56 | Wild Song
She came from Africa. She matches better with the things from there.
It was the first time in her life that Pang Qian had put on makeup.
In primary school and junior high, she was a rather inconspicuous little girl. Average looks, average figure. She didn’t have extremely pretty clothes, and she didn’t really know how to dress herself prettily. Even when she got to high school, she wasn’t interested in things likeshopping.
But she actually did undergo some changes.
There’s a saying that a girl’s appearance changes greatly when they grow up. If she stood in front of a stranger, 16 year-old Pang Qian would be probably be called something like sunny and cute.
Maybe because the face reveals the heart, everyone could feel Pang Qian’s energy. She and the words “gentle and quiet” couldn’t be used together. She loves to laugh, to play, to eat, to sleep. Every day, living out her life without too many complicated thoughts. Happily, simply. When she saw the boy she liked, her face would blush slightly.
This was the Pang Qian that stood in front of Gu Mingxi. On such a cold day, she only wore a golden tulle dance dress. The hems of her top and skirt had rattling sequins on them. Her youthful body was wrapped tightly by the dress. Her decolletage and slender waist were visible. Glittering decoration was slightly discernible around her navel.
Pang Qian’s hair was gathered behind her head in a braid. The rough black braid also had an extension attached, extending to her lower back. Behind her head, there was some tulle. Her face was heavily painted with makeup. Underneath the heavy eye shadow, her eyes were filled with joy, and there was a smile on her face.
“Do I look good?” Pang Qian showed off her dress. She struck a pose from her Indian dance for Gu Mingxi, and her body twisted to form an S-shape. Gu Mingxi stared and nodded, “Looks good.”
Pang Qian was overjoyed. Just like a monkey, she jumped up and down. She wrapped her arms around herself, “I think it looks good too. It’s just too cold.”
Gu Mingxi said, “Where’s your jacket? Wear it for now.”
“Jacket… I locked it up. Aiya, it’s too much trouble.”
“Why don’t you take my down coat…” Before Gu Mingxi finished speaking, he saw Xie Yi walk over, having changed his clothes and gotten his makeup done.
He was wearing a black suit with a white shirt. His hair had been styled with mousse, and he had shiny shoes on his feet. He looked like a jade tree in the wind, talented and handsome.
Xie Yi carried the jacket he’d just changed out of in his arms. Seeing Pang Qian cold and jumping around, he immediately tossed the jacket to her. “Be careful not to get sick wearing so little. Hurry and put it on.”
Pang Qian looked at him shyly as she took his jacket. “Thanks.”
She put on Xie Yi’s jacket, bringing warmth along with his scent. Pang Qian felt a sweetness inside of her. Gu Mingxi stood silently at the side. He turned his head away and his eye was suddenly caught on something.
Xiao Yujing walked out from the dressing room at the side. Pang Qian and Xie Yi turned to follow Gu Mingxi’s line of sight. Xiao Yujing took off her gla.s.ses and was wearing a long, moon-white dress. The skirt went down to her ankles, and it was full and elegant. On her feet were a pair of silver heels. She didn’t wear any jewelry, and her short hair wasn’t done up in any special way. But in Pang Qian’s eyes, Xiao Yujing looked very n.o.ble and refined. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, but she blew away all the girls backstage with their heavy makeup on.
Pang Qian immediately felt very tacky. Her makeup was just like a monkey’s bottom, and the rattling sequins felt like they belonged on a country b.u.mpkin. Although her costume was decided upon by their head teacher, Pang Qian still felt inferior and ashamed.
She couldn’t help looking over at Xie Yi and Gu Mingxi. The two of them were staring at Xiao Yujing. Actually, it wasn’t just them. Everyone backstage was looking at her.
Xiao Yujing walked over to Gu Mingxi, put down her plastic bag, and picked up her violin case. “Gu Mingxi, wait for me backstage a little, okay? My performance is near the start.”
Gu Mingxi nodded. Xiao Yujing turned to Xie Yi and asked, “Are you ready?”
Xie Yi’s eyebrows jumped. He retorted, “Are you ready yet?”
“I’m ready.” Xiao Yujing pulled out a stick of lipstick from the bag on the floor. Without a mirror, she just applied it onto her lips. After she applied it to both her top and bottom lips, she said, “I can go onstage now.”
Her lips became red. The sharp contrast against her dazzlingly pale skin caused people to be unable to shift their eyes away. Xie Yi realized he was unable to keep the conversation going. He silently picked up his own violin case and walked with Xiao Yujing over to the side of the stage. Theirs was the second performance for Year 2, right after Jiang Zhiya’s duet.
Xie Yi saw Xiao Yujing’s exposed shoulders and arms in the cold air, and couldn’t help asking, “Are you cold?”
Xiao Yujing turned to look at him. “No, not cold.”
Xie Yi didn’t say another word.
Soon it was their turn on stage. Pang Qian pulled Gu Mingxi over to the side of the stage to watch. They’d already watched Xie Yi’s violin performances for 10 years, so there wasn’t any novelty to that. This time, the thing to watch out for was the second violin, Xiao Yujing.
Xiao Yujing and Xie Yi stood next to each other on the stage, their formal attire causing a stir in the crowd. After all, the two of them were both famous around school. Xiao Yujing was the perpetual first place of their year, and Xie Yi was the school heartthrob. Neither stole the limelight away from the other as they stood beside each other. They both shined brilliantly.
The audience held their breaths waiting for the performance to start. Xie Yi lifted his violin to his shoulder and then raised the bow with his right hand. Slowly, the violin sound rang in the air. Xie Yi had studied violin for many years, and he played as if he’d had a very formal education on it. He practiced very rigorously, so whether it was his playing technique, his form as he held his bow, or the posture he stood with, they were all perfect.
An elegant melody poured out from underneath his bow. As Pang Qian watched from afar, she felt that under this graceful sound, the formally clothed Xie Yi looked just like he was filming a beautiful MV (music video). Pang Qian was enraptured listening to him. Unwittingly, she grabbed hold of the jacket she wore, Xie Yi’s jacket. She looked at that faraway handsome boy, and wondered how G.o.d could be so generous, giving everything good to him.
Gu Mingxi stood silently beside her the entire time. He could see in her eyes all the perfection and splendor she felt for Xie Yi.
Just as Pang Qian had fallen into the sound of Xie Yi’s violing, another violin sound entered. This violin sounded completely different to Xie Yi’s. Xie Yi’s was gentle, sensible, wonderful, trickling in. And this other sound was wild, burning, powerful, and explosive.
Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi were both stunned by the scene before them. The way the elegantly dressed Xiao Yujing played the violin caused everyone to tremble. Her hair swung around, out of control. When the sound of violin was very heavy, she even walked around on the stage as she played. Her long skirt flew around at her feet. Her manner seemed like she was intoxicated, but her gaze was sincere.
The sound of her violin completely suppressed Xie Yi’s. Pang Qian could feel that Xie Yi tried to fight against it, as he grew more excited. Occasionally he would overturn his cool image and start walking a bit on the stage as he played. His originally calm face started to distort, his brows wrinkling. He couldn’t help but also toss his head and also pull his bow wildly and crazily.
Pang Qian felt like she stood in the midst of two people’s insanity. This wasn’t a duet. The two of them were obviously having a battle! But her excitement rose as she was infected by the two of them. Pang Qian didn’t dare to let out a breath. The entire audience was also mesmerized by the two performers on the stage.
When Xiao Yujing and Xie Yi played the last note, the entire auditorium was silent for a moment, before a thundering applause sounded. Even the people backstage were clapping nonstop. Xie Yi grabbed Xiao Yujing’s hand, and the two of them bowed to the audience. Then they walked back behind the stage, still hand in hand.
Xie Yi’s face was covered in sweat, like he’d just run a thousand meters. The bridge of Xiao Yujing’s nose was also coated with beads of sweat. When they got backstage, she immediately let go of Xie Yi’s hand and walked over to Gu Mingxi. She placed her violin back in its case, picked up her bags, and said, “I’m going to change. Please wait for me a moment.”
Xie Yi walked her walk away with his mouth hanging open slightly. Pang Qian moved over beside him and cried out, “Too amazing! Xie Yi! You and Xiao Yujing both play violin really well! Next year, you two have to play together again!”
He collapsed into a chair, lifting his hand to wave away the idea. “You’ve got to be kidding. If I play violin with her one more time, my life will be shortened by ten years.”
This short violin duet left a very deep impression in Pang Qian’s mind. Even several days later, as she was working on homework in Gu Mingxi’s room, she couldn’t help but bring it up.
Whether it was Xiao Yujing and Xie Yi’s clothes or their suprising and explosive performance, Pang Qian relished in it all.
But Gu Mingxi rarely expressed any opinion about it. Pang Qian asked him, “Don’t you think that Xie Yi and Xiao Yujing were really amazing?”
“No,” Gu Mingxi said dismissively. “I’ve heard Xie Yi play violin for so many years already. I already knew he was good.”
Pang Qian curled her lips. “But at least, you’ve never heard Xiao Yujing play.”
“I don’t think that her violin playing was anything special.” Gu Mingxi looked at Pang Qian, and then said leisurely, “I think that when Xiao Yujing plays the drums, she’s much more special than when she plays the violin.”
“Why?” Pang Qian asked.
Gu Mingxi answered, “She came from Africa. She matches better with the things from there”
16 year-old Pang Qian wouldn’t understand such enigmatic words.
After she went home, Gu Mingxi went to take a shower. When he got back to his room, he started to work on his homework. From 9 o’clock, he worked until 1 in the morning. It was like this every day.
He checked over the final question and then went to bed. He turned off the light, laid in his bed, but then didn’t feel like sleeping at all.
Of the whole school, Gu Mingxi was probably the only one to remember that country-feeling performance– Eight girls jumping around to an Indian dance.
Their rehearsal wasn’t great, and their jumps weren’t uniform. But Gu Mingxi’s sights had been on that short girl, from the start to the finish. She was barefoot and was doing her best with the stretches. There was a deliberate smile plastered onto her face the whole time.
When they were turning, her braids swung by past her bottom. Gu Mingxi knew that Pang Qian was very happy. This was something she was trying for the first time in her life. She was someone who liked trying new things. She liked eating new foods and listening to new music. In the past, when he took her on the train and the subway for the first time, she was especially happy.
That inconspicuous little girl had already grown into a beautiful young woman. She gained more and more friends, and she found more and more interests. She wouldn’t be the same as before, spending every moment with him.
Maybe she would become more and more better, until one day, she really turned into a swan.
But when that time came, would she see him?
In the darkness, Gu Mingxi recalled Pang Qian’s vivid face as she danced, her swaying posture, her delicate hands, and that pair of glowing eyes.
Slowly, gradually… He closed his eyes and entered his dreams.