ECG -Chapter 20 Do You Love Me?

“Has everyone thought about it? Actually, as long as our musical theme is about expressing a certain attitude toward life and certain ideas, why bother restricting ourselves to a specific form?”

Keyboard player Liu’er glanced at the drummer, not quite understanding what Lin Hao meant by suddenly changing the direction of the conversation.

“I’m asking you guys, what kind of music has the widest audience?” Lin Hao asked.

Liu’er answered, “Of course it’s pop music!”

Lin Hao nodded. “Exactly. So why not make rock music more mainstream and easier to spread?”

The four of them looked even more confused, not understanding what he was getting at.

Lin Hao pulled four sheets of A4 paper from his pocket and handed them out. “Take a look. I wrote a song for your band.”

Liu’er took it and saw the title: “Do You Love Me?”

After that, everyone silently started reading.

After quite a while…

“Slap!”

Liu’er smacked his thigh. “It’s amazing!”

Qian Yu was also full of excitement.

“This song isn’t difficult. Especially with your current skill level, after practicing for a while, you’ll have no problem playing it completely!”

“I’ll give you an hour to practice on your own first and get familiar with it. Then we’ll play it together.”

After saying that, he pulled over a chair, sat down, and lit a cigarette.

……

After returning home last night, he had tossed and turned in bed for a long time, constantly thinking about how he should help these four people.

They had been playing pop music for too long, and their actual skill level was honestly just average. Asking them to arrange and perform rock songs right now was still impossible!

Especially Qian Yu, that pig teammate—he was nothing but a burden!

After thinking it over again and again, he finally decided that starting with “Do You Love Me?” was the most appropriate choice.

The lyrics of this song were easy to understand, the melody was beautiful and emotional, and it was a perfect combination of pop and rock. As the band’s main song, it couldn’t be more suitable.

Last night, in front of Chu Yu, he had appeared to agree casually, as if it was no big deal. But inside, he had actually been extremely conflicted.

Liu’er and the others were nothing more than casual acquaintances with him. If it weren’t for Zhou Dongbing’s sake, and if he hadn’t had his own little plans, he would never have helped them.

That little plan was something he had thought about for a long time.

His mind contained too many classic songs from his previous life. He couldn’t possibly sing all of them himself. In the future, he would definitely sing some, but the rest would have to be sold to make money.

Besides making money by selling songs as a lyricist and composer, he also wanted to help some singers and bands, because these people would become his connections in the future!

Having lived for forty-two years, he naturally understood that a person couldn’t always focus on tiny immediate gains. Only by thinking long-term could one catch a truly big opportunity.

Right now, Liu’er and the others had no money to pay him. But with his ability, if he wrote a few songs for them, he could make them become a top-tier domestic band in the future.

At that time, would they still be able to leave his songwriting behind?

It looked like he was using this matter to give Zhou Dongbing and Chu Yu enough face, but in reality, this was only the first kite he had sent flying.

He wasn’t afraid of them flying high and far, because the string would always remain in his hands.

On stage, the electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, and drums blended together into a chaotic mess.

Lin Hao stood right in the middle of that chaos. Whenever he noticed even the slightest mistake or something that wasn’t quite right, he immediately pointed it out.

Among them, he talked to Qian Yu the most.

At first, Qian Yu felt a little uncomfortable. After all, he was more than ten years older than Lin Hao. Being constantly corrected by a kid naturally made him feel unhappy.

But when he couldn’t get the solo part in the interlude right no matter how he played it, Lin Hao took the guitar, played it smoothly from start to finish, then slowed down and broke it down step by step for him.

Only then did Qian Yu completely submit.

After more than an hour, they finally managed to play the first half together.

Although there were still many problems, they were all due to each person’s own skill level. They could only go back and work hard themselves.

“Come on, let’s play through it once!” Lin Hao said, then picked up the microphone.

The intro began with a piano sound.

After four measures, the drums entered like splashing rain from the cymbals…

Amid the deep lingering note of the bass guitar, Lin Hao opened his mouth and sang:

“You find an excuse, to help me feel balanced…”

This first section felt more like an inner monologue—quietly whispered, gently confessing one’s feelings—so the accompaniment only had the piano.

Starting from the line, “Don’t say it was time that played tricks on you and me,” the bass, drums, and guitar began to enter.

But even with such a simple entrance, Qian Yu kept coming in a quarter beat too early.

It was only such a tiny mistake, but it made the song feel as if its throat had been caught, creating an unbearable sense of awkwardness.

So Lin Hao stayed stuck on this part and made Qian Yu practice it over and over more than ten times.

“Do you really love me,

once you awaken yourself, you won’t feel sad anymore.”

After singing this line, the interlude began. Qian Yu’s electric guitar stepped on the distortion pedal and started the solo.

But starting from the third bar, he messed it up…

After repeating it several times, Lin Hao had no choice but to stop them.

“Teacher Qian, this part isn’t difficult. You’re just not familiar with it yet. Once you go back and practice more, it’ll be fine!”

Lin Hao didn’t say anything harsh, but Qian Yu’s face still turned bright red from embarrassment.

In the band, he was the oldest, and he was even known as the top guitar master in Chunhe City. Yet now, he had instead become the band’s burden. The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt, and the more aggrieved he became.

Actually, Lin Hao had already been very considerate of his feelings. If this had been when he was around thirty years old in his previous life, the microphone would have already been thrown at him.

Why was he called “Crazy Chen” back then?

It wasn’t just because his practice methods were insane; his attitude toward music during rehearsals was just as crazy! If anyone had a problem, he didn’t care about saving face for anyone.

Why had he ended up poor and miserable in his previous life?

Once, during a performance at the Yandu Sports Stadium, the famous singer on stage was lip-syncing. He lost his temper right there, threw down the performance, and left the band behind.

His personality caused more and more people in the industry to reject him. It wasn’t until he grew older and his mindset gradually became calmer that this craziness eased a little.

“Liu’er, can you sing this song?” Lin Hao asked the keyboard player, Liu’er.

Liu’er looked overjoyed and pointed at his own nose. “Me? I sing?”

“Yeah. Your voice is definitely fine! The four of you can add another rhythm guitarist later, making a five-person lineup. You can sing while playing the keyboard.”

Liu’er’s voice itself had no problems; he just lacked explosive power. Of course, that was something he would need to learn and explore on his own.

Lin Hao and them were nothing more than casual acquaintances. The reason he was doing all this was entirely because of Chu Yu and Zhou Dongbing’s face.

It could only be said that meeting each other was a kind of fate. These people being able to meet him was their good fortune!

This was all he could help them with. Once this band grew strong enough, even Black Knight wouldn’t be able to keep them.

Over the next week, Lin Hao wrote them three more songs: Don’t Misunderstand, Every Night, Every Day, and Have You Had Enough.

Every afternoon, he came over and practiced with them for a week, then stopped going.

One night in mid-August, just after Lin Hao locked up his bicycle, he saw the keyboard player Liu’er.

“Something up?” Lin Hao asked.

Liu’er tossed him a cigarette, helped light it, and said, “I want to discuss something with you!”

Lin Hao took a puff and said, “Go ahead.”

Liu’er hesitated for a moment.

“I want to replace Teacher Qian.”

“Oh?” Lin Hao was stunned. “Why?”

“He’s getting older. A lot of his ideas and understanding are no longer in sync with ours. Also, his students have increased recently, so he doesn’t have time to practice guitar. During rehearsals, he’s been coming and going irregularly too.”

Lin Hao knew this day would come sooner or later. He just smiled.

“This is your internal matter. You don’t need to tell me.”

Liu’er also laughed awkwardly.

“That won’t do. No matter what, we should tell you.”

Lin Hao didn’t want to get involved in these matters, so he said, “Alright, then let’s go inside?”

“Wait!”

Liu’er hurriedly grabbed Lin Hao.

“I heard you’re leaving at the end of the month. The few of us want to invite you out for a meal!”

Lin Hao looked at him without saying anything.

Liu’er swallowed, feeling like Lin Hao’s gaze had seen through everything. He had no choice but to tell the truth.

“We also… we also wanted you to write a few more songs for us!”

After saying that, he immediately added:

“We won’t let you write for free. Name your price, name your price! We need to show our appreciation…”

Lin Hao raised his hand and stopped him.

“Our country is very large. If you can have one or two signature songs, you’ll be able to make a fortune!”

At this point, Lin Hao sighed.

“I can write four songs for you—that’s also because of fate! As long as you grasp this style, and your future songs don’t stray from this path, your development will naturally be limitless! Work hard!”

After saying that, he patted Liu’er’s shoulder like an elder, turned around, and walked into the bar.

Liu’er stood at the entrance, his face full of disappointment.