Chapter 4

A spark lit on the other side. It was probably the guitarist lighting a cigarette.

That person plucked several strings as a response.

Yang Lei laughed.

“You play pretty well!”

Yang Lei continued shouting. It was rare for him to praise people sincerely.

Yang Lei heard a distant, “Thanks!” The voice was not very clear in the night wind.

And then a small portion of guitar melody came over, played very slowly. It was the part that Yang Lei had just played incorrectly.

The opposite side played that part once, paused for a moment, and then slowly played it again.

Yang Lei understood that he was being taught.

Yang Lei picked up the guitar, following as he played again. The other guitarist played at half the tempo. Hearing Yang Lei keep up and play correctly, the other guitarist paused, and then continued playing the next small portion. It was still played slowly and played twice.

Yang Lei’s heart warmed. He had bumped into a kind-hearted master who was teaching him.

The two people, one on this side of the field, one on that side, played one small part after another. The person on the other side patiently led Yang Lei. The melodies of both sides were in sync, and Yang Lei gradually found the feel of the music and played more and more smoothly.

He unconsciously became entranced, concentrating on connecting the previous parts and playing a complete section, and was unable to control his excitement.

“Is it okay?”

Yang Lei shouted excitedly toward the other side.

There was no reply and no sound of a guitar. Yang Lei froze. He stood up and ran over holding the guitar, running all the way up the steps on the other side.

No one was there. He didn’t know when the person had left already.

There was only a cigarette butt left on the ground.

“Fuck… at least say goodbye before you leave!”

Yang Lei was quite disappointed.

On the second night, Yang Lei returned with his guitar at the same time. He waited the whole night, but no one came.

Yang Lei didn’t give up, going there several nights in a row, but he didn’t see that person.

Yang Lei was perplexed, holding the guitar, dejectedly fiddling with it alone.

“Why didn’t he come?”

Thus “Childhood,” the song he could only get a hang of with difficulty, was always only half finished. He could only play to the part the other person had taught him that first night. He didn’t have the heart to learn the later parts.

After a few days, Yang Lei also stopped going. He didn’t have the time to go.

One of Yan Ziyi’s businesses conflicted with Wang Laohu. Yan Ziyi couldn’t tolerate Wang Laohu’s long-term monopolization over the meat market, and the two people failed to reach a consensus. He let Yang Lei go forward and trash Wang Laohu’s movie theater and amusement arcade. Yang Lei did it beautifully and thoroughly angered Wang Laohu.

“Isn’t he just Yan Ziyi? What’s he showing off for?”

Wang Laohu was famous for his recklessness. When he was provoked, he would lose rationality. Yan Ziyi had latched onto this weakness and wanted to provoke him.

So Yang Lei brought people to fight several hard battles in succession against Wang Laohu’s subordinates. In one gang fight, Yang Lei stabbed Wang Laohu’s fiercest fighter “Huoguo,” but Li San was also seriously wounded.

Yang Lei almost thought Li San couldn’t be saved.

He watched Li San, who was covered in blood and in a severe coma, being sent to the emergency room. His ears rang with Li San’s mother sobbing at the top of her lungs.

“…Why can’t you learn good… wu wu wu…Mom is begging you, don’t fight anymore…wu wu wu…”

Hearing these sorrowful sobs, Yang Lei’s heart hurt. He turned around.

Li San was successfully rescued, regaining his life. But one of his legs was crippled.

“No fucking deal. Isn’t it just one leg? Lei Ge, I’ll fight them when I’m well.” Li San comforted Yang Lei.

Yang Lei looked at this brother who was only nineteen years old. At that time, they still didn’t understand what a handicap implied.

Yang Lei left and found Yan Ziyi.

“Boss, lend me a gun.”

Yang Lei expressionlessly said.

Yan Ziyi gave Yang Lei an Auto-5.

But there was only one bullet inside.

“If you can’t hit him in one shot, you don’t need to shoot again,” Yan Ziyi said.

“Don’t kill anyone.” Altogether, Yan Ziyi just said these two sentences.

Scar Face, the main person who stabbed Li San, was shot at the entrance of his home that night. The shot went through his thigh. He bled all over the ground, almost dying from losing too much blood.

The sound of the gunshot that night didn’t startle the neighborhood, because there was only one shot. The people couldn’t tell whether it was a gunshot or something else. Scar Face didn’t report it to the police later either. At that time, Jianghu matters were dealt with in Jianghu; no one would report them to the police. Scar Face was also crippled. Many years later, the lame-legged Scar Face set up a newspaper stand. The blustering insolence of his earlier years could no longer be seen on the streets.

After things died down, Yang Lei once again took his guitar and sat on the lab high school field.

He hadn’t been there for just ten days. In just these ten days, his best brother was handicapped, and he had fired a gun for the first time in his life, nearly killing a person.

When Yang Lei was holding his guitar and playing it with a heavy heart, he heard a melody from the opposite side.

Yang Lei nearly jumped up.

“Brother!”

He opened his mouth and shouted.

After shouting, he felt a little uneasy. After all, the person playing guitar may not necessarily be the person from that night. Then, same as before, by way of greeting Yang Lei, the guitarist played a few chords.

Yang Lei smiled.

“Can I go over to you?”

Yang Lei, who had always been reckless, now knew to ask for the other person’s thoughts.

“Stay!”

The other person replied curtly. Yang Lei could only sit down again. He knew some musicians were eccentric and didn’t like to interact.

“Why didn’t you come for so many days?”

Yang Lei felt that two people shouting across a field was quite dumb.

The other person didn’t waste words and started to play the guitar.

That night was the same as the first night. They sat on opposite sides playing the guitar. Yang Lei also didn’t speak, completely focused on playing guitar. His mood soared with the night wind.

Those heavy burdens on his heart went far from him. He felt calm and happy. He hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time.

He thought that the guitar of this person on the other side had a kind of magical power. As long as the melody played, it could soothe one’s heart, making one feel calm.

Yang Lei started to imagine what kind of person was on the other side.

The sound of his guitar was very gentle, so the person must also be quite gentle. “Childhood” was originally a cheerful song, but when he played and sang it, it would make one feel sad and melancholy.

Yang Lei learned the song “Childhood” half by following along and half by being corrected.

“Don’t go yet! Listen to me play it through!”

Yang Lei was afraid the person would run away without saying goodbye again like that night, and he didn’t know when he would meet him again.

Yang Lei slowly played it through. When he played, he was a little nervous, as if he were an elementary school student turning in a test to the teacher.

A few notes were wrong, but he had finally finished playing the entire song. Yang Lei raised his head and saw the lit-up cigarette on the other side. That person hadn’t left.

“How was it?”

Yang Lei’s heart unexpectedly beat a little faster.

The person on the other side extinguished the cigarette. Without knowing why, Yang Lei felt that the person was smiling.

“I’m leaving!”

The voice came from far away.

Yang Lei startled. He subconsciously shouted, “Are you still coming tomorrow?”

There was no response. The person had already left.

Yang Lei was disappointed.