ECG -Chapter 27 Cigarettes, Sunflower Seeds, and Dried Fish Fillets for Sale

Wan Yong took a step forward. Seeing that the classmates beside him hadn’t managed to stop him, he felt a little depressed. He cursed himself inwardly. That guy was tall and sturdy—at a glance, he clearly wasn’t someone to mess with. Had he been a little too impulsive?

But an arrow already on the bow had to be released. He took another step forward, and Lin Hao stood up.

“Alright, since this classmate wants me to sing a song, then I’ll sing one!”

Lin Hao walked two steps forward and naturally took the wooden guitar from Wan Yong’s hands.

He really didn’t want to sing and couldn’t be bothered to draw attention to himself, but things had already come to this point. He didn’t want Wu Xiaozhou to start fighting with someone again, so he had no choice but to step in.

Wan Yong took the opportunity to back down. He still muttered a few unpleasant and resentful words under his breath before returning to his seat.

When Wu Xiaozhou saw Lin Hao step forward, he knew what Lin Hao was thinking and could only reluctantly keep quiet.

Lin Hao plucked the strings once and secretly nodded. Although this Martin was a low-end model, its tone and feel were still pretty good.

“This song, Blue Lotus, is one I’m performing for the first time today. I hope all the students will like it!”

Just as Lin Hao finished speaking, Wan Yong immediately let out a disdainful “Tsk—”.

The few guys who had been talking earlier also started whistling mockingly.

Wu Xiaozhou looked at Wan Yong and thought: Kid, you’d better hope you’re not my classmate. Otherwise, I’ll make your life miserable in the future!

Xia Yumeng and Jiang Rong were the first to start clapping. Wu Xiaozhou put two fingers in his mouth and gave a loud whistle.

Lin Hao stood in the aisle with the guitar hanging from his shoulder. Their seats were in the middle of the carriage, so he could take care of both the front and back.

For the first line, Lin Hao didn’t even strum the guitar. He simply began singing:

“Nothing can stop—”

Then the guitar rhythm came in:

“Your longing for freedom;

A life that soars freely like a heavenly steed…”

When Lin Hao sang the third line, the entire carriage became completely silent. Everyone’s eyes shone with surprise. They never expected this handsome, gentle-looking young man to sing so beautifully.

The girl with the sweet voice was the first to stand up. Then more and more people stood up.

Inside the carriage, some people knelt on their seats while others stood in the aisle. They all stretched out their hands and clapped along with Lin Hao’s rhythm, neat and loud.

The melody of the song wasn’t intense, and Lin Hao wasn’t singing at the top of his lungs either, but it still shook everyone’s hearts. They listened with complete satisfaction, deeply moved, and felt inspired.

Unconsciously, Wan Yong also became immersed in the singing and started clapping along with the song.

“Blooming forever without fading,

Blue Lotus—”

As the final long note rang out, the guitar’s ending melody played, and the song came to an end.

Inside the carriage, thunderous applause continued without stopping.

“Bang!”

The train door was pushed open, and a plump middle-aged woman pushing a snack cart stuck out her neck and shouted:

“Beer, drinks, mineral water—”

“Cigarettes, sunflower seeds, dried fish fillets—”

“Hey, you there, I’m talking to you! Move your legs!”

The entire carriage fell silent. Then, bursts of laughter erupted.

The plump auntie had a dark expression on her face. She lowered her head and looked herself over. There was nothing wrong!

Earlier, that cook Old Wang had been clumsy with his hands again. In such a short time, he could still cause trouble once…

But she clearly had fixed her clothes before coming out. What was going on?

Everyone returned to their seats. Lin Hao handed the guitar back to Wan Yong and said with a smile:

“Nice guitar!”

Wan Yong took the guitar awkwardly, his face dark, and didn’t say anything.

Lin Hao turned around and returned to his seat.

Xia Yumeng and Jiang Rong were both full of excitement. They raised their thumbs at him together.

Xia Yumeng looked at him with admiration.

“You wrote this?”

Lin Hao nodded modestly. Then he thought to himself: Damn, I’m becoming more and more shameless now. As expected, habits really do become natural!

Jiang Rong also looked at him with admiration and said:

“The ancient Egyptians used the lotus as a symbol of life very early on. The lotus that never withers is just like our lives—continuing endlessly, generation after generation!”

Lin Hao nodded. He hadn’t expected this quiet and elegant girl to be so knowledgeable.

Xia Yumeng smiled and said:

“I understand now!”

Lin Hao and Wu Xiaozhou both looked at her, not knowing what exactly she had realized.

“Why did you two transfer to the music department?” Xia Yumeng continued. “Although it’s a pity that the world will lose two great art masters in the future, gaining two musicians isn’t bad either!”

The four of them burst into laughter.

Jiang Rong tilted her head and looked at Wu Xiaozhou, her red lips slightly parting. “You must sing even better, right?”

“Thump—”

Wu Xiaozhou’s face immediately turned red. He stammered, “Not bad, hehe, not bad!”

Lin Hao laughed. “He’s actually better at playing bass.”

Wu Xiaozhou’s bass skills had improved a lot afterward, though in the end he had only practiced 22 bars. However, there was no doubt about his level—he was already completely free from the awkwardness he had shown during his first performance at Black Knight.

If that bassist Wang Pangzi heard him now, he would definitely be shocked and admire him wholeheartedly.

Wu Xiaozhou hurriedly turned around and hugged the bass in his arms. “Want to hear?”

Jiang Rong tilted her head again, smiling brightly. “Sure!”

Wu Xiaozhou immediately started playing. His large hands flew across the four strings, making a clattering, rapid sound. An electric bass played without being plugged in… one could imagine what that sounded like.

Jiang Rong and Xia Yumeng were first surprised, but soon their faces became full of confusion.

Meanwhile, Wan Yong and a chubby fair-skinned young man sitting opposite him were completely dumbfounded. Wan Yong lowered his voice and asked, “Er Bao, what do you think?”

The chubby Er Bao’s face was full of envy. “That bass really is a KS. This instrument is seriously amazing! I’ve never heard the part he’s playing before, but…”

Wan Yong asked, “But what?”

“My teacher can’t play this! This is way too damn awesome!”

Wan Yong fell silent.

Although his major wasn’t electric bass, electric guitar and electric bass were connected in many ways. Many bass players had originally switched over from electric guitar.

Of course, he could tell how skilled Wu Xiaozhou was. Asking Er Bao was purely instinctive, like he wanted someone to confirm it for him. If someone could say this guy wasn’t that good, then he might feel a little better.

He narrowed his eyes as he looked at that KS bass, then glanced at Jiang Rong beside Wu Xiaozhou. His eyes were filled with jealousy.

When Jiang Rong saw that Wu Xiaozhou had finally finished playing, she asked him with a confused expression, “You… what were you playing? Clang clang ding ding, it sounded like Old Zhao from the market near my house playing cotton!”

Lin Hao had just taken a sip of water.

“Pfft!”

He sprayed it all out, directly hitting Wu Xiaozhou’s face.

Wu Xiaozhou wiped his face with his hand and looked at him with deep resentment.

Lin Hao burst into laughter and quickly explained, “It sounds good when it’s plugged into electricity, really!”

“Get lost!” Wu Xiaozhou cursed.

Seeing his miserable appearance, Jiang Rong and Xia Yumeng also burst out laughing.

At noon, the carriage was filled with the aroma of Master Kong beef noodles and ham sausages.

After finishing their noodles, Lin Hao and Wu Xiaozhou went to the connection area between the train cars to smoke.

Wu Xiaozhou said, “That Wan Yong has a problem!”

Lin Hao nodded. He had noticed it long ago too, but he still couldn’t figure out the reason.

At the moment, he could only guess that it was because two beautiful girls, Xia Yumeng and Jiang Rong, were sitting beside them, which had triggered his jealousy.

But that alone wasn’t enough of a reason. After all, those two girls weren’t his girlfriends—they didn’t even know each other.

Just because two beautiful girls sat beside them, for him to become this jealous seemed unreasonable. Was this guy really that narrow-minded?

He thought about it again and again but still couldn’t find any clues. So he said to Wu Xiaozhou, “Don’t always act so impulsively. After cursing a few times, are you really going to grow two ounces of meat?”

“Damn! As long as it feels good!” Wu Xiaozhou gave a sly smile, looking as if he didn’t care at all.

Lin Hao shook his head and stopped trying to persuade him.

Wu Xiaozhou was just that kind of person. To others, he seemed straightforward, reckless, and impulsive…

But anyone who truly thought that would be completely wrong!

This guy was best at pretending to be a fool while hiding his real intentions. Many times, behind his seemingly careless and fearless behavior, there was actually a little scheme of his own.

In the afternoon, the carriage became much quieter. Most people were taking naps.

With gentlemanly manners, Lin Hao and Wu Xiaozhou gave the window seats to the two girls.

Jiang Rong was sleeping with her head resting on the small table, while Xia Yumeng leaned against the window with her eyes closed.

Lin Hao casually glanced at Xia Yumeng a few times, thinking that her eyelashes were really long. And the more he looked, the more she resembled Gao Yuanyuan, causing his heart to start beating wildly again.

He glanced at the three-person seat opposite them.

Wan Yong was sitting in the middle, one hand resting on the corner of the small table, his head lying on his arm. He seemed to be asleep too.

Then he suddenly remembered the copyright issue.

Recently he had sung several more classic songs, but that damn website was still under construction!

Sigh… what a headache!

The train made its monotonous rumbling sound, which reminded him of Matthew Lien’s Bressanone. The ending of that song was the sound of train tracks, and it matched his current mood perfectly.

He really loved that song. In his previous life, the CD player of his beat-up Jetta car had played this song repeatedly for years. He secretly thought that one day he would definitely find a chance to sing it.

Wu Xiaozhou’s head drooped down. A clear strand of drool stretched into a thin line and slowly dripped down…