After offending capital, my songs became more and more popular.

Chapter 284: Hiding from gunfire on the streets of New York, the empty promises made at both ends of the world!

Shen Ming'en himself said that he would write songs for international students. Unsurprisingly, within minutes of him saying that, the international students in the vicinity went into a frenzy, and their shouts never stopped.

This caused a real headache for the security guards responsible for Shen Mingen's safety. To be honest, they really wanted Shen Mingen to keep a low profile, but this guy had just too many "last-minute ideas"!

This "feast" for Shen Ming'en and the local residents lasted for nearly an hour, leaving the troupe's cast and crew stuck there, unable to go back to rest, which caused quite a bit of resentment...

Seeing this, Shen Ming'en was quite helpless and could only wave his hand, indicating:

"Come on, it's late anyway, let's find a place to get some late-night snacks, it's on me!"

Even if I didn't have dinner with my fellow members of the "Silk Road Blossoms" troupe, I would still have to treat everyone in the Dawn Orchestra to dinner. Since we're already here and it's so late, we might as well have a meal together.

"Okay, okay~"

Teacher Chen Guangrong was the first to agree, shouting:

"Let's find a fancy place, the kind where they serve lobster as a main dish, and rip this kid off badly. Now we'll have money!"

Shen Ming'en: "(￢_￢) Shoot"

Teacher Chen, are you even human?
You should be born!
To be honest, although everyone in the group of "Silk Road Blossoms" is someone who "doesn't have to worry about food and clothing," the only one who is truly "rolling in money" is Shen Ming'en.

After all, everyone has witnessed the immense popularity of his works "Spark" and "Bright Sword." Even if all the profits from "Spark" were donated, there would still be "Bright Sword," so the amount he earned is self-evident.

Although he put on a pained expression, Shen Ming'en didn't really care about the money. They had a local guide, and they contacted a restaurant that could accommodate most of them overnight. The bus simply headed straight there.

The temperature was very low late at night after the performance, probably around 0 degrees Celsius. Everyone was wearing thick down jackets, but they were in pretty good spirits. After all, someone was treating them, and they could rest tomorrow. It felt like a Friday night during their school days, a time to party and let loose.

"Gathering for dinner" is really an exaggeration. At first, Shen Ming'en thought it was just a meal, but who knew that after the meal...

It's dawn!

Fortunately, most of the cast and crew members of the troupe had no tasks the next day and could rest for a day; otherwise, Shen Ming'en's proposed "dinner party" would have become a joke.

On the way back to the hotel, Shen Ming'en was so sleepy. On the one hand, he had drunk quite a lot and was a little dizzy and tipsy; on the other hand, he hadn't slept all night and was up until this late... So sleepy!
He took off his coat and covered his head with it after getting in the car. He originally planned to take a nap on the way back to the hotel, but just as Shen Ming'en was about to drift off to sleep...

"Ming En, Ming En!" A colleague in the back seat leaned over and poked Shen Ming En, handing him his phone and shouting, "You seem to be trending on social media."

"? Isn't that normal?" Shen Ming'en asked, looking completely bewildered, causing his friend's lips to twitch slightly...

"It wasn't last night's performance!" the guy said. "It seems to be about the song you promised to write for the international students."

"Huh?" Shen Ming'en was stunned for a moment...

I took the phone and glanced at it, and my head started spinning even more.

Last night, there were quite a few trending topics about Shen Ming'en in China. Many of them were related to his performance of "Yellow River Cantata: Defend the Yellow River" with the Morning Light Band. Because the song was pre-arranged with the platform and a formal version was recorded in advance, it was released almost simultaneously on various music platforms on the day of the performance. Overnight, it dominated the new song charts, hot song charts, and rising song charts.

Logically, this should have been the only trending topic related to Shen Mingen last night. However, shortly after the performance, a hashtag called "#ShenMingenWantsToWriteSongsForOverseasStudents!" suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began to rapidly climb the trending lists on various platforms!
As dawn broke and Shen Ming'en and his friends finished their dinner and were heading back to their hotel to rest, this trending topic was already second only to "The Yellow River Cantata: Defend the Yellow River" in popularity.

The content is self-explanatory; it was simply Shen Ming'en comforting the female fan who had come to support him from outside the theater staff exit...

To be honest, the content was really quite touching. That night, after the girl went home, she summarized her past experiences of following Shen Ming'en over the years, recorded a video, and posted it online. The feeling of seeing her favorite idol rise higher and higher step by step, and come to her country to speak to her in their native language, shining brightly, was truly special. Many people never experience this in their entire lives...

This special bond between fans and idols is the best "nutrient" for the fandom and the favorite script for countless marketing accounts. As a result, the girl's video was spread like wildfire by all sorts of marketing accounts that very night. The videos from those marketing accounts alone received over 10 likes, not to mention the girl's own video...

As more and more of the girl's videos were revealed, detailing how "difficult" and "lonely" her "study abroad life" was exposed...

The comment section is full of messages saying:

Sigh, who hasn't spent a few lonely nights visiting the embassy to look at the Chinese characters?

[I got two phones stolen in one month, please! (IP: UK)]

"Heh, bro, what are you talking about? I've been dodging gunfire these past few years in New York, what's a little phone snatching to you?"

[Sigh, you guys are all making jokes, but I genuinely feel lonely. I actually had quite a few friends back in China, and before I left, I thought that even if I couldn't integrate into the local community, at least I could still keep in touch with my friends back home. After all, in this age of the internet, we can always stay connected. But after I got here, I realized there's a 12-hour time difference! When I messaged them after class at noon, they were asleep in the early hours of the morning. By the time they replied, it was already 8 or 9 pm. So, my contact with them gradually decreased...]

Seriously, in some places, it feels like people of different races look at you differently. There's a kind of subtle discrimination. Some people even look at you like you're a monkey. I used to look at black people like that back in China...

[The worst part is the food. Those white guys really don't eat human food. You have no idea how much I miss Chinese food, but here a single dumpling costs 10 RMB! You heard me right, 10 RMB!]

Don't even mention it. After the only Chinese rice bowl restaurant in the town where I was studying abroad went out of business, my classmates and I cried in front of the restaurant for a whole week...

[That baguette is some kind of crazy concoction, I don't know what they came up with, it's so dry and hard, do you know what it's like to eat that stuff for every meal?!]

"...Is there any food? I need food."

I need sunshine, food, and Chinese-speaking people...

……

This comment section was actually quite normal at first...

Many people are expressing a sentiment called "nostalgia," and quite a few are reciting phrases like "I raise my head to gaze at the bright moon, then lower it to think of my hometown."

But I don't know which person started it, it gradually went off-topic...

They gradually started discussing how incredibly bad the food was abroad!
A student who had been abroad for several years returned to China and took the high-speed rail, and even noticed that the food on the train still looked "refreshing".

At first, I thought the food on the high-speed train was a bit pricey, over forty yuan, but after doing the math... six dollars? It's practically free!
One hundred million more servings, please!

One billion servings per person!
This netizen's lead immediately drew in a large number of international students studying abroad...

From the UK, from island nations, from Russia, from the beautiful... you name it, they have it.

The funniest thing is that guy who's in Russia. Goodness, there's really nothing to eat there. When he flew back to China, the flight attendant gave him a bowl of plain porridge, and he drank it with great relish!
After returning to China, these people went on a crazy "revenge spending" spree. They didn't eat anything fancy, just egg pancakes, jianbing guozi, youtiao, and tofu pudding, and they could eat them all day long.

It's important to understand that many of those who leave behind their families are generally quite wealthy, but the problem lies in some areas...

Even if he had money, he couldn't buy good food!
So tell me, is there anyone abroad who doesn't have a "hard" life?
Everyone has their own unique way of experiencing "misery," okay?
It was also because of these "off-topic" international students that the popularity of this issue gradually increased, with some videos of international students sharing how bad the food was abroad getting hundreds of thousands of likes...

This incident gradually sparked a huge wave of discussion, and people all over the world started sharing how miserable their meals were.

Anyway...

Well, that's the gist of it.

The hype surrounding it was also completely amplified.

Regardless of whether Hajime was just saying it casually, since he's already promised to write a song for Liuzi and Liuzi, he'll definitely have to take corresponding actions.

"Oh my god..."

After seeing all this, Shen Ming'en couldn't help but pull his jacket hood up over his shoulders. He felt like he'd been making empty promises everywhere lately, promising something new every time he went anywhere. He'd just promised Bai Ming a song for overseas Chinese, and now he'd promised the Liu Zi a song for them...

Endless!

The debts are really piling up!

……

After returning to the hotel, Shen Ming'en slept soundly for days, and didn't wake up until after 2 p.m. the next day.

He was already jet-lagged, and then he drank so much alcohol, making Shen Ming'en feel terrible...

Shen Ming'en actually has a habit of going for a morning run wherever he goes. Although he was tired and it didn't seem to be morning anymore, Shen Ming'en didn't plan to stop exercising. So he forced his tired body to get up and go for a run, but when he looked out the window...

Good heavens, it's snowing!
The once bustling city suddenly felt like the end of the world, a vast expanse of white as if it had entered a snow country.

Subconsciously, Shen Ming'en took out his phone and snapped a picture, intending to send it to Yao Shuli. But just before his finger was about to press the "send" button, he suddenly remembered...

At this time of day in China, it should be around two or three in the morning, and Yao Shuli should be asleep.

After thinking about it, Shen Ming'en decided not to send it, thinking he would find another time later.

But I might forget about it when I get busy later...

“Giao…” Thinking of this, Shen Ming’en suddenly felt a strange sense of helplessness towards those guys and girls who had left their children behind.

The feeling of being on opposite sides of this planet is fucking amazing!

"Never mind, I'm already up..."

Shaking his head, Shen Ming'en got dressed, washed up, went downstairs to eat something, and then came back to work on his project.

He needs to prepare two pieces for the upcoming performance.

One song is "My Chinese Heart," and the other is "Fallen Leaves Return to Their Roots."

The latter option is easier. Shen Ming'en plans to play the guitar and sing himself. This piece emphasizes vocals and is actually in the pop music category, so it's not that difficult.

The former requires careful handling. If a work of this caliber is not done well, wow, overseas Chinese all over the world will be criticizing you behind your back!
Time passed by, day after day.

The next day, Shen Ming'en received a notification from the Silk Road Blossoms Theater Troupe that the locations for the "dispersed performances" had been decided.

He continued to follow Professor Chen Guangrong to Los Santos, the second largest city in the United States!

Shen Ming'en had long admired this city, after all, Hollywood and the Avenue of Stars were located here. Working in this industry, he was naturally more interested in these things. Although he had read a lot of information online, seeing it in person was definitely a different experience.

"This Commander Bai is a man of his word," Shen Ming'en thought to himself.

He keeps his promises and is a person you can get along with.

Since he had kept his promise to Shen Mingen, Shen Mingen would naturally not break his promise to him.

Before we knew it, the day of the performance had arrived.

Shen Ming'en and his team arrived at the performance venue in Los Santos a day in advance for rehearsals, and the process went very smoothly. It's worth mentioning that the day of the performance was really, really... really lively!

The theaters where the performances were held were not particularly large and could not accommodate a large number of people. However, the theaters were basically packed with local overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese. If Shen Ming'en had arrived even a moment later, he would not have been able to squeeze in at all!

It's easy to see how much they're looking forward to Shen Ming'en's work for this performance.

And the performance began immediately.

……

(End of this chapter)