Chapter 10 Love Letter: Is it her, or her?

The next morning, An Kejia noticed that Zhou Yu hadn't gotten up yet, so she went over, patted the corner of the blanket, and whispered, "Zhou Zhou, get up quickly, we're about to assemble."

Zhou Yu tilted her head slightly and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "I think I've caught a cold, so I probably can't go."

"Huh?" An Kejia tried to touch her forehead with her hand, but she was too short to reach it. "Did you catch a cold? It's definitely gotten colder today."

Hearing the noise, Fan Xin came out of the bathroom and asked, "Are you sick?"

“Okay.” An Kejia stepped back and said, “Then you should get some rest. I’ll talk to the class monitor for you.”

"Thank you, Jiajia," Zhou Yu said softly.

After the two finished packing and left the dormitory, Zhou Yu sat up in bed, picked up his phone, and saw that there were many messages in the class group. The class monitor was urging everyone to hurry up and meet at the school gate to get on the bus.

She did not catch a cold.

If it were yesterday's version of herself, she would have been willing to join the class team building activity, get to know her classmates, and build good relationships. But after the results of the word contest were announced, Zhou Yu knew without guessing that if she appeared in front of everyone today, she would definitely become the focus of everyone's attention.

Zhou Yu was overwhelmed by the questions about the lyrics, the relationship between the two, the bonus, and so on.

She chose the safest and least thoughtless method: to hide.

After getting up, Zhou Yucai noticed that the indoor lighting was dim. When he went to the balcony, he saw that the weather outside was gloomy with scattered dark clouds, a sign that it was about to rain.

I checked the weather forecast on my phone, and it showed that today is cloudy with a very low probability of rain.

Zhou was about to go to the cafeteria for breakfast after washing up when his phone on the table rang a few times; he had received a message on WeChat.

She took a washcloth and dried the water droplets on her face. She walked to the table and immediately saw that it was a message from Chen Jingchi.

Chen: Are you free today?

Chen: [There are a few parts of the lyrics that need discussion.]

Zhou paused, saying he would discuss the details later last night, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

She replied: 【I'm free, is there a problem?】

Chen: [No problem, it just needs some adjustments to match the music.]

Fearing he might misunderstand, Zhou asked, "Has the music been written?"

Chen: [Hmm]

ah?

Zhou Yu glanced at the time; it was 8:25 a.m.

He finished writing the piece so quickly?

What speed is that?

Comparable to the speed at which she writes lyrics in one night? Is she that competitive?

Just as Zhou Yu was in a daze, a new message popped up.

Chen: [If you have time, please come to the music club's rehearsal room.]

Zhou Yu: [Okay, I'm coming over now]

Chen: [No rush, I'll be here all day.]

With his words of relief, Zhou Yu tidied herself up and headed to the cafeteria as planned.

*

"You called Zhou Yu over?" Zhuo Wencheng asked curiously as he sipped his soy milk. "Brother Chi, what kind of person do you like?"

“I saw their entrance photos yesterday,” Zhan Li interjected. “They look like the kind of girls you see in every class in high school.”

Zhuo Wencheng's interest was piqued: "How so?"

"Did you have any girls in your high school class who didn't participate much in group activities, had a low profile, but were exceptionally good at academics and were fair-skinned?" Zhan Li extracted a few keywords and said, "I heard that Zhou Yu got in through the general education entrance exam; she's a true academic star."

"Now that you mention it, I can picture it." Zhuo Wencheng checked the admission scores for undergraduate programs at Jiangxi University of Media and Communications this year and gasped, "Holy crap, I never even dreamed of such high scores."

Zhan Li leaned over for a look, while Zhuo Wencheng was still puzzled: "If she has the ability, why did she come to Jiangchuan?"

"Who knows? I guess other majors won't be easy to choose?" Zhan Li guessed.

"Wait a minute, you can deduce so much from just one photo?" Xu Yue looked at Chen Jingchi with skepticism, "Really?"

Chen Jingchi listened to their conversation without saying a word. When asked, he simply gave a lazy "hmm" and said, "More or less."

"Really?" Zhuo Wencheng clicked his tongue. "That's so boring."

"What kind of interesting thing do you want?" Zhan Li asked.

In the middle of the conversation, the door to the rehearsal room was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and a girl with pigtails carrying a guitar rushed in. She froze on the spot when she saw who was inside.

"So fast?!" Zhuo Wencheng's eyes widened instantly. "You came through a teleportation portal?"

Neither of the other two had ever met Zhou Yu before, so to avoid any misunderstanding, Chen Jingchi, who was sitting in the middle, had to speak up: "What do you want?"

Meeting his cold gaze, the girl panicked: "Ah, I'm sorry, I thought this rehearsal room was empty..."

Chen Jingchi's voice was devoid of emotion: "We've made an appointment."

"I'm sorry to have bothered you." The girl smiled apologetically, then quickly left and closed the door.

A few seconds later, Zhuo Wencheng reacted the most: "See? Girls who blush are so cute."

“What does blushing have to do with it?” Zhan Li cut him off with one sentence. “I think you just have a special fondness for pigtails.”

Xu Yue added, "Next time there are cockroaches in the dorm, call him."

Zhan Li happened to have a keyboard nearby, so he raised his hand and played a few notes, then sang in a serious tone: "Pure↗Love→Cockroach↘Hot~Hot~Hot~"

"Get out of here!" Zhuo Wencheng feigned a minor breach of defense.

All three were laughing, except for Chen Jingchi, who remained aloof.

His gaze fell on the door, recalling the expression on the girl's face when she apologized for going to the wrong door—embarrassment, nervousness, helplessness, and a desire to escape.

That's a normal reaction to feeling awkward in front of strangers.

Looking back at the time I met Zhou Yu the day before yesterday.

The first time she saw him after getting on the wrong bus, and the first time she met him after her lyrics were selected, she was unusually calm.

It even makes one wonder if she was born lacking the ability to perceive emotions.

Chen Jingchi was very curious: could there really be people in the world with such strong insensitivity?

*

After breakfast, Zhou Yu found the exact location of the music club on the school's official WeChat account, but the map did not indicate where the rehearsal room was.

Zhou tried to find his way around the first floor but failed, so he had to ask Chen Jingchi for help.

Zhou Yu: [I'm on the first floor]

After the message was sent, the other party quickly replied, "Wait a minute."

Several student union plaques were displayed at the stairwell, featuring introductions to various student organizations. They were probably leftovers from the recent "Hundred Clubs Campaign." Zhou Yu glanced at them; the vivid descriptions perfectly matched her pre-enrollment expectations of university life.

Having escaped the intense pressure of high school and entered a completely unfamiliar environment, Zhou Yu thought she could try to get rid of the shadows that brought her pressure, accept new things, and make up for the shortcomings in her personality. However, when she really immersed herself in it, she found that the habits formed over a long period of time could not be changed in a short period of time.

Just like today, when I pretended to be sick and missed the class team building activity.

It's not that there aren't better ways, it's just that humans are animals tamed by experience. When it comes to solving problems in the safest way, no one wants to face unknown risks.

Zhou underestimated the extent of his rigid thinking.

The sound of rhythmic footsteps echoed in the empty hall, each step seeming to strike Zhou Yu's heart as it drew closer. She looked up and saw a figure appear at the corner of the stairs.

Upon seeing her, Chen Jingchi stopped, stood at the corner, and called her name.

Zhou Yu followed him upstairs. She thought Chen Jingchi had called her over so that the two of them could communicate better. However, when she entered the rehearsal room and saw three boys sitting inside, she was clearly stunned for two seconds.

Chen Jingchi introduced her: "This is our band."

Zhuo Wencheng was the first to stand up from his stool and greeted them, "Hello, I'm the bassist, just call me Xiao Zhuo."

"My name is Zhan Li," Zhan Li introduced briefly, "and I'm a drummer."

Xu Yue, holding a guitar in his arms, said: "I am Xu Yue, Yue as in Yueshan."

"Hello, I am Zhou Yu." After Zhou Yu finished speaking, his gaze fell on Xu Yue's face in the middle.

The last time I saw them was on the stage of the welcome party. At that time, Zhou Yu was too far away, across the entire auditorium, and couldn't see the band members' faces clearly at all.

Zhou Yu was unsure whether her arrival would cool down the atmosphere. The girls could still manage to blend in, but she had almost no experience interacting with boys and was unsure how to get along with Chen Jingchi's friends.

Fortunately, after the introductions, the boys started talking about other things and stopped paying attention to her.

Zhuo Wencheng frantically typed exclamation marks in the four-person chat group.

Zhuo Wencheng: [You guys didn't say she looked like this???]

Zhan Li: [What's wrong?]

Zhuo Wencheng: [With looks like that, why doesn't she study acting?]

Zhan Li: [Don't act like you've never seen a girl before, that's over the top.]

Xu Yue: [His girlfriend is the most beautiful in his eyes]

Zhan Li: [That's really true]

Zhuo Wencheng: [You also think it's just so-so? @Xu Yue]

Xu Yue: [Don't tag me, tag Chen Jingchi]

Chen Jingchi didn't look at his phone and didn't know what they were chatting about in the group. He sat down at the keyboard and handed her the printed lyrics and sheet music: "Let me go through the piece with you first."

Zhou Yu took the paper and sat down on a soft stool not far away. The sheet music was already written on it, but she had never studied music and could only listen to it.

Chen Jingchi played a simple chord and sang the song from beginning to end.

With the simplest accompaniment and his most distinctive youthful voice, he gave new meaning to each of the words she wrote in the dead of night when she was sleepless, words that had been silent for a long time.

Each sound carries a vibrant life force, giving concrete form to the pulse of the words.

Let this night's performance no longer be a solitary celebration.

Zhou Yu looked up and could see Chen Jingchi's profile. His nimble fingertips seemed to dance on the black and white keys; this was the second time she had seen him sing and play the guitar.

Compared to the unreachable distance of the last time, this time she was entitled to sit beside him and witness the birth of their new work together.

As Chen Jingchi's powerful high notes gradually emerge in the chorus, Zhan Li adds drumbeats to enhance the song's richness and completeness with just two instruments.

In just one or two days, everything changed dramatically. Zhou Yu hadn't had time to adjust to her new identity, and she was still listening to his singing from the perspective of a listener.

Chen Jingchi knows exactly how to interpret this song, and the lyrics tailor-made for him have finally found their most suitable home.

The last note ended crisply, and Zhou Yu was still immersed in the emotions she had just experienced. It wasn't until Chen Jingchi turned around to look at her that the moment their eyes met, it was as if a hand had forcefully pulled her drifting thoughts back into her mind.

“This is the melody of the whole song,” Chen Jingchi said. “The second verse has a key change and some adjustments to the lyrics. See if you can add a few words.”

Zhou Yu looked at him and asked, "Which sentences were adjusted?"

"I sang the extra words twice, didn't you notice?" Chen Jingchi paused for a second, then asked again, "You weren't listening to me sing carefully?"

The tone of the two questions remained unchanged. Chen Jingchi himself may not have meant to interrogate, but the way he said it in his emotionless tone, coupled with his fierce expressionless face, made the listener take it to heart.

Zhou Yu didn't really listen to him sing. She was thinking about many things, about the past, the present, about him, and about herself, but she didn't focus on the lyrics at all.

Even though it was a situation where she was supposed to be working seriously, she was absent-minded. Zhou felt ashamed of herself for making such a basic mistake.

At this moment, Xu Yue joked, "I thought you were so nervous that you were stuttering because it was your first time singing to a girl."

"Go to hell." Chen Jingchi laughed and cursed.

Joking around was the norm, and the group laughed, easing the atmosphere slightly. However, Zhou Yu didn't dare to relax for a moment. She explained, "I'm listening to music."

With a lingering smile in his eyes, Chen Jingchi said, "Then what's your opinion?"

"I don't know much about music," Zhou Yu said honestly, without any intention of flattery. "I just think it sounds nice."

Perhaps Chen Jingchi felt better after hearing this, because he sang the changed parts of the song for Zhou Yu again. Zhou Yu hurriedly looked for a pen to mark the parts, but couldn't find one. A few seconds later, someone walked up to her and handed her a black pen.

Zhou Yu looked up along the arm, and Xu Yue smiled at her: "I always carry it with me, you can borrow it."

She reached out and took it, saying "thank you" to him.

Chen Jingchi didn't notice the background music behind him. He turned around after he finished singing and asked, "Did you memorize these parts?"

"Got it." Zhou Yu made marks on the lyrics page while moving the stool closer to him, and asked, "As long as the word count is right, it's fine?"

During their discussion, Zhuo Wencheng put his hand on Xu Yue's left shoulder, chuckled, and lowered his voice to say, "What do you mean, are you trying to curry favor with Brother Chi's people?"

"Borrowing a pen is considered currying favor?" Xu Yue turned his head to remind him, "You'd better not call him that in front of him."

"What's wrong?" Zhuo Wencheng sat down next to him, looked at Zhou Yu's profile, and asked, "Isn't this his type? He's so beautiful."

Xu Yue shook his head: "He doesn't eat the grass near his own nest."

*

More than half an hour later, the lyrics were almost finalized, and Chen Jingchi sent the lyrics and music to his agent.

The blank spaces on the lyric page in his hand were filled with notes. Zhou Yu noticed that the words on the paper were getting darker and darker. Just as he was wondering about this, "snap!" the surrounding lights came on.

Zhan Li stood in front of the switch and said, "It's getting dark outside, it's going to rain."

Zhou Yu looked up at the window. It was not even ten o'clock yet, but the sky was covered with dark clouds, blocking out most of the light.

"The weather forecast didn't say it would rain heavily," Zhuo Wencheng said, stretching lazily. "Shall we play pool this afternoon?"

"Okay." Xu Yue looked at Chen Jingchi and asked, "Is it all settled?"

"It's all set," Chen Jingchi replied.

Upon hearing his words, Zhou Yu stood up and returned the pen to Xu Yue, who casually tucked it into his breast pocket, unexpectedly receiving another thank you.

"You're welcome," Xu Yue said.

Zhou Yu hadn't brought an umbrella when she came, and fearing she would get wet in the rain, she said to Chen Jingchi, "I'm going back first."

Chen Jingchi turned around and asked, "Do you have an umbrella?"

Zhan Li glanced at the cabinet: "No, they were all taken last time."

It was their first meeting, and Zhou Yu didn't want to trouble them: "No need, it's not far."

After leaving the rehearsal room, Zhou Yu quickened his pace, gazing at the gloomy sky. He felt raindrops falling on his head, and as he looked up, they landed right below his eyes, carrying a cool, damp sensation.

The rain came without warning, and in no time, the raindrops, as big as beans, evolved into angry jade beads, which pelted down one by one.

The window was being smashed with a loud crash. Zhuo Wencheng quickly closed half of the window, glanced downstairs, and turned back to say, "It's raining way too fast. Zhou Yu will probably get soaked halfway there."

"Don't worry too much about the female classmates," Zhan Li said. "There's a free umbrella rental point in the building next door."

Xu Yue blurted out, "How did she know?"

Upon hearing this, all three fell silent.

Not long ago, Chen Jingchi personally went down to pick someone up. Zhou Yu isn't from a music academy, so this place is probably his first time here.

"Let's wait for the rain to stop." Zhan Li also walked to the window. "This rain comes and goes quickly."

Chen Jingchi picked up his phone from the side and made a voice call to Zhou Yu.

However, the other party did not answer the phone until the ringing ended.

Zhuo Wencheng happened to see the voice call automatically end when he walked over, and exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, she's got quite a personality. Who was the last person to dare to leave our Brother Chi hanging?"

"It was just yesterday, wasn't it?" Zhan Li suppressed a laugh. "Is it her, or is it her?"

A note from the author:

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