Rock and Roll: Glorious Years

Having settled things with Dayong, Bian Lang left the music store in a cheerful mood, humming, "Forgive me for my unruly and free-spirited life, I'm not afraid of falling down one day..." Then he thought of his sister, whom he had just mentioned to Dayong.

The original owner's family consisted of four people, all of whom were in business except for himself. His older sister, Bian Lan, started her own milk tea shop after graduating from university, and currently has eight directly operated stores in Kunming.

His mother, who owns a restaurant, doesn't support his playing in a band, and they almost argued to the point of severing their relationship. His father, who co-owns a brewery, is supportive, but he's henpecked, so he's practically useless.

Only his sister, a self-proclaimed "brother-supporting demon," dared to openly support him. In her words, "The Bian family already has enough people who can earn money; they need someone in the arts to keep things going!"

In the past few days, Bian Lan would send him WeChat messages from time to time to greet and care for him, but he would just give her a few casual replies. Now that he happened to be very close to one of her sister's shops, Bian Lang thought he would go and take a look. If he ran into her, he would chat with her. Anyway, he would have to deal with the original owner's family sooner or later.

Bian Lang's parents divorced early in his previous life. His father remarried and didn't care much about him. His mother raised him. But after graduating from high school, he went to play rock music. Just when his band was gaining popularity, he was transported to this world because of leukemia.

Therefore, Bian Lang didn't experience much of the warmth of family in his previous life, nor did he really show filial piety to his mother. Now that he has the means, he wants to make up for his regrets while also thanking the original owner of this body.

Strolling to the snack street behind the Yunnan Arts University, a strong sense of lively atmosphere greeted me. Barbecue, Shaxian cuisine, hot pot, milk tea—all kinds of flavors from all over the country were available!

Bian Lang remarked, "The world has changed, but the food streets around universities are still the same. No one needs to plan them out; they can achieve self-regulation and standardization of business categories across the country."

At first glance, there are three milk tea shops side by side at the street corner, with similar decorations, selling similar products, playing similar promotional music, and priced similarly. The one sandwiched in the middle is "Seven Cups of Snow" opened by Bian Lan.

With the "buy one get one half price" offer on the left and the animal-eared girl soliciting customers on the right, Seven Cups of Snow's business seemed much worse. Apart from one delivery guy waiting, there was no one in line.

The scrolling text on the signboard at the entrance, which reads "Collect 7 stamps to redeem a free drink," is extremely unappealing.

Seeing that business was bad, Bian Lang also started to worry about his sister!

Seeing that her sister wasn't there, Bian Lang put on his sunglasses and went straight in, bought a jasmine tea with cheese foam, and sat down in the shop.

Based on his experience as a milk tea enthusiast from his previous life, he could say that his sister's cheese foam was alright, but the tea base was made with milk tea powder, which was completely different from the Bo Ya Jue Xian tea he loved in his previous life.

"Manager, can't you play some special music to attract customers?" Bian Lang was also annoyed by the "New Product Launch, Second Cup Half Price" sign next door and the endless loop of electronic music that he couldn't understand.

The chubby young female shop manager, while working, replied, "It's our shop's policy, there's nothing we can do about it!"

Hearing this, the tall, thin young man working behind them said, "Sister Jiaojiao, this customer makes a good point. Sales affect our bonuses, so it's good to offer something different to attract customers."

Instead of answering directly, the chubby girl retorted, "How about I approve your funding so you can go dress up as a cross-dressing man at the entrance? I think that'll be way better than the guy next door!"

"Sister Jiaojiao, let's give it a try..." The tall, thin guy with his slightly punk-inspired outfit probably listens to niche music.

The chubby girl was also anxious about her sales performance. If it weren't for her less-than-competitive figure, she would have been willing to go to the entrance, wear a JK uniform, and tie her hair in pigtails to attract customers.

Thinking of this, she hesitated for a moment before asking, "Then what kind of music do you suggest? Don't go with your kind of rap that's all about attacking the world!"

"Rock and roll!" Bian Lang and the tall, thin man exclaimed in unison.

The chubby girl glanced at each of them separately: "You two know each other?"

"We're kindred spirits!" the two laughed.

Then the tall, thin man continued, "Sister Jiaojiao, trust me. If we play this song this time, even if Sister Lan comes to inspect the store, she will never say a bad word about us!" He then took off his gloves and started searching on his phone.

"Hmm? Is there anything special about it?" The chubby girl finished her work and peeked over.

After about ten seconds, she asked somewhat confusedly, "The song is kind of nice, but the opening line about everything going bankrupt and nothing being able to survive, isn't that a bit unlucky?"

Upon hearing this, Bian Lang spat out the milk tea he had just taken a sip of.

"Excuse me, are you feeling unwell?" the chubby girl said, as she came out with tissues and a mop.

"It's nothing, it's nothing. I just drank too much and choked!" He simply felt that playing promotional music wasn't enough, and never expected it to be associated with his own song, let alone receive such an unlucky comment.

Just as he was about to speak up to defend himself, the tall, thin man continued, "Sister Jiaojiao, this is a video of Lan Jie's brother Bian Lang's performance last night, it's still trending on Weibo! Look at how well he's doing with Loop Station, I dare say he's absolutely number one in the domestic rock scene! Yunnan Arts University is Bian Lang's alma mater, you tell me his younger schoolmates can't stand seeing this..."

Upon hearing this, the chubby girl immediately looked up and asked, "Is what you're saying true?"

"It's absolutely true! The Masked Band, Bian Lang, is it possible for two people to share the same name?"

"Why didn't you say so earlier! Let me see!"

After watching for about a minute or two, the chubby girl's eyes lit up with an unprecedented light: "Change the menu on the display screen by the door, and play this video. Change the scrolling text promotion to..."

After a few seconds of pause, the chubby girl said, "Congratulations to Bian Lang, a senior student from Yunnan Arts University, on trending on Weibo! Yunnan Arts University students can enjoy a buy-one-get-one-free offer on all items with their student ID!"

"Sister Jiaojiao, will Sister Lan agree to this promotion? Why don't you discuss it with her first? Also, the video quality online isn't high enough, wouldn't it look a bit off on a monitor?" the tall, thin man asked incredulously.

In his memory, the store manager was someone who listened to sentimental songs, worked diligently for sales, and always followed the lead of Sister Bian Lan. Today, he only mentioned it casually because a customer had chimed in, and he didn't expect the store manager to actually agree, and the commotion was even bigger than he had imagined!

"It's okay, Sister Lan won't object. Who knows, our store might even get an extra reward because of this promotion!" The chubby girl had been with Bian Lan for 3 years. Although she had never met Bian Lang in person, she knew how much Bian Lan, as his older sister, doted on her younger brother.

"This video is a problem, huh? Maybe I should ask Sister Lan for the original version. It's trending on Weibo, she should have it!"

"Ahem! The original video of Bian Lang's performance, right? I have it!" Bian Lang, who had been watching the show the whole time, finally spoke up.

Upon hearing this, the chubby girl immediately exclaimed happily, "That's a huge help! Monkey, get this customer another drink and put it on my tab!"

Bian Lang took out his phone and searched for the files Wei Lan had sent him. He selected the one marked "Uncut Version" and clicked download. At the same time, he waved his hand and said, "No need, no need, this is enough!" He made up his mind that when he had time, he would definitely help Bian Lan make the Overlord Tea Princess and the Qilin Big Mouth Tea. Making money was secondary; the key was to satisfy his own taste buds.

After receiving the video and confirming it was fine, Skinny Monkey gave Bianlang a metal salute and began working on the computer. A little while later, Bianlang's singing started playing from the store's speakers.

Skinny Monkey stood at the door, watching the 4K high-definition performance video, shaking his head repeatedly. "What was Lan Jie's brother thinking before? With that kind of skill and songwriting ability, what was he after by forming a band with that Li Yiliang guy? Jiao Jiao, could you help me get a signed CD from Zhang Bian Ge from Lan Jie later?"

Just then, a guy poked his head out from the second floor of the hot pot restaurant across the street: "Wow, come quick, come quick! The video from the milk tea shop across the street is different from the ones online! It's a close-up of Bian Dashen's solo!"

Then another head popped out: "Holy crap, it's true! Hurry up and record it, transcribe it from the sheet music!"

After hearing this, Skinny Monkey glanced at the video a few times before realizing that it was completely different from the edited version that Magic Disc had released at noon. The camera was full of close-ups of Bian Lang playing instruments, especially the current solo interlude, where the camera kept filming the electric guitar in his hand.

Thinking of this, his gaze involuntarily shifted to the store.

"Holy crap! Sister Jiaojiao, that's Bian, Brother Bian..." Skinny Monkey excitedly grabbed the chubby girl and started rambling incoherently!

Meanwhile, another shout came from the second floor of the hot pot restaurant across the street: "Hey buddy, don't change the video loop! Give us six cups of white peach oolong tea, no need to deliver, we'll come down and get them ourselves!"