Chapter 68

Qin Qingzhuo kept his eyes closed, hearing a very faint sigh beside him.

He shouldn’t have suddenly lost control of his emotions just now, he thought. Jiang Ji hadn’t done anything wrong.

Normally, when people encounter this kind of situation, their first instinct is naturally to go to the hospital.

But going to the hospital… would it be useful?

How many times had he been to the hospital in the past four years?

Would going to the hospital now mean hearing Cheng Yun repeat once again, “This condition cannot be cured, nor can it be prevented from recurring”?

The car started and entered the main road, and the embarrassing scene of escaping from the concert four years ago flashed through his mind.

Four years… he really hadn’t made any progress at all, Qin Qingzhuo thought somewhat self-deprecatingly.

No one spoke in the car all the way. Qin Qingzhuo kept his eyes closed, but he wasn’t sleepy at all.

When the car stopped in front of the villa, the driver turned around and reminded, “Mr. Qin, we’ve arrived.”

Qin Qingzhuo opened his eyes, rubbed his temples, and responded with a “mm.” Then he said, “I’ll go get Jiang Bei. Uncle Zhao, you can take the two of them back later.”

The driver acknowledged.

He pushed open the car door and walked towards the house. Climbing a few steps, about to unlock the fingerprint lock, Jiang Ji called out his name from behind, “Qin Qingzhuo.”

Qin Qingzhuo paused and turned to look at him.

“What’s going on exactly,” Jiang Ji stepped up the stairs and stood in front of him, “Can you tell me?”

After a moment of silence, Qin Qingzhuo shook his head.

“Don’t ask, Jiang Ji,” he said softly, “I don’t want to talk about it, and you shouldn’t ask either.”

“You helped me out before, and now I want to try to help you,” Jiang Ji looked at him and said.

But Qin Qingzhuo only turned his head away and remained silent.

“Is it an issue with your ears?” Jiang Ji persisted, but Qin Qingzhuo remained silent.

“On stage just now, could you completely not hear the sounds around you?” Since Qin Qingzhuo didn’t respond, Jiang Ji continued to probe.

“Has this kind of situation happened often before? Four years ago…”

This time, he didn’t finish his question. Qin Qingzhuo suddenly interrupted him, “Stop asking!”

That irritable emotion surfaced again on Qin Qingzhuo’s face, even more pronounced than before, with a hint of hostility between his brows.

“Jiang Ji, I’ve already said I don’t want to talk about it. No matter how much you ask, I won’t tell you. Ultimately, this matter has nothing to do with you. Just focus on singing your songs and don’t meddle in my affairs.”

Silence.

A long silence.

Sensing that his emotions were spiraling out of control again, Qin Qingzhuo closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm himself down. “Sorry…”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Jiang Ji interrupted him. “You don’t always have to act like a senior in front of me. If venting your emotions would make you feel better, then don’t hold back.”

Qin Qingzhuo turned his head slightly and exhaled. “Go back, Jiang Ji. I can handle my own matters, you don’t need to worry too much.”

After saying this, he raised his hand to unlock the fingerprint lock, pushed open the door, and Jiang Bei was standing behind it.

Perhaps she had heard the commotion and was about to come out, but then sensed that something was amiss outside the door, so she didn’t dare to come out rashly.

“Jiang Bei,” Qin Qingzhuo bent down and tousled her hair, returning to his usual gentle tone. “Pack up your things and go back with your brother.”

Jiang Bei looked at him, nodded, and then glanced at Jiang Ji beside her before turning around and running to her room.

“I’ll go upstairs to rest first. When you leave, please remember to lock the door.” After saying this to Jiang Ji, Qin Qingzhuo turned and headed upstairs.

Knowing that Jiang Ji had returned today, Jiang Bei had already packed up her things in advance and quickly came out with her small bag on her back.

She saw Jiang Ji glance at the closed door on the second floor and sighed.

“Did you guys have a fight?” She asked Jiang Ji in a low voice.

Jiang Ji withdrew his gaze without saying anything. “Let’s go.”

He opened the door and walked out, with Jiang Bei following behind him.

Leaving Qin Qingzhuo’s house, Jiang Ji didn’t ask the driver to send them. Instead, he hailed a cab with Jiang Bei by his side.

Not having seen Jiang Ji for a week, Jiang Bei didn’t show much enthusiasm, but she seemed to be talking more than usual.

“Did you win the competition?” she asked casually.

Jiang Ji responded with a perfunctory “yeah.”

“I finished reading the two books you gave me. They were too simple.”

Jiang Ji remained silent, so she continued, trying to keep the conversation going.

“My ranking has gone up again, I might surpass you soon.”

“That potted plant hasn’t been watered for a week, I wonder if it’ll die.”

“It’s not as interesting here as where we used to be. Can’t see anyone for half a day.”

“But he’s actually quite nice.”

Jiang Ji finally responded, “Who?”

“Qin Qingzhuo.”

“How is he nice?” Jiang Ji asked absentmindedly.

“He plays games with me, teaches me from the two books you gave me, and even takes me out for barbecue… But you know what,” Jiang Bei suddenly turned her face, widened her eyes, and said, “I found out that rich people can also be unhappy!”

Her expression was usually indifferent, but now she looked like she had discovered a new world, which was quite amusing, but Jiang Ji didn’t laugh, looking at her, “What do you mean?”

“Sometimes he would sit there alone for a long time, sighing. I don’t know what he’s thinking. So I play games with him, and he seems happy when he plays, even though he’s not very good at it.”

“Is that so?” Jiang Ji’s lips curved slightly, smiling.

He couldn’t imagine Qin Qingzhuo looking unhappy while playing, but still seeming content.

Kind of want to see that.

Back at Honglu Slope Street, Zhong Yang had already ridden the motorcycle back and was leaning against the wall playing with his phone.

Seeing Jiang Ji and Jiang Bei approaching, he looked up, “How’s Qingzhuo ge? Did he go to the hospital?”

“No,” Jiang Ji took out the keys and opened the rolling gate, walking up the steps. “He didn’t go.”

“I was just reading the online comments,” Zhong Yang followed behind him, “Man, they’re brutal. It’s just one song not sung, but it’s like they dug up these people’s ancestors’ graves…”

Jiang Ji reached out, took the phone from Zhong Yang’s hand, “Let me see.”

He pushed open the door and walked into the bar, telling Jiang Bei, “Go upstairs,” then leaned against the bar counter, browsing through the comments on Weibo.

“The phrase ‘Qin Qingzhuo cancels performance again after four years’ has surged to the top of the hot search list, and related comments are still rapidly increasing…”

“I thought he would make a stunning comeback during the live broadcast, but… it’s over, it’s over.”

“If you can’t sing anymore, then what’s the point of being a mentor? Just retire, why come out and embarrass yourself?”

“Four years ago I was disappointed once, what am I still hoping for four years later? How come I haven’t progressed at all, just like Qin Qingzhuo.”

“Again, feeling unwell. Four years ago, he also said he felt unwell. I’ve figured it out, whenever Qin Qingzhuo sings, he feels unwell.”

“Qin Qingzhuo, I beg you, if you can’t sing, just retire. Give yourself and your fans something to look forward to.”

“He can’t even sing himself and yet he arrogantly critiques others. Don’t come out just to make money, if you can’t sing, you’re not a singer, thank you.”

“We were having a good time shipping CP, then suddenly this disgusting thing happens… So the CP with Jiang Ji is also a publicity stunt, after all, only by stirring up trouble can they get attention now [shrug emoji].”

“Qin Qingzhuo probably didn’t intend to sing in this show from the beginning. At first, he wanted to create a CP with Shen Jia, but it didn’t work out. Then he saw Jiang Ji’s popularity and switched to creating a CP with Jiang Ji… I suspect today’s incident was also planned in advance, stirring up controversy is still a way to gain popularity.”

…

Jiang Ji’s finger paused on the screen, his gaze stopping on the bottom comment, his brow furrowed.

When he wrote the song “Light Peck”, he never thought it would become a reason for Qin Qingzhuo to be attacked.

He wrote the song, Qin Qingzhuo had no prior knowledge of it, and Qin Qingzhuo was someone he was pursuing. Whether he could catch up to him now was still uncertain.

How did it become Qin Qingzhuo wanting to create a CP? If there were accusations to be made, they should be directed at him.

Zhong Yang leaned over and saw the two comments below: “Well, not everyone is saying that. Have you seen the trending topic below? It’s about you and Qingzhuo ge, the comments there are quite harmonious… Do you want to take a look?”

“I won’t.” Jiang Ji handed the phone back to Zhong Yang and asked, “How much do you know about the concert four years ago?”

Zhong Yang was always researching various gossip, and he was enthusiastic about discussing such things with other bands. The information he had might be more comprehensive than what was available online.

But this time, Zhong Yang wasn’t as well-informed. He scratched his head, “I don’t know much about it either, just saw the clip of his concert scene. It’s true, there were off-key notes and wrong rhythms, quite a disaster… It’s said that he used to smoke a lot, so he damaged his voice, can’t sing high notes anymore.”

Was it really a problem with his voice? Jiang Ji recalled Qin Qingzhuo’s past performances and felt it didn’t quite fit.

When Qin Qingzhuo couldn’t hear others speaking, he would instinctively look at their lips. Developing such a habit… it clearly seemed to be a problem with his ears.

“What else do you know?” Jiang Ji asked again.

“Let me think… Oh, there was also the night he left the concert midway and got into a car accident on the way home. It seemed pretty serious, but Huan Yang handled all the relevant information at the time, so there’s very little accurate information available online now.”

A car accident… Jiang Ji’s mind flashed with the image of that night when Qin Qingzhuo expertly reversed his car and did a drift.

Clearly able to drive, yet always opting for a chauffeur.

Originally, Jiang Ji would have thought that Qin Qingzhuo was just lazy about driving, but now, he suspected there might be another reason…

After Zhong Yang left, Jiang Ji sat on the second-floor sofa, scrolling through his phone to find relevant news from four years ago.

However, after four years, much of that information had been buried, and what could be found online now was similar to what Zhong Yang had said.

Moreover, many of the news reports from back then included a picture of Qin Qingzhuo sitting at a table smoking.

Qin Qingzhuo at that time did indeed look somewhat different from now.

With black earrings, fingers holding a cigarette, white smoke curling around his lips, he seemed to be chatting with friends at the table, appearing a bit less gentle and a bit more rebellious than he does now.

Staring at that picture for a moment, Jiang Ji opened Weibo and clicked into Qin Qingzhuo’s profile.

The last Weibo he had seen before was posted four years ago—”Waiting for the Moment of Light.”

From the timing of its posting, it should have been before that concert began.

In the accompanying picture, Qin Qingzhuo was squatting at the edge of the stage, looking out over the empty audience seats, his back appearing somewhat lonely.

Below this Weibo were hundreds of thousands of comments, and Jiang Ji clicked into them, finding that the top comments were all harsh accusations and ridicule—

“So disappointed, a car accident at the concert is one thing, but to leave midway through the performance, what is that? Don’t you have any respect for the fans who came from far away to see you?”

“After getting soaked in the rain outside for half the day, you come in and announce that you’re leaving before your butt even gets warm, saying you’re feeling unwell. Are you saying that having so many fans stand in the rain for you makes you feel better?”

“How much I used to love you compared to how much I hate you now. Don’t just refund the ticket money for the concert; you should also refund all the money spent on your albums over the years!”

“Even if you sing so poorly at the concert, you still have the nerve to come out and make money. Just retire already, seriously, stop polluting everyone’s ears.”

“How many car accidents have there been at concerts now? If you had even a tiny bit of love for music, you wouldn’t let yourself become like this.”

“I heard there was a car accident right after the concert. Serves you right, you got what you deserved.”

Suddenly, Jiang Ji remembered the second round of the competition when he stood on stage and said to Qin Qingzhuo in front of the mentors, “Teacher Qin said we don’t respect the audience or the music, but I think compared to some people who cause car accidents at their own concerts, our performance doesn’t seem so bad, does it?”

And that moment when Qin Qingzhuo’s eyelashes quivered rapidly, and the expression of slight hurt that crossed his face.

Tightening his grip on the phone, Jiang Ji closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

A voice echoed in his mind—Jiang Ji, oh Jiang Ji, what mistakes have you made after all.

TN:

Celebrities really have it hard! Always being judged more harshly than normal people for even breathing. Be kind to them. They’re also human. And if you don’t like them, shut the f*ck up and go about your business! No need to jump around like monkeys spewing hateful BS!