[Unedited] Chapter 11

Around 7PM in the evening, Lu Chen arrived in advance to Forget Grass bar

He did not forget the lessons last night, coupled with the rest he took in the morning, Lu Chen then took the train before peak hours to reach Back Sea, found a random restaurant nearby and had a simple dinner.

Upon entering the bar, what surprised Lu Chen was that the boss Chen JianHao was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, it was a bartender who had a slim figure, and a beautiful beard that welcomed him with a smile and nod.

Before yesterday, he certainly did not enjoy such treatment.

“David!”

He went over and they greeted each other. Lu Chen then curiously asked: “This boss didn’t come today?”

Chen JianHao had invested all his lifetime savings into Forget Grass bar, therefore he was meticulous with managing the operations of the bar. Usually, unless he is met with any unexpected situations, he would be present in the bar every day without fail. During peak periods, he would even personally serve the customers.

David poured a cup of peppermint water for Lu Chen, and said: “Boss probably had some matters to attend to…”

David’s mandarin was not perfect, with a hint of westerner accent. Although he is a full-fledged Chinese, he had grown up overseas since a young age and came back only a few years back.

“Thank you, David!”

Lu Chen drank the peppermint water in one go and prepared to head to the backstage. He was unaware of tonight’s performance arrangements.

“You’re welcome … “

David kept the cup and said earnestly: “I liked the song that you sang last night, Cool!”

He then flashed Lu Chen thumbs up and said: “Add Oil!”

Lu Chen smiled and gave his thanks, and headed towards the backstage.

What made Lu Chen surprised was, that he was not the first arrive, instead there were already several people inside the room.

Other than Forget Grass bar’s resident singer – Rainbow Li Hong, brother Ye – Ye Zhenyang and Wang Xiaoshuai, even sister Na is present. The 5 of them are currently seated together and having a chat.

“Small Lu!”

Seeing Lu Chen came in, sister Na stood up first with a smiling face and gave him a big hug, “Congratulations you got promoted!”

Lu Chen embarrassingly replied, “Thank you Na Sister …”

Sister Na – Zhang NaNa turned 40 this year, in Forget Grass bar and Back Sea singers circle, her qualifications are the oldest. Rumour has it, she left the house to work and became independent at the age of 17 to pursue her love and passion for music.

Zhang NaNa is Forget Grass bar’s contracted (or resident?) singer. Despite having ordinary looks, and can be even said that a little ugly, with high cheekbones, thick lips, sagging nose and when she smiles, prominent crows’ feet could be seen.

However, no one would underestimate NaNa as she has a unique talent for singing. With a great voice range coupled with rich life experience, it had allowed her to easily grasp a wide variety of difficult songs, which can be categorised as a singer with real abilities.

Chen JianHao once said privately, the reason why Sister Na has yet to be famous despite being in the industry for more than 20 years, other than the fact that she was lacking in the appearance department, she has yet to encounter a song that truly belonged to her nor an admirer that admired her music.

If not because of that, he would have never been able to recruit Sister Na to perform at Forget Grass bar.

Sister Na’s personality can be described as open-minded, with no trace of scheming. No matter in the face of the most common server in the bar, or the big shot band, her attitude towards others has always been warm and friendly.

With these qualities, it leads to Sister Na to have a good rapport with others.

Lu Chen’s relationship with Sister Na can be considered good, the reason why he could perform in Forget Grass bar, a big portion was due to Sister Na speaking up for him which eventually got the approval of JianHao.

Thus, based on that, Lu Chen has always been grateful to Sister Na.

After Sister Na had congratulated Lu Chen, the other singers went up to give their congratulations. They all knew that Lu Chen has officially become a contracted singer for Forget Grass bar.

Originally Lu Chen’s was the only request singer (Someone who only sang when there are song requests) in Forget Grass bar and his status is undoubtedly the lowest. Whereas currently, he was of equal footing with Li Hong, Ye Zhenyang and enjoying the same treatment they had.

“Sister Na, Small Lu sang an original song during last night’s performance…”

Li Hong smilingly said: “Lu Chen’s certainly hit the jackpot! There is even company that has expressed interest in signing him!”

Although it seemed like a normal conversation, there is a hint of sourness that couldn’t be concealed.

Other than Sister Na, Ye Zhen Yang and Wang Xiao Shuai’s face were also not natural.

Forget Grass bar is considered a big establishment; thus, the number of employees and singers can be easily counted, therefore any news would spread quickly amongst themselves.

Lu Chen’s performance of his own original song “<>” won over the hearts of all the customers in the bar. Not only that, he had captured the attention of Rain Media who wants to sign him as their idol to nurture and package.

If it was just like that, at most the others would be envious and jealous as ultimately in this industry, there is no shortage of singers and Lu Chen would only be one of the lucky ones who had the chance to skip stages

However, what made others dumbfounded was; Lu Chen had rejected the offer!

This made them unable to understand. A precious chance that many craved, why did Lu Chen not treasure it?

Ye Zhenyang chuckling replied: “It’s a pity that Small Lu’s too proud, else in the future when he becomes a popular celebrity he could even guide us around the industry!”

Compared to Li Hong, his attitude towards Lu Chen was even sourer. Without taking a dig at Lu Chen, he wouldn’t be comfortable.

Others have to know that, two days ago Lu Chen was still a small fry they could ignore, whereas now not only he stood on the same level as him, Lu Chen was even more eye-catching and popular!

Lu Chen darkly frowned.

With how Ye Zhenyang spoke, it would not be good if he were to rebuke, but to stay silent would do him no good too, but he didn’t want to act like a hypocrite.

“Xiao Lu will definitely be a popular celebrity in the future!”

Sister Na approached Lu Chen with a hand on his shoulder and said, “Last night I came late and did not hear you sing the song you wrote, tonight you must sing it again!”

Lu Chen hurriedly said:” Sure! Hope that Sister Na could give some pointers too…”

Compared to others, Sister Na’s attitude towards Lu Chen was undoubtedly sincerer, and helped him get out of the situation with just a few words.

Even the dissatisfied Ye Zhenyang would not dare to continue.

Sister Na smiling replied, “I wouldn’t dare to give you pointers, with Xiao Lu’s talent, you should have shown it out sooner, and help your Sister Na write a nice song too! How about it?”

Lu Chen pondered and positively replied, “Sure!”

His serious reply made Sister Na surprised.

She was just joking earlier on and not really asking Lu Chen for a song

Nowadays creating original songs poses a great difficulty, the domestic atmosphere isn’t suitable for doing so. Other than a few popular ones, numerous professional songwriters weren’t even able to release one or two hit songs after a few years.

Freelance singers similar to Lu Chen who casually composes, it is great luck to be able to create a good song. It would be hard to repeatedly write another good song, not to mention a tailor-made one!

She had initially thought that Lu Chen was joking with her, however looking at Lu Chen’s serious attitude, she was inevitably surprised.

As someone who is experienced, she was only momentarily distracted and immediately replied laughingly, “I shall wait for the song then!”

She did not continue on this topic but instead garnered attention by clapping her hands and said: “We don’t have much time so tonight’s performance arrangement will be done by me. Small Shuai you shall start the atmosphere with two songs … “

The boss Chen Jianhao wasn’t present, therefore Sister Na assumed the role of the one in charge. Other than the Roaming band, even Li Hong and Ye Zhenyang would all have to follow her instructions and no one would raise any questions about her arrangement.

Even Roaming band’s lead singer Tai Hanyang treated Sister Na with respect.

Due to it being Sunday, after 8pm there was an influx of customers and most of them were university campus couples.

There are multiple big universities near Big Sea, including some of the renowned universities.

Numerous university student, especially couples like to patronise the bars around Back Sea. They would usually walk around and settle their dinner before heading towards the bars to occupy seats and order a few beers or alcoholic drinks while enjoying the live performance and have their couple time together surrounded by the romantic atmosphere.

Seeing the bar seats that have been filled, the MC hurriedly went out to entertain the customers and quickly followed by Wang Xiaoshuai to start the ball rolling.

When it was time for Lu Chen’s performance, it was already 9pm

Just as he sat down on stage with his guitar, one customer immediately whistled with excitement.

“Small Lu, sing <>!”

Lu Chen smilingly nodded. To be able to whistle with such a tone, only one of the frequent customers was able to do that.

It was a frequent customer who liked to joke and play around with youngsters.

Therefore, the request must definitely be catered to!

“Tonight, the first song I will present to everyone, is an original song that I had composed…”

He softly strung the guitar strings, and said through the microphone: “<>, hope that you will like it!”

“Like!!”

After Lu Chen just finished speaking, immediately people started shouting, “Sing the song twice!”

The cheerful waves of laughter reverberated around the bar, similar to the ripples produced when a stone hits the surface of the water.

Several new customers were surprised, as they had never heard of the song before, and furthermore, it was a self-composed song.

Naturally, they would not understand why the regular customers would be so enthusiastic, and this type of enthusiasm is not commonly seen in Forget Grass Bar; at least not towards such a young singer like Lu Chen

Lu Chen did not reply any further after playing the initial note but instead begun tonight’s performance

“Tomorrow would you remember, the diary you wrote last night”

As if magic was infused in his voice, along with the accompaniment of his guitar, it changed the entire atmosphere of the bar, and Slowly, everyone’s attention was on him.

Regardless if it’s the frequent or new customers, they were all quietly immersed in listening to Lu Chen’s performance.

In the ears of the frequent customers, the song <> sung by Lu Chen was even better. His singing was infused with even more feelings. They had even closed their eyes and used their hearts to feel the emotions contained inside the song; the memories and longing.

Whereas to the new customers, first time listening to <> initially felt that this song was fresh (the feeling of first time listening to a song) and subsequently felt that this is a good song.

Afterwards, they were then deeply touched by it.

The influence of a good classic song can temporarily ignore the time and space’s limitations, regardless of it even being in different worlds, it can still release its eye-catching quality!

Just a short 5-6 minutes, the atmosphere in Forget Grass bar was absolutely silent.

It was only after the song reached its ending, plus a couple seconds later, massive clapping then erupted forward.

TL Note: This is an unedited version of Chapter 11~