Clumsy overtures
In the rehearsal room for the second public performance, the director's camera was set up in a corner. Yun Heng practiced chords on her guitar, her fingertips grazing across the strings. Out of the corner of her eye, she kept catching a glimpse of an unsightly figure in the mirror—Yu Xiao, sitting in a chair in the front row, a sheet of music spread across his lap, his eyes glued to him like a tireless tracking camera.
"Cut!" the assistant director shouted over the loudspeaker. "Yun Heng, pay attention to your facial expressions and stop frowning. And Yu Xiao, your eyes look too fierce in the camera. Relax. You're teammates, not opponents."
Yu Xiao's brow furrowed even deeper, yet he managed a perfunctory smile. Yun Heng lowered her head and plucked the strings of her zither, a wave of irritation rising within her. Ever since Ah Zhe was persuaded to withdraw, the atmosphere at the training base had become eerie—no one dared to speak to him, and even offering him water took a detour, as if he were some untouchable forbidden zone.
During a break, Yun Heng had just walked into the tea room when a gold-stamped envelope hit her in the face. "This is for you," Yu Xiao said, leaning against the doorframe, his ears reddening suspiciously. He put his hands in his pockets and pretended not to care. "Just writing something."
The handwriting on the envelope was flamboyant and flamboyant, like a windswept wheat field. Yunheng opened it and nearly laughed out loud—written in pen on the paper were the words "The moonlight is not as bright as the light in your eyes." The downward stroke of the character "及" (及) was so long that it obscured the three characters "眼底光" (light in your eyes). At the end, there was a crooked heart drawn, like a squashed insect.
"Is this... a love letter?" A passing trainee couldn't help laughing out loud, but quickly shut up under Yu Xiao's glare.
Yun Heng crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it back: "The handwriting is as ugly as dog crawl, who wants such a thing." Having said that, she turned around and quietly stuffed the paper ball into her pocket, stroking the clumsy mark of love with her fingers.
The director's tracking camera happened to record this scene, and the Reuters footage from that day was edited into a clip of "The Prince's Clumsy Display of Love" and posted online. The hashtag #虞肖字丑# became a trending search, and the comments section was filled with laughter:
[Help! This handwriting is uglier than my elementary school brother's. Has the prince never practiced calligraphy?]
[But the line "The moonlight is not as bright as the light in your eyes" has something to it, it's sweet and earthy.]
Yunheng is so tsundere when she throws the paper balls! She may say she dislikes her body, but she's honest about it (dog head)
[Am I the only one who noticed that the director's camera was very close? This is the official pressure!]
During afternoon rehearsal, Yun Heng discovered something new in his lyrics notebook—a crumpled love letter, carefully flattened and tucked between the pages of the sheet music for "Moonlight Rose," with the corners neatly pressed. He stared at the ugly handwriting, his cheeks suddenly burning, and he hurriedly closed the notebook.
"What are you looking at?" Yu Xiao came over at some point, holding a thermos bucket in his hand. "I just queued up in the south of the city to buy this sweet and sour fish. You said you wanted to eat it last time."
The moment the thermos was opened, a sweet and sour aroma filled half the rehearsal room. The director's camera immediately focused on them, and even the head director smiled and said to the assistant director, "This is great material. It's much more natural than a forced CP."
Yun Heng looked at the neatly stacked fish pieces in the bucket, all the bones carefully picked out, and suddenly remembered that she had casually mentioned to Ma Yang last time, "The line for sweet and sour fish at that place in the south of the city is two hours long." He turned his head away: "Who cares?"
"If you don't want to eat it, I'll throw it away." Yu Xiao pretended to cover the lid, but the moment he turned his head, he saw the other party quickly picked up a piece of fish and stuffed it into his mouth, his cheeks bulging like a squirrel stealing food.
The trainees around them were trying so hard to hold back their laughter that their shoulders were shaking. One of them mouthed to the camera: "You say one thing and mean another!"
That evening, the hashtag #YuXiaoQueueTwoHoursToBuyFish# trended again. Fans dug up a GIF of Yun Heng secretly grinning while eating fish and compared it to a photo of Yu Xiao waiting in line with a thermos, and the comments section was filled with "stunning" comments:
[The prince actually queues up? What a spectacle!]
Yunheng looks so serious about picking out fish bones! He's really just a hypocrite, hahaha.
[Directors, please give me more cuts! This clumsy display of affection is tickling me!]
Am I the only one who cares about whether the fish tastes good? It looks delicious (missing point)
Even more outrageous was that, in the rehearsal room the next day, Yu Xiao actually brought a guitar. He sat in the center of the stage and played "Moonlight Rose" from the sheet music, his fingers clumsily hitting the wrong chords and going so off-key that it could have infuriated the original singer.
"Stop!" The dance teacher sighed, holding his forehead. "Yu Xiao, you're not playing the guitar, you're sawing wood. Yun Heng, go teach him."
Yun Heng's face flushed instantly, and under the director's "I understand" look, he walked over reluctantly. "You pressed the wrong button here." He reached out to move his finger, but Yu Xiao grabbed it with his backhand.
"Teach me." Yu Xiao's voice was low, with a hint of deliberate grievance, "I can't learn it."
Good-natured laughter broke out all around, and someone shouted, "Prince, you did this on purpose!" Yun Heng wanted to pull her hand back, but he held it tighter. She could only teach him to press the chords with a blushing face, and the place where their fingertips touched felt like it was on fire.
This "guitar lesson" clip went viral that evening, with #YuXiaoOutOfTune# and #YunHengForcedToTeach# dominating the search trends. Some netizens made a ghost video of the off-tune audio, captioning it "The Capital Tycoon's Broken-Tone Love." Another captured a close-up of YunHeng's red earlobes, exclaiming, "This couple is real, right?"
Yun Heng watched the grotesque video on his phone, feeling so angry he wanted to smash it. But when he saw Yu Xiao's profile as he diligently learned the chords, he suddenly burst out laughing. He tossed his phone aside, pulled the love letter from his lyrics book, and held it up to the light. Beside the crooked heart, hidden beneath it were tiny words: "I've been learning for three days."
The lights in the rehearsal room gradually dimmed, and Yun Heng remained alone on the stage, holding his guitar and playing "Moonlight Rose." Moonlight streamed in through the high windows, falling on him like a thin veil.
"You play well." Yu Xiao's voice came from the shadows, startling him.
"Why haven't you left yet?" Yun Heng's hand trembled and he played the wrong note of the chord.
"Waiting for you." Yu Xiao came over with a bottle of strawberry milk in his hand. "I just bought it. It's still hot."
Yun Heng didn't answer, but she didn't refuse either. The two stood side by side on the stage, staring at the moon outside the window, neither of them speaking. The directors' cameras had long since been put away, and the only sound in the rehearsal room was the lingering twang of guitar strings and each other's audible breathing.
"That fish..." Yu Xiao suddenly spoke, a little nervously, "Is it delicious?"
"It's just okay." Yun Heng said stubbornly, but when she thought about how she had to pick out the bones before eating the fish, her ears turned red again.
Yu Xiao smiled, the light in his eyes brighter than the moonlight. He suddenly felt that it was more interesting to use his power to keep this little beast by his side, tease him and make him angry, and watch him say one thing and mean another.
This entanglement, which began with capital, has unknowingly deviated from its original trajectory. The two teenagers caught in the middle of it have yet to realize that those clumsy overtures and duplicitous responses are quietly weaving a web of "liking" that is trapping them tightly.
The next morning, Yun Heng discovered something new in his guitar bag—a brand new calligraphy practice book. On the title page, "Please give me some advice" was written. The handwriting was still shockingly ugly, but it was more neat than the love letter. Looking at the practice book, he suddenly remembered Yu Xiao's clumsy guitar playing and couldn't help laughing.
The director's camera happened to record this scene, and the assistant director said to the director: "The chemistry between these two is amazing, the next episode will definitely be a hit."
The director smiled and nodded. In the camera, Yunheng carefully put the calligraphy practice sheet into her bag, her movements as gentle as if she was treating some treasure.
This clumsy show of love has just begun.
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