Chapter 119

Walking out of the lounge, Qin Qingzhuo breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no one outside.

Not far away, there was a noisy crowd, and following the corridor for a few meters before turning a corner would lead to the media interview area set up by the program team in advance. Just by listening to the commotion, one could imagine the scene where various entertainment reporters, armed with cameras and microphones, were bombarding with questions incessantly.

Just recently, the two of them were photographed embracing on the street by paparazzi, and today they performed together on stage again, not to mention their previous collaboration in “Light Peck” and the “elopement” on a rainy night… With years of experience dealing with the media, Qin Qingzhuo could fully anticipate how the reporters would bombard them and dig into the relationship between him and Jiang Ji.

“Don’t go that way,” he held Jiang Ji’s wrist and whispered softly, “Let’s sneak out from this side.”

Jiang Ji responded with a “Hmm” and changed direction.

No need for further words, the two of them were perfectly synchronized even in sneaking out.

Shoulder to shoulder, heads slightly lowered, with light and quick steps, they strode through the corridor, heading straight to the end of the safe passage.

The staircase echoed with the overlapping footsteps, resembling another tacit elopement.

Arriving at the underground parking lot, Qin Qingzhuo took a deep breath. The air was filled with the smell of exhaust fumes, far from being fresh, yet there was a sense of relief emanating from every pore of his body.

As they walked towards the car, Jiang Ji took out his phone and sent a message in the band chat, informing Zhong Yang and Peng Keshi to come directly to the underground parking lot after finishing the interview.

“Where’s Jiang Bei?” Sitting in the car, Qin Qingzhuo looked out through the window. “Wasn’t she supposed to meet us at the parking lot after the match?”

“I’ll call and ask,” Jiang Ji said.

Just as he was about to make the call, a video invitation popped up on the screen.

Jiang Ji lightly tapped the screen with his thumb and answered the video call, revealing a pair of round, shiny black eyes in the video chat box.

The other side seemed dimly lit, and Jiang Ji asked, “Where are you and Sister Ying?”

“We’re in the car,” Jiang Bei replied.

Qin Qingzhuo leaned closer to the camera and greeted Jiang Bei. Upon seeing him, Jiang Bei exclaimed, “I didn’t know you sang so beautifully!”

“Is it better than my gaming skills?” Qin Qingzhuo smiled.

“It’s way better than that,” Jiang Bei didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was bad at gaming.

The laughter of Huang Ying came through, and Jiang Ji chuckled as well, then said, “Send us your parking space number.”

“We’ve already left,” Jiang Bei said, “We’re on our way.”

“Aren’t you coming back with us tonight?” Jiang Ji was a bit surprised.

“Jiang Bei hasn’t packed up yet,” Huang Ying’s voice came through without her showing up, “So she’ll come back with me tonight. Besides, it’s such an important night of winning the championship. Don’t you two deserve to celebrate properly?”

Huang Ying’s words were subtle, implying that they should enjoy their time alone.

In fact, Jiang Bei wouldn’t have much of an impact at home anyway, at most they would need to be a bit more discreet, unable to move from the first floor to the second floor as freely as before. However, it had to be admitted that Huang Ying’s consideration was quite thoughtful, after all, tonight was destined to be anything but peaceful.

Jiang Ji smiled and accepted her kindness, saying, “Thank you, Sister Ying.”

“Huang Ying,” Qin Qingzhuo also spoke to her, “Thank you for taking care of Jiang Bei these days.”

“Why thank me? Jiang Bei doesn’t need anyone to take care of her,” Huang Ying said from the other side as she drove, “And we’ve had a great time together. My ranking has been skyrocketing lately.”

Qin Qingzhuo chuckled a few times, while Jiang Ji said, “We can only play for a few more days, then it’s back to elementary school for me.”

“What?” Jiang Bei’s eyes widened instantly, as if facing a formidable enemy. “Do I have to go back?!”

“Yes.”

“But I want to play games, I don’t want to go to school…” Jiang Bei muttered.

Ignoring her plea, Jiang Ji changed the subject, “Did you do what I asked you to do?”

“It’s all taken care of,” Jiang Bei replied with a disdainful expression, lacking enthusiasm due to the impending doom of going to school, “Don’t worry—”

Jiang Ji didn’t engage in further conversation with her, instead he said goodbye to Huang Ying and then ended the video call.

Curious, Qin Qingzhuo asked, “What did you ask Jiang Bei to do?”

“It’s a secret,” Jiang Ji said, putting away his phone.

Initially just a casual question out of curiosity, Jiang Ji’s response piqued Qin Qingzhuo’s interest. He urged Jiang Ji with a smile, “Stop teasing, tell me.”

“You’ll find out when we get back,” Jiang Ji said, lifting his chin slightly, “They’re coming out now.”

Following his gaze, Qin Qingzhuo saw Zhong Yang and Peng Keshi coming out from the elevator, running towards the car.

Jiang Ji started the car and drove towards the two of them.

As the car stopped, the two of them opened the rear doors, one on each side, and got in. Zhong Yang was panting, looking somewhat disheveled. Peng Keshi, who was usually calm, didn’t look much better at the moment, leaning back in her seat to catch her breath.

“Brother Qingzhuo, why didn’t you call us when you ran off?” Zhong Yang complained, “Oh my god, those reporters kept surrounding us and asking about you two. It’s like they wanted to eat me and Sister Shi alive…”

Of course, Qin Qingzhuo couldn’t reveal what happened in the lounge. Turning around from the front seat, he looked at the two of them with amusement, “Is it really that scary?”

“Mmh,” Peng Keshi surprisingly echoed Zhong Yang, “One question has eight pitfalls.”

“Moreover, just a casual remark from us could be interpreted in eight different ways,” Zhong Yang hadn’t fully recovered yet. “Are these people all so scheming… Qing Zhuo, let me give you a heads-up first, I might say a lot of things I shouldn’t…”

“No worries,” Qin Qingzhuo said with a smile, “I should have taken you both with me earlier, it just slipped my mind.”

Having spent too long behind the scenes, he had genuinely forgotten about the post-match interviews when he came down from the stage.

It was halfway through when Jiang Ji dragged him to the rest area to put on the ring, inadvertently allowing the two of them to bypass this segment.

Qin Qingzhuo couldn’t help but think, with lingering fear, that if they had gone straight there, they would probably be even more embarrassed by now. After all, Zhong Yang and Peng Keshi were not directly involved, and the entertainment reporters had already been relatively lenient with them.

“Let’s head towards Su San,” the car exited the park, Qin Qingzhuo turned to the two, “I’ll take you for a late-night snack to calm your nerves, and then I’ll send you back, alright?”

“I won’t go with you, Brother Qingzhuo,” Peng Keshi replied to a message on her phone, then looked up, “I have something to do tonight, Jiang Ji, just drop me off at the front roadside.”

Jiang Ji acknowledged with a “Got it,” and turned on the turn signal to pull over.

“Then I won’t go either,” Zhong Yang immediately said, “Sister Shi, I’ll walk with you. I don’t want to be a third wheel sitting alone in the car with them…”

Usually, Peng Keshi would casually agree with a “Sure,” but today, she typed a brief and direct refusal to Zhong Yang on her phone: “Not on the way.”

“Aren’t you going back to school?” Zhong Yang asked, “Then where are you going?”

Peng Keshi didn’t answer. The car stopped by the roadside, she put away her phone, said goodbye to Qin Qingzhuo and Jiang Ji, then told Zhong Yang “I’m off,” and pushed open the door to get out of the car.

The traffic after the show was, as usual, congested, with cars slowly inching forward. Peng Keshi, who had already walked a few meters ahead with her bass guitar on her back, while the car remained stationary.

Qin Qingzhuo saw Peng Keshi walking towards a maroon sedan parked ahead, the car window rolled down, a hand extended from inside waving twice, then Peng Keshi walked over to the car, opened the door, and got in.

Qin Qingzhuo’s eyebrows subtly raised—if he guessed correctly, judging from the hand painted with crimson fingertips and the dangling black trumpet sleeve, the person inside the car should be Shen Cha.

In the backseat of the car, Zhong Yang exclaimed, “Damn, we actually trended so much…”

Qin Qingzhuo calmly withdrew his gaze, “Hmm?” he responded.

“Qin Qingzhuo and Jiang Ji duet, Asperatus Champion, Jiang Above and Qing Below collaboration, Restless Band Finals, Deep Alley Light…” Zhong Yang read off the trending topics, “We’re really making waves! And your square screenshot, it’s been shared seventy thousand times…”

Qin Qingzhuo turned back, and Zhong Yang leaned over to hand him the phone.

In the nine-square screenshot, all the scenes captured were of Jiang Ji and Qin Qingzhuo’s various interactions on stage, with the caption, “If this isn’t real, what else is!!!”

The comments below were buzzing—

“P2 Jiang Ji discreetly holding Qin Qingzhuo’s wrist there, totally couldn’t resist!!”

“Jiang Ji doesn’t even look at the vote count, is Teacher Qin that good-looking that he keeps staring at him!”

“Except for ‘Light Peck,’ he’s never looked at the vote count. As for ‘Light Peck,’ I think they were both avoiding suspicion…”

“Jiang Ji is no longer surprised to see Qin Qingzhuo, haven’t you noticed that during this performance, Qin Qingzhuo kept looking at Jiang Ji? When singing, when interacting, every now and then, he would glance over. Do you like Jiang Ji that much, Teacher Qin!”

“As soon as the votes were announced, they hugged each other directly, I seriously suspect they were about to kiss in the next second. Our entire dorm was screaming ‘restrain yourselves,’ the first time we’ve encountered a situation where the main characters are bolder than the shippers…”

“And they just disappeared after the post-match interviews. If there was really nothing going on, why did you two run away? Running away only makes it more obvious, don’t you think!”

“Don’t just watch the post-match interviews because they weren’t there. Zhong Yang and Peng Keshi were hilarious, trying to be vague but falling into all sorts of traps set by the reporters. In the end, they almost said, ‘They’re real, I can’t make up anything anymore…'”

“Didn’t you notice that they wrote the lyrics and composed this song? ‘Nineteen years of drifting,’ ‘broken song,’ ‘pouring rain,’ ‘hold me’… It’s basically a love song!!”

…

Zhong Yang scrolled through the comments to show Qin Qingzhuo, making him laugh all the way.

After dropping off Zhong Yang and driving back with Jiang Ji, Qin Qingzhuo continued to browse through the content.

He even clicked into the super topic of “Jiang Sha Qing” and took a stroll, but he soon backed out.

Because some of the text content was… unbearable to read.

After leaving the super topic, Qin Qingzhuo casually browsed through other content. Just now, Zhong Yang probably avoided mentioning his illness, so there were some hot search terms he didn’t read out loud, like “Qin Qingzhuo publicly reveals his illness for the first time,” “Qin Qingzhuo ear,” “Qin Qingzhuo returns to the stage four years later,” “Qin Qingzhuo’s abnormally open Eustachian tube”…

Things that he used to think would make the sky fall, now suddenly didn’t seem so scary.

It’s a kind of miraculous sense of relief.

He didn’t click on those hot searches. Instead, he went to see the comments section that Jiang Ji had shown him last night.

As expected, after tonight, there were many new comments. He went through them one by one—

“I burst into tears the moment you spoke, crying until you revealed your illness. My tear glands were literally destroyed. Why did you speak so lightly about it? I can’t imagine how you’ve managed to get through these four years…”

“You’re such a proud person. When something like this happens, you just silently disappear from the public eye. Some friends around me say they don’t understand why you didn’t speak up earlier, but I want to say that Qin Qingzhuo is just like that…”

“Eustachian tube abnormality… When I heard you say those words, I immediately looked up that condition, and I’ve been feeling uncomfortable ever since. Why would a singer get this kind of illness? Even with this illness, you haven’t given up on music. You’ve even transitioned from a singer to such a successful producer. Even though I know you can’t see this, I still want to say, at least for me, you haven’t let down my love and expectations as a fan.”

“The moment the cello sounded, I had a feeling it was you, but I didn’t dare to believe it. So familiar with your voice, but still couldn’t believe it when you spoke. When the lights came on and I saw you sitting on stage, it felt like a dream… Seeing you singing on stage again, and so happily, I felt better too. Thank you, Asperatus, and thank you, Xiao Jiang. The bad weather is really coming to an end!!”

…

The car stopped in front of the house, Jiang Ji turned off the engine and asked, “Why are you silent?” It was then that Qin Qingzhuo snapped out of it.

Jiang Ji turned her face to look into the dimly lit car, and Qin Qingzhuo’s eyes seemed to be shimmering with tiny lights.

He paused for a moment, then touched Qin Qingzhuo’s eyes under with his finger. “Why do you look like you’re about to cry?”

“It’s nothing, just went back to look at the comments section you showed me yesterday,” Qin Qingzhuo took a deep breath, “It’s quite moving.”

Jiang Ji took the phone from his hand and scrolled through it.

After putting down the phone, he reached out and touched Qin Qingzhuo’s face, looking into his eyes. “Don’t cry. They’ve been with you for a long time, and I’ll be with you for even longer.”

“Yeah,” Qin Qingzhuo nodded, adjusting his emotions.

He opened the door and got out of the car. Jiang Ji held his wrist as they walked up the steps.

As they climbed the steps, Jiang Ji unlocked the door with her fingerprint, pulled it open, and walked in with Qin Qingzhuo.

As soon as they stepped into the room, Qin Qingzhuo saw a dark shadow flash through the living room, followed by a faint meow.

He paused, “… Why is there a cat in the house?”

Jiang Ji didn’t say anything, she reached up and turned on the light.

Jiang Ji didn’t say anything, but reached up to turn on the light.

The ceiling light in the living room lit up, and Qin Qingzhuo saw a black furball nestled under the coffee table.

—It was the same little black cat they had seen on the second floor of the bar.

He approached, bending down with some surprise to look at the black furball. It had grown a bit, but its eyes were still the same, like black glass beads reflecting light under the lamp.

The kitten meowed softly at him again.

Qin Qingzhuo reached out to pick it up, placing it on his lap. “Did you ask Jiang Bei to bring it over?”

Jiang Ji replied with a simple “Hmm.” “Do you like it?”

“I do.” Qin Qingzhuo stroked its soft fur. He couldn’t resist these fluffy little animals. Then he looked at Jiang Ji. “Why don’t you try petting it and see if it’ll still act aggressive towards you?”

Jiang Ji reached out, but before his hand could get close to its head, the kitten lifted its head and hissed at him.

“It seems it’s still a no-go…” Qin Qingzhuo chuckled, then gently stroked the kitten’s head to soothe it.

After playing with the kitten for a while, Jiang Ji suddenly said, “My mom wrote something in the letter she left me before she left.”

“What?” Qin Qingzhuo looked up at him.

“She said, ‘Loss is a part of life,'” Jiang Ji looked at him as he spoke. “We shouldn’t resist a new beginning just because we’re afraid of losing.”

Qin Qingzhuo didn’t say anything, but his movements of petting the kitten slowed down as he listened carefully to Jiang Ji’s words.

“I didn’t really understand it before. I used to think it was fine to stay in that bar, living the same life. It wasn’t until I met you that I began to understand the true meaning of that sentence. So, Qin Qingzhuo,” Jiang Ji reached out to touch his hair, looking into his eyes, “don’t be so pessimistic in the future. I’ll be with you, experiencing many new beginnings together, alright?”

Qin Qingzhuo nodded lightly, softly uttering, “Hmm.”

“Do you want to keep this kitten?” Jiang Ji asked again. “You can think about it carefully. You don’t have to force yourself for my sake. If you really don’t want to keep it, we can send it back to the bar and see if we can find a suitable adopter.”

Looking at the fluffy black bundle in his hands, Qin Qingzhuo petted it a few more times. He genuinely liked these fluffy little animals, but he had never been able to make up his mind to actually keep one. However, tonight, he suddenly imagined starting a new beginning together with Jiang Ji, just as Jiang Ji had said.

He looked up at Jiang Ji and said, “Let’s keep it.”

“Alright.” Jiang Ji nodded, then leaned over to peck his lips. “Let’s put it down for now. There’s something more important to do.”

“Hmm?” Qin Qingzhuo asked, “What else?”

“What else?” Jiang Ji’s hand slipped under his shirt hem and kneaded for a moment.

Knowing it was a rhetorical question, Qin Qingzhuo couldn’t help but laugh and bend down to set the kitten on the ground. “Actually, I have a surprise for you too.”

“What?” Jiang Ji asked.

“It’s not much of a surprise, it’s what we agreed on before,” Qin Qingzhuo smiled, reaching out to embrace him, leaning close to his ear and whispering, “You’ll find out once I carry you upstairs.”