Chapter 40: The Difference Between the Original and the Pirated Version

“Some of you already know this, while others may not. I’m currently on the set of Director Hu’s new production. The equipment is a little basic, so I can only make do with this livestream. Please bear with me.”

Ling Xiaoli held up her phone and gave the room a general scan.

—【Heh, is Ling Xiaoli trying to ride on someone else’s coattails, or is Director Gu’s new production trying to ride on her popularity?】

—【Would a film directed by Director Gu even need to ride on hype? Are you kidding me?】

—【LXL, get out of the entertainment industry! LXL, get out of the entertainment industry! LXL, get out of the entertainment industry! Important things must be said three times!】

“Because I’m only an extra, I don’t have any scenes these past two days. So, I was bored today and composed this song.

“I didn’t expect that, after finishing it tonight, someone would steal it while I was using the bathroom and give it to Yuan Yuan. That really was something I never expected.”

—【Holy crap! You composed Na Na Na because you were bored? Where’s your shame?】

—【You composed Na Na Na in one day? I’m a professional composer. I’ll stake my life on this: among all composers today, including the top masters renowned both at home and abroad, not a single one could accomplish something like that!】

—【You have to allow her to suddenly be struck by inspiration, hahaha!】

“That’s the situation. I’m sure most of you came here after seeing my Weibo post, so I won’t waste any more of your time.

“I’ll let everyone hear the difference between the original and the pirated version right now. Here’s a song called Prophecy for everyone!”

The number of comments instantly decreased.

Most viewers stopped typing, wanting to hear exactly what gave Ling Xiaoli the confidence to say something like that.

Anyone who watched livestreams knew that Ling Xiaoli’s singing had always relied entirely on a pitch corrector. Today, there was no pitch corrector.

They could only hope their ears would survive.

The intro began, following the exact same melody as the one in Little Yuanyuan’s livestream.

—【Prophecy? What prophecy? Wasn’t it Na Na Na?】

—【Huh? It’s exactly the same!】

—【Tsk… This is getting interesting.】

That single intro alone made many viewers suspicious.

After all, Yuan Yuan had only sung the song ten minutes earlier. To reproduce the accompaniment so quickly, Ling Xiaoli either had a top hacker working beside her—or she really did possess the original song.

“I walked down this lively street,

“The sunlight made me a little tired;

“I longed for a fairy-tale kind of love,

“But it wasn’t quite so absolute.”

……

The comments grew fewer and fewer as the viewers focused on the song.

Anyone with ears could tell that Ling Xiaoli’s version was clearly much better!

Although the first person to sing a song often left the strongest initial impression, there were also plenty of examples of an original song failing to become popular while a cover version took off.

Regardless of who actually owned the copyright to this song, Ling Xiaoli undeniably sang it beautifully.

Moreover, attentive listeners had already noticed that Ling Xiaoli was much more familiar with the song than Yuan Yuan.

Yuan Yuan had sung it well, but the slight awkwardness in her performance had also been obvious. At the time, everyone had been lenient because it was the first livestream performance of a new song, so no one had paid much attention.

But now, compared with Ling Xiaoli…

—【When did Ling Xiaoli become such a good singer? What happened to her????】

—【I’m wavering…】

—【Me too… Ling Xiaoli’s vocal tone seems to blend perfectly with this song.】

When the chorus finally arrived, the livestream exploded!

“I’ve only now discovered the difference between dreams and reality,

“Going against the wind, letting myself experience every feeling,

“Just like a prophecy, tears and joy—I’ve witnessed this day—

“I want to chase,

“To chase after a perfect world!”

—【My sister asked why I was watching the livestream on my knees. I turned on the amplifier, and she knelt down with me.】

—【Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap…】

—【Is that high note real? Ling Xiaoli has this level of skill?!】

—【Right now, I only want to know what happened with the copyright information. If this really is plagiarism, it will be the greatest disgrace in the history of the Chinese music industry over the past hundred years!】