At this exact moment, the production studio erupted into thunderous cheering. Twelve long years had passed, but the legendary master pianist had finally returned. Radiant as a constellation, he strode across the stage with an overwhelming presence. Dressed in a bespoke silver suit, his hair neatly slicked back, threaded with silver-white strands that gave him an air of distinguished elegance.
The moment he stepped onto the stage, his gaze locked onto Yu Shuying. A long, heavy sigh escaped his lips.
"Twelve years..." he began, his voice echoing with deep nostalgia. "I still vaguely remember back then, you were just a child. So small, so talented, sitting right beside me on the piano bench as we played a bittersweet four-hand duet."
He paused, his eyes gleaming. "After that day, you composed brilliant pieces. You took first place in the Asian Piano Competition, swept the European Piano Star, and shattered every single record I ever set. You are truly incredible... incredible!"
Park Lengyue could not help but sigh with profound emotion. Even he had never imagined that the little girl from back then would reach such breathtaking heights.
Yu Shuying's eyes sparkled with gratitude and memory as she bowed deeply to him. "I am forever grateful for the luck you gave me that day. That was the first time I sat before a grand piano, and I swore to myself right then that I would spend my entire life before those keys."
Park Lengyue gently waved his hand, his gaze distant and melancholic, as if drowning in a memory long buried. He stood silent for a quiet moment before speaking again. "Actually... that fateful invitation to perform on stage wasn't a chance I gave you."
A sudden stillness fell over the room. "I owed someone a debt, a condition. He was the one who set it. He gave me your exact seat number twelve years ago, demanding that I call you up to the stage during my performance..."
The microphone trembled slightly in his hand as Park Lengyue let out another sigh, his eyes gazing through time itself into pure reminiscence.
Boom! The entire studio exploded! Then, absolute silence. Dead, suffocating silence.
"What... what are you saying? Mr. Park Lengyue, could there be some mistake?" The female commentator Nana asked, her mind completely blank.
"That's right, Mr. Park Lengyue, did you perhaps remember it wrong?" The male commentator Hai Tao added, utterly stunned.
Park Lengyue slowly paced across the stage, then turned toward the giant screen displaying the past. A tall, slender silhouette on screen reflected in his eyes. He let out a self-deprecating laugh. "I could never remember it wrong. He is the only true piano artist I have ever encountered in my entire life, and mark my words, I mean a true artist."
A faint smile touched the corner of Park Lengyue's mouth, but deep within his heart lay an unbearable bitterness. That man... Why? Why would someone with such unmatched talent and staggering emotional resonance choose to lock himself away?
He possessed an immersive piano-playing technique that Park Lengyue had never seen in anyone else. Yet, he never sought fame. He concealed himself so entirely that no matter how many times Park Lengyue searched over the years, he never found a single trace of his existence.
At that moment, Yu Shuying's mind immediately seized upon a single figure. Her mother? Liu Shi! She hadn't forgotten that woman. Twelve years ago, Liu Shi was the only one who could have had such power. After all, who else could make a national-treasure-level pianist owe them a favor?
"Is it... you?" Yu Shuying murmured, her chest tightening. She had never expected that the ghost of that woman would finally cast its shadow here. The production team had mentioned earlier that Liu Shi was traveling from thousands of miles across the Atlantic.
"It's Liu Shi!" Chen Cheng exclaimed.
The other contestants and guests nodded in instant agreement. Yes! It could only be that woman! Excited whispers broke out across the audience, everyone buzzing with curiosity about Liu Shi.
"Is Little Shuying's mother finally going to show up?"
"That legendary, mysterious woman?"
"She's finally coming..."
The arrival of the national-treasure pianist and his shocking revelation left everyone convinced of one truth: the mysterious Liu Shi, who had abandoned her family years ago and rebuilt a wealthy life overseas, was the secret benefactor. Only a powerful figure like her could have pulled the strings to help Little Shuying back then.
Su Wen declared with absolute certainty, "It's definitely her. I knew it! Why else would she speak up now? She has the resources to make a world-class pianist owe her a favor."
Beside her, contestant Jiang Yue tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and added seriously, "Only Liu Shi had that kind of influence. That woman is truly enigmatic. As for Yu Ye... his world was just too far removed from all of this."
Almost every contestant present shared that sentiment. Yu Ye's world and the refined realm of national-treasure classical music were like heaven and hell, two parallel lines that could never cross. Even Yu Shuying didn't think of her father for a single second.
Because twelve years ago, during that fateful performance at the Grand Theater, what was Yu Ye going through? Late-stage brain cancer. Cancer spreading through his body, grueling chemotherapy, severe memory fragments, early Alzheimer's... A dying man, quietly waiting for his end outside the Grand Theater. That was him, just an ordinary, impoverished man buried at the very bottom of society.
"Damn it... How great he used to be!" In the very back row of the auditorium, Zhang Ziju gritted his teeth, his heart aching with unbearable frustration. But his voice was far too weak; no one in the roaring crowd cared to listen.
Watching the old man beside him, Zhang Ziju could physically feel the life slipping out of Yu Ye's fragile body second by second. "Hey... don't sleep! You can't sleep now! Your time has just begun!"
Zhang Ziju gently shook Yu Ye, feeling a sharp pang of sorrow at the old man's absolute exhaustion. Looking down at Yu Ye's hands, Zhang Ziju went entirely silent. Those hands were covered in deep, jagged cracks and scars accumulated over decades of brutal labor, hideous and worn, yet radiating an impossible warmth.
Tears spilled from Zhang Ziju's eyes. He sobbed softly, overwhelmed by a grief he couldn't contain. How could everyone forget this old man's silent sacrifices? Now, the crowd only remembered Liu Shi because of her fame and fortune, crediting her with Little Shuying's brilliant rise.
They assumed Little Shuying had soared purely through her own fearless talent and her mother's wealth. But none of them knew that in this noisy, indifferent crowd sat an old man whose frail shoulders had quietly carried the weight of an entire era.
"The stardust has faded... but this is your time... It's your time..." Wiping his tears fiercely, Zhang Ziju braced himself to lift the unconscious old man onto his back.
Right at that moment, the giant screen flashed with another wave of monumental memory playback!
Boom! Two contrasting, epic pictures split open on the screen. Twelve years ago, the coldest week of a brutal winter, with snowfall breaking a ten-year record.
Outside the Grand Theater, a blizzard raged. Inside, the warm, grand hall echoed with applause as the four-hand piano performance came to an end. Little Shuying, adorable, vibrant, and glowing with confidence, was captured by dozens of press cameras. Nearly half the audience stood up, applauding nonstop for ten minutes.
Back then, Time magazine had dubbed Little Shuying "The Dawn of a New Era," describing her as a cold, unprotected girl who had risen from poverty to stand among the world's elite contemporary pianists.
Years later, she fulfilled that prophecy, not just ranking among them, but dominating the entire industry, redefining piano music from classical to modern. Little Shuying was peerless.
Then, the screen shifted to the second perspective. Outside the theater, Yu Ye was shivering violently in the biting cold, pulling his hands tight into his sleeves. His face was deadly pale. He stood there, breath rising in white clouds, staring fixedly at the exit, searching desperately for his daughter.
The patrons streaming out were wrapped in thick down jackets, expensive furs, or stepping into warm luxury cars. But Yu Ye wore only a tattered coat, his thin, frail frame trembling in the freezing wind. He looked pitifully out of place.
Yet the moment his eyes caught sight of her, his face lit up. He smiled warmly and waved at Little Shuying.
"Here! Put this padded jacket on before you freeze to death!" Yu Ye jogged over awkwardly, wrapping a thick, worn jacket around Little Shuying just as a camera crew snapped a photo.
Little Shuying was riding high on pride and excitement. But once the heavy jacket was draped over her shoulders, she looked up at her father's ice-white face and his cracked, frostbitten hands.
A flicker of distress touched her heart, but her pride quickly took over. "I was chosen to perform!" she boasted.
Yu Ye subconsciously asked, "Chosen? Did they pay you any money for it?"
Little Shuying's excitement instantly deflated.
"Let's just go home," she muttered. But as they walked, she couldn't help bragging again: "I just played a duet with a national-treasure pianist! Do you even know what a national treasure artist is?!"
The man holding the umbrella over her head gave a casual, dismissive look. "Then that just means you're better than him."
Little Shuying choked on her words, gritting her teeth in annoyance. She fell silent, but deep down, she swore she would prove him right. It was such a tender, grounded moment, yet to the scholars and fans of Little Shuying in the audience, it was meaningless. To them, it only proved that Yu Ye was an uneducated, incompetent father.
On stage, both commentators chuckled softly. Finally, no further traces of Yu Ye's involvement. The rest of her success belonged to Little Shuying's natural talent or her connection to the wealthy Liu family. In their eyes, Yu Ye had left her with nothing but bad habits, memory loss, emotional instability, and a harsh temper from the bottom of society.
At this exact moment, back in the studio, Park Lengyue stared intently at the screen. He gripped the microphone tightly, his voice trembling with profound reverence: "It is time for him to be recognized... Mr. Yu Ye! The man I have strived, and failed, to defeat my entire life!"