When they returned to the living room, Gu Miao had finished another bunny drawing and was seriously looking through a picture book. Jiang Cheng gave her another sheet of paper.

He really couldn't understand a child like Gu Miao. The picture book had so many images - bunnies, dogs, chickens, birds, kittens, piglets - yet she only drew bunnies even as she happily looked through it all.

"Change your clothes." Gu Fei handed Jiang Cheng one of his own t-shirts.  

Jiang Cheng went into the bedroom to change. "Are you going to take photos? Didn't you let Yi Jing take your camera to the shop?"

"Yeah, she'll take it to the shop." Gu Fei said. "Not today, the light's not good now."

"You usually ignore her, but seem pretty familiar." Jiang Cheng said.  

"She is the class monitor after all." Gu Fei glanced at him. "Old Xu had her tutor me before."

At the mention of Old Xu, Jiang Cheng couldn't help tsking. "I really should remind Old Xu again not to talk about this."

"It's not really Old Xu's fault." Gu Fei said. "That's just how he is. And really, if this happened to anyone, they probably wouldn't understand either."

"Then...what now." Jiang Cheng looked at him. "Everyone knows already."

"If they know then they know." Gu Fei said. "The gears of fate have started turning. Who knows what mechanisms they'll run into, like you."  

"Me what?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Aren't you a gear that got turned in?" Gu Fei smiled. "Let's go, I'm taking you somewhere."

"Where?" Jiang Cheng watched him.

Gu Fei had already reverted back to normal, whether in speech or expression, no sign of what had happened before. No sign he had just cried so sadly on the sofa.

Jiang Cheng didn't know if he really was fine now, or if his long experiences had allowed him to quickly recuperate and maintain a balanced stance.

"The steel factory." Gu Fei opened the closet.

"The steel factory? What for?" Jiang Cheng was surprised. They hadn't gone there in a long time. Once he rented the apartment, it became their most private space. "If you want to...we can just go to my place."

"Brother Cheng," Gu Fei smiled leaning on the closet door. "Could you be serious please? What's a top student thinking about all the time?"

Jiang Cheng didn't respond. He stared at Gu Fei for a long time then waved his hand, turning to go back to the living room and sit with Gu Miao to look through the picture book.  

Gu Fei followed him out. Jiang Cheng glanced at him then froze in shock.

Gu Fei was carrying a guitar case on his back.

“What is...that?” Jiang Cheng blurted out instinctively. He really did not expect Gu Fei to suddenly come out with a guitar.

“Cello.” Gu Fei said.

“Bullshit!” Jiang Cheng said.

“Then why did you ask, I thought you hadn't seen a guitar before,” Gu Fei walked to the sofa, reached out and snapped his fingers in front of Gu Miao, Gu Miao looked up at him, he said softly, “Brother is going out for something, let your brother know before you go out to skateboard.”

Gu Miao nodded.  

“Brother Cheng,” Gu Fei stood up, “let’s go.”

Jiang Cheng had been following behind Gu Fei the whole time. It wasn’t until they went downstairs that he suddenly realized, Gu Fei was going to play the guitar?

Going to the steel factory to play the guitar?

It wasn't too far away. Gu Fei didn't ride a bike. He just walked in the direction of the steel factory with a guitar on his back. Jiang Cheng walked beside him, his eyes never leaving Gu Fei the whole way.  

He had seen Gu Fei with a helmet riding a motorcycle, seen Gu Fei riding a bike and playing skateboard on the road with Gu Miao, seen Gu Fei playing basketball, seen Gu Fei with a camera, and seen Gu Fei in black jumping between buildings in the fire...

He had also seen a crying Gu Fei...

But now Gu Fei surprised him again, although he knew Gu Fei had been in a band before and could play the guitar, seeing Gu Fei walking in the sunshine with a guitar on his back still excited him.

Excited about what?

He didn't know.

He was just excited.

With every step, he wanted to turn his head and look at Gu Fei.

The steel factory was huge. Jiang Cheng hadn't been there many times, so he had never walked the whole perimeter. Gu Fei was like taking him to explore a new map, walking him down a road he had never taken before.

"Aren't we going to the small room?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"No," Gu Fei said, "Who knows if there are dogs making out there."

Jiang Cheng didn't say anything. 'Dogs' probably referred to Li Yan, but thinking about what they had done there, he felt Gu Fei was shameless to call others dogs.

"I've never been here before." Jiang Cheng changed the topic.

"I don't come here often either," Gu Fei said, "Most of the buildings here have been demolished, the ones left are dangerous buildings, there's no point coming here."

"Then where are we going now?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Dangerous building." Gu Fei replied.

"...Oh." Jiang Cheng nodded.

It was true that most of the buildings here had been demolished. Many old buildings were left with only the frame, surrounded by rubble and overgrown weeds. Steel scraps were piled up and covered in grass.

It must have been very prosperous back then with such a large factory area and so many workers living here. Many nearby places still bore traces of the steel factory's former prosperity.

X Steel Kindergarten, X Steel Elementary School, X Steel Grocery Store, X Steel Amusement Center, X Steel xx...

"There." Gu Fei pointed ahead.

Passing through the demolished old factory area, there was a...dangerous building in the open space ahead. It was only one story, but very tall, like an auditorium, even bigger than the one at their high school.

It did look dangerous, half of it was demolished.

But as they got closer, Jiang Cheng realized that half wasn't demolished, it had collapsed.

Stepping over rubble, Gu Fei led him through the "door" of the building.

The interior was surprisingly bright because half of the roof had also collapsed. It was indeed an auditorium, with rows of seats still there, though some were buried under the collapsed ceiling.

The stage side of the roof was intact. The big windows on both sides were gone. Sunshine streamed in from outside, bathing the entire stage in brilliance.

"Sit there," Gu Fei pointed to the middle seat in the front row, "Sit in the middle."

"Ah." Jiang Cheng looked and walked over to the middle seat in the front row.

There was a thick layer of dust on the seat. He swiped it with his finger, the surface dust parted to reveal more dust below that had perfectly fused with the seat surface under the rain.

He was about to look for something to wipe it clean, hesitated for two seconds, then sat right down, leaning back.

Gu Fei stood in the middle of the stage.

"Are you going to announce yourself?" Jiang Cheng asked. He could now confirm Gu Fei was going to play guitar for him to listen to.

"In a bit," Gu Fei smiled, squatted down to place the guitar on the floor, "I still have prep to do, too rushed today..."

It was indeed rushed, must have been a spur of the moment decision, because his prep work actually started with stringing the guitar.

Jiang Cheng didn't say anything, just watched Gu Fei quietly.

After the strings were installed and tuned, Gu Fei took out his phone and slowly tuned the strings with a tuner app.

From just the visual of Gu Fei's fingers sweeping the strings for the first time, he had already crushed Wang Xu with the silver dragon in his heart. Crushed into nothing.

Gu Fei had long fingers. Both his right hand for plucking and left hand for pressing showed pure enjoyment, even without hearing the sound yet, it was already soothing Jiang Cheng as if he was lying on a bean bag.

"Done." Gu Fei stood up after tuning, picking up a stick that looked like it might have been a broom or mop handle, and stuck it into a crack in the wooden floor at center stage.

Jiang Cheng sat up straight and started clapping.

Gu Fei walked to the "microphone", cleared his throat. Jiang Cheng quickly took out his phone, opened the video and started recording, pointing it at him.

"I haven't touched the guitar or sang for a long time," Gu Fei said, "Being here today is also unexpected."  

Jiang Cheng smiled.

"In life, there are many unexpected things," Gu Fei adjusted the guitar strap length, "Some unexpected things are expected, others are unexpected."

Jiang Cheng didn't fully grasp the meaning for a moment, but he was going to watch this video at least eight hundred times.

"Jiang Cheng," Gu Fei looked at him, "You are my unexpected surprise."

"You too." Jiang Cheng looked at Gu Fei on the screen, then glanced up at the stage.

"This song is for you, an impromptu inspiration on the way here," Gu Fei said, "Listen first, it can be improved later."

He lowered his head, fingers lightly sweeping the strings. "Sa Ye."

Jiang Cheng's hand shook slightly, he had to take a deep breath and use his other hand to steady the video to prevent excessive shaking.

Gu Fei's hand tapped the guitar body a few times, then the intro began.

Jiang Cheng's breath hitched slightly. He suddenly felt even the subtle wind carried musical notes.

The previous songs had left him with the deep impression that Gu Fei's style would be like that - confused, chaotic, and hollow.

But this intro was a completely different feeling.

"I want, one look, to grow old together..." Gu Fei started singing, his voice slightly hoarse, gentle and mellow.

Just this one line, Jiang Cheng suddenly felt immersed in Gu Fei's presence.

"I want, looking up at the warm spring sun, you give me a simple embrace, I want to trample confusion and walk through time, open your eyes and you'll hear, I want, you on my left shoulder, smiling on my right," Gu Fei looked at him, "I want, in your eyes, to run wild, I want, one look, to grow old together..."

In the sunshine, the white t-shirted boy on stage, the smile at the corner of his lips, the fingers strumming the guitar...

Jiang Cheng watched Gu Fei in a daze, feeling a sudden sense of disorientation, as if he couldn't distinguish whether this voice was beside his ear or in his heart.

Author's note: To be continued tomorrow.  

The author who feels he has severely lowered Gu Fei's image remains silent.

So sweet! o(≧口≦)o。 The black furball spirit exclaimed loudly.