1990: Starting from Baojia Street

After Zhou Yan finished making breakfast, he went to call Joey Wong to eat, but found that she was already asleep in bed.

It seemed that she didn't get enough rest in order to arrive in the morning.

Seeing that she was sleeping soundly, Zhou Yan didn't call her and let her have a good sleep.

Originally Zhou Yan planned to go to the studio in the morning, but Joey Wong arrived early, so he changed his plan and stayed at home to work.

Joey Wong slept for a long time and only woke up slowly at one o'clock in the afternoon.

She walked to the study room with her clothes on, leaned against the door frame and watched Zhou Yan working.

Zhou Yan looked up and said with a smile, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, slept well."

"What do you want to eat at noon? I'll take you there."

Speaking of eating, Joey Wong covered her stomach. She had eaten something yesterday evening, and it had been almost twenty hours, so she felt very hungry.

But when Zhou Yan asked her what she wanted to eat, she couldn't think of anything for a moment.

"Let's go eat the mutton soup nearby."

Zhou Yan guessed that Joey Wong was also hungry, so he chose a nearby restaurant to save him the trouble.

"Okay." Joey Wong nodded.

"Go change your clothes. We'll be out soon. I'll take you for a walk after dinner. I heard it's going to snow tomorrow. If you don't go for a walk today, you won't have much chance later."

"Wouldn't it be nicer to go sightseeing when it snows?"

"Light snow is fine, but heavy snow is not."

Hearing about the heavy snow, Wang Zuxian became even more excited. "It would be even better if it snowed heavily. We can build snowmen and have snowball fights."

This is a typical southerner who particularly likes snow.

Zhou Yan is from Jinling. The snow in Jinling is not as abundant as that in Yanjing, but it often snows heavily, so Zhou Yan has seen snow since he was a child. Compared with winter, he still prefers summer.

After arriving in Yanjing, traveling in winter becomes even more inconvenient. If the snow is a little heavy, I can only stay at home and there is no way to go out.

Joey Wong changed her clothes quickly, and ten minutes later, the two of them left the house together.

Winter is not without its advantages. At least their disguise when going out is not so conspicuous. They don’t need to wear masks or sunglasses. As long as they wear a hat or scarf, it will be difficult to be recognized.

Come out of the courtyard, walk a little west, turn into the alley next door, and then walk about forty or fifty meters, and you will reach the mutton soup restaurant that Zhou Yan mentioned.

This mutton soup restaurant has been open for many years. It is run by a middle-aged couple. When Zhou Yan was still in school, he often came here to eat.

The taste is not particularly outstanding, it can only be considered good. The main feature is affordability. Most of the people who eat here are residents of the nearby alleys.

It was past dinner time, and there were only two customers in the restaurant. When Zhou Yan and his friends came in, the proprietress hurriedly asked, "What would you like to eat?"

Zhou Yan pulled down the scarf on his face and said with a smile, "Two bowls of mutton soup, one bowl of mutton tripe soup, and two meat-filled biscuits."

The proprietress saw Zhou Yan's face and laughed, "It's you. You haven't been here for a while."

"Well, I haven't been here for a while. I didn't expect that you, boss lady, still remember me."

"You are a musician, so you have an outstanding temperament and are easy to remember." The lady boss glanced at Joey Wong again, "Please sit down for a while. The soup will be here soon."

After they sat down, Wang Zuxian looked around the store and asked, "Have you been here often before?"

Zhou Yan nodded, "I came here quite often for a while, but later I came less often."

"The boss lady also knows that you are a musician."

"She had come here before with some students from our college and brought their musical instruments with them. She still remembered it."

While the two were talking, the other two customers in the store left. At this time, Joey Wong also pulled down the scarf on her face.

It will be inconvenient to eat with a scarf wrapped around my face.

After a while, the proprietress came over with two bowls of mutton soup. "Two bowls of mutton soup. If you want to add chopped green onions, pick them up yourself. The other things will be here soon."

After putting the things down, the proprietress glanced at Joey Wong again and was suddenly stunned.

But her gaze only stayed on Joey Wong's face for a moment before quickly moving away. After all, staring at a guest for a long time was not very polite.

But when she turned around, the proprietress became more and more confused. She thought the female customer looked like Nie Xiaoqian.

The proprietress seldom watches movies, but she has seen A Chinese Ghost Story and was deeply impressed by the role of Nie Xiaoqian played by Joey Wong.

When she arrived at the door of the kitchen, the proprietress couldn't help but turn around and look in the direction of Joey Wong.

Joey Wong also noticed the proprietress's gaze, but she didn't care. There were no other customers here anyway, so being recognized was no big deal.

Besides, she couldn't care less at that moment. She was almost starving to death. As soon as the mutton soup arrived, she couldn't wait to drink it.

"Be careful of the heat." Zhou Yan reminded.

"I know. I'm not stupid."

Joey Wong scooped a little with a spoon and blew on it several times before putting it into her mouth.

Although it was only a small spoonful, after drinking the soup, my whole body felt warm.

“I feel alive.”

Zhou Yan was also very hungry. After all, it was already past one o'clock and he would have finished his meal by this time usually.

"Their sesame seed buns with meat are pretty good, you can..."

As Zhou Yan was speaking, the proprietress brought over a meat-filled pancake.

When she came over, her eyes were always on Joey Wong.

"Your sesame cakes with meat."

Zhou Yan asked curiously, "Boss, did you mishear? Didn't we order two?"

"I wasn't mistaken, there's another one in the works."

After saying that, the proprietress turned around and went back to the kitchen.

About ten seconds later, she brought out another meat-filled pancake.

Zhou Yan rolled his eyes. He had already guessed that the proprietress recognized Joey Wong. The reason she served the sesame seed bun with meat separately was to get a few more glances at Joey Wong.

After the meat-filled pancakes were served, she brought over the mutton tripe soup.

I thought it was over, but after a while, the proprietress brought another butter cake and said, "This is our butter cake, it tastes good. I'll give you one to try."

Zhou Yan teased her, "Madam boss, if you give us a cake, how are we going to share it?"

The lady boss's attention was focused on Joey Wong, and she didn't hear Zhou Yan's teasing. She quickly said, "I'll get you another one."

Zhou Yan hurriedly called her back, "No need, boss. If you take more, we won't be able to finish it."

The portion of their mutton soup was already quite large, and Zhou Yan ordered two servings of mutton soup plus one serving of mutton tripe soup. The meat-filled sesame seed bun was also quite large, so it took some effort to finish what they ordered.

If we add two more butter cakes, we will definitely not be able to finish it.

"It's okay. You can pack up if you can't finish it."

The proprietress didn't listen to the advice and went to get another butter cake for Zhou Yan and the others.

Zhou Yan shook his head helplessly, then smiled and asked the proprietress, "Do you think she looks a lot like Joey Wong?"

The proprietress was stunned for a moment, then immediately nodded and said, "Yes, isn't she?"

Joey Wong also laughed, "Of course not, I just look like her, many people say I look like her when they see me."

"They do look alike, especially the eyebrows, so similar." "Well, everyone says my eyebrows are similar, but my nose is bigger than hers." Joey Wong said, pointing at her nose.

The lady boss was also a little confused, "That's true, Wang Zuxian should be quite old, you look only in your twenties."

Zhou Yan almost couldn't help laughing out loud, "Is Wang Zuxian old?"

"That should be the case. A Chinese Ghost Story has been out for more than ten years. At that time, Joey Wong was in her twenties. Now she is probably almost 40."

This is pure impression. "A Chinese Ghost Story" was released less than ten years ago, and when Wang Zuxian starred in "A Chinese Ghost Story", she was less than 20 years old.

However, for most Chinese movie fans, the explosive growth in the number of movies in the past decade makes it feel like "A Chinese Ghost Story" has been around for more than ten years.

Wang Zuxian's mouth twitched, but she continued to follow the boss lady's words, "Yes, she is almost forty, and I am only twenty-five."

After confirming that Wang Zuxian was not Wang Zuxian, the proprietress relaxed. She smiled and said, "Girl, you are really good at growing up, like a big star. If you act in a movie, you will definitely be famous. You are also a music student, right? People who study music have good temperament. The other girls who came with him before also had better temperaments..."

"Ahem." Zhou Yan coughed lightly and explained, "Those people are all our classmates, and there are also some male classmates."

"Yes, they all came together, and there was also a teacher. I have a deep impression of him."

Teacher... Zhou Yan guessed that she was talking about Jia Guoping.

Jia Guoping was much older than them and could easily be mistaken for a teacher, but when they came, Jia Guoping was still a student.

Wang Zuxian glanced at Zhou Yan with a half-smile, "Oh, I'm not studying music."

"Don't want to learn music..." The proprietress was about to say something when a customer pushed the door open and she hurried to greet the customer.

After the proprietress left, Wang Zuxian smiled softly and said, "It seems that Teacher Zhou has a lot of beautiful students around him. She must be very happy in class."

Zhou Yan said hurriedly, "I don't have any classes at school now, and as you know, there aren't many girls in the composition department."

"But aren't you in the orchestra department now? There must be a lot of girls in the orchestra."

"I don't understand that."

"Really?" Joey Wong looked unconvinced.

"of course."

"Then you are not doing your job as the deputy director of the department. You don't even know the students in the department."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "That's right, why don't I go back and find out more about it."

Wang Zuxian gently pinched Zhou Yan's waist and said, "You dare."

"Don't dare, don't dare."

"That's about right." Wang Zuxian nodded with satisfaction and said, "This place is not far from your school, let's go to the school later."

"no problem."

In fact, this place is not very close to their school, about two or three miles away, and it takes some time to walk there. However, since Joey Wong wanted to go, there was no reason for Zhou Yan to refuse.

There was nothing to do in the afternoon anyway, so I could just stroll over there after dinner.

Later, the proprietress did not come out to disturb Zhou Yan and the others again. She must have believed what Joey Wong said.

After paying the bill, the two put on their scarves and walked towards the school gate.

It took quite a long time to get to the entrance of the Central Conservatory of Music, but Zhou Yan took Wang Zuxian through Xuanwumen Street and walked along the New Culture Street, so the journey was not boring at all.

Whenever she saw any buildings in the surrounding area, Zhou Yan would introduce them to her. He also took her to visit Li Dazhao's former residence and the Red Banner Manchuria General's Office.

After passing Naoshikou Street, walk west along Xitaiping Street for a short distance and you will reach Baojia Street.

Today is Monday. It is class time now. The weather is very cold and there are not many people walking in the school.

The two of them had no destination, so they just walked side by side in the campus.

Joey Wong had been here several times and was quite familiar with the Central Conservatory of Music. After all, the school was very small. It was only about 200 meters from the east gate on Baojia Street to the west gate on Fuxingmen South Street. If you took a shortcut, you could reach the end in three minutes.

Zhou Yan thought he was wrapped up tightly, but just as they reached the door of the piano room, Sun Dong came up from behind on a bicycle.

"Director Zhou."

Zhou Yan turned around and saw Sun Dong, with a look of surprise on his face, "Director Sun, you recognized me?"

This surprised Sun Dong. "Who else but you would have this back view and walking posture? And few people wear your shoes."

Zhou Yan looked down at his shoes and was very surprised.

He was afraid of being recognized, so the clothes he wore outside were things he never wore normally. But he didn't think much about his shoes. After all, no one would stare at shoes.

But Sun Dong can.

The key point is that he didn’t think there was anything special about his shoes. Aren’t they just a pair of ordinary Martin boots?

Also, is his walking posture special?
"What's wrong with the way I walk?"

"So serious, so pretentious, haha." Sun Dong joked and asked, "Now that you're at school, why don't you go to the department?"

"Something happened today."

Sun Dong glanced at Wang Zuxian, who was wrapped tightly, and smiled meaningfully, "I understand, I understand."

Zhou Yan rolled his eyes. He didn't expect Sun Dong to be so gossipy.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the concert hall to see how the preparations for the concert are going."

"Is it the New Year's Eve concert?"

"No, don't you know? It's a concert of new symphony works by teachers in your composition department. It will be performed tomorrow."

"Oh, that's it."

Shi Wanchun had mentioned this to him before, saying that there was going to be a concert of new works and asked him if he wanted to participate. Zhou Yan thought it was too much trouble and so did not attend.

From the name of the concert, we can tell that the theme is to perform new works by teachers from the composition department, and Zhou Yan’s only new work this year is "Xu Sanguan", so it would not be appropriate to perform such a large piece of music.

The key point is that this performance is by the school symphony orchestra, and it will take a lot of time to get them familiar with "Xu Sanguan".

"Do you want to go and see it?"

Zhou Yan looked at Wang Zuxian, who smiled and said, "Let's go and have a look."

Seeing the interaction between the two, Sun Dong became more certain of his guess. He laughed and got on his bike, "Okay, see you at the concert hall later."

After Sun Dong walked away, Zhou Yan asked, "Are you sure you want to go and see it?"

"Look, isn't this a perfect opportunity? I'd also like to listen to the works of other teachers in your composition department."

"Okay, let's go take a look, since we're here anyway."

Then the two of them walked towards the concert hall. On the way, Joey Wong asked Zhou Yan, "How many concerts like this are there in your school?"

"Yes, there are many kinds of concerts, but they may not be the same as what you imagine. There are graduation concerts every year, and each department has one, and they are divided into undergraduate, master's and doctoral programs. In addition, there are some training class reports, band class concerts, and orchestra weekly concerts and anniversary concerts. Sometimes there are also theme concerts and international exchange concerts. After a while, there will also be New Year's Eve concerts. Learning music is mainly based on practice, and the school certainly encourages students to perform on stage more often."

"Wow, doesn't that mean there are concerts every now and then?"

"Yes, are you still worried about not having any concerts to listen to at the music school?"

"So when you were in school, did you go to concerts whenever you had time?"

Zhou Yan shook his head, "Very rarely."

"Why?" Joey Wong asked curiously.

"Because most concerts are a waste of time." (End of this chapter)