Chapter 23: Being Pretty is Enough

  The shop owner smiled kindly at the young man's self-boasting and took out a white, leaf-patterned, abstract handgun-like thing from the nearby musical instrument cabinet.

  "Give it a try!" The shop owner smiled and handed over the abstract handgun.

  Tang Menglong's eyes lit up as he looked at the abstract handgun, focusing on the few English letters at the bottom. He took it over and smiled, "This is a product of the Budurio workshop, right? I've heard that buying instruments from there usually requires custom orders!"

  The shop owner was also surprised at this moment, but after a while, he laughed and said: "I didn't expect you to be a real expert, I thought you were just joking earlier!"

  Tang Menglong shrugged, then wiped the mouthpiece of the flute and put it to his lips. After taking a deep breath, he began to play softly.

  As soon as this sound appeared, the boss's eyes lit up. This is a master at work, and you can tell if it's good or not just by looking at it.

  In fact, Tang Menglong's musical instruments only have two pieces. One is a very ordinary guitar that is not particularly proficient, and the other is a clay flute. If the guitar is just casual play, then the clay flute is his true favorite instrument.

  As his fingers lightly pressed, a refreshing and elegant melody with a hint of sadness flowed out, but only for twenty seconds or so. The mall customers who had just been attracted over let out a regretful sigh, because Tang Menglong had already stopped playing.

  "Not bad!" Tang Menglong smiled, looking very satisfied.

  The boss smiled and said, "You're not bad either! 'Hometown Scenery' is a famous song by Sojiro, and at your age, you can already play with such flavor. It's really admirable! My name is Li Chengguo, let's be friends!"

  Looking at Li Chengguo's outstretched right hand, Tang Menglong also smiled and shook hands, saying: "Tang Menglong!"

  "Then I'll call you Meng Long, don't mind, right?" Li Chengguo replied with a smile.

  Tang Menglong nodded and looked at Li Chengguo's slightly bald head, smiling: "Although I really want to call you uncle, but I think it's a bit awkward for men to address each other like that!"

  Li Chengguo was taken aback and asked curiously: "Then what do you want to be called?"

  "Baldy!"

  ＃

  "Hey, hey! This title is a bit too casual!" Li Chengguo shouted out in exasperation, not really angry, but calling him "bald head" was indeed somewhat impolite.

  Tang Menglong directly stretched out his hand, patted his shoulder and smiled: "Bald brother, why are you so polite? Since we're all friends now, you can also give me a nickname. I'm not Korean, I don't mind these things!"

  Lee Sung-kuk was speechless, no wonder he thought this kid's Korean was a bit strange, and assumed he came from another region to Seoul, but his Seoul dialect wasn't very standard. It turned out that he didn't expect him to be a foreigner.

  "Alright, have it your way! But don't call me that in front of others, people will gossip!" Li Chengguo replied somewhat helplessly.

  Tang Menglong was taken aback, not expecting Li Chengguo to be so easy-going, and he also had a bit of a good impression in his heart. But there's a saying that goes like this, it seems to be "to slap someone on the face with their nose".

  "Bald uncle, since we're friends now, can you give me a discount on this flute?"

  Li Chengguo was so shocked by these words that he almost bled from anger, and then shouted: "Ah! You're also too shameless!"

  Tang Menglong shrugged and didn't mind, the two of them scolded each other with laughter for a while, then started chatting.

  It wasn't until later that Tang Menglong found out that Li Chengguo was not a master of musical instruments, but rather he used to be a lawyer when he was young and made a lot of money. After going bald, he retired early, mainly because he was tired himself, and also because he liked those heart-shaking ancient music, so he chose to open a music store here to pass the time.

  "Moon Dragon! You're not kidding, are you? You're the Minister of Security for SBS?" Seated at a wooden table inside the store, Lee Sung-kuk exclaimed in surprise, holding his tea.

  Tang Menglong nodded and smiled: "Right, Bald Brother, do you have any friends who are good at playing folk guitar? When I'm on the song program later, I'll still need a guitar accompaniment! One person taking on three jobs is a bit too troublesome!"

  Li Chengguo knew that he had made a bet with the Infinite Challenge team, so he asked somewhat speechlessly: "Didn't you even choose the song for competing with them properly, how can you start planning what to do after winning?"

  "Justice will prevail!"

  Li Chengguo was almost shocked by this sentence and finally gave a thumbs up to Tang Menglong, saying: "You win!"

  Tang Menglong nodded in satisfaction and asked seriously after a while: "Honestly, does Cheng Guo have any acquaintances?"

  Li Chengguo thought for a moment in his mind, and suddenly he thought of one. Then he asked uncertainly: "Meng Long, are you sure you can finally participate in the popularity song? I don't want to introduce friends to you, only to find that they can't get on stage later, and accompany you in vain!"

  Tang Menglong took a sip of tea and continued to say in a domineering tone: "If the PD of 'People's Song' doesn't let me go on stage, I'll make sure that during the live broadcast of the final episode when they announce the first place winner, their electricity will be cut off. After all, the security department is under my control, let's see what they can do about it!"

  "Pffft!"

  Li Chengguo spat out a mouthful of tea directly onto the ground, this phrase is really awe-inspiring.

  "Wait a minute, I'll make a call. Her guitar skills are pretty good, but whether she can meet your requirements, I'm not sure. If not, you can help teach her, just as a favor to me!" Li Chengguo said after taking out his phone after resting for a while.

  Tang Menglong looked at him strangely and said: "Then who did you introduce me to?"

  "There's a girl who wants to be a singer, apparently she's a trainee from some company! She often comes to this music market, although she studies folk guitar, but sometimes also browses these music stores. Once she came to my store and chatted with me, it turned out her dad's name is Li Chen Guo, isn't that fate? So I got to know her, she's a pretty good kid. If there's really an opportunity to perform on stage, I hope you can bring her along, just as a favor to your old brother. Although her guitar skills, I think they definitely won't reach the level of evoking emotions like you said, but it's still decent and has some potential!" Li Cheng Guo said a lot, then looked at Tang Meng Long with some expectation.

  But Tang Menglong's response was very simple.

  "Is that girl pretty?"

  "Not bad!"

  "Alright! I promise!"

  Are you kidding me? Li Chengguo thought so, but didn't say it out loud.