Chapter 647: National Popularity Skyrockets

"Doesn't even Central Television provide meals? Look how hungry they've made that girl."

For the simple carpenter Old Xie, watching this scene on the TV screen, he gave his most sensible evaluation—

For people like them who often have to do heavy labor, being fed and full is the most important thing during work hours, and Sun Yanzi's performance undoubtedly meant she hadn't eaten enough dinner or hadn't eaten at all.

He didn't know who this female star was, and for a moment only felt it was incredible—

A star who could appear on the Spring Festival Gala stage would actually be hungry.

"Dad, you don't understand; Yanzi is going to sing tonight. Singers can't eat too much before going on stage, otherwise it will affect their state when singing later."

After thoroughly educating his father on his idol's current status in the industry, Xie Qing proudly stated: "This proves she is singing live tonight; only singers with good vocal skills can get this live-singing treatment."

After the "live vs. lip-sync" controversy erupted at this year's Spring Festival Gala, the debate over live versus lip-syncing undoubtedly became a battleground that all pop singers on stage's fan circles must fight for.

For Sun Yanzi's fan circle, which aims to help their idol compete for "Top Chinese Female Lead," naturally they must highly praise their idol's unrestrained live singing at this year's Gala, wanting to praise them so much there's nothing left to praise in heaven or on earth.

Not to mention Xie Qing is also a small fan leader skilled at writing "manifestos," with the Chinese class representative's value fully maximized.

"What live or lip-sync, isn't it all just singing?"

"That's different."

"What's different about it?"

"There is—never mind, Dad, I'll peel you an apple." Upon realizing his father truly didn't care about or follow this industry, Xie Qing decisively abandoned her online fan-circle skills of stubbornly correcting people and instead picked up a fruit knife to get busy.

"Don't say, that boy looks handsome enough; is it his turn to sing next?" Xie's mother, out of a middle-aged woman's perspective, commented on Zhou Yi, who stood up from his seat under the gaze of the entire audience—

Unlike other singers' performance items, tonight Zhou Yi was especially favored under CCTV's lenses—

He even walked step by step directly from the audience seats up onto the stage.

"Alright, next up is a good song, Zhou Yi—'Blue and White Porcelain'."

Compared to the backstage interview, Zhou Yi, having shed his trench coat, wore a faint light-colored white-and-gold long robe embroidered with blue-and-white porcelain patterns at the base, plus a few red floral accents, perfectly highlighting his tall figure;

His carefully styled side-parted hair looked exceptionally spirited.

The lights in the Spring Festival Gala broadcast hall suddenly began to change with his entrance, and patterns of blue-and-white porcelain and similar lighting effects appeared on the large screens and light pillars.

The moment the melodious intro played, backup dancers dressed in ancient costumes entered in an orderly fashion, highlighting Zhou Yi, who had already taken his position at the center of the stage, like stars surrounding the moon—

"Outline the blue-and-white on the rough clay, the brushstroke turns from thick to light; the peony painted on the vase is like your initial makeup.

"The rising sandalwood incense passes through the window, I understand your thoughts; the writing on the Xuan paper stops halfway here~"

Those stunning Chinese-style lyrics were for the first time gently spoken by Zhou Yi on this Spring Festival Gala stage facing the entire nation and even the global Chinese world; accompanied by his soft chanting, the backup dancers, resembling ancient palace maids, danced with flowing long sleeves to the rhythm—

Their eyes and brows were lively, and with every step and sway, they fully displayed Eastern charm.

Zhou Yi, wearing the long robe, was just like that outstanding young master standing amidst the Jiangnan scenery; with a wave of his hand and a stroke of paint, he created a magnificent chapter of a prosperous age.

Stunning, stunning, nothing but stunning.

Even though the song "Blue and White Porcelain" had been released with the album for over two months, when Zhou Yi truly sang on this Spring Festival Gala stage accompanied by the nation's strongest stage design, it brought a dual enjoyment of sight and sound to all viewers both on-site and in front of their TVs.

The blue "rain curtain" and "fountains" erupted on the stage as the song progressed; amidst the misty rain, the most beautiful porcelain pieces flowed one by one across the large screen—

"The sky-blue waits for the rainy mist, and I wait for you.

"Cooking smoke rises curling, separated by the river for ten thousand li.

"Writing Han clerical script on the bottom of the vase, imitating the elegance of past dynasties, just as my foreshadowing for meeting you~"

Deeply affectionate, extremely elegant.

The beauty of the Chinese characters' imagery was embodied to the extreme in this chorus.

Thanks to the extremely high popularity since its release, many people in the venue were even infected by the power in Zhou Yi's voice and softly sang along—among them were even some people sitting in certain front-row areas.

Sun Yanzi, tapping along to the rhythm, smiled until her eyes curved, swaying her body left and right; when the camera swept over, she didn't forget to flash a peace sign and make a wink.

The lyrics full of Eastern charm spread to thousands of households through the live broadcast signal, and Zhou Yi's image as a Jiangnan Young Master was imprinted in the minds of every viewer watching the Spring Festival Gala along with the falling "rain curtain"—

"The sky-blue waits for the rainy mist, and I wait for you.

"The moonlight is fished up, blurring the ending.

"Like the inherited blue-and-white porcelain, beautiful on its own, your eyes carry a smile~"

In just an instant, the applause thundered!

Sun Yanzi was visibly clapping her palms until they turned red.

Zhou Yi, quietly waiting for the outro to end, smiled and bowed to all sides in thanks, his posture extremely elegant.

"Sang really beautifully."

In front of the TV, Xie's father, who originally didn't know Zhou Yi at all, spoke with great surprise: "Do singers nowadays all know how to sing so well?"

"Yes, even better than Leon Lai at singing."

Xie's mother, who had once been a Leon Lai fan, inexplicably felt a sentiment of "one generation of new people replacing the old," and subconsciously looked at her daughter, whose mouth was muttering something unknown—her daughter had also grown from a little bean back then into a young lady.

Xie Qing felt extremely conflicted inside—

Honestly, she really wanted to curse right now, curse at Zhou Yi.

She truly liked the song "Blue and White Porcelain"; Zhou Yi's stage performance was completely the standard template for her dream white horse prince.

But thinking that this person had also sung songs like "Hate the Dream of the Red Chamber" and "Yeah," she again...

Was conflicted to death.

Shanghai, Tang Yan's home.

Tang's father, watching the Spring Festival Gala with his family, couldn't help but express approval of this song: "This song is really well sung; write it down, listen to it a few more times later."

"Why bother writing it down? Isn't little Fan next door selling discs? Just go find him to buy a copy."

"That's true."

Tang Yan: "..."

She felt she might have been ignored by the two elders.

This was the song for which she served as the MV's female lead!

She is the lead actress of the MV!

Many middle-aged pseudo-intellectuals, who do not follow the pop music scene but possess a certain cultural refinement, were seeing Zhou Yi's live performance of this song for the first time and immediately felt the urge to keep listening—

After all, the Spring Festival Gala allows only one performance; one cannot get enough of it, nor see enough of it.

Boss Xiao Fan, who had almost gone to play soccer, unexpectedly received a small order from the Tang family—

And the influence of the Spring Festival Gala radiates far beyond this...

"Eh? What is this young man's name? He looks good and sings well."

"This song is called 'Blue and White Porcelain', right? It sounds really nice."

"I think I've heard this song before; I didn't expect him to be the one singing it..."

Two months were not enough for Zhou Yi's song 'Blue and White Porcelain' to become popular in the vast rural lower-tier market; it had not even spread widely yet—

After all, China is simply too large; even with the internet, the pop music trends in the vast lower-tier market still lag slightly.

Previously, the songs Zhou Yi sang on the Spring Festival Gala could not be said to be unfamous, but they were still clearly far from the widespread popularity suitable for all ages.

But now, this shortcoming has vanished.