47 The Concert Begins

NOTE: Please play "The Specter" by Alan Walker to get the full effect of the chapter!

Qiu Yue looked at Qiao Feng hesitantly, biting her lip lightly.

Even without her saying anything Qiao Feng knew what she wanted to say. He looked around at everyone else panicking because of the issue, and then he looked at her. How she looked at him, trusting him, and perhaps more importantly... she was looking at him. No one else. A part of his mind screamed this was nothing, it meant nothing. Even the song she wanted him to sing with her was meant for someone else. But for him, who was waiting for opportunities where she would look at him, how could he give it up?

Actually Qiu Yue indeed noticed him more now, but as the saying went... even the most perceptive people turned blind in love.

He let out a sigh and his lips turned up into a small helpless smile and Qiu Yue knew that she'd won. Quickly she clapped her hands twice to attract everyone's attention and started ordering them around. Qiao Feng had to have his make up done... the clothes had to be arranged-

"I won't be going on the stage."

She immediately turned to look at him, pouting a bit.

Faced with the sudden attack Qiao Feng was left speechless for a bit.

"Mr. Yu Wang's fans wouldn't like anyone taking his place so abruptly even if it was because he was delayed. Let alone me, who isn't even a popularly known singer."

"Ah..."

Qiu Yue nodded as the realization hit her. Of course, what if they started to insult him online and all? She couldn't let that happen, could she?

"...wait so then what do you actually need to prepare for?"

The problem here, Qiao Feng knew by looming around the others, was that they couldn't understand this conversation at all. They knew what the sentences meant but they couldn't understand how the idea of manager Feng singing instead of Mr. Yu Wang had come up.

To reassure them they needed to do the final rehearsal with him singing.

Seeing his gaze, Qiu Yue understood what he wanted to do. She nodded at him and directed everyone to start up the final rehearsal.

The moment Qiao Feng started to sing, everyone present was shocked. Even Fan Yin who had dropped in to support them was shocked to see his friend singing. He knew that Qiao Feng had the skills to, that guy could even play the piano extremely well, but he'd left all of it, saying he had found it boring.

'Ah~ my best friend is growing up~'

He thought, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief, with a genuine smile on his face.

Soon the time for the concert to begin was there, people started to gush into the stadium, chatting excitedly within themselves.

Qiu Yue had quickly gained a lot of fans. For her beauty, for her songs, for her emotions, and for her honesty. Different demographics of people had simply been swept away by her, falling in love with their idol who was clearly so sad and yet would give them a sweet smile just to brighten their day.

She often posted on social media wishing them a good day, asking them to take of their health, small vlogs of the tasty restaurants she'd found. She didn't just visit expensive and big restaurants, she would go to smaller and cheaper places that anyone could afford and yet had that great taste.

As per orders by Qiao Feng, she also posted a lot of different selcas.

Sometimes she'd see an animal she liked a lot, but being scared of them she could only take pictures from afar and then TT_TT her heart out.

Her fans loved the cute and slightly clumsy side of her. Qiu Yue didn't think she was clumsy at all, but she'd often get hurt. Small cuts, once she'd stabbed herself with a pair of scissors... she would still wince at that memory.

They liked seeing that she was in love with furry animals and yet because she was scared she had just taken pictures. She would visit places and marvel at their beauty, eyes sparkling in excitement.

Qiao Feng would take these pictures and post them, after all, who could hate the pictures of a pretty young girl?

They all looked forward to the list of songs that were released as the concert's line up. Qiu Yue has written two songs for the title track, deciding to share that title with two tracks she loved and one song that she had specifically dedicated to her fans.

Mind you, while this was her first concert her songs were already wildly popular, even though she hadn't even considered it, all her fans knew almost all the lyrics!

The first song today was the first of title tracks she'd chosen. 'The Specter', a song that she liked a lot from her own world.

For the first song that would start off the entire concert, Qiu Yue wanted to excite everyone with it, while staying true to her album. For her album, she'd picked songs that conveyed what she felt after... after everything that happened.

Six dancers entered behind Qiu Yue as she walked to the front slowly in the dark as the opening notes played, and then right at the moment beat dropped for the first time all the lights turned on.

"Hello, hello – can you hear me as I scream your name?"

"Hello, hello – do you need me before I fade away?"

As Qiu Yue stood in the center the six dancers around her started to move along in a dance that Qiu Yue obviously wasn't good as them in, but had worked hard practicing for the past month.

Perhaps if Qiu Yue was to do this in her original body before, she wouldn't have been able to, but Xiang Qiu Yue, for all her faults in temperament, writing lyrics and making music, was blessed with an amazing voice and control over her body that she'd refined through years of hard work. The soul wasn't the same but her body was worked too hard to forget all the practice it had gone through for years.

Wearing a headset microphone Qiu Yue could keep up to the movements of the professional dancers without a handheld mic to hinder her.

"Is this a place that I call home

To find what I've become?

Walk along the path unknown"

"We live, we love, we lie"

As they all moved in an illusionary sync, matching the beats of the music it created an amazing effect.

"Deep in the dark, I don't need the light"

"There's a ghost inside me"

"It all belongs to the other side"

"We live, we love, we lie!! (We live, we love, we lie)"

The audience rose up and sang, no perhaps it'd be more appropriate to say screamed, along with Qiu Yue at this line.

As the EDM track played alone, Qiu Yue could finally reassure herself seeing the crowd break into a huge cheer. Even while concentrating on her movements and voice, she couldn't ignore the worry she had, would people like it?

Actually she didn't need to worry. The entire stadium was buzzing with excitement and sound, the music vibrating through every fiber of their being as the fans started at the stage with glowing eyes. Along with the music and the accumulated excitement for the start of the concert that wasn't a single person who could stop themselves from moving.

The lights, the music, the dance everything came together at this moment to create a night that they wouldn't ever forget!

As the momentum built up slowly and finally the beat dropped before getting even more energetic, from behind Qiu Yue a row of flares burst out making the audience scream in excitement!

"Hello, hello – nice to meet you, voice inside my head"

"Hello, hello – I believe you, how can I forget"

"Is this a place that I call home

To find what I've become?"

"Walk along the path unknown"

"We live, we love, we lie"

"Deep in the dark I don't need the light"

"There's a ghost inside me

It all belongs to the other side"

"We live, we love, we lie (We live, we love, we lie)"

Qiu Yue didn't sing that line, instead she laughed at the exhilaration she felt hearing thousands of people, her people, her fans sing it instead.

"We live, we love, we lie!"

Again as the music just got faster and faster and faster, the moment it all came together, another two rows of flares were fired from either side of Qiu Yue officially and finally kicking the start of that evening to an unbelievable high!

As the song came to an end, all the fans cheered loudly.

"QiuQiu!!"

Qiu Yue's lips twitched but she controlled herself. The first time she'd heard that 'QiuQiu' she felt like throwing her phone on the wall!

Who're you calling a ball ball?!

But then seeing everyone immediately adopt it as her name Qiu Yue couldn't even cry before it'd already become normal!

And anyway she was too excited right now to think so much!

She laughed as the camera panned to her focus on her, projecting that image onto the huge screens that fans could use to look at the stage from afar.

It was rare to see Qiu Yue just laugh freely like this, and it took everyone's breathes away in an instant.

"Heyyyy!!!"

She raised her arm high and said loudly to everyone in the audience.

"Now we begin!"

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1. QiuQiu can also be written as ballball in Chinese.