Liang Liang casually tossed aside the newspaper articles that mocked the Blue Shark band, dismissing them as a passing cloud.
One cannot live by the words of others, nor can one listen to everything people say.
He said, "Just do your thing, and that's it. If you hear the cicadas chirping, why aren't you planting beans?"
"Xiao Liang! How are Hong Lei and the others doing over there?" Huang Jie asked.
"Who?" Liang Liang was a little confused. He had no idea who Hong Lei was.
"It's the band Ni Liu. You don't know them? That's perfectly normal."
countercurrent?
Liang Liang scratched his head. Of course he knew this band; he had even changed some of their songs.
No wonder those guys sounded different from the people from Lianwan; they were from Shucun.
Liang Liang did notice their accents at the time, but didn't ask. They were clearly not locals from Beijing, as they spoke several different accents.
“If you had asked them a week earlier, I really wouldn’t have known who they were, but now I do. I saw them recording an album in the studio a couple of days ago and even chatted with them for a bit.”
"Wow! They've already started recording albums?" Huang Jie was very surprised.
"It's not an officially published album; it's an album they recorded themselves. Besides giving some to relatives and friends, the rest are sold in stores that sell bootleg CDs."
"Oh, so that's what happened! I was shocked! They've only been there for a little over four months and they've already recorded an album. That's just too illogical."
“Recording a proper album may still take some time, but they have been performing in small theaters for a month now. The band can earn more than 5,000 yuan a month. They certainly won’t get rich, but they have solved their basic needs.”
Hearing that Ni Liu was already earning 5,000 yuan a month, the people in Shucun were tempted.
"Actually, we should have been the first to go to Lianwan, but unfortunately we were delayed by something. I don't know if it's too late to go now?" Huang Jie said regretfully.
"Actually, you can stay in the capital."
"The conditions here are terrible, and most importantly, there's no hope in sight."
"Are there any abandoned clubs or small factories in Beijing? Or even a large, old-fashioned courtyard house? Please keep an eye out for one," Liang Liang suddenly asked, taking a different approach.
Huang Jie blinked a few times.
"Are you planning to open a small theater in Beijing?"
Liang Liang nodded.
Huang Jie took a deep breath: "We'll have to look around. Is it feasible to just open a small theater in Beijing? Although there are many people in Beijing, it's a very complicated place with all sorts of people. If we're not careful, we might lose money."
"That depends on how you run it. The songs you sing are definitely going to lose money; they're too niche, not many people will listen. It's just for your own entertainment, but running a small theater is an economic activity. You can't cling to any kind of spirit and base everything on economic interests. The minimum goal is to at least not lose money, even if you don't make any. I'm not saying this to force you to sing pop songs; you wouldn't do that anyway. How about we sing pop-rock? Or at least make the songs sound better?"
Getting these people to sing pop songs is definitely... well, it's not 100% impossible, some will compromise with life, but most of them are out of luck.
If those rock musicians within the Third Ring Road heard Liang Liang's words, they would shower him with ten thousand tons of contempt and trample him underfoot.
He knew all too well the character of these rock musicians during this period, which could be summed up in one sentence: they were obsessed with saving face and suffered for it.
In a few years, the most fitting word to describe them will be: pretentious.
They're clearly so poor they're living off their parents and begging for food, but they refuse to admit it. They insist on putting on an act of rock and roll, and even their few fans follow suit with this pretentious nonsense.
It's like they had that "I was poor but I was proud" attitude from over a decade ago.
The country is encouraging you to get rich, and you're putting in this kind of effort? Aren't you going against national policy? How can the country accept you like this?
If you really try to argue with them about what rock and roll spirit is, they really can't explain it.
If promiscuity, smoking weed, and drinking are considered part of the rock and roll spirit, then they might fit the bill, but can they really say that in public?
"Singing pop-rock is enough?"
Pop rock is just a rock style of singing pop songs; it's a bit of a cover-up.
"If you can get rid of that useless vanity, what's wrong with singing pop songs? We're all just busking, why bother dividing people into different classes? What's the point?"
Before liberation, they were all considered low-class people, so there was no question of looking down on each other.
“Oh, right! I just remembered something? Brother Huang! Aren’t there two courtyard houses for sale near the Green Garden Dance Hall we went to a few days ago? I heard from Brother Yan that those two houses are worth 3.5 million, and the owner wants to immigrate to the other side of the Pacific.” A band member suddenly blurted out.
Liang Liang's ears immediately perked up.
Two courtyards cost 3.5 million?
Isn't this like a windfall?! Is there really such a good thing?
"Really?" Liang Liang pressed.
"This is what Brother Yan, the owner of Green Garden Bar, told us when we performed there a couple of days ago."
Where is it?
"Dinghui Bridge is right next to the Third Ring Road, but the location is a bit remote."
"Are there courtyard houses outside the Third Ring Road? Aren't all the courtyard houses in Beijing located in the Dongcheng and Xicheng districts?"
"Within the Second Ring Road, there are large areas of them. The courtyard houses in Nanluoguxiang have become cultural relics protection areas. It's similar in Dongsi. Dinghuiqiao was a rural area before liberation. This courtyard house is said to have been built by a large landlord in the late Qing Dynasty, modeled after the courtyard houses in Beijing. What happened after that is not clear. It was returned to its original owner when it was rehabilitated a couple of years ago. Now the owner wants to emigrate to the glamorous world, so he is preparing to sell it."
Does he have a property deed?
"I'm not too sure about that, but there should be a land deed or something."
"Brother Han! You and this man go take a look yourself. If the paperwork is complete and the policy allows, then buy it!"
Liang Liang made a decisive decision and immediately gave instructions.
"Buy it at this price?"
"Whatever you can manage to get done is yours."
"You keep your word?" Han Chui's eyes immediately went to the top of his head.
"When have I ever lied to you? Can't you even do this job anymore?"
Han Chui immediately gathered his men and set off with five or six of them.
Why did you bring so many people with you when you went to buy a house? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were going to rob someone!
If we can really buy them, buying two courtyard houses for 3.5 million would be a huge profit. We can use them now and sell them for money in the future.
I can't say for sure how much, but selling it for a hundred times the price in the future won't be a problem.
Han Chui went to study the courtyard house, while the Blue Shark Band started rehearsing. With only three days left before the performance, they naturally had to practice.
There are a few songs that must be performed in the Beijing concert; they cannot be performed carelessly.
Huang Jie's Night Sky Band and several other Tree Village Bands also rehearsed with them.
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