One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

19

With one hand resting on the metal microphone stand, Shi Yi sang softly. Never before had she been so immersed in a song as she sang.

Through the glass, only D. Wang and Mei Lin were watching her.

Both of them seemed to perceive that she was singing for someone with feelings that were not tainted by anything. D. Wang slowly lowered the volume of the music until she was nearly singing a capella. He thought, this woman, who was one of the "Top Four Female Voices in Mainland China" and who had just received an important award, perhaps was truly dating someone in a secret, romantic relationship. The media gossip from that night's award ceremony had led him to believe that Shi Yi's pure, firm values had started to wane, but tonight, her singing was clearly conveying that right now, she was very much in love with a man.

Regardless of how much that man's wealth might be, she had genuinely invested her feelings into this relationship.

She finished recording her part and then very quickly left.

She, therefore, was unaware of how the rest of the people inside the recording studio were teasing D. Wang. Someone gently patted D. Wang's shoulder and grinned, "East Media's prettiest girl seems to have found a significant other who is really quite good."

D. Wang lightly tapped the worktable with two fingers and did not say anything. Instead, he laughed rather resignedly. "As long as she likes him, then there is nothing more important than that."

This strict, demanding producer unexpectedly said such touching words. The entire room fell into a rare moment of quietness.

When she arrived downstairs, Zhousheng Chen was already waiting by the roadside for her.

Shi Yi presumed that he must have kept to his usual practice of arriving fifteen minutes early. It was nearly the rainy summer season, and the roads at night would often become dampened by a sudden drizzle. A few green leaves from Chinese parasol or gingko trees would become stuck to the road surface, and the soft, spongy feeling when stepping on them would give the illusion that you could sink into them. Shi Yi walked up beside him. "Have you taken the teachers back to the hotel?"

Zhousheng Chen nodded. "They were back an hour ago."

"An hour?" She calculated out the time and distance. "How long have you been here?"

"Thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes?" She laughed, "Didn't you say your practice, when you wait for someone, is to be fifteen minutes early?"

He opened the car door for her and casually answered, "If it is to wait for my fiancée, doubling that waiting time would not be considered excessive."

She had not expected him to say that. As she took a seat in the vehicle, she noticed Uncle Lin seemed to be smiling.

The car turned a corner and drove steadily onto the main road that was lit up as bright as day by the streetlights. Shi Yi saw him open the window down one quarter of the way, just enough to allow fresh air to flow in freely but not so much that wind would tousle the hair. A wooden armrest was between the two of them, but he did not place his arm on it and left it for her to use instead.

She suddenly noticed these tiny, insignificant details.

Perhaps he had always been like this when he was with her.