Chapter 97: Fireworks Fade Easily

Moonlit Snow was written by Vincent Fang, arranged by Yoon-Hsuan Huang, and composed and performed by Jay Chou. It appears on Chou’s 2010 album, The Era, and won the 2010 BJ Popular Music Ceremony Gold Song of the Year award.

The song’s story draws from A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Luoyang, written by Yang Xuanzhi of the Northern Wei. It tells of a general stationed in Luoyang during the reign of Emperor Wen of Liu Song. While guarding the city, he meets a young woman there. They fall in love at first sight and privately vow to spend their lives together. Not long after, the Northern Wei invade, and the general is ordered to go to war. At parting, he takes the woman’s hand and says, “When I return victorious, I will make you my wife...”

They say farewell with reluctance. The woman waits by the city gate, watching the general ride off to battle, growing farther and farther away...

The war rages on for years. The land is torn by chaos, soldiers and horses everywhere, and Luoyang falls into ruins amid the flames of war. After waiting in vain for the general, the woman finally enters a Buddhist convent and becomes a nun. When the general returns from the battlefield and seeks her at the ancient temple where she took vows, she has already passed away. The people tell him that a woman had been waiting there for him all along.

It is a sorrowful and beautiful story, and all of it is woven into this song. Because of that story, the song also has another name: Rain at the Temple.

...

Many singers have covered this song over the years.

Among them, Chris Lee’s version on I Am a Singer has a deep, rich vocal quality and is exceptionally beautiful.

Chris Lee’s singing skill ranks among the very best in Chinese pop music. It is said that in the recording studio, he can finish a song in a single take.

Because his live performances and studio recordings are at the same level, people even joke that he is a singing machine with no feelings.

In addition, Zhou Shen also performed this song on The Sound of My Voice, and his ethereal, crystal-clear high notes are well worth hearing.

For this performance stage,

Fang Xing blended two versions to showcase Lu Ming’s vocal characteristics.

In the second chorus, he added Zhou Shen’s version as the upper harmony, to be sung by Lu Ming.

On the livestream screen,

the lights dimmed.

The production crew pushed the stage props onto the platform.

Fang Xing’s six-member team took their places around the large set piece.

The introduction of Moonlit Snow began.

A spotlight fell on Shao Yu. The special effects on the giant screen, combined with the stage props, created the image of an ancient temple.

Shao Yu stood at the temple gate and sang the opening verse:

“The sounds of splendor sink into the monk’s gate, hurting the hearts of mortals.
“Dreams grow cold; through a wandering life, how many debts of love remain.
“If you silently accept this, then life and death are only endless waiting.
“Waiting through one ring of years after another...”

Then Guo Keda walked across a wooden bridge and took up the melody, singing the second half of the verse:

“The pagoda’s tower, how many tiers have fallen; whose soul has been shattered.
“Pain rushes straight to a dying lamp, to the collapsing mountain gate.
“Allow me to wait a little longer, until history turns its face.
“Wait for the wine to mellow, wait for you to play a zither piece...”

Here the melody struck a heavy accent, the pitch rose, and the song entered its soaring chorus.

Fang Xing raised the microphone and sang in a voice full of magnetism:

“Rain falls in sheets, the old homeland is overgrown with grass and trees.
“I have heard you have always been alone.
“The mottled city gate is coiled around by old tree roots.
“What echoes on the stone slabs is: keep waiting...”

In the latter half of the chorus, Li Wenbin, Hu Chenglin, and the others joined in.

With a voice rich in warmth and breadth, Fang Xing carried their harmonies.

The layered vocals were deep and powerful, like wave after wave of bells and drums resonating in the listeners’ ears.

“Rain falls in sheets, the old homeland is overgrown with grass and trees.
“I have heard you still guard that lonely city.
“The shepherd’s flute sounds beyond the city walls, falling upon that wild village.
“Fate takes root in the earth; it is us...”

The song was not yet over. The first chorus ended, giving way to an instrumental break.

A collective gasp rose from the audience. They wanted to cheer, yet feared breaking the song’s atmosphere.

Those watching the livestream widened their eyes and leaned in to listen.

The scrolling comments from the shameless netizens began to flood the screen:

“Why was there no high-energy warning?”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me to put on my Sennheisers?”

“This song is amazing!”

“Professional verdict: A4 quality, flawless vocals, explosive timbre.”

“The atmosphere is incredible!”

“Fine, the rest doesn’t need to be sung. Even if it is, I won’t listen. I’m replaying this one.”

“Well, that’s awkward. Wu Junchen was planning to close the show, but he’s been completely outshone.”

“Are you people in too much of a rush? At least wait until the song is over, would you? Haven’t you noticed? Lu Ming still hasn’t sung a word.”

“Now that you mention it, Lu Ming has been sitting in the pavilion on the stage set the whole time and hasn’t opened his mouth once.”

“If that’s the case, I already sense what’s coming.”

“High-energy warning!”

“All departments put on your headphones and brace for impact!”

Amid the flood of high-energy warnings, the song entered the second chorus.

Just as the audience had expected, the melody rose even higher.

Lu Ming stood up and began singing the high-register chorus.

During the final rap section by Guo Keda, Lu Ming joined in with a soaring line of five ultra-high notes, his voice shooting into the clouds: “Ah...”

Then the song entered its final passage. The accompaniment softened, fully revealing the singer’s voice.

“The shepherd’s flute sounds beyond the city walls, falling upon that wild village.
“Fate takes root in the earth, it is us.
“Fate takes root in the earth, it is us.
“At the Rain-Listening Temple, hearing the rain, we hope for eternity.”

When the song ended, the venue remained silent.

The audience had been so entranced that they worried there might still be more to come, and that shouting now would spoil the whole performance.

Only when Fang Xing beckoned to his teammates and they bowed to the audience together did the hall erupt in thunderous applause.

At the same moment, the livestream comments exploded as well:

“Unbelievably good!”

“I thought Red Lute was already amazing, but I never expected this one to be just as good.”

“This song isn’t merely beautiful. I think the lyrics are even more exquisite. It must be telling a deeply tragic story. When will Fang Xing reveal the background?”

“Composition, lyrics, and vocals are all unbeatable.”

“Fang Xing was absolutely right before: once Moonlit Snow is over, whether the other teams sing or not no longer matters.”

“Fang Xing is just too ruthless. How is anyone supposed to sing after this?”

“Exactly. What was that first team singing again? I’ve already forgotten. The second team... maybe they don’t need to come out.”

“Who set this challenge? To let Fang Xing unleash a trump card like this, and twice over at that.”

“Wasn’t this challenge tailor-made for Fang Xing by the production team?”

“Come on. Tide Sound Culture is an investor in the show and also holds the management rights for the restricted group. If you ask me whether they had a hand in this challenge, I don’t buy for a second that they didn’t.”

“I’ll give you a few keywords. Look them up and you’ll know the inside story: Tide Sound Culture, Li Yucheng, period-style single.”

The comments began to argue.

Some conspiracy-minded viewers believed the challenge was rigged and that the production team was favoring Fang Xing.

Others felt that if Tide Sound Culture had chosen the challenge themselves, they had simply been beaten so thoroughly they could not even protest.