ECG -Chapter 13 Friend, Is a Guitar on the Stage

The band left the stage, and Lin Hao stood under the spotlight. He first fell silent for a moment, then opened his mouth and said:

“Today, this matter was my fault and my friend’s. I’d like to apologize first to Sister Chu, that big brother over there, and all the friends here!”

After saying that, he clasped his hands together and bowed deeply toward the audience.

Sparse applause sounded inside the bar.

Lin Hao walked to the back of the center of the stage, behind the synthesizer.

He didn’t recognize the brand of this synthesizer, but after stepping on stage, he had glanced at it. The arrangement of the function keys on this synthesizer was exactly the same as the 61-key Roland XPS-10.

He felt relieved.

He turned on the power, quickly selected the piano tone, and soon the sound of a piano slowly rang out, gentle and full of emotion.

Accompanied by the piano melody, Lin Hao said:

“Friend, you are a guitar on the stage, playing the joy of life for me to your heart’s content.”

“Friend, you are a spring breeze during sorrowful days, gently brushing away the clouds of sadness in my heart.”

“Friend, you are a wise teacher on the road to success, passionately guiding me toward the land of sunshine.”

“Friend, you are a bright lamp in the bitterness of failure, silently driving away the darkness in my soul.”

“A song called Friend is dedicated to everyone!”

All the other lights on the stage went out, leaving only a single spotlight shining on Lin Hao.

“Friend, oh friend,

Have you ever thought of me…”

The moment Lin Hao’s hoarse and weathered voice came out, everyone below the stage got goosebumps.

The man and Chu Yu looked at each other, unable to hide the shock in their eyes.

No one could believe their ears. How could this possibly be the voice of a young man?

If they closed their eyes and listened, it was clearly the voice of a middle-aged man who had spent years in nightlife venues, weathered by smoke and hardships.

Although it was only a simple piano accompaniment, Lin Hao seemed to sing with the power of an entire electric band.

As the song gradually reached its climax, everyone in the bar began keeping the beat along with it. Those with a good sense of rhythm even started singing along.

The man standing beside Chu Yu’s eyes turned slightly red. He thought of all the brothers who had once been by his side:

Old Pu, who was hacked to death by his lover’s husband; Yuan Ye, who took a bullet; Ding Jianguo, who died tragically in the Nanshan Mine; Brother Hai, who took thirteen knives to the back but still pushed him to run; Ma Liu and Ri Ben Zi, who still didn’t dare return to Chunhe…

Two streams of hot tears slipped down his face. Chu Yu gently held his arm and softly patted him.

The long-haired keyboard player named Liu’er from the band glanced at the drummer. Both of their eyes shone with excitement.

The bassist, Wang Pangzi, listened carefully to the root notes played by Lin Hao’s left hand, occasionally nodding slightly.

Qian Yu still had an unconvinced expression, but his slightly open mouth had already betrayed him completely.

“If you have something new,

If you have a new shore,

Please leave me—leave me—”

Lin Hao did not play the ending melody. Instead, after repeatedly singing “leave me,” the singing and piano abruptly stopped.

The entire bar fell into silence.

This sudden silence seemed to instantly hollow out everyone’s heart, leaving them with an unbearable emptiness.

Then—

The man was the first to start applauding.

“Clap, clap, clap—”

Thunderous applause erupted.

Lin Hao walked around the synthesizer and slowly stepped to the center of the stage, bowing deeply toward the audience again.

Three girls standing together shouted loudly:

“Handsome guy! One more song!”

Immediately afterward, many people started shouting along:

“Handsome guy! One more song!”

“Handsome guy! One more song!”

“One more song!”

“……”

As long as the message had gotten across, that was enough. Lin Hao didn’t want to sing again, and he wasn’t getting paid either, so he ignored the enthusiasm from below the stage and quickly walked off.

The sound engineer hadn’t had enough either, but seeing that the person had already left the stage, he could only helplessly play the CD and deliberately turned the volume down a little.

Just as Lin Hao came off the stage, Liu’er, the keyboard player, and Wang Pangzi, the bassist, rushed over.

Wu Xiaozhou thought they were going to avenge the long-haired guy, so he hurriedly picked up the beer bottle again.

“Brother, whose song was that?” Keyboardist Liu’er grabbed Lin Hao’s arm.

Bassist Wang Pangzi was also full of excitement. “Yeah, I’ve never heard it before. Whose song is it?”

Seeing that they weren’t here to fight, Wu Xiaozhou finally put down the beer bottle and lit a cigarette.

Lin Hao smiled and softly said, “Mine!”

“Ah?”

Not only were Wang Pangzi and Liu’er shocked, even Qian Yu and the drummer not far away were staring at each other, unable to believe it was true.

Liu’er asked again, “Brother, do you know how to play other instruments too?”

Lin Hao turned his head and glanced at the stage, saying modestly, “I know a little.”

Qian Yu covered his forehead and sneered disdainfully.

“Pretending! So you can play guitar too?”

The man beside Chu Yu frowned slightly and glanced at Qian Yu.

Qian Yu was too focused on Lin Hao to notice. Otherwise, that single glance would have been enough to give him nightmares for several days!

He continued, “Since you know how, then go up there and play a few things for us to see. What kind of skill is just talking?”

Liu’er felt that Qian Yu’s words were unpleasant, so he said to Lin Hao, “Brother, judging from your piano skills just now, you’re definitely at an extraordinary level. I just wanted to know how you are with other instruments. How about giving us a performance?”

Without realizing it, he had started using respectful language, and his tone was full of pleading.

Lin Hao glanced at Qian Yu, who had a face full of contempt, and felt somewhat helpless.

Wherever he went, he always ran into flies like this. Sigh.

He understood the keyboard player’s feelings. He had once been the same way himself.

This was what a true music lover was like.

He looked at Wu Xiaozhou.

Wu Xiaozhou had a cigarette hanging from his mouth and was grinning. He even waved his hand at him, meaning:

Go ahead, show off!

Lin Hao shook his head with a bitter smile.

This guy was exactly the type who loved watching chaos and never feared making things bigger.

“Alright.”

He agreed, then turned around and walked toward the stage.

When the sound engineer saw him come back up, he was delighted and quickly lowered the music volume.

Lin Hao first walked over to Qian Yu’s electric guitar and picked it up.

Not bad. At least Qian Yu was actually using a real Fender.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Hao decided that with Qian Yu’s level, pieces like Yamashita Kazuhito’s Caprice No. 24 or Brian John Peter Ferneyhough’s Kurze Schatten II and other pieces like those were unnecessary.

He shouldn’t knock him unconscious again. If Qian Yu became afraid to play guitar afterward, then Lin Hao would feel guilty!

He put the guitar strap around his neck and thought about it.

Forget it, he would just casually play Canon.

With a slide, the sound suddenly burst out—

The 4-minute-30-second version of Canon ended in just 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

Lin Hao had doubled the speed perfectly.

While the entire audience stared in stunned silence, he calmly sat down behind the drum kit.

It was a five-piece TAMA drum set. The quality was average, belonging to the lower-end series.

Picking up the drumsticks placed on the snare drum, he used the standard grip he was accustomed to and started with a multiple-bounce roll on the snare.

After two bars, he added double bass pedals. The drumsticks began rolling across the toms, cymbals, ride cymbal, crash cymbal, and snare with triplets formed from thirty-second notes…

A drum solo.

Every bit of it was high-difficulty technical work.

Before the short and stocky drummer could even close his mouth, Lin Hao had already walked over to the bass.