Chapter 179: An Unforgettable New Year’s Eve (Part 3)

I locked eyes with Jian Wei for a long time before asking her, “Aren’t you spending New Year’s Eve with your family tonight?”

Jian Wei smiled and said, “I just need to get back before midnight… Happy New Year, Zhaoyang!”

I smiled back, “Happy New Year… Thank you for coming to help today. Why don’t you go find a place to rest first?”

Jian Wei nodded, then found a seat nearby. Mi Cai was sitting close by, and after exchanging nods, they had no further interaction.

Around six o’clock, some customers gradually began arriving at the bar. Under the staff’s guidance, they started making dumplings and tangyuan (sweet rice balls) in the designated activity area. The newly posted couplets and the glowing lanterns instantly brought a festive atmosphere to the venue.

I approached Jian Wei, handed her the event script, and asked, “Would you mind being our guest host later?”

Jian Wei picked up the script, glanced through it, and nodded, “No problem.”

“Thanks for doing this.”

Putting down the script, she said with slight displeasure, “Zhaoyang, could you please stop treating me like an outsider? With all the thanks and requests, I feel like I’m just an outsider here. I also hope to have an unforgettable New Year’s Eve, so I came here with hope—as a participant.”

I apologized with a smile and said, “You’re right. I was being narrow-minded. Let’s hope we all have an unforgettable New Year’s Eve tonight.”

Only then did Jian Wei nod, picking up the script again and writing some hosting lines on it.

I then approached Mi Cai, who was busy silently memorizing the guitar scores for the songs “Vernal Equinox” and “Beginning of Autumn.”

“Zhaoyang, why hasn’t the band’s drummer arrived yet? If he hasn’t heard these two obscure songs before, it’ll be hard for him to coordinate later,” Mi Cai said.

I scoffed, “What you call obscure is only obscure to people like you. Among us musicians, everyone knows these songs!”

Mi Cai looked a bit embarrassed and after a while said, “You people are all weirdos, deliberately listening to those obscure songs!”

“Exactly, how else can we show our individuality if not by choosing obscure songs?”

“But do you really need to deliberately show off your individuality?” Mi Cai asked curiously.

“Of course! Do you think everyone is as naturally unique as you are? Our individuality is mostly faked, what people usually call ‘pretentiousness.’”

“What does ‘pretentiousness’ mean?”

“It means the ability to act cool. Let me give you an example. Take Ajie, the owner of that music store—why do you think he keeps his long hair like some old woman? It’s just to act cool. But honestly, his pretentiousness level isn’t even that high!”

Mi Cai nodded and asked, “I get it now. Among your group of musician friends, who has the highest level of pretentiousness?”

“Robben… When it comes to pretentiousness, he’s unbeatable!”

Mi Cai asked curiously, “Why him?”

“Let me tell you two short stories about him. Pay attention to what brand of cigarettes he usually smokes.”

Mi Cai shook her head.

“Three-yuan-a-pack Hongmei cigarettes—that’s the ultimate pretentiousness. Last time, he pulled out a pack of Hongmei to offer to a scrap collector, but the guy actually refused. He even took out a ten-yuan pack of Bashan cigarettes and gave him one, saying, ‘Young man, how come you’re so poor? I’ve been collecting scrap for years, and I’ve never seen a young person smoking this brand before!’”

Mi Cai smiled with her lips pressed together.

I continued, “Also, his father always believes he has a proper job in Suzhou. Every time his father visits Suzhou, this idiot gets up early, wears a suit and tie, carries a briefcase, and takes the bus with the office workers… That’s pretentiousness at an unbearable level! He even fakes his life in front of his own father!”

This time, Mi Cai couldn’t help laughing out loud, “Haha… Suits and ties, briefcase in hand… imagining his appearance like that is really funny!”

Mi Cai’s laughter drew Jian Wei’s glance, but Jian quickly turned her gaze away.

After chatting with Mi Cai for a while longer, I checked my watch. It was almost half past six. According to the plan, the event was about to start.

I shouted to Xiao Wu, “Xiao Wu… Why hasn’t Ajie arrived yet? Call him quickly and urge him!”

Xiao Wu replied with some anxiety, “Just tried calling, no answer…”

“What’s going on?”

“Don’t panic yet. Maybe there’s some traffic. I’ll try calling again.”

I nodded. At that moment, Jian Wei from the nearby table gestured to me, signaling me to come over.

I went back to Jian Wei and sat across from her, asking, “What’s wrong? Is there an issue with the script?”

“The script is fine.” She handed it back to me and said, “I added some hosting lines on the script. Take a look and tell me if there’s anything that doesn’t work.”

I took the script from Jian Wei and started reading through it. Meanwhile, Jian Wei curiously asked, “What were you two just talking about?”

“Just chatting randomly.”

“It wasn’t that random. You managed to make her laugh, which definitely isn’t an ordinary topic.”

I instinctively glanced at Mi Cai and thought to myself—it was true that during our time together, she had laughed out loud only a handful of times.

I smiled and retold to Jian Wei what I had just discussed with Mi Cai. Jian Wei simply smiled and said, “Your group of friends, including you, are all somewhat secretly eccentric!”

“They can be secretly eccentric…”

Before my words had fully settled, Ajie suddenly appeared in the bar and walked up to Xiao Wu, complaining, “Your grandson really screwed me over. He insisted on using my guitar, so I had to go back halfway to get it. On the way, my car got scraped by a truck, and the body got a big dent!”

“But didn’t you have full insurance on the car? The insurance company will cover the damage. Why are you upset?”

“Getting into an accident on New Year’s Eve is just bad luck!”

“Don’t be superstitious, you fool. Just hand me the guitar so I can check it out!”

Muttering something, Ajie finally took the guitar case off his back and handed it to Xiao Wu.

Suddenly, two striking silver stripes on the back of the guitar case caught my eye. At almost the same moment, both Jian Wei and Mi Cai also turned their gazes toward the guitar case.

A wave of dread surged through me. The guitar Ajie had just brought in was exactly the one Jian Wei had given me long ago, as evidenced by the unique silver stripes on the case.

I quickly left my seat and approached Ajie and Xiao Wu. At this point, I could only hope that Mi Cai and Jian Wei hadn’t noticed the two silver stripes on the back of the guitar case. After all, I had only caught a brief glimpse of them just now. Right now, the back of the case was facing Xiao Wu’s body, conveniently blocking the view of the two silver stripes.

I lowered my voice and said to Ajie, “You damn bastard, you’re causing me trouble again! Why did you bring this guitar here?”

Ajie glanced around and suddenly noticed Mi Cai sitting not far away. He immediately realized he shouldn’t have brought the guitar and whispered back, “This mistake is on Xiao Wu. He insisted on using this guitar.”

Xiao Wu looked confused, not understanding the situation.

I hurriedly said, “Xiao Wu, quickly take this guitar to the backstage area and don’t use it anymore. This is the guitar my ex-girlfriend gave me—you know this already!”

Xiao Wu looked at Jian Wei, finally realizing the problem, and exclaimed, “Oh my God… How could I forget this!”

“Don’t say anything else. Keep holding the guitar like this, don’t let them see the silver stripes on the back, and quickly go backstage!”