Chapter 83: The Birth of Chu Fan's Band

  "Get out, don't hit my face!" Chen Chufan came back to his senses and cursed with a smile, then continued: "Speaking of which, I really can't compete with you for the rice bowl. Today is the last day of work, and from now on, the position of piano teacher in this club will be returned to Xiao Liu."

  "What's going on? Chen Ge, I was just joking, Xiao Liu doesn't have any opinions about you either, why are you suddenly leaving? You've only been here for a few days?" Huo Yuxing heard Chen Chufan say this and became anxious, hastily saying: "We were all still hoping that when you're free, you could give us some guidance. Now everyone doesn't listen to anyone, they only listen to you."

  "Yes, yes!" A group of people heard Chen Chufan say this and also came over to express their own opinions.

  "Brother Chen, you haven't even given us any guidance yet, how can you leave? Yesterday everyone was still saying they hoped you'd write a couple of songs for us!"

  "I represent Xiao Liu in saying that you taking his rice bowl is justified! We have no objections!"

  "Get out! What are you representing? Brother Chen, don't mind them, I really admire you. You come be the pianist, I have no opinion at all, sincerely!"

  .........

  "Alright brothers, my resignation is not for the reasons you said! I've already decided to study abroad and will be supported. There are many things to take care of, so there's no time to continue part-time work." The crowd's enthusiastic farewell and flattering words made Chen Chufan feel embarrassed, so he quickly opened his mouth to explain.

  "Studying abroad? That's great!" Huo Yuxing nodded in agreement when he heard Chen Chufan say that. "The guitarists abroad are at least one level higher than those domestically, I've always wanted to go out. It's just that looking at the foreign language makes my head hurt. Born not being good at languages, if I could learn a foreign language, I would have gone abroad long ago!"

  Several people were discussing the topic of going abroad, and the door of the practice room was knocked again. Liu Xiaoting then led a photographer into the practice room.

  "Alright, everyone make way, we need to record a video for Little Chen." Liu Xiaoting clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention to herself before speaking.

  A group of people just learned from Chen Chufan that they would be going abroad to study, which wasn't entirely unexpected. They patted Chen Chufan on the shoulder in encouragement and then walked down from the practice platform, leaving Chen Chufan alone on stage.

  "Little Chen, choose an instrument other than the piano that you're more familiar with. The practice piano here doesn't sound good, let's record a video of you playing the piano in area C later!" Liu Xiaoting said.

  "What else can we choose? Let's just play everything, Brother Chen is good at everything! Before Chen Chufan could respond, the people from the band next to them started teasing."

  "Right, let's record for a bit longer and have Brother Chen play all his pieces, and also shock those foreign devils with China's musical genius."

  "Alright, alright, stop teasing! Chen Chufan, you choose one or two yourself, and control the time." Liu Xiaoting glared at the group of musicians who were afraid that the world would not be chaotic, and said.

  Chen Chufan nodded, but had no idea which instrument to choose. In fact, the band's instruments were just a few, so Chen Chufan simply picked up Huo Yuxing's electric guitar and didn't know what to play, so he started playing and singing his own song "Jasper Night Rain".

  After a song, Liu Xiaoting nodded and was about to let Chen Chufan change instruments to record a segment in Area C. Suddenly, Huo Yuxing spoke up: "Brother Chen, this won't do! This song is not bad, but the difficulty level is too low. You need to play a high-difficulty SOLO to show off your skills!"

  Liu Xiaoting had only heard that Chen Chufan could play many instruments, but she hadn't seen him play anything other than the piano and didn't know how skilled he was. When she heard Huo Yuxing's words, which seemed to highly praise Chen Chufan's guitar skills, her eyes lit up. She also spoke up: "Right, Little Huo is correct. In this video, you need to showcase yourself as much as possible and promote yourself. If you can try a more difficult song, go for it. It's okay if there are mistakes, we can re-record."

  Chen Chufan listened to the two of them, scratched his head and said: "Trying is no problem, but I don't know what to play! Unless Xiao Huo, you help me recommend a song with guitar sheet music."

  "Alright!" Huo Yuxing heard Chen Chufan's request, beaming with joy as he ran up to the practice platform. He rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a book of sheet music he had recorded himself, flipping through two pages before handing it over to Chen Chufan.

  Chen Chufan took a look at the name of the song and read it out loud: "Cannon Electric Guitar Rock Version, the most difficult version."

  Chen Chufan's subconscious thought suddenly made the whole band joyful.

  "My god, He Ge, you're not... bringing out your Nine Yin Manual already."

  "Huo Ge, didn't you say that those who don't have self-control can't play this piece well? Are you bringing it out to make things difficult for Chen Ge? What if Chen Ge really does master it, wouldn't that be a modern-day version of Dongfang Bubai?"

  "Haha, Huo Ge you're so talented! You can't play well yourself, so you want to find some confidence from Chen Ge?"

  A few people, you one word and I one word, squeezed and crowded Huo Yuxing, a burst of annoyance, "Less nonsense, isn't this an opportunity for our Brother Chen to show his face? What are you guys making a racket about over there?"

  Hearing the discussions of many people, Chen Chufan carefully looked at the sheet music below and found it to be quite complex. Especially since the entire song requires a very fast tempo, controlling it is indeed very difficult. However, fortunately, Chen Chufan had previously performed this piece on the piano, so he was still somewhat familiar with it.

  He then ignored the commotion of the crowd below, moved his hands and adjusted his sitting posture, and began to play formally.

  The guitar sounded, and the audience below fell silent on its own.

  Liu Xiaoting swallowed the words that had reached her lips. Originally, from the reactions of other people in the band, she realized that this song must be very difficult, and wanted to let Chen Chufan change to another one, but seeing that Chen Chufan had already accepted the challenge, she also didn't dare say anything more.

  This time, Huo Yuxing didn't retreat far away. He stood not far from the photographer, carefully watching Chen Chufan's performance. "As expected, it's still so messy!" Huo Yuxing sighed inwardly. He had thought that with the presence of a photographer this time, Chen Chufan would use standard fingerings to perform. But Chen Chufan was still playing just like last time, in short, with fingerings that Huo Yuxing couldn't understand, yet having a unique beauty.

  At first, the slow rhythm was okay, but as the rhythm accelerated, combined with the fact that some parts of this song spanned a relatively large range, Chen Chufan's entire left hand began to dance on the fretboard. Huo Yuxing even felt that his eyes couldn't keep up with the rhythm of Chen Chufan's fingers. However, every note played was perfect, and various electric guitar techniques such as legato, vibrato, palm muting, tapping, slapping, popping, harmonics, and chordal work were always used in the right place. In short, the entire song was performed flawlessly, and Huo Yuxing couldn't find any mistakes, leaving him in awe.

  This time, Chen Chufan brought a shock to Huo Yuxing that far exceeded the last time Chen Chufan played many instruments. After all, last time Chen Chufan only performed "The Earth" once, and although BYOND's song can be considered a classic, the score is not particularly difficult. However, the difficulty of this self-collected "Cannon Rock Version" is extremely high, at least he has never played it perfectly before.

  So when Chen Chufan perfectly played the first song, Huo Yuxing couldn't help but wail: "Brother Chen, I'm kneeling to you, take me as your apprentice!"

  Huo Yuxing's mournful howl broke through the entire band's shocked emotions, and the others also started cheering again.

  "Brother Chen, I've already kneeled down to Brother Huo, you should also give some face to our brothers!"

  "Kneel down and surrender! The Nine Yin Manual is now complete, from this day on, I will be invincible!"

  "I knelt down too!"

  "I won't kneel, you bunch of good-for-nothings! Always kneeling for nothing!" Only Xiaoliu said loudly, then didn't care if the cameraman was still recording or not, and ran up to the practice stage with a swagger, grabbed the paper and pen on his keyboard, and rushed in front of Chen Chufan. "Brother Chen, I won't learn from them how to disgust you, sign an autograph for me! In the future when you become famous, who knows if I can make some small fortune just by relying on this signed name!"

  Xiao Liu's actions reminded everyone, and a group of people came up to ask Chen Chufan for his autograph. In an instant, the crowd became a mess.

  "Alright, stop making a fuss! Why are you all still acting like a bunch of kids!" Liu Xiaoting shouted in a bad mood from the side where she had been quietly standing. Although Liu Xiaoting was also shocked by Chen Chufan's musical talent, her feelings were not as deep as those of the band members; she just felt relieved that her chosen investment object now had an extra layer of security.

  "Wait, Manager Liu, we really want to sign, not fooling around!" someone shouted amidst the chaotic training ground. The photographer had already stopped filming and stood aside, laughing helplessly as a group of young people were eagerly handing over scraps of paper they had somehow obtained to Chen Chufan, who was surrounded in the center.

  Chen Chufan was initially also taken aback by the exaggerated actions of a group of band brothers, but seeing that they wouldn't let him go without signing autographs, he had no choice but to obediently sign for everyone. As it happens, Chen Chufan's handwriting is not bad, and fortunately there were only 6 people, so he was able to finish everything in one go.

  "Alright, I declare that from now on, Brother Chen, you are my idol!" Xiao Liu announced beside him after Chen Chufan finished signing.

  "Well, I suggest we call ourselves Qing Shui Band for now and change it to Chu Fan Band later. Haha, when Brother Chen becomes famous, who knows, maybe we can still bask in some of his glory!" Huo Yu Xing added from the side.

  "This idea of yours is workable!"

  "Agreed!"

  "Seconded!" The crowd nodded in agreement, and thus the Qing Shui band was renamed Chu Fan Band on Chen Chufan's last day as a part-time member. Chen Chufan could only sit in his chair, helplessly watching as the group discussed, unable to get a word in edgewise.