Rock and Roll: Glorious Years

At 7:45 PM, in a residential area in Kunming, Cheng Jinhui, an art student studying saxophone, had been worrying about filling out his college application for several days. Although he had passed the professional exams of several major music academies, his academic scores were not ideal, so he could forget about top-tier music conservatories like the Central Conservatory of Music. He was now torn between retaking the exam and lowering his standards.

Right after finishing their meal, the family started discussing this matter again.

Just then, a high school classmate messaged him privately: "Jin Hui, Bian Dashen's new song will be streamed live on Bilibili at 8 PM. The song title alone is exciting enough..."

Upon hearing the name Bian Lang, the name "Yunnan Arts University" flashed through his mind like a shooting star, only to be quickly dismissed. After all, no matter how strong the music programs at the six major art academies were, they couldn't surpass the nine major music conservatories, but they were certainly better than comprehensive universities!

When the scores came out, he was in a bad mood and felt dazed all day. He even started to doubt whether he should continue playing the saxophone. It was around that time that Bian Lang's "Those Without Ideals Don't Get Hurt" was released. After hearing it by chance, the song became his daily source of inspiration.

Incidentally, he also recommended this song to his classmates who, like him, didn't have very good grades.

The person who messaged him today was one of them. The difference between the two is that he only likes the music and has absolutely no interest in the Rolling Stones, after all, they're classical musicians. His classmate, on the other hand, is a complete Rolling Stones fan, so he's been following Bian Lang closely and participating in online "battles!"

Cheng Jinhui clicked on the link sent by his classmate. Seeing that the live stream hadn't officially started yet, and that Little Witch was currently talking about rock music, he put his phone aside and left it for the time being.

Just after 8 o'clock, Bian Lang's voice came through the phone: "Hello everyone, rock music fans! We are the Rolling Stones, and we're bringing you our new song, 'Rock 'n' Roll on the New Long March'!"

Upon hearing the song title, Cheng Jinhui frowned: "This song title..."

The grandfather, who was over eighty years old, spoke up on the sofa, asking, "Xiao Hui, what's that on your phone?"

Although Grandpa Cheng, whose hometown is in Luquan, is not a veteran, someone in his family was a boatman when he was very young and participated in the clever crossing of the Jinsha River. He has been telling the story of how seven dilapidated boats transported more than 20,000 troops and countless mules and horses in seven days without losing a single person or horse for many years.

Now that he's older, he likes to ramble on about these things even more, but unfortunately, no one in his family is willing to listen to him anymore.

"Grandpa, someone sang a song, it might be related to the Long March..." Cheng Jinhui replied, and then prepared to turn off the video. Judging from the title, he felt that the song was probably nothing special.

But after 19 seconds of noise from the electric guitar and drums, the sound of a wind instrument suddenly came out. Naturally, this could not escape his ears. He picked up the video and saw that it was a saxophone. This piqued his interest.

He took his phone, walked to the sofa, sat down next to his grandfather, took out his earphones, put them on, and gave one to his grandfather.

At this moment, the live broadcast camera also gave a close-up of Yuan Hao. Seeing him dressed casually, wearing small round-framed gold-rimmed glasses, and a red star octagonal hat, but with a saxophone-playing pose, both grandfather and grandson reacted at the same time.

"Oh my! Xiao Hui, isn't this the thing you were blowing up?"

"Yes, Grandpa, this is the one I played." He replied casually, but in his heart, only one word mattered: "Cool!"

Cheng Jinhui never imagined that such an incredibly tacky outfit could ever be associated with a saxophone, let alone be featured on the homepage of a popular short video platform. But with the catchy melody playing, he surprisingly found it surprisingly fitting, even kind of cool!

The camera then cuts to the other people, all dressed in jeans and T-shirts, some wearing red scarves, and Bian Lang wearing a baseball cap with a red five-pointed star on the front.

"This...is this...red rock? You can play the saxophone like that?"

As Chen Jinhui was overwhelmed with a shock that defied description, the prelude reached 32 seconds, and Yuan Hao's saxophone began playing a military song. Everyone else on stage pointed to the sky with one finger and shouted, "One~two~three~four!"

The people of China on this blue planet, who had never been baptized by Lao Cui's red rock music, suddenly felt their unique national red DNA boil over at this moment!

Bai Dao: "This... Bian Lang... This is fucking... This is too unfair!"

Liu Yao: "Oh dear, oh dear... I can't take it anymore, this kid actually does this, I can't stand it..." Guo Sichu next to her involuntarily shuddered: "I have goosebumps all over!"

The rock musicians inside the bar were completely dumbfounded!

Ding Tong's hand holding the beer was already trembling: "This kid! He's amazing! I, Ding Tong, am completely impressed! I'll play this song for my mom later, and the old lady will definitely..."

Before he could finish speaking, Bian Lang lowered his voice to the very bottom of his vocal cords and roared like a machine gun:

"I've heard of it, but never seen it, 25,000 li... Some say it, some say it, how can you know how difficult it is... Head down, I walk forward, searching for myself... I walk back and forth, without a base..."

Watching Bian Lang stand with his legs spread wide, veins bulging on his neck and forehead, the rock musicians in the bar all shouted, "Awesome!"

Bian Lang's singing continued, and the other musicians swayed to the rhythm on stage: "What to think, what to do, is it rifles and millet... There are many reasons, always saying it's cannons and bombers... Sweat flows, tears fall, there's resentment in my heart... Hide it, hide it, think to yourself, don't rush..."

At this point in the song, all the musicians moved closer to their microphone stands and began to belt out along with Bian Lang:

"Oh~~~ Oh~~~ Oh~~~"

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven!"

"Oh~~~ Oh~~~ Oh~~~"

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven!"

As soon as this section ended and the interlude began, Huang Kai jumped up on stage, crouching and pacing in sync with the rhythm, and started wandering around the stage.

Pan Jianhu moved his two hands, one on the left and one on the right, across the two keyboards, and a very distinctive blues melody appeared!

Looking at the image projected onto the stage wall, Ding Tong couldn't help but mutter, "What kind of luck does Tiger have?! Is he forcing me to settle down in Kunming?"

When the scene switched back to the magpie, Ding Tong, also a guitarist, couldn't help but exclaim, "Who...who is this kid? Give him a go...or never mind..."

Then Yuan Hao's saxophone started playing again. Watching the saxophone player, who was over fifty years old, enjoying himself so much, Cheng Jinhui's heart began to stir with increasing agitation.

Previously, he had only one goal in mind: to study at a top music academy and eventually join a top orchestra. But now he feels that there seems to be another path for him on his saxophone journey.

He had considered exploring genres outside of classical music before, such as blues and jazz. However, the domestic market for these genres was even more niche than that for rock, so he hadn't considered it again. But now, seeing Yuan Hao having so much fun and carefree with the Rolling Stones, the idea suddenly became irrevocably strong in his mind.

Looking at Grandpa Cheng again, his head was nodding along with the rhythm, and he even shouted the work chant once more.

Cheng's parents looked over in astonishment: "Xiaohui, what are you playing for your grandfather? A military training video?"

Ignoring his son's surprise, the old man took Cheng Jinhui's hand and said, "Xiaohui, you'll play this for Grandpa from now on!"

Cheng Jinhui, who was still lost in thought, was suddenly pulled back to reality by these words. Looking at his grandfather's eager eyes, which were like those of an old child, he nodded seriously and said, "Okay, I'll practice this piece properly and play it for you every day."