Restart life

Chapter 141 0138 [Definitely Not Neglecting One's Duty]

It's the weekend again, and Chen Guiliang is about to face a makeup exam.

Ao Yanzhen rented a booth at the Talent Building over the weekend and took Dong Qianqiu to recruit new employees.

In recent days, criticism of "Wolf Totem" has continued to escalate.

The Beijing News has also entered the scene.

At this time, "Xin Jing" had been established for more than a year and its sales had increased, but its influence was clearly insufficient.

It is eager to label itself as "daring to speak the truth" and "speaking up for the people" in order to enhance its credibility and authority in the industry.

Its stance is simple: attack whoever is stronger, attempting to gain fame in one battle.

Thus, The New Beijing News began to criticize Wolf Totem!
This really made Chen Guiliang laugh.

Because the newspaper "Xinjing" was jointly founded by Guangming Daily and Southern Daily.

Guangming magazine initially supported Wolf Totem, but now it's playing dead and remaining silent; Southern Metropolis Daily, on the other hand, has consistently spoken up for Wolf Totem. Meanwhile, The New Beijing, as their illegitimate offspring, completely disregards its parents' intentions, only seeking to profit from the situation.

To demonstrate its professionalism, The Beijing News even produced a comprehensive report, emphasizing impartiality, objectivity, and fairness.

It first quotes the author of *Wolf Totem*'s self-defense, then quotes the criticisms from Chen Guiliang, Lao Gui, and Guo Xuebo, followed by interviews with professional scholars for their evaluation. Next, it quotes the opinions of its supporters.

The above content appears to be merely an objective statement by The Beijing News.

But there's more to come; it even interviewed German sinologist Wolfgang Kubin.

Gu Bin bluntly stated, "To us Germans, 'Wolf Totem' is fascism, and this book is a disgrace to China."

Finally, The Beijing News interviewed educated youth again.

Seemingly neutral, it actually stripped the bare bottom of "Wolf Totem".

This full-page comprehensive report garnered considerable favor from intellectuals and ordinary citizens alike in The Beijing News…

……

404 Dormitory.

Min Wenyu lay motionless on the bed.

Chen Guiliang glanced at him and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong with Senior Brother Min? Shouldn't he be in the library or study room at a time like this?"

Jiang Junlai pulled Chen Guiliang to the stairwell: "He's heartbroken."

"Has he ever been in a relationship?" Chen Guiliang asked, puzzled.

Jiang Junlai said, "He has two courses, both of which are from Guanghua School of Management. Because they often attend classes together, he developed a crush on a senior student from Guanghua School of Management. That senior student recently started dating a guy who returned to China to start a business."

The girl I have a crush on has a boyfriend, and that's considered heartbreak?
Chen Guiliang said, "It's good for him to take a break; he used to be too tired from studying."

Jiang Junlai started making a promise: "I will not have a crush on anyone. I will work hard to improve my abilities and I will be able to easily find a girlfriend in the future, just like you."

"What does this have to do with me?" Chen Guiliang asked with a smile.

Jiang Junlai said, "Several girls in our Yuanpei class have a crush on you. Do you remember Pan Xiaoyun?"

Chen Guiliang recalled carefully: "I have a vague impression, I think it was someone from our class."

Jiang Junlai said, "The whole class knows that she has a crush on you. During your book signing during winter break, she specially asked a classmate in Beijing to queue up at the event to buy your signed book. She also plays the card game 'Three Kingdoms Kill' and bought two sets of physical cards, one set for playing and one set for collection."

"Uh..." Chen Guiliang didn't know what to say.

I guess it's because I'm too outstanding.

Jiang Junlai laughed and said, "As long as a man is capable, women will like him. I've figured this out, so I'm going to study even harder! The reason why the girl that Senior Brother Min has a crush on has a boyfriend who's a returnee from overseas is because that returnee is more capable, isn't it?"

"That makes sense." Chen Guiliang nodded.

After chatting for a few more minutes, Chen Guiliang left the campus and took various buses to the Capital University of Economics and Business.

After waiting for a while at the entrance of the Capital University of Economics and Business, Bian Guanyue appeared carrying a guitar, followed by her roommate Lin Ruonan.

Bian Guanyue's expression was somewhat helpless.

"Hi, Chen Guiliang, we meet again." Lin Ruonan smiled and waved.

Chen Guiliang greeted, "Hello, Lin."

Lin Ruonan complained, "I'm Bian Guanyue's roommate, and I even helped you promote Renren.com. I added you as a friend on Renren.com, but why didn't you accept? I also sent you an email, but you haven't replied."

"I was too busy and didn't notice," Chen Guiliang explained.

Lin Ruonan was quite magnanimous: "Forget it, I won't hold it against you. At least give me your QQ number, right?"

Bian Guanyue first looked away, but then, fearing it would put her boyfriend in a difficult position, she said, "Just give it to her, so she won't keep saying I'm not being fair."

Chen Guiliang didn't care; giving him QQ was nothing to him.

For him, QQ is now purely office software, used specifically to deceive people.

Lin Ruonan saved the QQ number on her phone, waved, and said, "I won't disturb your time together. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye, Lin," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Bian Guanyue seemed to have no memory of what had just happened. She pulled Chen Guiliang to have lunch first, and then went to a nearby hotel to check in.

After a passionate exchange, we started talking about songs.

Bian Guanyue sat cross-legged on the bed, holding a guitar and singing his own songs.

Compared to a few days ago, the melody has been slightly changed, making it more memorable.

Bian Guanyue asked, "What kind of theme song do you want? I probably can't write anything too good."

What song do you want?

It is definitely suitable for students.

"Youth Commemorative Album" is more suitable as a class song for high school students, and it has already been released for more than a year.

Books like "The Brightest Star in the Night Sky" and "Chasing Dreams with a Pure Heart" are of good quality and suitable for students, but they are full of positive energy but lack sadness.

“I have the melody in my head, and you write it down as sheet music,” Chen Guiliang said.

He chose "The Wind Rises." He only changed two words in the lyrics, replacing "Nagano" with "hometown."

In his past life, he had seen this song countless times on short videos, but only remembered the chorus. The first time he saw the complete lyrics was when his friends dragged him to karaoke, where the girl in the JK uniform who accompanied him especially loved singing it.

The pretty JK girl, who loved to teach, leaned against Chen Guiliang and taught him to sing this song.

Chen Guiliang thought it was alright, but that was all, because he was long past that age.

But as the theme song for Renren.com, it's enough if it can attract young people!
Moreover, it is very easy to spread and is suitable as a promotional song.

"We traveled along the way, stopping and starting, following the trail of the boy's drifting journey..."

Chen Guiliang would sing two lines and then stop, giving Bian Guanyue time to write down the score. If he couldn't write it down completely, he would sing it again.

In some places, the tune was a bit off.

Once she had memorized the main melody, Bian Guanyue tried to play and sing it herself.

“This isn’t right.”

"That's exactly how you sang it."

"Then let's revise it again."

"Row."

It's very difficult to transcribe a song you've never heard before, relying solely on unaccompanied singing. Especially since Chen Guiliang often sings off-key!
After much trial and error, the pitch and rhythm of the main melody were finally determined, but the chords still needed further refinement.

It's already quite remarkable that Chen Guiliang can sing the lyrics and melody; how would he know anything about chords?
Bian Guanyue repeatedly wrote down the chords she had deduced, then played and sang them for Chen Guiliang to hear the effect. Chen Guiliang didn't know how to evaluate it, so he could only say that something felt off in a certain place, and then asked Bian Guanyue to continue revising.

This approach was equivalent to Bian Guanyue assisting with the composition, but not according to her own wishes. She revised it again and again, but Chen Guiliang was never satisfied.

There are even situations like this—

"Is this okay? We've already revised it seven or eight times."

"It seems like the first time is the most suitable."

"..."

That despicable client.

so tired!
By evening, Bian Guanyue was getting impatient: "How about we eat first? Let's calm down."

"Let's go." Chen Guiliang said helplessly.

He thought he could just sing it, but it turned out that was just the main melody; he had to add chords to make it a complete composition.

Unfortunately, Bian Guanyue was also a novice and had absolutely no experience in this area.

After having dinner, the two returned to the hotel and started again.

Bian Guanyue, worried that he might be upset, encouraged him, "There's only a little bit left, you'll definitely be able to do it well. You've never studied songwriting, but the lyrics and melody are so good, you're simply a musical genius!"

"I'm sorry to trouble you, but my expectations are a bit too high," Chen Guiliang said. "Actually, many of the chords you've made are already very good, but they just don't match my ideas. Let's stop for now and have a kiss first."

Bian Guanyue immediately threw away her guitar and shyly became intimate with her boyfriend.

She always seemed shy at first, but she would completely let loose in the second half, sometimes becoming particularly wild and willing to try strange positions.

The contrast is quite significant.

Chen Guiliang enjoyed it.

The clouds dispersed and the rain stopped. The two lay still, embracing each other as they read the lyrics.

Chen Guiliang realized that the composition of "The Wind Rises" did not need to be exactly the same as the original version; slight differences in details were normal. As long as the feeling was right, that was enough.

The same applies to the subsequent arrangements.

In another timeline, the original arrangement of "The Wind Rises" by Mai Lajiao (Buy Chili Peppers) was different from the original by Xiao Rizi (Little Days). Later, it became a hit, attracting investment and bringing in the Rizi team to re-arrange it. However, many fans felt that Xiao Rizi's high-end arrangement wasn't as good as Mai Lajiao's knock-off version.

Chen Guiliang adjusted his approach, first analyzing the lyrics with Bian Guanyue, and then slowly trying to find the feeling based on the lyrics.

This time it went much more smoothly.

The final version they produced had the same main melody as the original, but with very subtle differences in the chords.

Chen Guiliang returned to Peking University on Sunday and treated his senior classmate Kong to barbecue—the one who dubbed Sun Quan with a Northeastern accent.

"How much does it cost to hire someone to arrange music these days?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Brother Kong, while munching on a grilled kidney, said, "It depends on your budget. Those popular singers often have top-notch composers working with their entire teams. The prices are outrageously high. Moreover, hiring composers from Hong Kong and Taiwan is much more expensive than hiring composers from mainland China."

Chen Guiliang said, "Let's keep the budget under 8000 yuan."

“Sure, this budget is more than enough,” Senior Brother Kong asked. “What style do you want?”

Chen Guiliang didn't understand any particular style, so he simply used the lyrics and music of "The Wind Rises".

There's no need to worry about plagiarism. If Senior Brother Kong dares to plagiarize, he can forget about staying at Peking University, and he won't have a good time in the academic community in the future.

After humming the lyrics and music twice, Senior Brother Kong exclaimed in surprise, "You wrote this yourselves? That's pretty awesome!"

“Yes.” Chen Guiliang said shamelessly.

[Composer: Chen Guiliang, Bian Guan Yue. Lyricist: Chen Guiliang.]

Bian Guanyue's stage name "Li Jing" has been ruthlessly rejected by Chen Guiliang.

After repeatedly studying the lyrics and music, Senior Brother Kong said, "There's someone named Peng Fei whose price and style are a perfect match. He's from Northeast China, just like me. He graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music less than two years ago and is now active in Beijing's jazz and independent music scene. He did the string part for Li Jian's song 'Legend'."

Chen Guiliang asked, "How much does it cost?"

Brother Kong said, "It'll be around 5000 to 8000. You'll have to negotiate the exact price with him yourself. He's eager to become famous, and your song is pretty good, so I think you can probably get the lowest price you can get."

"Thank you, Senior Brother Kong!"

Is Chen Guiliang neglecting his proper duties by spending so much effort creating a song?

This falls under the purview of the Xiaonei.com product manager, and "The Wind Rises" can become a powerful tool for promoting Xiaonei.com!

(End of this chapter)