More than two hours later, Qiu Xing's body moved. Xie Yang quickly locked his phone, hid it under his pillow, closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

The mattress moved, and then Xie Yang found that Qiu Xing's arms around him loosened, and then his hair on his forehead was brushed away. After a few seconds, I felt an itch on my lips.

Xie Yang opened his eyes and said, "Rat."

“…”

Qiu Xing leaned back stiffly, met Jie Yang's gaze, and tried to stand up with his arms.

Xie Yang quickly caught Qiu Xing and turned the tables.

The atmosphere was on the verge of getting out of control again.

Xie Yang pinched Qiu Xing's ear.

Qiu Xing's Adam's apple slid rapidly, and he finally couldn't help it. He raised his hand to hold down Jie Yang, and turned over to "bully" him. Xie Yang noticed Qiu Xing's unusual behavior, and decisively stepped back and got out of bed, put his clothes in order, and said to Qiu Xing: "I still have to take pictures of Qin Cheng's dress and accessories, so I'll have to go first." After saying that, he picked up his things coldly, turned around and strode away.

Bang!

The door is closed.

Qiu Xing remained half-leaning on the bed in the same position as when he was pushed away by Jie Yang. He raised his hands to cover his eyes, took a deep breath, and pounded the pillow.

"… a vengeful villain!"

…

Xie Yang did hold a grudge, and not just once.

While eating breakfast, Xie Yang suddenly asked, "Are you busy today?"

Qiu Xing was absent-minded while eating breakfast. He had been secretly looking at Jie Yang. When Jie Yang spoke, he thought he was being casual, but in fact, he put down his chopsticks a little quickly and said, "I have some documents to review, but it's not too busy. What's up? Do you want to go somewhere to play? I can--"

"You're free, so let's go and complete the divorce procedures this afternoon."

“…”

Qiu Xing slowly reached out his hand, took out a tissue and wiped his mouth, then changed his sitting position and said, "I remembered... we haven't visited mom for a long time. Let's go to the nursing home after we're done today. This is a good opportunity to tell her that I'm getting treatment. Let's talk about the divorce later. I'm done eating." After saying that, he stood up and left, as if he was afraid that if he walked a step slower, Jie Yang would drag him to the Civil Affairs Bureau for a divorce.

Xie Yang deliberately raised his voice: "Not today, then tomorrow..."

Qiu walked faster and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Xie Yang stopped talking, finally feeling relieved, and smiled.

After breakfast, Jie Yang went to Yangxing and held a brief meeting with the company's top executives, and then had a private chat with Qin Cheng after the meeting.

"The trending search you sent me was gone when I woke up to check, and the musician's estimated Weibo post had also been deleted."

Xie Yang was surprised: "Deleted?"

"Well, I guess it was someone from Xue Xian's side who did the PR. This hot search is not good for you or Xue Xian. It's not a stupid way to praise one and criticize the other. It's probably bought by a few other award candidates besides you. I have a guess."

Xie Yang actually had some guesses, so he motioned for Qin Cheng to sit down and said, "You go ahead."

Qin Cheng sat down and did not speak immediately. Instead, he considered for a moment and said, "Xie Yang, you are a newcomer. You may not know that many awards in the industry are not entirely based on merit."

It seems that their guess is the same. Xie Yang asked: "Do you suspect someone bought the prize?"

Qin Cheng smiled and said, "Bringing a smart artist is really a lot easier. Yes, I suspect someone bought the award. That trending search was obviously intended to stir up a conflict between you and Xue Xian, giving everyone the impression that the award must go to one of you. But if the award is not won by you, you will become the object of public ridicule, and the winner will be instinctively considered by the public to be more talented than you."

He further said: "If the public opinion leads a little further, they can also make news that the winner is more focused on art, more low-key, and loves music more than you. Accuse you and Xue Xian of being too utilitarian, label your music as secular, catering to the market, or other weird labels, so that some blind listeners think that listening to your music is secular. This is what singers fear the most. Throughout history, many excellent singers have been labeled with various low labels and gradually struggled out of the circle."

This behavior is called impression murder and is very common in various art industries.

Xie Yang seemed to be thinking about something and did not speak.

Qin Cheng continued, "Jie Yang, you haven't released your first solo album yet. If you are labeled badly at this time, your new album will definitely be overshadowed. Although you can wait until the album comes out and speak with your strength, in the process of speaking with your strength, you will more or less lose some impression points of passers-by."

Xie Yang asked: "Who are the other candidates for the award?"

"Ge Zhuo, Yu Yiyi, Tang Xiaoshu, Mao Mo. Yu Yiyi and Mao Mo are full-time composers behind the scenes. They don't participate in the disputes between the singers, so they can be ruled out. As for the remaining Tang Xiaoshu and Ge Zhuo, Tang Xiaoshu is a female singer with a fresh style. She has been in the industry for eight years. There is no need for her to imply you and Xue Xian. So, Ge Zhuo."

Qin Cheng took out his phone, opened a page for Jie Yang to see, and said, "He and Ji Zehui are from the same period. He is 37 years old this year and has opened his own studio. His voice is not very good, but his ability to compose is good. When he first debuted, he was hailed as the leader of the new generation of singers. He and Ji Zehui competed openly and secretly for a long time. At the beginning, he developed better than Ji Zehui, but later his composing ability became worse and worse, and he was gradually left behind by Ji Zehui."

Xie Yang picked up the phone and saw a photo of a man on the page. The man had a very difficult to control tramp-like decadent hairstyle, and wore a modified version of ethnic costume. He looked gentle, with a melancholy temperament, and was very...literary.

"This year is the first time that Ge Zhuo has been nominated for the Golden Melody Awards again after a four-year hiatus. Prior to this, he had been nominated for Best Composition twice but missed the trophy twice. As the saying goes, three times the limit, he must be getting anxious."

Xie Yang found the song that Ge Zhuo was nominated for this year and listened to it. He said, "He should be anxious. Just looking at the quality of this song, even if Xue Xian and I weren't there, he definitely wouldn't have won this year's award."

Qin Cheng was amused and asked, "Then how do you want to deal with this matter? What if he really buys the prize?"

"No big deal. Let him buy it, and then spread the word about it to give him some popularity. From now on, go collect evidence of Ge Zhuo buying the award. If you need connections, go find Ji Zehui. He has them."

Qin Cheng was surprised and asked, "Don't you want this award? Your nominated song is "IUD", and the possibility of winning is very high. You won the best composition in your first year of debut. Many people would not dare to dream of this starting point."

Xie Yang raised his eyebrows and corrected Qin Cheng's statement: "The boss of Yangxing is my starting point. I never took the things they fought so hard for seriously. And this year, I don't need this award."

…

At noon, Jie Yang went to Rongding to have lunch. Halfway through the meal, Feng Qinglin suddenly called him. Xie Yang answered the call, turned on the hands-free mode, and asked, "What's going on?"

Qiu Xing, who was sitting next to Xie Yang, looked at Xie Yang's phone and frowned when he saw Feng Qinglin's name flashing on it.

Feng Qinglin's voice came out, saying: "Where did you get that photo?"

"I saw it on Weibo. Someone ran into Mu Zhouyi while traveling to City M."

"They were really careless." Feng Qinglin's tone was unexpectedly calm, and even a little sarcastic. "The people I asked took more detailed pictures. They actually stayed in the hotel for a whole day."

Xie Yang said bluntly: "Send me the photos you took."

"I can give it to you, but I hope you won't release the photos for now. Feng Qingbai's fiancée Fang Jia wants to wait until she breaks off her engagement with Feng Qingbai before releasing the matter."

"Have you contacted Fang Jia?"

"Yeah. You're right, she's a very good ally."

Quite obedient.

Xie Yang smiled and hung up the phone as requested by Xia Feng Qinglin.

"You and Qinglin are in frequent contact?"

Smells like vinegar.

Xie Yang looked at Qiu Xing. Qiu Xing, however, did not look at Jie Yang, but lowered his eyes to drink water. Xie Yang picked up his chopsticks and picked up a piece of candied apple for Qiu Xing, saying, "Eat more sweets and drink less vinegar, it's good for your health."

Qiu Xing's face turned dark, and he reached out and pressed Jie Yang's head in anger.

…

In the next two days, Qiu Xing avoided Li Yang's inquiries about divorce by using the excuses of being "too busy" and "not feeling well and not wanting to go out".

On the day Xie Yang was about to leave, the tension around Qiu Xing had been low since he woke up, and it did not ease until he sent Xie Yang to the airport.

Before getting off the bus, Qiu Xing handed Jie Yang a small bag of medicine and said, "Frequent flying to different places can easily cause acclimatization symptoms. In the future, take less jobs that require flying around. Your health is more important."

Xie Yang then understood why Qiu Xing was in such a bad mood no matter how he tried to comfort him. He carefully put away the medicine bag and said, "I will pay attention and make sure the fever won't get higher again."

Qiu Xing reluctantly relaxed his brows, reached out and touched Jie Yang's face, and suddenly said, "About divorce... We'll talk about it next time you come back."

Xie Yang paused and nodded.

A few hours later, Xie Yang set foot on the land of W City. Qiu Xing booked a presidential suite for him in advance at a high-end hotel under Rongding and sent a driver to pick him up.

Xie Yang arrived at the hotel comfortably, and then immediately began to dress up in preparation for attending the dinner tonight.

Qin Cheng said: "The official award ceremony will be held tomorrow afternoon. Today is the pre-ceremony banquet. Many senior industry veterans and senior investors will be present. It is a good time to develop personal connections. Ji Zehui and Tong Jian arrived earlier than you and are staying in another hotel. They will come here to meet you in a while, and you can act together with them."

Xie Yang nodded.

"There is some news that might interest you." Qin Cheng sat down next to Jie Yang and said, "Mu Zhouyi will also attend the pre-banquet tonight. She is here with Yuan Pang."

Xie Yang couldn't help but look at Qin Cheng, and then his face was immediately straightened by the makeup artist. He simply stopped moving, looked at himself in the makeup mirror, and said, "You came just in time. I was just curious about what kind of change Chen Yan mentioned about the change in Mu Zhouyi."

He could also take this opportunity to try out what effect the supernatural power would have on Mu Zhouyi.