Chapter 157 Far from Enough

On Wednesday afternoon, Huang Guolun went to the district's teaching seminar for high school music teachers.

This meeting ran much longer than Huang Guolun had anticipated.

At noon, Huang Guolun had told Yao Dajun that the meeting would probably wrap up around three o'clock, or three-thirty at the very latest.

Based on his past experience attending such meetings, he figured an hour and a half would be the absolute limit.

To his surprise, the afternoon session lasted nearly two and a half hours, finally concluding close to four-thirty.

Yao Dajun, accompanied by his nephew Yao Ming, had waited dryly for Huang Guolun for over an hour.

Huang Guolun felt quite apologetic about it.

As soon as the meeting ended, Huang Guolun immediately hailed a cab home, instructing Yao Dajun to bring Yao Ming directly to his apartment at Zixing Mansion. Since he had a recording studio right at home, he could directly test Yao Ming's vocals and see what the kid was really made of.

When Huang Guolun's taxi arrived at the residential complex gate and he stepped out, he immediately heard Yao Dajun's booming voice: "Er-lun!"

Huang Guolun turned around and saw Yao Dajun crossing the street toward him, accompanied by a towering young man standing nearly one meter ninety.

Without asking, this tall fellow was undoubtedly Yao Ming.

He wondered if everyone named Yao Ming grew up to be this tall.

Logically speaking, Yao Dajun wasn't short either, and he was quite spirited.

Yet standing next to his nephew, Yao Dajun was instantly eclipsed.

Not only was Yao Ming tall, but he was also remarkably handsome. At first glance, he bore a striking resemblance to Aarif Rahman. He had a remarkably long face, thick eyebrows, piercing eyes, and a high bridge of nose. Judging by his physique and facial features, he looked like a very high-spirited young man.

"That meeting of yours took forever. My nephew and I almost smoked through a pack of cigarettes sitting in the car."

Wreathed in the scent of cigarette smoke, Yao Dajun walked over, smiling in mild complaint as he patted Yao Ming's arm and told him to say hello.

"Hello, Uncle Lun."

In stark contrast to his tall and formidable appearance, Yao Ming spoke in a surprisingly soft and delicate voice, tinged with the shyness of a big boy. He looked nothing like a rebellious youth who had dared to drop out of school without permission and run off to another city to play rock music.

Huang Guolun had exceptionally sharp ears. The moment Yao Ming spoke, he immediately caught hints of Jeff Chang's vocal timbre in his voice, with a slight resemblance to the bald singer Ping An.

If trained properly, this kind of voice could be highly recognizable.

"This is my nephew, Yao Ming."

Yao Dajun introduced Yao Ming to Huang Guolun.

Huang Guolun nodded and said in a warm, gentle tone, "I'm really sorry, guys. That damned meeting ran a bit too long today, making you wait so long. Let's go, let's head up and chat at my place."

Huang Guolun walked side by side with Yao Dajun toward the residential complex.

Yao Ming followed them like a handsome entourage, looking slightly constrained as he walked into this upscale community he had never visited before.

As they walked, Yao Dajun asked Huang Guolun, "Is your mother at home? Do I need to buy something on the way up? Coming empty-handed is terribly embarrassing."

Huang Guolun chuckled and retorted, "When have you ever come to my place empty-handed? My mom is long used to it."

"No, no, this is different. It's been a while since I last saw our mom; I should at least buy a basket of fruit to show my respects."

"Cut the nonsense, you don't need to bother. My old lady isn't home. After kindergarten let out this afternoon, Taozi had a traditional Chinese culture class, so my mom took her to class. They won't be back for quite a while."

"Is that so? Well, then I won't bother buying anything, hehe." Yao Dajun laughed shamelessly.

The two uncle-aged elders chatted as they walked in front, while Yao Ming trailed behind, secretly sizing up Huang Guolun.

He wanted to glean more clues from their conversation about what kind of person this music teacher was—the one who had crafted the brilliant soundtrack for *The Corpse is a Beautiful Woman*.

Yao Dajun hadn't told Yao Ming much beforehand. He had only mentioned that Huang Guolun was the head of the music department at the entertainment company run by Huang Guokun, and that if Yao Ming wanted to become a signed artist under Kunlun Culture, he needed Huang Guolun's final, decisive approval.

As for Huang Guolun's musical proficiency, Yao Dajun couldn't really articulate anything specific.

Having been brothers for so many years, Yao Dajun had never felt that Huang Guolun's musical talent was particularly stellar.

However, after recently watching *The Corpse is a Beautiful Woman* produced by Kunlun Culture, the music in the film had truly left a deep impression on Yao Dajun.

Yao Ming had also watched the movie, and he had been blown away by its electronic metal soundtrack.

Putting aside the immensely explosive theme song at the very end, several brilliant musical cues scattered throughout the film alone were enough to make Yao Ming admire Huang Guolun's mastery of metal music.

The end-credits theme song, paired with the sequence of the female zombie slaughtering government troops, had completely fired Yao Ming up.

Based on his own shallow understanding, he felt that such scoring and theme songs should be considered top-tier within the domestic metal circle.

Someone capable of writing such badass work must be an extraordinarily hardcore rock teacher, right?

Yet now that he had actually met him, Yao Ming felt somewhat disappointed in Huang Guolun.

Judging solely by this initial contact, Yao Ming simply couldn't connect the music in *The Corpse is a Beautiful Woman* with the ordinary-looking uncle standing before him, holding a thermos cup and resembling a retired government cadre.

Listening to Huang Guolun speak was utterly mundane; there was not a single trace of rock-and-roll flavor about him.

Even a single strand of hair on his body lacked any rebellious temperament.

Yao Ming had originally expected to meet a rebellious teacher exuding a rock aura, but looking at him now, this uncle had zero personality.

It made him start to wonder: did this uncle really compose the music for *The Corpse is a Beautiful Woman*?

Did he just slap his name on it for credit?

Could the Kunlun Culture music department, headed by this uncle, really lead him onto the path of a professional singer?

Yao Ming's heart began to beat with doubt.

Despite his lingering skepticism toward Huang Guolun himself, the modernity and luxury of Huang Guolun's home thoroughly opened the eyes of this twenty-year-old young man who hadn't seen much of the world.

After entering the apartment, Huang Guolun led them directly into a professional recording studio housed within a room-within-a-room, which shocked Yao Ming even further.

Uncle Lun actually had such a professional recording studio right in his own home!

Holy crap!

People who ran cemeteries were truly loaded!

Yao Ming's eyes were finally opened today.

Clothes make the man, saddles make the horse, and bells make the dog bark with pride.

Noticing that all the professional equipment in Huang Guolun's home recording studio was top-tier, Yao Ming no longer dared to harbor the slightest bit of contempt when looking at Huang Guolun.

Huang Guolun brought them some drinks.

After the three of them sat down and chatted for a few moments, Huang Guolun asked Yao Ming for the music demo he had been told to prepare in advance, deciding to listen to Yao Ming's demo first.

The demo Yao Ming brought was a song previously recorded by his band, featuring a mixed style of hard rock and pop metal.

This demo was crafted with a certain attention to detail amidst its roughness.

While the music itself didn't particularly interest Huang Guolun, Yao Ming's voice possessed a high degree of recognizability, leaving a deep impression on him.

With his exceptionally sharp ears, Huang Guolun could tell that the raw vocals on Yao Ming's demo had been pitch-corrected—which was nothing to fault.

In today's Mandopop music scene, singers who didn't use pitch correction had basically gone extinct; even the top vocalists still utilized tuning when necessary, purely to achieve a better performance effect.

However, Huang Guolun felt that Yao Ming's demo had been over-processed, tuning his voice to be overly glamorous, bearing a strong stylistic resemblance to Queen's lead singer, Freddie Mercury.

Later, when chatting with Yao Ming, it turned out the young man indeed adored Queen.

Despite looking rather green and shy now, by his own account, his band used to play glam rock, with every member dyeing their red hair and wearing fake eyelashes during performances, radiating extreme personality.

Yao Ming described his dream as becoming China's Freddie Mercury, conquering the world with his soaring, brilliant vocal timbre and theatrical performance style.

As he spoke these words, there was a light in Yao Ming's eyes.

It was evident that he truly harbored a musical dream he was willing to fight for until the very end, and an undying rock-and-roll heart.

However, Huang Guolun felt that Yao Ming's dream was a bit too grand.

Especially after having Yao Ming step into the recording studio to sing a section of his band's song a cappella on the spot, Huang Guolun felt even more strongly that Yao Ming's aspiration to become China's Freddie Mercury was far out of reach.

The kid's voice was soaringly high, but lacked masculinity. Hearing him sing live, it sounded far too delicate. Just like his speaking voice, his vocal temperament leaned neutral.

At first, Huang Guolun thought perhaps Yao Ming was just nervous singing in front of him for the first time and hadn't performed at his best.

Yet after making Yao Ming sing a few songs in succession, Huang Guolun still felt that Yao Ming's vocal delivery was too soft, something most likely tied to his innate nature.

Freddie Mercury's voice was also soaringly high, and Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose, along with former AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson, possessed similarly high-pitched voices. Yet beyond their altitude, when the moment called for tearing through the track, those singers could unleash a masculinity capable of shattering everything; when they rocked out, they could go utterly wild, and when they got fierce, it felt as though they could pierce a hole straight through the sky.

Yao Ming's voice clearly lacked this kind of hardcore temperament.

Even more seriously, Yao Ming had major issues with absolute pitch during his performance.

Apart from singing his own band's songs, when asked to sing anything else, he would pitch-correctly drift off tune drastically.

Even when performing his own band's works, the pitch and overall feel differed vastly from the demo.

To someone with a tin ear like Yao Dajun, it might not sound very obvious.

Yet to Huang Guolun's divine ears, Yao Ming's performance was practically pure amateur level, at most akin to karaoke standards. His foundational skills were far too poor, and his breath support—crucial for any singer—was severely lacking, which completely clashed with his height of nearly one meter ninety.

No wonder he had drifted around for so many years without making it, and always got eliminated in talent shows. Given his current strength, aside from his appearance giving him a massive boost, the bright spots in terms of music were pitifully few.

The record company that had previously signed him must have done so purely based on his looks.

Merely in terms of musical literacy, this kid was still miles away from being a professional singer.

He was at least three Huang Tao levels worse than Bai Yao, who had just started learning.

"Er-lun, be honest with me. What do you think of my nephew? Is he worth your company giving him a push?"

Having chatted and watched Yao Ming sing, seeing that Huang Guolun still hadn't expressed his stance, Yao Dajun grew somewhat restless and threw the question straight at Huang Guolun right in front of Yao Ming.