Chapter 34 34. Our Place

At night in Echo Music Store, Du Jiahao grabbed a drumstick in each hand and started banging on the drum set in front of him. When he looked up, he met Xie Kang's dissatisfied eyes.

Xie Kang yelled at him at the top of his lungs, "Stop making noise!"

After spending some time together at the music store, Xie Kang and Zhuang Yongyuan were no longer as wary of Du Jiahao as they had been at the beginning. Although Du Jiahao often threatened to send someone to punish Xie Kang, more than half a month had passed, and not only had Xie Kang not been punished, he had even occasionally enjoyed food brought by Du Jiahao, which Du Jiahao claimed was a gift from the store owners he protected.

Xie Kang often suspected that Du Jiahao bought the things with his own money, and told Zhuang Yongyuan about it privately. Zhuang Yongyuan told him not to always think the worst of people.

Du Jiahao smashed the cymbals hard, and the sharp and piercing sound made Li Xiuyu, who was sitting on the side doing homework and as still as a mountain, cover his ears.

Du Jiahao said proudly, "When I play the drums, it's noisy, but when you play the guitar, it's not noisy?"

The two were about to clash again. This was already the fifth time Du Jiahao and Xie Kang had argued tonight. Li Xiuyu, feeling the need to maintain order, shouted a warning, "Du Jiahao!"

Du Jiahao threw his drumsticks into the air, spun them around, and then swiftly caught them. "So? Regret having me play drums? I'm telling you, it's too late to regret it now. I'm going to follow you and stick with you every day. Don't even think about dating someone else behind my back."

He was talking excitedly, and he stood up and pinched the back of Li Xiuyu's neck teasingly, saying, "Your cousin hasn't come back yet. Maybe she forgot whether there is a room upstairs..."

Li Xiuyu glared at him and said, "You better be careful."

Xie Kang and Zhuang Yongyuan looked at each other. The world of Li Xiuyu and Du Jiahao was still too much for them who were just beginning to fall in love. They would blush and their hearts would beat fast for a long time even if they accidentally bumped into each other.

However, Du Jiahao was the first person who could force Li Xiuyu, who was eager to create chaos, to be careful. After Xie Kang and Zhuang Yongyuan looked at each other, they couldn't help but look at them with interest. While Li Xiuyu was dealing with Du Jiahao, he gave them a look that told them to mind their own business.

Du Jiahao still said in a vulgar tone: "I will tire you to death. If I tire you to death, you won't have the energy to find someone else..." As he spoke, he touched Li Xiuyu randomly.

Xie Kang was jealous and couldn't help but sit closer to Zhuang Yongyuan. His elbow touched him intentionally or unintentionally. Zhuang Yongyuan didn't dodge, so Xie Kang became even bolder and looked at him straight.

"Have you seen enough?" Zhuang Yongyuan said angrily with a red face.

"I can never see enough. I can never see enough." Xie Kang even liked the arc of Zhuang Yongyuan's sleeves rolled up more and more, not to mention his eyelashes, his fingers, and the pointed canine teeth that were faintly visible when he spoke and laughed.

It was the coldest time of winter, but the piano store was far beyond the control of natural laws, and the room was filled with heat.

The wind chimes on the door rang out as Xu Zhen directed several porters to carry several large cardboard boxes into the piano store. Following Xu Zhen's instructions, the workers carefully placed the boxes on a cleared area.

They went up to help Xu Zhen unpack the carton, and took out several speakers of different specifications, a bunch of connecting wires, and a machine full of sliders and knobs.

Li Xiuyu touched the English logo on the speaker and exclaimed, "Xu Zhen, did you pay for all this?"

Xu Zhen took a picture of the speaker with his camera and said, "Yes, I went all the way to Guangdong to buy it."

Li Xiuyu said, "It seems my second uncle is in a good mood recently. I thought that you running this unprofitable and wasteful music store was the limit of his patience, but he is actually willing to pay for you to buy these."

Xu Zhen said disdainfully: "Who told him to force me to return home?"

Xie Kang squatted in front of the unfamiliar machine, turned the knob curiously, and asked, "What is this?"

Zhuang Yongyuan said, "This should be a mixing console."

"What's the use of a mixing console?"

"Each instrument and vocal volume is different, so mixing them together directly doesn't sound good. The mixing console can adjust the volume and timbre of each sound. After tuning, the performance will sound much more comfortable."

"Our Xiaozhuang is really born to be a musician." Xu Zhen said affectionately.

Zhuang Yongyuan touched his nose embarrassedly: "I saw it in a magazine too..." He looked at the speakers next to him and asked, "These should be very expensive, right?"

Li Xiuyu had already begun studying the uses of various adapter cables. As he plugged them into the keyboard, he said, "Why are you worrying about her? She has money but nowhere to spend it."

Du Jiahao picked up the English manual, pretended to look at it for a while, and asked, "How much are these worth?"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone looked at Xu Zhen. Xu Zhen muttered, "I'm spending my own money, why are you interrogating me like a criminal..."

"How much is it?"

"More than two hundred thousand."

Du Jiahao dropped the manual in his hand and said in astonishment, "Fuck, this pile of pitch-black machines is worth over two hundred thousand?"

Xie Kang was also quite surprised. He knew Xu Zhen was rich, but he didn't expect Xu Zhen to be so rich. With more than 200,000 yuan, she could buy a nice car and a two-bedroom, one-living-room house in the city center. But she just casually spent it on an insignificant student band?

Zhuang Yongyuan was the first to say, "This is too expensive. Why not return it?"

"What's the point of returning it?" Xu Zhen said angrily, "Do you know how much trouble it was for me to find someone to order these things and then arrange for logistics to ship them to Pingnan?"

Zhuang Yongyuan said awkwardly, "We're not a professional band, we don't need something so good."

The most expensive service at Zhuangfu's barber shop is the hair straightening machine. The hair straightening machine costs 5,000 yuan, a sum Zhuangfu couldn't afford, so he gritted his teeth and borrowed money to buy it. A hair straightening machine takes an entire afternoon and costs 130 yuan, and people often haggle over the price.

More than 200,000 yuan, enough to buy several Zhenbao Barber Shops, now lies quietly in front of Zhuang Yongyuan, and is about to become his daily necessity.

"What's the point of saying it's necessary or not? I've already bought it..." Xu Zhen noticed Zhuang Yongyuan was nervous as he spoke, soothing his tone. "It's normal for me to buy some professional equipment when I open a music store. It's not just for you guys to use. I can rent it out and make money."

"Just think of it as my investment. You have to share the profits with me in the future. I'm not giving it to you for free."

"Xiao Zhuang, I really think you're very talented. You might even need better equipment than this in the future. There's nothing you can't match."

Xie Kang was the first to notice that Zhuang Yongyuan was about to cry. He quickly tore off a few pieces of paper and stuffed them into Zhuang Yongyuan's hands, patting his shoulder and comforting him: "It's okay, it's okay. If you don't like it, then don't worry."

"It's not that I don't like it." Zhuang Yongyuan didn't want to cry in front of everyone, but he couldn't control himself at all. His nose felt sore and tears rolled out in big drops.

He has cried too many times in the past six months. He wanted to cry when Xie Kang was nice to him, he wanted to cry when he didn't talk to Xie Kang, he still wanted to cry when Xie Kang confessed to him, and now Xu Zhen was nice to him, he couldn't stand it.

Wouldn't a normal person's reaction at this moment be gratitude and joy? Why was he acting like a monster, feeling only fear? If Xu Zhen ever got disappointed with him and told him not to come to the piano shop anymore, or if Li Xiuyu found him annoying, or Du Jiahao thought he was timid, or if Xie Kang no longer liked him, Zhuang Yongyuan would actually be able to relax.

Zhuang Yongyuan couldn't help but think of the day his mother left. Like any other day, the weather was beautiful. It was a Saturday, and he didn't have classes. Zhuang Yongyuan slept in and didn't get up until after ten.

When he woke up, he didn't see his mother and thought she had gone out for something. But she didn't return until dark. He asked Zhuang Fu, but he ignored him. So Zhuang Yongyuan stole a coin, went to the grocery store, and called his mother. "Sorry, the number you dialed is turned off," he said, followed by countless beeps.

My mother left just like that without saying goodbye. She only took away the most important things: her gold ring and ID card. The rest of the things were unimportant to her.

Zhuang Yongyuan opened his wet eyes. Everyone was still there, but each was doing their own thing. Du Jiahao held the instruction manual and insisted that Li Xiuyu teach him to read it in English. Li Xiuyu waved his arms to drive him away and was busy connecting the equipment with Xu Zhen.

His hand was held tightly in Xie Kang's. Xie Kang looked at him with worry and a little panic, at a loss. He kept wiping his tears and occasionally looked at Li Xiuyu and Xie Kang who were adjusting the equipment with curiosity.

Xie Kang leaned too close, and his hair rubbed against Zhuang Yongyuan's face, making it itchy and his body hot.

Zhuang Yongyuan's voice was hoarse after crying, not as bright as when he spoke normally.

"I want an ice cream cone."

"Then let's go eat."

He sniffed and said, "And fries."

"Okay, okay. You think fries with ice cream taste good too, right?" Xie Kang pointed at Li Xiuyu and said, "Don't let them know."

Du Jiahao gave them a strange look, then walked over and said to Zhuang Yongyuan, "Hey, if you don't want to be the lead singer, let me be the lead singer. Damn, I've never used anything worth over two hundred thousand dollars!"

Zhuang Yongyuan asked him nonchalantly, "Who's going to play drums then? The lead singer can't play drums."

"You idiot, I have so many brothers under me, I can just call any strong one!" Du Jiahao said, pulled a chair and sat down next to him, lighting a cigarette.

Zhuang Yongyuan smelled the smoke and frowned. Xie Kang waved his hand to help him disperse the smoke in front of him, then took the cigarette from Du Jiahao's hand, crushed it and threw it into the trash can.

Du Jiahao's hand was still holding the cigarette as he turned to Xie Kang and said, "Don't think I'm joking. I'll have someone come to your school to block you next week!"

Xie Kang ignored him and continued, "Don't act innocent. Li Xiuyu said you two smoked together before."

Xie Kang said angrily, "Why does Li Xiuyu tell you everything?"

Du Jiahao blinked and said dryly, "He wouldn't tell me who he was with yesterday."

He looked at Zhuang Yongyuan, then at Xie Kang, and said, "You can't even bear to let him smell secondhand smoke? You're so considerate."

Zhuang Yongyuan buried his head in his arms and heard Xie Kang say confidently, "Yes, because I like him."

Du Jiahao tapped Zhuang Yongyuan on the head and said, "I don't understand why you are so sad."

Seeing Zhuang Yongyuan didn't react, he added, "Let me tell you some good news. That straight guy, what was his name, Yan Xu? I had some people beat him up, and he couldn't go to school for a week."

Zhuang Yongyuan looked up at Du Jiahao in surprise, but Du Jiahao acted as if nothing had happened and got up to go outside the piano store to smoke.

Zhuang Yongyuan was silent for a moment, then asked Xie Kang, "What time does the McDonald's on Wuhe Road open?"

"Twelve o'clock."

"We still have time to go after rehearsal."

Xie Kang rubbed his head and said, "Then let's finish the rehearsal."

"You messed up my hair." Zhuang Yongyuan complained.

Over there, Li Xiuyu had already assembled the equipment properly. Seeing Zhuang Yongyuan stand up, he waved to him.

"Come here and see how well I pretend!"

Zhuang Yongyuan's guitar was placed on the middle shelf, with a microphone stand next to it.

Zhuang Yongyuan walked over, picked up the electric guitar and strummed it a few times, and the sound of the guitar spread out from the speakers.

It was clearly an instrument he was very familiar with, but Zhuang Yongyuan looked down at the piano and then at the speakers. The sound sounded so unfamiliar.

He pressed the strings, thought for a moment, and then played the prelude to "City." After a few strokes, Du Jiahao returned from a cigarette and sat behind the drum stand to play the drums. He had never learned the ropes properly, so he just played by feel. Xie Kang's guitar was even more clumsy. Li Xiuyu, unsure of the keyboard's purpose in this song, simply followed Xu Zhen's lead, donning in-ear monitors and enthusiastically fiddling with the mixing console.

Their yet-to-be-named band's first performance was completed with such impromptu styling. Zhuang Yongyuan embraced his guitar, a surge of excitement, like the tears that had just flowed, coming without warning. Surrounded by instruments and equipment, he only realized the reason for his excitement much later, thinking back on this moment.

That was the first time that Zhuang Yongyuan felt that he had a place in this world. He had a guitar in his hand, Xie Kang by his side, Xu Zhen believed in him and supported him, and he also had friends. From that moment on, he had become a completely transformed new person.

"Let's take a photo together?" Xu Zhen took the camera with a smile, directed the four of them to stand where they should, set the countdown on the camera, and stood next to Zhuang Yongyuan, making a scissors hand gesture.

The moment the camera automatically clicked the shutter, a flash of lightning suddenly struck the sky, followed by a rumble of thunder. Xu Zhen checked the photo he had just taken. The lightning had caused it to be overexposed, and everyone's face was pale, but it still couldn't hide their joy.

In the photo, only Xu Zhen was looking at the camera intently. Zhuang Yongyuan blinked. Xie Kang was looking at Zhuang Yongyuan with a silly smile on his face. Du Jiahao was blowing a kiss to Li Xiuyu, who was glaring at him.

"How about taking another photo?" Zhuang Yongyuan asked.

Xu Zhen shook her head and said, "That's it. No more retakes." Her tone suddenly became serious, like a possessed shaman proclaiming a prophecy: "There will only be one photo like this."

After taking the photos, everyone practiced for a while without any plan, and then dispersed around ten o'clock and went home.

Xie Kang and Zhuang Yongyuan stood at the entrance of the music store. Du Jiahao had snatched the only umbrella inside. Before them lay the endless downpour. They waited for a long time, but the rain showed no sign of abating.

Zhuang Yongyuan said: "I ran home to get an umbrella..."

Before he could say anything, Xie Kang had already taken off his coat, covered their heads, and dragged Zhuang Yongyuan into the rain. The rain was so heavy that Zhuang Yongyuan felt like he was being tossed around by it.

Xie Kang turned around. The street lights illuminated every drop of rain on him. The raindrops dancing around him were all sparkling, like many fireflies dancing together.

"I want to eat ice cream now!" he shouted to Zhuang Yongyuan, holding Zhuang Yongyuan's hand tightly, and they ran a long way together in the rain.