"Do you know the harmonica?" Hao Zhan was a little surprised. He thought that children of Xiaojin's age should have never seen the harmonica.
The harmonica was popular for a while when he was a child, that is, in the 1950s. Then there was a famine, and most people did not have enough to eat. It was difficult to guarantee their material life, let alone spend time pursuing spiritual life.
Later, everything related to the West was criticized, and musical instruments like the harmonica were nowhere to be seen.
Hao Zhan is one of the lucky ones. His father is a diplomat and he was sent abroad to study early.
This harmonica was bought for him by his mother when he was young. He vaguely remembered spending eight yuan, which was considered a large amount of money at the time.
Jin Bao guessed Hao Zhan's thoughts almost instantly.
She saw the confusion in her master's eyes and had to lie: "My mother has a harmonica. She hides it secretly and doesn't want to throw it away, so I have seen it."
"So that's it. I was thinking you didn't know the harmonica." Hao Zhan's voice was soft.
"Although I have seen it before, I have never heard my mother play the harmonica," Jin Bao said expectantly, "Master, can you play it for me? I really want to hear it."
Hao Zhan hesitated for a while, and seeing Xiao Jin's big eyes filled with hope, he was unwilling to let her down by refusing, so he nodded and said, "Okay."
Jin Bao was so happy that he clapped his hands repeatedly.
Seeing her excited expression, Hao Zhan revealed a gentle, loving and helpless smile in his eyebrows.
He took out the harmonica and gently put it to his mouth, playing a melodious and beautiful music.
Jinbao recognized it almost immediately. The music played by the master was the classic English song "Yesterday Once More".
She pretended that she had never heard it before, and after the master finished playing, she curiously asked: "Does this piece have words? It sounds so good. I want to learn to sing it."
"It has lyrics, but it's just an English song."
"I have studied English by myself before. Although my learning is average, I might be able to learn this song. Can the master write down the lyrics?"
Hao Zhan thought that it would be a good thing for Xiao Jin to learn more English. The books he brought back to China were all original English books. He thought that she would not be able to understand them, so he planned to translate the books word for word and then show them to her.
However, this is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and he is usually too busy to find time to complete such a large amount of translation work.
It would be great if Xiaojin could read those English books by herself.
Hao Zhan thought of this and wrote down the lyrics without much thought, and asked: "Which word can't be understood? Tell me and I will translate it for you."
"Everyone seems to understand it. The lyrics are not difficult."
When Jin Bao said this, Hao Zhan's eyes were filled with admiration, "Then... I'll teach you to sing?"
"OK!"
"When I was young, I'd listen to the radio,
Waiting for my favorite songs (waiting for my favorite songs)..."
Hao Zhan hummed a line, and Jin Bao followed suit.
Then Hao Zhan continued to sing, "When they played I'd sing along (when the song was played, I sang along with it softly),
It made me smile(my face is filled with a happy smile),
Those were such happy times (how happy the time was at that time)..."
His gentle voice was intoxicating, making people's ears tingle when they heard it, and attracted people in other boxes to gather around him curiously.
Hao Zhan was embarrassed to be stared at by so many people. His ears turned slightly red and he stopped singing.
Jin Bao laughed and shouted: "Master, you sing very well, keep singing."
The other passengers immediately echoed, "Yes, yes, it sounds great, and it plays well."
"That's the harmonica, right? I haven't heard anyone play it for many years. It sounds really nice."
"Master, if you're embarrassed to sing, just play the harmonica again. I still want to hear it." Jin Bao said, blinking his big, spiritual eyes.
After hearing what Jin Bao said, Hao Zhan picked up the harmonica on the table and played the tune again.
More and more people were watching, until the flight attendant persuaded them to return to their seats and stop crowding in the aisle.
Hao Zhan put down the harmonica in his hand and apologized to the flight attendant, "I'm sorry, I can't play it anymore."
When he saw Hao Zhan, the train conductor's serious expression disappeared and was replaced by shyness.
"No, it doesn't matter, you can continue to blow, I will maintain order."
"In public places, it is easy to disturb everyone's rest, so forget it." Hao Zhan said.
He put the harmonica back into his bag, took out a thick textbook, and began to read it carefully.
When the interlude ended, Jinbao also started reading.
After watching it for a while, because the melody of "Yesterday Once More" was all in her mind, she hummed it almost subconsciously.
Hearing Xiao Jin humming the song he had just taught, the corners of Hao Zhan's lips rose involuntarily. He tried hard to restrain himself and only raised a small arc.
Regarding his current mood, he thinks it is because teaching smart students can easily give people a sense of accomplishment.
Working and studying with Xiaojin during this time, he was always happy from the bottom of his heart.
Xiaojin is really smart, she has strong learning ability, and she is hardworking and studious.
She memorized the English lyrics after reading them once and could even hum them...
Maybe he could try to get her to read Carlin's book "Total Positivity", which gives applications in analysis, probability theory, differential equations and differential inequalities.
If Jinbao knew what her master was thinking now, she would definitely vomit blood. Being able to sing English songs does not mean that she can understand such complicated professional books!
After the train arrived at Kunming Station, Jin Bao just stepped off the bus and saw someone holding a sign to pick up her master.
They took a bus to Yunda University and were warmly received by everyone including the principal.
"Professor Hao, I have read your paper, and it is such an honor to meet you in person." The teachers rushed to shake hands with Hao Zhan, "Thank you for making a special trip from Jinghai City. I'm so sorry."
"Everyone is a teacher. To educate students, this is what I should do."
After a polite conversation, Hao Zhan responded to the other party's words with a smile on his face. He was gentle and polite throughout the whole process.
Someone noticed Jin Bao and asked, "Who is this?"
Hao Zhan introduced: "Su Jin, my student, is also my teaching assistant."
"Oh, Professor Hao's student, I mistakenly thought she was your lover just now."
"Teacher Liu, what are you talking about? This little girl looks so young, what kind of lover do you think she is?"
"Because Professor Hao is also very young. I didn't expect him to be so young. He looks younger than us. Sorry, I misunderstood."
The principal coughed and said in an awkward tone, "Professor Hao, I'm sorry, we thought you were the only one here, so we only temporarily vacated one dormitory in the school. This..."
Jinbao said: "It doesn't matter. Master, let's live in the school. I'll just stay in the hostel outside."
Hao Zhan's gentle expression became slightly serious, "How can I let you, a little girl, live outside? You live in the school and I live in the guest house."