Chapter 25

Watching Jiang Ji step onto the motorcycle not far away, carrying Qin Qingzhuo through the intersection, Jiang Bei, standing at the foot of the wall, bent down and picked up a slender branch from the ground, reaching out to poke the hunched back in front of her.

The man turned his head to look at her, but she remained silent, her large eyes shining faintly in the dim alley, scanning him up and down.

After sizing him up, Jiang Bei twirled the branch in her hand, creating a shadow, and then lifted her foot to walk towards the bar.

The man followed behind, his voice sounding somewhat hoarse, “C-Can I come with you to see where you live?”

Jiang Bei didn’t look back, quickening her pace.

The man continued to follow, “Have you eaten?”

Jiang Bei stopped her steps, turned to the side, and glanced at him, “No.”

The man’s tone sounded somewhat appeasing, “Let me take you to eat something?”

Jiang Bei lifted her chin and gestured towards the street opposite, “Barbecue across the street?”

The man nodded, agreeing twice in a row, “Sure, sure.”

Jiang Bei turned around, one hand twirling the tree branch like a circus act, the other hand in her pocket, confidently walking towards the direction of the street.

The cobblestone road was a bit bumpy, so Jiang Ji slowed down the motorcycle.

“It’s not far ahead,” Qin Qingzhuo spoke from behind him, “Jiang Ji, park the bike here, let’s walk over.”

Jiang Ji stopped the bike, one leg supporting him on the ground, waiting for Qin Qingzhuo to get off the back seat before he dismounted and removed his helmet.

After he locked the motorcycle against the wall, Qin Qingzhuo had already walked a distance carrying the guitar. Jiang Ji quickened his pace and caught up, taking the guitar from him.

Qin Qingzhuo led him into a courtyard, crossing the yard and heading straight to the main house.

Pushing open the door, a man in a light gray linen shirt was sitting on a wooden chair, fanning himself with a fan and humming a song. The furnishings in the room were antique, but the music playing from the stereo was completely mismatched rock music – “Lake of Fire” by Nirvana, a song Jiang Ji quite liked.

Seeing Qin Qingzhuo push the door open, the man turned off the stereo, stood up, and walked towards Qin Qingzhuo. “You’re here, Qingzhuo.”

“Antiques paired with rock music, you still have such taste,” Qin Qingzhuo smiled, shaking hands with him. “Uncle Qiao, this is Jiang Ji I mentioned to you before.”

After finishing, he gestured for Jiang Ji to greet him. “Jiang Ji, this is Uncle Qiao, he likes collecting all kinds of guitars. He knows every luthier in the world. If the problem isn’t too serious, he can fix it himself.”

This time, Jiang Ji didn’t let Qin Qingzhuo down, and greeted with a “Uncle Qiao.”

Qin Qingzhuo took the guitar from Jiang Ji. “Uncle Qiao, take a look at this guitar.”

Uncle Qiao looked at the guitar body with his eyes. “Oh, did you fight someone with this guitar?”

“Just a little accident,” Qin Qingzhuo explained for Jiang Ji.

Uncle Qiao put on a pair of glasses from the table. He maintained himself well, with no wrinkles on his face, making it difficult to judge his actual age at a glance.

He sat down on the sofa and pointed to the opposite side. “Sit down. I just took a look. The external injuries aren’t too severe. Young man, play a sentence for me to listen to.”

Jiang Ji sat down, holding the guitar, and lightly plucked the strings, playing the first sentence of “Lake of Fire.”

“Oh, you know Nirvana?” Uncle Qiao looked at Jiang Ji.

“Yeah, I quite like it,” Jiang Ji said.

“What other bands do you like?”

“Guns N’ Roses, Eagles, Scorpions, AC/DC, Cocteau Twins, quite a few.”

“You have taste, and your guitar playing is not bad, reminiscent of Qingzhuo’s youth. However, the intonation of this guitar is indeed a bit serious. It should be a problem with the internal parts. Here, let me take a look at the guitar.”

He took the guitar from Jiang Ji’s hands and carefully inspected the body. Perhaps because Jiang Ji just played a sentence that he particularly liked, Uncle Qiao chatted with Jiang Ji as he checked the guitar. “This guitar looks like it’s been used for quite a few years, hasn’t it?”

“Ten years,” Jiang Ji said.

“Ten years, that’s quite a long time,” he glanced at Jiang Ji, “Have you been using this guitar all along?”

Jiang Ji nodded.

“Then you’re quite impressive,” Uncle Qiao said with some surprise, “Young people usually get tired of things easily. Using the same guitar for ten years is quite rare.”

After a moment, he continued, “Considering your age, you probably started using this guitar when you were eight or nine, right? Your parents are quite generous too. This guitar isn’t cheap. How much was it ten years ago… Fifty or sixty thousand? Or seventy or eighty thousand?”

“At that time…” Jiang Ji only said these two words, without continuing.

Qin Qingzhuo turned his face to look at Jiang Ji. Jiang Ji’s gaze fell on the guitar, seemingly lost in some memories, and his expression softened slightly.

Who was he thinking of? His father… or his mother? Qin Qingzhuo thought of the man Jiang Ji beat up in the evening. The lighting was dim at that time, and he couldn’t see the man’s face clearly, but he felt that his features resembled Jiang Ji’s somewhat. Could that person be… Qin Qingzhuo’s heart began to speculate.

Before Jiang Ji could answer, Uncle Qiao continued speaking on his own—

“The maintenance is good, but the aging of the parts can’t be avoided.”

“The external impact is quite serious too. Did you use the guitar to hit someone?”

“There’s no need for repairs. It’s better to replace it. It’s a comprehensive solution. Since we get along well, I’ll recommend a better one for you.”

Jiang Ji frowned slightly, fell silent, and then spoke after a while, “Uncle Qiao, can you help me find someone else to take a look at this guitar? As long as it can be repaired, I’ll pay whatever it costs.”

Uncle Qiao looked up at him, “Hey, you’re quite wealthy, aren’t you?”

Carrying a load of debt, yet offering to pay any amount for repairs… Qin Qingzhuo glanced at Jiang Ji again.

The young man’s lips were pressed together, his expression serious, and sharp lines formed from his jaw to the side of his face, showing a hint of worry.

It’s rare to see a trace of what someone his age should have. Qin Qingzhuo thought.

He spoke up to help Jiang Ji, “Uncle Qiao, don’t scare the kid. If you can’t fix it, can’t you find someone else who can?”

“Oh, you used to have a lot of tricks up your sleeve to trick me, but now you’ve learned to act like a good person in front of juniors, haven’t you?” Uncle Qiao across from them also laughed, teasing Qin Qingzhuo, then turned to Jiang Ji again, “Qingzhuo says this guitar is very important to you. It seems it really is important.”

Jiang Ji nodded again.

“Don’t worry, I know who made this guitar. I’ll help you get it to him, and he’ll personally repair it for you, alright?”

“Thank you,” Jiang Ji said.

“Was it made by Uncle Tang?” Qin Qingzhuo looked at Uncle Qiao.

“I don’t know any other luthiers except him.” Uncle Qiao placed the guitar on the workbench. “Don’t worry, I’ll contact you when it’s fixed.”

“A guitar that you can recognize at a glance, besides Uncle Tang, there’s no one else,” Qin Qingzhuo smiled.

Even if Jiang Ji didn’t know who this “Uncle Tang” was, he could sense from their conversation that the relationship between these two was not simple.

“You’re making fun of me, huh,” Uncle Qiao turned his gaze to Jiang Ji, “Young man, let me tell you, don’t be fooled by Teacher Qin acting all high and mighty now. When he was your age, he didn’t look anything like this… He used to come over every day and take away my guitars, claiming his own guitar was lost. I was curious how such a big guitar could be lost. Later, I found out that it wasn’t lost at all; he was giving them away as tokens of love. Can you believe it…”

“What kind of token of love,” Qin Qingzhuo laughed, “Uncle Qiao, don’t falsely accuse me.”

“Have you ever given a guitar?”

“I did give one, but…”

“That’s it then,” Uncle Qiao didn’t let him finish, quite emphatically, “Giving a guitar is equivalent to giving affection. You give a guitar, and that’s like giving away a piece of your heart in a relationship.”

“Don’t say such things casually,” Qin Qingzhuo shook his head with a smile, “I also gave Jiang Ji a guitar.”

“Oh, Teacher Qin also gave you a guitar?” Uncle Qiao’s sharp tongue was honed in his youth. Now, both of them were joking together, “Jiang Ji, you should handle this affection well. Although Teacher Qin is considerate in every way, he’s not a bad person. He’s handsome, sings beautifully, and plays the guitar well…”

As his enthusiasm grew, he spoke more and more energetically, not giving Qin Qingzhuo a chance to interject.

In the end, Qin Qingzhuo had to leave with a final statement, “I’ll take Jiang Ji away first,” almost fleeing. Behind him, he could hear Uncle Qiao’s triumphant laughter, “You’re quite a talker, young man, but you still have a lot to learn in arguing.”

After leaving the courtyard, Qin Qingzhuo finally sighed. He knew he shouldn’t casually tease Uncle Qiao and Uncle Tang. Why did he have to be quick-witted for a moment?

But after walking a few steps, he realized that it was more embarrassing to walk outside than being teased by Uncle Qiao in front of him.

Night had completely fallen, and the alley was quiet. Because of Uncle Qiao’s teasing about “giving guitars,” the atmosphere between the two became somewhat awkward.

—Perhaps not only because of this “giving guitars” topic but also because a few days ago, Jiang Ji had admitted with his own mouth that he was Qin Qingzhuo’s new boyfriend, the one who dug into Ji Chi’s territory.

Qin Qingzhuo was about to say something to ease the somewhat awkward atmosphere, but unexpectedly, Jiang Ji spoke first, “Do you often give guitars to others?”

“Don’t listen to Uncle Qiao’s nonsense,” Qin Qingzhuo felt a bit helpless, “I don’t often give them away. I can’t even remember when I last gave a guitar before you.”

“So you did give one?”

Qin Qingzhuo didn’t know what to say for a moment. Being spoken to like this by Uncle Qiao made it seem like he was admitting to casually giving away guitars, which would confirm him as a reckless “love-giving” scumbag.

“I did give one, but…” He stopped midway, feeling that explaining this to Jiang Ji was meaningless. “Forget it, just consider that I often give guitars.”

Jiang Ji didn’t say anything more. He walked over to the motorcycle and then asked, “Are you angry that the guitar you gave me was sold?”

The awkward atmosphere from earlier eased a bit. Upon hearing this question, Qin Qingzhuo paused for a moment before responding, “Do you want to hear the truth, Jiang Ji? I do feel a bit uncomfortable about it, but if selling that guitar helps solve some of your problems, then it’s not a bad thing. After all, you’ve also helped me a lot.”

Jiang Ji looked at him for another two seconds before averting his gaze, bending down to unlock the motorcycle, and then handing the helmet to Qin Qingzhuo. “Still around Mingtai?”

Realizing that Jiang Ji meant to take him home, Qin Qingzhuo took the helmet. “I’ve moved, got a new address.”

He searched for his new home address on his phone’s navigation app and handed the phone to Jiang Ji.

Sitting on the motorcycle, Jiang Ji took the phone from Qin Qingzhuo’s hand and swiped through the route on the screen. After finishing, he handed the phone back. “Got it.”

Qin Qingzhuo put away his phone and got on the motorcycle. Suddenly, he remembered the early morning after the recording of the program ended, when Jiang Ji had asked him the same question while sitting on the motorcycle, “Where are you going?”

Sitting behind Jiang Ji, Qin Qingzhuo casually joked, “You’re not harboring any sneaky filming intentions this time, are you?”

Jiang Ji turned his head slightly, his voice muffled under the helmet, sounding somewhat heavy, “This time, you don’t have a boyfriend either, right?”

TN:

QQ gave JJ the guitar! I’m calling it even though it’s pretty obvious. That last sentence…ouch?
My fav bands are Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, One Ok Rock, The Rose, Bon Jovi, Nirvana, Green Day, Muse and Black Sabbath!