Chapter 6: The Rush Hour

If goodbyes can't be said in the face, a strong kiss is also a little more direct.

There is a saying that is used to describe the rhythm of French life:

The French work in the spring, vacation in the summer, strike in the fall, and have a holiday in the winter.

In addition to the summer vacation from July to September and the two-week Easter break in spring, students have a week of fall break from the end of October to the beginning of November, a two-week Christmas break at the end of December, and a two-week winter break in February.

Students also have a holiday on the 11th of November, "Victory Day", and if it is a Thursday, it will be a Friday and a weekend, which is really "very French".

The Christmas holiday, together with the New Year, is one of the most celebrated holidays of the fall and winter seasons, big and small.

In France, Christmas Eve is spent with family, a very private and cozy holiday with a strong religious meaning, while New Year's Eve is used by French people who like all kinds of parties and parties to party all night long and let go of themselves.

The New Year's Eve party at the "No. 6 Little Jasmine Road" bar was naturally held as scheduled.

Jiang Bai brought two cocktails from the bar to the round table in the middle of the hall, handed one of them to Liu Qianxing, and sat down on the chair next to him. Since they met in the bar a few days ago, Liu Qianxing ran here every day and got acquainted with Jiang Bai, Fang Yuan and Chen Lijie at a very fast pace.

In a foreign city, people who speak the same language are more likely to become friends, this is a fact that cannot be changed.

Besides, Liu Qianxing's personality was also very pleasing to the eye. His doll face looked happy every day, he would act and speak with a very obvious student-like aura, essentially childish and simple, but prefers to pretend that he has been working in the field for a long time. But this pretence is not at all malicious, he was just wanting to look mature in front of the people they admire.

Yes, Fang Yuan and Chen Lijie could see that Liu Qianxing was interested in Jiang Bai.

Maybe it's because of Jiang Bai's voice, maybe it's because of Jiang Bai's face. But men are intuitive animals, whether it's because of the face or because of the voice, they can understand this seemingly hasty admiration, and know that this admiration may actually become the starting point of a relationship.

Even when Jiang Bai and Ya Bu saw each other, it was frankly because they appreciated each other's outward merits.

Fang Yuan privately urged Jiang Bai and Liu Qianxing to get together more than once.

One day Jiang Bai finally couldn't take it anymore and asked him, "Two sockets, no plug, how will we be together?" *two bottoms, no top

Fang Yuan was furious: "Can't you rise to the opportunity?

Jiang Bai was surprised: "You don’t even know the ‘gong’ and shou’!"

Fang Yuan: ...

Jiang Bai spread his hands: "Actually, it's not that I can't be a top, but I haven't had a chance to try it. But I don't like Liu Qianxing’s type, please don't think we can just find a guy to be together, okay? Just like you straight guys looking for a girlfriend will also look for one that meets their aesthetic, we also look at the feelings of men."

So Fang Yuan ceased to exist.

The bar invited a band to perform live for New Year's Eve, and the lighting program was changed to a rhythmic flashing effect. Although the songs sung were still romantic style pop music, there was more than the usual soothing atmosphere with just the right amount of hustle and bustle, just right for the atmosphere of New Year's Eve.

Many of the students who had attended the salon became familiar with the bar, and brought their friends to form large groups. On this day, there was no restriction on what language they could speak, so they sat around playing "Truth or Dare" in a mix of French, Chinese and English, despite not remembering who initiated it.

Suddenly, the group burst into laughter, a French girl slapped the table and stood up, crossed the legs of a Chinese boy beside her, and walked straight to the small round table where Jiang Bai and Liu Qianxing were.

Jiang Bai suddenly had a strange feeling in his heart.

The French girl walked up to Jiang Bai, leaned down quickly, and made a fiery red lip print on Jiang Bai's face.

She turned around and shouted at the crowd, "I kissed him!" Then walked back to her seat with a twist.

Jiang Bai was in tears for a while.

Liu Qianxing pulled out a tissue, dipped it in wine, and reached out to help Jiang Bai wipe his face.

Jiang Bai stood up, walked over to the group and asked, "Mind adding me?"

A cheer erupted from the crowd, everyone was obviously welcoming him.

The game continued, Jiang Bai had lipstick marks from three or four girls, and was forbidden to wipe them off. Jiang Bai retaliated by borrowing lipstick from them, threatening that if they lost, he would use lipstick to draw dicks on their faces. As a result, after playing dozens of rounds, Jiang Bai was not able to catch those few girls who dared to kiss him once, but encountered several embarrassing problems himself and had to finish the job with a penalty drink.

"Bai! You've lost again!" A French boy turned over the cards in his hand and showed them to Jiang Bai.

"OK, make your request!" Jiang Bai threw the cards in his hand and waited for the other party's question.

The other party, however, did not give him a hard time, raised his chin and said, "Go sing a song, but it must be something we have not heard you sing, a French song!"

Jiang Bai thought about it, and there was really a song he hadn't sung in the bar recently, so he got up like a good Samaritan and walked up to the stage to say a few words to the band. With Chen Lijie's consent, Jiang Bai was given the right to use the stage without any obstruction.

People who came to the bar often already knew Jiang Bai, and as soon as he came on stage with his guitar, there was thunderous applause from below, and some people blew a sharp whistle.

Jiang Bai threw a wink towards the stage, which drew a scream, and only then did he start to play and sing.

The French words curled on the tip of his tongue, and with the melody that tinkled like the wings of an elf, it formed a beautiful and unrelenting song: 　　

　　"I want to see all the sights of life, give everything to try everything, to keep believing in tomorrow."

　　"Why not be the main character in the book, even if the road is long and far."

　　"I want to do my best, even if I have to go through all the hardships."

　　"I will fight for my dream -"

Jiang Bai drank a lot of alcohol during the previous game, and the light from the bar hit his eyes, forming large, brilliant and colorful patches. He couldn't see how clear and lost his eyes were at the moment, and two extreme emotions blended with each other in his obsidian-like eyes, which could simply take the heart away.

If it weren't for the funny lipstick marks on his cheeks, everyone would believe that a spirit from the dark night had descended on the bar this night.

Jiang Bai sang the whole song, and the tune under his fingers started again, playing again from the beginning of the cycle.

This time, he switched to Chinese to sing the same song.

　　"Rush that year, how many times did we actually say goodbye before delaying."

　　"Unfortunately, who has not loved is not an eloquent argument above the seven emotions ......"

Music is boundless, even if many of the French people present do not understand what was sung in the lyrics, they can clearly feel the dark-haired, dark-eyed person’s emotions, and the aura around them has changed.

The same tune and the same rhythm, suddenly from the bravery of chasing a dream became unbearably vulnerable.

The sound of guitar music gradually stopped, and the bar echoed with Jiang Bai's slightly nasal singing.

　　"If we can't see each other again with red eyes, can we still have a red face? Just like that year hastily carved forever together with such beautiful rumors ......"

Ya Bu pushed open the door of the bar in the quietly falling early snow and saw Jiang Bai standing on the stage singing with his eyes closed. Jiang Bai's singing voice and face was just like the one that had appeared in his mind almost every day for the past month, exactly the same, yet more vivid than the one he missed. Ya Bu had never tried to miss a person so much, and Jiang Bai was the first in his life.

Suddenly, Ya Bu's breath stopped for a moment. He caught the teartracks on Jiang Bai's face, crossing his cheeks from under his fluttering eyelashes, crossing the lip marks left after the game, stretching into the shadow of his chin, reflecting a bright light in the flashing holiday lights.

Ya Bu suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his heart.

He threw down the hiking bag behind him, took a few steps through the crowd, jumped onto the stage, and held Jiang Bai's entire body in his arms.

Jiang Bai was still singing: "If the past is still ......"

The next words in the lyrics were blocked back by Ya Bu's kiss.

Ya Bu pushed Jiang Bai against the wall behind the stage, kissing his lips almost greedily, like a lion that had not eaten for days, with a fierceness of a predator, protecting his food from others, and circled Jiang Bai in his embrace.

Liu Qianxing rose abruptly from his seat, Fang Yuan thumped the beer bottle on the table. Chen Lijie looked up from behind the bar and immediately went up to greet the band to save the day, then walked up and pulled Ya Bu and Jiang Bai with Fang Yuan, one on each side, dragging them off the back of the stage.

The lead singer of the band was a master of controlling the atmosphere, looked back at Chen Lijie, stood on the stage and said a few words, pulling the attention of the bar guests back to the stage, and chose a cheerful and exciting song, and soon the unexpected chaos was put to rest.

Jiang Bai was helped by Fang Yuan into the bathroom of the second floor suite to wash his face. In the outer bedroom, Chen Lijie had his arms wrapped around him, glaring angrily at Ya Bu, the man who started it all.

Ya Bu's eyes were dead set on the bathroom door.

"What are you still looking at? Not a single word! You ran away, and did not tell us! The main thing is, you didn't even tell Jiang Bai! I’ve set you two up, yet you only take him as a bed partner to come on? You want to sleep once or twice and then stop fooling around?" Chen Lijie asked.

Ya Bu was silent for a moment, withdrew his eyes and turned around and said, "I never specifically told you guys whenever I went out before."

Chen Lijie thought about it carefully, and it seemed that this is indeed the case. Ya Bu used to run all over the world and only occasionally mention it to them, most of the time it would be like this time, suddenly gone without a word.

"Well, it's normal for you not to tell us." He said helplessly, "But how come you didn't talk to Jiang Bai either? You even disappeared the day after you slept together! I didn't intend to set you two up in the beginning to send him to your bed for you to toss around!"

This time, Ya Bu was silent, waiting until the sound of water and vomiting in the bathroom gradually stopped before he spoke: "I also realized recently that... he was different."

Chen Lijie held his aching forehead: "So, you only previously thought Jiang Bai as a bed partner?"

Ya Bu admitted: "Yes."

From the bathroom side came a very explosive shout coming from Fang Yuan: "Fuck!"

Jiang Bai pulled Fang Yuan who was about to rush towards Ya Bu: "Don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive, no need to fight, be a good boy!"

He is now a lot more sober, his head is still a little dizzy with the sound of buzzing, but his thinking is still clear, and he could also see what the current situation is.

Fang Yuan still rushed towards Ya Bu.

Jiang Bai, who was already unstable, was pushed and stumbled on the clothes basket outside the bathroom door, and after kicking the basket down, he didn't keep his weight and went straight to his knees.

Ya Bu stepped forward to hold Jiang Bai's arm and hold him steadily.

Fang Yuan held Jiang Bai's other arm, to make sure that Jiang Bai stood firm, then turned around and punched Ya Bu in the face.

Ya Bu subconsciously flicked his hand and blocked Fang Yuan's fist away.

Jiang Bai pressed his forehead and said angrily, "Stop it! Give me silence!"

The two men immediately fell silent.

"Fang Yuan, you... you and Li Jie both go out, I have something to tell Ya Bu." Jiang Bai said.

"What else do you have to say to each other!" Fang Yuan was angry.

Jiang Bai did not answer.

Chen Lijie wrenched Fang Yuan's shoulders and coaxed him out the door with good words.

The author has something to say:

French version: 弗雷德乐队·《Au bout de mes reves》

TL Note:

Sigh, Ya Bu that was kinda scummy of you.