Chapter 73

The next day, the expert team at Puji Hospital provided a new round of treatment plans. Xie Chengyun handed over the plan, and Qin Qingzhuo glanced over it with his head down. “Do I need to stay in the hospital?”

“It’s not hospitalization, it’s a 24-hour observation period. Your condition in the past few days has been too bad. Don’t worry, we’ve arranged a separate room for you, the same one you stayed in before.”

Qin Qingzhuo nodded and replied, “Okay.”

He had gone through this process many times in the past four years, so he was already accustomed to it. He had also received treatment abroad for a while, but it was basically the same process.

Besides following the instructions, there wasn’t much else he could do. Even though following the instructions might not lead to improvement, at least it would prevent the situation from getting worse.

Accompanied by Xie Chengyun, Qin Qingzhuo walked towards the ward and saw a group of nurses gossiping animatedly near the nurse station.

As he approached, he could slightly hear what they were discussing—

“He was out all night, all night!”

“The night before, he hadn’t even written a love song. He came back in the morning and could rehearse right away… tsk, not simple.”

“When he was sitting on the sofa, did Jiang Ji send him a message? Is there something that we, as VIP users, shouldn’t hear, so he has to send messages secretly…”

“You must be dreaming. How can you overhear the whispers of a couple? Just listening to ‘Light Peck’ is good enough for you…”

“Are they chasing each other or are they already together…”

…

Qin Qingzhuo adjusted his mask higher on his nose with his hand, lowered his head slightly, and continued walking forward.

Xie Chengyun also heard it, glanced at him, and whispered, “You go ahead first,” then walked towards the group of nurses.

He stopped, cleared his throat, and said, “Gossiping during work hours, really.”

The nurses who were huddled together were startled and turned around. “Dr. Xie…”

“We’re changing shifts,” the nurse with the phone stuck out her tongue, “Just gossip for a while.”

“After working all night, you still have so much energy, you’re really full of energy,” Xie Chengyun said.

He usually didn’t put on airs, so the nurses weren’t afraid of him, and they came over to ask about the gossip: “Dr. Xie, do you have any inside information? Tell us quickly, how far has Jiang Ji’s relationship with Qin Qingzhuo progressed?”

“How would I know,” Xie Chengyun was tight-lipped, “Go back and rest quickly, don’t gossip here.”

As Qin Qingzhuo walked towards the ward, his phone vibrated. He took it out and saw a message from Jiang Ji: “Feeling better?”

After staring at the message for a while, Qin Qingzhuo typed a “yeah” in the chat box. His finger was about to touch the “send” button, but after a moment, he deleted the word, then turned off the screen and put the phone back in his pocket.

Being alone in the ward was boring, and Xie Chengyun didn’t allow him to make music, so Qin Qingzhuo had to borrow some books from him to read.

As he was flipping through the book idly, there was a knock on the door of the ward.

The person who walked in was Duan Chong. Because Duan Chong had asked for his ward number in advance, Qin Qingzhuo wasn’t surprised to see him.

“You came by yourself?” Qin Qingzhuo turned his head to look at him, “Is Xia Qi’s illness not healed yet?”

“Did you hear that,” Duan Chong turned to shout outside the door, “Qingzhuo isn’t as petty as you think. Come in quickly.”

Footsteps sounded outside the door, and Xia Qi walked in. She usually acted swiftly, but now there was a hint of grievance on her face.

“You didn’t answer so many calls last night, I thought you were mad at me.” She came over and sat on the companion chair beside Qin Qingzhuo’s bed, “To win your sympathy, I didn’t dare to wash my face or put on makeup this morning, I just came like this. Do I look pitiful now?”

“I didn’t answer because I had something to do,” Qin Qingzhuo was amused by her, “Besides, it had nothing to do with you. Why would I be mad at you?”

“Forget it, if it weren’t for me insisting on making you my mentor, you wouldn’t have encountered this kind of thing.” Xia Qi sighed, “How’s your ear? What did Chengyun say?”

“It’s still the same.” Qin Qingzhuo deliberately sounded more relaxed, “Xia Qi, you don’t have to blame yourself. I can probably guess the reason why you asked me to be your mentor. Honestly, I still haven’t completely let go of the stage in my heart, but I

didn’t expect that I still couldn’t get over this hurdle. I won’t participate in the subsequent programs.”

He proposed to withdraw from the competition, and this time Xia Qi didn’t insist much and simply agreed, “Alright, don’t worry about anything else, just focus on recuperating. Leave the rest to me.”

When she said this, she inexplicably appeared righteous. Qin Qingzhuo chuckled, “What else is there? Don’t be silly.”

“On her way here just now, she kept saying she wanted to slaughter Shi Yao.” Duan Chong quipped from the side, “She was still lying in the hospital bed when she heard about your situation. She picked up her phone and cursed at Shi Yao. Now that she’s recovered, she’s probably thinking about how to go to the program team and chop heads.”

After joking, he looked at Qin Qingzhuo again and became serious, “Qingzhuo, what’s your take on this? Do you think Shi Yao did it intentionally or unintentionally?”

“It’s hard to say.” Qin Qingzhuo shook his head. “In theory, only a few of us know about my condition, along with a few doctors who are cooperating with my treatment. But over the years, there may have been some leaks.”

Duan Chong nodded, “When Xia Qi was talking to Shi Yao on the phone, Shi Yao kept apologizing and said it was an unintentional mistake on his part. Xia Qi scolded him, and he didn’t argue back. The solution he proposes now is for the official program account to issue an apology statement tonight, clarifying the situation and letting everyone know that it wasn’t you who refused to sing on the spot, but that you were indeed unwell that day, and you had already explained the situation to the program team in advance. Due to poor communication among the staff, it led to the subsequent outcome. As for that girl who made the mistake, the program team will also dismiss her. I was listening on the side, and his tone seemed sincere, but…”

Sensing his hesitation, Qin Qingzhuo asked, “What’s wrong?”

Duan Chong paused before saying, “I’m thinking, Shi Yao is indeed very pragmatic, willing to harm others for his own benefit, but he is also a shrewd person. Forcing you out deliberately is actually quite risky for him, after all, you are the main attraction of this program. If you leave, the investors may blame him… Is it worth it for him to do this for just a temporary buzz?”

“He may not have expected me to withdraw,” Qin Qingzhuo thought for a moment and said, “After all, I’ve made concessions several times before. Besides, the investors may have tacitly approved of his actions. After all, what he did did bring a huge influx of viewers to the program, effectively breaking through the program’s previous limitations. This is much bigger than the traffic I could bring by staying on the show. Furthermore…”

Pausing for a moment, Qin Qingzhuo continued, “It might not necessarily be beneficial to him, but as long as it harms me, it’s something he would be happy to see.”

“In what sense,” Duan Chong didn’t understand, “I remember he has shown goodwill towards you before, so it’s unlikely he would have a conflict with you, right?”

“He forced Asperatus and the company behind the scenes to sign a contract, with very harsh conditions. I couldn’t bear to watch it, so I signed it in front of him. With his arrogant personality, he might not be able to swallow this insult.”

Xia Qi continued, “And last time, when Asperatus was eliminated, you went to him to argue, which probably offended him. So, it seems that Shi Yao is quite vengeful. Qingzhuo, how do you plan to handle this?”

“What can I do?” Qin Qingzhuo rubbed his forehead, “These are just analyses. Since there’s no evidence, we can’t conclude whether he did it intentionally. Let’s leave it at that for now. There’s no need to make things too tense with him, after all, we still have to work together every day.”

“Well…” Xia Qi seemed somewhat reluctant, “Is that all we’re going to do about this?”

“Let’s talk about it later.” Qin Qingzhuo was preoccupied with the recurring tinnitus lately and didn’t have the mood to think about these matters, “Help me tell Shi Yao that I accept his apology, but there’s no need to dismiss the staff. Everyone has it tough, there’s no need to shoulder this unjust blame.”

With his statement, Xia Qi could only agree, “Alright…”

As they were speaking, Qin Qingzhuo’s phone vibrated.

He reached out and picked up the phone from the bedside table, looking at the screen with the two words “Jiang Ji”.

He neither answered nor hung up, just stared slightly at the screen.

“Who’s calling?” Duan Chong looked at him, “Not Shi Yao, right?”

Qin Qingzhuo snapped out of it at this point, forced a smile, and said, “No,” before setting the phone aside.

“Well…” Duan Chong was about to say something but was silenced by a glance from Xia Qi.

For a while, no one spoke in the room, only the buzzing sound of the phone vibrating.

After several tens of seconds, the vibrating stopped.

A moment later, Qin Qingzhuo spoke again, “Oh right Xia Qi, there’s something else I need to trouble you with.”

“What is it?” Xia Qi said, “Just tell me.”

“I’d like you to help manage the emotions of the bands in my team,” Qin Qingzhuo said after a pause, “especially Asperatus. They’ve come this far, and I’m worried they might do something foolish.”

“No problem,” Xia Qi agreed, then hesitated for a moment before saying, “But this Jiang Ji, I might really have trouble controlling him. It seems like he only listens to you…”

Qin Qingzhuo fell silent. Compared to his calm and composed demeanor when analyzing the situation with Shi Yao just now, he now appeared somewhat uneasy.

Xia Qi vaguely guessed his thoughts and quickly added, “But don’t worry, I’ll do my best to handle everything.”

“Okay.” Qin Qingzhuo nodded lightly, responding softly.

The next evening, on the second floor of the Honglu Bar, after the band had rehearsed once, no one spoke.

It was obvious that they weren’t quite satisfied with the rehearsal just now, and none of them seemed to be in the right mood.

Jiang Ji put down the guitar. “Let’s take a break first, and I’ll revise the score.”

After saying this, he stood up, walked over to the sofa, and took the score.

He couldn’t remember how many versions of the score he had discarded. Anyway, since he came back from Qin Qingzhuo, the songwriting process had never been smooth.

The sentence Qin Qingzhuo said flashed through his mind—”No matter how restless the music is, the creative process always requires tranquility.” He picked up the half-box of cigarettes on the coffee table, held it in his hand, but never lit one.

He had left this half-box of cigarettes here over a month ago. Since coming back from that music festival, he hadn’t smoked again, hadn’t even had the urge to smoke. But these past two days, he suddenly felt like smoking again.

However, every time he picked up the cigarette pack, he would think of Qin Qingzhuo furrowing his brows and saying, “Jiang Ji, don’t smoke anymore,” so he suppressed the urge once again.

How was Qin Qingzhuo doing now? Jiang Ji didn’t know.

In these past few days, he sent messages to Qin Qingzhuo, but Qin Qingzhuo didn’t reply. He also called, but Qin Qingzhuo didn’t pick up.

As the phone on the coffee table vibrated, at the same time, Zhong Yang and Peng Keshi’s phones also vibrated.

It should be a group message from the program team, but Jiang Ji didn’t bother. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with these things now.

“F*ck!” Zhong Yang, sitting on the pool table, glanced at the message on his phone and suddenly raised his voice in shock, “Brother Qingzhuo is quitting the show?!”

Jiang Ji frowned slightly and looked at him, “What?”

“Sister Jia just sent a message,” Zhong Yang’s tone still carried the shock, “saying that starting from the next episode, our mentor will be replaced by Du Hefeng!”

Jiang Ji put down the cigarette box, reached out and picked up his phone from the coffee table, and Peng Keshi also grabbed her phone to check the messages.

In the program group, Chen Jia made it very clear: “Starting from the next episode, Teacher Qin Qingzhuo will no longer participate in the recording of the show, and Teacher Du Hefeng will take over Teacher Qin’s position as mentor. Teacher Du’s email address will be sent separately to the respective bands. If you have any music-related questions, you can contact him by email.”

Zhong Yang jumped off the pool table, reacting strongly:

“Why? Why didn’t he tell us in advance?”

“Did Shi Yao force him to quit? That bastard!”

“If Brother Qingzhuo quits, then we quit too. I don’t want to participate in this damn show anymore!”

Peng Keshi remained calm and looked up at Jiang Ji, “Jiang Ji, did Brother Qingzhuo mention this to you?”

Jiang Ji didn’t say anything, just frowned and looked at the message.

His face, which had been normal just now, suddenly turned cold, as if covered with a thin layer of frost.

After a few seconds, he abruptly stood up from the sofa and walked out without a word.

“Hey—” Zhong Yang turned to look at him, “Where are you going?”

Jiang Ji didn’t answer, just took long strides and walked to the door, then down the stairs.