Fang Li had never sung before, and he didn’t even know what a nightclub was. The very concept was foreign to him. So, the first time Ding Haoyang brought him to Ximao Road, he had to crane his neck just to take in the gold-embossed sign glowing under the neon lights—Jinkai Entertainment Club.
“What… what goes on in here?” he asked.
“It’s where rich guys come to blow off steam.”
Music drifted out from inside, but the opulent, gold-lit lobby stood empty. Near the entrance, four hostesses held trays laden with drinks. Their qipao dresses were cut so short they barely skimmed their thighs. Fang Li only glanced once before quickly averting his eyes.
“Maybe… maybe this isn’t such a good idea…”
He turned to leave, but Ding Haoyang grabbed his arm. “Come on! We finally made it here! Look at this place—how fancy is this? Top-class! This is one of the best clubs in the city. Do you think they’d pay peanuts? I’m telling you!”
“But…”
Fang Li hesitated. Dressing up as a girl and singing—he’d already gritted his teeth and agreed to that. After losing so much money, he’d go even further if it meant earning it back. Hell, even if they made him dress like some genderless cartoon, he’d still do it—as long as the money was right.
But he hadn’t told Qin Weidong any of this. He’d made such a big deal about coming to the county just to attend night school. If Qin Weidong found out he was sneaking off to sing in a nightclub…
With his temper? He’d probably tear Fang Li limb from limb.
Seeing his continued hesitation, Ding Haoyang pressed on. “Fang Li, think about it. Three months and you could earn three thousand. Where else can you make that kind of money so fast? Even if you finish night school, the best you can hope for is a junior accounting job—what, a few dozen yuan a month? You’d have to work until you’re old and grey before you earn three thousand!”
…Crude as his words were, Fang Li couldn’t deny the logic. Qin Weidong had been swamped with work lately, and Fang Li had originally wanted to go to school so he wouldn’t be a burden. But now? It felt like he’d just become deadweight again.
And the truth was, ever since he’d left Chongsi, he hadn’t earned a single cent on his own.
He was always the one relying on Qin Weidong.
That couldn’t go on forever, could it?
Should he tell Qin Weidong?
The thought alone made him shake his head quickly. Tell him? That’d be a disaster. His gut told him Qin Weidong would never agree to this. No explanation needed.
But… to give up now, just to go back and keep muddling through that accounting course he’d already been half-heartedly attending for days?
Fang Li looked up at the nightclub’s sign. He rubbed his fingers together, recalling that strange, stirring feeling he’d had when strumming Ding Haoyang’s guitar the other day. Those melodies had lingered in his mind for days—a sensation he’d never experienced before, like a single drop of water falling on the tip of his heart, tickling, echoing through the stillness of the night. Unforgettable.
Ding Haoyang’s mouth was dry from all the talking, and seeing Fang Li frown and twist his brows like a tangled rope, he said, “Fang Li, if you really don’t want to do it, then…”
He had no reason to force him. If Fang Li refused, he’d just go back to performing at the small bar with his bandmates and try to find another way.
“I…” Fang Li hesitated for a moment, then seemed to reach a decision. “Ding Haoyang, I want to give it a try…!”
When Fang Li finally agreed, Ding Haoyang was overjoyed. He immediately dragged him to the band’s practice space—a basement beneath an old residential building. They rented it from one of the tenants upstairs. It was basically a storage room, with piles of leftover coal bricks from the winter scattered across the floor.
The other three band members were students from the neighboring arts school.
“Captain! This is the Fang Li I told you about!”
The band’s leader was a guy named Wu Ke, their drummer. He’d graduated three or four years ago and was the de facto big brother of the group.
Before Wu Ke could say anything, the blond kid beside him cut in, eyeing Fang Li up and down. Noticing his shabby, out-of-date clothes, he scoffed, “Ding Haoyang, you mean the one dressing up as a chick? Seriously, where’d you drag this country bumpkin in from?”
“Get lost!” Ding Haoyang barked, shoving the blond guy away.
Wu Ke, for his part, was quite polite. Seeing Fang Li was nervous, he reassured him that it was fine—they’d just play a tape at the club; he wouldn’t even need to sing live.
In the corner sat another boy strumming a guitar. He glanced at Fang Li when he came in but didn’t say a word. Fang Li greeted him, but the guy didn’t respond.
Ding Haoyang threw an arm around Fang Li’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, let me introduce you. This here’s Wu Ke, our band leader. He writes music and lyrics—solid guy, we all go to him when we’ve got problems. That blond just now? We call him San’er. And that moody, antisocial one over there is Chen Xin…”
Then he lowered his voice. “His family’s got money. He’s doing music behind their backs, just for fun. He doesn’t need to worry about cash—he’s not like us. That’s just how he is, don’t take it personally.”
Fang Li nodded, taking it all in.
The nightclub’s former female vocalist had been whisked away to Hong Kong by a wealthy patron, leaving the spot vacant. The assistant manager happened to be an old classmate of Wu Ke’s and had given him this opportunity. According to Wu Ke, they’d already found the new lead singer and told the band to come in the following Monday to try out for two days.
Early the next morning, the group pooled their money and went to the clothing market on Ximen Street to buy the cheapest women’s dress and a wig they could find. They brought everything back and had Fang Li try it on. They even called in San’er’s girlfriend, who worked at a hair salon, to do his makeup.
“Brother Ding, this whole plan is nuts. Fang Li’s a guy—just throw on a wig and a dress and he turns into a girl? If it were that easy, I’d have gone up there myself by now!”
San’er had spent the whole day running around the market. Sweaty and exhausted, he crouched on the ground in just a tank top, smoking a cigarette.
When Wu Ke first landed the gig and they heard it paid a hundred yuan a day, they were thrilled. But once they learned the singer had to be a woman, the money seemed to slip through their fingers again. Every one of them was ready to switch genders on the spot.
“Oh shut the hell up, will you? If he doesn’t work out, you think your mug will do? Go check yourself in a mirror! And what’s with your girlfriend—does she even know how to do makeup or not? She’s been in there forever!”
“Girls always take time. You want it faster? Go in and do it yourself.”
Yang San’er was notoriously unreliable, and nobody knew how good his girlfriend was either. Finally, a girl’s voice called out from the back room: “Almost done, almost done! Stop yelling already!”
Fang Li had been fussed over like a doll. He touched his lips and came away with a smudge of red. Tugging at the collar of the dress uncomfortably, he felt awkward from head to toe.
“Is this… okay?”
San’er’s girlfriend, sporting heavy smoky makeup and a cigarette between her lips, looked him over like she was admiring her masterpiece. “At our salon, we’re the best on the whole street. No one dares claim second place. Trust me—it’ll be fine!”
Fang Li glanced in the mirror and was startled—so startled he nearly didn’t recognize himself.
He stepped out of the room. The first person to see him was Yang San’er, still crouched on the floor.
San’er was mid-drag on his cigarette when he caught sight of Fang Li. His eyes went wide—round as saucers—and his gaze slowly climbed from the ankles peeking out beneath the hem of the dress, up past the neck, and finally landed on Fang Li’s face.
The wig was the cheapest model they’d found. It sat on his head clipped in place, with long, cheap black curls cascading down, covering most of his forehead and falling onto his shoulders. His face—pale and small—was framed perfectly. With false lashes and bright lipstick, the transformation was complete.
San’er’s cigarette flared. “Shit!” he yelped—it had burned his lips.
“Holy shit!! He actually looks the real deal! Ding Haoyang, get over here and look at this!”
There was no need for the shout—Ding Haoyang and Wu Ke were already frozen in place, staring. They hadn’t expected it at all. Fang Li… actually pulled it off. He looked that convincing as a woman.
It was hard to tell whether he was male or female!
“Damn, Huang Min! Your makeup really made it impossible to tell!” Ding Haoyang circled Fang Li, inspecting him.
Huang Min leaned casually against the doorway, quite pleased with herself. “I charge for this, you know. If you guys end up making money, I want a cut!”
“No problem!!”
That night, the group rehearsed the songs they’d be performing the next day. Fang Li sang along a few times and quickly got the hang of it. The first time, they didn’t even play the tape—he sang a cappella. Wu Ke raised his eyebrows slightly, clearly impressed.
“Didn’t expect your voice to be this good. And you’ve got a good sense of pitch, too—you can stay on key.”
If it weren’t for the “special” requirements of this particular job, with his voice and musicality, Fang Li might actually have made a decent lead singer with some training.
Fang Li smiled—and just then, caught sight of Chen Xin across the room with his guitar. Chen Xin had been watching him. When Fang Li smiled, he seemed startled and quickly looked away.
“Alright, then! Fang Li, I’ll make a copy of the lyrics for you—study them well. From tomorrow on, you’re the star of our band!”
“Hahaha, the star performer!”
Yang San’er burst out laughing nearby, and Ding Haoyang threw an arm around Fang Li’s shoulders. “Welcome to our Southeast-Northwest Band! Our big money days are right around the corner!”
Fang Li couldn’t help laughing at Ding Haoyang’s theatrical tone. The cloud that had been weighing on him for days started to lift a little.
……
Qin Weidong called the dorm four times in a row. The first three times, the dorm guards all said the person from room 603 wasn’t there. By the fourth call, it was nearly curfew. Fang Li had been staying at Ding Haoyang’s these past few days as the band worked out how to pull this whole thing off without getting exposed.
He dashed back to the dorm, panting, just in time. The guard uncle opened the glass window and called out, “Hey, 603! Phone call! Someone’s called several times asking for you!”
Fang Li ran over and picked up the receiver. “Qin Weidong?”
Only Qin Weidong would be calling him.
“Where were you? Why are you back so late?”
Qin Weidong’s voice carried a trace of anger. Fang Li explained, “…I went out with Qi Jian for a bit. We walked kind of far and lost track of time.”
Qin Weidong glanced at the clock hanging in the hotel lobby. Night classes ended at nine thirty, and it was just now ten. How far could he have possibly gone?
“You didn’t have class tonight?”
Crap… He’d been skipping classes to hang out at Ding Haoyang’s lately and had completely forgotten about that.
Fang Li didn’t know how to respond. On the other end, Qin Weidong could hear his faint, uneven breathing through the receiver.
“Fang Li, where are you calling from?”
Qin Weidong’s tone turned colder. Fang Li knew that meant he was truly upset.
Qin Weidong had always been the kind of person who wanted to keep an eye on him at all times. If Fang Li ever did anything—even for just a minute—without him knowing, Qin Weidong would throw a fit.
Even back when he’d still been the young master of the household.
Fang Li opened his mouth, but what came out was: “You finally manage to call me, and this is how you talk? Like you’re interrogating a suspect? Where else could I have gone?”
His evasiveness only made Qin Weidong more suspicious. He narrowed his eyes. “Fang Li, I’m asking you again—where have you been going at night these days?”
Fang Li had been holding in a lot lately—shameful things, stressful things. And now, hearing Qin Weidong press him like that, the frustration boiled over. He shouted into the phone, “I don’t want to tell you!”
He could handle it—he could deal with it on his own! Why did Qin Weidong have to pry?
As soon as the words left his mouth, Fang Li regretted it. He always lost control and dumped his worst emotions on Qin Weidong, even though all of this mess had been his own doing.
But he couldn’t help it. The whole world could laugh at him for being a failure—he could even despise himself—but not Qin Weidong. Never him.
There was silence on the other end. Fang Li gripped the receiver tightly. His gaze drifted to the dorm wall clock—it was already past ten.
Qin Weidong had always called during the day before, so he wouldn’t interfere with Fang Li’s night classes and rest. If he was calling this late now, it probably meant he hadn’t had a single moment free during the day…
“Qin Weidong, I…”
“The mine at Xiahe has finished extraction. Boss Xu is assigning Lao Fu to handle the follow-up. He paid me—thirty-five thousand.”
Fang Li lit up with surprise and joy. “Over thirty thousand? That much?!”
Compared to the profits the mine would eventually bring Xu Jianchuan, this was just a drop in the bucket. Qin Weidong gave a quiet “mm” over the line, then added, “When I get back, you’re quitting that night school.”
Axolotl Translations 
Leave a comment