Chapter 75: Strange Reason
When Wang Heng and Fu Hanwen walked into the bar named Casablanca, Pei Ningle was holding a guitar, playing and singing, reaching the chorus climax of a song.
“If there is an embrace,
Bravely without regard for the cost,
Don’t let me fly,
Gently nurture me…”
In the bar, the young girl’s singing voice and the sound of the zither echoed; besides that, there was almost no other sound.
The original accompaniment for this song was much more complex, but Pei Ningle found a guitar accompaniment score arranged by someone else online, and then played and sang it herself with the guitar. Of course, the guitar was definitely not bought; it was lent to her by the bar owner, Yan Zitao.
As the song ended, one part of the bar was immediately filled with applause, interspersed with whistles and cheers.
After ordering two introductory cocktails from the waiter, Fu Hanwen and Wang Heng sat in a relatively corner spot. From here, they could see the young girl’s small face on the stage, but her gaze could hardly penetrate the crowd to see Wang Heng in the shadows.
Fu Hanwen couldn’t help but complain, “Is this still a bar? This has turned into a concert venue!”
Wang Heng estimated the customer traffic and laughed, “For the boss, it doesn’t matter. As long as you sit down, you have to pay for drinks. After finishing one, it’s awkward to keep staying here, right?”
At this moment, the waiter brought two cocktails and placed them in front of the two men, then turned and left with the tray.
Fu Hanwen looked at the wine cups and even measured them with his hand.
“Aren’t these cups a bit small? And they didn’t even fill them for me!”
Wang Heng picked up his cup and took a small sip, calmly saying, “Bars are like this. Filling it up? Why don’t you drink straight from the bottle?”
Fu Hanwen also picked up his wine cup and took a sip: “It tastes quite good… but this way of selling is too profitable, isn’t it? Such a small amount of wine, not filled to the brim, with ice cubes inside, how much profit is there in one cup?”
Wang Heng, who was involved in the profit, smiled without speaking.
After singing one song 《, Pei Ningle took a short rest, drank some warm water, and continued with the next song.
Wang Heng sat there, sipping his cocktail, listening to the young girl’s singing and the occasional applause and cheers from the surroundings, with a contented smile on his face.
Suddenly, Fu Hanwen asked, “Why do I feel like you’re smiling like an old father watching his daughter grow up?”
Wang Heng: “…An illusion, just appreciating music.”
“I’m also appreciating the music, and my expression isn’t as strange as yours,” Fu Hanwen finally finished his drink in one gulp, exhaling. “The more I listen, the more I feel this drink money is worth it. The sound effects and atmosphere in the bar are good. Thinking about typical artist concerts, the prices are much higher than this, and they don’t sound as good!”
After Fu Hanwen sincerely finished his thoughts, not long after, a waiter from the bar approached them.
“Sir, would you like another one? You came with that flyer, so you can enjoy a special discount, 30% off your second drink.”
Fu Hanwen froze for two seconds and said blankly, “Then… another one?”
“Certainly, sir. I’ll bring the menu right over.”
The waiter nodded, smiled, and turned to leave.
Fu Hanwen maintained his stunned expression and slowly turned to Wang Heng.
Wang Heng couldn’t help but laugh, “This drink money is really worth it, right?”
Fu Hanwen made no sound, but judging by his lip movements, he was clearly saying – Holy crap!
Wang Heng: “It’s alright, I’ll treat tonight’s drinks, rest assured and drink up. Another one is fine too.”
Fu Hanwen: “You’re treating?”
Wang Heng: “My salary just came in, I can afford this.”
Fu Hanwen immediately started applauding, “Amazing, Teacher Wang!”
Wang Heng waved his hand, signaling Fu Hanwen to stop praising him. In fact, even though his salary had come in, Wang Heng didn’t want to spend money carelessly, like on drinks costing tens of yuan per cup. But who was to say this was Yan Zitao’s place, and he was also involved in the revenue share? It was one thing for his roommates to be in the dark, but if Fu Hanwen had to spend too much on living expenses here, he would feel truly embarrassed.
After sitting in this spot for more than half an hour, Pei Ningle’s performance finally ended.
Fu Hanwen drank his second glass of wine very carefully, enduring until now with only the last few drops remaining. He tilted his head back, swallowed the last few drops, put down his cup, and said, “Let’s go!”
Wang Heng shook his head, “You go first, I want to sit here a bit longer.”
Fu Hanwen: “The girl is already off stage, why are you still sitting here?”
Wang Heng touched the cool wine glass, “I don’t have class tomorrow anyway, I want to have a drink and stay a bit longer. I’ll pay the bill, you can just leave. I’m going to order another one later.”
Fu Hanwen: “Alright… you won’t get drunk, will you? Like Xiao Tang?”
Wang Heng looked both amused and exasperated, “My alcohol tolerance isn’t that funny!”
“Then I’m leaving…”
After standing up and taking two steps, Fu Hanwen was still a little uneasy. So he grabbed a nearby waiter, left his mobile phone number, and told the waiter to call him if his roommate got drunk, before leaving the bar.
After his roommate left, and seeing that there were fewer customers around and no familiar faces, he called the waiter and said, “Pay the bill.”
The waiter smiled, “Brother Tao said that you are a lifelong VIP of our establishment, all consumption is 30% off, and you can put it on your tab without paying on the spot.”
Wang Heng also smiled, “He even gave that instruction… Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
The waiter glanced around, lowered his voice, “Brother Tao also said to absolutely not reveal your VIP status to anyone.”
Wang Heng gave him a thumbs-up, “Okay! Then take me to see Xiao Le.”
This experienced waiter was clearly an informed person. He led Wang Heng to the lounge next to the back kitchen, opened the door, and silently walked away.
The lounge was not large, but it had a dressing table and a sofa for resting, which could be considered sufficient to meet the needs of performers.
Pei Ningle was sitting on the sofa, with a notebook spread on her lap, a pen in her hand, frowning in deep thought.
Wang Heng closed the door and casually asked, “What are you thinking about?”
Pei Ningle looked up at him. Her expression didn’t lighten; she was still frowning, “I’m writing a song.”
“Oh, I guess a large sum of income is about to arrive, and I thought you were happy about that.”
After Wang Heng finished speaking, he saw that the girl’s expression became even more serious. Seeing the situation, he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
During the first playthrough, on the day of her confession, she had a similar expression, right?
This could no longer be described by a simple 【.
However, the words the young girl spoke the next moment immediately relieved the burden on his chest.
“I think I want to call my parents now.”
It was a relief, but it was immediately followed by puzzlement.
Wang Heng couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you want to tell them?”
“I want to prove to them that I can earn money by singing now. And, I want to complete this melody.”
The girl’s first reason was easy to understand, but the second was quite puzzling. Although her parents taking her away would be very beneficial to Wang Heng, he still had to ask another question at this moment.
Wang Heng: “Writing a song and calling your parents, what’s the relationship between the two?”
————
Finally done… asking for recommendation tickets…
