July 3, 2090, 8:00 AM.
Lu Xuefeng sat in his workshop, writing today's work instructions. These were 'feasibility suggestions' for agricultural robots to execute commands. After finishing these, he would begin monitoring farmland data. Drones and monitoring equipment would transmit data on the growth environment and status of crops in fields and greenhouses. Intelligent AI would evaluate this, and notify Lu Xuefeng if human intervention was needed.
Therefore, being a farmer is actually quite easy now.
The phone in his pocket vibrated. This device rarely rang more than a few times a year, except for GG pushes. Lu Xuefeng actually cherished those GGs, because at least they still remembered an outsider like him, a level one social credit holder.
When his phone vibrated, he quickly pulled it out.
Unexpectedly, it was an email from his great-grandson.
8:42 AM: "Simon: Great-Grandfather, our band is performing tomorrow. Why don't you come and watch? If you're busy, you can watch the live stream, hehe. (Attachment: Website Link)"
Lu Xuefeng stared coldly at the phone screen. After a long moment, he carefully checked the sender's email and confirmed it was Simon.
He put away his phone, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.
...
The Jiangzhe City Luoshan District Midsummer Carnival International Music Festival was held as scheduled.
As a public entertainment event organized by a non-official group, the music festival allowed any band to participate, whether they were amateur groups or professional bands, and the prizes were quite generous. Simon was quite keen on the runner-up prize: five brand-new HOME household robots. With these, he could upgrade his younger brother.
The performance dates were from July 4th to July 5th, with only one preliminary round scheduled for July 3rd. The preliminary round involved bands filming their rehearsal scenes and sending them to the organizers. The rule was to send videos of one to three songs, and professional judges invited by the organizers would decide if the band qualified to participate in the music festival.
On the 4th, there would be the first concentrated performance, an all-day event, from which six bands would be selected to advance. On the evening of the 5th, the final performances would begin.
The venue was at Luoshan Center and Heping Trade Plaza, a very large area. Correspondingly, the commercial district had a decent flow of people. Moreover, the music festival's gimmick was at least very eye-catching, and the famous bands specially invited by the organizers could gather many bored young people at home to watch. So, there were indeed many people on site.
Breaking through the obstacles of exams, the Su Huai Feixing Band from Ninghu Middle School had temporarily escaped school. On such a beautiful summer day, the scorching flames baked the earth, making people's skin sweat. They brought their instruments and followed their instructor's footsteps, boarding the organizer's sky bus to the venue.
This was Simon's first time riding a hovercar, an experience that was both novel and familiar. It felt similar to an airplane, but it was silent and stable, traveling between city skyscrapers like birds soaring through trees. Occasionally, it would pass sky rails, their orderly appearance being the highest aesthetic of a modern city.
When Simon and his band arrived at the venue, they saw a sea of people. Not only were there many spectators, but there were also many performers backstage, crowded together, moving through rows of temporary rooms. Sky buses took off and landed in the parking lot, unloading piles of strangely dressed men and women, and their strangely shaped instruments.
Su Xiangli was genuinely fascinated by such a scene. She pulled out a silver-gray wig from her backpack, clipped it onto her head, and grinned foolishly at the people around her. Most other bands were in their twenties or thirties, and there were also uncles and aunties in their forties and fifties, but no matter what, their Su Huai Feixing Band was the youngest band.
Bands went on stage according to the program order. Each band performed one or two songs. Simon and his band were number forty, waiting from nine in the morning until noon at twelve.
In the temporary shed, everyone chatted. Su Xiangli had long since disappeared. The instructor was busy chatting with people everywhere. Mu Huai wore headphones, listening to music, while Simon and Lou Xundiao sat quietly on the sofa, watching the live footage from the front stage, evaluating the level of each band.
At 11:40 AM, a robot came over to inform them to prepare to go on stage. The four children immediately became nervous, suddenly feeling the pressure of awaiting an exam.
Lou Xundiao started to tremble.
He walked at the very back of the line, and no one else noticed until they stood behind the curtain, where a peek revealed thirteen thousand restless strangers. The audience emitted a huge noise, waves of sound washing over them. It was then that Simon noticed Lou Xundiao's face had turned green.
"What's wrong?" He leaned closer to Lou Xundiao.
"N-nervous..." Lou Xundiao was sweating profusely.
Below the stage, someone held up an electronic support sign: "Su Huai Feixing Band is the best in the world!!!" Eight characters, three punctuation marks, four colors, two effects, and eleven fonts. A few friends from Ninghu Middle School gathered, shouting loudly. Although their voices were drowned in the crowd, that non-mainstream support sign was incredibly eye-catching.
Lou Xundiao was shaking, incoherent. "I'm just a painter, why do I have to be in a band?"
Simon was speechless. "Isn't this your dream?"
"But in my dream, the audience was much smaller than this," Lou Xundiao's humble expression made people both angry and amused.
"It's this late, you have to go on even if you don't want to."
Mu Huai and Su Xiangli also realized something was wrong. "What's wrong? It's almost our turn! The instruments are already on stage!"
Lou Xundiao covered his forehead. "Give me some time, no, don't, don't. I'm not in good shape now, I'll definitely mess it up. Can we change people?"
The instructor was chatting happily with the host, but turned around to see his band members hesitating. He walked over with a grim face, and after understanding the situation, he scolded Lou Xundiao. This rough behavior, however, made the flustered fellow find his backbone and reluctantly calm down.
Stepping onto the stage, the moment they passed through the thick black curtain, the host's high-pitched voice and the audience's boisterous cheers could instantly deafen a person.
"Next up is a middle school band. Every member is very young, but it is said that they inherit the spirit of the older generation of rock musicians. I wonder what surprises such a mysterious mix will bring us? Audience friends, please give a round of applause to the Su Huai Feixing Band!"
Simon, holding his guitar, walked to the very front, looking at the blurry faces. Their voices, colors, and movements mixed together, becoming one, like constantly rising, screaming bubbles in a boiling pot. Simon was not afraid of them, because he knew he would ignite their minds within a minute.
"Hello everyone, we are the Su Huai Feixing Band. The song we are bringing today is called'Spark'."
The audience cheered enthusiastically.
The live broadcast footage was transmitted globally via the internet, to the surface and under the sea, and even to the Moon and Mars. Although it was a performance by nobodies, the stage was infinitely wide.
Lu Xuefeng sat in his workshop, opening the live stream.
On the screen, the boy was full of vigor, his narrowed eyes sparkling with the intense light of midsummer.
"This is a performance without an end,
"Containing all absurdity and madness,
"Sleeping quietly on the earth like a child full of sorrow...
"Now I! Am a little tired!
"Tired like a wild flower broken by the wind!
"So I! Began to change!
"Becoming a rolling, blazing spark!!!"
At this moment,
Cheers erupted!
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