1990: Starting from Baojia Street

When the guitar and drums sounded, Zhou Yan felt that the song sounded familiar, and then he recognized it. Isn't this the change of the prelude of Little Bird?

Soon, it came to the vocal part.

Ideals always fly here and there

illusory

Reality is still real

Can't hide

…”

Zhou Yan had a smile on his face, it was really Little Bird.

Although Zhou Yan rarely listens to domestic rock music, Little Bird is a song he likes very much.

There were many jokes about Wang Feng later on, and many netizens liked to tease him, saying things like Wang Banbi and Wang Toutiao, but there was nothing to say about Wang Feng's early talent.

When Senior Lu was chatting with Zhou Yan last time, he mentioned that Wang Feng's songs were too high-end for the movie Grown Up. In fact, this was not wrong.

In the movie Grown Up, although the protagonist Zhou Qing is a rock and roll youth, there are not many rock elements in the movie. Some rock-related clips that appear during the period mainly show the decadence of rock and roll.

The song Little Bird is too positive.

To say Little Bird is positive, some people may object.

Look at these lyrics.

Reality is still too real to hide

“My body has no strength and I don’t want to feel sad, so I have to act slutty.”

I can't feel tired, but I have nowhere to go. The emptiness throws me on the street, like a patient escaping from death.

These lyrics sound very depressing, like a young man who has no clue about the future, walking aimlessly on the street, full of confusion.

But the lyrics behind this song change from confusion to full of passion.

I don't want to be numb anymore

“I never want to be manipulated by anyone again”

I no longer want to waste my life in lies.

The reason why this song is so good is that the lyrics and the melody fit very well, and the story presented is also complete. It tells the story of a young man's journey of gradually coming out of confusion.

Many rock bands nowadays are mainly focusing on decadence in what they do every day. The more deviant it is, the more they want to play it. The more the mainstream denounces it, the more attractive they find it.

This is a bit like rap, it needs to be real, it needs to be confrontational, it needs to be anti-traditional and anti-elegant.

Whenever he thinks of Chinese rock music in the 1980s and 1990s, Zhou Yan would think of Dadaism, which was disorderly, short-lived, and rebellious to everything. They were all very similar.

But if the Chinese rock music of this period is defined as part of Dadaism, then Dadaism supporters may object. Perhaps in the eyes of Dadaism supporters, these rock and rolls are just something for children to play. .

Although many rock musicians are unwilling to admit it, the reason why they deny Wang Feng's rock music is actually because Wang Feng's songs are filled with too many positive elements.

The song Little Bird may not be obvious enough, but the difference is easy to see in songs like I Love You China.

Many rock singers believe that songs like I Love You China are flattering, unreal, and do not follow their hearts, and are completely fake rock.

Zhou Yan does not comment on whether rock songs such as Little Bird and I Love You China are better than other popular rock songs at the moment, but he believes that rock musicians should not tolerate such songs.

When a song ended, Zhou Yan's thoughts flew back, and he heartily applauded the band's performance.

Brother, how are you doing?

Wang Feng desperately wanted Zhou Yan's approval.

Long Long and Zhao Muyang also looked at Zhou Yan, looking forward to his comments.

Zhou Yan nodded and said, Four measures of the verse, two measures of the pre-chorus, and four measures of the chorus. The verse is laid out with a bass melody, and the pre-chorus suddenly increases the range, repeating 1 and 6. The single note, the melody of the first line of the chorus is 1116, which also continues the pre-chorus. It sounds like the chorus and the pre-chorus are like a whole... The whole song is in the key of G major, and the chorus is in the key of G...

Without giving any definition, Zhou Yan simply analyzed the song Little Bird from the melody direction and orchestration, and finally concluded, It's a very good song. The confusion in the first part of the lyrics highlights the freedom in the second part. We hope that good works can give listeners the courage and confidence to face reality, and you have done this.

Wang Feng did not expect Zhou Yan to give such a high evaluation. In Wang Feng's eyes, Zhou Yan was like a mountain. As long as Zhou Yan could give a slightly positive evaluation, it would be enough to make him happy.

Long Long and the others were also very excited. Zhou Yan's recognition was very important to them.

As written in the first half of the lyrics of Little Bird, they are still relatively confused now. Although after signing Zhou, they don't need to travel around for a living, but they still have no idea about the future of the band.

Although the enthusiasm for forming the band at the beginning is still there, it is no longer as enthusiastic as before. What is left needs to be supported by something else.

Without livelihood problems, they also have to face many other problems. Will the audience like their works? Will you be able to make money for the company if you make an album in the future?

Although the company has never put too much pressure on them, they can't think about these things.

Since they formed the band, they have often heard news of the disbandment of other bands. Not to mention the well-known big bands, there are also many unknown small bands.

In the city of Yanjing alone, ten new bands may have been formed this month, and fifteen will be disbanded next month.

Of course, there is not all good news in the rock circle. I heard that the Three Magic Rocks will release a new album this spring, and Magic Rock Records is also vigorously promoting them, which also gives many rock musicians some confidence.

However, the development of the Magic Rock Trio had an impact on No. 43 Baojia Street, because the style of their band was completely different from that of the Magic Rock Trio.

When everyone is going another way, the members of No. 43 Baojia Street have to consider whether the path they are taking is the right one.

Therefore, Zhou Yan's affirmation is very important to them.

Where are you going to put this piece in Grown Up? Zhou Yan asked.

I'm going to put it in the scene where the Lanzhou girl goes to the dance hall to find Zhou Qing, and let Zhou Qing and his band play this song.

Zhou Yan mused, This song is very good and fits the character of Zhou Qing very well, but it is not suitable to be placed in this section because this song is too positive and does not fit the style of their band. This band, including Zhou Qing, The whole music circle that Qing belongs to is one word, 'Decadent', just write them some popular underground stuff. As for the song Little Bird, it can be placed at the end of the film as a theme.

Wang Feng's musical talent is there, but when it comes to scoring music, he has very little experience.

But I'm not very good at writing that kind of music...

Zhou Yan glanced at Wang Feng and said, It's not that you can't write it, but that you can't pass the test in your heart. You think it's embarrassing to write that kind of music.

Wang Feng lowered his head and said nothing, which was regarded as acquiescence.

If you still want to do the soundtrack, then you have to change your thinking. The soundtrack guidance is to serve the plot of the movie. If today Mr. Lu is not filming Grown Up, but The Biography of No. 43 Baojia Street , you can play as much as you like, but the rock music scene shown in Grown Up is like that. If you insist on playing Little Bird to their band, then just play the story of Senior Lu It’s a mess, the people in Zhou Qing’s band have almost no formal music education, do you think they can write a song like “Little Bird”?”

It's like braised shark's fin in a street food stall. Don't you feel awkward?

Wang Feng still lowered his head and remained silent.

Zhou Yan didn't know if he heard it, so he asked again, Do you want to take this job? If not, I can communicate with Senior Lu in advance and replace the person.

No, senior brother. When Wang Feng heard that someone was about to be replaced, he became anxious and quickly promised, I will definitely change my mind.

Hearing Wang Feng's assurance, Zhou Yan nodded, When making music, you need to have a high-level consciousness, but you can't always be condescending. You must learn to calm down, enter the story, and think more from the perspective of the character. In this way , having a good soundtrack will also make your music creation smoother. When you really get into the story, you will find that it can bring you many experiences that you cannot get in life.

Brother, I understand.

Zhou Yan didn't say anything more. He looked at his watch and said, Okay, you guys can practice while I go to other places.

Wang Feng and the others are no longer children. No matter how much we talk about some things, it is useless. They still have to experience it on their own.

Brother, walk slowly.

After leaving the practice room, Zhou Yan walked around the studio again, and finally arrived at his own office.

Zhou Yan's own office is not big, only about twenty square meters in total.

The layout is also very simple, with a sofa, a coffee table, a desk, a chair, and not even a bookshelf.

Jiang Xia had previously said that she wanted to build a bookshelf in the back with books on it to make it more attractive, but this proposal was rejected by Zhou Yan.

He doesn't usually stay in this office for too long. Most of his time is probably in the practice room or recording studio. Even if he comes to the office, he doesn't spend too much time reading.

If he wanted to read a book, why didn't he read it at home?

If it's just for the sake of face, it's better not to do it. He doesn't need these vain things.

Zhou Yan sat in the office for a while, writing down all the questions he saw after going around in a circle, and was going to show them to Jiang Xia and the others later.

There were some other things that needed to be added, so Zhou Yan also wrote them down and asked Jiang Xia and the others to get them done.

Now Jiang Xia is no longer alone. The studio is about to open and Jiang Xia has already hired an assistant.

But one assistant is obviously not enough. During this time, they are also looking for candidates and preparing to build a team at the studio.

Apart from anything else, we must first recruit the general manager of the studio, so that after the studio starts construction, Zhou Yan and Jiang Xia don't have to keep an eye on it.

After the general manager is recruited, if the studio needs to recruit additional staff, the general manager can recruit it himself.

Before Zhou Yan finished writing, Li Xiuhai, the director of the electronics factory, knocked on the office door.

Hearing the knock on the door, Zhou Yan looked up and saw it was Li Xiuhai. He put down his pen and stood up and said, Director Li, why are you here?

Li Xiuhai walked in with a smile, I just saw your car parked outside. I thought you were coming to the factory, so I stopped by to take a look.

Please take a seat. After asking Li Xiuhai to sit down, Zhou Yan apologized again, The office has just been completed and there is not even a kettle.

Li Xiuhai waved his hand, You're welcome, Teacher Zhou. My office is only a few steps away from you. I just came here after drinking a lot of water.

As he said that, he looked around the office again, You are so efficient. In just a few months, this warehouse has changed a lot. Did Mr. Zhou just arrive in Yanjing?

Well, I came here to take a look when I arrived. I saw that the studio was about to open. I wanted to see if there was anything missing.

Yes, it's better to be careful. How does this building feel? Is it spacious?

Zhou Yan nodded, It's pretty good. It basically meets my daily needs. These recording studios are mainly for my own use.

Teacher Zhou, your signboard is here, and many people will definitely come here in the future. I see that you have planned so many parking spaces downstairs, and I know that you must have very long-term plans for the future.

Zhou Yan didn't take Li Xiuhai's words seriously, but now he heard something else.

Li Xiuhai always wanted to bring the topic to the studio's future plans. It seemed that he was not just stopping by for a casual visit, as he said.

Knowing what Li Xiuhai might have in mind, Zhou Yan followed his words and said, Now that I have done it, I definitely hope to do it on a bigger scale, but for now I just need to do a good job at what I have.

Li Xiuhai immediately said, Teacher Zhou, don't worry, you can just use the warehouse and don't have any worries. And if you want to expand in the future, we will do our best to support you. The third building in front is closer to you. If you want If so, our factory can squeeze the production line to make room for you.

Now Zhou Yan understood what Li Xiuhai meant. It turned out that he wanted to rent Building 3 to them.

Li Xiuhai made a good point, squeeze the production line to make room for their studio.

In fact, the current situation in the electronics factory is clear to Zhou Yanmen.

Building 3 was originally built by the electronics factory during its expansion.

But the production line in Building 3 has just been completed halfway, and the factory's efficiency has stopped. Now the production line in Building 3 is basically at a standstill, and the workers have been pulled back to Buildings 1 and 2.

Li Xiuhai probably thought that since Building 3 was empty, he might as well rent it to Zhou Yan so that he could subsidize the factory.

Now the factory's efficiency is not very good, and the enterprise reform has not started. The workers are all stuck in the factory, and every day they eat what the horse chews, which costs money.

The factory is not performing well and cannot make any money. It is difficult to support these workers, so they can only ask for money from above, but the money from above is not that good.

Moreover, asking for more money also showed that his management ability as a factory director was not good enough.

If Zhou Yan can rent Building 3, if nothing else, the factory's fundamentals will be stable.

It doesn't matter whether your factory makes money from its own business, as long as it can keep the plate stable, the leaders will be satisfied.

But Zhou Yan didn't want to cause trouble. The reason why he rented the warehouse of the electronics factory was because the warehouse had a large space and high floors, and could be converted into a recording studio.

The floor height of Building 3 is less than four meters, so it does not have the conditions to be transformed into a large recording studio. At best, it can be used as an ordinary practice room or for office use.

The key point is that the current studio doesn't use so much space, so renting it would be a waste.

If the factory can be bought and sold in a few years, Zhou Yan wouldn't mind spending some money to buy it.

Director Li, thank you so much. If the studio develops in the future, I will definitely trouble you. But right now, I'm afraid we don't need so much space.

Hearing what Zhou Yan said, Li Xiuhai was slightly disappointed, but he also expected this result.

The reason why he wanted to say this was because he wanted Zhou Yan to have this in his heart. If you encounter a situation where you need to use the space later, you can think of their Building 3 immediately.

Hey, Teacher Zhou is so polite. This is what we should do. Then Li Xiuhai said very generously, Although I only rented you the warehouse and this small circle next to it at that time, you can use the open space behind Building 3 as you like. use.

Although Li Xiuhai didn't know what Zhou Yan's background was, the fact that Zhou Yan was able to snatch this warehouse from Shen Siyuan showed that his identity was extraordinary.

Anyway, the area behind Building 3 is basically not used in their factory, so they might as well do it as a favor and give it to Zhou Yan and the others, which can be regarded as a good relationship.

Zhou Yan nodded gratefully, Thank you so much.

Li Xiuhai was also very sensible. After finishing the matter, he stood up and left, Teacher Zhou, I won't delay your work and go back first.

Well, Director Li, you go and do your work. I have some things to do. I will visit your office when I have time.

Then I'll be waiting for you.

After Li Xiuhai left, Zhou Yan walked to the window and looked at Building 3 opposite.

Although he didn't pick on Li Xiuhai, he did have some ideas about Building 3.

The height of Building 3 does not allow it to be used as a large-scale recording studio, but Zhou Yan still thinks that if there is an opportunity to build a film studio, Building 3 can be rented out.

It's just that the movie studio is a later matter. It's a bit wasteful to rent Building 3 now. No one will rent Building 3 for a while anyway. It won't be too late to talk about this later.

The main reason is that he doesn't have much money now, and building this studio has already cost him a lot of money.

If Building 3 were to be rented, it would cost a lot of money just to decorate such a large building.

…

Before school started, Zhou Yan went to People's Literature Publishing House, and he brought a manuscript with him.

After Lin Haikuo took the manuscript, he asked doubtfully, This is it?

I still feel that the length of the single book is too short, and I would like to add one.

Lin Haikuo raised his eyebrows, nodded and said, Let me take a look.

He first saw the name of the novel - Lions Bridge.

Lion Bridge looks like the name of a place, but Li Haikuo searched in his mind for a long time and couldn't find where the Lion Bridge was.

Maybe it's a little-known place.

At the beginning of this novel, Lions Bridge is mentioned.

When I was passing by Lion Bridge, Li Li came to me and said, 'Zhao Fang is getting married.'

He looked at me, watching my reaction...

After reading the first paragraph, Lin Haikuo looked up at Zhou Yan and said to himself that Zhou Yan's new novel seemed to have a different style from his previous ones, but the narrative style was still as mature as ever.

The new magical realism of Tree Hole is eye-catching, but this new novel does not seem to continue the previous style. The beginning reads more like realism, and it is also in the first person, which is different from Zhou Yan's previous novels. Not all the same.

The novel tells the story of I and a girl named Zhao Fang. I and Zhao Fang were classmates in junior high school. I was very small, average in study, and inconspicuous in the class.

Zhao Fang is not good at studying, but she is a celebrity in the school, but she does not have a good reputation.

She is tall, very beautiful, and likes to wear skirts, so there are often rumors about her in school. There are also rumors that she has had two abortions.

By chance, Zhao Fang and me became very close, and we often went to the Lion Bridge together to chat at night.

Later, it was revealed that I and Zhao Fang were fooling around in Lion Bridge. As a result, Zhao Fang dropped out of school, but I became famous in school because of this incident and was envied by many boys.

Many years later, when I heard Zhao Fang's name again, she was about to get married.

I didn't want to disturb him, but somehow, Zhao Fang's newlywed husband found out about I and Zhao Fang's affairs.

Her husband blocked my door and asked me about what happened back then, but no matter how I tried to explain it, her husband didn't want to believe it.

The final result was that Zhao Fang was forced to marry her husband, and I went to another city.

The last time I heard news about Zhao Fang was at the edge of Lion Bridge, but what I heard was the news of his death.

This novel is not short, with more than 15,000 words, but Lin Haikuo has read countless articles and reads the manuscript very quickly. He finished it in less than twenty minutes.

After reading it, Lin Haikuo lamented, This girl's fate is really rough, and people's words are terrible. Sometimes a word can turn into a knife, killing people invisible. Moreover, this novel also shows the education in some places in the countryside. The backwardness of the book is due to the lack of correct guidance for adolescent students by both parents and teachers. However, I looked at this novel to see if there is a follow-up. Some characters appear in it, and it seems that there will be expansion in the future.

Zhao Fang's story ends here, but there is still the story of Lion Bridge.

Lion Bridge is a collection of short stories written by Zhou Yan himself. It includes a total of six stories, all surrounding Lion Bridge, and Zhao Fang is just one of them.

Have you written down the others?

Not yet. Zhou Yan shook his head.

In fact, it's all in his mind, but he hasn't written it out yet.

Lin Haikuo took the manuscript and said, Are you going to put this manuscript directly into a single volume, or find a magazine to publish it first? My personal suggestion is to find a magazine to publish it first, so that you can earn more income.

The reason why People's Literature Publishing House wants to publish a single volume for Zhou Yan this time is mainly because of the novel Tree Hole. The others are just additions. Adding a new novel will not have a big impact on subsequent sales.

Otherwise, Lin Haikuo would not suggest Zhou Yan to find a magazine to publish it first.

No problem. I'll go find Yanjing Literature later and ask if they want this manuscript.

Lin Haikuo smiled and said, It's impossible not to want it.

There is absolutely no problem with the quality of this novel, and for an old author like Zhou Yan, the magazine would have relaxed its requirements.

Literature is still emotional, and the author's name can add a lot of points to the article.

In fact, even without looking at the content of the story, most magazines would pick up Zhou Yan's writing style alone.

Lin Haikuo is very interested in Zhou Yan's writing techniques. In fact, many writers are now exploring how to write novels. For example, Yu Hua and Ma Yuan have been studying these things before.

But Zhou Yan is obviously further ahead than them. In terms of writing techniques, he can be said to be very handy. He can learn from the strengths of hundreds of schools of thought and add some innovation of his own.

It just so happens that I'll go find Hua Yang soon.

Lin Haikuo nodded, Teacher Zhou, don't worry, we will put this manuscript into a separate book whether it is published by a magazine or not.

Zhou Yan was quite surprised to hear what Lin Haikuo said. He originally thought that Lin Haikuo was an ordinary editor in the modern literature group. Now it seems that Lin Haikuo should have quite some power, otherwise he would not be able to directly agree to this matter.

If Lin Haikuo was an ordinary editor, he would at least go to their team leader for approval.

After saying goodbye to Lin Haikuo, Zhou Yan went to Hua Yang with the manuscript.

Hua Yang was full of praise for the manuscript, but it was not up to him to decide whether it would be published. He asked Zhou Yan to go home first and wait for news, and he would submit the manuscript.

In the afternoon of the next day, Hua Yang received news that the manuscript had been approved and was expected to be published in the next issue of Yanjing Literature.

After the matter was settled, Zhou Yan stopped caring about it. School has started recently and he still has a lot of things to be busy with.

In addition to starting school, he also has to help Jia Guoping get married. Jia Guoping and Zhang Xinning's wedding is scheduled for the 28th of the first lunar month, less than half a month away.

Of course, Zhou Yan was not alone, he mobilized many students to help him.

Zhou Yan had previously asked Dong Wenmiao to dress the bride and groom on the wedding day. For the bride's makeup that day, Zhou Yan went to Yanjing Studio to find two makeup artists to help.

He asked Jiang Xia to find the car for him to pick up the bride.

All that was left was to decorate the cafeteria on the wedding day. He left this part to the students and asked them to design the plan and then decorate it together on the first day of the wedding.

In addition, Zhou Yan also hired two photographers to videotape the entire wedding day.

To this end, Zhou Yan also specially wrote a planning document.

After sorting out everything, Zhou Yan found that film practitioners are quite suitable for weddings.

In fact, a wedding is a grand performance, there is no ng, everything is done in one step, and everything needed for the wedding is provided by the movie makers.

As for the soundtrack of this movie, Zhou Yan did not do it for him, it was all done by Jia Guoping himself.

For this wedding, Jia Guoping wrote a total of seventeen pieces of music. After all, it was his lifelong event, and this guy really worked hard.

…

Thursday, the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhou Yan finished his class in the morning, had lunch in the cafeteria and was about to go home. In the afternoon, he was going to attend the celebration party of Tree Hole.

As soon as I came out of the cafeteria, I met Jia Guoping.

Just in time to meet you. Jia Guoping took out an invitation from his bag, This is for you.

Zhou Yan took the invitation with a smile, You even sent me an invitation specially.

No matter how close the relationship is, this process must be followed. By the way, although there is only one invitation, it is for your whole family.

I'm afraid it will be more difficult for my family to come over.

Whether you can come or not, I still have to be polite. Get some more wedding candies later and help me take them back to share with my younger brothers and sisters.

The reason why Jia Guoping mentioned his family was mainly because of Zhou Yan's younger brothers and sisters.

When Zhou Qian and the others came here before, they got to know Jia Guoping and Zhang Xinning very well.

If it were summer vacation, Zhou Yan would really like to bring over a few younger brothers and sisters to join in the fun.

Don't worry, I will definitely need to get a lot of sugar by then, so you have to prepare enough sugar.

Don't worry about this. It's not much. The sugar tube is enough. Jia Guoping patted Zhou Yan on the shoulder, Okay, I'm going to eat. I've been busy for a long time and I'm starving to death.

Well, you go and eat.

Zhou Yan nodded and went home with the invitation. (End of chapter)