Chapter 147: Everyone High and Happy

Su Tong was singing the Chinese version of "Opera 2". Perhaps due to first impressions, no one felt any sense of discord. Compared to the time of the League of Legends fans or the Minzu University freshman welcome gala, people even felt this version was better.

An explosion of warm applause and cheers erupted throughout the entire venue. After the dolphin pitch, as Su Tong started singing the lyrics again, many audience members shouted out, wanting to listen to it all over again.

Remaining poised and unruffled by the audience, Su Tong sang on, line by line.

"The house is built, yet desolate,
The one inside is all alone.
The door slams shut behind me,
The autumn wind taps against the window,
Weeping mournfully for me.
This is destiny,
I cannot plead.
All I know is,
Following me,
Is the endless wind..."

After singing this part, Su Tong once again spread his legs apart, striking an overwhelmingly dashing pose.

"Aww-aww..."
"Roar-roar..."

These were not Su Tong's vocals, but the screams of hundreds of audience members at the scene.

This posture made it abundantly clear that Su Tong's soulful vibrato was about to appear once more.

The viewers in front of their televisions might not have numbered in the hundreds of millions, but there must have been tens of millions of them. At this moment, nearly all of them held their breath, waiting for a legend to unfold.

"Ooh-ah~~~"

Oh, the audience was intoxicated, hyped, and blown away.

Hearing Su Tong's soulful high notes for the first time, people either dropped their jaws or clapped their hands over their heads in disbelief. The second time left them hyped, and the third time pushed that hype to its absolute peak.

This time, four consecutive climaxes sent both the live audience and the viewers in front of their screens soaring up to the clouds.

Before wrapping up work today, everyone in the crew of *iQiyi Apartment* had been reminded that Su Tong would be performing on The Voice tonight, so many of them stayed glued to their TV sets.

"Oh my god."
"Director Su is defying the heavens."
"Is Director Su even human? I knew he could sing, but I had no idea he could sing *this* well."
"How many people in Great Qin can hit soul-stirring high notes like that?"
"Forget the whole of Great Qin, talk about the entire world—do you think any of those four mentors sitting in the revolving chairs could belt out a pitch that high?"
"Yeah, yeah, you can't find a handful of people in the entire world who can interpret this song. I surrender."
"Director Su, you're too inhuman. How are ordinary, useless people like us supposed to live?"
"..."

In the crew's group chat, a bunch of people were yelling and shouting.

Everyone held Su Tong in high respect now. It wasn't because he was the director and an investor, but because his sheer competence had won them over.

Of course, his singing and songwriting skills were merely the icing on the cake in the eyes of the crew; what truly conquered them were his directing, cinematography, and acting abilities.

The crew members were almost all current college students with limited capabilities. It was Su Tong who imparted his experience bit by bit, and after more than a week of guidance, everyone had improved immensely.

Su Tong's strictness was actually out of necessity. Without establishing prestige, how could a half-baked crew ever shoot *iQiyi Apartment*?

Facts proved that the results were exceptionally good.

Although Yang Feifei and Lin Yin had suffered quite a few grievances, they had no choice but to agree and admire Su Tong's formidable drive and courage.

"Sister Ya, I won't let you down. When the time comes, I'll make those in Qin Huang who opposed filming *iQiyi Apartment* regret it to their bones." Su Tong had said this to Sister Ya on the very first night the crew was established.

Sister Ya seemed to wield immense power within Qin Huang; she had once asked Su Tong if she should use her status to force the project through, but Su Tong naturally refused.

Even though Su Tong ultimately decided to direct it himself, the sponsors had still been brought in through Sister Ya's connections.

Though the amount wasn't much—only several tens of thousands in total—it had already made Su Tong very happy. Sister Ya was simply his lucky star in life.

"You look quite handsome on TV too, you know." Inside the television, the segment of Su Tong on The Voice was still playing. With nothing better to do, Yang Feifei stretched out her leg again and rested it on Su Tong.

Su Tong was willing to let her rest it there, not because she was one of the Four Great Goddesses of Great Qin with a stunning figure, but because he wanted to take the opportunity to see if Yang Feifei was wearing pants.

This mystery had plagued him up until now.

At home, at least before going to bed, Yang Feifei always wore those two oversized cartoon T-shirts, revealing the majority of her long legs.

Pity that after peeking multiple times, Su Tong still couldn't tell whether Yang Feifei was actually wearing pants or not.

"Gold will always shine wherever it is." Glancing over and seeing nothing of note, Su Tong looked back at the TV and said smugly.

"Acting like a villain who just got his way again." Yang Feifei couldn't help but kick the foot Su Tong had propped on the soft footstool.

Yang Feifei committed these acts of aggression repeatedly. If Sister Ya hadn't been standing nearby the whole time, Su Tong would have lifted her T-shirt ages ago just to check if she had pants on.

Moreover, having one or two women with smoking hot bodies around all the time, with one of them constantly teasing him—if he weren't still a virgin, he wouldn't have been able to hold back.

If it were in the past, Sister Ya would have disciplined Yang Feifei for bullying Su Tong like this. But recently, Su Tong had been extraordinarily harsh when chewing people out during filming, and Yang Feifei had suffered quite a few grievances. Letting her bully Su Tong a little when they got home was something Sister Ya chose to overlook.

Contestants who passed the blind auditions of The Voice had already begun entering the mentor training stage, but there were still a few days left before the recording of the knockout rounds. Lin Yin had to return early tomorrow to get in sync with her rival, because the first knockout round required two contestants to sing the same song, after which the mentor would select who advanced.

As for Su Tong, he had to go for an audition tomorrow for a supporting role in an urban film, something that had been locked down previously.

The character he was playing was a villain—a wealthy, spoiled young master.

On the screen, The Voice program was still ongoing. Su Tong had already finished singing, and the mentors were eagerly fighting over him.

First, however, Su Tong had to introduce himself.

"My name is Su Tong. I am eighteen years old, a native of Haibin City in Liaoning Province, and a sophomore at Minzu University of China." There wasn't much excitement on Su Tong's face; his words and deportment were entirely appropriate.

"Holy shit, eighteen years old and a sophomore? You've got to be kidding me?"
"An academic genius, a straight-A student. Did he skip grades?"
"..."

Su Tong's self-introduction gave the audience yet another shock.

Many people immediately went to search for Su Tong's background. Unfortunately, for those outside the circle of League of Legends, searching for Su Tong yielded no valid information.

Su Tong had debuted under the alias Nian Nujiao. Fans who had just entered the League of Legends community were still unclear that Nian Nujiao's real name was Su Tong.

Furthermore, Zhang Xin had scrubbed Nian Nujiao's real name, Su Tong, from the internet to protect the artist's privacy.

Many artists used stage names instead of their real names.

However, Su Tong didn't mind. He intended to use his real name, hoping that one day, his mother would see it.

He already had the ability to protect his mother. If that demonic old man ever dared to beat her again, he would personally send his divine old man straight to a rehab center.

"Student Su, I've never even heard the song you just sang. Could you tell us what it's called, and who the original creator and singer are?" After Su Tong finished his self-introduction, mentor A Lin took the lead to ask.

Without a hint of servancy or arrogance, Su Tong replied, "The song is called *The Mermaid's Tale*. It tells the story of a fish that transforms into a human and enters human society, but feels profoundly lonely and completely out of place in this world... The original creator and singer is Nian Nujiao."

As he spoke of the story behind the song, a fleeting daze appeared in Su Tong's eyes, and the aura about him weighed heavily upon everyone's hearts.

Wasn't what he described precisely the version of himself seen in the VCR? It was as if he were so lonely that he could only speak for himself.

"Nian Nujiao?" The four mentors wore puzzled and rather awkward expressions, because for a moment they couldn't recall who Nian Nujiao was. They could be certain, however, that the name wasn't particularly famous; otherwise, how could they possibly not know someone with any degree of fame within the same circle?

"Yes, Nian Nujiao." A smile bloomed on Su Tong's face, bright as the morning sun and brilliant as spring: "Nian Nujiao is a group consisting of one older brother and two younger sisters." (To be continued.)