Chapter 812 The Queen of Electronic Music
Not to mention Liu Xiaoqin was startled by this sound.
Ning Weimin was also shocked.
Because first of all, this place is different.
This is currently the most high-end Western restaurant in Beijing.
Under Pierre Cardon's business strategy of not cutting prices, the per capita consumption of Maxim's restaurant is as high as 200 yuan, which is higher than that of a five-star hotel.
The quality of the waiters here must also be high.
Most of them went to the head office in Paris, France for training, and they have to pass the foreign language and service standards.
Not disturbing guests is the minimum requirement.
As for the customers who come here to eat, 60% are foreigners.
The remaining 20% are Hong Kong businessmen and overseas Chinese coming to Beijing.
The remaining 20% are domestic customers.
There are both locals from the capital and people who come here on business trips from other places.
The only thing they have in common is that they are basically all consumed with public funds.
In other words, these domestic customers are of a very high level and are as well-dressed as foreigners, overseas Chinese, and Hong Kong customers. They are definitely not individual upstarts.
Many celebrities from the literary and entertainment circles have also come, but most of them were invited by Song Huagui on his own initiative to expand his social influence.
Take Liu Xiaoqin for example, just because she has friendship with Song Huagui and Ning Weimin, she can eat and drink for free.
If she was spending her own money, let alone relying on her fifty yuan salary, she would never be able to do it, even the hard-earned money she earned from acupuncture would be reluctant to part with it.
So, for actors and singers, Maxim Restaurant is a rare and quiet place where they can relax.
No matter how famous or popular a person is, there will be no admirers bothering him or asking for autographs when he stays here.
So what happened today, can it not be a big surprise?
Especially when it happened when I was blocked at the door of the toilet.
At this moment, Ning Weimin and Liu Xiaoqin were having the most important private conversation.
This is even more embarrassing and awkward.
Ning Weimin and Liu Xiaoqin looked over together, and the person who called out turned out to be a little girl with dark skin.
Despite his short stature, he is only a middle school student in his sixteenth or seventies.
But he was actually wearing curls permed with cold perm, and was wearing a strange outfit - a white bat shirt and skinny narrow-leg pants.
Considering that today is Thursday, it is school time again.
Of course we know that this girl is definitely not a good student. How else could she be skipping school?
Like Ning Weimin, it's okay. Although I think this little girl is quite rash, she has a good demeanor and doesn't show any displeasure or care.
But Liu Xiaoqin is a carefree aunt.
Especially when he becomes famous early, it has become his nature to act like a big name.
Coupled with the 50,000 yuan that Ning Weimin was making a wish for, his emotions were fluctuating violently.
When she saw such a little yellow-haired girl calling herself, how could she have the interest to deal with it?
I frowned subconsciously and waved my hand to the little girl indifferently.
"We are talking about important things..."
This was a good moment. Liu Xiaoqin's great disgust immediately made the little girl who was full of expectations and smiling away became introverted.
The excitement and excitement in my heart was directly doused by a head of cold water, and I stood there at a loss.
However, this was not the end, the restaurant manager also heard the sound and came over.
On the other hand, he was scolding the little girl like punches and kicks.
"What's going on? Didn't I tell you to sit there and wait? Why did you come here by yourself? How can you disturb our guests?"
On one side, there was sincerity and fear for Liu Xiaoqin and Ning Weimin. Nod and apologize.
"I'm sorry, Miss Liu, I'm sorry, Mr. Ning, it was my dereliction of duty."
Then he started to chase the little girl away with more force and force.
“Go, go quickly, get out of here.”
In addition, Liu Xiaoqin gave him another look that was not harmful but extremely insulting.
This further destroyed the little girl’s self-esteem.
For a moment, she blushed with embarrassment, bit her lip, and her eyes sparkled, as if she was about to shed tears of sadness.
But at this moment, Ning Weimin intervened.
"Hey, Manager Lu, don't scare her. What's going on? Tell me clearly first..."
Ning Weimin's understanding of the service industry is definitely beyond this era.
In his mind, the more high-level and high-style the business establishment is, the less likely it is to bully customers and always be polite to others.
This is not simply to regard customers as God, but the duty of the service industry.
Represents a kind of self-cultivation, style, style and business ethics.
As the old saying goes, people who come to your door are treated as customers, and the same applies to the people who serve the store.
This is what a century-old store should look like as a big business owner.
Even if this little girl is not a paying customer, it is not the right time to ask for an autograph, and she has to ask for it from the restaurant.
But the restaurant manager shouldn't treat a half-year-old child so roughly. This feels like bullying.
If the little girl left with grievances and sadness, it would obviously be detrimental to the reputation and public image of Maxim's Restaurant, and he could not ignore it.
But until now, the restaurant manager still didn’t think it mattered.
Obviously he thinks that protecting valued customers is the right thing to do for the restaurant.
"Mr. Ning, this child wants to come to our restaurant to sing. I said she is too young and should study hard. But she begged me for nothing and insisted on giving it a try. Didn't you just talk to Song Are you talking about things all the time? I'm afraid of disturbing you, so I can only let her sit and wait for a while. I didn't expect that she would be so disobedient that she would get into trouble. I just let her go. Okay.”
In fact, you can’t blame the manager entirely, because people these days are just like this.
State-owned units only value relationships and are very aggressive towards customers who spend money. They don't even do any superficial work for obviously disadvantaged groups.
In this social environment, shop bullies have gained a certain rationality for bullying customers, and even disadvantaged groups will have this consciousness.
Just like this little girl, her face turned pale after hearing these words, and she actually took the initiative to admit her mistake.
"I was wrong, I was wrong. Please, don't drive me away... Manager, manager, can't I stop getting into trouble? Just forgive me once and let me try." I can really sing..."
Seeing that the child was really about to cry, and he had to take care of the restaurant manager's face, Ning Weimin couldn't blame him face to face, so he could only comfort him with kind words.
“Don’t be anxious, don’t be anxious, he doesn’t have to say anything about this matter, only what I say.”
The little girl’s eyes widened immediately.
Turning her head to look at Manager Chen, who looked a little embarrassed, she was obviously even more embarrassed and shouldn't have reacted at the moment.
Ning Weimin smiled to show that he was okay.
"How old are you? I take it you are still in school?"
This is his key concern. Child labor cannot be employed.
“I am eighteen and will graduate from high school soon.”
Fortunately, I didn't step into a minefield.
Ning Weimin asked again.
"Then why don't you go on to take the college entrance exam?"
"Well, I'm not good at studying, and I can't pass the exam."
"Just want to sing? Your family Do you agree? "Well, I just want to sing. I have two recorders, which I bought for me."
“Do you really want to sing here? Our requirements here are very high. We have to sing real pop songs here. You also have to be able to sing in English. In the first few days, do you know about the Wham Band’s performance in Beijing? ? That's what we need..."
"I know, I went to see it for 25 yuan, and I bought the ticket at the door. My favorite song is "Whispering." "..."
"Oh, you are quite willing to buy it. You are willing to buy the five-dollar ticket at such a high price?"
"Then...there is nothing you can do. , who likes it? I can’t buy it in line. In fact, I have long wanted to see them in person. I used to record their songs when I heard them on the shortwave radio. But the price is worth it. The live drums and electric bass are useless!”
Ning Weimin chatted like a neighbor's sister.
This sense of intimacy allowed the little girl to gradually recover and talk more and more.
"So what do you think of your level? Can you sing that kind of song?"
"Yes, don't underestimate me. I have actually been on stage, and I participated last year I also performed at SMX in the HD area singing competition. I sang all English songs, but because of this, young people liked it, but older people didn’t like it. Then...then they stopped letting me sing. They say that my songs can only be played in music cafes in Guangdong, so that’s why I’m here. If you don’t let me sing, I’ll really have to take the train to Huacheng... Hey, you must have watched the Wham Band’s performance. Right? There was also a special guest who sang with a guitar, called Cheng Fangyuan. I’m not going to lie to you, I can sing better than her..."
I saw that the little girl had recovered. Confident, Ning Weimin finally felt relieved.
But if you believe it or not, just say it.
"Hey, that's not a bad tone. Well, you're here today anyway, so I'll give you a chance to audition on stage. But I have something else to do, so please wait patiently for a while. Get ready, I'll come find you later."
Then he told the restaurant manager, "Get the little girl a glass of orange juice."
"Hey!" I was so happy that I walked a few steps before remembering to say thank you.
I stopped halfway and turned around.
"Thank you, thank you very much. What's your surname? Are you the real leader here?"
"My surname is Ning. If you say so, just think of it..."
Ning Weimin looks at Seeing her happy look, she felt even more happy.
Then I also remembered something, but I haven’t asked the other person’s name yet.
“Hey, girl, what’s your name?”
It turned out that it was okay not to ask. This question made Ning Weimin stupid.
Because the little girl said happily, "My name is Zhang Qiang."
Zhang... Zhang Qiang!
This name was like a drumstick, hitting Ning Weimin's heart hard and immediately reminded him of a legend in the mainland music scene.
In the mid-1980s, the "Disco Queen" and "Electronic Music Queen" became popular all over the country with their covers.
He debuted at the age of eighteen, and his first album sold a huge 2.5 million copies.
After that, it was out of control. In just two years, twenty albums were released, each with sales exceeding one million.
In the end, because the total album sales exceeded 20 million, she actually became the first mainland female singer to be reported by the American "Times" magazine.
She ranks third on the list of "The World's Most Popular Female Singers" together with Whitney Houston and other European and American singers.
The famous Teresa Teng, who became popular in mainland China earlier than her, ranked fourth.
But at the same time, because her dress was too avant-garde and exceeded the bottom line of contemporary aesthetics, Zhang Qiang was also rejected by mainstream culture and tacitly boycotted by all media.
Although from 1985 to 1987, her singing could be heard in large, medium and small cities across the country.
Even her masterpieces "Love You Is Hard to Say", "Little Girl Under the Streetlight", "Moonlight Disco", "A Fire in Winter", "Annoying Autumn Wind", "Walk Through" "Coffee House", "Cool, Cool"...each one became a hit and was widely sung.
But she never had the chance to appear on TV, there were no songs of hers on the radio, no news about her could be found in newspapers and magazines, and she never accepted any invitation to an official party.
She has become a very popular singer in China. She obviously exists, but she is ignored by all domestic media as if she does not exist.
It was not until 2000 that Zhang Qiang appeared on the TV screen for the first time at the invitation of the "Same Song" column team.
As a result, it was this performance that amazed Ning Weimin in his previous life with his unique and loud voice.
He really didn’t expect that there would be someone in China who could sing electronic music as well as a black female singer.
I fell in love with Zhang Qiang's performance of "Love You Is Hard to Say", which has been regarded as a classic ever since.
It was also this TV appearance that finally gave Zhang Qiang the belated recognition after fifteen years.
After this party was broadcast, all the media no longer treated Zhang Qiang coldly. Many TV stations approached Zhang Qiang to do programs and all praised her.
The "singing queen of the 1980s", the "early representative figure of domestic pop music", the "disco queen" and so on.
Zhang Qiang’s position in the history of domestic pop music has been redefined, and officials have finally recognized her contribution to the domestic pop music industry.
"Then what...just wait a minute."
The more Ning Weimin looked at it, the more he felt that his eyebrows were somewhat similar, and he thought it couldn't be such a coincidence.
I must have been so lucky that I met this person.
So he didn’t even bother to continue talking to Liu Xiaoqin, and chased after her while suppressing his excitement and excitement to ask her.
"Hey, can you sing "Love You Is Hard to Say"?"
Unexpectedly, Zhang Qiang's answer was extremely disappointing.
"Huh? What song? I...I haven't heard this song..."
"What? You haven't heard of it?"
Ning Weimin was stunned and thought to himself, if you are really the Zhang Qiang I want, how could you not have heard of it.
But then he thought again, this is normal.
It is not easy for overseas music to enter the mainland these days. Otherwise, there would be no conditions for Zhang Qiang to become popular through covers.
Maybe she heard this song only after that.
"It's okay, it doesn't matter if you don't know how to sing. I can sing, just follow me and learn a few lines."
Ning Weimin comforted him and made another request.
Zhang Qiang blinked his big eyes, a little shy and confused.
"Then...then...I'll give it a try..."
"Okay, listen, just a few words, just try to imitate and sing them."
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"Hey."
"Oh - oh - yeah, I love you so hard that I can't say it in my heart. I don't know what to say. Oh, I love you so much that I can't say it in my heart..."
Ning Weimin's singing was very rough, and it was basically not out of tune. There was really no sense of music, nor was it pleasant to the ear.
But with his psychological quality, he didn't blush at all and encouraged Zhang Qiang like his mentor.
"Do you understand? If you understand, sing it loudly with your voice. You can sing however you want. Don't be afraid that your singing will run away, and don't be afraid that your singing will break. I'll just listen. Your timbre..."
With such encouragement, Zhang Qiang no longer felt ashamed, took a deep breath, pondered for a while, and then started to speak out.
“Oh-oh-yeah, I love you so much that I can’t express it in my heart...”
Don’t just read this sentence, Ning Weimin’s adrenaline surged when he heard it. It's like a power outage.
He is 100% sure!
That’s right!
That's her!
I really found a treasure...
As a result, I was so excited that I couldn't control my excitement. Ning Weimin slapped him hard.
This guy "Paji" scared other people's children.
Well, the lyrics, which are obviously very simple, were sung wrong.
"I...I don't know, I don't know...what to sing, oh, I love you so hard that I can't express it..."
After Zhang Qiang finished singing, she thought she had messed up.
Well...she looked sad again.
(End of this chapter)