A band, or a battleground?

Ning Qianyu: "Yeah, it's your freedom to do whatever you want..."

At this point, the driver spoke up.

The taxi driver was a local from Beijing, and spoke with a strong Beijing accent.

"Young man, you've been seduced? If you didn't succeed, the girl must not be pretty enough."

Qi Yuan looked at the driver and asked with a smile, "How did you know?"

The driver curled his lip: "We're all men, who are you trying to fool? If a pretty girl really took the initiative, who would refuse?"

Qi Yuan smiled but didn't say anything.

But then Qiu Mengxue spoke up: "Uncle, you're wrong. People are different. Besides, that woman who provoked Qi Yuan is really quite beautiful."

The driver countered, "You like this kid too, right?"

Qiu Mengxue: "Huh?"

The driver chuckled, "I don't even need to look. I can tell from your tone. That's it. That girl might be pretty, but she's definitely not as good as the one in the car right now."

Qiu Mengxue immediately shut her mouth and stopped talking.

Then an eerie silence fell over the car. Jiang Yi didn't speak, Qiu Mengxue remained silent, and Ning Qianyu, for some reason, didn't offer any further opinions.

Suddenly, Jiang Yi, holding her phone, exclaimed in surprise, "Nika messaged me!"

Qi Yuan was also taken aback: "When did she add you as a friend?"

Jiang Yi: "While you were in the bathroom, uh, that must have been before she tried to seduce 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.

094 What is a good girl?

"She told me that we both played bass, so we had a lot to talk about. I thought it made sense; Katz's guitar and bass solos were amazing, and her slaps were fantastic, so she wanted to add me as a friend, and I accepted. I had no idea she had such wicked intentions!"

Jiang Yi explained it this way.

Qiu Mengxue stared at her and asked, "Do you really not know her, or do you want to test her and protect Qi Yuan because you know her bad intentions?"

Jiang Yi: "..."

Qiu Mengxue: "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Jiang Yi pointed to her phone, successfully changing the subject: "She's still messaging me. What do you guys think I should say?"

Qi Yuan asked curiously, "What did she post?"

Jiang Yi: "She's actually trying to persuade me to sign with Jufeng! She said if I can convince you guys to sign with Jufeng, she'll give me money."

Qiu Mengxue quickly craned her neck to look.

Ning Qianyu asked, "How much did she pay you?"

Jiang Yi: "Thirty thousand yuan."

Before the band members could speak, the taxi driver exclaimed in surprise, "Holy crap, what kind of business do you guys run? Do you make so much money? I thought you were students!"

Ning Qianyu: "Didn't we just talk about guitar and bass?"

"I know guitar, but what's bass?" The driver paused for a moment. "Oh, you guys are in the music industry, right? Tsk tsk, making music is lucrative, but do you get social security?"

Ning Qianyu: "..."

Qi Yuan quickly said, "Master, we are still students. We only play music in our spare time. Let's not bring up such a heavy topic."

Jiang Yi typed a reply with her head down.

Looking at her screen, Qiu Mengxue quickly said, "You just refused outright?"

Jiang Yi: "Yes, I told her I needed to go home and discuss it with my parents, and that I couldn't agree to her request."

Ning Qianyu chuckled: "Go home and discuss it with Mom and Dad. Well, you're really something."

“You could actually pretend to agree, and then…” Qiu Mengxue sighed halfway through her sentence, “Never mind, a good girl like you isn’t suited to do this kind of thing.”

Ning Qianyu smiled and reasoned, "Besides, there's no need for any fuss. It's already very obvious who the mastermind is. Recently, only two companies have approached us to sign contracts. One of them just had someone collaborate with us, wouldn't the other one be furious if they saw that? In addition, Qi Yuan deliberately arranged for those two to be next door last time, so if they find even the slightest clue, they'll easily overthink things."

Without needing further prompting, Qiu Mengxue quickly grasped Ning Qianyu's meaning.

Jiang Yi suddenly said, "She asked me for your contact information. Should we give it to her?"

Ning Qianyu immediately perked up: "Alright, I'd like to see what other schemes she's planning."

Qiu Mengxue also said, "I want to struggle with her."

Qi Yuan said helplessly, "Do you two always have to talk to the scammers every time you get a scam call?"

Ning Qianyu laughed and said, "Of course, what a rare treat!"

Qiu Mengxue took out her phone and, sure enough, saw the friend request. She immediately accepted it. But after adding her as a friend, she waited for a while, but still didn't receive any messages from Nika.

Ning Qianyu was the same, and couldn't help but mutter, "Why isn't Lezi saying anything?"

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.

Nika was lying alone in the back seat of the car, holding her phone in both hands, when she suddenly burst out laughing.

Hearing the cloying laughter, the guitarist in the passenger seat asked, "What, seduction failed, but bribery succeeded?"

His tone was flat and emotionless.

Nika: "It didn't work out either, but it was pretty much what I expected. Their band's bassist looks like a timid and cowardly girl. Haha, she even had to go home and discuss it with her parents, like a little kid, tsk."

Luz: "They're minors. And you were rejected, so what are you laughing at?"

“I laughed and said she was such a good girl!” Nika sat up and said, “I asked her for the contact information of my other two teammates, and she actually gave it to me. I told her not to tell anyone, and she obediently promised me that she wouldn’t tell anyone.”

The guitarist said, "But she's probably with Qi Yuan and the others right now. They won't say it to her face, will they? You're probably being too naive."

"What do you mean?" Nika licked her lips. "By the way, I was wondering how Qi Yuan discovered the camera so quickly. Could it be that you alerted him when you went to the bathroom... Lutz! Look me in the eye and tell me the truth!"

The guitarist named Lutz didn't turn around to meet her gaze, but stared straight ahead, calmly saying, "I don't need to tell him, he'll sense something's wrong. You're too impatient; who pounces on someone the moment they meet?"

Nika sneered, "When I pounced on you, you didn't say a single word of objection."

Lutz pointed to the drummer driving next to him: "That's because I didn't know you pounced on him. I was really stupid back then, I thought you actually liked me."

At this point, the drummer smoothed things over, saying, "We're not just a band, we're friends, and we're even closer than ordinary friends. What's all the arguing about?"

Nika sneered again, "That Qi Yuan, I actually quite liked him. Jufeng told us that as long as we got them to sign as well, the two bands would be under the same company, and we could do events and performances together. So... tch, I didn't expect Qi Yuan to be so ungrateful."

Guitarist Luz silently curled his lip.

The drummer said, "Maybe that guy just likes well-behaved girls. Wasn't that bassist you were talking about a really well-behaved one?"

Nika nodded and said, "I guess so, but that's perfect. One man and three women, no matter which one Qi Yuan gets close to, I don't believe the other two won't be jealous. Even if they aren't jealous, no one likes being a third wheel."

Lutz scoffed, "What if all three girls in the Haruhi Shadow Band are in that kid's harem?"

"Fuck you, how could that be!"

Nika added Qiu Mengxue and Ning Qianyu as friends, but hesitated for a moment before not sending them a message immediately.

She muttered, "Indeed, they're probably in the same car as Qi Yuan right now. I'll talk to them later. Thirty thousand yuan isn't enough bait; I might as well give it all at once..."

Lutz: "Giant Peak only promised us 800,000. How much are you planning to give them?"

Nika rolled her eyes: "How much I give is my decision, what's it to you!"

Luz poured cold water on the idea: "I just want to tell you that Kasuga Kage is currently the most popular band, with a bright future ahead of them. If you offer too little, it probably won't be tempting."

Nika: "Then I'll try and see if any of those three girls are lesbians..."

Luz: "Holy shit, you're insane!"

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.

095 They're sick!

"Nika finally talked to me!"

At 10:30 p.m. in the dormitory villa, Ning Qianyu knocked on the door of each of her teammates and called out the same sentence.

To the uninformed, her excited demeanor might lead them to believe she was reuniting with a long-lost friend or a wealthy client. But her teammates knew, of course, that this was a good time to have some fun.

So the four members of the band gathered in the living room.

The three girls sat on a sofa, squeezing Ning Qianyu, who was holding her phone, in the middle. Qi Yuan was too embarrassed to squeeze with the girls, so he sat on the sofa opposite them.

Ning Qianyu: "This time she seems to have learned to be tactful. She even asked me, 'Do you have a favorite number?'... What does that mean? If I name a million, will she give me a million?"

Qiu Mengxue: "Maybe I'll give you one million Vietnamese dong."

"That's too cheap. Let me think about how to say it..." Ning Qianyu pondered for a moment, "Hmm, I'll reply like this!"

Seeing the girl typing furiously, with the two girls next to her craning their necks to stare at the screen, Qi Yuan, who couldn't see it himself, couldn't help but feel curious. So he got up, went around to the back of the sofa where the girls were sitting, and looked down at the screen.

Ning Qianyu replied: "Although I believe the large number hypothesis has been falsified, that number might actually reflect some fundamental truth about the world. The appearance of two approximately dimensionless numbers in nature shouldn't be a coincidence, don't you think?"

Nika: [???]

Ning Qianyu: [The fundamental forces of the microscopic world and the time scale of the macroscopic world have resulted in an approximate dimensionless number, and this is my favorite number.]

Nika: [What number is that?]

Ning Qianyu first checked the browser page she had prepared, then replied: "[That's the ratio of electrostatic attraction between protons and electrons to gravitational force, and also the age of the universe measured in atomic units of time.]"

Nika: [I didn't study this, just tell me what kind of number it is!]

Ning Qianyu: [Ten to the power of forty.]

Nika: [How much exactly? Is it a lot?]

Ning Qianyu: [Don't you know how big 10 to the power of 40 is?]

Nika: [...]

Even though it was just a string of ellipses, everyone could imagine the other person's astonishment and anger through the screen.

Then Nika added, "Let's keep it simple. Do you want to sign with Jufeng Music? If you can persuade your teammates to sign, I'll give you extra money."

Ning Qianyu: [Whether or not a contract is signed is not important.]

Nika: [?]

Ning Qianyu: [On a cosmic scale, we are all insignificant creatures, born in the morning and dying at dusk. Eternal heat death—that is the end of all things. Why can't you focus on more meaningful questions?]

Then Nika stopped replying, not even sending an ellipsis.

Qiu Mengxue scolded, "You rejected her too quickly. I'd like to know how much money she's planning to give you."

Ning Qianyu curled her lip: "What's the point of that number? We're not short of money anyway. By the way, the production team gives out prize money for each round we advance, right?"

Jiang Yi picked up her phone and checked the message history—Teacher Su had mentioned this to everyone before, and then she said, "Passing the preliminary round is 10,000 yuan, and each of the subsequent group competitions, theme competitions, style competitions, and cross-border collaboration competitions is 30,000 yuan."

Ning Qianyu nodded: "That's right, all of this adds up to 130,000, and the prize money for the semi-finals and finals is even higher. Not to mention that we're very popular now, and we can earn a lot from releasing songs and performing normally in the future. How much can she give us? It can't be a million, right?"

At this moment, Qi Yuan said, "No, you can't calculate it that way. Because she said it's only for you. She approached Jiang Yi before too. Bassists and drummers who don't participate in songwriting and arrangement usually get less money in the band. So she probably thought she could take advantage of the situation."

Qiu Mengxue: "But she doesn't know that we haven't even decided how to divide the money yet."

Qi Yuan: "Should we consider splitting the money?"

Qiu Mengxue was still considering when Ning Qianyu said impatiently, "Oh, what's there to consider! Qi Yuan, since you wrote the song, you should get the lion's share. If Mengxue or Yiyi becomes the lead singer in the future, then they should get a bigger share of the songs they sing."

Jiang Yi nudged Ning Qianyu's arm: "And what about you?"

Ning Qianyu raised her small face, looking arrogant: "Don't ask me such vulgar questions. Just give me whatever you think is appropriate. I'm not interested in money."

Qi Yuan couldn't help but laugh.

Ning Qianyu turned around abruptly: "What are you laughing at?"

Qi Yuan: "It's okay. I've heard people say they're not interested in money before. That's a good thing. It means you're not short of money."

Ning Qianyu shrugged: "That's right. At first, I just thought it would be fun and stress-relieving to play the drums to the music. Who would have thought our band would get this far? It has far exceeded our expectations. We've got it all. Why should we be greedy for those dirty little gains?"

At this moment, Qiu Mengxue looked at her phone and perked up: "Nika sent it to me too!"

Ning Qianyu quickly switched places with Qiu Mengxue, squeezing her into the middle so that everyone could see her phone screen.

Nika sent a message: "Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you're free lately? Want to hang out?"