Chapter 173: The Founder of Chinese Style Releases New Songs Again

Shencheng, a high-end residential complex with Chinese-style Siheyuan.

Huang Xishan and Zhao Xueqin were sitting in the tea room, drinking tea again.

"This tea is so bitter!" Zhao Xueqin felt bitter in his heart.

Of course, his teacher was not faring any better.

He had wanted to retire in Glory, letting Heavenly King Zhao secure the title of King of Love Songs once more, so that he, as the teacher, could retire after a job well done.

To announce retirement at this moment would not just be a graceful exit; it would feel quite a bit like being forced into retirement by Luo Mo.

This could not be allowed; it would become a laughingstock.

At this moment, the sound of the doorbell rang.

Heavenly King Zhao, dressed in casual clothes, immediately stood up and said to Huang Xishan, "Teacher, you sit here, let me go open the door?"

They had invited Yuan Hewen to their home today to drink tea and, incidentally, "discuss the Dao" to finalize the song.

In Zhao Xueqin's view, although his teacher had cleared up past grievances with Yuan Hewen, there was still a grudge in his heart, so they shouldn't go out to greet him together, lest Yuan Hewen get too big for his boots.

But Huang Xishan shook his head and stood up with him.

In the current situation, it was not that Yuan Hewen needed them, but that they desperately needed Yuan Hewen.

If they wanted to reclaim their standing, they had to defeat Luo Mo in the field he was best at!

And this greatest Newcomer King in history, the industry-recognized genius of lyrics and composition, was naturally most skilled in Chinese Style and ancient-style songs.

Although Luo Mo had proven his strength in pop music time and again on the stage of *King of Love Songs*, his identity as the Founder of Chinese Style was truly too impressive.

In this field, the most formidable person was undoubtedly Yuan Hewen.

The two opened the door and saw Yuan Hewen, who was wearing a long gown, had a very thin build, and a very conspicuous large mole on his chin.

Looking at his overall image and temperament, he was very much like the private secretary to a county magistrate in a period drama.

Zhao Xueqin looked at him, hurriedly stepped aside to invite this Great God of the composition world inside, and said, "Teacher Yuan, please, please come in!"

Huang Xishan also nodded at him with a friendly smile on his face.

Yuan Hewen was famous in the circle for being pretentious; if a Singer or a company wanted to commission a song from him, they had to put on a sufficient display and attitude.

He had served as Music Director at Cilong Entertainment, one of the four major companies, in his early years and was now one of Cilong's shareholders.

Even when Singers from his own company asked him to write songs, he would still put on airs.

But since his level was there and his strength was truly the Ox, there was nothing to be said.

Besides this, Yuan Hewen was also notoriously philandering.

Many female Singers at Cilong had been rumored to be involved with him; he had once said he would never marry, but he already had five children in total, each from a different mother.

Even now that he was old and his body was failing, there were always some young models, internet celebrities, or minor Singers with poor reputations appearing around him, crazily occupying public resources and using public vehicles for private purposes.

He might not be able to step on the gas pedal anymore, but he could still touch the steering wheel and satisfy his craving.

Seeing that his old rival Huang Xishan had come to the door to greet him, the little old man revealed a smile, though he pretended to be polite, saying, "Oh, you could have just sat in the tea room!"

Huang Xishan made a gesture of invitation and said, "Brother Yuan has come to visit, how could I not come to greet you?"

At first glance, it really was a case of host and guest enjoying themselves.

After arriving at the tea room, Zhao Xueqin began to brew tea.

He took out that box of white tea and said, "Teacher Yuan, this white tea is a premium white tea sent by our President Wang; you must try it."

Yuan Hewen misunderstood, thinking that Wang Shisong knew he was coming to drink tea and had specially sent someone to deliver it, and the smile on his face grew even richer.

Although Cilong was one of the four major companies just like Pineapple, Wang Shisong's status was comparable to the helmsman of Cilong, so the nature of the situation was completely different.

Yuan Hewen took a sip of tea and immediately praised, "Good tea!"

As for how exactly it was good, he didn't say much, only adding, "I heard that young man Luo Mo is uploading three new songs from his album today?"

Zhao Xueqin checked the time and said, "Yes, they should be uploaded in another ten minutes."

As for his own new song, it had been postponed.

It just so happened that his cooperation with a certain music platform had expired recently; publicly, they were saying they were negotiating the Contract, and once the renewal was done, they would upload the new song on multiple platforms together.

Avoiding Luo Mo's sharp edge? That was definitely not the case, ahem, one could only say what a coincidence!

Yuan Hewen nodded and said, "Then it's just right to have a listen!"

He looked at Huang Xishan and said, "Brother Huang, I think it's better to listen to his songs first, and then we can continue to negotiate the issue of the new song for the fifth episode of *King of Love Songs*. What do you think?"

Huang Xishan had no objections and said, "That works."

He and Zhao Xueqin were actually quite curious: when Yuan Hewen listened to Luo Mo's new songs, what would he feel?

Ten minutes passed quickly; Zhao Xueqin brought over the speakers and opened Penguin Music.

Penguin Music had long been hyping up Luo Mo's new songs, and the homepage banner was already up.

He clicked on it, glanced at the titles of the three songs, and pressed 【Sequential Play】.

Luo Mo's first new song was called "Moonlight".

The singer of this song was Hu Yanbin, and it was the theme song for the well-known domestic animation *The Legend of Qin*.

Another animation that had outlived its audience...

Originally, among the 10 songs on Luo Mo's new album, this song's sequence number was 8, one of the last three songs to be uploaded.

But because of the National Day Gala, "Loyalty and Patriotism" (sequence number 10) was exposed early, so they simply uploaded songs 8, 9, and 10 first.

When Luo Mo was ordering the songs, these three songs actually had a progressive relationship.

The prelude to "Moonlight" began to play, and Yuan Hewen's face was expressionless.

When the content at the beginning of the song appeared, Yuan Hewen rubbed the large mole on his chin, a relaxed and indifferent expression on his face.

"A bit leaning towards martial arts, and a bit leaning towards history; it's quite suitable for a film or television drama song." He only made such a simple evaluation.

When the song reached the chorus and that softer singing style appeared, Yuan Hewen's expression changed abruptly.

"【Passing the test of love, who dares to break through."

Gazing at the bright moon, my heart is filled with sorrow."】

The lyrics aren't particularly clever, but the singing style and the voice are truly too unique!

The beginning already carried a certain indescribable character, and by the time it reached the climax of the chorus, this character was directly magnified!

It sounds a bit like Opera Singing, but it also seems like it isn't.

But regardless, they all believe that this is a field in which Luo Mo is extremely skilled.

This old man wearing a traditional gown frowned slightly and said, "The lyrics are average, but the melody and the Arranger are indeed not bad."

This song is four minutes and thirty-nine seconds long in total, and it was finished very quickly.

After listening, he didn't continue to critique, nor did he discuss it with Huang Xishan or Zhao Xueqin, but said directly, "Play the next one."

Zhao Xueqin felt that he was acting a bit like he was ordering him around, but he still obediently played the second song.

This song is called "Laughter in the Vast Sea".

A song of grand and imposing power.

It is precisely because of this song that Luo Mo dared to place "Loyalty to the Country" at the very end of the album.

Moving from grand and imposing to even more grand and imposing!

At the same time, it also fits his creative concept for the album "Red": from 【Present】 to 【Ancient】.

This song is also a masterpiece of old-school Chinese Style.

As the theme song for "Swordsman", this song can be said to be too fitting, far too fitting.

The lyrics and music of this song both came from the hands of Huang Zhan; this man who liked to call himself a businessman has always been known as a genius.

And the director of the film version of "Swordsman" was Xu Ke, whom many also call a genius director.

After these two collided, they indeed sparked a different kind of brilliance.

When Huang Zhan was composing the music for Xu Ke's film, he had previously produced six versions in total, all of which Xu Ke was dissatisfied with.

This left Huang Zhan very helpless and distressed; while casually flipping through "Liji Yueji", he saw four characters—【Great music must be simple】.

The whole sentence is: 【Great music must be simple, great ritual must be concise. When music reaches its peak, there is no resentment; when ritual reaches its peak, there is no contention.】

When Huang Zhan saw these four characters, he didn't know why, but he felt that the "simplest" thing was none other than our Huaxia pentatonic scale: Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, Yu.

However, the profound mystery of this song can actually leave people greatly shocked.

At this moment, as the prelude sounded, Yuan Hewen slowly set down the teacup in his hand.

"Strange! Strange!" His brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

Zhao Xueqin was about to open his mouth to ask what was strange, but just as he was about to speak, Yuan Hewen raised his hand, signaling him not to talk and not to disturb his listening.

"【Laughter in the vast sea,

The tides on both shores surge,

Floating and sinking with the waves, recording the present day.

The vast sky laughs,

The tides of the world are chaotic,

Who loses and who wins, only Heaven knows.】"

The melody is grand, and the lyrics are also grand.

That sense of unrestrained and carefree martial arts world is extremely rich, making one's heart surge with excitement!

Huang Xishan glanced at the lyrics, and his entire expression became extremely intense.

He personally is better at writing about love and romance, following that more literary and delicate path.

The content of this song is not within his area of expertise.

Or to put it another way, he could never write lyrics with this kind of momentum in his entire life.

"【The mountains and rivers laugh, the misty rain is far away,

The waves wash away, how many worldly affairs are known.】"

Zhao Xueqin only felt his throat go dry from listening.

He had previously thought, wouldn't it be very strange and abrupt for Luo Mo to add "Loyalty to the Country" to the new album "Red"?

He watched the performance at the National Day Gala and admitted from the bottom of his heart that this song was truly powerful; using it to close the album was simply invincible in terms of structure.

However, you must have other songs as a foundation beforehand.

He couldn't imagine, how to lay the foundation?

Then, a "Moonlight" first reveals the chivalrous spirit, and then another "Laughter in the Vast Sea" pushes the chivalrous spirit to the peak.

Immediately following that, it can naturally and logically be about patriotism.

This song is not long, and the "la—" at the end has a unique charm, truly giving people a sense of a drunken swordsman.

It is clearly very casual, but it just makes people feel heroic!

This is the terrifying aspect of Luo Mo's Chinese Style!

A "Dong Feng Po" established a school, and a "Lanting Xu" involves both Opera and calligraphy, letting you all realize and understand for yourselves that Chinese Style can actually write about anything.

A "Loyalty to the Country" pushes the structure to the limit.

Now, a "Moonlight" and "Laughter in the Vast Sea" strike the martial arts dream in the hearts of Huaxia men!

Martial arts is something most men cannot get past in their hearts.

The grandmaster is the grandmaster; once he makes a move, those new Chinese Style songs on the market can at most be considered listenable!

Yuan Hewen had also thought about whether he should try Chinese Style.

After all, strictly speaking, 【Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, Yu】 are things left behind by our ancestors, not something created by Luo Mo; can't I, an old man, write it?

But he has now somewhat abandoned this idea.

No way to start, no way to start at all!

This little old man said to Zhao Xueqin, "That's enough, don't listen to 'Loyalty to the Country' for now, I have already listened to it."

As he spoke, he suddenly asked Zhao Xueqin, "Did you hear it?"

Heavenly King Zhao was slightly stunned at first; he had been a bit engrossed just now and hadn't thought about it in detail.

Now that he thought about it carefully, a look of shock appeared on his face.

"This is not a song that uses the 【Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, Yu】 scale in the ordinary way!" Zhao Xueqin said.

Yuan Hewen nodded and said, "This kid is truly a genius; this melody follows 【Yu, Zhi, Jue, Shang, Gong】!"

"He played the five notes in reverse!"

(PS: First update, requesting monthly tickets!)

(End of this chapter)