Chapter 3

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Early in the evening, when lanterns were first lit, various song and dance halls in the entertainment street began to bustle with noise and excitement.

Lu Yan hugged her knees as she squatted on the street which became wet after the rain.

There was a cart selling skewers on the side of the road. Her belly began to gurgle from the scent of the juicy skewers.

She knew she shouldn’t have been too honest, giving all her money to Shen Kuo. Now she was penniless, and dinner had become a problem once again.

Lu Zhen and his group of brothers were arrested by the police, so she didn’t know where to find her dad.

Lu Yan sighed and stood up as she rubbed her stomach. Then, she walked into the dance hall closest to her.

The dance halls at that time were the equivalent of the future disco and bar, except that the facilities were relatively simple. The floor was paved with parquet, the ceiling was adorned with star lamps, and the rotating glass ball spotted the dance floor with colorful lights.

There was a private room with deck seats on the dance floor, with folding tables and chairs, and a few swaying electric fans.

People were dancing in the middle of the dance floor, unlike the magic disco in modern bars.

It looked very similar to ballroom dancing.

Lu Yan found the manager of the dance hall and asked him if there was a job available for her.

The manager asked her, “Can you sell alcohol?”

Lu Yan shook her head blankly.

“Can you settle the bill?”

She shook her head again.

“Then what can you do?”

“I can sing.”

The manager was busy entertaining the guests, and pay no attention to her, “We don’t lack singers here.”

Lu Yan looked at the woman on the stage who was twisting her body and singing. Then, she gave her honest opinion, “I can sing better than her.”

As soon as the words came out, the manager looked back at her. He saw her dirty clothes and appearance. He smiled, “Don’t brag, Yingying is a professional singer here. Who are you to claim that you can sing better than her? Don’t overestimate yourself. Go away, don’t disturb my work.”

Several waiters around had contemptuous expressions on their faces, looking at Lu Yan like a joke—

“Yingying is our most popular singer here. She said she can sing better than her. Isn’t this a mess?”

“She’s just bragging .”

“If she really gets on stage, I bet she can’t spit out a word.”

Lu Yan ignored their ridicule, she didn’t like to argue with others pointlessly.

She knew that she could sing better than the woman on the stage. Her sweet singing voice was definitely the kind that even God would appreciate.

In her previous life, her ballad singing online got popular and many brokerage companies wanted to sign her. However, Lu Zhen firmly opposed it, even going as far to lock her up.

Lu Yan had also quarreled with his father and even went on a hunger strike to protest, but… Lu Zhen was adamant.

She heard from Uncle Liang Ting mentioning that her father’s aversion to the entertainment industry seemed to be related to her mother’s death.

Thinking of the lonely figure of Lu Zhen sitting on the sofa smoking for countless long nights, she finally stopped arguing with her father.

She gave up her dream and gave up on doing what she loved most.

Her reincarnation in the 2000s might be an opportunity for her to regain her dream.

Just as Lu Yan was reminiscing about the past, “the most popular singer in the bar”, Yingying, had gone into a bit of a mess where a guest interrupted her performance.

“You keep singing the same old songs, can’t we hear a new one?”

“I’m tired of listening to the same songs over and over again. We want something new. “

She got very unhappy by the interruption, ” What do you want to hear then? “

“Sing something fresh .”

“These are the songs in the playlist. If you want to listen to new ones, come up and sing them yourself.”

As soon as the words came out, the guests started to quarrelling with her.

Yingying was used to being indulged. She became annoyed , so she stopped singing and said to Lu Yan sarcastically, “I would love to listen to you.”

Seeing that the venue was about to become chaotic, the manager was anxious like an ant on a hot pot. When he saw that Lu Yan had not left yet, he called her over, “Aren’t you good at singing? They seem to want to listen to new songs. Can you do it?”

New songs? That would be too good. Every song she used to sing on the live broadcast before was most probably a new song in this era.

“Yes, but didn’t you say to not overestimate myself?”

The manager eagerly replied, “Oh, as long as you can save the show, you can work here from now on.”

She thought about how it might not be a good idea to change the past. She looked at the low-handed manager, but she was just too hungry so she went straight to the stage.

The manager asked her, “Do you need any musicians to accompany you?”

“None, you don’t have the accompaniment I want.”

Lu Yan turned around and saw a piano on the stage, so she sat down by the piano and adjusted the tune.

Yingying’s eyes were somewhat complicated.

She was the pillar here. If she didn’t sing, the people wouldn’t even want to dance tonight.

Originally, she wanted to wait for them to beg her to come on stage, but she didn’t expect that the manager would find a substitute so quickly. This substitute could even play the piano!

No ordinary person could play the piano in this era. The piano was the standard instrument of music for the rich ladies in scholarly families, but it was surprising for an ordinary person to know how to play piano!

Lu Yan adjusted her tune, then parted her lips and sang several love songs that she was good at. Everyone looked at her simultaneously, regardless of their gender.

The song was indeed a new song from her era. It was the same song that spread like fire on the Internet platform. It had a wide range of singing and was very popular among young people.

And most importantly, it was a song this audience had never heard before.

Lu Yan’s voice was clear and beautiful, and the melody brought the lively atmosphere of the dance hall to a climax. It had never been so lively.

Shen Kuo happened to pass by the gate of the dance hall. He leant against the door, looking at the girl playing the piano in the middle of the stage.

There was a sweet smile on the girl’s face with two sweet dimples on her cheeks. Her brown eyes were clear and innocent.

Looking at her, he knew from a glance that she was a good girl from a rich family who had lived in a honey jar and never suffered. Only a girl who had been pampered and cared for since childhood could have such a sincere and happy expression.

Unlike him, his expression looked cunning and hypocritical.

Shen Kuo looked away, lowered his head as he lit a cigarette.

The manager paid Lu Yan an appearance fee of 30 yuan. In this era, eating a bowl of noodles only costs two or three yuan. Thirty yuan was enough for her to live for several days.

The manager seemed to have found a treasure. He was quite excited, wanting Lu Yan to be their singer and promising her a handsome pay.

Lu Yan looked back at Yingying who was gritting her teeth. Then refused with a smile saying that if she had time, she might come here to work part-time.

The manager instantly agreed, and said that their karaoke halls often have talent scouts. If Lu Yan came here to sing, she would definitely be spotted by the scouts with her natural voice.

However, the most important thing for her now was to find her dad.

Lu Yan took the money and went to a late-night snack food stall. She ordered a bowl of mutton soup noodles, and ate it hastily.

She wondered if she could find a small hotel to check in for one night so she wouldn’t need to sleep on the street.

After all, this mere thirty yuan was still the first pot of gold she had earned in her life.

Thinking of the times when she went with her best friends to the entertainment club, she would just swipe her card casually and spend a four-digit or five-digit number without a look. Every day she had lived a luxurious life, spending money as she pleased.

It feels like a lifetime has passed since then.

When Lu Yan was feeling bittersweet, several motorcycles rumbled around and stopped in front of the late-night snack food stall.

She watched as her handsome and stalwart father got off the Harley motorcycle, walked in front of her. Her father put the helmet on the table, sat down with his big trousers, and ordered a bowl of mutton noodles. .

“I’ve been asking everywhere, and I finally found you.”

“Dad!”

Lu Yan was so touched! She didn’t expect that Lu Zhen would still think of her. He was indeed her father.

His teenage father held Lu Yan’s face, scanning it by turning it left and right before pushing her bangs up to reveal her smooth forehead.

He looked carefully. She really looks too much like her back then. She was too similar to the sister who was abducted by human traffickers, even the mentally retarded eyes were exactly the same!

Lu Yan blinked, “Dad, what are you looking at?”

He patted her face, “Come, tell me. What is your name? How many people are in your family? Do you still have memories of when you were young?”

Lu Yan replied honestly, “My name is Lu Yan, and I only have my dad at home. When I was a kid, I lived with my dad.”

“Where is your dad?”

“It’s you.”

“…”

Lu Zhen’s eyes were a bit complicated, as if lost in thought. He didn’t even bother to eat the mutton noodles.

“It’s very possible that you are the sister that I lost many years ago.” Lu Zhen said solemnly to her, “My sister has a bad brain. She was born with a mental illness. I think you are really similar to her.”

Lu Yan was speechless

She suddenly remembered that her father mentioned this before. Something about him having a younger sister, who was her aunt.

One day, Lu Zhen took her to the playground to play, but she was abducted by traffickers. Since then, there has been no news about her.

The loss of her little aunt left Lu Zhen in extreme guilt and self-blame for so many years. Even after Lu Yan was born, he named her after her little aunt, Lu Yan, in order to always remember his dead sister.

Later, Lu Yan would grow up and the whole family said that the more she grew, the more similar she was to her little aunt.

She once saw old photos of her aunt which had turned yellow. They really looked alike, especially the delicate eyebrows.

There are nieces who look like their aunts when they were the same age as them. It is normal to be mistaken and not be able to differentiate between them.

It turned out that Lu Zhen mistakenly identified her as his sister, and that was why he was looking for her non-stop.

However Lu Yan didn’t want him to be misunderstood, she had to explain things to Lu Zhen.

“Dad, I am not your sister. I am Lu Yan, your only daughter in this world!”

Lu Zhen looked at her like a fool, and discussed with Liang Ting, “That’s her. “

“Well, very much like your sister.” “

Lu Yan took a deep breath and continued, “Although this may be regarded as mental retardation or neurosis, I still have to tell you that I was in a car accident when I was 20 years old. I was then reincarnated into this timeline. It sounds insane, but you have to believe me, I really am your daughter!”

She finished her intervention in one breath, and looked forward to Lu Zhen’s reaction, however, he just reached out and rubbed Lu Yan’s head, ” My sister’s illness seems to have become more serious. “

Seeing that he didn’t believe her, Lu Yan quickly thought about how to prove to him that everything she said was true.

“By the way, Dad, my mother’s name is Jian Yao. Is there a girl named Jian Yao by your side? She is my mother! You loved her very much!”

Lu Zhen and Liang Ting looked at each other, saying that they had never heard of the name.

“I have a girlfriend, not the one you said.” Lu Zhen said dissatisfied, “You girl, what the hell is going on? I don’t care about your nonsense anymore.”

Lu Yan looked at him pitifully, “I’m not talking nonsense.”

Liang Ting pointed to his brain, “Is there something wrong with your sister here? She will believe what she will. For the time being, how about you be her ‘dad’? Take her home first, and then act like parent and child. The appraisal will make the truth clear. Even if the paternity test shows she’s not your sister. She is too similar to your sister. Just let her stay at home and raise her. Your family doesn’t lack money to raise a goddaughter. So don’t think too much and eat first.”

Lu Yan looked at Liang Ting and said in a daze, “Uncle Liang Ting, you were really smart when you were young!”

‘Uncle’ Liang Ting smiled and scratched his head in embarrassment, “Thank you.”

Lu Yan knew that his father’s best friend, Uncle Liang Ting, was a man with a high IQ. Her dad would later have a fight with his grandfather and run away. It was Liang Ting, his strategist, who helped him plan the strategy. He succeeded in making the company among the wealthiest 500 in the world.

Lu Yan was very rebellious when she was young, and often quarreled with her dad at home. Once Lu Zhen called her useless, she would talk back to Lu Zhen, “You have spent your whole life just to prove to grandpa that you are not useless. What qualifications do you have to say that to me?”

This very sentence hurt Lu Zhen for a long time.

Later Liang Ting told Lu Yan that she was wrong. Her father left the house resolutely and wandered outside alone. He stayed in the basement and ate cheap lunch boxes.

In fact, He did not spend his life trying to prove anything to anyone. He just wanted to be with his wife and little princess forever.

Lu Yan couldn’t help holding Lu Zhen’s hand.

In short, it’s great to be back.

It’s great to be able to see dad when he was a teenager again!

She looked at Lu Zhen again and found that his eyes were a little red.

Is he crying from the hug? Lu Yan’s emotions haven’t been brewing yet.

Lu Zhen stared at the little girl for a long time. Then without saying a word, he pulled Lu Yan out of the mutton soup noodle shop and came to the motorcycle.

After managing to find his long-lost sister, the torment in his heart caused by extreme self-blame was finally gone.

“Dad… are you crying?”

“I’m not crying.”

Lu Zhen said, rubbing his red eyes as he put the goggle helmet on Lu Yan’s head. She was then pulled onto his Harley motorcycle.

“Go home with me.”

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This translation is brought by Nocturne Translation

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[Editor note] : Hi, please let me know if any sentence, wording or grammar seem weird to you (You can msg me in discord, welp#7432). Any criticism is welcome so I can improve my editing because I want to make it a more fun and easier read for you all, the readers :D. Thanks for reading!

-Welp

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