Chapter 508: The Good Show Begins

Chapter 508: The Show Begins

"You aren't nervous, are you?"

The day after tomorrow was the concert. Shi Shiwu, the music director, had just finished a round of frantic preparations and returned to the dressing room. He took a sip of water and looked curiously at Meng Fan, whose makeup was fresh and whose expression was slightly different from usual.

Meng Fan gave a bitter smile. "To be honest, a little."

"Are you serious?"

As if he had discovered a new continent, Shi Shiwu grew instantly excited. "You're someone who has seen all kinds of grand stages, and this is just a ten-thousand-seat concert, yet you're actually nervous!"

Meng Fan asked, "Weren't you nervous for your first concert?"

"That was different! For my first concert, I had only recently debuted and had never seen a grand stage in my life. That solo concert was the biggest event I'd ever faced, so of course I was nervous. When I first stepped on stage, my whole body was shaking, hahaha." Shi Shiwu continued, "If you're nervous, so be it, but you probably won't be after you've been up there a short while. Don't worry about forgetting the lyrics or anything—there's a teleprompter. At worst, you'll make a bit of a fool of yourself, no big deal. Humans can't be perfect, after all. You're completely at ease on every other stage, so making a little joke of yourself at a concert is actually quite nice."

"Is this your idea of comforting me?"

"No, I'm trying to add to your misery."

"..."

Meng Fan was indeed a bit nervous, though he truly wasn't afraid of making a mistake or becoming a laughingstock; it was pure, unadulterated nervousness. Just as Shi Shiwu said, even if he did make a fool of himself, it wouldn't be a major issue. Meng Fan wasn't like those celebrities for whom a single mistake triggered a domino effect of various chain reactions, collapsing their public persona and casting them into eternal damnation. With his prowess across multiple fields, including his vocal ability, his margin for error was exceptionally high.

Never mind making a few mistakes at a concert—even if the entire performance turned into a train wreck, it would just be a source of amusement. Perhaps some people would even find that more interesting.

"Forget it, I won't tease you anymore. A small stage like this wouldn't rattle you much anyway."

This counted as Shi Shiwu's attempt at words of comfort. Seeing Wu Tong and the others approach, he stood up and took his leave. He was both a guest performer and the concert's music director, making him far busier than Meng Fan, the master of the show.

Wu Tong had arrived together with Meng Caiwei. Meng Caiwei had returned from abroad a few days later than Wu Tong, and since her return, she had basically been running roadshows and promoting her film. Although she knew that even with her as the lead, and even if the film won countless awards, there was little to expect from an arthouse film's box office, she still hoped more people would see the movie and her performance. Thus, she ran those promotions with great diligence—even though the number of roadshows and promotional events she attended could have earned her far more than the box office itself had they been commercial performances.

"You're actually holding a concert!"

Although Meng Caiwei had long heard that Meng Fan could sing and had listened to him before, she still found the idea of him holding a concert somewhat hard to accept. Their Meng family possessed every kind of artistic gene imaginable except for singing; they were a family of the tone-deaf, yet a person capable of holding a concert had somehow emerged from among them.

Could it be because he was a boy that he could sing?

Meng Caiwei gave it some thought and recalled for certain that Meng Fan's singing used to be very mediocre as well.

Well, having watched Meng Fan grow up and knowing exactly what he was capable of, Meng Caiwei was absolutely certain that too many things had happened to him over the past year or so—too many things that were, to her, incredible and unbelievable. She had wanted to interrogate the boy several times during this period, but had let it slide for various reasons. By the time she wanted to interrogate him again, she realized with a sense of helplessness that she no longer knew where to begin, because there was simply too much to ask.

Yet, because so many incredible factors had combined, it conversely became less strange. Perhaps this was a case of the wonders ceasing to be wonders, or perhaps she was just too lazy to wonder anymore.

"The songs have been sung, the album has been released, so of course the concert must be held. There are over ten thousand listeners waiting outside, and countless netizens online, all with ears eager to be fed. What else can I do?"

After Meng Caiwei arrived and traded a few barbs with Meng Fan, his nervousness dissipated considerably.

"Then go on and show off properly. I look forward to your performance crashing and burning later."

Meng Caiwei didn't linger long. She went with Wu Tong to another dressing room, where the three guest performers, Bai Zhi, Su Qingcen, and Qin Jing, were already putting on their makeup.

Before leaving, Wu Tong gave him two thumbs up and blew him a kiss of encouragement, which made Meng Fan a little nervous all over again.

By seven in the evening, the audience had entered, and soon the seats were completely filled. The tickets had sold out long ago, and the vast majority of those to whom Meng Fan had gifted tickets had arrived without a single absence. The venue was packed with various light boards and cheering props as they waited quietly—no, it was quite boisterous—as they sat and waited—no, they were standing in all sorts of ways—in short, they were just waiting for the concert to begin, everyone's emotions running high.

Eight o'clock!

The lights on the main stage of the concert flared to life. At that very instant, everyone, including those at the venue and those watching the live stream online, was stunned for a moment.

They were thoroughly stunned, dazed, as if the three great philosophical questions of the universe had suddenly sprung to mind: Who am I? Where do I come from? What am I doing?

But in the blink of an eye, the entire stadium erupted!

Because they saw Meng Fan appear on stage—strictly speaking, Meng Fan had removed his hat, allowing them to realize he was standing there. In truth, he had been standing on stage for a while, but no one had seen him.

This method of appearance was very simple, yet because of the operation of putting on and taking off the hat that caused his presence to vanish, everyone experienced a very subtle psychological sensation. This made the roars and screams amidst the frenzy intensely real, and the scene naturally became extraordinarily explosive.

One could say the opening was an instant climax.

"Hello everyone!"

Meng Fan was indeed a bit nervous. After greeting them, it took him a long while to utter his second sentence: "So you've all come?"

The audience didn't think Meng Fan was nervous at all, responding in perfect unison, "We've come!"

Meng Fan laughed aloud. "Then let us begin."

Originally, he could have just started directly after taking the stage, yet he insisted on orchestrating such an entrance, claiming it was to let the nervousness hit him more fiercely. However, now that he had shouted it out, he was no longer nervous.

Dun-dun-dun-dun!

The first song was from the album "Dreaming." Re-arranged, it was incredibly high-energy, perfectly suited to serve as the concert's opening—"The Show Begins."

This song was written by Jin Xiaowen, and its entire lyrical content was related to Meng Fan on the competitive field. It was a very inspiring and positive song, yet also arrogant and showy—in short, it was written to be as invincible as possible. According to the netizens' summary, the core content of this song was only one thing: I have arrived, so there is nothing left for the rest of you.

Placing this song at the opening of the concert meant its significance shifted slightly with the venue: I have arrived, there is nothing left for the rest of you, so just lose yourselves in the music.

With the rousing melody combined with Meng Fan's resonant voice and surging emotions, the song truly achieved the effect it was meant to have: pure excitement!

The vast majority of the crowd was wild with excitement, while a select few were practically moved to tears.

(End of Chapter)