It was utterly silent. During the replay, Little Shuying's voice continued to echo across the venue. She stood upon the performance stage, carrying herself with the confidence of a child destined to become the pride of her generation. An ethereal calm surrounded her, and every word she spoke flowed with the same beauty and depth as the poems she had written.
"In the boundless universe and endless expanse of space, it is my greatest honor to share the same planet and the same sky with you."
"To let us witness this brilliance and love together, the Earth has endured four billion years without perishing."
"To someone, you are the center of their universe. Like the Small Magellanic Cloud, you illuminate their entire world and guide them through the darkness."
"In truth, according to the First Law of Thermodynamics, the universe's energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Every particle within our bodies once belonged to something else. Perhaps it once formed a fish swimming through ancient seas, perhaps it lived within countless microbes, or perhaps it bloomed as a flower beneath the sun. Those particles now make up every part of us, just as we ourselves are now part of the moon, the thunderstorm, the mountains, and the oceans. We are born from everything, and one day we return everything to the universe."
"The tides obey the moon... Whenever you raise your head and look at it, even if you never meet again, the moon is still quietly watching over you."
Silence.
Absolute silence filled the hall.
The replay returned to that unforgettable year.
When Little Shuying was only seven years old, one astonishing poem after another flowed effortlessly from her lips. Nearly seven masterpieces left everyone present completely speechless.
Guochang slowly rose from his seat, his hands trembling with excitement. "Your name will live forever in the future history of poetry."
Hong gently rubbed Little Shuying's head, unable to hide her amazement. "Tell me, how do you write poems like these?"
Little Shuying answered without the slightest hesitation. "I read physics textbooks... and the pre-Qin classics."
Hong's eyes widened. The more she listened, the more convinced she became. This child... was nothing short of a once-in-a-century genius.
Soon afterward, the final school bell rang. Little Shuying looked toward the school gate and saw Yu Ye slowly arriving on his electric scooter. At that moment, she was still standing beside Hong and Guochang.
The instant the two adults saw Yu Ye, both froze. A Band-Aid still covered one side of his face, as though he had recently been injured in a fight or perhaps from a bad fall. His complexion was pale, yet his features were undeniably handsome.
Unfortunately... His appearance was utterly shabby. The worn leather jacket on his body had been patched and stitched together countless times.
Guochang deliberately smiled and asked, "Your daughter's understanding of tidal mechanics and the Roche limit is extraordinary. Have you been teaching her yourself?"
Yu Ye blinked blankly. "What tidal law? What's a Roche limit?"
His bewildered expression resembled that of someone who had never attended school.
Guochang secretly nodded in satisfaction. So it really wasn't inherited.
Standing nearby, Hong became even more convinced that Little Shuying possessed pure, natural genius.
Meanwhile, Little Shuying, fearless in front of anyone else, suddenly wished she could disappear into the ground from sheer embarrassment.
After that day, Little Shuying officially became the seven-year-old Poetry Genius, and her reputation spread throughout the nation.
The Poetry House personally customized a collection of her poems, launched nationwide promotions, and elevated her into the spotlight as the youngest literary prodigy in years.
When Little Shuying was around seven or eight years old, she proudly carried her tiny schoolbag home. Looking around to make sure no one else was watching, she deliberately pulled out a stack containing money and proudly waved it in front of Yu Ye.
"I earned every penny myself!" She lifted her chin high.
"I'm better than you now!" She looked triumphantly at the man before her.
Meanwhile, Yu Ye remained on the apartment balcony, quietly tending several tiny clay cooking pots over a wood fire. The rich aroma of food drifted through the air. No one paid any attention to the run-down apartment building. After all, this was the poorest district in all of the area.
Without even turning around, Yu Ye calmly replied, "Put your money away and study hard. Reading is more important."
As he spoke, he casually tossed another piece of firewood into the stove.
Little Shuying suddenly frowned. "What are you burning?"
Her eyes immediately widened. Inside the flames was the Instant Piano Book she had secretly bought with her own money.
"You...!!" She trembled with anger.
Yu Ye merely glanced at the burning pages. "Didn't you say your teacher is teaching you piano? Then what's the point of this beginner's book? There are more useful books for you to read."
Without another thought, he grabbed several more sheets of paper from nearby and stuffed them into the fire as kindling. The only reply he received... was the deafening slam of a bedroom door.
Everyone watching the replay sat frozen. So... This was how Little Shuying's journey with the piano had begun? Was this man heartless... or simply ignorant?
Back in the studio, Shuying watched the scene replay before her. Even after so many years... She still couldn't help becoming angry.
"I'm still upset every time I watch this. That was the very first piano book I ever bought. I loved the piano. But he burned it. After joining the piano class, I didn't know anything. My classmates improved so quickly while I struggled to keep up. I felt completely hopeless."
"But... I gritted my teeth and kept practicing. Then one day I saw a terminal cancer patient's confession on an online forum... So I composed a piece just for him."
As she finished speaking, music quietly filled the studio.
"Flowers Bloom in Chengnan"
Little Shuying's very first piano composition.
The entire piano community had never imagined that traditional national melodies could blend with such dreamlike beauty.
Inside the stadium, countless young viewers sighed.
"As expected of her..."
"She turned adversity into strength."
"Even after her piano book was burned, she still rose higher than everyone else."
"How can someone shine so brilliantly?"
"She's like the sun itself."
Yet the replay continued.
Yu Ye remained beside the stove. This time... A half-burned manuscript appeared among the flames. Several incomplete sentences could still be read. "God is dead. Forget God. The stars are dead... now you can stand here..."
"He's burning his own literary manuscripts? No... He has far more than just that one." Hong suddenly exclaimed. At that instant...
Every guest and audience member's expression changed. Just... How many secrets was Yu Ye hiding?
The footage shifted once more.
While Little Shuying sulked inside her bedroom, Yu Ye entered his own room and casually gathered stack after stack of handwritten manuscripts. The camera slowly swept across every page. Each sheet bore elegant handwriting that looked almost artistic.
"One day, you will discover that countless atoms within your muscles once helped paint the sky blue. The phosphorus inside your bones once turned the ancient seas emerald green... You will never truly disappear. Somewhere within the fabric of the universe, you will continue to exist forever." Signed: Shadow
At the instant those words appeared, Hong abruptly stood, and her entire body froze. Wasn't this... the very first manuscript that Shadow had ever submitted to the Poetry House? The graceful handwriting looked almost feminine. Yet... The original draft... had been lying on Yu Ye's desk all along.
Soon afterward... Another manuscript appeared among the discarded papers.
"We were stars searching for one another across prehistoric space. We have loved each other for one hundred thousand years." Signed: Shadow
The audience stared in complete disbelief. Wasn't this... the same poem Liu Shi had once personally delivered to Little Shuying?
Another page followed.
"We are all composed of particles that have existed since the birth of the universe. I choose to believe those particles traveled across billions of years simply to create you... so that one day we could meet, and I could become your father."
"The starlight reaching your eyes today may have left its home hundreds of millions of years ago, crossing unimaginable distances before finally finding you."
"You may be small... but that never means you cannot shine."
As those beautiful passages appeared on screen, Yu Ye treated them no differently than ordinary scrap paper. Without hesitation... He stuffed them into the fire. The flames instantly consumed every page. Had today's replay never existed... No one would have ever known these words had once been written.
Hong slowly covered her face. She no longer knew what to say. Years earlier... She had believed Yu Ye was nothing more than an ignorant, uneducated father. She had even secretly looked down on him. At one point... She had seriously considered adopting Little Shuying herself.
"What... was I even thinking back then..." Hong forced a bitter smile. It was, without question... the most humiliating realization of her entire life.
Yet the replay still wasn't over.
Because while secretly guiding Little Shuying under the identity of Shadow, Yu Ye had filled countless pages with thoughts, poems, and philosophical reflections. He had simply sorted them into piles... Only for them all to end up as firewood.
The camera captured each page before it disappeared forever.
"This spring, I discovered a cosmic butterfly, its wings fluttering through clouds of interstellar gas and dust."
"If every strand of DNA inside your body were stretched into a single thread, it would extend nearly ten billion miles, farther than the distance from Earth to Pluto. You alone possess enough of the universe within you to leave the Solar System."
"Do you know what stardust is called? Meteors. Falling blossoms. Fireflies. Confusion. Destiny."
"By the time you've finished reading this sentence... this little star called love has already completed three and a half revolutions."
One after another... Every manuscript disappeared into the stove.
Yu Ye watched the flames calmly, and his expression never changed. It was as though none of those priceless words belonged to him. The only thing that mattered... was preparing the simple bowl of rice before him.
Meanwhile, inside the bedroom, Little Shuying continued sulking. Yet when her eyes landed upon the Best Poet of the Poetry House trophy displayed proudly on her desk... The frustration in her heart gradually faded away.