After showcasing his talents in playing ancient musical instruments to the public, Qi Feng began composing and arranging music. In just a few short months, the pieces he had personally written and arranged, combining contemporary pop instrumentation, amazed the music world one after another.
Appreciating the gifts of this rare young talent who had overcome such adversity, Master Wu invited Qi Feng to join his ancient music research institute in the capacity of a scholar and researcher. This allowed Qi Feng to transition from pop idol to musical artist, a path he had aspired to take.
In the research room crowded with materials and instruments, the refined and noble boy sat at a pearwood desk, gingerly turning the pages of a yellowed sheet of parchment. It was an original musical score passed down over hundreds of years, penned by his former self in a previous life, though sadly never completed.
Beside him, Fang Cheng dusted an ancient zither, murmuring, “Xiao Feng, Mr. Pei is leaving the country today.”
The boy’s long lashes quivered slightly, and the calm pools of his eyes rippled faintly.
Fang Cheng sighed, “I’ve always felt that you two are…especially fated to be together.”
Knitting his brows, he clicked his tongue, “I don’t know how to describe this feeling. It’s as if you two were meant to be yet have overcome great adversity. Ah, I can’t put it into words, but it seems such a pity for you to separate like this, really a shame.”
Qi Feng gently turned the parchment pages and said, “If you want to follow Pei Yan, I won’t stop you.”
Fang Cheng: “Who said I want to follow him? I feel sorry for you. Do you really…not have feelings for Pei Yan?”
Qi Feng’s fingers stilled.
Did he like Pei Yan? After returning from the Donghai Group that day, he understood Uncle Pei’s meaning. If he liked Pei Yan, Uncle Pei would not obstruct them, but the one still hesitating was himself. When he first guessed Pei Yan would be harmed by Cheng Yu, he had been worried, which was why he had secretly helped Pei Yan. That was because he didn’t want to see his old friend harmed again. Now that Pei Yan was leaving, his heart felt somewhat empty.
Glancing at the time, Fang Cheng said, “There’s still two hours before Mr. Pei’s flight takes off. Why don’t we go see him off at the airport?”
“I already said I’m not going,” the boy replied irritably, rolling up the music score. “Stop mentioning him.”
“Aiya, aiya, Qi Feng, be careful, this is a national treasure.”
Master Wu pushed open the door to the research room. Seeing Qi Feng rolling up the music score, he immediately recovered from his chronic leg pains and darted over to protect the parchment, scolding angrily, “This is the only copy of the manuscript left from hundreds of years ago. What if you damage it!”
Qi Feng: …It was just some casual scribbling he had tossed away after writing.
Master Wu huffed, “Hmph, you young people have no appreciation for treasures. This is how so many precious documents have been lost!”
Fang Cheng spoke up for Qi Feng: “Master Wu, haven’t you already transcribed this score countless times? How could it get lost? And this is clearly just a jumble of random notes, likely something someone wrote incorrectly and threw away.”
Master Wu was even more incensed: “What do you know about music! Though this score is just a simple framework, the framework is magnificently grand and majestic. If it could be fully compiled, it would become a peerless masterpiece lost for a millennium.”
“What a pity this nameless musical prodigy vanished suddenly all those centuries ago for unknown reasons, leaving no trace of himself in music history, alas.”
Qi Feng: …He was that nameless one.
Master Wu shook his head with a sigh: “All these years in my efforts to uncover the identity of the nameless man, after investigating that dynasty’s affairs extensively, I finally found a very valuable score for reference.”
From the bookshelf, he took out a brown box, also containing a yellowed parchment scroll and showed it to Qi Feng: “The handwriting and compositional style of this score is exactly the same as the previous one. I guess they were written by the same person. Only the melody of this piece is mournful and desolate. It seems the gist is that the nameless musician’s beloved died, and he too lost all passion for life, which is perhaps why he vanished.”
The instant the scroll was unrolled, Qi Feng’s eyes widened abruptly. At that moment, it was as if timelines converged, and he now sat at the desk in Yonghe Music Hall in the capital city.
This was written by him, yet somehow absent from memory, only now slowly coming back.
He was playing the qin on the music hall’s high platform, the capital’s nobles seated below in prosperous splendor. Suddenly soldiers burst into the music hall, bringing an urgent report rushed overnight eight hundred miles – “General Pei is dead! General Pei has fallen in battle!”
Pei Yan was dead.
He didn’t know what he was thinking as his fingers pressed numbly on the strings, allowing them to dig into his fingertips. Amidst the clamor and chaos, Manager Fang led him back to his room.
Pei Yan was dead.
Suddenly he didn’t know what to do. All those years enduring humiliation, seeking vengeance, and restoring the Qi family’s glory…it was as if they had all lost meaning.
All he knew was that Pei Yan was dead. He would never see that rash and stubborn young general again.
In a daze, he picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote down this piece of music.
Master Wu sat in front of the guqin, plucked a couple of notes, and said, “This piece of music is lifeless, sad, and weak. As if the composer had lost the will to live. I suspect that nameless musician then went and…alas…”
Fang Cheng listened in fascination, then leaned over to look at the score and suddenly laughed, “Xiao Feng, look here. It has the date written too, the seventh day of the eighth lunar month. Hey, today happens to be the seventh of the eighth month on the lunar calendar. What a coincidence!”
“Hundreds of years ago, this nameless musician wrote down this piece, and hundreds of years later, it’s seen by a musician called Qi Feng on the same date. It’s like you two are fated to meet!”
Fated, the same day!
Seeing the date on the score, Qi Feng was seized by a strong sense of foreboding.
History repeats, and destiny seems composed like a score played over and over.
Just as everyone he had met here had no memories yet retained intimate ties like in their past life.
Although Pei Yan had recalled everything, avoiding being killed by Cheng Yu again, perhaps his fate remained unchanged. He would still die at twenty-seven on the seventh day of the eighth month.
Qi Feng abruptly stood and grabbed his phone to call Pei Yan. In his haste, he knocked over the box containing Master Wu’s music.
Master Wu yelled angrily at him, “Didn’t I tell you to be careful! Still so careless, I shouldn’t have shown such a precious item to you!”
Qi Feng seemed not to hear, clutching the phone against his ear as he rushed out.
“Hey! Xiao Feng, Xiao Feng, what’s wrong?” Fang Cheng called after him. He ran a couple of steps and saw Qi Feng had left his bag behind, so he hurried back to pack up before chasing him out anxiously.
The call connected, and Pei Yan’s joyful, expectant voice rang out: “Xiao Feng, I’ve finally gotten your call.”
Qi Feng: “Where are you?”
He asked urgently, startling Pei Yan upright: “I’m on my way to the airport. What’s wrong? Did something happen to you?”
Qi Feng: “Don’t go anywhere. Stay there and wait for me!”
“But I’m…already halfway there.”
“Don’t drive any further! Wait there for me to find you!”
“Alright.”
Pei Yan didn’t understand what Qi Feng intended to do but instinctively obeyed. Holding the phone, he instructed his driver, “Stop the car, pull over there at the roadside. Xiao Feng is coming to…”
A tremendous crashing sound rang out over the phone. Pei Yan’s voice in Qi Feng’s ear was abruptly cut off.
In the ensuing silence, the blaring busy tone was especially jarring.
Qi Feng’s ears buzzed as his pupils slowly dilated. “Pei Yan!!!”
Fang Cheng was so startled he nearly tripped. “Wha-wha-what happened? What’s wrong with Mr. Pei?”
—
On the road where traffic flowed like water, Pei Yan sat in the passenger seat of his car, speaking to Qi Feng on the phone. Suddenly and unexpectedly, a small car running a red light crashed into the front of his vehicle with a loud ‘bang’. His car was large and heavily fortified after modifications, so even the collision only nudged it slightly off course. The small car bounced off and spun away, smashed again by oncoming traffic.
Inside Pei Yan’s car, the impact and abrupt braking slammed his body forward, smacking his head against the dashboard. His phone that he had been using to call Qi Feng was flung against the window, falling into a narrow gap in the seats.
The gap was too tight for Pei Yan to retrieve his phone and continue speaking with Qi Feng. Frustrated, he cursed, “Damn, what’s with the cars out there! Xiao Feng finally calls me, and now the call drops, what if he gets angry?”
Having witnessed the small car crash away, the driver anxiously eyed the chaotic road and carefully pulled over to the roadside. He asked Pei Junhai and Pei Wenwen in the back, “Chairman Pei, are you both alright?”
“If Mr. Pei hadn’t told me to stop and slow down just now, that car probably would’ve hit our vehicle. Miss Pei could’ve been in danger.”
Pei Junhai and Pei Wenwen were seeing Pei Yan off at the airport. Pei Junhai was unharmed, but Pei Wenwen leaned pale-faced against the door. Weakly she said, “Dad, I feel a little dizzy and nauseous.”
Glancing up, Pei Junhai saw a streak of blood on the window Pei Wenwen leaned against. Alarmed, he quickly supported his daughter. “Wenwen, don’t move. Pei Yan, Pei Yan, Wenwen hit her head! Call an ambulance, get to the hospital, hurry!”
—
Qi Feng stood frozen in front of the car, phone in hand.
Today was the seventh day of the eighth lunar month. Right now, while he was on the phone with Pei Yan, Pei Yan had gotten into a car accident. He heard with his own ears the violent crash of metal, and Pei Yan’s voice cut off abruptly.
His heart rose and fell erratically as if grasping for something just out of reach. Helplessness and fear overwhelmed him.
Fang Cheng opened the passenger door and asked in confusion, “Xiao Feng, what exactly happened? What’s going on with Mr. Pei?”
“Pei Yan…got into an accident.”
“Ahhh?!”
Qi Feng jerked alert, pulling Fang Cheng into the car. “Hurry! Go to the road Pei Yan took to the airport. Hurry, let’s go!”
Fang Cheng: “Oh! Okay!”
In the car, Qi Feng repeatedly redialed Pei Yan’s number, but though the call went through, no one picked up. As if the phone’s owner could no longer hear it ring, could no longer message or speak to him.
Qi Feng was in a hurry. The accident scene had not yet been fully cleared. Several traffic officers directed the damaged vehicles and redirected traffic.
Jumping out of the car, Qi Feng grabbed an officer. “The other vehicle, where is it?”
Officer: “You mean the crashed car? Someone inside was injured and just rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.”
“Which hospital?”
“The main city hospital nearby.”
Without a mask obscuring his face, Qi Feng was quickly recognized. “Hey, isn’t that Qi Feng?”
“Really, it’s him! Wow, didn’t expect to run into the big star here!”
“Qi Feng, Qi Feng, look over here!”
Many people encircled him in surprise, raising phones to snap photos and videos. But the Qi Feng on their screens no longer appeared as refined and calm as onstage. The boy pushed through the crowd anxiously and jumped back into the car. “Fang Cheng, go to the main city hospital!”
“That was Qi Feng, right? What’s going on with him?”
“Could the person in the accident be someone he knows?”
“Oh my god, no way…”
The main city hospital was very close, just a ten-minute drive. Before the car fully stopped, the boy leapt out and raced like the wind toward the emergency room.
Fang Cheng called after him, “Xiao Feng, wait for me! Put on a hat and mask!”
Signs of the accident’s aftermath half an hour ago remained in the bustling hospital. Qi Feng grabbed a passing nurse, gasping for breath. “Excuse me…the person injured in the road accident just now, where are they? How bad is it?”
Nurse: “Are you the patient’s family? The situation isn’t very good, they’re still in emergency surgery.”
“Oh? You, you’re Qi Feng! Ahhh, I’m your fan!”
Qi Feng: “Where’s the operating room? Can you take me there?”
Seeing sweat drenching Qi Feng’s head and his anxious, helpless expression, the nurse quickly suppressed her excitement and responded gravely, “This way, I’ll take you there.”
At the end of the long corridor, the doors to the emergency room opened. A few doctors and nurses in surgical gowns wheeled a hospital bed out.
The nurse brought Qi Feng over at a run and asked, “Dr. Li, the patient’s family member is here. How did the surgery go?”
Contrasting their disheveled state, the medical staff appeared somewhat subdued. They looked at Qi Feng wordlessly, the atmosphere oppressive.
A female doctor wearing glasses sighed and said, “I’m sorry, we… tried our best.”
Fang Cheng, wiping sweat, abruptly widened his eyes. “No, that can’t be!”
Beside him, Qi Feng’s face was bloodless, his pupils dim. His slender body swayed unsteadily as if his soul had departed.
“Xiao Feng!”
“Qi Feng!”
Fang Cheng and the nurse cried out, quickly propping up the boy’s crumbling body.
“Xiao Feng, Mr. Pei, how could he…” Fang Cheng simply couldn’t believe this was real. “Doctor, this really is Pei Yan?!”
Doctor: “The patient was rushed here from the accident scene. We haven’t confirmed their identity yet. If you are the patient’s relatives…”
The doctor stepped aside to let them verify.
Fang Cheng’s breath stopped as he trudged heavily forward. Slowly he lifted the white sheet covering the patient’s face, freezing when the revealed half was exposed.
“X-Xiao Feng, he doesn’t seem to be Pei Yan.”
The boy leaned limply against the wall without reacting.
Just then, Pei Yan walked down the hall holding an x-ray film. He suddenly halted and looked back in surprise. “Qi Feng? Xiao Feng! What are you doing here?!”
Pei Yan’s surprise shifted to delight as he strode quickly toward the boy. “Xiao Feng, I’m sorry, Wenwen hit her head, so I brought her to get examined. I didn’t get a chance to reply to you.”
The boy watched him with unfocused, dazed eyes, his complexion white and bloodless.
Sensing something wrong, Pei Yan tightly gripped his hand. “What’s wrong with you? Are you ill?” He shouted back, “Fang Cheng, what’s wrong with Xiao Feng?”
Qi Feng’s distracted gaze gradually focused. Reflected in his clear pupils was a man’s anxious face. “Pei…Yan.”
Murmuring softly, he suddenly opened his arms wide, encircling Pei Yan’s neck in an embrace. His body trembled slightly. “Pei Yan, you’re alright. Really, thank goodness.”
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