Chapter 47 47. Oh, hold a guitar and scream loudly

Zhuang Yongyuan pursed his lips and said to Du Jiahao, "You remember Li Xiuyu? I thought you had long forgotten about such a person."

He scoffed, his tone sarcastically saying, "I'm surprised you still remember us."

Xie Kang pulled Zhuang Yongyuan under the table, meaning to tell him not to be so aggressive. Zhuang Yongyuan pulled his hand away and stared at Du Jiahao.

Du Jiahao has long lost the carefree, frivolous vibe he had as a teenager. He now has a neat buzz cut and, at first glance, even seems a bit humble and submissive. However, his tone of voice is quite aggressive: "You come to our restaurant every day and dine for free. I can't help but recognize you."

"Boss Du is so busy, I can't meet him even if I come here every day."

Du Jiahao answered fluently: "We are preparing for a branch and looking for locations everywhere."

Zhuang Yongyuan's eyes refused to let him go. He shrugged and said, "Why are you looking at me like that? Are you blaming me for disappearing without saying hello?"

Zhuang Yongyuan remained silent, and Du Jiahao continued on his own, "Zhuang Yongyuan, you're not just a teenager anymore. You're a successful person now. Why are you still trying to act like this? I'm just playing around with you kids, but you're acting like we're sworn brothers, fighting against the same enemy for the rest of our lives?"

"When you're old enough, you should just break up. You don't understand this principle, but Xie Kang does. If you can't understand, let him teach you."

Xu Zhen interjected, "You're only three or four years older than them."

Du Jiahao glanced at her, but he couldn't bring himself to get angry with her. The atmosphere became increasingly tense. At this time, the waiter came in to serve the drinks. He first placed two large ice buckets on the table, then brought a few buckets of beer, including a bottle of Kinmen Kaoliang 58. He asked Du Jiahao, "Boss, do you want the kitchen to stir-fry a few dishes?"

Du Jiahao asked everyone in a bad mood: "Order what you want to eat quickly."

Zhuang Yongyuan lowered his head to play with his mobile phone, ignoring him. He seemed very busy and repeatedly put the phone to his ear to listen to the voice message. Here, Xie Kang and Xu Zhen gathered together, whispering and discussing. They ordered fried instant noodles and a bunch of barbecue, and also ordered a few frozen conchs as a cold dish.

After the waiter left, the only sound in the room was the voice playing on Zhuang Yongyuan's phone. Xu Zhen cleared his throat and asked Du Jiahao, "How long have you been running this shop?"

"It's been almost two years." Du Jiahao poured four glasses of beer, handed the last one to Zhuang Yongyuan, and placed it heavily in front of him. The foam swayed and overflowed from the rim of the glass, and the glass was dripping with beer.

Zhuang Yongyuan looked at him provocatively and drank one-third of the beer in one gulp.

Xu Zhen continued to ask: "What about before that? Where were you?"

Zhuang Yongyuan interrupted Xu Zhen and asked directly, "Where did you go after Li Xiuyu died?"

Du Jiahao said rudely: "Who are you to me? Do I have any obligation to explain to you?"

"Yeah, I forgot you're married and have kids now. You're no longer the same as us."

Zhuang Yongyuan's expression was unusually full of anger. He glared at Du Jiahao and threw the wine glass hard to the ground. Unexpectedly, the wine glass was of high quality and did not break, but only rolled a few times on the ground.

"Zhuang Yongyuan!" Xie Kang called out, signaling Zhuang Yongyuan to calm down with his eyes. He then squatted down to pick up the cup from under the table. Finally, he said to Du Jiahao, "We used to be friends in a band together. We're just worried about you. That's all."

Du Jiahao sneered: "Xie Kang, you are very steady now, as if your personality has been reversed with Xiaozhuang's."

He blew smoke in Zhuang Yongyuan's direction. "Did you catch Xie Kang's bad temper? When I first met you, you were like a kitten, hiding behind Xie Kang and not daring to speak."

"Don't worry, I've made a name for myself now." Du Jiahao put out his cigarette in the crystal ashtray on the table. "Unlike some people who can be all talk and laughter one day and then jump from a dozen floors the next."

The waiter came to serve the dishes again. Xie Kang and Xu Zhen helped to clear the clutter on the table and placed a few plates of grilled skewers in the middle of the table.

Xu Zhen took a skewer of roasted pork belly and said as he took a bite, "I went to see Li Xiuyu this morning and didn't dare let his parents know."

"Why are you calling them so formal? They are just your second uncle and second aunt." Du Jiahao said.

Xu Zhen shrugged: "We haven't been in touch for a long time."

She ate roast duck gizzards, gulping down wine while unbuttoning two buttons on her cashmere sweater. She said, "Every month, the couple calls my mom and my husband, scolding me for killing my cousin and saying they're not afraid of retribution for having a child."

Zhuang Yongyuan said, "If they have the fortitude, why not go to the entrance of the martial arts school and hang a banner and sue them to death?"

"What's the use? He didn't die in the martial arts school." Du Jiahao rolled his eyes. "How stupid! If it were me, even if I couldn't think straight, I would still take those idiots from the martial arts school with me."

"His parents personally sent Li Xiuyu to the martial arts school. If they admit there's something wrong with the school, they're admitting there's something wrong with them." Xie Kang wrapped some lettuce around the barbecue and handed it to Zhuang Yongyuan. "How many parents would think there's something wrong with them? When your dad was dying, he was still calling you unfilial."

Du Jiahao looked up at Zhuang Yongyuan and asked, "Is your father dead?"

"When did it happen?" Xu Zhen frowned.

"Second semester of my junior year." Zhuang Yongyuan was drinking. Xu Zhen patted him on the back. Zhuang Yongyuan said, "It's great. He and I are both free."

"Then you are all alone now." Du Jiahao said gloatingly.

Zhuang Yongyuan retorted, "Du Jiahao, don't you businessmen all believe in making money through harmony?"

"There's no point being nice to people who dine and damage the tableware in the restaurant."

The fried instant noodles arrived. Zhuang Yongyuan picked up a handful with his chopsticks and ate it with his wine. The others also ate, and the room was filled with the sound of chopsticks clacking against dishes.

The four of them seemed very hungry and kept eating and drinking. Several bottles of wine were poured on the table, and brown oil was slowly dripping from the bottom of the plates.

"Are you tired?" Xu Zhen suddenly asked. She wasn't addressing anyone in particular, so no one responded immediately. Only Zhuang Yongyuan said after a moment, "It's different from what I thought."

Xu Zhen brushed his messy hair and said, "What do you think it looks like?"

Zhuang Yongyuan first scolded Du Jiahao fiercely: "Bring a few more bottles of wine, you have no sense at all." Then he said: "It depends on the time."

He murmured, "Before Li Xiuyu committed suicide, I thought we would always be together. Before Xie Kang passed away, I thought Lily Heart was a band with two lead singers. Two months ago..." Zhuang Yongyuan's voice began to choke up. "Two months ago, I thought I would keep singing, but I stood on the stage and couldn't make a sound."

He lowered his head, almost lying on the table, and muffled his last words: "Xu Zhen, Teacher Xu, you misjudged me. I can't do it. I'm afraid to stand on the stage now. I can't do it. I'm finished."

Zhuang Yongyuan didn't open his eyes, but before him was a distorted, chaotic light, as if the strange and chaotic things he had missed in Guanluoyin had been delayed and reappeared here. He listened to everyone's breathing. The footsteps outside the box grew louder and louder, like the beat of a drum, following the rhythm.

He hated everyone here: Xie Kang, Xu Zhen, Du Jiahao, and even Li Xiuyu, who he didn't know if was present. But he couldn't explain what he hated. He was always like this: one day he thought he had figured himself out, and the next day he had no idea why he loved or hated someone, and he had no special feelings for anyone.

Xu Zhen was no longer like before, saying without hesitation, "I know you're the right material." Her breathing became disordered, and the second one started crying, saying, "Is it because I didn't take good care of you that this is happening now?"

"But I don't understand. I've been living a good life since I got married. No, more than good, I've been very good. I can't find anything wrong with it."

"The more this happens, the more scared I get. Maybe I should have taken this path a long time ago. My playing the piano and letting you form a band are both detours. Not only do they waste my time, but they also hurt you."

"I tried to contact you several times. One time, I bought all the tickets for Lily Heart's tour, plane tickets to Shanghai, and hotels. My husband went with me, and the driver took us to the airport. I didn't dare get off the car, so I went back home the same way."

Her shoulders shrugged as she cried bitterly, "Should I not have seen you? I haven't cried in years, and even if I did, it was from being moved. I didn't want to, but we just happened to meet last night. I later became a Buddhist. Although I can't read or memorize the Buddhist scriptures, I think what they say about cause and effect is very true. I can't hide forever."

"I thought I helped Xiaozhuang, but he doesn't look well at all. I can't stand my second uncle and aunt being so strict with my cousin. They even weigh every gram of rice he eats. I wanted my cousin to relax with me, but... "

Her voice gradually faded, and the smell of alcohol in the box grew stronger. Zhuang Yongyuan and Xu Zhen were both lying on their stomachs, motionless. It was unclear whether they were still crying or had fallen asleep drunk.

Only Xie Kang and Du Jiahao still looked up. Du Jiahao lit a cigarette for Xie Kang. Xie Kang was halfway through smoking when he heard Du Jiahao ask himself, "Why aren't you crying?"

Xie Kang smiled and said, "I cried in front of Zhuang Yongyuan." After he said that, he touched Zhuang Yongyuan's hair.

Du Jiahao also smiled, and the scene now finally returned to the standard reunion of old friends.

He finished laughing and said, "I asked around in Li Xiuyu's neighborhood. When Li Xiuyu jumped, there was a boy next to him who looked about his age. He ran away. Was it you or Zhuang Yongyuan? I went to Li Xiuyu's house to ask, and his parents called the police and kicked me out."

Xie Kang said, "It's me."

"Oh, it's you." Du Jiahao leaned lazily back in his chair and said, "Did he say anything to you?"

"Maybe I thought about it, but I can't say it."

"Reading has ruined my brain. I'm so stupid. Can't I just write it down first?"

Xie Kang explained: "Maybe I only thought of what to say at the last moment."

"He's just like that. He looks smart, but he's actually dumber than normal people." Du Jiahao curled his lips, "He can't even figure out such a small thing..."

He looked up at Xie Kang: "I think you look a bit like him."

Xie Kang was startled. "Don't talk nonsense." He thought for a moment, then added, "If I really can't figure it out, I would have figured it out when I was eighteen or twenty-two. There's no need to wait until now."

"That's hard to say. Don't disbelieve me, I've seen all sorts of people." Du Jiahao poked Zhuang Yongyuan's arm and muttered to himself, "Is he really asleep?"

Zhuang Yongyuan remained motionless. He continued to speak to Xie Kang, "But if you can't figure it out, then Xiaozhuang will have one more thing to figure out. He doesn't have a big brain to begin with, so he can't think of so many things."

Xie Kang was half drunk and spoke rudely: "Du Jiahao, you haven't read much, but you speak in a flowery, roundabout way. It makes me dizzy."

Du Jiahao said: "If you can hold on, hold on a little longer. The person left behind will have a hard time."

He raised his chin towards Xie Kang and said, "Besides, we are all adults now. No matter what, it's better than before."

"That's hard to say." Xie Kang was still smiling. Du Jiahao studied his face and said abruptly, "Li Xiuyu smiled like this the day before when he was upset. It was a fake smile, uglier than crying."

Without waiting for Xie Kang to answer, Du Jiahao continued, "When I first met him, he wasn't like this at all. He was so arrogant, like he had it all figured out."

Xie Kang asked, "When did that happen?"

"Zhuang Yongyuan was bullied by his classmate, a boy named Yan, whose name I forgot. Li Xiuyu approached our eldest brother and offered us money to help beat him up."

"Yan Xu?"

"It seems so. It doesn't matter. People like us are bound to meet a few of their kind."

"Li Xiuyu was very generous. I saw his wallet was bulging with a hundred yuan in it." Du Jiahao chuckled and said, "I had never seen so much money at that time, nor had I seen anyone like him."

"Then what?"

"Then I went to your school gate and waited there for a few days. I found that he would leave school at 6:30 every day. He would not take the main road, but would go into the alleys. He would not rob unless it was necessary. On Thursday, I brought a switchblade and waited for him in the alley where he would pass."

"Damn it!" Du Jiahao suddenly cursed. "Usually he leaves at 6:30, but that day he showed up at almost 9. I asked him later, and he said he had competition tutoring on Thursday."

Xie Kang laughed out loud and noticed that Zhuang Yongyuan and Xu Zhen moved unnaturally.

"I was about to leave when Li Xiuyu finally showed up. I followed him, hoping to find a suitable opportunity to pull out the knife."

"Did they steal any money? He has a lot of money and likes to show off, so he deserves to have his gun stolen." Xu Zhen said.

Du Jiahao glanced at her meaningfully and said, "I didn't manage to snatch it, but I got it for free. Damn it."