted on various video websites by the school, like Youku, Tencent Video, and others. The official video was edited without the host's narration, creating individual videos for each performance, complete with subtitles and introductions. Consequently, the editing and compression had taken an entire day.
There were a dozen performances in total, each lasting about five minutes. Most of the videos were titled in the format “Xiamen Institute of Software Technology’s New Year's Eve Gala—XX" but Lin Jin and Chen Xinya's performance was headlined with “Shocking! Performance Surpasses Original Singer.”
Such a sensational title naturally attracted numerous clicks. Initially, most people assumed that the video wouldn't live up to its name, especially since Lin Jin's initial performance seemed at best on par with karaoke-level singing. However, after thirty seconds, the video indeed proved that the title was well-deserved.
Lin Jin's singing video quickly rose to the top of the entertainment section's homepage. Released just last night, by noon the next day, it had gone viral on major video websites. Even the original singer promoted it on Weibo, causing Lin Jin's performance to not only become a sensation on video sites but also rank among the top ten on Weibo.
Of course, Lin Jin was unaware of all this, so he clicked on the QQ frontpage, opened the news with his photo, and discovered that it was indeed talking about his performance at the New Year's Eve gala the day before yesterday. The news highly praised his singing and Chen Xinya's accompanying dance.
Lin Jin continued to be utterly bewildered.
"Lin Jin, your video's on iQiyi" one of his dorm mates exclaimed.
It was Tuesday afternoon, a time without classes, so the three roommates were all huddled in front of their computers. Wen Xuan, who enjoyed watching TV shows and movies, had downloaded apps for various video sites on his computer. He was planning to spend the afternoon watching movies but stumbled across a photo of Lin Jin in female attire right on the homepage.
Lin Jin walked over behind Wen Xuan, propping his arms on the back of his chair and tilted his head to look at the computer screen. "Can you play it? I haven't seen it yet."
Upon hearing their movement, Wu Min immediately scrambled over. "Let's look at the comments first. Should be full of praises, right?"
Wen Xuan nodded and clicked on the video. He glimpsed the shocking title at the top and, with a twitch of his lips, scrolled down to the comment section. The top-rated comment read: "Beginning at KTV level, middle at amateur singer level, ending surpassing the original singer. This video illustrates the importance of tuning in stages."
"What does that mean?" Lin Jin, not an avid internet user beyond playing games, looked somewhat bewildered by the comment.
"It means you're auto tuned" Wen Xuan calmly explained, scrolling down through the comments. As expected, most of the comments were overwhelmingly positive. There were a few negative ones here and there, but the reasons given were quite bizarre.
Comments like "Too fake, just seeking attention" or "Definitely lip-syncing, probably only the first few lines were sung live" and even "Not as good as the original singer, clickbait title."
In any case, these negative comments were insignificant, with most of the feedback being highly positive.
"The song is beautiful, and the performer is stunning, the dance was excellent too." Such straightforward praises nearly filled the comment section, though there were also some humorous commenters.
"The first time I heard this song was when I was begging on the streets of Suzhou. When I first finished listening to this song, I was filled with fighting spirit, and so I decided not to beg anymore. Five years have passed, and now I've made it to the capital, Beijing, to beg."
Some even discerned the emotions contained in the song.
"This is my favorite version of the song so far. Even the original singer didn't move me like this. The original version's charm is inspiring and unyielding, but this rendition aligns perfectly with the evening's theme of the Long March, making it exceptionally touching."
Listening to this song, one can easily imagine the scenes of the Red Army's Long March and also feel the spirit of perseverance contained within."
"It seems pretty impressive." Lin Jin, after reading the comments, felt as if he was swelling with pride, almost to the point of bursting. His self-satisfaction was almost overflowing.
"Let's watch the video. One more time." Wen Xuan clicked to play the video and turned to Lin Jin during the one-minute advertisement. "Last time we were too far away to see your face clearly. Let's have a good look now."
"What's there to look at? You can see my face if you turn around now." Lin Jin pouted, giving room to Wu Min, who had been peeking from the side.
"No, I heard that a singer's facial expression during a performance resembles their climaxing face during sex."
Although Lin Jin couldn't see Wen Xuan's face as he stood behind him, he could unmistakably sense a lewd aura emanating from him.
Despite being a rich second-generation, he still acted like a creepy loser.
Extremely disgusted, Lin Jin slapped the back of Wen Xuan's head, causing him to yelp in pain.
"Speaking of which, Wu Min, are you rich?" Lin Jin suddenly turned to ask Wu Min, who was standing beside him. "Aren't you originally from somewhere other than Xiamen? Yet you've bought a house here and lived for over ten years."
"Not exactly rich, my family owns a car dealership." Wu Min had never mentioned what his family did before, so this was Lin Jin's first time hearing about it.
But owning a car dealership... Damn, that must mean they're pretty wealthy, right? Am I the only poor one in the entire dorm?
"Not bad, keeping a low profile, huh?" Wen Xuan also looked at Wu Min in surprise. "Doesn't that mean your family would give you a car as soon as you have a driver's license or something?"
"Yeah, but it's just a car worth over a hundred thousand yuan."
"I give this bragging a perfect score." Lin Jin felt as if he’d been hit with ten thousand points of damage inside.
"It's starting, it's starting!"
Lin Jin quickly put aside what had just happened and prepared to watch his performance on stage from a third-person perspective.
The screen initially showed complete darkness, and then, a moment later, with the caption "Rainbow after Storms, Unyielding Roses" Lin Jin and Chen Xinya's figures appeared on stage. As the accompaniment played, Chen Xinya began to dance gracefully, and faint applause could be heard from the audience.
Chen Xinya's dancing was gorgeous, with just the right amount of force and rhythm. However, when the accompaniment reached the part where Lin Jin should have started singing, he was still holding the microphone with a confused look on his face, unable to sing a word. Chen Xinya noticed Lin Jin's condition and hurriedly stepped forward to sing a couple of lines, waking him up. Then, Lin Jin sang a couple of lyrics at a mere KTV level with his hoarse voice.
"I was so nervous for you at that time." Wen Xuan put his hands on the table and said casually, "It was freezing cold, but I was sweating from the nervousness. Fortunately, you managed to find your groove later."
"Exactly, I felt the same way at the time." Wu Min nodded in agreement with Wen Xuan, casually trying to build rapport with Lin Jin. "So, shouldn't you treat us to a meal? I even treated you to one yesterday."
"Let's talk about it next weekend." Lin Jin rolled his eyes. "You guys just want to mooch a meal from this poor soul, don't you?"
"Yes, that's right."
As they were speaking, Lin Jin on the screen gradually hit his stride.
The next afternoon, Lin Jin was unexpectedly confronted with his own image on the QQ app’s frontpage.
What the f*ck?
Lin Jin was utterly bewildered, his face a mask of confusion. Why was his face appearing in the news?
Last night, the official video of the New Year's Eve gala had been posted on various video websites by the school, like Youku, Tencent Video, and others. The official video was edited without the host's narration, creating individual videos for each performance, complete with subtitles and introductions. Consequently, the editing and compression had taken an entire day.
There were a dozen performances in total, each lasting about five minutes. Most of the videos were titled in the format “Xiamen Institute of Software Technology’s New Year's Eve Gala—XX" but Lin Jin and Chen Xinya's performance was headlined with “Shocking! Performance Surpasses Original Singer.”
Such a sensational title naturally attracted numerous clicks. Initially, most people assumed that the video wouldn't live up to its name, especially since Lin Jin's initial performance seemed at best on par with karaoke-level singing. However, after thirty seconds, the video indeed proved that the title was well-deserved.
Lin Jin's singing video quickly rose to the top of the entertainment section's homepage. Released just last night, by noon the next day, it had gone viral on major video websites. Even the original singer promoted it on Weibo, causing Lin Jin's performance to not only become a sensation on video sites but also rank among the top ten on Weibo.
Of course, Lin Jin was unaware of all this, so he clicked on the QQ frontpage, opened the news with his photo, and discovered that it was indeed talking about his performance at the New Year's Eve gala the day before yesterday. The news highly praised his singing and Chen Xinya's accompanying dance.
Lin Jin continued to be utterly bewildered.
"Lin Jin, your video's on iQiyi" one of his dorm mates exclaimed.
It was Tuesday afternoon, a time without classes, so the three roommates were all huddled in front of their computers. Wen Xuan, who enjoyed watching TV shows and movies, had downloaded apps for various video sites on his computer. He was planning to spend the afternoon watching movies but stumbled across a photo of Lin Jin in female attire right on the homepage.
Lin Jin walked over behind Wen Xuan, propping his arms on the back of his chair and tilted his head to look at the computer screen. "Can you play it? I haven't seen it yet."
Upon hearing their movement, Wu Min immediately scrambled over. "Let's look at the comments first. Should be full of praises, right?"
Wen Xuan nodded and clicked on the video. He glimpsed the shocking title at the top and, with a twitch of his lips, scrolled down to the comment section. The top-rated comment read: "Beginning at KTV level, middle at amateur singer level, ending surpassing the original singer. This video illustrates the importance of tuning in stages."
"What does that mean?" Lin Jin, not an avid internet user beyond playing games, looked somewhat bewildered by the comment.
"It means you're auto tuned" Wen Xuan calmly explained, scrolling down through the comments. As expected, most of the comments were overwhelmingly positive. There were a few negative ones here and there, but the reasons given were quite bizarre.
Comments like "Too fake, just seeking attention" or "Definitely lip-syncing, probably only the first few lines were sung live" and even "Not as good as the original singer, clickbait title."
In any case, these negative comments were insignificant, with most of the feedback being highly positive.
"The song is beautiful, and the performer is stunning, the dance was excellent too." Such straightforward praises nearly filled the comment section, though there were also some humorous commenters.
"The first time I heard this song was when I was begging on the streets of Suzhou. When I first finished listening to this song, I was filled with fighting spirit, and so I decided not to beg anymore. Five years have passed, and now I've made it to the capital, Beijing, to beg."
Some even discerned the emotions contained in the song.
"This is my favorite version of the song so far. Even the original singer didn't move me like this. The original version's charm is inspiring and unyielding, but this rendition aligns perfectly with the evening's theme of the Long March, making it exceptionally touching."
Listening to this song, one can easily imagine the scenes of the Red Army's Long March and also feel the spirit of perseverance contained within."
"It seems pretty impressive." Lin Jin, after reading the comments, felt as if he was swelling with pride, almost to the point of bursting. His self-satisfaction was almost overflowing.
"Let's watch the video. One more time." Wen Xuan clicked to play the video and turned to Lin Jin during the one-minute advertisement. "Last time we were too far away to see your face clearly. Let's have a good look now."
"What's there to look at? You can see my face if you turn around now." Lin Jin pouted, giving room to Wu Min, who had been peeking from the side.
"No, I heard that a singer's facial expression during a performance resembles their climaxing face during sex."
Although Lin Jin couldn't see Wen Xuan's face as he stood behind him, he could unmistakably sense a lewd aura emanating from him.
Despite being a rich second-generation, he still acted like a creepy loser.
Extremely disgusted, Lin Jin slapped the back of Wen Xuan's head, causing him to yelp in pain.
"Speaking of which, Wu Min, are you rich?" Lin Jin suddenly turned to ask Wu Min, who was standing beside him. "Aren't you originally from somewhere other than Xiamen? Yet you've bought a house here and lived for over ten years."
"Not exactly rich, my family owns a car dealership." Wu Min had never mentioned what his family did before, so this was Lin Jin's first time hearing about it.
But owning a car dealership... Damn, that must mean they're pretty wealthy, right? Am I the only poor one in the entire dorm?
"Not bad, keeping a low profile, huh?" Wen Xuan also looked at Wu Min in surprise. "Doesn't that mean your family would give you a car as soon as you have a driver's license or something?"
"Yeah, but it's just a car worth over a hundred thousand yuan."
"I give this bragging a perfect score." Lin Jin felt as if he’d been hit with ten thousand points of damage inside.
"It's starting, it's starting!"
Lin Jin quickly put aside what had just happened and prepared to watch his performance on stage from a third-person perspective.
The screen initially showed complete darkness, and then, a moment later, with the caption "Rainbow after Storms, Unyielding Roses" Lin Jin and Chen Xinya's figures appeared on stage. As the accompaniment played, Chen Xinya began to dance gracefully, and faint applause could be heard from the audience.
Chen Xinya's dancing was gorgeous, with just the right amount of force and rhythm. However, when the accompaniment reached the part where Lin Jin should have started singing, he was still holding the microphone with a confused look on his face, unable to sing a word. Chen Xinya noticed Lin Jin's condition and hurriedly stepped forward to sing a couple of lines, waking him up. Then, Lin Jin sang a couple of lyrics at a mere KTV level with his hoarse voice.
"I was so nervous for you at that time." Wen Xuan put his hands on the table and said casually, "It was freezing cold, but I was sweating from the nervousness. Fortunately, you managed to find your groove later."
"Exactly, I felt the same way at the time." Wu Min nodded in agreement with Wen Xuan, casually trying to build rapport with Lin Jin. "So, shouldn't you treat us to a meal? I even treated you to one yesterday."
"Let's talk about it next weekend." Lin Jin rolled his eyes. "You guys just want to mooch a meal from this poor soul, don't you?"
"Yes, that's right."
As they were speaking, Lin Jin on the screen gradually hit his stride.
