Free Web NovelChapter 117: Chapter 74: Brother Yang, A Very Good Friend!
Reverb, echo.
After tuning the pickup, Fang Huai strummed the guitar strings a couple of times, and the effect was immediately there.
Fang Huai played the intro of a familiar song, "The Brightest Star in the Night Sky," which was clear and slow, captivating the three people present right away.
But he didn’t finish playing, just gave a hint of it.
This song had been copied too many times in the novels Fang Huai had read before, its life force exhausted.
"Is this... a song you wrote?" Boss Wu had spent money on this studio because he was somewhat interested, naturally understanding a bit about music. freewёbnoνel.com
Fang Huai shook his head, not bothering to explain, and switched to the intro of "The Brave One," then started to sing a segment.
"All, are strong, your passion, your..."
All three listeners were thoroughly engrossed.
Zhang Ning couldn’t help but applaud, "This song is really good!"
Zhong Ling agreed deeply, "I think so too! No wonder it caught the leadership’s attention!"
After immersing himself for a moment, Boss Wu shook his head and said, "This song is indeed pretty good, lyrics, melody, it has a strong sense of design.
It’s a very mature piece of music.
But I feel the song you played before might be more moving. Young man, could you play it again for me to listen? That song seems to have a story to tell, unpretentious yet captivating. Are there lyrics?"
Fang Huai smiled and shook his head again, "It’s just more suitable for guitar play, that’s all. The song isn’t mine, I happened upon it by chance, and it’s not released yet, so it wouldn’t be right to play it."
"The Brightest Star in the Night Sky" might have been almost out by then; who knew if the author had actually finished writing it. It wouldn’t be proper to show off with it anymore.
While they were discussing this, the door opened.
Chen Cang, whom they had just seen before, appeared at the door, his face a picture of astonishment, a stark contrast to his previously aloof demeanor.
"Is this song... the promotional song you mentioned?"
Naturally, Fang Huai nodded, "Yes!"
"Could you... please play and sing it for me one more time?"
Fang Huai’s mouth twitched, "Then... what else? Why else would we come all this way? If you want to hear it ten times, I’ll have to sing it!"
Fang Huai set up the guitar again, but Chen Cang asked him not to hurry and scurried into the equipment room, only to give him an "OK" sign from behind the glass.
At this point, everyone noticed that the recording engineer inside was also staring blankly at Fang Huai.
Tonight, Boss Wu had asked them to work overtime to record a promotional song for firefighting and they all felt it was a torturous task, afraid they might even have to offer guidance.
The main issue was, they had never worked on military style songs!
They really didn’t know how!
If they didn’t do well, they might even offend someone.
No one had expected to hear such a mature and pleasant pop song.
"All, are strong..."
...
They actually sang it almost 10 times.
That Chen Cang, asking him to sing more slowly at times, saying this is a recording studio so to weaken his breath, telling him not to rush in.
The entire time, there was one central idea expressed: the song is fine, but the person isn’t quite right.
As he left, he told Fang Huai that his playing and singing talent was somewhat lacking and that it would be better if he could focus on lyric and composition writing.
Especially the latter half; the lyrics were very good.
Fang Huai could only give a tight-lipped smile, stood up, and sang "Dance Hall in Mohe."
The people inside came rushing out again.
The door opened once more.
Astonishment was written all over Chen Cang’s face, "This... did you write this as well?"
Fang Huai just smiled.
Then he played and sang "The Night of Ulan Bator."
...
Three or four hours later, Chen Cang and Fang Huai became friends.
A plan for "The Brave One" was also roughly put together, with Chen Cang expressing he had some ideas and would quickly arrange the orchestral and keyboard parts as well as the percussion.
Fang Huai mentioned he had written a few other songs but was planning to find the right people to sing them.
Chen Cang’s eyes lit up at the prospect, as if he saw a chance for a breakout hit, saying brother, make sure to come to me for the arrangements; I’ll do it for free!
There and then, Boss Wu also laughed heartily and exchanged numbers with Fang Huai, saying brother, you’re really talented, in the future when you make music here, just call me directly! I’ll reserve the best equipment for you!
The two cadres on the side all expressed admiration for Fang Huai’s musical talent.
Fang Huai laughed softly and thanked them, but inwardly, he scoffed.
They were just looking down on me.
I might not know how to use synthesizers, but if I did, I would have prepared "Little Apple" today, and had you all rocking for three days straight.
Thinking about it, he also came up with an excuse to call Brother Yang.
The mobile phone battery was almost fully charged too.
Seeing it was past eight o’clock, Fang Huai unplugged his charger and found a quiet spot to call.
After hesitating for a long while, he decided to call Yang Shaoqing.
The call connected in just two to three seconds.
"Hold on, I’m taking a call!" Yang Shaoqing seemed to be talking to someone nearby.
"Hello? Fang Huai?" Yang Shaoqing’s voice was a bit tense and surprised.
"Yeah, it’s me, how have you been lately?" Fang Huai said with a smile.
Yang Shaoqing didn’t continue on the subject but instead lowered his voice a bit.
"Did you run out from the troops?"
Fang Huai was taken aback.
Then, for some reason, he was silent for a while before speaking earnestly, "Well... I’ve made it to Chengdu. Can I take shelter at your place for a while?"
"Ah...?! Where are you? I, I—wait a moment!"
Soon, voices could be heard from Yang Shaoqing’s end.
"Yaya, I have a friend coming over, can he stay at your place..."
A female voice could be heard from the other side, "Is it a guy? What’s your relationship with him?"
"Never mind, never mind!"
After a moment.
"Fang Huai, which district are you in now, do you know? I’ll come find you, get you a hotel room!"
Fang Huai chuckled.
Brother Yang is quite loyal, isn’t he?
Seeing how urgent she seemed, a warmth flickered through his heart as he quickly explained:
"Haha, no worries, no worries, just teasing you. I’m in Guiyang, came out with leadership for some work today."
"Stop joking! Really, where are you?" Yang Shaoqing sounded a bit anxious.
"Seriously, I’m in Guiyang, out on an errand, will have to head back soon. I called my parents, thought there wasn’t anyone else to check in on, Chen Shuang is also with the troops, so I ended up calling you."
After a while.
Brother Yang finally got annoyed: "Idiot, who jokes like that? You scared me to death..."
Fang Huai didn’t respond to that but simply softened his tone, asking.
"At school?"
"No, at the night market! Was just about to have a spicy hot pot! Now I’ve lost my appetite, you owe me!" Yang Shaoqing said annoyed.
"Alright, come to Guiyang and I’ll treat you to good food. Treat yourself for three days, eat all you want!"
"Hey! Are you becoming a soldier? My brother still hasn’t called home up to now, why are you so free?"
Fang Huai laughed, "I’ve performed well, see, got to go on a business trip with leadership."
"Ah~ Firefighting seems so nice, even get to travel for work. If I tell Chen Shuang, he’ll be mad with envy."
"Hehe, not everyone gets to travel on business, it’s a rare opportunity. How about you, now in university, have you got a boyfriend?"
"Hehe~" Brother Yang seemed a bit happy: "I do, a few of them! They’re all so nice to me! One’s going to treat me to spicy hot pot tonight!"
Fang Huai smiled. He’d heard what those girls were saying just now.
"Oh..." Fang Huai feigned disappointment: "Ah, pretty girls sure are popular. Well, hope you’re happy."
"Thud thud." Yang Shaoqing tapped her mobile phone twice, signifying her irritation.
Then she lectured him a bit:
"Hey, what’s with that tone, so pitiful!"
Fang Huai seemed to catch the hint, touched his forehead pretending to be serious, saying:
"First of all, my name isn’t ’hey’, it’s Fang Huai.
Second, this isn’t self-pity, it’s disappointment."
Brother Yang laughed heartily: "What are you disappointed about!"
Only then did Fang Huai tease: "Of course I’m disappointed. The carrot right outside my doorstep got pulled out by someone else. If I want a carrot, I have to go farther afield."
"Who! Is! Your! Home! Doorstep’s! Carrot!"
Fang Huai could even hear Brother Yang grinding her teeth.
"Haha, maybe change the vegetable, okay? Cabbage, big fresh cabbage, super juicy."
"I don’t want to talk to you anymore!" Brother Yang was angry, the kind that could be coaxed.
Fang Huai didn’t continue to upset her but simply said with a smile: "Hey, I’ve written a song, I’ll record a demo and send it to you on QQ.
I want to ask for your help to sing the female part, though you’d have to come to Guiyang. I can cover your flight ticket.
It’s a promotional song for firefighting. See if you’re interested."
Yang Shaoqing hummed: "I’m not called ’hey’ either! I knew it, you wouldn’t reach out to me if you didn’t need something!"
Fang Huai immediately replied: "Then let’s not talk about it! There are plenty of female cadres here, sure there’s a few with nice singing voices...
It’s just a shame! They say the Municipal Government is going to promote it well, maybe even make a name.
There will even be an MV and appear on camera.
Not sure if it would help with your major.
I barely managed to get this opportunity, I was ready to court the big juicy cabbage right at my doorstep."
"You... I don’t believe you! Since when can you write songs, how come I never knew about it?"
"Believe it or not, when I send it to you, you’ll know," Fang Huai said with confidence and a smile.
In this era, such opportunities should indeed be quite rare for students, right?
Fang Huai really wanted to show off this little accomplishment in front of that girl who was once so beautiful he couldn’t dare to act rashly.
"Shaoqing, we can eat now!" From Yang Shaoqing’s end came the call of that girl from before.
All of a sudden, it got a lot quieter on the other end, the sound of cars coming and going also disappeared, as if Yang Shaoqing had covered the phone.
"So... will you still be able to call then?"
Yang Shaoqing’s voice was faint, and however one listened, it sounded a bit sneaky, with a hint of swallowing.
Fang Huai laughed.
The kid is in a rush to eat.
"I can, I’m free during this period. Gotta go, get to your spicy hot pot."
"You... I’m not in a hurry to eat spicy hot pot! We can keep talking for a bit!"
"I have things to attend to, okay? Next time I come out, I’ll call you. Keep an eye on QQ these days."
"Alright, my phone might be in my bag from ten o’clock until half-past four in the afternoon. If you can’t get through, call me at other times!"
"Sure, good night."
"Night!"
There came a sound of pressing keys from the other side, but the call wasn’t hung up.
It seems like she hit the wrong button instead of the hang-up key.
Immediately after, rambunctious noise came from the other side: "I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming!"
"Ahh ahh ahh! Sun Ya! Why didn’t you wait for me!"
Fang Huai, amused, just stood there holding the phone quietly.
"I saw you chatting so happily with a guy! How could I bear to interrupt? It’s not easy to have such a moment, right?"
"Giggle, he’s just a friend! A very good one!"
Fang Huai’s eyes turned complex upon hearing this.
He hadn’t expected Yang Shaoqing would have once considered him a "very good friend."
He thought that in his previous life, there weren’t many who had seen him as a "very good friend."
It made him feel somewhat warm inside.
Perhaps for an older man, such words are more likely to warm the heart.
Fang Huai quietly laughed for a while and then hung up the phone.
[Task Successful.]
