Chapter 422: This Is Absolutely Ridiculous!

Chapter 422: This Is Absolutely Ridiculous!

Yu Xiaohu’s face had darkened.

Earlier, An Menglan had told him how Su Lei was caught, and they had discussed how to limit the damage.

But she had said nothing about Wu Chen releasing a song.

Mainly because even she found his reasoning a little unreliable. Using the buzz from his song to lift the buzz around her album’s release later on…

She, at least, understood his musical talent and could still trust him to a degree. If anyone else heard about this, it would certainly become a “joke.”

That was why she’d kept quiet. She didn’t want Wu Chen turned into a joke in other people’s mouths.

“Teacher Xiaohu, Teacher Morning Mist wants to record this song right now and release it tonight…” An Menglan explained briefly.

Yu Xiaohu reacted strongly.

“So record it! Release it! It looks like you and he have a pretty good personal relationship, Miss An, and there’s nothing wrong with you helping him out,” he said first, then went on. “But why does he have to take your rehearsal room? Why your team? The company’s full of people!”

“Because I want the best,” An Menglan said simply.

“But… I…!” Yu Xiaohu was practically losing his mind. He raised both hands beside his head, gesturing, and paced quickly back and forth twice.

He was extremely worked up.

And it was easy to see why.

He was the producer of her new album. He had to oversee and arrange the whole production process, especially now, with time so short.

By his original plan, recording on the album could formally begin tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Once post-production was done, it could be officially released the day after.

And today, apart from meetings, he had spent nearly every hour in this rehearsal room.

Watching the band rehearse. Pushing them. The faster they finished rehearsing, the faster the album could be made.

And now look.

Morning Mist had suddenly decided to make a new song, throwing every plan into chaos. The band had been rehearsing most of the day, and now they were being told to stop and help Morning Mist instead.

His new song was going to take up An Menglan’s team?

Which meant that for every half day the team was tied up, her album would come out half a day later. Everything would be pushed back.

For a music producer, disrupting the schedule was a cardinal sin to begin with. And with time this tight?

What on earth was this?

“Miss An! I think you need to seriously reconsider. Your new album is what matters most. We’re already rushing it, and now you want them to stop and work on something else? Every day the album comes out late is another day of losses!” Yu Xiaohu pushed his glasses up his nose and lodged a stern protest.

Few people in all of Menghua Music dared speak to An Menglan like that.

Yu Xiaohu was one of the handful who did.

He had the seniority for it, though he only spoke this way when he was angry. Whenever he and An Menglan disagreed about music or work, he said so.

And he was always in earnest.

It was starting to look as if they might argue.

“Teacher Xiaohu, let’s talk outside.” An Menglan didn’t hesitate. She had no wish to argue with him here; it would look terrible.

She was also afraid he would say something ugly to Wu Chen’s face.

That would leave her in an extremely awkward position.

She had known Yu Xiaohu for more than ten years and had always admired his musical philosophy and how seriously he took his work. Something like a friendship across generations had grown between them.

Her heels clicked across the floor.

She walked straight out. Naturally, Yu Xiaohu went after her. He meant to talk her out of it, to stop her from doing something so reckless. Even if this “Morning Mist” did have some special background, even if he came from a great family, he still wasn’t worth holding up her album for.

“Miss An, I really think you need to very carefully reconsi—” His voice still carried faintly into the rehearsal room after he followed her out.

Then it was gone. The door had shut.

The rehearsal room’s soundproofing was exceptional. It blocked most of the sound of the instruments, let alone people talking.

Inside, Zhuang Xiaodie wore an odd expression. She was an “outsider” here, so it wasn’t her place to say anything. She simply watched.

The eight musicians looked odd too.

Wu Chen, however, was perfectly calm.

Still smiling.

Clap. Clap.

He suddenly clapped twice, drawing every musician’s attention, then said with a smile, “Thanks for your hard work, everyone. We’ll start the real rehearsal now. Here’s the score. I’ve marked which section each of you is playing…”

As he spoke, he stepped forward, divided the thick stack of pages into eight sets, and handed one to each musician.

After a full circuit, he came back to stand in front of them, one hand in his pocket.

“I’ll give you one minute. Just take a quick look at your own parts, and then we’ll all play it through once…” he said with a smile.

A minute was very little.

But all eight were thorough professionals, among the best in the industry, and An Menglan paid them well to keep them.

They only had to familiarize themselves and run it once right away. No one was demanding a polished performance. That was hardly difficult.

The eight musicians flipped quickly through their pages and found their parts.

All clearly marked.

Skimming as they were, they still noticed the deeply problematic lyrics. They exchanged glances, silent looks passing between them, but nobody said a word.

Whatever Wu Chen told them now, they would certainly do.

They had all seen how strongly Yu Xiaohu objected. And normally they were a little afraid of the stern Yu Xiaohu.

But.

An Menglan was the boss.

Naturally, they did as she arranged.

A minute later.

“All right. Get ready,” Wu Chen said.

Everyone got ready.

He swept his eyes across them, then signaled the bassist.

Go.

The bassist plucked the strings. The intro was a bass solo with a strong rock flavor; then the drums and guitar came in, followed by the piano…

The full accompaniment ran four minutes and five seconds.

Four minutes later, the first run-through was over.

Quick and simple.

When they finished, all eight looked at Wu Chen. His eyebrows rose slightly. He had to admit they were all very good. Given enough rehearsal time, they would certainly arrive at a version that satisfied him.

But he had no intention of spending much time on this.

“Not bad. Again.”

“Pretty good. Again.”

Over the next ten-odd minutes he had them run it three more times. Each was fine, but only fine. If he’d really wanted to find faults, he could have found far too many.

“You. Tighten your strings a little,” he said, walking farther in and gesturing at the guitarist as he went.

He reached the drum kit and motioned for the drummer to get up.

Not knowing what Wu Chen wanted, the drummer stood.

Wu Chen took the sticks, turned, and sat.

Boom-boom, tap-tap, boom-boom-boom… He tossed off a short passage, then turned his head. “You played this section too soft. It needs emotion. Hit it like this… like this… Got it? Don’t argue with me. I’m not discussing it. Do it the way I said.”

He set the sticks down, stood, and headed for the piano.

The drummer looked thoroughly unconvinced. Who do you think you are, walking in here and lecturing me like that?

But he didn’t say it out loud. He could only do as he’d been told.

At the piano, Wu Chen motioned the pianist up, sat down himself, and played a passage. Then he turned his head. “In this section, you need to stay with the rhythm. I know you don’t know the score yet. Don’t be afraid of wrong notes. Play it like this…”

He played another passage.

The pianist was a tall, thin man of about thirty named Gao Yao. He was unknown in the piano world, but he had real ability, at least on a par with a university piano instructor.

His reaction was the opposite of the drummer’s. He wasn’t the least bit resentful, because the short passage Wu Chen had dashed off was enough for him to feel a level of skill far, far above his own.

There was no arguing with that.

As Wu Chen stood, Gao Yao even asked, “Teacher Morning Mist, how long have you been playing? You only look like you’re in your twenties…”

“Since I was a kid,” Wu Chen said offhandedly with a smile, so as not to discourage him.

Just then the rehearsal-room door opened, and An Menglan and Yu Xiaohu came back in.

An Menglan looked fairly calm. Yu Xiaohu’s face was still dark; he plainly hadn’t won her over. A trace of doubt showed in his expression too, because out in the corridor she had told him that all seven songs on her new album were Wu Chen’s.

He didn’t believe it.

It was too outrageous. How could someone who wrote a trashy song attacking everyone possibly have that kind of creative talent? She had only been in Donghai a few days. He assumed she’d said it just to calm him down for the moment.

She had also told him why Wu Chen was making this song now.

To generate buzz.

That struck him as more inconceivable still. It was absurd.

He was almost looking forward to watching Wu Chen make a fool of himself. Though he very much didn’t want to see that joke play out, since the price of it would be a delay to An Menglan’s album.

This was absolutely ridiculous.