Chapter 370 It's not about money, it's about Zha Nianqin

Wangcai ushered Liang Liang to the bar and offered to pour him a drink.

"Brother Guo! I don't drink! Not a drop!"

Wangcai's surname is Guo, but his name is not Wangcai. It is Guo Wang. No one knows who added the character "cai" to the end of his name, so it became Guo Wangcai. Later, it was called Wangcai.

Liang Liang can drink some beer, but in this situation, he thinks it's better not to drink.

"Really not drinking?"

"I really won't drink it."

"At your age, it's time to learn to drink. How can a man not drink? Have a beer!"

Wangcai poured Liang Liang a glass of Lhasa beer.

Locals boast that the beer here is brewed with snowmelt from the mountains, but I don't know if it's true or not.

However, the beer does taste quite good; it's crisp, dry, and has a hint of sweetness.

"Brother! You're from the capital? Your accent doesn't sound like you're from the south."

"We're from the capital, but not exactly native Beijingers. We're still several hundred miles away from the capital."

Liang Liang did not say where she was from, but only gave a general statement.

What's the name of your band?

"Blue Shark!"

Wangcai's hand slipped, and he looked surprised: "You guys are the Blue Shark Band?"

Liang Liang nodded: "Absolutely! You've heard of our band?"

Lhasa is a place where the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. If you are a month or two late to get the latest fashions, it is considered to be catching up with the trend. If you are a year or six months late, it is not surprising.

If Wangcai said he had never heard of the Blue Shark band, Liang Liang wouldn't be surprised at all.

Wangcai turned around and pulled out two cassette tapes from under the counter, pushing them in front of Liang Liang.

"Is this your album? I love it so much, I've listened to it countless times!"

Holy crap! This even produced a fan.

The two audio tapes are titled "Hometown" and "Nowhere to Hide".

No one can say for sure how many times these two cassette tapes were played, because the lyric booklets were worn and tattered.

"Hometown" is the Pacific version, with a more artistic cover featuring an endless green field with flowers of various colors blooming and a few small houses in the distance.

While these covers may look quite artistic, they actually negatively impact sales.

After all, many people make a purchase decision based on the portrait on the cover, and since there's no person on this box, and they don't know whose cassette tape it is, of course they won't buy it.

This may also be why the mainland China version of the album "Hometown" did not sell more than four million copies.

The other album cover did have the Blue Shark band's image on it, but it was obviously a pirated copy. The image on the cover was double-printed, so not only could others not recognize who the person was, but even Liang Liang didn't recognize himself at first glance.

Showing yourself a pirated copy of your own album—how can you be any more serious?

"Both of these albums are from our band. It's just a pity that your copy of 'No Place to Hide' is a pirated copy. If it were an original, you might have recognized us already."

Wangcai picked up the cassette tape cover and compared it with Liang Liang's face. Due to the poor printing quality, it was still unclear how much the person on the cassette tape cover had in common with Liang Liang; only the general outlines were somewhat similar.

"It really is a pirated copy. I didn't even notice until you pointed it out. If you guys really are the Blue Shark Band, my little shop would have made a profit."

Of course he made a profit. This can be considered capital. In the future, as a bar owner, he can boast that the Blue Shark band borrowed a guitar from his bar and sang a song. With the spread of the news on the internet, Blue Shark fans might even travel thousands of miles to come here to visit and enjoy the music.

This has greatly boosted the business of Shambhala Bar.

The premise is that they will continue to operate here in the future.

"Of course we are real. Is there anyone impersonating us? We came to Lhasa to film the music video for this song, 'Back to Lhasa,' which is a short film. Once filming is complete, the videotape and VCD versions will be released."

"To be honest, I used to be a music lover. Six or seven years ago, I bought an acoustic guitar and started learning to play. Two years ago, I went to Beijing and, by chance, watched a concert by a Beijing rock band. When I came back, I thought I should form a band like that. So I used all my savings to buy a set of equipment and recruited some people. At first, my wife was supportive, but when she found out that I wasn't making money from this and it was even interfering with my business, she stopped letting me do it."

Wangcai shrugged regretfully.

It's perfectly normal that bands don't make money easily.

Unmarried people can play this game as long as they don't starve, since they have no ties to them. But if you're married and have a career, playing this game is a bit of a waste of your time, so it's perfectly reasonable for your wife to stop you from playing.

"As long as it doesn't affect the bar's business, having some fun isn't a terrible thing. It's definitely better than drinking and gambling, right? If we can arrange our time reasonably, your wife will definitely agree, don't you think, sister-in-law?"

Wangcai's wife smiled and nodded.

"Ignore her, Tibetans are all stubborn and don't think things through."

Wangcai's wife glared at him: "Who are you talking about? Who are you saying can't think straight? Believe me or not, I'll make sure you can't bend your neck either!"

"Is your sister-in-law from Tibet?"

"Her name is Zhuoma. Tell me where she's from."

Zhuoma?

This name is very common in snowy areas.

You have the name of a flower, beautiful girl Dromala.

You have a radiant smile, beautiful girl Dromala…

Liang Liang naturally started thinking of a song called "Zhuoma".

Guo Wang brought over a piece of paper, intending to have Liang Liang and the Blue Shark Band sign it and frame it.

I'm also planning to take a photo with the Blue Shark band and hang it in the bar.

"Hey bro! What was the name of the first song you ever sang?"

“The song was originally called Lhasa Bar, but your wife wanted me to sing a song related to your bar, so I changed some of the lyrics. Now it’s called Shambhala Bar.”

"This song is the signature song of my bar, and I must learn it."

At this time, Wangcai's wife counted the tips and reported to Wangcai: "The tips totaled 1,365 yuan."

"We'll keep the leader of the sixty-five, and give the rest to Xiao Liang and the others."

Wangcai's wife put away the change and took all the bills.

"Brother Guo! We're just here to borrow the instruments, not to sing for money. We won't accept this money!"

"It's only natural for singers to get paid when they perform in bars, how can they not get paid?"

"Really, no! If you insist on giving it to me, then give me your Zha Nianqin."

"You like the Zha Nianqin?"

"I think it's quite interesting, and I plan to practice it in the future."

"It's no big deal, you can have the instrument."

Guo Wang reached out, took the Zha Nianqin (a type of zither), put it in its case, and gave it to Liang Liang.