That night, I didn’t fall asleep until the early hours of the morning, so the next day when I got up, I felt listless. Habitually, I picked up my phone and saw that the screen clearly displayed more than ten missed calls, most of them from Fangyuan. He must have learned from Jianwei that Leyao had not signed the contract.
After taking a deep breath, I finally called Fangyuan back. He seemed to have been waiting for my call, so he answered immediately when the call connected. His voice was filled with anxiety as he asked me, “Zhaoyang, what’s going on? I heard that Leyao refused the contract offered by Lukou!”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“What does she mean by this? Without a signed contract, it means she coming to Zhuomei for the groundbreaking ceremony on Christmas Day is completely uncertain, right?”
I hesitated for a moment before replying, “You could say that.”
Fangyuan became angry over the phone: “How could you mess this up? Now such a big mistake has been made, how can we, as partners, deal with the aftermath?!”
Reprimanded by Fangyuan, I felt even more annoyed, but I still restrained myself and replied, “Please calm down first… Give me some time to solve this problem, okay?”
After a moment of silence, Fangyuan finally softened his tone and said, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten so angry… But you should understand better than anyone else how serious the negative consequences of this matter could be. Just for Zhuomei alone, the production costs we’ve invested in advertising have already reached nearly 100,000 RMB. Fortunately, we haven’t yet distributed it through any channels, or else Zhuomei’s reputation would be completely ruined… Right now, Zhuomei is like a small boat drifting in a raging storm, and we really can’t afford to be destroyed! So, you must do your best with this matter. Don’t let General Manager Mi get distracted, and don’t play around with Zhuomei’s future, alright?”
Gritting my teeth, I gave Fangyuan a definite response and then said, “It’s my fault for not handling this properly. I will definitely find a way to make up for it. Once I have results, I’ll inform you first.”
“Yeah, I hope it’s not bad news.”
After ending the call with Fangyuan, I lit a cigarette early in the morning and kept staring at my phone, hoping Leyao would call me back, telling me that yesterday was just a momentary emotional outburst. However, all I received was disappointment. I then tried to comfort myself, thinking that Leyao must still be asleep. After a night’s cooling down, the anger in her heart would surely fade. With Roben’s help, there would definitely be a chance to change her previous decision.
…
In a daze, I finally waited until evening. I called Roben, who told me he was already heading toward the underground passage in the old district. He told me not to drive there but to borrow a moped instead. Although puzzled, I followed his instructions.
I slung the guitar I hadn’t touched in so long onto my back and rode a moped I borrowed from a company employee toward the destination. However, I couldn’t endure the howling cold wind because I had driven for too long and hadn’t prepared any warm clothing for riding. I moved the guitar from my back to the front, trying to block some of the cold wind, but I was stopped by a traffic police officer on duty. He scolded me for lacking safety awareness, explaining that hanging the guitar in front would create many safety hazards. To avoid wasting time, I had to give a profound self-criticism. At that moment, I felt that this miserable night was just beginning…
About twenty minutes later, I arrived at the underground passage before the agreed time. As soon as I parked the moped, I felt as if my body had frozen into an ice sculpture, ready to shatter at any moment. My feet were numb to the point where I couldn’t even stomp them on the ground, making it hard for me to appreciate this terrible evening.
I bought a scalding hot roasted sweet potato and held it in my hands, standing at the entrance of the underground passage, gazing at the street across. The neon lights at the entrance flickered, casting shifting shadows on my body. Combined with the persistent numbness, I felt somewhat surreal, almost wishing I were indeed just a figment of imagination, because sometimes I really hated this bloody reality that kept creating so many obstacles and disappointments.
A moment later, Roben finally arrived on his motorcycle, well-prepared with warm clothing, so he was in much better shape than I was. His ability to casually light a cigarette for himself was the best proof.
I asked him, “Alright, tell me, what’s the point of all this?”
“I just want her to see what our life was like before we had bars to sing in,” Roben said, taking off his gloves and handing me a piece of paper. “This song took me half a day to write. You’d better familiarize yourself with it quickly. When she arrives, we’ll sing this song for her!”
I smoothed out the paper and looked at it. To my surprise, the song Roben wrote contained the story of how we met Leyao and became friends. It was filled with emotional lyrics, especially the line: “You were as beautiful as a flower, yet never afraid of wind and rain. In my black eyes, there will always be your image. Whenever the sky is overcast and drizzling, I always think of that time. I don’t know how many nights were made better just because you appeared.”
I sighed, “What kind of strategy is this?”
“Don’t ask, the big shot is here!”
I quickly looked across the street and indeed saw Leyao parking her Porsche Panamera by the roadside. She got out of the car with her handbag, not wearing sunglasses but a mask, so I couldn’t see her expression clearly. However, she was walking toward us, getting closer and closer. I suddenly felt nervous because I didn’t know whether Roben had told her beforehand that I would be here, nor did I know what kind of mood she would have toward me.
Leyao had both hands in her coat pockets. When she reached us, her expressive eyes seemed to have been slightly teary from the dry wind. She looked at Roben and asked, “Did you call me here just to see this beast?”
Roben didn’t respond. He took out a tissue from his pocket and squatted down to wipe his black Martin boots. However, as he squatted, I lost the barrier between us, and our eyes met. After a moment, I said to her, “Actually, we want to sing for you!”
Leyao ignored me, lifted her leg and kicked Roben, saying, “You, the new godfather of rock, have now sunk to the level of bringing along a bystander to busk in this underground passage?”
Roben looked at Leyao, then turned his back and continued wiping his Martin boots with the tissue, completely assuming an indifferent posture, yet highlighting his ever-present coolness.
Leyao gave me a cold stare, said “Boring” in a frigid tone, and started to leave. Suddenly, I panicked and grabbed her sleeve, staring at her without blinking, but I didn’t know what to say. So, I lifted my leg and kicked Roben too, saying, “Say something, damn it! She’s leaving!”
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