Ye Zhao borrowed the mute's bicycle again to look for Li Ruixiang. Li Ruixiang laughed happily when she saw the huge "bicycle" she rode.
They said she looked like Monkey King riding an elephant, very cute.
They were eating wontons in a small restaurant in front of the Ailin Toy Factory. Ye Zhao asked her, "Why are there so many people standing in front of your factory?"
Li Ruixiang became interested. "Something big happened in our factory. The boss's wife was driven out of the factory by the boss's daughter, and a big-character poster was posted..."
"Are you sure it's the boss lady?"
Li Ruixiang lowered her voice: "Boss's mistress! What a pity, you didn't hear the notice that Gao Yueyue read at the radio station today. The boss's wife was so pitiful and humble. She said that she had made a mistake and would be responsible for her wrong behavior. She thanked the boss for not pursuing the responsibility. She said a lot, but in the end she was still fired."
"You pity her?"
"No, we just watched the show and had a lot of fun. We all wanted to know what kind of person the boss's daughter was."
Ye Zhao smiled and praised himself: "It's just people like me, cute and vindictive."
"What must be reported?"
"an eye for an eye!"
"You are different. You are kind. How about we each have an omelette? Eating in our factory cafeteria is free, but there is no oil at all. I feel hungry soon after eating every day."
Ye Zhao nodded: "Add! Add two eggs! It's my treat."
"No need. It's my treat. You're still a student, but I earn my own money."
She spent the whole day on Sunday, except for going out to have lunch with Li Ruixiang at noon. She spent the rest of the time at home practicing basic skills with her bass.
Ye Zhao is serious about learning bass, simply for the sake of making money.
In order to leverage a lot of money in the future.
According to Zeng Xiang, she can't sing, is a novice at bass, and can only play a few chords to fool the audience. Her role is mainly to stabilize the stage. Well, she is the face of their band.
It’s just a facade, not everyone can make a vase.
After dinner, Ye Zhao walked into Zeng Xiang's room playing the bass. Zeng Xiang, who was sitting at the bedside repairing the tape recorder, looked up at her blankly, like a monk in meditation.
Ye Zhao smiled and asked, "You play well, right?"
"Not... OK." Zeng Xiang paused when he said this.
I don't know whether it was the truth or just a perfunctory response.
Aunt Qiao brought them some ice bean soup. She had listened to Ye Zhao practicing the bass, and her ears were callused. But when she heard Ye Zhao ask her if it sounded good, she gave him a thumbs up without hesitation.
"It sounds good. We can go on stage after practicing a little more..."
"Stop playing! It sounds so terrible!" someone in the yard shouted.
This is not a scolding of Ye Zhao, this is like pouring ice water on Aunt Qiao's face!
Aunt Qiao opened the window and shouted to the yard, "Who said that? Who said that just now?!"
For a long time, no one downstairs dared to say a word. Even the sound of mahjong stopped.
"Are you dumb? You are a coward!" Aunt Qiao turned around and comforted Ye Zhao: "Ignore these people, I'll go down and see who it is. It must be the fat lady Ying's family playing mahjong."
Ye Zhao was in a good mood. She smiled softly and said, "Forget it. This song really isn't that good."
Aunt Qiao looked at Zeng Xiang and gently scolded him, "This is your fault. Why didn't you choose a nice song for Xiao Zhao?"
Zeng Xiang tightened the screws and looked up at the sky in silence, "Mom, if you get a little more biased, I can hardly find your heart on the left side."
If this continues, I won’t know who is the roof and who is the crow on the roof.
Aunt Qiao laughed and scolded, "Your song selection is not good, and you won't let people say anything."
After Aunt Qiao left, Ye Zhao put away his bass and took out his textbooks. He had to make up for the physics and chemistry classes today.
While Zeng Xiang was doing his homework, Ye Zhao was sitting by the window flipping through the magazines under the bookshelf. Almost all of them were magazines from Hong Kong City, most of them were sports and physical education magazines, all printed in traditional Chinese characters.
After Zeng Xiang finished his exercises, Ye Zhao corrected them and asked him tentatively, "Why do you like to write traditional Chinese characters?"
"It's not a love, it's a habit."
"Why do you have such a habit?"
"I studied in Hong Kong City and studied there until the third grade."
No wonder, that meant he completed his initial enlightenment education in Hong Kong City.
"Why did you go to Hong Kong to study?"
"There are relatives there."
Ye Zhao nodded. This matched what Liang Po said.
She pursed her lips and whispered, "Would you be unhappy if I asked more in-depth questions?"
Zeng Xiang stared at Ye Zhao. Their eyes made eye contact. Her eyes were clear, and they were inquiring and expectant.
He lowered his head, "Don't ask."
Ye Zhao nodded slightly. Since he was unwilling to say it, she respected him.
Ye Zhao put the exercises on the table and said, "I got these questions wrong."
In fact, he only got 3 out of 20 questions right.
After explaining all the wrong questions in detail, Ye Zhao assigned 20 new questions.
This time she found an entertainment magazine at the bottom of the pile of magazines. Compared to sports magazines, she still prefers reading entertainment gossip.
Whenever she opened the magazine, she saw the exaggerated headlines and large portraits that Hong Kong media usually uses. As she flipped through the magazine, she was attracted by a piece of gossip about a wealthy family.
"The eldest grandson of the Luo family is standing in front of Mrs. Luo with a sullen face, and the 'mother and son' have no communication throughout the whole process." The title is eye-catching, and you can tell at a glance that there are turbulent things going on.
This eldest grandson of the Luo family is the book's number one villain, Luo Shen, whom she is looking for!
Luo Shen is about the same age as her. According to the description in this report, Luo Shen has not been seen in public for many years and has a bad relationship with his stepmother, Mrs. Luo. However, as the eldest grandson, Luo Shen is deeply loved by Mrs. Luo and is the true heir to the wealthy Luo family.
Mrs. Luo also came from a wealthy family and had the second young master of the Luo family. It was rumored that the second young master had defects when he was born and was not valued by the Luo family.
Therefore, Mrs. Luo was particularly disgusted with the Luo family's illegitimate eldest grandson.
Ye Zhao, who had read the original book, knew a little more than what was reported in the gossip magazines. The eldest son's mother was a daughter-in-law from a poor family who was not recognized by the Luo family, and the second son was a genius boy with autism.
She quickly read to the end and found that the report clearly stated the Luo family's address, "No. 1 Augustine Road, Mid-Levels, Hong Kong Island". Ye Zhao hurriedly copied down the address.
Zeng Xiang, who had finished the second set of exercises, looked at her and asked, "What are you copying?"
Ye Zhao picked up the magazine and pointed to a blurry back picture in the magazine, "This is the eldest son of the wealthy Luo family in Hong Kong!"
"you know?"
Ye Zhao shook his head: "I don't know him. But I know that he will become a sinister and cunning villain in the future."
Zeng Xiang: “?!”
Seeing that he seemed very shocked, Ye Zhao couldn't help but laugh and said, "Be careful with your assumptions and make bold guesses. Look at the environment he lives in. It's easy for him to turn evil. Do you know what evil means? It means that a good person is forced to become a bad person."
Zeng Xiang smiled silently and said it as if it was true.
Ye Zhao looked down at the picture of Luo Shen's back, then looked at Zeng Xiang, "You know what, his back looks a bit like you."
As he was talking, there was a knock on the door. It was Xiaotian, with a bottle in his hand containing a few crickets. He caught them specially to feed Douding.
Zeng Xiang's decision to return to the band yesterday made Xiaotian look at Ye Zhao in a different light. In his opinion, this was all thanks to Ye Zhao.
He also asked how Ye Zhao succeeded in persuading him.
Ye Zhao only smiled slightly, hiding his achievements and fame.
After feeding the lizard, Brother Xiang was working hard on his homework and ignored everyone. Xiaotian secretly called Ye Zhao to the living room and whispered, "Sister Xiao Zhao, I want to tell you something honestly."
She called him sister so sweetly, it must be something bad. Ye Zhao asked, "What?"
"Actually, Awen... hasn't agreed to participate in this competition yet."
Ye Zhao was shocked. It turned out that Xiaotian was the only one playing chess from the beginning. "You can do this? You have put together a big chess game by yourself. You are amazing!"
"No, Sister Xiao Zhao, you are still the best!"
"So, why did you call me out?"
"Tomorrow we will go and persuade Awen together. Without a keyboard player, our band will have no soul."
Ye Zhao wanted to roll his eyes. "You told me before that without Brother Xiang's guitar, your band would have no soul. Your soul is so erratic. I think it's not that you lack musicians, but soul-stabilizing pills."
"We don't have soul-fixing pills, but we have soul-fixing masters. You are our soul-fixing master. You can handle Brother Xiang, and you can definitely handle Awen. I believe in you. You are my god." Xiaotian pretended to be stupid, spoke sweet words, and had first-class skills.
Ye Zhao didn't even know what Awen looked like. She said helplessly, "He may be short, thin, fat, white, or black. I don't know anything about him. How can I persuade him? What right do I have to persuade him?"
"You are short of money."
Ye Zhao, who was being held in the dark, asked, "What for? I persuade him to return to the team, and you give me money?"
"I have two thousand dollars of private money. If you can get Ah Wen, I will lend you the whole amount. But you have to promise to pay me back."
Ye Zhao stared at Xiao Tian again and again. In this era, 2,000 yuan is not a small amount of money. "How do you have so much private money?"
"Don't worry, this is my own private money. I went to Hong Kong to work for my relatives last summer and earned it myself."
Xiao Tian begged and pleaded, and for the sake of money, Ye Zhao agreed to help. She was unsure, what right did she have to persuade Awen? She could only infer from the result that Wen Tianxiang's band won the championship in the end, so Awen could not have refused to participate.
He must have been convinced in the end.
After not coming to school for a few days, Ye Zhao appeared in the classroom she had not seen for a long time. The way her classmates looked at her had changed!
Become more complicated.
Those with good grades regard her as a competitor; those with poor grades regard her as a god of war fighting for honor for Class 3 (4); those with average grades are the most conflicted, as they feel sorry for Bai Lu but at the same time want to join the army supporting Ye Zhao, so they can only waver on the fence.
In short, Ye Zhao has successfully revitalized the water in this pool, and everyone has new hope.
Upon hearing that she had come to school, her homeroom teacher, Teacher Zhou, was the first to call her to the office.
"If you don't come, I'm going to do a home visit."
What's the point of a home visit? Her parents are not at home.
Teacher Zhou: "Have you figured it out? What are your plans for the future?"
"I still insist..." I don't want to make up for the missed lessons.
"I have discussed this with the school leaders. If you are in difficulty, the tuition fees can be refunded to you."
Ye Zhao bowed and said, "Thank you, teacher and school leaders."
Ye Zhao wanted to say no, but he held back. He didn't refuse, but he also didn't have to come.
"Thank you, Mr. Zhou. I understand."
"By the way, you got first place in the last monthly exam. According to the rules, you will be qualified to participate in the L3 Comprehensive Science Competition. You need to prepare in advance."
Ye Zhao didn't know that it was this competition spot that prompted Bai Yunlian to let go and "do big things". She had no interest in participating in this kind of competition.
"Do I have to go? I'm quite busy recently, can other students go instead?"
"You just came to Shenzhen City, you don't know how precious this spot is. Some people have waited for three or four years and still haven't gotten this opportunity. You gave up with just one sentence?"
Then Teacher Zhou began to explain to her the value of this comprehensive science competition, saying that if she was admitted to a university in the future, she could apply for a scholarship in the new school.
Ye Zhao was indeed not interested, so Teacher Zhou said helplessly: "Then we can only give it to Bai Lu. She has worked hard for this position for three years. Do you think she did it for the mere 500 yuan bonus? She did it for the honor of bringing glory to the school!"
When Ye Zhao heard that the spot was going to be given to Bai Lu, his subconscious reaction was: No! This spot cannot be given up!
There's also a 500 yuan bonus? We can't give it up!
Ye Zhao immediately said, "I'll do it! Teacher, I can do it!"
Teacher Zhou was overjoyed. Sure enough, this trick worked. He handed the registration form to Ye Zhao and said, "Fill it out and give it back to me."
When she came out of the office, Xiaotian called her from not far in the corridor, "I called Awen, come quickly."
Ye Zhao ran over and walked to a corner. Xiaotian seemed to have already had a conversation with Awen.
Now they were discussing the second round, Xiaotian said earnestly: "Brother Xiang has forgiven the past, what are you afraid of!"
"I want to participate, but I'm afraid I'll run away again." Awen said a little anxiously, but this anxiety was not directed at Xiaotian, but at himself.
He is annoyed with himself.
From the original book, we know that Awen is Bailu's first love. He has good academic performance and is talented. After breaking up with Bailu, he went abroad to study and there has been no news of him since then.
The reason why Awen broke up with Bai Lu was because he had severe depression. Whenever his parents quarreled at home, he would suffer from depression. Once the depression attacked, he didn't want to see anyone, didn't want to care about anyone, and it was even more impossible for him to perform on stage.
Bai Lu is a very smart and realistic person. After she found out that Awen was depressed, she chose to break up with him.
In this matter, Ye Zhao couldn't criticize Bai Lu's behavior. He could only say that the two of them didn't love each other enough.
Xiaotian stared at Ye Zhao helplessly, wanting her to say something.
Since the original book says that Wen Tianxiang's band will eventually be successful, it can be inferred that Awen's parents will not quarrel in the following period of time, which will not affect Awen's performance on stage.
So there is no need to find a way to temporarily separate Awen from his family.
Ye Zhao suggested: "How about this, let's make preparations for both situations."
Xiaotian: "Just tell us, we will listen to you."
"There are two plans. One is the plan that Awen can participate in on site, and the other is the alternative plan if Awen cannot participate in on site on that day."
"The alternative is not possible without a keyboard."
Ye Zhao explained: "Both options have keyboards. Awen can record the keyboard accompaniment tape in advance. If Awen can't come on the day of the competition, we can play the accompaniment."
"Accompaniment and band?"
"Yes, the accompaniment plus the band, the effect is very good, I have heard it before."
Xiaotian suddenly understood. "Fuck, why didn't I think of this method before? I think this method is feasible, what do you think? Awen!"
Ah Wen was still a little worried: "Will there be noise in the accompaniment we recorded?"
Ye Zhao: "Let's go to the recording studio and record."
Xiaotian: "Go to Brother Xiang in the recording studio. He will definitely have a solution."
Xiaotian chattered a lot of nice things, and Ye Zhao also followed suit with a few words of advice, and finally Awen was convinced.
Another very important reason why he was willing to listen to Ye Zhao's advice was that Ye Zhao ranked first in the district. In his heart, this girl was very outstanding and amazing.
Everyone admires the strong, so maybe for the same words, what Xiaotian said might not be as effective as what Ye Zhao said.
This world is so unreasonable.
Xiaotian went to find Brother Xiang to sort out the issues in the recording studio. Ye Zhao chatted with Awen for a few more sentences, probably about how to adapt the song next. The song they chose was "I Just Like You", which was relatively easy to adapt.
Ah Wen was still a little hesitant, "I actually want to go on stage, but I'm afraid I'll end up being a deserter again."
"It doesn't matter." Ye Zhao said with a smile, "You can run away without any worries. Once you run away, your share of the bonus will belong to me."
At first Awen thought Ye Zhao was trying to comfort him, but he didn't expect it to be a joke in the end, and he couldn't help laughing.
In this way, the four-member Wen Tianxiang Band was officially established.
Awen suggested changing the band's name and finding a way to add Ye Zhao's name to it.
Ye Zhao flatly refused, for she was afraid that changing the name would affect the band's chances of winning the championship.
But good things always take time. Ye Zhao filled out the registration form and handed it to Teacher Zhou. The teacher asked her to get ready and take the exam this Saturday.
The next day, during ensemble practice at Xiaotian's house, Ye Zhao learned that the preliminary round of the Gulf Music Competition would also be held this Saturday morning, perfectly coinciding with the L3 Comprehensive Science Competition.
The registration form for the comprehensive science competition has been submitted and she cannot be absent, so she can only give up the music competition!
Ye Zhao stared at the three brothers who were eating jelly and carefully put forward his thoughts: "Although my not participating in the competition has no impact on you. But today, who is the reason why you can gather here?"
The three brothers were so busy eating cold noodles that they had no time to talk.
Ye Zhao had no choice but to continue the conversation, "Because of me! Right!"
"Yes!" Xiaotian gave her face and said "yes".
"So, if I win the grand prize, can you lend me the 10,000 yuan prize money as we agreed before? I'll pay you the interest."
"No problem, no interest required." Xiaotian and Awen answered in unison, treating the money they had not yet received as dirt.
Ye Zhao stared at Zeng Xiang who had not expressed his opinion, and gently kicked the sole of his shoe, "What about you?"
Zeng Xiang asked her: "What do you want so much money for?"
Ye Zhao couldn't tell so many people about her investment. She was just trying to find an excuse. Zeng Xiang saw her embarrassment and couldn't bear to make things difficult for her, so he said, "I have no objection."
"It's a deal then. It's a deal." Ye Zhao whispered excitedly.
Xiaotian put down the bowl in his hand and said, "How about this, you also go and record a bass accompaniment tape. You can't come, but your music can come!"
"Can!"
Ye Zhao didn't expect that the advice he gave to Awen would end up being used on himself.
So, they recorded the accompaniment tape on Friday, and Ye Zhao went to participate in the comprehensive science competition on Saturday. It was still early when he came out of the examination room, so Ye Zhao hailed a taxi and went directly to the music competition.
The preliminary round of the Gulf Music Competition was held on a stage built in a small square by the sea. In Ye Zhao's eyes, it was very simple, but in the eyes of people at that time, it was very grand.
The scene was packed with participating teams and cheerleaders sent by various schools and companies. After looking around, I finally found someone from their school in a corner.
Apart from their classmates, Ye Zhao only knew Xiaotian's sister Zeng Xiuquan. Zeng Xiuquan was in the second year of high school and was the captain of the cheerleading team. Others in the cheerleading team included Zeng Xiaoling, Wu Aimin and others, and even Bai Lu was brought in.
Bai Lu was reluctant to participate in such activities, but because she couldn't participate in the comprehensive science competition, she was in a bad mood, so Zeng Xiaoling asked her to come and relax. The main reason was that Awen was in the competition, so Bai Lu came anyway.
Who would have thought that I would meet Ye Zhao here!
Zeng Xiaoling rolled her eyes: "What bad luck! Why do I see this jinx everywhere?"
Bai Lu pulled Zeng Xiaoling and asked her to be less loud.
"I won't! I'll speak louder! Don't spoil her!" Zeng Xiaoling raised her voice, "What time is it now? The comprehensive science competition will end in at least an hour, right? She is too arrogant. She doesn't cherish the opportunity the teacher gave her. Doesn't she know that others have been waiting for this opportunity for three years? She got it by trickery, but she doesn't cherish it! How uncultured!"
Wu Aimin, who was sitting next to her, thought the words were too unfriendly, so she didn't say anything. A female classmate at the other end said, "This should have been Bai Lu's chance, but it was wasted."
"Yes! Just take a test casually! The last monthly test was all old exercises. She is a repeater and has no idea how many times she has done them. She took advantage and got first place in the district. In her school's previous mock exams, all her scores added up to less than 200. Don't think no one knows!"
That person echoed: "Even if Bailu closed her eyes and did the test, she would get more than 200 points!"
"I'm waiting for her to show her true colors. The comprehensive science competition is different. It's said that all the questions are brand new. Even if you can't do the questions, you should at least sit until the end and hand in the paper, right? This is obviously taking up a spot for nothing and wasting Bai Lu's opportunity!"
At first, Ye Zhao just focused on the stage because Xiu Qun said the next show would be the Wen Tianxiang Band.
If Ye Zhao had arrived a few minutes earlier, he might have been able to register and perform on stage. What a pity.
Zeng Xiuqun was the first to lose patience and said to Zeng Xiaoling, "Shut up before the results come out."
Zeng Xiaoling was not willing to be rebuked by a schoolmate in public, "What does it have to do with you? Do you think you can control us just because you're a cheerleader? Tell me to shut up, and you should shut up first!"
Zeng Xiuqun was not a person who could speak eloquently. She paused for a moment and said, "They were fighting among themselves outside and were laughed at by others!"
"It's a joke, but it's not me."
Seeing that the two sides were about to quarrel, Ye Zhao tried hard to recall what Zeng Xiaoling had just been scolding, and then she understood.
Ye Zhao smiled and retorted, "I only spent an hour on the comprehensive science competition this time and handed in the paper. What can you do with my attitude? I just wanted to take up this spot on purpose. I don't want to give it up even if it rots in my hands. What else can you do except get angry?"
"Ye Zhao, you are so disgusting! When I get back, I will complain to the school leaders about you! Seeing how arrogant you are, I will make sure you don't have the chance to repeat your grade!"
"Let me be frank. If I choose not to study, the teachers will probably come to my house and beg me to take the college entrance examination." She has the confidence to do so.
Zeng Xiaoling was about to explode with anger. She wanted to say more, but Bai Lu and Wu Aimin stopped her and told her to stop arguing, saying it was pointless.
Everyone quieted down only when the Wen Tianxiang band representing Yuxin Middle School came on stage to perform.
When the host introduced the Wen Tianxiang band, he read out the list of band members: "They are from Yuxin Middle School, Grade 3 (4) Class, guitarist Zeng Xiang, keyboardist Li Jianwen, drummer Zeng Xiaotian, bassist Ye Zhao! Among them, Ye Zhao was unable to come to the scene because she had to participate in the comprehensive science competition today, but the bass accompaniment tape played by her will be used on the scene..."
Listening to the host's introduction, Bai Lu and Zeng Xiaoling looked at each other, "When did Ye Zhao get involved with the Wen Tianxiang band?" How come she was everywhere
Ye Zhao is now the first celebrity from Yuxin Middle School to rank first in the district. He is the light of Yuxin in everyone's eyes. Zeng Xiuquan was the first to applaud and cheer. The cheerleaders of Yuxin Middle School collectively shouted slogans, screamed and made a noise.
Bai Lu stood up and walked out. She came here today to support Awen, not Ye Zhao. She didn't want to stay any longer.
Zeng Xiaoling chased after him. Bai Lu cried as she walked, "Am I too stingy?"
"It's not that you're petty, Bai Lu. If it were me, I'd be angry too!"
Zeng Xiuqun muttered, "What's going on? The performance is about to start, why did these two people leave?!"
"Don't worry about it." Ye Zhao didn't want to give any attention and had no time to pay attention to others. Her focus was on the stage.
(End of this chapter)