ECG -Chapter 50 Your Voice Is Too Unique, You’re Destined to Face Hardships

On the morning of the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the father and son trudged through knee-deep snow to visit the ancestral graves, burning paper offerings. They didn’t run into any other relatives—the weather was simply too cold. After finishing the ritual, the two hurried back home.

Dinner that night was very lavish. The father and son opened a bottle of Moutai and drank a little.

Lin Hao watched every program of the Spring Festival Gala very seriously. Just searching things online wasn’t enough; he needed to become more familiar with the celebrities of this world.

The third day of the first lunar month, at Wu Xiaozhou’s house.

Lin Hao’s family, Wu Xiaozhou’s family, and Zhang Sisi’s family gathered together. The three families lived in the same building entrance and had gotten along very well over the years.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, the three fathers stayed behind to continue drinking, while Lin Hao and the other two entered Wu Xiaozhou’s bedroom.

“Sisi, how are things between you and Li Yibo?” Wu Xiaozhou asked with a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

Zhang Sisi’s face first turned red, then she sighed.

“I don’t know if he’ll do well in the exam this year.”

Wu Xiaozhou said, “What? If he doesn’t pass, are you going to repeat another year with him?”

Zhang Sisi nodded instinctively, then immediately shook her head and whispered, “How could that be…”

“Enough about me. What about you two? I also want to apply to the Art Academy! If things work out, you two might become my seniors!”

Zhang Sisi forced a smile as she asked.

Wu Xiaozhou immediately started bragging.

“There are so many people studying music. Let me tell you, especially those girls in the dance department—their waists are so thin, you could probably wrap one arm around them…”

Zhang Sisi curled her lips.

“As if you’ve ever hugged one!”

“Cut it out! Your Brother Xiaowu is definitely the kind of person everyone loves at the academy. Flowers bloom when they see me…”

“Pfft!”

Zhang Sisi spat lightly.

“Who are you calling Brother Xiaowu?”

Lin Hao watched the two of them with a smile. These two really were natural enemies. They had been fighting since childhood, and neither of them could stand the other!

Speaking of which, Zhang Sisi was definitely a little beauty. She had studied dance since she was young, and her height, figure, and face were all exceptional. Wu Xiaozhou was tall and sturdy, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. So why were these two always incompatible?

Lin Hao watched Wu Xiaozhou’s big hands waving around as he talked nonsense, and noticed the calluses on his fingers. A little comfort rose in his heart.

Looks like this kid really just needed to be scolded. After he had given him a harsh lecture, it seemed that Wu Xiaozhou had truly been working hard these days.

During the first month of the lunar year, Lin Hao rarely went out. Lin Qingsheng also gave himself a long holiday. If he wasn’t going out drinking with old friends, he would just stay home and watch TV.

Lin Hao spent every day reading. The books Fan Gang had given him were all brought back in his suitcase.

He would occasionally go upstairs to check on Wu Xiaozhou. Whenever he found something wrong with his practice, he would immediately point it out.

As for Wu Xiaozhou, he really was naturally suited for this path. Once he developed this fierce determination to study and practice hard, he could practice for more than ten hours a day, and his improvement was incredibly fast.

Lin Hao was very pleased. If Wu Xiaozhou could maintain at least five hours of practice every day after school started, then his plan could probably be carried out in about another year.

It wasn’t until after the Lantern Festival that Black Knight Bar reopened.

Lin Hao’s schedule was packed. Every night, going to the bar to sing was set in stone. In the mornings, he read books. During the first three or four hours of the afternoon, he composed the songs he wanted to perform and the songs he might sell in the future.

Because the sheet music and lyrics had to be written separately, and he also needed to revise them repeatedly, it often took two or three days to finish one song.

During the final hour, he still had to write melodies in a newly purchased music notebook.

Some things needed to be prepared in advance. It might have been a little early, but these six songs were relatively harder to write. He wanted to make them as perfect as possible, so that the day he released them, they could shock everyone.

During this holiday, both Lin Hao and Wu Xiaozhou lived very fulfilling lives. Especially Lin Hao—during his time at Black Knight, he had earned more than twenty thousand yuan.

One day, after receiving his wages for the final ten days at Black Knight, he went to the mobile phone shop from last time and spent 1,800 yuan buying Wu Xiaozhou a second-hand Samsung phone.

This was his reward for Wu Xiaozhou’s hard work and dedication during this period.

When he gave the phone to Wu Xiaozhou, the guy was so happy he nearly jumped up.

His parents were ordinary workers. The phone his father had bought was still an old black-and-white display model.

If his father hadn’t told his mother that there was no phone at home and that having one would make it easier to contact their son who was studying far away in the provincial capital, his mother probably wouldn’t have been willing to spend the money.

Lin Hao received his wages every ten days and gave all the money to his father. Lin Qingsheng deposited it all in the bank.

He only put three thousand yuan into Lin Hao’s own card and told him to spend carefully—that was his living expenses for half a semester.

As for the remaining money, according to Lin Qingsheng, it was all his son’s future marriage savings.

Lin Hao knew his father was used to living frugally. Even if he tried to persuade him to enjoy life a little, his father wouldn’t listen.

So there was no choice. Before school started, he went to the mall and bought several sets of clothes and pairs of shoes for himself and his father.

Although none of the clothes were particularly expensive, as expected, he still received a scolding from Lin Qingsheng after returning home, with his father saying he wasted money.

However, since they were already bought, Lin Qingsheng was still very happy after putting on the new clothes.

After all, they were bought with money earned by his son. When he wore them outside, he even stood a little straighter than before.

On the train.

Wu Xiaozhou walked through each carriage with a cigarette in his mouth. When he returned, he looked dejected.

Lin Hao knew what he had gone to do and asked:

“Didn’t find her?”

Wu Xiaozhou shook his head.

“Forget about seeing those long white legs, I didn’t even see Jiang Rong!”

“Although there’s only one train to the provincial capital every day, you can’t guarantee that she would take this one,” Lin Hao comforted him.

“When we get to school and see her, I’ll ask where her family lives!”

Lin Hao was surprised and laughed.

“What for? Going to propose marriage?”

“Bullshit! We can go see her during summer vacation!” Wu Xiaozhou narrowed his eyes, looking completely lovestruck. “Summer vacation, sunshine, short skirts, long white legs—just think about it, really think about it…”

Lin Hao rolled his eyes. “Looks like spring has arrived.”

“Damn it!” Wu Xiaozhou cursed irritably. “Such a hypocrite!”

“Oh, right. That Xiaomin girl asked about you after the performance at the bar that last night,” Lin Hao said.

Wu Xiaozhou let out a long sigh. “Ah! What a shame about those dumplings!”

The two burst out laughing.

Clearly unwilling to revisit that “heartbreaking memory,” Wu Xiaozhou grinned and asked, “You act all proper every day, but who do you actually like?”

The question made Lin Hao scratch his head.

Thinking about it, there really wasn’t any girl at school who made his heart race.

Strange, really. There were plenty of pretty girls in his class, yet he had never once entertained any romantic thoughts about them.

The only women who had stirred even the slightest ripple in his heart were Chu Yu and Fourth Sister from Ferry Bar in the provincial capital. Their common traits were obvious—they were both close to thirty, beautiful, and incredibly attractive.

But when he thought about it carefully, that wasn’t really love between a man and a woman. It was simply a basic male instinct.

As this thought crossed his mind, a girl’s image appeared before his eyes.

Half smiling, half pouting.

Xia Yumeng—the girl he had met on the train during his first trip to college.

She looked remarkably like the actress Gao Yuanyuan from his previous life. She was exactly his type.

He couldn’t say for sure whether it was love, but she was the only girl he couldn’t forget.

As for the others—Jiang Rong, Bai Zhitao, and those so-called campus beauties from other classes—if he closed his eyes now, he couldn’t even remember what they looked like.

Around noon, some passengers got off the train, and a short-haired girl boarded.

Seeing her struggle to lift a suitcase onto the luggage rack, Lin Hao stood up and helped her place it there.

“Thank you,” the girl said before taking the seat beside Wu Xiaozhou.

Wu Xiaozhou glanced at her and immediately judged her appearance as average, even somewhat rustic-looking, so he made no effort to start a conversation.

The moment Lin Hao heard her say “thank you,” he froze for a second.

Then he noticed the guitar case in her arms.

“Are you a singer?” he asked.

The girl looked surprised.

“How did you know?”

Her voice was extremely distinctive. When she spoke, her tongue naturally pulled back slightly, creating resonance in her nasal cavity. The result was a voice that was gentle yet carried a trace of huskiness and a rich nasal tone.

Lin Hao pointed at the guitar in her arms.

The girl laughed self-deprecatingly.

“Yeah. I’ve been singing for a few years.”

“How’s it going?”

“Not very well.”

A shadow of disappointment crossed her face.

Wu Xiaozhou looked at Lin Hao in confusion.

Normally, Lin Hao barely spoke to beautiful girls, so why was he chatting so enthusiastically with this rather ordinary-looking girl today?

He tilted his head and examined her more carefully.

Actually, she wasn’t ugly.

Her frame was simply a bit large, lacking some of the softness traditionally associated with femininity. Her skin wasn’t particularly fair, her features were slightly angular, and beneath her thick, straight eyebrows were a pair of large eyes.

“Is it because you haven’t found songs that suit you?” Lin Hao asked with a smile.

“Huh?!”

The girl was stunned.

She had been singing for over three years, but never managed to stay at any venue for long.

People who liked her voice said it was unique.

People who didn’t sometimes even threw beer bottles onto the stage and told her to get lost.

There were countless popular songs on the market, and she had done her best to find ones that fit her voice, but she still couldn’t find her true style.

Sweet songs? She couldn’t sing them.

Rock music? No band was willing to take her.

If things continued like this, she would have no choice but to return home and help her parents farm.

Then her parents would arrange a husband for her, she’d have a couple of children, and spend the rest of her life working in the fields.

But she wasn’t willing to accept that fate.

“How did you know?” she asked.

Lin Hao replied:

“Your voice is too unique. A difficult road awaits you.”

The girl nodded and sighed.

As she watched the scenery rushing past outside the train window, tears nearly welled up in her eyes.

“Give me your guitar,” Lin Hao said.

The girl hesitated for a moment but handed it over.

Opening the case, Lin Hao found a Hongmian guitar inside. It was an old, well-known brand with a decent tone.

He plucked a few strings.

The tuning was acceptable, so he didn’t bother adjusting it. Instead, he moved the capo to the fourth fret and said:

“I’ll sing a song. See if it suits you.”

The girl nodded blankly.

She found it hard to believe that this young man, several years younger than herself, could possibly sing anything extraordinary.

The guitar began to ring.

Lin Hao skipped the long introduction. After strumming a few chords, he started singing:

“Whenever night falls,
Loneliness is always by my side…”

The girl shuddered involuntarily.

In that instant, every hair on her body seemed to stand on end.