Midnight, 2 a.m.
【Image】
【Lu Qing: Any discounts on this one?】
5 seconds later.
【Ryo: Wow, Qing-sama?! You're alive?!?】
“……”
【Ryo: Ahem, sorry, got a bit excited. We usually offer a maximum of 10% off for retail, but for you, we can go as low as 17% off.】
【Ryo: All handmade, very expensive, same price as in Japan.】
【Lu Qing: (ok hand emoji *2) Could you reserve one for me? Can I transfer the money?】
【Ryo:?! Now??】
Silence.
【Ryo: Sama, don't you want to think about it? This is the TS 2024 masterpiece, "Midnight Appreciation"… Original price of over 32,400…】
【Lu Qing: Mm, TS's high-end quality doesn't need my concern. My sister wants to learn guitar, so I want to give her a sacred instrument that she can treasure for a lifetime. Every time she picks it up, she'll smile from the heart.】
【Ryo: …】
【Lu Qing: Any issues?】
【Ryo: You really are the same as before.】
【You have transferred 26,892 yuan to the recipient's account】
【Ryo: ...Alright, boss... I'll arrange it right away. Master tuning, factory full inspection, Reverse Wind Express, express.】
【Lu Qing: 1】
…
Resting his hands behind his head, staring at the pitch-black ceiling.
Recalling the series of events that happened tonight, Lu Qing still couldn't fall asleep.
Why did Su Ling want to learn electric guitar?
Why is Lubia playing a female character?
Why did I suddenly buy Su Ling a "Noble Bird"?
And why did it feel like I was under a spell?
What am I doing?
Who am I?
Where am I?
Am I awake?
A string of questions flooded Lu Qing's mind,
a bit chaotic, but it doesn't matter.
Since it's already decided to let Su Ling start her musical journey,
these small details don't need to be worried about.
Lu Qing knew that generally, electric guitar enthusiasts only need to buy a decent guitar to start with,
— which means an electric guitar around 10,000 yuan.
In his eyes, guitars under 500 yuan cannot be called instruments; these things are officially known as "firewood sticks," and they cannot even be considered toys. The string height is like "drawing a bow to shoot a big eagle," and after using them for a while, your fingers will deform, making them the ultimate self-torture tool;
A guitar around 2,000 yuan is barely usable, but the feel is still problematic, and the craftsmanship is even worse; you're just listening to some noise;
A guitar above 5,000 yuan starts to get better, with no major issues, a decent feel, but the wood selection and materials are still questionable, making it easy to get scammed, but it's still a good target for scalpers;
An electric guitar around 10,000 yuan is truly usable — the wood issues are solved, and it moves on to the most critical "tone" issue.
Which is the quality of the pickups and the body resonance. (Decent pickups don't come cheap; you can't get them for a few hundred, they're all plastic distortion)
Actually, he understood,
The best choice for Su Ling would be a Japanese or American-made Fender, as Fender guitars are soft, like a delicate and pure young girl, sweet and tempting, not hurting the fingers.
But Lu Qing wanted to give her the best right away.
Straight to the "Noble Bird."
TS Guitars, known as "Noble Bird" among professional musicians and masters.
—【Only the nobility can afford the "Flying Bird."】
This guitar brand is incredibly expensive, all handmade with limited editions, just like the Schecter NV3 he owns, once it's gone, it's gone, no more ways to get it.
In other words,【I'm buying the sound of that era.】
The reason he chose the "Noble Bird's" "Midnight Appreciation" is that this sacred instrument has a gradient gray body, black and gray veneer like a black cat in the night,
mysterious, deep, with an incredible texture,
just looking at it gives a sense of "chaotic beauty."
Perfectly matching Su Ling's temperament.
It's worth mentioning,
When Ryo first posted the announcement of the new product on her PYQ, he fell in love with this guitar at first sight.
It's just that back then, he didn't have enough spare money, and it had been a while since he gave up music,
so no matter how beautiful and enchanting the "Midnight Appreciation" was, he still couldn't bring himself to buy it.
But now.
Now it's different.
It's for Su Ling.
Not for me.
Not because I like it, that's why I had to buy it.
Not because I think the "Midnight Appreciation" is so beautiful that just playing a "do" on it would make my ears pregnant and give me a high.
Besides.
With such a guitar in hand, who would say practicing is boring?
Who wouldn't love practicing?
Hmm?
Hmm.
It's for Su Ling.
For her to use, it's reasonable to use the best.
Lu Qing thought so.
"Speaking of which, Ryo's WeChat profile also says 'male'…"
Suddenly, his wandering thoughts connected Ryo and Lubia's situations.
He immediately sent a message asking:
"Ryo, why did you register as a male account?"
She replied instantly:
【Because I need to contact many clients and need to maintain a certain distance. Otherwise, if they find out I'm too beautiful and want to hit on me, how would they take me seriously to buy a guitar?】
Lu Qing: "……"
True enough.
His acquaintance with Ryo was quite magical.
Back then, he posted over 500 different performance videos and personal works on platforms like Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, Soul Social, and Ears Secret, trying to use these platforms' features to test himself—
(Like Soul Social's high-quality audio recording, suitable for recording audio clips; Xiaohongshu is full of experts, occasionally receiving valuable comments and suggestions from the masters;)
Bilibili has many fans, even niche works of his would be listened to, healing them;
Ears Secret allows you to compete in arenas, testing whether your singing skills have improved, and back then, he used ACG covers to break into the TOP 30, earning official achievement badges and music master certification, the process was quite satisfying.
But Ryo was different.
Ryo herself is a young, salty, talented, and super cute socialite.
She is the general supervisor of Mega Instruments, with avant-garde music taste, and has a characteristic—
She is an absolute "Live Commando."
What is a Live Commando?
Someone who is heavily obsessed with live performances, like a commando rushing to various concerts, performances, band shows, underground bar performances, etc., even making super long strategies, fully utilizing weekends or holidays, watching ten or eight shows in one go.
Yes, Ryo is obsessed with live performances to the point of "not caring about money."
Today Rin Shiina, tomorrow wowaka (live band), the day after tomorrow Sennzai, the day after Roselia—
Although her shop is in Guangzhou, she seems to be a hardcore member of Dongfang Airlines, flying around to watch her idols' performances.
"Probably like Miss Muxia."
Lu Qing thought so.
Ryo approached him because she needed to sell guitars, and they were all top-tier handmade guitars. Thus, the audience was extremely limited.
Ryo's strategy was extremely clear—
She didn't target amateurs.
Amateurs didn't deserve the "Noble Bird" and couldn't fully utilize its capabilities.
— For TS agents, selling guitars to nouveau riche was a loss.
They would rather gift the guitars to masters who fit their style for endorsement than sell them to clueless customers who might insult the brand.
Therefore,
Ryo would act like an old hunter, searching for reliable hidden buyers on platforms like Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, WYY, and Douyin.
And someone who had posted hundreds of performance videos and professional videos, like himself, naturally became one of her target customers.
Ryo's first private message to him was quite explosive—
"Hello, do you need a divine instrument?"
"……"
Those simple words, in Lu Qing's eyes,
were deafening.
For him, unimportant private messages could be ignored, and creepy harassments could be ignored, but only such things, topics that hit the nail on the head,
even if he was in the shower,
he would risk his phone getting wet,
grab it and read it carefully.
— "Divine Instrument."
What he lacked the most back then.
No money meant missing out on the Greven handmade custom wooden guitar that was a favorite of Uncle Oshio.
Time kills.
In the future, the quality of wood used in guitars will only get worse, so if you want a legendary instrument, you have to get it early.
Take the Adirondack AAA grade Sitka spruce from years ago, for example. It's all gone now due to over-logging, leaving only second-hand rarities.
Of course, if you want to buy second-hand, the prices are already in the tens of thousands.
Sob.
So, Ryo's existence undoubtedly opened up a new path for Lu Qing at the time.
Lu Qing was well aware that TS was a rising guitar brand, known for its pure handmade craftsmanship and top-notch materials that outclassed competitors at the same price point. Various masters were eager to endorse this guitar. (Not a shill, but I hope the TS operations team is smart enough to send me one, cough, no big deal.)
However, what was most fatal was TS's emphasis on the appearance of the guitar. In other words, for a person who values appearance like Lu Qing, TS could perfectly cater to his preferences.
Maple sugar veneer, tigerstripe mahogany, gradient starry night, original cherry blossom fall, sea level ripple scatter...
All kinds of visual attacks, combined with top-notch feel and reviews, made Lu Qing engrave this brand in his heart with a little notebook.
Except for being expensive, there's no flaw.
Now, with his sister wanting to learn the guitar, what's wrong with directly getting her a sacred instrument?
As an older brother, he thought he was doing pretty well.
Just as he was basking in self-satisfaction, he saw Ryo send a new question:
【Speaking of which, Qing-san, you haven't posted videos or recorded songs in years, and you changed your ID to a worrying name. I thought you had given up on music...】
She said.
【Lu Qing: Haha, how could that be...】
He chuckled awkwardly.
【Ryo: Really? I was afraid of losing such an important customer like you. After all, you're not the type to be satisfied with just one legendary instrument; you're the "I want it all" type...】
【Lu Qing: Yeah, I used to be.】
【Ryo: So now? Buying a guitar for your sister but not getting one for yourself?】
?
【Lu Qing: Ryo, I have reason to suspect you're using sales tactics on me right now, trying to squeeze another three grand out of my pocket.】
【Ryo: Really? Qing-san, you've already set your eyes on a 30,000 yuan model, haven't you? Come on, tell me the model, and I'll give you a discount.】
"……"
Facing such a master of sales tactics, Lu Qing felt that continuing the conversation was very dangerous.
Is this what it means to be a social person?
Terrifying.
Glancing at the time, it was almost 3 AM.
Lu Qing decided to change the subject and end the chat: 【It's so late; why are you still replying instantly? Aren't you sleeping?】
【Ryo: Tsk. Qing-san, you've really detached yourself from the environment.】
【Lu Qing: ?】
【Ryo: Don't you remember? It was around this time when I first contacted you, and we chatted back and forth.】
"……"
【Ryo: Big shots in the music circle don't sleep before 3 AM. We're all night owls who like to practice late at night, get impulsive shopping urges, and place orders for guitars... Uh, Qing-san, are you still rational?】
"……"
Lu Qing pondered for a few seconds.
Confidently stated:
【Yes, I am very rational.】
【Ryo: Really?】
【Lu Qing: No refunds.】
【Ryo: 1】
…
The issue of buying a guitar for his sister was resolved.
Next, there was another urgent matter to investigate, which was the gender issue related to Lubia.
Too many mysteries tonight. Lu Qing felt that without figuring it out, he wouldn't be able to sleep.
"If what Ryo said is true, filling in the information as male was for the sake of【easier communication with customers】, then everything makes sense."
Indeed, Ryo was very beautiful. Lu Qing discovered her true gender when she got too excited at a live performance and accidentally forgot to set the group in her Moments, directly exposing it...
This led to a "male sales" account posting a crazy, fangirl-like, idol-praising rant,
accompanied by 9 pictures,
all of her ultra-beautiful selfies.
And then, 5 minutes later, she deleted it.
"Brilliant."
Based on this,
Lu Qing could understand.
What the hell was Lubia up to.
"38?"
"Unemployed male?"
"Pretending, huh?"
"How dare you deceive your boss!"
"You did well, you did well indeed."
Lu Qing, with panda eyes and dark circles spreading, muttered to himself as he flipped through his old chat records with Lubia.
If he hadn't suspected Lubia before, it was due to "one-sided trust in the imperial artist."
then now, with questions in mind, the suspicious points were obvious.
——Lubia always sent little bear emojis.
——Lubia often unintentionally revealed a cute tone.
——Lubia called him "boss" and often asked for compliments.
——Lubia liked to draw lewd pictures but never sent anything explicit.
——Lubia would often harass him but recently became silent for some reason.
Hmmm.
Lu Qing sat up.
Like a zombie rising from the dead.
"Come to think of it, the last time he shared a cloud drive with me..."
"It seemed to be delivered via Tang Hua's Twitter account..."
Lu Qing frowned.
"Why did Tang Hua's account automatically send me a private message the moment I placed an order?"
"It looked like it was set up to automatically deliver once payment was received."
Lu Qing's brows furrowed deeply.
"And upon closer inspection, isn't Lubia's avatar the real-life version of that ultra-sexy anime girl that Tang Hua cosplayed as?"
For an artist, that was equivalent to her "daughter."
Tang Hua's "daughter."
"You're using someone else's 'daughter' as your avatar. This is inappropriate, even perverted, and even has elements of infringement."
"If Tang Hua herself found out, she would definitely send you a lawyer's letter and make you pay a hefty fine."
Thinking of this, Lu Qing stood up.
Standing in front of the sofa, deep in thought.
"So the question is, you're using someone else's avatar and creating this outrageous persona."
"You've secretly practiced, your drawing skills have skyrocketed from 'four strokes' to 'twelve strokes'."
"You've remained silent, repeatedly hinting for me to start a new project."
…
"Is it to show me your latest abilities?"
"Lubia, you've become a powerhouse in the anime/manga world, haven't you?"
"You're no longer the same as before."
"And if I'm not mistaken, the size of this persona is completely based on the image of 'Tang Hua', right?"
"Even if it's changed into a succubus, the body proportions are exactly 'Tang Hua' herself, aren't they?"
Hmmm?
"。"
Lu Qing began to pace.
Pacing in front of the sofa.
At 4 AM, walking back and forth in the pitch-dark room, like a ghost.
A ghost without a shadow.
Step one,
Step two,
Step three—
Until the two thousand five hundredth step.
"Alright, Lubia."
Stop pretending.
He stopped.
With a weak sigh, he chuckled:
"You, you are Tang Hua."
"I'm going to punish you."
……
……