Mr. Lizard Outside the Window - Chapter 14
Chapter 14: Duet
Birds chirped outside the window. The midday sun shone brightly on the windowsill.
The black gecko woke up, poked his head out of his nest, and stared at the sunlight for a moment.
The room was small, but to him, it was a vast expanse. He crawled out from under the thick towels, across the large expanse of tiles, and drank from a shallow dish that, to him, seemed as big as a washbasin.
The water was clean and sweet, freshly changed that morning.
He crawled a long distance, across what seemed like a forest of table and chair legs, to the bathroom. The floor was dry, and the tiles weren't too cold against his sensitive belly.
After relieving himself in the drain, he noticed a thoughtfully placed stack of absorbent paper towels by the door.
Xiao Lian crawled over and rubbed his forepaws on the soft, white paper. Against the paper, his long, strangely shaped fingers, covered in tiny scales, looked grotesque. He turned and saw his long, black tail.
Monster.
The word echoed in his mind.
Why am I here, like this, with her?
He wriggled his unsightly body across the room, finally reaching the windowsill by climbing the curtains.
Outside, the three-story drop seemed like a bottomless abyss. But in this small body, he could easily navigate the dangerous bars and slip through the dark window of the next apartment.
The curtains were drawn in the neighboring apartment. The room was dim and quiet.
Only the faint glow of a laptop screen illuminated the space.
A black shadow crawled across the desk, past the electronic equipment. As he passed, the screen of a mobile phone lit up, displaying a single unread message. The light quickly faded as the black tail trailed across it.
The black reptile reached the computer screen and tapped the touchpad with its tiny, non-human hands.
The screen brightened, displaying a music website with a red orange logo.
It was the account page of an independent musician.
The username was Red Lotus. A single original song had been uploaded, titled "Misty Forest." It currently had over two thousand plays, twenty-five comments, and a handful of donations.
The screen reflected a pair of strangely patterned eyes. The eyes scanned each comment, savoring the words, then scrolled to the bottom, where the daily earnings were displayed:
17.8 yuan.
The 17.8 yuan included revenue from plays and donations. The majority came from a user named "Xiao Xiao Loves Music," who had gifted a "Red Orange." On the website, a Red Orange earned the artist ten yuan, while a Green Orange earned one yuan.
Without the donations, the day's earnings wouldn't even be enough to buy her a decent dinner.
Xiao Lian stared at the 17.8 yuan for a moment, then blinked.
Finally, he opened a food delivery app on his phone, carefully comparing prices. With a pang of regret, he removed the expensive imported ribeye steak and seasonal fruits from his cart and placed a new, more economical order. He hesitated, his tiny claw hovering over the "Place Order" button.
He remembered her happy expression after eating the food he had cooked, her sighing contentedly, "Oh my god, what a little sweetheart! I'm so lucky!"
He retracted his claw, added the steak and fruits back to his cart, and clicked the "Place Order" button.
A few private messages popped up on the computer screen. Xiao Lian crawled over and checked them.
Most were ads and spam. Only one, from "Xiao Xiao Loves Music," contained a job offer.
The message introduced Xiao Xiao as a music producer from RES Group, expressing his enthusiasm for "Misty Forest" while politely explaining that due to market considerations, the company couldn't purchase the song. He then extended a formal job offer.
RES was indeed a well-known music company, but working outside wasn't an option for Xiao Lian. However, out of gratitude for the unexpected "large" donation, he painstakingly typed out a polite but firm rejection message with his tiny claws.
In the RES office building, Xiao Xiao sighed in frustration.
Director Bai, passing by, tapped his desk. "What's wrong now?"
"He rejected us, Bai Ge!" Xiao Xiao cried, tugging at his boss's sleeve. "He actually rejected RES! He said he doesn't want to work outside."
"Oh well, it's his loss," Bai Yaoming raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed. "He's just a newbie who wrote one good song. Who knows if he can even write anything decent again."
RES was one of the top music companies in the country, offering excellent pay and benefits. They were used to choosing talent, not being rejected.
"But Bai Ge, you won't believe this!" Xiao Xiao continued, refusing to let go of his boss's sleeve. "This guy rejected our six-figure salary offer, but he just listed over twenty original beats for sale on Red Orange!"
Bai Yaoming chuckled. "How much can you even sell a beat for on a website like Red Orange?"
Xiao Xiao held up two fingers, his face grim. "Twenty dollars. Each! Global commercial license, for twenty bucks!"
"Bai Ge, listen to these! Not a single one is filler. They're all high-quality, carefully crafted works. He's selling them for a little over a hundred yuan each!" Xiao Xiao clicked on a newly uploaded track, his voice filled with disbelief. "I don't understand! He's practically broke, but he'd rather be a beat maker hiding online than work for our company?"
Bai Yaoming listened for a moment, then after a long pause, said, "It's alright. If he's truly talented, he'll find his way to us eventually."
In a practice room at the academy, Wei Zhiming ran a hand through his carefully styled hair in frustration. "I'm begging you, Banxia! Do you know how much time I've spent practicing this piece these past few days? And you just change it again! Just like that!"
Banxia stopped playing. "I have a new understanding of the piece. I suddenly realized that wandering isn't just about physical exile. It's more about the feeling of being lost, of having no place to belong." She pointed to the sheet music, playing the passage again. "So, here, I think it should be more tender, a heartbreaking gentleness, followed by the raging storm."
Her fingers moved across the strings, creating a mournful glissando, followed by a burst of rapid, powerful notes.
"What do you think? Is it good?" she asked, looking up.
Wei Zhiming, slumped dejectedly on the piano bench, mumbled, "It's good."
It's good, but it's killing me! I can barely keep up!
"Banxia, you're such a skilled violinist, but your instrument… isn't it a bit… shabby?" Wei Zhiming looked up. "I'm not a violinist, but even I can tell that it's holding you back. Are you really going to use that violin for the competition?"
"It's a bit old, but it's been with me for many years," Banxia said, gently caressing her beloved violin. "It's okay. Professor Yu promised to lend me the 'Adelina' for the Collegiate Cup if I make it through the selection round."
As if afraid of hurting her violin's feelings, she bent down and kissed it gently. "Don't worry, even with a new violin, I'll still love you the most."
Wei Zhiming watched her, crouching in the small practice room.
In the cramped space, her music shone, her love for music shone even brighter.
She loves music that much? Enough to show such reverence for her instrument?
The girl, though so close, a classmate, seemed to belong to a different world, a world he couldn't quite understand.
She and others like her were striving for something he had never even considered.
Suddenly, that world didn't seem so boring and pointless. It was a world full of talented, passionate people. More interesting than his nights spent in bars and clubs, perhaps?
On a whim, he blurted out, "Banxia, let me treat you to dinner tonight. We can come back and practice afterward."
Banxia, who had already packed up her violin and was about to leave, stopped.
It was common for students to practice together, but normally, she, the violinist, would be the one treating her accompanist.
"Oh, I can't tonight. I have a lesson at the music school, and tomorrow night, I'm working at Bluegrass Cafe," she scratched her head, checked her phone balance, and offered a more economical alternative. "How about this, I'll treat you to supper after the selection round, okay?"
"You're still working part-time? You're this good, and you still have time to work every night? Do you geniuses have 48 hours in a day?" Wei Zhiming exclaimed in disbelief.
Later that night, Banxia cycled home after work.
The cool winter breeze ruffled her long hair. The distant mountains were shrouded in darkness.
Her shift had ended early, and she was in a good mood, pedaling quickly. She passed the night market where she often shopped, then the high walls and gated entrances of the luxury villa district.
In the window of a high-end boutique, brightly lit, hung several exquisite silk shirts.
Banxia stopped her bike and stared at the familiar style of shirt in the window.
"So that's the brand Senior Ling Dong wears. Xiao Lian would look good in one of those," she glanced at the price tag and sighed regretfully, then continued on her way. "Too expensive. I'll have to stick to Taobao1 for him."
A gust of wind blew as she pulled up in front of Ying Jie's building. She hopped off her bike, collected a package from Ying Jie, and hurried upstairs.
As soon as she entered her room, she held up the package excitedly. "Xiao Lian, Xiao Lian, look what I bought you!"
Xiao Lian crawled out of his terrarium, looking slightly dejected.
Banxia opened the package and revealed a set of men's pajamas, holding them up for Xiao Lian to admire. The material was soft and comfortable, though the pattern was a bit loud.
"Sorry, it was on sale. But it's modal fabric, so it's very comfortable," Banxia spread out the pajamas for Xiao Lian to see. "Now you don't have to steal clothes from our neighbor anymore."
The little gecko slowly crawled over to her, looked up at her for a moment, then rubbed his head against the pajamas.
The price tag happened to fall out, and he saw the amount.
He knew Banxia's financial situation. The pajamas had probably cost her all her spare cash.
The little black gecko didn't say anything. He silently dragged the folded pajamas to his terrarium and curled up on top of them.
When Banxia came out of the bathroom after her shower, she noticed the curtains were slightly parted. Xiao Lian had snuck out again.
The new pajamas were neatly folded by his terrarium, with tiny footprints on them.
"He's so quick! I came home early so he could hear my new version of the piece," Banxia grumbled, her hair still damp, as she sat on the bed, leaning against the wall, and began to practice Zigeunerweisen.
The intro was meant to be played on the piano, introducing the melancholic theme, followed by the mournful violin melody. Then, the piano and violin would play together, ushering in the winter blizzard.
But now, only the lonely sound of the violin echoed in the small room.
Banxia leaned against the cold wall, imagining the piano accompaniment in her head.
I wish someone could play the piano part for me, she thought.
As she reached the end of the intro, the violin's mournful melody reaching its peak, the moment of shattered dreams, a clear piano melody joined in, seemingly from behind the wall.
The piano music was hesitant at first, then grew steady and powerful, supporting the violin's melody. Even when Banxia, in the second movement, added her own improvisations and embellishments, the pianist kept pace flawlessly.
Banxia's violin was old, bought years ago with her mother's hard-earned savings.
The piano next door wasn't a million-dollar Steinway, but a simple, second-hand electric keyboard.
But the steady piano accompaniment followed the soaring violin melody, the two instruments intertwining, rising together like they had rehearsed countless times, complementing each other perfectly, creating a powerful and moving performance.
Downstairs, Ying Jie, engrossed in her mahjong game, paused, listening to the music, memories of her own wandering youth surfacing.
Across the hall, the online novelist, struggling with writer's block, suddenly slapped his thigh, inspiration striking as the music flowed, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
On the top floor, an artist, overwhelmed by deadlines, pushed aside his drawing tablet, stood by the window, and lit a cigarette, listening to the music.
Long after the music ended, Banxia's heart still soared, unable to come down to earth.
Such a perfect duet was a rare and precious thing.
When she finally came back to her senses, the wall behind her was cold and solid again.
Silent and still.
After a moment of thought, she changed her clothes and went next door, knocking politely.
But the door remained closed, the room inside dark and silent, offering no response.
Perhaps the famous Senior Ling Dong had just been in the mood to play and didn't want to be disturbed.
I won't bother him then.
Banxia thanked him through the closed door and returned to her own apartment.
1. ^ Taobao (淘宝): A popular Chinese online shopping platform.
Comments
Post a Comment