Chapter 47

Qin Qingzhuo stood still, watching Jiang Ji’s figure on the motorcycle getting farther and farther away in a matter of seconds until it disappeared.

He had initially planned to chat with Jiang Ji about music, about their future lives, but it seemed that Jiang Ji had no such intention at all.

Well, it’s not like they can’t meet again in the future.

After standing for a while, he withdrew his gaze, turned around, and walked slowly towards his own front door.

Using fingerprint recognition to unlock, Qin Qingzhuo pushed the door and entered, changed his shoes, and walked to the sofa, sitting down. Tilting his head back against the sofa back, he stared somewhat absentmindedly at the bright ceiling light.

Even though they could meet again in the future, why did he feel a sense of loss…

When other bands were eliminated in the previous few matches, he almost had no feelings. Although he was nominally a mentor in this program, the relationship between mentors and bands was often not as close as colleagues in a collaborative performance.

But perhaps it was because in these short two months, Jiang Ji had accompanied him through ups and downs, and he had also accompanied Jiang Ji through ups and downs. For Qin Qingzhuo, Asperatus was no longer just a band with a brief intersection in the program.

I wonder what Shi Yao will finally say to give a satisfactory answer. What kind of response will it be?

Qin Qingzhuo took a glance at his phone, but Shi Yao still hadn’t sent a message.

On the other hand, Ji Chi sent another message.

After being ruthlessly rebuked by Jiang Ji that time, Ji Chi had later tried to call Qin Qingzhuo, but he didn’t answer. He also tried to send messages to Qin Qingzhuo, but Qin Qingzhuo never opened and read any of them.

But now, he opened Ji Chi’s profile, casually browsed through the chat interface, and found that over the past month, Ji Chi had sent quite a few messages intermittently. The content was mostly the same, essentially expressing a desire to meet and talk properly with Qin Qingzhuo.

Tonight’s message was no different: “Qingzhuo, I’ve finished shooting the first part of the drama and have returned to Yancheng. Can we meet?”

After staring at the message for a moment, Qin Qingzhuo lightly touched the screen with his thumb. After a few taps, he deleted Ji Chi from his list of friends.

Originally, he hadn’t deleted Ji Chi. On one hand, he felt that they were both adults, and they were both in the same circle, so their relationship wouldn’t be too strained. On the other hand, when he moved in a hurry, he was worried that the maid would mix up their things and they would need to contact each other later. But now, looking at the messages Ji Chi had sent, he just felt annoyed, so he simply deleted him.

The business at the Honglu Bar tonight was a bit quiet, and at a glance, many booths were empty.

Jiang Ji carried a portion of fried noodles he bought from a street shop, pushed the door open, and walked in, seeing Huang Ying sitting at the bar talking to someone.

Huang Ying also saw him and waved to him, gesturing for him to come over.

Jiang Ji walked over and called out, “Sister Ying.”

“This is Mr. Wu from Moment Entertainment,” Huang Ying introduced him, “He specifically came to see you. They’ve been waiting for you here for quite some time. Come, I have something to do, so sit here and chat with Mr. Wu.”

Jiang Ji didn’t really want to sit down and chat, but out of consideration for Huang Ying’s face, he put the fried noodles on the bar counter and sat down.

The “Mr. Wu” mentioned by Huang Ying looked to be in his early forties, wearing a vest over his shirt. At first glance, he looked like one of the bartenders at the bar, but upon closer inspection, one could see a shrewdness in his eyes.

“It’s true that real people look more outstanding than they do in photos,” Mr. Wu looked him over and spoke warmly, “Just back from recording the show?”

Jiang Ji responded with a nonchalant “Hmm,” lacking patience. “What do you want to talk to me about?”

“Your band was eliminated, right? Honestly, I think it’s a pity,” Mr. Wu sighed, “From what I understand, other bands either have their own signed companies backing them, or they signed contracts with the program in advance. Bands like yours, who fight alone, it’s already quite difficult to make it this far.”

Jiang Ji remained silent.

“Jiang Ji, I see you’re not one to beat around the bush. Let me be straight with you, I’d like to invite you to sign with our company,” Mr. Wu said, handing him a business card. “I’ve managed many artists before and I think you’re quite suitable for this path.”

Jiang Ji took the business card he handed over without even looking at it. “Okay, I’ll discuss it with the other members of the band later,” he said, intending to get up and leave.

Mr. Wu immediately corrected him, “No, no, no, you misunderstand, Jiang Ji. I only want to sign you individually.”

Jiang Ji looked up at him, saying nothing.

“Here’s the thing, in the long run, the development of the band actually conflicts with your personal development.” The other party patiently explained to him, “The better the band develops, the tighter you’ll be bound. In the future, you’ll be firmly tied to the identity of the band’s lead singer, and if you personally want to pursue other directions of development, such as releasing solo albums, acting, participating in variety shows, you’ll be greatly restrained, and this influence is even largely negative. Do you understand?”

“Acting?” Jiang Ji found it a bit ridiculous.

The other party thought he was interested in acting and further explained, “From what I understand, there’s a variety show for new actors next quarter, an S-level project on a major platform. Many people in the industry are vying for this opportunity now. If you sign with me, I guarantee I can help you secure this opportunity. If you’re not reassured, we can also include this condition in the contract.”

“Mmh, I’ll think about it,” Jiang Ji stood up, picked up the fried noodles from the bar counter, “Sorry, the food will get cold, I’ll go upstairs first.”

After saying that, he left without caring about the frown on Mr. Wu’s face behind him.

Upstairs, he walked to the trash can next to the coffee table, casually threw the business card into it, and then placed the fried noodles on the coffee table, glancing in the direction of Jiang Bei’s room.

The door was slightly ajar, with no sound coming from inside.

He subconsciously frowned, walked quickly over, pushed open the door, and found Jiang Bei curled up sleeping under the blanket. He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Jiang Bei,” he called out, “It’s time for dinner.”

Jiang Bei stirred under the blanket, but didn’t respond.

“Hurry up,” Jiang Ji urged, “Or do I have to drag you out of bed?”

“Annoying,” Jiang Bei grumbled, slowly stretched out her arm from under the blanket, then propped herself up on the bed, closed her eyes, and sat up.

His phone vibrated, and Jiang Ji took it out to glance at it. It was a call from Huang Ying.

Seeing that Jiang Bei was still sitting on the bed without moving, he warned, “Two minutes, don’t wait for me to come over and drag you out.”

Without waiting for a response, he walked to the side and answered the phone, “Sister Ying?”

“Why didn’t you chat a little longer?” Huang Ying said on the other end of the phone. “I just asked a friend about it. This Mr. Wu used to be an agent, he has managed many artists. He started his own company last year, and although it’s not very large in scale, it’s quite friendly to newcomers. Several newcomers in the company are developing quite well. If you want to develop in this circle in the future, signing with him should be reliable.”

“Thanks, Sister Ying,” Jiang Ji said, “I’ll think about it.”

“Okay, I’ll send you some information about their company. Take a look when you’re free,” Huang Ying replied straightforwardly, without further persuasion. “Also, if you find a good opportunity, let me know in advance so I can recruit someone else.”

Jiang Ji responded with an “Hmm.”

After hanging up the phone, he glanced at Jiang Bei’s room.

Jiang Bei slowly walked out of the room. She looked pale, with sweat dripping from her forehead, appearing exhausted and sickly.

She moved to the front of the sofa and sat down, reaching out to open the bag of fried noodles.

Jiang Ji walked over, took out two bottles of mineral water, unscrewed the caps, and poured them all into the electric kettle.

The electric kettle gurgled as it boiled water, and Jiang Ji sat down at the other end of the sofa, absentmindedly browsing through the company profile Huang Ying had sent him.

Jiang Bei opened a pair of disposable chopsticks, picked up a few strands of fried noodles, and slowly chewed on them. She asked in a muffled voice, “Did you win?”

“No,” Jiang Ji replied shortly.

Jiang Bei swallowed a mouthful of noodles and then asked softly after a long while, “Is it because of me?”

Jiang Ji glanced at her. “What do you think?”

Jiang Bei fell silent, lowered her eyes, and held the chopsticks without moving for a long time.

When the water was boiled, Jiang Ji poured half a glass of room temperature water into a glass and mixed it with half a glass of hot water. He placed it in front of her. “Eat your food, it has nothing to do with you.”

After flipping through a few more pages of information and seeing that Jiang Bei still hadn’t moved, he looked up at her. “Where’s your phone?”

Jiang Bei didn’t say anything.

Without her response, Jiang Ji already had a guess. He had noticed a couple of days ago that Jiang Bei had taken back her old-fashioned phone, the one she had exchanged with Xiao Pang. It seemed Xiao Pang’s parents had found out and personally retrieved it.

He looked at Jiang Bei. “If you’re still around next month, I’ll buy you a new phone.”

Jiang Bei didn’t say anything else. She lowered her eyes, picked up the cup, took a few sips of water, and then continued to eat the fried noodles silently.

Usually, she liked this dish very much and could finish a box by herself every time. But today, she seemed to have no appetite. She stopped after eating only half of it. “I’m full.”

Jiang Ji responded with a simple “Hmm” and said nothing more.

Jiang Bei stood up and returned to her room.

After briefly browsing through the information Huang Ying had sent, Jiang Ji also got up and returned to his room.

He tossed his phone onto the bed, took a clean T-shirt from the wardrobe, and then went to the bathroom.

Warm water poured over his head as he thought about what the person had said earlier. From the sound of it, did they want him to act in the future?

The image of Ji Chi begging Qin Qingzhuo for forgiveness flashed through his mind—acting? Like Ji Chi?

It’s really… absurdly laughable.

These days, Jiang Ji had also thought about what the future would hold, but he never had a clear idea. Jiang Keyuan was dead, but the debts he owed were like a mountain blocking his path, making it difficult for him to see the way forward.

It’s better to take it one step at a time, earn money to pay off those debts first.

As for the future, let’s leave it for later.

Passing by Jiang Bei’s room on his way out of the bathroom, he noticed the door was ajar. Jiang Ji used a towel to wipe his hair quickly, walked over, and closed the door properly before returning to his own room.

He turned off the lights and lay on the bed, putting on his earphones.

Already lost count of how many times I’ve looped Qin Qingzhuo’s songs, familiar with every breath modulation method.

This time, the headphones played another song by Qin Qingzhuo, a live version. The sound quality was a bit noisy, but compared to the album version, Jiang Ji preferred this version.

When Qin Qingzhuo sang this live, he seemed to have a cold, his voice was a bit hoarse, and his breath change was also quite noticeable. But his performance sounded good, with delicate emotions, and even the breaths during the breaks made Jiang Ji feel a bit… sexy.

Closing his eyes, Jiang Ji pictured the scene where Qin Qingzhuo handed him the helmet and shook his hair twice.

He always felt that Qin Qingzhuo’s hair would be very soft.

If he hadn’t acted so decisively at the time, he might not have been able to resist reaching out to touch it.

If he really did that, how would Qin Qingzhuo react?

Stunned? Surprised? Or just raise an eyebrow lightly and then make a joke to brush it off?

Qin Qingzhuo looked very handsome when he raised his eyebrows lightly, with a taste that couldn’t be described.

His eyes seemed to smile, and his eyebrows were raised lightly, only noticeable when you were very close.

There probably wouldn’t be many chances to see it in the future.

Thinking like this, Jiang Ji suddenly smelled a very faint, almost imperceptible fragrance.

The T-shirt he changed into after showering tonight was the one borrowed from Qin Qingzhuo. He hadn’t worn it since it was returned last time.

The scent on the clothes had faded to almost nothing, but he could still faintly smell the blend of osmanthus and wood.

Suddenly, the phrase popped into his mind again—”Did you bring protection?”

Furrowed brows, impatience, with a slight hoarseness in the tone.

His body reacted in a certain way, Jiang Ji sat up in the dark, muttering “f*ck” under his breath.

Last time Qin Qingzhuo lay beside him, it was the same. He inexplicably reacted, but it took a while to suppress it.

But this time, just as he was about to prop himself up and go to the bathroom to cool down, his movements paused, and a few seconds later, he slowly leaned back against the head of the bed.

Since coming to Yancheng, he hadn’t really dealt with it properly because he didn’t have the mood, especially after bringing Jiang Bei back later.

Most of the time, he suppressed it with cold water, and even if there were a few times, it was solved hastily and carelessly.

The song changed in his headphones, the cello prelude slowly rising, carrying Qin Qingzhuo’s dreamy voice.

In the darkness, Jiang Ji’s hand reached down, slender fingers groping and slipping into his waistband.

In the silent night, a sigh spread lightly.