Chapter 8

The second floor of the Honglu Bar used to be a billiard hall, but due to poor business, the owner disappeared without a word, leaving behind overdue rent over a month ago.

Jiang Ji remembered that Huang Ying had visited the second floor several times before, seemingly hesitant about whether to expand it into the territory of the bar or to continue operating it as a billiard hall after renovation.

Jiang Ji walked up to the second floor and saw Jiang Bei sitting on the billiard table, holding a cake in one hand and watching TV while swinging her legs about half a meter off the ground. She looked much more spirited than before.

As he passed by Jiang Bei, she had a ring of white cream around her lips. She looked at Jiang Ji and said, “Someone was lurking around the bar door in the afternoon, someone I didn’t recognize. Were they looking for you?”

Jiang Ji ignored her and walked all the way to the east end of the second floor. When he saw another cake on the coffee table, his steps halted, and he stared at the cake for a few seconds.

It was the cake Zhong Yang and Peng Keshi bought, the words “Happy 19th Birthday” had melted into the surrounding cream, making it impossible to distinguish. Next to the cake on the table was a plastic cover that didn’t quite match its size, with a paper envelope on top. Jiang Ji approached, bent down, and picked up the envelope, pulling out a piece of paper from inside.

After quickly scanning the contents of the letter, he turned to Jiang Bei. “Where did the cake you have come from?”

“It was on the coffee table,” Jiang Bei looked at the TV, took another big spoonful and put it in her mouth, and mumbled, “Why did you receive two cakes?”

Before she could finish eating the cake, Jiang Ji walked over to her, snatched the cake from her hands, and wordlessly dumped it into the nearby trash can. Along with the letter in his hand, he squashed it into a ball and threw it in as well.

Jiang Bei stared at him, but Jiang Ji ignored her gaze, picked up the trash can, and handed it to her. “Go throw the garbage away.”

Without saying a word, Jiang Bei wiped the cream off the corners of her mouth, jumped off the billiard table, took the trash can, and walked towards the door.

There was a pristine white box tied with a ribbon at the entrance of the second floor. Passing by, Jiang Bei glanced curiously at it, put the trash can aside, and then bent down to untie the ribbon.

Jiang Ji leaned against the billiard table, looking at his phone. Suddenly, he heard the frantic footsteps at the door mixed with Jiang Bei’s exclamation.

He stood up and quickly walked to the door, catching Jiang Bei who was stepping back step by step. “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Bei, still shocked, pointed to the paper box she kicked away. Following her gaze, Jiang Ji looked at the box on the ground. A bloody arm lay prominently in the box, contrasting sharply with the pristine white paper box, creating a strong visual impact.

Jiang Ji walked to the side of the box, half crouched down, picked up the “severed arm,” muttered, “Persistent ghost,” and then put the fake arm back into the box, covered it, and threw it into the trash can. He glanced at Jiang Bei with a slightly mocking look. “Aren’t you supposed to be fearless?”

Jiang Bei tightly pursed her lips. Perhaps she was startled, her face was paler than usual, making her eyes look like two black pearls.

“Go back.” Jiang Ji stood up straight, picked up the trash can, and headed downstairs himself.

After emptying the trash and returning to the sofa behind the coffee table, Jiang Ji opened the photo again, calmly contemplating his next plan.

How could he make the most of this photo? He hadn’t interacted with Ji Chi before. Without Glasses acting as an intermediary, he was unlikely to directly contact him.

As for Qin Qingzhuo, he was obviously Jiang Ji’s best and most practical choice for now. However, Glasses was right. Demanding a high price for this photo could backfire.

To achieve this, he needed to first probe the weight of this photo in Qin Qingzhuo’s eyes and determine his bottom line before deciding on the next step. If Qin Qingzhuo allowed himself to be manipulated because of this photo, everything would be easy afterward. But if Qin Qingzhuo didn’t buy it, things would become a bit tricky, and he would have to think of another way…

So how could he test Qin Qingzhuo’s bottom line? Staring at Qin Qingzhuo’s profile in the photo, Jiang Ji recalled the evening Qin Qingzhuo had said, “If the performance in the next episode remains the same, what do you think awaits you? I think you should be very clear about it.”

With his eyes lowered in thought for a few seconds, Jiang Ji pulled up his chat history with Chen Jia from his phone. Chen Jia had sent him Qin Qingzhuo’s contact information a few days ago, saying that Teacher Qin welcomed them to contact him anytime they had questions, but Jiang Ji hadn’t taken it seriously.

Opening the messaging app, Jiang Ji entered the string of letters and numbers Chen Jia had sent into the search bar. After searching, a black silhouette with a guitar appeared on the screen.

Jiang Ji’s fingertip lightly touched the “Add to Contacts” line below the avatar, waiting quietly for the other party’s response.

As it approached dawn, Qin Qingzhuo finished organizing the arrangement suggestions for the next performance and sent them to several bands in the team. That’s when he noticed Ji Chi had sent him a message.

-“Qingzhuo, what are you doing?”

-“Just finished filming the night scenes. I’m so tired.”

-“How did today’s set visit go? Did the bands cooperate?”

After reading Ji Chi’s messages, Qin Qingzhuo called him.

The phone rang for a while before it was answered, but not by Ji Chi himself. It was his assistant, Yuan Yu. “Brother Chi is filming right now, Qingzhuo, do you need him?”

Qin Qingzhuo poured himself a glass of water. “Didn’t you say you were filming night scenes?”

“Yes… We just finished filming the night scenes and were called back by the director for reshoots. Brother Chi is not happy about it. He was going to call you.”

“Is that so?” Qin Qingzhuo chuckled. “When he’s done filming, have him give me a call. I’ll be waiting.”

“No problem, Qingzhuo.”

After hanging up the phone, Qin Qingzhuo placed the glass back on the coffee table and sank into the soft sofa, stretching lazily for a moment. Then, he used the remote control to turn on the stereo and listened to the gentle music flowing through the room, relaxing rarely.

At this moment, the phone on the table vibrated, and he picked it up to see a few words of thanks from a musician.

At the same time, Qin Qingzhuo noticed a red dot at the bottom of the interface, indicating a new friend request.

Opening it, he saw a profile picture of an old guitar and a simple friend request message with only two words — “Jiang Ji.”

Jiang Ji? The furrow in Qin Qingzhuo’s brows, which had been relaxed, slightly deepened, and the voice of Jiang Ji echoed in his mind: “Teacher Qin, I hope you understand, not everyone is like you, with plenty of time for rehearsals and even time to go on dates with men late at night.”

There was no denying that after hearing that sentence, Qin Qingzhuo was almost shaken to the core.

And the meaningful glance Jiang Ji gave him afterward made him realize that keeping this nineteen-year-old boy in his team might not be a wise decision after all.

After confirming his continued participation in the subsequent episodes, Qin Qingzhuo had already given his contact information to all the musicians in the team, and almost all the bands had added him, except for Jiang Ji.

Why would Jiang Ji add himself at this time? It couldn’t just be about tomorrow’s competition, right? It seemed like the other party didn’t take this program seriously at all.

Qin Qingzhuo’s thumb lightly touched the screen, agreeing to Jiang Ji’s friend request. He wanted to see what Jiang Ji wanted to do.

Almost the next second after the request was accepted, a red dot appeared on the old guitar avatar, and the other party sent a photo.

Qin Qingzhuo opened the chat interface with Jiang Ji. After seeing the photo clearly, his pupils suddenly contracted—it was actually… the scene of him kissing Ji Chi in the car that night.

And just as Qin Qingzhuo was about to take a screenshot, the photo disappeared, leaving only the words “the other party withdrew a message” on the chat interface.

Qin Qingzhuo’s mind was shaken, still lingering on the photo just now.

Before this, he had never thought that the boy who kindly gave him a ride home would turn out to be a malicious paparazzo.

Qin Qingzhuo couldn’t help but recall what happened after he got off Jiang Ji’s motorcycle that night.

Because of concerns about being photographed, Ji Chi had parked the car in a secluded alley and waited for Qin Qingzhuo. Ji Chi was always extremely cautious about being photographed. The reason why he made such a bold kissing move outside of home that night was because he was very sure that there were no paparazzi following them.

But Qin Qingzhuo never expected the problem to arise from himself, who had been hiding behind the scenes for four years. Clearly out of caution, he had even gotten off the car a long distance ahead of time. So, did Jiang Ji… did he intentionally follow or accidentally witness the scene that night?

Sending the photo to himself and quickly retracting it, doing it so cautiously, indicated that Jiang Ji must have another purpose. Qin Qingzhuo got up from the sofa and paced slowly around the room. What was Jiang Ji’s purpose—was it the competition? Money? Or simply because of his reprimand tonight, he developed a retaliatory attitude?

Qin Qingzhuo’s footsteps stopped in front of the French window, and his fingers tapped out a line of text on the screen, “What do you mean?”

A few seconds later, Jiang Ji replied, “Sorry Teacher Qin, I sent the wrong message just now.”

Sent the wrong message? Qin Qingzhuo knew this was absolutely impossible. He typed another line of text, “What do you want to do?”

The other party replied quickly again, politely saying, “Teacher Qin, we’ve already chosen the song. Please make sure to choose my band for tomorrow’s competition.”

Was this… a threat? Qin Qingzhuo looked at Jiang Ji’s reply, speculating on the other party’s true intentions—was it for the competition? But just this evening, Jiang Ji seemed completely indifferent to the outcome of this competition.

Qin Qingzhuo typed another line of text, “Do you want to advance?”

Jiang Ji didn’t reply for a long time.

Qin Qingzhuo made a voice call, but it was rejected by the other party. After waiting for a while, seeing that the other party still didn’t seem to intend to reply, Qin Qingzhuo sent a voice message, “Jiang Ji, are you really so concerned about this competition? Forgive me for being blunt, I didn’t see it. If it’s for money, just say it. There’s no need to beat around the bush.”

The message was sent, and a few minutes later, Qin Qingzhuo finally received a reply from Jiang Ji—

“See you tomorrow, Teacher Qin.”

TN:
I despise him more and more!