CH 61.1

In the noisy KTV, colorful lights flowed and noisy lights flickered on everyone’s faces.

Singing flowed everyone. In the midst of the roaring crowd, a pair of colleagues who just established a relationship sang a love song side by side, adding an extra touch of joy to today’s already high atmosphere.

A project that had fallen into a difficult bottleneck period had made breakthroughs so the director waved his hand and gave everyone who had been busy for a long time two days off. This party was also from approved funds.

Almost everyone was excited and took advantage of the alcohol to make a fuss. The spacious private room was noisy except for one corner that seemed exceptionally quiet.

The outstanding looking man had a cold expression as he sat at the edge of the crowd. He wasn’t singing or drinking. He seemed to be thinking about his own business.

A colleague who was relatively familiar with him took the initiative to lean over and persuade him, “Brother Lu, don’t think about the project. Let’s talk about it tomorrow. You should order a song!”

Lu Siyi shook his head. “You guys play.”

He wasn’t interested in such a party but all the colleagues from the project team had come today. It wasn’t good for him to refuse.

In any case, the noisy environment wouldn’t disturb his thoughts. Maybe it could bring inspiration.

Hearing this, his colleagues were no longer reluctant.

No one was perfect. Geniuses with super-high IQ tended to often be strange in other areas.

Compared with the negative EQ colleagues in the project team next door who could make people angry just by talking, the cold and not very sociable Lu Siyi was already very normal.

But everyone would inevitably be curious. For such a person who pretended to only have scientific research projects in his heart, would there be a sudden change one day?

Almost everyone in this high-level, state-owned research institute was smart but few were good-looking.

So Lu Siyi created a sensation after he graduated and entered the institute. Single young colleagues and leaders with single juniors of the right age took action.

As a result, none of them succeeded and they all had to go back. This newcomer only had projects and subjects in his eyes.

The colleague sitting next to him looked at the couple singing in the center of the private room and couldn’t help joking, “Brother Lu, when are you going to be in a relationship with someone? Research romances are also very romantic.”

Lu Siyi heard his words but didn’t respond.

In his life, there was never an option of love.

He had more important things to do.

His gaze passed over the couple holding hands and through the music floating in the blurred air as he concentrated on the next stage of his research.

The regulation accuracy of neural signals, the further repair of motion perception, the effective bandwidth of brain-computer interfaces…

His thoughts weren’t interrupted until the love song due ended and the next song appeared on the screen.

In the midst of the simple and melodious accompaniment, a young man with a guitar appeared on the screen. He wore a pair of glasses and looked casual like he was singing on the street, but the audience was full of spectators waving fluorescent sticks.

The singer’s name was Duan Luo.

The colleague who ordered this song took the microphone and sighed emotionally, “It is actually the MV of this solo concert. This is the most classic version. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of him at that time and didn’t go to the scene. However, it was said that the tickets were super difficult to grab.”

“Is this Duan Luo? I didn’t even recognize him. He used to wear glasses and looked like a good passerby.”

“What passerby? This is the first solo concert when he just came back a few years ago. It is normal for him to look young.”

Lu Siyi listened to the laughter and chatter of his colleagues and was rarely shaken.

He seemed to have an impression of this name and this solo concert.

He thought for a while and finally found a long-ago fragment in a corner of his memory.

His colleague said that tickets were difficult to grab but he somehow won tickets for this solo concert from a bar owner.

Thinking of this, Lu Siyi took out his phone and confirmed this matter.

He wasn’t mistaken.

This was even though he had never participated in a draw at all and didn’t know why he had won.

Therefore, Lu Siyi didn’t accept it at the time.

He wiped through the not-so-long chat history and some dusty memories came up.

Lu Siyi never deleted this bar owner who was added accidentally a long time ago.

Maybe it was due to that wrong message.

[SCA Bar-Wang: Mom, Jianshe Road is closed for construction recently and it has been dug into a mess. You always buy vegetables early. Don’t try to save trouble and take that road. Buy me some snacks, okay?]

What followed was a string of explanations for sending the wrong message and dizzying apology emojis.

At the end of the chat between the two of them, there was a reply from Lu Siyi: It’s okay, thank you.

After receiving the message that day, Lu Siyi called his mother and told her to go another way. She shouldn’t pass through the construction road that she usually took when visiting her husband who was in a vegetative state at the hospital.

His mother was very happy to receive his call and asked him when he was free to go home for dinner.

In fact, Lu Siyi hadn’t finished his school work but he said: Tomorrow.

The next day, he stayed in the laboratory from early morning to evening. After finally completing the scheduled progress, he set off to go home.

For some reason, he took a detour on the way and purposely passed by the road mentioned by the stranger.

Lu Siyi found that there was no closure due to construction and the road wasn’t dug into a mess. There was only some scaffolding erected next to a certain building.

In the message that the bar owner sent to the wrong person, the content of the message itself was wrong.

If it was logically inferred, the message sent to the bar owner’s mother shouldn’t be accidentally sent to a bar guest whose last chat was a long time ago.

However, Lu Siyi didn’t click on the chat box again.

Instead of asking, he returned home in silence and had dinner with his mother, who had cooked a good meal.

Ever since he was forced to go to the bar by his classmates to watch a horror movie, his regular and monotonous life seemed to have stepped into unknown chaos and he often encountered some unexpected episodes.

But the moment when he walked through Jianshe Road, he somehow felt that these episodes would end here.

In the days that followed, Lu Siyi didn’t receive any strange new information.

There was an intuition that couldn’t be explained with science.

He also wasn’t prepared to delve any further, so he let these things fade away with time.

It was because he also had an intuition that the bar owner wouldn’t give an explanation that would really convince him.

Lu Siyi was a researcher who believed in science but he occasionally entrusted his faith to idealistic thoughts.

After all, his work was to combine the mysterious human brain with information technology to bring new insights to those with impaired neurological function.

Even the end of science was often the chaos of nothingness.

Lu Siyi knew that he was an extremely stubborn person but he actually let go of this unsolved puzzle. He let the chaos of unknown origin float into his life and then fly away quietly like a butterfly.

People always changed.

It was like how he would no longer take out a pen and paper in a celebratory crowd and calculate complicated formulas, out of place with others around him.

Now he would do it in his mind and have a freedom that couldn’t be disturbed by anyone.

It was just that at certain moments, Lu Siyi would think of a clipboard that was handed to him for no reason.

He had almost forgotten the face of the other person and wasn’t quite sure of the names exchanged, but he clearly remembered the unconcealed emotions in those clear eyes.

They didn’t contain the surprise, admiration or disdain that he was more used to. The man smiled as if he was simply amused.

The time for the song ended and the hazy memory disappeared into the dimly lit night.

Lu Siyi withdrew from his rambling thoughts and started thinking again about what he cared about most.

The screen gradually turned black and flowed into the next song.

At the annual music festival, the climactic clips of the songs participating in the final competition were played.

The camera lens faced the singers in their seats one by one, sweeping over the calm or smiling faces.

The award presenter held the envelope and deliberately raised his tone. “The winner of the Best Song of the Year Award—”

This was an award with little suspense.

Many people had already looked at the young male singer who had gained the most momentum in the past two years.

In the next second, the results were finally announced and Duan Ruo stood up amidst the overwhelming applause.

There was still a bit of shyness in his smile.

It was innate shyness, not nervousness.

After witnessing the wedding that indirectly changed his destiny, Duan Ruo once wanted to be a free and self-assured person.

Then fate treated him generously after several years of unwilling silence and he quickly became very popular. His journey went smoothly.

He sang songs written by himself and no longer needed to run around to make a living. He didn’t need to chase and imitate trends and lived with ease. He was lucky enough to get a lot of recognition.

The resentment and anger that once accumulated in his heart were subconsciously dissipated in these thankful encounters and the sincere and warm love of many fans.

It drifted away like smoke. Due to this, he had softer freedom.

It wasn’t so much like the person he had longed to be, but more like himself.

Duan Ruo walked naturally up to the podium, received the flowers and trophy, exchanged pleasantries with the award presenters and gave a simple speech.

As he held the microphone, he saw the cameras of the media in the audience flashing frequently. The guests looked not only at him but also the other nominated singer who had just been caught on camera.

The other person’s expression looked calm with polite blessings on his face, but he instinctively avoided these prying eyes.

Duan Ruo and this competitor both knew that the most anticipated part of this music festival wasn’t who the award would go to, but the narrow road the two of them would meet on.

In fact, he didn’t have any personal grudges with this singer.

The grudges came from the company behind the other person.

The boss of that company was the one who had once signed a trap contract with the naive and ignorant Duan Ruo, stripping him of the name that belonged to him so that he couldn’t continue singing for a long time.

It was the old partner he had trusted and hated.

Now that time had passed. Duan Ruo won the lawsuit, regained his name and continued to sing with the stage name that sounded more neat and powerful. His star path was smooth and popular.

Meanwhile, the company that was once very popular in the industry had been constantly slipping in influence and was ridiculed. This competitor who failed to win over him was the last hope of that company.

The sudden reversal of two fates was dramatically condensed in this brightly lit night.

Duan Ruo knew what type of acceptance speech the onlookers wanted to hear from him and what type of fierce headlines the media preferred.

But he didn’t want to do that.

Right now, he cared more about this fragrant and beautiful bouquet of flowers in his arms.

“I have a lot of people I want to thank and I want to thank myself.”

Under the spotlight, Duan Ruo smelled the fragrance of the flowers and his tone was as soft as ever.

“In the same way, I have some people whom I have hated and I have hated myself.”

He gave a short acceptance speech but it was particularly unexpected.

“But hate is left for yesterday. I already have a freer future.”

Then he held the flowers and trophy and gently bowed to the people sitting in front of the stage and the TV.

He concluded, “Thank you to everyone who liked this song. Thank you.”

Love and hat burned out. The ending of the story was always silent.

He didn’t want to hate any longer. It wasn’t that he forgave. He just let it stay in yesterday.

It was time to start a new story.

After a brief silence, the room erupted into more enthusiastic applause than before.

Duan Ruo calmly walked off the stage in the midst of the noise.

His eyes swept over the magnificent venue and he consciously looked at the seats specially reserved for the senior management of certain companies.

Chi Xueyan and He Qiao had received invitations but didn’t come. They rarely attended such events unless the event itself was fun.

Duan Ruo had long known this but he still felt some regret.

He wished they were sitting here and heard his thanks.

When he was unknown, Wanjia Media gave him a free and generous long-term contract. He no longer had to worry about his livelihood and could easily write his favorite songs due to this generous appreciation.

That huge advertisement brought him back into the audience’s field of view and many more advertisements followed.

In the following days, Duan Ruo became more and more popular but he hadn’t forgotten this kindness and always cooperated with this group with his original attitude.

He thought this and nodded to the person sitting at the table.

Among the executives attending on behalf of Wanjia Media tonight, the one in the center was He Xiao, the company’s former president.

Through the gazes of countless strange faces, Duan Ruo saw the man in the suit and leather shoes also slightly nodded at him.

In the past few years, Duan Ruo occasionally intersected with him but there had been few conversations.

After He Huaili retired, He Xiao became busier and he seldom had any contact with the company’s specific work. He knew countless superstars and celebrities and should have no impression of a small singer.

However, Duan Ruo had a deep impression of him.

At the grand wedding of a wealthy family a few years ago, Duan Ruo had been in charge of communicating with the live band, not among the friends and family.

Duan Ruo stood outside the crowd and looked at the wanton figure in the center of the crowd with envious eyes. He also looked at the guests with curious eyes, many of whom he had only seen on TV and on the news.

Among these people who looked glamorous and rich, he accidentally saw an envious look that shouldn’t appear.

Before the public vows and rings exchange began, the two grooms stayed with their parents. One of them seemed to be telling jokes and even the two stern-looking fathers couldn’t help smiling.

The two mothers with different temperaments were even happier. Their smiles were full of bright joy.

The loving parents stared at their sons who were about to get married and it seemed like the happiest sight in the world.

Duan Ruo stood outside the crowd and like many guests, he smiled at the scene.

This was until his eyes inadvertently looked over the crowd and he found that the gentle-looking best man was also looking there with similar eyes.

It was the envious gaze of an outsider.

Duan Ruo remembered that fleeting look for a long time.

At first, he felt confused. Later, he learned that He Huaili’s current wife wasn’t He Xiao’s biological mother.

His biological mother died many years ago, although he seemed to have a good relationship with his family.

However, what was He Xiao thinking in his heart at the moment when he stood outside the crowd and looked at them?

Every time Duan Ruo met the other person, he couldn’t help thinking about this question, even though he never saw this side of He Xiao again.

However, their relationship was so distant that he didn’t have the opportunity to ask.

Perhaps later.