Backstage at the Ace City Competition program.
Li Yunchuan arrived early to prepare.
After finishing his makeup.
Zhang Wei entered, carrying two bottles of beer.
"Senior brother, I still remember your habits."
Zhang Wei waved the bag in his hand, smiling.
"Haha, you know me best." Li Yunchuan quickly got up.
He walked to the sofa and tidied up the things on the coffee table.
He had a habit of having a couple of drinks before going on stage.
Singers usually protected their voices, but Li Yunchuan was an exception. He went for the low, husky voice of folk music.
There was no need to hit high notes.
A couple of drinks usually posed no problem for him.
"Senior brother, congratulations." Zhang Wei bit open a beer cap with his mouth and handed it to Li Yunchuan.
After taking it, Li Yunchuan took a swig, a look of uncontainable satisfaction on his face. He and Zhang Wei exchanged a glance before Li Yunchuan grinned and said, "When I got Tingyu's new song, I finally understood how you guys felt singing Tingyu's songs."
Afterward, the two friends looked at each other.
As if by telepathy, three words escaped their lips.
"Who else!"
"Who else!"
Then, the two burst into hearty laughter.
At this moment.
Outside the lounge.
A sneering voice suddenly rang out: "Still quite happy, aren't you? If one didn't know better, they'd think you've already won."
Following that, a figure walked in from outside.
When Li Yunchuan and Zhang Wei saw who it was, their brows furrowed.
"Shen Jing, what do you mean by that!" Li Yunchuan said sternly.
This person was Shen Jing, his opponent this time, one of the top singers in the folk music scene.
After graduating from university, Li Yunchuan had gone to Beijing to pursue his dream of being a singer for two years.
While performing as a resident singer in a bar, he met Shen Jing. At the time, Shen Jing had already been active in the folk music scene for a few years, and Li Yunchuan was a complete newcomer.
They were both pursuing their dreams in Beijing, and shared similar interests, so they naturally hit it off.
To improve together, they rented a place together.
Li Yunchuan, a university graduate, had a solid theoretical foundation. Shen Jing was more of a self-taught musician, but he had abundant experience and was a good guitarist.
When they had free time, Li Yunchuan taught him music theory, and Shen Jing taught Li Yunchuan guitar. They exchanged knowledge and learned from each other.
At that time, Li Yunchuan's relationship with him was no worse than his relationship with Zhang Wei now.
They were once very good brothers.
However, due to one incident, they became sworn enemies.
Because both of them were performing in bars, they were noticed by the owners of entertainment companies. They were both invited for interviews the next day, but there was only one spot available.
Finally, there was an opportunity to debut as a singer, and they were both very happy. As brothers, it was only fair competition; whoever got the spot was fine.
That night, they drank two cases of beer at a barbecue joint downstairs.
Finally, they returned to their rented room and fell asleep.
The next day, Li Yunchuan woke up at four in the afternoon.
Yes, Shen Jing hadn't woken him up.
He went to the entertainment company for the interview alone.
After waking up, Li Yunchuan didn't go to ask him for an explanation. He could only blame himself for his poor alcohol tolerance.
Shen Jing didn't return. The next day, Li Yunchuan packed his belongings and left the rented house.
Later, they both had their own opportunities. Li Yunchuan became a top-tier singer, while Shen Jing, due to good resources, had already become a leading figure in the folk music scene.
They occasionally met when participating in programs, but their encounters were brief and without any interaction.
...
"Li Yunchuan, you're quite lucky to have latched onto Tingyu so tightly." Shen Jing seemed to have no intention of leaving. He walked in and sat down on a stool nearby.
"It's alright, at least I earned this opportunity fair and square." Li Yunchuan said with a half-smile.
Although the feud with Shen Jing had passed, how could Li Yunchuan let it go?
If he had gotten that opportunity back then and had such good resources, perhaps he would have become a music king by now.
Even if he had lost to Shen Jing based on skill, he wouldn't have complained. What angered him was that he considered Shen Jing a brother, but Shen Jing had played a dirty trick on him.
"You're still holding onto that old matter, I see." Shen Jing smiled and shook his head.
"I'm petty, is there anything else? If not, please leave." Li Yunchuan snorted and directly showed him the door.
Shen Jing heard this and smiled faintly, then his gaze swept over the wooden guitar in the corner.
He was momentarily stunned.
"I didn't realize you were sentimental."
This guitar was bought for Li Yunchuan by him.
He couldn't believe Li Yunchuan hadn't thrown it away after all these years.
"You're mistaken. I kept this guitar precisely for today," Li Yunchuan said softly.
Back then, he was preparing to use this guitar for the interview, but Shen Jing played a trick on him, and he missed the opportunity.
Later, he carefully preserved this guitar.
When he learned that his opponent was Shen Jing this time, he deliberately went back to his hometown to bring the guitar.
"That's fine. You lost this time, which means whether I called you or not, the outcome would have been the same," Shen Jing said with full confidence, tinged with mockery.
He expected Li Yunchuan to get angry and kick him out after hearing that.
However.
Li Yunchuan actually revealed a knowing smile.
It wasn't just him.
Zhang Wei, standing beside him, also had the same smile.
"What's wrong?" Shen Jing asked, confused. He paused and continued, "You guys don't really think Tingyu can compare to Teacher Liu Quanlin in folk music, do you?"
Seeing that Li Yunchuan still didn't speak, he continued with a cold laugh, "You're also in the industry, you know what Teacher Liu represents in folk music. Tingyu is just a young kid in his teens, what kind of folk music can he write?"
The definition of folk music is broad, encompassing popular folk songs, with various themes, all originating from life.
A good folk song can resonate with many ordinary people, allowing them to connect with the song.
To write a folk song with an ordinary story requires a lot of life experience.
If the story cannot evoke empathy, it becomes pretentious whining.
"Are you done?" Zhang Wei couldn't help but ask in a deep voice.
He didn't like hearing people say bad things about Su Yu.
"I'm talking to Li Yunchuan, why are you interrupting?" Shen Jing was annoyed.
He knew Zhang Wei was Li Yunchuan's good friend.
But for some reason, he felt annoyed just looking at Zhang Wei.
Perhaps it was because Zhang Wei had replaced him in Li Yunchuan's life.
Although he didn't care about this position, the feeling of being replaced by someone else still annoyed him.
"If you're done, then scram!" Li Yunchuan finally spoke.
Ruthlessly.
He didn't like people talking about Zhang Wei. Zhang Wei was his junior, and as a senior, he naturally had to protect him.
Shen Jing was stunned. He hadn't expected Li Yunchuan to get angry. After all, even after that incident, Li Yunchuan had never lost his temper with him.
"Hmph, Li Yunchuan, when you lose, you'll know how foolish your current thoughts are. And Zhang Wei, even Tingyu can't make you popular, you're really quite useless."
After saying that, Shen Jing got up and walked towards the door.
His steps were somewhat hurried because as he got up, his peripheral vision caught Zhang Wei's hand gripping a beer bottle tightly.
After Shen Jing left.
The lounge fell into silence.
"If he had stayed a moment longer, this bottle would have been on his head," Zhang Wei was the first to break the silence.
"Don't take it to heart," Li Yunchuan said suddenly.
Zhang Wei was taken aback.
Then he took two large gulps of beer and smiled, "Don't worry, Brother Yu promised me he'd build my persona. I'll definitely become popular then."
Zhang Wei always remembered.
The words Su Yu had said to him after he punched Zhen Jian.
So, even though everyone said he wouldn't become popular and that he was wasting Tingyu's good songs, he only responded with a cold smile.
Brother Yu would definitely remember his situation!