Volume Two: Echoes of the Past Chapter Thirty-One: Brother! Old Friend!

Wang Menglan covered her mouth and laughed softly. “Ever since you won the championship on The Voice of Huaxia and became famous, those old regulars started spreading the word that you used to be the bar’s resident singer. After that, customers have been coming in one after another. Especially a lot of your fans—they came here out of admiration, wanting to learn about your life before you became famous.”

“Exactly, exactly. Big Brother’s fans are all beautiful young girls, hehe,” Wang Youxuan teased from the side.

Whether a bar was doing well or not depended on how many young, attractive women regularly came through its doors, because that was what drew even more men in to spend money. That was why so many bars hired hostesses. Of course, Wang Menglan would never allow that kind of sordid business in her own place.

Perhaps many of Chen Jing’s fans had originally come because of him, but once they arrived, they discovered that this bar did not have the filthy, chaotic atmosphere of other bars. As a result, it became especially popular with younger girls, and many of them turned into regulars.

Chen Jing finally understood and said with a smile, “Oh, I see. I never thought I’d end up helping Sister Lan promote your bar, haha.”

Then Wang Menglan suddenly remembered something and said to Chen Jing, “Oh right, Jing, there were also some people—probably singers, I think—who found out about those songs you used to sing here and came to ask me whether I’d be willing to sell the rights to them. Of course, I told them the rights belonged to you, so I had no authority to decide.”

“Oh, is that so?” Chen Jing said in surprise. He had not expected that. After thinking for a moment, he said, “All right then, Sister Lan. If anyone comes to you in the future asking to buy songs or anything like that, just tell them to contact me directly. Or they can reach out to Jingrun Entertainment Co., Ltd. directly; there will be people there specifically in charge of this. As for those songs, they were originally my gift to the bar, a gift to you, Sister Lan. You can decide whatever you want about the copyrights. There’s no need to ask me.”

Hearing Chen Jing say that the songs had been given to her, Wang Menglan’s gaze toward him grew especially gentle. After thinking it over, she said, “All right. If anyone comes asking about songs after this, I’ll have them contact your company. As for those songs, no matter who comes, I’m not planning to sell them anymore. I’ll just keep them as the bar’s signature tunes.”

After all, Wang Menglan was not short on money. Keeping them as a memento was enough.

“Sure, Sister Menglan. You decide whatever you think is best.” Chen Jing naturally did not mind at all. As long as Wang Menglan was happy, that was enough.

“Oh, right, Brother. At noon I saw your post on Weibo saying that Huang Wenhao’s new song would be released tomorrow night. That song was written by you, wasn’t it?” Wang Youxuan suddenly asked.

“Yes. Why?”

“Ha, you didn’t know? After you posted that, the replies on Weibo practically exploded. That’s Huang Wenhao’s new song, you know. Brother, you may not realize this, but when Huang Wenhao first came out, he was just like you—he shot to fame in the music world almost overnight.” As she spoke, Wang Youxuan thought about it for a moment, then corrected herself. “No, Huang Wenhao was probably still a little behind you. Your Nocturne is a height no one can ever reach, hehe. Still, though he can’t really be compared to you, he did become famous all across the land as soon as he debuted. With one love song after another, he drew in countless male and female fans. I think I even followed him back then.”

“Oh, I see.” Chen Jing had never really looked into Huang Wenhao’s early days; he only knew that Huang had become famous through love songs.

“Only after he became famous did he suddenly vanish from the public eye for more than a year, maybe longer. No one knew what he was doing, and that was when people’s excitement about him finally began to fade. Then, when he appeared in public again, it was as a judge on The Voice of Huaxia.”

Chen Jing guessed that during the time Huang Wenhao had disappeared, he must have been on his honeymoon with his assistant—and wife—Li Xinru.

“So this time, when you were the first to post that Huang Wenhao would release a new song, a lot of fans got really excited. Especially since it was a song written by you—his old fans were looking forward to it even more.”

Chen Jing joked, “That’s good. Since everyone’s so willing to buy into it, it looks like I don’t need to worry too much about this song.”

Wang Youxuan did not think he was joking and said proudly, “Of course. Don’t you see who wrote the song?”

Looking at Wang Youxuan’s inexplicable confidence in him, Chen Jing could only shake his head helplessly.

After returning from Wang Menglan and her daughter, Chen Jing did not dwell on the matter. He believed that no matter how many people ultimately knew about Huang Wenhao’s new release or how eagerly they awaited it, Lonely, Cold Sandbar would not miss out on a place in the top three of Huaxia’s most popular music chart. He trusted the song’s quality.

There was another reason as well: the songs Chen Jing had released before, such as Nocturne and Kalan Temple, had gradually faded from listeners’ attention as time passed, and their rankings had already begun to slip. In other words, there were no other songs competing with Lonely, Cold Sandbar for rankings or traffic. On top of that, it had been released at a different time from Ling Ruohan’s album, so there was even less competition. If a song like this still could not secure a ranking, then Chen Jing would truly have to start doubting himself.

He did not follow the matter any further after that. Yet when the night of Huang Wenhao’s release finally arrived, the results achieved by Lonely, Cold Sandbar still far exceeded even Chen Jing’s expectations.

Because of three straight days of promotional buildup, phrases like Huang Wenhao returns, Huang Wenhao releases a new song, and Huang Wenhao rekindles the old feelings had all repeatedly climbed the trending lists on major websites. Everyone knew that the prince of love songs from a year ago, Huang Wenhao, was back.

And this time, he had returned in force with a love song written by Chen Jing, the most sought-after composer in the music world today. That made Huang Wenhao’s old fans, Chen Jing’s fans, and even people who simply liked listening to love songs look forward to it with unusual anticipation.

Amid that nationwide anticipation, Lonely, Cold Sandbar was released on schedule. Once it was out, it quickly surged to the top of major music charts, already carrying the kind of momentum that seemed capable of challenging Nocturne itself.

“My youth is back! My prince of love songs is finally back.”

“It’s been over a year since he last released anything. I thought I’d never hear Huang Wenhao’s love songs again. I never expected him to come back.”

“The prince of love songs still has the same charm. The song still has that familiar flavor.”

“No, I feel like its artistic mood is even better than before. After all, it was written by Chen Jing.”

“I think so too…”

Those were the earliest reactions from netizens after Lonely, Cold Sandbar was released.

“No need to say more—just the fact that this song was written by Chen Jing is enough for me to recommend it.”

“I came here because it was written by Chen Jing too. After listening, I really didn’t regret it. Chen Jing truly lives up to the title of music prodigy.”

“Pah, what music prodigy? Isn’t it just because our prince of love songs sings so well?”

“Exactly. When our prince of love songs became famous, that so-called music prodigy Chen Jing wasn’t even famous yet.”

“Are you sick? Didn’t Chen Jing write this song?”

“No matter how early he became famous, in the end he still has to sing our Big Jing’s songs. What’s there to be so smug about?”

“...”

That was how the later comments unfolded. No one knew whether it was the fans themselves who had started the fire, but somehow Huang Wenhao’s fans and Chen Jing’s fans suddenly began fighting.

“Honestly, I don’t think either side up there is really Huang Wenhao’s or Chen Jing’s fan base. What kind of fan would drag their own artist into a feud with the composer?”

“Don’t say it out loud. Just watch the show. It has to be paid trolls deliberately stirring up conflict between Huang Wenhao’s fans and Chen Jing’s fans.”

“Sharp eye. I saw through it long ago too. True fans like us definitely like both Huang Wenhao and Chen Jing. We’d only think they’re perfect together, and we’d never tear one down to praise the other.”

“...”

There were also some clearheaded listeners who did not follow the crowd into a shouting match, and some even came forward to try to stop the war of words between both sides.

But the more this happened, the more fiercely the two fan groups cursed at each other. Just as the argument was growing increasingly uncontrollable and the situation was starting to spiral out of hand, Chen Jing’s Weibo posted a new message.

“Time cannot erase a man’s swagger. Way to go, Brother Hao!” Below it was an attached screenshot showing Lonely, Cold Sandbar had reached number one on Huaxia’s Most Popular Music Chart.

The moment that post went up, the comment section fell silent at once. Those attacking Chen Jing suddenly had nothing to say. After all, Chen Jing had taken the initiative to congratulate Huang Wenhao. What more could they even accuse him of?

Chen Jing’s fans were immediately invigorated and were just about to press the advantage in the comments when Huang Wenhao also posted a message:

“Brothers don’t keep score with brothers. Thanks this time, bro!” Attached below was an image of Lonely, Cold Sandbar’s arrangement cover.

Chen Jing’s name as the composer stood out especially prominently.

That did it. Now Chen Jing’s fans fell silent too. Since Huang Wenhao had already called him a brother, how could family keep insulting one another?

The comments quieted for a while, and then at last someone spoke again.

“All right, no more words. Chen Jing, I’m a fan now.”

“No problem. I was out of line before too. Huang Wenhao really is amazing at singing.”

“Hahaha, bro!”

“Awesome, buddy!”

“...”

And just like that, a shouting match that had drawn in countless people ended in dramatic fashion, with both fan groups burying the hatchet and making peace.

Though the whole affair was rather theatrical, there was no denying that all the controversy only increased the heat around Lonely, Cold Sandbar in the end.

Yet Chen Jing did not learn of any of this until the next day on set, when Liu Manqiang mentioned it to him.

As for the post Chen Jing had made on Weibo, he did not even need to ask to know that Lin Xi must have arranged for it to be sent.

After hearing the full story from Liu Manqiang, Chen Jing was rather astonished. He had known that Lonely, Cold Sandbar would become popular, but he had never imagined it would become popular so quickly, or so explosively.