noveldepot Chapter 128 A Song About Family Affection
Chapter 128 A Song About Family Affection
How could a young man in his twenties have such deep emotional accumulation?
What puzzled Zhang Lei even more was Wang Bo's overall demeanor—calm, confident, with clear and firm eyes, unfazed by applause and controversy; the fog that had clouded his eyes had somehow dissipated completely.
"What exactly did you go through?" Zhang Lei murmured to herself.
The fact that she gradually drifted apart from Wang Bo and stopped reading to him doesn't mean she hadn't kept up with his news.
I know he released a few mindless pop songs that nobody listened to, and I know he's not doing well.
Then suddenly, he took off.
Like a cicada that has been dormant for many years, it bursts out of the ground overnight, flapping its wings and making a sound that shakes the sky.
Zhang Lei picked up her phone and opened WeChat.
Her chat history with Wang Bo dates back a long time; her last message was: "I've been busy lately, let's chat next time."
And then there was no next time.
Wang Bo sent her more than twenty messages intermittently, but received no response from her.
He eventually gave up and stopped sending them.
Zhang Lei swiped the screen to view Wang Bo's WeChat Moments.
Updates were infrequent, but they were still updated.
Unlike her, she hasn't posted on WeChat Moments for a year.
Zhang Lei clicked on a photo in Wang Bo's WeChat Moments. It was a photo of Wang Bo and Su Yiyi backstage after the recording of "The Implied Meaning".
Su Yiyi smiled gently, holding a thermos in her hand. Wang Bo turned his head to look at her, his eyes showing a tenderness she had never seen before.
A slight pain shot through Zhang Lei's heart.
It wasn't jealousy, but more like a sense of loss.
What did she miss?
Or rather, what exactly did she give up back then?
At that moment, the agent, Sister Mei, called.
"Leilei, did you watch the show?" Sister Mei's voice was excited. "Wang Bo's song tonight was a smash hit!"
"I understand," Zhang Lei said calmly.
"Also, the company suggested that you could interact with Wang Bo appropriately... Of course, don't be too deliberate, just normal professional exchanges," Sister Mei tentatively suggested.
Zhang Lei was silent for a few seconds: "Let's talk about it later."
After hanging up the phone, she looked back at the tablet.
On the screen, Wang Bo is bowing to the audience, his expression calm and humble.
Zhang Lei suddenly remembered that a long time ago, Wang Bo had told her, "Leilei, one day, I will write a song that many people will remember."
How did she respond at the time?
He seemed to just smile and didn't say anything.
Now, he has done it.
In a way that even she found shocking.
Zhang Lei turned off the tablet and walked to the window.
The dazzling night view of Shanghai made her feel a strange emptiness.
She recalled the lyrics from Wang Bo's song: "Aren't they all old now? Where are they now?"
Is she old? No, she's only in her early twenties, right in the prime of her career.
Where is she?
He has secured a place in the entertainment industry in Shanghai, a city that countless people aspire to live in.
But then she suddenly wondered—if she hadn't left back then, if she had stayed by his side, would the person standing beside him now, sharing all of this, be...?
My phone vibrated again; it was a message from Sister Mei: "By the way, there's a fashion event in Lin'an next month, and they've invited you. Are you going? Wang Bo might be attending too."
Zhang Lei stared at the message for a long time without replying.
Outside the window, the city lights flickered on and off.
Finally, she typed: "Send me the itinerary."
As she pressed the send button, the curiosity she felt about Wang Bo's changes quietly took root in her heart like a seed.
She wanted to know what kind of man that once-familiar boy had become.
Three days before the recording of the fifth episode of "The Voice of China".
Looking at the city night view outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the large apartment, Wang Bo suddenly remembered his father from the original owner's memories, that taciturn man.
Wang Jianhua is an ordinary farmer who occasionally goes to the city to do odd jobs with other villagers. He is a man of few words, but when his son insists on pursuing a career in music, he secretly slips him a crumpled five thousand yuan.
And then there was the car accident two months ago, when the farm tricycle overturned into a ditch, breaking his leg and ribs.
Wang Bo had only recently transmigrated and was busy adapting to his new identity and solving survival problems. He only sent money home and didn't even have time to go back and visit his family.
On the phone, Wang Jianhua's voice always said the same thing: "It's okay, you go about your business, don't bother going back and forth, the travel expenses are expensive."
But now, Wang Bo wants to go back and take a look.
He sat in Zhou Yuji's spacious penthouse. The house was nice, the security was top-notch, the view was unbeatable, and even the air smelled of money—but he always felt that something was missing.
The aroma of braised pork simmering on the stove is gone, as is the perpetually low volume of the television, and the shape of smoke rising in the dim light as Dad silently smokes.
"I need to go home," Wang Bo muttered to himself.
After he finished speaking, he started packing his luggage. Actually, there wasn't much to pack: a change of clothes, a guitar, and nutritional supplements that he had bought for his parents long ago.
The next morning, Wang Bo, carrying his guitar and dragging his suitcase, stood at the entrance of the residential area waiting for a ride-hailing car.
Just then, Su Xiaoxiao called: "Wang Bo, there's a company meeting at 2 PM to discuss the fifth phase of the promotional plan. Don't be late."
"President Su, I need to take leave." Wang Bo looked at the words "estimated wait time 5 minutes" on his phone screen. "I'm going back to my hometown and will be back the day after tomorrow."
There was a three-second silence on the other end of the phone.
"Going back to your hometown? Now? Episode 5 is about to be filmed, and you..." Su Xiaoxiao's voice suddenly rose, "What kind of transportation are you taking? High-speed rail? Bus? Wang Bo, are you stupid? The company has cars! Or at least tell me, and I'll have the driver take you!"
Wang Bo told the truth: "I didn't expect that."
He really didn't expect it.
In my past life, I was used to being independent and handling everything myself.
"You..." Su Xiaoxiao was speechless for a moment, then finally said angrily, "Send me your address, I'll have the driver pick you up, now, immediately!"
"No need, Mr. Su, I've already called a car." Wang Bo looked at the white sedan slowly approaching in the distance. "Besides, I want to go back by myself."
"Go back by yourself? Wang Bo, do you even know who you are now? A popular contestant on 'The Voice of China,' with five million Weibo followers, and you're taking a ride-hailing service back to your hometown alone? What if you get recognized? What if the driver is a pervert? What if..."
"President Su," Wang Bo interrupted her, "I'm just a singer, I'm not that precious."
After saying that, he hung up the phone and got into a ride-hailing car.
The driver, a woman in her forties, glanced at him several times in the rearview mirror before finally asking, "Young man, are you... Wang Bo from TV?"
Wang Bo's heart skipped a beat.
"You're the one who sang 'Blue Lotus'!" The woman excitedly slapped the steering wheel. "My daughter loves you so much! She plays your songs at home every day! Could you sign my autograph? My daughter's birthday is coming up soon!"
Wang Bo breathed a sigh of relief and nodded with a smile: "Okay."
After signing the autograph, the older woman started talking non-stop: "Where are you going? Business trip? Performance? Let me tell you, my daughter is amazing, she studies piano, and she's taking her Grade 8 exam this year..."
While responding to his older sister's enthusiasm, Wang Bo watched the city rushing past the window.
High-rise buildings gradually thinned out, and farmland and low-rise houses began to appear.
An hour later, he got off at the county bus station and transferred to a dilapidated minibus, which swayed and rattled as it drove toward the village.
There was a mixed smell in the minibus—sweat, chicken manure, cheap perfume, and the smell of chive dumplings that someone had brought.
Wang Bo found a seat by the window and sat down, holding his guitar in his arms.
The middle-aged woman sitting next to him stared at him for a long time, then suddenly leaned over and said, "Young man, you're from Wangjia Village, right? You look familiar."
Wang Bo nodded: "Yes."
"Oh my, aren't you Wang Jianhua's son? The one...the one who went to the city to be a singer?" The woman's eyes lit up. "I saw you on TV! In that competition, you sang so well!"
That shout drew the attention of everyone on the bus.
"Is he really Wang Jianhua's son?"
"That guy who sings on TV?"
"He's quite handsome, and looks like his mother when she was young!"
"Old Wang was bragging to me the other day about how his son is doing well in the city, but I didn't believe him..."
Wang Bo, stared at by more than a dozen pairs of eyes, suddenly understood how the monkeys in the zoo felt. He could only smile awkwardly, nod, and say thank you.
After finally getting off the bus, Wang Bo dragged his luggage toward the village.
Previously, every village was connected by a road, but they were all dirt roads. Now, every village is connected by a cement road.
Cornfields lined both sides of the road, and a few two-story buildings covered with white tiles could be seen in the distance, but there were more old red brick houses.
His family is one of them.
The courtyard gate was ajar. Wang Bo pushed it open and saw his father, Wang Jianhua, sitting on a small stool with a pile of peanuts that had just been pulled from the ground in front of him.
One of his legs was still in a cast and fixed with a wooden board, and his other hand was picking peanut vines with limited dexterity.