Chapter 43: Seeking Fame

By the time Li Mu and Chen Wan arrived at Jinling University, it was already past five in the afternoon.

Inside the university gymnasium, the stage and audio equipment had been set up earlier in the day. The competition was scheduled to begin at eight in the evening and run until eleven, but due to the unique nature of band performances, the participating bands had started gathering at the gym as early as four o’clock. First, they drew lots to determine the order of appearance, then did their sound checks in reverse order.

Rumor had it that more than fifty bands from the entire Nansu Province had signed up for the competition, which would be spread over three days. Today was the first day of the preliminaries, with sixteen bands competing.

From these fifty-plus bands, only eight would be selected after the preliminaries to advance to the provincial semifinals. Only the champion of the semifinals would qualify for the finals held in Yanjing.

At that moment, Zhang Kexuan’s band, “Jinling Disturbance,” had already finished drawing lots and sound checks; they were ninth among the sixteen bands performing today.

Seeing Li Mu, Zhang Kexuan—who had been anxiously watching the other bands adjust their sound—finally seemed to relax a little.

Li Mu, noticing how restless he was, couldn’t help but tease, “Isn’t this just some third-rate competition? Look how nervous you are. No ambition at all.”

Immediately, Zhang Kexuan and the other three members exploded.

“What do you mean, third-rate competition!”

“This is a nationwide band contest, you know!”

“Several satellite TV stations are collaborating! Even the preliminaries will be broadcast on TV!”

Li Mu shook his head as he watched their indignant faces. Even if it was a national event, he thought, it could never have first-class influence. Back then, no television station in China, or even in Hong Kong and Taiwan, had the courage or vision to launch a large-scale talent show nationwide. There had been singing or dancing contests before, but none had ever become truly influential. That’s why they would cobble together these multi-station collaborations to share costs—just dabbling, really.

It seemed, he mused, that the springtime of talent shows would only arrive with Mango TV’s “Super Girl.” After that, there would be shows like “Happy Boys” and “The Voice of China,” true nationwide phenomena.

Li Mu looked over the four of them. Frankly, from their style, their outfits, even their band name, they were textbook nobodies with no real chance of making it big. Rock music was always a niche taste in China, and most rock bands focused more on image than music—like Zhang Kexuan’s group, who hadn’t even found a style that suited them, but whose rock ‘attitude’ was strong: leather jackets and pants, with the shortest hair barely reaching their shoulders, and Zhang Kexuan’s nearly down to his chest. The look wasn’t handsome at all—maybe a few artsy girls in Yanjing would like it, but nationwide, it had no real market.

He started to worry: would “Li Bai,” the song he’d given them, really flop in the hands of these shaggy-haired guys? And then, a few years later, would some random talent show contestant stumble upon it and make it famous—just like what happened with Song Pang’s “Miss Dong,” which was a shame.

Song Pang hadn’t managed to make “Miss Dong” a hit himself, partly because his record label wasn’t supportive, and partly because his own image made it hard to become popular—at best, the song might catch on, but not the singer.

While the four of them were still grumbling, Li Mu suddenly turned to Zhang Kexuan.

“Can you pull all that long hair back so I can have a look?”

Everyone, including Chen Wan, was stunned by this request.

“What… what for?” Zhang Kexuan felt a bit awkward.

Li Mu replied coolly, “I want to see if you have any real star potential.”

The group exchanged glances. If anyone else had made such a request, Zhang Kexuan might have given them a punch. But since it was Li Mu, he felt awkward, but after a brief hesitation, he pushed all his hair back, revealing his entire face.

Li Mu nodded approvingly. “Delicate features—not bad.”

Zhang Kexuan’s face darkened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Li Mu ignored the question, and, suddenly interested, regarded Zhang Kexuan and asked with a smile, “Why do you guys play rock music?”

“Because we like it!” Zhang Kexuan answered casually. “Rock is a spirit—it’s badass.”

Li Mu pressed on, “So why the long hair?”

Ye Tianming answered, “Come on, how do they say it in Yanjing? It’s all about the vibe!”

“What kind of vibe?” Li Mu frowned. “Just pretending to be cool, right?”

Ye Tianming got flustered and was about to retort, but Li Mu cut him off: “What’s your real goal in entering this competition?”

“To prove ourselves,” they all answered crisply, in unison.

Li Mu didn’t hold back: “You bought my song to prove yourselves?”

All four blushed.

Li Mu continued, “If you want to be famous, just say it. I can be your behind-the-scenes supporter and write songs for you. As long as you follow my lead, I’m confident I can make you the hottest band in the country.”

“Really?”

Li Mu smiled faintly. “Getting famous is easy. The song can become a hit, the people can become famous, or both at once.”

The four looked at Li Mu as if he were a monster. They couldn’t understand why he made becoming famous sound so effortless.

But for Li Mu, a commercial blueprint was already forming in his mind. Internet music was still in its infancy. In another couple of years, a catchy song like “Mouse Loves Rice” would show the whole country the power of the Internet in spreading music. To reach that level of exposure, it was crucial to understand how to leverage the web.

He was already preparing to develop eting.com. If he could find a way to make Zhang Kexuan and his group popular, it would be a huge help for eting in the future. Once the platform grew strong, he could give back to them and push them even higher.

He’d asked Zhang Kexuan to reveal his face just to see if he had the looks to be both a hit singer and a star. And he had to admit, the guy was actually pretty good-looking, just hidden behind all that hair.

Last time in their rehearsal room, Li Mu had already gotten a sense of Zhang Kexuan’s voice—it had potential. With some guidance, he could deliver real emotion, which meant the voice was up to par.

Now, with looks confirmed and songs taken care of—after all, Li Mu knew so many future hits he could easily pick seven or eight widely popular songs—combined with the Internet, who couldn’t he make famous?

While Li Mu was pondering, the four were still in shock when Chen Wan broke the silence. “Li Mu, do you really have a way to help my brother and his friends become famous?”

“Yes.” Li Mu snapped out of his thoughts. “If you truly want to make it, you have to do everything I say, no exceptions.”

The four exchanged glances and nodded in unison. “Alright, we’ll listen to you!”

Even rich kids have dreams. For Zhang Kexuan and his friends, it was all about making music and becoming famous. But they knew their own limits, while Li Mu’s songwriting skills were not just impressive—they were extraordinary.

Seeing their agreement, Li Mu cleared his throat. “First, before the competition starts, hurry to the organizers and change your band’s name.”

“Huh?” They were all stunned.

“Why change the name? Isn’t the current one fine?”

“Fine, my foot!” Li Mu scoffed. “‘Jinling Disturbance’? You’re basically admitting you make noise! Besides, do you want to be famous only in Jinling, or nationwide?”

“Of course, nationwide…”

“Then change the name.” Li Mu was firm. “You must pick something simple and catchy.”

“How can we come up with something now…” Zhang Kexuan complained. It had taken the four of them two weeks just to come up with “Jinling Disturbance.”

Li Mu waved his hand. “Call yourselves Simple Plan.”

Although soon there would be a foreign punk band called Simple Plan and a domestic band called Escape Plan, in this world, first come, first served, and Li Mu had no qualms about it.

“Simple Plan…”

The four mulled it over. It was indeed simple, but after repeating it a few times, they found it increasingly catchy and quite interesting.

Zhang Kexuan gritted his teeth. “Alright, we’ll go with Simple Plan. Xia Ji, go find the organizers and change our name.”

“But the competition’s tonight. Can we still change it?”

“We can. If not, slip them some money—just make sure it gets changed!”

He was starting to think “Jinling Disturbance” was a terrible name anyway.

Xia Ji accepted the order and left.

Li Mu patted Zhang Kexuan’s shoulder. “Before the competition starts, go get that long hair of yours cut.”

“What the hell did you say!” Zhang Kexuan immediately jumped up, bristling. “Cut my hair? No way! My dad’s been telling me for years and I’ve never listened!”

Li Mu countered, “Aside from niche rock bands, can you name any big stars nowadays who still keep their hair as long as yours?”

He put heavy emphasis on the words “big stars.”

“Uh…” Zhang Kexuan hesitated. “Power Station!”

“Come on. Their songs are famous, but they’re not. If not for ‘My Fair Princess,’ you wouldn’t know them.”

“Dick Cowboy!”

“What’s the difference? Are you going to say Liu Huan next?”

“I wasn’t going to say Liu Huan…”

“Then what about Guo Feng?”

“Screw you, get lost!” Zhang Kexuan ran out of names and, like a disgruntled housewife, muttered, “Anyway, I’m definitely not cutting my hair!”

Li Mu didn’t mind his anger and simply asked, “Do you want to be famous, or just pretend to be cool?”

“Uh…” Zhang Kexuan shuffled his feet, shamefaced, and lowered his head. “I want to be famous…”

———

[Thank you to “Black Hand Covers the Sky” for the tips, update votes, and review votes, as well as to “The Great Sage Has an Iron Stick,” “Youth Must Strike Early,” “ufwthdk,” and “Lonely Yang 1988” for your tips.]

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