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After singing 'I Want A Family' for the second time, Sister Na's face was already covered with tears. By the time she sang the last two lines, her voice trembled, yet it was filled with heart-wrenching power!
Everyone present, whether they were familiar customers, strangers, friends from the show business community, or even the bar staff, all stood up to applaud Sister Na. There were no cheers or loud shouts, just pure applause.
The pure and enthusiastic applause pierced through the bar's doors and windows, spreading out to the pedestrian street outside. Several passersby frequently turned their heads, wondering what was happening inside.
Qin Hanyang put down his electric guitar, stood up, and walked over with large strides, opening his arms and giving Sister Na a strong hug.
"You sang wonderfully!" He exclaimed loudly, "That was amazing!"
Sister Na hugged Qin Hanyang back, resting her chin on his shoulder, and wiping her tears on his T-shirt.
A smile appeared on her face: "Thank you!"
Qin Hanyang patted her on the back, then let go of the hug and stepped back.
Next, Lu Chen came forward and hugged Sister Na as well: "Sister Na, you were awesome!"
Sister Na, smiling through her tears, replied, "You cheeky!"
Then, the drummer, keyboardist, and bassist of Wandering Band each came forward to hug her one by one, congratulating her on the success of her first performance and expressing their support.
The applause in the bar never stopped, reaching its peak when Sister Na and the entire band bowed to thank everyone after all the hugs.
Someone in the audience shouted loudly, "Sing it again!"
Sister Na wiped away the fresh tears from the corners of her eyes and smiled as she said, "Thank you so much, everyone!"
"I can only sing this song once tonight, but I've already signed a contract with Qingyu Media. Once my music single is released, I'll gift a copy to everyone here, okay?"
Sister Na was going to release a music single?
Everyone was momentarily stunned before cheering erupted.
Though it wasn't a full album, signing a contract with a media company to release a music single was a dream come true for many vagabond singers, and it was certainly something to celebrate.
As Sister Na's friends, they shared in her joy!
"Congratulations, Sister Na!"
Lu Chen was the first to congratulate her, as he had only just learned the news himself.
Sister Na said, "Little Lu, thank you, truly, thank you!"
What Lu Chen had given her was not just a good song but also an opportunity to realize her dream!
That night at Daylily Bar, no one slept.
...
Time passed quietly and unnoticed. The weather in Capital City was getting hotter and hotter.
In the blink of an eye, it was already the end of May.
It had been almost a week since the Qinglan Music Carnival, and Lu Chen's life had undergone quite a few changes.
First, he moved into a new home, a comfortable single apartment, significantly improving his quality of life.
Then, Lu Chen began devoting more time and energy to his online live-streaming career. Naturally, his visits to Daylily Bar became less frequent, and he mostly appeared as a guest performer.
Chen Jianhao didn't mind this at all. After all, Lu Chen was now a minor shareholder in the bar, and business had improved. Many vagabond singers came to perform, some even coming just because of Lu Chen.
Thanks to Chen Jianhao's connections, Sister Na and Wandering Band successfully signed contracts with Qingyu Media.
However, both contracts were short-term collaborations, focusing on the songs 'I Want A Family' and 'In Spring'. Sister Na and Wandering Band would be promoted as a group, releasing a music single and a mini-album.
As for Lu Chen himself, both a management company and an entertainment company had approached him.
They wanted to sign Lu Chen, but their scale was small, and the contracts were full of restrictive terms. Lu Chen had no interest in signing, so he politely declined, saying that they could collaborate in the future if the opportunity arose.
In this way, he avoided any unpleasantness, adhering to the principle of maintaining good relations even if no deal was made.
Thanks to the memories and experiences from the 3rd life in his dreams, Lu Chen handled the situation smoothly and without offending anyone.
As for the vagabond singers in the community, many of them tried to get close to Lu Chen when he performed at Daylily, though no one asked him to write or sell songs. They mainly wanted to become familiar with him.
This was entirely normal. Although Lu Chen had displayed impressive talent, with works like 'My Old Classmate', 'Cinderella', 'In Spring', 'Blue Lotus Flower', and 'I Want A Family' being considered excellent, even classic pieces, his songs had yet to be tested by the market.
It wasn't enough for just the show business community to applaud them. Moreover, the price of one song was so high that very few vagabond singers would be willing to gamble on it.
Lu Chen had anticipated this and wasn't in a hurry. He planned to wait until the three songs he had sold the copyrights for were released.
Interestingly, Su Qingmei had once tried to sign him, but he refused. Now, all three of the songs he sold were being handled by Qingyu Media.
Qingyu Media was a new company in the industry, with plenty of connections but lacking experience and depth. Moreover, promoting a song was not a simple task, so while Lu Chen hoped to ride Qingyu Media's momentum to make a name for himself, he knew he still needed to be patient.
It was precisely because of this that Lu Chen spent more time on his online live-streaming, which earned him more money. Currently, his Fish Fan following in his Lu Fei live-streaming room had reached over 250,000, with online viewer counts fluctuating between 150,000 and 300,000.
His daily Fish Ball rewards averaged 5T, successfully placing him among the top-tier streamers on Whale TV.
However, Wu Shanshan had told Lu Chen that reaching this point made it quite difficult to progress further.
Lu Chen himself felt the same, which is why he was particularly focused on the PK-themed show on the night of the 30th, as it was his best opportunity to break through his current bottleneck!
At noon on the 29th, Lu Chen sent his carefully prepared live-streaming theme content to Wu Shanshan.
Just after ending his conversation with Wu Shanshan, a cute girl's avatar popped up in the bottom-right corner of the screen on WeChat.
Lu Chen opened it and couldn't help but smile.
It was Ye Zitong, a sophomore literature major at Capital City Normal University. She had come with her classmates to Daylily to hear him sing, and that's how they met and exchanged WeChat contacts.
This beautiful girl and her classmates had even uploaded videos of Lu Chen's live performances of 'My Old Classmate' and 'Cinderella' to the Beihai City forum. He had seen the post and secretly gave it a like.
The post had gained quite a bit of traction, but unfortunately, the influence of the Beihai City forum was limited. Without professional online promoters to stir things up, it didn't create much of a wave online.
Lu Chen and Ye Zitong had stayed in touch through WeChat, though their conversations had been infrequent.
If it were in the past when his family's financial situation was better, Lu Chen might have actively pursued her. But now, burdened with a mountain of debt, his only focus was on making more money. He had little energy left for romance.
Ye Zitong: "Senior Lu Chen, are you free this afternoon?"
Lu Chen: "I'm free. What's up?"
Ye Zitong: "Well, my computer broke, and it can't be fixed, so I'm thinking of buying a new laptop. Since you're a computer science major, can you come with me to the computer market to help me out so I don't get scammed?"
Lu Chen: "No problem. How about I come over to find you now?"
Lately, apart from his morning workouts, he'd spent most of his time at home, either writing songs or live-streaming. It had been a while since he had gone out, and he needed to relax.
Besides, Lu Chen also wanted to buy a laptop to give to his younger sister, Lu Xue.
It worked out perfectly.
Ye Zitong: "That would be great! I'll wait for you at the gate of the university."
Lu Chen: "OK!"
After shutting down his computer, Lu Chen got up, went to his bedroom, and changed into a new set of clothes. Then he ran to the bathroom to wash his face.
Fresh and clean, he headed out.
As he stepped outside his door, Lu Chen suddenly thought of something— does this count as a date?
He shook his head with a wry smile.
But he couldn't deny that he had a pretty good impression of Ye Zitong.
Hailing a taxi at the entrance of his community, Lu Chen quickly arrived at Capital City Normal University, located in the university district.
At the main gate of the university, he saw Ye Zitong, along with Zuo Xingtian!
Zuo Xingtian was Ye Zitong's classmate and close friend. She had also been to Daylily Bar that day. It was Zuo Xingtian who posted the live-streaming videos of Lu Chen's two songs on the Beihai City forum using her own account.
Upon seeing Lu Chen, Zuo Xingtian jokingly asked, "Senior Lu Chen, are you disappointed?"
(End of chapter)