CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER 42: ANOTHER NEW SONG?

She watched Chu Tian, who lay in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. Xu Qingqiu’s heart slowly sank. Her feelings had plummeted from happiness to shyness, from anticipation to disappointment, all in just a minute.

Was I really that bad? Why is he always avoiding me?

If he doesn’t like me, he could just say so. Why pretend to sleep?

Why?

Gradually, Xu Qingqiu’s heart grew colder. The smile had long vanished from her face. Her eyes, lifeless, stared straight ahead as she mechanically steered the car to a stop at the roadside. An endless silence fell upon the car; not a sound was made.

"Hey, why aren’t you talking anymore? Hey, Qingqiu? Are you still there?"

Strange, is it a bad signal? Li Chunhua, still unaware of what had happened, continued talking to herself.

Realizing that the call had not yet been disconnected, Xu Qingqiu quickly reacted and said, "Oh, Sister Hua, I’m here. The signal was bad just now. I need to drive, so let’s not talk for now, okay?"

"Ah, you scared me! Okay then, drive carefully and be safe. I’ll wait for you at the company."

BEEP.

Xu Qingqiu watched Sister Hua hang up. The screen still displayed the call duration: 2m 32s.

This was the distance from happiness to disappointment.

Xu Qingqiu leaned weakly back in her seat, her eyes involuntarily drifting to Chu Tian beside her. She wanted to say something, but in the end, she just moved her lips without making a sound.

She didn’t know when it started, but tears suddenly began to fall. She tried hard to wipe them away, but they just kept coming. To prevent Chu Tian from seeing, she desperately held back, not wanting to make a sound. She desperately tried to hold back her tears, but they disobediently kept rolling down, streaming down, one after another, eventually wetting her cheeks.

Finally, Xu Qingqiu could no longer hold back. She let the tears flow past the corners of her mouth, down her slender neck, and onto her T-shirt, forming dark spots.

Outside, the traffic bustled noisily. Inside the car, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, as if time had stopped.

The atmosphere grew agonizingly tense. Time trickled by.

Streetlights began to illuminate one by one, and the surrounding buildings lit up with a myriad of lights. An unknown amount of time had passed.

With his eyes closed, Chu Tian quietly sensed the changing atmosphere in the car. He listened to the suppressed sobs beside him, to their breathing—one rapid, one slow—and to their two distinctly different heartbeats. Gradually, he felt a sense of empathy.

He could imagine the despair of a girl whose affection had persisted for five or six years without reciprocation.

He could feel the weight of each of Xu Qingqiu’s tears.

Yet he couldn’t provide any answers. He had neither the right nor the ability to do so.

A goddess, a Queen, had already humbled herself to this extent. Anyone else would likely have succumbed 99 percent of the time and eagerly agreed. But not him. He wasn’t the Chu Tian from before, nor was he the type to fall in love at first sight. He had his own convictions and principles.

What he wanted was love, not something driven by mere biological instinct.

Call him unromantic, if you will. But in his view, to agree to be with someone just because they were beautiful or a big star, without any emotional foundation—that was being a scumbag!

It was unfair to the former Chu Tian, to the current Chu Tian, and even to Xu Qingqiu.

So he held back. He had seriously asked himself: he truly didn’t like Xu Qingqiu.

Or rather, it wasn’t that he disliked her, but he didn’t like her yet, at least not now.

He wasn’t familiar with Xu Qingqiu; they had spent too little time together. He hadn’t inherited his predecessor’s emotions and, more importantly, hadn’t found that feeling of love.

Perhaps he might grow to like Xu Qingqiu in the future, but for now, she truly didn’t make his heart flutter.

Finally, Xu Qingqiu composed herself. She stopped caring about Chu Tian’s reaction, wiped her tears, collected herself, and then silently drove towards the studio.

Upon reaching the underground parking lot, Xu Qingqiu parked the car and pulled the handbrake in one smooth motion.

"We’re here. Get out."

"Oh, okay."

...

Chu Tian, having pretended to sleep the whole way, was exhausted. He hadn’t dared to move, nor could he actually fall asleep. His back felt like it was about to break. Finally, they had arrived.

But when he got out of the car, he found Xu Qingqiu standing by the car door, glaring at him resentfully.

What now? Was my act not convincing? Or is she planning to get even?

Revenge? Xu Qingqiu was grinding her teeth in anger, itching to retaliate.

Chu Tian might have thought there was no issue, but she wasn’t a fool.

If you’re going to pretend to sleep, can’t you at least make it look convincing? When you were sneaking glances, didn’t you know there was a side-view mirror on the right?

And another thing! When I told you to get out, couldn’t you have acted a bit? Your performance was so perfunctory!

Who wakes up immediately when called while they’re supposedly asleep?

The more Xu Qingqiu thought about it, the angrier she became. But seeing Chu Tian’s bewildered and innocent expression, she couldn’t vent her frustration, which made her feel even more aggrieved.

Am I really that unlikeable?

For a moment, Xu Qingqiu even began to doubt her life.

Slamming the car door angrily, Xu Qingqiu clutched her small pink bag, her white sneakers thudding as she turned and stalked towards the elevator.

Huh? What’s this all about now?

Chu Tian, baffled, watched her slim legs hurry away and quickly followed.

They entered the elevator one after the other and didn’t say a word the entire ride up.

"Oh my, Qingqiu, you’re finally back. Why so late? Was there any trouble on the way?"

"Nothing."

Chu Tian watched them walk away, wisely deciding not to follow, afraid he’d be dragged over to be a punching bag.

He didn’t know what Xu Qingqiu said to Li Chunhua in the office, nor did he want to know. Right now, he was more concerned about what to do with the things he had.

He had already secretly eaten one of the Wisdom Fruits. It was like a plum, tart and sweet, gone in a few bites. The other items weren’t a big deal to keep, but what about these songs?

From yesterday until now, he had drawn a total of four songs, plus the one he’d had for a while but never brought out, "Red Roses." That made five songs. Of these five songs, two were originally performed by male singers, and the other three by female singers.

He was wondering if he should give Xu Qingqiu another song to perform.

He hadn’t registered the copyrights yet. Although the system had tons of songs and these few might not seem like much, every little bit helps, right? The songs themselves might not be the main thing, but the money was still worth collecting.

Should I wait?

No! My Reputation Points are increasing too slowly. Besides, I don’t know when I’ll be able to draw a novel. I can’t let my Reputation Points dry up. Xu Qingqiu had only performed three songs so far. The show aired only once a week, which was too slow. It would be best to release another single to rake in a wave of Reputation Points.

And wasn’t it true that they couldn’t perform original songs at the next recording? He still remembered the look on the director’s face.

I’ll give her another one. Let Xu Qingqiu release a single quickly and earn some Reputation Points.

As for copyrights, I’ll see if I can register them later and find an agent to handle a licensing agreement.

Having made his decision, he made a special trip out after work to conceal his actions. He waited until the office was empty, then snuck back in and silently placed the song.

「The next morning.」

Xu Qingqiu, having recovered overnight, felt much better. When she arrived at the office, the first thing she saw was the familiar USB drive on the desk.

Is there a new song?