Chapter 4: Amazing Performance
“On a rainy day, I’m walking down an empty street…”
After playing a short prelude, Lu Chen started to sing as he played his guitar. “As I looked at the blooming flowers, I said my thanks…”
Every huge fan of Tan Hong considered 《Soaring Pigeon》 as one of his best works, the lyrics of the song weren’t complicated. It was a story about a youngster yearning for freedom and love, and dreams to be reincarnated as a pigeon soaring through the sky.
This song was also a lyrical ballad suited for young people, which was why countless people liked it ,and why it’s often heard around the bars in Houhai.
But this song was difficult to sing and play. Singers without enough talent would only humiliate themselves if they tried to sing this touching song.
If the past Lu Chen chose 《Soaring Pigeon》as his first song, he would simply be overestimating himself!
However, when he began to sing, the bar quickly turned silent, the customers talking and laughing settled down, the bartenders behind the bar stopped mixing cocktails, and even the waiters walked quietly for fear of disturbing the customers.
Lu Chen’s clear voice through the speakers, spread to every corner of the bar and attracted the customers’ attention, making their mood rise up and down.
“As I stand before you…”
“I dream, to become a pigeon soaring through the deep blue skies…”
“La La a ~ Soaring Pigeon!”
They liked it because they were familiar with the song, yet they were also picky because they were familiar with it.
The regular customers of the bar were quite good at judging songs and even for pop songs, they would be able to tell if the singer plays a wrong note or sings a wrong key, especially with a classic like《Soaring Pigeon》, it was a huge test for a singer.
Lu Chen’s performance was almost perfect. His playing, the mood, and his voice all captured the emotions of the song. Even if one tried to find a fault with him, they would only be able to say that compared to Tang Hong, he was still noticeably inexperienced.
But wasn’t he still an inexperienced youngster?
Five minutes later, the song ended.
The audience was absolutely silent and after a moment, though it was unknown who started it, sounds of applause rang out.
Good was good, and a good singer must naturally be applauded.
Loud indecent whistles rang out, attracting a lot of laughter again, but there were also sounds of admiration.
“Little Lu, your singing is really charming today, sister loves you so much, I’ll give you a dozen jinwei.”
It came from a pseudo-female young artist! (TLN, I’m assuming it’s a trans/gay)
“Thanks…”
Lu Chen smiled and waved to express his thanks —— it was a kind of a joke of regular customers.
Customers that likes a singer and wants to show support would normally use this way to give a reward, they would send a beer to a male singer or flowers to a female singer, since a bottle costs 20 Yuan, a dozen jinwei would cost exactly 240 Yuan.
Lu Chen didn’t need to drink the alcohol, the important part was that he could extract 50% of the price, which was 120 Yuan!
Houhai’s position and customers were completely different from Sanlitun’s. There weren’t any money throwing rich upstarts, XO throwing youngsters, as well as pickup girls hitting on brainless teenagers for cash.
A reward of 12 bottles of jinwei wasn’t a small amount here.
Before this, Sister Shan had also sent Lu Chen beer, but only 2 or 3 bottles as a gesture of goodwill, but today she had directly sent him a dozen, his performance had undoubtedly impressed her.
Lu Chen choosing 《Soaring Pigeon》as his first song was definitely a correct move.
As he held his guitar, wonderful feelings emerged in his heart.
Behind the counter of the bar, the beautiful woman was also in a very special mood.
Her red lips were slightly raised into a smile. Whilst her mysterious eyes were fixed on the bar owner, Chen Jianhao, she said, “Brother Jianhao, you unexpectedly don’t want to let him go and negotiate with us, is this kind of play interesting?”
Chen Jianhao gave her a wry smile, “Su Qingmei, when have I ever played you?”
This beautiful lady wasn’t an ordinary person, his old bones could absolutely not afford to play around with her.
“You still dare to say that…”
Su Qingmei fumingly repeated, “Little Lu’s hardware may be good, but he’s an extreme amateur, being a stage warmer is already his limit, furthermore he’s still relying on audio support from backstage, do you really want to take him?”
She completely repeated Chen Jianhao’s evaluation of Lu Chen, and without mistaking even one word!
Chen Jianhao suddenly became speechless.
He also felt that it was very strange, Lu Chen had definitely only been an amateur, but the performance he showed today was incomparable from the past, it was like he had been miraculously reborn!
Before Lu Chen’s performance, Chen Jianhao had been very unhappy at Lu Chen for choosing 《Soaring Pigeon》as his opening song.
He felt that this song was too difficult, and that Lu Chen was simply just not skilled enough.
The result of that was Su Qingmei being scornful at him, and furthermore he could not refute, so he could only say, “This fellow… Hey!”
“An expert must have taught him during the past two days, that’s why his performance improved.”
Chen Jianhao thought of a reasonable explanation.
“Two days?”
Su Qingmei sneered and said, “Two days of instructions raised his level to this degree? Which expert is so powerful? I’ll hire him with a million Yuan annual salary, and don’t tell me that you didn’t hear his voice, because his voice definitely wasn’t tuned backstage!”
Chen Jianhao felt his face quickly swelling.
He did hear the music, since he was one of the leaders of the circle, furthermore this was even his own bar, so how could he not hear that the singer’s voice wasn’t tuned.
There was definitely a problem in the electronics room!
This made Lu Chen look even better—— a pure and original voice!
Facing the overbearing Su Qingmei, Chen Jianhao could only helplessly say, “Then why don’t you talk to Little Lu about this, as long as he agrees, I will definitely let go of him!”
In fact, Lu Chen and Chen Jianhao didn’t have an official contract, which meant that Lu Chen could leave whenever he wanted.
Su Qingmei showed a smile of victory and said, “Let’s listen to his next song, maybe he’ll give another amazing performance.”
At this moment, while holding his guitar on the stage, Lu Chen had already received 37 bottles of beer as a reward.
Lu Chen was so happy that he could fly after receiving 370 Yuan worth of extra income, he forcibly suppressed his excitement before facing the microphone and saying, “I’m extremely grateful for everyone’s support, this next song, is uhmm, very special.”
He was tripping over his words, so he paused before continuing, “This is my first original song, and this will be my first time singing it, it’s called…”
“You Who Sat Next to Me!”
《You Who Sat Next to Me》is the first song that Lu Chen took from the dream world. He had just recently composed the tune and the lyrics, and together with another song, successfully copyrighted them at 《Great China’s Music Library》.
Therefore, in a legal aspect, 《You Who Sat Next to Me》was Lu Chen’s original song since he possessed the entire copyright.
But Lu Chen couldn’t deceive himself, he couldn’t say that his actions weren’t plagiarizing, but when he thought of their heavy debt at home, the guilt in his heart disappeared.
A familiar yet unfamiliar dream world, memories of three different lives, they were definitely a gift from god so he could change his fate!
After taking a deep breath, Lu Chen’s unfocused eyes became resolute and he pressed his fingers against the strings once again.
Original song? First time singing it?
Lu Chen’s words inevitably caused a small commotion within the bar, the customers were very surprised, and there were also many who felt that he was being brash.
Especially the old customers who knew Lu Chen, they had already been very astonished at Lu Chen’s 《Soaring Pigeon》, and now that they heard that he wanted to sing an original song, they couldn’t help but be a little unconvinced.
How could writing an original song be so easy?
Ever since the birth of modern pop music, countless classical works had already appeared in the countries of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Europe, America, and Korea. But at the present, good original works are becoming scarcer, and some people even say that every beautiful song has already been written.
Of course, it’s impossible to run out of songs, but this statement proves how difficult it is to be original.
Many pop singers claim to be original, but their works are often erratic or bland, and there are these kind of singers as well in bar circles, hoping that their song would make them famous, but they mostly end up as laughing stocks.
Was Lu Chen’s brain also muddled with water?
It was normal for young people to be impulsive. Everyone had also had a time when they were burning with passion, therefore they could understand. But this didn’t mean that they believed that Lu Chen could make a good original work.
However, the name of the song sounded very interesting——You Who Sat Next to Me.
Many people thought of their time as a youth, when they also had seatmates, and their faces broke into a small smile.
“Original…”
Su Qingmei smiled as she said, “Brother Jianhao, this little guy of yours is really hiding many secrets, I knew I was right!”
Since he had already been attacked, the bar owner uninterestedly said, “Let’s listen to it first.”
Original? It was simply a bunch of nonsense, how could he not know Lu Chen’s abilities?
The only reason that Chen Jianhao let Lu Chen perform onstage was because he was pretty handsome and his voice was also passable, so it was easy for him to fool amateurs, and since he was nothing more than a stage warmer, it didn’t matter whether his singing was good or not.
As for musical accomplishments, did Lu Chen have any?
But since he had learned his lesson, Chen Jianhao didn’t say much so he could protect his face just in case…
Otherwise, where else could he put his face?
On the stage, a guitar sounded, and a relaxing voice soon floated into everyone’s ears.
“Tomorrow, would you remember,
The diary you wrote yesterday,
Tomorrow, would you still remember,
You who once loved to cry,
The teachers have already forgotten,
You who couldn’t guess the questions,
I occasionally sift through photos,
Remembering you who sat next to me,
Who married the sentimental you,
Who read your diaries,
Who tied your hair into a bun,
Who gave you your wedding dress…
… …”
Every customer present was shocked, even the waiters were stunned.
Chen Jianhao was shocked, Su Qingmei was shocked.
Amazing!
A classical ballad from another world, after being sung by Lu Chen, suddenly broke their hearts!
He had touched everyone’s soul.
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Authors Note, 《You Who Sat Next to Me》lyrics/song by, Gao Xiaosong (高晓松)
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