Chapter 61
Chen Qinglin did not answer Yin Mu's question immediately. His eyes were lowered, as if he was lost in thought.
Yin Mu didn't want to give up. When she was about to ask again, Chen Qinglin's phone on the table vibrated at an inopportune time. She looked over reflexively and saw the name on the screen at a glance.
The three words "Zhou Jingyu" are particularly eye-catching.
Chen Qinglin was also surprised and subconsciously looked up at Yin Mu.
Yin Mu suppressed his emotions and tried to appear calm: "You can answer it, it's okay." He smiled again and said jokingly, "Or do you want me to avoid it?"
Chen Qinglin pursed his lips and said, "No need." Then he really picked up the phone and answered it.
Yin Mu gritted his teeth silently, lowered his head to eat, and "inadvertently" listened to the conversation between Chen Qinglin and Zhou Jingyu.
Zhou Jingyu probably wanted to ask Chen Qinglin to go somewhere again, but Chen Qinglin refused and said, "No, I don't have time recently. Sorry."
"Well, there are also work matters."
"Weibo trending search?"
Yin Mu couldn't hear clearly what Zhou Jingyu said, but guessed that it was related to the hot search in the morning, so he didn't take it to heart and absentmindedly took a bite of the cold taro cheese ball.
Unexpectedly, the next second she heard Chen Qinglin's tone become a little colder: "I have said many times, this is a matter between us, and has nothing to do with Yin Mu."
Yin Mu suddenly heard his name and looked up at Chen Qinglin in surprise.
Chen Qinglin frowned, looking unhappy: "Zhou Jingyu, this joke is not funny at all. Please don't mention it again in the future, otherwise I will not care about face or not."
Chen Qinglin ended the call, put the phone aside and looked at Yin Mu.
Yin Mu immediately looked away, avoiding eye contact with him, pretending that everything had nothing to do with him.
She took a sip of her soup and asked nonchalantly, "Are you not going home? Have you found a place to stay? I heard from the owner of our B&B that almost all the B&Bs in town are fully booked these past two days."
Chen Qinglin shook his head: "Just find a place to live. I don't have high requirements for living."
"Well...how many days do you plan to play?"
"What about you? I can take you back on the way."
"Huh?" Yin Mu blinked. "It's so far, did you drive here by yourself?"
"Well, I thought this would allow for more flexibility in scheduling."
"Yeah, no need to worry about booking tickets." Yin Mu nodded in agreement and said, "We haven't decided when to go back yet."
Chen Qinglin looked at her inquiringly: "So? Let's go back together?"
"Then I have to go back and ask Meng Yuan first." Yin Mu said vaguely, and then suggested, "You haven't found a place to stay yet, so why not go to the hotel we're staying at? There were quite a few vacancies when we checked in, and there should still be some now."
Chen Qinglin thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll go back with you and ask later."
Yin Mu curled his lips, said "hmm", and asked again: "Is it okay for you to be here like this? Is your work okay?"
Chen Qinglin was silent for a while and said, "There will be no jobs in the short term."
Yin Mu was puzzled and asked, "What do you mean?"
Chen Qinglin picked up the cup, took a sip of lemonade, and said, "I'm talking to the company about terminating the contract."
Yin Mu was stunned for a moment. "Ah? Terminate the contract? Why would you terminate the contract when everything is fine? It must be very troublesome for you contracted artists to terminate the contract with the company. Will there be any issues such as liquidated damages?"
"It's not that bad actually." Chen Qinglin said slowly, "My contract is about to expire, and I don't have much work. There's no point in staying here any longer, so it's better to leave."
Yin Mu thought of what Chen Qinglin once said, that he could only play the leading role in some bad movies. It seemed that the company was not good to him, so terminating the contract might not be a bad thing for him.
"So what are your plans for the future? Will you still be an entertainer?"
"I haven't thought about it carefully yet." Chen Qinglin sighed softly, looking very tired. "I've been tired these past few years, and I want to think about it carefully."
When Yin Mu heard him say that, he blurted out: "No wonder you look so bad, it makes me worried."
Chen Qinglin raised the corners of his mouth slightly: "It's okay, thank you for your concern."
Yin Mu felt a little embarrassed, coughed dryly, and said, "Let's eat first, the food is cold."
"good."
After dinner, Yin Mu and Chen Qinglin strolled down the street. The moonlight was beautiful tonight, and the night breeze was cool. Yin Mu felt comfortable in the breeze, stretched lazily, and said, "I wonder what Meng Yuan is doing, is he still drinking in the bar?"
"bar?"
"Yes, there's a bar next to the B&B we're staying in, and we can hear the music when we go to sleep at night."
“Is the soundproofing that bad?”
"It's a little off." Yin Mu gestured, "But it's okay. They didn't go too far and play loud music, so just treat it as a lullaby."
Chen Qinglin smiled and said, "You have a good attitude."
"You can experience it tonight too." Yin Mu tilted his head to look at him, "Should we go get your luggage first? Is your luggage in the car?"
"Yes, it's a bit far from here." Chen Qinglin said, "Send me the address of the B&B, I'll get it myself and then come find you."
Yin Mu waved his hand: "It's okay, just treat it as a digestive aid after dinner."
The two of them went to get Chen Qinglin's suitcase and returned to the B&B together. Fortunately, there was an empty room, so Chen Qinglin didn't make a wasted trip.
When the boss was checking Chen Qinglin in, he looked at Yin Mu with a gossipy look in his eyes and asked, "Boyfriend?"
Yin Mu hurriedly shook his head: "No, we're friends."
"Oh—" the boss responded, but he obviously didn't believe it. He smiled playfully and added, "What a coincidence, there's only one room left, right next to yours."
"Is that so?" Yin Mu responded, and then casually asked, "Boss, did you see my friend go out?"
"He went out and hasn't come back yet."
The boss finished registering and was about to get up with the key, but Yin Mu stopped him and said, "I also want to go back to the room to take a look. I'll take him upstairs."
"That's great." The boss was happy to be lazy and handed the key to Chen Qinglin. "If you have any questions, please let me know."
Chen Qinglin took the key, thanked him politely, and followed Yin Mu upstairs.
Yin Mu went back to the room and looked around, but didn't see Zhong Mengyuan. He sent a message asking her where she was, and the reply he got was that she was in the bar next door.
It was boring to stay in the room alone, so Yin Mu decided to go find Zhong Mengyuan. After hesitating for a moment, he knocked on Chen Qinglin's door and asked him if he wanted to go.
Chen Qinglin naturally agreed and went out with her.
When they found Zhong Mengyuan, he was sitting at the bar chatting with the bartender. Coincidentally, he was the same person Yin Mu had talked to that day. The two seemed to be having a very happy chat and both had smiles on their faces.
Yin Mu walked over and patted Zhong Mengyuan on the shoulder: "Mengyuan."
Zhong Mengyuan turned around with a smile: "Oh, Rabbit, you're back from dinner, Chen--" Before he finished speaking, he saw Chen Qinglin behind Yin Mu, raised his eyebrows, and said with a smile, "Isn't this a coincidence? First I met Jiang Nanyu, and then I met you. If someone didn't know, they would think that everyone had agreed to have a team building here."
Yin Mu sat down and pushed her awkwardly: "Dream come true."
However, Chen Qinglin didn't care about the subtle sarcasm in Zhong Mengyuan's words. He greeted her calmly and sat down next to Yin Mu.
When the bartender saw Yin Mu, his eyes lit up, and he raised his chin and asked the same question as the B&B owner: "Boyfriend?"
Before Yin Mu could open her mouth to deny it, Zhong Mengyuan said before her: "Yes, he was busy with work and couldn't leave, so he came here separately from us."
"I see." The bartender nodded and asked, "What would you two like to drink?"
Yin Mu and Chen Qinglin ordered drinks respectively. When the bartender turned around, they lowered their voice and asked Zhong Mengyuan, "Why did you lie to him?"
Zhong Mengyuan leaned close to her ear and whispered, "You don't know, this guy has been asking me about you, asking me why you didn't come. I'm going to solve your problem once and for all and completely help you solve it."
Yin Mu didn't believe it: "Is this true? You are lying to me."
Zhong Mengyuan swore: "If I lie to you, I'm a puppy."
“…”
Seeing that Chen Qinglin looked normal and had no reaction to his lie, Zhong Mengyuan deliberately asked him, "Chen Qinglin, you don't mind being a shield for Yin Mu, right?"
Chen Qinglin glanced at her and said lightly: "I don't mind."
Zhong Mengyuan raised her lips and smiled: "Thank you for your contribution."
She chatted with Chen Qinglin for a few more words and learned that he was taken to the homestay where they were staying by Yin Mu. She just smiled and did not express any opinion.
At this time, the lights in the bar dimmed, and a beam of ceiling light shone on the stage. Yin Mu looked over curiously and saw a boy walking into the light with a guitar in his arms and sitting on a high stool.
Zhong Mengyuan explained to Yin Mu: "They say there are resident singers at a fixed time every week. I think they are all unknown little singers."
"Well, it's at least a chance to show off."
"If your skills aren't up to par, no matter how many opportunities you have, it's useless," Zhong Mengyuan commented. "Tell me, how many people rack their brains and try their best to break into the entertainment industry, but how many of them actually make it? If you can't do it, you can't do it. There's no point trying any further."
Chen Qinglin was still nearby, and Yin Mu didn't want to discuss topics that might make him uncomfortable. He said, "You can't say that. Don't people say that small success depends on support, while big success depends on luck? Sometimes it's just that you lack the opportunity."
Zhong Mengyuan shrugged and declined to comment.
Yin Mu changed the subject: "Jiang Nanyu didn't come today?"
"I don't know, I didn't see him. He was probably at the music festival," Zhong Mengyuan said nonchalantly. "After all, the main reason he came to Qingyan Town was just for the music festival. Why would he keep coming to the bar for no reason?"
"Yeah, that's right."
The three of them watched the show for a while, but as it was getting late, they didn't want to watch it anymore and left the bar together.
Back at the B&B, Zhong Mengyuan watched helplessly as Chen Qinglin opened the door to the room next to theirs. Finally, unable to contain herself, she began to ask as soon as the door closed, "I asked you to find out information, so why did you bring someone back? And you're living next door to us?!"
Yin Mu defended himself guiltily: "There's only one room left, I can't do anything about it."
"..." Zhong Mengyuan gritted his teeth, "You are really something."
"One more thing." Yin Mu observed her expression and asked cautiously, "He said we could take his car back. What do you think?"
Zhong Mengyuan no longer wanted to say anything: "As long as you are happy."
"Don't say that. If you don't want to, we can just take the high-speed rail."
Zhong Mengyuan waved her hand. "Forget it, it's nothing. ——By the way, what's going on with Zhou Jingyu now?"
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