CH 3

In the past few days, Zhu Luo has been preoccupied.

He and the entire orchestra were preparing for the upcoming concert, rehearsing for hours every day, and their performance was better than it had ever been before.

As a veritable musical genius, as long as he stood on stage and stroked the strings of his violin, he would immediately be able to immerse himself in the world of music.

But once he stepped off the stage, his troubles would surround him once more.

Today, after yet another rehearsal, the staff gathered around him, eager to shower him with praise. 

“Mr. Zhu is indeed a talented violinist. At the age of ten,  he won the championship of the juvenile group of Asian International Youth Violin Competition. The sound today was wonderful, I was truly fortunate to have been here to hear it.”

“I know, even at the age of eighteen, he won first place in the Yuye Music Festival in China and was even invited to study abroad by the Ansiliton Conservatory of Music, but declined to return to China instead.”

“You’re only twenty-two years old this year and have already cooperated with so many international symphony orchestras, you’re a very promising young man.”

“You’re so handsome and have superb skills, Mr. Zhu, did you know that your name has begun to spread around? Everyone calls you the prince of the violin!”

Hearing the now familiar words of flattery, Zhu Luo just smiled.

He had heard many such compliments throughout his career, and they no longer flustered him. Rather, it felt natural that he was fawned on each time.

At this time, a young girl from the staff came over to hand him a bottle of mineral water, “Mr. Zhu, are you tired from rehearsal?”

“Was my performance that bad?”

The girl quickly waved her hands in denial, “No, no, that’s not it! You were as wonderful as always, but when you got off the stage, you felt a little…is something on your mind?”

The girl was a young helper often seen around the theatre; he had heard others refer to her as Xiao He. She was in charge of some common chores and sometimes went out of her way to deliver water and towels to the musicians between rehearsals. Such a busy little bee; everyone liked her very much.

It was Zhu Luo’s first time working with the Provincial Symphony Orchestra that he was performing with this time for the charity concert, and he had only had a few brief encounters with her.

His expression was tangled as he hesitated to voice his thoughts, “Xiao He, I have a question; I don’t know if I can ask you….”

“What is it?”

“If…If someone around you secretly collects your things, what would you think it meant?”

The girl frowned with concern, “Is someone secretly collecting your things? If this person isn’t your fan, they’re definitely a pervert!” Her almond eyes filled with concern, “Mr. Zhu, you’re not thinking of meeting with this person, are you?

“He’s not a pervert….”

Xiao He’s expression was solemn, “Mr. Zhu, if you really have a stalker like this, you need to report it to the police! People like that can be dangerous!”

“Ah, no. It’s not that serious…this was just hypothetical.” Realising that he had said too much, Zhu Luo changed the subject instead, “Could you get me a ticket for the concert? With good seating preferably.”

“Are you giving it away?”

“Well,” Zhu Luo was conflicted as he thought of Yu Le, but as if to make amends, he still explained, “I have a childhood friend that I used to be quite close to. I would like it if he could come to this concert…that’s all.”

“Of course!” Xiao He showed a bright smile as she understood, “Leave it to me! I’ll get you a ticket right away!”

Finished with rehearsal, the next day, Zhu Luo decided to visit Yu Le and give him the tickets.

He hadn’t yet figured out how to face his friend of so many years and was anxious to confirm his status with him, but still had the slightest worry that Yu Le would disappear without a word if he approached incorrectly.

Holding the ticket tightly, he knocked on the door of Yu Le’s small rental.

“Why are you here?” Yu Le frowned with annoyance as soon as he saw Zhu Luo.

“I can’t visit?” Zhu Luo’s tone was a bit taken aback as he handed the ticket grasped between two fingers over, “I thought I’d give your ticket to you personally.” He stepped into the room on his own, ignoring Yu Le, who stood blocking him to the best of his ability.

The layout of the room had changed a lot, most of the familiar items having been rearranged already.

Compared with before, it was much simpler now…and a lot less personable. Looking around, one was hardly able to glean anything about the inhabitant with a glance.

Bowing his head apologetically, Yu Le pointedly did not receive the ticket, “I’m sorry, I might not be able to go to this concert….”

Zhu Luo’s expression paused, and he turned to look at him, “Why?”

Because I don’t want to see you.

To him, Zhu Luo was a ticking time bomb, stirring up the emotions left by the original owner as he wished. Even if he wanted to stay away, he would be unable to refuse without much effort.

He thought so, but he really couldn’t say it and just lowered his eyes to bore holes into the ground as they stood in silence.

This gave Yu Le the appearance of an old clam, refusing to share even a word with others.

Zhu Luo became more and more irritable.

Yu Le was very strange recently, but he had never thought he would reject him…Or maybe he had and had just brushed it aside instead. 

But now, with the hammer falling down so surely, it hit him in the chest, and Zhu Luo exploded, “A Yu, what’s the matter with you recently? Why don’t you want to come to my concert?!”

And those things you collected, why did you have them? And why did you throw them all away?!

The questions rising to his lips were pressed back down before they left.

“I’m sorry…”

“Why are you always apologising?!”

“I…I’m really sorry…”

As Yu Le fell silent again, a quickly recurring theme between the two of them, Zhu Luo became even more angry.

In the awkward and restless atmosphere, Yu Le suddenly remembered something.

In the original novel, the CEO Huo Annong fell in love with Zhu Luo at first sight at this concert.

Yu Le didn’t know if the plot would require him to walk the same life as the body he had woken up in, but he did know that this concert was a monumental event for both of the protagonists- and thus him.

To ensure that the main gong and shou manage to get together smoothly, this concert must go as planned!

Only once they are together will the plot end so that he can live freely. Even if he had to live as if he were dead for this duration of his life, it would be worth it to never be bound by the plot again.

He can’t miss this concert, he has to go.

So he compromised and bowed his head deeper to Zhu Luo, “I’m sorry…I will go to the concert.” He tried to save the earlier conflict, “Zhu Luo, you…don’t be angry, okay?”

“Who’s angry? I’m not angry!” It still would have been fine if he hadn’t said anything, but once he did, his face exploded. With bright red cheeks, he threw the small paper ticket at Yu Le’s face, “Come or not, I don’t care!”

Having finished what he had come to do, he left the room with a bang and slammed the door behind him.

Yu Le stood there in a daze.

Wasn’t the Zhu Luo in the original book a cool beauty? Why was he so constantly flustered with him?

He frowned and looked at the ticket that had fallen on the floor. He felt wronged, but eventually had no choice but to slowly squat down and pick it up from where it lay.

A few days before the concert, Yu Le sat in front of the computer, familiarising himself with the various social accounts and documents that the original owner had left.

But the private life of the original owner was very dull. Apart from the computer itself, which could be sold for money, there was absolutely nothing useful to be seen.

As for the many accounts, he also had to set aside some time to clean them up.

Just as he was about to turn off the computer, a message popped up on the screen.

Taking a look, it seemed to be from a niche chatting software called Jiali. However, the icon was nowhere to be found on the desktop and he didn’t inherit any memory of it from the original owner.

What was it?

Clicking on the chat box, he sat up straight when he saw the username noted as [rich and young].

The original owner may not have any memory of who this was, but Yu Le knew! He had read the original work, and this username was seriously involved with some of the vicious plots the sub personality had arranged.

The sub personality had appeared early on in the plot, but in order to seize control of the body always operated in secret. He only worked when the original owner was sleeping at night, so that he didn’t realise he was back.

Under the author’s deliberate arrangement, the sub personality had met Huo Annong, the main gong, on the internet still in the beginning of the plot. The two quickly became close and chatted often, leaving less time in either of their schedules for Zhu Luo. In return, Zhu Luo, who didn’t know the truth, became increasingly disappointed in his friends.

It turned out that the sub personality had hooked the boss using Jiali!

Yu Le instantly became excited.

[rich and young: I haven’t seen you online recently, have you been busy with something?]

Yu Le began to type his response.

[vice-captain: Yeah, I’ve been extremely busy recently. An emergency came up in my three-dimensional world, and I had to deal with it.]

[rich and young: three dimensional?]

[vice-captain: To be honest, I was actually killed in real life. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to change my name. I will be known as ‘vice-captain is dead’ in the future.]

[rich and young: Did you stay up playing games with one hand again? You know that’s not good for your kidneys, right?]

[vice-captain: No! I’m serious! Serious.jpg]

Reaching this point in the conversation, Yu Le stopped responding to him and went to click on Jiali’s profile interface to change his account nickname to [vice-captain is dead].

At the same time, he changed the note on [rich and young] to [overbearing president].

[overbearing president: Okay, okay, I know you are serious.]

[overbearing president: So, have you been resurrected now?]

[vice-president is dead: Don’t worry. I have come back to life with full health and will do my best to work as a suitable replacement for ‘vice-captain’.]

Yu Le felt that their playful banter had about reached its end and began to work towards his main point instead.

[vice-president is dead: By the way, have you heard of that talented musician? Zhu Luo?]

[vice-president is dead: He has become really popular recently; I’m sure you’ve heard his name at least. I plan on going to his next concert! He has been recognized as such a genius on the violin that if someone hears him play once, they will never be able to listen to another’s music again. Isn’t that amazing?]

[overbearing president:…]

[overbearing president: Sorry, I’ve never heard of him.]

Yu Le was stopped speechless.

[vice-president is dead: And you’re not curious about him at all?]

[overbearing president: No, rather, why do you care so much about him? Didn’t you say before that you hate the violin the most?]

Yu Le realised his mistake. The main personality loved Zhu Luo so much; of course, the sub personality would hate anyone and anything that reminded him of him. And that includes violin music.

Thinking a bit, his fingers clattered on the keyboard once more.

[vice-president is dead: Who knows? Maybe it’s fate. Maybe one day, you’ll hear Zhu Luo’s music too and fall in love after listening~]

[overbearing president: What a pity, I’ve never believed in fate.]

Looking at these words, Yu Le could imagine the other showing a casual smile as they stared at the screen.

He could even vividly imagine the three points of arrogance, three points of disdain, and remaining four points of indifference that made up his expression.

Snorting, he stopped typing, and the conversation ended there.

The day of the concert soon arrived. Arriving at the concert venue with his ticket, Yu Le was wearing a loose T-shirt and jeans as he walked casually.

The ticket inspector’s eyes lingered on him a bit longer than the others as he passed by.

He instantly noticed what was wrong.

But now, it was too late to go back and change clothes, so he could only bite the bullet and keep his head down.

Having entered the area, he discovered that the seats corresponding with his ticket were in a large section of space with a comfortable vantage point. It turned out that the tickets Zhu Luo gave him were indeed high-end VIP seats and not just fancy on the surface.

When asking Xiao He for the ticket, Zhu Luo had only said that he hoped the seat would be better, but the cute little girl was perceptive enough and naturally ordered the best one for him.

In his jeans and shirt, Yu Le stuck out like a black sheep in the group of guests wearing suits and leather shoes.

Reaching his seat quickly with the help of some friendly staff, he layered his face thicker and began to look around.

Of course, he was looking for the second protagonist of the novel, the domineering president Huo Annong.

He remembered the exact description of Huo Annong’s appearance in the novel:

“His facial contours are extremely sharp as if he had been chiselled out of stone, but with a closer look, one will find that his nose and Adam’s apple do not lose in any way. His eyes seem to be swords, their black sheen adding to his predatory light as if the abyss is contained in them.”

He was simply said to be the typical overlord.

Gazing around the hall for a similar man, no one caught his eye. The lights were dim in the first place as the orchestra prepared, and at first glance, all he could see was the outline of heads and the occasional shoulder.

Nonetheless, he continues to scan for the legendary CEO.

At this moment, a man suddenly sat down in the empty seat next to Yu Le. Without looking directly at his face, he asked, “Do you know someone who is extremely handsome with a straight nose and a large Adam’s apple? A very ‘capable’ man?” He paused slightly before adding, “He should be the boss of a company now and is twenty-four years old; his name is Huo Annong.”

The slender man next to him raised his eyebrows, “Why are you looking for him?”

Surprised to find that the bystander who had sat by him exuded such a strong aura, Yu Le shook his head slightly before explaining, “I’ve admired Huo Annong for a long time and heard that he also came to this concert. I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to meet him.”

The man laughed, a sound tinged with condescension, “What’s your name?”

“My name is Yu Le,” he answered casually without much thought.

The man’s expression was dark under the weak light as he leaned into Yu Le’s ear and whispered with a low voice, “Slut, do you think my nose is straight enough? My Adam’s apple big enough? My bed capable enough?”

Ah?

Slut!

He was being regarded as a slut that wanted to climb into his bed?!

Yu Le finally turned to pay attention to his neighbour, and a strange idea popped into his head as he met the others’ disgust-filled eyes.

His eyes drifted away as he sat, unable to stand the harsh gaze, “…I’m sorry, Mr. Huo, I was taking liberties.”

The author has something to say:

Yu Le: Embarrassed, I want to find a crack in the ground to hide in!

Hi everyone, I have exciting news! I have a new editor/proofreader!

An Zheee has offered to help me proofread each chapter and will be helping with each of them going forward, so hopefully there will be many less mistakes for you all to bear.

I hope you enjoy the novel~