National Tide 1980

, Guochao 1980

Just this sound, not to mention Liu Xiaoqin was startled.

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.

Then the quality of the waiters here must be high.

Most of them went to the main store in Paris, France for training, and they had 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 out of town.

The only thing they have in common is basically consumption of 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 tourists, and 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 spent her own money, not to mention her fifty yuan salary, she would never be able to do it, even the hard-earned money she earned by visiting acupuncture points would not be parted.

Therefore, Maxim's Restaurant is a rare and quiet place for actors and singers to 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 blocking the toilet door.

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 white bat shirt and skinny narrow-leg pants.

Considering today is Thursday, it’s school time again.

Naturally, we know that this girl is definitely not a good student. How else could she be skipping school?

Ning Weimin was fine. Although he thought this little girl was quite impudent, she had a decent demeanor and didn'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 her, how could she have the interest to deal with it?

He frowned subconsciously and waved his hand to the little girl indifferently.

"We are talking about important things..."

This was great, Liu Xiaoqin's great disgust immediately made the little girl, who was full of expectations and smiled widely, become introverted.

The 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 one side, he was scolding the little girl like a fist and kick.

"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 the one hand, they were sincere and frightened, nodding and apologizing to Liu Xiaoqin and Ning Weimin.

"I'm sorry, Miss Liu, I'm sorry, Mr. Ning, it was my dereliction of duty."

Then he became more and more violent and began to chase the little girl.

"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 from 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 it must always be polite to others.

This is not simply to regard customers as God, but the duty of the service industry.

It represents a kind of cultivation, grace, 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, asking for an autograph is not at the right time, and she has to ask for it from the restaurant.

But the restaurant manager shouldn't treat a half-year-old child so roughly. It's considered bullying.

If this little girl left with grievances and sadness, it would obviously be detrimental to the reputation and public image of Maxim's Restaurant, and he couldn't 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 was too young and should study hard. But she kept pestering me and insisted on giving it a try. Didn't you just keep talking with Mr. Song? I'm afraid of disturbing you, so I can only let her sit down and wait for a while. I didn't expect that she would be so disobedient and get into trouble. I don't think I'll give it a try, I'll just let her go."

In fact, the manager can't be entirely blamed, because people these days are so open and honest about what they order.

State-owned units only value relationships and are very aggressive towards customers who spend money. They don't even do anything superficial to obviously vulnerable groups.

In this social environment, it is reasonable for shop owners to bully customers, and even disadvantaged groups will have this consciousness.

For example, this little girl 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 his 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, it doesn't matter what he says, it's what I say."

The little girl immediately opened her eyes wide.

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 the issue that he focuses on. Child labor cannot be employed.

"I'm eighteen and I'm about to graduate from high school."

Fortunately, I didn't step into a minefield.

Ning Weimin asked again.

"Then why don't you go on to go to college?"

"Well, I'm not good at studying and I can't pass the exam."

"You just want to sing? Does your family agree?"

"Well, I just want to sing. My mother supports me. I have two tape recorders, both of which my mother bought for me."

"Do you really want to sing here? We are very demanding here. We have to sing real pop songs here. We also have to be able to sing in English. Just a few days ago, did you know that Wham Band performed in Beijing? That's what we need. of……"

"I know, I even went to see it. It cost me twenty-five yuan, and I bought the tickets at the door. I like their song "Careless Whispers" the most..."

"Hey, you're quite willing to buy it. Are you willing to buy a five-dollar ticket when it's so high?"

"Then... there's nothing I can do. Who can like them? I can't buy them in line. In fact, I've long wanted to see them with my own eyes. In the past, whenever I heard their songs on the shortwave radio, I would record them. But it's expensive. It’s worth it, the sound, lighting, live drums, and electric bass are all ineffective!”

Ning Weimin chatted like a neighbor's sister.

This sense of intimacy gradually restored the little girl's mood and she spoke more and more.

"So what do you think of your level? Can you sing such a song?"

"Yes, don't underestimate me. I have actually been on stage. I participated in the HD District singer competition last year and also performed at SMX. I sing all English songs, but because of this, young people like it. The older ones don’t like it. Then...then they won’t let me sing. They said that my songs can only be placed in music cafes in Guangdong. That’s why I came here. If you don’t let me sing, I will really I took the train to Flower City... Hey, you must have watched the Wham Band's performance, right? There was also a special guest that day who sang with a guitar, called Cheng... Cheng Fangyuan. I'm not going to lie to you, I can sing. Better than her..."

Seeing that the little girl had regained her confidence, Ning Weimin finally felt relieved.

But if you believe it or not, just say it.

"Oh, that's not a bad tone. Well, since you're here today anyway, I'll give you a chance to audition on stage. But I have something else to do. Please wait patiently for a while and get ready. I'll be there later I will come find you."

Then he ordered the restaurant manager, "You, get the little girl a glass of orange juice to drink."

"Hey!" The girl was happy now and walked a few steps before remembering to say thank you.

He 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 it is, then let it be..."

Ning Weimin felt even more happy when he saw her happy look.

Then I remembered something, and 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 sales volume of 2.5 million.

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 Time Magazine in the United States.

Together with Whitney Houston and other European and American singers, she ranked third on the list of "The World's Most Popular Female Singers".

And the famous Teresa Teng, who was 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 "It's Hard to Say I Love You", "Little Girl Under the Street Lamp", "Moonlight Disco", "A Fire in Winter", "Annoying Autumn Wind", "Walking Through the Coffee House", "Cool" Ah Liang"...each song is a hit and is widely sung.

But she never had the chance to appear on TV, there were no songs of hers on the radio, newspapers and magazines couldn't find any news about her, 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 bold 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.

What about "the singing queen of the 1980s", "the early representative figure of domestic pop music", "the queen of disco" and so on.

Zhang Qiang's status in the history of domestic pop music has been redefined, and officials have finally recognized her contribution to the domestic pop music industry.

Yawenba

"Then what...just wait."

The more Ning Weimin looked at them, the more he felt that their facial features were somewhat similar, and thought that it couldn't really 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 "I love you so much"?

Unexpectedly, Zhang Qiang's answer was extremely disappointing.

"Ah? 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 me?"

But then he thought again, this was 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.

Perhaps she heard the song only after this.

"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, it's just a few words. Just try to imitate and sing them."

"Why."

"Oh, yeah, I love you so hard that I can't say it. I don't know what to say. Oh, I love you so much that I can't say it..."

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 ears.

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. Sing however you want. Don't be afraid of singing, and don't be afraid of singing. I will listen to 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, yeah, I love you so much that I can't express it..."

Don't look at just this sentence, Ning Weimin's adrenaline surged immediately after hearing it, as if he was having an electric shock.

He was 100% sure!

That's right!

That's her!

I really found a treasure...

As a result, Ning Weimin was so happy that he couldn't control his excitement, so he slapped her hard.

"Paji" guy 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 much that it's hard to say..."

After Zhang Qiang finished singing, she thought she had screwed up.

Well...she looked sad again.