lcionline Chapter 34 Dad's Wishes
Chapter 34 Dad's Wishes
The days passed by.
The schedule on the wall has become the daily routine for this young couple.
More than a month later.
Liu Qianqian has already mastered the eighteen moves of the Langlang style quite well.
That morning, Chen Lang and Liu Qianqian were practicing their daily basic dance skills in the living room.
Suddenly, the roar of a car engine came from outside the courtyard, echoing throughout the entire compound.
In this day and age, cars are still a rarity.
The sound immediately attracted the attention of the neighbors.
Chen Lang stopped what he was doing and listened intently.
Liu Qianqian's legs were so sore that she took the opportunity to run to the window, look outside, and immediately shouted.
"Younger brother, he's my uncle!"
Chen Lang pulled his leg back, jumped up, walked over and looked down. A Jiefang truck was parked at the entrance of the yard.
Uncle Yao Feng jumped out of the passenger seat and was directing several workers to unload things from the truck.
What was unloaded were several large boxes sealed with wooden crates.
Soon, it piled up into a small mountain at the entrance of the courtyard.
Yao Feng wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked up and saw the two little ones by the window, and waved to them.
"Langlang, Qianqian, come out and see!"
Chen Lang grabbed Liu Qianqian, went out the door, went downstairs, and ran out.
Grandma and Grandpa, Liu Xiaoli was also disturbed and came out of the house.
"Big brother, what is this...?"
Liu Xiaoli looked at the huge wooden boxes with a puzzled expression.
Yao Feng patted the pile of boxes.
"What else could it be?"
"These musical instruments were all brought to Langlang from Guangzhou by Jingfang."
Musical instruments for Langlang? So many!
Everyone was stunned.
Chen Lang remembered that before Shen Jingfang left, he had mentioned to his father that he wanted a musical instrument.
But doesn't this seem a bit too much?
Yao Feng directed the workers to move the boxes into Chen Lang's empty house.
The once spacious living room was now crammed full.
After the workers finished moving their belongings, they paid their bill and drove away.
Only Yao Feng and his family remained, staring blankly at the boxes filling the room.
Liu Xiaoli stared blankly at the box with the names and numbers of musical instruments sprayed on it with paint, along with foreign trademarks.
"Big brother, so many of these... are they all musical instruments?"
Yao Feng took out a shipping order from his pocket.
"See for yourself."
Liu Xiaoli took it.
Grandma and Grandpa also came over to take a look.
The shipping manifest was filled with the names of the items.
One Yamaha grand piano.
One Fender electric guitar.
One Gibson acoustic guitar.
A bass guitar.
A drum set.
Violin, cello, saxophone, flute...
There's a long list below.
Guzheng, pipa, erhu, dizi, xiao, suona...
Finally, there was a synthesizer whose model number I couldn't identify, several Shure microphones, a mixing console, monitor speakers, and a multitrack recorder.
All of them are imported goods, and they are the best brands that can be found on the market in this era.
Liu Xiaoli's hands were trembling.
Just looking at these names, she knew this would cost a lot of money.
Yao Feng found a crowbar and painstakingly pried open the lid of the largest wooden box.
Tearing open the thick foam and velvet wrapping reveals a gleaming black grand piano.
Yao Beina had just come home from school when she saw the piano and her eyes widened in amazement.
She rushed over, carefully reached in to open the keycaps, and touched the keys.
"Wow……"
This is so much prettier than the old upright piano in her house.
She tried pressing a few keys, her face full of envy.
"Your voice is so beautiful."
Yao Feng walked over, pressed each of the several registers to listen to the timbre, and showed a professional's admiration on his face.
"The tone is wonderful, what a beautiful instrument."
Chen Lang pursed his lips, unable to help but mutter a complaint in his heart.
The piano lid isn't even open, and the sound isn't even fully coming out, so how can you tell if it's good?
However, new things always look appealing.
Yao Feng then pried open another long, rectangular box, inside which was a red electric guitar.
He took out the guitar, weighed it in his hand, and examined its craftsmanship closely before letting out a sigh.
"That Jingfang guy..."
He shook his head, unsure whether to be angry or amused.
Looking at all the things in the room, Liu Xiaoli felt a sense of panic.
"Brother, where did Jingfang get so much money?"
"Over the years, all his allowances and subsidies have been sent over without missing a single penny."
Yao Feng put the guitar back in its case and shrugged.
"How would I know?"
"His meager allowance wouldn't even buy the legs of this piano."
"And these things can't be bought with money alone."
"I guess he asked his family or that kid Jin Fei."
He sat on a box that hadn't been opened yet, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it.
"He called me a while ago."
"She said Langlang wanted to learn music and asked me what instruments she needed."
"I told him at the time that we have everything we need at home and that he shouldn't mess around with things."
"But this guy wouldn't listen and insisted that I make a list for him."
Yao Feng flicked his cigarette ash and glanced at Chen Lang.
He said that since his son had finally asked for help, he, as his father, would do anything to get the stars from the sky.
Chen Lang pursed his lips, a strange warmth welling up in his heart.
"What could I do? I just randomly picked a few things: piano, guitar, drums, these are the basics."
"He said he knew, and I thought that was the end of it."
Yao Feng gave a wry smile, looking speechless.
"A few days later, a person from Guangzhou who runs a recording studio called my home."
"They say Jingfang ordered some musical instruments from him, wow..."
"He ordered more than a dozen kinds of erhu alone, including gaohu, zhonghu, banhu, jinghu..."
"That person checked everything with me one by one. I listened to the names of the instruments for more than ten minutes. He even asked me if that was enough, and if not, he would add more."
"I was terrified of him."
Yao Feng took another drag of his cigarette, then threw it on the ground and stomped it out.
"After much persuasion, I finally got him to return all those random things."
"Even so, they still managed to bring over such a huge truckload."
Inside the room, everyone fell silent, unsure of what to say.
But everyone can understand that this is a father who feels guilty and wants to make up for what he owes his son in the only way he can think of.
He doesn't understand music, but he wants to give his son the best.
Yao Feng turned to look at Liu Xiaoli and couldn't help but sigh again.
"Jingfang probably used up a lot of favors this time."
"He wants to make up for all the years he's owed his children in one go."
"He's also showing us that he genuinely supports his son learning music."
Liu Xiaoli looked at the piano and felt a pang of sadness.
She turned her head and looked at Chen Lang.
Chen Lang stood there silently, his lips pursed, but his eyelids kept twitching.
Yao Feng stood up, walked over and patted Chen Lang on the shoulder.
"Alright, stop thinking about it so much."
"This is his heartfelt gift as a father, so just accept it without worry."
"Let's think about where to put these precious things."