1.

The night in Houhai, Shenzhen is beautiful.

In the high-rise mansions on one side of Dengliang Road, the lights are on; in the Talent Park on the other side, there are more and more tourists. Some people were jogging around the lake, some were walking their babies in strollers, and some were holding beautiful women's arms with peach blossoms on their faces.

Under a tree outside the park fence, an LED light strip formed an outline of a heart. The light was like a circle of candles, warming the dim ground. A beam of light passed through the gaps in the leaves and through the night mist, slanting on the back of a young man. He stood in the middle of the heart-shaped area, an acoustic guitar slung across his body, and sang to the audience in the park. It was an old song from many years ago. The lyrics told about the complicated feelings of a wanderer in a foreign land intertwined with love and hatred for a city.

The singer is named Yang Guo, a Hainanese, in his early thirties, not tall, thin and dark, but with bright eyes.

Every night at around 7 o'clock, Yang Guo, who had finished working in the restaurant during the day, returned to his dormitory and moved the speakers, lights, markers and other equipment from upstairs to downstairs alone, and placed them in front of and behind his motorcycle. Then put on your guitar and ride from Houhai New Village to Talent Park. This operation takes at least half an hour. When we get to the park, it takes another half an hour to unload these things one by one, place them one by one, turn on the power, turn on the lights and start singing. He sang until the park closed at 11pm, then put away his equipment and rode back to help him go upstairs... The cycle repeats itself. From last summer to now, Yang Guo has performed hundreds of performances in Talent Park.

Yang Guo grew up in Baoxian Farm, Ledong County, Sanya. The farm has a mountain-sized wasteland where their family’s coconut grove is planted. A coconut only sells for 50 cents. After working hard to collect two cartloads of coconuts, the price is less than 1,000 yuan. In order to earn money to marry a wife, he left Hainan and came to Shenzhen more than 10 years ago. He first worked in an electronics factory and later changed his career to catering.

By chance in 2012, Yang Guo was attracted by a street singer’s guitar playing and became obsessed with music. He cut vegetables in the kitchen during the day, and played the piano on the rooftop of the dormitory building after get off work. He practiced hard for several years, and finally made his official debut in 2018 under the overpass at the east gate of Luohu.

"When I performed for the first time, I could only sing one song, "Did Someone Tell You", and I shamelessly played this song many times."

" Once, I sang a Cantonese song "Silence is Golden", which moved a Hong Kong man passing by. After listening to it, he actually put a thousand Hong Kong dollars in my piano bag." Speaking of that experience, he said: Face of pride.

Although there is a lot of joy in the singing career, there is also a lot of helplessness.

Roadside performances are often evicted by urban management, sometimes four or five times a day, so Yang Guo has to keep looking for new venues. From Luohu East Gate Overpass to Meilin Excellence Square, Yang Guo walked all the way, persevering and finally arrived at Nanshan Talent Park.

"I have been singing on the street for more than two years, and I have been chased away by the urban management brother almost 300 times. Like a rubber ball, it bounces up immediately after being hit on the ground. I am used to it now."

2.

Yang Guo and I met last summer through teacher Zhang Zhiyi. In the article "The Unknown Man" I mentioned that encounter.

At that time, due to the impact of the epidemic, Teacher Zhang had just closed his music studio and disposed of some music equipment. One day I accompanied him to deliver equipment, and I met Yang Guo for the first time in a tea restaurant on the first floor of Junshang Department Store. At that time, Yang Guo had just finished cooking a portion of barbecued pork for the guests. He came out of the kitchen and asked us to sit down first. Then he turned back and made two cups of frozen milk tea for us.

He was wearing a white T-shirt with "HS Band" printed on it. He was sitting across from us. I pointed to his T-shirt and asked:

"This is yours." The band? "The milk tea is delicious, but I'm more interested in the band.

"That was all in the past."

He was silent for a moment, then sighed,

"Now that we have disbanded, we can't make any money playing music. No money, the guitarist has gone back to his hometown to marry a wife and have children."

Although Yang Guo's band broke up, his passion for music has not diminished at all. He told us enthusiastically that a few days ago he discovered a "feng shui treasure" for a performance in the Talent Park, and he wanted to "do something special" next. He talked a lot about the concept of the performance, how to arrange the sound, lighting, etc... Before leaving, he invited Zhang Zhiyi to work with him.

Not long after, he actually started the show at Talent Park.

The "Feng Shui Treasure Land" is located on a sidewalk in the northwest corner of Talent Park. One side is separated from the park by a guardrail, and the other side is separated from Shenzhen Bay Vientiane City by a road. There are constant flows of people on both sides. It is indeed a very suitable area. The venue for the performance.

The crowd was huge and the audience gathered. Yang Guo and Zhang Zhiyi took turns carrying guitars on their backs. Zhang Zhiyi sang Li Jian's "The Wind Blows the Wheat Waves" and "Lake Baikal", which were as tender as water and had a long aftertaste; Yang Guo sang Xu Wei's "Blue Lotus" and "Perfect Life", which were high-pitched and soul-stirring. Between performances, bold audience members often volunteer to cross the guardrails of the park to show off their singing voices; parents often lift their children over the guardrails to encourage children to perform in public. A guardrail seems to separate two worlds invisibly: one side is the reality of life in the material world, and the other side is the poetry and distance of the spiritual world.

"Music is about having fun together." Yang Guo was also very happy when he saw the audience singing happily. He looked up at the moon in the sky and forgot about the sixpence on the ground.

One night, shortly after the opening, it started to drizzle, so we hurriedly closed the stall. It was still early, so Yang Guo, Zhang Zhiyi, myself, and a young man named Handsome decided to go drinking near Yang Guo's residence.

Yang Guo was pushing the motorcycle in front. I carried my guitar and sang "The Shepherd of Cocotuo Sea" with them sentence by sentence. Recently, many audiences sang this song, although it didn't quite fit. Our music taste, but sometimes having fun with the people is also an indispensable state of life.

The drizzle was falling, and a group of idealistic young people were singing and walking, passing by the intersection next to the "Shenzhen Bay No. 1" mansion. It is said that the house price there has risen to more than 200,000 yuan per square meter. But at this moment, in the corner of their eyes, there was just a psychedelic light and shadow. We continued to sing the shepherd's love story, and soon left the mansion behind. Tonight, my friends and I just wanted to drink and have fun, and did not want to care about humans or buildings.

Beer and barbecue, all we talk about is music.

Yang Guo has been praising Zhang Zhiyi's "Jiangnan". This song is a ballad that Zhang Zhiyi wrote when he was singing in a Xitang bar. The misty rain in Jiangnan in September was like a gentle girl, which inspired him to create.

Zhang Zhiyi turned around and said to Yang Guo, "Didn't you also write a song called "Country City Love"? Let's sing it for everyone to listen to." He handed the guitar to Yang Guo as he spoke.

Yang Guo took over the guitar and started singing at the barbecue stall,

Beer, night, country, girls, folk singers always use some of the most beautiful words to express their love for a better life. longing, although the truth of life is often a piece of cake. But this is not all hypocrisy. The problem may be that they are easily swollen by their ideals.

After the wine was drunk, the singing was finished, the rain outside stopped, and it was time to end the show. We each got into the dark night and disappeared, just like the wine we drank, the bragging and the songs we sang that night disappeared like a dream after we woke up. When the sun rises tomorrow, the first thing we will think about is how to fill our bellies, send our children to school, and then go to work, have meetings, and meet clients. These specific and mundane things make up the general outline of life, day after day, Bland.

I still vaguely remember what Yang Guo said at the end of that night, "Tomorrow I will get up early and go to the restaurant to make more spicy hotpot. I will be busy on weekends and earn more money... ”

3

A few months have passed in the blink of an eye, and Yang Guo’s performance has become an inseparable scenery in the talent park. Although the weather is getting colder, there are still many people coming to listen to the music.

On the night of New Year’s Eve, several new friends from afar came to play in a band. The leader was a Hong Kong brother who started playing piano and music when he was eight years old. Behind him were two top students who had returned from studying in Japan. One was good at playing the tambourine, and the other was good at playing and singing. That performance could be described as a "fight between gods". They collaborated on the song "No More Hesitation", which shocked the audience.

However, as the Spring Festival approaches, the management around the Talent Park has become increasingly strict.

One night about two weeks before the Spring Festival, Zhang Zhiyi and I were listening to Yang Guo sing his favorite song on the lawn

"Has anyone ever told you,

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I love you very much (Shenzhen)..."

I found that every time Yang Guo sang the words "love you", he would sing softly after it The word "Shenzhen" comes out. I think he really fell in love with this city, its openness and tolerance, and its vitality and passion. “When you come here, you are a Shenzhen native.” This slogan lures enthusiastic young people from all over the world to come here to work hard and start a business. Although many years later, only a lucky few of them can buy a house and start a family here and become true Shenzhen natives. The others eventually become Passengers in this city. (Please forgive me for accidentally spilling a bowl of chicken soup) But isn’t that what youth is like? You can only be young once, who doesn't want to give it a try while still having dreams? Even if the ending is just a passing incident, I will still be young and have no regrets.

The song entered the chorus, and Yang Guo danced his right hand, bringing the rhythm to a climax. At this moment, a city patrol car from the Guangdong Street Office slowly passed behind him. Soon, two men in uniforms got out of the car and approached Yang Guo. They waved their hands and said softly,

"Stop singing!"

The sound of the piano stopped suddenly, like a car running on the highway that suddenly came to a sudden stop. Yang Guo had been dealing with urban management officials for many years and knew that arguing with them was futile. He calmly took off his guitar and apologized to the audience. He even considered the problem from the perspective of urban management: they were just performing tasks, and they were just begging for food at the grassroots level. None of it is easy.

But the audience couldn’t stand it anymore.

"Why don't you let people sing here?" a tough elder sister shouted.

"That's right, we all like to hear him singing here. How does it affect the appearance of the city?" Another audience member also protested.

"They bully the weak and avoid the strong. If they dare not take care of the square dancing aunties, they will bully reasonable and civilized people," the elder sister continued angrily.

The man in uniform turned around and faced the crowd that was about to boil, without saying a word.

After a short stalemate, the audience finally dispersed helplessly. Although the urban management's law enforcement is unreasonable, it is still civilized. They just feel a little regretful. Since they named the park "Talent Park", why do they drive away these young people who come here to display their talents?

Yang Guo turned off the lights, turned off the stereo, and removed the markers. The man in uniform left, and before leaving, he shook his head regretfully,

"What can you do so badly at a young age that you have to beg?"

4

After being driven away by the urban management, Yang Guo was not seen singing in Talent Park for several days. When everyone was worried about him, Yang Guo sent a message to the WeChat group:

"I am going back to Hainan Farm to farm. Tomorrow is my last performance at the Talent Park"

The last performance was on February 2nd, which happened to be a night before the beginning of spring. The branches on both sides of Dengliang Road were already covered with red lanterns, giving people a strong New Year atmosphere.

Yang Guo looked a little tired and left the performance to his fans and friends after singing only a few songs. A handsome guy from Beijing and the Hong Kong guy who showed up on New Year's Eve walked up and sang a duet of "Silence is Golden". It was a little windy that night, so the first two lines of the lyrics just matched the scene.

After performing the first verse of the song, accompanied by the warm interlude melody, the handsome guy from Beijing said emotionally,

"...Yang Guo, I am very I admire your perseverance. Everyone who loves music does not necessarily have to become a star, but we must have dreams and keep singing. In this case, we will be the happiest version of ourselves. This is more important than anything else..."

This handsome guy from Beijing loves music as much as Yang Guo. So far, he has sung more than 1,000 songs on National K-Song.

5

Of course it was just a joke to go home and farm. After the fifth day of the first lunar month, Yang Guo returned to Shenzhen.

However, after the New Year, he seemed to have been busy with other things and did not bother to sing at the Talent Park. He was running around all day long, buying ingredients, ordering kitchen utensils, registering trademarks, and applying for business licenses. He seemed to be planning to do something big.

Sure enough, two days ago, he said that he and his friends had launched an online catering project, mainly selling Hong Kong-style barbecued pork, and gave it a domineering name, "Yang's Divine Condor Barbecued Pork".

It turned out that the Hong Kong eldest brother who appeared on New Year's Eve was very close to Yang Guo. He also had a surname of Yang and had worked in hotel and catering management in Hong Kong for more than ten years. The two met late, and after chatting about music and food, they drank all night and had a great time. As soon as the day broke, Hong Kong Brother decided to invest in the "Yang's Divine Sculpture Rubbed Pork" project. Yang Guo was responsible for the kitchen production, and Hong Kong Brother was responsible for the market operation. It is said that since they first opened, they have sold hundreds of copies of their barbecued pork.

As a fan of Yang Guo, I would like to support "Yang's Divine Condor Barbecued Pork", not only because of my own feelings, but also because of my personal respect for Yang Guo. This era of prosperity and prosperity is turbulent, and the boats of countless idealists have been mercilessly shattered by it, but there are still some people who cling to a piece of driftwood and continue to swim forward. I am ashamed that I lack the courage to risk my life for my ideals, but I am willing to wave the flag and cheer for the warriors from the shore and sincerely wish them success in reaching the other side of their ideals.