ask
Zhao Qinfeng sighed silently in his heart, and finally moved to the bedside and lay down on the other side of the bed.
The slight indentation in the bed caused Lin Ting to lean slightly closer to Zhao Qinfeng.
Lin Ting supported herself with her hands and then lay back down.
"I turned off the lights?" Zhao Qinfeng reminded him.
"Um."
With a "click," the room went dark. For a short while after the lights were turned off, Lin Ting was in complete darkness, but the breathing around him was quite distinct.
Once Lin Ting's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he was still able to make out the outlines of things nearby.
The sound of fabric rustling could be heard, and Lin Ting felt the blanket on her body move.
Zhao Qinfeng pulled the covers up, turned to face Lin Ting, and asked softly, "Why are you in a bad mood?"
Lin Ting turned to the side, met Zhao Qinfeng's gaze in the darkness, and replied, "It's... still the same thing."
Zhao Qinfeng reached out and hugged him. "It's okay, go to sleep."
Lin Ting let out a barely audible sigh and hummed in response.
He really has trouble sleeping when he's in a bad mood, but he doesn't know whether talking to another person will help him sleep better or spread his insomnia to others.
Fortunately, the outcome was the former; he fell asleep soon after, and his breathing gradually became longer and slower.
Zhao Qinfeng was still awake. He reached out and stroked Lin Ting's forehead, as if trying to soothe his worries and sorrows.
However, he fell asleep soon after and slept soundly through the night.
The next morning, Lin Ting was the first to open her eyes and found herself lying on Zhao Qinfeng's pillow.
Zhao Qinfeng was still sleeping on his side, facing Lin Ting, and his sleeping face was not disheveled.
Lin Ting leaned in and kissed Zhao Qinfeng's eyes. When she realized that Zhao Qinfeng was still asleep, she quietly withdrew from his embrace, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom in her room to wash up.
When Zhao Qinfeng woke up, he saw Lin Ting sitting cross-legged next to him looking at her phone. She was still wearing her pajamas, but it seemed that she had already washed up.
Lin Ting quickly noticed Zhao Qinfeng's dazed look and turned to look at him. "Awake?"
Zhao Qinfeng nodded, then turned over and hugged Lin Ting's waist.
"It tickles!" Lin Ting laughed as he reached for Zhao Qinfeng's arm around his waist, his voice already a little shaky.
"Don't take the pillow away, okay?" Zhao Qinfeng asked.
Lin Ting said helplessly, "Actually, when I woke up today, I was already sleeping on your pillow. It seems like my pillow doesn't really need to exist."
Zhao Qinfeng insisted on keeping the pillow, so Lin Ting let him have his way.
Zhao Qinfeng got up and went to wash up. When he came back, he saw Lin Ting still looking at his phone. He went over and exchanged a sticky good morning kiss with him.
Lin Ting seemed to be in a good mood, letting Zhao Qinfeng kiss and hug him, and then showing him things on his phone.
Zhao Qinfeng looked at it and saw that it was a Weibo post about the results of the preliminary rounds of the competition.
"The preliminary selection results are out, and Chen Taining passed too!" Lin Ting said.
Zhao Qinfeng also has high hopes for Chen Taining's creative abilities, so he was not surprised to hear that Chen passed the audition.
With nothing much to do today, the two of them cooked some food at home. In the afternoon, Zhao Qinfeng played the piano with Lin Ting for a while, and even joined in on a four-hand duet, occasionally taking the opportunity to grope him while giving him pointers.
Lin Ting went to bed early that night and slept in Zhao Qinfeng's bed again; nothing happened between them. However, Lin Ting woke up groggily in the middle of the night and heard Zhao Qinfeng open the door and come in. He quietly lay back down on the bed, his body still slightly damp and cool. Lin Ting vaguely snuggled up to him, feeling a little uncomfortable hugging the body next to him.
Zhao Qinfeng was inwardly groaning, but dared not make any big movements that would wake Lin Ting completely. He could only let the other person unconsciously grope his body with tears in his eyes.
The next day, Zhao Qinfeng got up, picked up his luggage, and left. Lin Ting ate breakfast and watched him leave.
"Bye-bye, I wish you all the best in your work." Lin Ting waved to Zhao Qinfeng.
“You too. I’ll be back in a few days!” Zhao Qinfeng said.
Lin Ting continued to stay at home, waking up in Zhao Qinfeng's bed every morning. He suddenly realized that if he continued to sleep here, he might end up sleeping in this bed more often than Zhao Qinfeng himself.
The show he had previously participated in was nearing its end, and Lin Ting checked it out; the final episode was airing tonight.
At 8 p.m. sharp, he sat down in front of his computer and found the latest episode on a video streaming platform.
He wondered why these shows weren't on the same platform, and why watching the latest episode almost always required a video membership, so he reluctantly subscribed to a membership here when he first started watching the show.
Although a week or so has passed since the recording, Lin Ting still vividly remembers many scenes from that time. When the cameras panned across them during the scoring, everyone's expressions were indifferent, seemingly aloof, conforming to a certain professional stereotype.
He sighed and continued reading.
When the final result came out, Lin Ting didn't really want to watch anymore. He reached out and closed the playback interface, then opened the backend of his own video account.
Some of his friends who follow him also followed the show, and they asked Lin Ting in the comments section if he could talk about the scoring or something.
Lin Ting didn't want to talk about it, nor did he dare to. If it were in the past, seeing such a score, he might have given it a score himself and made some unpleasant comments.
But when he actually learned the intricacies involved and became part of the composition of those scores, he fell silent.
When Lin Ting saw the comments saying "there were problems with the final stage scoring," she thought to herself, "It's not just the final stage that's problematic; there have been problems since the auditions."
He didn't reply, only saying that he wouldn't comment on the ratings, but would just pick some stages that he found interesting to make a video about.
Perhaps silence is also a form of response, and some people guessed that there was more to the story. Lin Ting, as usual, did not reply and completely shelved the topic.
He turned his thoughts to the recent preliminary results.
According to the subsequent arrangements, the works that pass the preliminary selection will be displayed in categories, and a public vote will be opened next week, which will account for 10% of the score in the subsequent stages.
The judging process after the preliminary rounds is not complicated. There is a break in between, followed by the final judging. Ultimately, they will select three gold awards, five silver awards, and ten bronze awards from the entries that passed the preliminary rounds. The gold award winners will receive further collaborations, while the silver and bronze award winners will receive prize money and help with networking.
The current public review process can also be considered a way to gain exposure. Even if some works do not win an award in the end, they may still have the opportunity to be seen by a company or musician who is destined to see them at this stage.
There is another message from Hu Ming.
[Hu Ming: Xiao Chang and I are in Haicheng on a business trip. We thought we'd stop by and have a meal with you. Is that convenient?]
[Lin Ting: If it's convenient, give me a time, and I'll arrange the restaurant.]
To make things easier for him, Hu Ming gave him all the free time he had for meals.
Lin Ting quickly found a suitable restaurant, made a reservation, and sent the relevant information to Hu Ming.
A few days later, the three met at a restaurant and sat at a table by the window.
Although strictly speaking, Lin Ting and Hu Ming had only met a few times and mostly collaborated online, and Lin Ting and Chang Zhiyuan had only met for the first time since the last meeting, Lin Ting and Hu Ming had collaborated quite a bit, and Chang Zhiyuan was a very outgoing person, so the three of them got along very well.
During the conversation, Lin Ting suddenly asked, "If I publicly stated that Jinghu and I are the same person, would there be any negative consequences?"
Hu Ming turned his head, exchanged a glance with Chang Zhiyuan, then turned back to Lin Ting and said, "Let Xiao Chang analyze this for you; he knows more about this area."
Chang Zhiyuan looked somewhat troubled. "Well... I think it's clearly more harmful than beneficial."
Lin Ting didn't show any obvious emotion upon hearing this, and simply asked, "It's nothing, but I'd like to ask why?"
Chang Zhiyuan waved his hand, "No need to be so polite, I'll just explain briefly. Teacher Lin, you've always been straightforward online. Although your comments are always 'objective, not personal,' focusing on the work itself, people don't really like you. It's because very few people can consistently receive praise from you, and very few people are constantly attacked by you. So, fans of certain singers have a rather complicated attitude towards you, mostly thinking 'it's better to avoid trouble.' And among those who follow you, besides some who just look at the technical analysis, there are also those who are just looking for fun and those who are waiting for an opportunity to retaliate."
Lin Ting thought Chang Zhiyuan's judgment was very accurate and nodded.
Chang Zhiyuan further analyzed the general online perception of Jinghu, saying, "As a lyricist, he receives relatively little attention, but there are still people who pay attention to him. After all, in Chinese music, people do pay attention to the quality of lyrics to some extent. There are many popular songs under Jinghu's name. Although the reason for the popularity is usually the singer or composer, you will receive corresponding attention and 'associated' attention that is not of your own volition. For example, if you have written many lyrics for a popular singer, people may call you 'so-and-so's go-to lyricist,' even though the lyrics you wrote for the songs sung by that singer are only a small part of your many works."
Lin Ting continued Chang Zhiyuan's analysis: "So as a music critic, I am a lonely person, and generally no one pays attention to me. But as a creator, I am often mentioned together with others. These two situations are completely different, which means they are destined to be difficult to integrate."
Chang Zhiyuan snapped his fingers. "Yes, that's it."
Lin Ting nodded, "Thank you, what you said makes a lot of sense, it has dispelled my idea."
Hu Ming asked curiously, "Why do you want to reveal your identity? Isn't it obviously more harmful than beneficial? And you've insisted on staying behind the scenes for so many years, why do you want to come out now?"
Lin Ting shook his head. "It was just a momentary lapse of judgment, and it's just a thought. There's still a long way to go before I actually do it. That's why I came to consult someone knowledgeable as soon as I had a hint of it."
Chang Zhiyuan scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly.
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