Chapter 16 Love Letters: There was no one else who understood him so well.
The three of them went to the cafeteria for dinner together. Fan Xin saw Zhou Yu's statement and then dared to bring up the matter: "Actually, I wanted to say this from the beginning, Zhou Zhou, I feel that Chen Jingchi is quite good to you."
An Kejia chimed in, "Yeah, he even took you back to your dorm. Was that car newly bought? I've never seen it before."
Zhou looked back and forth between the two of them, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Did you also believe the photos to be true?"
Fan Xin and An Kejia exchanged glances, and finally An Kejia admitted first: "Okay, I did misunderstand. Don't be angry. I just think it's hard to believe that someone like Chen Jingchi would let you ride in his car."
Fan Xin nodded vigorously and whispered, "Zhou Zhou, we don't know about other things, but you are definitely the girl who is closest to Chen Jingchi so far. No wonder everyone is thinking too much."
Hearing them say that, Zhou Yu suddenly realized that her reply, "It has nothing to do with us," probably wasn't very convincing in that context.
She really shouldn't have gotten into his car.
Zhou Yu cherishes the opportunity to work with Chen Jingchi, and it's not just for the money.
Although Chen Jingchi resolved the incident efficiently, Zhou Yu knew in his heart that it was best not to cause trouble for others a second time.
Zhou Yu believes she might truly be a pessimist, or perhaps just suffer from mild anxiety. She always magnifies unseen, potential risks and is accustomed to minimizing them before they actually occur, in order to ensure things develop as expected.
She is used to a routine life and enjoys the security of having everything under control. However, she lacks the ability to respond quickly to unexpected situations.
If rumors can be stopped at their source, Zhou Yu is willing to be the first to try.
Her phone beeped, pulling her back to reality. The screen lit up, attracting the attention of the two people beside her; they both saw it was a message from Chen Jingchi.
Chen: [File][Track 3]
Chen: [Before next Saturday]
Upon seeing the number 3, An Kejia exclaimed, "The third song on the album?"
Zhou Yu nodded: "Mm."
She replied "okay" to Chen Jingchi and downloaded the file.
When it came to information about the unreleased album, Fan Xin and An Kejia wisely refrained from asking further. Zhou Yu planned to listen to the music again when she returned to her dorm; at her pace, if all went well, she could finish the first draft tonight.
After arriving at the dormitory, Zhou Yu clicked on the third demo.
Unlike the previous two songs, the melody of this song was not very pleasing to the ear when first listened to. Even Zhou Yu, who does not understand music, could hear one or two discordant notes in the middle or at the end of each phrase. The feeling she got from listening to the whole melody can be described in one word.
Unorthodox and heretical.
Surprisingly, as the number of repetitions increased, the discomfort miraculously disappeared, leaving an even deeper impression on Zhou Yu. Occasionally, when he was spacing out, those strange sounds would pop into his mind, as if a switch had been turned on.
Zhou wanted to know what Chen Jingchi wanted to express in this song. Even though she didn't understand music, she could read the emotions the creator had given to the song from the monotonous piano notes.
She used to think that being too sensitive was detrimental to her life and friendships, so she tried to suppress her emotions and process them slowly in order to be like an ordinary person. But now, for the first time, she has changed her mind.
At 8 PM, the class monitor posted a group announcement.
The anniversary of Jiangxi University of Media and Communications is next Saturday. The university is calling on every college to actively carry out activities, while the College of Humanities is responsible for writing the anniversary daily newspaper. Each major is required to design a newspaper, and the content is to be written by students themselves from several prescribed topics.
The daily report will be distributed to every student on the school anniversary, and the class monitor asked everyone to participate actively.
As soon as the group announcement was posted, several people mentioned Zhou Yu.
[This is a set topic essay, and you even have to praise it excessively. It's too difficult!]
Let Zhou Yu write it; her writing talent needs no proof.
[Yeah, when the author's name is announced, our class will be so proud.]
The messages were all sent by the girls. Zhou Yu knew they meant no harm, but she had to refuse.
Zhou Yu: [Sorry, long articles are my weakness, so I won't participate. Thank you everyone.]
An Kejia thought she was trying to free up time to write lyrics for a new song, and even explained in the group chat that she had been a bit busy lately.
That evening, Zhou Yu had already written the first draft of the lyrics. Chen Jingchi had given her enough time, and Zhou Yu decided to revise the lyrics until she was completely satisfied before submitting the final version.
*
On Friday night, Zhou Yu had revised her lyrics to the fourth version. She had looked at her lyrics so many times that she no longer felt anything for them and couldn't think of a better way to revise them.
While I was organizing documents, the class monitor posted a notification to all members in the class group chat.
Good evening everyone. Tomorrow is our school's 60th anniversary. The school has distributed free meal vouchers, which have been given to our dormitory heads. Also, our class is responsible for the area around the East Gate. Please arrive at the headquarters promptly at 10:00 AM tomorrow. We need people to distribute the anniversary newspaper and mascots. If you need to take leave, please contact me tonight. @All Members
This year, An Kejia and Fan Xin's articles were both selected for publication in the school anniversary daily newspaper. As their roommate, Zhou Yu will definitely be there tomorrow to see what the newspaper looks like.
She was a little worried just thinking about how many people would gather at the school gate.
This week, Zhou Yu only had her classmates in the classroom, and everyone pretended that the rumors from last week had never happened. What Zhou Yu was afraid of was being recognized by students from other majors and colleges tomorrow.
The only topic she could talk about with strangers was Chen Jingchi, and Zhou Yu didn't want to become his spokesperson.
The next morning, after breakfast, the three arrived at the East Campus gate, where many stalls and tents had been set up. The parking lot area had been cleared out and a huge signature wall had been placed there, where many students left messages and took photos.
To attract students, each class came up with a variety of methods, such as games, raffles, and blind boxes, which were very effective. The number of people exceeded expectations, blocking the way between the stalls, comparable to the scene on the day of the Hundred Regiments Battle.
Zhou Yu followed An Kejia through the crowd to find the class monitor's stall. Luo Yanghui handed them a stack of newspapers and a custom-made mascot doll bucket: "Just don't give them to people in our class. They can't choose the mascots; they can only draw them randomly."
There are four or five different mascots in different colors. They are housed in a large bucket with a round opening in the lid that can only fit one hand inside.
The three divided the work: An Kejia distributed newspapers, while Fan Xin and Zhou Yu were in charge of the mascot buckets.
Zhou Yu didn't want to be squeezed in the crowd, so she discussed with Fan Xin about walking out through the alleyway between the stalls. It took the two of them quite a bit of effort to finally reach the autograph wall.
The area that had just been crowded was suddenly cleared out. Before Zhou Yu could figure out what was going on, Fan Xin next to her tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "Holy crap, Chen Jingchi is here!"
The surrounding chatter seemed to have quieted down considerably. Zhou Yu followed Fan Xin's gaze and saw the four members of the band, led by Chen Jingchi, emerge from behind the autograph wall, followed closely by two students holding cameras.
An Kejia turned to the two of them and explained, "This is a school anniversary greeting video that the student union's publicity department is going to shoot. We said in yesterday's meeting that we might not be able to get Chen Jingchi to agree, but I didn't expect him to actually agree."
Chen Jingchi was already standing in front of the autograph wall, holding a marker in his hand, and turned around to start signing.
A girl with curly hair was standing behind the photographer. She suddenly turned around, spotted An Kejia, and called out, "Jiajia, come here for a second!"
"Here comes the senior!" An Kejia jogged forward.
After exchanging a few words, the girl tilted her head and looked at Zhou Yu, then smiled at her.
An Kejia quickly ran back to Zhou Yu and said to her, "Zhou Zhou, I need to ask you a favor. Before Chen Jingchi shoots the video, have him draw a lucky charm and hold it while filming."
Zhou Yu hugged the plastic bucket tightly, puzzled: "Why are you calling me?"
Before she could finish speaking, Zhou Yu remembered the smile the curly-haired girl had given her and already guessed what was going on.
really.
"I'm afraid he won't accept it," An Kejia whispered. "My senior said that if it were you giving it to him, he probably wouldn't refuse."
"..."
"You won't get photographed." An Kejia turned around and saw that Chen Jingchi had already signed his autograph, urging, "Give it to him now, please, please!"
Fan Xin handed the bucket to her and gave her a thumbs-up.
Zhou was pushed forward like a duck being forced onto a shelf. An Kejia was also a member of the student council, and she didn't want to make things difficult for her in front of her senior, so she had no choice but to agree.
He steeled himself and walked in front of the camera, meeting Chen Jingchi's gaze, passing the other three members of the band, and stood in front of him.
Chen Jingchi's appearance alone was enough to draw attention, with onlookers and cameras filming him. Zhou Yu remembered the consequences of the last rumor scandal and told herself to be careful with her words. Her current situation was an even greater test of her acting skills.
She handed over the mascot bucket she was holding, her tone devoid of any emotion: "Hey, take one, classmate."
Looking into her clear eyes, Chen Jingchi chuckled, annoyed by her feigned unfamiliarity in address: "Who are you calling?"
There was no one within two meters of them, and Zhou Yu suspected that he was doing it on purpose, thinking that he was being impolite, so he honestly answered, "You."
Chen Jingchi had no intention of drawing the mascot. With his hands in his pockets, he calmly asked, "Who am I?"
Zhou Yu finally realized that her plan was not working on him. Helpless, she could only continue their increasingly strange conversation, saying, "Chen Jingchi."
She deliberately lowered her voice, making sure only he could hear it.
This was the first time she had called him by his name in front of him, and she never expected it to be in such an awkward situation.
Upon hearing the name, Chen Jingchi finally took pity and extended his right hand.
Zhou Yugang breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that he grabbed the lid and was about to remove it, she remembered what the class monitor had said about not being able to pick and only draw. She subconsciously raised her hand and grabbed his wrist to stop him.
Chen Jingchi was wearing a short-sleeved shirt today. Zhou Yu's palm was in direct contact with his skin. She could feel a protruding bone on his wrist, which was very hard and hurt her fingers.
Her skin was fair, and when she used her knuckles to tighten her wrist, her pink fingertips turned white.
Zhou Yu could feel the pulse on the inside of his wrist, but he couldn't feel his own.
The moment she touched him, Zhou Yu began to regret it, but if she withdrew her hand now, her sudden outburst would only make her seem even stranger.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, she could only suppress her chaotic emotions and try to appear calm and collected.
"You can't choose, you can only draw."
Chen Jingchi didn't pull his hand back, letting her hold it like that, and asked casually, "Can't I do it either?"
Zhou Yu insisted on the principle of treating everyone equally; the invited guests were no different from anyone else. She looked at Chen Jingchi and shook her head.
Chen Jingchi looked at her determined eyes, which seemed to be on the verge of joining the Party, with amusement, and said with a hint of helplessness, "Let go."
Just as Zhou Yu let go, he saw him reach into the bucket and pull out a pink mascot. On a whim, he added, "Take this for the interview."
After saying that, he felt it was superfluous; it wasn't his place to say such things. Thinking of this, Zhou quickly walked away from the side.
As I passed by the three band members, I caught a glimpse of Zhuo Wencheng laughing so hard his eyes were almost closed.
"That's hilarious!" Zhuo Wencheng, who had witnessed the whole thing, deliberately asked Xu Yue, "Are they genuinely not familiar with each other, or are they pretending?"
Xu Yue remained silent, while Zhan Li added fuel to the fire: "It looks like they're pretending not to know each other but didn't discuss it beforehand."
Zhou Yu didn't hear their conversation. He returned to Fan Xin and heard her whisper, "Why did you grab Chen Jingchi's hand just now?"
"..." Zhou Yu explained, "He wanted to choose, but I didn't let him."
Fan Xin and An Kejia both simultaneously showed expressions of surprise, their mouths agape.
Fan Xin's jaw dropped; she hadn't recovered from the shock: "He actually listens to you."
An Kejia looked at her admiringly: "Zhou Zhou, you really don't show any favoritism at all."
Zhou Yu paused, a look of confusion flashing in his eyes, his mind going blank for a few seconds.
Until Fan Xin took the big bucket: "Let's go, Zhou Zhou, let's go hand out the mascots."
She followed closely behind Fan Xin. Compared to her fear of people, at least Fan Xin wasn't afraid of women. Fan Xin negotiated with people in front of her, while Zhou Yu remained silent, appearing unusually quiet.
After circling around the autograph wall, Zhou Yu saw that Chen Jingchi's filming had ended and the four of them were walking towards the school gate, leaving the school.
Once in the taxi, Zhuo Wencheng tugged at the back of the passenger seat and asked, "Brother Chi, is Zhou Yu single?"
Chen Jingchi didn't respond, and Zhan Li guessed, "Right? If you have a girlfriend, wouldn't you have accompanied her to the hospital last time?"
"She's so beautiful, doesn't anyone pursue her?" Zhuo Wencheng asked, puzzled.
Chen Jingchi casually replied to a message on WeChat, saying, "You want to pursue her?"
"No, no, no," Zhuo Wencheng quickly denied. "I was just curious why she suddenly started avoiding you today."
Chen Jingchi could roughly guess the reason. It was nothing more than the time he was secretly photographed when he took her back to her dormitory. Girls are shy, and if they had a scandal with him, people would definitely gossip behind their backs. He respected Zhou Yu's decision.
He could only pretend for a few seconds. Apart from that deliberately ridiculous "classmate," his words and actions lacked the politeness between strangers. If you really didn't know him, your first reaction should have been to move the bucket away rather than grab his hand.
"Didn't she already say that?" Zhan Li's mouth didn't hold back at all, "It has nothing to do with our Brother Chi."
He deliberately emphasized the word "any," and his feigned serious expression was about to crumble.
"What a heartless woman," Zhuo Wencheng echoed him, "Doesn't even a financial relationship count?"
“What do you know?” Xu Yue stepped forward and spoke a fair word. “Do you know the true value of the words ‘I have no interest in Chen Jingchi’?”
None of these friends are kind of sharp-tongued; they kept harping on this little thing, giving Chen Jingchi a headache: "Why don't you all pack up and go do a stand-up comedy show together?"
“The sound can’t be heard,” Xu Yue said with a smile. “How about we wait and see if there will be a second season of ‘See Your Beauty’?”
"..."
*
After the photoshoot, the curly-haired girl found Zhou Yu.
She held a pink mascot in her hand, handed it to Zhou Yu, and smiled, "It seems to be for you."
Zhou Yu didn't understand what she meant: "What do you mean, 'mine'?"
"Chen Jingchi gave it to me after he finished filming, saying, 'Give it back to her.'" The girl raised an eyebrow. "This 'her' must refer to you, right?"
Zhou Yu almost couldn't catch her breath. She had just spent so much time acting in front of the camera, but Chen Jingchi's three casual words made all her efforts go to waste.
"He doesn't want it, you can keep it," the girl said.
Zhou Yu had no choice but to accept it. Then, remembering something, he stopped the girl who was about to leave and asked her to confirm whether the scene of him letting Chen Jingchi draw the mascot would appear in the final cut.
"Don't worry, it won't happen." The girl saw her concern and smiled. "Thank you for earlier. I'm Shang Ziwen, the Minister of Publicity of the Student Union. Let's add each other as friends."
Zhou Yu had no connection with the student council and didn't need to expand her network in that area. Just as she was hesitating, Shang Ziwen added, "I'll send you the video after it's edited."
After her explanation, Zhou Yu finally exchanged contact information with her.
After Zhou Yu accepted the friend request, he was about to return to his stall when Shang Ziwen muttered, "It would be great if you were a member of the student council."
Zhou asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Before entering university, she had also had such thoughts. However, when she actually entered social situations, Zhou Yu found that she was simply not capable of handling all kinds of interpersonal relationships, and ultimately chose to return to her comfort zone.
Shang Ziwen winked at her and said meaningfully, "Interviewing Chen Jingchi will be much easier from now on."
Zhou Yu didn't want to ask any more questions. If she were to say that she wasn't really familiar with Chen Jingchi at this moment, it would have a humorous feel of getting the better of him while pretending to be innocent, so she simply kept quiet.
After Shang Ziwen left, Zhou Yu looked at the mascot in her hand. She could do whatever she wanted with it—give it to someone else, or put it back in the bucket. After a few seconds, she decided to stay.
While eating lunch in the cafeteria, Zhou Yu sent the lyric document he had prepared to Chen Jingchi.
For the third song, Zhou Yu boldly broke away from her previous framework, writing more based on the feeling of the melody, resulting in a work quite different from the previous two. She lacked confidence and didn't know if Chen Jingchi would like this style.
The other party may be busy and did not reply immediately.
Suddenly, three pictures popped up in the three-person dorm group chat. Zhou Yu saw that they were photos of boys and asked, "Jiajia, did you send them to the wrong group?"
"No, I just wanted to show you guys," An Kejia said to them. "These three are senior students from my department. They've been chatting with me a lot lately, and I feel like they're all interested in me. Which one do you think I should choose?"
"No wonder you're such a social butterfly," Fan Xin exclaimed in amazement. "You actually had three male guests at the same time."
"I'm incredibly charming, there's no way to resist." An Kejia feigned regret for two seconds, then chuckled, "Hurry up and pick one for me."
"What's the point of us choosing?" Zhou Yu glanced at all three photos and asked her, "Which one do you like?"
"They're all about the same. If I divide my affection among the three of them, there won't be much left," An Kejia said.
This was the first time Fan Xin had heard such avant-garde aspirations. Still in a state of shock all day, she shook her head vigorously, trying to keep up with her train of thought: "Then how about we talk to all three of us at once?"
"I'm afraid if I get found out, I'll be in deep trouble." An Kejia said this as if she really had this idea, but didn't dare to do it because of moral issues.
Zhou Yu looked down at the WeChat messages, listening to them discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the three male guests, which was quite reminiscent of a harem selecting concubines.
*
"Brother Chi, want some?"
Inside the private room, Zhuo Wencheng stood up and poured drinks for the group.
"No, I have to record a song this afternoon." Chen Jingchi poured himself a cup of tea.
Starting in October, Chen Jingchi stopped drinking any sugary beverages, fearing an accident during recording, preferring to endure the pain for the time being.
Zhuo Wencheng casually remarked, "Are agents this strict?"
That's a misjudgment of the agent. Du Heng's demands on him are really not high. The reason is not that he doesn't want to manage things. Chen Jingchi is just like that. If he wants to listen, he will listen. If he doesn't want to listen, nothing you say will make a difference.
“He lost his voice before because of smoking and drinking,” Xu Yue revealed. “If he has another problem, he won’t be able to sing for at least half a month.”
In high school, I had a sore throat and had to go to the hospital every few days. Back then, I thought I was young and resilient, but now Chen Jingchi has at least toned it down a bit.
"You know what, I actually did something stupid like that before," Zhan Li said, recalling the past. "I thought a smoky voice was sexy, so I smoked like crazy, a pack a day without stopping."
Zhuo Wencheng asked curiously, "Your voice doesn't sound smoky."
"I got caught by the school principal and given a disciplinary warning. I was stopped before I was even fully evolved." Zhan Li laughed when he thought of the silly things he did in the past. "Back then, I thought it was so cool to smoke, and I even bragged about it in front of my girlfriend."
Who hasn't been narcissistic during their teenage years?
Chen Jingchi couldn't empathize with them. He also smoked in high school, simply to relieve stress. During that time, he was depressed and acted recklessly until his throat became so bad that he couldn't speak anymore, at which point he realized he couldn't continue like this.
The experience during that period was so profound that he never wanted to recall it, yet he had to admit that pain is often the breeding ground for artistic inspiration. Today, his creative style is still deeply influenced by his past experiences, as seen in the third song on the album.
After entering his senior year of high school, the pressure from his parents, the pressure of the band breaking up, and the pressure of missing opportunities weighed heavily on him, making it hard for him to breathe. Eager to prove himself, Chen Jingchi fell into a low point on the verge of collapse.
The chorus of this song was written back then. However, due to setbacks with his first original song, Chen Jingchi shelved this short melody after his frustration. It wasn't until now, when he has independent creative rights, that it has been able to see the light of day again.
Completely different from the previous two songs, the last song included in the debut album is a type that Chen Jingchi has always wanted to try. He boldly uses a lot of off-key notes in the melody, making the whole song sound bizarre and strange.
His approach destined the song to deviate from mainstream aesthetics and be unacceptable to most people. But he never intended to please anyone.
This was something he had wanted to do for several years, and he finally accomplished it when he was able to, making up for the regret he had back then.
When Chen Jingchi sent the song to Zhou Yu, he hesitated for a moment. The melody, filled with a strong personal touch, meant that even the slightest deviation in the coordination between the lyrics and music would greatly diminish the final effect.
Although he was very satisfied with Zhou Yu's first two poems, this one was so special that Chen Jingchi didn't know whether he should take the risk.
After much deliberation, Chen Jingchi decided to use this song as a springboard to give Zhou Yu and himself a chance.
As if sensing something, I received an unread message on WeChat, which happened to be a lyrics document sent by Zhou Yu.
Chen Jingchi picked up his phone and opened the file titled "Vulgar Monster" with one hand.
-
Undeletable blank pages
Gears of irregular length
Lone migratory birds that don't fit in
Defective products in the copy
In good order
The anxiety of making an accident
Break free from the framework
Everything came to an abrupt end.
Broken Mirror Shards
Reflecting various shapes of afterimages
After tearing away the surface
It is the naked truth.
Should, must
Outrageous, unconventional
Lost in numbness
Only those who are sober are truly insane.
The label of being vulgar and boring
Similar and boring shell
Expel the soul
What's left inside the body?
A lucid dream from which you can't wake up
How to extricate oneself after falling into depravity
A sharp sword hanging overhead
Can one find oneself amidst fear?
If there were no "ifs"
Is it easier to make a choice?
Life has an end.
I wish endless
-
This is a song, just like its melody, whose lyrics cannot be called "normal".
While the melody strictly dictates the number of words in the lyrics, Zhou Yu also breaks free from the constraints of the rules, embodying Chen Jingchi's desire for unconventional and unconventional freedom in unrhymed rhymes and emphasis on abnormal imagery.
Even the song title gave Chen Jingchi a real jolt.
Unexpected, yet somehow expected. Even without any prior communication, Zhou Yu did not disappoint him, delivering a perfect performance on this springboard.
Without uttering a single word, she could accurately grasp his thought process. It was as if she could predict exam questions precisely on topics she had never studied.
The same surprise happened to Zhou Yu three times in a row.
Chen Jingchi was lost in thought, thinking that besides her, there might be no one else in the world who was so compatible with him.
*
After waiting for almost ten minutes, Chen Jingchi's chat box finally jumped to the first line.
Chen: [I really like it]
Those four words completely put Zhou Yu's mind at ease.
When writing the lyrics for the third song, Zhou Yu had a vague feeling that after getting in touch with Chen Jingchi's inner world through music, her understanding of him was no longer limited to just a few past meetings and a few works.
In Zhou Yu's heart, "Chen Jingchi" has gone from being just a name with unique meaning to a living person. This transformation is not because the two went from strangers to acquaintances, but because they perceived the subtle emotions conveyed by each other in their music.
Regardless of his initial intentions, Zhou Yu has gradually figured out some of the tricks of the trade and has begun to understand Chen Jingchi's temperament and preferences little by little. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call this a skill.
The screen flickered, and Chen Jingchi sent another new message.
Chen: [Did the last time you were secretly filmed cause you trouble?]
Zhou Yu's gaze faltered for a moment, then he immediately picked up his phone and replied: 【No】
Although the comments section was in an uproar at the time, the arguments had already blurred the main point. Chen Jingchi acted too quickly, and the rumors were nipped in the bud before they could spread. In reality, it did not have any impact on Zhou Yu.
She explained her behavior today: "I was afraid that others would misunderstand us again."
The more times Zhou Yu collaborated with Chen Jingchi, the more deeply the two became intertwined, making it easier for others to misunderstand. Zhou Yu was simply trying to prevent problems before they arose, although it seems to have backfired now.
Her acting skills are indeed, as Fan Xin said, terrible.
The nickname changed to "The other party is typing," and Zhou Yu was about to say that it wouldn't happen again, but he had already replied.
Chen: [Okay]
Chen: [I'll cooperate next time]
Looking at the words "I'll cooperate with you," Zhou Yu felt a strange sense of unease, thinking about how Zhou Yu had forced him to call his name earlier that day.
Some even suspected that Chen Jingchi typed those words with a smile.
However, Zhou Yu wasn't worried about that. Chen Jingchi was very busy, and she rarely went out except for classes, so the chances of the two of them bumping into each other at school were extremely low.
Moreover, all three poems have already been given to him, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, they will not need to contact each other again.
Zhou Yu's phone rang again, but she didn't see any new messages on the chat page. Only after exiting did she realize it was a pre-edited interview video sent to her by Shang Ziwen.
The video was short; Chen Jingchi answered only three questions and then said a couple of words of blessing to his alma mater. In less than a minute, there was no one else on the screen except the interviewee.
Seeing the pink mascot in his hand, Zhou Yu belatedly remembered Fan Xin's words.
"He actually listens to you."
An indescribable emotion welled up in Zhou Yu's heart, making a thought in his heart, which had not been held onto for long, falter.
She replied to Shang Ziwen: 【I saw the video, thank you for your hard work】
The other person replied with a smiley face emoji.
She barely had time to reply to a few WeChat messages before Fan Xin had already chosen the male guest that An Kejia was interested in, saying that she would test the waters during the department meeting that evening.
The phone screen on the table lit up. Fan Xin glanced at it and exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, Chen Jingchi released a new song?"
An Kejia quickly leaned closer and asked, "Where?"
“Weibo,” Fan Xin said.
Zhou wanted to quit WeChat and re-download Weibo from the app store.
She registered her Weibo account in early July. At that time, when the variety show "Hear Your Voice" premiered and Zhou wanted to follow Chen Jingchi's account, she was only the tenth follower. Now, when you open his homepage, his number of followers has exceeded 3 million.
Chen Jingchi never shares his daily life on Weibo. Apart from variety show announcements and new song releases, he has no sense of being a real person and doesn't do any promotion. Therefore, Zhou Yu uninstalled Weibo after the variety show ended.
Fan Xin saw the original Weibo post and had a knowing look on her face: "Oh, it's a promotional song for a mobile game. Wait, there's even a music video?"
The school's broadcasting station was very well-informed. After finishing lunch in the cafeteria, on his way back to the dormitory, Zhou Yu heard Chen Jingchi's new song being played on the radio.
This is a PVP-based competitive mobile game with a very strong marketing campaign. Before its launch, promotional ads were everywhere. The game also took a bold approach in choosing its promotional song, selecting Chen Jingchi, a singer who is quite controversial on the internet, to perform it.
After arriving at the dormitory, Zhou placed the pink mascot he had brought back from his bag on the bookshelf.
She clicked on the new song's music video, a very common studio version. The game promotional footage interspersed Chen Jingchi's profile, not many, but this was the first time he had appeared on camera since withdrawing from the competition in August. With the game company's promotion, it topped the Weibo hot search list in less than half an hour.
Even Fan Xin and An Kejia, who don't usually play games, downloaded the mobile game to try it out.
Zhou Yu wasn't interested in the game; he only gave the music video a thumbs up.
As it turned out, Chen Jingchi's publicity was very effective. On Monday during class, Zhou Yu saw students in the front row playing games online under their desks. Someone even mistakenly sent a team invitation to the class group chat, and within a minute someone replied: "[Full room, anyone want to create another room?]"
At 10 p.m. on Friday night, Zhou Yu was playing games in the dormitory when a voice call popped up on his phone. It was from Chen Jingchi.
Fan Xin and An Kejia directed the tactics in a low but rapid voice. Zhou Yu took his phone and went to the balcony to answer the call.
"Is it convenient to talk?" Chen Jingchi's voice sounded slightly hoarse.
"Mm," Zhou Yu replied.
"It's about to be sent to post-production, there's no time to export the demo, but I'll let you listen to it." After Chen Jingchi finished speaking in a low voice, the intro of the song started playing in the receiver.
Having developed some musical taste, Zhou Yu guessed within the first few seconds of hearing the arrangement that this was the third song, "Vulgar Monster".
The balcony wasn't exactly quiet; the glass door only partially blocked out conversations. Zhou Yu turned up the volume on her phone, listening intently to the music playing. The static caused some distortion, but Chen Jingchi's voice was so distinctive to Zhou Yu. She could tell he seemed to have changed his singing style; his technique and enunciation conveyed a nonchalant ease, bringing the song's strangeness to its extreme.
After a little over three minutes, Zhou Yu heard a very faint conversation coming from the other end of the line. A few seconds later, Chen Jingchi picked up his phone again.
"How is it?" he asked.
"It sounds nice." Zhou was at a loss for words.
Every time she listens to a song, she can only squeeze out these two words, as if all her desire to express herself has been exhausted in the lyrics. I wonder if Chen Jingchi will think she is being perfunctory.
Fortunately, the other party did not comment on her concise evaluation. He quickly brought up another matter: "Zhou Yu, can you write album liner notes?"
Fearing he might misunderstand something involving unfamiliar territory, Zhou asked, "Is it shown in the album description?"
“Yes.” There was some noise in the background on Chen Jingchi’s end. “You are most familiar with your lyrics, so it’s better to have you write them. I will give you the highest price.”
Zhou Yu hadn't expected this to be paid for. Hesitating for even a second would be disrespectful to herself, so she accepted the task: "Okay, when do you need it?"
"We need to prepare for the publicity and release by Monday, next week."
Zhou Yu had never written this before, but she had a strong learning ability. She could find some other people's introductions to see the format and write one within two days.
“I’ll send it to you when I’m done writing it,” she said.
"There's something else." With a muffled thud, Chen Jingchi's voice suddenly became much clearer; he must have gotten into the car. "Do you have Weibo? I'll mention you when I release the song."
The moment Zhou Yu uttered the word "yes," he suddenly realized something.
After Weibo updated, its functions became increasingly flashy. A few days ago, when she clicked into Chen Jingchi's personal account homepage, she saw a line of very inconspicuous small print:
You have been following him for 99 days.
She rarely uses Weibo, and she doesn't know if Chen Jingchi will see this follow duration.
She quickly turned on speakerphone, opened Weibo, found the only person she was following, and sure enough, she could see that the previous 99 had become 105.
Zhou, in a moment of inspiration, immediately unfollowed Chen Jingchi, but fearing that the deletion was not thorough enough, he simply added him to his blacklist as a precaution.
"What's your name?" Chen Jingchi asked.
Zhou Yu used her chosen English name as her username on social media, so she had to go back to her profile page: "Wait, I'll change it to my own name."
After some maneuvering, Zhou Yu changed her Weibo name. Looking down, she saw that she had just liked Chen Jingchi's Weibo post a few days ago.
Not only this new song post, but she also liked all the posts he made before.
Help.
While frantically unliking posts, Zhou Yu was relieved that he didn't like posting updates, and that he only had 12 Weibo posts in all this time.
Just as she was deleting her oldest Weibo post, Chen Jingchi's voice appeared again.
Why does it say I can't view the homepage content?
Zhou Yu's heart skipped a beat.
I was in such a rush that I forgot to remove him from my blacklist!
Before she could speak, she heard a muffled laugh from the other end of the line; it was a man: "You've been blocked."
"..."
Zhou Yu had never been so fast before. She unblocked Chen Jingchi in two seconds and pretended to be calm: "Take another look, there might be a bug."
From Chen Jingchi's perspective, Zhou Yu had no reason to block his account. As long as she didn't admit it, he probably wouldn't think much of it.
He didn't say anything, but Weibo suddenly sent him a notification.
[@Chen Jingchi has followed you]
Zhou Yu witnessed firsthand that the number in the column that Chen Jingchi was paying attention to jumped from 0 to 1.
She was his first focus.
The last line of the lyrics, "Life has an end, but my vow is endless," is a quote from the Buddhist teaching, "The void has an end, but my vow is endless."
-----------------------
Author's note: Thank you, Qiqiqiqi baby, for the nutrient solution! [heart emoji]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
