Jiang Ye's mind raced, and finally, she said with a hint of guilt, "I changed phones, so I didn't see the message."

That wasn't entirely a lie.

She didn't use that phone much anymore.

Even if she hadn't blocked him, she might not have received He Zhou's message.

He Zhou wasn't surprised, "I guessed."

Otherwise, he thought, based on Jiang Ye's personality, she wouldn't have ignored a message.

But hearing her say it herself, he still felt a little relieved.

Jiang Ye was about to nod and continue to proclaim her innocence, but then she thought better of it.

"If you already guessed, why did you keep sending them?"

He Zhou was taken aback, then suddenly smiled.

"Because, besides doing that, I don't think I have any other way to find you."

There was a hint of self-deprecation in his smile, but his tone was very relieved.

After all, in the end, sending messages had become a way of talking to a tree hole, not a real hope of getting a reply from her.

Jiang Ye was a little confused, "... Find me?"

He Zhou nodded.

At first, he wanted to find her to tell her about the dream, so she could decide for herself.

But later, he didn't need to, but he found that he still wanted to find her.

He initially thought that his obsession with Jiang Ye was just a post-nightmare symptom.

But it wasn't.

Every time he looked at her through the screen, he felt a very special emotion, mixed with the youthful, sour memories of childhood, making him want to get closer to her uncontrollably.

He watched every show, every stage, every video of Jiang Ye, and he felt that every step he took towards her was another step on the path to understanding her.

Without even realizing it, he had fallen in love with her.

Jiang Ye: "So you're looking for me, is there something you want to tell me?"

He Zhou's heart skipped a beat.

She finally asked this question.

He had spent so much time getting here, wasn't it to tell her this?

But before he could speak, He Zhou suddenly remembered Jiang Ye's interview last month.

The reporter asked, "There are a lot of idols who've been exposed for dating recently, what's your opinion on idols dating? Can idols date?"

"Is it that hard not to date?"

Jiang Ye said with a smile, "It's our most basic professional code of conduct, right?"

The memory stopped.

He Zhou paused, then finally said, "I want to congratulate you on finally achieving your dream."

This path is good, it's suitable for you.

You must continue to walk it well.

•••

Jiang Ye rushed back to the villa after finishing recording, and she was about to sneak back to her room when she was caught by her teammates.

"What's going on, Jiang Ye?"

Lin Zui said, "I heard from Manager Yan, you were sick and you still went to record?"

Tan Meng was even a little angry, "... Are you crazy, Jiang Ye?"

Jiang Ye pointed to the fever patch on her forehead and said seriously, "I do have a fever."

Tan Meng: "..."

Jiang Ye: "I'm just being dedicated."

Jiang Ye thought for a moment and smiled, "Besides, it's good that I went to record."

Otherwise, she wouldn't have reunited with her old friend.

Thinking about this, Jiang Ye went back to her room and dug out her old phone.

The phone had been dead for ages, and because it had been abandoned for so long, even now, when she charged it, it charged very slowly.

Fortunately, her phone plan was automatically deducted every month, otherwise, it would have been shut off by now.

Jiang Ye waited for ten minutes before the battery finally had enough power to turn on.

After turning it on, she quickly removed He Zhou's number from her blacklist, then went to check his messages.

Jiang Ye: "..."

There were so many messages.

He kept sending messages even though they were all going unanswered, he's so patient.

Jiang Ye patted the phone, enduring the lag, and flipped through the top few messages.

Sure enough, there were messages about him joining Shengrui Entertainment.

The messages were in reverse chronological order, Jiang Ye looked again and realized that he wasn't originally in a related field, he suddenly decided to change majors and take the postgraduate entrance exam to pursue his dream.

Jiang Ye was stunned for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

It's so good.

Not everyone in the world can persist in pursuing their dreams.

Just like she had received countless doubts in her past life.

Can't you change paths?

Can't you leave the entertainment industry?

Why do you have to fight this company to the end, aren't you stupid?

It's normal to not be understood.

Because in this world, persisting in doing something that seems hopeless is synonymous with being stupid.

But Jiang Ye just didn't want to do anything other than be an idol, she just wanted to use her free time to practice, not to give up her dream and become a nine-to-five ordinary person.

Everyone has dreams.

But most people's dreams are hindered by reality.

Because they have to support their families, because they have parents and children, because they can't live only for themselves.

It's realistic, and it's cruel.

But Jiang Ye didn't have so many considerations.

She even felt that if even she, who didn't have any worries about supporting a family, didn't have to worry about her parents, and didn't have to think about getting married in the future, couldn't persist in pursuing her dream, then who could you expect to do it?

But later, she met Lin Zui, she met Tan Meng, she met many people who were just as foolish as her.

And when she reached the top, she found that the childhood friend who dreamed with her had also caught up.

On this path, she was never alone.

Jiang Ye held the phone and smiled happily.

It's good.

•••

The recording of 《Best Composer》 was very tight.

So, the contestants didn't have much time to rest, after forming teams, they had a few classes, and then they had to start preparing for the first round of competition.

The first round was a team-based individual battle of five to four.

Each trainee had to choose a song from the copyright range provided by the program team within a week, rearrange and recreate it, and then the live audience would vote to decide which contestant would be eliminated from each team.

It was just a rearrangement, not an original song, so the difficulty was much lower.

But with the original song as a benchmark, it was difficult for the rearranged works to stand out, so the contestants' pressure didn't decrease much.

As an assistant, Jiang Ye was almost always there to accompany her team, except when she had other schedules.

It didn't take long for her to become familiar with everyone on the team.

Almost everyone in Chen Yi Ming's team was in their twenties.

But Chen Yi Ming himself had a bit of a serious personality, so the contestants were a little afraid of him.

Compared to Chen Yi Ming, Jiang Ye was much easier to get along with, and the team members almost all treated her as a friend, even though she was younger than them.

A contestant asked Jiang Ye, "After we finish this round, will we officially enter the team battle mode?"

Jiang Ye nodded, "Yes, the team battles later will be more difficult, but they will also be more exciting."

She smiled, "Let me whisper a little secret to you."

"For the last performance, there might be a collaboration stage with a special guest, so you have to try your best to make it to the end."

Someone asked, "Who will we be collaborating with?"

Jiang Ye smiled, "Guess."

"Will we be collaborating with Senior?"

He Zhou, who had been quiet, suddenly twitched his ears.

Jiang Ye blinked, which was considered a confirmation.

"Wow!"

"Will Senior help us arrange the song?"

"I can't wait!"

There was a very straightforward girl in Chen Yi Ming's team, her nickname was Little Chili.

Little Chili immediately said, "Senior Jiang Ye, out of all of us, who do you think will make it to the end?"

"Or, who is Senior most looking forward to collaborating with?"

Everyone was instantly excited.

When Jiang Ye heard the question, she almost blurted out He Zhou's name without thinking.

But she suddenly stopped before she could speak.

It was too easy to say.

Because that's how it was back at the orphanage.

--Best friend? He Zhou.

--The most family-like companion? He Zhou.

--Who do you want to play with the most? Still He Zhou.

But things were a little different now.

So, Jiang Ye thought for a moment and said, "If I say now, and it turns out to be the same as the final result, what if people accuse me of rigging it?"

She looked at the cameras around her and jokingly pulled up her collar to cover her face, "I'm afraid of being scolded."

Jiang Ye made a little joke.

But the other contestants suddenly seemed to have sensed something, and said, "Got it, got it!"

"Don't be so dramatic, come on, Senior, boldly say his name!"

"Senior!"

Little Chili also joked with a smile, "You can't be biased just because He Zhou is from the same company as you!"

Jiang Ye blinked and smiled, her tone quite matter-of-fact, "If I don't favor my own people, am I supposed to favor others?"

He Zhou's guitar suddenly let out a loud, resonant "zheng".

Everyone looked over.

"..."

He Zhou coughed, then said, "Sorry, the string slipped."

...

Joking aside.

As an assistant, Jiang Ye felt that she was treating everyone fairly.

On the last day, she went to each contestant's studio.

The platform obviously made a lot of money from running Chasing Light Girls, so their budget this time was very generous.

Besides the practice room where they had classes with the mentors, each contestant was also equipped with an independent music studio.

Jiang Ye looked around.

Most of the contestants had gone home.

Only the last one was still lit.

Jiang Ye stood outside the glass and looked at him.

He Zhou was wearing headphones inside, concentrating on adjusting his sound equipment.

After a moment, he glanced at the figure outside the glass and almost dropped something inside.

When did Jiang Ye get here?!

He Zhou immediately took off his headphones, took a deep breath, calmed himself down a little, got up and went to open the door.

Jiang Ye: "..."

She looked through the glass, and even though it was only three steps away, He Zhou was still walking with a limp.

She sighed with a sympathetic heart.

Such a good person, staying up late has made him stupid.

He Zhou opened the door, his mind was full of complicated emotions, but the only thing he said was, "Is something wrong?"

Jiang Ye cleared her throat and said seriously, "This Senior is here on behalf of Teacher Chen to urge Contestant He Zhou to go home."

"Tomorrow is the official competition, if you stay up late tonight, you won't be in good shape."

She was actually two years younger than He Zhou, but it was kind of funny to see her pretending to be a senior in front of him.

He Zhou wanted to laugh, but he held it back and said, "Didn't Senior stay up late when you were competing?"

Jiang Ye: "?"

He Zhou reminded her, "The third performance."

Jiang Ye's back suddenly went cold, "You didn't watch my show, did you?"

He Zhou said calmly, "You asked me to watch it."

Jiang Ye: "..."

She remembered.

She had called him at the time just to stop him from talking about the orphanage, and then she changed the subject to her recording the show, and she even asked He Zhou to vote for her after watching the show.

But she was just saying it casually.

"..."

Jiang Ye was silent for a moment, then asked, "You didn't actually vote, did you?"

He Zhou nodded.

Jiang Ye asked with difficulty, "... You didn't, spend money on me, did you?"

He Zhou nodded again, "I almost didn't finish drinking all the milk I bought for voting last year."

Jiang Ye: "..."

Jiang Ye couldn't help but give him a thumbs up, "You're really working hard, my 'Chasing Light' producer."

Only trainees and fans who voted know how awful the sponsor's milk is.

He Zhou shook his head, "It's not hard."

"But it's okay, who would have thought, the tides turn."

"Now it's my turn to be your producer from the audience."

Jiang Ye said half jokingly, "But the difference is that I don't have voting rights, so don't get eliminated in the first round tomorrow."

"No way."

He Zhou said firmly, "I'll make it to the final round."

--Because I want to perform on stage with you more than anyone.