Grassroots lawyers also have their day

On May 1st, Wang Chuan slept until after 9 a.m. He had been singing at a bar the night before and didn't get home until after 3 a.m.

He had originally agreed with Sixth Brother to sing at the bar every night starting May 1st, but the guy who was supposed to perform last night got drunk at a party and blacked out. Sixth Brother called him and dragged him over to save the day.

Just as he was brushing his teeth, his phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was Wei Ping calling.

"Hello! What can I do for you?" Wang Chuan mumbled, his mouth full of toothpaste foam, his left hand holding his phone, and his right hand holding his toothbrush.

"Senior Brother, is the signal bad? What did you just say?!" Wei Ping's voice came from the phone.

Wang Chuan quickly spat out the toothpaste foam in his mouth: "It's nothing, I was just brushing my teeth! What's wrong?"

"You just woke up! Did you stay up all night playing games?" A giggle followed from the other end of the phone.

"No, really no! I went to a bar yesterday! A singer got drunk, and I was dragged in to save the day!" Wang Chuan said guiltily.

Huh? Why should I feel guilty? I didn't do anything wrong! Yeah! What's the point of explaining to her? Wang Chuan felt completely bewildered.

"You promised me last time that you would teach me to play the guitar. You haven't forgotten, have you?" Wei Ping said with a smile.

"Ah!? Okay, but I don't have a guitar right now. I'll definitely teach you once I buy one!" Wang Chuan thought for a moment, and it seemed that he had indeed promised to teach her to play the guitar before.

"It's okay, I have a guitar. I'm fine at home anyway, I'll come over to see you at noon, I'll bring my own guitar!" After saying that, Wei asked Wang Chuan for his address and hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Wei Ping walked out of the room: "Mom, where did you put the guitar that Dad asked someone to buy for me from abroad a few days ago?"

"Oh, yesterday when Auntie was cleaning the house, I saw that the guitar was getting in the way in your room, so I asked Auntie to take it to your practice room on the second floor," Wei Meinu's mother said after thinking for a moment.

Wei Ping had studied dance before, and her father reserved a practice room for her when he was renovating their villa.

Wei Ping's mother perfectly embodies the characteristics of a beautiful woman from Suzhou and Hangzhou: petite frame, slender figure, and although she is over fifty years old, her skin is still delicate.

The signs of aging on her face were left from the time she and her father built their business together. In recent years, with some savings and good skincare, her complexion is fair and rosy, suggesting she must have been a great beauty in her youth. Wei Ping's appearance and figure are clearly inherited from her mother.

Wang Chuan had previously talked to Wei Ping about learning guitar, but he hadn't taken it seriously. Wei Ping, however, remembered it. On the way to pick him up from school, her father overheard her mentioning learning guitar and wrote it down. He then asked a friend abroad to help him choose a good guitar.

The Wei family wasn't short of money, but after becoming wealthy, Mr. and Mrs. Wei felt a growing distance between themselves and their daughter, and they weren't as close as they had been back in their hometown. It's worth noting that Wei Ping had never asked for help since starting university; she even earned her tuition herself by working during winter and summer vacations, and had basically never spent any of her family's money.

Mr. Wei had finally gotten a chance, so he naturally wouldn't let it go. Whether his daughter really wanted to learn or was just saying it casually, a guitar was nothing to the Wei family, but it could strengthen the bond between father and daughter, so Mr. Wei would naturally take it seriously.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wei had a sudden thought. Since his daughter wanted to learn guitar from his colleague Wang Chuan, he felt he should at least offer something in return. Giving tuition was too tacky, and Wang Chuan might not even accept it. He thought it better to cater to Wang Chuan's interests by gifting him a guitar. So, Mr. Wei asked a friend to buy two guitars at once.

Just a few days before May Day, Wei Ping received a holiday gift from her father: two Taylor guitars. One was a Taylor GSMNI-KOA, which was indeed stunning in appearance. Wei Ping fell in love with it at first sight (women are mostly more emotional). The other was a Taylor 914CE, which was a bit larger than the KOA.

Even without her father saying anything, Wei Ping had already made up her mind: she would keep the smaller one for herself to use when learning the piano, and give the larger one to Wang Chuan.

Mr. Wei was happy to see that his daughter liked them. His daughter didn't ask him why he bought two guitars, and he didn't say anything either. He trusted that his daughter would arrange who would own the two guitars.

Around 11 a.m., Wang Chuan was surprised to see Wei Ping appear in front of him carrying a guitar on her back and another guitar in her hand!

"Why did you bring so many guitars? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were moving the music store!" Wang Chuan joked.

"This big one is for you. Don't you not have a zither?" Wei Ping smiled, pursing her lips. "What? Aren't you going to invite me to your house?"

"My place is too small and shabby, I'm afraid you'll laugh at me," Wang Chuan said somewhat awkwardly. "Let's go eat first, it's on me."

The two went to a decent-looking restaurant outside the residential area. Since it was the May Day holiday and most people had gone on vacation to other provinces, and it wasn't mealtime yet, there were relatively few people in the restaurant's main hall.

Wang Chuan chose a relatively quiet spot for Wei Ping to sit down. After asking the waiter for Wei Ping's opinion, he ordered four dishes and a soup, as he couldn't be too stingy when treating her to a meal for the first time.

Wei Ping sat down and smiled slightly: "Let's see how the zither is!"

"Oh! A Taylor 914CE! This guitar is from Taylor, one of the three major international brands: Martin, Gibson, and Taylor. It's not cheap!" Wang Chuan said, adjusting the strings and strumming them a few times. "This guitar is fantastic. I use a Taylor in a bar, but it's far inferior to this one. If you play it for a while, the tone will be even better after it breaks in!"

After putting down his violin, Wang Chuan reached out and took Wei Ping's guitar, saying, "Let me see your violin."

"Hmm, not bad. This KOA is perfect for girls. The sound is fantastic, and it looks beautiful. After playing it for a month or two, the tone will be even better!"

"Open the sound? What does that mean?" Wei Ping, a complete novice at guitar, asked hurriedly.

"What does 'opening the voice' mean? Let me give you an example. Do you own a car?" Wang Chuan thought for a moment and said.

"Yes, there is a car," Wei Ping nodded.

"A newly purchased car needs to be broken in; only after a period of break-in can the car reach its best condition. The same applies to a guitar."

Actually, not all guitars need to be broken in. Plywood guitars don't need to be broken in, but solid-top and all-solid-wood guitars do.

Simply put, "opening up" a new instrument is a process that allows the glued parts to fully break in and the wood to vibrate properly, resulting in a better tone. Common woods like spruce require this process. Generally, a new instrument will have a mellow and full tone after one to two months of playing. Acacia wood may take longer to open up, usually about six months to a year, and sometimes even longer," Wang Chuan explained.