Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

"What I miss is the absolute scorching heat....."

At six o'clock on a summer day, the narrow eaves of Bei Huai Chang Street had hidden the already dim sky, casting a large area of shadow over the entrance of the "Yunyan" shop.

The two of them stood at the entrance of the shop, not leaving, standing in that shadow, listening to the song and smiling at each other when it was halfway through.

Then they leisurely turned around and walked toward the exit of the long street, chatting in low voices side by side.

"What a coincidence," he said.

"It must have been picked for the new song launch campaign, just not sure which music app the boss is using," Lin Wanzhou said, her lips pursed, unable to hide her excitement.

"What is a new song launch? Is that like a recommendation?"

"Yes, there was no recommendation for releasing songs on all platforms originally; Sister Yun fought for this. It must be a major push on the homepage, but I'm not sure which app it is."

"The edited version doesn't seem to be much better than the original recording; there's not much difference."

"There is a difference!"

"Where? Why don't you sing it then?"

Biting her lip and appearing somewhat embarrassed, but unable to withstand the gaze coming her way, she whispered, "Ahem, whoever wants to take my heart, whoever forgets, that's a promise..."

Her voice was young, crisp, and melodious, with a hint of breathiness and a rustling vibrato. Her figure swayed gently, she seemed like a girl whose heart was just beginning to stir, without a trace of sorrow.

Xu Qingyan laughed, unable to hold back, "You didn't sing like that in the recording studio. How did you get so emotionally involved?"

"Of course, there's a special way, but I can't say."

The sky grew dark, and the decrepit street seemed to stretch longer and longer. As the bustle of the summer slowly subsided, their shadows elongated bit by bit, sliding over the white-grey pavement.

The shop owner, lying in his chair, listened to the lyrics from the speakers, his gaze dazed, silently pulling out his phone.

The song echoed down the silent long street, stretching and dissipating, echoing for a long time.

"Who understands how reluctant I am, I've loved too much, therefore I, didn't cry, didn't speak."

....

Pei Muchan sat in the office, blasting the air conditioning, with the song "What I miss" playing on the computer. From the moment Lin Wanzhou's voice started, she was amazed until the end.

As she listened, she gradually fell silent, biting her fingernails and staring as the progress bar reached the end.

This song... it was perfect for her to sing!

What was Xu Qingyan thinking, having this song in his head, why didn't he write it first?

No no no, maybe he hadn't figured it out at that time, and then later perfected it in his mind.

Sigh!

She exhaled deeply, the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt. The more she listened, the more it felt like ants crawling on her, and she lay sprawled on the desk, heaving sigh after sigh, wishing the song were hers.

With no one else in the office, she began to let go.

One moment she leaned back in her chair sighing, the next she began pacing back and forth in the office. Thinking of Xu Qingyan and Lin Wanzhou together at that very moment made her even angrier.

Standing in the middle of the office, she brooded for a while, then suddenly caught sight of Xu Qingyan's belongings, neatly placed in a small storage box. Everything was in order.

Including some small ornaments, which were also neatly placed in the storage box, with no intention of being displayed. He was only supposed to be gone for a bit, yet his laptop had already been packed away.

She watched for a while, slightly stunned.

If Xu Qingyan wanted to leave, he would just need to pick up his laptop bag and carry the box out. He wouldn't need to pack anything, he could just walk out the door and downstairs and leave.

Pei Muchan remembered her childhood; her father's suitcase was always tidy, sitting in a corner of the room, his clothes folded neatly – back then she didn't understand.

He was only supposed to be out having fun for a while, but when she returned home, her father had disappeared, along with his neat suitcase, as if he had never been there.

Since then, no matter how much she liked things to be neat, she would always put some lifestyle items out.

But now, seeing Xu Qingyan's belongings, she felt somewhat displeased. She wanted to mess things up, take everything out, but then she felt that would be impolite.

So...

Ding dong.

Xu Qingyan was squatting by the roadside playing with his phone, while Lin Wanzhou was queuing up at a nearby stall to buy octopus balls.

He had offered to treat her, but Lin Wanzhou insisted on buying snacks to thank him because of the new song, and she wouldn't take no for an answer. So, given that nothing at the stall was too expensive, he just agreed.

If Lin Wanzhou's fans spotted them, they'd probably want to kill Xu Qingyan. He had thought this guy was trying to grab attention and hype things up, but it turns out he was just being himself, wasn't he?

A WeChat message suddenly popped up on his phone from Pei Muchan, with just one image – a picture of a new desk – followed by a message.

"We got a new desk at the studio. Do you want to put your stuff out?"

"Oh, it's fine, I'll do it myself when I'm back." Xu Qingyan scratched his face, wondering where this desk came from; the studio was only so big, and he hadn't seen any new desk.

"I'm free now."

"Uh... would you mind setting it up for me?" he asked tentatively, "If you're free, maybe you could do it now?"

"Sure."

After that message, there was no further response from the other side.

As he was feeling uneasy, she suddenly sent another message: "By the way, where did you guys go? I've listened to the new song, the quality of the lyrics and music is very high."

Reading Pei Muchan's message, he didn't know how to respond.

The lyrics and music were good, but the singing not so much? Quite a grudge-holder.

The tension between them seemed to be deepening by the day; it hadn't been this apparent during the reality show. Right, had the second episode of the show aired yet? He couldn't remember the date.

"Nowhere in particular, just wandering around." Xu Qingyan didn't know what he was replying to; he vaguely answered a few questions, rather than saying he was strolling through the night market with Lin Wanzhou.