Chapter 5: Band members: vocalist Lu Yan, drummer Li Zhen, guitarist Huang Xu, bassist Jiang Yaoming.
The people from the demolition company that caused quite the megatron-like ruckus were finally sent away by the time Lu Yan returned. He got off the motorcycle and tossed the keys to Wei ge, “Wei ge, your son is back.”
Wei ge took the keys and inspected his beloved motorcycle from the handlebars to the tires.
“How’s it going?” Lu Yan asked as he shook his wrist, “Did you manage to collect all of Aunty Zhang’s medical fees?”
After confirming that his motorcycle was fine, Wei ge hung the keys back on his waist and chuckled, “Got it, 2,500. When your Wei ge steps in, there’s no debt we can’t collect.”
“Awesome,” Lu Yan applauded.
“Alright, I’m heading to work,” Wei ge checked the time. “Do you have a performance tonight? If not, let’s have a drink together. It’s been a while since we drank together.”
Besides working some odd jobs during the day, Lu Yan mainly worked night shifts. During the evening, he would head to the bar for work.
“Some other time. I have a gig tonight.”
Lu Yan was used to going to the bar two hours early to prepare, and would start setting up once it was around time.
While he pulled on his pants—a pair of low-rise jeans with a metal chain that hung loosely around his hips, he rummaged through his closet shirtless. Halfway through, he suddenly remembered that because too many unexpected incidents happened today, he forgot about something important.
Lu Yan threw the tank top back on, scrolling through his chat records until he found a contact named ‘Sun Qian’ and pressed call.
After two rings, the call connected.
A thunderous, ear-shattering nightclub song erupted from the phone, and due to the intense volume, some notes sounded distorted: “Shoot, shoot, shoot, dance to the social shake! Buy a watch, buy a watch! My old man is throwing a party in the club! You gotta rock it up !”
“……”
Lu Yan held the phone a bit farther away, “Qian ge.”
Then, a man’s voice came through the phone that was speaking louder than the song. He shouted, “Hold on! I’m busy right now!”
There was a pause.
Lu Yan glanced at the calendar; it was May 1st. He thought a more tactful approach was needed to get to the point, “Qian ge, wishing you a happy Labor Day.”
At this moment, Sun Qian was standing at the entrance of the bar having just dealt with some idiot snorting drugs in the restroom, and was extremely irritated.
“What the hell is that holiday,” Sun Qian wasn’t in the mood to tolerate any jokes, “Lu Yan, if you’ve got something to say, spit it out!”
Only then did Lu Yan say, “Well, you see, I permed my hair. Can I get reimbursed?”
“Ah—?”
Sun Qian established his bar near the business district in Xiacheng. Despite his experience, the policies were getting stricter and stricter, and it wasn’t easy to open a bar at all. If these young people kept sneaking in for a drug-fueled party and got caught, even jumping into the Yellow River wouldn’t wash his name clean. If he wasn’t careful, he might end up with a warning.
With so many things on his plate, Sun Qian couldn’t remember what the whole perming hair situation was about.
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.
It wasn’t until Lu Yan added, “It’s that idiotic hairstyle that looks like a bunch of fire from a distance and a broom up close. I advise you to have a bit of conscience as a person.”
Oe Tjc jcv tlr yjcv tjnf yffc qijslcu ja Vec Hljc’r yjg obg jiwbra obeg sfjgr. Ojra kffx, tf reuufrafv atja atf sbecu ijv rtbeiv ags j wbgf ecldef tjlgrasif.
Lbkfnfg…
“Hljc uf,” Vec Hljc kjr pera atlcxlcu ktfc j yjgafcvfg kjixfv bea bo atf yjg, rffwlcuis kjcalcu ab rjs rbwfatlcu.
Sun Qian felt an approaching headache as he waved off the bartender and asked him to wait for a moment. “What’s wrong with that idiotic hairstyle? It screams ‘handsome’ with just one word and ‘super handsome’ with two! When I was young and played in a band, this style was all the rage. I had the same hairstyle back then. You young folks nowadays just don’t appreciate it. By the way, didn’t your band’s performance get canceled tonight?”
“Canceled?”
“Yeah, just a moment ago, both Da Ming and Xu Zi called me together, saying they couldn’t make it… I thought you guys discussed it. I even asked them if you knew about it, but they both mumbled and said they did.”
As Sun Qian spoke, the call went silent on the other end.
Sun Qian wanted to ask further about what happened, but the conversation abruptly stopped. He only managed to finish half of his sentence before sighing, “You guys…ah.”
Even after hanging up, Lu Yan had no idea what he said to Sun Qian or what even happened. His brain short-circuited for a while.
His phone beeped, and he received two identical messages.
One from Huang Xu, and one from Jiang Yaoming: “[Ge, we can’t continue anymore.]”
Li Zhen, who also just learned about the news: [?????]
[Fuck, what the hell is going on! What nonsense are you two sprouting!]
[Is it April Fool’s today?]
[No, wait, today is Labor Day!]
[Fuck, is this for real!?]
Lu Yan stared at the phone screen, closed his eyes for a moment, and then typed a reply: [Stop the nonsense, it’s true.]
[Call them both and let’s meet up.]
[Same old place.]
After sending the messages, Lu Yan didn’t bother to check what Li Zhen might say and tossed his phone aside.
His gaze landed on the mottled wall he was standing against. On it, there was a poster—well, it was supposed to be a poster, but it was really just a printed photo.
The scene in the poster showed a bar with neon lights illuminating it from above, and barely squeezing onto the stage were four people, looking like they were glowing.
Underneath the stage, the crowd created a sea of waving hands.
They were hidden in this dimly lit space, shouting along in their own way.
A piece of fabric hung on the pole in front of the stage.
Like a flag, it displayed four English letters: Vent.
At the bottom of the poster were the words —
Band members: Lead vocalist Lu Yan, drummer Li Zhen, guitarist Huang Xu, and bassist Jiang Yaoming.
The place Lu Yan referred to as “the old same place” was a roadside stall.
After their usual band performances, they often came here to drink, discuss songs, gigs, and spew out colorful words.
When Huang Xu and Jiang Yaoming appeared at the intersection ahead, the skewers were almost grilled. Li Zhen, who already consumed two bottles of alcohol, vented his emotions while hugging the bottle: “Why couldn’t you have said this sooner or later? Why did you choose right before the performance? Can xiongdi do such a thing? Is this what xiongdi does?”
Lu Yan sat beside him, flicking the ash off his cigarette quietly.
“Yan ge, Zhen ge,” Huang Xu, who was not very tall and particularly thin, hesitated before saying, “Yan ge, your hair looks really cool.”
Jiang Yaoming stood behind him, nodding, “It does look really cool, you can spot it from far away.”
The four sat at the table. The atmosphere was somewhat tense and everyone was quiet.
After all, they have been bandmates for four years. Lu Yan broke the silence, “What’s going on? Let’s talk?”
Huang Xu and Jiang Yaoming kept their heads down, and after a while, Huang Xu hesitated before saying, “My mom is sick…”
The two of them were quite similar. They started traveling with their instruments at the age of sixteen, facing strong opposition from their families. No one understood what a band was, and what ‘Long Live Rock n Roll’ meant.
But while life gave them courage, it also constantly taught them to give up.
How many years have they been in the band?
And how many more will it hold out for?
In the past, he was so full of passion—practicing and rehearsing, day to night. Now, as he laid in bed at night with open eyes and unable to sleep, a thought began to grow. He didn’t know when it started, or for how long it’s been there.
All he knows is that it’s telling him: “Just forget about all this.”
Actually, the disbandment of a band was not a rare thing.
It was all too common.
In these years he’s been in the underground music community, numerous bands have come and gone. Appearing, recruiting, leaving, disbanding.
Dreams can grow to immeasurable sizes, but reality will always be limited. When people are young, they can chase after these ideals freely without hesitation. But once these years have passed, they discover that there was an invisible, intangible thread attached to them. With one forceful tug, they have no choice but to go back to reality.
Lu Yan didn’t know how many cigarettes he smoked. “…As long as Auntie’s health is better, it’s fine. Have you made a decision?”
Huang Xu suddenly looked up, and couldn’t hold it back anymore. Tears fell down his cheek as he choked out, “Yan ge.”
Lu Yan was not good at dealing with this kind of emotional atmosphere. He stood up with his feet on the ground, planning to get some drinks from the fridge. “Let’s talk properly, don’t cry in front of laozi—”
Li Zhen put down the bottle he was hugging earlier and said, “What’s the point in crying like this? Others might misunderstand and think that we’re shooting a melodrama at eight o’clock in the evening.”
They continued the farewell dinner until past ten o’clock.
The barbecue stall was bustling with activity. Several kids gathered around the stall, chasing each other. The only advantage of the least developed Xiacheng District compared to other parts of the city was that you could see the stars at night.
This day was as ordinary as any other day.
After dinner, Lu Yan didn’t take the bus, and walked down the streets instead. Halfway through he squatted down and vomited on the side of the road due to nausea.
Maybe due to the excessive drinking, he stared at the reflection of the streetlight and suddenly recalled when he first met Huang Xu and Jiang Yaoming four years ago.
To be honest, these two guys didn’t play the guitar particularly well. They ended up with Lu Yan and Li Zhen because they weren’t selected after auditioning for other bands. However, at that time, these two boys were full of enthusiasm, and their eyes would light up at the mention of music.
After that brief memory, the scene in his mind shifted to the barbecue stall. Huang Xu’s gaze was devoid of any of that enthusiasm, and he spoke gloomy, “I’ve bought the return train ticket, and the train leaves in three days. My mother’s health has stabilized for now. The family found me a job in the county, in auto repair… That’s what I studied back in vocational school, although I didn’t finish. The salary is also quite stable.”
Lu Yan leaned against the roadside steps, and the street in front of him almost felt like an illusion. The blurry contrast between the light and shadow made everything seem imaginary.
He wasted another hour walking around before returning. During this time, he pondered over many things.
When their band formed that summer four years ago, no one had heard of them. Their coordination was poor, and it was like working together and alone at the same time. But they expressed one idea vividly through their actions: Get out of the way, this is laozi’s stage!
From 2015 to 2019, they practiced day and night in the city’s air-raid shelter. In this secretive, dark, and confined space, they crazily created a commotion.
Lu Yan walked to the entrance of Area Seven amidst the ruins. A few lights were on in Unit 3, Building 6.
He climbed the stairs.
Opened the door.
It was only in the bathroom that Lu Yan finally sobered up. Cold water poured down from the top of his head, and the ridiculous, upright broom-like hair he permed laid down obediently after the wash.
The stupid hairstyle he got for the performance didn’t even come in handy in the end.
He couldn’t describe what he felt in his heart.
Maybe it was regret.
If he knew, why bother with his ridiculous efforts?
After showering, Lu Yan didn’t bother to dry his hair. He leaned against the sink with one hand while holding a pair of scissors in the other and tried to find the best place to start cutting.
The hair dye started from the back half of the hair, with a gradual transition from red to purple connecting to the original black. However, it wasn’t very even, and there were variations in height and depth.
Lu Yan ended up making a few random cuts based on his feelings.
Some cut strands stuck to his face, and he rinsed his face with water, opening his eyes to look in the mirror.
After cutting his hair short, only the tips and a few subtly highlighted strands remained. Lu Yan didn’t have short hair for several years now, and touching the exposed nape of his neck felt a bit uncomfortable.
Already I can tell I’m going to be so emotionally invested in this story! 😭💖
Love this! Can’t wait to read more! Thank you 🥰