Chapter 1: A Dream That Changed Destiny

Lu Chen had a dream, a very long dream.

The world in the dream was familiar yet strange, with different characters performing different wonderful things, and he actually experienced three different lives in this world!

The first life belonged to a singer named Xu Bo, who had a flamboyant and eccentric personality and was crazy about music. Although he had outstanding talent, he could never become famous, and wandered around like a duckweed.

In the second life, his name was Mo Ran, an actor, who was plain-looking, calm and introverted. He had played different roles in many film and television works, but they were all supporting roles. He had excellent acting skills but was always a foil for others.

In the last life, Fang Mingyi was a freelance writer who liked music, movies, travel and food. He often traveled around the world with a backpack, and relied on his unruly style of writing to cheat for living expenses by typing on the Internet.

Fate is wonderful. An accidental gathering allowed Xu Bo, Mo Ran and Fang Mingyi to know each other. Although they have different personalities, they still have many common topics, so they became true friends.

Later, the three of them went out together and suddenly encountered a mudslide on the winding mountain road leading to Yulong Snow Mountain.

When countless mud mixed with rocks broke through the car window and rushed into the car, Lu Chen suddenly woke up with great fear and suffocation, and sat up suddenly on the bed!

He panted violently, his forehead was covered with fine sweat, and his eyes were scattered and lost.

After a long time, Lu Chen barely came back to his soul.

The sight slowly focused, and what came into view was the familiar shabby room. The dim light of the small table lamp barely illuminated this small house of less than ten square meters. Except for the bed under him, a set of shabby tables and chairs and a wardrobe, there was no other furniture.

But he still couldn't tell whether he was Xu Bo, Mo Ran or Fang Mingyi. The memories of the three were so vivid that they were deeply engraved in his soul and could not be separated.

Lu Chen put on his coat in a hurry, staggered into the small bathroom, then quickly turned on the faucet and directly scooped up water with both hands to splash on his face.

The strong stimulation brought by the cold tap water instantly sobered him up from his drowsy mind.

What appeared in the mirror was a young face.

The face was very straight, with clear edges and corners and quite handsome, sword eyebrows, bright eyes, deep eyes, a strong nose and thin lips with a hint of stubbornness, but there was an indescribable dejection and haggardness between the eyebrows, revealing disappointment and gloom in life.

Lu Chen was finally able to confirm that he was still himself, still the 22-year-old young man who had not graduated from university and had been wandering in Beijing for nearly a year!

Ding ding ding!

The mobile phone on the bedside suddenly made a loud ring.

Lu Chen shook his head vigorously, forcing himself to temporarily forget the chaotic thoughts in his mind, brushed his teeth and washed up, then left the basement of his small residence and ran to work.

He now lives in Jingming Community, near the third and fourth ring roads of Beijing, one of the dozens of rooms separated in the basement of an old building.

The rent of a small room of less than ten square meters is as high as 1,200 yuan, but it has an independent bathroom, and it is not far from Lu Chen's work during the day. The nearest subway station is only five minutes away.

In Beijing, a super city with a population of more than 30 million, there are many outsiders like Lu Chen, either for life or for dreams.

They are often called "Beijing drifters" or "ant tribes", and some people call themselves "drifting ants".

As a member of the "Drifting Ants", Lu Chen ran out of the community and onto the sidewalk. He broke through the morning mist and ran quickly towards the place where he worked.

Everything was the same as usual, but everything seemed different.

At sunset, Lu Chen dragged his tired body back to the dark house.

He threw himself heavily on the single bed, closed his eyes and rested for a while, then sat up again after perking up, and took the guitar in front of the bed.

This single-board guitar is the most precious item Lu Chen currently owns. The guitar panel is made of white pine, and the back and sides are made of rosewood plywood. White pine is recognized as one of the best materials for making guitars in the world. It has a strong tone and excellent texture. After playing for a period of time, it is more sensitive to the sound.

Even in the most difficult times, Lu Chen never thought of selling this guitar, because it was a gift from Lu Xue to Lu Chen for his eighteenth birthday.

Lu Xue is Lu Chen's sister. She spent all her pocket money to buy this guitar!

In three hours, Lu Chen will use this guitar to earn a second job.

Lu Chen is an hourly worker at a KFC store during the day. At night, he is a waiter and a karaoke singer in a bar in Houhai, Beijing. He works two jobs at the same time and works more than 15 hours a day.

Lu Chen doesn't want to work so hard, but the heavy debt at home forces him to work hard, otherwise his sister will face the risk of dropping out of school, and many creditors will come to the door.

Lu Chen also has a sister who is working hard to pay off the debt like him. As the only man in the family, what reason does he have to evade his responsibilities?

Holding the guitar, Lu Chen gently plucked the steel strings, and the pleasant sound of the piano poured out like water, filling the small room.

For some reason, he felt that his casual playing today was particularly comfortable. His fingering, which was a little difficult at ordinary times, became extremely skillful, as if he had experienced thousands of times of practice and reached the state of being able to do whatever he wanted.

Lu Chen's heart moved, he straightened his spine, and began to play seriously.

He played and sang a song "Flying Pigeon".

"Flying Pigeon" is a pop song created by the famous singer Tan Hong more than ten years ago. It has a beautiful melody and is considered to be one of the most suitable folk songs for guitar playing and singing. However, it has quite high requirements for fingering and singing.

Lu Chen is not a music student, but a pop music lover. He has learned guitar playing for several years, and he can charm many girls by playing and singing by himself.

To put it bluntly, Lu Chen, who was from a wealthy family at that time, only used guitar playing and singing as a tool to show off.

As for making a living, his amateurism made him only a singer who could sing when someone requested it, and at most he could fill in the gap when no one requested it, belonging to the lowest level among bar singers.

Lu Chen had played and sang "Flying Pigeon" before, but he was not good enough to control it. He could not play the precise fingering and could not sing the artistic conception of the song. He was just imitating others and made people laugh.

But now when he played and sang "Flying Pigeon" again, he found that the difficulty in fingering was no longer there. He opened his breath and sang softly. The melodious singing echoed in the room, with a different kind of moving charm.

"Dreaming of becoming a pigeon flying in the blue sky, la la ah~"

After singing, Lu Chen's fingers pressed on the strings and he was stunned.

How could this happen?

Is this really a song that he played and sang by himself?

Pah! Pah!

The door of the room was suddenly knocked.

Lu Chen came to his senses, put down his guitar and said, "Come in, the door is not closed!"

The door was quickly pushed open, and a tall and thin man with glasses walked in with an exaggerated smile on his face, and gave Lu Chen a thumbs up: "Big singer, great!"

Lu Chen smiled and said, "Then you should give me a reward quickly, just a few thousand or tens of thousands will be enough!"

"I don't have money, but I have my life!"

The man with glasses howled loudly, with an expression that he would rather die than surrender, and people wanted to kick him.

The man with glasses is Lu Chen's next-door neighbor, named Li Feiyu, from southern Hunan, who has been in Beijing for three years and is currently working as a salesperson in a car 4S store.

The basement space is closed, and the room is separated by fireproof panels, so the sound insulation effect is very poor, so when Lu Chen practices singing and playing in his small apartment, the neighbors can hear it clearly.

Big Singer is the nickname Li Feiyu gave to Lu Chen. It was a friendly joke. The two were of similar age and had good tempers, so they became friends. The former often came to visit in his spare time.

Li Feiyu also loved to sing, but he was tone-deaf. When he sang, it was like a ghost crying and a wolf howling. He had some appreciation for pop songs. Just now, he was stunned when he heard Lu Chen singing "Flying Pigeon".

"But seriously, brother."

After the joke, Li Feiyu said seriously: "You sang this song really well. Although the style is a little different from Tan Hong's, it is also full of artistic conception. It is at least ten times better than those pop songs you sang before!"

He spread out his hands with ten fingers, wishing he could lift his feet to make up the number.

Lu Chen smiled and said, "Thank you!"

He knew that he didn't sing very well before.

"It's really strange."

Li Feiyu had a mysterious expression on his face. He looked around and said in a low voice: "Brother, are you possessed by the god of singing? The young good-for-nothing got a chance to improve his cultivation. From then on, he stepped on the peak of his life and married a beautiful and rich woman, and had fun every night."

Li Feiyu also has a hobby, which is to read online novels on the Internet. His imagination is very rich.

"Go to hell!"

Lu Chen kicked him with a flying kick, interrupting the other party's nonsense.

But the memory of the singer Xu Bo in the dream instantly emerged in his heart - Xu Bo not only sang well, but also was good at playing the guitar. Whether it was folk guitar or classical guitar, he played it to perfection.

"I'm out of the way!"

Li Feiyu jumped to the door flexibly and said with a smile: "Big singer, if you can still create original works, then coupled with your current singing and playing level, I dare to assert that you will definitely become famous!"

Definitely become famous?

Lu Chen smiled bitterly and shook his head, then stood up and closed the door.

Beijing is a place where people gather and it is also the cultural center of the country. There are so many talented musicians and singers among the millions of people who come to Beijing, but how many of them can really become famous?

To become famous, talent, strength, connections and luck are all indispensable!

What does he, Lu Chen, have?

And originality is not easy

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration seemed to flash through Lu Chen's mind, instantly lighting up his thoughts.

Original? That's right, it's originality!

He rushed to the small desk and couldn't wait to turn on his old laptop.

He had long been accustomed to the 50-second boot time, but now it felt like a year. After finally entering the desktop, Lu Chen immediately moved the mouse and clicked hard on a software icon that he hadn't opened for a long time.

It was as if he was opening the door to change his destiny!

(End of this chapter)