A band, or a battleground?

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.

I just want to give you one.

The Shanghai Music Festival, held every year at the end of August, is a top-tier large-scale music event in China, consistently attracting top stars and bands.

Of course, the ticket price won't be low either. The entry fee is over 500 yuan, and if you want to buy a VIP seat closest to the stage, it's an additional price.

After all, this is Shanghai; even with the same currency, it's easier to spend it than elsewhere...

This year's Shanghai Music Festival has invited the brightest new stars of the summer, the Spring Shadow Band. If you want to buy their exclusive VIP stage seats, you'll have to pay an extra two thousand yuan.

This wasn't even the most expensive. Because the Spring Shadow Band were just newcomers, their star power and resources couldn't compare to the true top stars in the music industry. But this price was already enough to make even them gasp.

"Would anyone really spend three thousand yuan just to see our performance and hear us sing a few songs?"

After the rehearsal, sitting in the van back to the hotel, Qiu Mengxue looked at the ticket information on her phone and couldn't help but ask this question.

Qi Yuan: "Never doubt the purchasing power of the rich. Although the percentage of the rich is very low, with such a large population base, there are quite a few rich people."

Qiu Mengxue looked at Ning Qianyu: "That's right, there's a rich kid in our band."

Ning Qianyu laughed and said, "I've already said that my family is an ordinary family! I also envy rich people. If only I could have a share of their money... Oh, it's already being shared. Then it's fine."

Qiu Mengxue then looked at Jiang Yi and asked, "Yi Yi, you've seemed unusually quiet these past two days. What's wrong?"

Jiang Yi said softly, "Haven't I always been like this?"

Qiu Mengxue: "You're not a talkative person, but you've never been this silent before..."

By then, the car had arrived at the hotel entrance. Everyone got out and prepared to go back to their rooms.

But Liu Weiting said, "There are some important things to do today. Everyone, please gather in Qi Yuan's room and wait for me for a moment, okay?"

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 sat on the edge of his bed in his room, looking at the three beautiful girls sitting side by side on the sofa, and asked, "We're going to perform on stage tomorrow. What kind of meeting did Sister Liu want to have with us tonight? Do you know what it's about?"

The girls all shook their heads.

Qiu Mengxue guessed, "It might be related to our revenue sharing, right?"

Just as Ning Qianyu was about to speak, she heard the doorbell ring. She jumped up and ran to open the door, where she saw Liu Weiting pushing a small cart with a delicate birthday cake on it.

The short-haired girl couldn't help but ask, "Does anyone here have a birthday today?"

Liu Weiting pushed the cart in, closed the door, and said with a smile, "Today is Qi Yuan's birthday!"

Ning Qianyu froze for a moment.

Qiu Mengxue's expression was even more fascinating. First, she was shocked, then she blinked, her eyes filled with the melancholy of missing out on a lottery jackpot.

She suddenly realized that, because of his family background, Qi Yuan must have never had a proper birthday celebration. But now, it was his manager who was taking the initiative to celebrate Qi Yuan's birthday, while she, as his teammate, was completely unaware of it.

I only found out on the day of the event, so there wasn't time to prepare a gift; I could only share a piece of cake.

How meaningful would it be to prepare a gift in advance?

Jiang Yi lowered her head slightly and remained silent.

Qiu Mengxue couldn't help but ask, "Sister Liu, how did you know?"

Liu Weiting laughed and said, "I'm your manager, of course I know. And I asked Qi Yuan yesterday, and he said he doesn't have the habit of celebrating his birthday and doesn't want to make a fuss. So he didn't tell anyone else, just prepared a cake, and had a simple little party with the band."

Qi Yuan smiled and nodded: "Sister Liu, you're so kind."

Qiu Mengxue glanced at the two of them, wanting to say that she also wanted to celebrate his birthday, but she had no idea how she was supposed to. However, after a moment's thought, she realized it wasn't the right time to say such a thing, so she could only feign indifference and smile.

Next, we lit candles, turned off the lights, and sang.

Singing birthday songs is simple, but the voices of two girls present were especially beautiful.

After they finished singing, Qi Yuan was about to blow out the candles when Ning Qianyu suddenly said, "Wait, did you forget about the birthday boy's hat?"

Qi Yuan waved his hand: "It's okay, you don't have to wear it."

"No, no, you can't go without one. Here, I'll make one for you."

As Ning Qianyu said this, she made a circle with her hands and then solemnly placed it on his head.

Qi Yuan: "A pantomime?"

The girl clapped her hands with a smile: "Alright, make a wish and blow out the candles!"

Qi Yuan looked at the four candles on the cake. Watching the flickering flames, he silently said to himself, 'If only I could remember more songs in the future…'

After a few seconds of silence, he blew out the candle in one breath.

Liu Weiting handed over the knife: "Let the birthday person cut the cake!"

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.

After the brief birthday ceremony, Qi Yuan thought the night was over.

But then the doorbell rang again.

He opened the door and saw Jiang Yi standing there with her hands behind her back.

The girl had changed into a light pink tulle dress tonight, the same one she wore to the celebration party after the finals. She seemed to have just taken a shower; her long hair was loose over her shoulders, and she still exuded a faint post-shower fragrance.

Qi Yuan asked, "What's the matter so late?"

Jiang Yi whispered, "Could I come in and talk...?"

Qi Yuan hesitated for a moment.

The situation now seems a bit bad. But considering the girl's courage and the difference in physical strength between them, he felt that no matter what, it wasn't his place to worry about her safety.

So he stepped aside to let the girl in, and then he noticed that her hands, which were behind her back, were holding something.

Qi Yuan then asked, "What is this? A birthday present?"

Jiang Yi nodded solemnly and presented the gift to him with both hands. After he accepted the gift, the girl quietly closed the door.

Only the two of them remained in the enclosed space.

Qi Yuan looked at the gift box in his hand. It was packaged very carefully, with a pretty knot tied on it.

He asked, "Do you want me to open it and take a look right now?"

Jiang Yi nodded, her peach blossom eyes sparkling.

As Qi Yuan unwrapped the gift, he said, "You must have gone to so much trouble to prepare this so quickly..."

Jiang Yi shook her head: "No, not now. I've been thinking for a long time about what to give you."

Qi Yuan: "You've been thinking about it for a long time?"

The girl smiled and said, "Have you forgotten? It's my birthday today. You told me."

Qi Yuan said "Oh," and then remembered that he had indeed mentioned it to her. However, he hadn't taken it seriously at the time and hadn't paid much attention to it, but he didn't expect that this girl would be in such a hurry.

Thinking of this, Qi Yuan was also slightly moved.

The feeling that someone cares so much about you... isn't so bad, is it?

He opened the gift box and saw a pair of black headphones with gold trim. The color scheme was quite similar to the guitar that Qiu Mengxue had given him before.

“We’re both musicians, so we listen to music all the time. But I noticed you don’t seem to have any headphones, so I thought I’d give you a pair…”

The girl's voice was soft, like a piece of candy that seeps into people's hearts.

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.

152 Matryoshka Dolls

Qi Yuan took the headphones out of the gift box and immediately realized that this gift was not ordinary.

These headphones look exquisite and are very well-made, but that's secondary. The key point is that there are gold-plated letters on each side of the headphones, a Q and a Y, in capital letters, clearly the initials of his name. Furthermore, at the connection point in the middle, there's a line of smaller gold-plated text:

Nothing can stop your yearning for freedom.

This is the first line of the lyrics for "Blue Lotus".

Qi Yuan couldn't help but ask, "Did you have these all custom-made?"

Jiang Yi nodded shyly, "Yes, it has two modes. You can plug in a cable, like regular wired headphones. You can also turn on Bluetooth and use it as wireless headphones. It can connect to phones or computers, and it also has noise cancellation, so the sound quality should be pretty good..."

Qi Yuan tried it out on the spot.

He connected the headphones to his phone via Bluetooth, listened to the high notes of the aria in "In the Name of the Father" for a while, and then listened to the electric guitar strumming in "Life in Full Bloom" for a while. He found that the headphones were indeed extraordinary and could almost perfectly handle all kinds of sound effects.

So, it must be quite expensive, right?

Qi Yuan, of course, had no idea that these headphones had used up all of Jiang Yi's bonuses before the band signed with Tianhua Entertainment. After all, asking about the price so soon after receiving a gift was rather impolite.

He smiled and said, "Thank you, I like it very much."

Jiang Yi stood in front of him, showing no intention of leaving.

Although the performance is in the afternoon tomorrow, so there's no need to get up too early, it's already 11 o'clock. What is this girl trying to do?

Qi Yuan had just received a gift and felt embarrassed to send the other person away, but he didn't know what to say at this moment.

He knows what to do if it's just interacting with someone of the opposite sex. But how to deal with a girl who is so proactive yet easily embarrassed is something he truly has no experience with.

Just then, the doorbell rang again.

Qi Yuan saw the shyness in the girl's eyes turn into panic in the blink of an eye.

Ning Qianyu's voice rang out from outside the door: "Qi Yuan, you're still awake, aren't you?"

Jiang Yi looked around hurriedly, not having time to think, and rushed into the bathroom on tiptoe. The bathroom lights were off, so it looked like no one was there.

Qi Yuan sighed and opened the door for Ning Qianyu.

The short-haired girl didn't change her clothes; she was still wearing the performance outfit from today's music festival rehearsal, which consisted of a short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and ankle boots.

However, this combination is not androgynous at all; instead, it has a girlish charm because it is paired with black tights, and even black tights with a diamond pattern, which is full of quirky and playful meaning.

She came in carrying a cardboard box, slammed the door shut, and said with a smile, "Here, this is your birthday present!"

Qi Yuan: "This is... a laptop?"

Ning Qianyu handed him the cardboard box and said, "I only found out it was your birthday tonight, so I bought it in a bit of a rush, but I've been thinking about what to give you for a while now! I noticed that you didn't bring a computer with you to the competition this summer. Do you not have one at home either?"

Qi Yuan: "I only have one old desktop computer at home."

Ning Qianyu laughed and said, "Then my gift is perfect! Let me tell you, this is a top-of-the-line gaming laptop that can smoothly run all the latest AAA titles on the market. Although laptops still have some limitations in terms of hardware space and heat dissipation, it might be a bit troublesome to run all the ray tracing effects at full throttle..."

Qi Yuan said seriously, "There's no need for something so high-end. I think this gift is already very impressive. How could you still find this so late? Is the mall still open?"

Ning Qianyu sat on the sofa, swinging her pair of fair and slender legs: "I went to a brand store, and I arrived just before they closed. Luckily, Sister Liu was quite quick. If she had brought the birthday cake later, and we had left later, it would have been really difficult to buy it. Online shopping can't be delivered to a hotel within two or three hours. If I send it to you tomorrow, it feels like I haven't made it in time."

Qi Yuan smiled and was about to say something when he noticed Ning Qianyu's gaze was somewhat fixed.

He then noticed that the girl's gaze was fixed on the bed.

What's on the bed?

That's the gift box we just opened, and that pair of headphones too!

For a moment, Qi Yuan's smile froze.

Ning Qianyu's gaze slowly moved, settling back on his face. Suddenly, the girl smiled and asked, "Was that given to you by Yi Yi or Meng Xue?"

Qi Yuan: "...It was given to me by Yi Yi."

"May I take a look?" Ning Qianyu asked tentatively, but seeing his somewhat embarrassed expression, she quickly changed her mind, "Never mind, never mind, it's a gift from someone else, I won't look at it. But Yi Yi is really thoughtful, she even wrapped the gift up specially."

Qi Yuan sat down on the edge of the bed, facing Ning Qianyu who was sitting on the sofa, and for a moment he actually felt a little regretful.

If I had known, I should have added a line when I made my wish: "Don't get caught up in a love triangle with girls."

The two remained silent for a while, and the atmosphere became slightly awkward.

But why is it awkward?

Ning Qianyu suddenly asked, "Does Yi Yi like you?"

Qi Yuan: "I don't know, you'd have to ask her. Besides, if giving a gift means you like someone, then you gave one too. Does that mean you like me too?"

Ning Qianyu subconsciously raised her hands and scratched her ears.

She started off in a seemingly aloof tone: "I didn't think too much about buying you the gift. I just felt that the band wouldn't be where it is today without you, so I wanted to thank you. You see, this is just ordinary camaraderie among bandmates!"