"Holy crap!!"
A shriek shattered the quiet of the early morning. Ye Qihan was jolted awake from his dream, reaching out in a fluster even before opening his eyes to pull the person beside him close. "What's wrong?"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Yu Sheng banged on the bed beneath her, the sheet crumpled beyond recognition in her grasp. "The Music Anticipation Chart! Mei Mengran has jumped ahead of me by a huge margin! I don't accept it, I don't accept it, I don't accept it!"
Ye Qihan had thought something major had happened. Rubbing the space between his brows, he only then noticed he was stark naked, exposed to the air. Luckily, the heating in the room was powerful enough that he didn't feel cold. He recalled how last night, when they'd finished, she'd wound herself around him like a succubus, forcing him not to wear any clothes. As for herself, she'd just pulled on a nightgown. Even though she'd tangled the duvet into a twisted rope hanging off the bed, at least there wasn't an accidental exposure.
"Y-you pervert!" Her eyes were wide open, clearly disdainful of his behavior.
He found it amusing as he leaned closer. "Haven't we already slept together? Is there any part of my body you haven't seen? Besides, last night was clearly you..."
Yu Sheng, having calmed down a little, also recalled her whimsical prank from the previous night. She hadn't expected this guy to actually go along with it. Tilting her chin up high, her confidence rose with it. She cleared her throat. "That was me talking in my sleep! Don't you understand? Sleep-talking!"
Ye Qihan grinned like a fox. "Of course I understand. So, in your subconscious, that's how you coveted me... my body."
Yu Sheng planted her hands on her hips. "Who's coveting anything?! I, I..."
"Whatever I say, you just do it. Are you stupid?"
"Whatever my lady wife says goes."
Meaning he was willingly accepting being called a fool? Yu Sheng choked with anger, unable to get another word out, and could only glare at him indignantly.
"Ye Qihan, I'm warning you! Don't think just because you've met my grandpa and climbed into my bed, you can..."
"What's the Music Anticipation Chart?"
"Ah!" Yu Sheng scratched her head. "I almost forgot the main thing!" She looked around, finally found her phone at the foot of the bed, opened it, and showed him. "If Mei Mengran wasn't riding on MR's coattails, could she be number one? Even being at the bottom of the list would be considered lucky for her!"
So her attention was this easy to divert. Ye Qihan smirked inwardly, though his expression soon dimmed a little. But hearing her spirited voice, he started to feel this morning was truly wonderful.
"Is it just a chart? If you want it, I'll buy it for you."
Yu Sheng rolled her eyes at him. "So shallow."
What she truly cared about wasn't this chart. She simply couldn't stand seeing Mei Mengran, that high-purity counterfeit knock-off, at the top.
Mei Mengran's upcoming single had remained on the "Music Anticipation Chart" for three consecutive days. Her manager, Cen Chen, was overjoyed, her eyes practically blossoming with flowers. "According to the latest internal data I got from the company, from the survey conducted a few days ago, 96% of the surveyed fans said they were willing to purchase the album. Even just this portion is enough to account for 80% of the initial release. Mengran, we definitely took the right path this time."
Hearing this, Mei Mengran finally let out a sigh of relief. This journey felt like a long, immersive dream — falling from the clouds to the bottom, and now finding herself higher up than ever. Still, a small worry lingered in her heart.
When she was young, her grandfather would often drum it into her ears: People should know contentment and find joy in it; remember that the higher you climb, the harder you fall.
After she came to the Mei family, Old Madame Mei had opened a door to a new world for her. Mei Mengran gradually tossed those words behind her. Later, entering the vat of fame and fortune's dye...
Cen Chen continued, "There's also some fairly significant news from the past couple of days. Tianxing Entertainment's official Weibo posted a message." She recalled the content:
[Tianxing Entertainment V]: In the coming days, a heavyweight mysterious figure, absent from the music scene for seven years, will return with a new work to meet everyone. Are you excited?
Given these conditions, combined with their pivotal position in the music world, the big figure matching this description basically pointed to only one person.
Obviously, Tianxing Entertainment's official Weibo was using "mystery" as a cover, but practically everyone had guessed the identity of this mysterious person.
Ansel.
This brilliant lyricist, composer, and renowned musician was aloof by nature. He had only a handful of works, yet each was a masterpiece, still active on various classic and nostalgic charts. The people he had groomed back in the day were almost all pillars supporting half the music scene's sky. Countless people yearned to sing a song he wrote, yet most returned empty-handed. Seven years ago, he announced his retirement, eliciting countless sighs of regret.
Cen Chen had an underlying worry. Did his choice to suddenly announce a comeback at this time have some purpose?
However, vague as it might be, the above was merely netizens' baseless speculation. Perhaps it was just a gimmick sold by Tianxing Entertainment. Weren't Yu Sheng and their boss getting rather close lately? It could be momentum-building for her. In short, before the official statement was released, nothing could be considered definitive.
She turned to ask the seemingly distracted person beside her, "Mengran, are you going out later?"
Mei Mengran snapped back to attention. "Yes."
Cen Chen said, "Right now is a critical time for you. You absolutely must be careful, don't get caught by the paparazzi, lest they make a big fuss out of it again. You're already red enough; you don't need to rely on these things for publicity anymore."
"I'll be careful."
She was in full disguise, wrapped up from head to toe. Except for the bouts of barking stirred up by her walking along a narrow alley after getting out of the car, hardly anyone noticed her.
Mei Mengran stood before a rusted iron door, her gaze coldly sweeping over the garbage bags piled at the entrance — they'd been there so long they were starting to emit a faint stench. Behind her mask, the corners of her lips curled into a sardonic smile.
"Coming, cough cough!" Hearing the knock, someone inside responded between heavy fits of coughing. The soundproofing of the house wasn't great; through the door, she could hear the scraping sound of slippers dragging across the floorboards, like a dull knife scraping over hardwood.
"Ranran?!" Wu Yuwan finally saw the person outside, and a sudden light sparked in her deeply sunken eyes. "Come in, come in, quick!"
The room had no air conditioning and was chillingly cold. Mei Mengran tightened her coat, removed her sunglasses, and finally let her cool gaze fall upon the woman opposite her at the dining table. The moment she looked, it was jarring; her line of sight almost tensed into a taut line.
Too thin! If not for the faint signs of breathing, Mei Mengran might have suspected she was already a cold corpse. Her eye sockets were deep like ice caverns, the eyeballs floating on them like longan seeds. Her originally high cheekbones protruded even more unbelievably, and her chin was so gaunt it seemed the bone would show. With all these features combined, there was an indescribable eerie strangeness.
A vague memory flickered in her mind, but her train of thought was interrupted by the loud wailing of a child next door. She gave up.
"What you said on the phone the other day about the secret of my origins wasn't at all clear. You insisted you could only tell me face-to-face. I hope this trip isn't a waste of my time."
"I can tell you, but I have a condition."
Mei Mengran sneered. "If it's about money, don't bother." She made as if to turn and walk out. "Besides, I'm not the least bit interested in your secret."
Probably just seeing she'd clawed her way out of the mud again, dreaming of squeezing a bit more money out of her. The so-called secret was likely just fabricated to blackmail her, right?
But... Mei Mengran asked herself silently in her heart. If you already knew all this, then why did you still come?
She couldn't answer her own question.
"If you weren't interested... cough cough..." Wu Yuwan leaned against the dining table, cold sweat dripping from her neck. She coughed until it seemed her lungs would tear, only stopping after great difficulty. "...you wouldn't have come."
"What exactly do you want?"
"One million for a secret."
"Ha ha."
"I'm seriously ill, I might not have much longer to live. Are you really just going to watch me die?"
"What does your life or death have to do with me?" Mei Mengran had already reached the doorway, fists clenched at her sides, nails digging deep into her palms. Then, from behind, came a hoarse, faltering voice:
"The... the old lady from the Mei family... didn't she contribute... quite a bit... to you having today?"
She stopped.
Wu Yuwan covered her chest, panting heavily. "Why is she so... good... to you? Is... is it... out of regard for... your deceased grandfather?"
"If I told you... you aren't actually the Shen family's bloodline..."
"What did you say?!" Mei Mengran closed the distance to stand right before her in one swift step, her gaze fiercely pinning Wu Yuwan. "Say it again!"
"Your father... he was a spineless man. Couldn't... couldn't get it up... in bed. Me, being with such a useless eunuch of a man... how could I have possibly given birth to you?"
"Don't you dare insult my dad!"
Mei Mengran seized Wu Yuwan's shoulders roughly, shaking her so hard it felt like her frame would fall apart.
"Pity your grandfather, always doting on you like his own granddaughter... even on his deathbed, entrusting you to his old lover... If not for him, would a little bastard like you have gotten to where you are today?"
"You!" This string of shocking revelations had already robbed Mei Mengran of some of her rationality. She trembled with fury. "I am Shen Mengran... I am a child of the Shen family... You're lying!"
"You fickle, promiscuous slut of a woman! Didn't you say you're about to die? Why aren't you dead yet?!"
These words seemed to strike a painful chord in Wu Yuwan. Her emotions became extremely agitated. Mei Mengran continued her tirade, as if pouring out the resentment accumulated in her heart for years. "Last time, if it weren't for you, why would I have ended up so wretched? What kind of mother are you? What right do you have to be my mother?! Is this how a mother behaves? How many times was I laughed at because of you when I was a kid? I've always been ashamed of you! Why do people like you deserve to live in this world?"
"Ah!" Mei Mengran suddenly threw her head back and screamed. Stunned, she watched as this woman, gone mad, latched onto her neck and bit down. Desperately, she shoved her away, and seconds later, Wu Yuwan drifted lightly to the floor like a sheet of paper.
Feeling wetness on her neck, she pulled her hand back and saw blood. Horrified, she cried, "Are you crazy?!"
"I am crazy!" Wu Yuwan chuckled softly, licking the blood staining the corner of her lips, bit by bit. Her voice was as light as spider silk in the wind. "Ranran... So let's go to hell together. Let's go together to atone before your father."
Her lips were still broken, so it was unclear whose blood it was. Her own? Or Mei Mengran's? Or perhaps both?
"Ranran... what I have... it's AIDS."
Time seemed to stand still at that moment.
"AIDS?" Mei Mengran repeated dazedly, then inexplicably burst into loud laughter. Laughing, she began to cry. "Crazy... Crazy... All crazy!"
She stormed out, slamming the door shut behind her.
The garbage bags by the entrance were kicked flying, and the sky-high stench instantly spread. A cat lounging lazily on the windowsill in the corridor, basking in the sun, let out a disdainful "meow," its agile body leaping down and swishing its tail as it walked away.
Mei Mengran returned home in a daze. Although she had rapidly bought mineral water to rinse the wound on the way back, then spent almost an hour under the showerhead, soaking in the bathtub until her skin wrinkled slightly, the chill that had seeped into her bloodstream hadn't abated even a fraction.
A-I-D-S. Such a foreign and terrifying thing.
That woman's heart was truly too cruel! Too cruel!
That night, Mei Mengran hardly slept at all. Her laptop screen emitted a faint green light, like the eyes of a devil. List after list of search results for "HIV infection" lined the screen, each opened and clicked on countless times.
Utterly exhausted, reaching her physical limit, she walked as if on cotton, feet not touching solid ground, light-headed. Her eyes ached so much she could barely keep them open, and her head throbbed with pain. Just as she was about to go get some sleep, her phone suddenly rang.
She frowned, intending to hang up, but with dizziness clouding her vision, she couldn't see clearly. Instead, she swiped the answer button. The agitated voice of her assistant immediately jumped out. "It's terrible, Sister Ran!"
Mei Mengran hadn't heard clearly at all. She directly hung up.
Less than a minute later, her phone rang again. This time it was her manager, Cen Chen. Her voice was tight, as if someone were gripping her throat. "M-Mengran, quick, go online and look! I sent you the link."
"I don't have time right now."
"M-MR... the real MR has appeared. Mengran, we're completely finished!"
*Beep beep beep...*
At exactly 9 a.m. this morning, Tianxing Entertainment's official Weibo posted a new message:
[#If Missing Had A Sound# Lovers shall find their way to a happy reunion. [Video]]
Hands trembling, Mei Mengran clicked on the video. At first, it was a static black screen. After a moment, line after line of simple, elegant text began to rise slowly from the bottom left corner to the center of the screen:
[If Missing Had a Sound]
[Lyrics: Ansel]
[Composition: Ansel]
[Performer: MR]
Gradually, color appeared on the screen. It started from a large floor-to-ceiling window filled with sunset light, then panned to a piano in the center of the room. A man in a black suit stood with only his back visible. His slender, fair fingers, like polished jade bamboo, danced over the black and white keys. Just this scene alone was a feast for the eyes, captivating. Next to him stood a woman in a simple, elegant dress the color of moonlight, her figure slender and proportionate, black hair cascading like a waterfall down to her waist. Again, just a back view...
The woman began to sing softly, tenderly.
[If missing had a sound,
It would surely be saying, over and over,
I love you,
Untiringly,
...
Missing has already seeped into the painting,
Stroke by stroke awaiting your answer,
Plum blossoms cling to the window frame outside, blooming upon the scar left by time,
That night, the moonlight that stood me up shines upon the sleeplessness by the bed,
...
Thinking and longing,
...
If missing had a sound...]
The woman's voice was gentle and sweet, light and pure, like an elegant orchid in a secluded valley, softly humming, its fragrance filling the world.
The final note came to an abrupt halt. The man suddenly turned his head, his handsome profile softened by a layer of gentle light from the lamp above, his features smooth. The woman also slowly turned to face him, their eyes meeting... The image froze just before her profile fully came into view.