Entertainment: A song that brought his deceased wife back to life.

Three days before the recording of the fifth episode.

The underground parking garage of a photography studio in the suburbs of Beijing, level B2.

At 9:40 p.m., only the emergency lights were on in the garage, casting a greenish glow, and the air smelled strongly of engine oil.

Xu Qinggang came out of the production room, carrying a cloth bag containing USB flash drives, and walked towards the parking space.

Footsteps echoed in the empty garage.

His footsteps.

There was another person.

"stop."

Xu Qing did not stand.

keep going.

The person behind him quickened his pace, the sound of his leather shoes clicking on the cement ground.

"My name is Chen Che."

Xu Qing's steps slowed down by half a beat.

Then resume the original speed.

"I know who you are."

Chen Che walked around to the front of him and blocked his car door.

Wearing a grey trench coat, his hair was neatly combed, and he had a bluish stubble around his chin. Standing there, he exuded a considerable aura.

Xu Qing glanced at him.

"Get out of the way."

Give me five minutes.

"I'm busy."

"Three minutes."

Xu Qing switched the cloth bag to her left hand and took out the car keys.

You have thirty seconds.

Chen Che didn't waste any words.

He raised his left hand.

The garage emergency light shone on his ring finger—an old silver ring. The silver was dull, and the edges were worn and rough, showing that it was quite old.

Xu Qing stared at the ring for two seconds.

"so what."

"I've worn this ring for nine years." Chen Che put his hand down. "I bought it myself, it wasn't a gift from anyone. The day I bought it, I had just received my first Grammy nomination."

Xu Qing didn't say anything.

Chen Che continued.

"That night, I made a phone call. I called someone. I wanted to tell her I had done it, and I wanted to ask her if she would like to come to Berlin."

"The call went through. But it wasn't her who answered. It was her mother."

"Her mother said she got married three months ago."

There was a moment of silence in the garage.

The siren of a car in the distance went off once, then went out again.

Xu Qing leaned against the car door, her hands in her pockets.

"Then what."

"Then I hung up the phone. I went outside, found a jewelry store, and bought this ring." Chen Che looked down at his hand. "It's not a wedding ring, it's a reminder to myself. A reminder of what I missed out on because of making music."

Xu Qing's expression didn't change much.

Why are you telling me all this?

Chen Che looked up and stared straight at him.

"Because I heard the same thing in your music."

Xu Qing didn't respond.

"The guitar solo in the interlude of 'Coral Sea.' Cm9 to Abmaj7, then to Fm11." Chen Che lowered his voice, "Eight years ago in Berlin, at the subway entrance in the Kreuzberg district, it was minus twelve degrees Celsius. You were sitting on the steps playing the piano, with a paper cup in front of you."

Xu Qing's hand moved slightly in his pocket.

"I stood in front of you and listened for twenty minutes," Chen Che said. "Then you glanced at me, packed up your instrument, and left. I chased you for two blocks but couldn't catch up."

"So what?"

"I've memorized that chord progression for eight years. No one else in the world would connect those three chords in that way."

Xu Qing remained silent for a few seconds.

"So you came here today just to tell me you chased me for two blocks?"

Chen Che was momentarily speechless at his choice of words.

"I did not mean that."

"So what do you mean? Get to the point."

Chen Che took a deep breath.

"You won these two episodes. But you know in your heart that in the first episode you deliberately used a minimalist arrangement to test the waters, and the second episode's 'Coral Sea' showed your true level."

"Um."

"I also know that the stages I made for Suman had four layers of synthesizers, vocoders, samples, and electronic underlays—technically, there were no problems, but that's not what I really wanted to do."

Xu Qing looked at him.

"So what do you really want to do?"

Chen Che put his hand into his trench coat pocket and squeezed the ring.

"The theme for the next episode is an unplugged special. I've already confirmed it with the production team."

"Know."

"I won't let Suman use any electronic synthesizers. No sampling, no vocoders, no synthesized sounds. Pure acoustic instruments. Piano, guitar, violin, that's all."

Xu Qing raised an eyebrow.

"Are you serious?"

"These past two episodes, I've been working for Wang Jianguo's money, producing two stages that even I find greasy. I've had enough." Chen Che's tone was calm, but every word was heavy. "Next time, I want to fight you in a real battle. Not for the money, but between producers."

Xu Qing sized him up.

The garage was only illuminated by the green glow of the emergency lights. The two people's shadows stretched long.

"Did Wang Jianguo know you were going to do this?"

"I don't know. He'd go crazy if he knew."

"What will you do if you go crazy?"

"That's my business," Chen Che said. "I signed a betting agreement; if I lose, I'll pay up. But how I make music isn't something he can control in the contract."

Xu Qing stared at him for five seconds.

He recognized what was in those eyes.

Paranoid.

The kind of obsessive struggle that comes from being at odds with oneself.

It's a condition that only people who have reached a certain level in music can develop.

"Do you think you can beat me by taking off the synthesizer?"

Chen Che shook his head.

"I don't think I can win. I just want to know, strip away all the fancy stuff, how much difference is there between my music and your music?"

Xu Qing turned the car key around and held it in her hand.

"it is good."

Chen Che was stunned for a moment.

"that's all?"

"You talk too much nonsense." Xu Qing opened the car door. "It's just a fight, not a marriage proposal. There's no need to build up for so long."

Chen Che's lips twitched.

He stepped back, making room for the car door.

Xu Qing got into the driver's seat and started the engine.

The car window was rolled down halfway.

"That ring on your hand," Xu Qing said, looking straight ahead without turning her head, "you've worn it for nine years, it's time to take it off."

Chen Che stood still, without saying a word.

The car reversed out of the parking space, turned, and drove away.

Chen Che watched the red taillights disappear down the slope, then looked down at his left hand.

The silver ring looked dull under the emergency light.

He clenched his fist, then relaxed it.

He turned and walked in another direction.

-

It's 11 p.m.

When Xu Qing arrived home, the living room light was on.

Luo Qianyu nestled on the sofa, a laptop in front of her, the screen displaying the program schedule for the next episode.

"You're back? Why are you so late?"

There's a traffic jam.

"That's a lie. That road won't be congested at all after 10 o'clock."

Xu Qing tossed her car keys on the shoe cabinet and changed into slippers.

Luo Qianyu's eyes popped out from above the computer screen.

"Are you hiding something from me?"

"no."

"Every time you say no, there's definitely something wrong."

Xu Qing walked to the sofa, sat down, picked up the water glass on the coffee table, and took a sip.

"Chen Che came to see me."