Chapter 80 80. Half Life, Half Love Song
When the alarm rang for the first time, Xie Kang opened his eyes and turned off the sound.
He didn't get up, but turned over and lay on his side facing Zhuang Yongyuan. The curtains were drawn tightly, so Xie Kang couldn't see Zhuang Yongyuan's face clearly.
Next to Zhuang Yongyuan's head was a large, black, furry mass. It opened its emerald green eyes before Zhuang Yongyuan, stepped on him to stretch, and then sat on his lap to lick its paws and wash its face.
Zhuang Yongyuan was woken up and said sleepily, "Hush, don't step on me, you're so heavy..."
Xie Kang sat up from the bed, grabbed the black cat from Zhuang Yongyuan's body, put it on the ground, and lay down again. Hush didn't jump up again and slipped out through the crack in the door.
Zhuang Yongyuan turned over and slept for a while before officially waking up. The first thing he did when he woke up was to hug Xie Kang and touch him randomly a few times, then confirmed with satisfaction: "Yes, you're still here."
It has been more than two years since they left Pingnan for Shanghai, and Zhuang Yongyuan still sticks to this strange habit. The first thing he does when he wakes up is to confirm that Xie Kang is still there.
After a brief moment of affection, Xie Kang stood up, put on his slippers, and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. A moment later, Zhuang Yongyuan came in. He turned on the bedroom's Bluetooth speaker, impatiently squeezed a large line of toothpaste onto his toothbrush, pushed Xie Kang aside, and began brushing.
Halfway through brushing his teeth, Zhuang Yongyuan naturally took the cup of water from Xie Kang's hand to rinse his mouth, and finally gave Xie Kang an empty cup, took a face towel and started washing his face.
"What song? I haven't heard it before."
"'No Need to Be Nervous' by FunkyMo." Zhuang Yongyuan showed him his phone.
Xie Kang, his mouth full of foam, refilled the cup with water and asked Zhuang Yongyuan in a slurred voice, "You haven't performed in two years. Today's the first show of the tour. Are you nervous?"
"Why should I be nervous? If anyone should be nervous, it should be you."
"Aren't you here?"
"Don't count on me. Half of the tour set list is new songs. I have no experience, so I'll be lucky if I can finish singing them."
Zhuang Yongyuan rubbed lotion on his face and squeezed a little onto Xie Kang's arm as he washed his face. He studied his face in the mirror for a long time, and finally asked Xie Kang worriedly, "Do you think my right eyelid is swollen?"
Xie Kang didn't care: "It will be fine in a moment."
"We have a performance today."
Zhuang Yongyuan's tone was a little anxious. Xie Kang turned around and looked at his eyelids carefully, rubbing them a few times, and asked in confusion, "You are not usually this insecure about your appearance."
Zhuang Yongyuan sneered and said, "After today's performance, you'll see when you see a bunch of photos of yourself taken from weird angles online. I really don't understand some of them. Some parts are so difficult to sing that my expression becomes grim. How can I take photos of them like that?"
Xie Kang kissed him and said, "I'll be there to make you look bad this time."
"You're such a smooth talker, it's embarrassing for you."
"I'm not famous enough to have an idol image."
As Xie Kang spoke, he hugged Zhuang Yongyuan from behind, and the two of them dragged each other to the kitchen.
It was called a kitchen, but it was just a corner of the living room separated by a dining table. It had cabinets and a sink, and was even simpler than the kitchen in the Jumbo Barber Shop. It didn't even have a gas stove. Although Zhuang Yongyuan bought a lot of kitchen utensils, they didn't actually cook very often.
The small house they rented during college is increasingly unable to meet their growing living needs, but neither of them has mentioned moving. The closet is moldy, and they are going to the home furnishing store together to buy a new wardrobe today.
In order to buy a wardrobe, Zhuang Yongyuan got up several hours earlier than usual. They worked too late last night, and as soon as he sat down at the dining table, Zhuang Yongyuan started yawning.
Xie Kang boiled some water, took out a round blue teapot from the cupboard, scooped a spoonful of black tea from the glass jar and poured it into it, then poured in some hot water. The smoky aroma of the tea instantly wafted out.
There were two glasses, one tall and one short, on the table. Xie Kang opened the refrigerator again, scooped ice cubes into the short glass, poured in brewed black tea, and pushed the glass in front of Zhuang Yongyuan.
"Black tea today?"
"Yes, it's autumn."
Xie Kang lifted the teapot high and poured tea into the empty cup. Zhuang Yongyuan took him to pinky pinky, where the bartender taught him how to pour tea, saying that the tea would not be so bitter.
He poured some honey into his black tea, wiped off the tea that splashed on the table, took a sip leisurely, but tasted a strange taste.
Xie Kang was familiar with this strange smell. He expertly wiped the lotion from his lips where he'd kissed Zhuang Yongyuan and continued drinking his tea. Hush, sated, made a few noises scratching in the cat litter, then started to scrape at their feet and leapt directly onto the table.
Zhuang Yongyuan put down his phone, hugged Hush in his arms, and buried his head in Hush's fur, which had become thick and soft after cooling down.
"You've told Michel to come and help us feed the cats, right?" Xie Kang confirmed.
Zhuang Yongyuan didn't look up, and a "hmm" sound came from the fur.
Before leaving for the home furnishings store, Xie Kang walked around his house, making sure all appliances were on and off. As expected, Zhuang Yongyuan forgot to close the refrigerator door again when he got his bottle of mineral water. His initial statement that he still forgets to close the refrigerator door wasn't just a matter of modesty.
They had to go to the venue in the afternoon to debug the equipment and rehearse, so there was not much time left to buy wardrobes. Fortunately, there were not many styles of solid wood wardrobes in the store, so they quickly picked out a light-colored one. Transportation and installation would still take time, but when the tour was over and they returned to Shanghai, they would be able to use the new wardrobe.
Noticing Xie Kang frequently slowing down his pace to examine the model rooms they passed by, Zhuang Yongyuan said to him, "We still have time. If you want to look around, we can take our time."
Xie Kang nodded, walked into the softly lit living room of the model apartment, sat down on the sofa, sighed contentedly, and said, "It's so comfortable."
"Change it if you like."
"As expected of our boss Zhuang."
"Thank you, Director. You're not bad either."
The calling of "boss" and "director" was not wrong. Not long ago, Lilyxin once again rejected the economic offer from an industry label and established her own cultural company. Zhuang Yongyuan took on the title of chairman, and the remaining members invested in the company and became directors.
Four years after Lily Heart released its first album, its second album finally came out this summer, which also means that Lily Heart, which had been on hiatus for almost two years, has become active again. For the upcoming tours, music festivals and even subsidy applications, having their own company will make the procedures much more convenient.
Zhuang Yongyuan sat next to him, felt it for a while, and said, "It's really good."
"It's a bit too big."
"It seems so. Our living room is too small."
Xie Kang picked up a magazine on the coffee table and flipped through it. Suddenly, he said, "I've never sat on such a soft sofa."
"I'll ask if there's a smaller size of this sofa. If there is, I'll replace the old one."
Xie Kang's tone was a little aggrieved: "My dad thinks mahogany sofas are prestigious, so I've only sat on hard sofas since I was a kid."
"It seems like sitting on a hard sofa would be healthier."
Xie Kang leaned back on the sofa and sighed contentedly. Zhuang Yongyuan asked him again, "Will your parents come tonight?"
"I don't know. They didn't reply to my message. It's up to you whether you want to come or not."
After saying that, Xie Kang stood up from the sofa and took Zhuang Yongyuan for a stroll. He bought some small ornaments and floor lamps. After paying and leaving the delivery address, they went to the nearby Minnan restaurant for dinner before driving to the performance venue.
In the backstage lounge, Adian and Zhongyou had already arrived. After asking Qi Ji, they said they were looking for a parking space and would be there soon.
During the album production, they met often in the recording studio and the studio, but after such a long time, they gathered backstage for the first time to prepare for the performance, and they felt a sense of strangeness when getting along with each other.
Xie Kang looked particularly awkward. Although Zhuang Yongyuan had asked him to return to Lily's heart and had seriously asked the other members for their opinions, and everyone was in agreement, he still occasionally felt like a latecomer who didn't fit in with the way they had gotten along after several years of working together.
Lily Heart is still Lily Heart, but its members and concept have undergone several rounds of changes. Xie Kang, an initial member, needs to work hard to adapt to Lily Heart.
Time was tight, and after Qi Ji arrived, the lighting and sound engineers arrived one after another. Everyone went to the stage to check the sound, adjust the in-ear monitors, and briefly ran through the key songs and lighting in the playlist. Only when it was time for makeup did we have time to chat.
Everyone who passed by Xie Kang would ask him if he was nervous. Xie Kang could only smile and say he was fine. Zhuang Yongyuan, watching from the side, wanted to laugh and complained loudly, "Why doesn't anyone ask me if I'm nervous? What if I can't sing again?"
Ah Dian looked at his look in the mirror with satisfaction and said, "If I can't sing, we can disband. As long as we have love, we'll be content."
Qi Ji and Zhong You were laughing uncontrollably in the background. Ah Dian turned around and said, "Look, our Xiaozhuang is a prime example of someone who hanged himself on a tree."
Zhuang Yongyuan threw a pillow over and said, "You can't even hang yourself if you want to!"
Ah Dian swung his drumstick and deftly knocked away the pillow that Zhuang Yongyuan had thrown at him, like hitting a tennis ball. The pillow was originally intended to hit the lounge door, but someone opened the door and the pillow hit the person directly in the face.
There were three people standing at the door, two men and one woman. The girls were staff members of the venue, while the two tall and good-looking young men were strangers.
Before Zhuang Yongyuan could ask any questions, the staff member introduced them: "This is our photographer for tonight, Di Chunqiu."
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Uh, I accidentally wrote too much for the ending and split it into two chapters... This time it’s really the penultimate chapter!
How come I met an old acquaintance?
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