Chapter 19

On the eve of the new episode’s broadcast, Shi Yao arranged a dinner and invited Qin Qingzhuo to attend.

According to him, this dinner was firstly to thank Qin Qingzhuo for agreeing to be a mentor, helping the production team solve a pressing issue, and secondly to apologize to Qin Qingzhuo. After all, the program still retained the segment where Jiang Ji confronted Qin Qingzhuo.

“Xia Qi consulted with me about whether we could delete that segment from the video, but you know, it’s not solely up to me to decide. We also have to consider the opinions of the higher-ups… I’m really sorry, Qingzhuo, please don’t take it to heart.”

“It’s okay, I’ve talked to Xia Qi beforehand. If that segment can be deleted, then delete it. If not, then so be it,” Qin Qingzhuo smiled.

He appeared quite magnanimous, but it was unlikely that he didn’t care at all.

Out of consideration for the program’s popularity, Shi Yao chose not to delete that segment from the video. Qin Qingzhuo understood this decision. However, putting this matter on the table and attributing the reasons in such a grandiose manner seemed somewhat hypocritical.

Shi Yao and Qin Qingzhuo were both alumni of Central Conservatory of Music. Before Qin Qingzhuo got together with Ji Chi, Shi Yao had subtly shown interest in him. But Qin Qingzhuo had always been indifferent towards him, partly because of this—Shi Yao occasionally revealed his smooth and worldly side, which didn’t make Qin Qingzhuo dislike him, but it didn’t make him interested either.

After leaving the restaurant, Shi Yao suggested driving Qin Qingzhuo home. Initially, Qin Qingzhuo declined, but seeing Shi Yao insist, he didn’t say anything more and got into the car with him.

“Is it near Mingtai?” Shi Yao sat in the driver’s seat and started the car.

“I’ve changed my address,” Qin Qingzhuo fastened his seatbelt in the passenger seat. “It’s in a different direction from before. We’ll have to make a U-turn first.”

“In that case, connect to the Bluetooth, and I’ll follow the navigation,” Shi Yao turned the steering wheel to make a U-turn, then casually asked, “Why did you suddenly move?”

“The house I used to live in was sold,” Qin Qingzhuo searched for the new address on the navigation.

“Has Ji Chi not come back recently?”

Shi Yao was always like this, probably already guessed what had happened, but he insisted on not asking directly, preferring to beat around the bush.

“We broke up,” Qin Qingzhuo said calmly.

“So suddenly?” Shi Yao feigned surprise.

“Yeah,” Qin Qingzhuo didn’t want to say much.

After the car drove another intersection, Shi Yao spoke up, “It’s for the best. Actually, I’ve heard some rumors before, saying that Ji Chi seemed to have a complicated relationship with his assistant on the set…”

“Hmm?” Qin Qingzhuo glanced at him, “When was this?”

“About half a year ago? I can’t remember exactly.”

Seeing Qin Qingzhuo remain silent, Shi Yao continued, “But the relationship between artists and their assistants is naturally close. I didn’t take it seriously since I didn’t witness it firsthand, so I didn’t mention it to you.”

Qin Qingzhuo smiled, “Indeed.”

He wondered whether Shi Yao didn’t take it seriously or didn’t want to stir up trouble. Perhaps only Shi Yao himself knew.

However, since he had been laughing at his own misfortune for so long, why bring up this matter now? Did Shi Yao want to gain his favor by casting blame on Ji Chi? Unfortunately, instead of increasing his favor towards Shi Yao, Qin Qingzhuo felt somewhat annoyed.

The restaurant wasn’t too far from Qin Qingzhuo’s residence. The car stopped at the entrance of Qin Qingzhuo’s villa, and Shi Yao turned to him, “I happen to have a bottle of Muttonwood in the car that a friend gave me today. Would you like to have a drink together?”

“Muttonwood?” Qin Qingzhuo unfastened his seatbelt, “That’s good wine.”

“Yes, and it’s a good vintage too. I was just thinking that such good wine should be shared with someone.”

“How could that be,” Qin Qingzhuo chuckled, “But, while the wine is good, I’ve had Muttonwood before, and I really can’t get used to it. Besides…”

The excuse of “a friend just happened to give me a bottle of Muttonwood” was probably pure fiction. After all, how many things in this world “just happen” like that? After a pause, Qin Qingzhuo continued, “I’m not in the mood for drinking anyway, so senior brother, I appreciate the gesture, but I won’t accompany you for a drink.”

“I see,” Shi Yao also smiled. Among adults, such matters were best left alone, so he didn’t insist further, “Alright, whenever you feel like drinking, I’ll be ready to accompany you.”

“Sounds good,” Qin Qingzhuo replied, “Then I’ll get off here.”

Stepping out of the car, Qin Qingzhuo bid farewell to Shi Yao and then turned towards the villa.

Qin Qingzhuo knew exactly what Shi Yao meant, but he didn’t really have any thoughts about him. He remembered what he had overheard Shi Yao say at the door of the meeting room yesterday: “Chen Jia, the content you filmed last time is simply not good enough. Audiences want to see the conflict between Jiang Ji and Qin Qingzhuo. Who would want to watch those peaceful scenes? Hurry up and capture some more footage…”

Climbing the steps, Qin Qingzhuo unlocked the door with his fingerprint and pushed it open to enter his home.

He had just fully moved in yesterday, and the new house felt empty and somewhat uncomfortable.

As he changed his shoes at the entrance, he instinctively took out his phone and opened WeChat, but in an instant, he realized that he and Ji Chi had already broken up.

He frowned, pressed the screen of his phone to turn it off, and thought to himself how scary habits could be.

He walked over and sat on the sofa, feeling somewhat exhausted. These days, he had been busy with moving and hadn’t had a moment to rest.

Moving was truly exhausting both physically and emotionally, especially after a breakup.

Having to separate their belongings one by one was a task that even the housekeeper couldn’t help with, so Qin Qingzhuo had to do it himself.

The more he packed, the more disheartened he felt. He thought that relationships were really pointless. After putting in so much effort, in the end, it all resulted in this. It was not as liberating as his friends who only played with ambiguous relationships.

Yesterday, when Xie Chengyun helped him move, they chatted for a bit. Chengyun laughed at him, saying he shouldn’t have agreed to Ji Chi back then. “Who was the one boasting about being carefree? How did you end up falling into the trap of emotions? You said you could just play around, why did you take it to heart…”

Xie Chengyun was a staunch advocate of being single, holding an absolute pessimistic view of love. Before, when Qin Qingzhuo heard him talk about his views on relationships, he just laughed it off. Now, he felt that there might be some truth to those words –

“You expose your softest belly and most vulnerable artery to the other person, and then they pick up a knife and stab you. Why blame the other person for hurting you? In my opinion, you should blame yourself the most. Why didn’t you protect yourself?”

“How can you people believe in love? People change, every experience changes them, so why do you believe in something that’s constantly changing?”

Perhaps Chengyun was right. Qin Qingzhuo thought of himself squatting on the floor a few days ago while moving, sorting out their belongings one by one, and he sighed deeply.

“Restless Band” officially aired on Friday nights at 8 o’clock, with the second round of the playoffs divided into two episodes.

Considering the effect of the show, the production team edited Qin Qingzhuo’s band into the first episode, while the performance of Asperatus and Marsara became the highlight of the first episode due to the unexpected results of the competition.

On the computer monitor monitoring the playback data, the number of views continued to surge with Qin Qingzhuo’s appearance, forming peaks one after another.

And in the last ten minutes of the show, starting from the improvised performance of Asperatus, the slender curve suddenly soared, forming an extremely steep slope, and reached a remarkably high peak within the few seconds of Jiang Ji’s confrontation with Qin Qingzhuo.

“Qin Brother Qingzhuots roasted on the show” quickly climbed to the top of the hot search list that night –

“The lead singer is so brave, here’s a pot cover, don’t let Qin Qingzhuo’s fans chase you out of the competition.”

“Why is Qin Qingzhuo, with his level of a car accident scene, sitting in the mentor seat? Where does he get the face?”

“If you don’t like Qin Qingzhuo, it’s fine, but don’t mindlessly bash him. What’s Qin Qingzhuo’s level? He’s a regular at the Golden Melody Awards! A band that makes fundamental mistakes shouldn’t have the audacity to challenge Qin Qingzhuo like this.”

“The lead singer of this band gained some popularity last round by interacting with Qin Qingzhuo, and now they’ve advanced again by arguing with Qin Qingzhuo. Can’t they rely on themselves for once? Must they rely on stirring up controversy with Qin Qingzhuo to gain attention? It’s addicting to ride on the bandwagon just because the band is gaining momentum by dissing Qin Qingzhuo.”

“Why does it always become about Jiang Ji advancing by arguing with Qin Qingzhuo? That improvised riff by Asperatus was so cool, not only did they surpass Marsara, to be honest, it was much better than the improvisations of most bands in this round.”

“Qin Qingzhuo seems like he’s been possessed by a soul. With his previous temperament, he would have clashed with the lead singer long ago. Now he’s changed to a gentle persona?”

…

“Sigh, these netizens’ comments are so entertaining.” The afternoon after the program aired, on the second floor of the Honglu Bar, Zhong Yang squatted beside Jiang Ji, scrolling through his phone screen. “Let me read a few more for you.”

Jiang Ji was fixing the security door on the second floor, squatting halfway at the doorway, holding a sledgehammer and nailing it into the door frame. His hand movements paused, and the sledgehammer he held was pointed towards Zhong Yang. “Keep going.”

The sledgehammer was bigger than a fist, and Zhong Yang cleared his throat, swallowing back the words he was about to say. “Brother, don’t come at me like that. There aren’t many people cursing you, most of them are cursing Qin Qingzhuo…”

Jiang Ji’s hands remained still, still looking at him.

“Can I stop now?” Zhong Yang clicked his tongue, though he said this, he couldn’t help but continue muttering, “Our band is going to be famous… Jiang Ji, there are so many comments praising you, don’t you want to listen? You already have fans, don’t you care?”

Seeing that Jiang Ji wasn’t responding, Zhong Yang felt bored, so he went to join Peng Keshi’s activity.

Peng Keshi was typing intently on her laptop, and Zhong Yang leaned in close to her screen, frowning as he looked at it for a while. “…Sister Shi, what are you writing? Why are there so many words in the title that I don’t recognize?”

“Which words?” Peng Keshi’s hands didn’t stop moving, her fingers flying across the keyboard. “Are you talking about ‘iridoid glycoside’?”

“What the heck is that?” Zhong Yang’s face showed a perplexed expression, but he quickly gave up on his own and changed the subject, handing his phone to Peng Keshi. “Have you read these comments? They’re really exciting.”

“Not interested,” Peng Keshi continued typing on the keyboard.

“What’s wrong with you two? Can’t you have some collective sense of honor for our band?” Zhong Yang reproached, “Among these bands now, I think we have the highest popularity. We’re practically the favorites to win the championship. Maybe in no time, someone will invite us for commercial performances, and we can make a fortune.”

With no one paying attention to him, Zhong Yang wandered aimlessly on the second floor. He saw two wooden guitars leaning against the wall, one was the one Jiang Ji had been using, and the other was new, but it looked like a cheap one.

Zhong Yang picked up the new one and strummed a few times casually, “Jiang Ji, did you buy a new guitar?”

Jiang Ji replied with a simple “Hmm.”

“Why did you buy such a thing? Is it usable? And, why haven’t you thrown away the old one? It’s just taking up space.” Zhong Yang put down the new one and wanted to pick up the old one, “It’s so broken, shouldn’t it be scrapped by now?”

His hand just grasped the neck of the guitar when he heard Jiang Ji suddenly raise his voice, “Don’t touch that one.”

The tone was quite serious, and Zhong Yang glanced at Jiang Ji. Jiang Ji was frowning at him, giving him a warning look.

“I won’t touch it then,” Zhong Yang muttered, “Is this broken guitar so precious to you…”

Jiang Ji withdrew his gaze, continuing with what he was doing. Thinking about this guitar made him feel upset.

In the morning, he took this guitar to several instrument repair shops. The responses from the craftsmen were similar— it could be fixed, but because this guitar was handmade, they couldn’t find original replacement parts. After the repair, the tone might undergo subtle changes.

Actually, this wasn’t a big problem. If you didn’t listen carefully, others wouldn’t be able to tell. However, Jiang Ji had played this guitar for ten years, and for him, any potential change in the guitar’s sound was difficult to accept. So, he brought the guitar back, thinking of checking out other shops when he had time.

“By the way,” Zhong Yang stood up, “I found a good buyer for the guitar Qin Qingzhuo gave you last time. The price is something you absolutely won’t expect.”

“How much?”

“A hundred thousand.”

“A hundred thousand?” Jiang Ji’s hand paused for a moment, he looked at Zhong Yang, “Where did you find this sucker? You’re not trying to trick me, right?”

Jiang Ji also went to several instrument shops to inquire about the price of this guitar. The guitar Qin Qingzhuo gave him was indeed not a cheap one, it was an absolute high-end instrument, but the highest price offered by the music stores was only around forty thousand, which was far from the price mentioned by Zhong Yang.

However, Zhong Yang was quite miraculous. He seemed to know people from all walks of life and had access to all kinds of channels. It wasn’t surprising that he found such a naive buyer.

“Where I found him doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s absolutely reliable,” Zhong Yang waved his hand, nonchalantly. “Let’s get one thing straight, I’ll take a thirty percent commission from the hundred thousand. The remaining seventy thousand will be directly transferred to you, and you won’t have to deal with the buyer. Sounds tempting, doesn’t it?”

Sitting on the sofa, Peng Keshi stopped typing and looked up at Zhong Yang. “Zhong Yang, don’t stir up trouble. After all, this guitar was a birthday gift from Teacher Qin to Jiang Ji. It might not be appropriate to sell it so quickly. Moreover, since Jiang Ji’s old guitar is broken, can’t he just use this one?”

Before Jiang Ji could speak, Zhong Yang chuckled, “Sister Shi, you’re worried about this unnecessarily. This guitar was probably not even chosen by Qin Qingzhuo himself. Selling a hundred-thousand-dollar guitar, isn’t that what Jiang Ji wants? Sister Shi, as a wealthy person, you don’t need to meddle in this matter. Let Jiang Ji make the decision himself.”

After he finished, he looked at Jiang Ji. “What do you say, buddy? Selling it?”

“Sell it,” Jiang Ji said decisively.

Peng Keshi hesitated to speak, but ultimately didn’t say anything.

After a while, she took her laptop bag, pulled out a few pieces of paper from it, stood up, and walked over to Jiang Ji.

Jiang Ji was squatting by the door, his head lowered, hammering nails with the iron hammer in his hand, looking absent-minded. He seemed to be lost in thought. Indeed, Jiang Ji was distracted—perhaps because of the frequent mention of Qin Qingzhuo just now, he inexplicably recalled the somewhat pitiful expression on Qin Qingzhuo’s face he saw on stage that day, and that expression lingered in his mind, making him somewhat annoyed.

Approaching him, Peng Keshi stopped her steps and spoke, “Jiang Ji.”

Jiang Ji then snapped out of his reverie, stopped his hand movements, and looked up at her. “What’s up?”

“What’s going on?” Zhong Yang, bored, saw Peng Keshi walking toward Jiang Ji with a few pieces of paper and jumped over to join in the fun, his face full of gossip. “Sis Shi, are you going to confess to Jiang Ji?”

“Go away,” Peng Keshi said.

“Tsk…” Zhong Yang rubbed his chin, “Not simple.”

“It’s the lyrics you threw away before,” Peng Keshi walked over to Jiang Ji’s side and squatted down as well. “I quite liked it. I suddenly got some inspiration these days and composed a melody for it. I didn’t inform you in advance, hope you don’t mind.”

Jiang Ji’s gaze shifted to the sheet music in her hand, pausing for a few seconds before he spoke, “Do you want to use this song for the next performance?”

“It’s so easy to talk to you,” Peng Keshi smiled. “Yes, I wanted to discuss this with you. But if you mind…”

“There’s nothing to mind,” Jiang Ji said. “Go ahead and use it.”

Peng Keshi nodded, then thought for a moment before adding, “Also, if you have time in the next few days, let’s plan the next performance properly? The first round was too rushed, and the song for the second round…”

She paused, trying to find a relatively gentle way to phrase it, but Jiang Ji bluntly continued, “Was too terrible. It’s fine, just say it.”

“It’s just not up to your standard,” Peng Keshi said. “If you hadn’t admitted that you wrote it yourself, I would’ve thought Zhong Yang ghostwrote it.”

“I’m not that bad!” Zhong Yang retorted fiercely. “If I had a choice last time, I wouldn’t have picked such a terrible song. Fortunately, I managed to salvage the situation with that can song in the second half. Otherwise, Jiang Ji, bro, I would’ve been so disappointed in you. I would’ve thought you were already past your prime at such a young age…”

Footsteps sounded in the hallway at this moment. Jiang Ji lowered his eyes and met the gaze of Qin Qingzhuo, who was walking up the stairs, looking up.

Qin Qingzhuo was carrying a bag in his hand, looking much better than last time, completely different from his previous sickly appearance.

TN:

How’s Zhong Yang so loveable looking in appearance but so mean-spirited?😭 Shi Jie the only real one in this band.