ryethenovel Chapter 79: Mice Love Rice Ignites the Entire Audience
Chapter 79: Mice Love Rice Ignites the Entire Audience
Sunday evening, the auditorium was packed again. Today was Yang Chengang's special performance at the Campus Folk Song Festival.
With the positive feedback from Tang Lei's special show the previous night, the audience arrived even earlier tonight, and the atmosphere was even more enthusiastic.
The stage backdrop was changed to a more lively cartoon style with patterns of mice and rice, giving it a playful feel.
Gan Xiaoyu is still the host, and she specifically mentioned during her transitions:
"Last night, Mr. Tang Lei called on everyone to support original works and protect creative expression. Tonight, let's respond to this call by taking concrete actions to listen to and support an outstanding original musician. Please welcome Yang Chengang!"
The audience erupted in enthusiastic applause.
Yang Chengang walked onto the stage carrying his guitar. He was younger than Tang Lei, wearing a plaid shirt, with slightly curly hair, and looked like a shy college student.
He appeared slightly nervous facing the sea of people and the flashing glow sticks in the audience.
"Hello everyone, I am Yang Chengang."
He adjusted the guitar strap, took a deep breath, and pressed his fingers onto the strings.
The intro is a simple chord progression, light and humorous. He began to sing the first line:
"I heard your voice, and it gave me a special feeling..."
The voice is clear and bright, the lyrics are straightforward, and the melody is simple and catchy.
"It keeps me thinking about you, I dare not forget you again..."
Up to this point in the song, everything was going smoothly. But when he was about to start the next verse, his mind suddenly went blank.
The guitar accompaniment continued, but the vocals stopped.
Yang Chengang's face immediately turned red. He opened his mouth but no sound came out, and a look of panic flashed in his eyes.
He tried to look down at the guitar fretboard, but his fingers froze. The audience gradually quieted down, and everyone was watching him.
"Oh no." Xu Qiang whispered from the side of the curtain, "Did he forget his lines?"
Lin Feng was also surprised that Yang Chengang was so nervous that he forgot his lines.
Just then, from the middle of the audience, a boy's voice began to hum: "...I remember someone who will always remain in my heart?"
The voice wasn't loud, but Yang Chengang heard it clearly.
From another direction, a female voice chimed in: "Even if all I can do is think of you like this..."
Then, the third and fourth voices joined in, like scattered sparks, quickly merging into one:
"If one day, my ideal of love could truly come true..."
The sounds, which started out sparse, quickly converged and amplified, turning into a large chorus spontaneously performed by the audience!
Although the tunes were a bit off, the warm and friendly energy instantly dispelled the awkwardness and tension on stage.
Yang Chengang's face was still flushed, but the panic in his eyes quickly subsided.
His fingers found their place on the strings again, and the guitar accompaniment became smooth again, following the rhythm of the chorus.
Yang Chengang finally found his voice and rhythm. He quickly continued, "I love you, I love you like a mouse loves rice..."
As the chorus ended, Yang Chengang, his voice slightly choked, spoke into the microphone: "Thank you... thank you everyone!"
"This song is called 'Mice Love Rice,'" he continued, his tone much more natural. "It's very simple, but it perfectly expresses the simplest and most direct feelings I wanted to convey. Now, I'd like everyone to sing along with me, okay?"
"Great!" came the thunderous response.
The second time the song was sung, Yang Chengang led the entire audience in a sing-along, and the sound of the entire audience became unified and loud.
Yang Chengang completely relaxed, and he sang the chorus clearly again: "I love you, I love you, like a mouse loves rice..."
These simple, even somewhat "rustic" lyrics were surprisingly infectious and had a comedic effect at that moment. Many people in the audience sang and laughed, and the atmosphere became exceptionally harmonious.
When the music ended, the applause and cheers were deafening, more than ten times more enthusiastic than at the beginning.
The "accident" just now did not cause a lull in the atmosphere; instead, it became a wonderful opportunity to bring the singer and the audience closer together.
Yang Chengang's eyes were a little red. He cleared his throat forcefully and bowed deeply to the audience. "Thank you... really, thank you so much. I was so nervous just now."
The audience erupted in even louder applause and cheers.
The time that followed was completely transformed into a sea of joy.
Yang Chengang sang two more of his original songs, and finally sang "Mice Love Rice" one last time.
When the intro to this song starts again, without any prompting, the entire audience automatically starts singing along.
This time, Yang Chengang was no longer nervous. He was completely immersed in it, even swaying gently to the rhythm.
As he sang with deep emotion, looking at the lights from his cell phones shining for him in the audience, and at the young faces singing loudly along with him, his eyes welled up with tears again, glistening under the stage lights.
The performance ended with a thunderous chorus. Yang Chengang bowed repeatedly and left the stage amidst enthusiastic applause.
The students, still full of enthusiasm, many humming the tune of "Mice Love Rice," poured out of the auditorium.
Then they saw an even more spectacular sight outside the auditorium than the night before.
A long, winding queue formed in front of the "Ringtone Experience Station" set up by Xunji Audio in partnership with China Mobile, almost circling half of the square.
The ten demo machines were packed with people, and the three staff members originally assigned to them were simply not enough to keep up.
"I want to download 'Mice Love Rice' as my ringtone!"
"I need to download 'Lilac Flower'! I forgot last night."
"How do I set this up? Please teach me!"
"Excuse me, can you check if my phone model is compatible?"
There was a lot of discussion in the group; almost everyone was talking about the performance and that "addictive" song.
Tan Zhao was in charge of maintaining order at the scene. Seeing that the crowd was growing, he quickly ran to get reinforcements. Soon, Wang Peng and the core members of the Digital Music Club were brought in to help, and Shen Jingyi and Su Wan also joined the team of guides and commentators.
Manager Zhang from Xun Jieyin was talking to Lin Feng in the auditorium when he heard the commotion outside. He came out and was startled.
He immediately called all his entourage to go and provide support, and also urgently coordinated with China Mobile to send two more on-site consultants.
Even so, the queue was moving slowly. The download server experienced brief congestion, causing some users' download requests to fail or be delayed.
"Manager Zhang, there are too many people, the system can't handle it, the download failure rate is rising!" Wang Peng shouted, sticking his head out from behind a computer, his forehead already beaded with sweat.
"Can you optimize it? Prioritize the download process; other secondary page requests can be postponed," Lin Feng said quickly.
"I'll give it a try!" Wang Peng immediately sat back down at the computer, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
The staff at XunJie Audio were familiar with the backend of this download system and quickly adjusted the priority of the request queue, temporarily restricting non-core access.
Five minutes later, the download success rate rebounded significantly, and the team moved forward at a faster pace.
Manager Zhang looked at the lively scene before him, his face beaming with barely suppressed joy. He walked over to Lin Feng and patted him on the shoulder.
"Mr. Lin, the second song you recommended for signing, 'Mice Love Rice,' is a hit again! I'm truly impressed!"
Lin Feng gave an OK sign and replied with a "GG" (good luck) phrase: "Trust me, it's definitely true!"
Manager Zhang glanced at the still long queue and the constantly updated download data, and made a decision on the spot.
"Mr. Lin, our cooperation can be further deepened. We at Xunji Audio are willing to establish a strategic partnership with your Fengchi Digital Studio and Digital Music Club."
In the first batch, we will select no more than five groups from the outstanding original artists of this folk music festival. We will provide them with professional recording studio resources, production support, and certain promotional resources to help them create and release official singles or mini-albums! What do you think?
Lin Feng's eyes lit up. This was a big step forward from the originally expected simple broadcasting rights cooperation.
"That's fantastic, Manager Zhang! This is an amazing opportunity for campus musicians! On behalf of all the participating students, I thank XunJie for their support!"
"Mutual benefit and win-win!" Manager Zhang said with a smile, looking at the numbers still rapidly changing on the screen.
"Look at this popularity! The number of ringtone orders for 'Mice Love Rice' tonight is likely to break our platform's single-day record for this month! And this is just one school!"
His prediction was confirmed as the event drew to a close that evening.
Back-end statistics show that at the Xichuan University of Technology event alone, the number of "Mice Love Rice" ringtone orders directly generated through the experience station exceeded 10,000.
The download volume of "Lilac Flower" was also boosted again, increasing significantly.
"Go all in!" Manager Zhang said excitedly to Lin Feng, looking at the data. "Next time we hold a campus folk music festival event, we'll double the technical support and experience equipment! We must seize this momentum!"
Late at night, the crowd dispersed.
Xu Qiang, Wang Peng, and the others were so exhausted they almost collapsed. Lin Feng was checking the equipment when Yang Chengang came over. He had shed his stage excitement and returned to his slightly shy demeanor.
"Brother Lin, thank you so much for today. Without everyone's support, I would have been so embarrassed..." He scratched his head sheepishly, remembering how he forgot his lines at the beginning.
"It's because you sing well, and the song is good too," Lin Feng reassured him. "Everyone genuinely likes it. Tonight's ringtone download data is the best proof."
Yang Chengang looked at the long queue that had formed at the ringback tone experience station, nodded, and regained much of his confidence.
"I will continue to write and sing songs well."
"Okay." Lin Feng smiled. "Get some rest first. There's a lot more to do tomorrow."