122: Chapter 122, what's up? Want to learn? I'll teach you.

On the stage, Shen Qingxue bowed slightly and exited.

The camera followed her retreating figure until she disappeared behind the curtain.

The bullet chats in the livestream room were still frantically scrolling across the screen.

"A score of 9.78! This is just the auditions, how are the other contestants supposed to compete?"

"The point is this song is genuinely amazing, completely well-deserved."

"Folks, Lu Li is really a reliable guy; when he has a good song, he actually gives it away."

"Wait, Lu Li wrote a song for Shen Qingxue, and Shen Qingxue mentioned Lu Li on stage. What on earth is the relationship between these two?"

"The person above, are you on a 2G network? Look up the Rock Sugar and Pear Duo."

"I always have a feeling that the two of them are using the duo as a front."

"Oh no, going on that romance variety show really made the two of them hook up."

"My butt is parked here, if the two of them really make it public one day, remember to come back and kick me."

Lu Li saw these bullet comments, coughed awkwardly, and then turned off his phone and put it back in his pocket.

Later, he couldn't let Shen Qingxue see these, otherwise it would always feel a bit strange and quite awkward.

Before long, Shen Qingxue had circled back from the side wings.

Lu Li walked over and stopped in front of her.

"You sang very good."

Shen Qingxue raised her head, glanced at him, and the corners of her mouth twitched slightly.

"The lyrics were well-written too, you had a share in it."

The two of them looked at each other, feeling a bit awkward, and averted their gazes at the same time.

Lu Li forced himself to stay calm, cleared his throat, and jerked his chin toward the door.

"Leaving now? Or waiting for all the contestants to finish competing?"

"Let's leave first, I have other things this afternoon."

Soon, the two of them walked out of the waiting area one after the other, walking along the corridor toward the outside of the exhibition center.

Outside, people were still coming and going.

Shen Qingxue put on her hat and sunglasses again, and didn't forget to put a matching pair of sunglasses and a hat on Lu Li as well.

This outfit once again attracted some attention from a portion of the crowd.

"Is that Shen Qingxue?"

"It seems to be… Who is that man next to her?"

"Could it be Lu Li?"

"I don't know, it could also be an assistant."

Lu Li's mouth twitched.

"Assistant?"

However, comparing his temperament with Shen Qingxue's, he really did look quite a bit like an assistant.

Thinking of this, Lu Li didn't even know where the sour feeling in his heart came from.

When they reached the parking spot, Lu Li quickened his pace by two steps, walked in front of Shen Qingxue, opened the passenger seat door, and gestured with his hand.

The entire sequence of actions was smooth and flowing, extremely gentlemanly.

"Please get in the car, Teacher Shen."

Shen Qingxue glanced at him, feeling baffled, but she still followed Lu Li's lead and sat in the passenger seat.

Lu Li closed the door, walked around to the driver's seat, and started the car.

After driving away from this area, Shen Qingxue looked at Lu Li and suddenly spoke.

"After we get back today, we can release the full audio version."

Lu Li nodded and replied.

"Yeah, that's fine too. Anyway, the audition is over and the buzz is just right, releasing the full version now will yield the best results."

He paused and added,

"Besides, the popularity of 'coral sea' hasn't completely died down yet. Promoting both songs together should have an even better effect."

Shen Qingxue gave an "en" sound and didn't say anything more.

Lu Li actually wanted to chat a bit more, but seeing that she wasn't talking and was just looking out the window, he had no choice but to give up.

After all, a person still needs to have some sense of propriety at times; otherwise, if he ended up making a fool of himself, it would be awkward.

But he was completely oblivious to Shen Qingxue's inner thoughts at the moment.

"Why did Lu Li suddenly stop talking?"

"Isn't he usually quite talkative? He can spout all sorts of nonsense. Although sometimes he's annoying as hell, at least…"

"Unlike now, so quiet… So awkward, yet she herself doesn't know what to say to break this situation."

"Ahhh, so annoying! Why is getting along between people so difficult."

"Fine, she's tired, just let the world end."

After a bout of wild imaginations, Shen Qingxue completely gave up. Whatever, let's just stay silent.

For a moment, the silence inside the car isolated the distance between the two of them; clearly very close, yet each stayed in their own world.

…

It was quiet for a while.

Then, a melody suddenly hummed from Lu Li's mouth.

That melody was very short, yet exceptionally nice to listen to.

Shen Qingxue was stunned, subconsciously turned her head over, and her gaze fell on Lu Li's side profile.

Lu Li seemed completely unaware that he was humming a song; he was still driving and humming a tune.

Shen Qingxue didn't speak, listening quietly.

"This melody… how should I put it."

"No lyrics, no accompaniment, not even a complete structure, just that little segment, humming it repeatedly."

"But it just sounds good."

"I can't tell what sounds good about it, it just sounds good."

She hesitated for a moment, opened her mouth, closed it again, but after some intense inner struggle, she still broke the silence inside the car.

"Um… what song are you humming?"

Her voice appeared exceptionally clear in the car.

Lu Li's humming stopped abruptly, and he subconsciously turned his head to glance at Shen Qingxue, his expression somewhat blank.

"Ah?"

"I asked what song you were humming."

Shen Qingxue repeated it. Although her tone was still calm, there was now a hint of faint curiosity.

Lu Li blinked, seemingly only then realizing that he had been humming a song just now.

He was stunned for a moment, feeling embarrassed for once.

"Uh… nothing, just humming casually."

Shen Qingxue stared at him for two seconds.

"You can hum a melody like this just by humming casually?"

Lu Li felt a bit guilty under her gaze and instinctively argued back.

"Just humming casually… Look, I haven't written this song out yet, it's just that a melody suddenly popped up in my head just now, and I couldn't help humming it out."

What he said was the truth, except what he didn't say was that this melody was the tune of some classic song from before he time-traveled, which he had always liked quite a bit.

It was just that for some reason he thought of it in his head just now, and then…

Shen Qingxue stared at him for a few seconds, but quickly withdrew her gaze.

The car interior fell silent for a few more seconds.

Just when Lu Li sighed over it, thinking that they had fallen into this deadlock again, Shen Qingxue's voice sounded once more.

"Actually, I think this tune sounds nice."

Lu Li suddenly felt somewhat pleasantly surprised, the arc of the corners of his mouth grew a bit larger, and he subconsciously became smug.

"That goes without saying. Look at who hummed it."

Shen Qingxue didn't reply, but the corners of her mouth twitched slightly, almost failing to keep a straight face.

Lu Li cleared his throat, his tone suddenly becoming leisurely.

"What? Want to learn? I'll teach you."

Shen Qingxue turned her head to look at him and nodded earnestly.

"I want to. Very much."

Lu Li was stunned for a moment, thinking he had heard wrong.

He originally thought that with Shen Qingxue's inner pride and a bit of haughtiness, she would refuse, which was why he just mentioned it casually.

As a result, unexpectedly, not only did she want to, but she even added 'very much'. That was a rare sight indeed when it came to Shen Qingxue.

"Ahem, seriously?"

Lu Li still gave a tactical cough, seemingly asking casually, but in reality, he cared about it to the extreme.