Hearing this, Ju Jingyi was visibly stunned, then she lowered her head to look at the skewers in the bag, and her face instantly flushed red, even redder than when she was caught secretly eating just now.
She nervously took a few steps back, creating distance between herself and the person leaning against the wall.
"Ah! Why didn't you tell me sooner!"
"I was going to say something, but I saw you were eating so happily, and I didn't want to spoil your mood."
Seeing her reaction, Yi Xing quickly walked over and explained apologetically.
He admitted that he hadn't handled this well; he should have told her the moment he realized it.
Ju Jingyi bit her lip lightly, her blush still not fading, and she looked up at him with a chiding glance: "So, according to you, it seems like it's still my fault, then?"
"I didn't mean that at all!" he quickly waved his hands, shaking his head like a rattle-drum, and clasped his hands together in a bow.
"Look how nervous you are, I wasn't going to blame you."
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Then that's fine!"
Upon receiving a definite answer, Yi Xing finally breathed a sigh of relief, his tense body relaxing.
He had thought she would mind such a thing a lot; he still didn't understand her enough.
"Here."
Ju Jingyi stuffed the sauced pancake she was holding into his arms and said with a serious expression, "But, there's a small punishment you need to do: eat all these pancakes!"
Actually, she was full and couldn't eat the rest.
She couldn't just throw them in the trash, that would be such a waste of food.
Luckily, there was someone next to her who needed to cool down, so she might as well let him have them.
After all, she had used both of those skewers.
Yi Xing looked down at the two portions of pancake in his hands; though a bit helpless, he still smiled and nodded in acceptance: "Alright, I accept the punishment, I accept the punishment."
He then picked up a piece and started eating.
"Hey, I've been wanting to ask since the performance ended, when did you start learning the violin?
That level of skill isn't something that can be described with just 'a little knowledge'."
Ju Jingyi had started learning from a young age and knew the approximate difficulty level of the piece "Butterfly Lovers."
With food still in his mouth, he mumbled in response, "Three years ago."
"What did you say? I didn't understand.
It's the same if you tell me after you finish eating."
"I started learning three years ago.
My college entrance exam scores had just come out then, and I wanted to cultivate a few hobbies.
That's when I officially started playing the violin."
Yi Xing chewed quickly and swallowed the pancake in his mouth.
"Let's practice together sometime.
I've been playing since I was a child."
"Sure, I hope Xiao Ju can guide me then."
He wasn't at all surprised that Ju Jingyi played the violin.
How else could she have stood out in the auditions without some talent and skill?
Unless she told him she could play the suona, then he would find it unbelievable.
"What Xiao Ju teacher?"
"I'm not worthy of that title yet.
Maybe I can even learn some new things from you."
At his words, Ju Jingyi couldn't help but laugh, and a clear, resonant "hahaha" burst from her lips.
Laughter is contagious, especially such infectious laughter.
Yi Xing also laughed heartily, and the two of them stood on the street, laughing uninhibitedly as if no one else was around.
Fortunately, it was late at night, and there were few passersby, so their voices echoed along the long street.
— — — — — —
Blackness gradually faded from the sky as the sun slowly rose from the east; a new day had arrived.
Yi Xing, with nothing to do, lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, struggling between getting up and lingering in bed.
After a while, he turned over and sat up, picked up his phone from beside him, and started replying to a pile of unread messages one by one.
"Liu Xuhui: So handsome! But, do you think you're the only one who has it? I have it too! Come and admire my good looks!"
"Liu Xuhui: 【Image】"
He tapped on the image that had been sent.
In the picture, Liu Xuhui was in a running pose, with a hunter Photoshopped in the distance by the production team.
Judging from the atmosphere in this picture, it was indeed a bit more handsome than the one he had sent.
He felt a little annoyed; why didn't they Photoshop one for him too?
He was envious.
But envy was one thing; he would absolutely never admit that he wasn't as handsome as others, at most, they were on equal footing.
"Yi Xing: Handsome, handsome, handsome! About the same as me."
He continued to scroll down and saw that Ju Jingyi had sent him a few messages, the general meaning being that she had returned to Magic City and would see him during the next recording.
"Yi Xing: Okay, see you next time, travel safely on the road!"
After clearing all the red dots, he stretched and left the warm bed.
He quickly washed up and packed his luggage.
This was a room booked by the production team, and there were still two hours until check-out.
He would then return to his mother's house here.
Before checking out, he still needed to cooperate with the promotion he had promised Xu Ke yesterday.
He opened Wei Bo and tapped on the screen with his fingers.
He was a bit undecided about what caption to use.
He looked at what others had posted; some used slogans directly, while others simply wrote four words: "I'm here!"
He combined the two to form his caption.
"China Speeding Up! I'm here! #China Speeding Up#"
After posting, he intended to exit, but he glanced at his current follower count.
It had actually surpassed 300,000!
He hadn't done anything special, so where did these followers come from?
He clicked on his second Wei Bo post and found some clues in the comments.
"Are you the one who plays the violin?"
Yesterday, when he played the violin in someone else's live stream, some people recorded it and made clips, which they posted on various platforms.
Among them, some of his fans recognized him and left comments, pointing the way.
An accidental act of his had actually brought such a great benefit; he had been stuck at this follower count for some time.
An idea suddenly popped into Yi Xing's head: since these new fans were coming for his violin playing, why not find a music store later, pay some money to borrow their violin, and play "Butterfly Lovers"?
He could ride his own wave of popularity.
No sooner said than done, he pushed his packed suitcase out of the room booked by the production team, searched for nearby music stores on his phone, hailed a taxi, and told the driver to head there.
He soon arrived at the music store.
He pushed open the door and walked in, politely explaining his purpose to the owner.
"Hello, may I borrow one of the better-sounding violins in your store?
I need you to help me record a performance video, and I will pay for it."
The owner looked him up and down, saw that he was well-dressed and didn't look like a swindler, and nodded in agreement.
There was no one in the store at the moment, and he was idle anyway.
He just didn't know how good his playing was, but since he was paying, a less-than-perfect performance wouldn't matter much.
After a performance, the owner looked at Yi Xing with new respect, giving him a thumbs-up in admiration.
He walked over, patted his shoulder, and said, "You don't need to pay.
You've treated me to a free piece of music, so why would I still charge you?"
"No, no, I must pay."
"I won't accept it!"
Seeing the owner's persistence, Yi Xing found it difficult to say more.
While the other person wasn't paying attention, he quietly placed the money inside the violin case.
As he walked to the door with the case, he said a quick word to him and then quickly ran off, not giving him a chance to catch up.