Chapter 104: Culture Clash

Chapter 104: Culture Clash

He knew what Zhong Lei wanted to hear, but he didn’t have the goods.

Every one of Zhong Lei’s songs from the past had numerous profound analyses left by top-tier music critics throughout history.

These critiques were collected as supplementary material in Zhong Lei’s biography, possessing considerable artistic value in themselves.

All of Chen Feng’s theories came from other people’s reviews.

“Self-Combustion” was a brand new version that had never appeared in the previous Timeline, so of course, no one had written a review for it.

He held it in for a long time, took a deep breath, and said heavily, “Good!”

What followed was an awkward silence.

“Is that it?”

After a long while, Zhong Lei asked.

Chen Feng: “Yes!”

Zhong Lei’s expression looked pained, like she had something to say but held back, her anger with nowhere to go.

It was hard for her to restrain herself. “O…okay then. So I’ll release it?”

Chen Feng became stingy with his words. “Release!”

“No, wait, can you give a bit more comment?”

“Don’t you already know in your heart?”

“But I want to hear your approval.”

There was no escaping it. Chen Feng gritted his teeth. “Give me the project file for the audio tracks. Let me see how you synthesized them.”

One hour later…

Chen Feng, looking confident on the surface but feeling completely unsure inside, said, “You only used seven basic instruments, nothing with complex chords.”

Zhong Lei: “Right. I tried to subtract more, but I didn’t force it. The goal was to match the core feeling the whole song wants to express.”

Chen Feng listened some more, pointing at a melody section on the computer. “What’s this ‘doo-doo-doo’ sound? It’s very unique.”

“It’s the sound of a motorcycle engine. But I raised it by three keys and did a remix chord. It was an experiment.”

Chen Feng nodded. “Well done. While there’s no need to deliberately be different, we also don’t need to care about what made the sound. We just need to know: I wanted this sound, and it fits perfectly here. Tell me about your other similar ideas.”

“This piano part was recorded using the actual sound from the Steinway at Lu Wei’s place. I played it myself. This bass part was played for me by Lu Wei. At the time, we deliberately left the strings very loose, so it sounds a bit lowered in key, a bit floppy. But the feeling I wanted to express in this melody was one of playfulness and free-spiritedness. And this guitar part—you’ll never guess how I recorded it. Listen.”

Chen Feng listened carefully again, then tentatively asked, “In a bathroom?”

“Close to the standard answer. Dig a little deeper.”

“The public bathroom on Caiwei Cottage’s street?”

“Deeper.”

“Can’t guess.”

“It was inside the men’s room of that public bathroom! Hahaha! Fooled you! Lu Wei was almost having a breakdown at the time! But I just thought the echo and reverb effect in the men’s room was more pleasant, maybe because of the urinals. Also, the guitar I used was actually your own Yangtze guitar. What do you think?! This kind of muddy sound quality, after being re-compiled through digital software, really has its own unique style.”

Chen Feng: …

He was speechless.

No wonder when he fiddled with his guitar at home these past couple of days, it always felt like there was a certain… scent. He thought maybe the bathroom wasn’t flushed clean enough.

He looked at Zhong Lei’s ears again, secretly wondering.

What is the structure of this person’s ears? How is her brain wired? How does she hear these incredibly subtle differences that are completely beyond imagination, and how does she know which sound is the best, the most perfect?

This… is probably the power of talent.

It’s just too much.

Zhong Lei’s self-commentary continued.

She was animated, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Chen Feng watched quietly as she “showed off” under the pretense of seeking advice, smiling with a detached air.

From this person, Chen Feng smelled the scent of talent gushing out like summer flowers in full bloom.

So utterly humbling.

Her creative ideas were completely unconventional. She would go to any lengths to pursue the perfect sound. What was even more terrifying was that she knew what the perfect sound was.

There are many sounds in nature. When humans hear them by chance, they find them beautiful. But they don’t know how to replicate them, how to capture them, and even less how to actively create pleasing sounds.

Zhong Lei seemed born knowing, needing no one to teach her, and no one could.

This was talent, full and completely overflowing.

I kneel.

Now, Chen Feng roughly understood why Zhong Lei’s songs were all so powerful.

With such an ability, even the same instrument, in her hands versus in the hands of an average player, would inevitably produce vastly different effects.

No wonder it sounded so good when she played and sang with the Yangtze guitar.

“Release it! Release it now!”

Chen Feng waved his hand grandly. The song “Self-Combustion” premiered simultaneously across all online platforms.

Then he kicked Zhong Lei out, letting Zhong Lei, who had the greatest degree of autonomy, handle the promotional work herself.

The adaptation of “Baptism of Fire” could wait. After all, Meng Xiaozhou hadn’t settled things on his end yet.

In the end, Zhong Lei still didn’t get a single word of “profound insight” from Master Chen.

It’s just that Master Chen’s vocabulary was too small. In his life, he only knew how to say ‘wow’.

But since he couldn’t swear, he could only have no comment.

He just said one word, “Good!”

The song indeed became an undeniable smash hit, but it suddenly disrupted the negotiation plans on Meng Xiaozhou’s side.

At midnight that night, Meng Xiaozhou called Chen Feng. “Teacher Chen, Neil Blomkamp has changed his request.”

“How so? Not cooperating anymore?”

“He likes the song ‘Self-Combustion’ more. He thinks this song has more rebelliousness, promoting a kind of righteous sacrifice, but it doesn’t follow the rules so much. It fits the style of the movie ‘Chaos Space’ better. In his own words, he loves ‘Self-Combustion’ to death, practically wants to go crazy for it.”

Chen Feng was stunned for a second, but then felt it made perfect sense.

This was more in line with the American flavor, after all.

Neil, worthy of being the genius sci-fi director who made “District 9” and “Elysium” at a young age, his taste was not to be underestimated.

Of course, in Chen Feng’s view, “District 9” was okay, but too childish.

The worldview of “Elysium” was practically eye-scorching.

He wondered what level this “Chaos Space” would be.

But Chen Feng didn’t care. What he cared about was protecting the purity of “Baptism of Fire,” while also using this opportunity to break into the European and American markets and start earning dollars.

“Okay, then we’ll adapt ‘Self-Combustion’ according to the other party’s request.”

“Time is tight. The other party wants us to go to Los Angeles tomorrow for face-to-face discussions to start the adaptation.”

“No problem. Three of us will go. Me, you, and Zhong Lei.”

Two days later, the three of them walked out of LAX side by side.

Waiting for them was one of the producers of “Chaos Space,” Wilton Jackson.

As Neil Blomkamp’s close friend and right-hand man, Wilton was also young, with a head of blonde hair and a tall build.

“Welcome, friends, to the freest country on this planet. Don’t you feel the air is even sweeter here? You know, we were so excited last night about creating something big with you that we could hardly sleep.”

Wilton was very enthusiastic, his speech carrying the arrogance and condescension typical of Americans.

Chen Feng barely understood him. He felt displeased and wanted to retort, but his English was not great, and he was afraid of embarrassing himself.

Zhong Lei, however, neither haughty nor humble, refused his hug while saying, “Freedom is a profound word. One shouldn’t speak too absolutely. Some freedoms are superficial, some are fundamental. Fools indulge in comparison, the wise drive themselves. Our country doesn’t like to compare with yours, but our air is also sweet.”

Wilton was taken aback. After a long moment, he gave a thumbs-up. “Worthy of the creator of ‘Self-Combustion.’ Worthy of being Chinese. I was actually just joking earlier. Also, the theme ‘Chaos Space’ wants to explore is precisely the definition of freedom.”

Clashing right from the start, Chen Feng and Zhong Lei originally thought this collaboration might fall through, but Meng Xiaozhou wasn’t worried at all.

As a Chinese graduate who studied in America, Meng Xiaozhou was very familiar with how people do things here.

Conflict is just a spice. As long as the core elements involving interests reach a consensus, even if you spit in their face, they’ll smile and lick it off.

The negotiation process was very smooth. In just two and a half hours, the contract was settled on the spot, with the same terms as before.

After that, the three of them went to the hotel arranged by the film company to settle down and adjust to the time difference. After they woke up, Meng Xiaozhou would immediately return to China, while Chen Feng and Zhong Lei would stay there. They would attend an internal review session with the theme song singer Katie Swift, the director’s team, and several main actors.

At the review session, the two of them would see the complete film. According to Director Neil, this would help the theme song creative team grasp the story’s core when adapting the lyrics.