Chapter 49: 97 Seeds

  Kotone Kinoshita didn't immediately turn on the machine to listen to music when she got home. As someone who is busy and only has time to go to a CD store once every two weeks, her appreciation for songs can only be done in very little time each day.

  So unfortunately, after missing the opportunity with that father-daughter pair, Zhou Xiao missed another chance to be heard by someone, only this time, Ono Rikko just didn't have the time to listen, so there's still hope, maybe one day she'll remember and actually give it a listen.

  Including the CD of Koto Ono, all 97 CDs sold by Soshobo have their own stories. Some are stuck in customers' CD players, some were bought and then casually placed aside, while others were lost on the way home by their owners...

  It can be said that among these 97 seeds, the probability of truly blooming into flowers is really very small.

  But perhaps in the midst of it all, there really is someone watching over Zhou Xiao, helping him out, and things finally took a turn for the better...

  A mother in her fifties walked into a CD store, but she wasn't there to buy CDs for herself. Walking over to the rock section, she pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and began selecting CDs one by one.

  She certainly didn't buy it for herself; the one who really wants to listen to these rock songs is her working son.

  Mura Tsuyoshi was almost thirty years old, and with his glasses on, he had a timid personality and didn't like to speak much. From childhood to adulthood, he had always played the role of being bullied. With an ordinary income of 300,000 yen per month, he was one of the most ordinary existences in this vast city of Tokyo.

  But there is a common situation where most of these people hide a beast in their hearts.

  And for Cun Gang, rock music is just that. A lot of rock music is intense, crazy and hysterical, but for Cun Gang, rock music brings him not only these things, but also warmth, passion and a bit of self-confidence, which is what he wants most.

  And Cun Gang's mother also understood her son's problems, so in terms of rock and roll, his mother gave him great support. Because she was very clear that this was a good way for her introverted son to vent, if he didn't have this outlet, he might suffocate himself.

  After finally finding all the CDs he wanted to buy, Murakami's mother didn't leave the CD store immediately. He stood in front of the rock music section and continued searching.

  What is she looking for...? She's looking for the new CD that arrived during this time, which her son doesn't know about. As the person who personally buys almost all of her son's CDs, Villager Geng's mother isn't familiar with the music on it; all she knows is whether or not she's seen the cover before.

  No sooner had she done so than her mother picked up another CD. This CD was somewhat different from most of the CDs around it in appearance.

  What kind of cover art is commonly seen on rock CDs? In short, it's the style of rock itself, with a convenient face head, a bearded uncle, or an atmosphere filled with darkness, even directly putting a skull on top. This is what rock should look like, but this CD has bright colors and simple patterns, which doesn't seem to belong in the rock section. It seems more suitable for the children's section.

  "Looks like a rock CD? But looking at it, it seems to be the kind that's more warm and uplifting?" Villager Gang's mother nodded secretly in her heart. Such a CD was just right for her own son. As his mother, she couldn't possibly want him listening to dark and negative things all day long.

  Village Gang finally returned home from work in the evening.

  "Your CD is in your room," said her mother.

  "Oh." The village chief replied somewhat gloomily.

  The village has been having a tough time lately, with problems at work and emotionally.

  In the company, he has been secretly in love with a colleague, that round-faced female colleague, for three years. At one point, he thought she also had some feelings for him, because when they were at work, especially when their eyes occasionally met, he could sense her subtle emotions.

  But Sonoko was really weak, although the two people were once very close, but this weakness ultimately destroyed their relationship, now they have become estranged again, Sonoko felt that the distance between him and her had grown further and further apart.

  The girl he had a crush on was drifting further and further away from him, which was the most disheartening and painful thing in the world. Villager Gang had always been quiet, but now he seemed even more subdued and unhappy at work every day.

  But rock and roll... originally, most of the time, rock and roll was his utopia, where he could truly feel himself, but now, when his mood is bad, his original utopia, the original quiet harbor that calmed his soul has also become noisy and restless.

  He walked back to his room with the CDs his mother had bought, but when he started flipping through them, he didn't show much excitement. These were all CDs he had been planning to buy anyway, so he wasn't particularly thrilled.

  "Huh? What's this?" Village Gang finally flipped through Zhou Xiao's CD.

  "A tiny love?" Looking at the warm and fuzzy cover, then seeing the song title, Murakami raised an eyebrow. It's just that kind of mushy pop music, right? Why did she bring this thing back home? His mom would occasionally buy CDs outside of his requests, but for the most part, she knew her own tastes well and only bought CDs from the rock section. So why did she suddenly bring this CD back today?

  "Mom!" Cun Gang shouted as he just walked out of the room.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Did you buy this CD by mistake?" Village Gang asked, waving the CD in his hand.

  "That's right, this one was also placed on the rock shelf, it was just placed in a very corner, I finally found one." Mom said.

  "Really? Did the staff put it in the wrong place?" Village just picked up the CD and took a look.

  "Huh? It really is rock?" Murata said in surprise, why did he say that? Simply because he saw the back of the CD, the logo of Being company.

  The singers produced by this company have always been on the rock route, although due to Tetsuya Komuro's impact in recent years, the company has been trying to find other music styles, but it is impossible to easily find the right way in a short period of time. Therefore, their recently launched singers are still mainly on the rock route.

  "Well, in that case... I'll just take it back and give it a listen. Don't want to disappoint mom's good intentions either..." Village Chief was after all a nearly thirty-year-old adult, so he didn't have too much resistance, and he opened the CD box while walking back to his own room.

  "It's really shabby!" Cun Gang couldn't help but complain in his heart as he looked at the solitary CD inside the CD box.

  In this era, only superstars or old singers can still do this, except for companies that don't even have enough budget to create a decent appearance.

  "It's strange, having made so much money over the years, it's impossible that they can't even afford to make a CD, right? Releasing such a CD isn't ruining their own reputation?" Village Gang muttered to himself as he put the CD into the machine.

  He certainly didn't know that this CD also stored Zhang Da's intention to knock on Zhou Xiao's mind.

  Outside the village room, his mother was looking at the door of the village with some worry. She could also feel that her son had been in a bad mood for the past few days. Fortunately, the relationship between the two people was still good, so now when her son saw the CD she bought for him, he didn't have too much resistance and went back to listen to music honestly, which was the best.

  A faint rhythmic music drifted through the room.

  "Is this the CD I bought?" Mom thought to herself as she listened to the faint sound, not knowing what rock and roll or pop music was. All she cared about was whether her son would like the song, whether it would make him feel a little better at least.

  After waiting for a few more minutes, when the two songs were over, Village Gang still hadn't come out. Not only did he not come out, but the music that usually played whenever his son was at home had also stopped, and the whole house fell into an eerie silence that made Mom feel somewhat anxious.

  "Bang bang bang." Mom couldn't help it, knocked on the door and then went in.

  And what she saw was a scene that was hard to imagine, her own son staring at the CD case in his hand with a complex expression, and yet his eyes seemed to be already filled with tears!