Chapter Fourteen

  Five minutes later, he rode a worn-out bicycle back in front of Li Jin.

  "Can you ride?" he asked.

  "Where did it come from?" Li Jin looked at the rusty iron on the bicycle and his mouth twitched.

  "I used to ride it to the company, but you thought it was embarrassing, so I just left it there." Luo Fei pressed the saddle twice with force, "I didn't expect it still had air."

  Li Jin stretched out his leg and sat down: "You ride, I sit, let's go!"

  Fortunately, the police did not patrol here in the middle of the night, fortunately, the surveillance cameras in this city were not regularly checked by anyone, and fortunately, everyone who saw all this did not make a sound. Otherwise, perhaps the next day, many people would have known that two big men hummed out-of-tune songs under the bright moonlight, traversing the city's tung trees from one end to the other.

  After riding for half an hour, Lu Fei stopped the bicycle beside a deserted seaside warehouse, panting. Li Jin jumped off the back seat and walked to the door of the warehouse. After a minute, he pushed open the big door with some unknown method. Then, he walked straight to the switch by the door, and with a "click", the whole warehouse lit up.

  This is actually a small performance venue.

  Huge speakers, the colorful top light on the head, and the five-color graffiti on the wall, each of which seems to be eager to announce to people: IAMROCK!

  "Come and help!" Li Jin slapped Luo Fei's head heavily.

  Luo Fei only then realized he wasn't dreaming, in front of him was a real stage!

  He clutched his guitar and almost rolled and crawled as he followed Li Jin backstage.

  The venue had not been used for a long time, and even though all the equipment was in good condition, it was covered with a thick layer of dust. Not to mention safety considerations, all the wiring was scattered everywhere, requiring reassembly. Lu Fei, who knew nothing about this, clumsily followed Li Jing's instructions to tidy up the messy wires, assemble and plug them in, then turned on the switch for testing.

  "How did you assemble the speaker?" Hong Fei asked from behind Li Jin, "Why do you know this place? How did you get in? Aren't you afraid someone will catch us? Where should this wire be plugged in?"

  Why am I here? How did I get in?

  Li Jin's back tightened imperceptibly.

  Because this place originally belongs to me anyway.

  Ten years ago, this was the city's most popular underground rock venue. Shu Mu's first live performance was held here. That night, after Shu Mu finished singing a song, everyone went wild. They crazily shouted out Shu Mu's name, stomped on chairs and waved their arms wildly, some even tried to climb onto the stage to give the singer hugs and hot kisses.

  That was Shu Mu's most perfect performance, and at that moment, Ke Yuan fell in love with Shu Mu.

  Later, the rock fell, and it gradually became deserted here, making it difficult to maintain. Ke Yuan bought it from the original owner's hands, renovated it in its original style, even found the electric guitar that Shu Mu used back then, treasured it as a part of this place, and placed it on the third row of shelves in the back cabinet.

  Of course, the key to the gate was also in the old routine. The most dangerous place is actually the safest place. It was buried by him in a clump of weeds on the left side of the gate that never sprouts no matter spring, summer, autumn or winter.

  But how could he explain it to Luo Fei?

  So he could only glare at him, annoyed: "Why ask so many questions? If I said I stole it, would you not sing anymore? Shut up and work!" He pointed to the socket next to his hand, "Insert this wire here!"

  Ten minutes later, all equipment was ready. Li Jin supported himself with one hand on the edge of the wooden board at the side of the stage and jumped down.

  "Let's begin, your personal concert." He stretched out his arms as if to embrace the faintly floating hot breath in the air. "The stage, the lights, and I, your audience."

  If your dreams were merely so, then achieve them, what's the big deal.

  Luo Fei hugged the electric guitar he had just taken down from the shelf - he didn't know it used to belong to Shu Mu - he plucked the strings, and the electric guitar emitted a low hum: "Sing what?"

  "Whatever." Li Jin pointed to the stage, "This is Ye!"

  "Don't speak English, I don't understand." Luo Fei's fingers moved swiftly, a string of explosive notes flowed from his fingertips.

  "Damn it, you can't even sing an English song!" Li Jin waved his arms wildly like a 20-year-old youth - in fact, he was only 23 years old. The destructive sound of the electric guitar was something that acoustic guitars could never match. If Luo Fei was once a simple and careful young man who practiced guitar scores on the balcony, worrying about disturbing the neighbors, now he was a king who dominated the stage with his guitar, running and jumping to the rhythm, singing with abandon, like a warrior wielding a whip, conquering all before him.

  He sang one song after another, whether it was a rock classic or an original composition, and even rearranged the classic "Canon" with casual lyrics and humming, when he couldn't think of the words, he simply stood on one leg at the edge of the stage and played a solo on his electric guitar. Maybe his technique wasn't the best, maybe his high notes weren't the highest, but in his voice, Li Jin swung his arms recklessly, abandoning himself to the music that filled the entire space.

  The massive speakers faithfully conveyed the guitar's sound quality, every note like a huge boulder rolling down from the mountain top, unstoppable and unresistible. Li Jin loudly accompanied Luo Fei's wailing and singing, just like ten years ago, here in this huge iron warehouse, with the doors closed, the stifling air unable to be released, the high temperature making the deafening music even more shocking. He stood among everyone, wildly waving his arms, loudly shouting the name of the person on stage.

  He is light, he is electricity, he is the only myth.

  He is the king of the stage!

  Who is he?

  He is not Shu Mu, the current Shu Mu has long forgotten what singing means. He only stays in the recording studio for two hours every day, and the records he produces are like mathematical formulas studied by predecessors, precise but rigid, more like deductions than explorations...

  What kind of music is this!

  This is what real music should be like!

  "Lu Fei!" Li Jin shouted out Lu Fei's name, just like he had shouted out Shu Mu's name ten years ago. Real music should be like this, it makes you forget your troubles, it makes you fully immersed, it makes you feel that with it, even drinking water is satisfying.

  He is light, he is electricity, he is the king of the stage, he is a new generation myth.

  He is Luo Fei!

  He should be at the center of all attention, rather than being sent home with a train ticket and burying music from then on!

  "Little Brocade." The electric guitar's sound suddenly stopped, and Ruo Fei on the stage was covered in sweat, his eyes shining brightly under the spotlight. "My throat is no good, so this is the last one."

  "Exuberant and resplendent new birth impulse bursting out of its shell"

  Seeking a brilliant and beautiful dream world

  Who dominates love is who rushes into the fire without hesitation

  Brief reincarnation is just for foil

  Your smile, your tears, your actions

  They are all my treasured biblical verses to recite from memory

  I am happy I am sad My life

  For you, I give up freedom, for you, I am at your beck and call

  You are fire, you are wind, you are the devil of weaving nets

  The broken swallowtail butterfly still has its last beautiful dream

  You are fire, you are wind, you are the temptation of angels

  Let me be the swallowtail butterfly embracing the last beautiful dream

  "It makes me briefly happy and touched"

  Does it make me feel happy and touched for a short while?

  Li Jin smiled lightly.

  Is this fleeting happiness enough?

  He gazed at Luo Fei on the stage, who had perfectly ended the last note. The faintly trembling sound of the electric guitar was transmitted through the honest speakers to every corner of the air, and even the slightest tremble made people feel moved to goosebumps. He quietly raised his head, and Luo Fei stood in the center of all the lights on the stage, with sweat beads flowing from his forehead into his young eyebrows, wetting his eyelashes, and finally flowing into his eyes, mingling with tears.

  "Lu Fei." Li Jin had been shouting for a whole night. At this moment, his voice was low and hoarse. "Is that all your dreams are worth?"

  Luo Fei wiped away tears with his T-shirt sleeve: "It's not."

  "What is that?"

  "I want... to sing," Luo Fei said, "I want drummers and bassists, I want a complete accompaniment team, I want to stand on a bigger stage and sing, I want thousands of people, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of listeners, I want everyone to remember my name, I want... whenever someone mentions Luo Fei, they will acknowledge my music!"

  "So let's work hard for our dreams one more time, okay?" Li Jin asked loudly, "Return the ticket and even if it's tough, let's persist! Break up? Don't give up on your dreams for such a stupid reason! We're still young, we have countless chances to fall down and get back up again. One failure doesn't mean anything! If you've got what it takes, try beating me until I can't get back up! So don't say quit so easily, hand over your dreams to me, be a man, let's struggle to the end together, okay?"

  "Great!" Hong Fei jumped off the stage and walked a few steps to Li Jin's front, tightly grasping his shoulders. "Let's do it together again, one more time!"

  When they opened the warehouse door, it was just dawn outside.

  The first ray of sunlight in the morning shone directly on their faces, warm and cozy, just enough to dry up their tears.

  Li Jin crouched down and carefully buried the key in the weeds, and when he stood up, the roar of the engine flashed by his ear.

  He followed the sound and saw a black sports car whizzing past the seaside embankment, speeding away into the distance.

  "I didn't expect it to be so early, apart from us, there would be others here." Luo Fei scratched his hair, suddenly realizing an important question, "Xiao Jin, this time you can tell me, how did you find this place?"

  "Ah......" Li Jin rolled her eyes, thinking of a reason. "You also saw it, this is an underground performance venue. Although it's not in business now, there will be times when it is. And when it's in business, naturally, service staff are needed... I-I used to work here!"

  Luo Fei believed it.