Entertainment: A song that brought his deceased wife back to life.

Deepsea Capital acted even faster than Xu Qing had anticipated.

On the fourth day, when Ma Dongteng called, Xu Qing was sitting on the living room floor with a whole sheet of string scores spread out in front of her.

"The distribution channels in North America are being blocked," Ma Dongteng said rapidly. "Spotify's review process has stalled, and Apple Music is playing dead."

"Deep Sea Capital used its connections with at least three copyright agents, citing 'questionable copyright ownership, requiring recertification.' These old foxes are determined to block us."

Xu Qing held her phone between her ear and shoulder, continuing to mark the score with a red pen, without even lifting her eyelids.

"Put international channels aside for now and focus on protecting the domestic market."

"No problem domestically, I've been overseeing it the whole time." Ma Dongteng was getting anxious, "But the scale of your song—a hundred-person symphony orchestra plus a children's choir—just the venue management alone will be—"

"Three days," Xu Qing interrupted him crisply.

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"Three days? Are you serious?"

"The recording for the fifth episode will be this weekend." Xu Qing's tone left no room for negotiation. "Three days is enough."

Ma Dongteng let out a long sigh of relief.

"Fine, I'll go all in with you this time. I'll adjust whatever you want, but give me a straight answer: what's the scale of this song?"

"A national-level symphony orchestra with a staff of 100 members, not a single track can be missing. A children's choir of 50 members, with the age limit set at seven to twelve years old."

Xu Qing drew a circle on the score. "I've already drawn the stage layout. I'll send it to your email in a bit."

"...This is definitely not a job that can be scheduled in three days!"

"So I need you to clear all the slots for international students."

Two more seconds of suffocating silence followed.

"You know the National Symphony Orchestra's schedule, it's booked up three months in advance, right?"

"You're the CEO of Tencent Music." Xu Qing put the red pen in his mouth and casually flipped to a page of the score.

"What others can't resolve in three months, Mr. Ma can solve with just three phone calls."

Ma Dongteng chuckled and cursed "national essence" on the other end of the phone before hanging up.

On the same afternoon.

Adam also called from overseas.

Luo Qianyu was simmering pork rib soup in the kitchen when she heard Xu Qing answering the phone in the living room. The voice on the other end was extremely irritable and speaking in English.

She couldn't hear everything clearly, but the words "Marcus," "son of a bitch," and "shut them down" came out very clearly from the phone's speaker.

Interspersed among the noises were muffled sounds of Adam smashing things, clearly indicating he was furious.

It took about five minutes for Adam's voice to come down.

Two minutes later, a broken Chinese sentence suddenly popped out from the otherwise entirely English conversation.

"Qing, I'll sing this song with you."

Luo Qianyu suddenly stopped using the spatula in her hand.

She held her breath and strained her ears to hear Xu Qing's answer.

The living room was quiet for a few seconds.

"Need not."

Xu Qing's voice was as calm as if they were discussing what to have for dinner.

"Adam, every note in this song was something I worked on in my study last night."

"When I was writing, there was only one thing on my mind—the child with a face covered in blood in the news photo."

He paused for a moment, his eyes becoming incredibly deep.

"This song doesn't need an American rock superstar to break it."

"It must be sung by an Easterner. With an Easterner's voice, standing on an Eastern stage."

"I want the whole world to hear what a great power's vision is."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

After a long while, Adam said something softly in English.

Luo Qianyu didn't hear clearly, but she saw Xu Qing's expression change.

It wasn't a smile, but an expression that bordered on solemnity and reverence. Living in the same world, we should share the same compassion.

After hanging up the phone, Xu Qing tossed her phone onto the sofa, leaned back against the cushions, and stared intently at the ceiling.

Luo Qianyu came out carrying a bowl of pork rib soup and asked softly, "What did he say?"

"He said," Xu Qing closed her eyes, "that I'll sit in the audience and listen."

Luo Qianyu placed the soup bowl on the coffee table in front of him.

"Aren't you afraid he'll sing for you and the effect will be off the charts? He's a top-tier superstar with 300 million global sales—"

"This isn't about sales figures." Xu Qing opened his eyes and looked at her sharply.

"Deep Sea Capital spends money to hire online trolls and get foreign media to spread rumors that I only write love ballads and have no global perspective."

"What do they want to see? To see a Chinese songwriter who doesn't even have the confidence to sing his own songs and has to find an American to support him."

He picked up the soup bowl and slowly took a sip.

"I won't."

Looking at his nonchalant demeanor, Luo Qianyu couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Stop playing dumb. Just say it, you're trying to beat Adam this time, aren't you?"

Xu Qing put down the bowl and took a tissue to wipe her mouth.

"Beating him was just a side effect."

For the next three days, Xu Qing's schedule was so irregular that it could be used to apply for non-human certification.

first day.

At 8:00 AM, in the Class A rehearsal hall booked by Penguin Music.

When Mr. Li, the principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra, received the score, his reading glasses almost slipped off his nose.

"One hundred and eight tracks?" Old Li's voice trembled.

"It's 124 tracks." Xu Qing stood beside the command platform, toying with a marker in his hand.

"Sixty-four tracks for strings, twenty tracks for brass, sixteen tracks for woodwinds, eight tracks for percussion, and sixteen tracks for choral parts."

Old Li flipped through the notes at the back of the score, his expression changing from initial shock to an indescribable awe.

"You're not composing music, you're commanding a war!"

"Almost." Xu Qing casually tossed the marker onto the music stand, exuding an aura of authority.

"At the beginning of the thirty-second measure of the chorus, the entire string section enters simultaneously."

"The dynamics are marked on the score, and I've marked three options. Option A is the priority, while options B and C are backup options."

His gaze swept across the entire room: "Anyone who has questions about their part of the score, ask now."

In the spacious rehearsal hall, among hundreds of national-level musicians, not a single hand was raised.

It's not that people don't have questions.

Rather, every mark on the score is so precise it's outrageous!

The strength, bowing technique, breathing points, and pedal positions are all clearly defined and flawless.

This is an absolute and utter defeat, like a music composer who has calculated in advance exactly how every finger of a hundred musicians should move.

The rehearsal started at eight in the morning and lasted until eleven at night.

Xu Qing only left once during that time, to send Luo Qianyu a WeChat message from the corridor.

I'm not going home tonight, you go to sleep first.

Luo Qianyu replied instantly with a single word: 【Okay.】

Three seconds later, another message popped up.

There's some white fungus soup in the fridge; ask someone to heat it up for you. Don't ruin your voice.

the next day.

Fifty children, ranging in age from seven to twelve, stood neatly on the steps of the rehearsal hall.

Xu Qing squatted down in front of the shortest little girl, holding a simplified version of the melody score in her hand.

"You don't need to sing the chorus of this song very loudly."

His voice was extremely soft, so gentle that it was completely different from his usual sharp-tongued producer.

"Just like when you sing at school, don't worry about technique, sing however you want."

A little boy in the front row looked up and asked in a childish voice, "Big brother, who is this song for?"

Xu Qing looked into his clear eyes and remained silent for a second.

"This song is for the children who are your age, but who have no school to go to because of the war."

The little boy blinked, seemingly understanding, then nodded vigorously.

The rehearsal continued until four o'clock in the afternoon when Luo Qianyu appeared at the back door of the rehearsal hall.

She didn't go in to disturb them, but stood quietly behind the glass window outside the door, silently looking inside.

One hundred symphony orchestra members sat in the audience, while fifty children stood on the steps.

Xu Qing stood in the center like a commander, holding a baton in his left hand and a score in his right.

Because of the intense swinging, the old wound on the web of his right hand reopened, and a small, shocking patch of dark red seeped through the white gauze.

But his actions showed not the slightest hesitation.

Luo Qianyu stared intently at the dark red mark for ten seconds, her eyes filled with heartache, before turning and quickly walking toward the nearest pharmacy.

Day three.

Final rehearsal.

Such a massive, full-scale joint training exercise was only conducted twice.

On the first take, the brass section was a mere 0.2 seconds slow when it entered the fourth measure of the chorus, and Xu Qing immediately stopped it without hesitation.

The second time, everyone went crazy, it was so perfect that there wasn't a single flaw.

Chief Commander Old Li put down his baton and slowly took off his reading glasses.

He stared at the young man in front of him, whose eyes were bloodshot and whose hands were wrapped in gauze, and remained speechless for a long time.

Even in the dust, sparks can be hidden; in the ordinary, legends can be born. In this young man, he saw the true backbone of the Chinese music scene.

Finally, Old Li patted Xu Qing heavily on the shoulder and said only two words.

That's enough.

Xu Qing nodded slightly, her expression calm.

When he walked out of the rehearsal hall, Luo Qianyu was leaning against the wall in the corridor waiting for him.

Without saying a word, she took his right hand and carefully removed the old gauze soaked in blood.

Then he took out the newly bought medical bandage and wrapped it around himself again with utmost care, round and round.

The technique was noticeably more skillful than last time.

After he finished wrapping the tape, Luo Qianyu lowered her head and stared at the tape wrapped around his hand for a moment.

"Xu Qing."

"Um."

"When you sing on stage tomorrow—"

Luo Qianyu suddenly raised her head, her eyes shining brightly, her tone carrying an undeniable wildness.

"Beat these foreign devils to tears!"