Chapter 470: Old Black and Little White

Chapter 470: Old Black and Little White

In such a short time, being able to gather so many songs, aside from the fame of Shi Shiwu and Jin Xiaowen themselves, Meng Fan must have played a significant role, and the nearly twenty songs brought by Shi Shiwu, who is always picky about music, were all selected; actually, even more were submitted to him.

"We've collected enough songs. It depends on your schedule. If you want to do it quickly, we'll choose from these songs. If you have more time, there might be new songs coming in later."

Shi Shiwu talked about the album preparation while eating, glossing over some professional details knowing Meng Fan wasn't very familiar, occasionally interjecting with things like, "Mm, this is good, this is nice too—don't they say athletes' food tastes terrible? How come yours is so awesome?" and so on.

Meng Fan learned that recording an album is much more complicated than recording a single song; it's not just 1+1+1+ like that, but also requires maintaining the album's integrity, plus cover design and such, and the workload for the accompaniment is also huge. Even if Meng Fan wanted to start recording immediately, it would take some time to prepare.

Of course, there was a premise: neither Shi Shiwu, Jin Xiaowen, nor Meng Fan were the type to do things half-heartedly. Since they decided to do it, they were definitely aiming for a high-quality product. Otherwise, with songs already available, an album could be churned out in three days, or even less.

"Old Black, come with me for a moment."

Meng Fan called out to Old Black, who had finished eating and was about to leave, gestured for Shi Shiwu to wait, and got up to walk outside together.

Old Black asked, "What's up?"

Meng Fan didn't answer, put his arm around Old Black's shoulder, and headed toward his private training room.

Old Black chuckled, "Master Meng, though they say food and lust are linked, exercising right after a meal isn't good for you! Ah, ah, ah! Pain, pain, pain! Patch, patch, patch—early patch, early relief. I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong!"

Meng Fan released his grip on Old Black's shoulder, went into the small inner room, and came out handing a card to Old Black.

A bank card.

Old Black was stunned: "Master Meng, this is going too far! Even though we have our thing, giving me money changes the nature of it!"

Meng Fan was long immune to Old Black's remarks and said seriously, "I heard you and Sister Bai got your marriage certificate, right?"

This Sister Bai was not Bai Zhi, but a girl Old Black met during the New Year, nicknamed Little White. It was really fate—one called Old Black, the other Little White, and they were from the same hometown. The most absurd part was how they met: it wasn't some cliché of Little White encountering a thug and Old Black playing the hero saving the beauty, nor was it because Little White was a student at Peak Extreme Martial Arts Gym. Instead, Old Black went to buy clothes without cash, lost his phone, couldn't pay, and was mocked by the clerk... In short, he was in a real mess. Little White, who was buying clothes for her younger brother in the same store, couldn't stand it and talked back to the clerk for Old Black.

Of course, she didn't pay for Old Black's clothes—only an idiot would buy clothes from that store and give the clerk commission after that.

Little White wasn't a very pretty girl, but in Old Black's eyes, she was full of charm. Old Black, who had never cared about women before, truly fell this time, his face turning black with a hint of red as he asked for Little White's contact info. Little White was generous too, rattling off her phone number at lightning speed before leaving with her brother.

At that speed, even if Old Black hadn't lost his phone, he probably couldn't have punched it in!

As for Old Black's memory, he was fine with other things, but numbers really made him dizzy.

So how did Old Black finally get in touch with Little White?

It was a secret that "no one knows." Anyway, after getting in touch, Old Black and Little White got together after about a month of contact. The funny thing was that Old Black, usually a smooth talker, was utterly clumsy with Little White, and in the end, it was Little White who said they should be together first.

—Oh, by the way, Old Black was extremely, extremely good to Little White's younger brother.

They got their marriage certificate on National Day, and Meng Fan only found out a couple of days ago.

Of course, Meng Fan had met Little White many times during this period and thought she and Old Black were quite suitable, with great complementarity in personality and various abilities.

"Sister Bai—no, I should call her sister-in-law from now on," Meng Fan said earnestly. "It's your blessing to have met her in this life. In terms of looks, you've really done her a disservice, so you can't let her down in other areas. I heard from Brother Feng that you're planning to buy a house. It's better to do it sooner rather than later. I also know you don't have that much money on hand right now, so I've prepared some for the down payment. With your ability, paying the mortgage won't be a problem. As for my money, you can pay me back when you're better off. Then interest or thanks, whatever you want."

Old Black took the bank card, sniffled twice, his eyes a bit red. Just as he was about to speak, Meng Fan stopped him.

"Don't bother with that useless stuff."

With that, he left the training room.

"Hey! Wait, you at least need to tell me the password!"

Meng Fan and Shi Shiwu left Peak Extreme Martial Arts Gym and went to the music studio. Shi Shiwu had to go record a show later in the evening, so they only had two or three hours. There was no way to do anything else; at most, they could listen to some demos and briefly discuss the album's style.

In this regard, it was mainly Shi Shiwu talking and Meng Fan listening, first getting a general understanding of the matter. Offering opinions and suggestions was out of the question for now.

"Recording the songs will have to wait a while. I'm going abroad for a competition in a few days. We'll talk about it when I get back." Meng Fan outlined his upcoming schedule—when he'd go to South Korea and when he'd return.

Shi Shiwu laughed, "Even if you didn't want to wait, you'd have to. Most of these songs don't have their accompaniments ready yet." He calculated the time and said, "How about this: before you come back, I'll finish the accompaniments for five of these songs—these five are my personal favorites. When you listened to the demos just now, you seemed to like them too. They suit you and fit the album's vibe. I'll work on the others as I go, and we can fill them in when you return. What do you think?"

Meng Fan nodded. "You're the professional. I'll follow your lead."

"Then let's leave it at that. I need to head off to record the show."

"What show are you recording? Is it fun? I've got nothing to do tonight. Can I tag along?"

"Of course! The show is 'Dreams of Song.' I don't know if it's fun, but there are plenty of musicians—singers, songwriters, arrangers, and instrumentalists."

"Then I have to go!"

With the mindset of casting a wide net, Meng Fan followed Shi Shiwu. Who knew—there might be people there who could help with his album, or even with his future concert.

After all, the mission was still there. He'd completed the first step, and there were two more left... Well, no harm in taking two steps.

(End of chapter)