abnormal
Lin Ting's overall state at work fluctuates based on his mood when he leaves home in the morning. Today, he watched the beginning of the video that told Zhao Qinfeng's story before leaving home, and a slight sadness welled up in his heart, along with a subtle discomfort of being interrupted. So he was a bit sullen all day, and when he saw the workload, he couldn't smile at all.
During her lunch break, Lin Ting turned on her phone and found that she had received a message from Zhao Qinfeng.
Zhao Qinfeng said he was wearing short sleeves and shorts and was sweating profusely, and he missed the coolness of Haicheng.
Lin Ting reached out through the slightly ajar window to confirm that the north wind in Haicheng still felt like a knife, and quickly took a screenshot of the real-time temperature from the weather app and sent it to Zhao Qinfeng.
Lin Ting said, "Here's a picture for you. Take it and adjust the temperature where you are."
Zhao Qinfeng sent him an ice pop that had fallen to the ground and looked utterly gruesome. He said there was a problem with the insulated box that the staff had brought out, so the ice pops were already half-melted. When someone was eating them, they fell to the ground and were now sunbathing on the concrete.
Lin Ting paused for a moment to mourn over the popsicle, then asked, "Are you recording a show outside?"
Zhao Qinfeng said yes, they were given boxed lunches and they had to rush to the next recording location after eating.
The two stopped their conversation there and went about their own business.
After getting off work, Lin Ting returned home, opened the video and continued watching. Zhao Qinfeng finished singing that song, followed by clips of him on various stages, big and small. The dates were thoughtfully marked in the upper right corner. At first, there was only one every few months, but gradually it became one every month.
The video was edited up until last month. Lin Ting took a look and found that the latest stage was the first episode of "Sound Spreads Far and Wide". In a fleeting shot, Lin Ting saw himself as a blurry block of color.
It seems he missed out on so many years of Zhao Qinfeng's past, but was fortunate enough not to have missed out completely.
After the video ended, the screen went black, revealing Lin Ting's face. Although it was just a blurry shadow, it jolted Lin Ting awake, and she suddenly felt liquid sliding down her cheek.
He reached out and touched it, realizing it was tears streaming from his eyes.
Zhao Qinfeng finished recording the program in the middle of the night. On his way back to his hotel, he turned on his phone and saw a message from a video app.
He thought it was some kind of promotional message, but upon closer inspection, he found it was "Your special attention, Lin Ting, is live streaming."
He looked at the time in disbelief; it was 1:32 a.m. Before he could even take out his headphones, he immediately opened Lin Ting's live stream.
Someone next to him was resting with their eyes closed. Their phone was on silent, and when you opened the live stream, you could only see Lin Ting's computer screen, which had a music software client open.
At this time, there weren't many people watching the live stream online. Many viewers, like Zhao Qinfeng, clicked in with a blank expression and commented: "Host, host, why are you listening to music here so late at night?"
Hey streamer, why do you keep listening to the same person's songs?
Zhao Qinfeng took out wired earphones from his bag, connected them to his phone, and put them on. He didn't hear Lin Ting's voice; instead, he heard his own.
Strictly speaking, it was singing; Lin Ting was listening to his singing.
Zhao Qinfeng was restless, unable to speak or comment. He felt a secret joy, but also a sense of bewilderment. Lin Ting's behavior was very unusual, which puzzled him greatly.
If Lin Ting were listening to it privately, it would be perfectly normal, because Zhao Qinfeng knew that Lin Ting had a very wide music library and listened to everything in the Chinese music scene. He would also occasionally listen to a particular singer's songs on his own. But listening to it like this on a live broadcast was a first for him.
Why did Zhao Qinfeng know? Because Zhao Qinfeng watched Lin Ting's live stream. If he had time, he would watch it directly; if he missed it, he would watch the replay. He had never seen Lin Ting listen to music like this in a live stream, especially in the early hours of the morning, and even listening to his own songs!
Zhao Qinfeng listened to the song playing with Lin Ting with great amusement. He remembered that the song was released last week, but half a year had passed since it was recorded, so it sounded a little unfamiliar to him, although he still remembered the tune.
Fortunately, Lin Ting didn't let him suffer any longer. Instead, after the song finished playing, he paused the stream and brought up the interactive panel to take a look.
"You're asking me why..." Lin Ting's voice was a little hoarse.
Lin Ting realized that her voice was not in good condition, so she seemed to turn her head to clear her throat, deliberately avoiding the microphone, and may have even covered it with her hand. The little sound that came through sounded muffled.
Zhao Qinfeng heard him continue, "I just suddenly wanted to listen. If you can't sleep, you can listen here too."
Zhao Qinfeng thought to himself, "What a flimsy excuse. You've never done a live stream like this before."
Although he was complaining in his heart, Zhao Qinfeng still watched it. Even after arriving at the hotel, he didn't turn off the live stream. He just put down his phone, but the sound of the live stream was still playing in his headphones.
After returning to his room, he took out his phone and continued watching. After listening to five songs, Lin Ting yawned, paused the stream, brought up the interactive panel, and said, "The host is sleepy, so I'll say goodnight to everyone..."
His voice stopped abruptly, whether due to network issues or something he saw, it was unclear. Zhao Qinfeng was also feeling sleepy and couldn't immediately tell.
However, Lin Ting immediately replied, "Good night, I'm logging off now. See you all in the video."
The live stream ended, Zhao Qinfeng closed the app, took his phone to charge, tidied up, washed up, and went to bed.
Lin Ting was so sleepy he was about to bang his head on the table when he suddenly saw "Frosty Leaf" in his viewing list, and his words were interrupted.
He turned off the live stream using muscle memory, and, despite feeling sleepy, mumbled, "He saw me listening to his song."
Lin Ting was naturally aware of the abnormality in her current state and in this live stream, but she did not want the person who caused this abnormality to notice it, so she did not even plan to leave a replay of this live stream.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Qinfeng still saw it.
However, there's no point in dwelling on this now. He was too tired to think about it anymore, let alone confirm it with Zhao Qinfeng.
He shut down his computer, slowly moved himself to bed, and quickly fell asleep.
Lin Ting woke up with a splitting headache, but the alarm clock had already rang once and was about to repeat itself. Today was another grueling workday. Lin Ting struggled to get up, turned off the alarm, and staggered off to wash up.
Zhao Qinfeng hadn't messaged him yet, which was understandable; Zhao Qinfeng might have just seen the live stream and clicked in to take a look, and might not have found Lin Ting's behavior unusual. Lin Ting felt a throbbing pain in his head, and even after he entered the company and sat down at his workstation, the sharp pain hadn't subsided.
He planned to take a nap during his lunch break, even if it was just to get some rest, it would at least make him more energetic in the afternoon.
However, just as he leaned over his workstation, he heard footsteps that had clearly become lighter. Lin Ting prayed silently: Please, please, it's not someone looking for me...
The footsteps stopped, clearly coming from beside him. Lin Ting felt a tap on his shoulder, resignedly raised his head, and turned to meet the other person's gaze.
The person who came was his team leader, who asked him to come outside to talk.
Lin Ting followed the other party to a small conference room nearby. The team leader casually found a seat and gestured for Lin Ting to sit down nearby as well.
The team leader said, "Lunch break is precious, let's finish quickly. We have several new employees this year, and the company has high hopes for them. We hope to encourage them with performance-based rewards."
Lin Ting nodded. Hearing such an opening, he could guess what was going to be said next with his eyes closed.
"But we have performance requirements, so you might have to make do this year."
What followed was a barrage of promises and patient persuasion, which made Lin Ting quite tired, and he frequently lost focus.
The team leader noticed that Lin Ting was distracted, but didn't care and quickly finished saying what he wanted to say.
Lin Ting noticed that the team leader had finished speaking. Looking up at the team leader, she noticed that he looked quite haggard. Lin Ting had been working with this team leader since he joined the company and knew that he was a good team leader who didn't make things difficult for his team members. Today's words must have been out of necessity, and ultimately it was the people who set these performance targets who were at the top who were responsible for the problem.
Lin Ting had long since become indifferent to performance evaluations and had no objections, so he nodded again.
After the team leader finished speaking those platitudes and empty words, his tone suddenly changed, and he said in a low voice, "I tried to persuade the leaders above, but there really was no way."
Lin Ting felt her head throb even more, but she still patiently said, "Everyone has their difficulties, team leader, you've worked hard."
The team leader said, "There will probably be layoffs again soon. Although I don't think you're likely to be laid off, you should still find a way out for yourself."
Lin Ting knew the other party meant well, so she sincerely thanked them, but the two did not continue the conversation on this topic.
He returned to his workstation and lay down again. Some people around him were already asleep, and the sound of snoring in different tones could be heard. Lin Ting was used to this kind of ambient noise, but at this moment his head was really throbbing, and he couldn't help but feel a little irritable. However, he didn't want to do anything else, so he continued to lie down and close his eyes to rest.
When Lin Ting woke up at the end of her lunch break, she vaguely realized that she had fallen asleep in a flash and had developed a stiff neck in a very short time.
The dislocation in his neck and the dislocation in his mind tormented Lin Ting, but he stubbornly endured until he finished work. Considering his physical condition, Lin Ting unusually took a taxi.
"Taking a taxi for such a short distance? Young man, you're not in good health!" the driver commented, glancing at him.
Lin Ting had no intention of arguing with the other party; she simply smiled weakly and said nothing.
After returning home, he finally recovered from his work and slumped weakly on the sofa, too lazy to even turn on the living room lights.
Winter in Haicheng is naturally cold. The houses shielded the city from the howling winds, but they couldn't keep out the pervasive damp chill. Lin Ting felt very cold; the cold seeped through his skin and into his bones.
After lounging on the sofa for a while, Lin Ting realized that the chill he felt was not right. He got up, walked to the wall, and accurately pressed the switch for the living room ceiling light. He squinted to adjust to the brightness for a moment, then rummaged through the cabinet and pulled out a thermometer.
He flicked the mercury down, tucked it under his left armpit, then slumped back down, took out his phone with his right hand, turned it off silent, and opened a music app.
The software popped up a notification saying that a song was playing on the computer client and asking if he wanted to continue playing it on his mobile phone.
He clicked confirm and turned up the volume on his phone's speaker.
This is the next song he didn't listen to during yesterday's live stream; it's still by Zhao Qinfeng.
Five minutes had passed since the song ended, and the phone automatically started playing the next one. Lin Ting ignored it, took out a thermometer, squinted, and read out the temperature.
"37.5 degrees Celsius, it seems like a slight fever..." Lin Ting murmured.
He shook the thermometer again, put it away and put it back in its place, then took out his usual medicine from the drawer next to him.
His long-term solitary life enabled him to take good care of himself in this state, but this minor illness was not difficult to deal with. What was difficult to deal with was the psychological state affected by the poor physical condition.
After taking his medicine, he washed up briefly and went to bed.
It was still early, and the effects of the sleeping pills were clashing with her biological clock, so Lin Ting didn't go to sleep right away. Instead, she casually scrolled through her phone.
The music was still playing; Lin Ting didn't turn it off because the sound gave him a vague feeling of being accompanied.
It seems that I'm not lying here alone in this rented house, feeling quite uncomfortable all over, but rather that someone is with me.
Zhao Qinfeng suddenly sent a message, with the first few words displayed in the pop-up window: "I think I still need to ask...".
Lin Ting clicked on the pop-up window, which automatically redirected to their WeChat chat interface.
Zhao Qinfeng posted: I think I still have to ask, were you in a bad mood yesterday?
As Lin Ting listened to Zhao Qinfeng's songs while looking at the messages he received, he suddenly felt that he was no longer satisfied with just listening to Zhao Qinfeng's songs, but wanted to hear the other person's voice even more.
He sent a message: "Are you available for a voice call now?"
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