NOVPUBLin Wanning reluctantly left Xu Qingfan’s embrace, she really wanted to say "I just want to be Brother Qing Fan’s queen duck," but after all, she wasn’t a child anymore, and with so many people around, she was too embarrassed to make such a blunt statement.
"Xiao Fan, stay away from us!" Xia Xiaoxiao hooked arms with Zhang Yiyi and Wu Lingyu, glared at him, and then quickened her pace.
Lin Wanning was also dragged away by Xiao Ruawen, the girl could only turn back to give Xu Qingfan a helpless look.
Xu Qingfan shook his head with a smile, kicking a small stone onto the road.
The Piano Store they were heading to was only over eight hundred meters away from Bijui Garden, and since they had called in advance, Fang Xiaoya was already waiting for them at the cash register when they entered the store.
"Sister Xiaoya!"
"Sister Xiaoya!"
"Here you come." Fang Xiaoya nodded and smiled, got up, and led them to the instrument room of the second floor.
Fang Xiaoya was Guan Biyue’s high school classmate, a talented graduate from the Central Music College, and also the usual arranger teacher for their New Year’s Eve performance during elementary school.
"I was thinking about it last night at home, none of you can play the pipa or guzheng, so we can only substitute it with keyboards and guitars," Fang Xiaoya handed out the sheet music she had printed, "Xiao Fan, you’re the drummer, Ruan Wen and Xiaoxiao, one of you plays the bass and the other the guitar, Wanning will play the keyboard, Lingyu and Yiyi, the two of you are on the xiao and the ocarina."
Wu Lingyu and Zhang Yiyi were both unable to read sheet music, both looking as though they wanted to speak.
"It’s fine, you just need to practice a small part, it’s very easy to learn," Fang Xiaoya said with a smile, reassuring them when she saw their lack of confidence.
"Yes!"
After getting the sheet music, everyone started getting familiar with their respective parts. Xu Qingfan happened to know how to play the ocarina, so he took charge of training Wu Lingyu, while the Short Flute was personally taught by Fang Xiaoya to Zhang Yiyi.
Both of them were smart, and with the melodies and rhythms they were responsible for being repetitive, they mastered them before long.
"Let’s practice together for the first time, get ready everyone," Fang Xiaoya clapped her hands to signal everyone to put down their instruments.
"Intro!"
At Fang Xiaoya’s signal, Lin Wanning’s hands landed on the keyboard keys, and Wu Lingyu also started playing the ocarina.
"In a land filled with splendor~" Xia Xiaoxiao and Xiao Ruawen instantly got into the zone, starting to sing as the intro was about to end.
"Drums!" Fang Xiaoya reminded.
No sooner had she spoken than Xu Qingfan hit the drum with his sticks.
"He sings of meeting old friends in a foreign land~ With every step, every word laced with longing~" Both girls, having passed the voice-changing period, sang Peking opera with lingering charm and touching melodies.
After the first rehearsal, the six of them looked at each other joyfully, clearly satisfied with the camaraderie they had achieved on the first try.
"It’s good for the first run, let’s practice a few more times!"
"Okay!"
"..."
From nine to half-past twelve, they didn’t even take a single break for the restroom, rehearsing over twenty times straight until their stomachs growled with hunger, forcing them to stop.
"Sister Xiaoya, we’ve troubled you, please let us treat you to lunch!" Xu Qingfan distributed water and throat lozenges he had bought from the supermarket to the girls, and then extended the lunch invitation to Fang Xiaoya.
"Then I won’t be polite with you guys!" she laughed in acceptance.
Fang Xiaoya actually quite enjoyed hanging out with these young friends, feeling that it made her younger and, more importantly, it brought back the youthful sensation of playing in a band during high school.
"Sister Xiaoya, don’t be polite with him, he’s quite wealthy now, we’re dining on a rich man’s tab!"
"Hahaha!" After Xia Xiaoxiao spoke, the small rehearsal room seemed to shift to a daughter country, with the girls’ laughter ringing throughout the room.
For lunch, they went to a nearby Western restaurant, but since none of them drank alcohol, splurging extravagantly was obviously out of the question, after all, it wasn’t a Michelin-star restaurant, and the steak, no matter how pricey, was only around a hundred to two hundred yuan per portion.
The restaurant was playing Canon in D on the piano, and Xu Qingfan couldn’t help but observe Fang Xiaoya from the corner of his eye.
He first met her in the first grade of elementary school, and back then she also had beautiful long hair, though for some reason she later cut it short.
When he saw her again, she had a buzz cut and was wearing exaggerated earrings on her ears, nearly giving Xu Qingfan a scare.
Six years have passed, and the short hair from back then has grown long. Xu Qingfan instinctively felt that the other person had a story too.
It’s worth mentioning that she also participated in the 2004 Super Girl singing competition and successfully made it into the national top 100. Unfortunately, she was eliminated in the round of 50 to 20.
She even made it onto the local newspapers at the time, and Li City had a dedicated fan club for her, with Xiao Ruawen and Xia Xiaoxiao among the participants.
But after returning, she neither chose to debut nor to continue chasing her dreams through talent shows. Instead, she quietly continued to run her Piano Store. Now, several years later, the hubbub of those days has long since faded.
As lunch was nearing its end, Fang Xiaoya took the opportunity to go to the restroom to pay the bill, only to be respectfully informed by the front desk, "The expenses for your table have already been paid by that young man just now."
She said thank you and returned to her seat. When it was time to leave, another detail caught Fang Xiaoya’s attention: the five girls rose to leave quite naturally, clearly indicating that Xu Qingfan’s gesture wasn’t an isolated incident.
[No wonder this kid gets along so well with five beautiful young women!] Fang Xiaoya thought, filled with envy.
After a simple lunch, they continued back to the Piano Store for rehearsal.
The afternoon rehearsal was a qualitative leap from the morning’s. The six of them cooperated ever more tacitly. If it was just for a school performance, they were already more than qualified.
It must be said that when it comes to being in sync, the six of them had it in spades. After all, the most important thing about forming a band is whether the members can jam together.
As five o’clock approached, Fang Xiaoya copied the video recorded by the camera onto the computer and forwarded it to Xu Qingfan’s QQ, "Let’s wrap up the rehearsal here. When you get home, spend some time consolidating, and watch the last video to spot the issues."
"Okay!"
"Thank you, Sister Xiaoya!"
"Sister Xiaoya, we’ve bought this flute and ocarina, how much are they?" Xu Qingfan, never one to be stingy, pulled out a wad of cash.
"Look at you, so capable. Give me three hundred, they’re not worth much."
"Thanks for the trouble, Sister Xiaoya!" Xu Qingfan, without any hesitation, took out three hundred yuan from his pocket and handed it to her.
After all, just their group had spent almost a hundred thousand yuan here on instruments, not even counting the commission for referrals from primary school classmates.
"Goodbye, Sister Xiaoya!"
"Visit us when you have time."
After bidding farewell to the Piano Store, the six of them strolled aimlessly on the sidewalk.
Xu Qingfan always felt like he was forgetting something. He asked everyone, "I keep feeling I’ve forgotten something, help me think!"
"Forgot to hang your QQ Speed casual area?" Lin Wanning was the first to respond.
"No, not that, I don’t care about that," Xu Qingfan said as he flicked the girl’s forehead.
"Hmph~"
"The clothes in the washing machine were hung out by me this morning," Wu Lingyu reminded.
"Ah~ I actually did forget about that, but it’s not it!" Xu Qingfan had just remembered that his mom asked him to hang the clothes last night and he had forgotten in his rush.
"Did your aunt ask you to buy something you forgot?" Xiao Ruawen also suggested.
"No, no, my mom didn’t even get up this morning, how could she ask me to buy something!" Xu Qingfan scratched his head, deep in thought, but couldn’t recall what he had forgotten.
"We’re not the worms in your stomach, how would we know what you forgot!" Xia Xiaoxiao said irritably.
"The dog!" Zhang Yiyi suddenly remembered the scene from leaving the house in the morning; Xu Qingfan had mentioned he needed to go back to feed the dog at noon.
"Damn! I forgot to feed the dog!!" Xu Qingfan slapped his thigh, suddenly realizing.
"Ah~ Hurry and feed Little White, he must be starving!" Lin Wanning anxiously stamped her foot.
Far away, a kilometer off, Little White was indeed close to dying, but not from hunger, rather from holding it in.
It had not been to the bathroom the whole day!
Little White: Who among my people would understand!
