A band, or a battleground?

The girl's breathing suddenly quickened.

She composed herself, trying to calm down, and then answered the call, saying in a normal tone, "Hey, what brings you to call me today?"

Qi Yuan: "The program director asked me if I could film a band version of 'Interview with the Vampire' as a bonus episode for this episode. I agreed, so we'll start rehearsing tomorrow night."

Ning Qianyu was taken aback for a moment, then asked, "When are we going to film this?"

Qi Yuan: "It should be this weekend."

Ning Qianyu: "Are we flying to Shanghai again this weekend?"

Qi Yuan: "No, the production team director will bring people to our area to film. Cameras, lighting, cameramen, and makeup artists will all fly over. We don't need anything else, just to rehearse until we're familiar with the material. Mengxue and I are already working on the band version of the arrangement."

Ning Qianyu hesitated and said, "You guys have to do the arrangement, and then we'll rehearse together... Isn't the time a bit rushed?"

Qi Yuan said with a smile, "No rush. The arrangement isn't just Meng Xue's responsibility; I'm involved too. Anyway, I don't have to attend classes or do homework."

Hearing him say that, Ning Qianyu laughed: "You still have to record an album and do all this extra work. What if you come in last in the band next time you take the exam?"

Qi Yuan chimed in, "Yeah, what if we come in last?"

But just then, Qiu Mengxue's voice came from the other end of the phone again: "Then I'll tutor you."

Ning Qianyu was shocked: "Holy crap, you're with Mengxue now?!"

"Didn't I just say I'm busy arranging music with her? Okay, I won't bother you any longer, we'll get back to work here, bye-bye."

Qi Yuan hung up the phone after he finished speaking.

Ning Qianyu sat there, holding her phone, her gaze fixed on the bookshelf on the table in front of her.

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.

Qi Yuan hung up the phone in his living room and looked at the girl sitting in front of him.

Qiu Mengxue was playing the MIDI keyboard, experimenting with different arrangement schemes. She only stopped when he was on the phone.

However, after finishing the call, she did not continue playing.

The girl smiled and said, "I'm serious. How about I tutor you? I've taught you singing, music theory, and guitar before, so adding Chinese, math, and English won't be a problem."

Qi Yuan: "I'm really sorry, I should pay you for the extra lessons."

Qiu Mengxue smiled and shook her head: "There's no need for tutoring fees. We're teammates, so we should help each other out. If you're really embarrassed, then write a song for me to sing as a way of repaying me."

Hearing her say that, Qi Yuan narrowed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

Qiu Mengxue was immediately startled: "You're not really considering it, are you? No need, I was just saying it casually."

Qi Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "I am indeed considering it, because some songs are not suitable for me to sing, but are more suitable for girls. However, the ten songs for our first album have already been decided, and even if I write them for you, it seems like there is no chance for you to sing them."

Qiu Mengxue: "So don't even think about it, I was really just joking with you..."

Qi Yuan suddenly had an idea: "By the way, Sister Liu told me that I've been invited to a few variety shows recently, and she said I could bring one or two teammates. If I could make a guest appearance on a suitable variety show, and write a song for you to sing on the spot, wouldn't that create great program effects?"

After a brief moment of thought, Qiu Mengxue immediately changed her mind: "That would be wonderful!"

Qi Yuan: "But I've been quite busy lately, so it might have to wait until the album is all recorded..."

Qiu Mengxue quickly said, "It's okay, we can wait until we're both free. Anyway, I've remembered about the tutoring fee."

Singing songs written by Qi Yuan is one thing, but to be able to appear on a show with him? Is there really such a good deal where you get to eat and take things with you?

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.

193 Vampire Band

The filming location chosen by the production team of "The Murder Mystery Detective" was an abandoned factory.

Normally, this place is off-limits to unauthorized personnel. However, the production team had, of course, followed the application process, and then allowed two cars to drive in on Saturday night.

A truck was carrying lights and camera equipment, a passenger bus was carrying the filming crew, and there were also four members of the Spring Day Film Band.

When parking the car, Ning Qianyu leaned against the window and said, "Wow, this place is really desolate. The walls block out the streetlights, it's all dark."

Sitting next to her was Jiang Yi, but she didn't respond.

Ning Qianyu turned her head and saw Jiang Yi staring at the two people in the front row—Qiu Mengxue and Qi Yuan—who had been chatting all the way under the guise of discussing music.

Sensing the gaze beside her, Jiang Yi turned to look at Ning Qianyu and whispered, "Don't you think Mengxue keeps making excuses?"

"An excuse?" Ning Qianyu's bewilderment was perfectly timed. "What excuse?"

Jiang Yi shook her head and sighed, "A piece of rotten wood cannot be carved..."

Ning Qianyu scoffed, "What do you mean, 'rotten wood'? You're just overthinking things."

At that moment, the director shouted, "We've arrived. All groups, get ready. The band, please stay here and get your makeup done!"

The staff got out of the car to set up the lights and the shooting location, while the four makeup artists were busy doing makeup on the four members of the Spring Shadow Band.

The car was brightly lit, and you could see small flying insects constantly hitting the car window.

To make it easier for the makeup artists to work, Qi Yuan and his teammates sat separately, their faces tilted upwards. The makeup artists knelt in front of them to work.

Because there was no makeup mirror in front of them, none of the four could clearly see their own appearance until they were almost finished with their makeup. The reflection from the car window next to them only allowed them to see their indistinct profiles.

Qi Yuan's face was the first to be finished.

He stood up and walked back and forth along the aisle, looking at his three teammates' makeup. Their makeup was more than halfway done, and he could already see the beginnings of their styles.

Before getting into the car, the four of them had already changed into the clothes needed for the shoot, but they didn't put on any coats or jackets.

Qi Yuan then concluded, "Qian Yu's appearance is similar to what she wore on the show. Meng Xue and Yi Yi, this is your first time trying this gothic style, isn't it?"

Ning Qianyu: "Of course, it's about the same. My costume hasn't changed, so my makeup certainly won't change either."

The makeup artist in charge of Qiu Mengxue smiled and said, "The young lady has such good skin, so fair and tender. Vampire makeup requires a pale complexion, but you don't need much adjustment. Just add a little eyeshadow and you'll have that look."

Qiu Mengxue whispered, "But I feel like I've applied several layers of makeup to my face..."

Makeup artist: "This is already considered simple! If it were a female celebrity whose skin isn't as good as yours, we would have to add several more layers of concealer."

Jiang Yi suddenly asked, "Since we're going to play vampires, don't we need those sharp teeth?"

Her makeup artist laughed, "It's not like we're actually filming a horror movie, there's no need for that. Who do you want to bite with those sharp teeth?"

Jiang Yi glanced at Qi Yuan quickly, then remained silent.

At this moment, Ning Qianyu said, "We absolutely mustn't give her her sharp teeth, she'll definitely bite me!"

Jiang Yi: "...I really have no interest in biting you, scratching you is enough."

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.

All four of them had finished their makeup and got out of the car, but the filming location had not yet been set up.

The lighting was adjusted back and forth, but the young men and women couldn't see any changes. However, in the eyes of the director and cameramen, it was clearly an extremely important task.

The four of them watched the filming location for a while, but were sent back by the director who said, "There are too many mosquitoes here, go to the car and enjoy the air conditioning."

Back in the car, Jiang Yi couldn't help but ask, "They get bitten by mosquitoes too, right?"

Qi Yuan: "They've lit mosquito coils there, that's good. But they should get overtime pay for making this trip on Saturday night, right?"

A makeup artist laughed and said, "Of course, this wasn't part of the planned work, so overtime pay is definitely required."

Another makeup artist said, "Anyway, with your current popularity, the viewership of the extra episodes will definitely not make the production team lose money."

Qiu Mengxue moved closer to Qi Yuan and whispered, "This time there's no keyboard, so I'll be on lead guitar. You'll need to pay attention to a few things on rhythm guitar. First, the muting technique I taught you should be fine, right?"

When music was mentioned, Qi Yuan immediately became serious: "Didn't you say there wouldn't be any problems during the rehearsals?"

Qiu Mengxue: "Yes, but this is an open scene, so be careful when strumming..."

Qi Yuan: "Wait, today's main focus is on filming the visuals. We can record the music again indoors tomorrow."

Qiu Mengxue was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help but feel a little deflated.

If we're only filming the visuals tonight, there's no need to discuss the musical details. But if we don't talk about music, how can we monopolize the opportunity to spend time with Qi Yuan?

Sure enough, Jiang Yi seized the opportunity to ask, "By the way, how's the recording of the songs for the album going?"

Qi Yuan shrugged: "Your instrumental parts are manageable, but the vocals are really troublesome. So far, we've only finished recording the first three songs. The vocals for the fourth song are still stuck."

Jiang Yi smiled and said, "But didn't the sound engineer say that your progress is much faster than he expected?"

Qi Yuan sighed, "It's much slower than I imagined. I underestimated the difficulty of recording back then."

Qiu Mengxue: "Recording is a very professional job..."

At this moment, Qi Yuan was standing in the aisle between the seats in the car, with Qiu Mengxue on his left and Jiang Yi on his right. Ning Qianyu had already found a place to sit down and was still leaning against the car window, obviously watching what the director was doing.

Qiu Mengxue glanced at where Ning Qianyu was sitting, then looked away and continued to look for an opportunity to interject with Qi Yuan's conversation.

Jiang Yi glanced at Ning Qianyu, initially sighing inwardly that she was hopeless, but then she quickly realized—wasn't it a good thing that Qianyu was clueless about relationships? If Qianyu were like Mengxue, competing with her for the chance to spend time with Qi Yuan, that would be a real problem.

However, unbeknownst to both of them, Ning Qianyu's gaze was actually quite discerning.

She appeared to be staring out the window, but in reality, she was staring at Qi Yuan through the reflection in the car window.

As she watched, Ning Qianyu was still savoring the feeling of pretending to be asleep while leaning against Qi Yuan...

As expected of a martial monk, his pectoral muscles are truly impressive. And the texture of his collarbones is remarkably defined and unforgettable.

If only I could pretend to be asleep next to him again sometime, under the guise of being his buddy...

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.

194 She said she was very old

Shen Yihan sat on the hotel terrace, watching the sunlight gradually sink into the distant valley and the golden clouds rolling and unfolding in the sky.

She didn't do anything; she just quietly enjoyed her holiday.

For most students and working professionals, it's a workday. But for her, it's a vacation after filming wrapped. And how long this vacation lasts depends largely on her own wishes and when she can secure a new role.

Suddenly, Assistant Zeng walked over, holding several copies of the play, and handed over the top one.

"How about considering Director Sun's new film? It's a fantasy romance film, and the cast should be very strong."

Shen Yihan took the script, glanced at the cover, and couldn't help but complain, "Why is it another cultivation novel? I'm sick of acting in this genre."

Assistant Zeng laughed and said, "They sincerely invited you to play the female lead, and said that the role is especially suitable for you, the reincarnated fox spirit."

Shen Yihan flipped through the script and casually asked, "Are there any other themes?"

"There are other genres too, but the cast is relatively weaker. For example, this one is an urban fantasy drama with a strong female lead and no romance. The producer told me that the female lead was tailor-made for you, which shows a lot of sincerity. But there's no male lead to carry the show, it's all just you..."

Shen Yihan took the second script, flipped through the synopsis and the female lead's character description, and her eyes lit up immediately: "Episode detective series, and the female lead is a cultivator? This is interesting. A female protagonist with extraordinary strength emerges from hundreds of years of seclusion and finds that the world has become a modern urban civilization..."

Assistant Zeng raised an eyebrow: "Didn't you say that people are already sick of playing cultivation-themed roles?"

Shen Yihan flipped through the script and said, "This is different! Look, only the first few scenes are in ancient costume, and then she changes into modern clothes. And all the villains she encounters are weaker than the female lead. Isn't it satisfying to see her crush the villains? The protagonist always steps in to help those in need, it's so cool!"

Assistant Zeng was both amused and exasperated: "No wonder people said it was tailor-made for you. You really like it? Should I talk to the production team about it?"

Shen Yihan thought for a moment, then said, "Don't rush, let's ask more clearly. If I agree to act in this drama, could you mention one or two supporting roles?"

The light of the setting sun gradually dimmed, and silence fell over the terrace.

Seeing that Assistant Zeng remained silent, Shen Yihan stuck out her tongue, feeling a little guilty: "Is such a request too much?"

"Do you have some misunderstanding about your current status..." Assistant Zeng sighed. "Of course you can bring this up, and the production company will most likely agree. You're not the male lead, just a supporting character in one of the segments, right?"

Shen Yihan breathed a sigh of relief: "Then why are you making that face?"

Assistant Zeng shook his head: "Because I already guessed it, you want to invite Qi Yuan to play the role, right?"

Shen Yihan's face immediately froze.

Assistant Zeng continued, "And this doesn't even need to be done in your name. Anyway, Chunri Film is signed with Tianhua, so we can just tell them on behalf of the company that we want to promote Tianhua's artists, and they'll definitely agree. The question is, do you really want to use this to chase after celebrities?"

"This isn't about idol worship!" Shen Yihan declared confidently. "It's for my career. Chunriying is so popular right now. If I bring Qi Yuan along to act, we won't even need to buy any trending topics; they'll just pop up on the trending list on their own!"

Assistant Zeng shook his head again: "Springtime Film is popular now, but that doesn't mean it will stay popular forever. This season of 'Tomorrow's Band' has ended, and their popularity will continue to decline, including Qi Yuan's. Unless, they keep releasing new songs."

Shen Yihan argued, "You've heard Qi Yuan's vampire song, too. Is it really that hard for him to keep releasing new songs?"

Assistant Zeng: "Yes, I not only heard the song, but I also heard you making a pinky promise with someone."

Shen Yihan immediately lowered her face and mumbled something like, "I'm doing this all for work."

"Then I'll contact the production company first and discuss the initial intentions. But you'll have to ask Qi Yuan. The company gives him a lot of freedom; whether he acts or not depends on whether he's willing."