Listening to the song while reading is highly recommended
"I'll give it a try," Chu Zhi said as he picked up the mic. "Let me sing a song."
Yang Xinbo hesitated. It wasn't that he doubted Chu Zhi's ability, he just didn't want him to be discouraged. After all, he had already performed three songs and barely managed to hold an audience of sixty. And during the break, at least ten people had left. That left them with just over forty onlookers now.
A hard loss to swallow. Yang Xinbo felt like this might be the Waterloo of his singing career.
Maybe it was time to use the Party Scroll... He considered it but didn't say anything out loud. Instead, he asked, "What kind of arrangement?"
"Give me a moment," Chu Zhi said to the crowd, switching effortlessly between Mandarin and Japanese. "Please wait here. I'd like to sing a Japanese song for you next."
"You know Japanese too?" Yang Xinbo blinked in surprise.
"I studied a bit on my own," Chu Zhi replied casually. He gave the arrangement to the group—one key reason he chose "Lemon" was that it didn't require any obscure instruments.
"I'll take the keyboard," Yang Xinbo offered. He wasn't a composer, but he could handle the basics.
After a quick fifteen-minute rehearsal, even more people had left. Only a few curious Chinese students wandered over to see what was going on.
Some Japanese spectators whispered among themselves:
"Chinese singer wants to sing in Japanese?"
"I've heard plenty of our singers do well in Chinese, but never the other way around."
"Is that really something to brag about? All it shows is how hard our singers have to work in their native language while Chinese singers can ignore ours. It reflects our weaker global presence."
"Whatever. I've never heard a Chinese singer sing a Japanese song well."
"And this guy? He doesn't look as good as the last one."
Meanwhile, the Chinese audience had an entirely different tone:
"Whoa, he knows Japanese too? What a gem!"
"First time hearing him sing in Japanese... kind of excited!"
"Come on, come on, I'm ready!"
"'Lemon'? Sounds like a soft, feel-good song."
Chu Zhi slung the guitar over his shoulder. The last time he'd used this look was during a rock night set.
🎵"夢ならばどれほどよかったでしょう
Yume naraba dore hodo yokatta deshou
If only this were all a dream, how much easier it would be
未だにあなたのことを夢にみる"
Imada ni anata no koto wo yume ni miru
Even now, I still see your shadow in my sleep "🎵
It was his first time singing in Japanese in public, but not the first time performing the song. At home, he practiced this stuff in his vocal booth every day.
At 80% despair tone, his voice and the piano accompaniment dragged the listeners into a heavy, emotional atmosphere. Every deep note of the piano felt like a small chisel knocking gently at the heart.
🎵" 忘れた物を取りに帰るように
Wasureta mono wo tori ni kaeru you ni
It's like returning home to retrieve something long forgotten,
古びた思い出の埃を払う"
Furubita omoide no hokori wo harau
brushing the dust off memories too precious to lose."🎵
🎵"戻らない幸せがあることを
Modoranai shiawase ga aru koto wo
最後にあなたが教えてくれた
Saigo ni anata ga oshiete kureta
言えずに隠してた昏い過去も
Iezu ni kakushiteta kurai kako mo
あなたがいなきゃ永遠に昏いまま
Anata ga inakya eien ni kurai mama 🎵
🎵"In the end, you were the one who brought light to the darkest corners of my past. If not for you, they'd still be buried deep."🎵
~ "I know now, there's nothing more heartbreaking than this." ~
When Chu Zhi reached the word "kurai" [darkness], his voice trembled slightly. It was like a cracked phone screen protector—fragile, broken, and painfully real. It hit hard.
The Japanese audience that had come out of curiosity, thinking they'd catch a cringe performance, were now simply listening.
Most of them found themselves thinking, "This guy... might actually be something."
🎵"あの日の悲しみさえ
Ano hi no kanashimi sae
The sorrow of that day,
あの日の苦しみさえ
Ano hi no kurushimi sae
the pain of that day
そのすべてを愛してた あなたとともに
Sono subete wo aishiteta anata to tomo ni
and the love I still feel for it all...
胸に残り離れない
Mune ni nokori hanarenai
have etched themselves into me
苦いレモンの匂い
Nigai remon no nioi
The bitter scent of lemon still lingers,
雨が降り止むまでは帰れない "🎵
Ame ga furi yamu made wa kaerenai
and until the skies clear, I cannot move on.
~ "Even now, you are my light" ~
Sorrow doesn't always scream and wail. Sometimes, it floats lightly, like a scent hanging in the air, untouchable and invisible. Chu Zhi's soft vocals carried exactly that kind of fragility. The way he sang that line made you want to cup your hands around the sound and keep it from slipping away.
🎵"暗闇であなたの背をなぞった
Kurayami de anata no se wo nazotta
I chase your outline in the darkness.
その輪郭を鮮明に覚えてる
Sono rinkaku wo senmei ni oboeteru
Even now, it's carved vividly in my heart.
受け止めきれないものと出会うたび
Uketomekirenai mono to deau tabi
When I face pain I cannot endure
溢れてやまないのは涙だけ"🎵
Afurete yamanai no wa namida dake
the only thing that pours out are my tears.
🎵"何をしていたの
Nani wo shite ita no
What did you see?
何を見ていたの
Nani wo mite ita no
What did you feel?
私の知らない横顔で
Watashi no shiranai yokogao de
あなたが教えてくれた
Anata ga oshiete kureta
暗い過去も"🎵
Kurai kako mo
🎵That expression—I had never seen it before.🎵
More and more people began to gather. Listening to a song was one thing, but realizing you were part of the song's story... that changed everything.
The two "nani wo" lines were like hooks that pulled buried pain straight to the surface. Chu Zhi's voice became the flute of memory, guiding forgotten sorrow home.
The Japanese audience, often bottling up emotion, found it hard to resist. Their culture leaned toward exaggerated artistic expression, and this song pushed all the right buttons.
Even the cameramen were a little dazed. "Uh, hello? This is a reality show, not a solo concert."
🎵"If you're living in solitude, drowning in tears day after day, then forget me. Please, forget everything."🎵
🎵"Even so, from the bottom of my heart... you are still my light."🎵
Sorrow doesn't always flood rivers, but it can topple the walls we build to protect ourselves.
At the song's emotional peak, Chu Zhi remembered his past life, the few relatives he had cared about. If forgetting him meant they could live happily, then so be it.
The despair gauge nudged up to 85%. The guitar chords grew richer, the arrangement swelled. The bottled-up sorrow of earlier lines now came rushing out all at once.
Women in the crowd wiped away tears, haunted by memories they had tried to let go.
"Dammit, I still have work later. Why am I crying in public?"
"This Chinese singer... why does he sing our songs with so much emotion?!"
🎵"I loved you—more deeply than I ever realized. After that, I couldn't even breathe the same."🎵
🎵"We were once so close... now it feels like a dream."🎵
🎵"All that remains is this unforgettable scent of bitter lemon, imprinted in my soul along with you."🎵
There was no melodramatic sobbing in his voice, only a quiet, aching cry for what had been lost. It was an outpouring disguised as restraint. A confession barely held back.
Even if it hurt, he would keep living—stronger, braver. That soft tremble in his tone finally broke through the crowd's defenses.
In the front row, a twin-tailed girl thought of her late grandmother—the one who always saved her favorite snacks just for her.
To the right, a businessman with a briefcase had red-rimmed eyes. His father had passed away before they could reconcile. They had fought, but now that he was gone, the pain hit differently.
🎵"Until the rain clears, I cannot move on. Like half a lemon sliced open, you still linger as my light."🎵
Chu Zhi stretched out his hand, as if trying to catch the light itself. But when he closed his fingers... there was nothing there.
The song ended. A four-minute performance, but the weight it left behind hung in the air like mist after rain.
===
I'm on good mood today, so I put more 'effort' on this chapter (ノ= ⩊ = )ノ