Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

On the way back, Yang Che thoroughly reflected on his actions. He realized that he had brought this whole thing on himself, that he had put several women together.

Sigh! If only we could just keep pretending to be confused, it's not like we have no one else to use.

However, things have already progressed to this point, so we can only take it one step at a time. But we need to tell Gao Yuanyuan at the right time that she can't be affectionate in public when she comes to visit the set during filming, as it could affect the actors' performance. Hmm... that's a good reason.

Nothing happened on the way back to Courtyard No. 8.

Gao Yuanyuan sent me a text message.

I wanted to write you a love poem, but I can't because I miss you so much.

Yang Che replied: "No. 16, Baihua Hutong, Xinjiekou South Street. It will take at least a day to get there."

Gao Yuanyuan replied with "...", which is three dots.

The next day arrived in the blink of an eye.

Yang Che arrived at Baihua Recording Studio at 8:30 in the morning. This was the most famous recording studio in China in the 1990s. It was not his choice, but Sun Nan's. He also found the producer, Xiao Ke.

After entering the courtyard, Yang Che followed the sound of the piano into a rehearsal room.

Xiao Ke had already arrived, and it was he who played the piano, playing "I Believe." Outside, there was a man with medium-length hair and a goatee, about forty-five or forty-six years old, who was sitting with his legs crossed, smoking a pipe.

If I'm not mistaken, this is Wang Xinbo, the manager of Baihua Recording Studio, nicknamed "Old Brother." He was the guitarist of China's first rock band, Wanlima Wang, and now works in recording.

"Hello, you must be the guy, I'm Yang Che, the one who asked Sun Nan to record a song with him."

Wang Xinbo turned his chair around, stood up, and said with a particularly kind and gentle expression, "Oh, hello, may I ask how old you are?"

They're quite talkative too.

Yang Che smiled and said, "I don't deserve such formality. I was born in 78, so I'm 22 now."

"Awesome!"

Wang Xinbo pursed his lips, gave a thumbs up, and then called out to the inner room, "Xiao Ke, your boss is here."

Then he dusted himself off and left.

"Thump"

Xiao Ke stopped playing the piano, turned around, raised an eyebrow, and nodded.

Yang Che couldn't help but laugh. This guy had a "Aaron Kwok hairstyle," wore silver round-framed glasses, had long, narrow eyes, and a round face. He looked like he was eighteen or nineteen years old, but he should be twenty-eight or twenty-nine.

This industry insider's assessment of him is: "He can write a song even while taking a dump."

This is no exaggeration. When writing "Return to the Homeland" for "The Return of the Condor Heroes", he completed the lyrics and music in nine minutes, arranged the music in half an hour, and recorded the demo in an hour.

Yes, in most cases, this person writes songs with lyrics and music produced together.

His debut self-titled album, released in 1995, featured all tracks written, composed, arranged, produced, sung, and sung by him alone...

Yang Che recently heard an interesting story. Just last month, Xiao Ke invited friends to dinner at home. In the middle of the meal, he received a call from his company saying that he owed three songs. So that night, a group of friends saw that Xiao Ke had written "The Most Familiar Stranger" (sung by Elva Hsiao), "Missing" (sung by Sandy Lam), and "White Rose" (sung by Leo Ku) in a short period of time.

Yes, all three songs came out on the same night.

It is often said that Gao Jin supported half of the Chinese music scene, but this is probably an exaggeration or a joke.

But Gao Xiaosong once said, "If you turn on the radio and listen to the charts, out of ten songs, Xiao Ke wrote the lyrics and composed the music for four. Of the remaining six, Xiao Ke arranged the music for three, played the piano for two, and for the last one, he did nothing but sing a harmony."

This is seriously true!!! Even time travelers wouldn't dare do this!!!

"Hello, your piece is wonderful!"

Xiao Ke speaks in a gentle, yet magnetic way.

Yang Che smiled subtly and pointed to the papers on the piano: "I see you're already composing music?"

Xiao Ke nodded: "Here's what I'm thinking: this song is a lyrical pop song with a smooth melody, so I'll use piano as the main accompaniment, with strings providing a continuous foundation, basic rhythm drums and bass, and here, here, an electric guitar embellishment... What do you think?"

Yang Che nodded repeatedly: "No problem, it's pretty much what I thought. Shall we contact the musicians?"

Yang Che wasn't just filling a position; he couldn't make things up, nor could he read or listen to music.

After Gao Yuanyuan got off the bus at Baihua Hutong, she looked around as she walked to the entrance of the recording studio when she heard a voice behind her say, "Hey, girl, who are you looking for?"

Turning around, she saw a man with long, flowing hair, wearing sunglasses on a pockmarked face, carrying a guitar, wearing a black vest and denim shorts, and looking at her with a smirk.

Gao Yuanyuan frowned and looked away: "I'm looking for Yang Che."

He was about to take a step when he said that.

"Hey, we don't have that person here, but if you want to come in, I'll take you in."

Gao Yuanyuan rolled her eyes and went inside on her own.

"Hey, don't try to force your way in."

The guitar-playing guy shouted as he followed her into the courtyard, then froze for a moment, only to see the incredibly beautiful girl rushing towards a pale-faced guy—or rather, a dark-faced guy.

It was Yang Che. He put his arm around her and explained, "I was talking about something and didn't hear the phone ring. I only came out after seeing your text message."

Gao Yuanyuan smiled playfully: "It's alright, I found it here."

Yang Che glanced at the long-haired, curly-haired man, his lips twitching. What era's aesthetic sense is this?

"Amin?"

Without waiting for the guy's reply, he said with a forced smile, "Dude, all that's missing is your electric guitar. Oh, my name is Yang Che, and Xiao Ke and I did the arrangement."

Well, it's "boss".

Amin stopped taking off his sunglasses, somewhat embarrassed: "Okay, okay."

Gao Yuanyuan asked curiously, "When did you arrive?"

"It's been over an hour."

"Is the music finished?"

"Um."

"Wow, how are you so amazing?"

Yang Che's lips twitched. This was nothing. If he hadn't been asking Xiao Ke so many questions, his older brother would probably have finished in ten minutes.

Of course, under Xiao Ke's guidance, Yang Che recorded a piano accompaniment demo to provide a reference for Sun Nan, who was recording the song in the lower lane.

After that, Yang Che pulled Gao Yuanyuan into the rehearsal hall.

"This is my girlfriend, Gao Yuanyuan."

Gao Yuanyuan was taken aback at first, then tightened her grip on his arm with her left hand, before smiling sweetly and waving her right hand: "Hello everyone!"

Bassist Xiao Li narrowed his eyes: "Old Yang, is your girlfriend a celebrity?"

Viola player Fangfang clapped her hands: "Isn't this soaring high? Great job, Boss Yang!"

Gao Fei is a character played by Gao Yuanyuan in the TV series "The Story of Interns", which was recently broadcast on CCTV-8.

Gao Yuanyuan smiled modestly and said, "Hello."

Xiao Ke grinned and said, "What a perfect couple!"

"They should be a good-looking man and a good-looking woman."

"You're so uncultured! There's no such thing as 'handsome men and beautiful women,' it's 'handsome men and pretty women'!"

"Yang Che is talented, isn't he?"

"....."