Dinner is in the form of a barbecue buffet with beer, seafood, and music still as the main themes.
After losing the competition, An Youqing and Chen Linsuang hid in the villa’s dressing room and hadn’t come out. Lin Wanwan naturally didn’t care about their whereabouts; she was enjoying her food, drinks, and having a good time.
For many people present, eating and having fun was secondary; the main goal was socializing. Tonight, many high-level executives from seven major entertainment companies were present, so those trainees who hadn’t debuted and internet celebrities, naturally seized the opportunity to network.
But Lin Wanwan was different. She truly came to eat, drink, and have fun, so she was completely relaxed.
She didn’t eat much seafood, mainly waiting by the chef to eat fresh grilled meat. Modern seafood, even if fresh, mostly contains microplastics. Lin Wanwan was used to the pure, unpolluted seafood from the Great Tang—how could she eat modern seafood? This update is available on novel✶fire.net
After eating over ten skewers of grilled meat, Lu Shouyue brought her a cup of lemon tea with a straw, smiling as he said, "I didn’t expect you to love grilled meat so much, have some tea to refresh a bit."
"Thank you." Lin Wanwan smiled as she received it, "I’m just not interested in the seafood here."
Lu Shouyue stood beside her, looking at the dark sea in the distance, just like her, and said with a smile, "Yes, when you’re used to those premium seafood you make yourself, it’s really hard to appreciate ordinary goods. Next time when you deliver goods to Jie Yuting, save some for me, will you?"
"Of course." For such a small matter, Lin Wanwan naturally agreed readily.
"Wow!!!" As they were chatting, a sudden scream erupted from the band behind them.
Lin Wanwan turned to look, only to see the band’s drummer replaced by a tall guy wearing a baseball cap. Upon closer inspection, isn’t it Xiao Junning?
"It seems Xiao Junning is getting cheered to perform, shall we go take a look?"
The opportunity to watch a top celebrity perform live for free and up close isn’t common. Although Lin Wanwan wasn’t a fan, she was willing to join the excitement occasionally.
Lu Shouyue casually glanced at the inexperienced young idol and said, "This music is too noisy, isn’t it? It doesn’t have much technical content."
Lin Wanwan giggled, "Though noisy, it’s lively. Lu, you continue watching the sea here; I’m going to join the fun."
With that, she eagerly went into the crowd.
Lu Shouyue watched her unwavering back, exhaled lightly, and leisurely tramped along in flip-flops escorting.
Wearing a baseball cap pretending to be cool at night; such a kid is really immature.
Lu Shouyue muttered to himself, standing far on the outside of the crowd, dispassionately watching the youthful band under the spotlight. After a while, he moved his gaze to Lin Wanwan.
Compared to the people around her who were excited, Lin Wanwan appeared much calmer, holding her lemon tea leisurely as an audience. Her expression seemed more like she was watching the excitement than appreciating.
For some reason, amidst the hustle and bustle, Lu Shouyue saw a sense of loneliness in her.
And during such a lively night, Lin Wanwan indeed felt lonely; she missed her little Qingyu dearly. Having been away for two nights, she wondered what the little guy thought of her absence.
Last time when she took the camera back to the Great Tang to sneakily film Xiao Chong, she also recorded many videos of little Qingyu, stored in her phone, watching them occasionally.
Thinking of this, Lin Wanwan opened her phone, went to the gallery, and started watching Qingyu’s videos and screenshots. Her smile spread unknowingly like wings opening.
Lu Shouyue watched the transition in Lin Wanwan’s demeanor from loneliness to warmth in curiosity, unable to look away, momentarily lost in thought.
Noticing Lu Shouyue’s gaze, Lin Wanwan turned to look. Lu Shouyue, caught peeking, showed no sign of guilt. With a gentle smile on his handsome face, he raised his wine glass to toast from afar.
Lin Wanwan returned his smile brightly, then walked towards him.
Lu Shouyue clearly felt his heartbeat pounding like a drum. Every step she took towards him seemed to walk right into his heart.
Though it was just a tiny, trivial thing, she merely smiled and approached him. Why did he, embarrassingly, feel like a teenager in puberty?
Raising his beer glass, Lu Shouyue took a big gulp, then placed the empty glass on a passing server’s tray and walked towards Lin Wanwan.
They greeted each other simultaneously and then spoke at the same time: "You go first."
Lin Wanwan chuckled, tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear lightly, and said with a smile, "Alright, I’ll go first. Lu, I just saw on my phone a picture of an ancient zither score taken a while ago and thought you might like it. Here, take a look."
This piece was Xiao Chong’s handwritten copy for her of the "High Mountain and Flowing Water."
Lu Shouyue took her phone, initially distracted, but soon his expression changed, murmuring, "It’s an original text score... Lanling Xiao Chong transcribed High Mountain and Flowing Water in the autumn of the third year of Zhenguan to gift cousin Lin... Lanling Xiao family? Why am I seeing things related to them so frequently lately?"
As he spoke, he intuitively walked towards the brightly lit villa, with Lin Wanwan naturally following behind.
Having just played the drums energetically, Xiao Junning, glanced up at the night sky, his peripheral vision catching Lin Wanwan leaving with the man; his somewhat indifferent gaze slightly contracted, then pressed the brim of his cap lower, nodded to the band he collaborated with earlier, and jumped off the stage.
Amidst the crowd’s screams, he coolly sat aside, pulled out his phone, and started playing games, exuding a cold aura that kept strangers at bay. Just by his high and cold demeanor, people found it difficult to associate him with the passionate performer on stage moments ago.
"Wanwan, shall we go to the study on the second floor?" Lu asked without taking his eyes off the phone screen.
Lin Wanwan agreed readily, "Sure."
They arrived at the brightly-lit study. Lu handed her phone back, itching with curiosity, "Mind sending me the photo to study?"
Lin Wanwan chuckled and said, "Of course not, otherwise I wouldn’t have shown it to you." She then opened WeChat, selected the original photo, and hit send.
Lu saved the photo, went to the desk to open the computer, and said with admiration, "Wanwan, the treasures you have are endless, my compliments! Make yourself comfortable while I work for a bit."
Lin Wanwan sat on a small sofa by the desk, continuing to watch videos of little Qingyu on her phone, while Lu quickly imported the photo to the computer, fully focused on examining the details and browsing the web for information.
The two became quiet, with the sound of the central air-conditioning softly blowing being the only one left in the room with excellent soundproofing.