A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 7 Admiration for Wei

"Hey, Dad, look, look! Sister, sister, look... a deer!"

"Oh dear, really? There's no deer in sight!"

It was breakfast time, and many families, especially those with children, had the TV on. Parents couldn't stop them because these kids and young people loved watching "Music TV" on the Capital Channel and the music videos it played every morning.

Young people call this "Aimuwei".

The songs that have been popular in recent years are all played here. And they're played repeatedly, over and over again.

Some songs are not only liked by young people, but also by older people, those in their thirties and forties. Songs like "The Boatman's Love", "The Big Sedan Chair", "The Sound of Waves Remains the Same", "Thirteen Unrelated", "The Wine of September 9th", "Wishing You Peace", and "Love Bird" are all quite good.

After all, they had secretly listened to Teresa Teng back then, and they considered themselves to be open-minded, not like the old-fashioned feudalists of the older generation!

At this time today, also at 7 a.m., the Gao family in the east wing of the second courtyard of the courtyard house at No. Bing in Nanluoguxiang, Beijing, were having breakfast as usual, while the family was watching "Music TV" on Beijing TV.

With university just around the corner, the Gao sisters, one two years older than Lin Jianlu and the other half a year younger, were both successful and had been admitted to university. They had already bought their train tickets for the 14th of the first lunar month, which was the start of the semester. However, just two days before they were about to leave home to return to school, they unexpectedly saw their neighbor on TV.

The eldest daughter, Gao Yufeng, was talking to her mother when she was startled by her younger sister, Gao Yuhuang. The whole family fell silent and looked up at the television.

Wow, this young man is really energetic!
But... we live right across the hall and see each other every day. If you put on red lipstick, I wouldn't recognize you?
Lin Jianlu, huh!

"I'd rather you be completely cold-hearted, so I can forget you completely; I'd rather you be heartless, so I can give up completely; I'd rather be heartbroken only once than be heartbroken day and night; I'd rather you be completely cold-hearted, please don't say it again..."

The whole family was frozen in place.

They stopped chewing the steamed buns and flatbreads in their mouths.

"The rain that fell that night you left soaked my heart, unable to erase the false lipstick marks you left behind, unable to recall your deceitful words. Since you had decided to leave, why leave behind lingering feelings, making me think you had no choice, making me unable to completely forget! I would rather you be cold to the end..."

Lin Jianlu obviously couldn't remember how long the original version of this song was in the original timeline. Anyway, the version he recorded was 4 minutes and 2 seconds long. It wasn't long, and with various handsome faces that were carefully filmed and edited, it was over quickly.

The Gao family was completely bewildered.

I could hear the noise coming from the courtyard outside, which started halfway through the singing. I can understand it; in this day and age, which family in a tenement didn't have a TV? They would turn on the TV and watch it for a while while eating breakfast.

If family members can recognize Lin Jianlu at a glance, then others can too.

but……

"Sis, Jianlu sings so well!"

"Yes...it's really nice. This song is great, much better than the songs from our country!"

"I think it sounds even better than Zheng Zhihua's!" "Yeah, Zheng Zhihua isn't good anymore. He's not popular anymore. Jacky Cheung and Emil Chau are the most popular now. The song 'Seeing the Deer'... is very good."

They're all young people, college students, who doesn't love listening to music and having fun? In this day and age, which school doesn't have one or two music stores selling pirated cassette tapes near its gate?

Forget about pirated tapes; those are obviously not copyrighted celebrity portraits. You can get whichever one you want!

Boys like Norika Fujiwara and Noriko Sakai's swimsuit paintings the most, while girls like Andy Lau and Leon Lai's, as well as the Little Tigers, and those with special tastes like the damn bodyguard Zhan Zhao.

But that was just a painting; when it comes to cassette tapes, everyone's aesthetic sense is basically the same.

Jacky Cheung, Emil Chau, Dave Wong, Chyi Chin, Little Tigers, Grasshopper, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau, Leon Lai, Jeff Chang, Leslie Cheung, Wu Bai, Zhao Chuan, Anita Mui, Faye Wong, Chyi Yu, Sandy Lam...

There are also a few individuals who like Yu Hongming.

Even though they were both pirated cassette tapes, a bunch of singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan sold much better than those from mainland China!

Ultimately, in this era, Hong Kong and Taiwan are indeed at the forefront of trends!
Their songs, their melodies, their lyrics, even their singers' non-standard Mandarin, and even their Cantonese which is incomprehensible without looking at the lyrics booklet—everything about them signifies advancement, fashion, and trendiness!
Young people are chasing after it, admiring it, and loving it!
Even people who don't usually pay much attention to this area, as long as they have friends, they will hear about who is more popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, whose new album is not selling well, and even who is dating whom, through word of mouth.

The key issue is that publishing regulations are lax these days. There are many small magazines that specialize in reporting and reprinting music, film, and entertainment gossip from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Not only are they numerous, but many of them sell like hotcakes!
Back in the 1990s, even small magazines were publishing in full color!
We can give you eight or sixteen full-color inserts, or even more!
Just so that young people who follow Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment stars can see all kinds of touching color photos of their own stars!

Just tell me whether you like it or not!

As for the cassette tapes of big stars like Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, and Emil Chau, as soon as the official versions from Hong Kong and Taiwan are released, pirated tapes will be distributed to the county town within half a month at most!
In ten days at most, various compilation albums of popular songs will start to feature both new and old songs!
The first song is "Sleepless Nights," the second is "A Damp Heart," and the third is "Stars and Lights." The main theme is a mix, and the main theme is inclusivity!
Young people are almost powerless against these things!

But at the same time, domestic products are no good. Whether it's music or celebrities, the more people love listening to Hong Kong and Taiwan music and following Hong Kong and Taiwan stars, the more they look down on the singers in mainland China!
Both the songs and the people are incredibly corny!
But this song, "Cold to the End," is clearly different!
It's not "The Big Sedan Chair," "The Boatman's Love," or "Love Bird" or anything like that. It doesn't sound as sophisticated or fashionable as songs from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Although it doesn't feel like a song from Hong Kong or Taiwan, at least Lin Jianlu doesn't have that unique Hong Kong or Taiwan accent like those stars. But his singing style and accompaniment clearly have a refined, popular, and fashionable feel.

That's incredibly cool and awesome!
So, based on her intuition, Gao Yufeng felt that this song was no worse than those by Wakin Chau and Jacky Cheung!
Of course, Wakin Chau and Jacky Cheung are big stars from Hong Kong and Taiwan... Although Lin Jianlu is exceptionally good-looking, and when he appears on television, he is clearly dressed differently, looking very stylish and fashionable, and is no less charming than those Hong Kong and Taiwan stars, but after all, he lives right across from us!

So, when the words were about to come out, "Seeing the Deer is no worse than Wakin Chau's song" or "no worse than Jacky Cheung's song," they eventually turned into a general compliment: "It's very nice!"

On the television screen, the next song had already started playing.

I've listened to Lin Yilun's "Love Bird" many times.

I initially thought it sounded pretty good, and I never got tired of listening to it. But at this moment, when that familiar intro and visuals started playing, a thought immediately popped into my head: "Should we still play 'Cold to the End'? Even if we don't play it today, we'll at least play it again tomorrow morning, right?"

Before Gao Yufeng could react, and while the elderly couple were still exchanging bewildered glances, Gao Yuhuang slammed down her chopsticks and rushed out the door.

"I see a deer, I see a deer, is that the song you were singing?"

(End of this chapter)