1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Chapter 357 Heavy Rain
After coming back from shopping, Mother Wang rolled up her sleeves and went into the kitchen, and also called Joey Wong into the kitchen.

"Xiaoxian, come and help me."

Wang Zuxian couldn't help but mutter, "I can't cook."

"You can help me wash the vegetables."

Zhou Yan volunteered, "Auntie, let me help you."

"No, no, just wait for dinner."

Originally, Zhou Yan planned to continue writing the script after breakfast, but now the mother and daughter were busy in the kitchen, and it was not convenient for him to go to the study to work alone, so he found a book and sat on the sofa to read, glancing towards the kitchen from time to time.

Seeing Zhou Yan reading a book on the sofa, Wang's mother whispered to her daughter, "How long have you two been together?"

"Not long." Joey Wong hesitated. She was afraid that her mother would be angry if she told her that she had been with Zhou Yan for several years.

"Not long is how long?"

"It should be... maybe more than two years."

Saying two years is already a conservative estimate. In fact, he and Zhou Yan have been together for four years. They were together in the summer of 92 when they were filming "Green Snake".

But even so, when she heard that her daughter had been with Zhou Yan for two years, Wang's mother was still surprised, "You didn't even tell us for such a long time?"

“I just haven’t found the right time.”

Mother Wang said unhappily, "If I hadn't caught you this time, how long would you have kept it a secret?"

"No, I was originally planning to bring my third brother to meet you this time, but because his schedule was too tight, I put it on hold. The plan is to wait for him to come to Taipei City again in a while and then go home."

"Really?"

"Really." Wang Zuxian nodded repeatedly, "I said it a long time ago."

After hearing what Wang Zuxian said, Wang's mother stopped dwelling on the issue and instead became concerned about Zhou Yan's family situation like any other mother would. "What's Zhou Yan's family situation like? Do you know? What do his parents do?"

"The third brother's mother died early, his father is a businessman, and he has an older brother and a younger sister." Joey Wong reported Zhou Yan's family situation truthfully.

Hearing that Zhou Yan's mother was gone, Mother Wang sighed slightly, "I didn't expect Zhou Yan to be such a miserable child. It was not easy for his father to raise three children."

Joey Wong pursed her lips and said nothing. She didn't know how to explain the fact that Zhou Yan's parents divorced a long time ago. If she did, it would not be enough to explain it in just a few words.

In fact, she herself didn't know much about these situations. She only knew that Zhou Yan's parents divorced when Zhou Yan was a child, and later Zhou Yan lived with his mother, and his brother, sister and father.

"Is there anyone else at home?" Mother Wang asked again.

"Their family is quite large. There are five brothers and sisters on my father's side. My two aunts are married and my eldest uncle and third uncle both work in Jinling. My grandparents are still alive and they are all nice people."

Mother Wang immediately grasped the key information and asked, "Have you been to his house?"

"Uh...I went there once."

Mother Wang sighed, but did not dwell on this point. Although she was a little unhappy that Joey Wong had been hiding it from them, the information revealed by what Joey Wong said was still positive. At least her daughter and Zhou Yan were openly together at Zhou Yan's house, instead of being completely secretive.

My daughter has been to Zhou Yan's house, and there are no problems in their relationship now, which means there is a high possibility that they will be together until the end.

As for the situation of other people in Zhou Yan's family, Mother Wang did not ask much, but only asked about the situation of Zhou Yan's brother and sister.

"What's the situation with Zhou Yan's brother and sister? Is the brother married?"

"No, my second brother seems to be only two years older than my third brother, and my youngest sister is still in school."

"Then his father will take care of their family affairs. But Zhou Yan shouldn't need his father to worry too much, as his income is probably not bad now."

Joey Wong smiled secretly, Zhou Yan’s income was more than good.

When they first got together, although Zhou Yan had gained some fame for his movie soundtracks, his net worth was far inferior to hers. It was a typical case of the woman being strong and the man being weak.

But now it is completely different. According to conservative estimates, Zhou Yan’s net worth is several times hers.

And even if Zhou Yan doesn't make money himself, his family is rich enough.

Although Joey Wong didn't know much about the Zhou family's business, she knew that their business was not small when she saw Zhou Hong's show, and Zhou Yan was originally a rich second-generation.

"Having too much money is no use, as long as it is enough to spend," said Joey Wong.

Mother Wang nodded. "It's good that you think this way. Of course, you can't be without money, but it's enough to get by. You still have to manage your life yourself. This is the first time I met Zhou Yan, and I don't know him well, but he looks quite calm and gives people a comfortable feeling."

Hearing her mother say this, Wang Zuxian smiled and asked, "Mom, are you satisfied?"

"It's useless for me to be satisfied. In the end, it all depends on whether you are satisfied or not. After we go back, I won't tell your father and the others that I saw it. I'll just say that you took the initiative to confess. Otherwise, your father will definitely complain."

"Mom is the best." Wang Zuxian hugged her mother's arm with a smile, "You are the best mother in the world, let me help you."

Mother Wang waved her hands. "Why would you help? You'll only make things worse. Just stand by and watch."

……

Because she had already inquired about the news from Joey Wong in advance, during the meal, Wang's mother did not ask about Zhou Yan's family situation. Instead, she asked about his daily work.

She knew quite a lot about Zhou Yan. She had seen two of his three movies. She must have seen "The Sixth Sense", after all, Joey Wong was the heroine of the movie. The other one was Zhou Yan's debut film, "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly".

Compared to "The Sixth Sense", she obviously prefers fresh and clean movies like "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly".

"You have so many works. Do you spend a lot of time composing music every day? Do you have a lot of inspiration every day?"

Zhou Yan shook his head and smiled, "Inspiration is actually a matter of a moment. In most cases, music creation is a rather boring thing, especially for a multi-movement symphony. There are many rules to follow, and you can't do it as you please."

"Oh, is that so? I thought the song came out just because I got the inspiration."

"For simple songs, it's like this, like the songs "We Are Young" and "How Long Will I Love You" that we played live last night. They are both relatively simple songs. As long as there is a simple melody, it's enough. I can write it down immediately when I have the inspiration in my mind. But for songs like "Eternal Night", I have to work on it bit by bit."

Mother Wang smiled and said, "That's because the more difficult the song is, the harder it is to understand."

Zhou Yan nodded. "It's OK for you to understand it this way, Auntie. Complexity is also an important part of art. Of course, it doesn't mean that complex is better than simple. After all, great sound is silent. I still advocate that art should be handed over to the audience. Different audiences will have different feelings about the same work."

“Art still has a threshold. You can say that because you are already at the threshold, or even at a higher level in the professional field. Looking down from your position, the perspective is completely different.”

Hearing this, Zhou Yan couldn't help but look at Mother Wang differently. She was not an ordinary housewife, but had a certain level of appreciation.

Many people are confused about whether there is a threshold to art. Some say yes, some say no. Those who say yes may not necessarily be professionals, and those who say no may not necessarily be outsiders. People from different positions naturally have different opinions.

Even for the same artist, his artistic aesthetics and evaluation perspectives may vary greatly at different stages of his career.

Diversity of evaluation is an important part of art.

However, when people make evaluations, they should never easily deny others, nor easily deny themselves. Denying oneself can be divided into two situations: one is the present self, and the other is the past self.

Zhou Yan has met many people who, when they were young, particularly loved pop music and thought that classical music was just a pretense to being tasteful. They are afraid of authority and they choose to rebel against it.

As I got older, I gradually fell in love with classical music, but turned back to despise popular music. I was even ashamed to talk about the fact that I once liked popular music, and I started speaking for the authority.

This is not a good attitude towards art. It is very sad that a person cannot even face the things he once liked.

After all, it was a family meal, so Zhou Yan naturally didn't expand on the topic. He just smiled and gave a rainbow fart, "Auntie, what you said is absolutely right. It's completely a high-level view. Musical aesthetics is like crossing from one threshold to another, but in the end you will find that there is always another threshold not far away."

Mother Wang waved her hand and said, "Zhou Yan, we are just chatting normally, don't flatter me deliberately. I also know that I am just an ordinary person. What high-level praise is really wrong."

Zhou Yan sighed, "It's said that everyone doesn't like to be flattered. I didn't expect that you, Auntie, are so clear about this. I was abrupt and shouldn't have done this."

Mother Wang smiled and said, "After all, I have lived many more years than you, so I have to see things more clearly. It's not your fault."

After hearing her mother's words, Joey Wong silently lowered her head and tried to hold back her laughter into her bowl.

As expected, no one in this world can escape Third Brother’s routine, and Mom didn’t even know she had been tricked.

Seeing Wang Zuxian trying to hold back her laughter in front of the bowl, Zhou Yan coughed lightly and said, "I was wondering why Xiaoxian couldn't cook before. Today, after meeting Auntie, I finally found the answer. With a chef like you around, there is no room for her to show her talents."

Mother Wang was very happy, but she started to criticize her daughter, "Xiaoxian is just too lazy and doesn't want to learn."

After she finished speaking, she felt that it was inappropriate to scold her daughter in front of her future son-in-law, so she tried to make up for it, "Of course, it's not her fault. I and her two brothers are at home, so it's not her turn to cook. Besides, she started working at a very young age and didn't have time to learn these things. You should probably be more tolerant of this matter."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "It's okay, Auntie. I can actually cook, and although my cooking skills are not as good as yours, they are not so bad that they are not unpalatable. If I have time in the future, I will cook. If I don't have time, we can go out to eat. There is also a cafeteria in my studio, and the chef is not bad."

"What era is this now? I don't worry about your meals."

……

After the meal, the more Mother Wang looked at Zhou Yan, the more satisfied she became.

Zhou Yan is not only good-looking and talented, but also speaks in a very pleasant way and has a very good sense of propriety.

After dinner, Mother Wang did not stay long. She gave Wang Zuxian a few words of advice and then went back.

After her mother passed away, Wang Zuxian turned around and slumped down on the sofa, sighing, "Finally she's gone."

Seeing her like this, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "I'm not nervous at all, why are you so nervous?"

Joey Wong rolled her eyes. Yes, if anyone should be nervous, it should be Zhou Yan. Why should she be nervous?

Logically speaking, she doesn't need to be nervous at all. Zhou Yan is so nice, her mother will definitely not be dissatisfied.

Moreover, Zhou Yan was really good at dealing with elders. Although he didn't say much today, he made her mother very happy.

Especially the part about "flattering", it was so subtle and silent that she almost couldn't hold back her laughter.

"The part about wearing a tall hat really made me laugh. How did you come up with that?"

Zhou Yan smiled and sat down next to Wang Zuxian. "This is not something I came up with. It is the experience of our predecessors. Have you heard of Yuan Mei's story?"

"No." Joey Wong shook her head. She didn't know such a person at all.

"Yuan Mei was a talented scholar in the Qing Dynasty and one of the three great masters of the Xingling School. In his early years, before he went out to serve as an official, he visited his mentor Yin Wenrui. Yin Wenrui asked him if he had made any preparations for his new post. Yuan Mei told Yin Wenrui that he had prepared nothing but a hundred compliments for his departure."

"Hearing this, Yin Wenrui was very unhappy and rebuked him for not doing his job properly and just flattering others. He replied that what my teacher taught me was right, but nowadays all officials like to be flattered, and there are very few people who are as upright and honest as you. After hearing this, Yin Wenrui nodded with great satisfaction. Later, when Yuan Mei left Yin Wenrui's house, he said that he only had ninety-nine of the one hundred flatteries he had prepared."

Wang Zuxian laughed so hard that her stomach hurt, "Haha, Third Brother, you are too mean, using this trick to deal with my mother."

Zhou Yan said seriously, "I never like to flatter, but if I can make my future mother-in-law happy, I have no choice but to do it."

Hearing Zhou Yan say this, Wang Zuxian felt sweet in her heart, then she reacted and pouted, "Third brother, you are not trying to coax me again, are you?"

Zhou Yan smiled and rubbed her head, "Is it wrong to coax your girlfriend?"

……

The temporary stage in front of the Taipei City Concert Hall was not dismantled, and more police officers were dispatched that day to help maintain order.

There were more than 10,000 people gathered at the scene yesterday, and no one knows if there will be more tonight.

When Zhou Yan arrived at the entrance of the concert hall, there were still many staff members working in full swing. Some of the landmark lines posted yesterday were damaged, and some were not posted properly, so they had to be repaired today.

Moreover, the coverage of the landmark lines this time is wider, and the concert hall is also preparing to welcome more audiences.

Audience members who did not buy tickets also arrived earlier than yesterday.

Many people arrived yesterday after the concert started, but when they arrived they found that all the good seats were taken and they could only stand at the back.

In order to stand closer to the front, many people come to line up at three or four o'clock, and some even bring their own small stools, prepared for a protracted battle.

The official concert would not end until at least nine o'clock. If they came to line up at three o'clock, it would mean they would have to wait in the square for at least six hours.

The concert hall was also very considerate. Before four o'clock, they turned on the large outdoor screen and played Zhou Yan's films on a loop so that the waiting audience would not be too bored.

Some audience members arrived at the entrance of the concert hall early and ran to the ticket office from time to time to ask if anyone had refunded their tickets so that they could get in.

There are people who want to refund their tickets. After all, with so many spectators, there will always be people who encounter special circumstances and cannot attend the show. However, those who want to refund their tickets don’t even have to go to the ticket office. They can just shout at the door and sell the tickets, and they can even make some extra money.

Moreover, this kind of situation is very rare, and only a few tickets can be refunded in an entire afternoon, so most of the audience still put their hopes on outdoor performances.

While countless audiences were waiting for the outdoor performance, the weather was very unkind and it started to drizzle at five o'clock.

At the beginning, the rain was very light, and the audience occupying the front rows were reluctant to leave, so they waited outside in the rain. Some smart vendors brought umbrellas and raincoats to sell, but they were all sold out.

But later the rain got heavier and heavier, and the people maintaining order on the scene had already begun to persuade the spectators to leave.

If the rain continues like this, even if they can hold out, the band won't be able to perform on stage.

(End of this chapter)