Rock and Roll: Glorious Years

In this situation, Bian Lang couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter, clutching his stomach outside the door.

Looking at the two partners, one stood there with his mouth agape, while the other wore an expression of sudden realization. Only Dayong stood there with a blank face, unsure of what to say.

The master looked up and saw that it was one of the shareholders, so he quickly added, "Your aura is too strong; it's affecting the compass. Perhaps you could move it to another location?"

Bian Lang heard this and rushed in, calling out to Dayong, "Brother Yong, help me find an effects pedal."

The two partners exchanged a glance and led the master to another area.

Da Yong sighed and walked over to Bian Lang, asking, "Why did you come here?"

Bian Lang gestured with his chin towards the master's retreating figure, then asked, "What's wrong?"

"Summer should have been the best time for enrollment, but who knew that two of my students were playing around in front of the store after class? That day, new stock arrived, and a drum fell out of the truck and broke one of their legs. When the news got out, everyone said I was an irresponsible teacher, and that's how it happened..."

After hearing Dayong's words, and thinking about the master's earlier comment, "This thing is ominous," Bian Lang wanted to laugh but ultimately held it back.

"By the way, how did the performance go yesterday?"

Bian Lang nodded: "I'm doing fine, but Li Yiliang doesn't know."

"What do you mean?" Dayong didn't quite understand what Bian Lang was saying.

Seeing Dayong's expression, Bian Lang knew that he still didn't understand anything, so he told him the whole story from beginning to end.

After listening, Da Yong grinned and said, "I knew it! Li Yiliang called me earlier, saying he wanted to come talk to me about something. Luckily, I didn't agree to play drums for you guys this time, otherwise he would have held a grudge against me! So, you came here today to ask me to rejoin the band? Come on, it's not that I'm being coy, you know my situation, forget it!"

Bian Lang was both amused and exasperated. If Akira Toriyama were on this planet, he would have confidently said, "Brother Yong, you've collected all seven Dragon Balls! You're destined to summon Shenron from now on!" Thinking this to himself, he said aloud, "Now that you've collected all seven, you can go to my sister's place and exchange them for free milk tea."

Da Yong didn't react at first, but after he figured it out, he laughed and scolded, "How come your mouth suddenly learned to bark like a dog..."

At that moment, a man and a woman pushed open the door and walked into the music store.

Seeing Bian Lang there, the two were taken aback for a moment, and then Wei Lan said somewhat awkwardly, "Teacher Bian is here too, what a coincidence!"

Li Yiliang's face immediately fell, and he tilted his head to the side, about to speak, but Wei Lan stopped him.

"What a coincidence! You're here to see Brother Yong too, right? You two chat first, I'll come along and learn from you!" Bian Lang said with a smile, one hand resting on the edge of the reception desk, showing no intention of avoiding it.

In Bian Lang's view, if material conditions could sway Da Yong, then it wouldn't have been his and Modie's turn to come. So he really wanted to see what trump card Modie could come up with to help Li Yiliang win over Da Yong.

"That's not fair, Bian Lang! These things are all about skill. How can we talk if you're standing here?" Li Yiliang's anger, which had been suppressed by Wei Lan after Bian Lang stole the spotlight during last night's performance, suddenly flared up again.

Seeing that he was getting impatient, Bian Lang simply dragged a stool out from the reception desk and sat down before slowly saying, "Everything is about first come, first served. I came to see Brother Yong first, and now that you've had a turn to talk, what more do you want? If you don't want to talk in front of me, you can leave now, and you and Brother Yong can make another appointment later."

After listening, Li Yiliang turned to leave, but Wei Lan grabbed him: "Yiliang, there's nothing inconvenient about it. We came here today just to get to know Teacher Chen and have a chat. If Teacher Bian is willing to listen and give us some advice, that would be even better."

The three of them engaged in a heated verbal exchange, which put Da Yong in an awkward position.

He sighed and said, "You two should just leave me alone. I've gotten used to living in Chuncheng and don't want to move. Besides, my son just started kindergarten, and I want to spend more time with him. It'll be a good time for me to rest."

If it were the original owner, perhaps she would have truly believed what Da Yong said.

But Bian Lang is different. Although he has never married or had children in either of his two lives, he had a lot of rock musicians around him who acted as his parents in his previous life.

At a time like this, how could I possibly think about taking a break!

In his past life, all his friends in the industry started writing songs for their children and working themselves to the bone to perform everywhere after becoming parents.

Making money is secondary. What rock star dad doesn't want to project an image of being the best in the world to his kid, giving them bragging rights when they go to school? Rock music is now a niche subculture in the Chinese music scene. If you don't have a pretty impressive reputation, how can you compete with those other rich kids?

They can do whatever they want, but their own children must not be looked down upon!

He sensed from Da Yong's sigh that he didn't mean what he said, but he didn't point it out directly. If the fire in Da Yong's heart had already been extinguished, then saying anything would be pointless. He wanted Wei Lan to go and test the waters for him first.

Wei Lan stepped forward and shook hands with Da Yong. After introducing himself, he continued, "Teacher Chen, why don't you hear our thoughts first? As you know, Magic Disc has always taken it upon itself to revitalize Chinese rock music. We've come to invite you to come out of retirement because we truly feel that you've been overlooked. It's a great loss to the Chinese rock scene."

That's such a compliment, even Bian Lang would applaud him.

Upon hearing this, Da Yong secretly rolled his eyes and said, "Miss Wei, I can't even believe what you're saying myself. Let's just forget about it!"

Wei Lan wasn't embarrassed at all, continuing without batting an eye, "This time, we're not only asking you to come out of retirement to help Yi Liang find musicians, but also to fulfill a wish of yours. Many of the songs from the bands you joined before are now copyrighted by Magic Disc. After Yi Liang joins, we plan to select the classic songs from those bands and release a cover album for him, so that today's rock fans can hear your classic hits!"

This wasn't actually the original plan that Magic Disc had for Li Yiliang. However, things have turned Magic Disc into a laughing stock in the industry. The musicians who had been agreed upon with the company are now all unwilling to play with him anymore, so he has no choice but to find musicians from outside.

The planned album was a re-arrangement of his past songs with copyrights, but Magic Disc was afraid that fans would bring up Bian Lang to mock him, so they decided to release a cover album, and that's why they set their sights on Da Yong.

At this point, Bian Lang, who had been staring at Dayong, noticed that Dayong's droopy eyelids twitched suddenly.

Bian Lang thought to himself, "As long as the fire in my heart hasn't been extinguished, that's fine!"

This time, Da Yong didn't speak directly, and it seemed he was really thinking about it in his mind.

"As for your concerns about taking care of the children, it's actually not difficult to coordinate. We're all in the industry, and we don't have as many rules as those entertainment companies. Apart from rehearsals, recordings, and performances, you can arrange your own time, Ms. Chen."

After saying that, Da Yong looked up and asked, "Are rehearsals and recordings all done on Beijing Radio?"

"Yes, the company will cover all round-trip airfare and accommodation. You can bring your wife along if you wish."

Da Yong nodded and said solemnly, "Then I'll think about it."

Seeing that Da Yong was interested, Li Yiliang's volatile temper finally calmed down a bit.

"Brother Yong, with your help, this album is sure to become a classic in the industry." As he said this, he glanced sideways at Bian Lang.

Da Yong sighed again and looked at Bian Lang, saying, "Lang, well..."

Before he could finish speaking, Bian Lang stood up and interrupted, "Let's not talk about that now. I have something else I need you to do for me first."

Seeing that Bian Lang didn't bring up the matter, Da Yong's expression improved considerably: "Come on, tell me what you want to do."

"I've put together a new song, but the drum arrangement is still a bit raw. Could you give it a listen?"

"No problem, no problem. Send me the sheet music, I'll go get you a violin."

Seeing Dayong turn to get his guitar, Bianlang grabbed him and said, "No need, I haven't written the sheet music yet. I'll play you a section first, so you can listen..."

"Hey! You can play the drums? That's amazing, I'd like to hear it..." Da Yong said, taking a pair of drumsticks from the reception desk and handing them to him.

Bian Lang took the drumsticks, walked to the drum set in the store, sat down, closed his eyes, nodded and hummed the guitar intro, and started spinning the drumsticks between his right index and middle fingers.

"He spins those drumsticks pretty well! He's got a knack for showing off!" Da Yong stood in front of the drum set with his arms crossed, watching with amusement.

Li Yiliang had a preconceived notion that Bian Lang was just asking Da Yong to rearrange the drums for yesterday's song, so he naturally didn't think it was anything special. He gestured for Wei Lan to say goodbye and leave, as he didn't want to see Bian Lang even once more.

Wei Lan didn't want to leave. She was afraid that Bian Lang would cause some trouble again and snatch away Dayong, who had already been persuaded. So she wanted to keep an eye on things for a while.

Bian Lang hummed for more than 10 seconds, then started with the snare drum with his right drumstick, followed by the two tom-toms and the cymbals!

After this clean and crisp interlude, Bian Lang stepped on the bass drum, tapping the snare drum with one hand and the hi-hat with the other, and a rhythm of "dong zi da dong dong zi da zi" began to loop.

"Great, great, Bian Lang, you're really good at drumming. You must have been secretly practicing for years!" Da Yong praised while tapping his feet to the rhythm.

After playing eight bars, Bian Lang added a "dong dong da dong kong dong da dong" embellishment, and then began to sing: "Bored, I see hesitation; achieving ideals is not easy; even with confidence, the fighter is suppressed..."