Rock and Roll: Glorious Years

Back on Jianshe Road, Bian Lang took a picture of the record store entrance. The storefront now displays the words and logo of Rolling Stone Records, marking the first piece of business he built on this planet, which is worth commemorating.

The logo of Bianlang directly copied the yellow arrow of the original Earth Rolling Stone Records. Although the words "Rock Records & Tapes" below look a bit outdated now, Bianlang didn't want to change it as a tribute.

As the setting sun cast his long shadow, merging it with another silhouette, a female voice called out from behind, "Brother Lang, you're really fast!"

Turning around, Bian Lang saw Kapok and then remembered that Chen Shuting had told her yesterday that things had been settled at Kapok's place and that she would be flying over today.

"Where's the wheel? Why isn't it with you?"

Mu Mian understood the two layers of meaning in those words, but she only answered with the first: "You know about the variety show being moved up in time, right? He was notified to go and record the later episodes."

Although Qin Ge said on the phone that he wanted to use his popularity, Bian Lang thought about it carefully afterward and felt that there must be some other things he didn't know about.

After all, the broadcast of a variety show is not as simple as releasing a song. It involves the interests of various parties, including the production company, the broadcasting platform, the music company, the band, and so on. The reason for the show being moved up in time is not something that can be explained away with a simple statement like "riding the wave of popularity".

"Okay, I'll drop off your luggage and take you out for a meal." With that, Bian Lang dragged her suitcase into the record store.

Meanwhile, in Lucheng, Xia Yuxi, who had just gotten off the plane, checked the leaderboard on her phone. She was still fourth, but the top three positions had changed drastically.

Bian Lang's continued high popularity online these past few days has propelled "Dye the Night Black" to the top spot, with "Those Without Ideals Don't Get Hurt" following closely in second place. The former number one is now in third. Xia Yuxi had to work incredibly hard to promote the show in order to knock out the former number two and retain fourth place.

Thinking about the betting agreement with Xibiqi made him feel even more upset.

So his manager tried to get the company to talk to the production team of "The Unique Band" about starting the show earlier. They figured that if it could be started earlier, they could start investing heavily in the show's pre-show promotion, and Xia Yuxi, as the show's biggest star, would naturally get the most exposure.

For Xia Yuxi, the income from one song is nothing, but losing would be a huge loss of face. She originally just wanted to sign an endorsement deal to solidify her position, but if she ended up losing a song, it would be a truly embarrassing situation.

Xia Yuxi's company's response hit the nail on the head for the production team, since the current popularity of Bian Lang and Huaxia Rock 29 is backed by official media.

Besides Bian Lang and Huang Kai, members from six other bands will also appear on the variety show. Needless to say, they'll easily attract 70-80% of rock music fans. Add to that the fans who become fans after following the event, and the production team believes that with proper promotion, this is a sure-fire hit even before it airs.

Therefore, after Xia Yuxi's company made this suggestion, the sponsors discussed it and, regardless of whether it would affect the broadcast of the variety show, immediately moved up the schedule by half a month.

"Bian Lang, how come I keep running into you no matter what I do this past month?" Xia Yuxi looked at the glaring ranking list and felt very annoyed.

July was supposed to be a solid month, but the back-and-forth between Rolling Stone and Goose Egg completely disrupted the top 10 rankings.

Although there were still less than two weeks left, the situation was no longer favorable for him. But he didn't want to sit idly by and wait for his doom, after all, he had thought of another possibility, which was to bring down the current third-place player.

……

The next day at 6 p.m., the auditorium of the Yunnan Arts Affiliated Primary School was crowded with people.

The school didn't expect that a simple end-of-term performance would attract two or three times more audience members than in previous years. However, the school didn't think much of it and let them all in. After all, the auditorium can hold more than 1000 people, and it's usually only full when there are school assemblies. So, it was just empty anyway.

But as the performance was about to begin, they realized something was wrong. Only 20% of the seats in the auditorium were empty, but there were still several hundred people queuing outside to get in.

After the security captain reported to his superiors, he began screening people, allowing only performers and their accompanying family members to enter. Until the performance began, there were still about a hundred people outside the auditorium who hadn't gone in.

The principal thought that this scene could probably make the city news, and it would be a political achievement, so he immediately ordered the security guards to let everyone in.

The aisles on both sides were packed with people standing, and a row of people squatted in the middle aisle, managing to accommodate everyone. Looking at the auditorium so full, the principal's face was beaming like a rotten persimmon during his opening speech.

The leaders of the affiliated schools of Yunnan Arts University were all amazed, and the vice principal of the affiliated middle school even muttered to himself, "If I had known it would have this effect, I shouldn't have given up the hosting rights in the first place!"

Duan Yuntao, representing the vocal music department of Yunnan Arts University, was amazed by the scene: "This is even more lively than the welcome party for new students."

At this point, he recalled the promise he made to netizens in Little Witch's live stream after the Masked Band's special performance: "Now that Bian Lang has such a reputation and popularity, if we invite him to come, the effect can't be any worse than this, right?"

The kindergarten principal learned about the situation from Zhang Feier yesterday, but he deliberately said nothing, waiting to see the expressions of the other higher-level school leaders today.

There were a total of 12 performances, and Zhang Qin's solo was scheduled in the middle.

The opening act was a chorus of revolutionary songs by students from the affiliated high school. Most of the fans who came from Chongbianlang had been away from school for a while and hadn't seen such a performance in a long time. They were all excited and gave the performance a warm round of applause.

However, the subsequent programs were all in the same red and expert style, which was quite reminiscent of the past, making the audience somewhat bored. But in order to watch Bianlang live, everyone still persevered.

Bian Lang, waiting backstage, was well aware of the situation. Bian Lan had told him about Zhang Feier's phone call to apologize yesterday, which he found quite amusing. He also thought it was normal for the Rolling Stones, who hadn't performed much offline, to experience something like this.

The atmosphere changed completely when the host announced Zhang Qin's name.

Amidst the screams and shouts of Bian Lang's name, there were also female fans recognizing her as their niece: "Wow, my little niece is so cute, auntie loves her..."

Bian Lan, watching from below the stage, shook her head. Although she would occasionally urge Bian Lang to get married, she had never worried about him because of his good looks. But she never dreamed of this scene.

On stage, Bian Lang patted Zhang Qin on the shoulder to reassure her, then picked up the microphone and said, "Thank you all for your support. I have a request that you all cooperate. I'd like everyone to turn on your phone flashlights and wave them along with the song. Please be quiet during the verses, and if you know the chorus, please join in the singing!"

This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing for Bian Lang; he was thinking of the scene in the movie where the song appeared, where Yang Gongru and Zheng Yimian were on a date at the Sword Tomb, and the two of them were fluttering among a sky full of fireflies.

Although real fireflies cannot be used to replicate it, the atmosphere created by the phone flashlight is quite fitting.

After receiving a warm response from the audience, the previously dark audience area transformed into a sea of ​​twinkling lights within seconds. The flickering lights truly resembled fireflies flitting across the night sky. Then, Bian Lang's keyboard began to play, followed by Zhang Qin's voice:

"The dark sky hangs low, accompanied by bright stars; insects fly, insects fly, who are you thinking of..."

The sound equipment in the primary school auditorium was specially rented for this performance. Although it couldn't compare to the equipment Bian Lang and his group used for their performance, the effect was definitely many times better than the kindergarten's equipment yesterday. In addition, the natural reverberation of the auditorium further enhanced the quality of Zhang Qin's voice.

If yesterday's voice was a clear, childlike tone, then today's voice has a somewhat ethereal quality.

Furthermore, the starry sky effect further enhances the song's atmosphere, making it truly unique.

When Bian Lang started singing harmonies, most of the audience members found the lyrics online and sang along, which made Zhang Qin's voice sound even more ethereal and clear. A performance meant to be a presentation was turned into a concert.

"Bian Lang's live performance was amazing. I wonder what it's like to hear him sing rock live..."

"Let's wait a bit. The master doesn't have many songs yet. Once he has more songs, there will be plenty of opportunities to enjoy his live performances. We're all from Yunnan Province, so being close to him means we'll have a better chance. Staying on the mountainside is definitely the right thing to do..."

As the chorus ends, the coda of Tong Qi's guzheng begins.

The moment these classical Chinese musical instruments were played, the DNA hidden within everyone present was stirred.

"Oh, it's a guzheng! I thought it was a guitar when I listened to it online..."

"You're not only deaf, you're blind too. The song title says 'Guzheng,' okay?"

"Who would watch that while listening to music..."

"How would you know it was written by Bian Lang if you didn't look at it!"

Now, any music fan familiar with Hua Le knows that it is Bian Lang.

Less than two minutes after the song ended, besides applause, a few untrained people in the audience shouted "Encore!"

An encore was definitely out of the question. Bian Lang, holding Zhang Qin's hand, and Tong Qi took their bows together before leaving the stage.

Faced with this situation, the principal of the affiliated primary school, who had checked Bianlang's information on his phone, knew exactly what was going on. He was already overjoyed. This performance would not only make the news in the city, but would also easily generate buzz across the entire internet.

But he still wouldn't let it go: "Director Lu, your affiliated kindergarten broke the rules this time, didn't you? You hired a big star to accompany you. How can we and the affiliated high school compare to you?"

Principal Lu, having benefited from the situation, feigned innocence: "I only knew she was a child's parent before, I never imagined she was some big star."

Sitting next to the two, Duan Yuntao felt that the world was really amazing. So far this year, he had only attended two off-campus events, and both times he encountered Bian Lang!

"Ahem, Bian Lang is also a student of our Yunnan Arts University. This isn't a violation of the rules; it should be called passing on the torch!" With these words, he effectively shut down anyone who was about to speak.

The discussion about Bian Lang stopped when the host announced the name of the next program, but some people had already begun to leave the auditorium.

Meanwhile, on Weibo's "Bianlang" supertopic, some quick-fingered individuals had already posted videos of the live performance of "The Flying Insects".

Although the video quality wasn't great, for Bian Lang, who only performed offline once after the disbandment of Masked Music, this video was enough to satisfy the cravings of his fans who continued to follow him.

However, at this very moment, the discordant atmosphere between fans and music lovers in the super topic intensified:

"Bian Lang's gotten too big for his britches. He's giving up proper rock music and going off to sing children's songs as backup musicians. He's out of here..."

"Upstairs, you're going a bit too far. What's wrong with someone writing an instrumental track for their little niece? If I had Bian Lang's talent, I'd write one for each of my family members!"

"Any kid could sing this song well? Bian Lang's gotten a little fame, and now he's starting to find ways to cut his own lip service..."

"This is not a children's song! From the melody to the arrangement, it exudes a deep sense of sorrow. It's just that the children's voices make people think it's a children's song. It seems that Bian Lang is also a person with a story..."

"Don't be so narrow-minded. This song is much more sincere than those songs by those young idols who are exploiting their fans with million-dollar sound engineers. If you don't like it, you don't have to listen to it, but please don't hurt it."

"Yes, if you don't like it, please don't hurt others. If you have a hierarchy of disdain, just listen to Bian Lang's rock music. We're all music fans, why bother?"

"We can't let this door open; some things, once you're addicted, are impossible to quit..."

"It's because of narrow-minded people like you that Chinese rock music has come to where it is today. Now, when you say this, think back to when you were listening to 'Rock on the New Long March' and criticizing Dead Horse Man. Aren't you ashamed?"

"That makes sense. If it weren't for Bian Lang leading a band and Goose Egg Dried Fruit, pushing Chinese rock to Europe, wouldn't it have been different?"

After the school released the officially recorded video, a large number of Bian Lang's personal fans and less radical rock music enthusiasts felt that the song was pure and catchy, and even if it wasn't rock, it would still be a good song. Moreover, in front of the starry sea scene at the scene, which perfectly complemented the lyrics, it was hard for few people not to be shocked and moved, but that still couldn't silence the radicals.

After watching the video twice on her computer, the little witch felt inexplicably sad. Firstly, the song itself resonated with her, and secondly, she felt that Bian Lang, as a leading figure in rock music, releasing such a commercialized piece of music, even if it was just a song written for his little niece, made people think differently.

As a seasoned rock music fan, I think the contradictory mentality of wanting to highlight the uniqueness of one's musical taste while also wanting more people to hear and appreciate the songs one likes is probably a common problem.

But Bian Lang has now created such a catchy and incredibly simple pop song, even if it's just a hobby, it at least shows that he's not averse to pop music. So, when he creates rock songs in the future, will he...?

Watching the two groups of fans arguing fiercely on the supertopic, she, a big fan of both Bian Lang and rock music, was also caught in a dilemma.

After much deliberation, she, as the moderator of the supertopic, replied using her main account: "As long as it's good music, we'll always support it!"