Luo Hongyi was one of the regular patrons of Forget-Me-Not Bar.
Having strived in Beijing for many years, he could now be considered half a success. Although his work was hectic on weekdays, he often liked to come to the bar to sit for a while in the evenings, ordering a few crafted rum drinks to while away the lonely, quiet night hours.
Luo Hongyi did not like too much noise, nor did he want to be alone. The atmosphere at the Houhai bar made him feel comfortable; coming here was not about seeking or waiting for a casual romance, but rather about relaxing his tightly wound nerves.
Tonight, he was sitting in his usual spot at Forget-Me-Not Bar.
Then he heard Lu Chen singing "The You of the Same Desk".
"You were always so careful back then, asking to borrow half an eraser from me. You also once mentioned, quite unintentionally, that you liked being together with me.
In those days the skies were always so blue,
and the days always passed far too slowly. You always said graduation was a remote and distant prospect,
only to find ourselves rushing off in different directions in the blink of an eye! Who met the sentimental you, who comforted the tearful you, who read the letter I wrote to you, and who threw it away into the wind..."
As a corporate elite, Luo Hongyi had long grown accustomed to scheming and backstabbing. He had once believed his heart was as hard and indestructible as steel, incapable of being moved or touched by any person or matter ever again.
Yet upon hearing this clean, fresh folk song tinged with nostalgia and melancholy, he suddenly discovered that his heart was not as hard and cold as he had imagined; deep down, it still harbored a vulnerability that required no shame.
A deskmate was perhaps the most profound presence in everyone's memories of youth, and for many people, that deskmate was their most touching first love. Although no one understood love back then, only this kind of affection—free from utilitarian motives and untainted by worldly desires—was truly the most wonderful!
Luo Hongyi also had a deskmate engraved deep within his memory, a girl whose name contained the character "Tong".
Meeting, getting to know each other, falling in love, quarreling, reconciling... and then graduation, scattering in all directions in the blink of an eye! It sounded like a cheesy modern drama, but that was the youth Luo Hongyi had once lived through, damn it!
The past could no longer be recalled, but at this very moment, Luo Hongyi suddenly felt a strong urge. He wanted to make a phone call to Tong, if only to ask one question—are you doing well now? Yet he had lost touch with her a very, very long time ago.
"The days of the past have all drifted away,
and I too will have my own wife.
I will also show her my photographs,
and tell her about you, the you of the same desk.
Who married the sentimental you, who comforted the tearful you, who pinned up your long hair,
who made your bridal gown, la..."
Luo Hongyi abruptly stood up, nearly tipping over the small wine table in front of him. Paying no mind to that, he snatched up an unopened bottle of liquor from the table and strode toward the stage.
On the stage, Lu Chen sang the final line of lyrics.
The entire venue fell silent, as if spellbound, with time freezing and solidifying at this very moment.
Lu Chen felt fantastic.
Because everyone's gaze was focused on him. No one was talking, no one was drinking, no one was walking around, there was no casual indifference, and no turning a blind eye.
Here, on this stage, he had conquered everyone with a new song!
Except for a well-dressed middle-aged man who swiftly cut through the aisle between the tables, rushed toward the front of the stage with a slightly unsteady gait, and placed the bottle of liquor he was holding onto the anti-slip hard rubber countertop.
Immediately after, this man who looked like a corporate elite fished out his wallet from his breast pocket and opened it, first counting out five hundred-yuan bills and placing them next to the bottle, then hesitating for a moment before adding three more.
A total of eight crisp, brand-new red bills were pinned down by the wine bottle.
"Sing it again!"
The middle-aged man raised his head to look at Lu Chen, saying in a hoarse voice, "Please, sing it again!"
In his pitch-black eyes, an inexplicable luster gleamed.
Lu Chen was startled at first, but upon realizing what was happening, he quickly said, "Thank you for your support, sir. Then I will sing it again, and I hope everyone will enjoy this original new song of mine."
This manner of tipping was rare at Forget-Me-Not Bar, because most of the patrons spending time here were white-collar professionals, literary youths, university students, or insiders from the circle, the majority of whom were well-educated and rational.
The classic traits possessed by "The You of the Same Desk" exerted a touching, magical pull from Lu Chen's very first performance.
At that moment, applause finally erupted inside the bar, so enthusiastic it nearly blew the roof off! Lu Chen leaned over to pick up the bottle of crafted rum, unscrewed the cap, took a large gulp, and placed it back in its original spot. He nodded toward the man and embraced his guitar once more.
He began singing the song a second time.
The applause that had just broken out was like a sudden summer downpour—coming fast and disappearing even faster. The bar quickly returned to tranquility, while the noise from the pedestrian street outside filtered in through the glass doors of the entrance, faint and ethereal.
Lu Chen's singing and his guitar chords blended together, filling this unforgettable stretch of time bit by bit.
Behind the bar, Su Qingmei's eyes glowed as she gripped Chen Jianhao's arm tightly, lowering her voice to say, "I want him, I want him, I want him!"
Chen Jianhao rubbed the bridge of his nose with a headache, giving a wry smile. "My dear lady, can't you show a little restraint?"
"If he's yours, he won't be able to run away even if he wants to; if he isn't yours—"
"He can only be mine!"
Su Qingmei proudly interrupted him, her words filled with indescribable confidence. "I don't believe he can refuse my invitation, but the premise is that you don't meddle. Also, is this song really his own original..."
Chen Jianhao shook the smartphone he was holding in his left hand and said, "I tested it with Song Recognition, and there are no identical or similar works. If you want to verify the copyright, you can go check the music library yourself."
"Song Recognition" was a very popular mobile app at the moment; as long as you opened it and recorded a casual snippet of music or singing, it could identify the title and song name with a fairly high degree of accuracy.
Of course, compared to the Greater China Music Library, the professionalism and authority of "Song Recognition" fell far short.
Su Qingmei chuckled softly, letting go of Chen Jianhao's arm as she said, "Then there's no problem."
The allure of a mature woman combined with the coquetting cleverness of a young girl gave her a unique charm, making her like a legendary siren who could turn the world upside down.
Yet Chen Jianhao kept his distance. "You may have no problems, but I certainly do!"
He left the bar counter and walked toward the backstage area.
On stage, Lu Chen's performance continued.
In the large backstage room, Sister Hong and the male singer surnamed Ye looked at each other in dismay. Shock, astonishment, envy, and jealousy flickered and shifted across their faces as they remained mutually silent.
The large room did not have the soundproofing of the small suites, so the singing echoing through the bar could be heard quite clearly.
Having lingered in Houhai for so long, who among the two of them didn't know what Lu Chen's previous standard was?
As resident singers, both Sister Hong and the male singer surnamed Ye had always looked down on Lu Chen, believing he merely relied on his face to freeload meals and essentially treating him as nothing more than a bar waiter. They had never once regarded him as a competitive rival.
Yet tonight, Lu Chen had performed as an opening act, first making everyone look at him in a new light with "Flying Pigeon", and then pulling out an original song that stunned the entire venue, winning applause from all directions! Was this still the Lu Chen they knew? Neither of them could believe it, dared to believe it, or wanted to believe it!
"Did he... where did he plagiarize this from?"
After a moment, the male singer surnamed Ye muttered, "It sounds a bit familiar to me. How has he even the face to call it an original?"
Sister Hong managed a forced smile, though inwardly she was sneering at his intelligence.
Whether a song was original or not could be verified on the spot with a mobile phone search. Unless Lu Chen had been kicked in the head by a donkey, why would he boast here only to be exposed? How could he ever show his face in this scene again? What she found even harder to believe was that the two songs Lu Chen sang back-to-back had not even been pitch-corrected!
What on earth was Pàngzi in the sound engineering room doing?
At that same moment, in the sound engineering room.
Pàngzi, the sound technician, and Xiǎo Gāo, the waiter, were both completely dumbfounded.
They had wanted to plot against Lu Chen, so they turned off the direct sound feed from the mixing console, believing this would strip away Lu Chen's facade and make a fool of him on the spot, thus satisfying their respective petty, dark motives.
Yet the result turned out entirely different from what the two of them had imagined. Not only did Lu Chen not disgrace himself, but he actually won cheers from all the customers, and his skill in singing and playing was immeasurably better than before!
The sound transmitted from the monitor speakers was even clearer and more pleasant to the ear than listening to it inside the bar.
All their petty actions had been completely in vain.
And damn it, Lu Chen actually had original songs!
Pàngzi shook his head in frustration and reached out to turn the mixing console back on.
Xiǎo Gāo grabbed him by the arm, asking with a dark expression, "Fatty, can't you tweak his voice to make it sound terrible?"
Intense jealousy gnawed at the waiter's heart like a venomous snake, driving him to the verge of losing his mind.
Pàngzi, however, was still sober; he didn't harbor that deep a grudge against Lu Chen. Startled, he said urgently as if his pants were on fire, "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you want me to lose my rice bowl or not? No, no—"
Pitch correction could fix vocals, of course, but it could also ruin them, but doing that would be far too obvious. Did he take everyone else for a fool?
Xiǎo Gāo was extremely unwilling. Clinging to Pàngzi's arm without letting go, he still wanted to keep trying to persuade him.
Right at that moment, the door of the sound engineering room was suddenly pushed open.
The two culprits, harboring guilty consciences, turned their heads in unison. Seeing Chen Jianhao appear at the doorway, they were both scared out of their wits!
Chen Jianhao's expression was gloomy. His razor-sharp gaze swept over the two of them first, and finally landed on the still-deactivated mixing console, sparks faintly flickering in his eyes.
Pàngzi slumped in his chair, making a bitter face as he tried to explain, "B-Boss, I—"
Chen Jianhao ignored him, turning instead to say coldly to Xiǎo Gāo, "Xiǎo Gāo, go down to the cashier right now to collect your salary for this month. You don't need to come back here ever again."
The owner of Forget-Me-Not Bar knew very well what had happened, and he also knew who the chief culprit was.
It was as if a thunderbolt had struck him on the head. Xiǎo Gāo snapped violently to his senses; all his jealousy, resentment, anger, and animosity vanished into thin air, leaving behind only panic and regret.
"Boss, I was wrong! Please, I beg you, give me another chance!"
Working as a waiter at Forget-Me-Not Bar was actually quite decent—the job was stable, the pay was not low, and the boss Chen Jianhao was not stingy with his employees, handing out generous red envelopes at the end of the year.
Xiǎo Gāo truly did not want to lose this job, and moreover, Chen Jianhao's words meant he was barred from ever making a living in Houhai again!
Of course Chen Jianhao didn't have the power to influence every single bar in Houhai, but he only needed to pass a few words along, and which bar would be willing to hire someone like him who loved stirring up trouble?
Allowing him to collect his pay and walk away right now was already a magnanimous act of leniency!
No amount of pleading would be of any use.
Xiǎo Gāo was beyond tears—one brings about their own destruction!