The King of Construction Site Songs

A hard hat is his crown, and bricks are his metronome. Amid the roar of the cement mixer, Chen Xiaoan’s cracking voice always cuts through the din and hits his coworkers right in the eardrums. They call him the “Construction Site Singing Lunatic.”

He believes the rough, gravelly voice of Dao Lin runs through his veins. Even though the legendary king of song was supposedly “shown the door” by the so-called halls of high art, and has been out of sight for thirteen years, Chen Xiaoan still clings to his battered old phone, watering his dreams with “The First Rain of 2004” as his bunk bed creaks. Then one day, an account called “Shepherd of the Western Regions” suddenly takes the internet by storm. The familiar, world-weary voice makes his hands shake so badly he drops half a brick.

When the king of Dao Lin returns after ten years away, Chen Xiaoan fights tooth and nail to get a concert ticket. But then fate’s crane arm suddenly comes crashing down. As the headlights of a drunk driver illuminate his humming lips, no one expects this crash to become the most dramatic turning point in an ordinary man’s life.

From then on, he is given the name “Dao Xiaochen.”