There’s A Piece Of Vegetable Stuck Between Your Teeth

Every person had a story.

Some stories were plain, some were wonderful, some were logically sequential, and some had many plot twists.

Lu Yihong, the winner of the Golden Bull Award for Best Actor, also had a story.

He used to aspire to be a singer!

He had liked singing since he was young. He dreamt of becoming the King of Music that had the stage at his feet, that had fans screaming their lungs out.

It was a pity that his voice could not make it. No matter what song he sang, he would go off-key. It was a rarity that he would produce songs that were on-pitch.

Perhaps, he had been brainwashed by inspirational speeches on the radio broadcasts. Perhaps, he had been duped by the books which advocated the idea that "dreams could not be defeated by reality, and should have been pursued". Anyway, his ego had been inflated.

Inflated to the point that he never ever felt that his singing was bad.

Then...

That year, when he turned 18, he learned a little guitar. Then, he decided to go to Beijing, a big city, to be a wandering singer like his predecessors. He dreamt about being discovered by a talent scouting agency in the world of music. Then, he would shoot to fame.

Of course, he also wrote a song, "Dreamer", and revelled in his joy. However, that sounded horrendous...

Of course, fantasy was beautiful, and reality was always cruel.

After three years as a wandering singer, he had experienced all kinds of discouragements and hardships. Finally, his chance came, but it was targeted towards his companion. As for him...

The talent scout looked at his face, touched his chin, and asked him if he would provide his services for $300 a night.

Naturally, he refused indignantly. How could he sell his butthole and his dignity!

Then, he was discouraged.

That talent scout left behind a sentence, "You think you can really make it as a singer? Maybe, unless all the singers in the world are dead!"

Of course. Which talent scout would be convinced by his poor singing and lack of talent?

They didn't have tinnitus or Alzheimer's.

Lu Yihong was deeply affected. After listening to his songs carefully, he smashed his guitar and accepted reality, who was a son of a bitch.

Now that Lu Yihong thought about it, back in those years, he was indeed a failure, and an utter one.

Fortunately, although he had no talent, he had looks.

He didn't want to, though.

However, ultimately, he took that path...

Well, it was a sad story.

"That's the person I miss day and night

How should I express it?

Will she accept me?

Perhaps, I would never say those words to her ever...

I'm destined to roam the world

How can I be hung up..."

The moon slowly climbed up the night sky and spread its silver light across the landscape. At the same time, the moonlight penetrated the window and shone on Lu Yuan. It made him seem like a holy object which was bathing in the light and emanating radiance.

Lu Yuan played the prelude, and then sang the song carefully.

Li Qing and Fatty Wei stared at Lu Yuan, dumbfounded. Lu Yuan, at this instant, was totally different from the man who was rowdy and high on the streets last night.

At this instant, Lu Yuan was serious. His voice had that extra bit of effort in it. Coupled with his innately thick voice, the two of them had the feeling that they had seen a ghost.

This young man, who was playing the guitar, was Barbarian Lu?

Was it really Barbarian Lu who smoked, drank, was domineering and unreasonable?

What an utterly big joke!

Well. In summary, their impression of Lu Yuan was that he was so utterly vulgar, that he was fit to be considered a scum of society. 

They even felt that when they were in front of Lu Yuan, they were considered noble.

However, when Lu Yuan picked up his guitar and turned into that artistic youth, his whole aura began to change.

His guitar skills were very skillful, as well as his singing.

Lu Yuan just wanted to finish singing this song, but when he sang it, he thought of the past.

That damned first love!

To be honest, Lu Yuan had never been an artistic youth. At best, he was a wannabe youth.

Lu Yuan had even learnt "Old Boy" to act like he was an artistic youth in front of his goddess.

However, university life was always so short, and reality was cruel. The journey in pursuing his goddess was arduous. Lu Yuan had given up halfway.

Everyone was once young. Everyone had loved before.

Lu Yuan had naturally been young once and loved before. Also, he had suffered from bouts of insomnia too.

Because of this experience, Lu Yuan was immersed in the song Old Boy. He had initially started by just casually playing the song, but it slowly morphed into an emotional recollection of past memories.

When he felt emotional, the passion behind the song surfaced.

Wang Jinxue looked at Lu Yuan under the moonlight.

In the big living room, Wang Jinxue entered a trance. She seemed to see a young man's longings for his dreams and future. She visualized him collapsing due to the countless obstacles, followed by sobbing sounds and disappointment...

This was really a song with emotions.

Lu Yuan was indeed a talented young man.

Perhaps, she would personally witness the reemergence of Lu Yuan, a shining star?

As for Lu Yihong, he closed his eyes and felt melancholic. Other people would have thought that the song was just pleasant to the ears and had emotions, but he felt that the song pierced right through his heart and reminded him of his past self.

It was all struggles, all despair, all disappointment, but all determination and persistence as well.

Then...

He gave up, feeling helpless.

"Youth is like a flowing river

It goes and never comes back, there's no time to say goodbye

Leaving a numb me behind

No longer possessing the passion of old

Looking at the flower petals in the sky,

Withering in its most beautiful moment

Would anyone remember its existence?"

When Lu Yuan reached the climax of the song, he sang very loudly.

He even stood up. The hand in which he used to hold his guitar started to tremble a little. He had a good voice, a good song and a story, which was totally different from the broken voice when he sang Invisible Wings. Although his singing skills were not good, the essence of this song was still portrayed.

At this moment, Wang Jinxue held her breath, seemingly afraid that her breathing would disrupt Lu Yuan's voice.

Lu Yihong's hand trembled slightly. He was agitated, and his eyes even turned slightly red.

Fatty Wei and Li Qing were still the same. They acted as if they had seen a ghost, hardly able to believe what they had heard.

Fuck, Barbarian Lu. Are you exaggerating your accomplishments?

Can we still be that bunch of ill-disciplined people from now on?

...

No matter how good a song was, it had to end.

The song ended.

Then, Lu Yuan inhaled and placed the guitar away carefully. Conveniently, he looked up at a 45-degree angle towards the window.

The night view was good and the moonlight was bright. It was a good time to appreciate the scenery.

Lu Yuan was very satisfied with this series of movements.

He had vented his emotions, and at the same time, demonstrated that little bit of boasting that came with showcasing his talent.

He felt he had boasted brilliantly. He had exemplified a talented artistic youth.

If not for the fact that people were watching, he even wanted to give himself a thumbs-up.

Before his rebirth, he had fantasized this boasting scene many times over...

However, before his rebirth, Old Boy had been overly popularized. There were so many talented people, and Lu Yuan's voice at that time was common and emotionless. Even if he wanted to sing, he couldn't. Hence, the boasting scene remained a fantasy. He could not induce any shock and surprise in others...

However, it was a different story now.

At the very least, Lu Yihong, Wang Jinxue, as well as the two bums - Fatty Wei and Li Qing, had been wholeheartedly convinced by him.

Of course, there was no applause, only silence.

It seemed that everyone had been captivated by the lingering echoes of the songs.

Everything was so perfect.

Lu Yuan still maintained his posture. He even smiled, waiting for the shouts of praise to start echoing out.

Of course, if people praised him, he would remain humble and say something along the lines of, "It's nothing, just as per normal", "It's nothing, I'm not that good", as well as "Humble, humble. I've always been a humble person with a low profile". He would say these words to inflate his ego and elevate his boasting to another level.

Of course, his expression could not be overly smug. At the very least, he had to appear gentle and cultured, as if what he had done was a small thing. 

It was only perfect this way.

At this time...

"This… Ah Yuan... That..." Fatty Wei gulped.

"What?"

"Did you forget to brush your teeth this morning?"

"??"

"This... I don't know if I should say it..."

"What do you want to say?"

"I seem to see a piece of vegetable stuck between your teeth. It's... er... blackish."

"..."

The moonlight was still so bright and beautiful.

The shock, the words of praise... It did not happen as he had expected.

Lu Yuan closed his mouth tightly and turned around. Then, his expression suddenly turned enraged as he stared at Fatty Wei, who was at a loss.

He closed his eyes.

At this instant, all of Lu Yuan's emotions converged into a very "polite" sentence.

If it wasn't for the fact that he had to remain cultured, he wanted to say a sentence.

Fuck your mother's cunt.