After Setting Me Up With My Ex, The Aloof Alpha Regrets It - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: You Are, Of Course, The Person Most Deserving of Your Love.

On the stage, Yuna Isadora, dressed in an angel gown, enthusiastically shouted to the audience, “Z3291, good evening!”

The stage lights illuminated the audience. With Yuna’s appearance, the crowd couldn’t help but scream.

Shi Li was also ignited by the concert’s atmosphere. However, her personality kept her from getting as excited as Lan Yang and Tang Yingchi. Lan Yang, especially, was holding her light stick and screaming wildly, with half her body already leaping out of her seat, as if she wanted to be on the stage herself.

Shi Li just watched the stage excitedly, her eyes exceptionally bright under the lights, shouting Yuna’s name along with the rhythm.

The joy that a concert brings is unique. For a short two or three hours, you can shout, sing along, uninhibitedly call out someone’s name, and briefly immerse yourself in the madness, casting aside all your happiness and unhappiness.

When the entire venue is ignited, and tens of thousands of people go crazy together, no one cares if they look good while being crazy.

Midway through, Yuna sang a love song. It was said to have been written with deep affection when she was in a relationship with a non-celebrity.

The last line of the lyrics was: And I will love you forever, like a grain of sand loves a silent fir tree.

It was said that after they broke up, she no longer sang the last few words. Instead, she would hand the microphone to the audience, letting them shout the name of the person they loved.

This had become a required part of her tour.

After Yuna sang, “And I will love you forever, like a grain of sand loves—,” the backstage staff cooperated by turning on the audience microphones. Instantly, tens of thousands of different names erupted simultaneously in the venue.

In the chaos, they vented their truest feelings.

Lan Yang and Tang Yingchi didn’t shout a name. Instead, they shouted the original lyric, “a silent fir tree.”

Zhu Yunqi and Shi Li, by a silent agreement, didn’t make a sound.

Shi Li had encountered a similar part of a concert when she was with Wen Yue. Back then, they would excitedly shout each other’s names. But this time, Shi Li found she didn’t know whose name to shout. She was dazed for a moment, and by the time others had finished, she slowly remembered “Wen Yue.”

But the moment to shout a name had already passed.

The three hours flew by in an instant.

The concert ended with a grand fireworks display, and paper flowers with lyrics written on them flew everywhere, like a romantic snowstorm in July.

The audience all stood up to catch the paper flowers. Because of the fans in the venue, the paper flowers floated down and then were lifted up again. They were all different shapes, and it took some effort to catch the one you wanted.

Shi Li also stretched out her hands, wanting to collect a few more paper flowers. Yuna’s songs were diverse, and the lyrics for different types of songs were printed on different shaped paper flowers. According to a guide on the star-net, love song lyrics were on heart-shaped paper, songs about friendship were on circles, songs about nature and travel were on tree-shaped paper, and songs about interstellar dreams were on star-shaped paper…

Shi Li had already caught several paper flowers. She counted them and had everything except for a heart-shaped one.

She spotted one and was about to jump to grab it. Then, she saw Zhu Yunqi raise a hand and, with precise accuracy, catch a heart-shaped one among the many flowers.

Zhu Yunqi handed it to Shi Li. “Is this the one you wanted?”

Shi Li happily took it.

The one Zhu Yunqi gave her had a lyric from the song Want to Say I Love You printed on it: Secretly watching you smile, secretly worrying over you, my little secrets, how I wish you understood.

Shi Li later realized she had been too hasty. By the time most of the audience had left, the fans stopped running, and the paper flowers slowly fell to the ground, making it easy for the venue’s cleaning robots to tidy up.

Lan Yang pulled out a bag from who-knows-where and scooped the paper flowers from the ground in handfuls, as if she were cleaning up spilled dog food.

Walking out of the venue, the lingering passion of the concert hadn’t faded. Everyone’s steps were lighter than usual.

A night breeze blew, and Lan Yang slapped her forehead, remembering the grievance she had suffered from Tang Yingchi before the concert began.

Zhu Yunqi, her witness, was right there.

She hung the bag full of paper flowers on her arm and grabbed Zhu Yunqi’s arm. “Tang Yingchi slandered me, Team Leader Zhu. You know what happened that night! I demand my reputation be restored! The night I saved a helpless Beta bartender!”

Zhu Yunqi looked to Shi Li for help. Shi Li gave a simple summary of the situation.

Zhu Yunqi understood and gave her testimony for Lan Yang.

Lan Yang looked triumphantly at Tang Yingchi.

Tang Yingchi believed what Zhu Yunqi said and was instantly speechless.

She turned her face and hugged her arms. “Okay, fine. I made a conclusion without getting the full picture. I apologize to you. I’m sorry.”

Lan Yang said, “I don’t accept.”

Tang Yingchi was flustered. “Then what do you want?”

Lan Yang rubbed her stomach. “Treat me to a late-night meal.”

“I’ll treat you, then. You pick the place,” Tang Yingchi cheerfully accepted Lan Yang’s demand. She linked arms with Shi Li. “Li Bao, you come with us too. And Zhu Yunqi. My treat.”

Shi Li said, “Okay.”

In the end, Shi Li chose the restaurant. Neither Lan Yang nor Zhu Yunqi lived permanently in Z3291 and weren’t familiar with the city. Shi Li just happened to think of a good seafood restaurant nearby. The price wasn’t low, so it wouldn’t make her look cheap, but it wasn’t so expensive that Tang Yingchi couldn’t afford it.

It wasn’t far, so they decided to walk there.

Tang Yingchi and Lan Yang were still very excited. They were both Yuna Isadora fans and had outgoing personalities, so they quickly hit it off.

Zhu Yunqi and Shi Li were a few steps behind them without realizing it.

Shi Li gave Zhu Yunqi a detailed account of the argument between Tang Yingchi and Lan Yang before the concert. In the end, she summarized, “Would you say this counts as ‘getting to know each other through a fight’?”

Zhu Yunqi said, “Yes.”

Shi Li continued, “It’s a good thing you came today. Any later and the concert would have already started.”

“I ran into Yuna Isadora backstage. She stopped me and talked for a while.” Zhu Yunqi secretly glanced at Shi Li. Because she had rushed over right after her training, Shi Li hadn’t had time to change. She was wearing a relatively formal skirt suit and low-heeled leather shoes, looking like a professional rushing from work to a party. Zhu Yunqi thought it was very beautiful. She had seen Shi Li at work, and she was elegant and capable.

Shi Li was still wearing the same lime-scented perfume. It was very refreshing on a summer night.

Shi Li tilted her head up slightly. “You know Yuna Isadora? Oh, right, Lan Yang said you gave her the tickets.”

Tickets for Yuna’s concert had sold out a month ago. But Lan Yang only got them two weeks ago. To get tickets for such a good seat half a month after they sold out, she must have had some inside connections.

Zhu Yunqi shook her head. “It’s not that I know her, my sister knows her.”

Her impression of Yuna came almost entirely from trending topics on the star-net, and she had no personal experience with her. Yuna must have seen her before, so she immediately recognized her as Zhu Jingshan’s sister.

Yuna had stopped her backstage and kept asking questions about Zhu Jingshan.

It seems she still has feelings for her ex.

When Zhu Yunqi told her that Zhu Jingshan was happily married with a family, Yuna’s expression became a mixture of emotions.

Yuna had said, “How could she just stop loving me? When my manager told me she was the one who asked for the tickets, I thought she was coming back to me, but in the end…”

Only when the concert was about to begin did Yuna reluctantly let Zhu Yunqi go.

Zhu Yunqi reminded Shi Li, “Do you remember the song in the middle where everyone shouted a name?”

“I remember.” As she spoke, Shi Li softly hummed the tune. “And I will love you forever, like a grain of sand loves a silent fir tree… This one.”

“The last line has both her name and my sister’s name,” Zhu Yunqi said. That’s why Yuna stopped singing that line after they broke up.

Shi Li was unexpectedly hit with some major gossip.

She remembered that when Wen Yue first told her about getting engaged to the second daughter of the Zhu Holdings Group, she had searched for information about the Zhu Holdings Group on the star-net. She hadn’t found Zhu Yunqi, but she did find the married eldest daughter of the Zhu Holdings Group, whose name was Zhu Jingshan.

Isadora, Jingshan… a grain of sand loves a silent fir tree…

“Ah, so your sister dated her before…” Shi Li covered her mouth in surprise.

Zhu Yunqi nodded. “I only just found out myself. Just keep it to yourself. After all, my sister is married now.” It’s best that no more related search terms with her ex-girlfriend appear.

Online rumors suggested that Yuna’s rise to fame was due to a benefactor, and many of her songs were written for that person. After making her famous, the two went their separate ways.

Could Zhu Yunqi’s sister be the rumored benefactor?

People from the Zhu family certainly had the power to be a benefactor. When Zhu Yunqi had first given her the 1 billion star coin contract, Shi Li had secretly called her “Benefactor Mom” in her head for a while.

If time could go back to when Yuna and Zhu Jingshan hadn’t broken up, Shi Li thought she would definitely have shipped them. She had seen Zhu Jingshan’s interviews on the star-net. Her name meant “quiet fir tree,” and her temperament was reserved and gentle, yet her eyes held ambition and a hint of a nonchalant attitude. Yuna had fiery red hair and was wild and unrestrained. A story of a tycoon’s daughter and a top female celebrity coming to life—Shi Li believed most people would love to watch that.

Zhu Yunqi: “When everyone was shouting a name, you seemed to be silent.”

“Well… I didn’t know whose name to shout. By the time I remembered, everyone had already finished,” Shi Li said honestly.

Without asking, Zhu Yunqi already guessed who Shi Li had belatedly thought of.

She pretended not to hear the second half of the sentence. “Next time you don’t know who to shout, you can shout your own name.”

“My own?”

“You are, of course, the person most deserving of your love.”

Right. The first person to love is yourself.

Shi Li nodded seriously. “Zhu Yunqi, you are so right. Next time I’ll shout my own name. But,” she changed the subject, “you didn’t shout anyone’s name either.”

It was normal for Zhu Yunqi not to shout. She seemed to have no interest in the concert. Sitting in the best seat, with Yuna singing her heart out on stage and tens of thousands of people going crazy in the venue, nothing seemed to affect her. She was just like a person watching a video on her terminal at home, only humming along to a few songs she was familiar with.

Zhu Yunqi murmured, “I hope I can shout it out one day.”

“If you don’t want to shout, you don’t have to. No one says you have to,” Shi Li didn’t catch the hidden meaning. She was still excited, talking more than usual and more actively.

She pulled out the latest photo she took of the small plant and showed it to Zhu Yunqi.

“Look, there’s a different one here. It’s growing a little faster than the others. I looked it up, and it’s a white crystal chrysanthemum sprout. When it grows a little bigger, I’m going to move it out of Little Cloud.”

“Little Cloud?” A new name.

Shi Li pointed to the bald puppy pot. It wasn’t a bald puppy anymore, but a green-haired puppy. “I used to think about getting a dog. I even had a name for it: Little Cloud. But I don’t have a dog now, and the pot is also a puppy, so I’m using that name for her first. It shares a character with your name. Do you mind?”

“I don’t mind. In that case, you have to take good care of it. I’ve heard that once you give a name to an object, you form a bond with it.”

“I’ll take good care of Little Cloud. I also look at it when I can’t sleep at night, looking at the little green grass on its head. I’m going to keep it on my nightstand forever.”

Imagining Shi Li calling out “Little Cloud, Little Cloud” every day at home, it was almost like she was calling out her name. Zhu Yunqi couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Support After Setting Me Up With My Ex, The Aloof Alpha Regrets It