Chapter 10: Celine

[v587: Holy moly, he’s a fairy. Little brother’s name sounds great too.]

[Poached Egg: I really like this origin story. By the way, what kind of circles does the blogger hang out in? The outfit looks very classical.]

[Happy Slacking: Aaaaah, I came over from Seven Notes and immediately followed. Do I still get a chance to hear little brother play?]

[No No Rabbit: Ditto. I want to listen too. I love the pipa—it’s pure bliss!]

[Lonely Night: Is there a chance, just a chance, that we could see He He live stream? fingertips together]

[Mirror Flower Water Moon: Ten thousand people begging on bloodied knees for a live stream.]

[Heartbroken: Ten thousand people begging on bloodied knees for a live stream.]

[I Don’t Understand: Begging for live stream +10086]

……

It had only been just over forty minutes since the people from Starlight Entertainment posted a link in the Seven Notes comments, and netizens had already swarmed over to Weibo like a tour group to interact with Lin Qinghe, all of them wanting him to show his face again. Some even declared that if Lin Qinghe started a live stream, they would send a Ferrari to the stream.

A Ferrari supercar in a live stream was a rare sight—it cost around two hundred thousand yuan. Only a sugar mommy would have such nerve. The crowd was stunned, and they started joking about witnessing the gap between the rich and the poor. The comment section spiraled into chaos, with everyone posting speaker emojis and yelling for him to come out and work, to do a good deed and let everyone see what a Ferrari looked like. The whole thing was hilarious.

[I Want to See Ferrari: I’ve been poor since I was a kid, grew up picking trash, never received any gifts. My eighteenth birthday is coming soon, and I’ve always had a wish to see a Ferrari. He He, can you grant my wish?]

[Survivor is King: I recently developed a crush on a guy in my class. He’s tall, handsome, and really polite. The other day I just finished my 8 AM class and was heading back to the dorm to grab some notes, but suddenly it started pouring rain. I stood at the entrance at a loss, and then he walked past the crowd like a prince charming, appeared in front of me, opened his umbrella and tilted it toward me, smiled at me, and said he’d walk me back. After that, he talks to me every day, makes me laugh, gives me surprises, takes me out for good food.]

[Survivor is King: Sisters! I’ve fallen in love. I’ve decided that as long as I get to see a Ferrari, I’ll go confess right away.]

[Academic Trash: Just got here. HAHAHAHA what is this direction? It’s not at all what I expected?]

[Treasured Spot: Dying of laughter. HAHAHA you guys are calculating so hard I can hear it from home.]

[Little Mushroom Picking Girls: They’ll stop at nothing. Just kidding, man. If you don’t have some game, you shouldn’t even open your mouth.]

[Kitten: I’m only two steps behind, but I feel like I’m stuck on 2G. What’s the Ferrari meme?]

……

Xi Nian was monitoring the comment section and found almost no negative remarks. Relieved, she went to knock on Lin Qinghe’s DMs.

Nian Nian Go!: Brother Qinghe, you can update your feed from now on. When your follower count goes up a bit more, maybe around seventy to eighty thousand, start a live stream.

Lin Qinghe silently glanced at his current follower count: just over seven thousand. He felt there was still a long way to go.

After replying to Xi Nian, he returned to the Weibo interface. He hadn’t expected a simple pipa performance to earn so much approval. He chuckled softly, infected by the netizens’ enthusiasm, and felt a flicker of excitement rise in his heart.

But he really didn’t understand—was the allure of a Ferrari really that strong?

.

In the spacious audition room, several wooden tables were set up in the middle. Li Ran and the assistant director sat in one corner, occasionally whispering to each other.

As the last line of dialogue faded, the atmosphere grew still. The young man auditioning seemed a bit nervous. He wiped his sweaty palms, stepped back, and bowed. “Director, I’ve finished this scene.”

Li Ran’s temples were already gray, his face dotted with several age spots. He wore a baseball cap and dressed simply—if you saw him on the street, he’d pass for an ordinary retired man who liked to walk his dog after dinner.

But he had a pair of sharp eyes. When he judged someone, his gaze carried an intimidating authority. The young man auditioning felt at a loss under that look, like a criminal awaiting a verdict.

After a long moment, Li Ran spoke. His voice was deep. “What emotions do you think Celine should have in this scene?”

The young man hesitated, then answered, “Uh… I think he should be disdainful. He doesn’t give the colonel’s confession a second thought.”

Li Ran didn’t press further, nor did he respond to the young man’s words. He simply nodded. “Go home and wait for the notice.”

That was probably code for “not good enough.” The young man realized instantly that his audition had failed.

In fact, they had started casting for this scene two days ago. But so far, they had interviewed at least fifty or sixty actors, and every single one had ended with “Go home and wait for the notice.”

No one knew exactly what kind of Celine Li Ran had in his mind. Even the assistant director was curious. Initially, when they were casting, all the roles had found suitable candidates except for Celine.

After two rounds of picking from within the industry and two rounds of selecting amateurs, there was still no good result. The casting for Celine had consumed too much time and energy. Li Ran had finally decided to bring Xu Anyu into the crew. Although his image didn’t perfectly match Celine, his acting skills could cover up some of the flaws. Besides, makeup techniques could help to a certain extent. Compared to the others, Xu Anyu was the clear winner.

But accidents always happen. The assistant director, Fan Wenbo, glanced at Li Ran, then called the next actor in for the audition.

“Director, teachers, hello. I’m Zheng Xincheng.”

His looks barely passed muster. Fan Wenbo acknowledged him and said, “Try acting out the scene where Celine is confessed to by the colonel. The script is on the table. You have five minutes to prepare.”

The scene was only about a minute and a half long. In short, the colonel falls in love with Celine at first sight, confesses his feelings hastily after the ball ends, but is rejected by Celine.

The set was already arranged. Zheng Xincheng nodded to Li Ran and the actor playing the colonel to indicate he was ready.

Li Ran lifted his chin. “Begin.”

[In the opulent palace, candlelight flickered against the crystal-clear goblets. The ladies’ skirts were resplendent; they hid their smiles behind small fans, and every movement exuded fragrance.

“Duke Devin is so handsome. Oh, I dare say I’ve never seen a man this handsome.”

“The duke is indeed handsome. There are plenty of women who would like a night with him. Just two days ago, Miss Alice took the initiative to talk to him at the horse race.”

“So what?” Another lady smiled elegantly. “The duke isn’t interested in women. Miss Alice hit a wall.”

“I’ve heard the duke had three fiancées. Is that true?”

“Shush, dear. It’s true, but all three of his fiancées died. They died mysteriously.”

“Good heavens, that’s terrifying. Wasn’t the cause ever found?”

“No one knows. The Empress has stopped finding the duke a new fiancée. So being the duke’s one-night lover is fine, but risking your life isn’t worth it.”

“Hey, who’s that person following Duke Devin? Hmm… he has a kind of Eastern, mysterious beauty.”

The whispers grew softer. “Rumor has it that when Duke Devin returned from Fortune Peace Port to Sindeli, he found a ship that had encountered pirates at sea. Many people died. The duke saved him from the pirates, and he’s been by the duke’s side ever since.”

“Do you think the duke has a thing for him? He’s so delicate, like an elf from a fairy tale.”

“Bang!” The ladies all jumped in fright. They turned to see a man in a military uniform slam his glass down heavily. Seeming to realize his action was a bit rude, he nodded slightly in apology, then strode away with visible anger on his face.

“What’s going on?”

“How rude.”

“Isn’t that Colonel Ian?”

The words lingered behind him as Ian walked out of the palace. The moment he heard that Duke Devin might be interested in Celine, he couldn’t stay any longer. He admitted a flame of jealousy burned in his heart, because he admired Celine. It was cliché, but it was love at first sight.

Ian crossed the corridor. The shadows of the marble pillars obscured his expression. The evening breeze blew, gradually calming his agitation. He shouldn’t have lost his composure like that.

Just as he was feeling annoyed, a cyan-blue silhouette appeared in his sight—aloof, dreamlike.

Celine sat on the white porcelain platform, legs dangling, gazing into the distance. His ink-black hair fluttered, faint silver bells chiming. The moon hung at the edge of the sky, casting a soft glow. Even from the profile, his beauty was breathtaking.

Ian stared, dazed. He could clearly feel his heart skip a beat.

His longing flowed like an endless stream, crossing high mountains and dangerous passes, converging into a surging river that could no longer be hidden.

He blurted out, “I… I want to say, from the first moment I saw you, I’ve thought of you constantly.”

The person before him showed no reaction. Ian paused, silently gathered his courage, and prepared to repeat his confession.

The next second, Celine turned. His long hair slid over his shoulders, revealing a few white flowers embroidered at the collar. He leaned back slightly, his right hand half-bracing the platform. Those beautiful eyes reflected fragmented radiance. From two meters away, he simply gazed at Ian in silence. All around, there was only stillness.] — Dream of the Blue Moon Night

Here, Zheng Xincheng had no lines. He had to convey Celine’s traits entirely through actions. This required deep interpretation of the character. As the colonel confessed, he slowly turned. His eyes were calm and unruffled. Clearly, Ian’s confession had not stirred him in the slightest.

Ian stumbled over his words. He knew he had been impulsive and had prepared himself for a polite or direct rejection. But what he hadn’t expected was for Celine to say nothing at all. Silence spoke louder than words. Just by that look, he understood: Celine not only had no feelings for him—he might even see him as nothing more than a face in the crowd.

A bitter smile touched Ian’s lips. He tried to smooth things over. “It’s… it’s fine. Think of it as me talking nonsense. I had a few too many drinks. My thoughts are a bit jumbled. Sorry.”

And with that, the scene ended. Zheng Xincheng had performed the best out of everyone who had auditioned today. Li Ran rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought. But he felt something was missing. And if something was missing, it wasn’t right.

He nodded and said, “Good work. Go home and wait for the notice.”

After Zheng Xincheng left, Fan Wenbo took the initiative to ask, “What about him? I think he’s pretty good.”

After a moment, Li Ran shook his head without saying a word.

Fan Wenbo sighed. Still not good enough.

.

Following Xi Nian’s suggestion, Lin Qinghe updated his Weibo feed every two or three days. Sometimes he shared snippets of daily life; sometimes he popularized knowledge about musical instruments.

Each post he made got a lot of views, and his follower count was approaching seventy thousand. The more followers he had, the more people clamored for Lin Qinghe to start a live stream or produce new content. The first couple of times he could gloss over it, but as the calls grew louder, he could no longer ignore them.

[Lin Qinghe: Good morning. Lately I’ve been practicing “Dreaming of Jiangnan.”]

[I Love Advanced Math: Good morning, He He.]

[Heartbroken: Good morning, He He. It seems like none of the pieces you’ve played can be found online. Sob. I’ve only looped last time’s “Song of the Returned Wanderer Beyond the Frontier” about a hundred times, no big deal.]

[Ugly Orange: I can’t find them either. Wuuu, they’re so beautiful. If He He doesn’t release new music soon, my virtue, my beauty, even my soul will be ruined.]

[Little Ya Me Little Er Lang: Hey, He He is practicing a new piece? Spread the word! He He’s going live!]

[Gua Ji: What?! He He’s going live! Spread the word! He He’s streaming tomorrow night!]

[Frog Prince: What?! He He’s streaming for four hours? Love it, love it.]

[Cicada Chirp: HAHAHAHA, I’m laughing so hard I’m picking up my teeth from the floor.]

[I Want to See Ferrari: Is it true? Is it true? He He, look at my starry eyes.]

……

Lin Qinghe had grown familiar with many of the usernames. Every time he posted, several fans were always the first to comment, responding promptly. After several such instances, they left a fairly deep impression on him.

He earnestly replied to Heartbroken: Yes, I haven’t released the sheet music to the public.

He replied to I Want to See Ferrari: I’m planning to go live this weekend, probably in the afternoon.

When the fans heard that Lin Qinghe would be streaming on the weekend, their excitement knew no bounds.

[Heartbroken: Aaaaah, He He replied to me! Mama mia, I’ve made it!]

[I Want to See Ferrari: Holy crap, it’s real!!! He He, go for it! I’ll definitely be there to support!]

[Cicada Chirp: !!! Already looking forward to meeting He He. Saturday afternoon, even if the King of Hell comes knocking, I won’t pay him any attention.]

[Lotus: I really like little brother’s playing. I’ll come and learn.]

[Strawberry Cake: Finally waited for it! I want to admire Brother’s godly good looks up close!]