At almost nine in the morning, Sheng Xia knocked on Shi Ye’s door, carrying bread rolls and soy milk, calling him to wake up.

They had breakfast together. Sheng Xia said he wanted Shi Ye to come to his house for dinner; it was his birthday, and his mom would make a lot of delicious food.

Shi Ye wasn’t keen on going, saying he didn’t want to go out that day and just wanted to stay in his room and play the guitar. Sheng Xia said he also felt like staying in, and it would be better to go to his house since there were more musical instruments there.

Shi Ye thought refusing all the time seemed a bit strange since it was someone’s birthday, so he agreed. At noon, they went to an old shop outside the ancient city to eat rice noodles and watched the owner and his wife argue. Shi Ye didn’t finish his meal; he ordered too many snacks, and when he paid, the owner gave him a dirty look, saying he had big eyes and a small stomach, wasting food, while Sheng Xia laughed beside him.

The weather that day was very good, hot, with no wind.

Shi Ye hadn’t eaten with elders in a long time.

The scenes of eating with family in his memory were distant. Back then, meals at home were always lively; his dad would often bring colleagues over, and his mom had many friends. During meals, Shi Ye would initially sit on his mom’s lap, then be constantly passed around to other people’s laps, with uncles and aunties taking turns feeding him snacks and fruits whenever they visited.

Zhao Wu said, “Mr. Shi, eat a bit more.”

“You can call me Xiao Ye.”

“Okay, Xiao Ye.” Zhao Wu smiled warmly. “I should’ve known it was you that day. Sheng Xia told me about a very talented guitarist who came home, but I wasn’t there a few days ago, so I missed it.”

That meal, Shi Ye felt uncomfortable sitting there, uneasy all over. Every word Zhao Wu said seemed fine, but he couldn’t help feeling that there was an underlying meaning behind them, as if she saw through everything. Was it his imagination? It would be best if it was.

Zhao Wu asked, “Xiao Ye, when are you leaving?”

Shi Ye pushed the dish Sheng Xia handed him to the side and said, “I haven’t decided yet.”

“It’s better to plan things earlier.” Zhao Wu said, “You young people always focus on the present without thinking about the future. Xiao Ye, want some wine?”

Shi Ye said yes, and Zhao Wu asked Sheng Xia to bring over the homemade fruit wine, pouring a glass for each of them, but only giving Sheng Xia a soft drink.

Raising her glass, Zhao Wu said, “Sheng Xia, Mom sometimes feels sorry for you. You haven’t had many friends since you were little, and I’ve been busy, so I spend less time with you. That’s how it’s been, and now you’re grown up, eighteen already. You’re an adult now, I hope you’ll be a good person, I don’t ask you to become someone outstanding, just don’t hurt others, stay safe and healthy. Happy birthday.”

Shi Ye also said, “Happy birthday.”

Happy birthday, Shi Ye repeated in his mind. Sheng Xia kept his gaze down as he spoke to his mom, looking very obedient. They talked about the college entrance exam, grades, and the neighbor’s child going abroad to study at a prestigious university on a scholarship. They talked about things far removed from Shi Ye’s life, things he couldn’t participate in.

After finishing the meal, Zhao Wu suggested checking the exam results. Sheng Xia was reluctant, saying it was his birthday today, couldn’t they let him be happy for one day?

Zhao Wu said, “No matter how much you score, I’ll be happy. At least we’ve gotten through the college entrance exam, and you’ve persevered. Mom is proud of you. The score isn’t important; what’s important is that the exam is over, we need to see the result.”

Sheng Xia didn’t lift his eyelids. “According to this logic, then the score doesn’t matter much.”

Shi Ye looked at Zhao Wu helplessly. Sheng Xia’s attitude was unexpected. “Let’s check it out. I’m curious, especially about the college entrance exam and checking scores.”

Sheng Xia pouted, sighed in his heart, and then slowly went upstairs to get his admission ticket. He took out his phone and, slowly and reluctantly, opened the exam result page, entered his information, and clicked on the query button.

As for what it’s like to check the college entrance exam scores in front of an idol? Answer: Want to die.

Zhao Wu and Shi Ye peeked at the phone screen, but it took a long time to load. Sheng Xia was pleased, “See, it’s not loading. The website must be crowded today. Let’s try again tomorrow.”

Shi Ye was a bit skeptical, so he took Sheng Xia’s phone and tried again, re-entering the information and clicking on query.

Zhao Wu and Sheng Xia watched his movements. It was strange; something that had nothing to do with him made Shi Ye feel a bit nervous. The college entrance exam, scores, university, things so distant from him… but now he had a sense of reality, realizing it was indeed an important matter, for others and for a family.

The page stalled for a moment, the screen remained blank. For those few seconds, Shi Ye’s mind was blank too, the three of them quiet, all staring at the phone, the atmosphere inexplicably tense.

Sheng Xia reluctantly said, “…Let’s not check it, it won’t load.”

The next second, the results page popped up.

Name: Sheng Xia

Exam Number: xxxxxxxxxxx

Admission Ticket Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chinese: 79

Mathematics: 112

Foreign Language: 128

Science Comprehensive: 181

Total Score: 500

This score was an unexpected surprise for Zhao Wu, who happily exclaimed, “Good boy! Son, you’re amazing! 500!”

They had been estimating around 450.

Shi Ye’s reaction was probably the most confusing among the three: “…You’re a science student?!”

Sheng Xia: “…Why does it not seem like it?”

Shi Ye wondered why he didn’t get a good score. Also, Sheng Xia didn’t seem like someone who could score 112 in math??

He was shocked internally, firing off questions like a machine gun, “Why is your Chinese score so low? You didn’t even pass; isn’t Chinese supposed to be the easiest? How come it’s only 79?”

Sheng Xia: “…I don’t like writing essays.”

Shi Ye pointed at the phone, “You only need a few more points to pass; being in double digits, don’t you find it embarrassing?”

Sheng Xia: “There are some things I can’t do…”

Shi Ye: “Out of 150 points, right? Did you not finish all the questions?”

Zhao Wu: “…Well, Xiao Ye, actually, this score is not bad, considering he’s one of the bottom students in their class…”

Shi Ye frowned, still talking, “Isn’t Chinese supposed to be very simple? Why can’t you even pass?”

Sheng Xia, looking indignant, “It’s really difficult! I can’t understand the comprehension! Teacher Shi Ye, why don’t you praise me for scoring 112 in math?”

“Why praise something that’s already good? Can’t you acknowledge your shortcomings? You can’t even excel in Chinese; don’t you find it embarrassing to talk about it?”

“People always have things they’re not good at…”

“People always need to face their shortcomings bravely. Look at yourself, you failed.”

Zhao Wu: “…Well, let’s eat first.”

Zhao Wu seemed visibly excited, her mind wandering as she ate, constantly on the phone, informing relatives and friends about Sheng Xia’s score. After dinner, Zhao Wu’s friend came to talk about sending her child to Anhui next quarter. While Zhao Wu was chatting with her friend, Sheng Xia quietly took most of the bottle of fruit wine and grabbed a piece of cake for himself, then went back to his room with Shi Ye.

It was Shi Ye’s first time entering Sheng Xia’s room. After seeing the room, Shi Ye understood why they needed to clear out a room for Sheng Xia’s stuff because Sheng Xia’s musical instruments were far more numerous than he had imagined; the room was cluttered everywhere. Sheng Xia said it was where he usually slept and did homework, and he only went to the attic to relax.

The most special thing was Sheng Xia’s bed. Made of wood, with a piano attached to the headboard, assembled as part of it.

When Shi Ye saw it, he laughed, “Learning from Freddie?” 

Sheng Xia nodded.

“Do you find it fun?” Shi Ye walked over and tried a few notes, accurately. “Freddie was very poor at the time, always renting apartments. He and Mary slept on the bed frame, in a small room, next to the piano. The movies portrayed it romantically, but it definitely wasn’t that romantic in reality.”

“I’m not doing it for romance, sometimes lying down, I just want to touch the piano.”

Next to Sheng Xia’s bed was a record player with a vinyl inside. There was also a beautiful-looking radio next to the record player, with a few cassette tapes in the drawer, with Faye Wong’s on top.

Shi Ye turned on the record player, and a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers played.

Good music can easily improve one’s mood. Listening to the melody, Shi Ye said, “I quite like the guitarist from Red Hot Chili Peppers. Shall I test you? Can you identify a few chords?”

Sheng Xia sat at the head of the bed, agreeing.

He chuckled, “That’s too easy.”

He knelt on the bed and, with the melody and guitar sound, started playing the piano to match the chords, saying as he played, “This… G’s first inversion, A, D third inversion, and A without inversion.”

Shi Ye sat next to the record player, initially just watching, but then he picked up the guitar beside him. He played while Sheng Xia sang.

When they got tired of singing, they talked about their favorite songs and bands.

Sheng Xia said, “Teacher Shi Ye, I still remember watching your videos where you reviewed those bands.”

Shi Ye said, “Oh, that’s my dark history.”

Indeed, it was a dark history. At that time, Shi Ye spoke without restraint, calling Guns N’ Roses non-mainstream, calling Queen’s frontman, calling Nirvana crazy, and so on.

“I was just talking.” Shi Ye wasn’t embarrassed at all. “Did I also criticize the bands you like?”

“No, I only like Aviator. It seems you never said anything bad about your own band.”

Shi Ye laughed with him, “Then let me tell you now. Nowadays, Aviator is like a supermarket discount item, buy one get one free, about to expire trash band. The singer is a **The guitarist’s playing is getting softer, and the bassist makes mistakes during tours. The only stable one is our drummer, Xiao Xiang. 

Sheng Xia took out his notebook from his backpack and said, “Teacher Shi Ye, don’t be disheartened. When your throat wasn’t feeling well before, I wanted to write you a letter or something to encourage you. I wrote it all down in this notebook. There was a time in my senior year when I really didn’t want to go to school. We had exams every day, and I particularly hated writing essays in Chinese papers. I couldn’t write anything every time I took the exam, so I wrote lyrics and scores. The teacher criticized me every day. Later, to force myself to write essays well, I found many books to read to motivate myself, and I even copied them down. Shall I read it to you?”

Sheng Xia began reading what he called his “chicken soup”: “Encountering failure is because we have always been making progress. Repeatedly encountering failure is because we have never stopped pursuing progress. People need to continue to climb, they need to pay the price of failure, anyone…”

Shi Ye couldn’t stand it and interrupted him, “Did this thing inspire you?”

Sheng Xia nodded very confidently, “Very useful! I memorized this, and during the college entrance exam, I copied it down word for word! I asked our Chinese teacher, she said this could be considered a universal sentence; this paragraph alone could give me at least ten points.”

Shi Ye was amused the whole time. But just because of a piece of chicken soup, it wouldn’t add points to his life, let alone ten points.

“I really can’t write essays. The teacher says my words are not clear,” Sheng Xia said, “Teacher Shi Ye, do you ever feel that way? Language is really a strange thing; if you’re not careful, it becomes ambiguous. Sometimes I feel people are really strange; they always say things that others understand, but if it’s unnecessary, I think they themselves may not know what they want to express; they just want others to understand. Many people say they don’t understand what I’m saying, but is that my problem?”

“The listener feels they can’t understand, thinks you’re unclear, may also be because they lack patience to listen,” Shi Ye said, “But, speaking is to make others understand. Why do you always think of strange things?”

Shi Ye didn’t think Sheng Xia was really bad at speaking; he thought Sheng Xia was very articulate. Stuttering when he was young? Awkward in speech? Doesn’t seem like it. When He listened to Sheng Xia speak, he felt like he was singing, better than singing, slowly, his eyes fixed on you, very focused.

“You see, many people have said this about me, calling me strange, eccentric, a little crazy, abnormal.” Sheng Xia shook his head and laughed, “Everyone likes to interpret others according to their own thoughts. They think others should be like themselves. If the majority is a certain way, they find it strange when a minority is different. Am I the strange one? I think others are strange too.”

Shi Ye plucked the strings and looked at Sheng Xia.

“Yes, yes,” Shi Ye said, “You’re right. It’s not you who’s strange, it’s us, we’re the strange ones.” He paused, “Now that the college entrance exam is over, are you happy?”

Sheng Xia thought for a moment before replying, “It’s okay, neither happy nor unhappy. The excitement has passed, although I’m still quite happy, but upon closer inspection, it feels like nothing special.”

“It seems like life is like that. Many things we once thought were remarkable, upon reflection, are just ordinary.” Shi Ye seemed a bit happier than Sheng Xia, “You’re eighteen now, you’ve grown up.”

Sheng Xia nodded along, “Yeah, I’ve grown up.”