A song called "The You of the Past" has prompted the entire internet to beg me not to leav

Lin Yan sat on a beach chair with his guitar lying flat on his lap, his fingertips gently plucking at a few of the strings.

A few basic, clean arpeggios flowed into the quiet night like a clear spring.

Shen Qingqiu leaned on his shoulder, her breathing soft and her eyelashes trembling slightly.

Old Mai, who was still a bit drunk, suddenly opened his eyes the moment the intro started, staring intently at Lin Yan's hand, and sobered up considerably.

This is a sense of profound clarity derived from simplicity.

Lin Yan tilted her head slightly, gazing at the starry sky. Her slightly hoarse voice drifted on the night breeze:

Are you dissatisfied with your life?

"I haven't laughed in a long time, and I don't know why."

"Since you're unhappy and don't like it here..."

"Why not head west to Dali..."

There were no high-pitched screams, no complicated virtuoso techniques.

This song is like an old friend sitting across from you, holding a glass of warm wine, chatting with you about the inescapable weariness and countless trivialities of life.

Old Mai's eyes instantly reddened.

As a veteran who spent decades struggling in Beijing's rock scene and eventually returned to Dali battered and bruised, these four lines of lyrics were like a sharp knife, precisely piercing the softest corner of his heart.

"The journey was a bit bumpy and the air was a bit thin."

The more expansive the scenery, the lonelier I feel.

"I wonder who is waiting somewhere."

"I don't know what happened later..."

Lin Yan's fingers danced across the strings, his voice carrying the magnanimity accumulated from two lifetimes, a sense of relief born from weariness of the capitalist game, a desire to simply lie down and relax.

Shen Qingqiu pressed herself tightly against his shoulder, feeling the resonance in his chest.

The warm vibration traveled through the fabric to her cheek, completely calming her previously agitated and anxious state of mind.

Meanwhile, on the public wooden boardwalk more than 30 meters away from the beach near the guesthouse.

Three female college graduates, unable to find a travel group to join them on a budget trip, were sitting there staring blankly, holding their beers.

They were overwhelmed by life and just wanted to escape reality under the cover of night.

"Hey, listen... someone's singing over there."

A short-haired girl wearing black-rimmed glasses suddenly stopped what she was doing.

"What song is this? The melody...it's so soothing."

Another long-haired girl stood up and tiptoed towards the inn.

In the firelight, they could barely make out a man in a gray hoodie sitting there playing the piano, with a woman leaning against him.

"Whose head isn't covered in dust, whose shoulders haven't bore the marks of teeth? Perhaps love awaits by Erhai Lake, perhaps a story is unfolding right now..."

The soul-stirring chorus instantly shattered the psychological defenses of the three girls who had just entered society.

The short-haired girl's eyes reddened, and tears streamed down her face.

"What's the name of this song? I feel like crying, like all the smell of class has been washed away."

"Record it quickly! It's absolutely an unreleased masterpiece!"

The long-haired girl reacted quickly, taking out her phone and turning on the night scene telephoto mode.

Although the light was dim and the face was not clearly visible, the weathered yet warm singing voice, accompanied by the white noise of waves and crackling firewood, was perfectly captured.

The song ended.

Lin Yan pressed down on the strings, and the lingering sound slowly dissipated in the air.

"Great! That's a fucking great song!"

Old Mai slapped his thigh suddenly, picked up a bottle of Niulanshan Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), and took a big gulp, his eyes glistening with tears.

He looked at Lin Yan as if he were a monster: "Brother Lin, I'm impressed! What's the name of this song?"

"Go to Dali." Lin Yan smiled faintly and handed the guitar back to Lao Mai.

He glanced down at his boss, who was still pretending to be asleep on his shoulder.

Instead of exposing Shen Qingqiu's lie, he casually rubbed a strand of hair that had been ruffled by the wind against her cheek with his fingertip.

……

The next morning.

Su Su, the girl in charge of recording, uploaded the three-minute video to a short video platform without hesitation after returning to the hostel last night.

The caption was just one sentence: "Life is suffocating me, but this song gives me the courage to keep going. I'm begging the all-knowing netizens, what kind of amazing song is this?"

Initially, the video only circulated within a small area under the local tag.

But at eight o'clock in the morning, commuters who are about to rush to work in the subway begin their daily routine of scrolling through their phones.

The first music blogger with a million followers saw the video and got goosebumps after only listening to the first ten seconds.

He immediately reposted and commented: "These chords! This voice! There's only one person in the Chinese music scene who can sing with such clean strumming that conveys this sense of vicissitude! Listen carefully to the timbre when the waves recede at the end!"

The power of the internet is terrifying.

In just half an hour, the name "Lin Yan" was discovered by keen netizens from the smallest clues.

"Holy crap! It's Lin Yan! That gray hoodie is exactly the same as the one he was photographed in at the high-speed rail station!"

"The woman leaning on his shoulder... is absolutely the diva Shen Qingqiu! I swear on my roommate who's been single for twenty years!"

"Can't find the audio source! Since I'm unhappy, I might as well go to Dali... Damn it, this has broken my spirits. I'm quitting my job today!"

"The world is so big, I want to go and see Dali!"

At 10 a.m., the trending topics list crashed.

#LinYan'sNewSongGoesToDali#

#Shen Qingqiu leans on Lin Yan's shoulder#

#Going to Dali#

These three terms topped the charts.

Countless working people, tormented by the 996 work schedule and KPIs, have had their inner impulses completely ignited.

The technical director of the largest ticketing platform in China broke out in a cold sweat as he watched the data on the big screen soar like a giant bullish candlestick.

"Director! Searches for flights and high-speed rail tickets to Dali have surged eight thousand times in the past ten minutes! The servers are about to explode!" the programmer shouted hoarsely.

"We have to hold on, even if we can't! Activate backup servers! Drive traffic across the entire network!"

But it was all too late.

At 10:15, all flights from all over the country to Dali and high-speed rail tickets with a stopover in Dali were sold out instantly.

The massive concurrent traffic crashed the servers of platforms like Ctrip and Xiaozhu, causing a five-minute white screen that showed the entire internet what it means to "make a city soar with a single song".

Meanwhile, in the office of the Dali Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.

Director Li was drinking goji berry water from his thermos when his secretary burst through the door, sweating profusely: "Director! It's exploded! We've exploded!"

"What exploded? The sewer pipe burst?" Director Li frowned.

"The data is off the charts! Lin Yan sang 'Go to Dali' last night, and now tourists all over the country are booking tickets like crazy! The occupancy rate of 100,000 guesthouse beds in the city jumped from 30% to 95% in just half an hour! He's achieved our annual KPI with just one song—he's practically a god of wealth!"

Director Li's hand trembled, and the scalding hot goji berry water spilled onto his hand. However, he seemed not to feel the pain and jumped up suddenly, his face flushed.

"Lin Yan! He's a living Buddha! He's a god of wealth!"

Director Li was so excited he spun around on the spot: "Quick! Find the best GG company and get me a gold-rimmed banner made right now! The biggest one possible! Notify the drum and lion dance troupe! I want to personally go to the inn to deliver the banner to our producer, Lin!"

The secretary swallowed hard. "Director, didn't Director Lin say he wanted some peace and quiet and didn't want to be disturbed?"

"Bullshit! The God of Wealth has poured billions into your GDP, and you don't even give a peep? Have you no manners?"

Director Li was so excited he rubbed his hands together: "Besides, if I lead the team, we can ride the wave of media attention and really promote Dali! Let's get it done!"