Chapter 87 I've never believed in fate, but I'm willing to believe...

A quiet sense of happiness filled the room. The two embraced without any lust, simply feeling each other's heartbeats and presence, as if this night was no different from any other day before.

...No, there are still differences.

Fang Xin's romantic mind suddenly went offline. This is Shanghai, not Guangzhou.

He pushed Jing Yitong away and touched his face: "Don't you have to film a movie tomorrow?"

Jing Yitong nodded: "I need to get ready at ten o'clock. I booked a flight for seven o'clock, so I'll make it in time."

"Is this something that can't be done in time?" Fang Xingu gritted her teeth and rubbed his face hard a few times. "Are you crazy? With such a rush, you even made a special trip to Shen City just to see me."

Jing Yitong, shameless as ever, squeezed in and hugged Fang Xingu again, sniffing his neck. After smelling the familiar scent of orange blossom, he felt much calmer and comfortably pulled him into his arms: "Yes, it's just to see you. I just want to be by your side."

Fang Xingu felt sorry for him running back and forth like this, so she deliberately put on a stern face and said, "You're going through too much trouble like this."

Jing Yitong thought to himself that this wasn't the first time he had done something like this. Last year, he even flew from Yan Province to Shen City to see Fang Xingu's concert. He never felt that doing this kind of thing was a hassle.

Back then, Jing Yitong could still be content with just a glimpse of Fang Xingu from afar, but now that's no longer possible. If it weren't for work, he would want to be inseparable from Fang Xingu every day.

He said, "I won't make a fuss. Besides, I calculated the time and made sure I had enough time before coming. It won't interfere with my work or my time to see you."

Fang Xin Gu could no longer hold back his emotions. Who could refuse their lover flying over a thousand kilometers just to see them briefly at night?

Fang Xingu smiled helplessly, not wanting to say anything more to him, and instead said, "Fine, then I'll go back to Suizhou with you tomorrow."

Jing Yitong was surprised by this unexpected joy. After a moment of bewilderment, he revealed a smug look: "Really? You're not going to care about Xu Subo anymore?" Sure enough, in Fang Xingu's eyes, he was definitely much more important than Xu Subo!

Fang Xingu cupped Jing Yitong's face, tilted her head slightly, and placed a precise kiss on his lips: "Let's not worry about her. She has her own things to deal with in the next few days. I've already helped her as much as I could. Let's go back together so you won't come looking for me in the middle of the night again."

Jing Yitong hugged Fang Xingu and exchanged a long kiss with him: "Xingu, I love you so much."

After the two finished their lovemaking, Fang Xingu touched Jing Yitong's stomach and asked, "Have you had dinner yet?"

"I just ate something on the plane."

Fang Xingu pressed Jing Yitong's shoulder and turned him 180 degrees, pushing him towards the shower room: "Then you go take a shower first, I'll see if there's anything in the refrigerator that I can make for you."

Jing Yitong obediently went to take a shower. Fang Xingu rummaged through the refrigerator. He hadn't been back to this house in Shen City for quite a while, and there was no fresh food in the refrigerator at all. In the end, he could only take out a frozen steak from the freezer. This was something he had stocked up on when Wang Jinxu was hospitalized, but he hadn't had time to eat it since.

It was late at night, and Fang Xingu didn't want to make things too complicated. Besides, he remembered that Jing Yitong had to stick to losing weight while on set, so he simply pan-fried the steak.

When Jing Yitong came out of the shower room, still damp with sweat, she saw a plate of grilled steak on the dining table, while Fang Xingu was watching TV in the living room.

Jing Yitong sat down next to Fang Xingu with a plate in hand and found that Fang Xingu was watching a popular music variety show called "The Voice of China". Their "old acquaintance" Tan Zhi also participated in the show.

Jing Yitong swallowed a mouthful of beef and asked, "Have you been watching 'The Voice of China' lately? I think it's produced by You Zhicheng."

"Yes, it's him."

Fang Xingu's gaze remained fixed on the television screen. Jing Yitong was somewhat curious. In his opinion, none of the singers on the show could match Fang Xingu's singing skills, and he wondered what it was about the show that attracted Fang Xingu.

Jing Yitong subconsciously glanced at Fang Xingu a few more times out of the corner of his eye. He quickly noticed that whenever the camera switched to Tan Zhi, Fang Xingu would unconsciously furrow his brows.

At this moment, Tan Zhi on stage is promoting his new song, which has been gaining momentum recently. Jing Yitong often hears staff members humming it on set, and Zhiyu seems to have invested a lot in marketing, claiming that this song is another masterpiece by Tan Zhi after "Please Listen to His Defend".

During the program, Tan Zhi held up the microphone and said, "Quan Jin's rendition of 'Above the Wilderness' was excellent. Compared to my original version, you were more meticulous in handling the details... but the only drawback was that the voice lacked thickness, making the overall performance seem a bit thin."

He Quanjin chimed in beside Tan Zhi, "Yes, I realized this a few days ago during rehearsals. It's not easy to sing this song well, especially the emotions. The more we practice, the more we can appreciate how amazing Teacher Tan is. But my natural talent is definitely not as good as Teacher Tan's, hahaha."

As a middle-aged singer with considerable talent, He Quanjin's singing skills are quite good, but his weakness lies in his average vocal quality. When Tan Zhi, as a senior, pointed out his sore spot, He Quanjin could not refute or lose his temper on the spot, so he could only force a smile and agree with him.

It took Jing Yitong a while to understand the meaning of the program: "So this episode features He Quanjin singing Tan Zhi's 'Above the Wilderness,' and now Tan Zhi is commenting on He Quanjin's performance?"

Fang Xingu: "Yes, this music variety show is where the guests adapt each other's songs and then the original singers give their comments live."

Jing Yitong said with interest, "This You Zhicheng is something else. He even came up with such a cunning program format."

Guests might offer polite, perfunctory comments to each other out of politeness, but no one can control what the audience says.

If you sing well and arrange things well, the audience will naturally applaud you. But if your singing skills and arrangement abilities fall behind even slightly, the audience will ridicule you mercilessly, calling it a terrible piece of writing, a poor sequel, or showing off your skills in front of Guan Yu.

With increased traffic comes increased popularity, which explains the high level of discussion surrounding the show recently.

Fang Xingu stared intently at the television: "Yes, I'm going to record 'New Voice' in a while too."

Jing Yitong paused in his forking of steak, surprised, and asked, "You're going too?"

"Yes, Yu Zhicheng invited me a few days ago, but I don't have enough time, so I'll probably only go to one episode."

After Fang Xingu finished speaking, he noticed that Jing Yitong was looking at him with a strange expression. He chuckled and said, "Why are you making that face? Are you afraid I won't perform well and will be criticized by netizens?"

Jing Yitong fed Fang Xingu a piece of steak, which Fang Xingu obediently took a bite of. Only then did Jing Yitong say, "Of course not, I'm sure I trust your abilities. I just thought of..."

Seeing the hesitation in Jing Yitong's expression, Fang Xin guessed what he was thinking and mumbled while chewing his steak, "Tan Zhi?"

Jing Yitong chuckled: "Yes, you know what I'm thinking?"

This time, the hesitant look shifted to Fang Xingu's face: "I know you must have sensed the discord between me and Tan Zhi, and I know you must be guessing the reason behind it, but I'm not ready to tell you yet."

Jing Yitong thoughtfully finished the last bite of his steak. He placed the plate on the coffee table, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and asked, "So this matter is still related to me?"

Fang Xingu truthfully replied, "It is related."

"Okay, then I'll wait until you're ready before I speak."

Fang Xingu threw herself into Jing Yitong's arms, pressed him down on the sofa, and then rubbed against his neck in a coquettish manner: "Then you have to promise me that you won't be angry when you find out the truth."

Jing Yitong held Fang Xingu as they lay on the sofa, pinching the back of his neck, and laughed, "No, you're making me nervous. Can you tell me what it's about first?"

Fang Xin buried his face in his shoulder and whispered, "In short, I did something I thought was for your own good."

Jing Yitong gently stroked Fang Xingu's hair: "You're thinking of me, how could I be angry? Is it because the ending is bad?"

Fang Xingu pondered for a moment before replying, "No, the ending is good for you."

Jing Yitong keenly sensed the unspoken meaning in his words: "That is, it will affect you."

Fang Xingu's voice grew softer as he spoke: "I suppose so."

Jing Yitong's mind raced as he recalled all the major and minor events that had happened since his debut, trying to figure out if any of them could be related to Fang Xin Gu and Tan Zhi, but he couldn't come to a conclusion no matter how hard he thought about it.

Even the connection between Jing Yitong and Tan Zhi is very small. If we exclude the brief contact during the episode of "The World Is So Big" where they were guests, the only song Jing Yitong can recall is "Please Listen to His Explanation".

At this moment, Jing Yitong suddenly remembered that Fang Xingu had said before that he had actually written a song for him, but when he asked him for the song, Fang Xingu made up an excuse to brush it off, which was actually very strange.

From an angle that Fang Xin could not see, Jing Yitong frowned. Thinking of Jiang He's matter some time ago, a thought popped into his mind—no way.

.

June arrived in the blink of an eye, and the temperature gradually rose. Guangzhou had entered the height of summer. As the latter half of the month approached, the day when Jing Yitong finished filming was getting closer and closer, and Fang Xin's first solo album "Contradiction" was about to be officially released.

A week before the release, Fang Xin finally received the first batch of physical albums that had been produced. He planned to sign them and give them to the behind-the-scenes staff, as well as some friends and seniors.

So when Jing Yitong got home from work that day, he saw Fang Xingu engrossed in signing albums. Most of the signatures were personal, with a few short blessings and thanks, but they were clearly very sincere.

Jing Yitong sat quietly next to him for a while, and seeing that Fang Xingu was too busy to pay attention to her, she said sourly, "...Isn't there any for me?"

Fang Xingu had been holding back his laughter for a long time, but when he heard Jing Yitong say this, he raised his head and tapped Jing Yitong's head with the pen: "We can't forget anyone else."

After saying that, he took out a gift box that he had prepared in advance from the drawer next to him and handed it to Jing Yitong: "The first one is of course for you."

Jing Yitong's expression finally brightened. He couldn't wait to open the outer packaging and see what signature Fang Xingu had written for him, but he was extremely careful with his hands, clearly not wanting to damage even the packaging Fang Xingu had given him.

Unexpectedly, Fang Xingu had wrapped it up quite tightly. Jing Yitong carefully tried to unwrap it for a while but still couldn't open it. He muttered to himself, "There's no need to wrap something so well if it's given to me."

“Of course, a gift for your boyfriend needs to be wrapped up more carefully,” Fang Xingu said with a smile. “Or should I help you unwrap it?”

Jing Yitong quickly refused: "No, I want to dismantle it myself."

A moment later, Jing Yitong finally opened the gift. Inside were two albums, one on vinyl and one on CD. Jing Yitong opened the CD first and saw Fang Xingu's autograph inside.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't a signed autograph, but rather a cartoon-style drawing.

The drawing depicts two little people and a puppy that insists on squeezing in between them. Fang Xingu, as expected of someone who can carve wood by hand, actually has pretty good drawing skills. The whole Q-version drawing looks warm and cute, and you can tell at a glance that it is a drawing of the two of them and Quan Quan.

Jing Yitong was so fascinated by it that he would look at it with his head down for a while, then hold it up to his face to look at it, and after a while he couldn't help but look at it in the light: "What a happy family of three."

Fang Xingu leaned over to look at him and joked, "I thought you would find the circle superfluous."

Jing Yitong kissed Fang Xingu on the cheek: "It is a bit in the way, but considering that it is my good son and your good brother, I will allow it to appear in our family photo."

Fang Xingu smiled and pointed to the vinyl record below: "There's another one below."

"You wrote two copies for me?" He had been watching for so long, but he noticed that Fang Xingu only wrote one blessing for everyone else.

"Yes, of course I'll put more effort into preparing this for you."

Jing Yitong hurriedly opened the vinyl record again, but this time he didn't see a painting, but rather a line of elegant handwriting left by Fang Xingu—

I've never believed in fate, but I'm willing to believe in our destiny.

Upon first seeing this sentence, Jing Yitong felt a slight tremor in his heart. He pondered the sentence repeatedly: "I have never believed in fate, but I am willing to believe in our destiny." This sentence fits him and Fang Xingu so well.

Neither of them believed in fate, which is why they made one surprising choice after another at the crossroads of life. Yet, fate seemed to have destined them to know and accompany each other. Even after experiencing some hardships and setbacks, they still firmly fell in love.

If life must be "predestined," then Jing Yitong believes that this must already be the best arrangement.

Jing Yitong carefully stroked the line of words, his heart overflowing with joy. He looked up at Fang Xingu again to confirm, "So I'm the first person to receive your album?"

Fang Xingu smiled and propped her chin on her hand as she looked at him: "You have to be the first one."

Jing Yitong took out his phone with a bit of smugness and took pictures of the autographs and chibi illustrations on both albums. Then he selected the chibi illustration and posted it on Weibo, saying in a lighthearted tone, "I have to show this off."

Fang Xin had never been able to do anything about Jing Yitong, so he could only indulge her and say, "Then send it."

So Jing Yitong quickly edited the blog post and sent it out:

@JingYitong: [Sunglasses] Who is the first person on the entire internet to receive the "Contradiction" album? [Image] ×2

Someone quickly commented: "I knew they'd show it off once they started dating... [smile]"

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Author's Note: If all goes well, it should be finished in about ten more chapters. [cat emoji]