Chapter 230 - 194: Genius and Swapping Rooms

Chapter 230: Chapter 194: Genius and Swapping Rooms

"Is it my birthday today, or is it his?"

"Even if you’re going to bring friends, you should at least give a heads-up!"

Liu Nanyi demanded of Feng Yao in a low voice, her sweet, innocent face showing a hint of anger.

"Yiyi, don’t be angry."

"He might have had a little too much to drink and just acted on his own."

Feng Yao looked a little awkward as she scrambled for an excuse. "But he meant well. He just thought it would be more lively if we all got together, since we’re all around the same age."

"Unbelievable..."

Since Feng Yao had said as much, Liu Nanyi couldn’t press the issue. She just leaned back on the sofa, a frustrated look on her fair face.

Throughout it all, Gu Heng watched everything unfold with a constant smile.

"Gu Heng, let’s move over that way a bit," Lin Qingge suddenly whispered to Gu Heng.

They had been sitting just left of center, but now that all these people had shown up, Su Tang moved to the seat at the very edge by the door to avoid having any of the new guys sit next to her.

"Alright."

Gu Heng understood what Su Tang and Lin Qingge meant with a single glance, and he immediately stood up to join them.

Soon, everyone was seated.

"Alright, everyone!"

"Let’s all raise our glasses!"

"Let’s wish Liu Nanyi a happy birthday once again!"

Gao Junlin, sitting on the other side of Feng Yao, waited for everyone to get settled before grabbing an aluminum bottle of Budweiser.

"Happy birthday!"

With beautiful girls present—four stunning ones, at that—many of the guys were already hyped up. On top of that, they were all athletes. When they saw Gao Junlin go straight for the bottle, they all ditched their glasses and grabbed their own aluminum Budweiser bottles.

"Thank you, everyone."

Holding her glass, Liu Nanyi offered a simple, polite response.

After that, the guys all tilted their heads back and started chugging their beers.

Gu Heng watched the scene before him, finding it oddly amusing.

Gao Junlin and his friends quickly chugged down their beers, and a moment later, the private room was filled with a continuous chorus of burps.

"Yaoyao, how about a song?" Gao Junlin asked Feng Yao after finishing his drink.

"Alright, fine."

Feng Yao was also quite unhappy with Gao Junlin for being so presumptuous, but given the circumstances, she could only choose to play along.

Feng Yao stood up and took the microphone from the table.

Although her skill level wasn’t nearly as high as Su Tang’s or Lin Qingge’s, she was still a trained singer, so performing in front of a crowd didn’t intimidate her in the slightest.

...

Darling, where are you hiding, lost in thought

What worries are on your mind that you can’t let go

We always imagine life to be too harsh

As if others don’t allow us to be our weird selves

...

Soon, Feng Yao’s voice filled the room.

Just from the first few notes, Wu Zixiang and the others looked visibly surprised.

’That breath control, that voice, that emotion...’

It instantly showed them the massive gap between an amateur and a pro.

"Incredible!"

Wu Zixiang and the others couldn’t help but applaud and cheer.

Hearing their cheers, Gao Junlin felt a surge of pride.

On the right, the energy was high.

On the left, the mood was tranquil.

"Is this the Shan Yichun version?" Gu Heng asked Liu Nanyi and the others.

"Yep~" Liu Nanyi nodded.

"Oh?" Gu Heng suddenly asked with interest, "Back when Shan Yichun won the championship on *Voice of China*, wasn’t she around the same age as you guys are now? How do you think you compare to her?"

Hearing Gu Heng’s question, Liu Nanyi, Su Tang, and Lin Qingge first exchanged glances, then burst into such beautiful, unrestrained laughter that Wu Zixiang and the other guys across the room could only stare, completely captivated.

"Gu Heng, you’re a guy, so you’ve probably read fantasy novels, right?" Lin Qingge asked once her laughter subsided.

"Of course," Gu Heng nodded matter-of-factly.

"Okay, let me give you an analogy," Lin Qingge said with a smile. "If you compare all the music conservatories in the country to a fantasy world, then the Central Music College is like a super Saint Sect that has reigned supreme for eternity. Our Jilin University School of Art, at best, is a top-tier Sect that rules over a single territory."

"Nationwide, anyone who gets into the Central Music College each year is without a doubt a genius."

"Just one of them, picked at random, would likely be as talented as Su Tang and me. So you can imagine how impossibly difficult it is for an ordinary person to get in."

Here, Lin Qingge paused.

"And yet, even those top-tier geniuses from the Central Music College—prodigies who would be the pride of any major Sect ruling its own territory—are completely outshone by Shan Yichun."

"Being a top-tier genius is just the minimum requirement to even be compared to her."

Su Tang picked up where she left off, continuing, "What’s that saying again?"

"’For those who don’t study music, seeing her is like a frog in a well gazing at the moon.’"

"’But if you *do* study music, seeing her is like an ant looking up at the endless sky.’"

"That’s the gap between us and Shan Yichun. There’s simply no comparison."

After hearing Lin Qingge and Su Tang’s explanation, Gu Heng finally grasped just how incredible Shan Yichun really was. He also finally got why his question had made the three girls laugh so hard.

The absurdity of his question was on par with the Nine-Headed Serpent telling his minion, Benbo Bao’er, "Go and get rid of Tang Monk and his three disciples!"

The song soon came to an end.

Everyone applauded and cheered as Feng Yao returned to her seat.

"Yiyi, Tangtang, Qingge, do you guys want to sing one?" Feng Yao asked, looking at Liu Nanyi and the other two as she tentatively offered them the microphone.

"No thanks," Su Tang said, shaking her head.

Although Liu Nanyi and Lin Qingge didn’t respond, they both looked completely unenthusiastic.