I'm Really a Superstar

The second recording studio backstage was actually located very far away from the stage in the main recording studio. They were joined by a maze of walls and doors. Logically, the sounds should not escape from the main recording studio, even more so into the second recording studio. But at this moment, the program team’s staff working at the backstage area were stunned to discover that they could hear the sound of cheering coming from the main recording studio. It was even a thunderous amount of cheering!

“What happened?”

“Did something happen out there?”

“Why is it so loud?”

“What’s happening in the main recording studio?”

Most of these staff members here were only handling logistics for the program, so they basically had no idea of what was happening at the stage but felt something must have happened since the commotion was huge.

……

In the second recording studio.

Zhang Ye also heard the rapturous applause and cheers from the door behind him. He too was very excited. “They’ve turned! All four coaches have turned around! He’s done it! Little Qian has done it!”

Pingfan’s father did not understand what was going on. “What is this about?”

Zhang Ye said, “That means all four coaches want your son to join their teams!”

His mother’s was getting teary-eyed. “They feel that our son…our son sang well?”

Zhang Ye said, “That’s right! Just listen to the cheers from the studio. All of that is for Little Qian!”

His mother’s lips were trembling. “But our son’s voice…he…in the past, many people constantly made fun of him. They…have always despised him!”

“I don’t know about his past, but I know that right now, there are a few hundred audience members and coaches who do not despise him!” Zhang Ye pointed at the TV for the old couple. “Listen to that, does that sound like ridiculing? Look at that, do those look like reactions from hearing a joke? Little Qian’s voice is indeed different from most people’s, but I guarantee that this difference does not mean that he’s worse off than other people. On the contrary, this difference is what makes him outstanding! Little Qian sang incredibly! Your son is definitely not worse off than anyone!”

His mother wiped her tears away.

His father clenched his fist, touched.

…….

Onstage.

The music gradually came to a stop.

The applause came wave after wave, becoming louder and louder!

Qian Pingfan caught his breath and lowered the microphone, then looked at the passionate audience and the four coaches who looked like they were very inspired. His confident self when performing the song earlier suddenly crumbled. All of a sudden, he had become that nervous wreck again from before he went up on stage. He couldn’t help it; these four coaches were all big shots. He could not see them when he was singing since their backs were facing him, but now that all of them had turned around, and with the sharp screams from the audience, Qian Pingfan didn’t know what to do. He raised his hands, then put them down, then raised them again, not knowing where he should place them. But he knew one thing! The four coaches had all turned around for him. The audience also did not give him strange looks because of his voice!

Qian Pingfan tightly gripped the microphone and said, “I…I…”

He did not say anything besides “I” repeatedly. From the audience, another round of shouting began!

“It’s too good!”

“So good I’m crying!”

“Awesome!”

“Ahhh!”

“I really like this voice a lot!”

“It was sung even better than a woman!”

The audience was too passionate!

Zhang Xia did not wait for Qian Pingfan to introduce himself and impatiently asked, “Son, you’re really great! You’ve surprised all of us! I’ve been in this business for over 40 years, but I’ve never heard a man sing a woman’s song in a more womanly way than a woman could. I do not mean this in the bad way, it’s just that your voice is incredibly special! You singing is also too outstanding! Every word of the lyrics, especially at the end of each line, carried feeling and emotion. It was very moving!”

Fan Wenli exhaled and said, “I need to calm my nerves first. You’ve given me a great shock, given us all a shock. Your voice is totally indescribable with words!”

Chen Guang kept repeating the same word: “Unbelievable!”

Zhang Yuanqi laughed. “How about we do this: let’s let the coaches and audience calm down first while you introduce yourself?”

Qian Pingfan immediately answered, “My name is Qian Pingfan.”

Fan Wenli said, “I’m very curious why you’re dressed that way today.”

He was wearing old and worn clothes that were torn, and to Fan Wenli, this did not match up with this contestant’s voice and singing ability. It felt like he was trying to create a buzz on purpose by making himself look very pitiful. Could it be that this attire and fashion had some sort of a special meaning to the contestant?

Qian Pingfan replied, “This is what…I usually wear.”

“Oh? What’s your profession?” Zhang Yuanqi asked.

Qian Pingfan scratched his head. “I repair bicycles.”

What?

Repair bicycles?

That’s impossible!

Chen Guang said, “Little Qian, you better not be joking.”

Qian Pingfan said, “I’m not joking.”

Zhang Xia also doubted this and inquired, “How many years have you been repairing bicycles? When did you get into this line of work? Where do you work? We can investigate all of your claims.”

Qian Pingfan answered, “I’ve been doing it for several years. I started learning from my master. Later on, I could repair them myself. I work at Lishuiqiao Station.”

Zhang Xia sucked in a breath. “You’re really a bicycle repairman?”

Qian Pingfan said, “I really am!”

The audience also nearly fainted at this reply. What the f**k!

Fan Wenli was a little unsure of what to say. “Just based that singing of yours, there aren’t many people who graduated from a university majoring in music that can do better than you. If you told us that you were a music teacher, we would have believed you too!”

Qian Pingfan was very flattered but quickly waved it off. “No, no, I’ve never been to a university before.”

Chen Guang threw his hands up. “I have nothing to say to that. This is truly unbelievable!”

Zhang Yuanqi looked at him and laughed. “How many times have you already said ‘unbelievable’?”

Chen Guang sighed. “But really, it’s unbelievable!” He said it again!

The audience laughed.

Fan Wenli blinked, then said to Qian Pingfan, “But from the way you speak, you sound normal, so why did you sing with such a voice? Did you purposely impersonate a woman’s voice? Was that imitation?”

Zhang Yuanqi finally said something. “That wasn’t imitation.”

“Oh?” Fan Wenli looked at her.

Zhang Xia said, “That’s what he originally sounded like?”

Chen Guang also looked toward Zhang Yuanqi, not knowing why she could be so sure that he wasn’t imitation.

Zhang Yuanqi said, “If I’m not wrong, Little Qian’s singing voice should be his natural voice, the one that he doesn’t control. Instead, it’s his speaking voice that he is changing, purposefully lowering his tone by a lot.”

Fan Wenli appeared deep in thought. “Is that so?”

Chen Guang said, “That means that in his everyday life, whenever he speaks, he purposely controls his voice? Surely not, right? Wouldn’t that would be too tiring?”

Zhang Yuanqi explained to them, but mainly more for the audience, “At the beginning, it might be tiring, but after some time, it would become a habit instead. Let me illustrate with an example. If a person with the same genes grows up in either Beijing or Shanghai, they will definitely speak differently. Everyone knows that when Shanghainese people speak, their pronunciation and tone is slightly higher pitched, especially women. That is what everyone knows as the ‘flirty’ tone, which is really just a slightly higher inflection in speech. Meanwhile, Beijingers speak in a more ‘abrasive’ manner. If you listen to Zhang Ye speaking, you’d know what I mean. The spoken language in Beijing goes downwards in inflection more often. All of this goes to show that the differences in a spoken language is affected by the location and dialect practices, and not down to the genes or the natural voice.”

Saying that, Zhang Yuanqi used two styles of speaking to illustrate.

“Like for this sound.” — a very sharp way of speaking.

“And like this.” — which sounded very low and deep.

Zhang Yuanqi said, “Personally, I can produce many types of intonation when I speak, so if I speak with one of these styles for many years, my natural way of talking will become that way. This is why a voice can be easily molded with practice.” After she said that, she paused for a moment then continued, “However, no matter how much practice you have, your voice will not change too much at any particular time unless the vocal cords are damaged. My analysis is that Little Qian’s voice did not break at puberty or that it came and went very quickly, thus causing him to still keep his prepubescent voice. When all the other boys’ voices broke, his did not change much and that is why we have the fortune of listening to such an ethereal feminine voice. This should be the most natural state of Little Qian’s voice that can’t be covered up even if he forced his voice lower, like he does when he speaks.”

Qian Pingfan gave a hollow laugh.

Zhang Yuanqi said, “Can you talk to us in your most natural voice?”

Qian Pingfan was feeling a little embarrassed, but after considering for a bit, he used his most neutral voice to say, “Uhh, will this do?”

His voice was immediately distinct from before. If anyone looked at him while he spoke, they might find his voice to be weird, but if their eyes were closed and they did not know the speaker’s gender, 9 out 10 people would think that it was a woman talking to them. This voice that Qian Pingfan spoke with was clearly closer to the voice that he had used to sing.

Fan Wenli was astounded. “That’s your real voice?”

Qian Pingfan scratched his ear and said, “It has always been. When everyone else at school had their voices change, mine didn’t, so I was always made fun of by others. Later, I began to purposely lower my tone and learned to speak like them, but when it came to singing, I wasn’t able to control it that way. I didn’t know how to lower my pitch while singing, so that’s why I have never sung in front of anyone before. I’ve always sung to myself with my MP3 player.”

Zhang Yuanqi smiled and said, “Look, I’m still the one who understand you best, right?”

Qian Pingfan was also convinced that his little secret was immediately seen through by Zhang Yuanq and how he couldn’t hide it from her. Everyone else always thought that he had imitated a girl’s voice instead.

“That is why,” Zhang Yuanqi laughed, “If you don’t join my team, would you feel right?”

Hearing this, Zhang Xia realized something was wrong, so she quickly interrupted, “Ay, ay, ay, we’re not at the taking of the contestant segment yet, are we?”

Chen Guang also said, “Yeah, Sister Zhang, we’re still trying to understand the contestant’s situation, so why did you start pulling for him to join your team? Even if we’re allowed to start doing so, I should be the first one to do that. I was the first one who turned around after all.”

Fan Wenli promptly said, “Little Qian, come to my team, I will use all of my resources to help nurture you, then together, I will lead you and my team to become the champion!”

Zhang Yuanqi reacted to that.

A commotion broke out in the audience!

Ah?

Become the champion?

Isn’t that too too high of an evaluation!

Qian Pingfan also felt at embarrassed by this. “Ah!” Champion? He did not even have the expectation that the coaches would turn around for him, much less winning the competition!

Zhang Xia laughed. “Wenli, we’re still in the blind auditions!”

Chen Guang rubbed it in by uttering, “Hur hur, just let Wenli continue dreaming, let’s not wake her up.”

Fan Wenli: “…”

The audience was all laughing at this when the couple started their bickering again. These two better not get divorced after just one episode of recording The Voice!

Zhang Xia said, “Little Qian, you ought to think properly. My team is not well-rounded yet, but Chen Guang and Wenli’s teams already have all the big guns, so if you join my team, you’d definitely be my trump card. Didn’t Wenli say that she would get you the championship? If you come and join me, then I have the confidence to say that I can also win us the championship!”

Zhang Yuanqi again reacted to this. She grinned and remarked, “Are we already in the finals of the competition? Are we already deciding who the champion should be!?”

Qian Pingfan quickly said, “I didn’t sing that well, really, I didn’t!”

Some people would be modest, but those words from Qian Pingfan were definitely not humble. He had only joined The Voice’s preliminary auditions by chance. After he had an argument with his master one day, he threw a tantrum and skipped work. He coincidentally saw the poster calling for The Voice’s auditions on the same day, so he submitted his demo and application, but he never expected that he would be called for an audition the very next day. When no one gave him a chance, Zhang Ye went against everyone else to let him pass the audition and even supervised Qian Pingfan’s rehearsals all this while. Having been through all that, he could finally stand here on this stage! Qian Pingfan knew that his future all depended on this moment, or perhaps it had already changed.

The audience also felt that life was like a drama. No one had any expectations for this laborer, but he had now become the apple of everyone’s eye. All the coaches were trying all sorts of tricks to grab this contestant for their teams, and the audience was getting a kick out of watching it all!

Chen Guang and his wife once again had another great battle!

Both Zhang Yuanqi and Zhang Xia who were good friends despite their age also fought over it!

In the end, the situation nearly got out of control as Fan Wenli ran up directly onto the stage. “Little Qian, I don’t need you to come over, I will go over instead. I will wait for you here!”

Chen Guang also came to the stage. “I will wait for you too!”

Seeing that, Zhang Xia also stepped up and went to Qian Pingfan. “Although my legs aren’t what they once were due to age, for the sake of winning the championship, I too must come forward!”

Qian Pingfan was feeling extremely embarrassed at this point and did not know what to do!

Only Zhang Yuanqi still remained in her coach chair. “Little Qian, make a decision! Don’t get pressured by those around you. Just follow your heart and feelings and make your decision!”

The coaches all stopped talking.

The rest of the place was totally quiet as the audience all waited for Qian Pingfan to make his choice. This person was slated to be a key contestant and whoever got him into their team might really end up as the champion!

Qian Pingfan was conflicted as hell. “I, I thought about…” After struggling for a long time, Qian Pingfan finally clenched his teeth, knowing that he had to make a decision and couldn’t drag his feet any longer. “After I passed the preliminary auditions, when the staff was getting me to fill out a questionnaire, there was a question that asked: should the four coaches choose me, who would be the first person I would choose, the second person, the third, and the fourth!”

Everyone concentrated.

Qian Pingfan took a deep breath and declared loudly, “The names I filled in were—Zhang Yuanqi! Zhang Yuanqi! Zhang Yuanqi! Zhang Yuanqi!!!”

The audience cheered loudly!

Zhang Yuanqi snapped her fingers and laughed loudly! “Come on then! I’ve been waiting for you!”

Zhang Xia sighed, giving an expression of regret and a bitter smile!

Chen Guang also felt that it was unfortunate that he was unable to get a good contestant like this to join him. There was no way he could do it. He was up against the Heavenly Queen after all!

Qian Pingfan had written all four coaches names as Zhang Yuanqi? The song that he chose to perform for the competition was also Zhang Yuanqi’s “Wishing We Last Forever”? Perhaps this segment of the contestant choosing the coaches had already been decided from the beginning. Even if they had tried to take him from Zhang Yuanqi, no matter how much they said, it was probably all for nothing!

Qian Pingfan immediately ran over and disclosed, “I-I really like you a lot, Teacher Zhang Yuanqi. I am your hardcore fan. Last year, I saved up two months of my wages wanting to watch your concert, but the tickets were sold out, so I have always had some regrets!”

Zhang Yuanqi laughed. “From now on, you won’t need a ticket to watch my concert. Just come, just watch, just listen anytime you want. Listen until you’re disgusted!”

Qian Pingfan was surprised. “Is that really OK?”

Zhang Yuanqi said, “Do you think my words mean nothing?”

“Thank you, Teacher Zhang!” In this instance, Qian Pingfan was fully satisfied. He felt that life was really too wonderful!

At this moment, a small incident happened. The cameras also managed to catch Fan Wenli and gave her a feature.

Fan Wenli was bitterly laughing and looking depressed. She was wiping the tears away from the corners of her eyes, dejectedly saying, “Why am I always the one who gets hurt!”

Zhang Yuanqi said to Qian Pingfan, “Look at that, Teacher Fan Wenli is even crying for you.”

Zhang Xia laughed while patting Fan Wenli’s back.

Qian Pingfan was feeling extremely anxious by now, so he rushed over to her. “Teacher Fan, I, I…”

Fan Wenli said annoyed, “I like you so much! Why didn’t you choose me instead?!”

Qian Pingfan did not know how to reply and was about to cry from anxiety.

Fan Wenli said, “You still have a chance to change your decision, you should choose again.”

Qian Pingfan: “…”

Zhang Yuanqi playfully said, “Wenli, don’t be shameless and try to take my team member away.”

Fan Wenli laughed bitterly. “But I really like him so much!”

Chen Guang said, “Yes, he really sang very well!”

The matter was decided and Fan Wenli did not say anymore. She gave Qian Pingfan a hug and said, “Do well and learn a lot from Sister Zhang. In the future, when I hold my concerts, I will definitely look for you to be my guest!”

Qian Pingfan immediately said, “Thank you, Teacher Fan, thank you!”

Eventually, with the audience clapping and cheering, Qian Pingfan went through the qualified contestant’s corridor to the backstage. At this moment, he was finally showing his unsubdued excitement. He threw out his arms with all his strength and raise them into the air to express the joy that he felt!

……

Backstage.

Qian Pingfan pushed open the door and went inside.

His father called out, “Son!”

Qian Pingfan said, “Father, Mother, Sister Zhang has chosen me! I did it!”

His mother wiped her tears away and said, “We saw it too! Good! You’ve done great!”

Qian Pingfan and his parents were not people who were good with expressing themselves. The three of them stood there talking but there was no hugging at all.

Seeing that, Zhang Ye smiled and went over to give Qian Pingfan a hug. “Congratulations, Little Qian. Well done!”

Qian Pingfan quickly said, “Thank you, Teacher Zhang! Thank you so much!”

Zhang Ye said, “It has nothing to do with me, you did it by singing well.”

However, Qian Pingfan knew that it was due to Zhang Ye that he had made it this far. It was because Zhang Ye had discovered and acknowledged him. During the preliminary auditions, when none of the staff of The Voice’s program team acknowledged him, it was Zhang Ye who stood forward to acknowledge him with explanation. He did not care about other’s opinions and insisted that Pingfan be allowed to go through the auditions. Now, he even fully trusted him to be the finale in the first episode’s recording and never once doubted him or thought that he wouldn’t be able to sing. This trust given made Qian Pingfan feel very grateful!

To Qian Pingfan, if not for Zhang Ye, he knew that he wouldn’t be standing here today!

It was Zhang Ye who had given him the first chance of his life to prove himself!