Chapter 99

"Zhou Ming, come to the bar near the East Gate, I'll buy you a drink!"

In the evening, Zhou Ming and Tang Ran were having dinner when they received a call from Du Peng. After finishing their meal, Zhou Ming drove Tang Ran to the bar Du Peng mentioned. This car Zhou Ming was driving was the Audi he had requested. It was the same as Du Peng's, both obtained through channels to be gifted in the country to pave the way for future entry, but the officials were too afraid to use them, so Du Peng had to find connections to get them out.

As for why Du Peng suddenly called him to the bar today, Zhou Ming knew the reason: it was probably because Du Peng had hooked up with a girl from Nanjiang University and wanted to take her out for some fun.

When they arrived at the place Du Peng mentioned, Zhou Ming looked at the ordinary-looking bungalow and asked Du Peng in surprise, "Is this the bar you were talking about?"

Du Peng nodded after a moment of hesitation, "Yes, it's a bar, and it just opened."

"Isn't the food stalls in San Yuan more upscale than this?" Zhou Ming pointed to the "bar" sign on the door and said to Du Peng, "At least the food stalls have a sign. You just put a few pieces of paper on the door and call it a bar? And look inside, just a few tables and chairs, it's even more like a street stall. Where did you hear about this black bar?"

Du Peng looked at the shabby storefront and said, "It does seem pretty simple, but what can we do? We can't just go shopping every day, right? We need a place to relax, or it would be too boring."

The girl named Xiao Xue, who was sitting in the passenger seat next to Du Peng, asked Zhou Ming, "Brother, I heard you've been to Hongcheng. What are real bars like?"

Zhou Ming glanced at the girl a few times and thought Du Peng had good taste. She was not only beautiful but also had a refined and well-mannered demeanor, which could easily arouse a man's desire to conquer. He wondered how Du Peng had managed to hook up with her.

"Real bars? First, you need a decent place, a proper storefront, neon lights at the entrance, a memorable name, and a very atmospheric interior with lighting and color coordination. You need professional bartenders, a band, and bar singers, and a dance floor for dancing," Zhou Ming said.

"Wow! Real bars must be so much fun!" Xiao Xue said with longing. "Brother, can you take us to the bars in Hongcheng?"

"Going to Hongcheng is quite troublesome, and to create such an atmosphere, it's not necessary to go to Hongcheng, right?" Zhou Ming said.

Du Peng had an idea, "Zhou Ming, are you talking about the Nanhu Hotel?"

"I think since the Nanhu Hotel is built to international first-class standards, it should have all these things," Zhou Ming said. Then, Zhou Ming and Du Peng drove to the Nanhu Hotel. Zhou Ming had called the hotel manager, Kong Xiaolin, before they arrived, so she was waiting at the entrance to greet them.

"Consultant Zhou, according to your requirements, I can arrange a private room for you and decorate it, but we can't find a bartender," Kong Xiaolin said to Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming waved his hand, "Actually, it doesn't matter whether there's a bartender or not. I'm not here just to drink. I'm here because you should have some other entertainment options."

Kong Xiaolin opened her eyes wide, "Consultant Zhou, please tell me what you need. If we have it, I will do my best to help you."

"It's not difficult. I just need the equipment in your meeting room, like microphones, speakers, and a CD player or tape recorder that can connect to the microphone and switch channels," Zhou Ming asked.

Kong Xiaolin thought for a moment, "We have all of that in the hotel. May I ask what you plan to do?"

Not only Kong Xiaolin was curious, but Tang Ran, Du Peng, and Xiao Xue were also puzzled.

"We're here to sing," Zhou Ming said.

"Sing?" Everyone's eyes widened in surprise.

Zhou Ming nodded, "Yes, you might not know, but usually, original CDs or tapes have two channels, one for the instrumental and one for the vocals. We can use the CD player or tape recorder to eliminate one channel, leaving only the instrumental, and then we can sing with the microphone."

"Really! So we can all be like stars singing!" Tang Ran said excitedly.

Zhou Ming affectionately pinched Tang Ran's nose, "No one says singing is the exclusive right of stars. We can sing whenever we want."

Then Zhou Ming turned to Kong Xiaolin, "Manager Kong, how about it? Is it okay?"

Kong Xiaolin quickly shook her head, saying it was fine.

They followed Kong Xiaolin to the hotel meeting room, where she had someone set up the microphone and CD player and brought some original CDs.

Zhou Ming took the microphone from Kong Xiaolin and turned to invite the ladies to sing first, but he noticed that Tang Ran and Xiao Xue were looking at him with wide, curious eyes. He realized that in this era, even bars were just those shabby black bars, and there were no karaoke bars or nightclubs.

It seemed he would have to set an example first.

Zhou Ming thought about this and started flipping through the CDs. After living for over twenty years in the future, he had forgotten many songs from this era. After a long search, he found "Yijian Mei."

Kong Xiaolin put the CD into the player, and the instrumental began. After a familiar flute melody, Zhou Ming started singing. Although he wasn't particularly talented in singing, "Yijian Mei" had a simple melody and was a classic old song, so he remembered every note and sang it without any problem.

As soon as Zhou Ming finished, Tang Ran and Xiao Xue exclaimed, "Brother Ming, you sang so well... Brother, you sang better than the music majors at our school!"

"Would you like to sing a song too?" Zhou Ming asked.

Hearing this, Tang Ran and Xiao Xue looked at each other, a bit timidly, "Brother Ming, why don't you sing another one? I'm afraid... Brother, I don't sing as well as you, I don't want to embarrass myself."

Zhou Ming knew they were genuinely afraid. Even in 2007, twenty years later, many people were still hesitant to sing in karaoke bars before they felt comfortable. In 1987, these girls were even more conservative and timid. If they were to boldly sing on their first try, Zhou Ming wouldn't believe it.

Since the two girls were too scared to sing, Zhou Ming had no choice but to give the microphone to Kong Xiaolin, "Manager Kong, as the hotel manager, you should sing a song with us, right?"

Kong Xiaolin was about to refuse, but seeing Zhou Ming's gaze, she had to take the microphone. She chose "Olive Tree." Although the melodies were similar, "Olive Tree" was more challenging. Kong Xiaolin sang it with a sense of wandering in the Sahara Desert, which made Zhou Ming marvel at how women naturally had a talent for the arts. He had spent years practicing in karaoke bars in the future, while this was clearly the first time Kong Xiaolin had held a microphone to sing.

After Kong Xiaolin finished, Du Peng said to Xiao Xue without waiting for Zhou Ming to speak, "Xiao Xue, why don't you go up and sing a song? You usually like to sing songs by Hongcheng stars, show us what you can do."

Xiao Xue, who had been eager to try after seeing Zhou Ming and Kong Xiaolin sing, immediately nodded and went up to find a CD to sing.

Seeing Xiao Xue excitedly go up to sing, Tang Ran timidly said to Zhou Ming, "Brother Ming, I also want to go up and sing. Can I sing 'Only You'?"

"Of course, you can," Zhou Ming said. "Go up and see if you can find the CD. Once Xiao Xue finishes, you can sing."

"Great! Thank you, Brother Ming!" Tang Ran cheered and skipped off to find the CD.

After the two girls went up to sing, Zhou Ming turned to Du Peng and asked, "How does it feel? Isn't it better than spending hundreds or thousands of yuan in that black bar?"

Du Peng gave Zhou Ming a thumbs up, "You, Zhou Ming, are really creative to think of coming to the Nanhu Hotel to combine all these things for singing."

"This isn't my idea," Zhou Ming said. "This has been around for a long time in foreign countries. In Taiwan, it's called karaoke, a very fashionable form of entertainment. I saw it when I was in Hongcheng."

"I see," Du Peng thought for a moment and then said, "Then, Zhou Ming, what do you think about setting up a karaoke place in Nanjiang?"

Zhou Ming wasn't surprised by Du Peng's suggestion. In fact, if Du Peng hadn't thought of it, Zhou Ming would have doubted his business acumen. The country's reform and opening-up had just begun, and there were no nightclubs at all. Because this market was completely blank, even those shabby bars could easily make thousands of yuan a night. If they set up a karaoke bar now, along with a nightclub and a bar, and made it a brand in Nanjiang, they would make a lot of money.

"Your idea is good. In fact, I brought you here to sing today partly because of this. Our country's nightlife is too lacking, and we need something proper," Zhou Ming said. "You need to communicate with the city and make it proper, and don't get involved with anything shady."

"Zhou Ming, you can rest assured. Even if you asked me to do those things, I wouldn't," Du Peng said, pausing for a moment. "But we've never done this before, and we have no experience. We can't manage it ourselves."

Zhou Ming pointed to Kong Xiaolin, who was singing with Tang Ran and Xiao Xue on stage, "Isn't she a ready-made manager?"

Du Peng's eyes widened, "My big brother Zhou Ming, you're amazing! You had this all planned out!"

"I'm not that good. I just thought about it on the way here," Zhou Ming said.

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