Chapter 15 "...just picked up a stone."
The recording studio was isolated from the outside noise, with only the low hum of the equipment and the heat lingering in the air from Zhou Ai's audition just now.
Zhou Ai had just finished auditioning a song and was leaning back on the sofa in the lounge area. Her fingertips unconsciously swiped across the screen of her mobile phone, and the interface remained on the chat box with Cheng Yingzhi.
After that "go ask", several long hours passed, and it was as quiet as a stone sinking into the sea.
The expression on Zhou Ai's face has changed from the initial slight expectation to an almost numb calmness.
He even started to think that if there was no reply in five minutes, he would just call her.
Just as he was about to exit WeChat, his phone suddenly vibrated twice.
Two new message prompts popped up at the top of the screen, both from Cheng Yingzhi.
Zhou Ai paused. The ripples of emotion that had almost died down in his heart stirred ever so slightly, but he quickly suppressed them. Perhaps Cheng Yingzhi was just spouting some meaningless nonsense to put him off.
He clicked on the message with a bit of nonchalance, even a hint of barely perceptible wariness.
The first one reads: [Here, add it yourself. Just say I gave it to you.]
The second one, followed closely by a concise WeChat business card.
Zhou Ai's fingertips hovered above the screen.
The information on the business card is simple.
The profile picture is of a light gray dachshund, facing the camera with its wet black nose, concentrating on chewing a snack whose specific content cannot be seen clearly. It looks very cute. The background seems to be the grass in a park with bright sunshine.
The WeChat name is even simpler and clearer, with only two words: Meteorite.
An extremely abrupt and distinct sense of contrast suddenly struck Zhou Ai.
"Meteorite"... cold, hard, coming from the distant and unknown space, carrying a silent, eternal impact.
The avatar corresponding to this name is a furry, silly, short-legged dog immersed in the joy of snacks.
This combination was too weird, and it was nothing like what Dr. Chu, the doctor in his memory, would use, wearing a white coat, with cold eyes and even the lines on the back of his neck that gave off a sense of alienation.
But it was precisely this huge contrast, like a light feather, that scratched the most itchy spot in Zhou Ai's heart.
An indescribable feeling, a mixture of surprise and extreme joy, suddenly surged up without warning, breaking through the usual lazy mask on his face.
The corners of Zhou Ai's mouth lifted up uncontrollably, forming an extremely obvious, even a little silly smile. Even those eyes that always looked a little world-weary were instantly filled with bright light.
"Hey, what are you looking at? You're smiling so...lustfully?" Xu Yang had just finished discussing the details with the sound engineer when he turned around and saw Zhou Ai's rare expression. Especially when he remembered the "love topic" that was still on the hot search, he was so scared that he almost dropped the music score in his hand. He leaned over in confusion and wanted to take a closer look.
Almost as an instinctive reaction, Zhou Ai suddenly flipped his wrist and snapped the phone screen against his leg. His movement was so fast that it almost brought up a gust of wind.
The overly bright smile on his face instantly faded, leaving only a suspicious arc hanging at the corner of his mouth that he couldn't completely hide in time.
Zhou Ai's reaction, which was full of trickery, completely confirmed Xu Yang's guess.
Xu Yang sucked in a breath of cold air, his eyes instantly widening as if he had seen something extremely terrifying. His voice cracked, "Oh my god! Zhou Ai! My God! You are not really...really in love, are you?! You won't let me remove the trending search, you are not really in love, are you?! Don't scare me! Old Zhou! Don't make me up some earth-shattering scandal at this critical moment! The company's PR department will all hang themselves!"
Zhou Ai raised her eyes and looked at her agent's terrified expression as if the sky was about to fall. The panic she had just felt at being caught disappeared.
He slowly picked up his phone again, rubbing his fingertips along the edge of the screen to make sure it was off. Then he lazily raised his eyelids and said perfunctorily, "What are you yelling about?"
He paused and added, with a subtle, barely perceptible smile in his voice, "...I just picked up a stone."
Because Cheng Yingzhi had not responded for a long time, Zhou Ai's original subtle expectations gradually cooled down, and he almost forgot about it.
It was not until Xu Yang mentioned the "love hot search" that it was like a fuse that suddenly ignited a forgotten fragment in the corner of his memory.
Puppy hairpin.
Oh, and that thing.
Zhou Ai twisted her fingertips unconsciously, as if she could still recall the rough touch and childish shape of the plastic hairpin.
That day in the emergency dressing room, Chu Yi was nimbly putting on the hairpin to fix the few unruly strands of hair on his forehead. Occasionally, her fingertips brushed against his skin, leaving a slightly cool and dry feeling.
After changing the medicine, Chu Yi turned around to wash his hands and reminded everyone of the precautions. The whole process was natural and smooth, and he seemed to have completely forgotten about the card issue.
Zhou Ai didn't know what was going on in his mind. Maybe he just thought the scene was a little funny, or maybe he wanted to keep something insignificant but special.
Before leaving, he deliberately did not remind anyone or return it, and walked out of the hospital in a swagger with the puppy hairpin on his head, which was extremely inconsistent with his style.
He was so busy in the next few days that he put the matter behind him.
Until that morning, when he hurriedly put on his coat and rushed to the practice room, and when he reached into his pocket to feel for his car keys, his fingertips accidentally hooked out a small hard object.
When I took it out, I saw that it was the puppy hairpin. The puppy's grin looked silly and innocent.
Zhou Ai held the hairpin in her hand, was stunned for a moment, then sneered, thinking that this thing was really stupid.
He didn't know what he was thinking at the time, perhaps because he felt it was troublesome to put it back in his pocket, or perhaps a mischievous idea flashed through his mind at that moment, so he pinned it to the collar of his pure black short-sleeved T-shirt.
An embellishment that is incompatible with the luxurious fashion brands and top-tier aura around him, and even a bit funny.
Zhou Ai didn't take it seriously at all, and even quickly forgot about it. So much so that when he later saw the photos of himself trending on the search results, with lurid headlines like "Relationship Exposed" and "Mysterious Token," his first reaction was so absurd that he rolled his eyes at the screen.
"Don't these paparazzi and netizens have anything to do these days?" Zhou Ai even complained impatiently to Xu Yang. "How can they make up such a thing?"
Xu Yang was so anxious that he jumped up and down, and hurriedly contacted the team to remove the trending search and issue a public relations statement.
However, at the moment Xu Yang picked up the phone, something seemed to light up in Zhou Ai's mind, and suddenly an extremely clear picture flashed through his mind -
Dr. Chu, who always had a calm expression and cold eyes, was sitting in a busy emergency room wearing a white coat. He happened to pick up his phone and saw this outrageous trending search...
Seeing that familiar, childish hairpin that should have been in his pocket, pinned to a completely unrelated female celebrity, being wildly discussed and even dubbed a "token of love"...
What expression would Chu Yi have?
Would he frown? Would he be speechless? Or would he show a look of surprise, of surprise, of absurdity?
This imagination was like a stone thrown into still water, creating a circle of extremely interesting ripples in Zhou Ai's heart.
A feeling of mischief being accomplished, a mixture of ill will and anticipation, quickly overwhelmed the previous speechlessness and irritability.
"Wait." He suddenly spoke and stopped Xu Yang who was about to dial.
Xu Yang looked back in confusion.
Zhou Ai leaned back in his chair, his fingers lazily turning his phone, his lips curled up in a playful, unfathomable arc: "Don't retreat yet."
"Huh?" Xu Yang thought he had misheard. "Grandfather, this is no joke! If we don't clarify it now, even the fake will be said to be true!"
"I say, don't retreat yet," Zhou Ai repeated, his tone filled with undeniable interest. "Just hang on, I think it's quite interesting."
"Interesting?!" Xu Yang's voice rose an octave, almost breaking. "How is this interesting?! This is clearly..."
"If I say it's interesting, then it's interesting." Zhou Ai interrupted him, a glint of mischief flickering in his eyes. "It's just right. It can warm up the new song and save some publicity money."
Xu Yang: “…”
He was almost irritated to death by this willful ancestor.
What kind of warm-up is needed for his popularity?
This is clearly self-destruction!
But once Zhou Ai makes a decision, even ten oxen cannot pull him back.
So, that ridiculous hot search was left alone and stayed on major platforms for a whole day. Instead of decreasing in popularity, it continued to ferment due to the silence of the parties involved and various speculations, soaring all the way to the top of the list, followed by a bright red word "explosion".
Zhou Ai would occasionally see related push notifications, watching the increasingly outrageous analyses and "hard hammers", and watching many 18th-tier celebrities and internet celebrities secretly post photos of hairpins in similar styles, or make vague hints, taking advantage of this sudden wave of popularity. Instead of being annoyed, he felt that this farce, which he had instigated, was becoming more and more fun.
He was even waiting, waiting for a reaction that might not even come.
This kind of waiting itself brings an indescribable and paradoxical pleasure.
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