Debt
Some time later, Zhao Qinfeng asked Lin Ting if he was the first friend Lin Ting had made in the entertainment industry.
Lin Ting thought for a moment and rattled off a string of names, including Wang Qiong.
"Did you meet Wang Qiong before recording that show?" Zhao Qinfeng asked, clinging to a sliver of hope.
"No, we met when we were recording 'The Sound Spreads Far and Wide.' We're all music critics, right? We were in the same dressing room backstage and sitting together on stage. Of course, we met earlier than you," Lin Ting said.
Zhao Qinfeng asked, "What about the others?"
Lin Ting said, "That's another story..."
Lin Ting woke up, turned to the side to pick up her phone and saw that there were still three minutes left before the alarm went off.
He turned off the alarm clock and got up to greet a new day—and a workday at that.
I made friends with Zhao Qinfeng a few days ago, and one of my original intentions for participating in the program was accomplished in a way that completely surprised him.
Of course, he couldn't have participated in the show just for this one thing; there was also the consideration of changing careers.
Even so, he continued to go to work as usual, since he hadn't reached the point of being fired or having to resign. Sometimes he even hoped that day would come quickly, because he was currently juggling multiple jobs, and if it weren't for his relatively good physical condition and the ability to work late, he would definitely be overwhelmed in the long run.
Lin Ting felt that he and Zhao Qinfeng had only truly become WeChat friends after their chat ended that night, not the night he hitched a ride with Zhao Qinfeng and his friends.
Of the people he added, many never spoke again after that, or occasionally sent a few mass-sent, aimless holiday greetings. Therefore, Lin Ting believes that the term "friend" on WeChat is too general, a rather useless category in terms of social categorization.
He started chatting with Zhao Qinfeng, and they had a back-and-forth conversation.
Lin Ting discovered that Zhao Qinfeng was someone who responded to messages very promptly.
It's unlikely that someone can be online all the time, but Zhao Qinfeng really manages to reply to messages as soon as he sees them, which Lin Ting greatly admires.
Perhaps influenced by the way Zhao Qinfeng replied to messages, Lin Ting gradually started contacting him more often, chatting about music, life, and complaining about bizarre things and strange people at work.
After getting to know Zhao Qinfeng, the image of an interesting "person" gradually formed in Lin Ting's mind. He originally thought he would need to slowly get to know Zhao Qinfeng, just like he had with other friends before. However, Zhao Qinfeng really hit it off with him, so Lin Ting quickly became familiar with Zhao Qinfeng.
However, if he had to explain, Lin Ting could come up with quite a few reasons.
First of all, he has been listening to Zhao Qinfeng's songs for nine years, so he has actually known Zhao Qinfeng for nine years. Moreover, seeing his words is like seeing him in person. Zhao Qinfeng read his music reviews many years ago, so in a way he also knew him when he was much younger.
Secondly, he discovered that Zhao Qinfeng really had ideas about music, not only in terms of singing technique, but also in terms of aesthetics. They were able to agree on many things, and even if they had different musical preferences, they could still have a lively discussion.
Finally, perhaps there really is such a thing as fate between people. Lin Ting admitted that Zhao Qinfeng is indeed different, so special cases need to be treated specially, and there is no need to stick to the norm.
He swallowed the last bite of the steamed bun, happily threw the plastic bag into the trash can next to the elevator, and took out his phone to clock in for work while waiting for the elevator.
After handing over his tasks to his colleagues in the next group and having a meeting, Lin Ting was finally able to sit down at his workstation and start working. He listened to a few songs during his lunch break after a long, busy morning.
It would have been better if he hadn't listened, because once he did, he knew he was in debt again.
"In debt" is what his followers call it, referring to the fact that Lin Ting writes an extra music review whenever he hears a song he particularly likes. His main job is really busy, so he writes music reviews in his spare time and also has to turn them into videos. His productivity often depends on the balance after deducting overtime and sleep at night. However, from another perspective, if he sees fewer songs that he can't wait to write a review for, he can have more free time to rest.
Lin Ting stared at the song he had just incurred, oh dear, it was sung by an old friend—it was Zhao Qinfeng again.
Although Lin Ting and Zhao Qinfeng haven't known each other for very long in real life, their singing voices are definitely like old friends. Even if Zhao Qinfeng's songs are played backwards, he is confident that he can easily recognize Zhao Qinfeng's voice by its timbre.
Lin Ting sent Zhao Qinfeng a "frustrated" emoji.
Zhao Qinfeng replied immediately: What's wrong?
Lin Ting: I've come across another song that I love so much I want to write a music review for...
Zhao Qinfeng sent a "holding hands and spinning around" emoji, which was clearly a cute emoji, but Lin Ting seemed to see a subtle schadenfreude in it.
Lin Ting thought for a moment, then swiped to Zhao Qinfeng's artist profile on the music app, took a screenshot of the five new songs Zhao Qinfeng had released since the last recording, and sent it to him.
Lin Ting: Guess which song I'm talking about?
After a moment of typing, the other end sent me a song title.
Lin Ting: It's it, it's it, it's definitely it!
Zhao Qinfeng: Our friend, Little Nezha!
Zhao Qinfeng: I'm on a plane, I need to turn off my phone now, let's talk later!
Lin Ting: Have a safe journey!
The conversation paused there for the time being. Lin Ting continued eating lunch, thinking to himself: Could it be that Zhao Qinfeng was gloating because he was recording songs too frequently and that he saw that I also had an extra workload?
He felt he might be overthinking things, so he shook his head and dismissed the thought.
Zhao Qinfeng switched his phone to airplane mode.
His agent, sitting next to him, leaned over and asked, "Are you chatting with Teacher Lin Ting again?"
Zhao Qinfeng looked terrified, and with a dramatic flair, clutched his phone, whispering, "How did you know?"
The agent looked at Zhao Qinfeng joking with a speechless expression and said, "You're always laughing like this, is it hard to guess? Remember to be more careful in public."
The agent had been Zhao Qinfeng's agent for a long time and knew a lot of things. She wasn't surprised at all that Zhao Qinfeng and Lin Ting were getting along. However, recently she kept seeing Zhao Qinfeng smiling foolishly at his phone. Although it didn't affect his work, it was still dazzling.
Zhao Qinfeng regained his composure and said, "I will be careful."
The agent smiled, a smile that seemed to say he understood everything, which sent a chill down Zhao Qinfeng's spine.
"Good luck," the agent said.
Lin Ting felt that good luck seemed to be out of his reach. He was just about to take a nap during his lunch break when his boss dragged him to a meeting.
"This is quite urgent, and we suddenly set this time. You can handle it, right?" the leader said.
Lin Ting nodded listlessly, thinking: Does saying no mean we don't have to have a meeting?
The meeting started suddenly and ended just as coincidentally. Lin Ting returned from the meeting place just as the office's lunch break had ended. A colleague yawned and turned on the overhead lights, and the afternoon work session began.
The office lights were on, but Lin Ting felt his energy was about to evaporate. He sat down at his workstation and painfully turned on his computer.
Perhaps this isn't entirely his bad luck. If his lunch break being taken up is a rare occurrence, then being pulled into a meeting right now could be considered unlucky. But since he finds that his lunch break being taken up is a frequent occurrence, he can only accept it as the norm on ordinary workdays.
He was caught in a rut, unable to swallow or exhale, and the song that had captivated him during dinner came to mind again. He thought to himself with a touch of self-deprecation that perhaps the greatest significance of a full-time job was that it made him realize how much he loved music, to the point that the exhaustion of writing music reviews and making videos became a kind of joy.
His main focus remained on his work, but during a moment of absentmindedness, the song reminded him of Zhao Qinfeng. Lin Ting suddenly wanted to ask him what it was like to work in a field you love.
He wasn't naive enough to think that working in a field he loved would be stress-free. After all, once something you love becomes your job, it will inevitably bring things that are different from simply loving it, such as interpersonal relationships and commercial pressures.
But he still held onto a kind of hope.
It was already past eight o'clock when Lin Ting got off work, which was considered relatively early for him. He rarely saw the sunset on his way home, but he was "lucky" enough to run into people rushing to catch the last subway. At times like these, he could comfort himself by knowing that at least the shared bikes wouldn't stop running.
Back home, Lin Ting received a message from Zhao Qinfeng saying that he had finally finished recording the main parts of the program that involved him, and now he could just watch others work.
What kind of situation is this? Lin Ting imagined it: although it's not time to get off work yet, there's not much work to be done. It's a bit like some of the leaders in their area who don't do any work but have to keep an eye on them while they work overtime.
Lin Ting replied that she had already finished get off work, expressing her admiration for the unusual working hours in the entertainment industry.
Zhao Qinfeng said he had suffered greatly from this, but then sent a photo of a box of fried noodles. The noodles were perfectly colored, glistening with oil, and steaming hot.
Lin Ting asked, "Is this your late-night snack? It looks delicious."
Zhao Qinfeng gave him a thumbs up and said he should hurry up and eat, otherwise it would be awkward if everyone finished eating and waited for him.
Lin Ting waved goodbye with an emoji, then put down her phone and wondered if she should make herself a late-night snack.
He tossed and turned on the sofa for a while, like doing sit-ups, but eventually succumbed to the fatigue from work and gave up on having a late-night snack.
However, he eventually got up, sat down at his computer desk, and turned on his home computer.
The feeling of turning on your own computer is completely different from turning on the computer at your workstation. Lin Ting put on her headphones, opened her music software and a newly created document.
He planned to start writing the script for his next video before going to bed.
Since joining Director Qiu and the staff responsible for liaising with the production team, Lin Ting occasionally receives messages in the middle of the night. As a very dedicated worker, Lin Ting naturally tries to reply to work-related messages as soon as possible, but he simply can't reply to messages sent in the early hours of the morning. So he explained his situation to Director Qiu, who understood.
Director Qiu said that he would reply after seeing the message in the morning, and that they did not need to reply immediately.
Lin Ting saw Zhao Qinfeng again during the third recording of the program. This time, the two finally stopped with polite greetings and started chatting naturally.
Director Qiu happened to be passing by and saw Lin Ting. He said, "Teacher Lin, I just happened to be looking for you to discuss something."
Lin Ting and Zhao Qinfeng waved goodbye, then followed Director Qiu away.
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