Under Clear Skies Chapter 56: Was

Chapter 56: Was

Translated by Fefe of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The performance at Long Love started at 7:30. At 7:15, Tang Heng withdrew his money and went to the waiting room on the second floor.

“I’ll put these here first. Let me know if it’s not enough.”

“Shit.” The owner grabbed the envelope of money from the table and weighed it. “How much is this?”

Tang Heng: “Three thousand.”   

“It’s enough! It’s enough! I’m shook.” Puckering his lips, the owner lamented, “Is it this expensive to get a girl nowadays?”

Tang Heng didn’t respond to that. He just nodded and said, “I’m going down now.”

“Hey—Xiao Tang!” The owner chased after him. “Another thing. Did you guys sign up for the Zhouheiya competition?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I got some news for you. Don’t tell other people.” The owner shut the door, acting all mysterious. “A few record labels from Beijing have their eyes on this competition. Do your best and you might get better opportunities.”

Tang Heng blinked. “Really?” he asked in surprise. The owner didn’t have a filter and his words weren’t very reliable.   

“Why would I lie to you? My bro’s company sent someone to Wuhan. You know, these years, there are more and more live houses. It’s a business opportunity. They all got their eyes on it.”

Considering this, Tang Heng asked, “They’re looking to sign a band?”

“That’s the intention.” The owner patted Tang Heng’s shoulder. “I think you got a chance.”

Got a chance? Get signed, debut and become an idol?

Tang Heng chuckled and shook his head. “Okay, got it. Thanks.”

“Seriously, Xiao Tang,” the man said earnestly. “You got the potential.”

Tang Heng didn’t say anything else. He waved his hand and walked out.

 

Tonight at Long Love was a band from Xi’an who sang in dialect—it was pretty trendy recently. Jiang Ya and An Yun were already there, sitting in the booth. Tian Xiaoqin was there too.

Jiang Ya waved at Tang Heng. Tang Heng walked over, greeted Tian Xiaoqin, and sat across from An Yun.       

“What’s with today?” Jiang Ya said curiously with his leg propped up. “I’ve seen a lot of places where girls get in for free. It’s my first time seeing it be free for guys.”

Tang Heng eyed him without speaking.

“Yeah.” An Yun had been chatting with Tian Xiaoqin, but she looked up when she heard this. “What’s with Lao Bu? Turned gay?”

Lao Bu was the owner of Long Love. When he’d been in a band, his nickname had been A-Bu, but now that he was older, he became Lao Bu.   

“There are a lot of people here today,” Tang Heng said.

“Yeah, look, so many guys wearing white collared shirts.” Jiang Ya looked a little sad. “If I’d known, I would’ve worn it too and save on the entrance fee, hmph.”

“Not for you,” An Yun scoffed.

“Hey.” Jiang Ya glared at her. “Why can’t I wear it?”

“White collared shirts are only attractive on people who are tall and thin.”

“Fuck, that’s discrimination!” Jiang Ya tugged at his t-shirt. “Plus, it’s not like I don’t have a good figure, right? Right, Tang Heng? Everyone from Inner Mongolia looks like this!”

Tang Heng glanced at his phone. It was 7:30 sharp. Two more hours until Li Yuechi got out of class.

“Tang Heng, say something!”

“Oh,” Tang Heng said distractedly. “You’re not fat.”

“I’m gonna buy a collared shirt tomorrow,” Jiang Ya said, resentful. “Just you two wait… Hey.” He suddenly lowered his voice and elbowed Tang Heng. “Look at that.”

Tang Heng followed his eyes and instantly knew who that was—after all, you couldn’t expect Jiang Ya to be classy.

He was talking about a girl standing at the edge of the dancefloor before them. The girl was very tall and had long, black hair. The sequined dress wrapped around her body made her glitter under the colorful lights of the bar.

“Not bad.” Jiang Ya squinted, looking in concentration. “She seems to be by herself. Help me look. Is she alone?”

Tang Heng looked away. “How the fuck can I see?” The dancefloor was crammed with people and everyone was in a clump.

“Heh.” Jiang Ya downed his beer and wiped his mouth. “Lemme go get to know her.”

 

The band got onstage and the performance started. The atmosphere heated up.

Jiang Ya was gone without a trace; An Yun and Tian Xiaoqin were cozied up in the booth, heads put together and whispering each other. An Yun said something and made Tian Xiaoqin giggle.

Tang Heng listened to two songs and found it just average. Nothing special.

He sucked on his fruit juice in boredom. He’d wanted to order some beer, but he remembered that Li Yuechi seemed to not like it when he drank, which was why he’d changed it to apple juice. Lao Bu was a dishonest businessman. The menu said it was fresh apple juice, but it tasted like a cheap drink from a can.   

The bar was noisy and it irritated Tang Heng. Weird. When he was bored, he often came here to listen to music alone. It was fun by himself too, so how come he couldn’t get his mood up today? And it felt like there was an abnormal number of couples today. There didn’t use to have so many before. Could it be that they were flocking together for warmth because the temperature was dropping?

He glanced at his phone. It was only 8:02. He wanted to text Li Yuechi, but he held back. After all, Li Yuechi was teaching and most likely didn’t have time to reply to texts. Plus, what could he send? It wasn’t like he could say, Stop teaching and come keep me company at Long Love.

He couldn’t bring himself to say I miss you either.

 

“Hey, babe!” There was a sickeningly sweet fragrance behind him. Jiang Ya plopped down and hugged Tang Heng’s shoulders. “Daddy’s back to keep you company!”

Tang Heng frowned and pushed him away. “What’s that smell!”

“Hey, it’s the meimei‘s perfume.” Jiang Ya was super excited. “I’m telling you, I got her number, her school and her major. It’s right at Jiedaokou!”       

“Oh.”

“Also, she’s classmates with—that man of yours.”

Tang Heng kicked Jiang Ya under the table.

Jiang Ya shook his head, realizing he’d let it slip. “Uh… that…”

Fortunately, Tian Xiaoqin was deep in conversation with An Yun and wasn’t paying attention to them.

“Fucking control yourself,” Tang Heng muttered.

“Sorry, sorry, I forgot.” Jiang Ya also lowered his breath. “Chemistry major from Normal University, first year grad student. Li Yuechi might even know her.”

“Oh.” Tang Heng was not interested. “You broke up with Lulu?”   

“Almost.”

“Jiang Ya, you player,” Tang Heng insulted.

“Can’t get the new if you don’t get rid of the old.” Jiang Ya cackled.

 

Tang Heng sat there for a bit longer. It was 8:30 and the crowd was squirming on the dancefloor now. Those drinking were drunk, those dancing were hyped, those singing had lost their voices. The crowd flowed everywhere like liquid.

Tang Heng couldn’t breathe. “I’m going outside for a bit,” he said.

Jiang Ya was texting on his phone, probably with that pretty girl from earlier. The light from the screen illuminated his annoying grin.

“Okay, okay, go ahead.” He didn’t even raise his head. “Oh, buy me a pack of cigarettes. I want Marlboro, the black packaging!”

Tang Heng grunted in reply and left the bar.

 

Pushing open the glass door, he found that big patches of gray clouds had collected in the night sky, pushing the sky down like a block of charcoal. No wonder he couldn’t breathe—it was about to rain.

Tang Heng walked into the alcohol and tobacco store across the street and bought a black pack of Marlboro. This was one of the few stores where you could buy legit Marlboro. It was horrendously expensive, but they didn’t care.

Tang Heng paid and was about to leave when he suddenly thought of something and stopped.

The glass cabinet had two neat rows of Chinese cigarette brands. Tang Heng studied them for a while and asked, “Which brand is good?”

“Ah, they all have their own flavors.” Tang Heng was a regular, so the owner’s wife teased him, “Do you wanna learn how to smoke? Jiejie‘ll give you a pack for free.”   

“No need… I’m buying for a friend.”

“What does your friend usually smoke?”

“Huangguoshu, Hongtashan.”

“Those are cheap. You can’t taste much quality from it.” The woman laughed. “Pick and choose.”

In the end, Tang Heng bought a soft pack of Zhonghua for 60-kuai. He didn’t know if Li Yuechi had smoked this kind before. He probably didn’t—not with this price tag.

Then Tang Heng thought that this wasn’t that good. How could he take the initiative to buy cigarettes for someone? Smoking was bad for your health. But since it was for Li Yuechi, it didn’t matter anymore. What could he say? Thank god Li Yuechi didn’t do drugs…

Tang Heng pocked the cigarettes and pushed the door open to find that it had started raining.

A girl stood at the entrance, seeming to be hiding from the rain. It was the one that Jiang Ya had flirted with earlier. Now that he was closer, Tang Heng realized that she was very thin and her skin was creamy pale. Her makeup was heavy, but he could tell that she had delicate features.

The girl tapped her cigarette and suddenly turned around. “Are you Tang Heng?”

Tang Heng was taken by surprise. “Yes.”

“Hello,” she said in English and extended a hand confidently. “I’ve seen your band perform.”

Tang Heng shook her hand and said, “Thanks.”

“I’m from the school across from you guys. You can call me A-Si. Si as in temple.”

Tang Heng nodded, but he was surprised. This name wasn’t common.

“My full name is Wu Si because I was born in Tanzhe Temple. My mom went there to burn incense and happened to give birth prematurely… Okay, that’s not important.” She chuckled to herself and put a few strands of loose hair behind her ears. “I wanted to go look for you at Wuhan Uni, but I ended up running into you here.”

Tang Heng looked at her. “You’re looking for me?”

“Yeah.” Wu Si tossed her cigarette onto the ground and stepped on it. “I heard from Pan Peng that you’re pretty close to Li Yuechi.”

“…” Pan Peng? She knew Pan Peng?

“Here’s the thing,” Wu Si said softly. “Li Yuechi is my boyfriend—was.”