Half a month later, the Band Festival preliminary round.
The band festival requires each band to bring their own musical instruments. Su Jing, with his three-inch tongue, worked hard for many days, and finally borrowed a complete set of musical instruments from a music shop owner.
Having no money to hire a moving company, Qing Chu rented a second-hand pickup truck at a cost, and the instrument was transported to the scene like an old cow pulling a broken cart.
They hummed and moved their instruments to the designated waiting area, rested for a while, and turned around to find that Ji Sheng had disappeared.
"Where's our drummer?" Li Tan asked.
"I said I saw an acquaintance, so I went to say hello." Sheng Kongzhi said.
"Call him back and get ready to play."
"Okay." Sheng Kongzhi was about to leave, but saw that Xie Xuanming had already stood up, and walked out first.
Ji Sheng leaned in front of a curly-haired girl's camera, looking at the photo.
The teenager in the preview is divided by the light, half of the face is bright and the other is dark, revealing a sense of split atmosphere.
"Are you a photographer?" Ji Sheng couldn't take his eyes off it.
"No." The girl who was asked by him covered her mouth and smiled, her bright red nails were as gorgeous and beautiful as the pendant earrings, "I just like to take pictures."
"It's a good shot." Ji Sheng boasted sincerely, "You took a good shot of me."
"That's because you are good-looking." The girl's eyes were curved, "otherwise why would I take pictures of you."
"Wow." Ji Sheng covered his heart and made an exaggerated expression, "Thank you for your recognition of my appearance."
The girl said heartily, "You're welcome."
The two were talking and laughing when a voice came from the side.
"It's time to play, Brother Tan told you to go back."
The two turned their heads, and Xie Xuanming stood expressionlessly not far away.
The girl hesitated, and said, "This is the lead singer."
"Yes." Ji Sheng hugged Xie Xuanming carelessly, and pinched his cheek with his hands habitually, "This kid looks good, you can also pat him."
Xie Xuanming rarely slapped his hand away, but Ji Sheng touched it again without giving up, and was photographed again.
"Okay." The girl said with a smile, "You guys have to get ready, the competition is going well!"
Ji Sheng said, "I would like to borrow your good words."
Before he finished speaking, Xie Xuanming broke away from him and left on his own. Ji Sheng smiled at the girl hastily and turned to catch up.
The girl watched Ji Sheng step forward to hook the lead singer's shoulder, the lead singer was reluctant to move a few times, and gave up struggling after being rubbed by Ji Sheng's hair, and just walked forward with a large pendant.
The figures of the two disappeared around the corner, and the girl looked away.
It's such a good feeling.
she thinks.
The song selected for the preliminary competition was "The Stray Dog". The little lead singer seemed quiet, and I wondered if he could hold on.
When Qingchu came on stage and the performance started, the girl knew that she was worrying too much.
The gentle and delicate little lead singer in the audience seemed to be a different person when he opened his mouth.
His voice was a little hoarse, with the peculiar greenness of a teenager, inexplicably reminiscent of the bright red cherries on the top of the cream cake. Regardless of the taste of the cake buyer, the cherries are always the most eye-catching.
But at the same time, the teenage lead singer is not a cherry.
He is neither sweet nor soft.
He is a double-edged sword, before swinging towards the target, he is cut bloody.
He was naked, harsh, and sharp-edged.
The audience may not understand the chord rhythm in the song, and may not understand the meaning of the words for a while.
But they all saw the wounded dog licking the wound alone in the corner, and showing its sharp and terrifying teeth to the figure approaching with the collar.
It would rather die in a stinky ditch than live under chains.
If Ji Sheng's "Wandering Dog" is uninhibited and unrestrained, then Xie Xuanming's "Wandering Dog" is more stinging and desperate.
When the girl was taking Ji Sheng's photo, she turned the camera unconsciously and brought Xie Xuanming into the shot.
Qingchu had a perfect score in the preliminary round. They defeated their opponent with crushing points, and also got the unexpected joy of qualifying for the next stage bye.
Aoide, who had won a big victory, threw the instrument on the pickup truck, happily ran to drink and celebrate, but as expected, he collapsed in broad daylight.
Ji Sheng was undoubtedly the one who fell the fastest, and Su Jing, who frantically mocked him for his poor drinking capacity, fell to the third glass after two drinks.
Sheng Kongzhi is obviously stronger than these two open-mouthed ones, and he still maintains a decent smile after half a dozen beers, but his body swaying back and forth, and his blurred and lifeless eyes clearly show that he is different from the calm outside.
In the end, at the plastic table, only Li Tan, a veteran alcoholic, and Xie Xuanming, a minor who couldn't drink alcohol, were left sitting still.
The two looked at each other for a while, Li Tan got up and said, "I'll go to pay the bill."
As soon as he left, Xie Xuanming stretched out his hand, wanting to grab Ji Sheng's wine glass while no one was paying attention, and sneak a taste of the wine, but before his fingertips touched the wall of the glass, Ji Sheng, who suddenly pretended to be dead, grabbed his wrist.
"Why?" Xie Xuanming twitched his hands in guilt, but did not twitch.
"I want to hear a story." Ji Sheng's eyes were blurred, and he shook Xie Xuanming's hand back and forth, "Mom, I want to hear a story."
"I'm not your mother." Xie Xuanming, a giant descended from the sky, suddenly became a little mummy, and the pressure doubled.
Ji Sheng let out a "huh", accepted the reality of "your mother is gone", and said softly:
"Dad, I want to hear a story."
Xie Xuanming stretched out his hand expressionlessly, pinched his face, and pulled him to both sides as if revenge: "I really should record it... I will play it to you later when I bully the small."
"Don't pinch." Ji Sheng was pinched until tears came out, "Brother, don't pinch, it hurts."
The power of his cry was astonishing, Xie Xuanming closed his hands like an electric shock, and looked around unnaturally.
Fortunately, they all got down.
Xie Xuanming felt guilty and relieved, but suddenly felt that it was outrageous—it was Ji Sheng who was ashamed, why should he be ashamed.
"Brother, brother." Ji Sheng still didn't stop, rubbing his hand coquettishly, "I want to hear a story."
Xie Xuanming was dizzy by his yelling, in order to stop him from yelling, Xie Xuanming reluctantly said: "Once upon a time there was a black-bone chicken."
"Uh-huh."
"Going to bleach."
"Uh-huh."
"It turned into a white chicken and was eaten."
"Uh-huh."
"..."
"Uh-huh?"
"Gone."
"Ah?" Ji Sheng shook his hand again, his face full of dissatisfaction, "I don't want to listen to this."
"... Then what do you want to hear?"
"A true story!"
"Okay." Xie Xuanming sighed, "There is a child with a mother but no father, and no birthday."
"Why is there no birthday, obviously everyone has... hiccup... birthday."
"Because there is no cake, no gift, and no happy birthday." Xie Xuanming said, "Today is his eighteenth birthday. Guess, does he have a birthday this time?"
After Xie Xuanming finished speaking, he waited for Ji Sheng's response.
But Ji Sheng just stared at him blankly, motionless.
A few seconds passed, he blinked twice, yawned big, and fell headfirst onto the table.
Xie Xuanming was silent for a while, and silently stretched his hand forward, letting Ji Sheng fall asleep on his arm.
It's really time to get dizzy.
he thinks.
After a while, Li Tan came back. He looked at the three who were stumbling around, and said with a big head: "Go back, you carry one, I will carry two."
"Okay." Xie Xuanming helped Ji Sheng up, and hung him on his back with ease.
Ji Sheng was drunk and slept for seven hours. At six o'clock in the evening, he got up from the narrow bed.
He rubbed his head, and there was a red and swollen patch on his forehead, and his skull was in pain as if he had been hammered by eighteen arhats.
Ji Shengjian couldn't get out of bed, he taunted Su Jing who was also edema and decadent, and went into the bathroom.
He felt he had forgotten something while taking a bath, but he didn't remember it after washing, and just touched his head and plunged into the ocean of composing.
Ji Sheng's work lasted for four hours, and when the clock approached eleven o'clock, Ji Sheng stopped writing suddenly.
A conversation popped into his barren mind.
"No cake, no presents, no happy birthday."
"Today is his eighteenth birthday. Guess, does he have a birthday this time?"
Ji Sheng solidified inch by inch. He picked up the phone, hesitated, and sent a message to Xie Xuanming.
Xie Xuanming finished washing and was about to go to bed when his phone vibrated suddenly.
Unread messages.
Ji Sheng [The story you told.]
Ji Sheng [Is the protagonist yourself?]
Xie Xuanming[Yes]
Ji Sheng […]
Ji Sheng fell silent.
Xie Xuanming waited patiently for a while, but before he got a reply, he heard the door next door slam open, and then his own door was slammed.
He opened the door, and Ji Sheng was standing outside the door in his pajamas and nondescript sneakers. Seeing Xie Xuanming open the door, Ji Sheng clasped his wrist without saying a word, and dragged him to go out: "Follow me to a place."
Xie Xuanming wanted to say that the slippers I was wearing, at least let me change them to non-procrastinating ones.
But when he saw the faded lazy sheep printed on Ji Sheng's clothes, he silently shut up.
Forget it, no matter how embarrassing you are, you can't lose him.
Ji Sheng dragged Xie Xuanming all the way to the underground garage where he used to practice.
He hurriedly took out the key and opened the lock with shaking hands.
"What are you doing..." Xie Xuanming looked at his trembling hands like feeding chickens and rice, and had a guess in his heart, but he still said, "So anxious."
"Nonsense, there are only fifteen fucking minutes left." Ji Shenghan put his nose on the tip of his nose and scolded angrily, "What are you doing so leisurely? Your birthday is still my birthday. There is no sense of urgency at all. How can you be the lead singer of Qingchu!"
Not only did I not receive blessings on my birthday, but I was also reprimanded.
Xie Xuanming is innocent. Xie Xuanming was very wronged.
Ji Sheng finally unlocked the lock, walked into the garage in two or three steps, Xie Xuanming closed the door, turned around and saw that Ji Sheng had already sat down in front of the drum set.
"This is the tradition of Qingchu. You're new, so you don't know about it." Ji Sheng tapped twice casually to find the feel, then looked up at Xie Xuanming, "Let's play a song first to enhance the atmosphere."
He raised his hand, and the drumstick officially fell.
Very rock rhythm, Ji Sheng's usual wild style, so wild that Xie Xuanming didn't hear that it was a birthday song until he sang the first line.
Ji Sheng buried his head in beating the drums, and the singing voice was finely mixed with the drum beats, smashing into the ears of the listeners.
This scene was supposed to be a little funny.
On a midsummer night, the young man in Yangcun pajamas knocked out a clear rhythm, and the young man who took off his shoes stepped on the side, and silently listened to his first happy birthday in his life.
The wild version of rock and roll.
It is an exaggeration to say that it is unique in the world.
The last drumbeat fell, and Ji Sheng put down the drumsticks. He felt the back of his head and was about to speak. The garage door was kicked open, and Su Jing and Sheng Kongzhi rushed in with things in their hands.
Su Jing rushed up and wiped Xie Xuanming's face with something without saying a word.
Xie Xuanming's face turned cold, and he realized that he had already been covered with a large piece of butter. He was wondering which underworld cake shop was still open at this point, when he looked down and found that what Su Jing was holding was actually a huge butter bread.
Su Jing smeared Xie Xuanming into a cat, and said with emotion: "Catch up, catch up, there are still four minutes, so dangerous."
Sheng Kongzhi breathed a sigh of relief: "Only the convenience store is open, we can only buy bread...and this..."
He took out a bag of pokey biscuits, and inserted three sticks of incense into the buttered bread without any delay.
"Make a wish."
Xie Xuanming looked at the nondescript "cake", and couldn't laugh or cry. He wanted to say something, but he opened his mouth but didn't make a sound.
While he was hesitating, Ji Sheng put down the drumsticks and walked in front of him.
Xie Xuanming looked at him with cream on his face, and was hugged heavily.
Ji Sheng patted him on the back, then raised his hand to ruffle his hair.
"Happy birthday." His voice was smiling, rare serious and gentle, "Our little Xie is eighteen years old today, and we will become healthy and happy adults."