Ji Shiyu didn't say much.
When Su He'an asked about that song, he simply nodded without explaining.
Musical notes were drawn on a white cloth, arranged in a row, varying in height.
He looked at the row of musical notes, stared at them for a moment, then picked up a wax knife and added a line below them.
The two lines of musical notes lay side by side, like two parallel rivers flowing in the same direction.
On the night he decided to give up his idol singer identity and transition into acting, he returned to his old rented apartment, sat by the window, and heard someone singing downstairs—songs from his old albums.
He listened for a long time, then took out the unfinished scores from the drawer and looked at them one by one.
Some of them were written when I first arrived abroad; the notes are crammed together, written very densely.
Some of them were written after I returned to China. I would write a few lines and then cross them out, then write them again, then cross them out again.
The one I wrote the most over many years, and every time I wrote it, I felt it wasn't right.
That was a song he promised A-Wan he would finish writing.
He was too young back then. He thought that once he went abroad, completed his studies, came back, finished writing the song, and sang it to her, everything would be alright.
Later, it turned out that wasn't the case. By the time he returned, she had already won awards on the international stage.
He stood below the stage, watching her walk down from the podium, through the crowd, and away.
He's still writing that song. He's been writing it for five years, revising and editing it, but he still hasn't finished it.
Regardless of whether he and A-Wan can get back together in the end, he will finish writing this song.
This was his promise to A-Wan.
A promise doesn't necessarily need to be known by the other party to be valid.
Su He'an did not press further.
Seeing that Ji Shiyu didn't seem inclined to continue, she glanced at Jiang Wantang, who was intently drawing flowers beside him. Neither of them seemed to need her help.
She turned and walked away.
Her gaze swept across the open space before finally settling on Lin Yanru.
Lin Yanru was sitting at the far end of the table, holding a wax knife in her hand, with nothing painted on the cloth in front of her.
She kept her head down, seemingly deep in thought, but her ears were actually perked up, listening to what Pei Yubai and Qiguan Yuan were saying.
Her notebook lay open on her lap, turned to a new page, and had a few lines written on it, the handwriting so messy that even she could hardly recognize it.
"Do you like to draw?" Su He'an's voice suddenly came from above.
Lin Yanru was startled, her hand trembled, and the wax knife almost stabbed the notebook.
She quickly closed the notebook and frantically tried to hide it behind her back. Her movements were so exaggerated that the notebook slipped from her hands and fell to the ground.
She bent down to pick it up, Su He'an had already picked it up for her.
Su He'an didn't open it to look at it, but handed it back to her with a smile.
Lin Yanru took the notebook, stuffed it into her bag, and pretended to be calm. Anyway, no one saw it, so no one would know what she had written.
Su He'an pretended not to see anything.
She spread out the white cloth in front of Lin Yanru, scooped a spoonful of beeswax from the earthenware jar into the copper pot, and placed it on the charcoal stove to heat it.
Lin Yanru sat there, watching Su He'an do these things, her fingers gripping the bag strap tightly, as if afraid that what she had written would be discovered.
"Sister Yanru, what can you draw?" Su He'an asked.
Lin Yanru a moment and said she couldn't draw.
Su He'an didn't say anything else, but brought over the melted beeswax, dipped a wax knife in it, and put it into Lin Yanru's hand.
Lin Yanru held the wax knife, unsure of what to do with her hands.
Su He'an stood behind her, bent down slightly, and took her hand that was holding the knife.
"Relax." Her hands were a little bigger than Lin Yanru's, with thin calluses on her fingertips, from years of holding wax knives.
She took Lin Yanru's hand, dipped the razor blade into the wax, scraped off the excess wax from the rim of the bowl, then stuck it onto the white cloth, and with a flick of her wrist, drew an arc.
The movements were slow and the pressure was just right, neither hurting Lin Yanru nor making the lines in the drawing look very smooth.
Lin Yanru was led by her, her hands moving across the cloth in curved lines.
The lines are becoming increasingly complex.
However, even with just a few strokes, it's clear that this is a drawing of a person.
Finally Lin Yanru looked at the pattern and felt it looked familiar.
She glanced at Su He'an; wasn't this a portrait of Su He'an?
It looks so.
Unsure, let's see.
Su He'an didn't know when she had let go of her hand.
Lin Yanru looked down and saw that the wax knife was still in her hand, and the pattern on the cloth was already finished.
She glanced at Su He'an, Su He'an was squatting beside the charcoal stove, adding beeswax to the copper pot.
"Well done." Su He'an said without looking up.
Lin Yanru was secretly slacking off, observing Pei Yubai and Qiguan Yuan, and brainstorming how to write her story when...
Su He'an suddenly jumped next to her, startling her.
Then she was forced to stop slacking off and, with Su He'an's help, began making batik.
Although she didn't understand why she had drawn Su He'an in the end, since Su He'an had guided her hand in the drawing, whatever he drew was fine with her.
After finishing the painting with Pei Yubai, Qiguan Yuan left the finishing touches to Pei Yubai.
His gaze fell on Su He'an and Lin Yanru.
It wasn't that he noticed the two of them intentionally; it was Dust-Settling Red Cord who was restless.
The red thread curled up from his wrist, its end pointing towards Su He'an and Lin Yanru, swaying back and forth like a dog smelling a bone.
Qiguan Yuan placed his finger on the red line and pressed it gently.
Dust-Settling Red Cord shrank back and became obedient.
A destined match.
It's the kind of destined match that even the red thread of fate can't help but stir.
Qiguan Yuan glanced at Su He'an.
She was squatting next to the charcoal stove, adding beeswax to the copper pot with practiced ease.
She glanced at Lin Yanru again. Lin Yanru her head down, the wax knife in her hand hovering above the white cloth, motionless for a long time.
However, it was clear that she didn't notice the man next to her coveting her.
Qiguan Yuan withdrew his gaze and did not look again.
Back when he was the Yue Lao, he was interested in this kind of destined match, especially the kind that could stir up even the most passionate Dust-Settling Red Cord.
But I've lost interest in it now.
Anyway, he's no longer the Yue Lao, so he doesn't need to concern himself with these things.
Pei Yubai stood beside the dye vat, taking the dried cloth down from the rope.
The design features a blue background with white flowers, the patterned areas being arcs drawn by Qiguan Yuan and Pei Yubai's name written on them. The two names are linked together by an arc.
He looked at it for a while, then folded the cloth and put it in his pocket.
Qiguan Yuan watched Pei Yubai's actions.
Pei Yubai was very careful when folding the cloth. He would first fold the cloth in half, fold the two characters inside, then fold it in half again, making it into a palm-sized square.
Qiguan Yuan watched him fold the cloth, pondering the question about Pei Yubai.
He still couldn't find a way to repair the Yun Yin Godhood.
As long as the divine core is not repaired, the soul of the Yun Yin will never be complete.
The soul of the Yun Yin is now sustained by his divine essence.
Because it was his divine essence, not that of the Yun Yin itself, his soul could not be repaired.
These naturally born gods cannot be reincarnated as humans; a god is a god. Therefore, Pei Yubai is Yun Yin.
He is not the reincarnation of the so-called Yun Yin.
Qiguan Yuan placed his fingers on the Dust-Settling Red Cord, the red thread brushing against his fingertips.
No rush.
At least we've found the Yun Yin.
The rest will take time; restoring divinity won't be that simple.