Chapter 65 My Toys Are My Secret
The days before New Year's Day were dull and stable, just like living according to a regular schedule. As the days passed, Zhuang Yongyuan couldn't even remember what had happened.
If he had classes in the morning, he'd get up early. If he didn't, he'd sleep until noon. After waking up, he'd have a cup of coffee, make numerous calls and send numerous messages. He'd attend classes, help with group rehearsals, and make calls. He'd eat with Xie Kang, go to the supermarket or the movies if he had time, or sometimes just take a walk. He'd do it with Xie Kang. Sometimes Xie Kang would stay over at his house, sometimes he'd go back to his own.
There are still two days before the New Year's Eve party, and the person Zhuang Yongyuan promised to find still hasn't shown up, but he still looks calm and composed.
Shen Xifu became visibly nervous. Xie Kang noticed and asked Zhuang Yongyuan, "Will the musicians who are helping come tomorrow? I'll pick them up at the train station."
Zhuang Yongyuan stroked his chin and asked Xie Kang, "Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"
"It's just one class. I can change it to the morning."
"Okay, then you'll accompany me to pick someone up tomorrow."
Xie Kang opened the memo on his phone and asked Zhuang Yongyuan, "How many people are there? What time will we arrive at the train station?"
Zhuang Yongyuan said, "Oh, not to the train station, but to Gaoqi Airport."
Pingnan doesn't have an airport; the nearest airport is Gaoqi in Xiamen. However, that requires a flight, and the musicians Zhuang Yongyuan called in to help are far away.
Xie Kang then pulled Zhuang Yongyuan aside and asked, "Since you've come all this way, we have to pay for your travel expenses, right?"
"I'll do it." Zhuang Yongyuan said.
Xie Kang shook his head: "I can't let you spend this money. You are also helping me..."
"I'm helping the schoolmate who wants to experience playing in a band, not you." Zhuang Yongyuan looked up at Xie Kang and said, "Fifty thousand is enough for travel expenses alone."
Xie Kang was stunned for a moment before realizing that Zhuang Yongyuan was talking about the 50,000 yuan he had given to Zhuang Yongyuan's mother. He said, "I told my aunt that she doesn't have to pay it back."
Zhuang Yongyuan waved his hand impatiently. Xie Kang knew that this meant he should not bring up the matter again, so he changed the subject and estimated the time: "If we drive to Gaoqi, we need to leave about three hours in advance."
Zhuang Yongyuan thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you just not go? Your car won't have enough room anyway."
"Can't you sit down? It's just two or three people."
Zhuang Yongyuan said, "More than that."
Xie Kang couldn't help but ask him, "Why did you invite so many people?"
He hesitated for a moment, then asked tentatively, "Do I know the person you invited?"
Zhuang Yongyuan deliberately kept the secret: "You'll know when you get here. We'll first come to the school to place the equipment. Okay, hurry back and walk through it twice more."
After that, no matter how Xie Kang tried to inquire indirectly, Zhuang Yongyuan kept his mouth shut and did not reveal any information at all, which made Xie Kang distraught for the whole night and he was even distracted when they were doing it.
Zhuang Yongyuan kissed his cheek and said, "Okay, you'll stay at school tomorrow and help me find a place to store the equipment. I've also asked Xu Zhen and Du Jiahao to come over and take a look. If you want to pick someone up, you can go pick them up."
Xie Kang propped up his upper body and looked at Zhuang Yongyuan below him. He kissed him all over for a while and then touched the tattoo on his back. Zhuang Yongyuan was very itchy and said, "Why are you looking at me like that? I told you I was leaving a long time ago."
He bit Xie Kang's shoulder and said, "I'm not like you. You didn't tell me you wanted to leave, but insisted that I go and ask."
Xie Kang made a sticky sound in his throat and hugged Zhuang Yongyuan even tighter, almost as if he was strangling him.
Xie Kang still refused to come out even though they were clearly done. Zhuang Yongyuan couldn't push him away, so he said angrily, "If you have the guts, don't pull it out for the rest of your life."
Xie Kang opened his moist eyes and said, "Have I ever told you before? My mother said that when she gave birth to me, all the indicators were normal, but I refused to come out on my own. I was in labor for almost a day, and in the end I had to have a cesarean section."
He thought that after saying this, Zhuang Yongyuan would turn away in disgust as usual, but Zhuang Yongyuan just kissed him.
Xie Kang accepted his intimacy silently. Zhuang Yongyuan used his free hand to touch his firm belly, where he felt a sudden pain for no reason.
He was originally in a good mood and wanted to do it a few more times, but Xie Kang's words dampened his mood. He turned over, lay on Xie Kang, rested his head on his shoulder, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
At around 4 p.m., Xie Kang stood alone at the school gate, his coat zipped up from the cold. The security guards had asked him several times to wait in the security room, but he went in, drank two cups of tea, and then couldn't sit still, so he ran out again.
Zhuang Yongyuan's call finally came, and Xie Kang couldn't wait to pick it up. Zhuang Yongyuan told him that they would be there in ten minutes.
After hanging up the phone, Xie Kang took a few quick steps toward the side of the road, staring at every passing car.
When a light brown bus slowly stopped at the school gate, Xie Kang didn't react yet. He thought it was a car for some school inspection and study team. It was not until the front door of the bus opened and Zhuang Yongyuan leaned out half of his body to wave to him that Xie Kang realized that the people in the car were the musicians invited by Zhuang Yongyuan.
He took a deep breath, stepped onto the stairs behind the car door, and before he could react, he was thrown into a warm hug.
Ah Dian hugged Xie Kang for a long time before letting him go and screaming, "Xie Kang! Long time no see!"
Xie Kang straightened his messed-up hair and said helplessly, "I only saw it during National Day."
He looked at Adian and said, "You're tanned?"
Ah Dian proudly pulled up his sweater sleeves to show Xie Kang his tanned skin and asked Xie Kang, "I lived in Hanoi for a month. Doesn't my tan look good?"
Xie Kang said, "It looks great, how about we take a break and go on vacation?"
"Don't show your tanning results to everyone you meet!" A guy with a crew cut sitting next to me taunted him.
This person was Lily Heart's bassist, Zhong You. Having met him last time, he had an impression of Xie Kang, so he smiled and nodded at him and said hello.
Since both Adian and Zhongyou showed up here, Xie Kang immediately understood that the musician that Zhuang Yongyuan was hiding and unwilling to reveal was the entire Lily Heart band.
Besides the equipment and Lily Heart members, there were also several unfamiliar young men and women in the car. They all greeted Xie Kang one by one. Seeing Xie Kang's confused face, Adian introduced him: "This is the lighting technician, Feifei, the sound engineer, Asen, and TM, Soda."
"This is our Lily Heart elder, Xie Kang."
Xie Kang finally realized that Lily Heart has grown in size now. It is no longer like the past when they performed compilations in live houses and could just make do with the local technical staff. Now they have to bring their own technical team when they go out to perform.
Asen laughed and said, "You were the one Zhuang Yongyuan dragged up to perform at the last music festival, weren't you? Zhuang Yongyuan loves to do these kinds of scary improvisations."
Zhongyou leaned his head against the window, his arms folded across his chest, looking very cool. He said, "The effect is quite good. It's a pity that Teacher Xie is no longer a teacher."
Zhuang Yongyuan coughed twice and raised his chin towards Xie Kang. "Have you found a place to put the equipment? Show the driver the way."
The bus was still stuck at the school gate, so Xie Kang hurried to the driver's side and gave him directions. Someone on the bus started playing music and there were people talking all the time. The short journey felt like an autumn outing for middle school students.
Xie Kang looked at the people in the car through the rearview mirror. Zhuang Yongyuan was sitting between them, chatting and laughing with them.
Xie Kang stood closest to the rearview mirror, his upper body taking up almost half the space. He peered into the mirror, looking at his face, wondering if he'd dye his hair a wild color and hammer a few nails like he used to, would he look like one of them?
Xie Kang found a place to store the equipment, which was the sports equipment room next to the playground. The equipment room was some distance from the road. After the car stopped, everyone got out, loaded the cart, and skillfully moved the equipment.
Xie Kang took them on two trips, making sure everyone was familiar with the route from the bus to the equipment room. He then stopped Zhuang Yongyuan, who was walking forward with his guitar bag on his back, and asked him half-jokingly, half-seriously, "With so many people here, how do you calculate the appearance fee?"
Zhuang Yongyuan ignored him and turned around to point at the guitar bag next to the back door: "It's your guitar, take it yourself."
Xie Kang walked over and unzipped the guitar case. It was still the familiar acoustic guitar, the birthday gift Zhuang Yongyuan had given him when he was a freshman.
He put the zither on his back and saw Zhuang Yongyuan still waiting for him there, so he quickened his pace to go over.
Zhuang Yongyuan said, "You keep your things. I won't take them this time."
"You brought it back especially for me?"
"Hmm." Zhuang Yongyuan hesitated for a moment and said, "Can you act it out again?"
"What's the play?"
"'What Kind of Person'." Zhuang Yongyuan looked at him steadily and said, "I've already discussed with the school that this evening party will be held in front of the former residence. If you're okay with it, please perform this song again."
Xie Kang was so surprised that he didn't even bother to blame Zhuang Yongyuan for not telling him in advance: "When did you discuss this?"
Zhuang Yongyuan said vaguely, "I left my contact information with a few school leaders during our last meal. Maybe a TV station or something will come and film it."
Xie Kang understood that Zhuang Yongyuan had probably persuaded the school leaders to agree to hold the party in front of the former residence under the pretext of being able to shoot a promotional video for Pingnan tourism. Otherwise, according to the school's style, they would not easily break the convention and move the party from the playground to the entrance of the former residence.
They had clearly been together for the past ten days, yet Zhuang Yongyuan had secretly arranged such a major event. Compared to the excitement of being able to perform his own songs again, Xie Kang felt a stronger sense of bitterness.
For the first time, Xie Kang clearly felt that Zhuang Yongyuan was truly a mature adult. If he wanted to, he could handle many things on his own.
But Xie Kang had been accustomed to Zhuang Yongyuan's fragility since he was seventeen. He was used to taking care of everything about him, from his physical to his emotions, and was used to acting as a more mature protector in front of him. But now Zhuang Yongyuan no longer needed that.
Ah Dian came over and urged them to hurry up and stop slacking off. They had no choice but to move around, unable to stand still and chat any longer. After putting down their guitar bags in the equipment room, Xie Kang asked Zhuang Yongyuan, "So, are you going back to Shanghai with them the day after tomorrow?"
Zhuang Yongyuan nodded. Xie Kang originally wanted to ask about Lily Xin's future plans, but when the words came to his lips, he felt that these things had nothing to do with him, so he swallowed them back.
He suddenly thought of another piece of news in the newspaper that had carried the news about his child prodigy and that his father had kept in his photo album: the Mir space station had successfully disintegrated in space after fifteen years of operation. Thousands of fragments were still wandering aimlessly in an unknown place above their heads.
Zhuang Yongyuan's technical team wanted to check out the stage. Shortly after Xie Kang put down his guitar, he hurried to the entrance of the former residence. The stage was already mostly set up, and many students from their physical education classes had come to watch.
When he returned to the equipment room, it was time to go home from school. Shen Xifu came to see the musicians Zhuang Yongyuan had invited. She was also a fan of Lily Heart and recognized them at a glance. She rubbed her eyes repeatedly and asked Xie Kang if this was true.
After receiving Xie Kang's affirmative answer, she showed a bit of timidity and stood beside Xie Kang, not daring to take the initiative to step forward and say hello. Fortunately, A Dian discovered them and took the initiative to come over and ask Shen Xifu if she was a classmate who wanted to cooperate with them, and took her to meet other musicians.
Zhuang Yongyuan was talking seriously with Zhong You and Qi Ji, and Xie Kang guessed it was some internal band matter. He didn't need to lead the way anymore. Xie Kang had nothing else to do, so he stood at the door in a daze for a while before walking to the third floor of the office building.
Standing at the door of the principal's office, Xie Kang's thoughts became clear and he knocked on the reddish-brown wooden door in front of him.
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