Trafford’s Trading Club

It was so dark that Cheng Yiran couldn’t see who they were… whether they were acquaintances or not. But curiosity drove him to sit down on one seat in the sofa… He could only make out that the one sitting down was a man.

“Who are you…” Cheng Yiran frowned.

“A businessman who can sell you anything.” Luo Qiu was looking at Cheng Yiran. Different from Cheng Yiran, Luo Qiu could see everything clearly in this room even without light.

“A businessman?” Cheng Yiran sank into deep thought with his head lowered.

“Look.” Luo Qiu said lightly.

Cheng Yiran raised his head up and saw something terrifying happening on the table in front of him.

He saw the man stretching his hands over the table and the fragments of his guitar appeared. It was the guitar he smashed due to the quarrel with Hong Guan.

Cheng Yiran picked up one piece of the fragment… It had a Chinese character carved onto it, Hai.

“Is that yours?”

“Yes.” Cheng Yiran nodded and then frowned, “Is there some sort of mechanism? Or… fine, I have no time to see your magic. What’s more, I don’t know you at all.”

“Is this… also a magic?” Luo Qiu snapped his fingers.

Cheng Yiran saw the fragment pieces in his hands floating in the air as well as the other fragments. They combined and reunited into one complete guitar and fell into Cheng Yiran’s hands finally.

It was amazing. Cheng Yiran rubbed his eyes and tried to play the guitar.

“This feeling… It’s my guitar!” Cheng Yiran raised his head up, “How did you do that!”

“What do you want?” Luo Qiu asked, “And, will you be willing to pay for your dream?”

“I…”Cheng Yiran opened his mouth and held his guitar tightly, “I…I…”

“It seems that you haven’t decided yet.” Luo Qiu smiled, “That’s fine. We will wait for you and welcome you any time.” Luo Qiu stood up and pretended to leave.

Cheng Yiran shouted at him, “Hold on… please!”

“Anything else?”

“This…guitar…” Cheng Yiran hesitated, “This guitar…”

“Just a gift.” Luo Qiu said, “It’s a small gift to you. Do not throw it away next time.”

Cheng Yiran held the guitar more tightly. He stopped Luo Qiu just as Luo Qiu was about to leave the room. He knew that he must seize the chance as an ordinary and untalented musician.

He had never met a chance… an overwhelming chance like this. This was a perfect opportunity even if the man was a demon.

“I…” Cheng Yiran gritted his teeth, “I want to buy it!”

…

…

“I am so sorry!” Hong Guan apologized to the manager of the nightclub constantly. His youth and pride had been exhausted on the way of pursuing music. Now, he restrained himself, living for the sake of his family, even if the manager scolded him badly.

The manager snorted, “Who did you think you are! Your partner ruined my stage. Who begged for this chance to perform before? Now you guys almost messed up my club!”

“I am so sorry for that!”

Hong Guan apologized, “I will talk to him… he is in a low mood tonight and drank a bit. Luckily, I made a good ending. The audience was happy.”

The manager waved his hand irritatedly, “That’s all. I will pay your salary without deduction. But for your friend, there is no way to get his salary. I don’t even want to see him in the future. Who does he think he is.”

“Sir, can you please give him another chance? It is a pity that…”

“If you continue, you won’t even get a penny.” The manager stared at Hong Guan as if restraining the edge of his furious anger.

Hong Guan bowed to the reality.

The manager left and kicked the electric bass down the floor. He added ironically, “A musician? Ridiculous!”

Hong Guan didn’t move but gritted his teeth. He picked his bass up when the manager left… He said to himself that it didn’t make any difference whether to pick it up or not.

He sighed and took out his cellphone… to call Cheng Yiran. After hesitating for a while, he chose to send an instant message instead of a call. Typing, ‘Calm down, bro. I need to go to the hospital to see my wife. Just contact me if needed. It is a pity that we didn’t create a happy ending.’

But he changed the last sentence to ‘Meeting happily, parting merrily.’ before sending it out.

…

Hong Guan sorted out his belongings and left. He suddenly laughed, even he didn’t know what he was smiling about.

In order to save money, he planned to take the last bus but not taxi.

“Dear, I am off duty. I will come soon. Er… Fine… Oops, I forget to eat dinner. That’s OK, I will buy some snacks on the way.” Hong Guan chatted with his wife by phone. He stopped by a roadside fish ball stall.

“Hello, do you still have food?”

Fish Ball Qiang responded while reading the newspaper in his chair, “There’s only a few left. If you want, I’ll give you all of them for five RMB.”

“Sure.” Hong Guan nodded.

Fish Ball Qiang stood up with his tools and placed the rest fish balls and fish tofu in one bowl. He glanced at Hong Guan, “Buddy, are you a musician?”

Hong Guan looked at his instrument on his back, which would probably never be played again. He shook head, “Not anymore.”

Fish Ball Qiang took a second glance, “Why, isn’t music good?”

Hong Guan smiled, “No reason to continue.”

“Really?” Fish Ball Qiang nodded and sprinkled some sauce on the food, “It’s done. Five RMB, please.”

Hong Guan paid it and then left. A voice came from behind him, “Your music is good, I enjoyed it.” He stopped and turned back, looking at Fish Ball Qiang. Then, he started walking to the man with a smile.

“What’s wrong? Do you need chopsticks?”

Hong Guan shook his head and released his bass, “This is for you now.”

“For me? I will not return it if you regret in the future. Are you sure you’re giving me that?” Fish Ball Qiang was looking at him with a cigarette in mouth.

Hong Guan patted his shoulder slightly with no words. He smelled the food, “It smells good, it must be delicious.”

Fish Ball Qiang sat down with a shrug and continued to read his newspaper. For him, Hong Guan was just an unknown strange man.

He yawned and prepared to settle his stall when a loud music came from the nightclub, “F*ck, when will they be quiet?” But while listening, he was immersed in the music without noticing, his cigarette falling down.

He stepped forward subconsciously… close to the nightclub. There was another group of people looking at this nightclub, too. They were all attracted by the music which resounded with their inner voices.

At the same time, the manager was surprised to see that everyone was going wild including the waitresses and barkeepers.

“It’s crazy… crazy…” The manager couldn’t help shaking his body either because Cheng Yiran was singing on the stage. The song was named ‘Paranoid’.