Our Tender Harmony

The next two weeks of Xia Ruyun’s life passed in her classic slug-like lifestyle as the rest of the cast—specifically, Li Feiling—continued shooting the last climactic bits of the movie. She laid around in her bed, rolled around in her bed, watched TV shows from her bed, watched movies from her bed, and read random manhua... from her bed. Without the strict supervision of Liu Qiangli, Li Feiling’s nutritionist, her weight began slipping downward once more—albeit at a snail’s pace as she tried, and mildly failed, to keep up with Liu Qiangli’s advice.

It’s nothing major! Easily recoverable!

Her attempt at becoming one with her bed did end though. She clambered to her desk to watch Zhang Jingsong’s PR program broadcast. With one eye on the live chat, she satiated her curiosity by surfing the web.

[#1 Trending Search: The Flame of Heaven’s Mandate INTERVIEW BROADCAST]

[#2 Trending Search: Li Feiling]

[#3 Trending Search: What is Flame of Heaven’s Mandate based on?]

[#4 Trending Search: Li Feiling and Xia Ruyun?]

[#5 Trending Search: Li Feiling and Wu Linjie dating??]

[#6 Trending Search: Xia Ruyun History Three Years Ag-]

Tabbing away before she could finish reading the last trending search, Xia Ruyun did a small fist bump in the air.

I made it onto the trending searches! I even beat out Wu Linjie!

I should tell Gao Qian...

When she went over to grab her phone though, she paused, noticing a stream of notifications from Gao Qian already sat on her lock screen. One swipe to unlock her phone later, she scanned through the messages.

[Congratulations!]

[It’s the result of your hard work. Have a nice one.]

[And don’t worry, we didn’t pay for these hot searches. Be proud, you earned these.]

[Let me know when you want to get some more work.]

After a second of hesitation, her fingers tapped the keyboard and sent off a quick reply.

[Just give me a month or something. I want the media attention to die down. The industry won’t forget as fast as the general public will. Preferably before the movie comes out though.]

Gao Qian’s own reply came flying back within seconds. [Sounds good, I’ll get a recommendation from Zhang Jingsong. I’ll text you more when I have more details and updates.]

Reacting to the message with a thumbs-up emoji, Xia Ruyun set her phone back down to the side. Listless, she returned to watching the broadcast while scrolling through social media. At some point in her endless scrolling journey, she remembered her own social media account. Tap. Tap. Tap. She re-shared the live broadcast on her own official account before resuming her mindless activities.

Though on social media throughout the entire broadcast, she remained unaware of the uproar she created on her own social media account. In the comments of her re-share of the broadcast, die-hard fans dumped out their hearts.

[I’m Deaf: Xia Ruyun’s first post in over three years! I never knew when this day would come T~T Heavens let me count my lucky stars! Xia Ruyun, I hope you know how much you changed my life. You helped me through my dad’s recovery when he was in a car accident with a BUS! Even now, I don’t listen to any music except for yours! Looking forward to your return <3 I’ll support you no matter what you do!!]

[Where The Wind Blows Clouds: An absolute exquisite return. I applaud your efforts. We fans are here to support you at every turn. Personally, I’ll never forget the effect you had on my youth. My mother rode the bus a lot, but one day, the bus had a crazy accident where a tired father barreled into it head on. Every night while she recovered, I listened to your songs to reaffirm my love for my mom, the world, and for the heavens.]

[Blond Men Supremacy: [This comment has been removed for overly explicit content]]

[I Eat The Person Eating Li Feiling’s Couch: Ever since I lost my bus driver license when a tired father crashed into me, I’ve always used your music to help me keep going. Seeing you pick yourself up out of depression to get your life moving once more has inspired me to as well! Cheers to both of our futures!]

Even after the broadcast ended, Xia Ruyun never ended up seeing the messages her fans left her. Left behind, they sat unread for a future Xia Ruyun to appreciate. In the present though, she pushed out from her desk, her rolling chair taking her beside her bed where she rolled off the chair and... back under the warmth and comfort of her blankets.

She spent a couple minutes rustling around under the covers to get comfortable. Once she found a position, a loud sigh left her lips as she sank into her bed. Reaching over to the side, she pulled her curtains together. Unlike before though, she left a crack between the curtains for some sunlight to enter.

After situating her curtains, she flicked the lights off and grabbed her laptop. Her fingers danced across the keyboard as she logged in and opened up the messaging app she and the rest of the cast used. For each person who had appeared in the broadcast, she sent out a quick congratulations message before coming to a stop on Li Feiling who had already beaten her to the punch.

[Congratulations, Xia Ruyun!]

[It’s been an absolute pleasure working with you!]

[Still missing you on set though! Wish you could be here as we enter the last week of shooting!]

Xia Ruyun smiled. Her hands shook a little as she reread the few messages Li Feiling sent over. Her heart warmed as saved the hugging duck sticker Li Feiling had sent at the end of her messages.

... It’s so nice being friends with her. I... hope we can stay friends for a long time.

After spending a minute or two composing a message, Xia Ruyun kept it simple. Short and sweet.

[Congratulations to you too, Li Feiling! Missing you too and wishing I could be there.]

She froze for a half-second before deciding to send a follow-up message.

[Still up to get a meal next weekend? We can reschedule if you think you’ll be too tired. Just let me know.]

Not even a second later, the typing icon appeared next to Li Feiling’s name. A reply then came within the minute.

[Yep! Totally up for it!]

[My schedule is actually jam-packed, so even if we wanted to reschedule it’d be hard...]

[Let’s meet at the restaurant we agreed upon last time. Noon for lunch works perfectly for me! There’s a nice cafe just down the street we can go to as well afterward if we want some beverages, pastries, or dessert!]

She typed out a few quick replies to confirm all the details before sitting back against her bed’s headboard with a massive grin.

I’m really looking forward to it.

...

... Oh wait, I definitely didn’t reply to Wu Linjie...

Perking back up, she switched over to her message log with Wu Linjie. The congratulatory messages from his end had come even earlier than Li Feiling’s! After thanking him for his congratulations, she sent her own over before closing the application and unpausing the TV show she had been in the middle of.

I just wish that they could finish shooting faster...