Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Immediately afterward, someone stood up and began clapping wildly. The next second, the applause was like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami, instantly engulfing the entire auditorium!

"good!"

"That's amazing!"

"One more!"

"Coach, I want to learn this!"

"..."

Cheers, whistles, stomping feet… the students went absolutely wild! They expressed their awe and delight with every ounce of their energy. This enthusiastic scene even surpassed the total applause for all the previous performances combined!

Director Zhou excitedly led the applause, then turned to Leader Wu and said, "A classic! This is definitely a classic that will be passed down through generations!"

The students also supported this view. This song doesn't require hitting high notes, it doesn't have any folk or bel canto singing techniques, and the accompaniment is simple. You can use a harmonica, a guitar alone, or even whistling if you don't have any music—you can sing it anywhere, anyone can sing it! Students can sing it, workers can sing it—farmers can sing it! It's very easy to learn!

It's easy to understand, heartwarming, and powerful! It gives people hope!

Great song!

Absolutely a great song!

Leader Wu nodded vigorously, staring intently at Zhang Dabiao on the stage as if he were looking at a monster.

In a corner of the audience, Gao Feng's face was ashen. He sat there blankly, his hand gripping his violin bow tightly, his knuckles white from the force.

He lost.

We lost completely and utterly, and we accept it wholeheartedly.

His "Ode to the Steel Torrent" may be impeccable in terms of artistic technique, but it appears so pale and contrived in the face of creativity, emotion, and that warm and heart-touching power. His proud "grand narrative" is so fragile and vulnerable in the face of someone else's saying, "If you have light in your heart, you have nothing to fear."

After the performance, Zhang Dabiao and Mu Wanqing bowed and left the stage amidst thunderous applause.

Backstage, everyone's gaze towards them changed, filled with awe and curiosity.

Just then, Han Xiaomeng and Tang Min (the senior students who helped with the creation of "The Song of Changle") rushed over. Han Xiaomeng tugged at Zhang Dabiao's sleeve and whispered, "Dabiao, I saw this in the trash can backstage..."

She opened her palm, revealing a worn-out "He Lai" harmonica with a clear shoe print on its silver casing.

"The trash can is right next to the cubicle where Gao Feng and the others changed into their performance costumes," Han Xiaomeng added.

The truth is self-evident.

The students who overheard this looked at Gao Feng and his group not far away with disdain and contempt.

Gao Feng was completely dumbfounded—"Who is it?!"

"Who is trying to harm me?!"

He swore to the old man that he only wanted to win against Zhang Dabiao and Mu Wanqing fairly and squarely, and that he really hadn't done anything despicable!

Which bastard is trying to harm him?!

Director Zhou came over to inquire, and Mu Wanqing explained the matter of the harmonica—in short, someone had stolen and damaged it. The purpose was obvious.

In other words, there was originally a harmonica version of this song, which might be better, or it might evoke a different feeling.

The song was changed like this at the last minute, which made the musicians a little unhappy.

The students immediately became noisy. Director Zhou looked at the harmonica, not knowing what to do. He wanted to investigate, but how?

Zhang Dabiao scratched his head—

"That's easy. The harmonica Wanqing bought yesterday was wiped clean with a velvet cloth before leaving the store, which means—there are no fingerprints from the store clerk."

"Only a few people touched this harmonica just now: Han Xiaomeng, Mu Wanqing, and Director Zhou."

"Compare the fingerprints of the students who were in the same class as Mu Wanqing yesterday afternoon—then we'll know who stole it, won't we?"

"This workload is only for comparing the fingerprints of forty or fifty people; it's a piece of cake."

In 1961, fingerprint identification technology existed in Beijing, but it relied entirely on technicians examining paper cards one by one with magnifying glasses. There were no computers, no databases, and completing the task within a week was considered fast. However, according to Zhang Dabiao, only comparing the fingerprints of forty or fifty people was needed, and the smooth metal surface of a harmonica made fingerprint extraction easy. This workload could definitely be completed within two or three days.

Then, one of the guys hiding in the crowd turned green with anger.

We're doomed!

------------

When Zhang Dabiao and Mu Wanqing returned to the courtyard house in triumph, it was already late at night.

The winter night in the alley was bitterly cold, but the two of them felt as if they were burning with passion. Mu Wanqing's face was always beaming with a bright smile, a smile of confidence and joy after shining on stage.

This song wasn't number one, but tied for third place across the entire department. However, it was already confirmed that it would be included in the textbook because it was so unique.

So it's an honor to have Mu Wanqing and Zhang Dabiao included in the textbook as lyricists, composers, and lead singers!

The two parted ways at the entrance of courtyard number 95. Mu Wanqing went back to the adjacent tenement, where she would be able to move to her new home in a couple of days. The house in Sesame Alley had already been renovated by Master Lei.

As soon as Zhang Dabiao entered the courtyard, Yan Bugui, who lived in the front yard, poked his head out of the house.

"Oh, is Da Biao back? I heard you and Mu Wanqing won a big prize for your performance at their school tonight?" Uncle San's information network is always so efficient.

"It was just a school performance, nothing to brag about," Zhang Dabiao replied with a smile.

"Hey, don't be modest!" Yan Jiecheng from the outer courtyard also came out wearing a coat, followed by his wife Yu Li.

"I heard that you and Wanqing really brought glory to our compound today! One of you sang, and the other imitated a bunch of musical instrument sounds with her mouth, which stunned all the professors and experts in the audience! Wow, Da Biao, you have this special talent too?" Yan Jiecheng looked surprised and admiring, which was genuine.

Yu Li smiled and said to Zhang Dabiao, "Dabiao, when you have time another day, sing us a song too."

"No, how does this have anything to do with our compound? That's Mu Wanqing's school. I'm just an accompanist. Wanqing isn't even from our compound."

For a time, the courtyard was filled with a joyful atmosphere because of Zhang Dabiao's return.

However, the lively atmosphere came to an abrupt end when Zhang Dabiao passed through the main hall and stepped into the central courtyard.

The air seemed to freeze instantly.

The courtyard was very deserted.

Inside the Jia family's house, only a dim light bulb shone, and there wasn't a trace of heat on the windows. Qin Huairu sat on a stool, silently altering clothes with a sewing machine under the dim light, tears falling one by one onto the fabric, leaving dark stains.

Jia Zhangshi lay on the bed, tossing and turning like a pancake, muttering to herself, "ungrateful wretch... a bunch of ungrateful wretch..." She was panicked and scared, her stomach growling with hunger, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Dinner was cornmeal porridge with pickled vegetables. Not a drop of oil, so bland it scratched my throat.

She planned to wait here for Sha Zhu to bring her lunchbox, eat her fill, and then go back to the house in the front yard with Bang Geng.

After finishing his meal, Xiao Dang hid under the covers and went to sleep. Bang Geng was actually full, but not satisfied, so he was doing his homework in the side room, waiting to see if there would be any more good food. He smelled an enticing aroma of meat wafting from the crack in Sha Zhu's window.

That's Sha Zhu making himself a midnight snack.

Today, Sha Zhu kept his word.

When he got off work, instead of handing the lunchbox he brought back from the kitchen to Qin Huairu as usual, he took it straight back to his room. For dinner, he stir-fried some sliced ​​meat and stewed some cabbage and tofu. The aroma wafted through half the yard, making Banggeng's mouth water.

Now, late at night, he's in the house tinkering with food, poisoning people in the dead of night.

That tightly closed door, like an iceberg, severed all hope for the Jia family. Banggeng stared intently at that door with an almost venomous look. In his distorted worldview, it was a terrible sin for Shazhu not to give their family anything. He hated Shazhu, hated him for not continuing to be that "fool" who could take whatever he wanted.

Qin Huairu listened to the sounds of spatulas coming from next door, her heart aching. She knew that the man who had once doted on her and was willing to offer her the whole world had truly been broken and would never come back.