ECG -Chapter 2 It Is a Faint Youth, a Pure Love

But Teacher Chen had already made up his mind. She couldn’t play the guitar herself, and even if she wanted to help, she was powerless. At this moment, saving the situation was like putting out a fire. Zhang Sisi could only grit her teeth, pick up Li Yibo’s guitar, and hand it over.

Lin Hao reached out to take the guitar, but Zhang Sisi didn’t let go.

He pulled a little harder.

Still, she didn’t let go.

Damn, what’s going on? Why isn’t she giving it to me? Lin Hao was depressed.

Seeing that it was already the second-to-last performance, Chen Shengli anxiously urged, “What are you two dawdling for? Hurry up! Quick! Lin Hao, get on stage!”

Zhang Sisi sighed and reluctantly released her grip. She had a sense of guilt, feeling miserable inside, as if she had personally released a demon that was about to bring disaster upon the world…

Lin Hao picked up the guitar and stood up. Chen Shengli gave him a victory gesture. Lin Hao straightened his back, smiled, and waved at his classmates.

The result was a chorus of boos.

Chen Shengli’s face turned dark as he turned around and glared. Lin Hao shook his head with a bitter smile, walked backstage with a face full of black lines.

Backstage.

The female host from Class 4, Grade 3, asked Lin Hao, “What are you singing?”

He thought for a moment and said, “Gardenia Blossoms.”

The female host found the song title strangely unfamiliar and looked at him in surprise.

“Next, please enjoy the guitar performance and singing of Gardenia Blossoms. Performer: Lin Hao from Class 3, Grade 3!”

Lin Hao walked onto the stage carrying his guitar. The only applause he received was the sparse clapping from the school leaders sitting in the front row. Some students below began whispering.

“Wasn’t Li Yibo supposed to be the finale?”

“Yeah, why was he replaced?”

“Who the hell is this guy? Can he even sing?”

“Don’t know him.”

“I think he’s from Class 3.”

“Has anyone ever heard him sing?”

“Nope.”

“…”

Lin Hao walked to the middle of the stage and sat down on the chair. After placing the guitar on his right thigh, he gently plucked the strings.

Not bad. The tuning was still accurate.

He had learned piano since he was young. Later, while working in nightclubs and hanging around with band members, he learned all kinds of instruments. While other people slept during the day, he spent year after year practicing obsessively in his rented room. People in the industry all called him a lunatic!

A music lunatic!

By the time he was thirty-seven or thirty-eight, he had reached a decent level with almost every instrument he picked up. His imitation of any male singer’s voice was also incredibly lifelike.

Once, after getting drunk, Fatty Li—who had made a name for himself in the domestic music industry—patted his shoulder and sighed:

“Chen Xi, oh Chen Xi… You’ve performed in the lowest-end public dance halls, and you’ve even been on the hottest show The Voice of China… But why are you still so stubborn? Your luck is just terrible too. Otherwise, whether it was singing or playing instruments, you would’ve become a damn god long ago!”

Sigh…

Lin Hao let out a quiet sigh.

The past was like the wind. Time, luck, fate.

He shook his head, forcing those heavy memories away. Just as he was about to speak, someone below the stage suddenly shouted:

“Get off! We want Li Yibo!”

“Yeah! Get off!”

“Get lost!”

“Who the hell are you?”

“Oh—just go down!”

“Get off!”

“…”

In a hall of over a thousand people, the shouts telling him to leave rose one after another.

Lin Hao looked down and noticed that all the troublemakers were senior boys.

After all, the college entrance exam had already ended. They were about to leave school, and their respect for teachers had basically vanished.

Yesterday, several boys had even burned their books in the classroom, giving the teachers a huge headache.

At this moment, several usually mischievous male students put two fingers into their mouths and began whistling loudly and sharply.

Several Grade 3 class teachers noticed that the principal’s expression had become unpleasant, so they hurriedly stood up to stop the students.

A male teacher in the back row shouted:

“Have you all gone crazy? Wang Gang, take your fingers out of your mouth! Believe it or not, I’ll break them for you…”

A female teacher’s voice rang out sharply:

“Yu Jiangtao, get down here! Your skin is itchy again?!”

A fair-faced boy shrank his neck and reluctantly jumped down from his chair.

“Smack!”

Someone got slapped on the back of the neck.

“Sun Tao, do you want me to have a nice chat with your father tonight?”

“Go ahead,” the boy replied with a cheeky grin. “My dad loves it when you come for a home visit…”

“Wu Xiaozhou!?” Chen Shengli was so angry the corner of his mouth twitched. “You idiot! Are you still from Class 3? Are you still Lin Hao’s good friend?!”

A thick-eyebrowed, big-eyed boy grinned foolishly.

With the teachers’ efforts, the noise gradually died down.

Lin Hao sat on stage, his expression unchanged. Inside, he was cursing:

What kind of crappy school is this?

After searching through his memories, he learned that this used to be the factory-run middle school of a former timber processing plant. After the factory reforms, the school was handed over to the district, and its ranking throughout the city had always been dead last.

But even so, wasn’t the quality here a little too terrible?

He kept smiling as he looked at the audience, without the slightest bit of panic.

What does this little thing count for? In my previous life, when I sang on stage, it was common for groups of customers to fight below me while beer bottles flew everywhere.

His slightly hoarse yet rich voice rang out:

“June is the season when gardenias bloom in the south, and chrysanthemums blossom in the north. Today, we are about to leave. With a wave of our hands, we bid farewell to that trace of youth, letting it forever be engraved in the transparency of our lives…”

The hall became noisy again.

Accompanied by the cheerful guitar melody, a boy put both hands around his mouth like a loudspeaker and shouted:

“Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and sing!”

“Smack!”

The class teacher immediately went over and slapped the back of his neck…

Lin Hao’s voice became youthful and slightly immature:

“Gardenia blossoms…”

So beautiful, so white;

This is the season when we will leave……

Chen Shengli had already been anxiously clutching his heart the entire time. The earlier jeers had nearly made him want to bury his head in embarrassment. But when Lin Hao’s guitar melody rang out, and when his singing reached his ears, he immediately straightened up as if he had been electrified.

Zhang Sisi’s mouth fell open even wider.

Was this really that lazy-to-the-core Lin Hao? Was this still the Lin Hao whose singing sounded as miserable as a slaughtered pig? When did he learn to play guitar?

Was this really him? How was that possible?

She couldn’t believe it. She simply couldn’t.

The noisy chatter inside the auditorium gradually faded away. Everyone became immersed in the song.

“Gardenia flowers bloom and bloom,

Gardenia flowers bloom and bloom,

Like crystal-clear waves blossoming in the ocean of my heart……”

The simple rhythm, the youthful and unembellished voice, gently described the emotions of parting. Below the stage, everyone slightly closed their eyes. It was as if the fragrance of gardenias was drifting through the air.

Lin Hao repeatedly sang the latter sections again and again.

Some teachers began whispering among themselves.

“Such a beautiful song. It feels like I’ve returned to my childhood!”

“Exactly. This is the best performance tonight!”

“Strange, how come I’ve never heard such a beautiful song before?”

“……”

Some female students from the second year of high school looked at Lin Hao on stage, their eyes shining.

“He’s so handsome, so stylish!”

“I like his monolids. They look so neat and attractive!”

“He plays the guitar so well!”

“I want his autograph!”

“……”

Some boys’ voices grew louder.

“This is what a campus song is, right?”

“I can’t believe it. Is this really still that Lin Hao?”

“I’ve never heard this before. Have you?”

“Neither have I……”

“Is he from Class Three? How come I don’t have any impression of him at all?”

“……”

The sound of the guitar and singing gradually weakened. Lin Hao stood up, raised the guitar in his hands high, and waved to express his thanks.

He was very satisfied with this voice—deep and full of magnetism!

This body was only tone-deaf. After he crossed over and filled in that weakness, combined with his skills, he was definitely going to become another versatile singing king!

A brief silence appeared below the stage.

Then—

“Clap—!”

The applause erupted like a tide, refusing to stop for a long time.

A male student who had just been whistling stood up and shouted loudly:

“Sing another one!”

After that, it was as if everyone followed along. The auditorium instantly became chaotic.

“Another one!”

“Another one!”

“……”

A few third-year students started whistling too. Although this time it wasn’t meant to cause trouble, several teachers still stood up and loudly scolded them for being unruly. Only then did things gradually settle down……

The teacher in charge of the cultural performance quickly ran over to the principal. The two whispered to each other for a moment, then the teacher hurried toward the stage. Behind the curtain, he explained something to the host.

The female host gestured toward Lin Hao, meaning that he could perform another song.

Lin Hao smiled.

Out of professional habit, while riding his bicycle here, he had been recalling the songs he knew from this world. Unexpectedly, all of them felt completely unfamiliar.

That meant this world was very different from the one he had lived in before. Although he still needed to observe other things, at least he now understood one thing clearly: this world did not have the songs from his previous life.

So, when the applause had erupted just now, he had already figured it out.

His previous world had too many classic songs. Since the heavens had given him another chance at life, why couldn’t he make something of himself this time?

In his previous life, he had been arrogant and stubborn, yet ended up living in poverty. After spending two years bedridden with illness, he had finally reached enlightenment……

Plagiarism was shameful. In his previous life, he had always hated such behavior. But the situation now was completely different from that kind of plagiarism.

If anyone else were in the same situation as him, would they really be able to refuse to sing the songs from their previous life—even if it meant going to a construction site to carry bricks just to preserve their pride?

Maybe there were people like that.

But one thing was certain: if that guy crossed over like him, his brain must have been slammed in a door……

More importantly, since he was a teenager, he had spent years hanging around dance halls, nightclubs, music restaurants, bars, and all kinds of nightlife venues. He had spent half his life playing music.

Doing something else?

He really didn’t know how!

Lin Hao raised his index finger to his lips, making a “shh” gesture.

At this moment, everyone below the stage understood what he meant, and the entire auditorium instantly became quiet.

“Once, I wrote a song for our childhood that quietly faded away. Today, using this stage, I want to dedicate it to my alma mater, to my beloved teachers and classmates!”

Lin Hao’s voice was deep, carrying a hint of vicissitude. If someone closed their eyes and listened, they would never think this was the voice of a nineteen-year-old boy.

At this moment, the entire audience was silent. No one whistled anymore, no one shouted anymore. Everyone looked at him with anticipation……