Chapter 64
Jiang Ruzhi’s concerts were getting bigger every year. She released a new album every year, and her singing skills and emotions improved year after year. The stage design and styling were also very meticulous. After seeing one, you would want to see another.
The new album released at the beginning of this year was incredibly ethereal. Whether it was the melody or the lyrical concept, it was top-notch. The fan-cams from her previous concerts had millions of views and reposts. Everyone was looking forward to hearing the live version.
At this moment, this highly anticipated superstar was sitting backstage, her legs crossed, gossiping enthusiastically with the two people in front of her.
“What’s the meaning of this? You’re going public? So bold.” Jiang Ruzhi had seen the matching rings on their hands at a glance.
“You can interpret it as going public. Some people will interpret it as the rings looking nice, that we have a good relationship, so we’re just wearing them casually.”
“That’s very dense.” After complaining, Jiang Ruzhi continued to gossip. “So how long have you two been together?”
“A little over a month.”
“Oh? Just a little over a month? Why does it feel like you’ve been together for a long time?” Jiang Ruzhi looked at the two of them, very puzzled. If she remembered correctly, she had sensed something when they had come backstage last year. “Weren’t you together then?”
“No.”
Jiang Ruzhi rubbed her chin. “My intuition actually failed me? Ah, I know. You were just sleeping together then and hadn’t confirmed your relationship.”
Xu Ling almost choked to death on her own saliva. As expected of the Jiang Jiang who had written so many songs that made people laugh and cry, so sharp.
Qin Cong’an was also a little surprised. “You could tell?”
“It’s true? I knew it. Please, it was so obvious. And who can escape my eyes?” Jiang Ruzhi narrowed her eyes, her gaze sweeping over the two of them again. “Mmm… honeymoon phase. You’re probably sticking together every day now, right? Look how close you are. You might as well just sit on each other.”
“…” Xu Ling was scared. She felt that if this continued, Jiang Jiang would even guess how many times they kissed a day.
Qin Cong’an looked at Xu Ling and, sensing her discomfort, changed the subject. “Where’s Sister Tan?”
Speaking of which, Jiang Ruzhi’s eyebrows twitched. She turned away, as if not wanting to talk about it, but then immediately turned back and said bluntly, “We had a fight.”
“What happened?”
“I wrote a new song about first love, and she got jealous.” Jiang Ruzhi shook her head. “It’s so ridiculous. So strange. I even explained to her that I was just inspired by a movie, but she wouldn’t believe me. Really, do authors who write crime novels have to have killed someone?”
“Idiot. And she’s a big shot, managing such a big company. She doesn’t even understand this.” Jiang Ruzhi cursed in anger.
“It’s my fault for writing it too well, too realistically. She insists that I’ve really experienced it. It was the same with the song about parting with an ex before. I just listened to my friend complain for a whole night and felt that if I didn’t write her story, I would have wasted a whole night. She insists that it’s my own story.”
Whoa. Xu Ling hadn’t expected that the doubt she had had before would be answered at this moment. It turned out that Jiang Jiang’s girlfriend really would get jealous.
But Xu Ling was still a little surprised. She had also thought that Jiang Jiang’s songs were from her real experiences. It turned out that she had written them after absorbing her friends’ emotions.
“Jiang Jiang, your songs are so well-written. We all think so.”
“It’s normal for you to think so, but she should understand me. I’m not that kind of method writer. And since I’ve explained it, she should believe me, right?” The thought of it made Jiang Ruzhi angry. “So we had a big fight this time. I’m even angrier than her. Why doesn’t she believe me?”
Qin Cong’an didn’t want to take sides, but she glanced at Xu Ling and could understand Sister Tan’s feelings even more. “Have you contacted your first love recently? Maybe Sister Tan found something.”
“How could I?” Jiang Ruzhi spread her hands. “My first love was so many years ago. We only dated for one summer. We haven’t been in contact at all after graduation. And at that time, we just went to read books and eat ice cream every day. We didn’t do anything. We didn’t even hold hands!”
“Oh, it sounds like you’re a little regretful about not holding hands.”
A string of question marks appeared above Jiang Ruzhi’s head. “Excuse me? Okay, I get it. Qin Cong’an, you’re a jealous person too. Little baby Lingling, you’ve suffered.”
“Huh?” Xu Ling was just enjoying the gossip when she was suddenly cued. She looked at Qin Cong’an. She was jealous, but it wasn’t to the point of suffering.
“Let me tell you one last thing. I don’t even remember what she looks like or what her name is,” Jiang Ruzhi said to Qin Cong’an. “I don’t want to prove myself anymore. You can think whatever you want. Not being trusted is really too much for me.”
After saying that, Jiang Ruzhi turned away again. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw her face fall. It was so ugly, which made her even angrier. Along with the sudden tears, she shouted, “At worst, we’ll just break up!”
“Warming up your voice?”
Just then, Tan Nanchun pushed the door open and came in. She only glanced at Jiang Ruzhi, as if not noticing the content of her words, and didn’t react much. She just looked at Qin Cong’an and Xu Ling and said hello.
“What are you doing here?” Jiang Ruzhi glared at Tan Nanchun in the mirror.
“Then where should I go?” Tan Nanchun walked up behind her and gathered her long hair. “Besides by your side, I have nowhere to go.”
“Don’t touch me!” Jiang Ruzhi shouted, pulling her hair back from Tan Nanchun’s hand and moving to the side with force, a look of resistance on her face.
Tan Nanchun looked at the two outsiders. “Sorry, Little An. Could I trouble you to go out first?”
“Okay.” Qin Cong’an took Xu Ling’s hand and stood up, then went out and closed the door properly.
Xu Ling looked back with some worry. “Are they really going to break up?”
“I don’t know. This is their own business. Let them talk it out themselves. But no matter what, Sister Tan will handle it. And it won’t affect tonight’s performance.”
Xu Ling nodded. Sister Tan did indeed have the aura of being able to handle any situation. She asked Qin Cong’an, “How old is Sister Tan? Which company’s boss is she?”
Qin Cong’an said the company’s name, which startled Xu Ling. But what surprised her even more was Sister Tan’s age. She was actually 12 years older than Jiang Jiang, a full cycle.
“You can’t tell at all!” Xu Ling had always thought that Sister Tan was at most five years older than Jiang Jiang.
In the crowd of staff backstage, Xu Ling unconsciously linked her arm with Qin Cong’an’s, her mind full of the scene of Jiang Jiang losing control just now.
As an eleven-year fan, Xu Ling knew that Jiang Jiang was an emotionally expressive person. She would show it directly whether she was happy or unhappy. But this was the first time she had seen her so out of control, like a child. But in front of Sister Tan, who was so much older than her, she really could be like a child.
Qin Cong’an took Xu Ling’s hand and suddenly changed direction, no longer walking out, but going around to an empty corner passage and closing the fire door.
Xu Ling leaned against the back of the door, a little dazed, but her heart was pounding. What was this? Having an affair in the middle of a crowd?
She licked her lips and looked at Qin Cong’an, who had closed the door and was looking over, her eyes already filled with nervousness and anticipation.
Qin Cong’an was slightly stunned by her expression, then chuckled. “What are you trying to do?”
“Hmm?” Xu Ling was no longer expectant. “No kiss?”
“I have something to ask you.”
“What is it?” Seeing her serious tone, Xu Ling also put away the blush-inducing thoughts in her mind.
“Just now, Jiang Ruzhi said that not being trusted is too much for her… What about you? What do you think?”
Qin Cong’an’s cheeks were a little tight. She looked up at Xu Ling’s eyes, which were unusually flickering. Her heart was pounding. Seeing Jiang Ruzhi’s big reaction, even shouting the word “breakup,” she didn’t know if Xu Ling would also hate it.
Xu Ling had clearly said before that Li Yan was just a roommate and that she hadn’t been in contact with her ex. But her heart was still very uncomfortable. Was this a sign of not trusting Xu Ling?
“Jiang Jiang said she explained but Sister Tan didn’t believe her. It does sound a little excessive, but I don’t know what’s really going on between them,” Xu Ling said, wrapping her arms around her waist. She wanted to talk closer. “But you don’t not trust me, do you?”
Qin Cong’an didn’t know what to say.
“I know you get jealous, but isn’t that because you care about me?” Xu Ling’s voice became husky, as if she were acting spoiled. “When I misunderstood you before, every time I saw you on the phone with your brother, I was very unhappy. Didn’t you notice that I would sometimes walk away for no reason? It’s because I was sour.”
Qin Cong’an remembered. There had been one or two times when she had wanted to ask, but Xu Ling had never given her the chance, just kissing her and letting the matter pass.
Xu Ling looked at her, her eyes filled only with her. “But isn’t it clear now? We have no misunderstanding. We like each other.”
“I know.” Qin Cong’an got her answer. Xu Ling did indeed hate the feeling of not being trusted. And they really didn’t need to doubt each other now.
“Then…” Xu Ling looked at her with an expectant expression. “Is there still a kiss?”
This time, there were quite a few celebrities and artists at the North City show of Jiang Ruzhi’s concert. Before it started, it was already very lively.
Naturally, many people also noticed Qin Cong’an and Xu Ling. Whether they were CP fans, solo fans, or just movie fans, they had been taking photos like crazy since they first appeared.
The two of them sat down in the VIP seats. Xu Ling looked at her phone and saw that someone had already posted their photos online, and someone with particularly sharp eyes had also seen the identical matching rings on their hands.
[They’re at Jiang Jiang’s concert again, and they’re wearing matching rings. What are the two sisters hinting at?]
[That’s what good sisters do. My bestie and I also wear the same rings, really.]
[We used to hope you would sell a WLW ship. Now we have to help you guard the closet door.]
The CP fans were really fast. Seeing that the ring Qin Cong’an had been wearing before had been replaced by a new matching ring, they became curious about the origin of the original one, guessing if it was related to Xu Ling.
Someone found a photo from Xu Ling’s IG from several years ago where Xu Ling was wearing a very similar ring: [Everyone, come help me see if it’s the same one. I’m afraid my CP brain is getting the better of me and I’m mistaken.]
After multiple verifications, everyone felt that it really was… very similar… the same one… Although this style was quite classic, it was almost out of print now.
No, this was too real. The CP fans were scared. Were they really going to have to help guard the closet door?
Xu Ling was scared to death when she saw the origin of Qin Cong’an’s ring being dug up. She didn’t even remember when she had worn it, or which year the photo was posted. The CP fans had actually found it from the sea of photos she had posted.
Xu Ling almost didn’t dare to look anymore. Just let it be. Let everyone interpret it as they wished. Anyway, as long as they didn’t admit it, everyone could guess whatever they wanted.
She also saw a comment:
[Did these two go to kiss in the middle of it? Why do their lips look so swollen, and the color is different? Is it a lighting issue?]
Xu Ling suddenly looked up to confirm but didn’t expect Qin Cong’an to be so close, also looking at her phone. This sudden look up almost made their lips touch, scaring her into falling backward.
Qin Cong’an reached out and grabbed her, otherwise Xu Ling would have almost fallen off her chair.
Xu Ling sat up straight and saw that there was a bit of her lip gloss on Qin Cong’an’s lips. It was just a very light color, not visible in photos, but still a little obvious to the naked eye. She directly reached out and wiped it off.
“It seems we can’t kiss outside in the future,” Qin Cong’an said, close to her ear.
Xu Ling reached out and pushed her away. “You have to stay away from me too. If we get photographed like this, it’ll be hard to explain.” It was normal for good sisters to whisper in each other’s ears in a noisy place like this, but her heart was no longer clear.
“So hard,” Qin Cong’an said, looking at her and murmuring, feeling as if a galaxy separated them.
But what was with this thrilling feeling of a secret affair?
Xu Ling retracted her hand, her fingertips burning.
