Her condition
At noon, Zhuang Yu'an took the initiative to invite Luffy to have lunch together.
Since they had a meeting in an hour, the two sat across from each other in Zhuang Yu'an's office and ate two identical business set meals. Zhuang Yu'an picked up his chopsticks and said without warning, "I ran into Ge Xin in the elevator this morning."
"Oh." Luffy showed little interest and didn't even raise his head.
Zhuang Yu'an took two bites and said, "I thought you were with her."
"How is that possible?" Luffy smiled. "I was just playing around with her." Seeing Zhuang Yu'an frowning seriously, he raised a finger and said, "Don't judge me - this is a game that we both agreed to, there's no such thing as cheating on each other."
Zhuang Yu'an shook his head: "So you two are physically compatible, but not mentally?"
"Let's not talk about her anymore." Luffy pretended to be relaxed. "What are your plans for tonight?"
"I'll have a meeting first, and then go to the party later." Zhuang Yu'an said frankly, "Blue Alert is hosting a Christmas Eve party, and Jinghao and I have been invited."
His frankness startled Luffy for a moment, and then he raised an eyebrow and said, "Such an important day, why don't you spend it with the woman you love?"
"Every Christmas Eve, I spend time with Jinghao." Zhuang Yu'an said calmly.
Luffy snorted and laughed, "What a sister-con."
After a while, he put down his chopsticks and asked, "How is she doing lately?"
"Her?" Zhuang Yu'an asked knowingly, "Are you asking about Zuo Xiao?"
"What else?" Luffy said unhappily.
Zhuang Yu'an thought for a moment and said, "It looks good. But Jinghao said she rarely goes out and doesn't dare to answer calls from unfamiliar numbers."
Seeing Luffy frowning, Zhuang Yu'an asked, "What on earth did you do to cause such a huge psychological trauma to her?"
"I don't know." Luffy lowered his eyes and said sullenly, "She clearly still has feelings for me. She took the initiative to kiss me on the night of the band's debut. Later, when I went to her house, she didn't reject my kiss and even had a strong physical reaction... I don't understand why she suddenly changed her expression?"
From the moment he said the words "kiss me first," Zhuang Yu'an's brows suddenly tightened, his expression becoming extremely grim. He clenched his fists under the table, but Luffy didn't notice. When he looked up, his friend's face had returned to its calm state.
"So what are you going to do?" Zhuang Yu'an asked in a deep voice.
Luffy said firmly: "I must get her back."
Zhuang Yu'an's mouth twitched slightly, and his tone was filled with a hint of ridicule: "I didn't realize you were so infatuated."
"You don't understand." Luffy taunted him in return. "If you've only ever eaten oranges, you could certainly say they're your favorite fruit. But if you've tried many different kinds of fruit and ultimately confirmed that oranges are your favorite, then the weight of your love for them is obviously much greater than the former."
"No wonder you can't let her go." Zhuang Yu'an said coldly, "It turns out it's because you haven't found a fruit that suits your taste better than oranges."
He emphasized the word "temporarily." Luffy heard the sarcasm in it and said, "What about you? Didn't you rush to be her backup before? Now why are you saying you've let it go? Are you really letting it go?"
Zhuang Yu'an was stunned for a moment, then smiled helplessly and said, "Okay, you win."
"What do you mean by 'I win,'" Luffy said. "Without bad, there's no good. Without misfortune, there's no happiness. People's evaluation of everything, even their subjective feelings about life, are all derived from comparison: with others, with the past, with expectations... Without a reference point, a person doesn't even know who they are or where they are. Admitting this doesn't make you look like a jerk."
This resonated deeply with him. Zhuang Yu'an thought: It was precisely because he had remained calm in matters of love for so many years that he realized how unusual his feelings for Zuo Xiao were. It was precisely because he had met Liang Sirui and Yan Qing, and compared his own contrasting states of mind, that he realized his infatuation with her was more than just lust. It was also because he had experienced being with her, being accepted and loved by her, that he was destined to never return to his past loneliness and unrequited love. He also realized how conceited he had been to think that simply protecting her from afar was enough... While life is about contentment, that is precisely the most difficult and anti-human thing to achieve. Because contentment means stopping comparison, and the human brain is naturally wired to perceive and understand the world and identify itself through comparison. He and Luffy simply have different ways of comparing, but we both reach the same goal.
He was silent for too long, and Luffy seemed to have misunderstood something. He smiled generously and said, "Why do you look so miserable? I won't laugh at you." After thinking for a moment, he said mischievously, "How far have you and Yan Qing gone? Have you slept with each other?"
Zhuang Yu'an was stunned for a moment, then secretly delighted.
"This is private, don't pry." His face darkened slightly, and he spoke in his usual serious tone.
The more he spoke like this, the more Luffy wanted to get to the bottom of it. "What's the big deal? Do you really want to be a virgin forever?" He spoke more and more recklessly. "Do you need me to teach you a few tricks? Sex skills are still very important. If you don't do it right, it will cause trouble. Do you understand?"
For a moment, Zhuang Yu'an couldn't help but start to guess what kind of "bed skills" he used on Zuo Xiao in bed, and a murderous look flashed in his eyes.
Luffy had obviously misunderstood again. "It seems things aren't going well..." He smiled and took out his phone. "I'll share some good stuff with you. Try to learn from it."
Zhuang Yu'an's eyes flashed, and he immediately tried to refuse. However, someone, overly enthusiastic, remained immersed in their work. Zhuang Yu'an's phone vibrated repeatedly, and finally received three videos: the covers showed them depicting car repair, equestrianism, and pottery. There was also a PDF titled "Human Resource Development: From Novice to Expert."
It turned out that this guy was deliberately tricking him! Zhuang Yu'an was both angry and amused, and immediately kicked the man out.
After a while, I received a WeChat message from Luffy: "Friendly reminder: Don't open it when there are many people around."
Zhuang Yu'an was stunned for a moment, then casually clicked on the PDF, and his pupils trembled instantly.
As it was getting dark, Zhuang Jinghao left work an hour early and took a taxi to the party hall.
Even outside the door, one could hear the majestic metal music. When the door was opened, the oncoming sound waves made their scalps tingle.
The two-story loft that greeted us was at least 300 square meters, decorated in bold, rugged colors, like an artist renting an abandoned factory and renovating it into a studio. The main hall on the first floor was clearly the venue, with a stage, centrally located, equipped with a large LED screen and a complete sound system. Besides two massive Christmas trees, the interior was also decorated with a variety of red and green decorations, creating a rich Christmas atmosphere.
In this situation, shouldn't the background music be Christmas classics like "Last Christmas" or "All I Want For Christmas Is You"? Why the heck is this metal? Zhuang Jinghao grumbled furiously in her mind.
As she walked into the lobby, she gradually discovered a bar on the side. The L-shaped bar and four-tiered wine racks were filled with countless bottles, drinks, and glasses. Peng Lei, Qin Yufei, and several young men and women she didn't recognize were drinking happily.
Zhuang Jinghao walked over, ready to ask Peng Lei to change the music, but he stuffed a bottle of dark beer into her arms and, imitating Gatsby, raised his glass and raised his eyebrows at her: "Merry Christmas!"
She shook the bottle at him perfunctorily and called out amidst the heart-pounding music, "Where's Zuo Xiao?"
Peng Lei sneered and leaned close to her ear: "Follower!"
Zhuang Jinghao rolled his eyes at him, turned around and left.
She found Zuo Xiao in the entertainment area on the second floor, playing table football with Lao Sun, Jiang Miaomiao, and Qiangzi.
"Everyone is here." Old Sun released his hand, "Let's get down to business."
Jiang Miaomiao asked Peng Lei to turn down the background music and adopted Zhuang Jinghao's suggestion to ask him to change the playlist to Christmas hits.
"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart..." She just shook her head and hummed along for a few lines when Jiang Miaomiao put her arm around her shoulders and took her all the way to the karaoke room on the second floor.
This was the first review meeting after the band's debut performance. Lao Sun played the entire performance video and then asked everyone to comment on their own performances one by one, talking only about themselves and not others.
Peng Lei said that he did not perform well and the rhythm was not stable in several places, but he had already beaten 80% of the drummers in China.
Qiangzi said that his performance that night was indeed average, and he specifically listed several areas where he did not do well.
Qin Yufei said "very good".
When it was Zuo Xiao's turn, she pursed her lips and rattled off a bunch of words, about rushing the beat, forgetting the lyrics, breaking her voice, being out of tune... Finally, she concluded, "I'm a burden to everyone."
Zhuang Jinghao listened in, secretly surprised. She hadn't expected someone as self-conscious as Zuo Xiao to comment on her own performance in such a way in front of everyone. It was practically humiliating. Besides, Zuo Xiao's performance that night wasn't actually that bad, at least that's what she thought...
After listening to everyone's speeches, Old Sun first followed the rules and talked about his own shortcomings as a guitarist. Then, returning to his role as captain, he said, "Objectively speaking, if the full score is 100, our Blue Alert debut score is clearly less than 60 points."
Everyone's expressions were different, but overall they were not good-looking. The quiet room was filled with a depressing atmosphere, making Zhuang Jinghao feel very uncomfortable.
Lao Sun continued, "I don't know how everyone felt that night, but I was certainly a little depressed. I kept thinking, 'I've been making music for almost 20 years, and now I'm still in this mess.' For a moment, I even doubted the point of what I was doing."
Zhuang Jing felt a lump in her throat when she heard this. She turned around to look at everyone, all looking droopy. She couldn't help but frown, wondering what was wrong with Old Sun, the team leader, leading the group in such a sad state?
"Then I asked Miaomiao," Lao Sun continued, "Miaomiao, do you think I'm lacking in talent or luck? If I keep doing this, will there be any results?"
When he said this, Jiang Miaomiao looked up and looked at him, and they smiled at each other.
"Miao Miao asked me two questions," Lao Sun said. "First: If everyone was already so good from the start, and immediately blew up the stage, don't you think it would be a lot less fun? It's like playing a game, and you're a max-level, top-tier player right from the start. Don't you think the game is pointless?"
Everyone understood the deeper meaning behind his words and smiled knowingly. Only Peng Lei, still trying to be funny at this moment, said heartlessly, "Is there such a good thing? I'd like to experience it for myself."
"Please go out." Jiang Miaomiao put her hands on her hips and pretended to be angry.
"Second question," Old Sun continued, "Miaomiao asks: What's the worst possible outcome of playing in a band? Is it something you can accept?"
He smiled and said, "I thought back to when I first came to Beijing fifteen years ago, working in a Houhai bar. My food allowance was 15 yuan a day, and I lived in a storage room to save money. I told the boss I was waiting tables because I wanted to be a resident singer, and asked him to give me a chance. So I played him a song called "Hotel California." My brother was a good man, and after a long pause, he politely said, 'Brother, do I really have to make a living in music?'"
Everyone present had a solemn expression. Old Sun continued, "I racked my brains, but I couldn't think of any future outcome that could be worse than what happened then. Even if the band never made it big and had to rely on training to stay afloat, that didn't seem like a problem for me. So I figured it out: whatever happens, at least the process was enjoyable. The key is, apart from playing music, nothing else could make me this happy."
As soon as he finished speaking, a stifled laugh came from the side. Zhuang Jinghao frowned and looked over. It was indeed Peng Lei.
"Brother Sun!" Peng Lei teased, "You've come all this way, and it turns out you're targeting us!"
"It's not a matter of ordering or not ordering." Old Sun said with a gentle smile, "It's just normal sharing and communication."
"Don't worry, I don't know about others, but I'm not that shameless!" Peng Lei said with a playful smile, "It's just one or two small mistakes, what's so eerie about it? Few people in the audience can tell the difference anyway. Many people can't even tell the difference between a guitar and a bass!"
"That's not right." Old Sun suddenly became serious and said earnestly, "Never fool the audience, fool yourself. Once fooling becomes a habit, there's no possibility of improvement. Moreover..."
He paused and said, "There were professionals on the scene that day."
When he said a name, everyone's expression froze.
Zhuang Jinghao had never heard of this person and asked Jiang Miaomiao, "Who is it?"
Jiang Miaomiao replied, "The co-founder of the largest independent music label in China, and the bar owner that Old Sun just mentioned."
Zhuang Jinghao was immediately filled with respect. Old Sun continued, "Later, I asked him for his evaluation and opinion, and he said, 'Old Sun, do you want to hear the truth?' I said, 'If you wanted to hear lies, I wouldn't have asked you to come here.' So he told me very bluntly, 'If you're at this level, you're not going to make it.'"
Everyone's expression froze.
Old Sun paused, then continued, "But he also said: Your current level is not indicative of your future. Comparing you fifteen years ago with you now, I believe in these four words: Diligence can make up for lack of talent."
"Damn it!" Peng Lei yelled, "You gasped mid-sentence. When did you develop this awful habit, Old Sun?"
"Haha!" Old Sun laughed out loud, a rare occurrence, and everyone else laughed along with him.
After a while, he calmed down and continued, "That day he pointed out our shortcomings in performance and creation, and many of his comments were very insightful. Miaomiao and I compiled a document and will send it to everyone later. As for today..."
He waved his hand and said with a smile: "Let's not talk about it for now, let's celebrate the festival."
"Celebrate the festival!" Everyone stood up. Jiang Miaomiao suddenly said, "Wait a minute—"
She laughed and said, "Don't just let Old Sun and I chatter here! Everyone should say a few words and wrap up. Peng Lei, you go first!"
"Huh?" Peng Lei was caught off guard by being called out. He scratched his head for a moment, then suddenly an idea struck him. He casually brushed his hair and said generously, "Life is only a few decades long. Just do what you like. Why overthink it so much? In a well-off society, no one will starve to death!"
"Haha! Alright!" Jiang Miaomiao high-fived and said proudly, "Who's next?"
"Me!" Zhuang Jinghao raised her hand, her eyes sparkling.
"I want to say..." Her chest heaved with excitement, "I've always thought Blue Warning was awesome! I believe one day, we'll really be a huge hit and rock the world!"
"Good!" Peng Lei applauded first. "As expected of the Chief Assistant of Blue Alert. Highly aware and courageous!"
Zhuang Jing was so excited that her face turned red. Jiang Miaomiao smiled and hugged her, and Zuo Xiao also patted her on the back.
"Then I'll say a few words." Qiangzi raised his hand to adjust his glasses and said slowly, "Actually, the main reason I joined the band was because Lao Sun said something that touched me. He said: This is not a professional band, but you can play at a professional level. Music is life, but life requires survival first, so Lao Sun encourages everyone to have a full-time job and play music in their spare time."
Zhuang Jinghao didn't understand what he was trying to say for a moment. He felt that what he said seemed to have nothing to do with the topic everyone was discussing. Turning to look at the others, he was also somewhat confused.
Qiangzi continued, "What I want to say is that just because you've been doing it longer than others doesn't make you professional. Professionalism is first and foremost an attitude. I never believe amateurs can't necessarily be better than professionals, and I certainly don't think amateurs should lower their standards. I can accept the band not being successful in the future, but I can't accept us being mediocre. So I sincerely hope that going forward, Lao Sun will hold everyone to a higher standard, and that you will all hold yourselves to a higher standard."
Except for Peng Lei who looked unhappy and Qin Yufei who looked indifferent, everyone else present clearly agreed with what he said.
"I agree." Old Sun nodded with a smile, then turned to Qin Yufei, "Where's Yufei? Is there anything you want to say?"
Qin Yufei smiled faintly: "I can do anything, it depends on you."
Zhuang Jinghao couldn't help but frown: This young master is really as unsociable as ever...On second thought, this guy has been in such a lifeless state from beginning to end, it would be strange if he gave a long speech for the first time!
Zuo Xiao was the only one left standing, and everyone turned to look at her. She glanced around and said with a smile, "Actually, everyone has said everything I wanted to say, so let me summarize."
She calmed down, then spoke calmly and clearly:
"Strive for excellence and enjoy the process; don't dwell on the past, and don't fear the future. This is what I consider to be the best state of mind, and it's why I believe Blue Alert will go a long way."
"Wow!" Peng Lei said as he pulled out his phone, "Goddess, say that again! I want to record it!"
Zuo Xiao smiled, facing the camera calmly, and repeated:
“Strive for excellence and enjoy the process; don’t dwell on the past and don’t fear the future.”
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