It only takes three hours to get from Lianwan to Landi.
The taxi took Liang Liang all the way to Zhao Fang's building.
Liang Liang had paged Zhao Fang before arriving, so Zhao Fang was already waiting for him at home when Liang Liang arrived.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Liang Liang cut to the chase: "Godfather! Didn't you say you were going to give me several truckloads of timber and two truckloads of steel bars?"
"How much? How many truckloads of timber? Two truckloads of steel bars? How many stories do you want to build?"
"Just build five houses!"
"You have five houses, a truckload of timber, and a truckload of steel bars, but you can't use them all."
"Then we still need to start a fire, right?"
"You want firewood too?"
"It's free anyway, why shouldn't I take it!"
"Believe it or not, I'll slap you so hard you'll never wake up."
"Dare!" Liang Hongyu shouted.
"You old bastard! How dare you hit my godson! I'll never forgive you!"
Zhao Fang laughed heartily.
"I can only give you one cartload of good timber, but if you need firewood, there's plenty. I'll get a long trailer and haul a whole cartload over for you."
A long trailer pulling a cart?
Wow! For the next few years, his family won't have to worry about burning straw or firewood.
"Godmother! Is there any progress on your nightclub project?"
Liang Liang was just asking politely; he figured Liang Hongyu's dance hall wouldn't see any significant development in less than a month.
"The shop has already been rented, with a total area of over 600 square meters, upstairs and downstairs."
Liang Hongyu is really efficient; the shop has already been rented.
How much is the annual rent?
"Take a guess?"
"How am I supposed to guess? I don't know anything about the rental market in your Landi City."
"Fifty thousand! Is that expensive?"
"It seems alright! Not too expensive. For a 600-square-meter apartment, the price in 1994 wasn't too expensive, but it wasn't cheap either."
"On the main street of the city center."
If it's in a prime location, then this price is worthwhile.
"Tomorrow, your godmother will take you to see them. You can do some design work for me. I don't trust the designers in the city."
Isn't this nonsense? You don't trust the professionals, but you believe this mediocre person. What kind of logic is that?
Zhao Xiaoqiao happened to be returning home from school at that moment and was overjoyed to see Liang Liang.
He hadn't forgotten his sworn brother; he had promised to bring him a violin.
Liang Liang, of course, hadn't forgotten, and handed a guitar case to Zhao Xiaoqiao: "This is the solid-top guitar I promised you."
Zhao Xiaoqiao's original guitar was decent, but it was made of plywood.
Plywood guitars are made of relatively inferior materials, have poor resonance, produce a dull sound, and are very prone to fret buzz.
A step up from plywood guitars are solid-top guitars, where the soundboard is made from a single piece of wood, resulting in excellent resonance.
Of course, it's still a level below an all-solid wood guitar.
All-solid wood guitars are quite expensive and are the highest-end guitars, but for a guitarist like Zhao Xiaoqiao, a solid top guitar is sufficient for him now. Giving him an all-solid wood guitar would be a waste.
This Yamaha solid-top guitar was picked out by Liang Liang from a dozen guitars in a music store across from Yangcheng Pacific Audio-Visual Company. It wasn't expensive at just over two thousand yuan.
Zhao Xiaoqiao's eyes practically lit up with excitement; he grabbed his guitar and ran back to his room to play.
A few minutes later, he ran out excitedly.
"Brother! This is so much better than my old guitar. I lost all confidence playing that old guitar, but this guitar gives me back all my confidence."
"This silly child! He doesn't even thank your brother!"
"Thank you, brother!"
"Are Zhang Yu and the others still practicing at the Youth Palace? I promised to bring them some materials back."
"I haven't been there the last couple of days; I went to a small nightclub."
"Hmm! You went to perform?"
That's impossible, right? With their skill level, they could easily cause a scene at a small bar if they performed on stage now.
“A band from out of town came to a nightclub called Blue Moon. Zhang Yu and the others have been going there every day for the past few days. They've gotten to know the band and are saying they want them to perform on stage.”
Should Zhang Yu and the others perform on stage?
If it's just a joke, that's fine, but if it's serious, Liang Liang doubts the other person's skill and motives.
It's obvious that Zhang Yu's band is not qualified to perform on stage. The musicians' skill level and coordination are not up to par. If they were to go on stage, any slight tension would cause them to play terribly.
If that out-of-town band were truly talented, they wouldn't have missed this point. So, letting them perform on stage must mean they have ulterior motives.
They definitely don't have money, but whether they want sex is another story.
After all, their all-female band has several beautiful women.
Zhang Yu, her niece, and the bassist are all quite attractive.
It's nothing new for rock musicians to deceive young girls.
Do you know where that nightclub is?
"I know! I've been there once."
"Let's go take a look tonight."
Liang Hongyu prepared more than ten more plates that night.
"Godmother! Your cooking skills have really exceeded my expectations. I thought you were good enough to cook the food properly, but I didn't expect that you are good enough to be a chef in a restaurant."
Liang Hongyu, beaming with pride at the praise, said, "You don't know what your godmother did when she was young, do you? When I was young, I worked as a chopping board chef at Yipinxiang Restaurant, a famous restaurant in Landi City. I worked there for several years and served several master chefs. I learned by watching, let alone learning from them."
No wonder your cooking is so delicious.
"I definitely want to find a wife who can cook in the future, otherwise, who can stand eating out all the time!"
After dinner, Zhao Fang arranged for two people to use his own half to take Liang Liang and Zhao Xiaoqiao to the dance hall called Blue Moon.
Tickets to Blue Moon cost eight yuan each. Liang Liang bought four tickets, and he, Zhao Xiaoqiao, and the two Zhao Fang's subordinates entered the Blue Moon Dance Hall.
The lobby of this dance hall is estimated to be around 300 square meters, which is considered small for a dance hall.
Besides a small stage, there are about two hundred chairs in rows.
Liang Liang glanced at the chairs and estimated that there were no more than three hundred.
When Liang Liang and Zhao Xiaoqiao entered, it was a little past six o'clock. There were already about a dozen customers in the hall. Someone was singing on the stage with a videotape accompaniment, but the sound effect was so-so.
In a small city like this in the north, back in 1994, the sound quality was so poor that only a professional like Liang Liang could truly appreciate it.
The four of them found a secluded corner in the last row and sat down.
Zhao Xiaoqiao had a strong opinion about where they were sitting; it was too secluded, and they should be sitting in a more central position.
It doesn't matter where you sit in such a small karaoke bar or theater, you can see and hear clearly from anywhere. Even the first row below the stage will have the same effect.
When does your band start performing?
"7:15!"
This is much later than the start time for the band at the maritime cabaret.
The bands at the Southern Dance Hall all start work after 8 PM, and some even start at 9 PM.
So, the Ocean Shipping Ballroom is actually quite ethical.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com