Chapter 236 - 198: Mountains Beyond Mountains

Chapter 236: Chapter 198: Mountains Beyond Mountains

"I’ll go first to warm up my voice."

Su Tang clinked glasses with Gu Heng and took a sip of her drink. The cool liquid slid down her throat. With those annoying guys gone, the interest she had lost was suddenly rekindled.

"What do you want to sing?"

Gu Heng passed the tablet from the center of the table to Su Tang. "You can just select it on the tablet."

"Wow!"

"This is so high-tech!"

Su Tang found it novel, her tone tinged with amazement.

Gu Heng just smiled and didn’t answer.

This was the exclusive venue where Xingchuan International Group entertained its "honored guests." Its opulence was far beyond even that of the Platinum Association. The place was renovated every year or two to ensure the rooms and amenities remained at the absolute forefront of international standards.

In terms of cost, renovating a single one of these VIP rooms was enough to furnish ten of Roar Hall’s luxury VIP rooms.

"In that case, I’ll sing ’The Song of the Grassland.’"

In the realm of singing, Su Tang had absolute confidence.

Soon, the intro began to play.

The melodious, soothing sound of a horsehead fiddle flowed from the speakers.

At the same time, Gu Heng could clearly feel a subtle shift in Su Tang’s entire demeanor. In other words, the moment she picked up the microphone, she naturally took on the special "aura" that only a professional possesses.

...

My heart roams with heaven and earth

My will is led by the cattle and sheep

The lone smoke of the great desert

Embraces the setting sun

...

After the intro, Su Tang’s rich, mellow, and deeply emotional voice filled the room.

Warm, serene, ethereal, vast, boundless...

Blue skies and white clouds, waves of grass rippling in the wind.

Wisps of smoke from cooking fires, cattle and sheep strolling leisurely.

A herdsman’s long song, his silhouette slowly stretching in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Serene and profound, tranquil and carefree.

As Su Tang’s song resounded through the room, Gu Heng felt as if a magnificent scroll painting was unfurling before his eyes.

On the way to Roar Hall, the three girls had asked Gu Heng if he could sing. He had been modest in his reply, but in truth, Gu Heng considered his singing to be quite decent.

Now, however, he was extremely glad he had been modest.

What he had thought was a decent singing voice, when compared to Su Tang, seemed to have a gap wider than that between someone who’s tone-deaf and someone who can carry a tune.

’Don’t challenge someone’s livelihood with your hobby.’

At this moment, Han Han’s words were once again perfectly proven true.

The song ended, its resonance lingering in the air.

"Amazing!"

Gu Heng clapped lightly and praised with a smile, "You truly live up to your reputation as number one among the freshmen at Jilin University School of Art!"

"It was alright."

Su Tang put down the microphone, her smile poised and generous.

"More than alright."

Gu Heng was being honest; his assessment was very objective.

"Qingge, you want to sing one too?"

Su Tang turned and passed the microphone to Lin Qingge.

"Okay."

Maybe it was because the foreign liquor was strong, or maybe it was because Lin Qingge wasn’t used to drinking, but a faint blush quietly crept onto her fair, translucent cheeks.

If the Lin Qingge in the white dress had seemed like an elf from the woods before drinking, then the post-drink Lin Qingge had an added touch of charming naivete to her ethereal grace.

"Then I’ll sing ’As Wished.’"

Lin Qingge clinked glasses with Su Tang and the others and took another sip of liquor. Then, she used her slender, pale fingers to make a selection on the dedicated tablet. When the music started, she stood up from the sofa.

"Wow!"

"Starting with a big one!"

Liu Nanyi couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise when she saw the song Lin Qingge had chosen.

"Is that song very difficult?"

Gu Heng raised an eyebrow at Liu Nanyi’s expression and asked.

"Whether it’s difficult or not depends on how the singer performs it."

"If you just sing it straight through, the difficulty is only moderate."

"But if you sing it following the three-part structure of the original singer, Princess Consort, then the difficulty skyrockets."

Although Liu Nanyi’s professional skills couldn’t compare to the two "queens," her theoretical knowledge was very solid.

"A three-part structure?"

Gu Heng didn’t quite get it. "Is it that hard?"

"Of course it’s hard."

"The main difficulty of the three-part structure lies in the emotional progression."

"The first part needs to express gratitude, the second part needs to express heritage, and the third part needs to express pioneering. The vocal style changes with each section."

Liu Nanyi explained in a low voice to Gu Heng, "To achieve that epic feeling like Princess Consort’s original, you have to build the emotion layer by layer. It’s like a single Xinghuo spark that spreads across a surface and eventually becomes a prairie fire."

"I see..."

Gu Heng looked as if he understood, but in reality, he was still lost in the clouds.

But whether he understood didn’t matter to Gu Heng. The only thing that mattered was whether it sounded good.

Clearly, Lin Qingge belonged to the category of singers who sounded very good, and her voice was actually somewhat similar to Princess Consort’s.

...

You are where I come from

And where my heart belongs

All paths in this world will

Lead me to you

...

As she sang this part, even a layman like Gu Heng could feel the progression in Lin Qingge’s emotions.

However, just then...

A sudden knock came from the door of the private room.

Hearing the knock, Lin Qingge subconsciously turned to glance at Gu Heng.

"Ignore it. Just keep going."

Gu Heng gestured for Lin Qingge to continue singing, then turned and gave Liu Nanyi a look.

Understanding immediately, Liu Nanyi got up to open the door.

As the door opened, Han Jingcheng, Vice President of Xingchuan International Group, and Chu Zhengnan, Director of the Internal Security Department, walked in from outside, following Du Zehui.

Though it was late at night, both men were dressed very formally.

Business suits and ties, looking as if they were there for a meeting.

Both men were high-level executives at Xingchuan International Group, the kind of men who would walk with their heads held high and a powerful stride wherever they went. Yet at this moment, they both appeared quite reserved.

The two men entered the room. Gu Heng glanced up at them, gave them a small smile, and then turned his gaze back to Lin Qingge.

That casual, unconcerned air was like that of an ancient Emperor enjoying music when two of his ministers suddenly entered. The Emperor, unbothered, would glance at them with what seemed to be a smile, but in truth, he wasn’t paying them any mind at all.

Seeing this, Han Jingcheng and Chu Zhengnan didn’t feel awkward at all. On the contrary, they felt that receiving even a gentle smile from Gu Heng was a rare honor.

Both Han Jingcheng and Chu Zhengnan were large men, and the black business suits they wore gave them the uncanny look of "thugs in suits." But right now, they stood obediently by the edge of the door, quietly awaiting Gu Heng’s summons.

At this moment, Liu Nanyi and Su Tang, sitting beside Gu Heng, felt inexplicably tense watching the scene unfold. The oppressive aura emanating from Han Jingcheng and Chu Zhengnan was simply too intense.

At the same time, because of Han Jingcheng and Chu Zhengnan’s presence, Gu Heng—who had seemed gentle and easy-going—suddenly became imposing and inscrutable, radiating authority without a trace of anger.

Gu Heng was still sitting there in the exact same posture as before, yet his presence had become completely different.

However, the most intimidated person in the room was probably Lin Qingge.

Su Tang and Liu Nanyi didn’t know the two men, but Lin Qingge, as a signed artist under Xingchuan International Group’s subsidiary, Xingchuan Entertainment, knew exactly who Han Jingcheng and Chu Zhengnan were.

Either one of these two men was the boss of her current boss’s boss—a major leader whom the acting general manager of Xingchuan Entertainment would have to treat with the utmost respect.

But now, these "big shots" in her eyes were standing respectfully by the door, not even daring to sit down. The scene felt so surreal that her voice began to tremble slightly.

’Only by seeing a great mountain does one realize there are mountains beyond the mountains.’

Before Han Jingcheng and Chu Zhengnan arrived, Lin Qingge knew that Gu Heng’s status was revered and his identity noble. But she had no clear concept of just how revered or how noble he truly was.

He was too far removed from her world; she lacked a frame of reference.

It was like how everyone knows Mount Everest is the world’s highest peak, that it’s 9,000 meters tall, but most people don’t have a clear concept of what a 9,000-meter-tall mountain really is.

But if you were to visit Mount Hua, ride its 2,150-meter cable car, and experience the feeling of crossing mountains and passing through clouds, you would have a clear point of comparison. You would immediately understand the true majesty and grandeur of Mount Everest.

Right now, Han Jingcheng and Chu Zhengnan were that frame of reference, allowing Lin Qingge to truly comprehend the staggering extent of Gu Heng’s power and authority...