Chapter 15 15. Oysters

Three days later, in the afternoon, Zhuang Yongyuan went to the piano store to give Xie Kang a lesson when he found the same tuberose in his pocket. The flower had dried up, so he put it back in his pocket, drank some water, and smelled a hint of the flower's fragrance on his fingers.

Xu Zhen went out to give private tutoring, and there were only him and Li Xiuyu in the music store.

Li Xiuyu was putting a disc into the CD player nearby. Without turning around, he asked Zhuang Yongyuan while fiddling with the CD player, "I heard from Xu Zhen that you accepted a student?"

"Well, he'll be here soon." Zhuang Yongyuan said, picking up an old music magazine on the coffee table and flipping through it, but he was a little nervous and couldn't concentrate.

A female voice with guitar accompaniment comes out from the speakers, and those you are attached to are gone.

"Zhang Xuan's new song?" Zhuang Yongyuan looked up and asked curiously.

Li Xiuyu threw the CD cover to Zhuang Yongyuan and said proudly, "I asked someone to bring it back from Hong Kong."

"City." Zhuang Yongyuan read out the name of the album. The singer on the cover was standing on a busy street, slightly raising his head and looking at him.

He carefully examined the cover photo for a while and asked Li Xiuyu, "Where do you think this photo was taken?"

"She's Taiwanese, so it was probably filmed in Taiwan."

"Where is Taiwan?"

"How should I know?"

"There's definitely no place like this in Pingnan." Zhuang Yongyuan put the album on the coffee table, leaned against the sofa, and said, "You'll be able to pass the exam next year, right? Where do you want to go?"

Li Xiuyu said without hesitation: "I want to go to a place where there are many homosexuals and fall in love with many people."

Zhuang Yongyuan smiled and said, "But aren't you already in a relationship?"

Li Xiuyu replied nonchalantly, "That little thug? He was just playing around."

"Why are you like this?" Zhuang Yongyuan frowned.

Li Xiuyu raised an eyebrow and said, "What's wrong with me? Not everyone is as innocent as you."

Zhuang Yongyuan was a little annoyed and said, "I'm not innocent. I just haven't met someone I like."

"Then you will be afraid of ropes for ten years after being bitten by a snake once."

"Don't act like you know me well."

"Then tell me, what kind of boys do you like?"

Zhang Xuan was singing "He uttered a word I was willing to sacrifice" on the speakers. Zhuang Yongyuan stared at the bright yet hazy street scene outside the glass door in a daze for a while.

He thought seriously about Li Xiuyu. The person he liked should be good-looking and have a good temper... But everyone likes such people. What is there that only he likes?

He couldn't come up with an answer. No matter how hard he tried to picture his ideal type, it was just a vague image. He simply said, "Maybe not everyone likes someone else. I'm happy just playing guitar."

A blurry figure emerged from outside the glass door.

"What happiness?" Xie Kang pushed open the glass door and poked his head in, his upper body thick with heat. "Teacher Zhuang, what are you talking about?"

"Xie Kang?" Li Xiuyu said.

"Li Xiuyu?!" Xie Kang said.

"Do you know each other?" Zhuang Yongyuan was surprised.

Li Xiuyu asked Zhuang Yongyuan, "Is Xie Kang your student?"

Xie Kang answered for Zhuang Yongyuan: "Yes, I was his student and paid the tuition."

After saying that, he looked at Li Xiuyu suspiciously: "Why are you here? Do you know Zhuang Yongyuan?"

Li Xiuyu sat down next to Zhuang Yongyuan affectionately, put his arm around his waist and said, "We've known each other for four years. We're good brothers."

Zhuang Yongyuan pushed his hand away uncomfortably and said, "How do you and Xie Kang know each other?"

"Xie Kang?" Li Xiuyu glanced at Xie Kang and said, "I have to know him. His mother and my mother are colleagues in the hospital."

Xie Kang ran to the fan to get some fresh air and shouted, "I'm so thirsty! I need some water."

"Didn't you see the water dispenser next to the speaker?" Li Xiuyu retorted.

"Why are you so fierce?" Xie Kang asked back unhappily.

Zhuang Yongyuan had already taken a glass of cold water and handed it to Xie Kang, muttering, "Stop arguing."

"I don't want to quarrel, it's just that some people have always been compared with me since they were born, and they can never win, so they have a lot of opinions about me and get angry when they see me." Li Xiuyu said nonchalantly.

Xie Kangbai asked, "Are you also learning piano here?"

Li Xiuyu shrugged: "Xu Zhen is my cousin, I often come here to play."

Xie Kang drank the water Zhuang Yongyuan poured, and his tone became calmer. He asked Zhuang Yongyuan, "Is he going to be with us during class?"

"Is it not good for me to be here? I can help Ayuan teach you. I'm not as good at playing guitar as Ayuan, but it's definitely enough for you."

"Do you remember when we were little and we participated in a piano competition together, and you lost to me, so your mother told everyone that you had no musical talent and stopped letting you learn piano?"

Xie Kang pretended not to hear Li Xiuyu's words and asked Zhuang Yongyuan directly: "Are you two familiar with each other?"

"Yes, I am his best friend." Li Xiuyu answered again.

"I'm asking Zhuang Yongyuan, not you." Xie Kang was angry.

"Are you here to learn guitar, or to argue with me?" Li Xiuyu pointed at the wall clock and said, "Your mom doesn't leave you much free time, does she? Don't waste it."

Xie Kang was still angry, but when he looked at the clock, he saw that there was only an hour left before the competition class in the evening. He had to suppress his anger, moved a high chair and sat next to Zhuang Yongyuan.

"Teacher Zhuang, let's start the class." Seeing Zhuang Yongyuan, he felt better.

Zhuang Yongyuan saw Xie Kang, chin propped up by one hand, looking at him expectantly. He felt strangely nervous, so he placed the guitar upright between them. With the guitar in hand, he finally got into the groove, pointing out the various parts of the guitar and teaching Xie Kang how to identify them. Each fret is called a fret, the highest being the first fret, followed by the second and third frets. There are six strings, and the thinnest is the first string.

Xie Kang listened very attentively. He nodded every time Zhuang Yongyuan said something. In order to see Zhuang Yongyuan's explanation more clearly, he moved closer and closer. His hair, which had grown long during the holidays, rubbed Zhuang Yongyuan's cheek several times.

The guitar's structure was simple, and Zhuang Yongyuan spent only ten minutes explaining it. He handed the guitar to Xie Kang and said, "I'll teach you how to hold it."

Xie Kang took the guitar and, imitating Zhuang Yongyuan's movements, held the neck with his left hand and supported the body with his thigh. He said to Zhuang Yongyuan, "I don't think it's right. Can you help me adjust it?"

Zhuang Yongyuan focused on the way Xie Kang held the guitar, and subconsciously reached out to grab Xie Kang's wrist as if he were posing a model. "You need to hold your hand at a natural angle, not tilted..."

He touched Xie Kang's wrist, then pressed his shoulder to adjust his sitting position, without thinking too much about it, until the album in the CD player finished playing and the singing that had been filling the piano store suddenly disappeared. The piano store was so quiet that the only sounds left were the cicadas chirping outside the window, the dogs barking, and the wind blowing through the leaves. Zhuang Yongyuan began to feel something was wrong.

He let go of Xie Kang and hurried over to the air conditioner. Standing in front of the vents, he seemed to be explaining to himself, "It's so hot. I'll turn the AC down a bit."

Xie Kang looked at Zhuang Yongyuan's back and said, "Teacher Zhuang, could you pour me another glass of water?"

As Zhuang Yongyuan took the water, he said, "Don't call me Teacher Zhuang. It sounds weird."

"Then what should I call you? How about I call you Ayuan?"

"Whatever you say, whatever comes to mind." Zhuang Yongyuan didn't hand the paper cup to Xie Kang directly. He just placed it in front of him, took out a piece of paper from his notebook, and said, "Then, then I'll teach you how to play the chords."

On the paper were some basic chord points drawn by Zhuang Yongyuan himself. This time, Zhuang Yongyuan did not teach Xie Kang step by step. Instead, he took a pen and pointed out the places on the strings that Xie Kang needed to press.

Xie Kang pressed down on two strings, and the strings cut into his fingertips. He hissed and said, "It hurts."

"It's always like this at the beginning, but it will get better after pressing it more."

"Won't that cause calluses?" Xie Kang looked at his intact fingertips with heartache.

Zhuang Yongyuan held out his hand to show Xie Kang his fingertips. His fingers were slender and long, with a beautiful curve at the tips, but the skin on his fingertips was covered with a thin layer of calluses.

Xie Kang blurted out: "Does it hurt?"

Zhuang Yongyuan thought he was afraid of the pain and quickly comforted him: "You won't feel it after a while."

Xie Kang touched the rough skin of Zhuang Yongyuan's fingertips and said, "No, I'm asking if it hurt when you were learning the piano."

Zhuang Yongyuan was startled and retracted his hand. He didn't answer the question. After a moment's silence, he said, "Shall I continue teaching you how to play the chords?"

Xie Kang also looked a little restless. He hurriedly pressed the chords Zhuang Yongyuan had just taught him, using the wrong fingers, and Zhuang Yongyuan corrected him. When he changed fingers, he raised his head and met Li Xiuyu's gaze.

Li Xiuyu was sitting on the stairs, a book in his hand, looking at Xie Kang with amusement. Xie Kang turned his head away, pretending not to notice his gaze.

A guitar lesson lasted only forty minutes, and the rest of the time flew by. Xie Kang was rushing to his competition class, and even though Zhuang Yongyuan was willing to teach him a little longer, he didn't have time to stay. He put Zhuang Yongyuan's notes in his backpack and hurried out.

Zhuang Yongyuan walked him to the door. Xie Kang walked down a few steps, turned back and waved at Zhuang Yongyuan, shouting, "Ayuan, see you the day after tomorrow!"

Zhuang Yongyuan looked down at him. It gets dark late in the summer, but it was still bright after five o'clock. He also raised his hand and waved to Xie Kang.

Xie Kang's brisk figure carrying his schoolbag disappeared at the end of the stairs. Zhuang Yongyuan put down his hand and suddenly felt a dull pain in his fingertips.

Ever since Xie Kang asked him if it hurt when he first started learning, this dull pain has come up from time to time. As for whether it hurt at that time, Zhuang Yongyuan couldn't remember at all.