053 Unintentional Planting Pierces the Heart
The rental apartment wasn’t far from the commercial district near the school gate. So, while Sun Ruimin and Sun Xingsi were still exchanging speculative text messages, Wang Heng had already knocked on Pei Ningle’s door.
His gaze went over the girl’s head, and when he saw the state of the apartment inside, he instantly felt the urge to complain.
Completely different from a normal furniture arrangement, the desk had been moved in front of the sofa, occupying the space that should have belonged to the coffee table. On the desk was an old white laptop—the computer that had been lying in her suitcase as she fled from home to the Imperial Capital, and then to Rongdu. Next to it sat a kalimba, about the size of a dictionary. Judging by the numerous scratches on its body, it clearly wasn’t new either.
Wang Heng pointed at the desk and asked, “When we looked at the apartment, I remember there was a coffee table here! Where did you move it?”
Pei Ningle retorted, “Besides the living room, isn’t there only the bedroom in this apartment?”
Wang Heng looked down and asked, “Where are the slippers?”
Pei Ningle: “There are no slippers. I didn’t buy any. You don’t need to change your shoes, just come right in. I don’t have any slippers anyway.”
Wang Heng looked at the girl’s feet. Under her T-shirt and shorts, she was wearing a pair of sandals. At first glance, he hadn’t reacted, but now he realized that these were clearly outdoor shoes.
He vaguely remembered that during their cohabitation in the first timeline, this girl hadn’t been so unkempt… But then Wang Heng thought again. At that time, she had come to his rental apartment to stay, so she naturally had to follow his living habits.
Facing Wang Heng’s silent gaze, Pei Ningle had no idea what he was thinking. She just pointed at the laptop and said, “Don’t just stand there dazed. Come over and help me with this!”
Wang Heng walked to her side, sat down, and looked at the screen.
He grabbed the mouse. Twenty seconds later, he found the problem.
“As I thought, the format is wrong.”
Changing the video format only required finding and downloading some software online, and then a little bit of operation. This didn’t require a keyboard; mouse operations were enough. But out of habit, Wang Heng still placed his left hand on the keyboard, occasionally pressing a shortcut key.
Pei Ningle sat to the side, quietly watching his serious side profile.
Before long, Wang Heng had converted the video format. But before starting the upload, he opened the video and took a look.
Pei Ningle’s face appeared on the screen. The resolution was a bit low, and the color tone had been adjusted to black and white, giving it a retro, artistic feel. But the girl in the video had pigtails, and her bright, big eyes held a hint of confusion, making her look like a middle school student. The style was quite strange…
A familiar guitar accompaniment started to play, and Wang Heng had a sudden realization. “So the first video you’re singing is ‘Miss Dong’.”
Pei Ningle nodded. Two seconds later, she realized he was looking at the screen and definitely couldn’t see her nod. “Yes!”
“What were you thinking?” Wang Heng couldn’t help but be curious. “Pigtails?”
Pei Ningle covered her face shyly. “I recorded it several times and tried different hairstyles, and I just felt that pigtails suited me better… And didn’t you tell me that the video needed a gimmick? I thought, the feeling of the song ‘Miss Dong’ is very world-weary, so if I deliberately went for the opposite style, wouldn’t it be more interesting?”
Wang Heng gave a thumbs-up but didn’t speak, because the girl in the video had already started to sing.
“Miss Dong, you’ve never forgotten your smile,
Even if you, like me, long for old age,
Miss Dong, you’re beautiful when the corners of your mouth turn down,
Like the clear water under the Anhe Bridge…”
The singing voice flowing out of the laptop was naturally not as clear as a live performance, but it still made one want to give it a thumbs-up.
“So maybe none of that is real, Miss Dong,
You’re not a female classmate without a story,
I fell in love with a wild horse, but there’s no prairie in my home,
This makes me feel desperate, Miss Dong…”
Pei Ningle’s singing was indeed great, but because she was still young, it was really difficult for her to convey the world-weary helplessness of the original version. But listening to the girl’s singing, Wang Heng’s thoughts couldn’t help but drift.
Especially the line, “I fell in love with a wild horse, but there’s no prairie in my home,” made him think of the events of those few years in the first timeline, and for some reason, he felt a little… criticized?
Although Wang Heng knew very well that the creation of this song by the original author had nothing to do with him, listening to the lyrics, his feelings were quite complicated.
Just like that, Wang Heng listened to the entire song with a blank expression, for about four minutes.
Then he turned to stare at the girl herself beside him and asked, “Why did you choose this song?”
Pei Ningle thought for a moment and answered, “Because this song is quite popular recently, and I think it’s pretty good too.”
Well, nothing wrong with that.
Wang Heng could only temporarily set this matter aside and changed the question. “So what kind of title are you planning to give the video?”
Pei Ningle: “Female version of Miss Dong?”
Wang Heng quickly returned to work mode. “Your song choice and styling are flawless, but your naming is not so good. Since you already have a gimmick, wouldn’t it be a waste if it’s not reflected in the video title?”
Pei Ningle: “Then what should the title be?”
After careful and prudent consideration, Wang Heng typed a title on the computer:
【Loli Covers Miss Dong—Homework’s Done, Time to Sing!】
Pei Ningle’s small face suddenly turned red. “What do you mean, loli? I’m already 18! And what homework? I’m not even in school anymore!”
Wang Heng: “This is commercial marketing copy. It has nothing to do with whether you’re in school or not. The point is, you’ve already shown your personal characteristics very well in this video, which is that you’re pretty and cute, so the copy must also highlight this point.”
“Pretty… cute?” Pei Ningle blinked, staring at Wang Heng, seemingly only catching the keywords in his words.
Wang Heng glanced at her, pretending not to notice the details of the girl’s expression, and continued to explain, “And since you’re so enlightened and have already prepared the pigtails yourself, wouldn’t it be a waste not to make the persona a little younger? How about this: from now on, you do the filming, and I’ll handle the uploading process. I’ll also handle replying to comments and such, okay?”
Pei Ningle subconsciously nodded.
Then Wang Heng uploaded the video.
With this matter settled, it was already late at night. But at this moment, a protesting sound came from Pei Ningle’s small stomach.
Wang Heng: “You’re hungry?”
The girl blushed and quickly shook her head, but after a moment’s hesitation, she quietly nodded again.
Wang Heng stood up and walked towards the refrigerator, but after a few steps, he suddenly stopped, turned his head, and asked, “There’s nothing in the refrigerator, right?”
Pei Ningle continued to nod.
Wang Heng asked again, “Then have you had dinner?”
The girl subconsciously flinched. “No…”
