Chapter 30 Love letters are hidden in the clouds, hidden in the heart.
"A chorus?" Chen Jingchi frowned.
"Hey, hey, don't frown, your makeup hasn't been set yet," the makeup artist quickly reminded him.
Chen Jingchi resumed his expressionless demeanor, and saw Du Heng looking distressed in the makeup mirror.
"They said it was originally planned as a duet, but the female singer was still in talks and there was no result. Then Zhu Qi was willing to sing, so it was settled." Du Heng's tone was tinged with helplessness. "To put it bluntly, it's because the female celebrity is a big star and wanted to get involved. She brings her own audience, so the production team definitely thought it would be a waste not to use her."
The name sounded familiar. Chen Jingchi remembered that Zhuo Wencheng had mentioned it during a previous dinner gathering; they were both freshmen at Jiangxi University of Communication. His voice was indifferent: "Do I even have a choice?"
A question asked knowing the answer already.
He recorded the entire song in the recording studio, signed the contract, and paid the money. Even if the production company wanted to change it to a duet, that was their right, and he could only suffer in silence. Commercial collaborations prioritize profit above all else. Zhu Qi, a child star with powerful connections, wielded far more influence in the entertainment industry than he had when he first debuted.
It's clear that the production team knew him well. If they had made this clear beforehand, Chen Jingchi probably wouldn't have accepted the song, which is why they came up with such a dishonorable solution.
“This isn’t a discussion, it’s a notification.” Du Heng knew his temperament. Although he was also unhappy with this behavior, he was more afraid that Chen Jingchi would lose his temper and ruin things. He reassured him, “Anyway, the sound engineer will fix the sound. Lower your expectations and consider it as having more friends and more options.”
"What's the point of me knowing so many actors?" Chen Jingchi said unhappily.
"What are you saying? There's a variety show to record next month, aren't you going to go?" Du Heng patiently persuaded, "The entertainment industry is a small world, it's always good to know more people."
This isn't a question of whether there are any downsides; Chen Jingchi was willing to try writing this song because the lyrics moved him. Zhou Yu's lyrics were written specifically for him.
She wrote it from the perspective of a girl's unrequited love, and he sang it from the perspective of a boy's unrequited love. In his mind, it was a love song where emotions blended perfectly. However, since he had already recorded the entire song and conveyed the emotions in one go, adding a female chorus would disrupt the integrity and make the perspective feel disjointed.
But he had no choice.
He didn't blame Du Heng, but only himself for not standing firm enough. The explosive success of his debut album presented a promising situation, gaining popularity and attention, but the time was too short, and no one knew if it would be another flash in the pan.
He is still a newcomer who has just debuted. He has too few works and his strength has not yet been proven. He is still not well-known in the music scene.
This is also why various commercial activities and variety shows are needed to increase brand awareness.
After watching "I Hear Your Voice," Chen Jingchi realized that things are not as fair as they seem. The entertainment industry is not as simple as everyday social life. For a complete newcomer like him without any background or connections, it is difficult to gain a foothold without skills and solid strength.
A few months ago, he still had the courage to back down unscathed, but now he has too many things to consider and too many interests involved, so he has to compromise. This is a lesson that reality has tried to teach him time and time again, and which has ultimately been effective.
Seeing that he remained silent, Du Heng carefully chose his words and said, "Just don't cooperate with this company anymore, but we can't do anything about this song since we've already taken the money. When the new song is released, we'll still need to cooperate with the promotion. Don't make it too obvious, just pretend."
Chen Jingchi leaned back in his swivel chair, lowered his gaze to hide the sadness in his eyes, and responded softly, "Mm."
Du Heng had just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard him ask in a low voice, "Can we talk to them about copyright issues?"
*
On the last day of November, Zhou Yu received his first royalty payment from Shengyu.
When the payment notification popped up, Zhou was in class. He stopped taking notes, opened the message, and saw the five-figure sum. He almost thought the decimal point had been misplaced.
She repeatedly checked her bank card balance, and stared blankly for a while before she was convinced it was true.
In the afternoon, Zhou Yu received another payment: the copyright fee for "Evening Star Falling." The song was sold under a buyout contract with the record company. When negotiating the price with the producer, the producer was very cautious, stating that commercial value and other factors needed to be considered, and the highest offer was only six thousand.
This also made Zhou Yu realize just how much benefit Chen Jingchi had given her in their collaboration.
After the dormitory lights were turned off that night, Zhou Yu opened Weibo.
This was a habit she had recently developed. Having not seen Chen Jingchi for a long time and without contacting him, the only way she could find out about him was through this social media platform. He'd been online quite frequently lately, posting photos and sharing his life every few days, with his captions remaining as simple as ever.
After seeing the photos he posted of himself leaving get off work tonight, Zhou Yu was just about to go to sleep when he heard Fan Xin's surprised voice: "Hey, did you guys see that? 'Before Sunset' has actually moved up its release date."
An Kejia chimed in, "Is it the drama that Zhu Qi starred in?"
"Mmm," Fan Xin said. "I've read the novel and I'm really looking forward to it. I hope I can bring the character to life."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu also felt a sense of anticipation, though it differed from Fan Xin's. Although she had also read the original novel, it was for preparation work for writing lyrics; her focus was not on the TV series, but on the theme song.
After sending the lyrics to "Evening Star Falling" to Chen Jingchi, perhaps because he was busy, or perhaps due to a confidentiality agreement, she didn't hear the melody of the song. She was very curious to know how Chen Jingchi would interpret this song about unrequited love.
Just thinking about his voice singing love songs, singing about the unrequited love she wrote, makes me unable to help but have some vague fantasies.
I searched for the show's title on Weibo and sure enough, I found that the official account had posted an update announcing that it would premiere early on Friday night, December 5th.
With a specific timeframe provided, it seems that anticipation now has a purpose.
At 8 PM on the 5th, "After Sunset" officially premiered. The OST release event was a day or two later than the series premiere, and Zhou Yu wanted to try his luck and see if any of the songs would appear in the first four episodes released tonight.
Fan Xin was watching a show on her computer. She moved her chair next to her and said, "I'll watch it with you."
Fan Xin was a little surprised: "Wow, I thought you weren't interested in TV dramas. Come on, let's do it together."
Zhou Yu guessed that the early episodes wouldn't reveal their mutual crush so early on, and that Chen Jingchi's song might appear later. As she suspected, more than forty minutes into the first episode, the featured song wasn't theirs.
As the end credits rolled and the credits began to roll, Fan Xin was still immersed in the scene she had just witnessed, discussing with Zhou Yu, "I still can't get into the male lead's face; it's too distracting."
Zhou Yu wasn't focused on the plot, so she just nodded casually, "Mhm."
"I'll probably get used to it after watching it for a while longer. I'll just bear with it a little longer."
Fan Xin was scrolling the mouse, just about to play the next episode, when she saw Chen Jingchi's name appear prominently in the scrolling credits at the end of the episode. She abruptly pressed the spacebar to pause.
The interlude, "Evening Star Falling"
Singer Chen Jingchi and Zhu Qi
Lyricist Zhou Yu
Composer Chen Jingchi
"Huh?" Fan Xin exclaimed in surprise, "Zhou Zhou, you wrote the theme song?"
Zhou Yu didn't have time to answer; her gaze fell on the name following Chen Jingchi, and she was momentarily at a loss.
Why are there two people in the singing category?
"Wow, Chen Jingchi and Zhu Qi sang a duet!" Fan Xin quickly clicked on the next episode. "I really want to hear it, hurry up and watch the next episode."
Zhou Yu's thoughts were a bit chaotic. Coming back to her senses, she watched as Fan Xin skipped the second episode's opening credits and forced herself to calm down. It was best not to jump to conclusions before hearing what the song was like.
Halfway through the second episode, when the female lead's memories were introduced, a different musical intro than the one from the previous episode played.
Fan Xin was quite excited and grabbed her hand: "Hey, is this the song?"
"I don't know, I've never heard of it."
Zhou Yu's voice sounded calm, but he had a vague premonition in his heart, a feeling that was confirmed when the prelude introduced vocals.
It was a female voice. This was the first time Zhou Yu had heard Zhu Qi's voice. The lyrics he had written himself also appeared in the subtitles on the side.
After sunset
Neon-lit streets
The wind passing by the corner
Stopping unintentionally
You turned around with a smile
Lost in the tenderness of this moment
Flower shop entrance
The Last Rose
fully ripe
Wine with escaping bubbles
Not drunk
endlessly"
The girl's voice lacked technique, and her emotions weren't strong enough to compensate for this shortcoming. Her simple and straightforward singing style made the verse, which was supposed to create an ambiguous atmosphere, sound more like a narration sung from the perspective of an onlooker.
Then comes the chorus, where Chen Jingchi's voice appears.
A few stars that brightened on the horizon
Hidden in the clouds
Hidden in my heart
While waiting for the fireworks to rise
Falling from the deep blue night
Falling into the Midsummer Wilderness
Unburnt
splendid and beautiful
"Life goes on and on"
Just as she had imagined, this was the effect Zhou Yu wanted. Chen Jingchi's low voice, relaxed and effortless in his comfort zone, was so gentle that it sent shivers down her spine. The resonant energy was so captivating that the very first line brought her back to the mood and state of mind she had when writing the lyrics. Even after so long, she could still vividly recall the suffocating feeling of her heart tightening when the protagonist missed his chance due to a misunderstanding.
The interlude only played the first half before it stopped as the female lead snapped out of her memories.
Zhou Yu stared blankly at the computer screen, his eyes unfocused.
Even knowing that it was an interlude set against the backdrop of a TV series, Zhou Yu had always regarded "Evening Star Falling" as a song written for Chen Jingchi, and had already given it a different meaning before she even started writing.
After Chen Jingchi read those four lines of poetry, he asked if he could write one for him as well.
It was Chen Jingchi who presented her with a condition that made her waver: she would write it, and he would sing it.
She presumptuously assumed it was a love song for them, pouring in too much emotion. So when she heard Zhu Qi's voice, she realized that her singing skills were insufficient to interpret the lyrics. Compared to Chen Jingchi's perfect performance that matched the song's emotions, she felt a huge sense of disappointment.
She knew very well that Zhu Qi was not a professional singer and that she shouldn't have too high expectations of her, but this song held a lot of weight in Zhou Yu's heart, and this version of the duet made her very disappointed.
It was as if he had painstakingly made a cake just for him, but he shared half with someone else who was unaware of the deed, and that person found it tasteless.
It was picked up with great care, and then put down lightly.
Zhou Yu thought that those few days together had given her undue ideas, making her so bold as to lose her sense of propriety. It was just a collaboration involving interests, yet she secretly hid her unspeakable thoughts in the lyrics, naively believing it to be their secret.
*
Two days later, at 10 a.m., Chen Jingchi posted "Evening Stars Fall" on Weibo. The promotional poster featured a collage of solo photos of him and Zhu Qi, with a simple caption of just two or three sentences, clearly copied and pasted.
The poster had the production staff listed in tiny print, almost invisible even when the image was enlarged. Since the press release incident last month, Zhou Yu hadn't dared to like any posts, not even Chen Jingchi's Weibo post announcing his song.
She still occasionally receives greetings in her private inbox, but Zhou Yu dares not open the private messages from people she doesn't follow anymore. Her account is practically useless; she only uses it to log in and see what Chen Jingchi posted today.
That noon, after lunch, An Kejia returned to her dorm and, not having time to watch the drama, finally clicked on the song link to listen to the whole song. When she saw that the lyricist was Zhou Yu, she was equally surprised: "Wow, Zhou Zhou, didn't you say you wouldn't write love songs?"
As soon as the song started playing and Zhou Yu heard Zhu Qi's voice, a sense of unease rose within her that she herself hadn't even noticed. This song had been playing so frequently these past two days—during lunch breaks, on the evening radio, and even occasionally in the dorm when Fan Xin was watching dramas—she still hadn't developed an immunity to it.
What should have been a source of pride has now become a source of unease. It's not that he regrets it, but he's just having trouble thinking about it for a short time. Zhou wants to use his emotional resilience to resolve things, and he expects to feel better in a few days.
This time, Zhou Yu's tone was even more resolute than before, and he replied, "This is the last one. I won't write any more."
An Kejia didn't notice the unusual tone in her voice and said, "Why not write it? Chen Jingchi is perfect for singing these sweet little songs."
Fan Xin turned around and commented, "He is quite suitable, but Zhu Qi's singing voice is completely plain. Their voices don't blend well together."
Zhou Yu didn't speak, but An Kejia chuckled and asked, "Haven't you seen Zhu Qi's interview video from the school anniversary celebration?"
Fan Xin thought for a moment: "I really haven't seen it. They're just a few words of blessing. I don't have the patience to read them all if they're too long."
“I saw it,” An Kejia said mysteriously. “There was a question they asked Zhu Qi if she had ever heard the youth version of the school song. Do you know how she answered?”
Zhou Yu also turned his head to look over.
How should I answer?
"She said she really likes Chen Jingchi's voice and hopes to have the opportunity to collaborate with him." An Kejia imitated the tone of the person involved, smiling. "But she also said it was a joke, don't take it seriously."
"Is that so?" Fan Xin asked in surprise.
"So I was really surprised when I saw that this song was a duet between the two of them. If they really collaborated, I don't believe it's just a coincidence." An Kejia looked at Zhou Yu and asked, "Zhou Zhou, did you know anything about the inside story of the lyrics you wrote?"
Seeing that they were all looking at her, Zhou Yu shook her head: "I don't know. When Chen Jingchi asked me to write the song, he didn't say it was a duet between two people."
The two exchanged a glance, and An Kejia guessed, "Is it because this song can be sung solo or as a duet, so he felt there was no need to tell you?"
“It’s possible. The original story was about the male and female leads having a crush on each other, so a duet would feel more appropriate,” Fan Xin agreed.
What they said made sense, but Zhou Yu wasn't concerned about whether they could sing a duet. If Chen Jingchi had told her in advance that Zhu Qi was involved, she would have refused to write lyrics for them from the start, instead of letting his vague words sway her.
She'd received the money, released the song, and now that things had come to this, she could only feel resentful in her heart, not even having the right to ask Chen Jingchi a question. She'd overthought things, taking it too seriously. She'd gone from seeing them merely as business partners to now realizing she'd placed excessive expectations on him and been trying to get a response.
For the first time, she realized she had crossed the line.
If viewed with a normal perspective, it's a good thing that her work is being sung, bringing both fame and fortune. Why should she care who sings it or judge others' singing skills? In fact, she's not even in a position to be considered a truly important figure.
Fan Xin watched the interview video from the previous school anniversary celebration and indeed saw the clip An Kejia had mentioned. She boldly guessed, "Could Zhu Qi like Chen Jingchi?"
"It's hard to say," An Kejia said softly. "Even if it's liking, it's probably different from what we're used to; it's the kind of liking that involves a romantic relationship."
Zhou Yu recalled what Zhuo Wencheng had said during their dinner at Chen Jingchi's apartment.
“A few days ago, a woman added me from the freshman group, saying she was Zhu Qi’s friend and asked if I could introduce her to Brother Chi.”
She still remembers Chen Jingchi's reaction at the time. He didn't even glance at the photos on his phone and bluntly said, "I'm not interested."
"Wow." Fan Xin said with a gossipy expression, "Does she even have a chance? I don't think Chen Jingchi is very interested in women."
An Kejia was amused by her statement: "That's just how it appears on the surface. How would you know what he's like in private?"
“Oh, right.” Fan Xin finished speaking, then looked at Zhou Yu, “Zhou Zhou, you’ve met him. What do you think of him in private?”
Zhou Yu seemed somewhat absent-minded. After a few seconds of hesitation, he uttered an idiom: "consistent inside and out."
Fan Xin waved her hand: "Then it's hopeless."
*
That evening, Zhou Yu timed it perfectly and left the library study room at 9:30.
After binge-watching the show for a week, Fan Xin had been completely captivated by the male lead's good looks. She waited for each new episode without fail, wanting to drag Zhou Yu along to watch it too. Zhou Yu really didn't want to, but couldn't refuse directly, so he made an excuse and went to the library.
Zhou Yu doesn't see the change from decisiveness to indecisiveness as a bad thing. It proves that she is gradually becoming more gentle in her interactions with people, indicating that she has met someone who can truly soften her heart.
On her way back to the dormitory, Zhou Yu passed by a girl jogging, her phone playing "Evening Stars Falling." Zhou Yu happened to hear the chorus, which was her least favorite part.
After the kiss, the world fell silent.
"Only you and I remain in the world"
It was a sentence that she found beautiful and touching when she wrote it, but now it's the sentence she least wants to hear.
The male voice was gentle, the female voice was sweet, and their voices blended together, reminding Zhou Yu of how absurd he felt when he wrote those words.
I'm so embarrassed just thinking about it.
Zhou stopped and stood still, waiting until the girl had run far away and could no longer hear the singing before he started walking again.
Just then, her phone rang. She picked it up and saw that it was a voice call from Chen Jingchi.
Zhou Yu stared at those letters, the faint unease that had just surfaced in her heart still lingering. At this moment, she was somewhat hesitant to face him, afraid that her emotions would be too obvious and he would notice something was wrong.
Afraid of missing something important, I hesitated for two seconds before answering the call.
Chen Jingchi's voice rang out, calling her name: "Zhou Yu".
Zhou Yu lowered her head, staring at her toes, walking very slowly. She replied, "What's wrong?"
"What's the nickname you gave me?"
Zhou Yugang's raised foot froze in mid-air, then he pulled it back, puzzled: "Huh?"
Chen Jingchi added: "WeChat notes."
Zhou Yu didn't know why he suddenly brought up the contact name. They hadn't been in contact for more than half a month, and the only reason he called was to ask about this.
She wasn't exactly calm to begin with. She hadn't set a nickname for him on WeChat, so it wouldn't have mattered if she said it, but for some reason she didn't want to do what he wanted, so she asked, "Why do you want to know this?"
Chen Jingchi sounded to be in a good mood: "Just asking."
Zhou Yu looked up at the street lamp not far from her. Under the light, several small moths were flitting around outside the lampshade. They didn't know it was in vain, and just kept flying towards the light, tirelessly.
She took a deep breath. He asked casually, and she gave a random, incoherent answer.
Then I heard Chen Jingchi chuckle softly in my ear, and after getting the answer, he said, "Hang up."
The phone beeped, and Zhou Yu's raised right hand was numb from the cold outdoor temperature. She put the phone back in her pocket and used her cold fingertips to pinch her hot earlobe.
Despite harboring resentment, Zhou Yu couldn't help but have a physical reaction when facing him, a subconscious behavior she hated.
It wasn't until a week later that Zhou Yu finally understood the purpose of the phone call that night.
Christmas Eve fell on a Saturday. An Kejia returned to her dorm early and stamped her feet as she entered, saying, "Our dorm is so much warmer with the air conditioning. It's so cold outside. Did the weather forecast say it would snow?"
"It's still early, it won't snow for a few more days." Fan Xin opened the video platform and said, "There's a variety show starring Chen Jingchi to watch tonight."
"Oh, I know, that variety show where you visit a friend's house, right?" An Kejia asked, taking off her scarf. "Has it started?"
Zhou Yu glanced at the time; Chen Jingchi had posted on Weibo this morning that the show would start at 8 PM tonight.
Aside from Chen Jingchi, Zhou Yu didn't recognize any of the other celebrities on the variety show, so she didn't plan to watch it. Instead, she turned on her desk lamp and started taking notes.
Not long after, Fan Xin suddenly took off her headphones and burst into laughter: "Zhou Zhou, you're too funny! Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter."
An Kejia had just finished washing up when she asked, "What's wrong?"
Zhou Yu also looked over with a strange expression.
“I just saw the phone call scene.” Fan Xin reached out and pulled her over. “I’ll play it for you again.”
Zhou Yu turned around and could see Fan Xin's computer screen. She saw Fan Xin lean forward a few times, unplug her headphones, and play the sound on speaker.
In the scene, Chen Jingchi stands in front of a spinning wheel. After the wheel slowly comes to a stop, the pointer lands on a square with a line of text:
Call a friend of the opposite sex and ask them what they've saved your WeChat contact as a nickname.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Yu froze in his chair, immediately recalling the inexplicable phone call Chen Jingchi had made a week ago, and thought to himself, "It's all over."
Five or six celebrities were sitting on the sofa, all older than Chen Jingchi. Although it was the first episode of the variety show, they were all very enthusiastic and teased him, asking who he wanted to contact.
Chen Jingchi picked up his phone and said to them, "Contact the friend who wrote the lyrics for me."
He then made a voice call, and to protect his privacy, the camera did not capture his phone screen.
Zhou Yu frowned deeply, no longer daring to read on.
"Was it for Zhouzhou?" An Kejia asked excitedly.
"Mmm." Fan Xin nodded.
The other guests remained silent. After the voice call connected, Chen Jingchi looked down at his phone and called her name.
Zhou Yu clearly remembered that she acted normally when she talked to him that night, but in the variety show, her voice was very low, as if she had just woken up, and it was easy to tell that she was in low spirits.
Chen Jingchi was straightforward and direct in assigning tasks: "What's the nickname you gave me?"
"ah?"
"WeChat notes".
Why do you want to know this?
"Just asking."
He never looked up the entire time; the camera could only capture his eyebrows and eyes.
During the two seconds when no one in the room spoke, Zhou Yudu felt like an eternity, as if he were sitting on pins and needles, and he desperately wanted to escape.
She heard her own emotionless voice coming from the computer: "Chen Jingchi, male singer from Shengyu Music."
It comes from his Weibo profile, which reads "Shengyu Music Singer Chen Jingchi," with Zhou Yu adding the word "male" to the original description.
They were incredibly polite, practically practically writing "we're not familiar" on the screen.
As soon as he finished speaking, the camera panned to the guests beside him, all of whom were struggling to suppress their laughter.
Chen Jingchi finally looked up, and the variety show gave him a close-up. His smile contained a hint of helplessness, but more so, it was obvious indulgence.
As soon as he hung up the phone, laughter erupted both on and off the screen. An Kejia laughed so hard that her headband fell off her head: "Zhou Zhou, you did this on purpose, didn't you? How could it be this contact name, hahaha!"
"We should really invite you to be a guest; you're so good at creating entertaining moments." Fan Xin hadn't finished laughing when she added, "Chen Jingchi's expression was hilarious too."
Zhou Yu herself couldn't laugh. She had no idea he was recording a show at the time, and was still preoccupied with the "Evening Stars Falling" duet. Chen Jingchi just happened to walk into the crossfire.
It's fine to joke around with him in private, but now that it's on a variety show and will be seen by countless people, Zhou Yu still feels a heavy psychological burden.
How could she explain that they weren't actually that unfamiliar with each other?
But it wasn't as familiar as she had imagined.
-----------------------
Author's note: The next chapter will explain everything clearly. (Runs away)
Thank you keyee baby for the two bottles of nutritional supplement~
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