He forgot to buy the bass.
"Are you cold?" Jiang Songhe noticed that Jonathan's voice sounded off and assumed that Jonathan had caught a cold in the underground parking lot last night and had caught a cold after taking a shower today. She immediately realized that she had made a mistake.
But since he was already there, he couldn't very well go back empty-handed, so he opened the passenger door again: "I'll turn on the heater, you wait for me in the car."
After saying that, he was about to turn to the driver's side to insert the key and start the car when Jonathan stopped him by hooking his jacket pocket.
"I'm not cold," Jonathan blinked under his hood. "If I don't come with you, how will you know if the groceries you buy are what I like?"
Your voice is very nasal; you must have caught a cold from all the stress.
Jiang Songhe subconsciously reached out to touch Jonathan's forehead to confirm it himself, but the brim of the hat he had tied was too narrow, and if he untied it, the wind would blow through, which would be even worse. So he settled for grabbing Jonathan's forearm, which was covered by the bulky sleeves, and took off his suede gloves to squeeze Jonathan's hand.
My palms were still warm, but my fingertips were icy cold.
"You call this not cold?" Jiang Songhe clicked his tongue and then used his arm to push Jonathan into the car. "What do you like to eat? Tell me one thing in advance while you're in the car."
Jonathan spread his legs apart, blocking the car door in a starfish shape with a missing corner. His grabbed arm drew a half circle outward, his five fingers hooked between Jiang Songhe's fingers, and he pulled down, lowering Jiang Songhe's upper body to be at his own height.
Then he leaned closer and whispered, "Wouldn't this be better?"
Jiang Songhe shivered suddenly as the breath hit her ear canal, almost falling out of the car. She vaguely heard people talking around her, so she immediately jumped up, grabbed Jonathan and flipped him to her side, and slammed the car door shut.
"Don't flirt around outside." Jiang Songhe gritted her teeth and raised the two people's hands, rubbed her burning ears hard with the back of her hand, then put them down, frowned, and stuffed them into her jacket pocket.
Jonathan bumped Jiang Songhe's shoulder with a mischievous grin, his voice much clearer: "Then flirt with her when we get home."
Jiang Songhe put a clip in Jonathan's pocket and said, "Shut up."
-
The two entered the farmers' market and passed by several stalls. Jiang Songhe realized that Jonathan had been tricked by this clueless conman after he only asked "What is this? What is that?" without offering any other helpful information.
I'm afraid Jonathan won't know what kind of dish it is or whether it tastes good until it's cooked and eaten.
Jiang Songhe had no choice but to make his own decision. To be on the safe side, he narrowed down the menu to winter tonics and nutritious meals for those with colds.
After asking Jonathan's preferences and learning that he prefers sweet flavors, and considering the seasonal produce, we finally decided to buy pumpkin, carrots, sweet corn, pears, yams, tofu, goji berries, pork ribs, and sea bass...
By combining ingredients, we can make: pumpkin porridge, baked pumpkin with salted egg yolk, yam, corn, and pork rib soup, stewed pear with rock sugar, minced meat and tofu, tofu and sea bass stew... Wouldn't that be too sweet and too bland? Perhaps we should add a lamb, potato, and carrot dish...
As he went through each stall, thinking, Jiang Songhe's body gradually tilted to one side, and his hands started to hurt from being squeezed. He glanced at the pockets on the other side, which were stuffed with two hands, and weighed the large and small bags in his hand. He then silently moved the tightly twisted handle to a different place.
Just as I was about to look away, a mitten glove suddenly appeared in front of me.
Jiang Songhe looked at the swivel gloves, then at Jonathan beside her, and asked, puzzled, "What do you want?"
"Give me half." Jonathan turned his hooded head, but the hood didn't turn much. Instead, his head turned more, making it quite amusing that he could only look at Jiang Songhe with one eye. "It must be heavy, right? Give me a few bags."
Jiang Songhe chuckled twice without agreeing, then focused his energy on lifting the weight with one hand, only loosening the drawstring of Jonathan's hat a little, stubbornly trying to look like he was very capable.
Jonah's field of vision expanded. He looked down at Jiang Songhe's red palm, then looked up at the veins on his forehead. He then slipped his glove into the hole in the handle, preparing to snatch half of it from the mangled hand.
"It's alright, no need." Jiang Songhe pulled her hand back.
Jonathan frowned and pulled her towards him firmly, leaving no room for refusal: "Have you forgotten that I'm a man too?"
"..." Jiang Songhe hadn't expected this, and suddenly choked up, so she had no choice but to go with Jonathan.
After Jonathan took over, he easily placed the heavy object beside him, his brow relaxed, and he said with a mixture of joy and reproach, "See? I could have helped you share the burden, I don't know why you were being so stubborn."
Jiang Songhe heard two thuds on her eardrums, her breath caught, and she stared blankly at the top of her mask, her eyes narrowed in feigned anger.
"Hey?" The eyes widened for a moment, then curved into crescents. "If you don't move, I'll be mistaken for Medusa. Then all the stall owners will be scared away, and no one will sell our vegetables."
The two hands, which were pressed together in the pocket, were pried open. A warm touch brushed against the thenar eminence and tickled the palm. Jiang Songhe then came to her senses, pursed her lips, turned her head, and used the clamping stick to pull Jonathan Xi forward.
After buying all the fruits and vegetables, the two went to the meat stalls at the very back.
I bought some ribs from one of the stalls, and then went further in to another halal stall. The stall owner was a neatly dressed woman, and despite the lack of bright, artificial lighting in the stall, she still looked radiant.
The eldest sister smiled broadly when she saw Jiang Songhe from afar. Once the two stood facing each other, she greeted them warmly: "It's been so long since I've seen you! Oh, your little brother is here too. He looks like he's grown quite a bit taller..."
“He actually…” Jiang Songhe turned her head and glanced at Jonathan, who was covered up. She felt there was no need to explain too much in order to avoid exposing his top-tier status, so she went along with her older sister’s words, “Yes, we were abroad a while ago.”
"You went abroad! That's awesome!" the older sister exclaimed, her voice tinged with genuine, albeit awkward, praise. She smiled as she reminisced about the past. "The last time we met was when you were still in middle school. Time flies! Tell Auntie what you want to eat today, and Auntie will weigh you up!"
Jonathan didn't say anything, but squeezed Jiang Songhe's hand in his pocket.
Jiang Songhe responded with a pinch, and spoke up for Jonathan: "Thank you, big sister, how about some lamb belly?"
"Alright." The eldest sister picked up her tools, rubbed the meat cleaver on the sharpening rod a few times, pressed the tip of the cleaver against a piece of evenly marbled red meat, and looked up at Jiang Songhe, asking, "Where are you coming from? How much?"
"Two... or three catties, please." Jiang Songhe remembered that there was a burly man in the house, so she asked for a little more. "We'll braise it. Just give me whatever you think is best. If you're in a hurry, I'll have to trouble you to cut it up for me first."
“Braise it, okay…” The older woman flipped the whole piece of lamb belly over, her knife tip darting around until she found a tender and juicy spot. She decisively cut into it, quickly removing the fattiest part before weighing it. “A little over three pounds, I’ll give you ninety.”
Jiang Songhe glanced at the "3.2" displayed on the scale but didn't say anything. He took the packaged lamb belly, scanned the QR code on the stall's door for 100 yuan, thanked the lady, and walked out with Jonathan's money in his pocket.
The farmers' market was in a remote area with poor signal, and it took quite a while for the "100 yuan WeChat payment" notification to finally ring out from a distance. The woman's voice followed closely behind: "Why are you being so polite with me here? Oh dear..."
Jiang Songhe smiled and shook her head. Only after leaving the market did she realize that Jonathan had remained silent the whole way from the butcher stall. Just as she was wondering about this, Jonathan suddenly slowed down, looking straight ahead, and asked in a seemingly absurd way, "Have you heard the final version of 'Sacrifice Night and Dawn'?"
Before Jiang Songhe could answer, he immediately asked, "When will 'Yan Ge Xing' be released online?"
Jiang Songhe paused, a mix of emotions welling up inside him.
The dozen or so hours spent intimately with Jonathan were so dreamlike that Jiang Songhe became so engrossed that he forgot that "Yan Ge Xing" was still mired in crisis.
Why did Jonathan ask about the release date of "Yan Ge Xing"? Did he know that the project was hindered?
Why would he ask himself if he had heard the final version of "Sacrifice at Dawn"? Didn't Tang Fan tell him that Yunhe had given up?
Jiang Songhe connected the two questions, trying to understand Jonah's motives. After a moment of silence, he came up with a conjecture.
The fact that the butcher mistook Jonathan for Song Yun reminded him of the collaboration on "Yan Ge Xing". His question about "Sacrifice at Dawn" is most likely because Tang Fan hasn't informed him of his decision yet.
So here's the question.
As TANG's top artist, Jonah should have been the first to share the latest developments of the project. Tang Fan already knew about the finalized collaboration three days ago, so why was he not informed of it sooner?
Unless the contract has not yet been finalized.
A gust of wind suddenly rose from the ground outside, its penetrating power sending a chill down Jiang Songhe's spine.
"Why do you ask that?" Jiang Songhe asked with a smile, her expression slightly unnatural.
Jonathan's hand, which was in his jacket pocket, gently pushed Jiang Songhe's waist, adjusting the two of them to face each other. He looked at each other and explained, "I roughly knew that Tang Fan would mention to you that our collaboration needs to be in line with my G Grammy Award campaign."
“I feel a little guilty about making you and Song Yun wait for seven months.” Jonathan tightened his grip on her hand. “But I don’t want you to waste your time just to accommodate me.”
"That's why I asked if you've heard the final version of 'Night Sacrifice'. I wanted to know if it met your expectations. Over the next seven months, I can readjust 'Yan Ge Xing' to give you an answer."
Jonah's words were solemn and earnest, making Jiang Songhe feel a lump in her throat. There was no need for the word "explanation." He, a top-tier singer, was putting himself in the shoes of a small, unknown company like Yunhe.
However, no matter how heartwarming Jiang Songhe felt, she soon became just as anxious.
You guessed right; Tang Fan didn't tell Jonah the final details of the collaboration. In the online meeting three days ago, Jiang Songhe believed he hadn't revealed anything about the project's situation in his words. So where did things go wrong?
Jiang Songhe was secretly anxious, urgently contacting Lin Duole to follow up on the signing of the contract with TANG. She was also very angry, angry at herself for being blinded by lust, and for possibly missing the opportunity to notice something amiss and turn the situation around because of her superiors.
"Don't mention it." Jiang Songhe tried to smile as brightly as possible, pulling Jonathan Xi towards the car. "It's still early. I've discussed our promotional schedule with Tang Fan. I need you..."
This was the first time Jiang Songhe had ever discussed work so formally with his partner, so he was understandably a little awkward. He quickly found the right words and continued, "We'll be doing some promotional work for the drama. Also, you might need to stay in Jingting for a few more days to record... the theme song."
"Of course!" Jonathan's eyes lit up, and he made a move to give Jiang Songhe a hug, but Jiang Songhe dodged away.
Jiang Songhe realized his subconscious action, paused for a second, then took out the two people's hands from his jacket pocket, separated them, and then took out a suede glove from the other pocket and put it on Jonathan.
"Get in the car." Jiang Songhe patted Jonathan's shoulder, walked around the front of the car, and got into the driver's seat.
He forgot to buy bass.
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