Chapter 24: The Past
After changing back into his own clothes at An Ran'er's house and leaving, Li Nuo finally felt relieved.
Although, after getting used to it, the light and airy feeling of wearing a dress was actually quite comfortable, he still couldn't get used to being stared at by so many people.
Yellowing leaves covered the ground, creating the unique atmosphere of autumn.
On the way home, Li Nuo's mind was full of thoughts.
He had never imagined that one day he would join a band, let alone a girls' band. Yet, through a series of unexpected events, he had somehow joined [The Girls]. He couldn't help wondering what his life would be like from now on.
If they became hugely popular, wouldn't that mean they could hold concert tours all across the country?
If that happened, not only would he earn plenty of money, but he would also achieve his dream of making music.
Thinking about it that way, maybe joining [The Girls] wasn't such a bad thing after all.
Still, the most important thing right now was to become familiar with the band's old songs. At the very least, he needed to be able to sing them well. Otherwise, how could he be the lead singer?
Sitting on the bus, he opened a music app on his phone and searched for The Girls' songs.
He noticed that only the first few songs had high play counts and lots of comments. They were clearly the popular ones.
The later songs, however, had pitifully low numbers of plays and comments. Some were practically ignored.
Although he found it a little strange, he didn't think too much about it. After all, music is a matter of personal taste.
No matter how good a song is, there will always be people who dislike it. And no matter how bad a song is, there will always be people who like it.
So who could guarantee that every song they released would be loved by everyone?
There were even many famous singers whose careers were remembered for only one hit song. People often joked that such singers were "living off a single song for their entire career."
But as a singer, having even one song remembered for years was already an amazing achievement, wasn't it?
Putting on his earphones, he selected the first song on the list.
The album was called Girls, and the song itself was also titled "Girls."
As the cheerful intro began to play, a clear and pleasant female voice entered his ears.
"What you're saying now is different from before"
"Though it helped me understand the real you a little more"
"The reason you're always so impatient and restless"
"Is because I want to treat you like something that belongs to me"
………………………
The song's lively melody and beautiful vocals made it easy to become immersed in it.
The lead singer also had excellent singing skills.
Even Li Nuo couldn't help humming along while listening. By the time the song ended, he was still caught up in its cheerful atmosphere.
Not feeling satisfied yet, he played several more popular songs. It wasn't until the fifth song that he realized something was wrong.
The musical style of the intro hadn't changed much. But the lead singer's voice had.
It was no longer the same clear and refreshing voice from before. Instead, it had become a sweeter, softer kind of voice.
It wasn't bad, but after listening for a while, it started to feel overly sweet and somewhat tiring.
It was the kind of voice that sounded nice at first, but wasn't very enjoyable for long periods.
After listening to several more songs, he found that all of them used the same singer as the fifth song.
Only then did he understand why the later songs had performed so poorly.
It was obvious that the lead singer of the first four songs and the lead singer of the later songs were not the same person.
"Looks like [The Girls] has changed lead singers before," Li Nuo thought.
After getting off the bus, he saw that it was still early, so before going home he stopped by Aunt Ye's noodle shop to help out for a while.
As a bonus, he got a free dinner.
After returning home, feeding Roubao, and cleaning up the cat's litter, he finally collapsed onto his bed in exhaustion.
Turning his head, he looked at Roubao, who had finished eating and was now yawning while scratching himself.
Li Nuo couldn't help sighing.
"I wish I were a cat too. Eat and sleep all day, then go out and enjoy life all night."
As if understanding him, Roubao stopped licking his paw and gave him a look full of contempt. The cat let out a "meow" and then jumped out through the window.
"You little brat..."
Feeling like he had just been looked down on by a cat, Li Nuo laughed helplessly.
Lying on his bed, he thought about the things Yu Haoshen and An Ran'er had talked about earlier that day.
He had a strong feeling that The Girls had a hidden past that outsiders didn't know about.
The more he thought about it, the more curious he became.
Finally, he turned on his computer and searched online for information about the band.
And sure enough, he found something unusual.
The member list didn't contain four names.
It contained five.
Besides An Ran'er, Ye Feilu, Wu Yuxin, and the former lead singer Zheng Miaoyan, there was another girl listed at the bottom:
Yu Siying.
Driven by curiosity, he searched for information about her.
……………………
Yu Siying
Female, deceased.
Original leader of The Girls.
Original lead singer and guitarist.
Representative works: Girls, Dream, and others.
……………………
Other than that, most of the remaining search results were concert clips and interview videos from two years ago.
He clicked on one of the performance videos. The background was a small concert with fewer than a hundred audience members.
On stage, four energetic girls full of youthful spirit were performing with all their passion.
Besides Ye Feilu on the drums and Wu Yuxin on the bass, the person standing at the center of the stage was a cool-looking girl with long sky-blue hair and a guitar in her hands.
She wore a bright smile the entire time.
Standing to her right was another girl holding a guitar. She looked noticeably younger and more immature. It was clearly An Ran'er from two years ago.
As the performance began and the lively intro started playing, a clear and beautiful voice came from the blue-haired girl.
The audience immediately erupted into cheers and chants. The blue-haired lead singer had a face that seemed almost angelic and healing.
Her cheerful and outgoing personality perfectly matched her bright, beautiful singing voice.
During the performance, she constantly smiled at her teammates, drawing them into the song's joyful atmosphere.
The girl in the video had to be Yu Siying, the original leader and lead singer of [The Girls].
After the video ended, Li Nuo's curiosity pushed him to search for the cause of her death.
In the end, he only learned that she had taken her own life a year and a half ago. He couldn't help feeling a deep sense of regret.
If she were still alive, [The Girls] would probably be far more popular than it was now.
However, while he was feeling sorry about her fate, another thought made him feel uneasy.
He suddenly realized that the wig An Ran'er had put on him earlier looked exactly the same as Yu Siying's hair in the video.
Not only that, but the makeup and clothing were also almost identical.
If his guess was correct, An Ran'er had clearly been using Yu Siying as a model when she transformed him.
In other words, she had been turning him into someone who looked like Yu Siying.
That realization made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.
But then another thought entered his mind.
If doing this could make An Ran'er like me... maybe it isn't completely unacceptable.
"Maybe..."
Curled up beneath his blanket, Li Nuo thought uncertainly as he pulled the covers over his head.