The memory broadcast shifted, cutting to the freezing night outside the Railway Station. The howling winter wind slashed through the dark, echoing the bitter words Yu Ye had hurled during those two agonizing days.
"What good is a pianist? Can it put food on the table? Are you really made of that kind of material? It's better to earn money with your feet on the ground and study properly! Where does his arrogance come from? If you've got the guts, go beat that pianist yourself!"
Back then, Shuying had looked at Yu Ye with pure disgust and disdain, her eyes filled with cold disappointment. Inside their cramped, orange-lit hut, she had stared into the mirror and whispered to herself with quiet resentment: This father is truly a disgrace.
He doesn't understand music. He doesn't understand the piano. But I will. I want to leave this exhausting, suffocating circle. I won't stay trapped here. She had thought so out of poverty, out of the narrow ignorance her father displayed, out of their harsh living conditions, and out of the burning piano dream in her heart.
Yet in the adjoining room, the reality was starkly different. After scribbling down notes, Yu Ye traced a dark circle on the back of his hand, terrified that his failing memory would slip up and derail his daughter's future. Then, with trembling hands, he began smearing antiseptic across his cracked fingers. The bone-chilling winter air had split his skin into hideous, bleeding fissures from playing the piano in the cold. Every movement burned with agonizing pain.
Yet Yu Ye did not care. He simply smiled, a quiet, radiant smile. In the bitter cold of that night, being able to clear a path for his daughter before his dying breath was the warmest feeling he had ever known.
Before the screen, viewers finally understood how this man had endured those endless, agonizing years. His heart was terrifyingly strong, yet sealed shut behind an impenetrable wall. No one knew what heights of glory he had once touched. In Shuying's childhood descriptions, he was merely an ignorant, incompetent father.
Now, Yu Shuying froze on stage, her mind completely blanked by the agonizing contrast. She stood paralyzed, her chest heaving as tears threatened to spill.
"If... if your heart was truly so strong," she murmured, her voice trembling with complex emotions, "why did the schizophrenia tear you apart later? Couldn't your will power through the disease? And... how did you win? How could you possibly win? I never even saw you touch a piano..."
She knew the personality of Park Lengyue, the national-treasure pianist. Elegant yet fiercely proud, Park Lengyue had never bowed his head to anyone, nor had he ever praised himself in official evaluations. Even when claiming first place, he offered only polite congratulations, never showing the slightest hint of defeat.
Yet when Park Lengyue spoke of Yu Ye, he carried the posture of a humbled loser, a man lingering in bitter regret. Why? You never felt defeated by anyone else, so why him? How on earth did he defeat you?!
Yu Shuying's eyes locked onto the screen, the balance in her heart crumbling inch by inch. The truth was bearing down on her: since childhood, there had never been a contest between her and her father. He was already standing at the peak she could barely reach.
On the broadcast stage, Dr. Yuan Quan stood up, holding the microphone tightly. He did not understand music, but he understood the unbreakable will of a dying man.
"Look at him," Yuan Quan said, his voice ringing through the silent arena. "I am a doctor. I didn't live his life, but I understand his spirit. Who truly understood him back then? Who knew that those rough, calloused hands, struggling just to secure food, shelter, and a future, could produce such high, majestic music? He did it only to awaken his daughter's talent, to give her confidence, and to make her name known to the world! He knew his time was short, so he sought no fame or glory for himself."
Yuan Quan paused, his eyes gleaming with suppressed grief. "He loved the piano to his absolute core. Since he was young, he had the handsomeness, the elegance, and the soul of a true artist. But when disease struck and his wife abandoned him, he cast everything aside for reality. He buried his soul just to raise his daughter. If not for her, he would have been a master pianist performing..."
In the gymnasium, several older audience members in their fifties began to weep softly. They saw their own hidden sacrifices in him; they too had possessed dreams once.
Beside him, Xu Hong softly agreed. "If not for his child, he might have been the most romantic poet of our age. No contemporary writer could compose verses like his..."
Yu Shuying offered no reply. Her mind was a raging storm wrapped in total silence.
The screen continued playing, fast-forwarding through key events: Shuying entering the theater, being selected, and performing a stunning four-handed piano duet with Park Lengyue that astonished the crowd.
Yet, looking back at the footage now, the true secret was revealed. When Park Lengyue heard Shuying's performance back then, he was not surprised. While the rest of the world hailed her as a prodigy, Park Lengyue had only offered a gentle sigh of admiration. Now, the audience understood why. Park Lengyue's wonder had already been exhausted by Yu Ye.
Female commentator Nana gasped, a profound hush settling over her mind. "It all makes sense now... When Shuying played that duet, the world thought she was an absolute genius. But Park Lengyue didn't lose his stillness because he had already witnessed true perfection in her father!"
Nana turned to Yu Shuying, her voice laced with awe. "What kind of man was Yu Ye in the past?"
Yu Shuying shook her head blankly. She had never cared to look into her father's past, assuming he had lived a completely mundane life. But now, that illusion was shattered.
Yuan Quan let out a complex sigh. "He grew up in an orphanage with only a middle school education, yet in that golden era, he managed to break into international trade and marry into the wealthy Liu family. If he hadn't fallen ill... what kind of height would he have reached?"
The people in the studio nodded in quiet agreement. Yu Ye was far more than merely talented. Even after illness struck, he could have risen again if he had fought only for himself. But fatherhood had weighed upon his wings, binding him to the earth like a caged bird.
The playback shifted again to Shuying and Yu Ye walking home. Little Shuying was beaming with pride, boasting nonstop about her flawless duet.
Yet Yu Ye had merely responded in a flat tone: "Go and beat him."
Back then, Little Shuying had nearly exploded with rage at his arrogance. After returning to their cozy apartment, while Yu Ye was cooking in the balcony kitchen, she had stomped into her bedroom and complained to her mirror: "Is he even capable of normal communication? Does he have any idea who Park Lengyue is?! That's a national-treasure artist! He knows nothing, yet he expects me to beat him!"
That childish defiance had planted a seed in her heart, driving her to break Park Lengyue's Asian piano record years later. She had been so proud, believing she had disproved her father's ignorant words.
On stage, female commentator Nana, male commentator Tao, and the entire studio crew turned to look at Yu Shuying with deeply complex expressions. Yu Ye hadn't been talking aimlessly. He had said, "Go beat him," because he had already beaten Park Lengyue himself!
Tao hesitated, his tone full of disbelief. "He... he really meant it. But how did he accomplish such a feat?"
Park Lengyue let out a bitter, helpless laugh on camera. "So... you defeated me in grand fashion just to fulfill a casual promise you made to your daughter?"
The grandmaster bowed his head softly. Only now did he realize the truth behind his defeat years ago: a father had made an impossible promise to his daughter, and then quietly went out and conquered the world to deliver it.
On the live stream, millions of comments froze before erupting into utter disbelief. The fans who had spent years bashing Yu Ye were left completely speechless. So this old father hid his greatness all along... Little Shuying spent her whole life trying to surpass the national treasure pianist, never realizing that the man she looked down on had already conquered him long ago!