Chapter 10

On the large screen, representing the vote count for the Marsara band, the bar graph shot up, taking an initial lead of 200 votes.

Regarding Qin Qingzhuo’s choice, the audience had various expressions, and a quiet murmuring rose from below the stage.

200 votes were not a small number, and prior to this, there had been almost no instances of a reversal in the voting results after they were revealed.

The host turned to look at the big screen and said, “Now, I invite each audience member to pick up their voting device and cast their vote. Let’s wait and see what the final result will be.”

The two bar graphs on the screen began to rise rapidly. As more and more audience members cast their votes, it became evident that the 200-vote gap was gradually narrowing, shrinking to one hundred votes, fifty votes, twenty votes, ten votes…

At the moment when the two bar graphs were level, everyone held their breath, and the whole venue fell silent. In the next moment, the bar graph on the side of Asperatus unexpectedly surpassed Marsara’s, and its growth rate didn’t slow down. It continued to rise by more than a dozen votes before stopping. Suddenly, a few screams and whistles rang out in the room —

Asperatus had overtaken Marsara!

The audience vote counts for Marsara and Asperatus were 143 and 357, respectively. The final result was 343 to 357, with Asperatus even surpassing Marsara by fourteen votes.

After several hours of recording, this was the first time such a situation had occurred, and this overturning result made the emotions of the entire audience become excited and restless.

This excitement continued until the end of the program recording. As the audience left, many people were still discussing the dramatic turnaround in the score of that match.

When Qin Qingzhuo stood up from his seat, he took out his phone and glanced at it. Apart from a few messages from Ji Chi, everything was calm. Jiang Ji hadn’t released that photo.

Qin Qingzhuo wasn’t sure what Jiang Ji’s plan was now. He hadn’t chosen Asperatus, but they still achieved their goal of advancing. What would Jiang Ji do next with that photo?

Regardless, Qin Qingzhuo planned to talk to Jiang Ji about it as soon as possible. The boy’s temperament was unpredictable, and one couldn’t be sure what action he might take.

The bands hadn’t dispersed yet and were waiting in the lounge for the director to explain the rules for the next match. Qin Qingzhuo asked a staff member to help him find Jiang Ji, while he himself stood by the window waiting.

The exiting audience had already walked out through another door, heading in the direction of the buses in small groups. Qin Qingzhuo stood by the window on the second floor and could hear some audience members still discussing the program just recorded. A few male voices discussing Marsara and Asperatus were quite loud and clear, reaching Qin Qingzhuo’s ears —

“Who did you choose in that round? Marsara or Asperatus?”

“Definitely Asperatus. The improvisation round was too amazing. It crushed Marsara, didn’t it?”

“I also chose Asperatus, not because of their performance, purely because the lead singer roasted Qin Qingzhuo so satisfyingly.”

The guys laughed, and someone else said, “Indeed, the person next to me also voted for Asperatus because of that. It’s so gratifying. What qualifications does Qin Qingzhuo have to criticize others when he causes a car crash scene at his own concert…”

Behind him, there was the sound of footsteps. Qin Qingzhuo turned his head to look, expecting to see Jiang Ji, but instead, it was Zhong Yang, the drummer from Asperatus.

“Brother Qingzhuo, Jiang Ji left first,” Zhong Yang approached and asked, “Are you looking for him?”

He left? Was it to avoid a direct confrontation with me again… Qin Qingzhuo looked at Zhong Yang. “Do you know where he went?”

“I have no idea. He never tells me where he’s going,” Zhong Yang chuckled.

“Doesn’t he perform at the Honglu Bar every night?”

“Well, not necessarily.”

This boy didn’t seem inclined to reveal anything about Jiang Ji to him, but Qin Qingzhuo still nodded. “Thank you.”

The address Jiang Ji left with the production team was also for the Honglu Bar. It seemed he could only go there first. Qin Qingzhuo thought to himself.

This time, Qin Qingzhuo didn’t take the production team’s car. He had his driver bring his own car over.

Since nearly half of the bands were eliminated in the last round, the recording ended much earlier this time. When Qin Qingzhuo got into the car, the sky outside hadn’t completely darkened yet, but the rows of streetlights along the road had already lit up.

In the city, as the lights began to illuminate, it was peak rush hour, and the traffic was worse than last time. Vehicles crawled forward slowly, and Qin Qingzhuo recalled the last time he sat behind Jiang Ji, weaving in and out of traffic, leaving the congested cars behind.

He always felt that the temperament of that young man couldn’t be too bad. Why would he do such a thing?

His phone buzzed. Ji Chi had sent another message: “Qingzhuo, is the recording over? How did it go?”

Qin Qingzhuo stared at the message for a few seconds, then turned off the screen without replying.

If Ji Chi found out he hadn’t followed what the boy had said, he didn’t know if Ji Chi would have the mood to act tonight. He seemed very anxious about this matter.

It’s better to wait until everything is handled properly before telling Ji Chi. Qin Qingzhuo put away his phone. The continuous hours of recording had left him a bit tired. He closed his eyes and leaned back in the back seat to rest.

After a while, Qin Qingzhuo opened his eyes again and replied to Ji Chi’s message on the chat interface: “Leave this matter to me, don’t worry.”

As the twilight deepened, the streetlights on the Honglu Slope were dimmer than those on the main road outside. When the milky-white lampshades lit up, they illuminated the countless mosquito corpses accumulated inside them over the years.

As the motorcycle leaned into the Honglu Slope, its speed gradually slowed down. Making seven or eight turns along the way, skirting around tables and chairs extending onto the roadside, Jiang Ji parked the motorcycle against the wall. He dismounted, carrying his guitar on his back, and strode quickly toward the Honglu Bar.

The first-floor bar was already open for business. Normally at this time, Jiang Ji would already be sitting on the stage, ready to start singing. But today, due to participating in the program recording, there was no one on the stage at the moment. The sound system was playing a noisy DJ dance track.

Passing through the first-floor bar, Jiang Ji walked straight up the stairs to the second floor. There was no door between the second floor and the staircase. Jiang Ji entered the dimly lit, dilapidated billiard room. It was empty and desolate, except for his room at the end, where the light was on, casting a yellowish glow on the floor in front of the door.

Jiang Ji’s corner of the eye twitched inexplicably, sensing that something was not quite right.

His muscles tensed subconsciously as Jiang Ji approached the door of his room. He saw three men wandering around inside, as well as Jiang Bei crouched in the corner of the wall.

Upon hearing footsteps, the three men stopped and looked at Jiang Ji. One of them spoke up, “Hey, you’re back.”

Jiang Ji’s expression remained unchanged. He took off the guitar from his shoulder and leaned it against the wall, then stood straight, facing them. “What’s up?”

The man who spoke walked towards Jiang Ji. Jiang Ji was six feet tall, but the man was a few centimeters taller than him. His muscles were clearly defined all over his body, and the floor trembled as he walked.

Approaching Jiang Ji, the man blocked the light in front of Jiang Ji, reached out and grabbed the collar of Jiang Ji’s shirt with one hand, while the other hand lightly slapped Jiang Ji’s face. “What’s up? You fucking dare ask me what’s up? Pretending to be ignorant, huh? Running away, huh? You think you can hide from me here? It took me quite some effort to find you. If you don’t have something to show, you’re in big trouble.”

Jiang Ji didn’t move, watching him without much expression as the man’s rough dirty hand slapped his face, one after another, increasingly harder.

“I heard you’re singing here? It’s been a while, you should have earned quite a bit, huh?”

“This broken house doesn’t seem to have anything valuable,” the man by the window swept all the books off the desk, stomping on them on the ground, cursing, “A bunch of waste paper, are you also fucking doing odd jobs collecting scrap?”

The room was empty except for the desk and a bed. After rummaging around, the man walked over and picked up the guitar standing against the wall. “This broken guitar might still be worth a bit, but it’s so fucking broken. Can it still make any sound?”

As he said this, he was about to pluck the strings randomly, but Jiang Ji frowned, “Don’t touch my guitar.”

“Hey, still quite precious, huh?” The man glanced at Jiang Ji, getting excited. He grabbed the guitar and was about to smash it against the wall. Jiang Ji raised his hand, swiftly opening the hand holding his collar with a “smack,” then walked straight towards the man. He grabbed the guitar, kicked the man’s knee, and then clenched his fist, punching the man hard against the wall.

Seeing this, the man who had just grabbed Jiang Ji’s collar rushed over and forcefully restrained him from behind. He was tall and robust, almost equivalent to the weight of two Jiang Ji’s, immediately immobilizing him. Another man walked over and forcefully kicked Jiang Ji in the abdomen. “Youstill fucking dare to fight back? Haven’t had enough yet?”

The man kicked Jiang Ji’s abdomen again, and again, the intense pain made Jiang Ji instinctively curl up.

The man who was pinned against the wall by Jiang Ji also stood up, grabbed the guitar, and smashed it towards Jiang Ji’s head.

Jiang Bei, who had been crouching in the corner, clenched a wrench she had grabbed from somewhere. When the others weren’t paying attention to her, she quietly stood up and swung the wrench hard from the side, hitting the man who was beating Jiang Ji on the elbow.

The man immediately cried out in pain, turned around, and lifted his leg, kicking Jiang Bei far away.

Jiang Bei’s back hit the door frame hard, making it impossible for her to stand up, and she watched helplessly as the man picked up a chair and approached her, cursing, “Where the fuck did this little bastard come from…”

The light leaking into the car flickered intermittently. Qin Qingzhuo had closed his eyes but hadn’t fallen asleep. After some time, the driver in the front seat spoke up, “Mr. Qin, we’ve arrived.”

“Hmm?” Qin Qingzhuo opened his eyes, rubbed his temples, then put on a black mask, pushed open the car door, and said, “Wait here, I’ll go down and take a look.”

People sitting by the street were chatting, drinking, and eyeing tonight’s prey. The words “Honglu Bar” were clearly projected onto the ground. As Qin Qingzhuo stepped on those words, he glanced at the old signboard, then walked up the steps and pushed open the bar’s door.

A strong rhythmic wave of sound hit him. Qin Qingzhuo frowned involuntarily due to the discomfort. He looked towards the stage but didn’t see Jiang Ji there at the moment.

A waiter approached, asking cautiously, “Sir, are you looking for someone?”

The music was too loud, so Qin Qingzhuo had to raise his voice, “Is Jiang Ji here?”

The waiter pointed upstairs.

Qin Qingzhuo thanked him and walked up the stairs to the second floor.

The light on the second floor was dim, with dim light coming in from the window. The elongated shadows of several billiard tables were cast on the mottled wall.

The moment he stepped into the room, Qin Qingzhuo heard some commotion coming from the room with the light on. It sounded like a fight, but the music downstairs was too loud to make out clearly.

He hurried towards the inner room. The man’s voice became clearer: “…You still fucking dare to fight back? Haven’t had enough yet?”

—It wasn’t Jiang Ji’s voice.

Qin Qingzhuo quickened his pace, reached the door, pushed it open, and saw a scene where a man was wielding a chair towards a little girl leaning against the door frame.

The door opened, and the man inside paused for a moment, as did Qin Qingzhuo, who was slightly startled by the situation.

Seeing someone approaching, the man holding the chair stopped in his tracks, scrutinizing the masked figure up and down. Then he pointed the chair at Qin Qingzhuo and said, “Who are you? Get out of here!”

Qin Qingzhuo took a step forward, shielding the little girl behind him, and looked at the man calmly. “Regardless of who I am, isn’t it inappropriate to use such force against a child?”

“Don’t fucking meddle in other people’s business. Who are you to decide what’s appropriate?” The man impatiently turned to Jiang Ji, “Who is this guy? Get him out of here.”

Jiang Ji was still firmly restrained by the man behind him, blood dripping from his forehead down his face. Upon hearing Qin Qingzhuo’s words, he raised his eyelids, glanced at Qin Qingzhuo coldly, but remained silent.

“Damn it, you’re asking for trouble, aren’t you? If you don’t leave now, you’ll get a beating too!” Seeing Jiang Ji’s silence, the man dismissed Qin Qingzhuo again.

“I am Jiang Ji’s teacher,” Qin Qingzhuo finally spoke up.

“Teacher?” The man looked at Qin Qingzhuo with obvious disbelief, “Hasn’t this kid dropped out of school a long time ago? Where did a teacher come from? Besides, even if you’re his teacher, so what? Can you help him repay his debt?”

Repaying debt… Jiang Ji owed these people money? Qin Qingzhuo looked at the man, and he probably understood the identities of these men.

“Are you here to collect debts from Jiang Ji?” Qin Qingzhuo said, “I’m not interested in your disputes. I think once the police arrive, who is right and who is wrong can be quickly clarified.”

“What do you mean? Are you calling the police?” The man sneered at Qin Qingzhuo, “Who are you trying to scare? Do you think we’re afraid of the police? Even if we end up spending a few days in jail, who in our line of work hasn’t been to the station?”

“Spend a few days?” Qin Qingzhuo chuckled, “Indeed, as long as the injuries aren’t severe, spending a few days in jail is normal. But if you hire a good lawyer and work things out behind the scenes, it shouldn’t be difficult to use the pretext of assault to get you guys to spend a year or two in custody.”

“Hire a good lawyer…” The man laughed disdainfully, “Who? Jiang Ji? If he could afford a good lawyer, would he still owe debts? Or are you going to hire one for him? Since you’re such a good-hearted teacher, why don’t you pay off his debts for him?”

Seeing that the men showed no intention of leaving, Qin Qingzhuo continued calmly, “I’ve said what I had to say. Debt matters are complicated, and I don’t want to get involved. But helping find a lawyer shouldn’t be difficult.” Then, Qin Qingzhuo lowered his mask, revealing his face, “If you know me, consider yourselves lucky. Leave here before the police arrive, or you might get into trouble later. If you don’t know me, that’s okay too. You can stay here a little longer and see if what I said is true.”

The three men looked at Qin Qingzhuo, finding him young when he had his mask on, but somehow familiar when he took it off. Moreover, he seemed quite wealthy and had a convincing demeanor. He didn’t seem like just another street thug who knew how to talk tough.

One of the men seemed to recognize Qin Qingzhuo and whispered to the man who had been talking to Qin Qingzhuo, “This guy… seems to be a celebrity.” He lowered his voice, “Boss Chen, what if we…”

“A celebrity?” The man squinted his eyes as he continued to observe Qin Qingzhuo. Being a celebrity lent some credibility to what he had just said. A few seconds later, he seemed somewhat hesitant and frowned before saying, “Let’s go.”

The person restraining Jiang Ji let go, and the man holding the guitar casually threw it aside. The group walked towards the door, with the leader turning back to point at Jiang Ji, threatening, “Stay put here, if you dare to run again, I’ll break your legs!”

Jiang Ji ignored the threats from those men. He glanced at Jiang Bei, who was already standing up, and then walked to the desk, bending down to pick up the guitar that had been thrown on the ground. The guitar was stained with his blood, and several places had chipped paint from the impact, causing it to go out of tune.

“You bastard,” Jiang Ji muttered under his breath.

Qin Qingzhuo watched him and asked, “How much money do you owe?”

Jiang Ji didn’t answer, just staring at the guitar.

“Was taking that photo also a way to ask me for money to pay off your debts?” Qin Qingzhuo approached him and asked again.

Jiang Ji still didn’t speak, standing straight and shifting his gaze from the guitar to Qin Qingzhuo’s face.

The blood on his forehead was flowing down his face, almost reaching his eyes. Qin Qingzhuo couldn’t stand it, so he grabbed some tissues from the nearby desk and was about to wipe away the blood from Jiang Ji’s face. However, Jiang Ji instinctively turned his head slightly backward, avoiding it.

That posture seemed like he was prepared to fight Qin Qingzhuo at any moment.

Qin Qingzhuo almost chuckled, but at the same time felt a bit sorry for Jiang Ji—what had this young man gone through to react so defensively when someone approached him?

“You’re bleeding from your forehead, let me wipe it off,” he sighed quietly, then handed the tissues to Jiang Ji, adding, “Don’t want to say anything? Then let’s go to the hospital first.”

Jiang Ji tightly held onto the tissues in his hand, not wiping the blood off his face, but instead lowered his head and gently wiped the bloodstains off the guitar with the tissues. “No need.”

“You don’t need it, but your sister might, right?”

Jiang Ji looked towards Jiang Bei and realized that she, who had just stood up, was now squatting down again, clutching her stomach.

Qin Qingzhuo walked over, bent down to help the girl up, and said, “Can you stand? Let me carry you.”

As he spoke, he turned around and half-squatted in front of the little girl, holding her arms and placing them over his shoulders.

Jiang Bei looked at Jiang Ji, silently seeking his opinion on whether to leave or not.

Watching Qin Qingzhuo half-squatting in front of Jiang Bei, Jiang Ji’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. After hesitating for a moment, he walked over, lowered his head to Qin Qingzhuo, and said, “Let me do it.”

TN:

Beating up children?! What bottom of the barrel scum!