Chapter 4: Selective Germaphobia
“Let me guess… the person you asked me to find is this very one? Shaochen, you actually slept with a stranger!” Is the sun rising in the west? His respect for that person wasn’t just simple admiration anymore!
“Is the person pretty? Are they pure like a fairy sister?” Lu Ke’s guess was logical. He figured someone Chi Shaochen would like would have to be an incredibly pure, almost unworldly beauty—someone who felt clean and untouched.
Chi Shaochen had a germaphobia (mysophobia), but it was mainly targeted at people. He didn’t have a strong reaction to his environment; he didn’t wipe down a chair multiple times before sitting, nor did he wash his hands or shower compulsively. His standards for household cleanliness weren’t unusually high either. He simply rejected the proximity of his own kind. He had a higher tolerance for small animals than for humans. Even psychologists couldn’t precisely categorize his condition, eventually settling on “specialized” or “selective mental mysophobia.”
“Very good-looking. And… he’s a man.” Chi Shaochen finally spoke, simply because he didn’t want to hear Lu Ke’s rambling anymore.
“Cough, cough… I thought that was just gossip—people saying you were either impotent or gay. I didn’t think you actually liked men!” Seeing Chi Shaochen glare at him, Lu Ke quickly said, “Alright, alright, I’ll stop. Now, let’s find your person! Hacking into the AE Hotel? Piece of cake~”
Lu Ke sat on the sofa and opened his laptop on the coffee table. Chi Shaochen sat beside him, maintaining a distance of about 30 centimeters.
Once he started working, Lu Ke became serious, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
“Which time frame?” Lu Ke asked once he breached the system.
“Yesterday between 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM. The area from the lobby to the elevators.” If the other party had truly taken the wrong floor, he would have gone straight to the 21st floor.
Lu Ke nodded, adjusted the footage to that time, and fast-forwarded. Chi Shaochen watched to identify the person.
They worked for two hours and finally found two suspected clips. One was of the youth entering the hotel around 7:00 PM, and the other was him leaving in the middle of the night. Frustratingly, none of the cameras from the lobby to the elevators caught a clear shot of his face. There were cameras in the other two elevators, but Chi Shaochen’s private elevator had none. And since the 21st floor was his private territory, there were no cameras there either. Thus, they only saw the youth’s perfect profile.
“Even if it’s just a profile, he’s definitely handsome. Mm… good body too.” Lu Ke evaluated Xiahou Qian.
“It seems he really didn’t go to any other floor. But this also means I can’t find any clues from the guest list.” In that case, the footage was almost useless. It wasn’t that he didn’t remember the boy’s face; he wanted to find his identity, though he wasn’t sure what he would do once he found it.
“By the way, what exactly happened?” Lu Ke wasn’t joking this time. Given Chi Shaochen’s personality, he knew it was impossible for him to sleep with a stranger if nothing had occurred.
Chi Shaochen coldly recounted the events. Lu Ke was speechless.
“Are you sure you’ve never seen this guy before? Maybe he’s someone who’s had a crush on you for a long time?” Lu Ke pointed to the frozen image on the screen. He didn’t think the boy was sent by Chi’s parents; they wanted a grandson, so they would have sent a woman.
“I’m certain. His looks are striking and his aura is very unique. If I’d seen him, I’d remember.” Chi Shaochen was very confident in his memory.
“Could it be a conspiracy?” Lu Ke truly didn’t believe in such coincidences.
“I suspected that too, but I feel like it isn’t.” The boy’s gaze kept flickering in his mind. It was so complex he couldn’t grasp the meaning. Chi Shaochen closed his eyes, recalling the boy’s eyes. In the heat of the moment, the adoration in them hadn’t been hidden at all. Was it really someone who had a secret crush on him?
“When he looked at me, it was as if I was the only person in his world. Lu Ke, his eyes can speak.” Chi Shaochen was being uncharacteristically poetic.
Lu Ke looked at Chi Shaochen as if he were a magical creature.
“Shaochen, I never realized your EQ was actually quite high.” He had always thought Chi Shaochen was the classic “high IQ, low EQ” type.
His words earned him a glare from Chi Shaochen.
“Fine. So what do you plan to do now?” Lu Ke dropped the teasing.
“Mm… help me keep an eye out. Let me know if you hear anything.” He would also have his own people look for the boy in secret.
For now, Chi Shaochen had no other choice. Because of certain people, if he didn’t want to bring trouble or danger to the boy, he couldn’t search for him openly.
Meanwhile, Xiahou Qian had buried the man in the depths of his heart, just as he had in his previous life. He began busy transcribing his works. He often worked until the middle of the night. Even so, it took him three days to finish writing all the songs from memory. He checked them several times and spent a long time reflecting, certain he hadn’t missed anything.
In his last life, he couldn’t release these songs due to contract restrictions. He had planned to wait two years for the contract to end, but… now it was better. He didn’t have to wait two years, and he had his best years back.
If the 26-year-old Xiahou Qian was insecure, desperate, and decadent, then the 18-year-old Xiahou Qian was thriving. With a 28-year-old soul back in an 18-year-old body, Xiahou Qian felt as if his soul was becoming vibrant again!
In the following days, his schedule became regular. He woke up at 7:00 AM to exercise and ate three meals a day on time. In his last life, his health problems were largely due to irregular eating and sleeping habits. This time, he would take good care of his body.
He spent eight hours a day revising and perfecting the works from his school days, deleting those that were subpar and not worth fixing. The songs he had transcribed from memory didn’t need revision, as he had already perfected them many times in his previous life.
Once finished, Xiahou Qian logged into the copyright management website. He uploaded all his works and applied for copyright certification. Since there was a lot of data and a large number of works, it took him over a week to submit all the materials for review.
During this period, he gradually received electronic copyright certificates for the verified works. These files contained unique copyright codes, with the originals stored at the National Copyright Administration. If a dispute arose, a lawyer could access them as evidence.
The copyright website was a government platform, similar to patent applications—completely fair and just. It required real-name registration. Individuals needed to pass identity verification, while corporate users needed various company registration documents.
After about half a month, all of Xiahou Qian’s applications were approved. He saved these files and works into a directory, creating a separate folder for them.
In truth, the copyright website hadn’t been established for very long at this point. Many people weren’t yet used to applying for copyright certification here. However, coming from eight years in the future, Xiahou Qian knew that with government backing, this site would become an unrivaled authority in just two years. By then, if one were to submit over 200 applications at once without knowing anyone inside, it would take ages for the results to come back.
However, Xiahou Qian didn’t realize that in the current climate, submitting over 200 works (including lyrics, music, and arrangement) for certification all at once was incredibly eye-catching.
Just as Xiahou Qian knew, the site had only been operational for a few months. Currently, bulk applications were usually submitted by entertainment companies. Individual applications were rare, and large quantities like his were non-existent. Xiahou Qian’s appearance naturally caught the attention of the head of the music group in the copyright department.
The copyright department had special methods to verify copyrights, but they could only check if the work had been published online or offline before, or if it was similar to other works (plagiarism). As for the quality of the work, that wasn’t their concern. If someone wanted to pay to certify trash, they wouldn’t stop them.
The group leader looked up Xiahou Qian’s identity and found he was a recent graduate of the Conservatory of Music with excellent grades. Although curious about how he had written so many songs, he didn’t look into it too deeply since he didn’t know the quality of the music. Still, the name ‘Xiahou Qian’ left an impression on him.
Once all his copyright applications were approved, Xiahou Qian entered the “Tianlai” (Heavenly Music) Original Platform. This was currently the largest original music website on the net. Xiahou Qian deleted his old user information and re-registered with the nickname ‘Xiahou.’ He then activated his status as an original musician.
Once an original musician, a user could have their own release page on Tianlai. Xiahou Qian named his page ‘Nirvana’ as a metaphor for his rebirth.
Looking at the many works on his computer, Xiahou Qian finally selected an early piece.
To achieve the best recording effect possible in a sub-par environment, Xiahou Qian specifically chose to record at 3:00 AM. The soundproofing in his apartment was decent, and the early morning was quiet. His singing and playing wouldn’t disturb the neighbors.
With no one else to give advice, he recorded and listened to himself several times, eventually choosing the best take. He already knew how to do post-production, and with the added bonus of Absolute Pitch, it was even more effective. He felt his guitar skills had improved significantly; he could easily spot a mistake and ensure it didn’t happen in the second take.
During this time, Xiahou Qian had looked up a lot of information on Absolute Pitch. After comparing his experience, he confirmed he truly had this “golden finger.” Apparently, there are different levels of Absolute Pitch. He didn’t know where he ranked, but he felt it was more than enough for his needs.
After the initial production, he listened and made adjustments. Because he was so sensitive to sound and pitch, any noise was particularly grating. But given his current equipment, he could only do so much. No matter how much he processed it, the audio quality couldn’t compare to a professional recording. He could only do his best with what he had.
By the time he finished the song, the sun was high in the sky. His phone showed it was 9:28 AM.
He logged into the Tianlai musician backend, entered the song information and copyright code, clicked upload, and confirmed.
T/N: “EQ” refers to Emotional Quotient/Intelligence. Chi Shaochen is surprisingly insightful for a “cold CEO.” “Nirvana” (涅槃) is a perfect name for someone who has literally died and come back!
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