Chapter 17 Love Letters This was the first time they had been so close.
I don't know if Chen Jingchi believed her.
Zhou Yu felt that her credibility with him was still quite high so far. Although her acting skills were indeed not good, he couldn't see her face during the call, so he wouldn't notice any flaws.
Seeing that there was no sound for several seconds, Zhou Yu wondered if he was doubting the truth of her words. She couldn't help but want to change the subject, but she lacked experience in initiating conversations. Her mind raced, and finally she asked him, "Did you record until this late?"
After she finished speaking, she realized that she was just making conversation out of nothing. She shouldn't have brought up such an obvious fact, as it completely exposed her social shortcomings.
He responded softly, "Mm."
There was another several seconds of eerie silence.
They only ever talked about work; whenever they started talking about other things, it always felt like there was something more to it.
Zhou Yu was completely at a loss. Seeing that he didn't make a move, he could only say, "Then I'll hang up."
Chen Jingchi replied quickly: "Get some rest."
Seeing the end of the call screen, Zhou Yu breathed a sigh of relief and retweeted Chen Jingchi on his Weibo homepage.
Back in their dorm room from the balcony, An Kejia and Fan Xin had finished their game and were getting ready for bed. They had just seen Zhou Yu talking on the phone on the balcony, and An Kejia asked, "Were we playing too noisy?"
"It's alright." Zhou Yu didn't want to spoil their fun, since they only had time to play games together before bed.
Fan Xin asked curiously, "Who are you talking to on the phone so late?"
Zhou Yu hesitated for a second, then didn't tell the truth: "With my family."
Fan Xin nodded and did not ask any further questions.
After the dormitory lights were turned off, Zhou Yu searched for some well-known music albums and checked their formats and contents one by one by clicking on their descriptions.
When Fan Xin asked about the three male guests, An Kejia reported the results of her investigation this week. She found that although the male guest she had initially chosen was good-looking, he was not very proactive. Instead, he seemed to be playing hard to get.
“When I don’t pay much attention to him, he can send several messages a day. Now that I’m the one who sends him messages, he’s actually acting all aloof.”
Fan Xin analyzed for her: "It's probably not some kind of obedience test. If he really wins you over, he'll make all sorts of demands."
An Kejia didn't speak. Fan Xin asked her again, "So, have you fallen for him?"
In reality, An Kejia wasn't particularly interested in any of the three male guests, and she didn't know what liking someone felt like. Curious, she asked, "Xinxin, have you ever liked anyone?"
Fan Xin shook her head: "I only have a few favorite celebrities, but this is different from liking them in real life, since I don't have children for them."
"That's not very helpful," An Kejia said, her curiosity piqued. "Zhouzhou, do you have someone you like?"
Zhou Yu looked away from the text on her phone screen and towards the balcony. The white curtains, which weren't of very good quality, didn't block out the moonlight completely, letting some of it in. The soft, dim light reflected her secret thoughts—thoughts she wanted to hide completely, they would occasionally peek out to show their presence.
Zhou Yu didn't know how to define her own "like".
Several years ago, when Zhou Yu first met Chen Jingchi, she was deeply moved by his voice. Since then, she has been particularly fond of that voice that sings of stubbornness and resilience, resonating with many. For a long time, it was like a "close friend," accompanying her through the most difficult period and growing alongside her.
She was captivated by the emotions it evoked and grateful for its constant companionship. Perhaps it had become a habit over time, to the point that Zhou Yu could almost distinguish it from its owner; it was it, and he was him.
After starting her collaboration with Chen Jingchi, Zhou Yuneng vaguely sensed that the clear distinction between them was gradually disappearing, and that "it" and "he" were slowly beginning to overlap, which was fatal to her.
After a long silence, Zhou Yu finally spoke: "I don't have anyone I like."
She emphasized the word "person".
I don't know if I'm honest.
*
The car stopped downstairs at the apartment building.
"Think about it again." Du Heng didn't unlock the car immediately, but spoke earnestly, "Actually, I think the first song is very suitable as the lead single, and the song is also good."
Chen Jingchi unbuckled his seatbelt and asked, "The third song isn't good?"
“That’s not what I meant.” Du Heng was speechless for a moment, then sighed and tried a different approach. “Don’t you think it’s unlucky to have ‘monster’ in the album title?”
"I didn't realize you were so superstitious at such a young age."
Du Heng was speechless after being rendered speechless by his words, which were neither a compliment nor an insult. At this moment, he finally began to understand the feelings of the company's lyricist.
“I really like this song title.” Chen Jingchi looked at him, a hint of weariness in his eyes. “I’m happy, you know what I mean.”
He spoke frankly, and Du Heng had no choice but to unlock the car as a sign of compromise: "Take a good rest these few days. I've got a lot of commercial performances booked for you next month, so you'll be exhausted."
Chen Jingchi nodded slightly and got out of the car.
*
On Sunday afternoon, Zhou sent the album copy he had written to Chen Jingchi, and a few minutes later, three thousand yuan appeared in his account.
Upon seeing the transfer information, Zhou Yu thought he had added an extra zero.
As soon as I opened Chen Jingchi's chat window, I quickly remembered that in the last phone call, he had said he would give her the highest price.
Zhou Yu stopped what she was doing with her fingers and withdrew her intention to ask him.
The collaboration with Chen Jingchi on his first solo album has ended, signifying that the two should not contact each other unless necessary. Zhou Yu didn't want to know, nor did he care to investigate, whether there were any other factors involved in the payment.
On Wednesday night, Chen Jingchi posted a teaser for his new album on Weibo, which instantly made his long-awaiting fans ecstatic.
As she came out of the bathroom, Fan Xin reminded her, "Zhou Zhou, your phone kept ringing."
Zhou fastened the hair drying cap, walked to the desk, and saw that his phone screen lit up with a long list of followings and private messages on Weibo.
She only found out what had happened when she opened Weibo.
Chen Jingchi named the album after the third song, "Vulgar Monster".
Chen Jingchi's fans have already discovered that his account went from having zero followers to having one, and the only account he followed had an empty homepage with no activity. The fans didn't know who this person was, and Chen Jingchi wouldn't reply when they asked, so they found "Zhou Yu" here.
The private messages she received weren't very friendly; some even directly tagged her in the comments section of Chen Jingchi's announcement, asking if anyone knew him.
A few minutes later, she saw someone explain in the comment: "[It's a lyricist's work written for Chen Jingchi, a student of Jiang Chuan.]"
Zhou Yu turned off Weibo notifications and didn't reply to any private messages. Not only Weibo, Zhou Yu didn't even have a WeChat Moments account. She never posted any personal updates online. The boldest thing she ever did online was to like Chen Jingchi's Weibo posts, but thankfully she quickly unliked them a few days ago.
She didn't want to become a topic of discussion among netizens; exposure and attention were entirely detrimental to her. She even began to reflect on whether using her real name as a pen name out of selfish motives was the right decision.
Chen Jingchi's new album was officially released on various platforms at midnight on Friday.
Zhou Yu, who usually goes to bed before 11 p.m., stayed up all night for the first time. Just after midnight, a notification popped up on Weibo that Chen Jingchi had posted a new Weibo post.
@Chen Jingchi: #Chen Jingchi's debut solo album released#
I don't want to become a generic copy.
Within the finite chapters of life
Be the weirdest person
Be the brightest star
The most unique "vulgar monster"
The text was taken from a short section of her album description. Zhou Yu looked down and landed on the two lines of text below the song titles.
Composer/Singer: @Chen Jingchi
Lyrics by: @ZhouYu
It remained there for a long time.
After graduating from high school, Zhou Yu returned to his alma mater once in early August.
The walls of the high school were covered with red congratulatory posters, which were the honor rolls for this year's college entrance examination, recording the university admission information of all students.
Zhou Yu had assumed that the names of students admitted to the same university would be listed together, but she did not expect that the list was sorted according to their college entrance examination scores, and that students taking the general education exam and those taking the art exam were separated.
As a key high school in Xianhai City, No. 1 High School has a low proportion of art students and few students are admitted to art colleges. This year, only three students were admitted to Jiangbei Communication University. She was lined up on the left side of the school gate, while Chen Jingchi and Xu Yue were lined up on the right side of the school gate, more than ten meters apart.
Along with the graduation certificate, students also received an alumni directory, categorized by class. She was in Class 1, while Chen Jingchi was in Class 33, separated by more than half a book.
Even in the school's roster of beauties arranged alphabetically, C and Z are far apart.
This is the first time their names have been so close.
Chen Jingchi named his album "Vulgar Monster" after the third song. The poster features his face with an irregular crack in the middle, and deep red and light gray filters on the left and right sides, creating a distinct and bizarre effect.
Zhou Yu put on her headphones, clicked on a link from among many music platforms, and while her phone played the music in the background, she forwarded his Weibo post. She knew that many people would be checking her profile now, and fearing that saying too much might lead to something wrong, she didn't write a single word when forwarding it.
Chen Jingchi's arrival was overwhelming. Only ten minutes after Zhou Yu finished listening to three songs, his new album was already trending on Weibo. Clicking into the music app, the song comment sections were already flooded with fan-controlled comments, filled with text and emojis that Zhou Yu couldn't understand.
The dormitory lights were already off, but the three beds were still emitting a dim glow. Fan Xin tentatively asked in a low voice, "Are you listening to music?"
"I'm here," An Kejia replied in a breathy voice, her voice heavy with unease. "Quadrant 2 is really good."
Zhou wanted to speak up: "I didn't sleep either."
Fan Xin finally dared to speak at a normal volume: "Zhou Zhou, which song did you submit to your email address back then?"
Zhou Yu answered with his name.
"So Chen Jingchi likes this style," Fan Xin muttered. "Then I chose the wrong track from the start and wrote a love song."
An Kejia exclaimed in surprise, "Chen Jingchi sings love songs? I can't imagine it. His voice doesn't sound like someone who has been heartbroken."
"Who knows?" Fan Xin boldly speculated, "What if we write him a love song every week?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou paused the music player and said after a beat, "I won't write."
Regardless of whether they will continue to collaborate in the future, or whether Chen Jingchi is still willing to sing love songs.
Zhou Yu wasn't incapable of writing; he simply dared not.
She can write about all aspects of life, joys and sorrows, but she dares not touch on love.
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Author's Note: Thank you to "May You Pass All Exams" for the landmine! Thank you to all the babies for the nutrient solution [orange heart]
Reader "彤彤266" added 1 unit of nutrient solution to the water.
Reader "Qiqiqiqi" added 1 unit of nutrient solution to the water.
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