1990: Starting from Baojia Street

When Kelly Chen received a call from Li Yaming, her first reaction was that Li Yaming was looking for her about his new album.

Her first Mandarin album will be officially released on October 1st. Now is an important stage of promotion, so she has been participating in various activities in Taiwan recently.

However, Li Yaming's next words surprised her.

"Kelly, do you have time to come back and record an English song now?" Li Yaming asked.

"Recording English songs, what does that mean?" Kelly Chen was confused.

"Huanyin may want to release an English song, and they happen to be in need of a female singer who is good at English. We think you are a good fit, so we hope you can record an English song and send it to them."

Although Li Yaming explained it once, Kelly Chen became more confused the more she listened.

What is Huanyin? Is it also a music company?
Logically speaking, there are many music companies of all sizes in Taiwan, so it is normal that there are some that Kelly Chen has not heard of.

But judging from Li Yaming's tone, this phantom sound seemed to be of great importance.

Otherwise, the other party might just release an English song, but Fumao Records would be so proactive? They even asked her to sing an English song for them to listen to. Such an attitude can only be possessed by top music producers, and such top music producers are rare, whether in Taiwan or Hong Kong.

"What is this phantom sound?" Kelly Chen asked the question in her mind directly.

"It's a relatively new record company." Li Yaming said with a smile, "Why, you're not interested?"

"No, I'm just curious. As for recording songs, I'm available anytime."

"Okay, come over this afternoon."

"no problem."

……

Li Yaming did not tell Kelly Chen that Huan Yin was related to Zhou Yan. After all, they were not sure whether the song that Xu Xiangjie mentioned was written by Zhou Yan, so there was no need to raise Kelly Chen's expectations too high.

When Kelly Chen came in the afternoon, they were at a loss as to what song to record.

The song should not be too famous, nor too unknown.

If you are too famous, it will be difficult to sing with your own characteristics. If the song is not well-known, you will also suffer a lot.

Originally, Zhang Gengyu wanted Kelly Chen to sing "young and beautiful" just to please Zhou Yan.

But Kelly Chen is not very good at singing this song, and to be honest, her voice is not very suitable for this song.

After that, they discussed for a long time, and it was Kelly Chen herself who took the initiative to suggest a new song "Lemon Tree" which was released last year.

This is a song that Kelly Chen likes very much. It was only released in Germany at the end of last year. It is not very famous now. Li Yaming and Zhang Gengyu have not even heard of this song.

Therefore, when Kelly Chen said she wanted to sing a song that neither of them had heard of, they were a little skeptical.

However, after Kelly Chen sang "Lemon Tree" once, they immediately decided to let Kelly Chen sing this.

This is a very light-hearted song, it is naturally nice to listen to, and Kelly Chen sings it very well.

After all, it was just recording a demo, so there was nothing special to pay attention to. Li Yaming composed a simple accompaniment on the spot and asked Kelly Chen to sing it a few times, and that was the end of the recording.

After the recording was completed, Zhang Gengyu immediately dug a tape and had it sent to Huanyin.

After hearing the sample, Xu Xiangjie thought it was pretty good and called Zhou Yan again.

Zhou Yan was quite surprised when Xu Xiangjie asked her to listen to a demo of an English song by a singer. He didn't expect Xu Xiangjie to be so efficient and get the demo on the same day.

"Okay, just play it for me on the phone."

Zhou Yan was working on a storyboard in the office, so he put down the microphone and turned on the speakerphone. He continued to draw the storyboard while waiting for Xu Xiangjie to play the song.

After a while, a cheerful female voice came from the microphone.

Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows. It was actually a relatively new song.

This type of long-distance call has severe distortion. Although Zhou Yan felt that the singing voice sounded familiar, he couldn't remember who it was.

The singing was good overall. The female singer's voice was suitable for the song, and her English was also good.

Of course, it can only be considered good, not great. The accent is still quite obvious and it is definitely not comparable to that of Wang Lihong.

But for Zhou Yan, this pronunciation level is already acceptable. He is not going to hold an English proficiency competition. The focus is still on singing well, and English proficiency can only come second.

After listening, Zhou Yan was quite satisfied. He asked, "Who is this female singer?"

"It's the Hong Kong singer Kelly Chen." Xu Xiangjie replied.

Zhou Yan suddenly realized that it was Kelly Chen. No wonder he felt the voice sounded familiar.

Kelly Chen is known as the last queen of Hong Kong, which shows that her status in the Hong Kong band cannot be underestimated.

But in fact, her fame in mainland China is completely incomparable to that of other divas, at least in terms of her performance in music.

To compare a singer's popularity, the most direct way is to use his or her representative works. Kelly Chen has relatively few representative works that have become popular in mainland China. The most impressive ones may be "Let's Dance" and "Notebook" in collaboration with Xiaogang.

As for the song "Notebook", many people only know Xiaogang's version.

Compared with other divas, such as Anita Mui, Sally Yeh, and Sandy Lam, Kelly Chen is indeed at a disadvantage in this regard.

But there is a reason why she is called the queen of pop. She has a good pitch, a clear and sweet voice, and she can do a very good job in controlling a certain type of songs.

And her type is exactly what Zhou Yan wants.

After a moment's silence, Zhou Yan said to Xu Xiangjie, "Contact the other party and ask her to try my new song."

"Going to Yanjing?"

"It's best to come to Yanjing."

In fact, Zhou Yan could have waited until he went back to Taiwan or Hong Kong to film before meeting Kelly Chen, but Zhou Yan still wanted to get this matter settled as soon as possible.

After all, he is relatively free during this period. When he really goes to Hong Kong and Taiwan to film, he may not be able to find time to do these things.

As long as the work can be done ahead of time, Zhou Yan never wants to put it off.

Xu Xiangjie originally wanted to say that Kelly Chen was currently promoting her new album and might not have time to go to Yanjing, but he didn't say it in the end.

No matter what, the opportunity has been given to Fumao Records and Kelly Chen. It depends on whether they know how to cherish it.

Given Zhou Yan's current situation, no one in the country is as popular as him. Even a master like Uncle Zhan cannot compare to Zhou Yan in terms of commercial potential.

There is no way. Zhou Yan’s songs become popular whoever sings them. And they are not just ordinary popular, with basically no exceptions.

The key is that Zhou Yan's songs can always be matched with movies, which is an advantage that other composers do not have.

……

After talking to Xu Xiangjie on the phone, Zhou Yan turned his attention back to the storyboard.

About an hour later, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

After saying that, Zhou Yan raised his head and immediately saw Kudo Shizuka and Nakamori Akina walking in arm in arm.

"Teacher Zhou, are you still working?" Kudo Shizuka asked with a smile. Zhou Yan was not surprised at all because he had called them in advance and knew that they were coming.

He smiled and put down the pen in his hand, "Revise the manuscript. Have you eaten yet?"

"We've already had dinner, but you can also treat us to a midnight snack." Kudo Shizuka smiled and walked to Zhou Yan. Seeing the storyboard on the table, her eyes were full of curiosity. "Is this your new movie?"

The top storyboard shows the male protagonist in a suit and tie, standing on the stage waiting for his bride.

Zhou Yan's painting skills have improved a lot now. Although he cannot paint the groom lifelike, he still manages to portray the atmosphere of the scene pretty well.

Kudo Shizuka couldn't help but pick up the manuscript, "Is this a wedding?"

"Yes." Zhou Yan nodded, "It's a wedding scene."

"That's great." Kudo Shizuka's face was full of envy, and then she said with some resentment, "In fact, I have also made movies."

What she meant was that she was blaming Zhou Yan for not asking her to play the leading female role.

"If I let you take the photo, it means we're in a cross-border relationship." Zhou Yan smiled and changed the subject, "Did the concert go well?"

"Of course it went smoothly. Don't you see how popular I am now?" Kudo Shizuka looked proud and pulled Akina Nakamori's arm again, "Akina, am I right?"

"Yes." Akina Nakamori nodded.

Zhou Yan looked at Akina Nakamori with great surprise, because what Kudo Shizuka just said was all in Chinese, not a single word in Neon language, and Akina Nakamori's answer was still in Chinese.

Could it be that after not seeing each other for some time, Akina Nakamori's Chinese level has improved a lot?
Isn't this too fast?
How long had it been since they last met? Only a little over a month.

At that time, Akina Nakamori's Chinese was still very fragmented.

"Do you understand what Shizuka said?" Zhou Yan asked.

The strange thing is that this time Akina Nakamori looked confused, as if she didn't understand what Zhou Yan was saying at all.

Zhou Yan finally understood. Just now, Akina Nakamori probably only heard "right?" and then replied "yes" in a confused manner.

There are not so many language geniuses in the world.

He shook his head and asked, "Do you want a midnight snack?"

Kudo Shizuka rolled her eyes, "What kind of midnight snack are you having? Haven't you noticed that we've all gained weight recently?"

Zhou Yan nodded. The two girls did seem to be a little plumper than before.

I have to say, they are both quite interesting. They gained weight together, and now their body shapes are still similar, and even their hairstyles are similar. If you only look at the back, they look like twins.

"If we don't have a midnight snack, it's so late and we have nowhere to go. We can't just say, you guys still want to go to the bar, right?"

"Forget about the bar. We're just stopping by to take a look and we'll be back soon. How long will you be working tonight?"

"It depends. It will probably be around ten o'clock."

Kudo Shizuka nodded, "Then you work, we won't disturb you."

After saying that, she left with Akina Nakamori.

Before leaving, Zhou Yan noticed that she deliberately took a pen out of the pen holder.

After a while, Kudo Shizuka came back. She raised the pen in her hand with a smile and said, "Teacher Zhou, I'm sorry to take your pen away. I'm giving it back to you."

Zhou Yan looked at her, wanting to see what she was planning.

She came over, put the pen back into the pen holder, put a key on the table, and whispered, "603, I'll wait for you."

After saying that, she left in a flash.

Looking at the key on the table, Zhou Yan smiled. It turned out that the girl came back just to keep the key.

Looks like I'll have to finish work early tonight.

……

At nine o'clock, Zhou Yan put down his work and drove to the Asahi Wind Hotel where Kudo Shizuka and her friends were staying.

When he arrived at the hotel, he went straight to the sixth floor, found room 603, took out his key and opened the door.

After entering the room, he saw Kudo Shizuka standing by the window, looking at the scenery outside. He smiled, walked over and hugged Kudo Shizuka from behind, and breathed softly into Kudo Shizuka's ear, "What are you looking at?"

When hugging Kudo Shizuka, Zhou Yan could clearly feel her body suddenly stiffened, as if she had been electrocuted.

Zhou Yan was quite surprised. When did this girl become so reserved?
He kissed Kudo Shizuka's hair again, and when he was about to say something else, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

Shizuka Kudo smells different now.

Shizuka Kudo always has the same smell and she likes to use the same shampoo, but today it looks completely different.

Under normal circumstances, Zhou Yan might think that Kudo Shizuka changed her shampoo, but combined with her abnormal behavior at the moment, Zhou Yan thought of a terrible situation.

This is not Shizuka Kudo.

If it wasn't Shizuka Kudo, then who would it be?
Zhou Yan could only think of one person, and that was Akina Nakamori.

Now it was Zhou Yan's turn to become stiff. He didn't know how to deal with the current situation.

What puzzled him even more was that if the person he was hugging at this moment was Akina Nakamori, why didn't Akina Nakamori have any reaction?

However, Zhou Yan didn't have time to think about these things. His brain was working rapidly and he made a decision quickly.

He first gently let go of Akina Nakamori, then slowly backed out, gently closed the door, and left without looking back.

Inside the room, Akina Nakamori took a deep breath when she heard the door close. For a moment just now, she didn't even dare to breathe.

At first, when she heard someone opening the door, she naturally thought it was Shizuka who came back, so she didn't take it seriously and continued to look at the scenery outside the window.

Then she was hugged by someone, and then she heard Zhou Yan's voice.

When Zhou Yan's voice mixed with the hot air from his mouth entered Akina Nakamori's ears, her mind went blank and she had no idea why this happened.

She could even only understand half of what Zhou Yan said. It seemed like he was asking her what she was looking at.
A few minutes later, Akina Nakamori finally dared to turn around and looked at the empty room. She was a little dazed, and what had just happened seemed like a dream.

Did Zhou Yan really come and hug her? Did this really happen?
Also, why does Zhou Yan have the key to this room?

Did Shizuka give it to him?

Then why did Shizuka give him the key, and why did he hug her as soon as he came in?
Could it be that he and Shizuka...

Just then, Shizuka Kudo opened the door and came in.

Seeing that Nakamori Akina's face was flushed, she asked curiously, "Akina, what's wrong with you?"

Akina Nakamori bit her lip and wanted to ask Shizuka Kudo if there was anything going on between her and Zhou Yan, but the words didn't come out of her mouth.

Even if she got a positive answer and understood why Zhou Yan came, she would find it difficult to confess this to Shizuka Kudo.

Finally, she shook her head and said, "Maybe I was standing by the window for too long and was blown by the wind."

"Oh." Kudo Shizuka smiled and nodded, "I thought you were drunk. Come on, I'll help you change the room and I'll take you there." (End of this chapter)