Chapter 56 Old Love Letters: He gained fame, she experienced love...
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yu stood in the corridor for a long time without going back.
Zhou Jinglong behaved well in prison and was granted early parole. During those seven years, Zhou Yu experienced pain and despair, but she never felt regret. She never dared to tell anyone about these thoughts, not even Liu Xianya.
She was happy, finally able to wait for her father to return to a normal life. But at the same time, she was also very clear that the time bomb that had been buried in her heart for a year was finally starting its countdown.
The only thing to be thankful for is that Chen Jingchi is now at the peak of his career, and countless good works will come to him in the future, so he will no longer need to actively seek them out.
Tan Bei came out to use the restroom and saw Zhou Yu standing in a daze at the corner of the corridor. She took a step forward and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
Zhou Yu suddenly snapped out of her daze, smiled gently at her, and shook her head: "It's nothing, I just got a phone call and I'm about to go in."
Tan Bei said with a smile, "Hurry up and go in, they're having an English corner inside."
Back in the private room, the boys started speaking English to prepare for the world tour. Their spoken English was quite good, except for Du Heng, who had been in the workforce for too long and had completely forgotten his English. He racked his brains to arrange and combine a few simple words that he still remembered from his vocabulary, and his speech was awkward and funny.
Zhuo Wencheng kept calling everyone "Indian daddy," and then called over a waiter to ask if they had curry, which made everyone laugh.
Zhou Yu was preoccupied with her own thoughts. She listened to their playful banter with a distracted expression, her face devoid of any smile.
Chen Jingchi noticed her unusual behavior and leaned closer to ask, "What's wrong?"
Zhou Yu snapped out of her daze and gave him a slight smile: "It's nothing."
The celebration banquet ended late at night, and the sounds of heavy breathing in the hotel bedroom did not subside until the early hours of the morning.
Chen Jingchi lifted her up by the waist and rubbed her reddened knees with his hot palms.
Zhou Yu couldn't speak a complete sentence. She turned her head to kiss him, but the position of hugging him from behind was not very convenient, so she only managed to kiss his chin. Chen Jingchi hugged her and turned her around, gently licking her lips, and said softly, "You can tell me if there's anything."
She didn't seem very serious tonight, neither in her response to kisses nor in the strength with which she held him when she was in the throes of passion. Later, they changed positions, and Chen Jingchi couldn't see the expression on her face, but he could notice her deliberately suppressed voice.
When Zhou Yu looked up, she saw his sweat-dampened forehead, his resolute and handsome eyebrows, and his lips that made her feel so good during their kiss. She stared at him for several seconds, wishing she could etch his image into her very being.
"Don't worry about family matters." Zhou Yu lightly bit his Adam's apple, her voice muffled. "Want to come again?"
Chen Jingchi granted her wish.
Their compatibility in this matter grew stronger, and the unparalleled pleasure they experienced in a short time was irreplaceable and could only be provided by the person before them. The collision of spirit and flesh brought an unparalleled experience, allowing them to temporarily forget everything and immerse themselves in a world of bliss with him.
I felt so good that my whole body trembled, so tired that I was out of consciousness, so sleepy that I fell asleep, and only after waking up overnight did I finally return to reality.
*
The following day marked the start of the third year of university, which also coincided with the official release of Chen Jingchi's third album, "Clouds and Mud," on music platforms, along with the launch of the physical album.
The tour brought more buzz to the new song than anyone imagined. Chen Jingchi broke records time and time again, and Zhou Yu no longer needed to worry about the album's performance or keep up with the online buzz as before.
Now he rises against the wind, flying farther and farther, reaching heights that are beyond our reach and can only be looked up to.
In early September, Chen Jingchi released a cultural tourism promotional song specially produced by CCTV, attended the concert of pop star Wang Geng as a guest, and recorded a duet with him. In mid-September, he went to Italy to participate in Milan Fashion Week and walked the runway. At the end of September, he attended the Silk Road International Film Festival and sang the title track "Clouds and Mud" from his third album.
He has become a hot celebrity in the entertainment industry. Not only fans, but even news headlines have started to use adjectives like "Little King" to refer to him.
Days passed, but Zhou Yu still hadn't received any news from Zhou Jinglong. It wasn't until the last day of September that Liu Xianya sent a message informing her that the situation was special and she might have to wait another month.
On the first day of National Day, Chen Jingchi and his band recorded a program in Xianhai. Zhou Yu hadn't seen him for more than half a month, so he made an appointment with Tan Bei to come over and have a meal with everyone after the recording.
The number of people at the dinner party was far greater than expected, including several singers who were acquainted with Chen Jingchi from the show. They all looked surprised when they saw Zhou Yu.
"I'd only heard your partner was talented, I never imagined she was so beautiful!" someone exclaimed. "She has a face perfect for movies, it's such a shame she's not acting."
Chen Jingchi led her to sit down beside him and replied, "You came to see me, you're lucky."
Hearing this, Zhou Yu knew that Chen Jingchi had a good relationship with them.
She ate quietly, occasionally chatting with Tan Bei beside her. The boys' conversation shifted from the show they were recording that day to other things. One of them joked, "Could you ask your sister-in-law to write a poem for me? I had my agent try to contact her before, but I couldn't get through at all. Isn't this a coincidence?"
Zhou Yu's reputation in the industry soared after the Golden Melody Awards. Online, she was jokingly called a "lucky charm" for her husbands, as every song she wrote for Chen Jingchi became a hit. Her third album even topped the physical album sales chart for nearly five years. However, the songs Chen Jingchi released afterward, which she did not write lyrics for, did not make much of a splash.
Another person spoke the truth: "So what if she wrote it for you? It only works when the two of them are together."
Chen Jingchi agreed: "That's right."
"Are you two even going to let the rest of us live?"
"The third album was probably aimed at winning awards, and its sales were truly astonishing. I couldn't even sell ten albums like that."
When will the fourth major be released? Give me a definite answer so I can avoid your schedule.
"It's still early," he smiled. "Let's prepare for the world tour first."
Zhou Yu listened quietly to their conversation. Tan Bei leaned over and whispered something to her, her tone proud: "Where can you find such a beautiful and thoughtful little lucky star as Zhou Yu? Chen Jingchi is so lucky."
She couldn't help laughing.
Indeed, all the singers at the table were filled with envy and jealousy.
*
The following afternoon, Chen Jingchi drove Zhou Yu home. Before getting out of the car, he suddenly asked, "Is your mother home?"
Zhou Yu was taken aback, her heart skipped a beat, and she asked, "You want to see her?"
"I've never met your parents, so I don't know if she's satisfied with me." Chen Jingchi unbuckled her seatbelt. "Today might be a bit informal. How about the New Year?"
Zhou Yu unconsciously gripped the edge of the seat with her hand hidden at her side. Not wanting him to notice anything amiss, she nodded and agreed, "Okay."
Then she quickly added, "She likes you a lot."
"That's good." Chen Jingchi leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Let's go home."
Liu Xianya was at home. When she went to the balcony to collect the laundry, she saw a car downstairs. The number of luxury cars in this community could be counted on one hand. She knew that Chen Jingchi had brought Zhou Yu back.
Unlike before, when Liu Xianya would always ask her about the progress of her relationship, this time she didn't bring up Chen Jingchi. Zhou Yu was hesitating whether to tell her about the conversation when Liu Xianya's phone suddenly rang, receiving a text message.
She was folding clothes on the sofa and asked Zhou Yu to check if the package she ordered the day before yesterday had arrived. Zhou Yu went over, picked up the phone, and saw the text displayed on the screen, but remained silent for a long time.
Liu Xianya asked curiously, "Is it a delivery?"
Zhou Yu turned her head and whispered to her, "Mom, it's to let us pick up Dad on the 25th."
Liu Xianya was taken aback. She quickly put down the clothes she was holding and walked over. She took the phone and checked it several times. It was a message from the detention center. She put her hand to her chest and let out a long sigh of relief: "Finally, they've sent a notification. I've been waiting for this every day."
Zhou asked her to open the calendar and see that the 25th was a Friday. She said, "I'll take a day off and come back then."
Liu Xianya nodded, and then started nagging again: "Shouldn't I buy your dad some clothes and daily necessities, otherwise he won't have anything to wear or use when he comes back? Oh right, we need to clear out the study quickly. Xiaobao, do you want to sleep with me or in the study?"
"I'll sleep in the study," Zhou Yu said. "I'll help you tidy up."
They spent two days moving all the clutter out of the study, preparing the bedding in advance, getting a SIM card at the mobile phone store, and buying a new phone. Liu Xianya took her to the supermarket to buy some household items. When they got to the men's clothing section, she muttered, "Your dad's size is a bit smaller now than before, and he's lost a lot of weight."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu felt a tightness in her chest. She followed behind Liu Xianya without saying a word, and when it came time to pay the bill, she insisted on paying.
"Oh, I don't need your money," Liu Xianya complained. "I'm still making money."
"I know, I'm just doing my filial duty," Zhou Yu smiled.
After the National Day holiday, Zhou Yu's days became increasingly difficult. On one hand, she eagerly awaited the day she could bring Zhou Jinglong home. On the other hand, Chen Jingchi's schedule remained as busy as ever.
Before, if I wanted to see him, I could compare our class schedules and sneak a peek at him when he didn't have any classes. But in my third year, I had a lot of major courses and assignments, plus various elective courses and group projects. Time was squeezed out, and even thinking about him became a luxury.
Zhou wanted to ask his counselor for leave a day in advance, and took the high-speed train back to Xianhai on the morning of the 25th.
At 2 p.m., she and Liu Xianya waited anxiously outside the detention center for almost half an hour before finally seeing Zhou Jinglong with a big smile on his face.
His hair was shaved very short, and his face was so thin that his bones protruded. As soon as he came out, he went up and hugged the mother and daughter. Zhou Yu couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat, and her eyes welled up with tears. She tried very hard to suppress Fan Yong's emotions.
She hadn't hugged her father in seven years.
"Are you hungry?" Liu Xianya asked. "Want me to take you to get something to eat first?"
They went home and had a late lunch at the restaurant downstairs. Zhou Yu didn't have much of an appetite; he ate a couple of bites, then put down his chopsticks and just drank water while listening to their conversation.
Liu Xianya told him in detail about the recent events, and Zhou Jinglong listened attentively. When asked about his future plans, he said, "I want to open a shop; my current idea is to open a teahouse."
Seven years have passed, and he has long been out of touch with society. He hasn't learned any trades, and finding a job again is extremely difficult due to his criminal record alone.
Liu Xianya looked troubled: "Opening a shop must cost a lot of money, right?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhou Yu said, "I have money."
The two looked over and laughed. Zhou Jinglong asked, "Did you do part-time jobs while in college?"
“You don’t have enough money, Xiao Bao,” Liu Xianya said. “Opening a shop costs at least tens of thousands of yuan.”
Zhou opened the bank app, checked the balance, and showed it to them on his phone: "Isn't this enough?"
The two were stunned when they saw the long string of numbers, nearly eight digits.
"Where did you get so much money?" Liu Xianya exclaimed in astonishment. "This is millions?!"
"I earned it by writing lyrics," Zhou Yu explained. "Chen Jingchi's songs made a lot of money, and I got a large share of it too."
Liu Xianya suddenly remembered the bank card that Zhou Yu had put in her safe. At the time, she thought he was just keeping it for her, but she never expected that there would be so much money in the card.
Zhou Jinglong was still in shock when he asked blankly, "Who is Chen Jingchi?"
Liu Xianya and Zhou Yu exchanged a glance, and she whispered, "He's Xiaobao's boyfriend."
Zhou Jinglong used his newly acquired phone to look up the name, and news headlines praising the young man came into view. He saw the photo and learned who this young man was.
He put down his phone, his tone subtly awkward: "Xiao Bao is dating a celebrity."
A silence fell over the three of them, as if they all knew the truth but no one spoke aloud.
After an unknown amount of time, Zhou Jinglong finally spoke again: "It's Dad..."
“He was my high school classmate.” Zhou Yu interrupted him, knowing what he was about to say, “He wasn’t this famous when we met. I’ve liked him for a long time.”
Liu Xianya is well aware of this. From another perspective, she is also one of the people who witnessed Chen Jingchi's rise from obscurity to a rising star in the music scene.
When she was initially encouraged to date Chen Jingchi, her thinking was simple: it was just kids liking each other, and dating in college was perfectly normal. But as more and more videos of the two of them surfaced online, and Chen Jingchi never hesitated to publicly express his love for Zhou Yu, she realized that perhaps their relationship was more than just a casual fling.
If you reach the point of discussing marriage, you need to consider not only feelings, but also more practical factors, which presents you with a difficult problem.
Zhou Jinglong's identity cannot be exposed to the public. Once it is revealed and posted online, it will be an unbearable attack for ordinary people like them, not to mention the impact it will have on public figures like Chen Jingchi.
Even though he has served his sentence and been released from prison, what people remember are always the most eye-catching things, especially negative news.
And so many people around them who know them are potential risks.
"Take the money and use it first," Zhou Yu said. "Don't worry about us."
That evening, as Zhou was taking a shower, her phone, which was charging outside, rang. Liu Xianya went over to answer it for her, but seeing the name "Chen" that popped up, she figured it was Chen Jingchi calling and didn't answer.
After the ringing stopped, two unread messages appeared on the screen.
Chen: [I heard from your roommate that you went home.]
Chen: [Is something wrong at home?]
Upon seeing these two lines, Liu Xianya's feelings became complicated. Zhou Yu had never told him about his family affairs, and even now, Chen Jingchi still didn't know that the doctor who examined him every six months was his girlfriend's mother.
A few seconds later, another message popped up.
Chen: [Missing you]
Liu Xianya couldn't sleep all night because of those few words.
On Sunday, when Liu Xianya took her to the high-speed rail station, she made sure Zhou Jinglong didn't come along. Before sending her inside, Liu Xianya pulled her aside to talk.
“Xiao Bao, do you remember what I told you before?” Liu Xianya touched her face, looking helpless. “I said that your way of thinking is very pessimistic, and you tend to choose to avoid conflicts and risks when dealing with problems.”
Zhou Yu looked at her without saying anything.
“I’m not saying what you’re doing is wrong, it’s just that you seem to have never opened up to him, and you’ve been carrying a lot of burdens on your own, which is putting too much pressure on you.”
Liu Xianya sighed softly, and after a long while asked, "Did you never think about a long-term relationship with him?"
Zhou Yu lowered her head, many vivid memories flashing through her mind, each frame reminding her that she had not wasted a single moment with him.
Feeling a tightness in his chest and struggling to breathe, Zhou Yu said to her, and perhaps to himself, "We've all gotten what we wanted."
He gained fame, and she experienced love.
Even the most beautiful dream will eventually end one day.
Upon hearing this, Liu Xianya finally understood why Zhou Yu had asked her so long ago whether their relationship was based on mutual ulterior motives.
She still treats the relationship as a transaction and has given it an end date.
If it wasn't Zhou Jinglong, it would have been some other opportunity.
Liu Xianya didn't know what had happened between them, but she felt sorry for her. Even in a relationship, Zhou Yu forced herself to stay clear-headed at all times and never truly opened her heart to the person she liked.
It started seven years ago.
No one could ever get into the depths of her heart again.
*
This weekend, Chen Jingchi unexpectedly got a holiday because the brand canceled the event at the last minute. He wanted to surprise her when he got to her dormitory, but he heard that she had gone back to Xianhai.
After not seeing her for more than half a month, Chen Jingchi missed her terribly and personally went to the high-speed rail station to pick her up and take her back to her apartment.
Zhou Yu didn't tell him the specific reason for going home, only saying that it had been resolved, and then silenced him with a kiss.
She rarely took the initiative, so Chen Jingchi had the smart home assistant draw the curtains and then forced her to sit on the sofa.
Afraid of getting the sofa dirty, Zhou Yu begged him to carry her back to the bedroom, but he refused. He then began to thrust more frequently, forcing her to change her approach and beg him.
Her long hair cascaded down like a beautiful black waterfall as it swayed. Chen Jingchi paused, took the hair tie from her wrist, and skillfully tied it up to prevent it from getting wet with sweat.
As darkness fell, Zhou Yu lost count of how many times he had been exhausted to the point where he could barely lift his fingers. As long as he didn't back down, she was still willing to cooperate.
Chen Jingchi clearly noticed that she had been much more tolerant of him these past few meetings, and wasn't as spoiled as before. He held her in his lap, his voice dry and hoarse: "Can you still handle it?"
Zhou Yu didn't even bother to open his eyes, and deliberately asked, "Is it not working anymore?"
He chuckled softly, then abruptly answered her question. He heard her muffled moan of discomfort, and lowered his head to bite her earlobe: "So well-behaved lately?"
Zhou Yu laughed, her voice soft and clingy: "This is a reward for you."
Chen Jingchi's hand moved from her smooth, fair back to her waist and began to pinch and move it.
Another wave of spring is upon us.
-----------------------
Author's note: Thank you so much for the nutrient solution, everyone!!!
Reader "Yvonne :)" irrigated with nutrient solution +10
Reader "Yun Tun Han Han" added 5 units of nutrient solution to the water.
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Reader "彤彤266" added 2 units of nutrient solution to the irrigation water.
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