“I want to fly higher, fly even higher, dance like a wild wind, break free from the embrace… Wings stirring up a storm, a roar rising in my heart… The kind of life I want is more brilliant, the kind of sky I want is more azure…”
Back in his school days, Chen Jian had no feelings for this song that could suddenly blast from the radio at any moment. At most, he would hum along to a few lines. Apart from the chorus, it wasn’t until today that he finally understood the rest of the lyrics.
He felt that Chen Erhu and the others were probably the same; they could all sing it, but none of them really knew the words.
Perhaps it was because the atmosphere was different from their school days. Although this group had never done a day of proper work, they had been knocking around in society for many years. Their states of mind had changed. Now, looking back and singing this song again, each of them had different feelings.
When Sanbing threw his head back and belted it out, his eyes glistened with tears. Chen Erhu put the microphone down and turned his head away; you could tell at a glance that he was already crying and secretly wiping his tears. Although Lao Wu wasn’t crying, he had the nasal tone of someone who had just cried, giving the impression he was about to burst into tears at any second. Only the roughest, Lao Si, wasn’t crying and had no quaver in his voice, but he had entered a state of such intense concentration that it looked like he was about to eat the microphone.
Chen Jian made a special note: the disposable cover on that microphone was blue. He must not get it mixed up. Although he probably wouldn’t sing more than two songs tonight, he didn’t want to use the microphone Lao Si had “eaten.”
After finishing the song, Shan Yu placed the microphone back on the coffee table and picked up a bag of potato chips to eat.
Sun Nana chose a very soft English song. Holding the microphone stand, she began to hum softly, her body swaying slightly with the music. Compared to the previous wild chaos, she was like a resident singer at that moment.
Although Chen Jian had never heard the song before, he could at least tell that Sun Nana sang quite well, on par with Shan Yu.
“What do you want to sing? I’ll pick it for you,” Chen Jian said, leaning back into the sofa and squeezing in with Shan Yu, asking in a low voice.
The lighting in here was very dim, and everyone was sitting close together. This time, as his arm squeezed against Shan Yu’s, he felt relaxed, without the furtive feeling of a thief.
“I usually just listen,” Shan Yu turned his head and also said in a low voice. “It’s rare for them to come out and have fun. Let them sing their hearts out. We capitalists can go on business trips and enjoy the nightlife anytime.”
“Mm,” Chen Jian smiled.
As Shan Yu spoke, his breath brushed past Chen Jian’s ear with a secret gentleness, making him comfortably close his eyes.
“You sing,” Shan Yu said.
“I just scanned the list, I can’t really sing most of them,” Chen Jian said. “I’ll just listen to them sing.”
“Did you have absolutely no entertainment in the past?” Shan Yu said.
“This kind of entertainment…” Chen Jian thought for a moment. “Basically none, I guess. Never even thought about it.”
“Then do you have any other kinds of entertainment?” Shan Yu asked again.
Chen Jian looked at him, and after a good while, he asked softly, “Why are you asking such a strange question?”
“You…” Shan Yu met his gaze for a few seconds and smiled. “I always thought you were quite proper.”
“No,” Chen Jian lowered his voice, “How am I not being proper? You’re the one who asked, and asked so strangely.”
“You said, this kind of entertainment, so didn’t I just ask you what other kinds of entertainment you have?” Shan Yu said.
Chen Jian paused for a moment, then leaned his head back against the sofa and started laughing. “Damn.”
“Who’s the improper one, Manager?” Shan Yu asked.
“I sometimes play games,” Chen Jian said with a smile.
“I play them too,” Shan Yu said.
After Sun Nana finished her English song, Hu Pan took over, and the style changed with her. Hu Pan sang a song by Phoenix Legend.
“Pick one with your eyes closed, just go down the list. There’s nothing I can’t sing.” Hu Pan, with her explosive hairstyle, gripped the microphone, tapping her foot on the ground to the rhythm of the music.
Hu Pan’s singing voice was similar to her speaking voice—bright and very direct.
And in tune.
After she finished, it was Sanbing’s turn. Sanbing started belting out Cantonese songs. Chen Erhu and the others all loved to sing Cantonese songs. Although their pronunciation was very unique, they were mostly in tune.
Chen Jian suddenly realized that there weren’t actually that many people who were off-key. He couldn’t help but ask Shan Yu, “That thing you said on your social media, about eight different ways to sing one song…”
Shan Yu started laughing.
“Was everyone off-key, or was it just Brother Lang who hit all the wrong notes by himself?” Chen Jian asked.
“Several of them were off-key,” Shan Yu said, laughing. “Some of them usually aren’t, but as soon as Yue Lang opens his mouth, they follow him off-key. His leadership skills have always been very strong.”
The mood in the private room was high. One song followed another, and everyone stuck to their own style, absolutely refusing to be led astray by others.
Sun Nana had her English repertoire, Hu Pan had her Phoenix Legend special, and the pigsty gang always stuck to their watered-down Cantonese songs. In the middle of it all, Sanbing even miraculously chose a segment of Cantonese opera. Because he sang it so bizarrely, out of a desire to protect traditional culture, Sun Nana cut it off.
Chen Jian, however, was listening quite happily. Apart from a few classmate birthdays during his school years, this was the most enjoyable gathering he had been to in many years.
When he left the room to go to the restroom, he felt like he was floating.
His ears were ringing a little, and sounds didn’t seem quite real.
There was a restroom in the private room, but Sun Nana had declared it was for the girls to use, so all the guys had to go to the one in the hallway.
Chen Jian looked at the sign and walked towards the end of the corridor.
There were private rooms on both sides. He couldn’t see clearly inside through the small windows, but he could faintly hear all sorts of singing. Listening along the way, it turned out their room had the highest level of talent.
As he neared the end of the corridor, Chen Jian heard footsteps behind him.
He didn’t turn around, figuring it was either a waiter or a guest from another room.
But a short whistle came from behind him.
Chen Jian spun around abruptly.
Sure enough, he saw Shan Yu following him.
“What are you doing?” Chen Jian glanced back towards their room. Shan Yu had just gone to the restroom five minutes ago, and now he had followed him out again. It was hard for him not to think in an improper direction.
“I’m getting some air.” Shan Yu hooked the corner of his mouth into a smile. As he walked past, he lightly bumped Chen Jian’s shoulder, then pushed open the door to the adjacent fire escape and walked out.
When Chen Jian came out of the restroom, the corridor was empty. He hesitated for a moment, then also went over, pushed open the fire escape door, and glanced outside.
Outside was a turn in the staircase. The light on this floor was probably broken; only the light from the floor above was on.
“Shan Yu?” he tried calling out softly.
No one responded.
Shan Yu couldn’t have gone back to the room. Even if it was just to “get some air,” it wouldn’t be finished in such a short time.
Chen Jian walked out, wondering whether to check the floor below or the floor above.
The moment the fire door closed behind him, he heard breathing right behind him, very close.
His mind reacted instantly, knowing it had to be that lunatic Shan Yu.
But his body still reflexively shot forward a step in a startled state.
Then he stopped abruptly. Shan Yu wrapped his arms around him from behind, halting his forward momentum, and then kissed the side of his neck.
Shan Yu’s unique scent enveloped him.
Chen Jian’s breath hitched for two seconds.
Shan Yu’s still-warm hand slipped inside his clothes, first grabbing his waist, then moving up to his chest.
Chen Jian came back to his senses, grabbed his hand, and spun around sharply, throwing his entire body against Shan Yu.
Shan Yu was knocked back against the wall behind him and said with a low laugh, “Fuck.”
He immediately pressed forward, wrapped his arms around Shan Yu, and kissed him on the lips.
It was quite cold in the stairwell. A window was cracked open, and cold wind blew in continuously. Neither of them was wearing a jacket, and they were pretty much chilled to the bone in the time it took to kiss.
They had to press tightly against each other to get warm.
Chen Jian’s hands were inside Shan Yu’s clothes, holding his waist tightly, unwilling to let go. He buried his face in Shan Yu’s shoulder and nuzzled it a few times.
“Someone’s going to come by in a minute,” Shan Yu said.
“And you’re just realizing that now?” Chen Jian said.
Shan Yu chuckled but didn’t say anything.
Chen Jian pressed the tip of his nose against his neck again and took a couple of breaths before slowly releasing his hands.
A gust of wind blew in through the crack in the window, making him shiver and jump.
“Let’s hurry back inside,” Shan Yu said, pinching his chin and patting his face lightly.
“Mm,” Chen Jian replied.
The singing was still going strong in the private room. Chen Jian and Shan Yu, returning to the room one after the other, received no attention. Chen Jian felt like maybe no one had even noticed they had left, just as he hadn’t noticed Sanbing going to the restroom twice earlier.
A sense of satisfaction from a successful secret mission washed over him.
After a song ended, Hu Pan finally picked up the microphone and asked, “Are we about done?”
Chen Jian took out his phone and checked the time. “It’s almost midnight.”
“That was so awesome!” Hu Pan raised the microphone and shouted, then fell back onto the sofa.
“Let’s head back,” Sun Nana said. “We don’t have tomorrow off, still have to work.”
“The manager doesn’t have the day off tomorrow. If you guys can’t get up, you can come in an hour late,” Shan Yu said.
A cheer erupted from the group.
Chen Jian turned to look at him.
Shan Yu rested his chin on his hand. The fingertips touching his lips lifted slightly, and he blew a very discreet kiss at him.
Chen Jian sighed and said nothing.
After the Dayin Concert ended, the group, still not having had their fill, walked towards the parking lot, singing and chatting along the way.
They passed a barbecue stall, and Shan Yu went in to get some takeout.
“You guys will probably chat for a while when you get back,” he said, handing the barbecue to Sanbing. “Can’t chat on an empty stomach, right?”
“Boss Shan,” Sanbing said happily, “you’re my real brother.”
“You traitor,” Lao Wu said.
“Boss Shan is my big brother,” Sanbing said, “and Brother Erhu is my second brother.”
“You fence-sitter,” Lao Wu said.
“Whatever,” Chen Erhu waved his hand magnanimously. “When a son grows up…”
“…he’s no longer his mother’s,” Lao Si finished.
“Did singing make you oxygen-deprived!” Chen Erhu said.
The entire staff of Dayin had been missing for an afternoon and an evening, but the inn was basically fine. Some guests had taken instant noodles and drinks from the restaurant and had all paid by scanning the code.
However, when Hu Pan was taking stock, she found that someone had taken things without paying.
“Two bottles of iced black tea are missing,” she said in a low voice.
“It’s fine,” Chen Jian said. “When we let people help themselves, this loss was already taken into consideration.”
“I have a pretty good idea who it was,” Hu Pan pouted.
“Don’t make wild guesses without evidence,” Chen Jian smiled.
“Just guessing in my head,” Hu Pan said, patting her chest.
Although it was the middle of the night by the time they got back to the inn, after cleaning up, the group, just as Shan Yu had said, had no intention of going to sleep right away.
They placed the late-night snacks on the table in their dorm and continued to chat.
Chen Jian went to the office. He had barely exchanged a few words with Shan Yu when Chen Erhu’s voice came through the walkie-talkie: “Chen Jian, where’d you go? We’re waiting for you.”
“Go ahead,” Shan Yu said with a yawn. “I should be able to sleep today. I’m exhausted.”
“Message me if you can’t sleep,” Chen Jian said.
“Mm,” Shan Yu smiled.
Chen Jian kissed the corner of his mouth. “Good night.”
“Good night,” Shan Yu said.
Perhaps it was true that you could only fall asleep when you were really tired. Chen Jian placed his phone right by his pillow, but no message ever came from Shan Yu.
In the morning, he got up on time. Everyone in the room was still asleep. He first went to the office to check. Shan Yu was asleep in the bedroom, not yet awake.
Chen Jian tiptoed out and went downstairs.
Zhao Fangfang and Sister Huang had both arrived and were in the kitchen, preparing for the day’s breakfast.
Chen Jian ate a few bites. A guest was checking out, so he went to the front desk.
“That bonfire festival of yours, will you be holding it again in the future?” The guests checking out were two girls, chatting with him while playing on their phones.
“Probably,” Chen Jian said.
“We came too late and missed it,” one girl said with some regret, looking at her phone. “It looked really interesting.”
“Is that so?” Chen Jian smiled, guessing she had seen photos posted by previous tourists.
“This set of photos taken by Urban News has a great feel,” the other girl said.
“What?” Chen Jian was taken aback.
“This set,” the girl handed her phone to him. “It’s like a movie. Did you guys hire a professional photographer?”
Chen Jian leaned over to look. He didn’t look closely at the pictures, but a glance confirmed that it was indeed a report published by the local Urban News.
A New Force in Winter Tourism: Exploring a Treasure Town.
Red Leaf Town is “on fire” this winter.
…
“This is so well-written!” Hu Pan exclaimed, holding her phone. “I used to just skim past this kind of news… but reading it like this, it’s quite interesting.”
“That’s because it’s written about us,” Chen Jian smiled.
“That seems to be true,” Hu Pan thought for a moment.
“I’ve come across it several times these past few days,” Sanbing said. “And also travel guides and stuff for coming here to play.”
“Does the guide mention Dayin?” Hu Pan asked immediately.
“Yes, several of these inns were mentioned,” Sanbing said. “But when they talked about Dayin, I saw someone mention that it has ‘character.’ What kind of character does an inn like ours have?”
The character of an ex-convict’s shady inn.
“When you have time today, put up all those photos we printed before,” Chen Jian said. “The photo wall and all that. Divide them by theme: the bonfire festival, our barbecue parties with the tourists. Then have Shan Yu write a few titles. And put up the ones from the fire safety training too, anything we can use.”
“I’ll do it,” Chen Erhu said.
“Let Panpan and Nana design it first,” Chen Jian added. He really couldn’t trust the pigsty gang’s aesthetic sense.
It turned out that getting the photo wall up quickly was the right decision. Not just for tourists to see when they came, but two days later, Chen Jian received a call from the town management office, saying that some officials were coming to visit.
“Holy crap,” Sanbing was stunned. “Visit what? When are they coming?”
“Don’t know, not sure,” Chen Jian said as he walked upstairs, instructing Hu Pan, “Panpan, check all of our inn’s licenses, and the staff’s too. In case they want to see these things, we need to be able to produce them immediately.”
“Okay,” Hu Pan replied.
“What about me?” Sanbing shouted.
“Clean up!” Chen Jian shouted back.
When he reached the fourth floor, he knocked on the office door a few times.
“Come in,” Shan Yu said.
He pushed the door open and entered the office.
“In such a hurry,” Shan Yu said, sitting on the sofa and putting down the phone he was looking at. “What’s wrong?”
Chen Jian subconsciously glanced at the screen and saw a timetable.
“You…” he paused, “are you booking a ticket?”
“Not yet,” Shan Yu looked at the screen. “Still looking at the times.”
Chen Jian walked over and sat down beside him. “When are you thinking of going back?”
“Whichever day has a business class seat,” Shan Yu smiled and picked up his phone again, tapping it a few times.
“Have you told your family?” Chen Jian asked.
“Not yet,” Shan Yu said.
“Actually, you could… let them know first,” Chen Jian said.
“If I tell them, there’s no room for negotiation,” Shan Yu clicked his tongue.
Chen Jian looked at him but didn’t speak.
“Don’t worry, I will go back,” Shan Yu said again.
“That’s not what I mean. I wanted to say,” Chen Jian hesitated, inching closer to him, “if you… don’t go back just because you think I’m trying to persuade you. If you haven’t made up your mind yet, you… don’t have to force yourself to go back. I just…”
“I know,” Shan Yu smiled and touched his face. “I know.”
“Mm,” Chen Jian responded.
“What did you run up here for?” Shan Yu asked.
“Oh,” Chen Jian remembered his purpose. “I just got a call from the management office. They said some officials are coming to visit in the next few days.”
“What officials, what time?” Shan Yu asked while opening his phone again.
“Don’t know, not sure,” Chen Jian said.
“It’s fine,” Shan Yu swiped through the booking information. “You can just host them.”
“Me host them?” Chen Jian was shocked. “It’s one thing for you to be a hands-off boss usually, but this is an official visit! Officials! You’re going to be hands-off for this too?”
“My manager knows the inn’s situation better than I do,” Shan Yu said. “You’ll encounter this kind of thing a lot more in the future. There has to be a start.”
Chen Jian stared at Shan Yu’s phone screen, silent for a long time, then suddenly asked, “Will you come back after you go back?”
“Hm?” Shan Yu stopped and turned to look at him. “Manager, why do you ask?”
Chen Jian didn’t speak.
“Do you think I’d be willing not to come back?” Shan Yu asked.
“I think you probably…” Chen Jian glanced at him. “Wouldn’t be willing, right?”
“Why the hesitation?” Shan Yu tossed his phone aside. “I’m not going back then.”
