Pale lights hit the stage, rendering an old-fashioned, nostalgic black-and-white scene, and as the extra-long prelude mixed with a whispering monologue began to echo, "In the Name of the Father", the most three-dimensional song, appeared in the world years in advance.

In the bar, in the drizzle, there was silence with the melody of the song, the flickering of neon in the distance, the traffic coming and going, the number of things is really telling the truth sometimes, when everyone gathered together is silent, listening intently, standing in the middle of it, you can feel that the melody almost drowns out the whole city, the whole world under the sky.

Speaking of which, the group of people standing in the rain may be more fortunate than those who enter the bar, although the stage is blurred black and white by the lighting, in the atmosphere of gray tones, the occasional look up at the ridiculous fruit masks will still dilute the atmosphere that can be felt. In the crowd, Joseph's perception of the lyrics is aside, but he is obviously also infected by the melody of the song, the reason why Marilyn and Heidi are intoxicated, or they have more elements of love for the house and Wu. Sitting on the sidelines, Fang Yusi's mood can only be described as shocking.

Just as Huang Lao and Zheng Zepei heard "East Wind Breaking" for the first time, unlike ordinary people who simply evaluate "whether it sounds good or not" and "whether they like it or not" when they listen to the song, as relatively professional musicians, while feeling the song, they will also evaluate the weight of the song in their hearts to judge whether it will be popular and whether it will become popular. In fact, most of the songs have to rely on the eyes of musicians, packaging and publicity to be able to get on the top, but there are also a small number of songs that can be deeply remembered as soon as they are heard, and there is no doubt that they will lead the trend. And almost all the songs that the concept band came up with belong to this genre.

In the few months since the establishment of the concept band, less than half of the more than ten songs released have actually sold the singing rights, but after each song comes out, the tapes that have been hired by various performing arts companies to record on the spot will be sent to some singers in the fastest form...... But there is no doubt that compared to those tapes that are accompanied by noise and seem unreal, the singing heard at the scene at this moment can give people several times more shock, just like the jade picker found the hair embryo of He's Bi, and she can even clearly see in front of her eyes how powerful these songs will be once professionally processed, sung and packaged.

Each song is a different style, each song has a shocking power, and each song is guaranteed to become popular...... No, no matter who he is, you have to make it clear, it doesn't matter if you pay some promises and costs, as long as he can write songs for me...... Her mind fluctuated with fantasies, and she looked at the slightly dull performance on stage, and in between songs, a strange feeling suddenly passed through her mind: the cucumber-masked member of the concept band, the dance moves seemed familiar...... The thought then faded through her mind, for the girl did not make any more movements or gestures—she was playing the electric piano, and her hands were busy.

It was also at this time that a waiter at the bar brought two marshmallows over and handed them to the Marilyn mother and daughter beside Fang Yusi, who seemed to have said something in the middle, but Fang Yusi was in no mood to pay attention at this time.

The black and white melody progresses and gradually comes to an end, and after the final mixed rap, the silence around lasts for a while, as if it is still immersed in the compact sense of the picture and cannot break free. Banana, the lead singer on stage, tapped on the microphone, coughed lightly, and then said, "Uh...... Finished. ”

"It's like this for the time being, of course I can't sing well, and there is room for improvement in this song...... On Saturday, everyone is busy resting, and so am I, so I'm here today, goodbye. It seems to be the consistent style of the concept band, without too much embellishment, no steady rhetoric and does not take care of the audience's feelings, after a brief speech, holding the microphone shelf is ready to flash people, and there is a noise below as usual, there are begging, there are protests, and some people have heard the name of the concept for a long time, but it is the first time to come, so they are noisy in the front row and want to rush up. There are almost every scene like this, but the Blue Bird Bar has already been prepared, and more than a dozen strong men have surrounded the small stage tightly, and no one can rush over.

Seeing that the concept band simply left the stage, Sister Lan, who was not far away, made a hurried gesture to this side, saying sorry to Joseph and Marilyn, and Fang Yusi walked towards the entrance of the passage to the backstage. After a while, Heidi, who had finished eating the marshmallows, jumped down from the couch contentedly and looked around: "Mommy, where is the bathroom?" ”

"Washroom...... I'll take you there. ”

Smiling and greeting Joseph, and taking Heidi's hand, the mother and daughter walked towards the bathroom on the other side of the hall, and disappeared from Joseph's vision for a moment.

After the concept band left, the restrictions on entry didn't make much sense, most of the security guards at the door were removed, the music became slightly soothing, and many people came in from outside, asking others about the stage and communicating with each other about the new song. Although a lot of fans have been lost because of the maverick style of the concept, when this style has become a habit, there are still many die-hard fans, who are talking about the fact that if the concept band enters the music scene, it will definitely be able to sweep away thousands of troops and sweep away those so-called singers.

Listening to the praise and admiration of the crowd around him, Joseph drank red wine while thinking about some of the things he wanted to explore during his trip to China, the most important of which was naturally who saved Marilyn's mother and daughter three years ago.

After Marilyn's incident three years ago, the relationship between Sally and Gambino's two mafia families has had a period of relaxation, however, peace has continued until now, and many of the conflicts that were originally suppressed have reached the verge of intensification.

For the experience of being rescued for more than a month, after returning to the United States, Marilyn and Heidi, the mother and daughter, are tight-lipped to say, in order to keep this secret, the mother and daughter both spent a lot of energy, once someone's speech intentionally or unintentionally involves this aspect, the atmosphere of chatting with them will immediately be cold, Marilyn will still have some round wrists, Heidi's refusal is even more direct, originally very lively and innocent children, become no longer like to interact with strangers, Even if a loved one in the family made a side attack on that matter, she would turn around and walk away, and during the first time she returned to New York, this embarrassment at the dinner table happened dozens of times.

Many people in the family said that the mother and daughter were too ignorant, but as Marilyn's father, he seemed to have always felt guilty about his daughter in Tang Jingyao's matter, and he kept the matter down and didn't mention it since. However, when the family once again felt the coming crisis, some of the guilt of course disappeared in front of the family's interests, so there was Joseph's trip to China.

Recalling the performance of Marilyn's mother and daughter, Joseph is almost certain that the lead singer of the concept band, a boy named Gu Jiaming, is definitely one of the important figures, Heidi must have met this teenager three years ago and became friends, and now as long as he investigates the background of the teenager, many things should be pulled out smoothly. Thinking like this in my heart, as the minutes passed, a certain feeling of uneasiness gradually rose.

For ten minutes, Marilyn and the others did not come.

Walking through the crowd to the door of the bathroom, he waited quietly for a while, then took a breath and reached out and knocked on the door of the women's bathroom: "Marilyn, Heidi!" ”

The music was loud, the crowd was noisy, and there was no response in the restrooms.

Frowning, he slammed open the wooden door, and a fat woman who was washing her hands in front of the mirror watched in stunned as the foreign man who came in kicked open the cubicles, and the naked scenery of several women was completely exposed to the man's eagle-like sharp gaze. Because the murderous aura that could be felt was so huge, no one dared to call for a while. It wasn't until the man, seemingly completely dissatisfied, looked at everything and turned his gaze ferociously to the fat woman, that a sharp cry for help from an octave higher finally rang out.

"Strong--an-ah-"

Turning around suddenly, Joseph ignored her and rushed out of the door, the first security guard who came in swung his baton on his head and was kicked away by him, and the second security guard just received a fierce straight punch, and was slashed in the back of the neck with a hand knife, fainted, and with great momentum, Joseph rushed into the small passage outside the bathroom like a chariot.

Security guards, hooligans, and righteous people, a large number of people surrounded them from both sides.

Kicks, punches, and violent over-the-shoulder throws, in an instant, the first four people to rush have fallen to the ground, and the people behind still want to rush, but then they stopped, because the man in front of him had taken out two pistols directly from his clothes and aimed them at both ends of the passage.

Since the people who blocked the passage at this time were all members of the Shazhu Gang, no one screamed for a while, and the confusion would not spread into the hall, and after a while, a middle-aged man who seemed to be wearing a suit came over from the crowd, looked at the pistol, and couldn't help frowning: "This friend, why are you making trouble in my place?" ”

After he had spoken, a man next to him translated it in English, and Joseph lowered the muzzle of the gun slightly and said in Chinese: "My two friends are missing from you." ”

"Two friends?" The middle-aged man looked at his subordinates, and a security guard behind him squeezed over and whispered something in his ear, and then the middle-aged man asked, "Your friend is a woman?" Blond? With her daughter? ”

"That's right."

"My people saw them go to the parking lot below, no one threatened them, the little girl seemed quite happy, why didn't they greet you beforehand?"

Slightly stunned, Joseph's fierce expression remained unchanged, and after a moment, he put the pistol back, took out a check book and wrote a number, and then tore off the first one and handed it over: "Thank you, these should be my compensation." With that, he parted the crowd and ran towards the stairs down the parking lot.

The parking lot on the ground floor was brightly lit, and from the initial realization that Marilyn's mother and daughter had disappeared, he probably understood what was going on, so he didn't doubt the middle-aged man's statement, and ran to his rented car, and a piece of paper was sandwiched on the windshield wiper, and it was indeed Marilyn's handwriting:

Don't worry, we'll be back when the time comes.

Then, the sound of the engine starting sounded in the parking lot, and when I turned my head, I saw a black car coming around the exit not far away, and in the back seat, Marilyn and Heidi smiled and waved at this side. "Don't worry!" It was Marilyn's pleasant laughter, a charming smile with a hint of guilt.

For a moment, Joseph's heart sank.

I still remember that when I first met Marilyn, she had already given birth to little Heidi for the Chinese man, and the Chinese man went back to his hometown, and Marilyn was very depressed at that time, living at home and not participating in any social interactions, and not having many friends. Under the deliberate arrangement of Marilyn's father, when she went to that mansion, she would occasionally have the opportunity to get close to her, and after becoming friends, Marilyn would occasionally talk about Tang Jingyao who was far away in China, and her face would bloom with a bright smile. He once thought that maybe he was conquered by this smile, and one day, he would make her smile so bright and charming when she thought of herself.

Marilyn came to China with Tang Jingyao three years ago, and what happened then caught everyone off guard, but in any case, Tang Jingyao died, and Marilyn was brought back to New York, she began to take the initiative to contact things in the family, and began to smile and laugh politely and appropriately, he knew that the death of the Chinese man hit her hard, but at least he had a chance, and he used his best efforts to try to move her for three years, and progress seemed to be there. But occasionally in a no-man's place, Marilyn would suddenly remember something, and smile brightly and charmingly, which he had seen twice by accident—and which often faded when someone was present—and which made him feel a little flustered.

And now, looking at Marilyn's smile, a certain realization suddenly rose in the bottom of my heart. She was going to get rid of herself and go to meet someone, which is why she smiled so charmingly. No matter how hard she tried, she was finally one step late, and this American woman who had loved China since she was a child, after Tang Jingyao's death, still chose a certain Chinese as her sustenance after that.

In this matter, I may never have had a chance.

Standing still, he quietly looked at Marilyn in the back row, and a few seconds later, the car drove into the rain outside and left his field of vision.

It was probably during the time when Joseph's classmates bravely entered the bathroom, and when he tried to lower the brim of his hat as much as possible, Fang Yusi, who was like a spy, found the break room of the concept band.

When passing through the passage in front, it seemed that money played a huge role, and the few security guards in charge really did not stop her, but when she watched the staff around her come and go, Fang Yusi's heart still produced a sense of excitement combining tension and apprehension, just like the feeling played on TV - in fact, Fang Yusi's big dream is to act in film and television, but unfortunately her acting skills are a mess, and there are not many idols in 98 at this time, so this dream has not been realized.

The passage on this side is silent, and it seems that the concept band is very big, and no one dares to come and disturb it. Standing at the door, Fang Yusi hesitated what to say after knocking on the door, and listened to a conversation coming from inside.

“…… What kind of friend did you meet last night, but you're not at home, and I'm with ...... It was a lot of fun. ”

"What a little foreign girl and her mother, I don't remember......"

"Went to Shasha's house after that beating? The time when you gave everything to the little girl? I remember...... Shasha, we wanted to get the money for them the next day, but the two of them weren't there anymore...... Wow, didn't we inadvertently save Monopoly, and then the good guys were rewarded? It's something that only happens in novels......"

"People are foreigners, but they don't have to be rich......

"Whatever, whatever, anyway, we don't want other people's money, I remember that little girl was very beautiful, so cute as a doll......"

The voices of young men and women came from the door, intermittently, as if they were talking about the strange things that they had inadvertently encountered when they had helped a certain foreigner in distress since they were children, and now that the foreigner had found it, they had inadvertently encountered another bizarre thing. Fang Yusi was about to knock on the door, when suddenly his arm hurt, and then, his entire body was pressed to the ground.

"Who are you? What do you want to do! ”

He couldn't help but let out a cry of pain from his mouth, this time he was caught off guard, his arm was almost twisted, and his chest was smashed firmly on the ground, without any cushion at all, and then the hat was taken off by the man, revealing a full head of long hair. Seeing that it was a woman, the person holding her down seemed to be a little confused, but his hands did not relax at all.

The thief-like behavior was caught, Fang Yusi didn't know how to explain it for a while, so he could only lie on the ground with a hum, and after a while, the door next to him opened, and out came a girl in a long skirt, with a pleasant voice: "Uncle Gu, what's wrong?" ”

"There was a troublesome foreigner in front of me, and I happened to come to take a look, and I saw this woman sneakily eavesdropping at your door...... Heh, could it be your star chaser clan or something......" The man behind him said, and also relaxed his hand slightly, and in the middle of the cloak, Fang Yusi struggled to raise his head, and saw the girl's expression gradually becoming stunned. After the chaos, Fang Yusi gradually remembered the girl in front of him, and suddenly opened his mouth wide, unable to close it for a long time.

"Ahh......h Uncle Gu, you caught the wrong person, you caught the wrong person...... She, she's the friend we brought, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, did she screw you, Sister Yusi, oh...... No, Miss Fang, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, you...... Uh, I'm sorry......"

Hurriedly helping her up, a girl named Lingjing patted the dust on her body in fear and kept apologizing. And Fang Yusi's eyes were stunned and slightly sluggish.

What suddenly rose in my heart was a terrible mistake......

(To be continued)