Spreading Dog Food at the Music Academy

"A girl wants to invite me to the street dance club to watch her dance."

Chen Wen said truthfully.

Jiang Qiuyi, on the other end of the phone, paused for a moment. "Who is it?"

"Uh..." Chen Wen blankly glanced at He Ran. He still couldn't remember her name, so he could only say, "The one who sat next to me at dinner before."

He Ran, standing beside him, looked surprised. Does he report eating with other girls to his girlfriend? she thought.

"Oh~" Jiang Qiuyi's tone was calm. "Are you on speakerphone? Is she next to you?"

Chen Wen grunted and turned the phone screen towards He Ran, signaling her to say hello.

"Hello, Senior Qiuqiu, I'm He Ran~" He Ran greeted him with a cheerful tone, not backing down, and initiated her plan. "It's like this, Master taught me how to make rings last weekend."

"I happened to run into Master today, so I wanted to treat him to some milk tea and take him to tour the street dance club to watch me practice my new dance."

"Just as a thank you for his help last time~"

"Mm, I understand." Jiang Qiuyi didn't intend to take the bait directly. Instead, she asked Chen Wen, "Do you want to go yourself?"

"No." Chen Wen told the truth.

He Ran: "?"

So direct?

Doesn't he care about other people's feelings at all?

"Then don't go." Jiang Qiuyi, like a parent of a naughty child, indulged Chen Wen completely. Then, she changed the subject and said to He Ran, "I'm sorry, junior."

"Our Chen Wen speaks very directly and doesn't know how to compliment people at all."

"If I let him go with you alone, it might not be good if he says something wrong and offends you, and then you won't be happy either."

"Next time I come to visit you at the Finance University, I'll bring Chen Wen to watch you dance, and we can have a meal together or something."

Hearing Jiang Qiuyi say this, Chen Wen didn't give the two women a chance to continue their exchange. He hung up the phone directly and said to He Ran, "That's that, I'm leaving."

Without waiting for He Ran to say anything more, Chen Wen strode away, leaving a bewildered He Ran in the wind.

Why... did things unfold completely differently from what I expected?

Doesn't Senior Gu Wen just call his girlfriend directly? Isn't he afraid she'll be jealous and angry?

My dearest girlfriend: Did you go straight home this afternoon?

As soon as Chen Wen got on the subway, he received a WeChat message from Jiang Qiuyi. She seemed completely unfazed by what had just happened.

Chen Wen: Mm, the Elucidator is just one step away.

My dearest girlfriend: I get off class at 4:30 PM. Can you pick me up? Let's go grocery shopping together~

Chen Wen: Okay.

My dearest girlfriend: I'm about to start class, see you this afternoon~

Chen Wen: Mm.

Putting away his phone, Chen Wen sat on the subway and began reading a book, a stark contrast to the people around him engrossed in their phones.

Because of his book and handsome appearance, Chen Wen attracted a lot of attention on the subway. Finally, when he reached his stop, he gave his seat to an elderly woman who had just boarded.

Upon returning to his rented room, Chen Wen habitually cleaned up first before putting on his mask and entering the workshop, ready to begin the final stage of crafting the Elucidator.

In the workshop, on Chen Wen's high-legged workbench, a jet-black longsword lay quietly.

The main body of the sword was black, with a silver-white outline around its edges.

The end of the blade was a pointed moon crescent, connected to a semi-cross-shaped guard.

Chen Wen turned on the prepared camera and swung the Elucidator's hilt a couple of times.

The weight and feel of the Zitan wood were perfect. It wasn't too light and flimsy like ordinary wood, nor was it too heavy like iron.

If the guard's design wasn't so ostentatious, the Elucidator could have been used by the old men practicing sword dancing in the park that morning.

Setting down the Elucidator, Chen Wen took out some wood wax oil, dabbed a bit onto a paper towel, and then carefully applied it to the sword's body.

Wood wax oil, a consumable specifically for maintaining wood, makes the surface exceptionally bright and glossy after application.

In Bilibili's professional terminology, this is "injecting soul" into the Elucidator.

Chen Wen recorded this part of the process with close-up shots. Elevated by the wood wax oil, the Elucidator looked brand new, reflecting a sharp gleam under the light like a real sword.

Chen Wen inserted the Elucidator into the black scabbard made of oak and tested the feel of drawing the sword. He nodded in satisfaction.

It was a shame he didn't know how to wield a sword; otherwise, the video's effect would have been even more impressive.

Chen Wen walked to the wall, placed the Elucidator on the sword stand he had prepared earlier, and picked up the camera to shoot some more footage.

With this, the production video for the Elucidator was considered complete.

Chen Wen took the camera back to his bedroom and uploaded the footage to his computer, planning to do some preliminary editing.

Just then, Si Jiao Ji found him on WeChat and sent him a video – a rough cut of the video from last weekend's ring-making session.

Si Jiao Ji: Take a look and see if there's anything unsuitable. I'll revise it, and then I'll send it off for post-production.

Ill-informed Wen: Wait a moment, let me see.

Chen Wen opened the video and began watching the short film, which was about ten minutes long.

Throughout the entire process, Chen Wen wore a mask, and the cameraman was careful not to film anything outside the window. All the indoor scenes were completed in the living room and the craft room.

Chen Wen was still a novice when it came to editing, so there was nothing he could point out.

Si Jiao Ji sending him this video wasn't for him to offer suggestions.

She just wanted him to check if there were any details or private information that couldn't be exposed, so Si Jiao Ji could make deletions or revisions in advance.

Ill-informed Wen: There are no problems.

Si Jiao Ji: OK, then I should be releasing this episode tomorrow or the day after. Be sure to come and support it when it's out.

Ill-informed Wen: Alright.

After that interlude, Chen Wen spent the entire afternoon on the initial edit.

Around four o'clock, he tidied up and headed out towards the Music Academy.

Huajing Garden was very close to the Music Academy, only a few minutes' walk away.

Chen Wen took out his phone and browsed his photo album, looking for Jiang Qiuyi's class schedule.

Her last class on Friday afternoon was Vocal Accompaniment, held in He Yue Building, Room 301.

Perhaps because of his appearance, Chen Wen wasn't stopped by the security guard to ask for his student ID, and he walked straight into the Music Academy campus.

Although Jiang Qiuyi had brought him here to visit before, Chen Wen could barely remember the routes, let alone know which direction He Yue Building was in.

Since he never initiated conversations with others, Chen Wen couldn't ask anyone for directions. He wandered around for a while before finally managing to find Jiang Qiuyi's classroom at half-past four.

Just as the dismissal bell rang, Jiang Qiuyi and her classmates walked out of the classroom and immediately spotted Chen Wen waiting in the hallway.

"Chen Wen!" Jiang Qiuyi ran through the crowd and into Chen Wen's arms, throwing herself into his embrace.

The people around them saw that the usually quiet and reserved Jiang Qiuyi from their class had just hugged a stranger, and they were quite stunned.

In an instant, Chen Wen attracted countless gazes.