Chapter Fourteen: A Crash!

"He... actually sang! Mom loved humming his songs most, always said he was the most talented singer in the world. But whenever I found him, he refused to have anything to do with music. If I sang, he'd scowl and curse at me, bark at me..."
Wenrun’s gentle face was complex, her eyes holding a hint of admiration as she gazed at her father, tugging hard at Ren Qian’s sleeve.
Tonight’s events were simply too incredible, too unexpected for her to believe. Every time she found her father, he was always drunk, filthy, lying on the ground or slumped over the bar. Dead drunk, like a walking corpse.
But tonight, the sun seemed to have risen from the west. He had suddenly changed, picked up his guitar, and started playing.
"Today must be a special day for him. He’s sober, so maybe if we listen to what he sings, we can find a breakthrough to help him..."
Ren Qian wiped away the excited tears from his nurse sister's eyes, realizing how much she hoped her father would pull himself together.
She’d said her future father-in-law was a top-tier singer fifteen years ago. Famous, but after some unknown setback, he’d become a drunkard. Now, her father-in-law wore thin clothes, his figure tall and imposing. Even in his decline, his looks were striking—sharp brows, bright eyes, and his mastery of the guitar was superb. He was the perfect idol and skilled singer.
"Mm-hmm..."
Her father-in-law cleared his throat, preparing for the first line.
'It’s alright, really, it’s alright...'
Ren Qian froze. That prelude, those lyrics, carried a strange sense of familiarity! In this empire, there were few songs that could give a transmigrant like him such a déjà vu. But now, he couldn’t help but be suspicious.
Could it be a song the previous Ren Qian had heard?
If so, her father-in-law’s fame must have been considerable—at least a few songs that were widely sung.
Strum, strum, strum.
Her father-in-law plucked the acoustic guitar again, the awkward melody squeaking and winding through the air, evoking the messy aftermath of a closed-down bar.
'It’s alright, really, it’s alright
Maybe I should have gone home long ago...'
With this formal start, Ren Qian finally understood why he felt such a familiarity—this song existed in Shenzhou as well, and it was Eason Chan’s "Last...Order."
In other words, two artists from different worlds had created the same song!
Perhaps many people hadn’t heard "Last...Order," since it wasn’t as famous as Eason Chan’s "Under Mount Fuji" or "Tomorrow," but it carried a story much discussed among aficionados.
This story was extremely literary, the artistic flair almost worthy of a perfect score.
Let me tell it in detail.
First, the song had two different lyrical versions—Mandarin and Cantonese. For years, lyricists Huang Weiwen and Lin Xi had disliked translating Cantonese songs into Mandarin, feeling much of the flavor was lost. But this time, they began to break through those prejudices.
This song was born.
The Mandarin version was penned by the great lyricist Huang Weiwen, gently narrating the story of a down-and-out bar patron who suffers heartbreak twice in one night, pouring out his sadness in a bar where no one listens. The style was filled with dark humor and decadence...
The Cantonese version was written by Lin Xi (Leung Wai-man). It’s said that after reading Huang Weiwen’s lyrics, Lin Xi was inspired and decided to respond in song, eagerly crafting the Cantonese version.
It was reminiscent of the old days, when literary figures would answer each other’s poems, the two playing their game with quiet sophistication.
Thus, "New...Order" was born.
The Mandarin and Cantonese versions complemented each other, hailed as an unprecedented collaboration between the two great lyricists.
Who would have expected that her father-in-law created "Last...Order" all by himself? Truly astonishing!

'It’s alright, really, it’s alright
Maybe I should have gone home long ago
One more drink, I tell myself
This is it, bottoms up, no more
Could you please add some ice to my whisky
Sorry, make it a double'
The melody set the tone for the lyrics—especially the prelude, conjuring images of decadent, fading bars. The lyrics matched the tune perfectly, painting a vivid bar atmosphere.
The protagonist, half drunk and half sober, calls out for a refill, knowing he shouldn’t drink any more, yet unable to stop himself from ordering two more. This reveals his usual drunken state.
'Drinking here, finally brave enough to tell a story
That rainy night, in this bar
This song was playing
A man picked up a woman
Heartbreak again
He didn’t mind a fling
But when he took her home
A dozen square meters, empty walls
She left without a word
Just like, three hours ago
His fiancée came for the first time, with a look of disdain...'
The drunken protagonist wants to tell a story, cleverly knowing that directly admitting his own misfortune would win no sympathy, so he pretends to gossip about someone else’s pain, drawing in the listeners. This is classic flashback.
A man finds a lover in the bar, finally takes her home, and tragedy truly begins.
"Without a word," "turned and left"—the shared actions of the two women are perfectly captured in just two phrases.
'It’s alright, really, it’s alright
In a single night, heartbroken twice
That man didn’t even question
Whether he was just a failure?'
The protagonist doesn’t doubt, keeps drinking at the bar every day, never striving for more.
'No, don’t give me iced tea
The guests weren’t frightened off by me
Don’t look at me, that was just my friend’s story

That rainy night, in this bar
This song was playing
A man picked up a woman
Heartbreak again
He didn’t mind a fling
But when he took her home
A dozen square meters, empty walls
She left without a word
Just like my fiancée
Sorry, it seems I made it sound like it was me
But I’m alright~~'
The story within the song is simple. A writer could spin it into thousands of words, perhaps overdone and verbose, while an ordinary person’s plain retelling would lack flavor.
The former is like a musty, endless rag; the latter bland as chewing wax.
Yet the song, in just a couple hundred words, sketches out the pitiful figure abandoned by both fiancée and one-night stand due to poverty, letting everyone glimpse his shadow in those around them, or even within themselves.
Even the song title delivers another blow—"Last...Order," marking the bar’s closing time. From the bartender’s perspective, after a night’s work, rest is finally in sight, but a patron is still endlessly rambling, no doubt causing frustration.
Not even having someone to confide in—what could be more tragic?
More cleverly, the song allows the protagonist to narrate in the first person, while telling a third-person story. When he slips up and reveals the truth, he tries to cover it, but it’s too late—everyone already knows. What use is there? Luckily, the bar is nearly empty; otherwise, it would have been laughter and ridicule, like the mockery faced by Kong Yiji.
But aren’t we all like this sometimes?
We are always inclined to present our own tragedies as someone else’s story—hoping for sympathy, yet not wanting others to see through our weakness. In the end, we fool ourselves and muddle on.
……
"My father is amazing. No wonder mother adored him so."
Wenrun leaned against Ren Qian, tears soaking half his shoulder. She remembered what her mother had whispered to her before dying: "I wish I could hear your father sing just one more song... If possible, record one and play it at my grave."
"Father-in-law was probably not just a top-tier singer. If he hadn’t been so downcast, he would have been crowned a superstar by now!"
Ren Qian quietly watched as his father-in-law strummed the last chords, finishing the final emotion, then exhaled deeply. Clearly, the story behind him was full of twists and turns.
But... if the Cantonese version were sung to him, might it cure his unknown heartache? After all, that song was originally Lin Xi’s call for bar patrons to embrace a positive attitude; the lyrics brimmed with hope. For a soulful musician, perhaps that song would strike a special chord.
ps: Please be sure to listen to Eason Chan’s "Last...Order" and "New...Order" several times before reading the next few chapters, or else you won’t fully understand.