Rock and Roll: Glorious Years

At midnight, the day of the Huaxia Music Weekly Chart update, Wu Ya, one of the four top idols in China and known as the "uncrowned kings," released his new song "I Don't Want To," along with the music video.

Meanwhile, halfway up the mountain, Lao Tan returned and, while drinking, described the chaotic scene at the end of the performance to the group.

Da Kun, who had come to treat everyone, kept toasting Bian Lang: "Brother Bian, God Lang! From now on, no matter what benefits Li Yiliang gives me, I won't accompany him anymore. You have no idea how nervous I was when I went up there!"

Bian Lang was also half-drunk and half-awake, and mumbled a reply: "Sorry, sorry, I didn't let you make money while lying down!"

"That song is really catchy! Tell me, how did you write it? Here's a copy of the guitar tabs for me to practice with..."

Before Bian Lang could reply, Old Tan shouted, "I know that! You wait..."

Amidst everyone's anticipation, Lao Tan retrieved a bottle of "water of life" and a stack of bullet-shaped glasses from the bar: "Bian Lang drank this, and then... and then he wrote that song!"

"Tch, who are you trying to fool! If someone wasn't crazy, who would dare drink this straight!"

"You don't believe me? Ask Bian Lang yourselves..."

Bian Lang waved his hand and said, "Don't listen to Lao Tan's nonsense. You can't just drink this wine indiscriminately. Even if you could, it depends on the person..."

No one cared what was said after that. Da Kun took the lead and downed a glass, then Lao Tan followed suit...

In the end, only Bian Lang remained conscious at the table.

……

The next day, Bian Lang was woken up by Lao Tan's phone call before he even got out of bed.

The voice of Old Tan, still half asleep and itchy-eyed, came from the other end of the phone, probably just waking up: "Bian Lang, you're trending on Weibo! Hurry up and get your account verified! Those fake accounts that popped up last night have way more followers than the real one!"

After hearing this, Bian Lang's already fuzzy mind became even more confused. He knew that last night's performance did have the potential to go viral, but to become so popular that it trended on Weibo, it would require paid manipulation.

"What's going on? Did Magic Disc spend such a big amount of money on promoting Li Yiliang?" This was the only possibility Bian Lang could think of.

"It has nothing to do with the Magic Disc, but thanks to you, they've also gotten criticized and are trending on Weibo. They're probably in a hurry now; just go check it out on Weibo. Don't forget to get verified..."

After hanging up with Lao Tan, Bian Lang forced himself to stay awake and opened Weibo.

I thought I'd have to click into the entertainment section to see the trending topics, but to my surprise, his name appeared at number 9 on the overall list.

#Wu Ya VS Bian Lang: Who is the number one Loop Station player in China?#

Upon clicking into the topic, it turned out that Wu Ya released his new electronic music song "I Don't Want To" online at midnight last night, along with a music video for the song.

As the first person in the Chinese entertainment industry to be exported and then re-imported, Wu Ya captivated many young fans with his exaggerated makeup and effeminate image during his performances. His musical works are mainly electronic music that is difficult to understand without looking at the lyrics.

This time, "I Don't Want To" is designed to cultivate his image as a musical prodigy. He wrote the lyrics, composed the music, and arranged the song. In the music video, Wu Ya even performed the entire song in the form of a loop station.

This matter originally had nothing to do with Bian Lang, but as soon as the MV was released, it was praised by Wu Ya's huge young fans.

They slap all sorts of titles on their idols, such as "China's No. 1 New Generation Musical Prodigy!", "China's No. 1 Electronic Music Artist!", and "China's No. 1 Loop Station Artist!"

Everything has its limits, and after the topic became a trending topic, the fans of the other three members of the "Uncrowned Kings" couldn't stand it anymore and started tearing each other apart online.

The excitement naturally attracted the attention of passersby, including a rock fan who watched Bianlang's live stream. He couldn't stand the ridiculous hype about "China's number one Loop Station artist!" and directly posted Bai Dao's video on the relevant trending topics.

He also took the opportunity to mock Wu Ya's fans: "The number one Loop Station artist? That MV was probably just a staged recording. When it comes to Loop Station, you have to see Bian Dashen's live performance!"

Based on the principle that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," the fans of the other three groups immediately went on a rampage, sending the topic to the top of the trending searches.

The first to "suffer" was naturally Bai Dao. As the first influential figure to publicly praise Bian Lang, the comment section of that video was flooded with Wu Ya's fans.

"Where did this low-quality video come from? You can praise that masked man to the skies just because of this low-quality video? Does that mean our brother can be considered a god?"

"Teacher Bai Dao, I noticed you used to just criticize anyone you could find. How much did you get paid for this PR stunt?" The insults got progressively harsher...

Fans of the other three groups also chimed in, asking Bai Dao to comment on "I Don't Want To".

With this kind of hype, how could Bai Dao not jump on the bandwagon? He watched Wu Ya's MV late at night and then posted a message on Weibo: "Everyone, move on! The effects pedal's power cord wasn't even plugged in. Forgive my ignorance, but I really can't comment on this unplugged loop station!"

This Weibo post immediately caused passersby and fans of the three groups to burst out laughing.

Wu Ya's fans were naturally unwilling to admit defeat, and turned their guns on Bian Lang, saying that there was no high-definition video evidence of his performance, and that he was just being praised by a bunch of unsophisticated rock fans!

Although the rock music fans were all scattered and disorganized, they were all hot-tempered and couldn't stand this kind of attitude!

I tagged dozens of fake Bianlang accounts, but I couldn't find the real Bianlang. The videos circulating online were similar to those leaked from Xiaomonu, but they were not clear enough, had a lot of interference, and lacked various details!

So fans started criticizing Magic Disc, demanding that they release the high-definition video of Bian Lang's performance as soon as possible!

After Bian Lang figured out what was going on, he couldn't help but laugh: "It's like I was just lying at home and a trending topic just fell from the sky!" He had to take advantage of the attention he received.

Looking at the original owner's Weibo account, which only had 404 followers and was named "Flying Stubborn Stone," Bian Lang hummed Wu Bai's song of the same name and soon came up with a name for it.

Ten minutes later, a Weibo account named "Rolling Stones Bian Lang" posted a message:

@BaiDao, thank you Teacher Bai and all the music fans for your support and recognition. Rock newbie Bian Lang is trembling with fear! Could the post-production team at @ModieMusic please help me out with some extra work? I'm also looking forward to watching the video of yesterday's performance!

I had just finished when a call came in from an unknown number with a Beijing (BJ) registered address.

"It should be Wei Lan!" Thinking this, Bian Lang waited for about 10 seconds before answering the phone.

"Hello, Teacher Bian, this is Wei Lan from Modie. I'm really sorry to bother you so early, but things are urgent right now, so please understand."

Bian Lang, holding his phone between his shoulder and arm, left the bedroom, lit a cigarette, and then replied, "It's nothing. Miss Wei, is there something urgent that you called me so early?"

"Teacher Bian has already seen what happened on Weibo, right? If it's convenient, I'll send you the video of your performance now. At the same time, I hope you can grant us, Magic Disc, a license for the video's copyright. You can name your terms!" Wei Lan's tone was no longer as composed as it had been after yesterday's performance.

As a top-tier music label in China specializing in rock and folk, Magic Disc has completely lost face by excluding a video of a legendary rock performance from its replay.

If their official channels don't release Bian Lang's video, then their slogan of "Reviving Chinese Rock," which has stood the test of time for many years, will become a target for attack. Besides, opportunities for Magic Disc to associate with a minor top star like Wu Ya are truly rare.

Bian Lang never expected that what was originally just a pretext to distance himself from Li Yiliang regarding copyright issues would now bring him these unexpected benefits.

However, he couldn't be so naive as to make demands casually: "Miss Wei, I don't know the market price for this. I traded a promise with your Magic Disc back then, so now I'll use this authorization to exchange for a promise from you regarding the Magic Disc!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Lan breathed a sigh of relief, then asked somewhat uneasily, "What promise? Please tell me, Teacher Bian."

"I haven't decided yet, so I'll just owe you for now!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Lan swallowed back the "okay" that was on the tip of her tongue!