Chapter 53: Waiting a Thousand Years for One Return

Scene by scene, frame by frame, the MV recorded every step of Song Jiaru's journey from being unknown to shining radiantly!

It recorded how a lonely, cowardly soul broke free from shackles, growing step by step into this Lonely Warrior standing at the peak, directly facing the gazes of the masses!

"Love you walking alone in the dark alley,

Love your refusal to ever kneel.

Love how you confronted despair,

Refusing to cry..."

When she reached the chorus, the long-accumulated emotion swept across the entire venue like a volcanic eruption!

Without even realizing it, the entire audience had already risen to their feet!

Countless people, with hot tears welling in their eyes, vigorously waved their glow sticks in perfect rhythm, creating a spectacular, shimmering sea of stars!

Within this anthem, through this raw and burning epic of personal growth, they saw reflections of themselves, saw that unyielding soul that fought against ordinary life and the tribulations of destiny to the bitter end!

It exploded! It completely exploded!

That night, topics such as #SongJiaruLonelyWarrior#, #SongJiaruGrowthEpic#, and #ThisIsTheTrueCounterattack# bloodbathed the entire internet with hurricane-like speed!

That growth MV, which fused her multiple identities of "Alley Fight Martial God," "Voice of Nature Scholar," and "New Star of the Music Scene," was frantically forwarded, edited, and secondarily created! The play count broke through the hundred million mark at a terrifying speed!

"I'm literally bursting into tears! Watching her fight her way out of the alley, walking all the way to the highest stage, it's like witnessing the birth of a legend with my own eyes!"

"Her experience is exactly the soul of this song!"

"From today on, Song Jiaru is my faith! She deserves all the flowers, applause, and crowns in this world!"

At this moment, Song Jiaru was no longer just a talent show singer with a nice voice.

She became a symbol, a legend about growth, courage, persistence, and metamorphosis!

...

Xu Yunzhou sat alone in front of the cold computer. On the screen, the peak night of "Great Xia's Good Voice" was playing.

He didn't use [Fast Forward], unable to bear missing a single frame of the glory belonging to her.

When the host, his voice tearing from pure strain, roared out—

"Overall—Champion—Song! Jia! Ru!"

"Boom—!!!"

A sky full of golden confetti, raining down like a gilded storm unleashed by the wrath of heavenly gods, instantly and completely enveloped the young girl standing at the very center of the stage, who looked as if she had gathered the light of the entire universe upon herself!

Midst the deafening clamor, Song Jiaru fell into a brief trance.

She subconsciously reached out and accepted the heavy crystal trophy.

She was surrounded by cheers and applause like landslides and tsunamis, and focused upon by countless fanatical, envious, and worshipful gazes.

Holding the trophy, facing the cameras, facing the whole world, she revealed an incomparably radiant, confident, and dazzling smile.

In that smile, not a single bit of the shadow of that socially anxious girl who would be scared to tears by a confession in the classroom back then could be found anymore.

Xu Yunzhou quietly gazed at that figure on the screen that was so dazzling one almost couldn't look directly at it. His chest felt as if it was abruptly filled by something, a scalding, indescribable torrent crashing within it.

It was profound gratification, pride, and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment akin to that of a literal Creator.

This was the Queen of Pop he "nurtured" single-handedly.

From that cowardly little white rabbit who didn't dare to open her mouth to speak, to this new star of the music scene who could now calmly deal with tens of thousands of gazes and control her own destiny!

He watched her raising her glass at the celebration banquet, the corners of her eyes and brows full of flying high spirits;

Watched her generously and wittily deal with the long guns and short cannons of various media, her aura fully unleashed;

Watched her amidst the clamor, secretly find a gap, turn her back to the crowd, hug the trophy in her arms, and then quickly and playfully make a heart-shaped gesture toward the void behind her.

Almost instinctively, he moved the mouse, his fingertip gently clicking down on that [Reward] icon emitting a gentle green light.

Right at this unnoticed moment, the corners of Song Jiaru's mouth suddenly hooked up into a smile.

One that was truer, softer, and carried far more of a young girl's playful slyness than the formal smile she had worn while claiming the championship.

Only she knew that the familiar, deeply reassuring warm current had once again washed perfectly over her entire body.

He had seen her.

He was always there.

...

The night grew deep, and the clamor gradually subsided.

Song Jiaru, who was unable to fall asleep the whole time, snuck out of the hotel where she was staying as if fleeing.

Wearing a mask and a hat, like the most ordinary tourist, she strolled alone to the side of the West Lake shrouded in the night.

The evening wind brushed across the lake surface, bringing moist water vapor.

The city lights in the distance cast broken, swaying light and shadows in the lake water, and the outline of Leifeng Pagoda stood silently in the night.

(TL: Leifeng Pagoda is a famous tower by West Lake in Hangzhou, deeply associated with the Legend of the White Snake.)

She walked very slowly, deliberately leaving the empty space by her side for that existence only she could perceive.

As she walked, she even reached out her own hand with a touch of quiet stubbornness.

Her slender fingers curled slightly, hanging loosely in mid-air, as if being tightly held by a warm and powerful large hand.

"Big Brother..."

Facing the empty air beside her, her voice carried an undetectable choke, yet was full of infinite longing.

"Look at Leifeng Pagoda over there."

She raised her other hand to point into the distance,

"In the ancient legends, Lady White was imprisoned beneath it for twenty long years, and Xu Xian spent his entire life waiting for her before they finally earned their reunion when Leifeng Pagoda collapsed and the waters of West Lake ran completely dry."

She paused and turned her head,

"Compared to them, I really am... far too lucky."

The night wind blew up the stray hairs on her forehead, her eyes shining astonishingly in the night,

"Bai Suzhen waited for Xu Xian for a thousand years, Xu Xian waited for her for twenty years... And I only need to wait another twelve years to truly see you..."

"Big Brother..."

Her voice carried a slight tremble, yet was incomparably firm, as if making a solemn promise spanning across spacetime,

"Wait until that day, wait until May 24, 2025, after my Binzhou concert ends... you must fulfill your promise and truly come to my side."

"When the time comes... accompany me to walk by this West Lake again, okay?"

"Just like right now... truly, holding my hand."

"I will offer my everything... my glory, my life, my complete soul... to you."

Her fingertips tightened slightly against the empty air, as if she could already feel a physical, genuine warmth radiating back from the future.

In front of the screen, Xu Yunzhou watched the girl on the screen talking to herself to the empty air, yet appearing more serious than ever.

Staring at her hand loosely gripping the void, listening to her tear-choked plea that vibrated with absolute hope...

He abruptly raised his head, closed his eyes, his Adam's apple rolling violently.

Ultimately, he could only face the microphone and issue a response:

"...Okay."

If I die, I die!

He roared furiously at himself in his heart.

If the day after tomorrow, this girl really wants to tie me to a laboratory operating table and slice me up for research... then fucking so be it!