Chapter 1 Evening

Night.

Mo Yu Internet Cafe, flagship store.

Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan sat by the window, drinking small amounts of wine and looking at the sparse customers. They both felt a sense of sorrow rising within them.

Still not many customers!

Two more Mo Yu Internet Cafes were currently being renovated and should be officially open soon.

However, the flagship store of Mo Yu Internet Cafe was still steadily losing money.

The turnover had stabilized, and many regulars even knew the staff, but no matter how they calculated, this small number of people could not support the operating costs of Mo Yu Internet Cafe.

Ma Yang, the general manager of Mo Yu Internet Cafe, and Zhang Yuan, the regional manager of Mo Yu Internet Cafe in Jingzhou, were currently raising their glasses to drown their sorrows.

Zhang Yuan finished the wine in front of him in one gulp, "I'm going to sing two more songs."

Ma Yang reached out to stop him, "Forget it, no one's listening anyway..."

Including the two of them, there were only eight people sitting and drinking.

Zhang Yuan still stood up, "It's okay, I'll just belt out a couple of tunes to relieve some stress."

Coming to the stage, Zhang Yuan, as before, strummed the guitar twice, thinking about what to sing today.

As for those drinking below, they were basically regulars, so they weren't too surprised.

Besides, which internet cafe didn't have a resident singer? It wasn't anything new.

When Mo Yu Internet Cafe first opened, Zhang Yuan sang hard every night, but it was useless. Although it did slightly improve popularity, the improvement was very limited.

Over time, he sang less and less. Today, he was only spurred on by alcohol to take the stage again on a whim.

Zhang Yuan didn't say any polite words. After adjusting the equipment, he began to sing.

His singing couldn't be called heavenly, but it was still considered pleasant. After all, he was originally a resident singer in a bar, so his voice was definitely not bad.

His low, hoarse singing voice drifted out leisurely.

Zhang Yuan had also tried singing some intense rock songs before, but he soon found that the audience didn't cooperate at all and weren't excited.

So later, he mostly sang slower songs or folk songs.

That way, at least the scene wouldn't be too awkward.

Ma Yang listened to Zhang Yuan sing while drinking, his mind wandering.

Suddenly, he noticed a faint figure outside the glass curtain wall, hesitating at the door.

It was already night, and the lights in the internet cafe were brighter than outside. People outside could clearly see the scene inside, but it was not very clear from the inside to the outside.

But he could indeed see a figure lingering at the door.

"A new customer?"

"And he's hesitating, which means we can try to win him over!"

Ma Yang instantly perked up.

Although he was now the general manager of Mo Yu Internet Cafe, who said that general managers couldn't solicit customers?

Ma Yang, this general manager, didn't have any airs.

Opening the door of the internet cafe, Ma Yang said with a friendly face, "Hey there, young man, come in and play?"

The young man standing at the door was obviously startled. He was still hesitating at the door, but before he knew it, the door opened and such a long face appeared.

The young man lowered his head a little embarrassedly, "I... I'm not here to use the internet."

"It's okay, you can drink too," Ma Yang said enthusiastically.

He carefully looked at the young man. He looked a bit unremarkable, his hair was messy, and the clothes on his body looked a bit old, but they were still clean.

The young man scratched his messy hair, "I... I wanted to ask if you're still hiring resident singers?"

Ma Yang: "..."

A little disappointed.

We don't lack workers, we lack customers!

Without customers, what good is it if you sing well?

Seeing Ma Yang's long face visibly collapse, the young man quickly said, "I think I sing better than that guy, so I wanted to try."

Ma Yang thought about it, and it seemed okay.

Zhang Yuan was now considered the regional manager of Mo Yu Internet Cafe in Jingzhou, so how could he go on stage to sing every day?

Hiring a resident singer wasn't bad either.

"Okay, what's your name?"

"Chen Lei."

"Come on in."

Ma Yang led Chen Lei into the Mo Yu Internet Cafe and found a seat for him.

After waiting for a while, Zhang Yuan finished another song and went offstage to rest.

Ma Yang pointed to the stage, "Go ahead, don't be nervous."

Ma Yang didn't have much musical talent and couldn't tell good from bad. He was thinking that as long as this young man sang decently and could barely take over Zhang Yuan's duties, that would be enough.

Zhang Yuan had just poured a glass of water to drink when he turned his head and found that his place on the stage had been taken.

A young man he had never seen before was fiddling with the guitar on stage, and it looked like he was about to start singing.

Zhang Yuan sat down next to Ma Yang with a confused look on his face, "Brother Ma, who is this?"

"His name is Chen Lei, and he's here to apply for the resident singer position. I was thinking that if he sings well, I'll let him sing on stage, so you can rest more in the future."

Ma Yang said with concern, "After all, your work is heavy. Now that a new bartender has been hired, if we hire another resident singer, you can focus on the operation of the internet cafe."

Zhang Yuan really wanted to say that he didn't have much to do all day, but he was a little touched to hear Ma Yang say this.

Hey, that's not right, we haven't hired a resident singer before, have we?

Just as Zhang Yuan was about to ask this question, a clear, slightly hoarse voice rang out in the internet cafe.

"The flowers bloom in spring, the wind blows in autumn, and the setting sun shines in winter..."

Zhang Yuan was stunned, "He's singing an old song."

This song was so popular that almost everyone had heard it.

However, the moment Chen Lei opened his mouth, almost everyone who was drinking looked at the stage.

It was like a clear spring flowing down from the stage, enveloping everyone.

Zhang Yuan was also stunned for a moment and couldn't help but hum along softly.

Ma Yang drank his wine and mumbled, "It doesn't sound as good as you sing."

Zhang Yuan glanced at him helplessly, "Brother Ma... he sings much better than me."

"Really?" Ma Yang was a little surprised, "His voice can't go high and can't go low, so what's so good about it?"

Zhang Yuan felt like he was talking to a wall, but considering that Old Ma was his boss after all, he still had to maintain a smile.

"A good voice has the quality of moving people. With his voice singing folk songs, it's simply a gift from God."

"You can't envy that."

"If you don't believe me, look at everyone's reaction."

Ma Yang looked at the crowd in the venue.

When Zhang Yuan was singing before, everyone was drinking and chatting, although they were listening, it was obviously just background music.

But after Chen Lei took the stage, everyone seemed to freeze.

They were all holding their wine glasses and drinking silently, no one was talking anymore, no one was chatting anymore, and a few people were staring blankly at Chen Lei on the stage, wondering what kind of memories his singing had evoked.

Zhang Yuan sighed, "Brother Ma, where did you find such a good talent?"

Ma Yang was silent for a moment, "...He came to our door himself."

Zhang Yuan said, "That's a bit of a coincidence."

"Actually, it's not a coincidence," Ma Yang said, "He said he heard you singing outside and felt that he could definitely sing better than you, so he mustered up the courage to come in. I think the credit mainly belongs to you."

Zhang Yuan: "..."

"Brother Ma, I've changed my mind, can we not hire him?"

"No."