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

Luo Qianyu was quiet for less than 24 hours.

The following evening, she curled up on the sofa and scrolled through Twitter, originally wanting to see overseas reviews of "Darkness" and experience the joy of being an international superstar.

Then she clicked into the private message box of "Mingyue Qingfeng's" Twitter account.

Three seconds later, a sound similar to a whistle being crushed came from the living room.

Xu Qing poked her head out from the kitchen.

Luo Qianyu walked towards him, holding her phone, her face looking very unpleasant.

It's not the kind of bad anger, it's the kind of bad that's close to the threshold of nuclear explosion.

"Xu Qing."

"Um."

"Your Twitter account has 47,000 unread private messages."

"That's normal. It happens after the song is released."

"Thirty-two thousand of them are from blonde, blue-eyed foreign hotties."

Xu Qing stopped wielding his knife.

"Don't you have any idea what they sent you?!" Luo Qianyu shoved her phone in his face. "These girls are dressed like they're wearing nothing but scraps of cloth! And this! What does this say? 'Marry me'?? Marry you?? She doesn't even deserve it??"

"That's not about marrying me, it's about begging me to marry her. The grammatical meanings are different."

"You're going to analyze grammar for me?!"

Xu Qing put down the knife, wiped his hands, and walked over.

Luo Qianyu hid her phone behind her back, raised her chin, and gave me a look that said, "You better give me an explanation."

"What's the password?"

"What password?"

"The password you pushed."

"What are you going to do?"

"I want to change it."

Xu Qing looked at her for five seconds.

"Change it to what?"

My birthday. August 0817th.

Xu Qing didn't move, but the corners of her mouth curved slightly.

Luo Qianyu's eyebrows shot up: "What are you laughing at?"

"I didn't laugh."

Your lips are clearly moving!

Xu Qing snatched the phone from behind her, looked down and swiped a few times, his fingers rapidly operating on the screen.

Thirty seconds later, I handed the phone back to her.

"It's fixed."

Luo Qianyu took it and glanced at it; the password had indeed changed to 08170817. Then she scrolled to the Twitter homepage, where Xu Qing's account had just posted a new update.

a photo.

A close-up of two hands clasped together, with light coming from the side, showing the scabbed scar on Xu Qing's right hand and the thin red string on Luo Qianyu's wrist.

The caption contained only one word: Mine.

Luo Qianyu stared at the tweet, her ears burning so badly they could fry an egg on them.

When did you take this picture?

"While you're asleep."

"……abnormal."

"If you want to post it, I'll post it for you. It'll save you the trouble of editing it yourself and agonizing over which filter to use."

Luo Qianyu opened her mouth, only to find herself unable to refute.

Because this photo is indeed very well taken.

It was so good that she wanted to set it as her phone wallpaper.

-

On the afternoon of the third day, the doorbell rang.

Luo Qianyu opened the door, and standing outside was a man in his early forties, wearing a wrinkled windbreaker, his hair as messy as if he had just come out of a typhoon, carrying a box of fruit, and with a complex expression on his face that was somewhere between tired and sincere.

"Hello." The man forced a smile. "I'm Hong Yan, the chief director of 'I Am a Singer'."

Luo Qianyu was stunned for two seconds.

"...How did you find this place?"

"This is the address Mr. Ma gave me." Hong Yan handed over the fruit box. "May I come in and have a seat?"

Luo Qianyu turned around and glanced at Xu Qing on the sofa.

Xu Qing was flipping through a book, without even looking up.

"Come in."

After entering the room, Hong Yan took off his windbreaker, revealing an even more wrinkled shirt underneath. He sat down on the single sofa in the living room, and the moment his bottom touched the cushion, he began to pull out documents.

"Here's the situation." Hong Yan pushed an invitation onto the coffee table. "The new season of 'I Am a Singer' will start recording next month, and we'd like to invite 'Bluebird Flying Fish' to join the initial lineup."

Xu Qing turned a page of the book without saying a word.

Hong Yan's smile faltered: "Teacher Xu, could you at least take a look?"

"I've read it." Xu Qing's eyes didn't leave the book. "First release or a challenge?"

Hong Yan's smile froze for a moment.

"Well..." He rubbed his hands together. "To be honest, the station and some... senior colleagues have some opinions about the lineup."

"What's your opinion?"

"They feel that Qianyu is still relatively inexperienced, and if she directly enters the starting lineup, the other singers might... feel uncomfortable. So the station's idea is, could she participate as a challenger first?"

The living room was silent for three seconds.

Luo Qianyu sat beside her, clutching the hem of her clothes, without saying a word.

Xu Qing closed the book and placed it on the coffee table.

He stood up and walked to the study. Ten seconds later, he came out with his laptop, the screen facing Hong Yan, and slammed it on the coffee table.

The screen displays the real-time Billboard Hot 100 chart.

"Darkness Falls" - 6th place.

Two more people were promoted.

The adjacent tab contains three screenshots: public comments on the song from the four members of the Grammy Awards judging panel on social media.

"Billboard Top 10." Xu Qing's voice was flat. "Grammy judges named it. Global streaming viewership surpassed 1.2 billion in seven days."

Hong Yan stared at the screen, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly.

"Tell me, among your 'predecessors,' which one has achieved this result?"

Hong Yan's mouth opened and closed.

"We have to play him, in the starting lineup." Xu Qing closed his laptop. "Or else—"

He gestured with his chin towards the doorway.

"Turn left after you leave, no need to see me off."

Hong Yan sat on the sofa for a long time.

He glanced at Xu Qing, then at Luo Qianyu. Luo Qianyu sat there without saying a word, but the look in her eyes as she looked at Xu Qing was frighteningly bright.

Hong Yan picked up the invitation and stood up.

"Starting point," he said. "Even if it means falling out with the station director, I'll still get you in."

Xu Qing hummed in agreement and picked up the book again.

Hong Yan walked to the door and glanced back.

"Teacher Xu."

"Um."

"Actually, I was prepared to be rejected before I came here today." There was something new in Hong Yan's voice. "But I listened to that song 'Darkness Falls' seventeen times, and I wanted to cry every time."

He opened the door.

"This kind of song should be heard by more people."

The door closed.

Luo Qianyu turned to look at Xu Qing, her eyes curving into crescents.

"You looked so cool just now."

"What?"

"Like, 'Turn left when you leave, no need to see me off'."

Xu Qing turned a page of the book.

"Learn from your dad."

"...Why are you bringing up my dad again?"

Xu Qing's phone vibrated. It was a message from Ma Dongteng.

Deepsea Capital has initiated a comprehensive delisting process in North America. Pressure is being applied simultaneously across all channels.

Xu Qing glanced at it and then placed the phone face down on the sofa.

Luo Qianyu leaned closer: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Just flies buzzing around."

He picked up a grape that Luo Qianyu had cut and ate one.

"Get ready to practice singing."

"What song are you practicing?"

"Your battle song."