After a good while, feeling that Yiyi had calmed down considerably, Xu Qingqiu gently patted her shoulder and said, "Alright, alright. Go call home now, talk to your little brother. Later, we can buy a phone for him, and then you two can video call each other, okay?"

Yiyi looked up at Xu Qingqiu with a pitiful expression and said, "I'm sorry, Sister Qiu. I... I just couldn't hold it in."

"It's fine, it's fine. Isn't this normal? My little sister is all grown up now and doesn't miss me anymore. She doesn't call me now, and my older brother... he hasn't contacted me in a long time either..."

In reality, it wasn't that her older brother didn't contact her. Since she had left home, he had constantly been blaming himself. Especially when she sent the first sum of money home, her older brother hid in his room and cried all night long. It wasn't that he didn't want to reach out; he just felt he couldn't face his little sister.

"Okay, let's not talk about these things anymore. We still have a lot of work to do."

"Mhm~ I'm okay now. Let's start working. Go, Sister Qiu! You're the best!"

"Alright, then let's work hard together!"

Xu Qingqiu smiled faintly and ruffled Yiyi's hair. Her gaze then drifted towards the two songs on the computer screen, her eyes becoming somewhat misty.

What occupied her thoughts now wasn't the two songs but the person who had sent them...

After Yiyi left, Xu Qingqiu took out her phone, opened an app, and logged in. Four video feeds appeared on her phone screen. She tapped one of them, selected to retrieve the video, adjusted the time, and played it at double speed. Then she watched intently, not taking her eyes off the screen, until a person appeared in the footage...

"Ah..."

"It's really you... Why..."

Her attention drifting, she turned off the phone and looked out of the office as though searching for something, but her gaze was somewhat scattered.

Phew, I'll find out sooner or later. Let's get to work first!

The entire day passed in a whirl of activity. In the afternoon, she spent several hours communicating with the photographer, settling on the style and color scheme for the shoot. This left Xu Qingqiu thoroughly exhausted.

It was nearly an hour past quitting time, but people in the office were still busy.

Xu Qingqiu quickly clapped her hands and said, "Everyone has worked hard today. Let's call it a day. Hurry home and rest. Anything else can wait until tomorrow."

Xu Qingqiu watched as everyone, tired but cheerful, packed their things. They chatted and said goodbye to her as they left one after another. She mustered her weary body, smiling as she watched them go.

Once everyone had finally cleared out, the smile vanished from her face. She walked over to the lounge area, collapsed onto the sofa, and began to groan.

"Oh, Yiyi, come rest with me for a bit. I'm dying of exhaustion..."

"How can sitting in an office be so tiring? It feels more exhausting than being on a TV show all day."

Yiyi ran over with a cup of water, chuckling as she came.

"Hahaha, Sister Qiu, so you have days like this too! No wonder Sister Hua always has such a sour face in the studio, looking as if someone owed her money. If it were me, I'd probably be even more miserable than her."

"Here, have some water."

Xu Qingqiu took the cup, gave Yiyi a playful eye-roll, took a big gulp, and then contentedly leaned back on the sofa. She spoke in a drained voice, "You just like to run your mouth. If Sister Hua were standing in front of you, I'd like to see if you'd dare talk about her like that."

"I didn't! I was just saying... Sister Qiu, you can't tell Sister Hua what I said!"

"That depends on how you behave..."

Upon hearing this, Yiyi's eyes darted around as she instantly grasped the implication. She quickly came over and eagerly started to massage Xu Qingqiu's shoulders and legs.

"Sister Qiu, is this pressure okay?"

"Mhm, not bad... Shh. Do you hear that?"

Xu Qingqiu was enjoying the massage when she suddenly heard music.

Yiyi didn't dare to speak and even stopped her hand movements. Both of them froze like wooden statues, ears perked, listening intently.

In the quiet office, besides the occasional hum from the light fixture, there was a faint, almost imperceptible strain of music.

"The recording studio!"

"Is... is it the recording studio?!"

Both of them almost simultaneously pinpointed the direction the music was coming from.

"Is it Brother Tian?" Yiyi whispered.

"Shh, don't talk. Let's go listen," Xu Qingqiu murmured back.

Of course, Xu Qingqiu knew it was Chu Tian; who else could it be? If this had happened in the past, she might not have cared. After all, Chu Tian enjoyed playing instruments, which was quite normal. But things were different now. She increasingly felt that her understanding of Chu Tian wasn't as deep as she had thought.

Xu Qingqiu put down her water glass and, pulling Yiyi along, tiptoed toward the recording studio, intending to see what he was up to.

After carefully making their way to the recording studio door, they found it ajar. Warm yellow light from within spilled onto the floor through the crack. A faint sound gradually drifted out from inside, an intense drumbeat pulsating with a strong rhythm.

"Looking back on the days in front of that foreign door,"

"Heaving sighs of emotion year after year."

"But the sun sets and rises, never changing."

"Now, as I look at my father's smile,"

"I find myself speechless, unknowingly..."

Listening to this snippet of the song, Xu Qingqiu's eyes suddenly brightened. She searched her mind but couldn't find any trace of this song. If it were an unknown piece she hadn't heard, that would be one thing; after all, she wasn't omniscient and couldn't possibly know every song. But just from this segment, she knew this was undoubtedly a rare masterpiece, and what's more, it was in Cantonese! If she hadn't heard such an outstanding song before, it either meant the work was a true hidden gem, lost to time, or... this was a new song!

Yiyi didn't understand all this. So Chu Tian sings this well too? His voice is a bit rough, a little raspy, but it's still good! she thought.

To hear more clearly, the two instinctively leaned closer to the crack in the door, while the person inside remained completely oblivious.

Just then, the drumming suddenly stopped. Fearing they had been discovered, the two stepped back in unison and leaned against the wall, hardly daring to breathe.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before the sound of a piano came from inside again.

"The bagpipes play from afar,"

"I only care for news of you."

"The castle guards its secrets for love,"

"And I guard memories for you."

"Clearly... COUGH COUGH. Still no good. *Sigh*..."

The piano music slowly faded. Listening to the sigh from inside, Xu Qingqiu, standing by the door, suddenly felt a twinge of sorrow.

He probably loves singing too, doesn't he? He used to sing so well, but now he's ended up like this. If it weren't for me...

Chu Tian had no idea about the inner turmoil of the person outside. He had been on medication for several months now. Recently, because of "King of Mask Singer," he'd felt an itch to sing and couldn't resist trying.

Although his throat had recovered quite well, it still wasn't up to par, especially when hitting high notes. His throat would become unbearably itchy.

He had just sung Beyond's "The Land" and felt it was barely manageable; as long as he didn't exert too much force, he could get through it. Jay Chou's "Obviously" wasn't overly difficult either, but when it came to the high notes, he felt he could almost empathize with the kind of powerlessness Jay Chou might feel in his later years. No wonder Jay Chou often passed the microphone to the audience for high notes later in his career; there was truly no helping a voice in that condition.

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