Chapter 57

In October, as autumn deepened, thick layers of leaves covered both sides of Honglu Slope Street. Jiang Bei was playing with the fallen leaves by the alley when Jiang Ji called him over, “Let me repeat the three things I emphasized.”

“At night, lock the door properly, no stealing, no staying up all night playing games,” Jiang Bei said impatiently, “You’re so verbose.”

The car sent by the production team was waiting at the foot of the steps. Jiang Ji stood up, carrying his guitar and luggage, and walked towards Peng Keshi and Zhong Yang. Just as he stepped down the stairs, he saw Qin Qingzhuo’s car driving from the street corner.

The car came to a stop, and Qin Qingzhuo got out of the car. The production crew member waiting at the door greeted him, and he nodded in response.

“Qingzhuo, buddy,” Zhong Yang waved to greet Qin Qingzhuo, “Oops, shouldn’t I call you boss now?”

“Don’t, it sounds too harsh,” Qin Qingzhuo laughed, then looked at Peng Keshi, “Is your school about to break for vacation?”

“Yeah, our counselor is pretty good,” Peng Keshi said, then asked, “Qingzhuo, are you coming with us?”

“I’m not going, but last night before bed, I suddenly thought, since you’re all leaving, who will take care of Jiang Bei?”

“She can take care of herself,” Jiang Ji said, looking at him.

“I’m not worried about her ability to take care of herself, but living alone here, would it be safe?” Qin Qingzhuo said, “Should we bring Jiang Bei to my place for a few days?”

Jiang Ji didn’t say anything, looking down at Jiang Bei.

Qin Qingzhuo approached Jiang Bei, squatting down in front of her, and asked for her opinion, “Jiang Bei, how about staying at my place for a few days?”

Jiang Bei remained silent, just staring at Qin Qingzhuo with her round black eyes for a while without speaking.

Jiang Ji knew Jiang Bei was independent, even more so than himself. He was about to say “never mind” to avoid her rejecting Qin Qingzhuo too directly, but unexpectedly, Jiang Bei blinked and hesitantly nodded.

“Then… go upstairs and pack your things?” Qin Qingzhuo smiled, “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

Jiang Bei turned around and ran upstairs. She packed quickly and soon came running down again with her shoulder bag, then ran to Qin Qingzhuo, “Let’s go.”

The three members of the band loaded their instruments and luggage onto the production team’s car. Qin Qingzhuo walked down the steps, greeted them, and then took Jiang Bei to his car.

As Jiang Bei got into Qin Qingzhuo’s car, she rolled down the window, rested her chin on the windowsill, and looked at Jiang Ji, “I’m leaving, do well in the competition.”

Her tone was mature, and Jiang Ji’s lips twitched lightly, “Take care of yourself.”

Watching the car carrying Qin Qingzhuo and Jiang Bei drive away from Honglu Slope Street, Jiang Ji withdrew his gaze and opened the car door to sit in the production team’s car.

Sitting in the back seat of the car, Jiang Bei turned her head silently to look out of the window.

Actually, Qin Qingzhuo was somewhat surprised that Jiang Bei agreed to go home with him. Because when he squatted down and looked at Jiang Bei, he clearly saw the wariness in her eyes. He had prepared himself to be rejected, but a few seconds later, Jiang Bei nodded.

Thinking this way, Qin Qingzhuo turned his face slightly curiously towards her, “Jiang Bei, why did you agree to come with me?”

Jiang Bei turned her face from the car window, “You seem nice to my brother, so I’ll give you some face.”

There was still a hint of baby fat on her face, and she said it without much expression, looking like a cold little adult.

Although her words were somewhat rude, Qin Qingzhuo found it quite interesting, “How did you know I’m nice to your brother?”

“I guessed,” Jiang Bei thought for a moment and said, “It seems like his mood gets a little better every time he goes out with you.”

“Oh, I see…” Qin Qingzhuo pondered.

Arriving at home with Jiang Bei, Qin Qingzhuo handed her the children’s slippers that Auntie had prepared in advance. After Jiang Bei changed into the slippers, she stood still at the entrance, seeming unsure where to step next.

Usually lively and mischievous, she now appeared somewhat awkward. Qin Qingzhuo gently patted her shoulder, “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”

He had Auntie clean the room arranged for Jiang Bei in advance. It was in the northeast corner of the ground floor. Jiang Bei leaned on the door frame and peeked inside, “There are so many fluffy things…”

Then she looked up at Qin Qingzhuo, “Where do you live?”

“I live upstairs,” Qin Qingzhuo pointed upward, “Do you want to see?”

Jiang Bei shook her head, “I can’t just enter the opposite sex’s room.”

Qin Qingzhuo paused, originally intending to let her wander around and relax, but he overlooked this point.

“Did your brother tell you that?”

Jiang Bei nodded.

“He’s right,” Qin Qingzhuo smiled, “Let’s not go then. Feel free to look around on the ground floor.”

Jiang Bei walked towards the rooms on the ground floor. When she saw the room next door filled with musical instruments, she instinctively exclaimed, “Wow.”

“Is there anything you want to play?” Qin Qingzhuo glanced into the room, “Your brother sings so well, you must be good at singing too, right?”

“I don’t like singing, I like playing games,” Jiang Bei looked up at him, “How about you play games with me?”

“Games…” Qin Qingzhuo hesitated, “I’m not good at them.”

“It’s okay, I’ll teach you,” Jiang Bei got excited when it came to games, “I can even help you rank up.”

“So confident,” Qin Qingzhuo raised an eyebrow, “Are you really good?”

“I’ll be the best you’ve ever seen,” Jiang Bei said coldly, “Come on.”

“Alright.” Qin Qingzhuo smiled, leading her to sit down on the sofa, and handed her his phone. He watched as she adeptly navigated through the game interface.

Initially, Qin Qingzhuo thought Jiang Bei was just boasting casually, after all, children at the age of seven or eight wouldn’t have a very accurate assessment of their own skills. However, as Qin Qingzhuo clumsily controlled the game characters and observed Jiang Bei repeatedly scoring kills, he realized that she was indeed quite skilled.

“You’re learning fast,” after a few rounds of the game, Jiang Bei affirmed him, “You’re not too bad.”

“Is that a compliment?” Qin Qingzhuo chuckled.

“Of course, those guys I played with before, like Little Chubby, Big Black, Monkey, they’re as dumb as pigs.” Jiang Bei tossed the phone aside, turned to lean on her chin, and looked at Qin Qingzhuo with blinking eyes, “Maybe it has something to do with you being so handsome.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re so handsome, even if you’re a bit dumb, people wouldn’t dislike you.”

“Is that so?” Qin Qingzhuo smiled, “Thank you.”

“I wish my brother could play with us, he’s even better.”

“When he finishes recording the show, you can invite him to play with us.”

“He won’t play with me,” Jiang Bei looked a bit upset.

“Then next time, I’ll help you ask him. He wouldn’t dare refuse me.” Qin Qingzhuo teased her intentionally to cheer her up.

“Really?” Jiang Bei became interested, seeing Qin Qingzhuo’s confident demeanor. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Then let me treat you to a meal, wait a moment.”

After saying this, she stood up from the sofa and quickly ran to her room. Two minutes later, she ran out again, holding a big-mouthed monkey plush bag in her hand.

The bag looked a bit worn-out, with some loose threads at the corners, but it seemed clean. Jiang Bei squatted in front of the sofa, unzipped the bag, and poured out a pile of coins and a few paper bills.

Having not used cash for many years, Qin Qingzhuo was almost surprised to see so much change. “Did your brother give you this?”

“No, it’s mine,” Jiang Bei sorted through the change, “I’m treating you, so I’ll use my own money.”

“Your own money?”

“I also work hard for it,” Jiang Bei said seriously, then glanced at him, “What do you want to eat? How about barbecue? I know a place near here that has really delicious barbecue.”

“Alright, let’s have barbecue.” Qin Qingzhuo followed her lead and checked the time on his phone. He had a lunch appointment later. “How about tonight, is that okay?”

“Sure,” Jiang Bei was quite easygoing.

The lunch appointment Qin Qingzhuo had was with a relatively old-fashioned band, which had been established for a few years longer than Qin Qingzhuo’s debut. They had released several albums before, all produced by the band members themselves.

The reason they sought out Qin Qingzhuo was simple—they hoped Qin Qingzhuo, as a producer, could bring some new elements to their music, just like the eponymous album Qin Qingzhuo produced for Nesting Tree three years ago.

Since transitioning into a behind-the-scenes producer, Qin Qingzhuo had spent almost every day like this, talking about music, making music, playing music… Day after day.

In fact, many friends, including Xie Chengyun and Duan Chong, had tried to persuade him to change his way of life, suggesting that he not focus all his life on music. Ji Chi even suggested he transition into acting with him, but Qin Qingzhuo refused.

For Qin Qingzhuo, he strongly resisted such suggestions and changes. A life that remained unchanged gave him a sense of security.

—Initially, refusing Xia Qi’s invitation, turning down the mentor’s invitation, was also for this reason.

However, over the past two months, this mindset seemed to have been shaken slightly.

If he hadn’t softened that day and agreed to fill in the vacant mentor seat for Xia Qi at the last minute, he wouldn’t have met Asperatus, wouldn’t have impulsively taken Jiang Ji to the music festival, wouldn’t have gone to the barbecue stall in the university city with the three members of Asperatus, and wouldn’t have spent the morning playing games with an eight-year-old girl…

It had to be said, the games were really fun.

The barbecue was really delicious too.

Especially since this barbecue was treated by an eight-year-old girl.

Although halfway through, Qin Qingzhuo used the excuse of going to the restroom to secretly settle most of the bill with the front desk waiter.

When he returned, Jiang Bei was still stuffing her mouth with meat, her cheeks bulging, eating quite intently.

Qin Qingzhuo sat in the smoky corner of the barbecue restaurant wearing a baseball cap, raising his phone to take a picture of her.

“Full to bursting,” Jiang Bei swallowed the meat in her mouth and patted her belly, “Are you full?”

“I’m full,” Qin Qingzhuo sent the photo to Jiang Ji, then looked up at her, “I’m also full to bursting.”

“Let’s go then,” Jiang Bei stood up from her seat, “I’ll go pay the bill.”

She went to the front desk to settle the bill herself, while Qin Qingzhuo walked to the door and waited for her.

When Jiang Bei walked out, her usually cold expression was replaced with a look of shock: “Why did we eat so little?”

“Is it really that little?” Qin Qingzhuo pretended to be surprised as he looked at her, “Do you and your brother usually eat much more when you come here?”

“Much more than this time. I was worried that my money wouldn’t be enough,” Jiang Bei patted her big-mouthed monkey bag, “I didn’t expect to have so much left.”

After thinking for a moment, she confidently concluded, “It must be because my brother usually eats too much.”

Qin Qingzhuo couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “It seems so. No wonder your brother is so tall.”

“It’s all because of eating meat,” Jiang Bei nodded in agreement.

As his phone vibrated, Qin Qingzhuo took a glance and saw it was a call from Jiang Ji.

Suppressing a smile, he turned the phone screen towards Jiang Bei. “Your brother is calling. Are you going to answer?”

“I’m not answering,” Jiang Bei dashed away, “He talks too much.”

She ran swiftly, taking a few steps towards the car and opening the door to get in.

Qin Qingzhuo followed behind and answered the call.

Jiang Ji’s voice came through the phone, “Did you guys go to the barbecue restaurant near the bar?”

“Yeah,” Qin Qingzhuo said, “Jiang Bei treated me.”

“She treated you?” Jiang Ji sounded somewhat surprised.

“Yeah, she even used her own secret money to treat me,” Qin Qingzhuo chuckled, “Is it all the money you usually give her?”

“She earns it herself by playing games,” Jiang Ji said, “She always keeps it in that little bag, cherishes it a lot, and usually doesn’t want to spend it. It’s surprising that she actually used it to treat you to dinner.”

“She only agreed to treat me after I promised her that I would ask you to play games with her when you come back.”

“Acting without consulting me first?” Jiang Ji laughed, “You spoil her too much.”

At this moment, Jiang Bei stuck her head out of the car window and looked at Qin Qingzhuo. Qin Qingzhuo smiled at her.

The wind blowing through the alley carried a smell of smoke and fireworks, making Qin Qingzhuo feel very relaxed. “By the way, how’s the song for the next competition coming along? Any progress?”

“I don’t have any ideas,” Jiang Ji said.

“Aren’t you usually quick at writing songs?”

“I’ve never written a love song.”

Qin Qingzhuo was taken aback. “A love song?”

The next round was actually a love song themed competition… Wasn’t the program team doing this on purpose?

According to the itinerary sent by Xia Qi, Qin Qingzhuo was scheduled to visit the Asperatus band on the last day.

But unexpectedly, on the afternoon of the third day, he received a call from Xia Qi, saying that she wanted to adjust his visit time, hoping he could go to see Asperatus today.

“The other bands have all finished writing their songs and started rehearsing, but Asperatus has been playing cards all along, they haven’t written a single song,” Xia Qi sounded urgent, “The executive director has talked to them several times, but they just say they don’t have any inspiration. Qingzhuo, if you have time, could you go take a look today?”

“They’ve been playing cards all this time?” Qin Qingzhuo couldn’t believe it, “Even Peng Keshi?”

“Yes, all three are playing,” Xia Qi confirmed.

“They’ve been playing for three days straight?”

“That’s not entirely true. They did rehearse a few times in between, but it seemed very difficult. Every time they just got started and couldn’t continue. Yesterday afternoon, Jiang Ji even went out with his guitar for a walk. The camera crew thought he was going to find a place to write songs, so they followed him for a few miles with their equipment. But he didn’t do anything and just came back with his guitar…”

Qin Qingzhuo: “…”

The rehearsal venue for Asperatus was arranged in a secluded area on the outskirts of the city. Although it was in the same city as Qin Qingzhuo’s residence, one was in the south and the other in the north, separated by dozens of kilometers. It would take over two hours to drive there.

As the car raced towards the south of the city, Qin Qingzhuo sat in the car, watching as the dusk was enveloped by heavy dark clouds, the sky gradually darkening. For a moment, he had a strange feeling, as if he wasn’t just a dispensable mentor in a variety show, but a head teacher who had received a sudden notice from the school and was hastily rushing to inspect the dormitories.

On this overcast day, the darkness fell earlier than usual. When Qin Qingzhuo arrived at Asperatus’s rehearsal venue, the twilight had completely descended.

The car stopped at the entrance, and Qin Qingzhuo got out and walked towards the courtyard. The camera crew had received prior notice, so when they saw Qin Qingzhuo, there was no surprise on their faces. They quickly adjusted their positions and waited to capture the band’s reaction when they saw Qin Qingzhuo.

Walking through the courtyard, Qin Qingzhuo pushed open the door and entered the house.

In the living room, the three members of the band were sitting around the coffee table, having just finished a round of cards a few seconds ago.

Zhong Yang and Peng Keshi on either side were looking at their phones, while Jiang Ji was shuffling the cards. The deck of cards danced between his fingers, almost forming a blur. His shuffling skills were not necessarily worse than his guitar playing skills. It’s just that his mind seemed to be elsewhere as he shuffled, as if he was thinking about something while doing it.

Sensing someone entering the room, he didn’t stop shuffling, but looked up.

Qin Qingzhuo met his gaze, clearly catching a hint of surprise in his eyes.

And in those deep, dark eyes, there was a momentary spark of light.