Chapter 3406

Ye Chen never imagined in his dreams that two women would actually want him to be their dance partner.

I'm a full-grown eight-chi man—what kind of dance am I supposed to accompany?

But before he could say no again, Gu Qiuyi grabbed his arm and pleaded desperately: "Ye Chen gege, just promise us, okay? You don't really need to dance—it's just traditional martial arts and wire work, fully costumed. Besides, your face won't show, and you'll even have special assassin armor on your hands; no one will see even a finger of you."

Tawana knew she had no right to act coquettish in front of Ye Chen, but she said expectantly: "Mr. Ye, if you could perform on stage with us during my duet with Miss Gu, it would probably be an unforgettable beautiful memory for us for a lifetime."

"Yeah, Ye Chen gege!" Gu Qiuyi looked earnest, speaking softly: "You said something in the car earlier—if you don't agree to this performance now, you can't possibly refuse it, can you?"

Seeing her pitiful little expression, Ye Chen felt a twinge of reluctance in his heart.

Thinking of Gu Qiuyi's words—that the performance would only require him to wear a mask and do some martial arts moves—he said sternly: "You said it, Nannan—absolutely no face showing. If my face were really exposed, I'd lose face big time."

Gu Qiuyi knew Ye Chen had softened, and she immediately hugged him excitedly, saying: "Great, Ye Chen gege! Don't worry—I absolutely won't let your face show! Though some moves will need slight choreography, requiring your cooperation!"

Once he confirmed he wouldn't have to show his face, Ye Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

Doing some martial arts moves isn't difficult for me. It's just that Tawana's fame is enormous—if I showed my face at her concert, it might affect my identity secrecy.

Helpless, he nodded and said: "Alright, I promise. Tell me in advance what stage moves you have, and I'll try my best to cooperate."

"Good!" Gu Qiuyi exclaimed excitedly: "I'll need to go back and discuss the specific dance moves with my dance instructor, but Ye Chen gege, rest assured—it won't be difficult."

Ye Chen gave a slight nod: "Okay, then I'll follow your arrangement—I'll go on stage during your final song, right?"

"Exactly!" Gu Qiuyi said: "This song itself is one I personally love deeply—the lyrics roughly tell of an ancient woman who falls for a righteous, chivalrous assassin. The assassin must go kill a tyrant of the court, and at parting, there's lingering reluctance between him and the woman."

Ye Chen laughed: "What? Is this about Jing Ke?"

"No!" Gu Qiuyi laughed: "It's just a fictional story—later the assassin kills the tyrant all the way, returns to the woman's side, and it's a perfect happy ending."

Ye Chen nodded and said: "I'll follow your arrangements—whatever you arrange for me, I'll do it."

"Good!" Gu Qiuyi said happily, quickly asking Tawana: "When do we start the first rehearsal?"

Tawana smiled and replied: "This afternoon! The performance starts the night after tomorrow. This afternoon we'll just run through the blocking once, tomorrow daytime we'll do a full run-through, and the performance begins that night."

Ye Chen said: "Then today's still quite a hassle—running around everywhere."

Tawana curiously asked: "Mr. Ye and Miss Gu, do you have any other arrangements at noon?"

Gu Qiuyi smiled: "Ye Chen gege has lunch at my house with my parents, but our afternoon is free—though we still need to go to Ye Chen gege's house in the evening for a family dinner, so the afternoon might not be too flexible."

"That's fine." Tawana smiled: "You handle your noon business, come over in the afternoon—we'll prioritize your time, work out our interaction segment first, then you can go attend to your affairs."

Gu Qiuyi lightly nodded: "Okay! Then we'll come over after lunch!"

Tawana looked at Ye Chen and smiled: "Mr. Ye, when you have free time, definitely listen to the song 'Assassin' a few more times—I listened to it with the translation, and the lyrics feel quite moving."

Ye Chen usually has no interest in listening to music and hardly ever actively seeks out songs in daily life.

As for concerts, having lived this long, he's only attended two people's concerts—and those two are none other than Tawana and Gu Qiuyi standing before him now.

But since that song 'Assassin' is Gu Qiuyi's, Ye Chen secretly thought: I definitely need to make time to study it properly and listen carefully.

I can't even remember whether I listened to this song during Gu Qiuyi's last concert.

Recalling it, my two experiences of attending Gu Qiuyi's concerts are actually quite interesting.

The first time was in Jin Ling—I was extremely nervous, afraid Gu Qiuyi would confess to me on stage.

The second time was in New York—I had planned to listen carefully to Gu Qiuyi's concert, but unexpectedly, I encountered assassins sent to kill my maternal grandparents' family.

On the way back, Ye Chen connected his phone to the business car's Bluetooth and listened to the entire song 'Assassin' straight through.

I must say, this Huaxia ancient-style song truly has a beautiful atmosphere—its overall tone somewhat resembles Jay Chou's 'Fireworks Are Cold'.

What's rare is that the songwriter didn't deliberately craft a tragic story to gain listeners' sympathy.

Instead, the lyrics were written as a grand reunion ending.

'Fireworks Are Cold' describes a woman who dies waiting for her lover, while 'Assassin' is divided into three parts: the first is the love between woman and assassin, the second is the assassin's righteous, chivalrous passion, and the third is the reunion with the beloved.

Comparing them, Ye Chen actually prefers the latter's perfect ending—he's always liked perfect-ending stories since childhood, whether listening to music or watching films.

Seeing Ye Chen listen to it several times, Gu Qiuyi beside him asked: "Ye Chen gege, how do you feel about this song?"

Ye Chen generously shared his praise: "It's really good—I really like it. I love this kind of perfect grand ending. It's rare to have a song that doesn't sing of sorrow, secret love, or sycophants and mistresses."

Gu Qiuyi smiled: "Before, I didn't feel much about this song, but after meeting you, I've grown to like it more and more—because in my view, you're like the assassin in this song: though you've left me for so many years, you're still avenging your parents and purging evil from the world, and I'm also hoping you'll eliminate all the bad people and return to my side."

Ye Chen was momentarily stunned—he never thought this song held such a deeper meaning for Gu Qiuyi.

Upon reflection, there's indeed some similarity between us and this artistic conception.

He couldn't help but let out a soft sigh, telling Gu Qiuyi: "Nannan, since this song holds such deep special meaning for you, I will surely cooperate well with you to perform it completely."

Gu Qiuyi nodded heavily, excitedly saying: "Ye Chen gege, Tawana has four concerts in Yanjing—you also need to accompany me for four performances!"

Ye Chen smiled and agreed, saying: "Don't worry—since I promised you, it's absolutely impossible to fall short!"