3 Chengdu

The music shop was called Liangyin Music Shop. Besides the mother and son, there was also a man and a woman inside.

The man was probably a guitar teacher, doing his best to explain something.

The woman beside him stood with her arms crossed, looking troubled. Based on his years of experience, she was probably the owner.

The owner was strikingly beautiful, with long, flowing hair and an unmistakably feminine charm. Even without makeup, she could have passed for a celebrity.

Her figure was her most striking feature. The way she held her arms only accentuated her assets.

The male teacher looked impatient as he said,

"Ms. Zhang, I've already explained this. Your child needs to learn guitar systematically. Just the basics of music theory will take ten days or so."

"Rhythm, picking, memorizing the fretboard scales, chord shapes—covering all that in a month is already taking things slowly. To play and sing a whole song, he'll need at least another month."

Ms. Zhang's eyes widened. "Another month? Your lessons cost two hundred yuan each. Do you think money grows on trees? Give me my money back, right now! And let me tell you, my husband knows people at the Administration for Industry and Commerce. Don't make me take legal action!"

The male teacher backed down. He took half a step back and turned to the busty beauty behind him.

"Boss, what should we do?"

The boss rubbed her phone. The thought of refunding money she'd already earned made her heart ache. At this rate, the shop might not even stay open much longer.

"Then refund her..."

When you ran into someone this unreasonable, it was better to avoid making things worse.

Just as the boss was about to issue the refund, Lin Chudong walked over and asked,

"Boss, are you still hiring guitar teachers?"

Liang Yin furrowed her brows slightly. Who was this guy? Did he have no sense of timing? Couldn't he see what was going on? Why ask about a teaching job now?

At this rate, they'd be out of business in a few days!

"We're not hiring!"

Liang Yin answered curtly.

The guitar case on Lin Chudong's back looked like a cheap one, worth maybe a hundred or two hundred yuan. A musician's skill didn't necessarily depend on the price of their instrument, but a professional guitar teacher would surely have invested at least ten thousand yuan in a guitar. He couldn't possibly keep one in such a cheap case.

His first impression was terrible, so there was no point interviewing him.

Ms. Zhang said sarcastically, "If you're hiring teachers, you'd better keep your eyes open. Don't let just any amateur teach children and lead them astray!"

After Ms. Zhang took a jab at him, the male teacher was so angry he nearly cursed. Being a music teacher was such a thankless job!

Lin Chudong asked, "What, I hear he hasn't learned to play yet?"

Ms. Zhang had finally found someone to vent to. After all, Lin Chudong was an outsider, so she launched into it. "Exactly! He's been learning for a month, and all they've taught him is eighth notes and quarter notes, how to read sheet music, and how to play do-re-mi. What good is that? A relative comes over and asks him to show off, and he can't play a thing. It's so embarrassing. You don't even know what happened that day—my third sister brought her child to my house..."

Lin Chudong smiled. It seemed that failing to show off in front of her relatives was what had angered Ms. Zhang most.

Lin Chudong looked at the boy and asked,

"How many chords do you know?"

The boy was a little shy. "I know the C chord, the Em chord, and the G chord."

Ms. Zhang snorted. "See? He only knows those three lousy chords. Can he perform in front of people with that? If I'd known, I would've sent him to the piano shop next door. He might've been able to play Wedding in My Heart by now!"

Lin Chudong ignored Ms. Zhang and said,

"I'll teach you one more chord. How about I teach you a song in ten minutes?"

The boy froze for a moment, then hurriedly nodded.

Liang Yin and the male teacher exchanged puzzled looks.

Maybe Liang Yin's figure was so striking that her weight was unevenly distributed. She always seemed to like standing with her arms crossed, as if it helped take some of the strain off.

"Boss, what should we do? Let him teach?"

"Yeah, let's give him a try. See what he can do."

"Okay."

Lin Chudong took the guitar out of his backpack and sat down beside the boy.

"This is an Fmaj7 chord. You don't need to know how the chord is built. You just need to know how to play it."

The male teacher beside them kept shaking his head and muttered,

"He hasn't even mastered triads, and now he's teaching the kid a seventh chord. That's rushing things."

The Fmaj7 chord was played almost the same way as the C chord, just in a different position. The boy learned it in about a minute.

"Okay, four chords are enough for one song. I'll write down the chords for your left hand. For your right-hand pattern, play 632123. Can you do that?"

The boy tried plucking the strings in the order 632123. It came easily.

"Good. I'll play it once."

Lin Chudong played a simple intro, then moved into the verse.

"Let me, the wine from last night isn't the only thing that makes me cry."

"Let me, your tenderness isn't the only thing I can't bear to leave behind."

"Yu Lu..."

"..."

"Come walk with me through the streets of Chengdu, oh-oh-oh~, until all the lights have gone out, and still we won't stop."

"You'll hold onto my sleeve, I'll tuck my hands into my pockets, and we'll walk to the end of Yulin Road, and sit outside the little tavern!"

He ended with a simple outro, bringing the song to a perfect close.

Ms. Zhang's eyes lit up. "This is great! We'll learn this one. How long will it take?"

Lin Chudong said, "One lesson. But... I'll need to get hired first."

Lin Chudong looked toward Liang Yin.

Liang Yin came back to herself after hearing the song. "All right, you're hired. Go ahead and start the lesson!"

As long as they could satisfy Ms. Zhang, everything else would be easy!

Lin Chudong began teaching the boy while Liang Yin called the male teacher aside.

"Wang Zhi, how good is this teacher? He sings so beautifully!"

Wang Zhi shook his head. "I can't tell how good he is. His fundamentals are solid, his tone is clean, and his rhythm is great. But the song's so simple that it's hard to judge his skill."

"I just can't agree with his teaching approach. You have to study music systematically. How can you skip learning how chords are built and go straight to how to play them? This kind of crash course doesn't work!"

Liang Yin watched Lin Chudong speak with such confidence and said,

"Why do you care how he teaches? As long as the boy learns."

"Wait, that's not right. Why does he look familiar? Who sang that song just now?"

Wang Zhi said, "I've never heard it. I'll look it up... There's no song by that name. Seems like it's an original."

"Damn, could he be a professional singer? He sings so well, and that voice... Da Fei?"

Liang Yin took out her phone and searched for Da Fei Band. She studied the photo of Da Fei's plain-looking face very carefully, then stared in disbelief.

"It really is Da Fei!"

"Wang Zhi, go check the entrance for cameras. This might be a reality show—he could be here to experience everyday life!"

Wang Zhi said, "Come on, Da Fei never does reality shows. He can't be Da Fei. He just looks like him."

"I ought to pluck out your eyes and use them as stepping stones. How can someone who looks like him also sound like him?"

"Go order a few dishes at the restaurant next door. We've got a big shot visiting!"