Chapter 1 I Want to Learn Music

  At 10:30 on New Year's Eve, inside a small building in Jiacheng City's Juliyuan Villa District.

  Zi Ke sat on the sofa in his own home, waiting for his father's return.

  Time had passed for an unknown period when the big 'gate' finally transmitted the sound of unlocking.

  A man with a big face and a large back of his head walked in. This was none other than Qi Heng's father, Qi Tianming.

  Although Qi Tianming is only forty-five this year, he looks like a man in his fifties.

  Since his wife passed away, Qi Tianming has been raising his son alone, working hard and worrying a lot. Time is unforgiving!

  "Dad!" Qi Hui exclaimed as he watched his father stumble in through the door, drunk.

  Qitian Ming looked at his son standing in front of him, ready to support himself, "Why aren't you sleeping yet?"

  "Dad, I have something to tell you." Qi Hui said as he supported his father up the stairs.

  Qitian Ming waved his hand, full of wine aroma.

  "Let's talk about it tomorrow! I'm a bit tired, don't support me, I can walk! You should go to sleep soon too!"

  "Dad..."

  Zi Ke's mouth was still open, wanting to say something more, but his father had already slipped quietly into the room.

  The heavy sound of the gate, Father's long-standing dignity, combined with his own cowardice in the face of his father, made Qiwei dare not push the door open.

  The words stuck in her heart ultimately didn't dare to say out loud.

  Back in his own room, he looked at the spacious room, empty and hollow.

  Zi Ke casually opened the home stereo in the room and put a U2 CD inside.

  Turned down the volume but didn't put on headphones.

  Afraid of disturbing father's sleep.

  On the other hand, I also hope Father can hear it, so that when Father comes in to scold me, I can tell Father about my worries.

  Bono's sharp and magnetic voice filled the entire room.

  Closing his eyes, Qi Hui began to ponder how to approach his father more appropriately.

  Zi Ke is sixteen years old this year, he didn't get into high school after graduating from junior high school, now he is re-reading the third year of junior high school.

  On the sixth day of the first month, the last semester is about to begin, but Qi Hui doesn't want to continue anymore.

  Since he was a kid, Qi Ke has been learning piano, which seems to be a must for every rich second generation.

  Actually, Qi Huan's family was very poor before he was five years old. However, in the year he turned five, his father Qi Tianming resigned from a state-owned factory job that was enviable but had low wages and started doing business.

  In that era where gold was everywhere, Qi Tianming became rich overnight and became a legendary figure in Jia City.

  That same year, with Qi Hui's improved material life, all sorts of tutorial classes followed one after another: English, piano, violin... even before starting school, he was already burdened with many courses.

  Ziqi has always been a good child at home, excelling in all aspects of learning. From the first grade onwards, he represented his school in various English speech competitions, piano competitions and violin competitions.

  At that time, Qi Hui didn't understand, so he followed his parents' path all the way.

  It wasn't until four years later, when nine-year-old Qi Hui lost his beloved mother, that everything began to change.

  After his mother died of stomach cancer, his father became a different person, busy outside all day and never returning home, getting drunk every night.

  His father's business was getting bigger and bigger, while Qi Ke's inner rebellion was gradually coming.

  At the age of ten, Qi Hui began to come into contact with popular music, started daydreaming about holding a guitar and wandering around, and secretly took the money for learning violin to buy a guitar to learn.

  This school is five years, and Qi Tianming doesn't know at all.

  Now, Qi Hui thinks he has grown up and is no longer that ignorant kid.

  It just so happened that it was Qi Hui's birthday on New Year's Eve, and he spent the evening alone at home, with the family's nanny also returning to her hometown for the holiday.

  The dark room had only Zhai Wei alone, accompanied by U2's voice.

  At this time, Qi Hui made a decision, he would no longer attend school, but instead learn music on his own.

  What was thought to be an easy decision, when it came time to say it out loud, I hesitated again.

  It's been over six years since I last had a good conversation with my father.

  I remember the last time I talked with my father was on the evening of mother's funeral.

  His father sorrowfully told Ziqi Wei to be strong, to be independent, and from now on he would have to take care of himself. He would also have more things to rely on himself for.

  From that day on until now, for so many years, the conversations between father and son have never exceeded five sentences.

  "Isn't it always 'do you have enough money to spend' or 'how's it going lately'?"

  It always ends with Father's "Alright then!"

  So this time dropping out of school to learn a trade was something Qi Hui found hard to bring up.

  The next morning, Qi Hui got up from the floor, U2 had been playing all night. Qi Hui turned off the speaker, stretched and yawned, and walked out.

  The air conditioner and floor heating made Qiwei feel quite comfortable. When he went downstairs, he saw his father reading the newspaper while drinking milk.

  "Dad... good morning!"

  Zi Ke walked up to the dinner table, hesitating about whether to speak out, but ultimately didn't say anything.

  "Get up!" Qitian Ming still stared at the newspaper, "Wash and come over for breakfast."

  Qí Kuì took a glance at the breakfast on the table, which was takeout from Pizza Hut, and couldn't help but furrow his brow. He still preferred to eat wontons and similar foods in the morning.

  "Dad! I want to drop out of school!"

  After holding back his strength and saying it out loud, he suddenly felt refreshed all over.

  "What's wrong?"

  Qī Tiān obviously didn't expect his son to want to drop out of school, and immediately put down the newspaper, staring at Qī Huì.

  Zi Ke's heart was already clear and open, so he simply let it all out.

  "Dad, I want to learn music!"

  "Let's go!" said Qitian Ming without hesitation.

  Zi Ke's heart was filled with great joy, he didn't expect his father to be so open-minded and agree.

  But the next sentence made Qi Hui's heart like an ice cave, and his face was ashen.

  "It's not a waste that you've been learning piano and violin since primary school, it's also necessary to learn music, however... you must finish high school first, then take the art student route to take the art college entrance exam. Of course, if you can get into a music academy affiliated high school in your middle school exams, that's okay too!"

  "I don't want to study anymore, I want to go to art school. With my current mindset, there's no way I can take the college entrance exam!"

  "Then you should adjust your attitude! It's not easy for me to spend money on your middle school education, is it? This is a provincial key middle school, and you're not studying hard. Retaking classes has also cost a lot of money, you don't even know how to cherish it!"

  Qitian's words were stern and severe, and Qi Hui couldn't bear to show weakness, so for the first time he spoke with indignation:

  "Money, money, money! You only care about money. If you hadn't been so busy making money and taken better care of mom back then, she wouldn't have left us so early!"

  "Slap!" Zhi Tianming slapped a palm on Zhi Kuai's face, saying with a pained expression: "No money, what do we have now?"

  Zi Ke turned his head away without making a sound.

  Qitian Ming saw his son like this, and said with a pained heart: "Your mom back then, it was because of the hardship during childbirth that she didn't eat well while sitting for a month, which led to her stomach illness. Your mom endured for nine years, I worked hard every day to earn money, what was it all for? You don't understand anything! Both you and I are responsible for your mom's death, I'm telling you this so that you can understand, today's life, the money we have now, were all exchanged with your mom's life!"

  It suddenly dawned on him that this was the true state of affairs, and he felt a twinge of inferiority and despair about his own dreams.

  "Study hard and don't daydream! I'm leaving first!"

  After Zhitian Ming finished speaking, he stood up and left home.

  Zhi Kai sat stupidly in front of the dinner table, unable to let go for a long time.

  When the truth comes out, I am powerless.

  Qī Huì went upstairs and walked into his father's study, next to the tall bookshelf was a black eight immortals table that clashed with the modern decor of the room.

  Qī Huì knelt in front of the octagonal table, his eyes red and swollen as he gazed at his mother's portrait on the table, his lips pursed in grievance.

  She lit three incense sticks and muttered: "Mom, what should I do? What can I do?"

  In the portrait, mother's smile is so kind and gentle, as if encouraging Qi Xue to bravely pursue his own dreams.

  Next to the portrait are two trophies, which are the silver trophy for the amateur group's popular singing in the 86 Youth Singing Competition and the bronze trophy for the professional group's popular singing in the 88 Youth Singing Competition that mother won.

  The high-pitched treble clef on that trophy symbolizes flying high and also makes Qi Lei feel like it's a revelation from his mother.

  I still remember when I was a kid learning piano, my mother told me that I must become an outstanding musician.

  This was his mother's dream, and later became Qi Wei's dream.

  However, with the confusion and rebellion of youth, Qi Ke came into contact with rock music.

  This makes Qi Hui feel that music has no borders, music has no categories, as long as it reaches the peak, regardless of what type of music, can become a musician, artist.

  Qī Huì quietly opened a small box beside the Eight Immortals table.

  There is a photo album in the box, and Qikai has seen his father pick it up and flip through it countless times.

  Thoughts of mother, father and son are similar, Qi Ke rarely looks at it, because every time he picks it up, it's like a whip, whipping himself.

  There are many photos of mother's youth on stage in the album.

  At that time, the stage was still simple and crude, the singer used a wired microphone, and behind him was a red curtain.

  Above is pasted XX evening party and other big characters, next to the audio amplifier equipment is very simple, the band is just four pieces.

  Qí Huì stroked those photos as if he was stroking his mother.

  This feeling has never appeared again since I was nine years old.

  "Mom..." Qi Hui burst into tears, feeling so vulnerable at this moment.

  After a long silence, Qi Hui put his mother's photo album back in its original place.

  At this time, Qi Hui suddenly discovered a box that had never been noticed before.

  To be exact, this little box wasn't originally here.

  That was a cassette tape with the name of my mother written on it: Liu Hong!

  Zhi Kei had never seen this cassette tape before, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.

  Could this be what Mother left behind before she passed away? Or is it a song that Mother recorded previously?

  He himself had never heard his mother sing on stage, but Qi Hui knew that his mother loved singing.

  And often hummed in his own ears, but now can't remember.

  Zhi Kai messed around at home for half a day and finally found an old tape recorder in the storage room on the first floor.

  This tape recorder is a Yanwu brand, but Qi Wei has never heard of this brand and doesn't know if it can be used or not.

  Back upstairs in the study, Qi Hui inserted the tape into the recorder and plugged it in, beginning to listen.