There were two things that stood out on the bus ride. First, of course, was how Liu De and Mo Fang became the talk of the town, growing in popularity in a way they would probably not appreciate. Even children were openly discussing the matter! The parents were using the names of those two as examples of people not to follow. Even from her seat, Selena could hear a fairly young mother telling her little girl that stealing was bad, using Liu De"s act as one of the highest forms and most disgusting methods.
Towards people like Liu De and Mo Fang, she could actually hardly care about them. The latter would not even garner her attention normally. There were actually so many of them in the world. She had even encountered or heard of those who had done worse than them. The world was simply dark, and all sorts of people were inhabiting it. Rule-breakers and individuals with no bottom line would always be present in every community or place.
Selena could barely keep herself from shaking her head. Her face was still lacking in emotion, but just a while ago, her eyes flashed with an unknown emotion.
The second thing that she kept noticing while inside the bus was the number of songs played by the driver which had the same voice. Jiang Li"s.
"Your alb.u.m will be a flop," she remembered telling him these a week or so ago… This was still before the plagiarism news broke out, her confidence stemming from the fact that an established singer idol would be competing against him for sales and attention.
If the first matter simply made her a bit interested, this one had made her gloomy. The bus driver was playing his songs. Actually, before they hopped into the vehicle, another piece from him was engulfing the ticket booth area... and the college student seated behind her had also his soundtracks on loudspeaker mode.
As she placed her hands on her bag that was on her lap and crossed her legs, she was barely keeping herself from clicking her tongue in annoyance.
If Selena could notice these, how could the singer of those pieces not?
"Stop grinning, it"s an eyesore." Her voice held chips of ice as she warned the disguised fellow sitting next to her. With her left hand, she unhurriedly nudged her sungla.s.ses on her nose when she spoke.
"Alright. Since you said so." Jiang Li easily agreed and began laughing. Yeah, he stopped smirking but in a way that would earn her ire more.
She sharply glared at him. Through her eyes, she really wanted to warn him that if she became too annoyed she would shout to everyone present that there was a celebrity singer joining them in this ride.
Unfortunately... she could not do this. She immediately realized that she would only be inviting trouble to herself too since in a sense her face had become a bit famous after the various guesting.
She drew in a cold breath. "Mr. Zheng." Since they were in a public place where being recognized would mean disaster, she switched her way of addressing him. "I just want to tell you... I"m starting to regret coming with you on this impromptu trip. If you are sincere to me, don"t make me feel more disappointed..."
The man was taken aback for some time and fell silent, not expecting she would reply calmly like this.
He thought she would flip out and smack him in the face or shout to the world that the stupid-looking guy next to her wearing cap, scarf, and thick black-framed eyegla.s.ses was the rising actor and singer Jiang Li. If that were to happen, it would be a bit problematic for him since it would be a question whether they would be able to get off the bus safely. This was not what happened. But he couldn"t help imagining the "what ifs".
He then smiled wryly.
Jiang Li became popular these days since it was revealed that he was actually the creators of those songs that got plagiarized. Curiosity was a predominant trait of every human so since the songs were linked to a huge matter, they checked out the songs in his alb.u.m. Then when they found out all the pieces were excellent, they began checking his pages in search of covers and other originals.
Interest was quite contagious. It was not a strange development that his songs" popularity led to him being more known until people realized he was the dorky blue-haired general in Selena"s drama, The Monarch and I.
All of these was actually within his expectations when he let Mo Fang copied the ones uploaded in Zheng Xiang"s Weibo.
But hey! The problem right now was in a place like this where he wanted to go unnoticed. When she warned him not to disappoint her anymore, was it an indirect hinting that if he did, she would really shout to everyone on the bus that he was?
His mouth twitched, ruminating about how the feeling of being threatened was really no good.
The man who didn"t know he simply fell victim to overthinking and completely misunderstood her keeping of her silence.
But at least the misunderstanding led to what Selena was hoping. Jiang Li was no longer distracting her with his dog-like smile.
How could a thirty-two-year-old guy like him could stomach plastering that kind of expression on his face anyway?
The bus became overly crowded when it pa.s.sed by a major bus stop, opposite a compound full of high-end stores, restaurants, and malls.
Selena briefly wrinkled her nose due to an elderly woman who pa.s.sed by their seats carrying a basket full of durian. Jiang Li was quite okay since he was actually also wearing a face mask. But the girl was not.
He smiled slightly and offered her handkerchief. She silently looked at her then pulled up her own. That left him feeling awkward, especially after she gave him a disdainful glance before covering her mouth and nose with that.
"This is awesome… I love her att.i.tude," he laughingly said to himself a couple of seconds after he retracted his hand.
The trip took them about three hours. It should have been only more or less two and a half, but there was quite a traffic jam at the complicated intersections and flyovers near the border of the city. The last bus stop was in front of a bustling market that was next to a park and near to several tall hotels and other establishments.
"Have you been here before?" he asked the woman who kept looking around the crowded place.