While waiting for the train to depart, Xie Lan’s phone rang.

Dou Sheng glanced at “MR.X” on the screen and snatched the phone directly.

He said lazily, “Speak quickly if you have something, we’re busy.”

MR.X suffocated for a moment. “Damn, why is it you again?”

“I am Xie Lan’s private assistant. The boss’s calls are transferred by me.”

“…”

MR.X sighed deeply. “I’m only looking for Xie Lan directly because I can’t communicate with you, damn it.”

“Thanks for the invite.” Dou Sheng stretched his legs. “He can’t even speak Chinese fluently yet; he’d be talked into circles by you old foxes. Spit it out quickly.”

The phone leaked sound. Xie Lan heard MR.X sigh extremely irritably, “Then listen to me finish! The investors want publicity; the director and the person in charge have no right to say no. This Director Pei is unpredictable. Although he came to the interview with strong assumptions, he didn’t reveal anything after chatting with Jiada in the morning. I think Xie Lan still has a tiny bit of a chance. Otherwise, if Director Pei didn’t show up in the afternoon and stood him up directly, no one could say anything. Giving face means he’s still considering.”

Hearing this, Dou Sheng was amazed. “Ah, we delivered ourselves to be roasted, and actually forgot to be grateful.”

“…Don’t speak out of anger.” MR.X lowered his voice. “Xie Lan has a temper; it can be felt more or less usually. You are too tough too. I wanted to remind you to wait for news, don’t just post and flame them at the drop of a hat.”

“Oh—” Dou Sheng realized. “Right, I forgot about that move.”

“…”

Dou Sheng pissed the person off completely, hung up the phone, and glanced at the little old lady holding a foam box outside the car window. “I’ll go buy a popsicle.”

Xie Lan hummed. “Don’t miss the train.”

As soon as Dou Sheng walked off the train quickly, Xie Lan’s phone vibrated again. It was a strange B City number.

He hesitated with his finger on the hang-up button for a long time, but still picked up.

“Xie Lan.” Hearing him answer, Sister Kai’s voice relaxed instantly. “You left too quickly. Sister still has a few words unfinished with you.”

Xie Lan gave a hum, but his eyes drifted out the window following Dou Sheng.

Dou Sheng was bending over to choose ice cream from the foam box. Picked a red bean ice, not satisfied, swapped for a grape ice.

“Director Pei Qing’s personality is just like that. Talented people speak directly. If you’ve seen Lingxi’s works, you’ll know he has substance inside; he’s a very idealistic artist. He speaks weakly because he’s really a bit sick. Please bear with him.”

Xie Lan was silent for a moment. “What sickness does he have?”

“This is personal privacy.” Sister Kai paused, then sighed again. “But it’s nothing really; those early interviews are rotten (common knowledge). His heart isn’t very good.”

Xie Lan gave an “oh”. “Sure enough. What about the brain?”

“…”

The phone was eerily quiet for a moment, then Sister Kai suddenly burst out laughing.

“I see you aren’t a soft person either.” Sister Kai laughed. “I’m very optimistic about you, but Director Pei’s concerns are reasonable. Our two responsible persons in G City will also score based on the interview recording. Wait for the result.”

Xie Lan hummed, thanked her politely, and hung up.

Really unnecessary. Didn’t want to play anymore.

The train made a starting noise. Dou Sheng ran back carrying two ice creams. Xie Lan watched him run into the carriage door, but couldn’t help searching “Pei Qing” on his phone.

Pei Qing, successively studied at the Central Conservatory of Music and Berklee College of Music, majoring in Cello Performance. Minored in Film Directing and Animation Production during graduate school. Returned to China at 28, employed by the Central Symphony Orchestra. Started personal tour concerts at 30…

Below were all praises for a genius, suspected to be written by the person himself.

Xie Lan scrolled down expressionlessly.

…Car accident at 31. Fracture of the right upper arm, tendon tear, severe heart trauma. Cello career ended. Underwent heart transplant surgery the following year.

Xie Lan’s fingertips paused slightly, then slid down again.

A large blank period after the car accident, until founding Lingxi Animation at 34, becoming an instant hit with the domestic anime work Thousand Mountains Trace Extinguished.

There was also some messy news later. An anime director who should live behind the scenes actually supported a newspaper office (generated lots of gossip).

Dou Sheng came back with the popsicles and read aloud from Xie Lan’s phone, “In four years of business, nineteen works had capital withdrawn. Currently, Lingxi Animation is in an awkward position for investment attraction.”

“Wow, all six major domestic anime screenwriters have cooperated with him but failed to stay long. Lingxi’s scripts are now basically outsourced by studios. It is reported that four completed but unreleased works were bought out by Pei Qing himself… His father is suspected to be a senior executive of a certain factory, to be verified.”

Dou Sheng got interested and dragged down further on Xie Lan’s phone. “Look at this. During the production of Thousand Mountains Trace Extinguished, which he made famous, the music director had a brawl with him outside a bar late at night. Both have criminal records. Later the music director ran away from the project team. Saikou (Awesome)!”

Xie Lan was numb.

Dou Sheng stuffed a popsicle into his hand, clicking his tongue. “Do you feel better after reading these?”

“No. I just want to brawl with him.” Xie Lan took a bite expressionlessly. The ice melted on the tip of his tongue, but it wasn’t the taste he imagined.

He paused before looking down at the thing in his hand. “Why is it chocolate ice?”

The train had started. Dou Sheng sat down beside him. “Kids in a bad mood must eat chocolate. Trust me.”

Xie Lan gave an “oh,” looking at the platform receding outside the window, sighing, and eating the ice cream.

One million gone.

Arrangement was indeed a challenge. Being nitpicked for insufficient professional foundation was understandable. Gone is gone. At least he knew what direction to work towards if he wanted to make money through this aspect.

Xie Lan pondered for a while, feeling slightly more peaceful. He casually poked open the Bilibili domestic anime list.

He grew up watching Japanese anime mostly and had little contact with domestic anime. This summer vacation, he could watch domestic anime when bored during provincial training, cram some arrangement theory, figure out the patterns, and produce more originals. There wouldn’t be a lack of better opportunities in the future.

Number one on the list was Thousand Mountains Trace Extinguished, No. 1 domestic anime, Pei Qing’s masterpiece.

Xie Lan scrolled down with a cold face, scrolling to the bottom, picking an anime at the very bottom that almost no one watched.

The phone suddenly vibrated in his palm—

“Second Cat’s Private Assistant shared a video with you.”

Over nine hundred MB. The progress bar moved extremely slowly.

Xie Lan looked up in confusion. “What is it?”

“Didn’t you want boyfriend’s comfort?” Dou Sheng picked up the headphones hanging in front of him and stuffed them into his ears. “Boyfriend invites you to watch a cat video (mao pian/porn pun).”

Cat video?

Why watch a cat video?

Dou Sheng suddenly raised his hand and pressed on the noise cancellation box of his headphone cord.

The world instantly quieted down. Immediately, a familiar panting sound rang close to Xie Lan’s ear, crawling along the ear bone and eardrum straight to the brain nerves.

“!”

The screen shook violently. Dim environment, vaguely recognizable as the narrow gap between Yinghua’s parking garage and the small cafeteria. The GoPro was strapped to Dou Sheng’s arm. The lens pointed obliquely up at the red brick wall of the small cafeteria, shaking violently up and down. A slender, fair hand appeared in the frame from time to time, caught by another hand at the wrist and pressed against the wall. It was a live broadcast of a certain “Midnight Cannibalism” not long ago.

Xie Lan: “?”

His pupils quaked. He covered the screen instantly and scanned around.

The high-speed train seats were spacious and open. Only Dou Sheng was around, but it still made Xie Lan’s heart beat like a drum.

In the headphones, his panting and Dou Sheng’s panting rose and fell. A moment later, the panting was suddenly blocked. Muffled, heavy breathing was quickly covered by tsk tsk sucking sounds.

For the first time in his life, Xie Lan felt his scalp tingling. He took a deep breath and glared at Dou Sheng fiercely.

Before Dou Sheng could speak, in the headphones, Xie Lan himself suddenly opened his mouth and gasped twice: “E-enough…”

!

Xie Lan pressed pause in panic, covering the phone screen against his chest.

“This is the cat video you talked about??”

Dou Sheng nodded. “Mm.”

Xie Lan: “Say that again??”

Dou Sheng leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “Global Top Cat Video: Big Cat Second Cat Snuggling Chronicles, Episode One.”

“???”

Xie Lan quickly lifted the screen and glanced again.

Damn it, Episode One was over twenty minutes long.

Dou Sheng said solemnly, “Footage discovered when cleaning the hard drive earlier. Even kittens shout ‘Meow Meow Meow’ (Wonderful) after watching, so I plan to make it a documentary. Not sure if monthly or quarterly update, depends on the situation, possibly daily update.”

“???”

Xie Lan was dumbfounded.

He stared blankly at Dou Sheng, silent for a long time, then lowered his head and flipped the phone screen over again.

The screen just froze on the red brick wall. The edge of the frame reflected a corner of the back of Dou Sheng’s head when kissing him.

Dou Sheng whispered, “Won’t record anything too excessive. Originally just footage accidentally captured while recording videos; there won’t be anything outrageous.”

He paused, then hissed, “How about forget it. Actually, I thought you might not be able to handle this—”

Xie Lan dodged the hand he reached out.

Dou Sheng: “Hmm?”

Xie Lan said coldly, “Believe you and there’s a ghost. I want to check myself if there’s anything excessive.”

“Oh.”

Dou Sheng nodded seriously. “Then you check.”

Magical way of comforting, comforting someone until they are red-faced and ears hot.

But Xie Lan was indeed comforted. At least after taking off the headphones, he pondered for a good while before remembering the name of the person who angered him just now. Trying to retrieve that angry feeling failed too. His mind was full of those blurry shaking shots and the panting sounds in the headphones with all background noise eliminated.

Heart full of dirty things; needed to stick eighty-one yellow talismans on his body to drive them away.

On the return trip, his heart was in a mess.

Xie Lan rummaged through the domestic anime list for a long time, finally picking a Xianxia anime called Young Sword Heart Bright Moon. Produced by a small studio, art and special effects average, followers just broke ten thousand, but reputation was okay. He clicked in purely because the protagonist on the cover had brows and contours a bit like Dou Sheng, sharp and bright. Love the house, love the crow (love me, love my dog).

The anime was better than imagined. The protagonist’s growth line was great, and there were many classical Chinese lines, serving as daily accumulation.

Xie Lan watched until getting off the train, tired enough to fall asleep as soon as he got home. When he woke up, it was already noon the next day, broad daylight.

He sat up from the bed with a muddled head, poked his phone, and stared blankly at the countless messages.

A moment later, he first clicked open the Yinghua Provincial Training Elite Group.

This year’s provincial training closed venue was Yinghua. For Yinghua students, it was no different from regular school. The specific schedule was out—inhumane 7 AM to 9 PM, half a day off per week, led by two provincial coaches. Since the camp was built in Yinghua this year, the “class teacher” was Old Ma.

Then came the explosive Bilibili DM notifications. Pushed to the lock screen were all from UP hosts he followed.

• Xie Lan congrats!
• Congrats congrats, famous in one battle.
• Gods fighting, won! Waiting for official announcement!
• Congrats to little brother!

Ah Ze sent Xie Lan dozens of crying emojis. Xie Lan frowned and scrolled up for a long time before finding the message.

“Idol awesome!! I knew you could win, I knew it! Wu wu wu I’m too excited, shouted until my throat is hoarse. Can I work under you this summer vacation?! Please handle me ruthlessly, Idol!!”

“?”

Xie Lan was confused for a good while, finally had a premonition, and opened Weibo.

Just ten minutes ago, Mr. Jiada posted on Weibo.

@Mr. Jiada: Insiders know Director Pei is hard to climb. Asked people to contact for cooperation several times before but failed, but Director Pei always remembered to leave me opportunities. This time he actively invited me to compete. Regrettably, due to obstacles in two-way selection of personal style and product tone, good birds choose trees to nest, no destiny with “Youth on Strings”. Benefited a lot after chatting with Director Pei yesterday. Hope we have destiny soon @Pei Qing

Xie Lan read this paragraph over and over several times until the phone screen automatically turned off, reflecting his dazed face on the black screen.

Brows knitted tight, he simply sent a DM directly to Jiada.

• Xie Lan: What does this mean?

Jiada didn’t reply directly, but threw a WeChat ID over.

Xie Lan added him suspiciously. Before he had time to say hello, the other party spammed several noodle tears (crying) emojis.

• Jiada: Blown…
• Xie Lan: Director Pei didn’t pass you?
• Jiada: Mm. I brought the work demo for the official plan of “Youth on Strings”. He listened for a bit and said no, chatted for a few more minutes, and completely rejected me. Told me he’d pull me to try again if there’s a chance next time. To express apology, he fcking treated me to a pot of Da Hong Pao tea costing 488 yuan.*
• Xie Lan: …Can I know why?
• Jiada: Said my temperament doesn’t fit, can’t write the feeling he wants. Damn this dog director, rejects me with this reason every time. He actively sought me out and still fcking rejected me!!*
• Jiada: I wish he pays out of his own pocket to buy out productions forever!

“The other party has recalled a message.”

“The other party has recalled a message.”

“The other party has recalled a message.”

Xie Lan: “…”

After a while, Jiada calmed down and asked: You should have passed, right? Congrats. Your works indeed have a lot of spiritual aura. I really followed you on the foreign network in early years. Waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead.

Xie Lan frowned for a long time, pressing the screen hard word by word.

• Xie Lan: Passed my ghost.
• Jiada: ??
• Xie Lan: Screenshot as you please, I won’t recall.
• Jiada: …You are Grandpa Bull (stubborn/awesome).

The draft blew open the ajar door. Dou Sheng just woke up too, shuffling over from next door with exploded hair and slippers, looking at the phone with a “Subway Old Man” expression. “What flashy operation is this?”

Pei Qing replied to Jiada, just now. And only replied with four words—

“Indeed lacking heat (maturity).”

WeChat suddenly vibrated again. A contact with the same name and avatar as Pei Qing’s Weibo applied to add Xie Lan as a friend.

“Add him.” Dou Sheng yawned. “Give him a chance, see what he says.”

Xie Lan hesitated, but chose to accept.

The other party didn’t say hello, only sending a picture.

On the picture was a scoring sheet. Scoring criteria were Fundamentals, Structural Ability, Style Fit, Judge Preference.

Besides Pei Qing and Sister Kai, there were two others in G City scoring based on the interview recording.

Jiada’s score was mosaic-ed, invisible, only the “Eliminated” stamp visible.

Xie Lan’s average score for Fundamentals was 6.6, Structural Ability 8.2, Style Fit 10.

He saw at a glance that Pei Qing only gave 5 points for Fundamentals, dragging down the overall average.

But for Structural Ability, which he cued many times during the interview, he gave Xie Lan 8.5, higher than average.

In the Judge Preference column, Pei Qing drew a checkmark for him.

“Does this count as a turn of events? What brain circuit does this person have? Mouth says no body says yes, finally wanted you?” Dou Sheng frowned. “Ask him what’s going on.”

Xie Lan was silent for a moment. “I don’t want to go anymore.”

“Hmm?” Dou Sheng opened his eyes. “Really don’t want to go?”

Xie Lan gave a hum.

Before going, he and Dou Sheng didn’t do homework on the director, didn’t know about those “glorious” life events on the encyclopedia.

Just coming out of the interview, he was indeed very angry because he treated this director as a normal person then. But there is a group of people in the world doing art who are indeed not quite normal. Regardless of what sympathetic pain they suffered, the result is extreme personality, hard to get along with. He heard some seniors in the British symphony orchestra talk about it before.

He wasn’t that angry anymore, but he was also more determined not to cooperate.

He couldn’t stand people who habitually verbally abused others, especially when the task difficulty was already high, and it coincided with competition prep.

Xie Lan sat on the bed, hair slept into a mess, brain still a bit blank.

Just woke up, or rather haven’t woken up yet, truly not a suitable moment to make decisions. But he still picked up the phone, even clicking his tongue lightly like Dou Sheng usually did.

“Young Hero—” Dou Sheng suddenly became alert. “I feel you are going to blow up the world. Think thrice.”

“Mm.”

A few minutes later.

@Xie Lan_em: Very grateful for the project team’s invitation. But due to personally not being a professional arranger, after carefully understanding the work burden of the main arranger, felt a bit reluctant. Reached an agreement with the project team in this regard. Gaokao and math competition are pressing on my head; good birds choose trees to nest. No destiny with “Youth on Strings” this time. Benefited a lot after chatting with Director Pei yesterday. Will improve arrangement theory more in the future. Hope Director Pei finds an excellent partner soon @Pei Qing

As soon as the message was sent, WeChat vibrated wildly.

• Pei Qing: ?
• Pei Qing: ???
• Pei Qing: Something wrong with you? Can’t read this sheet?
• Pei Qing: Stirring things up?
• Pei Qing: Stirring things up but not doing it seriously yourself, copying half someone else’s homework?

Xie Lan brewed for a moment, replying: “It’s better for both sides if I make the statement, otherwise you might get scolded. No need to thank me.”

• Pei Qing: What do you mean, don’t want to cooperate? Just because my words were a bit direct?

Dou Sheng started yawning above Xie Lan’s head again, one after another, endless.

Infected, Xie Lan also yawned at the screen.

Angry because the other party was arrogant, but refusing cooperation wasn’t because of this.

• Wu Hou Pu Tao Bing: I’m afraid after we cooperate, we will brawl every day.
• Pei Qing: ?
• Wu Hou Pu Tao Bing: I indeed realized my deficiencies, decided to practice on my own first.
• Pei Qing: …Which sentence do you think I will believe?
• Wu Hou Pu Tao Bing: Up to you. I can only think of these two sentences.
• Pei Qing: …

A large crowd of melon eaters quickly gathered under the Weibo post.

• Hmm hmm hmm? Lan-zai didn’t pass either?
• Doesn’t seem like didn’t pass, seems both sides gave up after communication.
• Then who gets the main arranger?
• Ah… Ah Ze?
• LMAO, Ah Ze was streaming, now looking dumbfounded.
• Latest intel, Ah Ze cried.
• Wasn’t he bragging just now about working for his idol soon?
• Ah Ze should be slapped awake by reality too. Licking Xie Lan so hard even I, a fan, can’t watch.
• Wait, he started speculating again if this is idol’s care, deliberately supporting him to ascend.
• Don’t cue your God S. Ask and he’s doing competition.

“Second Cat has quite a temper. One million thrown away just like that.” Dou Sheng reached out and rubbed Xie Lan’s head messily.

Xie Lan struggled out of his demonic palm, paused for a moment, then frowned. “Will there be bad influence?”

“What influence?” Dou Sheng curled his lips, nonchalant. “If it’s already determined not to cooperate, given Jiada already publicised the result, your handling is the most appropriate. Saved face for the project team without damaging your own image. As expected of the senior.”

Xie Lan didn’t make a sound.

His brain still had the muddled energy of just waking up.

Unconsciously scrolling through his own homepage, he scrolled to the small melodies uploaded for canvassing during this period. There were fully a dozen or twenty clips. Pieced together, they could support one or two complete songs.

“Looking ahead and behind is a compulsory course for social people like Ms. Zhao Wenying.” Dou Sheng put his hand on his shoulder, stroking his collarbone and pinching gently, smiling. “Young Hero should hit wherever he points.”