Liang Yin cleared her throat.
"What Da Fei wants to say is exactly what I want to say. Da Fei will be in charge of all the band's affairs. When I'm not around, everyone should listen to him."
"I'll arrange some performances as soon as I can. And we can't play Da Fei's old songs at them. Even live houses require song rights, so we'll all need to write original music."
"After a few gigs, I'll do my best to get us some bigger commercial shows!"
Everyone's faces lit up.
After all, when a new band formed without an existing fanbase, landing major commercial shows was little more than a pipe dream.
How could they ever play a big venue without spending three or five years performing in bars?
Luckily, they had Da Fei. With him, the band had a high starting point, and the success of "Chengdu" had helped them avoid a lot of detours.
"Alright, let's get started. I have a few new songs. We'll rehearse them a few times, and the boss can register the copyrights. We'll find a time in the next few days to record everything at the studio in one go. If we're lucky, we might even make it onto the music festival lineup at the end of the month."
For Lin Chudong, performing at live houses was just a way to hone the band. What really mattered were the major commercial shows coming up.
The Summer Music Festival at the end of the month would be his first battle after returning to the scene. He had to bring out some killer tracks, so the band needed to get in sync.
But whether they could make it onto the festival lineup was still up in the air.
That was what troubled Lin Chudong. Even if you had talent, without connections you couldn't even get onto a music festival lineup. How could you talk about making a comeback?
If all he did was sing in bars, he'd never get a chance to make it big.
But there was still time. He'd take things one step at a time.
Liang Yin suddenly said,
"I've already asked around. The headliner at the Summer Music Festival is Da Fei Band."
The others fell silent at once, their eyes involuntarily turning toward Lin Chudong.
Given Da Fei Band's experience, it made perfect sense for them to headline the festival. Every music festival needed some big names, or who would buy tickets to see it?
But no one had expected Lin Chudong to share a stage with his former band so soon.
If Da Fei ran into them, sparks were bound to fly, right?
Seeing how fired up everyone was, Lin Chudong said,
"Don't get too excited. It'll be hard for us to get onto the festival lineup."
"Even if we do, we'll just be cannon fodder, playing second or third in the opening lineup. Da Fei Band is headlining and going on last, so we won't cross paths. Besides, nothing's set in stone yet. Don't get your hopes up."
Lin Chudong printed out the sheet music and sent everyone off to learn their parts.
Liang Yin pulled Lin Chudong over to a corner and spoke in a low voice.
"Da Fei, you haven't signed the contract yet."
"Then let's sign it now."
Lin Chudong took the contract and glanced over it. He froze.
It was only half a page long?
"Yeah."
Liang Yin said, "I'm really touched that you came to my piano shop and agreed to let me be your boss."
"I won't let what happened last time happen to you again."
"This contract only puts restrictions on the company. I've clearly spelled out the company's obligations to you, but you have no obligations at all."
"You can leave whenever you want and go wherever you want. All the song copyrights belong to you. If you're unhappy with anything, you can leave the band at any time."
Her eyes were full of sincerity.
Lin Chudong said, "You're really making me feel touched."
Liang Yin folded her arms. "What can I say? I'm a great boss!"
"Thank you."
Lin Chudong signed quickly. His gratitude was heartfelt.
Perhaps it was fate. This piano shop was the foundation he needed to start over.
Liang Yin suddenly held out her hand and said to Lin Chudong solemnly,
"Welcome to Liang Yin Band."
Lin Chudong smiled and shook her hand.
At that moment, sunlight fell across their faces, filling them with hope.
While they were busy putting the band together, the internet was already buzzing over "Chengdu."
The song was so widely sung, and its pure guitar accompaniment was both lovely and simple, that it had already become a must-learn piece for beginner guitarists.
At home, Ms. Zhang slapped her thigh as she told her relatives and friends, "You've heard 'Chengdu,' right? I'll let you in on a secret: my son could play it before it was even released! That guy from Super Challenge is my son's guitar teacher!"
"Come on, son, play one for your aunties!"
Music shops transcribed the song quickly and came up with lesson plans just as fast: learn "Chengdu" from scratch in thirty days.
Some made even more outrageous promises: learn it in just twenty days.
For a while, this set off a wave of crash-course guitar classes.
Of course, there were people who disliked the song, most of them guitar experts from within the industry.
"This song is such a pain. Every time I go home, my relatives ask me to play 'Chengdu.' If I can't, they say I've wasted all those years playing guitar."
"Heh, I gave in ages ago. If a guitarist can't play this song, they might as well have never learned guitar. Watch me play a rock version of 'Chengdu'!"
"What's so special about a rock version? Listen to my jazz version!"
"A qualified guitarist can get by without knowing music theory or how to solo, but they absolutely have to know 'Chengdu.'"
Memes about "Chengdu" suddenly took off online.
Just then, at Dafei Studio, Sun Jie posted a video of an improvised solo. Even he couldn't help admiring himself after watching it.
"Awesome. At this level, I could call myself the number-one guitarist in Huaxia, and no one would argue with me, right?"
Just as Sun Jie was congratulating himself, one comment suddenly got over a thousand likes.
"If you're so amazing, can you play 'Chengdu'?"
Damn!
Chengdu, my ass! Chengdu this, Chengdu that, every damn day!
Sun Jie replied, "That kind of simple song? Asking me to play it would be an insult to my skill."
One comment from Sun Jie soon pushed his video past ten million views.
"Guitarist Sun Jie admits that 'Chengdu' is a simple song. If such an easy and catchy song still can't get you to dust off your guitar, what will?"
"Even a professional guitarist approves! The guitarist from Da Fei Band says 'Chengdu' is simple. Sign up at our Wonderful Piano Shop and learn it in thirty days!"
"Going to a music shop is too much trouble. Click my profile! My 'Chengdu' tutorial is ready. Just 299, and I guarantee you'll learn it!"
"..."
Sun Jie was stunned to see how many views his video had gotten.
He was still basking in his own success when Shen Jianbin suddenly stormed in, furious.
"Sun Jie, have you lost your mind? Why are you helping him promote it?"
Sun Jie was taken aback. "I'm not helping him promote it. I'm putting him down!"
"You idiot! Delete it right now!"
Sun Jie didn't understand, but he quickly deleted the video anyway.
From a professional guitarist's perspective, calling "Chengdu" simple was his way of putting Lin Chudong down.
In reality, though, there were very few guitarists in this world. The biggest groups were guitar enthusiasts and people who were thinking about learning to play.
To them, the word "simple" was incredibly appealing.
It was easy, it sounded good—what reason was there not to learn it?
As a result, "Chengdu" had become practically a must-learn song for every guitar enthusiast, and it had even sparked a wave of interest in learning guitar online.
Meanwhile, in the conference room at the Tourism Bureau of the Chengdu Government Affairs Office,
a stern-looking middle-aged man sat at the head of the table.
"As you've all seen, 'Chengdu' is extremely popular online. We have a tough job this year, and our tourism revenue needs to reach a new level."
"This song is a great promotional opportunity. It paints Chengdu in a beautiful light and gives the city an emotional connection. We need to strike while the iron is hot and keep the song trending."
"We should also create some popular photo spots to attract visitors and improve the quality of tourism. Shops in scenic areas should play this song on repeat whenever possible."
"We'll use reasonable means to make it popular. This will count toward part of our performance review this year."
"Every department should pass these assignments along. Make sure everyone takes this seriously. We have to seize this opportunity!"
Before you continue