You were supposed to have a fake marriage with the diva, so how did you become her father?

Chapter 402 Talent Showcase

The boys at the front of the class were a little embarrassed when Wang Po asked them to perform a talent.

It wasn't feigned shyness; I was genuinely embarrassed.

At the tender age of twenty, standing on stage with hundreds of people below holding up their phones to film you, asking you to sing and dance, who wouldn't be intimidated?

But when you're on stage, you have to act like you're on stage.

The first person called was the 23-year-old guy in the black hoodie, the one who had just graduated and hadn't found a job yet. He was standing on the left side of the stage, his hands in his hoodie pockets, and he stiffened when Wang Po called his name.

"Come on, young man, you go first." Granny Wang beckoned to him, "Weren't you the first one to rush up? That's commendable courage. Let everyone see what talents you have."

The man in the black hoodie walked to the center of the stage, scratched his head, opened his mouth and then closed it again, as if he was struggling with himself.

"I...I'll sing a song," he finally managed to say after a long pause.

"What should we sing?"

"The Fragrance of Rice".

Lu Ran raised an eyebrow when he heard the song title.

She has good taste, and she's even singing her own songs.

The man in the black hoodie cleared his throat and began to sing.

There was no accompaniment, no reverb; it was just dry singing.

"If you have too many complaints about the world, you won't dare to move forward after you fall..."

To be honest, the singing was just average.

The pitch was off, and the breath control was not very stable. The high notes in the chorus were obviously not going up, so I lowered the key myself.

But he sang very seriously.

He was so focused that he pronounced every word clearly, and when he sang the chorus, he closed his eyes and became completely absorbed in his own world.

Shen Yuege stood next to Granny Wang, and you could see she was smiling even through her mask.

It's not that I'm laughing at his singing; I just think this guy is quite cute.

She clearly doesn't sing very well, but she dares to sing, and she's not stage-frightened at all when she sings.

After he finished singing, Shen Yuege clapped.

The applause was genuine, because courage deserves applause.

The audience applauded for a while.

The man in the black hoodie bowed, walked back to the group, and looked relieved, as if he had accomplished a major life event.

Wang Po then selected a second person, the 25-year-old designer in the white coat.

"I can dance," said the man in the white jacket, his voice louder and more confident than the man in the black hoodie.

"What kind of dance?"

"Street dance. Just a few random moves."

The man in the white jacket walked to the center of the stage, stretched his wrists and neck, and then suddenly squatted down, performing a series of floor moves followed by a Thomas the Tank Engine maneuver. Although he only spun around once before going astray, his posture alone caused a stir among the audience.

"Holy crap!" someone shouted from below the stage.

Shen Yuege was also stunned, her eyes wide open, and her mouth under the mask was definitely agape in an "O" shape.

The man in the white jacket stood up from the ground, dusted off his pants, and walked back to the group without changing his expression.

The third person wearing glasses was a 27-year-old civil servant.

He stood on the stage, adjusted his glasses, and said, "May I recite a passage?"

Granny Wang paused for a moment, then laughed: "Reciting? Okay, reciting counts as a talent. What will you recite?"

"Bring in the Wine." By Li Bai.

Some people in the audience laughed out loud, finding the guy with glasses rather funny.

Reciting ancient poems on a matchmaking stage feels incredibly incongruous.

But the laughter stopped as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Have you not seen the Yellow River's waters come from the sky, rushing to the sea never to return? Have you not seen the bright mirror in the high hall reflecting sorrowful white hair, like black silk in the morning turning to snow by evening..."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was very penetrating.

Every word was pronounced accurately, and the rhythm was well-controlled—fast when it should be fast, slow when it should be slow, heavy when it should be heavy, and light when it should be light.

He recited Li Bai's poem "Bring in the Wine" with an indescribable flavor.

It's not the kind of dry, rote recitation that students memorize in Chinese class; it's genuinely emotional, with a wild sense of "everyone has their own unique talents" and a carefree spirit of "sharing the sorrows of ages past with you."

When he recited the last line, "Together we dispel eternal sorrows," his voice suddenly amplified, as if he were announcing something to the entire world.

After a moment of silence, applause broke out.

Shen Yuege played the drums with particular force.

Lu Ran stood at the back of the line, observing the behavior of those in front of him, and making his own calculations.

The dance group already has white jackets, the recitation group only has one person wearing glasses, the singing group has black hoodies, and there are a few others who haven't performed yet, I don't know what their style is.

Granny Wang clearly noticed the issue of talent categories as well. She clapped her hands and said to the male guests on stage, "How about this, let's divide into groups. Those who can dance, stand on the right; those who can sing, stand on the left; and those who have other talents, stand in the middle. One at a time, don't scatter them."

The male guests started to move.

There were five people in the dance group on the right, more than a dozen people in the singing group on the left, and three people in the other talent group in the middle.

The person who wore glasses and recited was considered to have other talents. There were also two others, one who said he could play the harmonica and the other who said he could do magic tricks.

Lu Ran naturally went to the singing group.

Granny Wang glanced at the group assignments and said with a smile, "The dance group goes first. There are fewer people, so hurry up."

The five members of the dance group took turns performing.

The man in the white coat had already performed, so Granny Wang told him to rest and let the remaining four go first.

The first person to come up was a boy wearing a red hoodie. He looked young, probably in his early twenties.

He said he could do Breaking, then he did a support on the ground and his legs made a circle in the air. The movement wasn't perfect, but it looked like something out of the ordinary.

After he finished, he stood up, panting, with a somewhat apologetic expression on his face.

Shen Yuege clapped her hands.

The second person to come up was a guy in a black leather jacket. He looked cool and didn't talk much.

When asked what he was doing, Wang Po replied, "Just a few random twists."

Then he just casually twisted a few times, the movements weren't big, but the rhythm was great, and he twisted in time with the beat of music playing on a tourist's phone in the audience, and he did a pretty good job.

The third one was quite funny.

He was a chubby boy wearing a gray tracksuit. He laughed as soon as he came on stage. When Granny Wang asked him what he wanted to dance, he said, "I'll dance a square dance."

Granny Wang was taken aback for a moment and said, "You can dance to this song?" The chubby boy said, "Square dancing is dancing too."

The audience was laughing hysterically.

The chubby boy didn't care and started swaying to the rhythm he was humming.

The movements weren't exactly graceful, but they exuded confidence. She was fully engaged in the dance, and her facial expression showed enjoyment, as if she were entertaining herself in her own living room.

Shen Yuege was laughing so hard her shoulders were shaking.

Lu Ran was also smiling, but he was very restrained.

He felt that this chubby boy was the most sincere person on stage today.

I'm not here for a blind date, I'm here to have fun.

Have fun and make others happy too.

After all, he knew he was at a disadvantage and could only hope to win by being funny.

After the dance group finished their performance, Granny Wang asked the singing group to prepare.

"There are many people in the singing group, so let's take turns. You don't need to sing the whole song, just sing a chorus, as long as you get the gist."

The first person in the singing group wasn't the guy in the black hoodie; it was a boy who was behind him in line.

Wearing a plaid shirt and round-framed glasses, he looked quiet and gentle.

"I'll sing 'Plain Face'," he said.

"Plain Face" is another song by Lu Ran.

Good taste.

When the man in the plaid shirt opened his mouth, his voice was a bit deeper than his body, creating a sense of contrast.

He sang the chorus—

"If I were to look at you again, would I still feel anything? Back then, you were so innocent and pure..."

The singing was decent, neither off-key nor particularly outstanding; it was just average karaoke level.

But while he was singing, his eyes kept drifting towards Shen Yuege. When he sang the line "I don't wear eyeliner to look familiar," his voice suddenly went softer, as if he was a little embarrassed.

Shen Yuege was very accommodating; after he finished singing, she clapped vigorously a few times.

The second person to come up was a boy wearing a dark blue jacket.

He sang "Nocturne".

Hey!

Today is Lu Ran's fan meeting. They sang all of Lu Ran's songs, and they were all quite tasteful.

If it weren't for the fact that they were filming a TV show, Lu Ran would have taken off his mask and recognized the others.

This song is much harder to sing than "Bare Face". Jay Chou's songs are inherently difficult to sing, with fast tempos and strange phrasing. Most people can't even pronounce the lyrics smoothly.

But the person in the dark blue jacket sang quite well.

It's not the kind of good that professional singers have, but the kind of level that an average person is close to reaching.

She remembered every lyric clearly and kept up with the rhythm. Although her pitch was occasionally off, overall she was the best singer in the group today.

Some people in the audience started humming along.

After he finished singing, Granny Wang asked him, "How long did you practice?"

"One week," said the man in the dark blue jacket. "I was worried there would be singing parts, so I prepared in advance."

Granny Wang smiled and nodded, letting him return to the group.

The third, the fourth, and the fifth came on stage one after another.

Some people sang "The Lone Warrior," some sang "Rice Fragrance," some sang "The Wind Rises," and someone sang an old song that wasn't written by Lu Ran, but it was still quite nice.

In short, this talent show contains a high level of nudity.

The boy who sang "The Lone Warrior" had a powerful voice. When he sang the line "Who says only those who stand in the light are heroes?", his voice exploded, and someone in the audience shouted "Bravo!"

After all, this song is now a primary school song, but many college students also like to listen to it so they can play with primary school students.

Shen Yuege's applause grew louder and louder.

It wasn't because the later singers sang better than the earlier ones, but because she discovered something interesting—most of the songs sung by these boys were written by Lu Ran.

She glanced at Lu Ran through her mask.

Lu Ran stood at the very back of the line, his hat brim pulled low, obscuring his expression.

But she could sense that Lu Ran was smiling too.

It's quite interesting to see someone's aura already enveloping the entire audience even before they've appeared.

The sixth, the seventh, the eighth, and so on, were all sung one after another.

There were only two people left in the singing group: Lu Ran and a boy in a white T-shirt standing in front of him.

The boy in the white T-shirt walked onto the stage, took the microphone, and took a deep breath.

"I'll sing 'The First Dream'," he said.

This song wasn't written by Lu Ran; it's a cover of a Japanese song, but it was Shen Yue who made it famous in this world.

The original version was Shen Yuege's first hit song, and it was widely sung.

When the man in the white T-shirt opened his mouth, his voice was very clean, without much technique; he just sang cleanly and simply.

When he sang the line "The initial dream is held tightly in my hands," he glanced at Shen Yuege.

Shen Yuege was stunned for a moment.

It wasn't because he was recognized, but because he sang this line exceptionally well, conveying the emotions perfectly, as if he were truly saying, "I have a dream, and I hold onto it tightly."

She gave a very sincere round of applause.

After the singer in white finished singing, Lu Ran was the only one left in the entire venue.

Granny Wang glanced at the back of the line and spotted the man wearing a baseball cap with the brim pulled low.

"Last young man, it's your turn. Stop hiding, come on up."

Only then did the people in the audience notice that there was still one person standing at the very back of the line.

Everyone's attention was focused on the performers at the front, and no one noticed the guy standing quietly at the back.

Lu Ran stepped out of the group and walked to the center of the stage.

He walked at a steady pace, just as he had when he went on stage before.

Wang Po watched his gait, a strange light flashing in her eyes, but she said nothing.

"What's your name?" Granny Wang asked.

"Xiao Lu," Lu Ran said. He didn't say his full name, only his surname.

"Xiao Lu. Okay. How old are you?"

"Twenty-three."

"What kind of work do you do?"

"A game developer."

What talents do you have?

"Sing."

"What song do you want to sing? You choose, or should I pick one for you?"

Lu Ran thought for a moment and said, "I'll choose myself."

Granny Wang nodded, handed him the microphone, and stepped aside.

Hundreds of eyes were fixed on him from the audience, and hundreds of mobile phones were pointed at him.

Lu Ran held the microphone, feeling nothing in particular.

He has sung countless times, in various settings and in front of all kinds of people, so he is no longer nervous.

He was thinking about a question—what to sing.

Singing old songs?

Any one of the songs he sang could instantly electrify the atmosphere at a live performance.

But there's a problem with singing old songs: you're more likely to be recognized.

His voice is too distinctive. If someone recognizes it, today's matchmaking event will become tomorrow's news: "Lu Ran appears at the matchmaking event at Wansui Mountain".

Singing a new song?

The new song is safe; nobody has heard it before, and nobody can recognize who he is from an unfamiliar melody.

Moreover, he has so many songs stored in his head that if he doesn't sing them now, he really won't have another chance.

Let's sing a new song.

Lu Ran quickly went through the playlist in her mind and chose a song with a simple melody that didn't require complicated arrangements and could be sung a cappella.

He cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Your posture, your favor, my existence is intertwined with your existence. You think love is about being loved, you've squandered my adoration..."

...