A band, or a battleground?

"Oh..." he couldn't help but groan.

Qiu Mengxue chuckled and whispered in his ear, "Yi Yi is playing bass. Her in-ear monitor can hear the sounds from the control room, so don't make a sound."

Qi Yuan: "Okay..."

From an angle he couldn't see, a mischievous smile appeared on the girl's face: "Also, you have to call me Mom."

Qi Yuan: "Huh?"

Qiu Mengxue: "That's what I call when I get a massage."

Qi Yuan: "That's because the person giving you the massage is your mom... ouch..."

Qiu Mengxue said with a mischievous smile, "Calling me 'Mom' will make the massage even more effective."

Qi Yuan: "?"

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.

175 would be even more exciting.

"Bass, get ready, first take."

Listening to the recording engineer's voice in her headphones, Jiang Yi forced herself to calm down, suppress her chaotic thoughts, and tried to focus all her attention on the bass in her hands.

After all, Qi Yuan sang for a long time, and his vocal cords must be tired... The recording engineer said he needed a massage, which is normal, isn't it?

Besides, Qiu Mengxue gave Qi Yuan a massage when she came to record last week. It was just a brief contact of ten seconds or so, what's the big deal?

But suddenly, the sound engineer's voice came through the headphones again: "The timing for the cut-in is over, why aren't you playing?"

Jiang Yi then realized that the bass drum that Ning Qianyu had recorded earlier was playing in her earphones, and the timing for the bass to come in had already passed.

All she could say was, "Sorry, this doesn't count. Let's try again."

"Okay, let's do it again for the first time. Is bass ready?"

"Ready."

Jiang Yi shook her head vigorously, trying to clear her mind of distracting thoughts, then listened intently to the drumbeats in her headphones and began to play...

She finished playing it the first time.

Then, we heard the sound engineer sigh and ask, "Would you like to hear what you just played?"

"Let me listen."

The sound engineer combined the bass and kick drum she had just played and put it into her headphones.

Jiang Yi shook her head after listening to less than half of it: "Is this what I played?"

Sound engineer: "Yes, the rhythm is unstable, and the dynamics are inconsistent, sometimes light and sometimes heavy. Are you not in good form today?"

Jiang Yi gritted her teeth and said, "This doesn't count, let's do it again!"

"Okay, bass, get ready, second take."

Then the sound of the drum kit started playing again in her headphones, and Jiang Yi timed it perfectly to begin...

And so, another full twenty minutes passed.

After listening to her fifth take, the recording engineer concluded, "Your performance today is really bad; not a single take is usable. Strange, this song doesn't require you to use slap or any other techniques; you just need to establish a steady rhythm. What's going on? Your level has dropped significantly since the last recording?"

However, Jiang Yi knew that her problem was not a decline in skill level.

She wanted to finish recording quickly and get back to the control room to see what Qiu Mengxue and Qi Yuan were doing. But the more she thought about it, the more chaotic the audio became.

So Jiang Yi gritted her teeth and said, "Can I rest for a bit?"

The recording engineer paused for a moment, then said, "Okay, then you can take a break. The bass rhythm is very important. If your track isn't ready first, the keyboard and guitar can't be recorded."

Jiang Yi: "I understand, I'll just rest for a little while."

Meanwhile, in the control room just a wall away, Qiu Mengxue was still massaging Qi Yuan.

For the first ten minutes or so, I was massaging the trapezius muscle. In the next few minutes, I started massaging other areas.

Qiu Mengxue placed her left hand on the back of his neck and her right hand on his throat. Two fingers gently pinched his Adam's apple.

Qi Yuan was still somewhat surprised: "Is this what you call a massage?"

Qiu Mengxue replied matter-of-factly, "Of course, gently massaging the Adam's apple is also part of relaxing the vocal cords. Just relax, don't talk, don't make a sound."

So Qi Yuan shut his mouth.

The girl gently pinched his Adam's apple, sometimes sliding it up and down, sometimes circling it... as if she were teasing his Adam's apple.

Suddenly, Qiu Mengxue breathed softly in his ear: "If you really want to say something, then... well, you understand. Keep your voice down, don't let the sound engineer and Yi Yi hear you."

Qi Yuan's lips twitched slightly, but he remained silent.

He knew what the girl wanted him to say—nothing more than call her "Mom." But how could the soul of a thirty-year-old office worker possibly call a teenage girl "Mom"?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Just then, Qiu Mengxue overheard the sound engineer saying to Jiang Yi and quickly whispered, "Okay, the massage is done."

Then she walked over to the sofa, sat down, and took out her phone.

The next second, Jiang Yi opened the door and walked into the control room, where she met Qi Yuan's gaze.

Jiang Yi noticed that Qi Yuan's gaze was somewhat blank.

She glanced at Qiu Mengxue again, only to see her good teammate sitting on the sofa scrolling through her phone, looking perfectly normal.

Was I just overthinking it?

Jiang Yi breathed a sigh of relief, walked to the sofa, and asked, "Mengxue, what are you looking at?"

Qiu Mengxue: "I'm looking at the trending topics on the blog."

Jiang Yi: "Qi Yuan is trending again?"

Qiu Mengxue shook her head: "How could that be? It's not that easy to get on the trending topics. Besides, I'm not looking at entertainment trending topics. I heard there's been a new breakthrough in controlled nuclear fusion, did you know?"

Jiang Yi shook her head: "I don't pay much attention to this."

Qiu Mengxue said in a serious tone, "Then you can pay attention to it. If controlled nuclear fusion really succeeds, the world's energy landscape will undergo earth-shattering changes."

“…Oh,” Jiang Yi looked at Qi Yuan and asked, “Why are you sitting there?”

Qi Yuan: "Because this chair is right here. Mengxue was giving me a massage here just now."

Jiang Yi nodded, walked around the control room twice, and seeing that Qi Yuan and Qiu Mengxue were in good condition, she returned to the recording studio and put her headphones back on.

The sound engineer asked, "You've rested enough already?"

Jiang Yi: "Okay, let's do it one more time."

A few minutes later.

The sound engineer exclaimed, "This time the effect is much better! It's ready to use right away. How come you adjusted so quickly?"

Jiang Yi smiled and said, "Maybe I just need to take a walk."

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.

Ning Qianyu and Liu Weiting boarded a plane to Shanghai.

After the plane took off, the girl stared at the scenery outside the window and remained silent for a long time.

She was thinking about how to test the waters.

Liu Weiting suddenly asked, "Are you nervous?"

“Nervous…” Ning Qianyu turned to look at her, “Why should I be nervous?”

Liu Weiting laughed and said, "Leaving your teammates to participate in a show alone, is this the first time for you?"

Ning Qianyu pursed her lips: "Not every first time is worth being nervous about. Of course, if it were Yi Yi, she would definitely be so nervous that she wouldn't know where to put her hands, but I'm different. In the end, it's just playing a murder mystery game with someone else."

Liu Weiting smiled and said, "It's good that you're not nervous. The show we're recording this time has a lot of freedom. Although the role the production team assigns you will definitely have some screen time, unlike Qi Yuan's marginal role last time, you still have to earn your own screen time through your performance."

Ning Qianyu: "Hmph, let them see what a famous detective looks like! By the way, Sister Liu, may I add a pipe?"

Liu Weiting was taken aback: "You smoke?"

The girl shook her head: "I don't smoke, but for a famous detective, adding a pipe would make the role more authentic."

Liu Weiting said, half-laughing and half-crying, "Don't mess around like that! We don't even know what role you've been assigned yet. What if you get the script and find out you're the murderer? Do you still want to be a famous detective then?"

"The murderer is a detective? That would be even more exciting!" Ning Qianyu couldn't help but laugh. "By the way, I have Sister Han's contact information in my phone. I should be able to contact her after I get off the plane, right?"

Liu Weiting: "You still want Shen Yihan to pick you up at the airport?"

Ning Qianyu smiled and said, "Of course not. I just thought that since we're going to be on a show together tomorrow anyway, it wouldn't be bad to chat with her beforehand and get to know each other better."

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.

176 Do you want tragedy?

Just as Ning Qianyu said, she called Shen Yihan as soon as the plane landed at Shanghai International Airport.

On the phone, Shen Yihan and she only chatted briefly, but agreed to have breakfast together before going on the show the next day. As for dinner, because time was too short and Shanghai was too big, it was really inconvenient to rush around.

Then, Ning Qianyu and Liu Weiting walked together in the terminal and Ning Qianyu sent a message to Jiang Yi.

I will begin probing tomorrow morning.

Jiang Yi replied almost instantly: 【During the recording of the show?】

Ning Qianyu: [We had a lot of fun during the recording of the show. I was referring to having breakfast together before the recording.]

Jiang Yi: [She agreed to eat with you?]

Ning Qianyu: [Of course. Does Minister Jiang have anything to say?]

Jiang Yi: [Your Majesty is mighty!]

Ning Qianyu looked at her phone and couldn't help but laugh. When she was being a bit childish, Jiang Yi, while not as fond of teasing as Qiu Mengxue, usually wouldn't play along like this either.

It just goes to show that having a favor to ask of someone really makes a difference.

Ning Qianyu sent another question: [How was your day in the recording studio?]

Jiang Yi: [I wasn't feeling great at first, but I got much better later. Right now, the three of us are eating noodles downstairs at the recording studio. Oh, Qi Yuan got recognized again and is taking pictures with someone.]

Ning Qianyu: [He seems so easygoing now, you'd never guess he used to be the school bully.]

Jiang Yi: [I've become mature and reliable a long time ago.]

Ning Qianyu: [Won't you and Mengxue fight while I'm gone?]

Jiang Yi: [Are you kidding me? Do you think we're that kind of people? Besides, even if you're not here, with me watching, Mengxue can't do anything to Qi Yuan even if she wanted to!]

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.

The next morning, Ning Qianyu went to a pastry shop and met up with Shen Yihan.

To avoid being recognized by too many people, Shen Yihan wore a baseball cap and sunglasses, but not a mask.

After all, we're here for breakfast.

To Ning Qianyu's surprise, the top celebrity didn't choose a high-end restaurant; the ambiance looked quite ordinary. However, once the food Shen Yihan ordered arrived, Ning Qianyu understood why they had chosen this place.

“When eating soup dumplings,” Shen Yihan said, “you have to drink the soup first, and then eat them. Look, like this, put them on a spoon, bite a small hole, and wait for the soup inside to cool down a bit before you can drink it.”

When it comes to her passion for food, Ning Qianyu believes she is second to none. So, following Shen Yihan's example, she bit a small hole in the soup dumpling and blew air into it to cool the hot soup down faster.

Then the girl took a small sip of the soup, and her eyes lit up immediately: "It tastes really good!"

Shen Yihan laughed and said, "Right? Let me tell you, I've eaten at this place's soup dumplings so many times. Because I always come to film the 'Who's the Murderer' show in the morning, and it's only a few hundred meters away from here. So I found this shop. After breakfast, I stroll over, and it's just the right time to start filming."

The two slowly drank the hot soup from the soup dumplings, and then ate the dumplings with the dipping sauce.

The soup dumplings at this shop are quite large, about the size of two steamed buns from a convenience store. So, one soup dumpling is about the right amount of breakfast for two girls.

The two drank their slightly sweet soy milk and started chatting.

Ning Qianyu, of course, hadn't forgotten the secret mission of this trip, and seemingly casually brought up a topic: "Sister Yihan, I've recently seen some things about you online. Many people are curious, you've worked with several very handsome male actors, have you ever had any on-screen romances turn into real ones?"

Shen Yihan shook her head: "No, acting is just a job. Like you, you're still a student, you have to face books and attend classes every day, would you fall in love with textbooks?"

Ning Qianyu: "The textbooks are too simplistic; it's hard to fall in love with them."