Under Clear Skies Chapter 62: Are We Gonna be Famous?

Chapter 62: Are We Gonna be Famous?

Translated by Fefe of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Tang Heng stood on the street for a while. When his breathing steadied, he went into a KFC. He remembered that he’d loved eating this stuff when he’d been a kid. KFC hadn’t been as common back then and it hadn’t been cheap, even for a university professor.

But his dad had doted on him and brought him to eat KFC practically once per week. The first few years after his dad’s death, Fu Liling would cook a bowl of noodles on his birthday and the two would split it for his dad. As more time passed, Fu Liling stopped cooking the noodles and KFC became more common. Tang Heng would eat KFC by himself on his dad’s birthday.

Was his dad the reason why he wanted to go abroad? It was probably one of the reasons. He always remembered how his father had said excitedly after learning that he could visit Paris, “Hengheng, Daddy is going to a beautiful place.”

After that, he didn’t know if the place his father went to was beautiful or not.

 

Tang Heng ate a fillet burger, tossed the remaining half cup of iced coke into the trash, and walked out of KFC. It was noon and people walked to and fro on the street. The autumn sun was extremely bright. He saw many high schoolers who’d just gotten out of class, laughing and crossing the street in small groups.

The city was like an over-exposed photograph. It was rare for Wuhan to be have such a cool yet clear day.

 

Tang Heng went to Long Love.

There weren’t any customers at this time. A-Bu sat at the bar with a bottle of whiskey by his hand. He was drinking alone.

“Oh.” A-Bu wriggled his eyebrow at Tang Heng. “What, here to aid my business again?”

Tang Heng shook his head and sat down at the bar. “I’m bored.”

“Go chase after pretty girls if you’re bored.”

“A-Bu.” Tang Heng looked at him. “Have you ever wondered about something?”

“What?”

“If I wanted to chase after a girl… Why would I make it free for guys?”

A-Bu blanched and set down his glass. “So that’s what it is.”

“Yeah.”

“I really didn’t think of that… Fuck, that’s a pity.”

“Pity for what?”

“For the girls.” A-Bu sipped his alcohol. “You might become a big star later and the girls would love your type. Shit, they’ll be throwing themselves at you.”

Tang Heng shook his head helplessly. “You’re thinking too much.”

“I’m thinking too much?” A-Bu laughed. “You don’t know, but when you were singing onstage last night, the manager of Linglai Ethereal was there too. She came to ask me about you afterward.”

“Ethereal?” Tang Heng was stunned. “The one in Beijing?”

“Yeah, she’s my uni classmate.”

“What did she ask about?”

“Your general info, like where you go to school, if you have a band, how long you’ve sung for…” A-Bu poured all the alcohol into his glass and suddenly grew serious. “Xiao Tang, this is a chance. Hold onto it.”

“A chance to be an artist?” Tang Heng asked.

“I know your family’s rich and you don’t lack money, but lemme put it this way. Back when I was in Hongshan district, I’ve seen too many college kids form bands. For some, they wouldn’t disband after graduating, and even when they got their own jobs, they’d still get together and do some gigs every now and then. But for most of them, it’s bye-bye after graduation and nothing’s left.”

Tang Heng glanced at him and didn’t say anything. A-Bu continued chattering, “Don’t you wanna keep something behind? Even if you don’t want to be in a band in the future, you can at least produce an album for the memory. Isn’t that nice?”

“We can produce an album by ourselves.”

“It’s not the same, Xiao Tang.” A-Bu patted Tang Heng’s shoulder. “Some chances are gone after you pass them up.”

Then he stood drunkenly and went upstairs, leaving behind an alcohol-scented, “Have fun.”

 

Tang Heng sat by himself for a while. He picked up his phone and saw an unanswered call from his uncle. He suddenly felt that he had no right to forbid Li Yuechi from putting his phone on silent, because his phone was always set to vibrate. But Li Yuechi—Li Yuechi hadn’t called him.

It had been four hours.

Tang Heng ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and grabbed his phone to call Jiang Ya.

“Where are you?” Tang Heng asked. “Come to Long Love.”

“My son, look at the fucking time.”

“Get your ass over here.”  

“Yessir.”

Jiang Ya arrived shortly and his eyes were still half-closed. Evidently, he’d just woken up. “You miss me that much?”

“I have a question.” Tang Heng looked away from him. “How do you usually… make your girlfriend less angry?”

“Huh?” Jiang Ya gasped. “What, you like girls now?”

“…Whatever.”

“Whatever what? What’s going on?”

“I’ll go ask An Yun.”

“Hey, you’re looking down on me, the king of Hongshan game?”

“I fought with Li Yuechi.”

“Shit.” Jiang Ya rubbed his face. “You’ve come to the right person.”   

Tang Heng eyed him and pushed two cans of Sprite towards him. “Tell me.”

“To coax someone, firstly, you need the proper attitude, which means you have to take the initiative to admit your mistake, y’know? Whether it’s your fault or not—”

“It’s not my fault.”

“Ha.”

“That girl from Normal Uni yesterday,” Tang Heng said coldly. “That’s his ex.”

Jiang Ya: “…”

“That girl found me when I went to buy cigarettes. We didn’t say anything, but Li Yuechi found out today.”

“Fuck,” Jiang Ya grumbled. “That means I can’t flirt with her anymore?”

“That’s not the fucking point?”

“Hey.” Jiang Ya slung an arm over Tang Heng’s shoulder. “I didn’t think that two guys dating would run into this shit too… So, why’s he pissed? Pissed that you met with his ex?”

“I don’t know.” Tang Heng paused and then emphasized, “Also, he never told me that he had a girlfriend before.”

“Have you asked?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s that.” Jiang Ya sighed. “We’re all men. What’s there to not understand? Who would look for trouble like that?”

Tang Heng lowered his head and stared at the black marble bar counter. “It’s not about looking for trouble,” he said softly.

“Then what is it?”

“I’m serious about him.”

“Can you say it louder?” Jiang Ya moved closer. “I couldn’t hear.”

“I said, I am serious about him.”

As soon as Tang Heng finished speaking, Jiang Ya cackled. He held up his phone and yelled, “Li Yuechi! Did you hear? He’s serious about you!”

Tang Heng: ??????

“I’m fucking Cupid on Earth.” Grinning wide, Jiang Ya shoved his phone into Tang Heng’s hand. “You guys talk it out. I’ll go smoke outside.”

Tang Heng was completely frozen and his cheeks flushed instantly. Jiang Ya’s gold Samsung lay in his palm and it suddenly felt scalding hot.

 

“Tang Heng.” Li Yuechi’s voice streamed out and Tang Heng felt his heart get squeezed.

“…Ah.” He was even stuttering. “You—you’re listening?”

“I was listening,” Li Yuechi said, enunciating each word. “I heard everything.”      

“…” There’s no need to emphasize that.

“I wasn’t angry at you.”

“Oh.” Yeah right.   

“I was angry at myself.” Why?

“Tang Heng,” Li Yuechi said, lowering his voice. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course.”   

“I’ll tell you tonight, okay?” He paused. “About me and Wu Si.”

“Mn…”

“I have class in the afternoon and tutoring at night.”   

“Oh.” Tang Heng’s cheeks were still hot. “I’ll wait for you.”

“Let’s meet at the South Gate, 9:30?”

“Okay.”       

“Okay.” Li Yuechi’s voice contained a smile. “I’ll go to class now.”

“Go ahead. Bye-bye.”

“Wait—”

“Huh?”

It was silent on Li Yuechi’s end. He was probably in school—it was always quiet in the afternoon.

“Me too.” With that, he hung up quickly.

He too what?

Tang Heng clutched his phone in confusion for a moment before it suddenly clicked. Was he saying that he was serious too?

He said that he was serious about him?

 

After another while, Jiang Ya came in through the door. “Done with your dumb puppy love?”

Tang Heng felt a bit embarrassed. “Thanks.”

“My duty as your father.”

“Fuck off.”

“You’re happy now? In the mood to insult me again?” Jiang Ya grinned. “Your Lao Li is pretty good. He even gave me a hongbao for me to help.”

Tang Heng: “Hongbao?” Two seconds later, he added, “Lao Li?”

“He’s a grade higher than me, so I can’t call him Xiao Li, right?”

“…What hongbao did he give you?”

“He’s gonna help me do some homework.”

“Some homework.”

“Just… a semester report…”

“You really know how to take advantage of resources,” Tang Heng said flatly.

“Alright, alright, let’s move past this now.” Jiang Ya was clearly feely guilty too. “Daddy’ll give you some good news. Guess what it is?”

“Spit it out.”

“That Zhouheiya competition,” Jiang Ya said, lowering his voice. “We made it to the second round.”

“Isn’t it the auditions right now?”

“Their organizer told me personally. It’s insider scoop.” Jiang Ya was indeed happy—his eyes curved and pride was written all over his face. “Fifty bands entered the first round and 25 entered the second round. They scored the registration videos and us? We got fifth overall.”

“That high?” Tang Heng was surprised.

“Heng-ah,” Jiang Ya gave a lopsided smile. “Are we gonna be famous?”