1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Perhaps because he has seen too many larger parks, Zhou Yan did not think that Daan Forest Park was very big. However, in terms of overall design, Daan Park has many desirable aspects.

As an urban park, its primary task is to integrate into the city.

However, this integration must have a limit, so that it can be separated from the downtown area.

Daan Forest Park has done a good job in grasping this balance, making citizens feel convenient while giving them a sense of temporarily escaping from the city.

In the center of the park, there is an open-air music stand, which is well designed.

This open-air music stage is not small and has a roof, which can accommodate relatively formal performances. In front of the stage, rows of benches are arranged in an orderly manner for the audience to sit and enjoy the performance.

Zhou Yan roughly estimated that these benches should be able to seat about a thousand people.

But if we really want to cram people in, together with the surrounding grass, it should be able to accommodate eight to nine thousand people.

Although the entrance of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre can accommodate so many people, the effect of watching the performance is actually very poor. Unlike this terrace, there is a natural slope. This slope must be specially designed, similar to the stepped seats in the concert hall. Even if you stand on the grass at the back, you can see the performance on the stage without being blocked.

"Are there usually performances here?" Zhou Yan asked.

"Probably so."

Joey Wong was not very sure either, because she had only been to Daan Forest Park once before and was not very familiar with the situation there.

Normally she doesn't spend much time in Taiwan, and even when she comes back, she doesn't have time to visit the park. The last time she came, it was Chen Derong who told her that the park was open, and the two of them came over for a walk.

If Chen Derong hadn't told her, she probably wouldn't have known that this place was open.

“This place is suitable for hosting some small-scale performances.”

Zhou Yan stood under the stage and looked at the structure of the ceiling. Wang Zuxian suddenly pointed to the side of the stage and said, "There is a poster there."

Looking in the direction of Wang Zuxian's finger, Zhou Yan saw a roll-up banner, but the light was poor here at night and he couldn't see clearly what was on it.

The two of them leaned over to take a look and realized that it was a promotional poster for the show.

When Zhou Yan saw the handsome young man holding a guitar on the poster, he suddenly narrowed his eyes.

Isn’t this Wang Lihong?
He looked at the text below again.

The first line of big words on the top of the page is: If you hear my love.

Below is Wang Lihong’s personal profile, the most prominent title of which is “top student at Berklee College of Music.”

After reading all the information, Zhou Yan roughly understood that Wang Lihong should have just debuted not long ago and just released his first solo album in December last year.

In August this year, he will release his second solo album "If You Hear My Song".

Probably because the response to his first album wasn't very good and his fame is average, in order to promote his upcoming new album, he's going to hold a free concert here.

Coincidentally, the time is 6:30 tomorrow evening.

Wang Zuxian had no interest in this new singer, but seeing Zhou Yan kept reading the text, she smiled and said, "It seems that there are indeed frequent performances here, but they are all new and not very famous singers."

"Have you heard of this singer?" Zhou Yan asked.

"No." Joey Wong shook her head. "Doesn't it say here that he debuted at the end of last year? But the name of his album is quite interesting, Love Rival Beethoven."

Zhou Yan smiled. The name of his love rival Beethoven was indeed not very good and completely unattractive.

Perhaps the record company wanted to highlight Wang Lihong's classical skills. The introduction on this poster also mentioned that he is proficient in instruments such as violin, piano, guitar, and jazz drums.

It’s true that Wang Lihong can play many musical instruments, but to say whether he is proficient in them depends on how you define the word proficient.

People say that Zhou Yan is proficient in more than a dozen musical instruments, including piano, bamboo flute, erhu, guitar, violin... It seems that he is proficient in all common instruments.

But in fact, professionals know what is going on.

Except for the bamboo flute, Zhou Yan's performance on other instruments is average, and some are even very bad.

If the standard of proficiency is set to a professional level, no one in this world can be proficient in multiple musical instruments at the same time, because proficiency in each instrument requires a lot of practice.

The more instruments you learn, the more likely it is that you will become broad-based but not specialized. Zhou Yan is an example. If he had not been exposed to so many instruments and had focused on playing the bamboo flute, his skills would definitely have been better.

"Let's come here to watch the performance tomorrow night," Zhou Yan said.

Wang Zuxian was a little surprised and asked, "Don't you have to rehearse tomorrow?"

"The performance here starts at 6:30, and my rehearsal should be finished by then."

Joey Wong nodded. It seemed that Zhou Yan was indeed interested in this newcomer. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for Zhou Yan to join in the fun.

After all, Zhou Yan has been very busy recently and has to write scripts every day.

But since Zhou Yan wanted to come, she would definitely be willing.

"Would you like me to come early tomorrow and save a seat for you?"

"No need. For this kind of performance, I don't think there will be too many audiences. Even if there are no seats, it's the same to stand on the ground and watch."

"it is good."

……

The two strolled around Daan Forest Park for a while and then went back.

Zhou Yan did not return to the hotel where the band was staying, but went to Wang Zuxian's residence with her.

Wang Zuxian, who likes to buy houses, naturally bought a house in Taiwan. However, she was not optimistic about the housing market in Taiwan, so she only bought a small house where she lives when she comes back.

She has two older brothers, and they all live at home now, so even when she comes back, she seldom stays at home and always lives alone.

It can be seen that she did not spend too much time on this house, and the decoration is very ordinary.

Joey Wong had already prepared all the daily necessities for Zhou Yan in advance, and even prepared several sets of clothes for him from inside to outside, so Zhou Yan didn't need to bring any luggage when he came.

After entering the house, she pointed to a room on the east side and said, "Third brother, that's the study room. You can work in it."

"Ah."

Zhou Yan nodded, walked over, opened the study door and took a look. When he saw the layout inside the study, he showed a surprised expression.

He originally thought that the so-called study was just an ordinary small room, but he didn't expect it to be a real study.

There are two bookshelves against the wall in the room, filled with various books, CDs, and tapes. In addition, there is a straight desk.

Wang Zuxian also came over, leaned close to Zhou Yan, and asked, "Third brother, are you satisfied?"

"Did you build this study room just for me?"

"Of course, I don't need a study like this myself. Many of these books were bought from the mainland. I don't know if you like them or not. Most of your music albums are here."

Hearing what Joey Wong said, Zhou Yan felt very warm. It is not easy to decorate such a study room and it requires a lot of thought.

There are at least a few hundred books in these two bookshelves, as well as hundreds of records and other items. It must have taken a lot of time to buy all these books, and Joey Wong also said that many of the books were bought from the mainland.

Zhou Yan leaned closer to the bookshelf and took a look. There were novels by Yu Hua, Shi Tiesheng, Liu Zhenyun, Wang Anyi, Su Tong and others, as well as quite a few issues of "Harvest" and "Yenching Literature".

The collection of his works with Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng was placed in the center.

Except for Zhou Yan's records, most of the records are classical music.

There are also some movie CDs, all of which are movies related to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan pulled Wang Zuxian into his arms, kissed her on the forehead, and said softly, "Thank you."

In fact, Zhou Yan certainly couldn’t read many of these books, but he was deeply moved by Wang Zuxian’s thoughtfulness.

"Do you have to say thank you to me too?" Wang Zuxian smiled and said, "Actually, I want to build you a piano room, but it's a bit troublesome and I don't really know how to build one."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Don't waste money. You can buy a bigger house in Taipei City later. It won't be too late to build a piano room then."

"Let's move to a bigger house. The houses in Taipei City are not worth investing in."

In recent years, Taiwan's real estate market has been very sluggish and the outlook is not optimistic. The main reason is that the prices rose too much before the 1990s. In addition, the economic development was slow and the demand for housing weakened, which led to the inability to increase housing prices.

"Statistics show that the average annual rate of increase in housing prices in Taiwan in recent years has been less than 2%, which is lower than the bank's mortgage interest rate." This data means that investing in real estate in Taiwan in recent years is not as good as keeping the money in the bank and collecting interest.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "You know all these data."

"Of course." Joey Wong smiled proudly.

Zhou Yan tapped Wang Zuxian's forehead with his finger, "You are now obsessed with real estate investment, but you forgot that buying a house is for living. Although your house is nice, it is still small. When we come to Taipei in the future, we can't always live here. Buy a bigger one, it will be more convenient to live in."

"Look at your house. It only has three bedrooms. If you build a piano room, there will only be one bedroom left. If you have a child in the future, there will be no place to live."

As soon as Zhou Yan mentioned having a baby, Wang Zuxian's face immediately turned red. "What giving birth to a baby? How shameless... Even if I have a baby, when it's small, it can live with us in the master bedroom... But it's okay to buy a bigger one, so my parents can stay there when they come to visit."

Speaking of her parents, Wang Zuxian remembered something else, "Oh, by the way, can you give me a few more tickets for your concert?"

"Do you have any other friends who want to go?" Zhou Yan asked curiously.

Zhou Yan had given her two tickets before, and she should have given the other one to Chen Derong.

"This concert is very popular in Taipei City. My brother and his friends also said they want to go and see it."

Zhou Yan nodded and smiled, "Okay, my brother-in-law wants to watch it, so I have to arrange for him. How many tickets do you want?"

"Four...give me six."

"If there are six, they don't have to be in a row, and they don't have to be in the first row."

"It doesn't matter. As long as you have a ticket, you can sit anywhere."

"Okay, I'll have someone deliver the ticket to me tomorrow."

……

That night, Zhou Yan did not work too late and went to bed at around eleven o'clock.

The next morning, after Zhou Yan woke up, he first opened the refrigerator door and looked inside. There was nothing inside except mineral water and beer.

He had no choice but to change his clothes and go out to buy some breakfast. He also wanted to buy some vegetables, but he couldn't find where the vegetable market was.

When he came back, Joey Wong had already gotten up and was looking for Zhou Yan in the living room in her pajamas.

Seeing Zhou Yan coming back from outside with a bag in his hand, she asked in surprise, "Third brother, you went out?"

Zhou Yan raised the bag in his hand and said, "Well, I bought some breakfast. There's not even an egg in the refrigerator at home."

"I don't live here often, so of course I don't buy groceries."

Zhou Yan teased, "If you live here more often, you can cook?"

Joey Wong is the youngest sister in the family. She has been spoiled since childhood and has no skill in cooking at all.

Wang Zuxian was quite dissatisfied with this and raised her head and said, "Don't look down on me. I have improved a lot now and can cook a lot of dishes. If you don't believe me, I will cook at noon and let you taste my cooking skills."

"Let's stop struggling and go out to eat."

Zhou Yan wanted to give her a step to come down, but she didn't expect that she would step up instead and said firmly, "No, I have to cook today."

Seeing her insistence, Zhou Yan smiled and nodded, "Then I'll wait and see."

After breakfast, Zhou Yan went into the study to work, while Joey Wong changed her clothes and went out to buy groceries.

At noon, Zhou Yan heard some clinking sounds coming from the kitchen, so he got up and went to take a look. He saw Wang Zuxian staring into the eyes of a bream that had already died.

She was wearing an apron with cartoon patterns on it, holding a spatula in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other, and seemed to have no idea where to start with the fish.

Zhou Yan leaned against the door frame, crossed his arms and smiled, "What's wrong, Xiaoxian? Do you need to pray for its soul to be reborn before eating it?"

Wang Zuxian turned around, a trace of embarrassment flashed across her face, "I wanted to make braised fish, but I forgot what the first step was."

She swore that she had studied the recipe carefully before and knew every step by heart, but when she really started to make it, she completely forgot the steps in the recipe, as if she had never seen the recipe in her life.

The damn thing is that the recipe was left at home in Xiangjiang and was not brought over.

If I had known this earlier, I would have bought a cookbook when I went out.

There are so many books in the study, but not a single cookbook.

Seeing her embarrassed look, Zhou Yan walked over with a smile, took the kitchen knife and spatula from her and put them aside, then began to check the ingredients in the kitchen.

Fortunately, although she forgot how to make braised fish, she had all the ingredients.

The fish has been processed, probably by the enthusiastic stall owner, and it is very clean.

Zhou Yan chopped some green onions and ginger, then heated the pan, poured oil, and started frying the fish...

In just about half an hour, Zhou Yan finished preparing three dishes and a soup.

Joey Wong had seen Zhou Yan’s cooking skills, so she was not surprised at all. She was just a little embarrassed that she was the one who said she wanted to cook, but in the end it was Zhou Yan who took care of everything.

But this embarrassment soon disappeared.

Find a husband who can cook, and you won’t have to worry about eating at home anymore.

Perhaps to make up for her guilt, after dinner, Joey Wong took the initiative to take on the task of washing dishes and pots.

Zhou Yan didn't compete with her. After dinner, he went back to the study to continue working.

It was not until 1:30 in the afternoon that Zhou Yan set off for the concert hall.

The four concerts in Taiwan this time, like those in Hong Kong, will be held in the concert hall where they first held the concert.

What is special about this concert hall is that there is a very large LED screen at the entrance. More than two years have passed, and the screen has been replaced with a larger one. The distance between the lamp beads is smaller, and the image is clearer.

LED technology is innovating very quickly. Every once in a while, screens with smaller pitch and better colors appear on the market. The screen in front of you should be the latest one on the market today.

It can be seen that this concert hall is very strong. If it were an ordinary concert hall, it would be impossible to spend huge amounts of money on this. For a long time, LED screens have not been cheap, especially the latest models.

The situation at the entrance of the concert hall was similar to that in Hong Kong. Although the concert would not start until next year, quite a few people had already gathered the day in advance. Some of them were holding signs with Zhou Yan's name on them.

Seeing this, Zhou Yan did not rush into the concert hall. Instead, he took the initiative to approach the crowd and greet them.

Zhou Yan was dressed very casually, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. At first, the fans didn't recognize him until Zhou Yan greeted them.

One of the girls reacted particularly quickly and ran towards Zhou Yan first.

But when she got in front of Zhou Yan, the girl still asked uncertainly, "Excuse me, are you Zhou Yan?"

Zhou Yan smiled and took off his sunglasses, "I am."

Seeing Zhou Yan's face, Zheng Youqing covered his mouth excitedly, "It's really you."

Zhou Yan made a signing gesture, "Do you want me to sign for you? Others will be here soon."

"Yes, yes." Zheng Youqing quickly took out a stack of things from his bag and handed them to Zhou Yan. "There are a lot, but you only need to sign one... one or two."

Zhou Yan took the stack of things with a smile, then looked up at the girl in front of him in surprise.

Not only are there photos of him participating in the "Walk and Talk" program, but also the ticket stub for his first concert in Taiwan, and he was in the front row.

It seems that this little girl is her old fan.

A large part of Zhou Yan’s early fame in Taiwan came from the show “Walking and Talking”.

Originally, "Walk and Talk" was a very ordinary program with a monotonous format and was not very attractive. It was only when Zhou Yan participated in the program and put forward many suggestions that the program was changed.

And that change benefited both of them.

Nowadays, this program has become a household variety show in Taiwan. Although the hosts have changed, the ratings are still very high.

Moreover, the model of this program was later imitated by many programs.

Since he was an old fan, Zhou Yan was not stingy and patiently signed all the things Zheng Youqing handed over. (End of this chapter)