Chapter 26#

Unattainable#

Mo Xuzhi’s expression didn’t change one bit; he looked as if he truly didn’t know someone named Xue Feng and had no interest in him.

Shen Le froze.

“Then go have a good time. Just be back before eight the day after tomorrow.”

The director spoke up at the right time to break the inexplicable silence, smiling as he patted Shen Le’s shoulder and granting the leave.

“What about Teacher Mo?” He leaned over again to ask Mo Xuzhi, “What are you here for?”

“I want a day off tomorrow.”

“This…”

The director was in a bit of a dilemma for a moment.

Mo Xuzhi’s group only had four people in total, and there was an implicit trend of dividing into two pairs of CPs. As a result, half of each pair was leaving at once, leaving one Du Minsheng and one Luo Wenyun, and the footage that could be edited would instantly be halved.

“Well, Teacher Mo, what do you want to do on your day off tomorrow? If it’s not urgent…”

“National affairs.” Mo Xuzhi saw the director’s intention and shook his head directly.

“The contract also states that time can be arranged arbitrarily, and two people or fewer can take leave at the same time. Director Li remembers, right?”

“I’m even building rockets.”

The director sighed and finally agreed.

The contract was indeed drafted that way. Since Mo Xuzhi had said it to this extent, there really was no way.

Mo Xuzhi smiled.

“Hey, good!”

Several staff members laughed a few times, packed up, and went to prepare for the subsequent scene arrangement.

“The results of the competition should be out in a while. Lele, go wait by the stage first,” the director looked at Mo Xuzhi again and sighed. “You, Du Minsheng, and Luo Wenyun can go if you want. If you don’t want to go, record a personal interview first to be put in the trailer later.”

“Alright, let Luo Wenyun record first; I’ll go later.”

Mo Xuzhi nodded, then asked Shen Le, “Do you know where the guitar is?”

“The staff took it back; it should be where the instruments are kept.”

“Thanks.”

Mo Xuzhi left, his figure disappearing around the corner.

Shen Le stood in place for a while, greeted the director, and then prepared to wait by the stage.

Mo Xuzhi went to the place where the instruments were kept to borrow a guitar from the staff.

The staff also trusted him; they said nothing and lent him the thing, with only a few words of instruction, saying it should be returned early when the time came.

After Mo Xuzhi said thanks, he carried the guitar bag to find a quiet place. Taking advantage of the fact that there was still some time, he took out his phone and made a call.

The call was quickly connected, and Wang Zhifeng’s still gentle voice came through from inside.

“I was just thinking about calling you.”

Placing the guitar bag gently on the stool next to him, Mo Xuzhi leaned against the wall and gave a short laugh. “Why, listening to your tone, is there some good news?”

“The lithography machine has been secured, and the funding has also been allocated.”

Wang Zhifeng’s tone was full of laughter; one could tell he was in a very good mood now. “When you come back, you can do experiments as you please; materials are plenty.”

Mo Xuzhi raised an eyebrow and smiled along. “So capable?”

Perhaps because he was happy, the habitually calm and composed Wang Zhifeng rarely responded, “It took some effort, but fortunately it’s worth it—when are you coming back?”

“Tomorrow, setting off at seven in the morning. I’m still in Wanwan Town. The transportation here is a bit inconvenient; there are no taxis, and taking the bus back requires transferring, which is inconvenient. I…”

“It’s fine, someone has already been arranged to pick you up. I’ll send you a map. Just go to the place marked with a red circle then, and someone will be waiting for you there.”

“Alright,” Mo Xuzhi tilted his head, hearing the sound of someone speaking through a microphone from the stage temporarily disappear, so he said, “I have something else to do here, hanging up first. Goodbye.”

According to the process he had asked Du Minsheng earlier, it should be time for him to go on stage after the results of the competition came out.

“Goodbye.”

Mo Xuzhi put his phone on silent and tucked it into his pocket. On the way to the stage, he met Shen Le.

He should have just come back from the stage, still with a smile on his face, looking sweet, chatting with Luo Wenyun on the side, and the cameraman was dutifully filming behind the two.

After finishing his words, Shen Le turned his head and saw Mo Xuzhi. He suddenly smiled: “I won!”

“Congratulations,” Mo Xuzhi patted his shoulder, the corners of his eyes tilting up slightly, instantly creating a vivid, dazzling beauty. He said,

“Thanks for your big villa.”

He left after speaking.

The moment Mo Xuzhi approached, Shen Le smelled a faint fragrance, like pine wood, but colder, and a bit different from the smell of cedar.

After the person left, he unconsciously tilted his head to smell the shoulder Mo Xuzhi had just touched.

Only a very faint scent remained, which couldn’t be smelled after breathing a few more times.

Luo Wenyun watched Shen Le sniffing here and there and remained silent.

The cameraman asked curiously: “Is there any smell?”

“No,” Shen Le shook his head, “Probably something’s wrong with my nose.”

It always felt strange to say that another person smelled very good, so it was better not to say it.

The cameraman regretfully withdrew his gaze.

When Mo Xuzhi reached the edge of the stage, there was nothing on the stage except for a staff member debugging a microphone and a piano placed on the side as a decoration.

Du Minsheng was standing below the stage negotiating with the staff. Mo Xuzhi didn’t disturb him, searched around, found a stool to sit on, opened the guitar bag, and tried tuning it a few times.

He tried playing a few notes, and after finding there were no problems, he put down the instrument. Looking up, he saw Du Minsheng coming this way.

“Stop for a second,” Mo Xuzhi timely stopped Du Minsheng’s forward steps. “I returned the microphone; bring one over.”

Du Minsheng took a few steps back again, asked the staff for a microphone, and even brought a microphone stand along the way.

“Planning to play right here?”

In some ways, Du Minsheng understood Mo Xuzhi very well.

“It’s convenient here.” And there were fewer people.

This position happened to face where one went up to the stage, making it very easy to see the situation on the stage and convenient for quick adjustments if any special circumstances arose.

Mo Xuzhi took the microphone stand handed by Du Minsheng, adjusted the angle, and set it aside. The staff member over there called for Du Minsheng twice.

“Then I’ll go up first.”

Mo Xuzhi picked up the guitar and smiled. “With me here, don’t think about anything else, just sing.”

He was wearing a white shirt today, with some mud and dust on it. He looked up while holding the guitar, and Du Minsheng instantly thought of the way he once flipped over the wall, sat on the top, and taught him to play the guitar.

Mo Xuzhi at that time was also like this, and even more flamboyant and intense than now.

He knew many things and understood many truths, but he was like a spirit just entering the world, full of curiosity about everything and wanting to try everything. But he would also sit in the corner from time to time, as if in a daze, or as if thinking about something, the oppression in the depths of his eyes intense to a startling degree.

This kind of almost bizarre innocence, flamboyance, and clear-headed gloom mixed together, very easily buried seeds in the hearts of young people.

Du Minsheng had always been very curious about Mo Xuzhi, and this curiosity had not diminished by half even now, and had even been carved into his bones until his feelings deteriorated.

What was also carved into his bones was an inferiority complex.

He knew he didn’t match Mo Xuzhi.

Mo Xuzhi was excellent; he had known it a long time ago. When he was still a general worker in the bar, he would often hear people saying that the genius from No. 1 Middle School next door had gone to participate in some competition again and won some prize again. Everyone said he was destined to be extraordinary.

District prizes, municipal prizes, national prizes.

He could always hear these.

He had originally thought it had nothing to do with him. Until one day, the person he had agreed to meet didn’t show up at the agreed time.

It was a few hours later that a boy who looked a bit younger ran in and told him breathlessly:

“Sorry I’m late, Brother Mo… Mo Xuzhi went to Jinghua University to do experiments and can’t come today.”

The boy laughed again: “We were still guessing where he went after every class; didn’t expect him to run here.”

So his name was Mo Xuzhi.

The genius from No. 1 Middle School next door was also named Mo Xuzhi.

Du Minsheng felt for the first time that the natural chasm was hard to cross.

—He clearly knew how big the gap between him and Mo Xuzhi was.

And what the boy said was slightly different.

Not only did Mo Xuzhi not come that day, but in the following week, half a year, a year, and several years, he never came again.

But now this person was right in front of him, doing the same actions as back then, and saying the words he once said.

Du Minsheng smiled. “I know.”

Mo Xuzhi didn’t reply and lowered his head to adjust the strings again.

The staff member over there was calling for Du Minsheng again.

Du Minsheng walked quickly toward the staff member, took the microphone he handed over, and also walked quickly toward the stage.

The screams from the audience were clearly audible even here.

Mo Xuzhi held his headset.

After listening back and forth, Du Minsheng’s original version of “Whale” was still the best to hear.

A guitar couldn’t produce too complex a sound, but every note hit the mark, with the rising of the pitch also fitting perfectly with Du Minsheng’s emotional transition.

A guitar seemed to be played in all sorts of ways by Mo Xuzhi.

“Holy crap.”

Several staff members looked at Du Minsheng on the stage and then back at Mo Xuzhi sitting in the corner, feeling they had received a huge impact.

Most of the youth’s body was hidden in the shadows, his expression unclear, but overall one could see his posture was very leisurely, clearly at ease.

Then Mo Xuzhi’s movements stopped.

The staff watched as he put down the guitar in his hand and walked straight toward them with the microphone stand.

Startled, the staff looked toward the stage in panic.

Fortunately, nothing happened. It was now a pause after a climax. The fans’ screams were too loud, and Du Minsheng had put down the microphone.

“The bridge is damaged, the E-string is broken.”

Before his breath was even, he heard these words, and the staff member almost had a heart attack.

“Then… then what to do?”

The song was already half-sung, and it was too late to go off stage.

But when Du Minsheng picked up the microphone and was singing, he found the accompaniment was gone. If his emotions didn’t hold up, then it was really gone.

Du Minsheng had never messed up while singing, and they didn’t want to be the eternal sinners of this first time.

But speaking of solutions, the matter happened so suddenly, where would they find a solution?

“Dim the surrounding lights, and only hit Du Minsheng with the spotlight.”

Mo Xuzhi’s voice sounded the same as before, very cold and steady, and the staff also became a bit calmer.

Is there a solution?

They followed Mo Xuzhi’s gaze and saw the piano placed in a corner of the stage as a decoration.

Could it be??

Mo Xuzhi didn’t speak, but just lowered his eyes and rolled up his sleeves, stepping onto the steps to the stage.

He had promised Du Minsheng, and he would definitely do it.