Not long after Lu Yan went upstairs, someone knocked on the door loudly.
“Yan ge, Yan ge, are you at home?”
“Ge!”
“Ge, answer me!”
Lu Yan was still changing clothes. Halfway through unzipping his jeans, he pulled it back up: “What’s up, Zhang Xiaohui?”
The boy outside the door continued to knock and when the door opened, his hand didn’t even have time to retreat.
The boy looked quite young, around seventeen or eighteen years old. He was wearing a pair of worn-out flip-flops on his feet, and even though they lost their grip, he still managed to wear them with ease. He scratched his head and handed over the tofu-like thing in his hand, “So, there was a building meeting today. This was brought back by Aunty Zhang from the hospital, just a little token of goodwill. You weren’t there during the meeting, and tomorrow the demolition company might be back again…Oh man, your hairstyle!”
He gestured with a thumbs-up and said, “Super cool.”
Zhang Xiaohui’s words were not wrong. The hairstyle was indeed inhuman, and the broomstick standing on anyone’s head could reach a new level of ugliness, but Lu Yan was not an ordinary person.
He still remembered when he moved into this building two years ago. It was almost the Mid-Autumn Festival, and he prepared a few boxes of mooncakes to give to his neighbors from the first floor to the top floor. After knocking on the door of 602 and seeing Lu Yan for the first time, he was a bit dumbfounded: long hair, eyebrow stud, and a row of earrings. There was something extremely distinctive and rebellious about them.
Then, the man with long hair squinted at him and exhaled a puff of smoke, “New here?”
That puff of smoke made him forget why he came.
Now, that man’s long hair turned into a brightly colored, towering broom.
Zhang Xiaohui said again, “Yan ge, are you playing Kuaishou?”
There was a sudden twitch at the corner of Lu Yan’s forehead.
Knowing that everyone was out here trying to make a living, Zhang Xiaohui continued, “Recently, the ‘Burial of Love Family‘ trend is quite popular. With your talent and looks, you’re sure to stand out and dominate Kuaishou in no time.”
“Xiaohui,” Lu Yan looked at him for a moment and motioned for him to come over, “Come here.”
Zhang Xiaohui vaguely felt a sense of danger, “I, uh, I suddenly remembered I have something to do.”
“Do you have a brain?” Lu Yan curled his finger, flicking it lightly on Zhang Xiaohui’s forehead, “Do you think my temperament is suitable for playing on Kuaishou?”
Zhang Xiaohui covered his head, “No, no, no, I was wrong, Yan ge.”
Lu Yan pretended to flick him again, and when Zhang Xiaohui closed his eyes, Lu Yan opened his hand and placed it lightly on his shoulder, “Alright, thanks for making the trip. I’ll be mostly around tomorrow. If they dare to come—”
Zhang Xiaohui tried to guess what Lu Yan was going to say in the second half of the sentence and went through eight possibilities in his mind, but still couldn’t figure it out.
Lu Yan said, “I’ll take care of them.”
The relationships in this building were quite strange. Everyone prepaid the rent for the next year, only to suddenly hear that the neighborhood was bought by a large company to be turned into a factory. Without a word, the landlord took the rent and compensation and disappeared.
Originally, it was just a matter of rent, but the representatives from that large company who came to negotiate had an extremely bad attitude.
Without saying anything more, he took action and pushed Aunt Zhang—who lived on the first floor—to the ground and sent her to the hospital.
That’s how the feud started.
In the competition of who could be more difficult to deal with, the people living in cheap rental houses all year round have never lost.
His evening performance was postponed to the next day, disrupting Lu Yan’s plan to return home, grab his guitar bag, and head to the bar. He sprawled on the bed trying to sleep, and kept a distance from the bed frame to avoid touching that hairstyle, making him uncomfortable all night.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The next morning.
Fcilxf batfg qijmfr, atfgf kfgf cb gfrajegjcar cfjgys joafg atf vfwbilalbc bo Cgfj Vfnfc. Snfc lc atf wbgclcu, atf wbylif rajiir rfiilcu ygfjxojra vlvc’a mbwf tfgf ab vb yerlcfrr. Ktf fcalgf cflutybgtbbv ibbxfv ilxf j vfrfgafv jgfj.
Cr jc fjgis glrfg, Oe Tjc kbxf eq fjgis. Dfobgf rlz b’mibmx, tf uba eq ab mbbx lcrajca cbbvifr. Qtlif kjlalcu obg atf kjafg ab ybli, tf ifjcfv jujlcra atf rabnf jcv revvfcis atbeuta bo j wfibvs. Llr olcufgr vgewwfv jyrfcawlcvfvis bc atf alifr.
He used his other hand to push open the window beside him. Although the environment in this area was not good, he could see the sun rising from the horizon and casting a translucent red hue over half of the sky from this position.
Lu Yan looked for a moment, then withdrew his gaze. It was still Xiacheng District, and the ruins were still the same pile of ruins… Then his gaze collided with a car.
Parked in front of the dismantled arch at the entrance to Area Seven was a silver-gray sports car that was modified to be quite flashy. The rear end of the car was so aggressive that it looked like it could soar into the sky.
This was a vehicle that was unlikely to appear here. The only cars that dominated the nearby roads were either electric scooters or second-hand cars. The entire car, from the headlights to engine, gave off an “out of place” vibe.
What did Zhang Xiaohui say yesterday?
“—The people from the demolition company might come again tomorrow.”
Early enough, Lu Yan thought.
Most of the residents in the building leave early and come home late, coming from all walks of life.
Lu Yan took one last look and made sure that this was the only car parked here. There were no larger bulldozers behind it and it posed no threat. Humming a tune, he shifted his gaze away, staring at the rising steam from the pot and tapping his fingertips on the cool tiles.
Lu Yan tapped his fingers on the tiles for inspiration. His hands were a little itchy, so he took the guitar from the wall.
The place he lived in was a small single room about twenty square meters, with a few pieces of furniture squeezed together in an unimaginable arrangement.
In the twenty square meter space, most of it was dedicated to musical instruments—several guitars, an electronic keyboard probably picked up from some second-hand market, and a variety of CD records.
The lead singer of the band who was heating water, held a guitar, plugged it in, and strummed the strings from top to bottom.
Then, following the tune he was humming, he strummed it for a second time.
He didn’t notice that the flying car downstairs turned off its engine. Half a minute later, the car door opened.
A person got out of the car.
The person wore a wristwatch, and a well made blank shirt. The hollow dial was inlaid with diamonds, and the cuffs of the shirt were folded up casually, exposing half of his wrist. There was an unknown stain on the folded sleeve, a small off-white patch that was clearly highlighted by the black.
“Boss, are you really going in?” The car window rolled down, and a head emerged from the driver’s seat. The owner of the head had striking red hair. Glancing left and right, the person exclaimed, “This is my first time in this area. Is this a place where people live? It looks like it’s about to collapse.”
In front was half of an archway, broken.
The gatehouse was gone, demolished.
The path underfoot had very few flat steps.
In short, everything was in ruins.
…..
The person who got out of the car just glanced at the surrounding environment. Unlike the redhead’s exaggerated reaction, he didn’t show much emotion. However, he didn’t seem to be in a great mood either. He took out a pack of cigarettes, lowered his head, and directly bit one out with his mouth. It was evident that this irritability had nothing to do with the pile of ruins in front of him.
“Light it up,” Xiao Heng said, biting his cigarette.
The redhead immediately understood. He pulled out a lighter, and with a snap, lit it. Then, he held it out from the car window, saying, “Here!”
Xiao Heng bent down, approached, and lit his cigarette.
The smoke wafted up in front of the redhead.
After lighting the cigarette, the red-haired man threw the lighter onto the passenger seat and moved his hands to the steering wheel. He touched it as if caressing a woman: “Your car is really amazing, it’s the ultimate man’s dream. Damn, it’s so cool to drive! Boss, can I take a couple more laps around here?”
“Zhai Zhuangzhi.”
Caught off guard by hearing his own name, the redhead said, “Huh?”
Xiao Heng said again, “Get lost.”
Zhai Zhuangzhi: “…”
“Go check if there’s a supermarket nearby,” Taking a few steps outside while smoking, Xiao Hneg added, “then buy a can of hypoallergenic formula and come back.”
“Boss, don’t leave your sentences hanging,” Zhai Zhuangzhi patted his chest.
Xiao Heng walked to the half-demolished building downstairs. This building seemed to have some unknown history; it looked like someone fought at the entrance, and the door was crooked, easily opening with a push.
He unfolded a piece of paper in his hand, on which was written: Unit 3, No. 6, Harmony Community, Room 601.
“Boss, what kind of formula did you just say?” Zhai Zhuangzhi drove five hundred meters away and called Xiao Heng again, “Tommy? Is it a foreign brand?”
“Hypoallergenic formula, for allergies,” Xiao Heng extinguished the remaining half of his cigarette.
“Oh damn,” Zhai Zhuangzhi stepped on the gas, “so the little one is allergic even to regular formula? How could I have known there were so many intricacies? You’ve only been with that kid for a few days, and you already know so much…”
Xiao Heng hung up the phone.
Zhai Zhuangzhi’s clamoring voice faded away, but the world did not become quiet, because at the same time, a piece of music came from upstairs. The distorted effect sounded very intense, piercing through the air sharply and splitting it in half.
An electric guitar.
However, the skill and equipment were completely mismatched. The playing was erratic, almost like a cacophony, interspersed with noise and the dull off-key tones produced when the fingers didn’t press down firmly…If there are levels in guitar playing, the person playing now might not even qualify for selection.
This guitar playing is just so crap.
The narrow corridor was covered in small advertisements, along with graffiti sprayed haphazardly with red paint. The peculiar vulgarity of the Xiacheng District rushed out silently from the cracks in the wall.
Accompanying it was the increasingly intense and powerful guitar sound.
Xiao Heng climbed up to the sixth floor, and the guitar sound, reaching a new level of decay, was too close for comfort. It seemed to be separated from him only by a nonexistent wall.
Following the guitar, there came a section of plucking strings, probably an attempt to show off skills, but it didn’t come through at all.
“…”
The guitar paused for two beats, and in the blank space between, Xiao Heng heard a few unclear hummed phrases.
A male voice.
Surprisingly, the tone was not bad, much better than the guitar playing.
Lu Yan played the last note, closed his eyes in ecstasy, and savored the lingering sound for a full three seconds before opening them.
He gently shook his left wrist, made a few changes to the handwritten score, and then hung the guitar back. He poured hot water into the instant noodle bowl, and pressed a bowl on top.
Staring at the completely transformed score for a while, he decided to give it a name. So, he took a pen and wrote two words at the top: “To Soar”.
It didn’t feel right.
He crossed it out.
He wrote again: “Fly, young man”.
…?
It didn’t quite work, was he trying to be funny?
He crossed it out again.
He crossed out several more, leaving only three bold and casual words at the top: “Haven’t decided yet”.
He snapped a picture of the paper and sent it to Li Zhen.
To ensure Li Zhen didn’t miss it, Lu Yan also sent over a dozen emojis from his collection, a harassment tactic he was exceptionally skilled at.
“Lu Yan! You rascal!” Li Zhen’s call came soon after.
Lu Yan said, “Stop asking about my uncle. He’s doing well, healthy, eats well, and sleeps soundly.”
“…” Li Zhen was exasperated. “What time is it? I was sleeping, and you woke me up!”
“Did you check out the new song?”
Torn between frustration and curiosity, Li Zhen said, “Give me a moment, I’m checking now.”
Not looking at it was better; looking at it made Li Zhen even more exasperated.
“What the hell, what have you written… How many times have I told you that no one can understand you when you write like this? Can we write properly? Damn it, let me take a look, I can fucking see the name!” Li Zhen’s voice became louder and louder, and he would even be able to sing high notes if he worked harder, “And the name is ‘Haven’t Decided Yet’!”
Lu Yan rubbed his neck, “Can’t understand, huh? Should I play it for you?”
Silence echoed from Li Zhen’s end.
To be honest, Lu Yan’s songwriting skills were quite impressive—a combination of effort and talent. He belonged to the third type—the one who worked hard and had talent. As the lead singer, he sang well, and their band dominated this area, earning them the nickname ‘Demon Band’ for a reason. However, every time Lu Yan presented drafts that were incomprehensible with chaotic handwriting. Without hearing him play, it was nearly impossible to understand… but when he played the guitar, it was truly unpleasant.
Li Zhen was completely awake, devoid of any sleepiness.
“I wasn’t fully awake,” Li Zhen explained, “Yan'er, I think although your score seems complicated, it’s actually not. It’s because I didn’t pay attention to it just now.”
“Then feel it again.”
“Alright, I’ll feel it again.”
After hanging up, Lu Yan folded the paper and stuck it on the refrigerator. He was about to open the instant noodles when he suddenly remembered that he borrowed the bowl he was holding from the neighbor a few days ago.
Next door was a single woman with long hair who moved in less than half a year ago. Lu Yan didn’t even know her name. The woman rarely spoke, and he had no idea when she left during the day. She came home later than him at night, and they basically never crossed paths.
Lu Yan decided to return the bowl first to avoid forgetting about it later. Before leaving, he picked a few oranges from the fruit bowl and placed them in the bowl. Then, he opened the door—
In their rundown building.
In the narrow corridor on the sixth floor.
At this time, at this moment, there stood a very suspicious man.
Thank you for the chapter! (˘︶˘).｡*♡