Chapter 1690: Cloud Boss and Little Cousin Extra (7)

For the National Day performance, Fan Zhengyu and Yun Hezhi were scheduled as the finale. They had to wait backstage for a long time, and before Yun Hezhi’s performance, he needed about an hour of silent rehearsal. Fan Zhengyu could only leave the dressing room, change into her performance outfit on her own, and go wait outside.

When there were only five or six minutes left before they went on, Yun Hezhi still hadn’t come out. Fan Zhengyu knew it was very inappropriate to disturb someone’s silent rehearsal, but time was tight, and the teacher had already urged her to go wait in the wings. She lingered at the dressing room door for a long time, finally raising her hand...

Bracing herself to knock.

What she didn’t expect was that just as her fingertips touched the door, it opened.

Yun Hezhi had already changed into the full costume of Yang Guifei, stunningly gorgeous.

At that moment, you simply couldn’t imagine that beneath this costume was a man; he seemed to be Yang Guifei herself.

Fan Zhengyu stared, a little dazed. This was just too beautiful.

Yun Hezhi was likewise sizing up Fan Zhengyu. A performance was different from everyday life—she was usually in short sleeves and long pants, but today she wore a white formal long dress that traced out every curve of her figure, and her overall aura suddenly seemed much more mature.

Like a maiden in the woods, sweet and elegant.

"Boss Yun, it’s about to start." Fan Zhengyu’s gaze could hardly move away from him.

Yun Hezhi nodded.

...

After the host’s introduction, accompanied by thunderous applause from the audience, the two of them stepped onto the stage one after the other.

Although it was a duet, Yun Hezhi was only responsible for singing opera, while Fan Zhengyu had to play from beginning to end. Whenever she played solo, she was the most dazzling presence on stage.

In private, she was like a young girl. Though Yun Hezhi had known and interacted with her for some time, she still called him "Boss Yun," treating him entirely as a mentor, with genuine respect in her heart.

But once she was on stage, she was like an entirely different person.

Utterly radiant, brilliant and striking!

On stage, there was a moment when their eyes met. It was as if light was gathered in Fan Zhengyu’s gaze. There were thousands of people in the audience, yet in her eyes, it seemed there was only him. It was probably in that instant that a strange feeling suddenly stirred in the depths of Yun Hezhi’s heart.

In fact, when they first started working together, he had a lot on his mind.

The music Fan Zhengyu played in his courtyard truly drew him in, and since she was also Jiang Jinsang’s younger cousin, she was practically an acquaintance. Yun Hezhi had been considering whether he had any performance plans coming up and wanted to try something fresh like a fusion of Chinese opera and Western instruments.

He just hadn’t realized at the time...

When you admire someone, then see them day after day, it’s very easy to develop a fondness—maybe even...

Love!

Their performance was undoubtedly a great success. As they took their bows, the two of them shared a smile, as if everything was understood without words. Just as they were accepting the audience’s applause, a man suddenly rushed onto the stage from the side.

"S–sir!" The theater security frowned; they had clearly failed to stop him.

The man ran onto the stage, holding a huge bouquet of roses, and rushed toward Fan Zhengyu, thrusting the flowers at her. "Zhengyu, congratulations on your successful performance."

Yun Hezhi was standing right beside Fan Zhengyu at that moment, and he could clearly feel her stepping back slightly, her whole body rejecting the man. But mindful that they were on stage, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and accept the bouquet. "Thank you."

"Zhengyu—" The look in the man’s eyes was nearly feverish as he reached out, intending to pull her into a hug.

Fan Zhengyu’s brows tightened faintly. In fact, after a performance, people who take advantage of going on stage with flowers to do something more, that kind of thing happens from time to time. That was precisely why the orchestra had forbidden the audience from going up on stage this time, yet no one expected this man to break through the security line. With so many people watching, the security guards couldn’t very well drag him off by force, and if she resisted too much, it would ruin the show.

When the man reached for her, there was nowhere for Fan Zhengyu to retreat to. She was thinking she might as well push him away outright when a hand suddenly took hold of her wrist—

The next second

Yun Hezhi simply pulled her along, heading straight off the stage!

Jerked forward by his sudden tug, Fan Zhengyu could only let him lead her.

The man’s fingers hovered in midair, and his whole expression twisted into something savage and distorted. But with his back to the audience, no one could see that; they only saw the two of them leaving the stage and immediately burst into cheers and applause.

For the sake of better embodying his role, Yun Hezhi’s hands had always been slightly pampered; they looked even more beautiful than a woman’s. Yet when they gripped her wrist...

Only then did Fan Zhengyu truly feel that men and women were, in the end, impossible to compare.

His bones were slender, his joints long and well-proportioned; the pads of his fingers were warm where they held her, but his palm...

Was scorching hot.

The applause below followed them like a shadow, as if it were pounding at her heart, making it hammer wildly in panic.

The heat from his palm felt as though it were about to pierce her skin and burn straight into the depths of her heart. Her heartbeat and breathing seemed to slip out of control, and she forgot to pull away.

Not until they reached backstage and the orchestra members came forward one after another to congratulate them did he finally let go, saying he was going to the back to change.

"Zhengyu, the director booked a private room at a hotel to celebrate our successful performance. Remember to ask Boss Yun to come along." one of the orchestra teachers reminded her.

"Ask him? I..." Yun Hezhi rarely ate out; he likely wouldn’t go.

But the other party gave her no chance to refuse. "I’ll head to the hotel first. Once Boss Yun has changed, you two hurry over."

...

The orchestra members just had to change into casual clothes to go out, but Yun Hezhi not only had to change, he also had to wipe off the greasepaint on his face, which took quite a bit of time. He was the slowest, and by the time he came out, only Fan Zhengyu was waiting outside.

"Boss Yun, they’ve all gone to the hotel restaurant to get ready for the celebration." Fan Zhengyu looked at Yun Hezhi again and kept feeling a kind of disorienting contrast, the difference between him in full costume and in real life was just too big.

"Mm." Yun Hezhi nodded.

"Um... do you want to go together?" Fan Zhengyu didn’t even dare look at him, thinking to herself that she was bound to be rejected anyway.

They’d worked together for so long that she knew Yun Hezhi wasn’t actually that old. It was just that everyone called him "Boss Yun," and he was a star in Beijing Opera, so she held him in a kind of respect, always feeling he was someone up in the clouds...

Someone you could admire but not get close to.

She hadn’t expected Yun Hezhi to simply ask, "Are you going?"

Fan Zhengyu froze for a moment, not realizing he had already walked up to her and was lowering his head to straighten his clothes. In the narrow corridor, it felt as if a draft blew through—

A faint, clean sweetness drifted past.

Fan Zhengyu suddenly felt that the spot on her wrist he’d grabbed just now still seemed to hold a trace of his warmth. She instinctively tightened her grip on the hem of her dress at her side.

A slow flame.

Spreading bit by bit through her whole body.

But when he’d pulled her just now, it had been so sudden that she’d barely had time to feel anything. Now that sensation came surging back out of nowhere, catching her off guard and making her heart lurch.

Yun Hezhi was looking down, fussing with his clothes, so of course he noticed her fingers suddenly clench. A flicker of something crossed his eyes. "You... get very nervous when you’re facing me?"

"N‑no, not at all." Fan Zhengyu gave two dry little laughs.

"Are you going to the celebration dinner?"

"I am."

"Then..." Yun Hezhi had a smile in his eyes, and his voice seemed to carry that smile too. "I’ll go and keep you company."

Those words... were really a bit ambiguous.

The heartbeat and breathing that Fan Zhengyu had just barely managed to steady started racing wildly again.

Keep her company...

Keep her?

**

The hotel the orchestra had booked was near the theatre, so there was no need to drive. The two of them walked there, side by side.

The autumn wind carried a natural chill; when it blew against you, it was a shivery kind of cold. Using her peripheral vision, Fan Zhengyu glanced at the man beside her, constantly feeling she couldn’t see through him.

But they had barely left the theatre when they heard a familiar voice.

"Bro—" It was Zheng Lansheng!

He’d come to watch the performance today as well. After it ended, he’d been waiting outside the whole time, wanting to give his brother a proper congratulations. But when Yun Hezhi saw him, he only said one sentence:

"What are you doing here?"

Zheng Lansheng: "I sent you a message before I came over."

"How did you send it?"

"On WeChat."

"You know I don’t check WeChat very often."

"..."

Fan Zhengyu pressed her lips together, but when it was her messages, Boss Yun replied really fast. Thinking of that, she suddenly felt that Yun Hezhi treated her pretty well, and her heart swelled with a quiet, inexplicable joy.

Zheng Lansheng had long since gotten used to a certain someone’s sharp tongue, so he didn’t take it to heart. "So what are you two planning to do now? Going to eat together? My treat."

Yun Hezhi said bluntly, "We already have plans."

Namely the celebration banquet. It was just that, coming from his mouth, the line sounded a bit off. And right now everyone else was already at the hotel; only the two of them had left the venue last. It was hard not to let people think too much...

"Then we’ll be off." Yun Hezhi signaled to Fan Zhengyu with his eyes.

"Boss Zheng, I’ll treat you to a meal another day." Fan Zhengyu smiled as she said goodbye to him, then hurried to catch up with Yun Hezhi’s stride.

Zheng Lansheng was completely baffled:

What plans did these two have? Why didn’t they bring him along? Why were just the two of them moving around on their own?

A single man and a single woman, both unattached... could it be...

A date!

Zheng Lansheng stood where he was, utterly windblown and confused.

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