Chapter 155: Song of the Seven Children

After Li Caiwei finished her performance, He Hao went on to introduce the next singer:
"The next singer is a male singer."
Hearing this, the audience in the seats couldn't help but complain loudly: "Isn't that stating the obvious? There are only two male singers left."
That was indeed the case.
All the other singers had finished singing, leaving only Fang Xing and Xie Yuwen.
The audience at the scene shouted loudly, "Teacher He, just tell us directly, does the next singer's name have two characters or three?"
Hearing the audience's shouts, He Hao smiled and said, "Has everyone picked up Director Zheng's tricks? Very well, then let's do it this way.
"The name of the next singer has three characters... or is it two characters?
"The answer is... three characters.
"That's right, everyone probably knows who it is by now, so let's invite this singer out."
Xie Yuwen came on stage and waved to greet the audience.
He Hao asked, "Yuwen, position number six is the performance slot that many singers desire. Now that you've got this position, are you happy?"
Xie Yuwen sighed and said, "I was pretty happy at first."
He Hao pursued, "Why was it only at first? From what point on did you stop being so happy?"
"Right after listening to The Clouds of My Hometown," Xie Yuwen answered candidly.
"Why? The Clouds of My Hometown is a wonderful song," He Hao deliberately feigned ignorance and continued to ask.
Xie Yuwen sighed and replied, "Singing right after this song, The Clouds of My Hometown, is simply too difficult. There's just no way to follow up."
He Hao then asked, "So are you feeling very nervous?"
Xie Yuwen shook his head instead and said, "No, I'm not nervous anymore."
"Why?"
"Since there's no way to follow up anyway, being nervous is useless. I'll just try my best to sing my own song well."
After saying this, Xie Yuwen looked into a camera and said, "That singer who loves to produce songs for other singers, how about you help me out next time too?"
Seeing this segment, the directorial team felt it would be a major highlight of the show.
Zheng Tao quickly gestured for the host to interact a bit.
He Hao caught the cue and began to ask, "That singer in the lounge, did you hear Yuwen's call?"
At this moment, Fang Xing's reply came through the speakers on the stage: "I heard it."
"So, are you going to help him?"
"No."
"Why?" Xie Yuwen pressed.
"My song production terms are quite harsh. The singer doesn't get a single penny, acting purely as a singing tool," Fang Xing replied.
"Talking about money hurts feelings. Let's not talk about money. Being a singing tool is a job I can handle too," Xie Yuwen immediately climbed up the pole.
"Caiwei, someone is trying to steal your job," Fang Xing began to drag Li Caiwei into the water.
"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare..."
Xie Yuwen quickly waved his hands and then insisted, "I won't give up. I'm definitely going to ask you for a song."
Recorded this way, the variety show effect was maxed out.
Subsequently, Xie Yuwen performed a song called The Wanderer's Haven.
The quality of this song was still quite high, but it truly could not follow up to The Clouds of My Hometown.
After Xie Yuwen stepped down to rest,
He Hao began to introduce the final singer: "Alright, it's time for the last singer. I believe the audience here still doesn't know who this singer is."
"No! We know!" the audience at the scene shouted in response.
"Really? What if you guessed wrong?"
He Hao continued to interact with the audience and then said loudly, "Whether the audience's guess is right or wrong, whether the next singer is indeed the one everyone has in mind—
"Now, let's invite this singer out. Please welcome!"
Fang Xing stepped through the backlight onto the stage, and the audience once again chanted the name.
"Fang Xing! Fang Xing! Fang Xing..."
He Hao started the pre-performance interaction: "Fang Xing, I heard you are very confident about the song you're performing tonight."
Fang Xing nodded and replied, "I am indeed very confident."
He Hao continued, "I got some insider news from the directorial team. They said that the song for your performance this time features a children's choir backing vocal. Is that true?"
Fang Xing nodded and replied, "It's true. We did use a children's choir for the harmonies."
"As far as I know, this isn't the first time you've used a children's choir harmony. The last time with Ode to Young China, you won the audience's recognition. Do you have the confidence to achieve the same effect this time?" He Hao asked further.
"Of course," Fang Xing nodded in reply.
He Hao continued asking, "I also heard that the lyrics this time weren't written by you. So, who wrote the lyrics?"
Fang Xing answered with a serious tone, "The lyrics were written by Mr. Wen Yiduo."
He Hao instantly felt a surge of deep respect:
"Another piece of writing from a forefather. This makes me look forward to it even more. Can you tell the audience now what song you are going to sing?" He Hao asked.
"Song of the Seven Sons," Fang Xing slowly uttered the name of the song.
Song of the Seven Sons is a song with lyrics by Wen Yiduo, composition by Li Haiying, and originally sung by Rong Yunlin.
Originally, this song was a children's nursery rhyme, but it has been covered by many stars.
The artistic conception of this song is extremely profound, and the lyrics were written by Wen Yiduo.
Fang Xing had carefully considered whether or not to sing this song.
Because this song is actually a bit risky, but after much deliberation, he still decided to sing it.
Thus, he once again invited the Haining Children's Choir to help record the harmonies.
Hearing the name of the song, He Hao's tone also became solemn: "Then let us hand the stage over to Fang Xing and listen to this Song of the Seven Sons."

The venue fell quiet.
Fang Xing stood in the center of the stage, his feet slightly apart, standing straight.
With this stance, the atmosphere at the scene also turned solemn and majestic.
The band played the prelude, and the melodious melody echoed above the stage.
Fang Xing took a deep breath, raised the microphone, and began to sing:
Do you know Macau?
That is not my true surname.
I have left you for too long, Mother.
Yet what they carried away was my flesh and bones,
You still preserve the soul within my heart...
As soon as the first verse came out, the audience at the scene instantly felt a pang in their hearts.
This was a call to "Mother" uttered by a "wanderer" whose body had been plundered.
Not everyone in the audience had read Wen Yiduo's poem Song of the Seven Sons.
Some had read the poem and knew what it described,
Or they were audience members who knew what Macau meant.
Upon hearing this first verse, tears instantly burst forth.
This "wanderer" had been away from the hometown for too long—so long that oceans had turned into mulberry fields and the sun and moon had changed skies.
Merely at the first verse, some audience members began to shed tears, and the degree of loss of control was more severe than in any previous episode.
There were also some audience members present who did not know what Macau meant.
These bewildered viewers saw others around them bathed in tears, and their hearts were filled with confusion.
Unable to figure out what was going on, they couldn't help asking the tearful audience members: "What's wrong? Although this section sounds nice, it shouldn't be to this extent, right?"
If only one or two people were crying, it wouldn't seem strange.
However, scanning around, many audience members were constantly wiping away tears, as if someone had thrown a tear gas canister.
The tearful audience member looked at the questioner, waved a hand, and said, "Don't ask. Just keep listening. The lyrics will give you the answer shortly."
That bewildered viewer sensed that something might be amiss and quickly focused all attention on listening to the song.
Only to hear Fang Xing continue to sing:
Do you know Macau?
That is not my true surname.
I have left you for too long, Mother.
Yet what they carried away was my flesh and bones,
You still preserve the soul within my heart...
Oh, my birth mother, whom I have dreamed of and yearned for through three hundred years,
Please call your child by the infant name, call me Macau!
Mother, oh Mother,
I want to come back,
Mother,
Mother...
When the name "Macau" was uttered,
Those in the audience who initially didn't understand the meaning of the lyrics instantly realized what the song was about.
So this "wanderer" who had been plundered away had the true name "Macau."
Everything became clear.
This "wanderer" had been seized by foreign powers and separated from "Mother" for three hundred years.
That viewer who had just been asking questions felt their eye sockets instantly redden the moment they understood the song.
They no longer needed to ask other audience members why they were crying.
Because they, too, had become one of the weeping crowd, continuously wiping away tears with their sleeves.
What could possibly tug at the heartstrings of the children of the motherland more than the reunification of the country?
The audience at the scene was completely touched by this song.
Even middle-aged audience members, who rarely cried anymore, had red eye sockets, though they stubbornly held back from wiping the tears away.
The more emotional audience members wept endlessly.
On the stage,
Fang Xing continued to sing, and after the second chorus, it reached the final section.
This section used a children's chorus.
Clean, tender voices sang:
Do you know Macau?
That is not my true surname.
I want to come back, come back,
Mother...
This call seemed like the longing and appeal of that plundered "child" directed toward "Mother."
Even after three hundred years of being taken away, to this "child," he was still just a "child" in need of "Mother's" protection.
When the song ended, as the last piano note fell,
Many audience members at the scene had completely broken down in tears.

Not only the audience at the scene.
In the singer lounge hall, the singers who had finished their performances gathered together, each frantically wiping away tears.
Shen Xiyin held a tissue and pressed it against her eye sockets; even so, her makeup was slightly ruined.
Li Caiwei's eye makeup was likewise streaked with tears, and she pouted, saying, "How hateful. He should have told me in advance so I wouldn't wear eye makeup. Now it must look terrible."
Shen Xiyin chimed in, "Me too. I just couldn't help it."
Xie Yuwen slumped limply on the sofa: "You are truly ruthless. You beat me so badly I haven't a shred of fight left, and on top of that, you had to extract a wave of tears from me."
He turned to look at Li Caiwei and asked, "Didn't you hear him rehearse this song beforehand?"
Li Caiwei shook her head and replied, "No, he always rehearses alone. Besides, I had to practice my own songs, so I didn't go snooping around."
"This song is honestly a bit too much," Xie Yuwen said helplessly.
On the other side,
Liu Hongsheng sat in a corner of the sofa with a somewhat complicated expression.
He never expected Fang Xing to pull out such an ultimate move—a move that made people surrender heart and soul in utter defeat.
Singing Ode to Young China on Star of Tomorrow was already ruthless enough.
Now, singing Song of the Seven Sons on Singing Voice was even more ruthless than Ode to Young China, and by a massive margin.
Liu Hongsheng had originally harbored great ambitions of winning first place.
Every time, he fought with all his might to strive for it.
He firmly believed that Fang Xing would eventually have a slump.
Under normal circumstances, no one could remain this overwhelmingly strong forever.
At the very least, if he relaxed even a little bit, he would drop from first place.
Liu Hongsheng had been waiting for the moment when Fang Xing would let down his guard, and already being at the seventh episode, it was about time for him to reach the end of his tether.
Yet, who could have expected that in the seventh episode, such a nuclear-grade supreme bomb would be dropped?
How was anyone else supposed to compete with this song?
When Liu Hongsheng had just finished singing his own song, he still felt he had a shot at tonight's championship.
When Li Caiwei finished, he felt the championship tonight was a bit uncertain, but there was still a sliver of hope.
However, when Fang Xing finished singing Song of the Seven Sons,
He no longer harbored any delusions of taking first place.
When faced with a song like this, what was there to hope for?
Voluntarily conceding defeat was the right move.
Liu Hongsheng still had his wits about him; there was simply no need to compete tonight—just hand first place directly to Fang Xing and be done with it.
Trying to contend for it would be nothing short of overestimating oneself.
If the production team went out of their minds and gave first place to him, he would immediately announce his withdrawal from the competition.
Tonight, aside from Song of the Seven Sons, no one else deserved first place.
Other than Song of the Seven Sons, anyone else taking it would simply be asking for humiliation.
At this moment,
Liu Hongsheng no longer dared to put on airs as a Heavenly King. Facing this song, lowering his posture and prostrating himself in worship was the only correct path.
Xie Yuwen, sitting nearby, sighed and said, "It seems Fang Xing was still holding back his punches in the previous episodes. This episode is truly... a bit excessive."

On the stage,
After finishing his performance, Fang Xing took a few deep breaths to calm his emotions before bowing to the audience and turning to walk off the stage.
The audience at the scene raised hands that had been wiping tears and clapped desperately.
There were no shouts or cheers, only applause.
Every audience member was clapping in silence, as if any shout would be a sign of disrespect toward this song.
The thunderous applause caused the entire broadcast hall to buzz with vibrations.
This was the most enthusiastic round of applause in all seasons of Singing Voice.
And until Fang Xing disappeared at the end of the stage, the applause did not stop.
Until He Hao walked back onto the stage and began to persuade the audience: "Alright, your eye sockets are already red, so there's no need to turn your hands red from clapping too. I believe Fang Xing has already felt everyone's passion."
Fang Xing walked through the corridor and entered the singer lounge.
All the singers stood up and gathered around to welcome him: "I admire you! I am prostrating myself in utter admiration."
Even Liu Hongsheng stood up to greet him, offering sincere praise.
During the earlier episodes, due to the fierce competition between them,
Liu Hongsheng usually appeared very cold and had never stood up to offer praise.
Yet, this time his praise was sincere, because in front of this song, he was not worthy of remaining seated.
"You flatter me, you flatter me..."
Fang Xing returned the bows one by one and said, "Actually, I was very nervous while singing, worrying that if I didn't perform well, this would become a stain on my career for life."
"No, you sang too well. It has never been this good..."
Shen Xiyin pointed at her eyes and said, "Look at my eye makeup; it's all your fault, completely ruined by my tears. And I didn't even dare to go touch it up. Now that you're back down, can I go to the restroom?"
"I used to think you were amazing, but now I admire you from the bottom of my heart. I need to go to the restroom too. Xiyin, let's not touch up our makeup; we might as well just wash the eye makeup off." Li Caiwei held up two thumbs and then went to the restroom with Shen Xiyin to remove their makeup.
Fang Xing was the last singer to appear, so after his performance concluded,
The program team began arranging for the audience judges at the scene to vote, tallying the votes, and preparing to announce the results.