Chapter 14: The Same Song

Chapter 14: The Same Song

In the afternoon, he received an unexpected call from Zheng Rou. He hadn’t thought Lu Wei was serious about recommending him, but she actually was.

The other party had really contacted a somewhat famous second-tier female singer.

They hadn’t reached the stage of discussing the price yet. Even with Lu Wei’s introduction, the other party still wanted to hear a demo first.

Since the other party was introduced by Lu Wei, it was like Lu Wei was vouching for them. They were trustworthy and probably wouldn’t just steal the song after hearing the demo.

Chen Feng had considered singing the demo himself, but his self-awareness told him that doing so might make him miss this precious opportunity.

It was better to hire an expert to sing it, to show the song’s charm as much as possible.

Chen Feng thought it over and over. The only person he trusted, who had the ability, and who he could afford, was really just Zhong Lei.

But “Dullness” was originally Zhong Lei’s song. Having her sing the demo now and then selling it to someone else felt really bad, too unfair to Zhong Lei.

Chen Feng felt a bit reluctant.

But the demo couldn’t be delayed any longer. He was worried delays might lead to changes.

If he missed this chance, there might not be another shop in the future.

Just as Chen Feng was still hesitating, Zhong Lei actually came down on her own to say hello. He instinctively brought it up casually.

But he just mentioned it offhand, not really expecting Zhong Lei to agree.

Zhong Lei’s reaction was as he expected. She was silent and thought for a long time, not giving an answer.

Seeing that she was reluctant, Chen Feng didn’t press further. At worst, he could find a student from the music academy.

There was some risk, but how could you get rich without taking risks?

Chen Feng was about to withdraw his suggestion. “It was presumptuous of me. Let’s just forget it.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll sing it. I won’t charge you.”

Zhong Lei suddenly said.

Chen Feng hadn’t processed it yet. “It’s okay, I know you don’t like this song… Huh? What did you say?”

Zhong Lei: “I said, I can sing the demo for you. I won’t charge you. But you need to give me two days. I probably need to adjust my mindset to capture the emotions in this song more perfectly.”

Chen Feng waved his hands repeatedly. “How can you not charge anything?”

“I said I won’t charge, and I really mean it. I’m not being polite. Alright, I’m going to go practice now.”

After saying that, she was about to go upstairs again. Chen Feng called out loudly from behind, “Wait a minute, I haven’t given you the lyrics yet. Should I guide you through it a couple more times?”

Zhong Lei turned her head. “No need. I remembered it after hearing it once.”

“Oh…”

Zhong Lei closed the door.

Chen Feng downstairs scratched his head in confusion.

Although the deal was made, which was good, he didn’t know if it was his imagination, but she didn’t seem in high spirits. She looked unhappy and kind of strange.

Meanwhile, Zhong Lei returned to her room and gently closed the door.

She looked up at the ceiling, her gaze somewhat blank.

It was strange. She was just giving up a song that was never hers to begin with, so why did her heart ache?

Why did she feel that Chen Feng was being unfair to her?

Was she sick?

It was originally his thing. How he decided to handle it was, of course, his freedom.

She had no right to interfere at all.

Actually, at the very beginning, he had probably intended to sell it to her. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have needed to sing it for her.

She was the one who missed the chance.

The next day, Zhong Lei really practiced in her room the whole day.

She didn’t go to Chen Feng for the rest of the lyrics and the music score. Instead, she just sang the first half over and over.

The first half was indeed depressing. The deeper she immersed her emotions into it, the stronger the impact on her inner world, and the deeper her emotions sank.

Her singing felt better and better.

Some deeper emotions hidden beneath the surface were unearthed layer by layer by her, the singer, just like peeling an onion.

In the evening, Chen Feng came back from work. He originally intended to go upstairs and ask Zhong Lei if she wanted to get dinner together, but he happened to hear her practicing.

She seemed to be using a different singing style. Her ethereal yet weathered voice echoed repeatedly, as if the music lingered in the air.

Her Guitar playing skills were also more than a notch above Chen Feng’s, and her equipment was probably N times better.

The beautiful singing and the Guitar rhythm full of charm mixed together, creating a powerful pressure. It surged into his mind like waves, as if a devil was gently scraping his eardrum with a small knife.

It appeared, the feeling he had when he first heard this song in the dream world.

Chen Feng felt a shiver run down his spine, and goosebumps rose all over.

This was terrifying!

Was this talent?

Was this really the “Dullness” he had sung?

The same song, basically the same tune, but when sung by a different person, the effect was this different?

Was he too weak, or was Zhong Lei too strong?

Before, he couldn’t understand why such a masterpiece that could be passed down for a thousand years didn’t get a good evaluation from Lu Wei.

Now he knew the reason. The problem was with him.

It was like the peerless martial art “Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.” Qiao Feng could sweep the world with it, but Yelu Qi became a joke.

Even the best peerless weapon needed someone who knew how to use it to command the martial world.

Chen Feng could only show thirty or forty percent of the charm of “Dullness.” An ordinary established singer could probably bring out seventy or eighty percent. But if it was Zhong Lei herself, it was one hundred percent power.

It was like wanting to pass an exam was easy, but wanting a perfect score was a world for academic geniuses that ordinary people could only look up to, forever out of reach.

Inside, Zhong Lei finally sang to the chorus part, but she didn’t stop abruptly. She continued with two more lines before slowly pausing.

Chen Feng was shocked again.

Was this the legendary bond of fate?

It had only been a few days, and she had actually figured out the following content in her mind!

The lyrics were slightly different, but the rhythm was completely correct. That was the most amazing part.

If Chen Feng had delayed a few more days without selling it, she probably could have completed the entire song.

He was just thinking about whether to knock on the door and ask her to stop practicing, that they should just start recording the demo like this, when he heard low sobs coming from the room.

Zhong Lei had made herself cry.

With her strong sense of pride, if he saw her crying, wouldn’t it be dangerous?

Without disturbing her further, Chen Feng returned to his room, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.

Somehow, perhaps because Zhong Lei’s true, original rendition was too powerful, Chen Feng felt increasingly awkward and uneasy inside.

Having the original singer sing the demo and then selling it to someone else, and now making the original singer cry… He really seemed a bit too much, didn’t he?

Maybe he should talk to her again tomorrow.

Early the next morning, Chen Feng tried to go upstairs and knock, but he found Zhong Lei’s apartment door wide open.

He called out a couple of times, but there was no one inside. Only then did he notice a small note stuck on the door.

“I went to my friend’s recording studio to practice. I’ll send you the demo today. My WeChat ID is…”

Alright, he would talk to her after work then.

Chen Feng operated his phone to add her as a friend, then went to the company for work.

Around a little past three in the afternoon, he received a message on WeChat. It was a high-quality audio clip sent by Zhong Lei.

After that, there was another low-quality audio clip.

Zhong Lei sent another message.

“The high-quality one above is for you to hear the effect. Don’t send it out as the demo. The low-quality one below is the finished demo product. This is safer, less prone to copyright infringement. In the future, whenever you write a song and deal with people, you must be more careful. A demo should only be a demo. Good luck.”

Looking at these messages, Chen Feng felt heavy-hearted.

He hesitated again and again, but finally sent it to Zheng Rou, asking Zheng Rou to forward it to the singer who wanted to buy the song.

But he slightly changed his tone. He didn’t promise he would definitely sell it. He just said, please ask the other party to evaluate it and see if they were interested.