Chapter 7: Come, Listen to My Song

Chapter 7: Come, Listen to My Song

Zhong Lei clenched her jaw tight as she looked at the man before her.

She was trying her best to control her temper, afraid she might lose it and rush forward to wrestle with this guy.

It was exactly 7:00 PM.

Because she didn’t want to deal with this person anymore, she had left half an hour earlier today, but she still ran into him.

No, to be accurate, he had probably been waiting for her on purpose.

The moment she came downstairs, he immediately opened his door, and his positioning was quite deliberate, just blocking the doorway.

He was still holding that old guitar in his arms, his face showing an expression that seemed a bit hopeful and excited, and also a little nervous.

Chen Feng’s appearance right now stirred up an inexplicable and nameless anger in Zhong Lei’s heart.

What exactly do you want?

Being quick-witted, she had actually noticed a while ago that Chen Feng was trying to get close to her, and she even thought his guitar practice had ulterior motives.

After all, Chen Feng was the apartment manager, so he probably knew some of her information, knew she was into music.

“Move aside.”

After a brief thought, Zhong Lei snorted through her nose while thinking to herself,

Why won’t this guy give up?

Didn’t I make myself clear yesterday?

Did he really think that after pondering it for another day, he could suddenly have an epiphany?

Is he here to prove his ability?

Don’t be ridiculous!

Zhong Lei almost wanted to laugh.

Over the past month, since that awkward conversation that day, the two of them had only briefly exchanged a couple of sentences yesterday.

But that could hardly be called an exchange; it was purely Zhong Lei’s protest after losing her patience.

In fact, she hadn’t only heard Chen Feng play the guitar once, but she had only caught bits of sound occasionally before and endured it without saying anything.

Yesterday, she had really wanted to sleep in for two more hours, only to suffer from the torture to her ears, and recalling Chen Feng’s “impure motives” for learning guitar, she finally couldn’t take it anymore.

Zhong Lei was well aware of Chen Feng’s skill level: he was a complete beginner among beginners, with no talent whatsoever. Him playing guitar was a pure waste of time.

Her suggestion yesterday might have been hard to hear, but in a way, it came from a place of goodwill.

She didn’t believe that in just one day, Chen Feng could make impressive progress.

Chen Feng smiled awkwardly but did not move aside as told. Instead, he said, “I know I’m a novice, but that’s not important. Actually, I wrote a song and would like you to listen to it and give me some feedback.”

Zhong Lei’s eyes widened, her face showing an expression of utter disbelief.

Yes, Chen Feng was indeed here to prove himself.

But he wasn’t going to play someone else’s piece; he was here to show her his original music?

You, writing songs? Are you crazy?

“Hah… Hah! Haha!” Zhong Lei laughed, both amused by his audacity and angered by his shameless persistence.

After a brief, cold laugh, Zhong Lei’s tone suddenly turned three degrees colder. “What kind of joke is this! Writing songs? You? Do you really think I won’t report you?”

Chen Feng looked at her silently, feeling a bit complicated, and thought about turning and leaving immediately.

Being a good person was a bit difficult.

Yes, he was planning to give “Dullness” to Zhong Lei to sing.

“Dullness” was originally Zhong Lei’s song. Having taken two of her songs, if he didn’t give her even one, Chen Feng’s conscience would feel uneasy.

There was an even more important reason: the artistic achievement and production level of “Dullness” weren’t actually that high.

In another timeline, the reason “Dullness” became popular as Zhong Lei’s debut song was closely tied to her unique voice, her naturally gifted singing skills, and her subtle grasp of emotion.

So Chen Feng believed that if he sold “Dullness” to someone else, it might not achieve the ideal result. The best choice was to give it to the original singer herself.

Although it was a few years early, and Zhong Lei’s singing skills might still be a bit immature now, it was at least a safer bet.

As long as she sang it, even if it didn’t become a massive hit, the theoretical minimum level of success it could achieve was guaranteed.

Of course, this would definitely completely change Zhong Lei’s fate, making her famous and debut much earlier. Her life experiences would become completely different from those in the other timeline, and she might miss out on many life lessons.

No one knew what kind of change Chen Feng’s forcefully fluttering butterfly wings would bring to Zhong Lei and the future.

But did that matter?

Chen Feng didn’t care when Zhong Lei became famous or how famous she got. He only cared whether she was familiar with him when she got famous and whether she could help him soar after she made it.

Besides, making her famous earlier was helping her, right?

Chen Feng also didn’t care about what the future would be like. After all, humanity went extinct a thousand years later; could it get any worse?

“I know you’re not on your way to work yet. Listening to a song will only take a few minutes; it won’t delay you. As for whether to report me or not, you can decide after listening.”

Chen Feng finally decided to give it a try.

After saying that, without waiting for Zhong Lei to reply, he picked up his guitar and quickly ran his fingers over the strings.

Just from this single action, the words Zhong Lei was about to yell suddenly got stuck in her throat.

An amateur just enjoys the show, but an expert knows the tricks. Just from the way Chen Feng raised his hand, Zhong Lei keenly sensed a huge change in him.

Whether someone can play the guitar and whether they’ve put in hard work can basically be seen by an expert just by looking at their starting posture and observing their fingering for pressing and plucking the strings.

The level of skill Chen Feng demonstrated in that instant meant it was impossible for him to produce yesterday’s ear-splitting noise.

Sure enough, as the melody started, Zhong Lei no longer found it torturous to listen to.

Chen Feng’s guitar playing wasn’t particularly inspired, but he had practiced the guitar accompaniment for this song for over a thousand hours. His proficiency was comparable to that of a trainee who had practiced for three and a half years.

So the guitar accompaniment he played for “Dullness” now was perfectly in tune and flawless.

Having only guitar accompaniment did weaken the song’s emotional impact a lot, but it was qualified enough to be played live in a small venue.

Zhong Lei’s originally somewhat irritable mood slowly calmed down under Chen Feng’s skilled performance.

But new doubts arose in her heart.

His playing was awful just yesterday. How did he become like a different person overnight?

Could it be that he was pretending to be weak before? What was the point?

Forget it, he really has put in a lot of effort. Since he also loves music, she thought, she might as well listen to what kind of song this was.

It never crossed Zhong Lei’s mind that Chen Feng genuinely couldn’t play yesterday and genuinely could today.

For someone to go from a complete beginner to a competent player overnight completely defied her common sense and was beyond her imagination.

Seeing that the intro had successfully impressed Zhong Lei, Chen Feng felt slightly relieved, thinking to himself that he had taken a big step closer to success. He played even more seriously, with more dedication and care.

Zhong Lei truly lived up to being a candidate who would become the female Beethoven in the future; she was both serious and devout about music.

Once she adopted a proper attitude, she quickly grasped the essence of the melody Chen Feng was playing.

She couldn’t help but feel her eyes light up.

This was indeed a chord combination she had never heard before. Could it really be his original work?

It was a bit immature, but sincere.

It sounded somewhat weathered, with a bit of a young person’s affectation of complaining without real cause. It showed dissatisfaction with the current situation but an inability to change it, only going with the flow.

However, deep within all the negative emotions, there seemed to be a hidden flame, as if burning in his heart, constantly urging him to chase his own dreams.

Like a phoenix that was severely injured, lying dormant in the magma deep underground, waiting for its wounds to heal so it could regroup and soar to the heavens again.

Zhong Lei’s breathing gradually slowed, and her emotions were involuntarily drawn in. She actually started to feel a sense of kinship with Chen Feng, the performer she originally disliked, as if they shared similar hardships.

This was just an intro less than twenty seconds long; Chen Feng hadn’t even started singing yet, but Zhong Lei really did sense all these emotions.

It wasn’t because Zhong Lei’s music appreciation skills were impossibly high; it was purely because this song was originally written by her herself.

The melody hit her heart like a huge rock, resonating and echoing inside.