August was scorching hot, the peak of summer’s heat. Additionally, Jincheng was located in the south, so the humidity in the air was high. Even a slight movement outdoors would leave one covered in sweat, making it truly unsuitable for going out. As a result, even Zhuang Ningyu, the number one enthusiast for fresh air, had to compromise, close the windows tight, and obediently stay in the air-conditioned room.
Before Yi Ke went into the gym, Zhuang Ningyu was lying on the sofa reading a book. When Yi Ke finished his workout and showered, Zhuang Ningyu was still in the same position, barely having turned a page, purely zoning out. Yi Ke found this incredibly cute, so he leaned over and kissed him on the cheek: “Want to go exercise for a bit?”
Zhuang Ningyu waved his hands repeatedly, refusing. He had just accompanied his parents, who had overly abundant energy, to the fitness center today. They went rock climbing first, then played ball, then archery, rode horses, and swam for half an hour. Right now, he was too lazy to move a muscle. Yi Ke smiled and pinched his cheek: “How about this, next week I’ll accompany Mom and Dad.”
“Next week only Sunday works, Saturday is a no-go.” Zhuang Ningyu sat up. “You have to go with me to a concert on Saturday.”
Yi Ke agreed immediately: “No problem. Is this your new hobby?”
This wasn’t Zhuang Ningyu’s new hobby, but rather Wu Tao’s new mission. Next Saturday, an orchestra from Vienna was coming to Jincheng to perform, mainly to promote international urban cultural exchange. The venue was the Jincheng Concert Hall. As a key member of the comprehensive preparatory team, Wu Tao received twenty front-row complimentary tickets. Or rather, they were called complimentary tickets, but in reality, it was because “some leader wasn’t thinking straight and chose this performance hall that seats 2,000 people, resulting in over half the tickets remaining unsold with the concert about to start, so they had to find people everywhere to give them to”—there was no helping it. The audience for symphonies in Jincheng wasn’t very broad to begin with. On the day of the performance, it also clashed with a major focus soccer match, two art exhibitions, and three concerts by popular singers. Coupled with the scorching and humid weather, it simply added frost upon frost upon frost to the already scarce audience group.
“So Little Wu wants us to fill some seats,” Zhuang Ningyu said.
After hearing his wife finish, Yi Ke didn’t realize there was any problem with this at all. Vienna concert, very OK!
Zhuang Ningyu kissed him.
A week passed quickly, and on the day of the concert, the young couple appeared at the concert hall on time. It wasn’t until they got their tickets that they discovered their seats were actually in the first row.
“It’s not a particularly good viewing spot, but mainly because that area might be photographed for the news later, so I arranged for you and Yi Ge to sit there.” Wu Tao pressed her palms together, looking devout. “Please, boss.”
Zhuang Ningyu was very familiar with this kind of mascot mission: “Don’t worry.” He entered the hall and found his seat. Just as he sat down, he saw someone in front, probably a staff member, hiding behind the velvet curtain looking at him. He couldn’t see the face clearly, but judging by the flash of white teeth, it seemed an international friend was flashing him a brilliant smile. So he immediately returned a polite smile, nodding slightly, elegant and proper, displaying excellent spirits on demand.
“What are you looking at?” Yi Ke finished his call outside and also entered to sit beside him.
“Nothing.” Zhuang Ningyu reminded him to silence his phone, then turned around to look behind. Although Wu Tao was worried sick a week ago, wishing she could pay extras to fill seats, thanks to the joint efforts of the Publicity Department and the staff, the attendance rate was actually quite good. Whether they came voluntarily or were dragged there, the seats were full.
At 7:30 PM, the concert officially began. The violinist cut into the first note, and the romantic and ethereal night of exchange kicked off. It had to be said that this orchestra’s performance level was quite high, and the atmosphere in the audience was also very good—so good that Zhuang Ningyu started considering adding concerts to his list of amateur hobbies. Everyone listened happily through the first half, the second half, and the finale. Seeing that there was only one piece left, the flutist suddenly played a string of familiar notes.
Zhuang Ningyu: “?”
Yi Ke: “!”
The two of them simultaneously lowered their heads to flip through the program in their hands. Neither had bothered to look before the opening, but now following the list… the last piece—When People Have No Flowers to See in Winter?
Zhuang Ningyu was very confused. He turned to look at Yi Ke. Didn’t you say it was called “The Golden Spindle and the Mysterious Flawless Mirror of the Fourteenth Century”?
Yi Ke propped his forehead with two fingers, looking solemn and staring straight ahead, as if he hadn’t received the gaze from his wife beside him.
Zhuang Ningyu saw right through this clumsy attempt to cover up his guilt. Under a strong sense of unease, his brain’s dormant storage area was quickly activated. Those details that had been ignored, like Yi Ke’s reaction every time he heard this song, the group poem When People Have No Flowers to See in Winter, Brother Zhuang Should Stay in the Garden that once flashed before his eyes, and the Vienna composer Ludwig’s “I once composed a piece for this beauty, I heard he likes it very much.” Wait a minute, Vienna?
Before the opening, he hid in the harmonious explanation. Zhuang Ningyu didn’t say a word, stood up, and planned to walk out. He didn’t know what would happen, but his sixth sense was always accurate and must be obeyed. Little Zhuang, RUN! NOW!
The last note fell in response. In the lingering sound of the timpani, two circular spotlights chased out from the left and right sides of the stage, landing precisely and unmistakably on the front row, on Zhuang Ningyu.
The entire audience was silent for two seconds. Then, Jincheng’s mascot truly lived up to his reputation; everyone beamed with joy upon seeing him. The previously quiet whispers turned into people putting their heads together, murmuring, “Didn’t know there was this part? Is he going up to perform a piece?”
Zhuang Ningyu stood frozen in place, dazed. Surrounded by applause, he felt an unreal sensation of returning to the mental pollution zone. The composer in a tailcoat stood up from the piano and raised a hand slightly towards the audience. The hall immediately fell silent again. The next moment, the maestro personally came down from the stage, walked to the spotlight, and politely made a gesture of invitation. Yi Ke cracked on the spot and wanted to stand up to stop it, but was pressed down by a hand on his shoulder! The officially designated mascot had his own professional attainment. Even in such a grand scene, he could maintain absolute propriety and politeness. He followed Ludwig onto the stage, turned around under the bright lights, faced the more than 2,000 spectators filling the concert hall, and led the applause. The process was so smooth it seemed rehearsed countless times.
Besides Yi Ke, the only other person awake at the scene was Wu Tao. The moment her boss went on stage, she keenly captured the gnashing of teeth behind that smile in his eyes. There was no helping it; Little Wu’s perception was just that precise. So she immediately sprinted backstage and grabbed a performance hall staff member nearby, asking, “What’s going on? Why did this composer suddenly pull Brother Zhuang onto the stage?”
The staff member was also in shock: “I don’t know. This segment isn’t in our flow at all. Did they know each other before?”
Meanwhile, in the Super Perfect Human Praise Group—
Yi Ke: @AAA Professional Fishing King! What’s up with the group song! Didn’t you say you bought out the rights! Why did I hear it somewhere else!
AAA Professional Fishing King: Impossible, I definitely bought it out. It’s Brother Zhuang’s exclusive, no one else can use it. Where did you hear it?
After saying that, he deliberately sent a screenshot of the relevant clause in the contract to prove he wasn’t lying.
Yi Ke glanced at it. How to put it… he indeed bought out all copyrights, but there was a small parenthesis added at the end: (Notwithstanding the foregoing, the composer’s live performance of the work in non-commercial activities shall not be deemed a breach of contract).
AAA Professional Fishing King was still asking: Where did you hear it?
Yi Ke: …
On stage, the composer himself was giving extremely sincere praise to Zhuang Ningyu for his “transcendent courage and wisdom” shown in the rule-breaking action. Zhuang Ningyu maintained a decent smile throughout. Fortunately, the maestro didn’t say the second half of the song title, and while praising Zhuang Ningyu, he didn’t forget to mention the entire action team. So Zhuang Ningyu got some room to maneuver. When the microphone returned to his hand, he forcefully twisted When People Have No Flowers to See in Winter into “Team collaboration and the joint efforts of all mankind to welcome the arrival of spring.” After twisting it, he quickly bowed in thanks and got off stage, terrified of being held back to dig deeper into the story behind it. Applause erupted again, bringing this large-scale international exchange concert to a successful close.
But the audience’s enthusiasm didn’t end. After the show, many people flocked to the merchandise shop. The orchestra brought quite a few albums this time, and buying on-site meant getting the maestro’s signature. However, no matter which album they looked at, none included that beautiful, holy song When People Have No Flowers to See in Winter. It was inevitable to feel a little regretful.
“Is it available online?”
“No, it’s not there either.”
A mysterious song that could only be listened to live.
The black sedan sped through the night. A driver was driving because there was no parking lot near the concert hall, so Yi Ke specially called someone to pick them up this evening. Soft music flowed inside the car, very peaceful. The driver observed cautiously through the rearview mirror, feeling that the atmosphere didn’t seem quite right. Could they have quarreled? But looking at their hands held together, it didn’t seem like it?
They returned to Guanxing Building in silence all the way. Got out of the car, entered the elevator, opened the door, locked the door. Zhuang Ningyu took a deep breath in the entryway. Yi Ke immediately squatted down and hugged his legs, burying his head in his stomach, and wailed: “I really bought out this song, who knew he could precisely exploit a Bug!”
Zhuang Ningyu patted his head amidst a lingering dizziness. “Speak properly.”
The beginning of the story started with Comrade Little Yi’s love at first sight. The praise group of fifty-seven people was assembled within a week. Although his fair-weather friends thought this was an impossible mission, everyone still supportive acted as strategists. Multiple departments collaborated, discussed for three days, didn’t figure out how to pursue the person, but arranged their respective positions in the group clearly and plainly. They even hired a professional advertising company to design a LOGO, maxing out the sense of ritual.
And the group poem arose from this LOGO. The original intention was to provide inspiration for the advertising company’s designer, to help her quickly understand what flowing holiness, pure white moonlight, unreachable heartbeat, and the midnight “heart full of adoration frozen in the garden” meant—although Yi Ke didn’t think he was frozen. He repeatedly emphasized that his pursuit career was booming and progressing by leaps and bounds, but not a single person believed him. How could he woo a flower on a high peak just by pestering? Heh, just tough talk.
Zhuang Ningyu deeply regretted not saying YES I DO the first moment he saw Yi Ke, which led him to secretly create so much drama in unknown corners. Thinking that this divine song might appear on the news tomorrow in the name of international city friendly exchange, his brain felt even dizzier. He held onto the cabinet on the spot and called Wu Tao, asking her to communicate with the docking media that the last song should not be reported if possible.
Wu Tao guaranteed: “Boss, don’t worry, I’ve already said it!”
Little Wu was just that reliable in handling affairs. She was no longer the work maniac who proposed renaming the Dispute Mediation Department to the Knights of the Round Table. In her battles of wits and courage with Director Wang, she had grown rapidly. As soon as the concert ended, she used her position to find Maestro Ludwig and clarified everything immediately.
“The composer said he is very willing to keep a ‘wonderful surprise that can only be appreciated live’ and promised not to share anything about this song with the outside world again. The media has also been communicated with. We provided the press release, it was written long ago, and this segment wasn’t in it anyway.” Although her boss was far away on the other end of the phone, Wu Tao still raised her hand to solemnly guarantee, “I will definitely review every draft carefully.”
The media problem was solved, but the images in Zhuang Ningyu’s mind still hadn’t been dispelled. Although his emotions were always stable, the incident of “listening to a concert just fine but suddenly being pulled onto a brilliant golden stage and learning in front of over 2,000 spectators that the holy piece he had been recommending everywhere had nothing to do with Mary and was actually his own custom BGM” was too challenging for human limits. In the dead of night, wearing his beloved yellow banana pajamas, he stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, lightly pondering many philosophies of life, such as whether he really had to go to work next week, or if he could just resign.
Yi Ke: “Wifey!”
Zhuang Ningyu turned around, reached out to touch his head, slowly returned to bed, pulled the duvet, and covered himself up.
Yi Ke followed him to bed with trepidation, holding him with one hand while urgently seeking help on his phone with the other: How to quickly recover from psychological trauma?
A fair-weather friend whose family almost went bankrupt a while ago answered with experience: During that time, I relied entirely on listening to singing bowls to get through. Very effective. I feel that the bowl has a pure divinity from the Himalayas. If you need it, I can lend it to you for a while.
Yi Ke: Is it really that useful?
Friend: Guaranteed real.
An hour later, Zhuang Ningyu, who had no sleepiness at all, sat up in bed and asked somewhat puzzledly: “Did you hear any sound?”
Yi Ke held his hand and answered sincerely: “I heard it. Maybe a neighbor is doing yoga. Come, wifey, go back to sleep.”
Zhuang Ningyu lay back down skeptically. Yi Ke hugged him properly and reached out to gently massage him, trying to make him relax completely.
“Dong…” Ethereal, profound, lingering, distant.
Zhuang Ningyu: “But I feel like this sound is right at our door?”
Yi Ke: “How could that be? We are two units per elevator.”
And before the next question came, he kissed his lips first, while guiding him super unintentionally: “I think this sound sounds very pure, with a calm serenity that can soothe the soul. Very suitable for relaxation meditation.”
Zhuang Ningyu said: “Even so, you shouldn’t knock in the middle of the night. It’s almost three o’clock.”
“Dong…” Low, rich, complex, full.
Zhuang Ningyu threw off the covers again: “No, I must go out and check!”
“I’ll go!” Yi Ke pressed him back into the blankets, repeating word by word, “Be good, I’ll go.”
Zhuang Ningyu asked: “Why?”
Yi Ke answered: “Because you are wearing cute yellow banana pajamas.”
Zhuang Ningyu understood his possessiveness, but he felt he could just throw on a coat.
Yellow banana pajama pants won’t do either! Yi Ke pulled the duvet and wrapped him tightly into a cat roll: “Listen to me.”
Zhuang Ningyu: “Alright then.”
In the hallway, Property Manager Zhang was striking the bowl. It just so happened to be his shift tonight. With the noble belief of serving the owners wholeheartedly, Manager Zhang, after receiving the bowl from the flash delivery guy, didn’t ask any extra questions. He didn’t even accept Yi Ke’s red envelope, immediately took the elevator straight to the top floor, and stood outside the door dutifully striking it.
The security door opened, and the two made eye contact.
Yi Ke: STOP!
Manager Zhang: OK!
He left holding the bowl.
The elevator descended gradually. Yi Ke turned around and saw a pair of eyes staring at him faintly in the dark living room.
Caught completely off guard, Yi Ke shuddered in fright. Zhuang Ningyu switched on the wall lamp with a “click”. In the dim light, he asked in confusion: “What the hell are you doing?”
Yi Ke’s heart pounded wildly: “Huh?”
Zhuang Ningyu stepped forward, first opened the door to look outside—no one—then came back and reached out to touch Yi Ke’s forehead temperature, his eyes full of concern for this person’s mental state: “Are you possessed?”
Yi Ke: “…”
Zhuang Ningyu asked again: “Who exactly was striking the bowl outside just now?”
Yi Ke: “Manager Zhang.”
Zhuang Ningyu found it hard to understand why a property manager would stand at an owner’s door in the middle of the night striking a bowl. He asked: “Did you offend him?”
If time could turn back… Yi Ke rubbed his face and confessed everything. No, I asked Manager Zhang to come and strike it. He held his wife’s hand: “Just treat it as if I was possessed. I actually believed this bowl could make you fall asleep quickly. I won’t listen to it anymore. I might as well go ask Old Yang tomorrow to get you some wild sour jujube powder.”
Old Yang was a colleague from the Order Maintenance Department who suffered from insomnia for years. Seeing Chinese and Western doctors was useless. Later, introduced by someone, he bought a pack of expensive wild sour jujube powder from a barefoot doctor. After taking it, he could fall asleep in seconds every night, which amazed him for a while. So he told everyone he met, sighing that expensive things were indeed better! This matter was widely praised in the unit; even Yi Ke had heard it three times. But Zhuang Ningyu waved his hand: “Absolutely not. That wild sour jujube powder was found to be mixed with sleeping pills a while ago. Old Yang is currently defending his rights.”
Yi Ke: “…” Giving the salary card to wifey is correct. I am indeed the potential target audience for health supplements.
The midnight bowl sound gave this chaotic day a comical yet tender ending. Because although the whole thing sounded slightly ridiculous, after all, Yi Ke’s starting point was all out of love, and Zhuang Ningyu felt this love very well. The two shrank under the covers, exchanged a wet goodnight kiss, and finally, in the faint morning light, fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Zhuang Yan and Zhong Yu had something to do over the weekend, so the scheduled family fitness day was postponed by a week. But Zhuang Ningyu forgot to turn off his phone reminder, so the “ding ding dong dong” music rang out dutifully at twelve noon sharp, so holy, so beautiful.
Zhuang Ningyu: “…”
Yi Ke shot up and silenced the phone.
“Wifey!”
“What’s wrong?”
Nothing much, just that Yi Ke had a bit of PTSD from this song. He was restless even drinking water, his fingers trembling. Zhuang Ningyu noticed too, so he sincerely suggested: “What should we do? Should I get a bowl for you to strike?”
Yi Ke’s body shook, his heart trembling at the thought of that rich sound from last night. Absolutely not necessary!
Zhuang Ningyu threw off the covers to get out of bed. Strike, strike, strike, what if it’s useful?
Yi Ke dragged him back and pinned him under his body with a hint of embarrassment turning into anger. Looking at the smile in the other’s eyes, he lowered his head viciously and bit those sweet, soft lips.
Zhuang Ningyu patted his back and cooperated by deepening the kiss.
The status of The Golden Spindle and the Mysterious Flawless Mirror of the Fourteenth Century in this family in the future was still unknown, but at least judging from the current situation, Little Yi’s status had not been affected in any way.
At the same time, Super Perfect Human Praise Group—
AAA Professional Fishing King: How is it going!
AAA Professional Fishing King: You didn’t get kicked out of the house without your phone, did you!
AAA Professional Fishing King: Heard you made Brother Xu deliver a bowl in the middle of the night. Is this really an operation a human brain can come up with?
AAA Professional Fishing King: Look for yourself, does Brother Zhuang look like the kind of person who can be fixed by one strike of your bowl?
Zhuang Ningyu said: “Your phone keeps vibrating.”
Yi Ke glanced at it, his voice muffled: “Ignore it.”
Thinking about it, it probably wasn’t anything serious.
Kissing was more important.
