Chapter 44: This Song? Tears Fell

The prelude of the violin rose gracefully, suddenly pulling everyone's attention away. Qi Jiajia stared at her phone screen, watching the music video begin: Lu Zhou was in a dark room, a single spotlight shining on him, playing the violin with his eyes closed. The scene made her unexpectedly arch her brows lightly.

It was as if something struck her heart in that instant, causing a small, gentle collapse. Honestly, wasn't this man a little too handsome when he played the violin so earnestly?

The music drew Chu Yao and Li Jiayan to lean in curiously. At that moment, the violin's prelude ended in the video, and singing began—

"That year
We are young
I still remember you barefoot on the beach
Laughing as we splashed water at each other
Wet clothes
The sky blazing with the sun
Your cheeks flushed as you buried your face in my chest
I stole a kiss
Secretly delighted
Only then did I realize
I can't forget your smile
It's the unique taste of love
I want to show you off to my friends
You said the time wasn't right
..."

Listening, Li Jiayan suddenly froze. This... this song?

Fragments of the past involuntarily surfaced in her mind as the melody played: the seaside, the beach, the first kiss. The images became strangely clear, vivid yet dreamlike. Ah, yes, they had once been so sweet...

Back then, she was truly naive, loving with purity, a romance untouched by material concerns. Unlike now, when the thrill of first love is so hard to come by, liking someone always comes with subconscious consideration of his circumstances; if he doesn't meet the standards, there's no point in wasting each other's time.

As the years pass, the courage to love someone purely diminishes. Remembering those reckless moments of chasing love, Li Jiayan was suddenly moved by old feelings, her nose tingling with bittersweet emotion. She instinctively looked at Lu Zhou.

Noticing her gaze, Lu Zhou turned to meet her eyes. Their sightlines crossed in the air.

"Such a pity
We are young
Fiery sweetness veering off course into a storm
..."

The song continued to play, lingering in their ears. The lyrics, once sweet, began to twist, the story in the song heading toward another ending.

Her eyes grew moist, unable to hold back the tears. Was there still love? No, not anymore. But he remained a part of her lost youth.

Li Jiayan hurriedly looked away, her brows and eyes drooping to hide her emotions. Perhaps the song was a little too fitting for the Pink House; at this moment, even Chu Yao and Qi Jiajia, watching the video together, were drawn into a mood similar to Li Jiayan's.

"What's the name of this song?"

Xu Junze, not knowing whose video the three girls were watching, listened curiously and asked.

"First Love," Qi Jiajia pointed to Lu Zhou. "He sang it."

Her words successfully drew all three boys' surprised gazes to Lu Zhou.

Wen Yiming reached out to Qi Jiajia, saying, "Don't keep the good stuff just for you girls, let us watch too."

Qi Jiajia handed over her phone, and the video continued to play automatically, the song looping again.

Wen Yiming and Xu Junze watched the video together, while Zhang Chen looked on, uninterested, not participating.

"Composed by Lu Zhou, lyrics by Lu Zhou, arrangement by Lu Zhou—wow? Not bad, Lu Zhou! I didn't realize you were so talented!" Wen Yiming exclaimed loudly after seeing the video’s cover.

Qi Jiajia and the others hadn’t noticed that detail before, and now, hearing Wen Yiming, they showed surprise again.

"Just alright," Lu Zhou replied with a humble smile. "In the entertainment industry, playing music, you need to know a little of everything. It's basic."

None of those present worked in show business, so most believed him.

Only Li Jiayan looked at Lu Zhou with a strange expression. Though she wasn't in the entertainment world and didn't know the ins and outs of singers, she understood music theory. Give her a score, and she could play piano beautifully, but she didn’t think composing was a simple matter.

Basic? Is that possible?

Anyone familiar with music theory could tell this arrangement was sophisticated. The melody was very catchy, especially the violin prelude and the piano section in the middle, which Li Jiayan particularly liked.

It's the kind of song you find pleasant on the first listen, not stunning, but after it ends, the chorus’s melody is unknowingly etched in your mind—you feel you could sing it, but can’t quite manage, so you instinctively want to hear it again.

After the second listen, you discover the song becomes inexplicably more appealing. You begin to catch the emotion, get moved, and gradually find yourself addicted.

The repeated playback of the music video now had Li Jiayan humming the tune in her mind; she even wanted to try playing the piano section herself.

Was the arrangement really Lu Zhou’s own?

Li Jiayan found it hard to believe. The Lu Zhou she knew back then could sing well, but couldn’t possibly write a song of this caliber. Had he grown so much over the years?

But then why, after so many years, was he still just a trainee who hadn’t officially debuted? That didn’t make sense...

Maybe the company he signed with didn’t give him good resources? Perhaps he offended someone at the company and had his resources snatched away?

As she pondered these possibilities, Li Jiayan suddenly thought it could be true; otherwise, why would he terminate his contract with the company now?

Taking advantage of the others’ distraction, Li Jiayan took out her phone, set it to silent, and searched for “Lu Zhou” on Doule Video.

She found a bunch of accounts named “Lu Zhou,” which left her confused. Then she searched for “Ye Fangfei,” clicked on the first video, and found Lu Zhou’s account listed in the video description.

A strange feeling came over her.

She quietly entered Lu Zhou’s homepage and found only one post.

She opened the video in silent mode and saw it had been posted only recently.

Was it posted tonight? Did he coordinate with Ye Fangfei? Were they close?

At this point, Zhang Chen suddenly stood up from the sofa.

Li Jiayan quickly turned her phone screen toward her body, but accidentally liked the video with a slip of her finger.

Zhang Chen walked out without a word, probably called away for an interview by the production team.

Li Jiayan looked back at her phone screen and saw the heart-shaped like button glowing bright red!

“?!”

Her heart skipped; she hurriedly unliked the video.

The system shouldn’t have notified him yet, right? It shouldn’t have.

She comforted herself and instinctively glanced at Lu Zhou again.

Fortunately, he wasn't looking at his phone, but was chatting with Xu Junze and Wen Yiming about the song.

"You came back tonight carrying a big guitar; I thought your specialty was guitar, but now seeing the video, it seems you play violin really well too? How many instruments can you play?" Xu Junze teased, hooking an arm around Lu Zhou’s shoulder.

"Not many, just a bit of the common ones," Lu Zhou replied in his usual calm tone.

"..." Li Jiayan suddenly felt confused. Did he really only know a bit, or was he just being modest?