Chapter 54

Qin Qingzhuo dragged the track of the Irish bagpipes into the previous arrangement track and played the melody again. It was indeed much better than the previous version with the cello.

Lighter, more transparent, just as Jiang Ji had said, it had a clear and melodious feeling.

Having never undergone any professional training, he could still have such a keen perception of musical instruments… If this were truly an interview, Qin Qingzhuo thought he would definitely not hesitate and would immediately decide to keep Jiang Ji.

In fact, he did want to sign Jiang Ji last night, but in the morning, Qin Qingzhuo had thought it over and decided to persuade Jiang Ji to sign with Huan Yang.

The reasons for this decision were partly to avoid suspicion – Shi Yao had asked him to persuade Jiang Ji to sign with the program group, but then he turned around and signed Jiang Ji himself, which didn’t seem quite right; and on the other hand, there was also that kiss, and Jiang Ji’s current attitude towards him… Qin Qingzhuo needed to leave himself the option to cut off this relationship at any time.

To be fair, getting along with Jiang Ji was quite comfortable, especially this exchange about the Irish bagpipes, which brought Qin Qingzhuo a sense of pleasure he hadn’t experienced in years, a kind of… soul collision.

He suddenly remembered what Shen Jia had said during the program recording – “If I were ten years younger now, I might go crazy with infatuation.”

Had there been infatuation? Qin Qingzhuo admitted to himself that there had been, that kiss, and the phrase “today is suitable for confession.”

But infatuation was one thing, and actually being together with Jiang Ji was another. He was too young, only nineteen, and his life had just experienced a catastrophe. Perhaps he hadn’t even distinguished between liking someone and being grateful…

Qin Qingzhuo hadn’t intended to take Jiang Ji’s confession too seriously. As a senior in the industry ten years older than Jiang Ji, and still a mentor on the show, he couldn’t possibly reveal his negative side to a nineteen-year-old.

“Be a good person to the end, send Buddha to the west.” This saying made a lot of sense. After being a good person for so long, he might as well continue.
*basically go the extra mile

As for Jiang Ji, who doesn’t have impulsive thoughts when they’re young? However, these impulses often recede as quickly as they surge. Perhaps all he needed to do was wait quietly for the day the tide went out.

Qin Qingzhuo’s phone vibrated on the coffee table, and he picked it up to take a look.

Cai Heng sent two pictures, one of which was a screenshot of Weibo’s hot search, with a striking entry in the middle – “Jiang Ji beats the bassist of Urban Collapse.”

The other one was supposedly leaked by a staff member – “Jiang Ji was too ruthless. In the dressing room, he beat several members of Urban Collapse like this. Isn’t it clear that he doesn’t want them to participate in the next competition?” The attached pictures were frames captured from surveillance, not very clear, but it could be seen that Jiang Ji was swinging his fist towards the bassist of Urban Collapse.

Qin Qingzhuo frowned as he looked at the Weibo post.

The next episode of the program was going to be broadcasted tomorrow night, and by then, Asperatus would be eliminated by Urban Collapse. Qin Qingzhuo didn’t know how the program would edit the audience’s reactions, but it was certain that once the performances of the two bands were released, the result would definitely cause controversy, and a significant one at that.

Shi Yao was creating public opinion for the elimination of Asperatus in advance…

Not only that, but he also generated hype for tomorrow night’s broadcast in advance.

Moreover, he probably wanted to pressure Jiang Ji with this matter, to show him that if he didn’t sign, the program wouldn’t let him enjoy the benefits. And if he did sign, as long as the program put a little effort into editing, they could easily reverse the public opinion, turning the negative publicity around. Even if they couldn’t turn it around, it didn’t matter; being controversial was also a form of attention, and as long as it brought in traffic, the program wouldn’t suffer.

This move was quite skillful, achieving three goals with one move.

Qin Qingzhuo had a premonition before that Shi Yao wouldn’t give up easily. This was also one of the reasons why he helped connect Jiang Ji with Huan Yang, after all, compared to his studio, Huan Yang had more experience in dealing with such matters.

As for why Jiang Ji wasn’t interested in signing with Huan Yang, Qin Qingzhuo could guess the reasons – once signed, it meant accepting Huan Yang’s artist operation model, whether he liked it or not. Cameras and media would invade his life without restraint. With Jiang Ji’s personality and life experiences, apart from singing, he probably didn’t want his privacy to be invaded.

Thinking about this, Qin Qingzhuo felt a bit of a headache. This matter was really challenging to handle perfectly…

At the entrance of Honglu Bar, Zhong Yang and Jiang Bei were squatting side by side against the wall. Jiang Bei was expressionless, killing enemies in the game, while Zhong Yang shouted and cheered on the side:

“Wow, Pentakill, awesome!”

“This idiot is too arrogant; Bei Jie, take him down!”

*jie – older sister

“Where did this elementary school kid come from, dragging our Bei Jie down…”

Seeing Jiang Ji coming over, Zhong Yang’s gaze lifted from the screen: “Back already? Where did you go?”

Jiang Bei was focused on playing the game and didn’t respond. Zhong Yang reached out and took the phone from her: “Did you go to see Brother Qingzhuo?”

Jiang Ji nodded and glanced towards the depths of the alley. He walked to the motorcycle and bent down to unlock it.

“You’re going out again?” Zhong Yang turned to look at him. “How did the chat with Brother Qingzhuo go? Is he going to sign us?”

With the lock open, Jiang Ji straddled the motorcycle. “Aren’t you planning to sign with Huan Yang?”

“Ha, Huan Yang is good, but Brother Qingzhuo is not bad either…” Zhong Yang said, noticing Jiang Ji’s slightly solemn expression as he looked towards the depths of the alley. He sensed that something was off. “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Ji didn’t say anything. Zhong Yang followed his gaze – the alley was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.

The next moment, the roaring engine suddenly sounded, and the motorcycle rushed out, leaving only a blur of speed on Zhong Yang’s retina.

“F*ck,” Zhong Yang jumped up from the ground. “What’s going on…”

Jiang Bei also looked up. “Is it the person following us?”

“Someone’s following you?” Zhong Yang thought back to this afternoon when Jiang Ji also seemed a bit unusual. “Who?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll go take a look; you stay here,” Zhong Yang said.

“I’ll come too.” Jiang Bei abandoned the game, turned off the screen, and ran after Zhong Yang.

The two ran swiftly. When they reached the depths of the alley and turned a corner, they saw Jiang Ji pushing his motorcycle against the wall.

“There.” Jiang Bei pointed not far away.

Jiang Ji had a person pinned against the wall, one hand gripping the person’s collar, and the other holding a camera, flipping through the photos on it.

“What’s going on?” Zhong Yang asked as he walked over, panting. Jiang Bei followed behind him.

Arriving next to Jiang Ji, he saw the photos on the camera’s display screen – there were pictures of Jiang Ji riding the motorcycle with Jiang Bei, pictures of Asperatus chatting together, and a picture of Jiang Ji and Qin Qingzhuo walking side by side on Honglu Slope.

“F*ck, are there paparazzi following us?” Zhong Yang blurted out, then he recognized the person Jiang Ji had pinned against the wall. “Isn’t that Old Huang?”

Old Huang smiled awkwardly at him.

“No, aren’t you specializing in taking photos of those big stars? Are we that famous now?” Zhong Yang exclaimed in surprise. “How much money can you make selling these photos?”

Old Huang smiled obsequiously. “You guys are so popular lately. In that program, the most popular band is yours…”

After Jiang Ji finished looking through all the photos related to himself on the camera, he asked, “Who asked you to take these photos?”

“No one asked me to take them. I’m just doing my job. Whoever I can snap photos of, I will,” Old Huang smirked. “Jiang Ji, let go of me first. You’ve done this kind of thing yourself. Last time, you tricked me with photos of Ji Chi and Yuan Yu… Don’t forget your old friend just because you’re doing well now.”

“What about Ji Chi and Yuan Yu?” Zhong Yang turned to look at Jiang Ji.

Ignoring him, Jiang Ji tightened his grip on Old Huang’s collar. “If you don’t want to get beaten, you better speak up. Who asked you to take these?”

“Your fans…” Old Huang quickly explained, “Your fans paid me to take photos, a young girl, she really likes you and wanted to know more about you.”

Jiang Ji chuckled, “Who are you trying to fool?”

It wasn’t entirely impossible for a fan to pay for photos of themselves, but it was unlikely they would hire a professional paparazzo like Old Huang.

The person who could find Old Huang was most likely someone from within the industry… Could it be those people from Asperatus?

After some thought, Jiang Ji handed the camera to Zhong Yang. “Delete these photos.”

Then he reached into Old Huang’s pocket for his phone, but Old Huang stubbornly held onto it, refusing to let go.

Jiang Ji’s patience wore thin. He grabbed Old Huang’s wrist and twisted it towards himself, causing Old Huang to cry out in pain, “Ow, it’s broken…”

The phone fell to the ground with a thud. Jiang Bei bent down, picked it up, and handed it to Jiang Ji.

Jiang Ji remembered the password he had cracked last time and easily unlocked the phone.

Old Huang was stunned, “How did you know my phone’s password…”

Jiang Ji navigated to the chat interface, scrolled down, and stopped at the name “Shi Yao.”

Before this, Old Huang had already sent quite a few photos of himself to Shi Yao, interspersed with a few voice messages. Jiang Ji opened one of them – “His sister seems to be ill. I don’t know what illness specifically, but it seems quite serious. She has to go to the hospital frequently, and every time she comes back, she looks half dead…”

Jiang Ji didn’t listen to the whole thing. He pinched the phone, bent his knee, and forcefully kicked Old Huang’s abdomen. Old Huang doubled over in pain, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Jiang Ji lifted Old Huang’s collar and slammed him against the wall. “Why are you telling Shi Yao these things?”

“I didn’t, I didn’t do anything,” realizing Jiang Ji was really angry, Old Huang hurriedly explained, “He just wanted to know about you, so I told him what I knew…”

“What else did you tell him?”

“Nothing, I don’t know much about your business… really, he just asked a few more questions about your sister, nothing else.”

Jiang Ji stared at him for a few seconds, then didn’t ask anything else. He took Old Huang’s phone and directly initiated a voice call to Shi Yao.

After a few seconds of waiting for the ringing to stop, Shi Yao’s voice came through, “Old Huang, what’s up?”

“It’s me, Jiang Ji.”

There was obviously a moment of surprise on the other end, “Jiang Ji?”

“Director Shi, if you have time, let’s meet up,” Jiang Ji said, “I’m waiting for you at the bar.”

Without waiting for Shi Yao’s response, he hung up the phone, then deleted all the photos of himself from Old Huang’s phone.

He pinched the lower edge of the phone and gave Old Huang’s face a hard slap, his tone containing a hint of threat, “If I catch you taking photos of me or anyone around me again, things won’t be as simple as this. Got it?”

Old Huang still held his stomach with his hand, his expression pained as he replied, “Got it…”

Jiang Ji threw the phone at him, didn’t bother with any more words, walked over to straighten the motorcycle leaning against the wall, and rode back to Honglu Slope Street.