A band, or a battleground?

"It felt like a divine retribution..."

At this moment, Song Zhi whispered, "This time it's a song related to the script..."

He Dong smiled and said, "You're only just realizing it?"

Song Zhi: "This song really is from a vampire's perspective, and it sounds so sad."

He Dong: "Paired with his appearance, it becomes very convincing."

The sadness in Qi Yuan's singing continued to build throughout the song.

"God may have abandoned us, but He will give to us."

"The dim moon illuminates the world"

"They want us to reproduce endlessly and ruthlessly."

"Watching those I've loved say goodbye one by one"

"The dreams I've had have all faded away."

"Leaving me alone to languish for a thousand years..."

Ning Qianyu stood alone at the far end, looking at Qi Yuan. For some reason, she suddenly felt that she had never felt so immersed in the role during the entire murder mystery game.

It's like watching a boy become a vampire, witnessing the vicissitudes of life, the withering of love, and the gradual wear and tear on his soul, all while feeling utterly helpless.

The story itself didn't have any particularly special twists, but Ning Qianyu felt that it was more moving than any movie or novel she had ever read before.

Wait, is it because of Qi Yuan who's singing?

Is it because of his singing, or because of him?

Ning Qianyu subconsciously raised her hands and touched her cheeks. They seemed warmer than usual. She didn't need a mirror to guess that she was probably blushing.

why?

Could it be that I've fallen for him?

When Ning Qianyu realized this in astonishment, it was as if scenes from the past flashed before her eyes.

The very first scene was when she handed her short science fiction story to Qi Yuan, and this guy actually wrote "A Thousand Years Later," and then the blurry face of the male protagonist in the story became clear and turned into Qi Yuan's appearance.

Later on, all the little moments we shared—working together for rehearsals, preparing for the show, and Qi Yuan's gentle tolerance when I was being silly and playful…

The girl realized that she had actually developed feelings for him long ago, and it wasn't just gratitude for his help in making the band successful. Otherwise, why would she have unhesitatingly given him the top-of-the-line laptop she had been longing for on his birthday?

Qi Yuan, of course, didn't notice the change in Ning Qianyu's gaze; he simply sang the verse and began strumming again.

"Unable to wield the purity of angels"

"And they cannot possess the devil's decisiveness."

"Only like every human being"

"Greed, anger, ignorance, foolishness, and folly"

Searching for body temperature and blood

"Searching for their own kind..."

Song Zhi sighed softly, "This song is much better than the last one."

He Dong lowered his voice even further to make sure he wasn't being recorded: "Last time, we were just pushed to the limit. This time it's different; the production team must have put in a lot of effort."

Song Zhi patted Ning Qianyu's arm and asked, "He wrote all the songs for your band, right? Is songwriting that easy for him?"

Ning Qianyu nodded: "He has always been very capable, extremely capable."

Song Zhi's eyes flickered slightly: "You seem to admire him a lot."

Ning Qianyu laughed and said, "Isn't this normal?"

“Yes, it’s normal for others to admire him, but I think…” Song Zhi hesitated for a moment, “You give me the impression of being a rather proud person.”

Ning Qianyu smiled and shook her head, thinking to herself that it would be difficult for anyone to remain proud in front of a freak like Qi Yuan.

Suddenly, she realized something else.

Do I have some other mission on this trip?

Ning Qianyu glanced at Shen Yihan without showing any emotion. Shen Yihan was standing a little distance away, also intently watching Qi Yuan and listening to him sing.

Observe Shen Yihan's eyes more closely...

Ning Qianyu felt there was no need to observe any further. The way this woman looked at Qi Yuan was exactly the same look Ning Qianyu had seen before – the same look of adoration from the loyal fans of the Spring Shadow Band in the audience.

She'd seen the audience frequently pan to the screen during the "Tomorrow's Band" program videos, and she'd seen that kind of star-struck gaze all the time.

But who is Shen Yihan? She's a top female idol with tens of millions of followers on blogging platforms! The fact that she could show Qi Yuan such a fangirl-like expression means what?

"One lonely millennium after another."

"Day and night"

"And then day and night."

"Endless days and nights..."

He strummed the strings as he sang the last few lines. Then, after playing a short melody, he suddenly pressed down on the strings.

"Clap clap clap clap!"

Shen Yihan was the first to clap. Led by her applause, the other guests also joined in.

Qi Yuan did not respond to the applause.

He simply glanced back at the mannequin on the bed, then placed the guitar on the bed, right next to the mannequin.

Then he got up and walked out of the photography studio.

Several shots followed his back.

Song Zhi asked in astonishment, "Where is he going?"

Ning Qianyu shrugged: "I don't know, maybe he went to the bathroom."

Hearing this, Song Zhi couldn't help but laugh: "That's right, this is the style of Ning that I know."

He Dong smiled and said, "This is only Ning's second time on the show, and you're already so familiar with her?"

Song Zhi: "Of course! Last time I thought I hid it well, but I didn't expect Ning to catch me so quickly. I even added her as a friend and asked her for advice on how to play murder mystery games!"

He Dong: "What did she teach you?"

Song Zhi sighed, "She gave me a list of detective novels."

Ning Qianyu simply waved her hand, but her gaze was still fixed on Shen Yihan.

Shen Yihan stared at the direction where Qi Yuan's figure disappeared, a clear sense of loss in her eyes. It was fortunate that the camera wasn't focused on this big star right now; otherwise, when the show aired, a flood of gossip and rumors would surely emerge.

Ning Qianyu felt it was really necessary to sound the alarm.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

188 hook hoisting

After recording the show, Qi Yuan and Ning Qianyu were supposed to leave. But when they got to the roadside, they discovered that there were other people already in the car that was supposed to pick them up.

This is a huge van, with not only seven or eight seats, but also a dressing table and a refrigerator.

Besides Assistant Zeng, who was driving, Shen Yihan and Liu Weiting were also in the car.

"Sister Yihan, what are you doing here..." Ning Qianyu was stunned when she saw the car door open, but quickly realized, "This is your car, right!"

Shen Yihan smiled and nodded: "I'll take you to the airport."

Ning Qianyu instinctively wanted to refuse: "But we still have luggage to take..."

Liu Weiting leaned out and said, "The luggage is already in this car. It's okay, you're all colleagues from the same company, let's go."

So Qi Yuan and Ning Qianyu had no choice but to get in the car.

Ning Qianyu remembered that Mengxue had mentioned in the group chat before that they couldn't rely too much on Sister Liu when it came to dealing with Shen Yihan. After all, although Sister Liu was the band's manager, she was also an employee of Tianhua Entertainment, and Shen Yihan's background within Tianhua was incredibly powerful... Now it seemed that Mengxue was right!

However, Ning Qianyu would not give up easily.

Putting aside the heavy responsibility entrusted to her by Mengxue and Yiyi, the fact that she had just realized her own feelings made it impossible for her to back down.

So when getting on the bus, Ning Qianyu instinctively learned her two teammates' little trick and naturally pulled Qi Yuan to sit in the back. Shen Yihan sat in the middle row, leaving the empty seat next to Qi Yuan empty.

But as soon as the car started moving, Shen Yihan turned around and stared at someone in the back seat, saying, "You gave me two surprises today."

Qi Yuan: "Translate it?"

Shen Yihan: "Translate what?"

Qi Yuan: "Uh, I just wanted to ask, what is a surprise?"

Shen Yihan smiled and said, "The first surprise is, of course, your song. I know all your songs are good, but that one is not only good, but it also fits the plot and the character perfectly. How did you write it?"

Qi Yuan: "You want to hear me explain the inspiration behind your music?"

Shen Yihan quickly shook her head: "No, I'm a famous tone-deaf person. Even if you explain it, I still won't understand."

Qi Yuan: "Aren't tone-deaf people supposed to be unable to distinguish between good and bad?"

Shen Yihan gazed at him quietly and said softly, "I just can't tell the difference between good and bad, but I can tell which songs can touch the heart and which songs are just superficial."

Qi Yuan: "You flatter me."

Shen Yihan added, "We saw the Queen's photo in that room, and then you wrote about the photo in your song. You reacted so quickly!"

Qi Yuan could only smile. There was a photo in the song from his previous life, and there was a photo in today's game. It could only be called a coincidence, but he couldn't say that.

Shen Yihan asked, "What were those lyrics again? 'A poignant photograph'?"

Qi Yuan casually sang two lines: "Watching the face in the mirror slowly wither, the raised fist gradually shatter, leaving only endless sighs in the photograph."

Shen Yihan clapped her hands and said, "The lyrics are great too, so well-written... By the way, what's the name of this song?"

Qi Yuan: "A Night Visit to a Vampire."

Shen Yihan was slightly taken aback: "A visit at night? But the story takes place at noon."

That's the unfortunate part; how can things from two different worlds be interconnected?

Qi Yuan could only improvise: "For vampires, whether there is a sun or not, the rest of their lives are eternal night."

Shen Yihan's eyes shone even brighter: "Wow, there are so many songwriters in the entertainment industry, how come no one has a poet's temperament like you?"

Qi Yuan noticed that Shen Yihan's gaze seemed to be fixed on him, making the atmosphere in the car a little awkward, which was not good.

So he took the initiative to steer the conversation toward others: "That's how our band is, like Qianyu, she even has the air of a famous detective."

Shen Yihan laughed and said, "That's right. I thought Qianyu was very smart in the last episode, and it's the same in this one. With you here, the recording ended earlier than before because you would find clues in advance!"

Ning Qianyu cleared her throat, intending to say "You flatter me" like Qi Yuan did, but she noticed that Shen Yihan's gaze had already shifted from her back to Qi Yuan.

Shen Yihan stared at him and continued, "Your second surprise for me was getting into character."

Qi Yuan: "Getting into character?"

Shen Yihan: "Yeah, the last time you played a repairman, it was too marginalized and you couldn't really show it. This time, the role has more screen time, and I can see that you really can get into character. You said you wanted to play the Queen's knight, and you really did it. That complex emotion of love and hate was so real."

Qi Yuan scratched the back of his head: "You're exaggerating a bit, aren't you?"

Shen Yihan shook her head: "No, I'm serious. I think you could really try acting in the future."

Qi Yuan: "I..."

“Don’t rush to refuse,” Shen Yihan quickly said. “I know you’re busy, you have to go to school and make music, I know. But when you’re on vacation, or on any other free days, you can do a cameo role. If there’s a role that can be filmed in a few days but is also very interesting, I’ll definitely talk to you about it first!”

Since the big star had already put it that way, Qi Yuan replied casually, "Okay, I might consider it if there's an opportunity."

Hearing such positive feedback from him, Shen Yihan smiled so much that her eyes curved into crescent moons.

She extended her right hand, making a fist with four fingers, but raising only her little finger.

Qi Yuan: "What does that mean?"

Shen Yihan smiled and said, "Pinky promise, you promised me!"

Ning Qianyu, standing nearby, was completely stunned—Sister, I'm right here! Are you pretending I don't exist? Is it really okay for you to be so ambiguous?!

Looking at the girl's radiant smile, Qi Yuan swallowed hard.