Upstairs in the room.
"So, are you coming over to have dinner with us? It just so happens that none of us have left." Xu Qingyan placed his phone on the edge of the table to keep himself in the frame while he packed his luggage.
"Who's 'us'? Who all is there?"
"Shen Jinyue, and a few people from the director's team."
Without Lin Wanzhou there, Pei Muchan sighed with relief. However, since there were other people, she couldn't talk about many topics related to her new song in front of them, so she wasn't too keen on going.
"I won't come over then, to avoid making the moon cry again." After spending so much time with someone, Pei Muchan also learned to use an excuse, she bit her lower lip, "What are your plans after leaving the island?"
"Well, didn't I tell you before?" He was a bit surprised, "To accompany my mom for her surgery, and also to visit my hometown, then to do some homework and practice transcribing music."
"And you?" He asked habitually in return.
"To record 'Qing Tian'." She opened her mouth and realized that her life seemed a bit monotonous, "Then... then write songs, and try to write one that's even better than 'Qing Tian'."
On the other end of the video call, Xu Qingyan couldn't help but smile upon hearing this. He admired her conviction and tenacity just as much as anyone who aimed to become a pop diva within three to five years.
"Okay, but I have a friend who has written another song," Xu Qingyan said as he adjusted the camera angle, apparently still packing, "I don't know if, after becoming busy again and meeting next time, there will be a chance for Teacher Pei to give some pointers."
"The friend you're talking about, it's not yourself, is it?" Pei Muchan laughed, propping herself up on the bed, her mature voice sounding sultry over the video.
"It's not, I'm telling the truth, it's my cousin." He told a roundabout joke, "But he's quite young, still wearing split-crotch pants, so he asked me to help him publish it."
Hearing this, Pei Muchan's smile did not diminish, as she gently wiggled her toes, which were hanging off the edge of the bed.
"Is it just a melody again?"
"Almost there, the sheet music will be ready in half a month." He chatted casually while continuing to pack, "I've already written the lyrics, would you like to hear them in advance?"
"Sure, I'm listening."
"Cough cough--" Xu Qingyan put down the bag he was holding and stood in front of the camera to take a couple of deep breaths, "Let yesterday be null and void~ Now that you are before my eyes, I want to love, please give me a chance."
Pei Muchan lay on the bed, holding her breath, as a clear male voice resonated in the dimly lit room. The phone had good sound reception; she could sense the grainy texture as Xu Qingyan's voice rolled through the air.
Stunned into silence, Pei Muchan's pupils contracted the moment the song entered her ears. It felt like drinking an ice-cold cola on a scorching summer day, a soul quenching haze on a quiet afternoon.
The singing abruptly stopped, just as it had when he'd sung "Qing Tian" before.
Short, too short.
Her thoughts remained with the song, lingering on the line "I want to love, please give me a chance," and then... then there was no after, like a line from a poem that naturally comes to a halt.
The phone's perspective in the video had changed, seemingly held in Xu Qingyan's hands, and all Pei Muchan could see from the phone's screen was the ceiling.
The breathing grew moist, and suddenly the other side went quiet.
Pei: ?????
"Xu Qingyan..." she ventured a tentative inquiry.
Only silence greeted her, and Pei Muchan suddenly felt nervous, her heart shrinking to the size of a fist. She asked again, but still received no response.
She began imagining things without any reason, thinking about those words he said "I want to love, please give me a chance," as though a hole had been seared into her heart.
He couldn't be...waiting for me to answer, could he?
Sometimes, people's minds just short-circuit like that, spouting all sorts of random thoughts for no reason. If it's something delicate, it's like vines climbing over wild walls; if it's something nasty, it's like rain battering banana leaves.
"What's wrong?" He finally made a sound.
"That's it? Just one line?" Pei Muchan asked.
"Finished singing, didn't I? I sang for almost a minute, ah? Didn't you hear just now?" Xu Qingyan asked with a puzzled face, "Is your phone lagging, or is there a problem with the speaker?"
Pei Muchan: "...."
Singing just one line is just one line, what's the big deal.
"Hey, why do you always only show half of your face?" he suddenly leaned in close to the camera, curiously asking, "Why don't you show the other side, is it because you didn't put makeup on that side?"
Pei Muchan was amused to laughter, "I'm not showing it to you."
He was about to answer when suddenly a thundering horn blast interrupted him. Both of them turned their heads to find the ferry that connected the island with the mainland signaling its docking with a loud horn.
Following suit, the cars behind honked almost in unison, urging Xu Qingyan to move the car forward. With a slight frown, he could only follow the signals, slowly driving the car onto the ferry.
In the gap between boarding, with one hand on the steering wheel, he casually replied.
"The song title is..."
""Partiality"."
Pei Muchan's gaze had been parallel with the view ahead, her breathing even. But upon hearing the name "Partiality," she couldn't resist glancing his way.
She wanted to say something, but somehow couldn't find the words.
The ferry, like a beast with its jaws wide open, swallowed dozens of cars into its belly. All the cars were neatly arranged inside the ferry's hold.
Once docked, the outermost cars began to leave one by one, and Xu Qingyan also flowed out with the traffic. Taking the ring road, he raced towards the airport.
Along the way, they chatted casually, neither Pei Muchan nor Xu Qingyan being very talkative in the car. Often, one would say something and it would take the other five minutes to respond.
Upon arriving at the airport, Xu Qingyan lugged the luggage for check-in, with Pei Muchan following until the two had to part ways at the security checkpoint.
"No need to say goodbye; let's keep in touch," she turned around and said earnestly.
This may have been the most genuine and appropriate farewell she could think of. Whether they would meet again in the future... her intuition told her it was very likely.
But such expectations, when vocalized, seem to lose their magic. When people yearn for something, to preempt disappointment, they often settle for a compromise.
"Alright, let's keep in touch," Xu Qingyan smiled, then pulled something out from behind him, "I saw you were feeling down earlier, so I got you something."
"What is it?"
"It's nothing fancy, just a very ordinary thing." He seemed a bit embarrassed, handing a not-too-big, not-too-small box to Pei Muchan, "Look at it on the plane. It's so ordinary I'd be embarrassed if you opened it right now."
She hesitated for a moment, then smiled with pursed lips.
"Thanks."
....
When he got back to the Love Cabin, it was already half past twelve noon. The journey there was not too far, and his luck was good—catching the last ferry of the noon.
The wrap-up banquet was still going on, likely having just started not long ago.
He asked Zhou Mian for a seat and hurried over by car. On the way back to the island, he thought about the gift he had given to Pei Muchan and felt particularly guilty about it.
It was something he had managed to snag from Zhou Mian, two identical plush toys. Although they looked small, he had heard they were not cheap, costing over a thousand each.
Zhou Mian had told him that the prop team bought them to balance the accounts, and the price was somewhat inflated, but the market price itself was indeed not low.
With the filming over, Zhou Mian noticed Xu Qingyan eyeing those two unopened plush toys. Considering they weren't really valuable, he simply wrapped them up and gave them to him.
Who knew it would be so coincidental? When saying goodbye to Lin Wanzhou, the atmosphere called for a parting gift, and he felt it wouldn't be right to leave without giving something.
So, he turned around and handed one of the plush toys to Lin Wanzhou.
As for the other plush toy, he had originally planned to wrap it up and take it home with him. But coincidentally, after video chatting with Pei Muchan and noticing she was in a bad mood, he decided to cheer her up.
Having given one away, it wouldn't make sense not to give the other. With no time to prepare anything else, he wrestled with the idea all the way to the airport and, in the end, somewhat reluctantly gave it away with his eyes closed.
It didn't matter; it was just a plush toy after all.
Parking outside the hotel, Xu Qingyan asked for directions and finally found the director's private room, where several tables were filled with people.
"Brother Xu, over here!" Zhou Mian waved to Xu Qingyan.
Xu Qingyan glanced around and noticed that Shen Jinyue was also there, eating with gusto.
"Okay."
After taking a seat, Shen Jinyue turned to glimpse at Xu Qingyan, her plastic gloves smeared with red oil. Without hesitation, she almost wiped it on him.
"Are Sister Zhouzhou and Sister Muchan not coming?"
"Yeah." Xu Qingyan slapped her dirty hand away, "Don't wipe that on me."