51 | African Drum
You finally know what the Milk Way is.

The candlelight shined onto Pang Qian’s youthful face. In front of her, Gu Mingxi closed his eyes and made a wish. Then he opened his eyes and blew out the candles.

His cla.s.smates all cheered out as Pang Qian cut the cake. Each student and teacher all got a piece. After the cake was distributed, she fed a piece to Gu Mingxi. In front of so many people, Gu Mingxi felt a bit embarra.s.sed. But with Pang Qian’s glimmering eyes staring at him, he finally opened his mouth and ate the cake off the fork.

Pang Qian giggled as she asked, “Does it taste good?”

Gu Mingxi looked a bit bashfully. He nodded, “Yeah.”

Pang Qian was very pleased, “We did a good job acting! You didn’t suspect anything at all, right?”

Gu Mingxi, “…”

Zhou Nanzhong pat Gu Mingxi’s shoulder. “Bro, sorry about earlier when we sprayed you with the water guns. It was Crab’s rotten idea.”

“Rotten idea?! If we didn’t do that, how could we trick Gu Mingxi to go to his room on his own?!” Pang Qian said with dissatisfaction. “All of Gu Mingxi’s and my birthdays have been during summer break, so we’ve never celebrated with cla.s.smates before. It just happened that this trip happened at the same time as his birthday (on the Western calendar). So of course, I had to help him celebrate.”

w.a.n.g Song teased her, “Crab, since you care so much about his birthday, during our bonfire party later, you should dance for Gu Mingxi.”

Pang Qian scoffed at him, “Fine, it’s just a dance. Who’s scared of that?”

After dinner, the staff lit up a bonfire in an open area and put on some music. The group of students sat down around the fire, and Jiang Zhiya, who was the arts and literature committee member and had a beautiful voice, led the group in a song.

A lot of people sang along with her. Later on, the music became more cheerful and several students bravely stood up, held hands, and danced together around the fire. As they danced, more people joined them. Even Teacher Dai was dragged in by Jiang Zhiya.

Since Pang Qian sat in the corner of the room and her grades were at the bottom of the cla.s.s, she wasn’t very close with the rest of her cla.s.s, just like when junior high first started. The people she was most friendly with were probably Zhou Nanzhong, w.a.n.g Song, and her physical education partner, Li Xiaoyan. But at that moment, against the light of the fire, seeing both the familiar and unfamiliar faces, Pang Qian felt very touched.

Most of Cla.s.s 2’s students would continue on to the advanced cla.s.s, except for eight of nine students, who would be split up into other cla.s.srooms. After this summer break, they’d go their separate ways. This might be the only time in their lives that they cross paths. Pang Qian turned to look at Gu Mingxi beside her. He sat with his knees up, chin on his knees, watching everyone else singing and dancing. As the flames danced and sparkled in his eyes, a slight smile on his lips, Pang Qian suddenly felt a tug at her heart.

She stood up and dusted off her bottom. “Gu Mingxi, let’s dance together.”

Gu Mingxi lifted his head to look at her, his eyes filled with uncertainty. Pang Qian pat his shoulders, “Get up, we’ll dance together.”

Gu Mingxi didn’t refuse again. He stood up and together with Pang Qian, walked into the circle of people. Pang Qian turned with the music and smiled as she said, “Come on, let’s dance. It’s easy.”

There was a very strong beat to the music, and everyone was holding hands and kicking their legs around. Gu Mingxi watched them, but he really didn’t know how he should dance.

Pang Qian stood beside him and without an explanation, she wrapped her left arm around Gu Mingxi’s waist. Then she grabbed onto Li Xiaoyan, at the end of the line. Gu Mingxi suddenly felt like he was pulled to the side by Pang Qian, and then they were kicking their legs out.

One, two three, kick out the left foot. One, two, three, kick out the right foot.

At first, Gu Mingxi just walked along after Pang Qian, mechanically. But after a bit, he finally tried kicking a bit. Pang Qian was elated seeing him start to dance. Pang Qian smiled at Gu Mingxi, a particularly joyful smile, with her hand still around her waist.

Gu Mingxi’s face reddened again. Fortunately, because of the fire, everyone was covered in sweat and no one took note of his emotions.

At some point, a drum started sounding with the music. The drum sound was very particular as well. Sometimes it was low and solemn, and other times, it was exciting and rousing. The calm air would suddenly be filled with an explosive sound. Like the other students, Pang Qian turned back to search for the source of the sound, and then realized that it was Xiao Yujing playing the drum.

Her small frame was carrying a drum, though it wasn’t very big. The drum body was like a trophy. There were drawings on it and some rope around it as well. Xiao Yujing hit the drum with her palms, her head swaying to the beat. The way she looked was very strange.

Pang Qian felt that Xiao Yujing was really too mystical, drumming as if intoxicated. She suddenly raised her eyes and met Pang Qian’s gaze. Xiao Yujing smiled and then closed her eyes and continued to beat the drum.

As Xiao Yujing drummed on, Teacher Dai and Jiang Zhiya joined hands to make an archway. All the students lined up and walked through the “doorway.” The moment that Xiao Yujing’s drum stopped, Teacher Dai and Jiang Zhiya brought their hands down to catch a “fish.”

Though it was a game of their childhood, everyone had fun playing. Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi naturally partic.i.p.ated as well. The whole time, Pang Qian rested her hands on Gu Mingxi’s waist, pushing him as they played. Their luck was good though, as they were never caught. The “fish” who got caught had to put on a performance. A tide came when w.a.n.g Song was caught. He cleared his throat and suddenly turned to Li Xiaoyan, shouting out, “Li Xiaoyan! I like you! Will you go out with me?”

Li Xiaoyan’s face turned completely red from embarra.s.sment. All their cla.s.smates grew lively. Teacher Dai was young and didn’t think this was the time to combat the students’ fervor. So she just told w.a.n.g Song, “You’ll be in my cla.s.s again next semester. When the time comes, I’ll deal with you!”

Pang Qian watched the scene unfolding and shouted out loud with the crowd. Then she leaned over to Gu Mingxi to gossip, “I’ll bet with you, Li Xiaoyan won’t agree to it.”

Gu Mingxi asked, “Why?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

The boys started whistling and clapping, and the girls egged Li Xiaoyan on to agree. Li Xiaoyan didn’t dare to state her position about it with Teacher Dai present, so she just turned and ran off.

Pang Qian said quietly, “See, I was right.”

As everyone hissed and booed, Gu Mingxi asked Pang Qian curiously, “How were you so sure?”

Pang Qian naturally whispered into his ear, “Li Xiaoyan told me before that she liked you.”

Gu Mingxi, “…”

Pang Qian started laughing. She looked up and saw that the staff was here to put out the fire, so she knew it was nearly time to head back to their rooms.

She made the most of the time left and dragged Gu Mingxi over to Xiao Yujing. Xiao Yujing was carrying her drum to leave when Pang Qian asked, “Xiao Yujing, that’s a drum, right?”

“Yeah, it’s called a djembe. It’s a type of African drum. I brought it along when I came back to China.” Xiao Yujing pat the face of the drum and it sounded with a boom, crisp and pleasant. “I heard there would be a bonfire today, so I brought it along. After we came back here, I’ve never had a chance to play it, since it would disturb the neighbors.”

Pang Qian’s eyes were filled with envy. “Can I try it once?”

“Of course.” Xiao Yujing brought the drum over to Pang Qian. Pang Qian said, “It’s kind of heavy.”

“Yeah, it’s made of wood.” Xiao Yujing helped her to put it on. Seeing Gu Mingxi, who’d been standing beside Pang Qian, she said, “Crab, try it out.”

Pang Qian tried using her hand to hit the drum face. Boom boom, boom boom, boom boom boom. “It’s so much fun,” she said. “Really, it’s so interesting.”

“Do you like it?” Xiao Yujing flicked her fingers. “I’ll give it to you.”

Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi looked at her, dumbfounded.

Pang Qian scrambled to return the drum. “Aiya, don’t joke around. I’m just intrigued by it. It’s a drum you brought back from abroad.”

Xiao Yujing didn’t mind. “I knew you wouldn’t accept it. Actually, I haven’t played the drum in many years. This drum doesn’t have any meaning for me. If you don’t want it…” She suddenly turned to Gu Mingxi. “Why don’t I gift it to Gu Mingxi then. Today’s your birthday, so this is a birthday present. It’s old, so I hope you don’t mind.”

The drum was still in Pang Qian’s arms. Xiao Yujing hid her hands behind her and looked at the two of them with a smile. “Okay then. It’s so hot out. I’m going back to shower and sleep. I’ll go first. Goodnight.”

When she finished speaking, she went back to the guest house.  Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian looked at each other. Then Pang Qian lowered her head back to the drum in her arms. After staring for half a day, she said, “Gu Mingxi, you didn’t thank her.”

Gu Mingxi, “…”

“I still feel that this isn’t quite right.” Pang Qian felt awkward. “How about I go return it to her later?”

Gu Mingxi thought for a second and then shook his head. “No need. The drum, you can have it.”

“Me?” Pang Qian was very startled. “Xiao Yujing said that it was a gift for you!”

Gu Mingxi stared at her. “What use would I have for a hand drum?”

“It would make a decent display too.”

“I think… Xiao Yujing really doesn’t care about it,” Gu Mingxi said. “She knew I would give the drum to you. And you really like it.”

Pang Qian frowned, “Please, I don’t like it that much…”

She thought, Xiao Yujing really was an odd girl.

The students trickled back to the guest house. Pang Qian carried the drum and walked back together with Gu Mingxi.

The leaves on the trees rustled in the wind. Pang Qian looked up at the vast sky that was hard to see back in the city. She suddenly brightened up and pointed upward, “Look, the Milky Way!”

Gu Mingxi looked up and smiled. “You finally know what the Milk Way is.”

“I asked Xie Yi,” Pang Qian said proudly. “He printed out some pictures for me to see and told me which part was the Milky Way. The computer at his house actually comes with a printer. In color too.”

Gu Mingxi’s face turned sour.

Pang Qian didn’t notice though. She happily continued, “By the way, Gu Mingxi, did you know? Next semester, I’ll be in the same cla.s.s as Xie Yi again!”