Sun Jichao stood with his left hand pressing the chords and his right hand plucking the strings in a brisk and smooth rhythm. The music rushed out from the sound holes of the guitar, and when the melody reached its climax, his voice interspersed into the melody.
"In this world, there are always many meaningless pursuits and delusions..."
"Girl, please don't be sad... Is there a window that will keep you from despair..."
"Look at this colorful world, it turns out it's just a dream..."
This is a widely sung ballad from a singer named Zhang Yang. Although the song is simple, its bright melody and sad but not mournful nature made him a household name and it is almost a must-order song in KTVs nowadays.
Cheng Ran felt that no matter what Sun Jichao was like, the song he sang was actually quite nice. It just lacked some appeal.
Secondly, seeing the people around him humming along, he immediately felt like an illiterate... One explanation for illiteracy is the inability to recognize modern social symbols, which is indeed... I haven't heard of it.
After Sun Jichao started singing and playing, three girls in their early twenties were having a meal in a private room in the southeast direction. The girls were very elegant and their looks were outstanding in every move. The waiter glanced at them frequently when taking orders and pouring tea, but he felt relieved when he saw the school badge of "Sichuan Conservatory of Music Shanhai Campus" pinned on the chest of one of the girls.
As a native of Xichuan, everyone knows the well-known name of Xichuan Conservatory of Music. The Shanhai Campus of Xichuan Conservatory of Music is also the first branch of this conservatory. It has also produced some well-known domestic musicians who have achieved important positions or are becoming rising stars.
However, this school is usually managed very strictly and has a closed teaching system, so students from this college are rarely seen.
Of course, this group of girls have already graduated this year, and they talked about internships, their career paths after graduation, and their ideals. It was also a farewell dinner for the roommates.
When Sun Jichao started to sing and play the guitar, several girls here kept talking.
"Oh, you actually sang this song... Although this song is very popular, it is still difficult to sing it... I bet, there will be problems with the barre chord because you can't hold it down, and the tone will be muffled..." A girl wearing a sleeveless denim jacket, who has ethnic minority ancestry, slightly high cheekbones, and a clear facial contour, said casually, but her eyes have already fallen on the girl in the blue skirt among them, "Hazelnut, do you still follow your father's wishes and become a teacher?"
The other woman in an overalls next to her held up her slender fingers, "Twenty. At least you have the confidence to play this song. Don't rely on your major to look down on today's middle school students... Who is Hazel's dad? An old pedant, an old professor of classical music from southern Sichuan! Does she have a choice? Her major is classical music, and classical music is the most beautiful, but can it make a living now? The choices are even narrower. Now, if we graduate from art majors and don't want to change careers, what can we do? Like you, join a song and dance troupe, or I plan to go to Beijing to try my luck and find some roadshow opportunities to test the waters? Let's be realistic. I remember that among our seniors from previous years, very few were able to stay in school as counselors. Otherwise, they would go to art groups, or be resident performers, and resell musical instruments? There are only one or two people who can really make a name for themselves with what they have learned among tens of thousands of people."
"But it seems that it is feasible to join a public institution. I heard that many public institutions have quotas for recruiting graduates from art schools. Some do it for corporate culture, some for quotas, but I just want to have a pension."
"We worked so hard to learn, but in the end, we only learned the things to meet the quota. It's actually quite discouraging..."
The woman in the suspender skirt pointed at the woman in the blue skirt and said, "Hazel's father chose the safest path for her. It's teaching and educating people. Although it's not an art school, there are always many students who choose the art route to go to college. With her Sichuan Conservatory of Music diploma alone, she can earn a lot of money from tuition fees every year. It's actually pretty good..."
The girl in the blue skirt, who was called "Hazelnut" and was recognized as the most outstanding in temperament and appearance among them, wore a hairband on her head, with black hair hanging down her shoulders. Her eyes, as deep as obsidian, were fixed on the middle school student's singing and playing, and she seemed to pay no attention to the conversation between her companions.
After a moment, she turned around, pointed at the other end, and smiled, "The most attractive thing about improvisation is that it makes people easily immersed in the scene, thus enhancing the expressiveness. In fact, the big barre that you bet on before, or the melody sweep that was really problematic right after, these mistakes are not that fatal. In music, beauty is the first determining factor. Even if the melody is correct and there are no mistakes, if the music can't sound beautiful and give people a sense of immersion, a song or music will have no meaning."
"Yes, yes, yes, you are right! Who told you to be the best among us, Qin Xizhen?" The girl in the denim jacket waved her white wrist, took out a twenty-yuan bill from her wallet, and handed it to the girl in the suspender skirt. "That student didn't have any problem with the barre, but there was still a mistake in the sweep afterwards. As Xizhen said, the most important thing for a piece of music is not correctness, but expression... These students haven't grasped the essence yet, so there is still a gap in the sound to the ears of us professionals... However, it's good to be young..."
Several girls looked over there. They were also graduating, but after graduating from art schools, they went their separate ways and faced the realistic problem of entering society to earn money and support themselves.
Qin Xizhen accepted his family's arrangement to become a music teacher, Wang Keyi went to Beijing to set up a studio with friends to perform at commercial events, and Du Ni was preparing to go to the Chengdu Song and Dance Troupe for an interview. Their future high school careers were completely different from those of this group of high school graduates.
Looking at the graduation of these young people now, they all more or less recall the past years and are immersed in nostalgia.
"What kind of wine can't sober you up, what kind of pain can't be forgotten..."
"Girl, don't be sad... If you keep moving forward, you won't be able to look back."
Accompanied by a series of exciting music with rapid string plucking, Sun Jichao's singing faded away in the aftertaste. He moved his fingers again and plucked a small string of ending notes that he added. At this time, the three women in the box smiled at each other. These students were very cool, but they seemed a little exaggerated.
Applause broke out all around and someone whistled. Du Yuting blushed and glanced at Sun Jichao from time to time. Her eyes seemed to be occupied by this cool figure.
Yu Xiao also clapped his hands. When Cheng Ran looked over, this bad friend laughed and said, "I recited your poem because I really disliked them for flattering Sun Jichao. Now you are clapping your hands. Look, Du Yuting, who just hated you, is now completely attracted to Sun Jichao. This has helped you divert a lot of firepower! You don't have to worry about being stabbed in the face by others' eyes now."
Cheng Ran laughed in silence. But this seems to be a good idea...
He is like a big devil, and in other people's youth, a prince charming like Sun Jichao stepped on him to reach the top and lifted the haze in the girl's heart. Isn't it a perfect plot to recall many years later
He just became the villain.
Just be a villain.
But Cheng Ran obviously noticed this when he saw Jiang Hongshao laughing so hard on the other end, which made him feel very angry.
Just when Cheng Ran was looking at Jiang Hongshao, his view of the other side was suddenly blocked by something.
He shifted his gaze and saw that Sun Jichao, who had just been staring at by countless people, had his zippered sportswear open, revealing a nice T-shirt underneath. He had one hand in his pocket and was holding a guitar in the other hand. Amid a group of girls' starry eyes that exclaimed "Wow!", he walked in front of Cheng Ran in a very handsome manner, then stretched out his right hand holding the guitar to block Cheng Ran's gaze.
The guitar was handed to Cheng Ran.
The look was arrogant, unrestrained, provocative, and "give me a song too".
Yu Xiao twisted his mouth. This is simply a ruthless act! You, the prince charming, got the advantage, flowers and applause, but it’s not enough... Why do you still want to see Cheng Ran make a fool of himself
Good, you bet right! Cheng Ran, let’s go!
Like Yu Xiao, the friends in the compound knew Cheng Ran's background very well.
It’s not that Cheng Ran can’t play the guitar, but they all know that Cheng Ran knows a little bit. Back then, someone set up a music class in a shop rented out by Huatong Company. There were five free classes. Cheng Ran spent a few dozen dollars to buy the most basic guitar and listened to all five free classes. Later, when the children of the compound gathered, he took it out and played a song in front of Yang Xia like showing off a treasure.
A large group of people were originally very excited, but Cheng Ran could only play the song "Two Tigers" over and over again. Can you tolerate this? Yang Xia's face was full of black lines at that time.
Music teachers are not fools. Can you expect to learn a whole song from a free class? It would be good enough if you can play the little tune "Two Tigers"!
Later, they saw the guitar at Cheng Ran's house, where it had long been covered in dust and stuffed under the bed.
Now... Liu Ying really wanted to go over and warn Cheng Ran, warn you not to pick up the guitar, she doesn't want to be subjected to the terror you caused her in "Two Tigers" anymore!
Cheng Ran looked at Sun Jichao.
Sun Jichao stared at Cheng Ran. Last time, when Jiang Hongshao was present, Cheng Ran stole the limelight at the poetry reading, and he had always been brooding over it. Of course, he would not let this opportunity go.
"Do you really want to compete?" Cheng Ran narrowed his eyes.
Sun Jichao raised the corner of his mouth and said, "You can also be a deserter!" This sentence seemed like a joke, but it successfully caused a booing.
"I won't compete with you." Cheng Ran smiled, with no psychological burden at all.
Sun Jichao immediately had the urge to smash the guitar.
But then, the guitar in his hand was caught by Cheng Ran.
"I won't compete with you. But I'll still sing a song. This song is not dedicated to anyone, but to yesterday, yes, the countless yesterdays in the past."
Cheng Ran took the guitar and swung it horizontally in front of him, but his elbow was pulled.
Turning around, Yu Xiao pleaded, "Don't play "Two Tigers", Please..."
Liu Ying stretched out her left palm and covered her face.
Yao Beibei glared at Yang Xia with resentment on her face, "It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, would Cheng Ran have learned to run as fast as two tigers?"
"How can you blame me..."
"This song is probably... Oh, you haven't heard it. For now, let's call it... The Story of Time."
“What what…” Liu Ying was stunned.
Yang Xia looked over.
It's not "Two Tigers"...
When Cheng Ran stood up, the noise from the people around him gradually died down.
Cheng Ran straightened the guitar in a very professional manner and stroked the strings with his hands. Although he hadn't touched it for a long time, the familiarity still came out from the depths of his soul and extended into the deep memory of his muscles.
He casually plucked the strings with his right hand, and a few simple chords floated out.
It really works. Sun Jichao was stunned for a moment, but it was just a simple chord.
Yu Xiao looked at Cheng Ran from the side and suddenly had a bad feeling. It was the same the last time he saw the cultural wall.
As the chords echoed, Cheng Ran's voice came as everyone held their breath.
“The blooming flowers in spring, the wind in autumn, and the setting sun in winter… Melancholy youth, when I was young, I once thought ignorantly…
The windmill turns every day in the song of the four seasons, and I grow up year by year in the poems of wind, flowers, snow and moon.
…
Yellowed photos, old letters, and faded Christmas cards, the songs I wrote for you when I was young, I'm afraid you have already forgotten them.
The vows made in the past are like the colorful bookmarks in the textbooks, engraved with so many beautiful poems, but they are ultimately just a puff of smoke.
The flowing water takes away the story of time and changes everyone. It is in that sentimental youth that sheds tears for the first time…”
Sun Jichao, who was beside Cheng Ran, had his mouth expanding little by little, like a koi carp that was being fed in a pond.
Yang Xia clenched her hands together without her knowing when, and she clenched them tightly as she listened to this song that she had never heard before.
Liu Ying and Yao Beibei were in a slightly dizzy state as they listened and watched.
Jiang Hongshao was over there, staring at him with her eyes, very quietly.
At this moment, except for the singing, everything is silent.
Ding! Ding! Ding! I will post my version of this song sung by Cheng Ran on the WeChat platform.
Those of you who said yesterday, “Sing a little cutie song for all the girls in the school…” are still steady.