Chapter 182: Am I Your Pride? (Third Update!)

Below the stage of the King of Love Songs, a group of audience members already had reddened eyes.

Even over in the professional judging panel, there were already people wiping their eyes.

The song hadn't even begun, but just a video in the stage design, a bit of emotional foreshadowing, and the song title "Father" were enough to make many people weep.

The barrage of comments surged, covering the screen.

"Damn! I'm just straight-up sobbing like a storm!"

"I couldn't stop my tears when he stuffed dumplings into his pockets."

"What is this? I'm watching the show on a bus using mobile data, and the bus is full of people!"

"I'm a six-foot-three grown man, and I'm crying like a dog right now."

Lv Yi, who was sitting in the first row of the professional judging panel, was already 47 years old this year.

His father passed away last year.

Watching the video, this man instantly shed tears.

In Home with Kids, the actor who played Xia Donghai, Teacher Gao Yalin, once said in a variety show: "Parents are a wall between us and the Grim Reaper."

The meaning of this sentence is that while your parents are still in this world, you feel as if something is separating you from death, and your understanding of death is abstract; you won't think about these things, and you won't have any real feelings about them.

But once your parents are gone, this wall collapses instantly.

You will face death directly!

You will begin to understand what death is, and it will even directly affect your view of life and death.

The singing began to spread at this moment.

"【Always taking from you but never saying thank you,

Only after growing up do I understand that it wasn't easy for you.

Every time I leave, I always pretend to be relaxed,

Smiling as I say 'go back now,' then turning away with eyes wet with tears.】"

As soon as the beginning of the song came out, Lv Yi's memories began to churn.

He was a songwriter who found success late in life; when he was young, he really didn't earn any money.

For the sake of his so-called dream, his father worked harder and harder to earn money, and from time to time, he would even send money to this good-for-nothing son.

Every time he went to the big city to visit him, his father from the countryside would bring many things.

He used to think nothing of it, but once when he was moving, he didn't know what got into him, and a thought flashed through his mind: "So many things, so heavy, how did he manage to bring them all the way here every time?"

Every time his father came to his rented apartment and saw the cheap housing and his impoverished life, he would scold him severely and tell him to change careers.

Lv Yi would often argue with his father, even shouting: "Is it that even you think I'm no good?"

Every time his father heard this, he would fall silent.

When he walked his father downstairs, it was always very cold, and he would say there was no need to walk him out, and then his father would stuff money into his hands.

It wasn't until his father passed away that his mother told him that every time his father visited him, he would cry on the way home.

Perhaps for this old man, it was mostly self-reproach.

Perhaps, if I were more successful, could my son chase his dreams recklessly without worrying about life?

He could also have the best computer to write songs, not have to worry about electricity bills, and could use connections to treat people from big companies to dinner...

—Son, I'm sorry.

Lv Yi still remembers it very clearly to this day; one day he suddenly received a call from his father.

"I'm... not doing it next year, I can't do it anymore." His father's tone even carried a bit of guilt, as if he were asking for his opinion.

At that time, Lv Yi's career had already picked up a little; he had finally released two hit songs, and life was starting to get better.

He smiled and said: "You should have stopped long ago; just rest well at home, I'll support you."

As it turned out, in the second half of the year, his father was diagnosed with a serious illness.

Only then did Lv Yi know that he really couldn't do it anymore, rather than just being at an age where he wanted to retire.

This pillar of the family only chose to put down everything he was supporting when he realized he was about to collapse.

Although the surgery was successful later, his father's health was still not as good as before.

His own speed of success did not keep up with the speed of his father's aging.

This was the greatest regret in Lv Yi's life.

When organizing his father's belongings, he found record after record in the drawer.

Even the songs he wrote in the past that weren't popular were there.

So, this man who had told him several times to change careers had been buying every song he wrote in private.

In the center of the stage, there was only Luo Mo.

No band, no backup dancers, no stage effects, not even extra lighting.

He just stood in front of the microphone stand, singing simply.

"【How I wish to be like before,

Holding your warm palm.

But you are not by my side,

I entrust the breeze to carry my well-wishes.】"

When this part appeared, Lv Yi covered his face and wept, his body trembling.

The meaning written in the lyrics was that his father was not by his side.

But for him—I don't have a father anymore.

It is strange; the vast majority of the audience has by this moment already forgotten what songs the previous Singers had sung.

The barrage comments are filled with content related to crying.

When the data team at Penguin Video monitored the barrage data, they discovered that the most frequent keywords were: "cried," "dad," "father"....

And also—"I'm sorry."

Have you ever felt moved because a man specifically came to pick you up from work on a rainy day?

But do you remember that there was also once a man who took you to school and brought you home, rain or shine?

If your family didn't have a car, when the weather was cold, wouldn't he rub his palms together to warm them, then cover your little face and ears?

If there was only one umbrella on a rainy day, would he pick you up directly and tilt the umbrella toward your side?

There are very few men in this world who, because you cried, would heart-achingly buy you everything you asked for, and smile while saying to you, their daughter: "Remember your father's kindness to you; don't be easily deceived just because a boy buys you something later on."

There are also very few men in this world who, to ensure you could live a stable life when you marry and have children, would work themselves to the bone to buy a house for you, their son, paying off your mortgage for ten, twenty, or even thirty years.

Do you remember—that when you were little, you actually loved holding his hand?

The chorus climax arrives at this moment, and Luo Mo stands on the stage singing loudly.

There is almost no technique, and the entire melody and Arranger work have nothing particularly stunning about them.

He didn't use much vocal ornamentation, nor did he use any falsetto.

He just sang it so simply.

But.... it entered the heart.

"【Time, time, please slow down,

Don't let you grow old anymore.

I am willing to use everything I have to return your years of staying long.

A father who has been strong all his life,

What can I do for you?

Please accept this insignificant concern!】"

Luo Mo's voice spread all around, and his own memories began to flutter.

Like many children, he treated his dad as a superman when he was little, thinking he was the most powerful person in the world.

He seemed capable of anything.

He was so, so tall.

He was so, so strong.

He seemed to know how to fix everything and how to use everything.

But as he grew older, he began to realize that his father was not omnipotent; he had too many "can'ts."

After the small restaurant opened, during his rebellious and Face-conscious adolescence, he only accompanied Luo Ba to buy groceries once.

He saw the worldly air on Luo Ba, saw him love to take small advantages, and saw him haggling over ten or twenty cents.

He listened to the vegetable seller muttering: "I really can't lower the price; you are the man who knows how to haggle best that I've met today."

Luo Mo felt ashamed on the side, wanting to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

This was not the image a man should have in a teenager's heart.

He can no longer remember, when did Dad start to hunch his back?

He also can no longer remember, when did Dad's hair start to turn white; was it the temples that turned white first, or other places?

It is strange; he seems to have.... suddenly grown old.

But the strangest thing is that fathers all seem to "refuse to admit they are old."

Just like what is sung in the song, strong all one's life.

Even though you are in the prime of life and he is gray-haired, when he sees you holding something heavy, he will just come to snatch it.

You never know what you can do for your father.

You want to buy him something, he says no need.

You want to take him traveling, he says no need.

You want him to have a physical exam once or twice a year, and you will pay for it, he also says no need.

Even though when we were little, whenever we wanted something from him, we would just ask directly.

But conversely, he wants nothing.

He will only say: It is good enough that you have the heart.

Luo Mo continued to sing:

"【Thank you for everything you've done,

Supporting our home with your two hands,

Always exhausting everything to give the best to me.】"

Young people, do you feel that the pressure in this society is so great that it is very difficult to support yourself?

Do you find it hard to understand why Dad could support a whole family, provide for your schooling, provide for your food and drink, and even buy you a car and a house?

Is your dad also very picky about food, and does he have strange habits; when eating chicken, duck, fish, or meat, he just doesn't like to eat the good parts, and when you ask him "Dad, why do you want to eat the fish head," does he always say: "It's fine, Dad likes to eat it."

Does your dad also not like to buy new clothes, always looking lacking in Decency, being disliked by you for dressing inappropriately, yet he will buy you luxury brands, while he himself has never worn luxury sneakers in his life, saying he is old and it wouldn't match?

Does your dad also love to smoke, but smokes very cheap ones, always keeping two packs of cigarettes in his pocket, one good pack to offer others, and one inferior pack to smoke himself?

Has your dad also seemingly never cried?

Does your dad also always look at you, look at you, and look at you again, yet have nothing to talk about, finally telling you to "eat more"?

How strange, this group of men called fathers all have a common ailment....

——They don't love themselves.

When Luo Mo was a child, he read Zhu Ziqing's "Back Shadow" and felt nothing, thinking it was just so-so.

After growing up, he only remembered the line frequently used by netizens for jokes: "【I'll go buy some Oranges; you just stay here and don't move.】"

Now, he seems to understand a little more.

He understands why he had to go buy Oranges.

He understands that line: "You stay here and don't move, I'll go instead."

He understands the feeling Zhu Ziqing had when watching his father's back as he climbed over the platform.

The most common things in this world are ordinary people, yet they view us ordinary people as treasures.

Luo Mo looked straight into the camera and continued Singing:

"【Am I your pride?】"

He knew he would be watching in front of the television.

He would definitely watch.

When Luo Ba was young, he was a theater fanatic; he wanted to be a star, but his talent was truly too poor.

It was only after Luo Mo was taken in as a disciple by Tong Qinglin and showed talent that he felt at ease dissolving his theater troupe, then opened a small restaurant and worked hard to earn money.

Luo Mo wanted to get ahead.

Because he knew very well that it wasn't just his master Tong Qinglin who, after getting drunk, would say: "Master wants to see you perform on a big stage."

"Master wants to see you become a star once."

Luo Ba was the same.

It's just that he had never said it.

You might not believe it if I told you, but Luo Mo once discovered that this man, who was not good with words, had learned to use platforms like Weibo, used his own account to boost Luo Mo's stats, acted as a "paid poster," and even learned to praise him as a passerby just like the netizens.

In his own small restaurant, he only ever played his songs.

——My son's songs!

…….

…….

Beijing, in the residential complex.

Luo Ba watched the television, his eyes red, and in the end, he couldn't help but curse:

"You brat, you always have been."

(PS: Third update, in accordance with the tipping order, an extra update for Alliance Leader "A Shu's Hot Coffee".)

Three updates totaling ten thousand words, requesting monthly votes!)

(End of chapter)