99: Chapter 99 The Copyright Money Printing Machine is Running at Full Speed

Zhao Yang sat before the piano. Zeng Yi held a cello. Ling Hua held an erhu in their hands.

This combination left the entire audience feeling a bit confused—piano, cello, and erhu. Putting these three things together looked discordant no matter how one looked at it.

Swoosh!

The stage lights suddenly dimmed. Immediately after, beams of spotlights lit up, creating a brilliant starry sky on the stage.

Zhao Yang took a deep breath, and his fingers landed on the keys.

A completely unfamiliar melody began to flow out.

A low gasp rippled through the hall, then it returned to dead silence. Everyone sat up straight in unison, holding their breath in concentration.

Three instruments, three completely different timbres, were now interwoven together, jointly playing this epic musical movement.

Bai Erru suppressed all his doubts deep within his heart. In the face of such music, even the slightest distraction was a form of blasphemy.

The prelude faded, and a high-pitched female voice suddenly rang out: "Here we are, Riding the sky..."

Swoosh!

At least half the people stood up from their seats.

Because everyone heard it clearly—that voice was not produced by Ling Hua, but by Passerby. By that Passerby who looked like a man no matter how one looked at him.

And the voice at this moment was completely different from the one at the Workers Stadium concert that day.

It was a soaring aria, and it was even sung in English.

The entire venue was filled with the sound of people gasping.

This Passerby is truly a damn monster.

The last note fell, and applause erupted like thunder.

Only then did Bai Erru snap out of it. He grabbed Bai Xiaohe's sleeve and asked in a hushed voice: "Quick, tell me, what exactly is the relationship between Zhao Yang and Passerby?"

Bai Xiaohe leaned into his ear, her tone carrying a hint of laughter she had been holding back for a long time: "Passerby is Zhao Yang."

"Ah?" Bai Erru shuddered all over. He stared blankly at the cloaked figure on stage, his brows suddenly knitting together: "Xiaohe, tell Dad the truth—is Zhao Yang a man or a woman?"

"What are you two talking about?" Yang Jingqiu couldn't help but lean in as well.

Bai Erru whispered it to her.

Yang Jingqiu got goosebumps on the spot, and her voice changed: "Xiaohe, he wouldn't... be a woman, would he?"

Bai Xiaohe let out a "pfft" of laughter: "Of course he is a man."

Yang Jingqiu frowned deeply: "How do you know?"

"Of course I know!"

Yang Jingqiu was startled. She looked Bai Xiaohe up and down, her tone becoming a bit more serious: "Xiaohe, what I'm asking is—by what method did you determine it?"

"Does that even need asking?" Bai Xiaohe blinked, sounding perfectly justified: "His Adam's apple is so obvious, can't you see it?"

"...Uh." The embarrassment on Yang Jingqiu's face flashed and vanished. She was the one who had thought the wrong way.

Bai Erru sucked on his teeth, remaining silent for a long while before speaking: "Tell me, how many more skills does Zhao Yang have that we don't know about?"

Bai Xiaohe tilted her head and thought for a moment, then smiled: "I asked him, and he said he can also do magic tricks. He even did some Acting for me—you know, the kind with cards, appearing and disappearing in his hands, it was amazing."

Bai Erru nodded slowly, said no more, and fell into deep thought.

After a brief preparation, the host went on stage and announced the next track—《Victory》.

This time, Zhao Yang was still sitting at the piano, and Ling Hua was still holding the erhu. However, Zeng Yi had put down the cello and replaced it with a large Chinese drum.

This combination left the audience stunned for a moment again.

But the bigger shock was yet to come.

Amidst the passionate melody, as his fingertips struck the chords, that aria rang out again. This time there were no lyrics, only a pure, clean "Ah..."

What was most startling was that the voice was neither male nor female, yet it was clearly a unique timbre that only comes from a mix of male and female voices. And Zeng Yi and Ling Hua did not open their mouths throughout—which meant this voice was still produced by Passerby alone.

The song ended.

The applause was endless.

The person in the venue with the biggest headache, however, was Meimei.

The heads of seven or eight television stations that had come to attend the concert—Beijing TV, Dragon Country TV, Shanghai TV, Hong Kong Satellite TV, etc.—surrounded her, all clamoring for licensing rights.

Although Zhao Yang had long warned her that this situation would surely arise once these two pieces were released, when it actually happened, Meimei was still so overwhelmed by the noise that her eardrums were buzzing and her brain felt numb.

She had no choice but to repeat over and over: "Everyone, please don't be anxious. Tomorrow you will be able to get the quotes and term explanations for the various licensing methods; at that time, you can just purchase what you need."

Bai Erru and his wife finally understood what their daughter meant by the phrase "witnessing history"—two such epic pieces of music would surely create history.

Bai Xiaohe tugged on Bai Erru's sleeve and whispered: "Dad, I remember you mentioning that you know people at a Hollywood music company."

Bai Erru was taken aback, then laughed: "Alright, I understand what you mean. With the quality of these two pieces, this is no small business. How about this—you go ask Zhao Yang if he wants to do a global release. If he does, I can help him contact the best distribution company in the world."

"Okay, I'll go ask him!" Bai Xiaohe's eyes lit up, and she added: "You two go back first. I've already made plans with them to celebrate the success of the performance tonight."

"Alright, then your mother and I will head back first."

On the way back, Yang Jingqiu couldn't help but ask: "Old Bai, do you think things between Xiaohe and Zhao Yang are already a done deal?"

Bai Erru shook his head: "Still a long way off. However... Zhao Yang has indeed shown Xiaohe a much broader world. As for me, I'm finally relieved."

Yang Jingqiu also sighed softly and smiled slightly: "Me too. Relieved."

This concert soon stirred up a massive storm in the domestic music circle.

Everyone could not believe it—Passerby, that guy who was indistinguishable in gender and had a mischievous streak, actually hid such Heaven-Defying musical talent.

The discussion about Passerby's true identity also became the hottest topic of conversation over tea and after meals.

Some said this was definitely a real man, the iron-willed type.

Others said it must be a woman through and through, just a bit tall.

Still others said he was originally a man, but he just took a trip to Thailand.

Opinions were varied, and no consensus could be reached.

Tomorrow Culture's inbox was stuffed full of various emails, and Meimei's phone rang from morning till night, all of which proved one thing—the copyright money printer was running at full speed!

Time flew by; the Spring Festival had passed, and the fifteenth day of the first lunar month had also passed.

Zhao Yang submitted the things General Feng wanted as promised. A week later, a check from a certain state-owned enterprise was delivered to him—five million.

Zhao Yang checked the stock market and found that Moutai had not yet been listed, so he used all the money to buy property in Shanghai. Anyway, in this day and age, as long as it's a first-tier city, if you have money, buying a house is never a mistake.

By the end of February, the communication chip finally succeeded in tape-out. The test results showed that it completely met the design specifications. Soon, the entire communication module also passed the tests.

The moment it was successfully connected to the cluster, it meant that all the core equipment of the Joint Laboratory of Intelligent Investigation was in place and could officially begin actual work.

This was a full month ahead of the deadline required by the higher-ups.

During the days of waiting for the module, the laboratory had long since entered all the required data into the database. Now that the equipment was operating normally, Zhao Yang took out the pre-prepared computing System software and began to install and run it.

The servers began high-speed computing, and the sound of fans rose and fell one after another.

Two days later, the first calculation result came out.

Director Gao Wenbo held the printout covered in text and numbers, scrutinized it for a good while, then looked up and asked: "This used the raw data from the platform's municipal bureau. I'll tell them the results and let them verify it on the ground. Xiao Zhao, how accurate do you think these results are?"

"Computer Science can only provide a probability," Zhao Yang explained. "The data quality they provided is not high, so the System gave ten possibilities. This requires them to do the hard work of running around and verifying them one by one. If the data quality were good, it should be controllable within four."

"Being able to get this result is already not easy." Director Gao Wenbo nodded and walked away excitedly: "I'll fax it over immediately and let them try it!"

Zhao Yang, meanwhile, spent two days with the project team going through the System from beginning to end, then began new data verification.

Five days later, as Zhao Yang was waiting for the second batch of results to come out, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Immediately after, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

Holy shit—how did I inexplicably affect the fate of another group of people?