ECG -Chapter 125 The Singer Supported by a Sugar Mommy

Lin Hao was stunned for a moment. His first instinct was that the boss wanted to sell him those little Japanese adult films. He shook his head. Back then, he had watched plenty of them, but now he actually couldn’t bring himself to be interested anymore.

The boss probably dealt with students from their school quite often, so he immediately guessed what Lin Hao was thinking from his expression. He chuckled and waved his hand.

“Don’t misunderstand. It’s a music CD!”

“Oh?” Lin Hao became interested. “Let me see.”

The boss bent down and took out a CD case from the cabinet under the counter. Lin Hao took it from him. The paper was a cheap black-and-white cover—clearly printed by a small workshop. The case didn’t even have plastic wrapping.

The cover was pitch black, looking like a stage. Faintly, he could make out a person holding a guitar. The figure looked somewhat familiar.

Looking again at the two large, flamboyant characters on the cover, Lin Hao’s heart jumped.

It said: “Ferry.”

Underneath those two characters was a line of smaller text:

Guitar Vocals: Lin Hao

He suddenly understood. The person on the cover was himself, which was why he had found it familiar.

Ferry?

Lin Hao quickly flipped to the back and glanced at the song list. He was even more dumbfounded. It contained many songs he had once sung at the Ferry Bar—densely packed, more than twenty songs in total.

“What is this?” He looked at the boss.

The boss glanced outside the door, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously, “You know about Ferry Bar?”

Lin Hao nodded.

The boss took out a pack of Honghe cigarettes and handed one to Lin Hao.

“The owner of Ferry Bar, Sister He, died around the beginning of spring. And her brother He Qing too. You know about that, right?”

Lin Hao’s heart hurt. His expression turned blank as he nodded.

The boss pointed at the CD in Lin Hao’s hand.

“This disc contains some of the classic songs sung by that guitarist from Ferry Bar, Lin Hao. Things like ‘Blue Lotus,’ ‘The You of the Past,’ ‘How Much Love Can Come Back,’ ‘The World Outside,’ ‘The First Snow of 2002,’ and so on!”

“Oh, and there’s also a song called ‘Laugh at the Jianghu.’ I heard this Lin Hao sang it for a big brother from the underworld in his hometown. How about it? Pretty awesome, right?”

Lin Hao couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Even the song he sang for Zhou Dongbing had been included?

“Let me tell you another secret!” The boss leaned forward.

Lin Hao gave an “hmm.”

“I heard this Lin Hao is incredibly handsome. He was kept by Sister He as her sugar baby. How about that? Explosive news, right?”

Damn it!

Lin Hao almost spat out a mouthful of blood onto this shameless guy’s face.

He adjusted his breathing, forced the anger back down, and nearly choked himself from holding it in. Gritting his teeth, he asked:

“How much?”

The boss raised his big hand, spreading out five fingers and waving them. A huge gold ring on his index finger sparkled under the light, and he gave a mysterious smile.

“100?”

Lin Hao was shocked.

“That’s too much! With this kind of quality, you’re selling it for 100 yuan?”

“Too much?” The boss became unhappy. “I’m telling you, it’s cheap now. When it first arrived last week, do you know how much it cost?”

Lin Hao shook his head.

“150! And no bargaining!” The boss raised his nostrils arrogantly, acting as if he was the one who sang the songs.

“Who recorded this disc?” Lin Hao asked cautiously.

“I heard it was some thoughtful customers who went to Ferry Bar and recorded it. But who exactly it was, how would I know?”

“Then you must have a supplier. Who produced these? This is seriously too damn shady!”

The boss shook his head.

“I don’t know them either. At first, someone came over and asked me to put a few copies here to sell. They didn’t even ask for payment upfront. Who knew it would actually sell pretty well? After I sold a few copies, one person told another, and then everyone started coming here to sell them.”

“How many copies have you sold?”

“Huh? I say, are you from the police station or something? Why are you asking such detailed questions? Are you buying it or not?” The shop owner’s expression darkened.

Lin Hao quickly said, “I was just curious, that’s all. Of course I’m buying it. Why wouldn’t I?”

As he spoke, he pulled out a hundred-yuan bill and slapped it onto the glass counter.

The shop owner immediately smiled from ear to ear as he put the money away. “If you think it’s good, introduce a few more classmates over here. Big brother will give you a commission!”

“Sure!”

Lin Hao couldn’t be bothered to ask how much the commission was. He simply agreed and walked out.

As he walked through the campus, he kept turning the CD over in his hands, and especially when he saw the two words “Ferry Crossing,” he felt even more uncomfortable.

He took out his phone and wanted to call Xia Yumeng, but after thinking about it, he worried she might still be in class, so he sent her a text message instead:

“If you have time, go to the audio shop near the Normal University and ask the owner if he has a CD called Ferry Crossing. If he does, buy one.”

The moment he sent it, he regretted it.

Because he suddenly remembered what the audio shop owner had said. What if Xia Yumeng went to another shop to buy it and the owner there said the same thing to her?

At that point, he really wouldn’t be able to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

If Fourth Sister were still alive, it would have been easier to explain—she could help clear things up. But Fourth Sister was already gone. If this rumor spread everywhere, not only would Xia Yumeng misunderstand him, it would also cause huge trouble for his future career in entertainment.

But the message had already been sent, and there was no way to take it back.

Before he even had time to regret it properly, Xia Yumeng’s call came in.

“Finished class?” Lin Hao asked.

Xia Yumeng giggled. “Silly, what time is it already? It’s time to eat lunch. How could I still be in class?”

“Is that so?”

Lin Hao glanced at the time on his phone. It was almost twelve o’clock already.

“You asked me to buy a CD? What happened?”

Since he had already said it, Lin Hao could only brace himself and tell her everything.

He understood very clearly that even if Xia Yumeng didn’t hear this rumor this time, sooner or later she would hear it in the future anyway.

There was an old saying in the Northeast: a boil will eventually come to a head. Better to suffer a short pain than a long one.

Although love was the thing least able to withstand tests, whether two people were truly suitable for each other still required going through one event after another before both sides could clearly understand whether they were right for each other.

“Okay! I don’t have classes this afternoon. I’ll go buy it after lunch!”

After saying that, Xia Yumeng lowered her voice and added, “I’m sorry, I won’t be able to accompany you during May Day!”

Her voice was full of tenderness.

Lin Hao quickly said it was fine and told her to spend more time playing with her uncle and aunt.

“Lin Hao, let me tell you something!”

Hearing how serious she sounded, Lin Hao said, “Go ahead.”

“My dad might be transferred to the provincial government!”

“Really? That’s a good thing! Then you’ll be able to come home more often!”

Lin Hao was genuinely happy for her.

But Xia Yumeng felt a faint worry.

Her father’s position was getting higher and higher, while Lin Hao’s family situation was what it was.

Although her parents had never demanded that she find a boyfriend from a matching family background, she was still afraid that Lin Hao might develop an inferiority complex in the future.

If that happened, being with her might become uncomfortable for him, and she didn’t want Lin Hao to feel even the slightest bit uneasy.

Seeing that Xia Yumeng didn’t say anything, Lin Hao couldn’t see her expression and couldn’t tell whether she had encountered someone or whether she had some other concern.

So he also stayed silent.

For the first time, the phone call fell into a situation where both sides were waiting for the other person to speak.

The only sounds coming through were the background noises from both ends. Judging from the sounds, they were both walking around their respective campuses.

After about a minute, Xia Yumeng spoke first.

“Lin Hao.”

“Mm, I’m here.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Okay. Eat more at lunch.”

Lin Hao made a joke, and only then did he hang up the phone.