Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Zhao Yu had no doubt that this bastard did it on purpose. If she flat-out refused, he’d definitely start yakking again — “Fine, forget it then, it’s not like I was dying to touch your waist anyway.”

Even though years had passed, right at this moment, the spot on her waist that his gaze swept over seemed to feel again the scalding heat of his palm pressing against her back then.

The music director, however, was all for it. “I think it works. It’s got hype. Just the title alone — ‘Two Top-Tier Stars Reunite to Perform By After All These Years’ — would draw a huge crowd.”

Shen Juanyi raised an eyebrow smugly.

Zhao Yu tugged at her hem, wrapped her arms around her waist, and turned back around. “Whatever you want.”

After the brief meeting, the three songs were set. Shen Juanyi’s solo portion would be his new single from this year, and the collaborative pieces were By and KO — a track from Zhao Yu’s new album with a more androgynous, power-driven choreography.

Shen Juanyi had only taken four days off from the film set, so rehearsal time was extremely tight. Zhao Yu dismissed the band early — they’d need to focus on polishing the collaborative routines with Shen Juanyi over the next few days.

Once the band left, the spacious rehearsal room felt somewhat empty. The mirrored walls reflected the brilliant spring sun outside, making the entire room warm and bright.

Shen Juanyi’s solo stage didn’t need rehearsing, but By required some reworking. They couldn’t just perform it exactly as before — revisiting an old song needed fresh elements to be compelling.

The two had once argued relentlessly over arrangement differences, but after all these years of growth, they had stronger skills and more ideas — yet fewer disagreements.

It was probably that thing where when masters reach the peak, every move flows seamlessly.

Shen Juanyi pulled out his phone and found the old video of their performance. Even by today’s standards, that collaboration back then had barely any flaws. Zhao Yu sat cross-legged beside him, watching that stage performance that had once sent her heart racing — and found it stirred almost nothing in her now.

If anything, she critically pointed out a few spots that could be improved.

Shen Juanyi’s choreography skills had leveled up tremendously over the years — no need for a choreographer at all. After watching the video, he eagerly stood up and reached out his hand toward Zhao Yu. “Let’s run through it once to get a feel.”

Zhao Yu shot him a glance, slapped his palm away, and got up on her own.

It had been years since the last time they were this close, his arm around her waist.

Watching the video had left her unfazed, but the moment she pressed against his body, Zhao Yu’s heart lurched violently. Shen Juanyi didn’t seem to notice — he pulled her into his embrace right on the beat, his hand naturally settling on her waist.

Originally, there was supposed to be a pause here — a tilt of the head and a deep, romantic gaze into each other’s eyes.

But the moment Zhao Yu looked up, her head cracked straight into his chin.

Shen Juanyi clutched his chin with one hand, still holding her waist with the other, and stared at her feet with suspicion. “Did you wear height-boosting insoles?!”

Zhao Yu angrily swatted his paw away, stepped back two paces, and rubbed her own head. “Did you get a chin implant?!”

Shen Juanyi: “With a face this divinely chiseled and meticulously crafted, even one single cut would be an insult to the Goddess Nuwa herself!”

Zhao Yu: “I’ve been drinking milk every single day since I started endorsing Chunsu. Growing taller is basic respect for my sponsor!”

The two stared at each other with wide eyes for a long moment. Finally, Shen Juanyi waved a hand in defeat. “Fine, fine, let’s just say you got taller. We’ll tweak that move.”

He winced as he rubbed his chin, glanced at his hand, and muttered under his breath while turning away, “The feel’s actually better than before—”

Zhao Yu planted her hands on her hips, furious. “SHEN! JUAN! YI!”

The big golden retriever hurried toward the speakers, yammering, “What what what? Can’t even compliment you now? I’ll rewind and we’ll go again!”

The mirrored wall reflected him crouching by the speakers, pouting and grumbling. Watching from behind, Zhao Yu was equal parts exasperated and amused.

Although the original arrangement wasn’t flawed, they were striving for perfection. After running through it, the new version of By needed quite a few adjustments. They spent the entire afternoon rehearsing and revising.

Dinner was brought up by their assistants. Zhao Yu stuck to her usual salad. Shen Juanyi also watched his calorie intake to maintain his figure, but his meal was far more substantial than hers.

Zhao Yu sat cross-legged on her dedicated swivel chair, eating her salad while watching the rehearsal footage they’d just recorded. A drumstick suddenly flew across and landed right in her bowl.

Salad dressing splattered everywhere. Zhao Yu was livid. She glared over, ready to curse him out, only to see Shen Juanyi’s chopstick-holding hand doing a mimic of a long-range shot, all smug. “Swish! Three-pointer!”

Are all men just completely insane?!

Zhao Yu glared at him. “I swear I’ll kill you with this drumstick!”

Shen Juanyi lounged back lazily, popped a piece of boiled chicken breast into his mouth, cheeks puffed out. “If you throw it, you won’t have any left to eat.”

“I wasn’t gonna eat this anyway!”

He glanced at the green salad in her bowl. “We’re rehearsing late into the night. How are you gonna last on just that? I peeled the skin off the drumstick — no calories.”

Zhao Yu looked down. The drumstick was indeed bare, revealing the tender white meat underneath, lightly coated with some low-fat dressing. It actually looked pretty appetizing.

She made a tch sound, swiped to the next video on her horizontally placed phone, ate a couple bites of salad — then picked up the drumstick and took a bite.

The happiness of eating meat was truly indescribable.

After finishing one drumstick, Zhao Yu felt completely satisfied — only to immediately regret the extra calories. As soon as she finished eating, she urged Shen Juanyi, “Let’s rehearse! Gotta burn off what I just ate.”

Shen Juanyi slumped lazily in his chair and pulled out his phone. “Jumping right after eating? Not afraid of getting a stomach prolapse? No rush. Let’s play a round first.”

They had a three-person group chat with Xia Yuan just for gaming. The moment he posted the game link, Xia Yuan responded instantly. Zhao Yu joined the game too, but didn’t dare sit — she stood ramrod straight against the wall.

Xia Yuan was chatty. “Juanyi-ge, you’re back in Beijing?”

“Yeah, already rehearsing.”

Xia Yuan expressed some regret that Zhao Yu had chosen Shen Juanyi over himself, then asked, “So which song are you two collaborating on this time?”

Shen Juanyi’s lips curled with a hint of mischief at the thought. “By.”

Xia Yuan’s shocked voice came through the speaker: “Huh? By again?” His next sentence, murmured quieter, was drenched in sourness: “So he gets to touch her waist again—”

Wasn’t that exactly what he’d said about Xiao Yu’s waist that one time?

This bastard had held a grudge all these years, and now he was touching it again and rubbing it in Xia Yuan’s face. It absolutely infuriated Yuan Yuan!

Zhao Yu loosened her aching back. “If you two keep chatting, our crystal’s going down!”

After two rounds of the game, they’d rested enough. Outside, the sky had darkened. They continued rehearsing until eleven at night, finally getting the new choreography for By down.

But the real challenge was adapting KO next.

It was originally a female dance. A woman doing a man’s dance looked sexy and powerful; a man doing a woman’s dance, if not handled carefully, came across as effeminate. Plus, they had to rearrange it into a duet from scratch. They each went home with their assistants, then returned early the next morning to start another busy day.

Shen Juanyi only had two days of vacation left, and still had to run through all three songs together afterward. Neither of them dared rest much over the next two days — they were practically living in the rehearsal room.

Shen Juanyi had seen comments online before saying that Zhao Yu’s stage queen status was earned through sheer grit — that she danced like a woman possessed.

Over the years, they’d each reigned supreme in their own domains, but this was the first time he’d truly experienced, firsthand, just how hard she pushed. Actually, it wasn’t even about pushing — it was the endless energy and passion that dance gave her, fueling her to go over and over again.

She got tired too. She felt exhausted. But she always seemed so full of vitality — when she danced, her eyes shone with the light of pure love for it.

Shen Juanyi remembered that when she was little, she was actually pretty lazy. She’d skip homework, avoid practicing calligraphy, and only in the few days before heading back to Sichuan would she show up sniffling with her schoolbag, begging him for help.

Looking at the girl before him now — as bright and thorny as a wild rose — he could barely recall what that little sister he used to nag all the time had even looked like.

Zhao Yu spun back around, fingers curling slightly as she traced them down his cheek — seductive one moment, then viciously shoving his face the next. “Stay focused!”

Shen Juanyi dropped to the floor like a spoiled child. “I’m done! I need a break! Do guest performers not have rights?!”

Zhao Yu shot him a disdainful look but didn’t force him up. She grabbed a bottle of water, tossed it to him, and sat down against the wall to rest as well.

Shen Juanyi took a couple sips, pulled out his phone, and grumbled, “I missed the clan battle tonight. Do you have any idea how much I’ve sacrificed for you?!”

Zhao Yu couldn’t be bothered with him. She squinted at the pitch-black sky outside.

The clan battle was already over. Shen Juanyi looked regretfully at their perfect win record, collected a few rewards, then started a quick match to satisfy his craving.

He’d just pushed to the enemy’s high ground when something heavy landed on his left shoulder.

Shen Juanyi was so startled he missed all his skills. He turned to look — Zhao Yu, exhausted from leaning against the wall, had fallen asleep, her head slowly sliding down to rest on his shoulder.

The room was silent except for the game audio from his phone.

Her high ponytail was tied up, strands of sweat-dampened hair falling across her forehead, slanting over the bridge of her nose and casting small shadows.

In that split second of distraction, his character was killed by the enemy assassin. Shen Juanyi muttered to himself, but his hands didn’t dare move as freely as before. He carefully shifted his posture, sitting up straighter so she could rest more comfortably.

Twenty seconds later, his character respawned. He carefully maneuvered little Luban forward, and — as if influenced by its owner’s state of mind — the little guy’s strut didn’t seem as cocky as before.

The enemy assassin seemed to have noticed that Luban was the weakest link on the team and kept targeting him.

Shen Juanyi kept his eyes glued to the mini-map to avoid getting ganked again, but the weight on his shoulder and her warm breath brushing against his neck made it impossible to concentrate. After getting caught by the assassin hiding in the brush once more, Shen Juanyi silently raged — and simply quit the game.

Zhao Yu was still asleep.

She was exhausted. This was her concert — she’d poured far more heart and energy into it than he had. Shen Juanyi slowly turned his head. This close, the faint scent of her post-workout body mixed with some unidentified perfume drifted straight into his nostrils.

It was warm. Completely different from her usual prickly demeanor — it felt comfortable, soothing.

He stared for a long time, blinked, held his breath, and — very, very slowly — lifted a hand to gently poke her thick, dark lashes.

They were soft.

A WeChat notification popped up from Xia Yuan: “Invite me when this round’s done!”

Shen Juanyi replied with one hand: “Still in the rehearsal room. Not playing.”

Xia Yuan: “Not home yet? Where’s my sister?”

Shen Juanyi: “Asleep.”

Xia Yuan: “How can she sleep in the rehearsal room? The floor’s freezing!”

Shen Juanyi tilted his head to glance at the head on his shoulder, grinned silently, then pulled out his phone, opened the camera, flashed a peace sign beside Zhao Yu’s face with his left hand, bared his teeth in a big grin, and snapped a selfie.

— Shen Juanyi [image] Sleeping just like this

Xia Yuan sent a flood of exclamation marks: “AHHHHH Xiao Yu is so cute I wanna squish her!!!”

— Shen Juanyi: She’s heavy. I couldn’t even play my game.

— Xia Yuan: ????? You’re so blessed and you don’t even know it!!! A cute Xiao Yu asleep on your shoulder and all you wanna do is game??? Don’t you have, like, other thoughts???

— Shen Juanyi: What thoughts could I have about her? Do you have thoughts about your sister?

— Xia Yuan: I don’t have thoughts about my sister, but I also don’t wanna touch her waist.

— Shen Juanyi: ?

— Xia Yuan: Think real hard about why you wanna touch your sister’s waist.