Gift on Return

"Alright, alright, we'll have plenty of time to gossip later, but for now, it's best if we let Renly go back and rest." Stanley walked out from backstage, seeing Renly surrounded by everyone in the middle. He clapped his hands, attracting everyone's attention, and began to disperse the crowd.

The pioneer village had closed an hour ago, but after closing, everyone had decided to stay behind, enthusiastically discussing everything that had happened in the past six months. The passage of time had been completely forgotten.

"But Renly is about to become a big star next. We won't have a chance anymore." Neil led the way, shouting, causing a chorus of cheers from everyone.

Stanley didn't buy it, giving Neil a smack on the back of his head. "Even now, you still don't have a chance." Same words, different interpretations. Everyone paused for a moment, then collectively burst into laughter, while Neil wore a face of reluctance, standing up and waving his hands. "Who knows? Renly, don't you think so?"

Before Renly could answer, a few people rushed forward and dragged Neil away. "Don't make trouble for the person here."

Watching Neil being dragged away in a sorry state, Renly shouted, "Alicia is hiding in the bathroom crying while hugging the toilet." Alicia was Neil's girlfriend, a kindergarten teacher who often came to the pioneer village to play. Everyone was very familiar with her.

Renly's teasing caused everyone to burst into laughter, with banter and jesting echoing around.

"You should go back and rest soon," Stanley patted Renly's shoulder. "Long flights are always exhausting."

"I slept through the whole flight." Renly replied with a smile, not feeling too tired.

"Ha. I should have expected that." Stanley was also in a good mood tonight. "But I should go back and rest. My heart is protesting." Usually, Stanley would have left around midnight, but today, because of Renly's return, he stayed at the bar, and everyone had a couple of rounds of beer.

After making sure all the windows of the bar were fine, locking both the back and front doors, Renly was the last one to leave the pioneer village.

Back at his place, the chilly air in the room made Renly shiver involuntarily. The room was dimly lit, devoid of any liveliness, and seemed colder than the outdoors. After turning on the lights, he could see a thin layer of dust on the coffee table and sofa, indicating that Chris Hemsworth hadn't been home for quite some time.

Walking over to the coffee table in the center of the living room, there was a piece of paper placed on it, boldly written in carbon pen, "Haha! Call me the lead actor!" All the words were written in capital letters, and just looking at the paper, one could clearly feel Chris's excitement.

Underneath that line, there was a note, "Hint: Sean Bean."

The British actor Sean Bean was definitely well-known, with his rugged masculine demeanor and delicate acting style securing him a solid position in Hollywood. His presence could be seen in works such as "Patriot Games," "007: GoldenEye," "National Treasure," "Troy," "Silent Hill," and the "Lord of the Rings" series, along with the renowned "Game of Thrones."

Being able to work with Sean Bean and becoming the leading actor. No wonder Chris was so excited.

Renly couldn't help but chuckle, genuinely happy for Chris. He placed the note back on the table, picked up the carbon pen nearby, and wrote his comment underneath, "HOT," to congratulate Chris. Then, Renly decided to take a shower first, washing away the dust and fatigue, truly feeling the familiarity of coming home.

Although he had slept all the way on the plane, Renly felt tired again at this moment, preparing to lie down and succumb to the call of sleep. However, his gaze fell on the wooden guitar in the corner of the room, and his steps involuntarily paused.

Even though his days at the pioneer village had been relaxed and enjoyable, this feeling was particularly strong tonight. In the relaxed and comfortable atmosphere with friends, the dimensions of time and space seemed to lose their original meaning, and the bonds between them not only did not loosen but became even tighter.

Renly knew what Stanley meant by "gift." It wasn't about performing on stage but actually recording music.

Stanley was someone who valued talent, as evidenced by the way he operated the pioneer village and selected performance guests. When Renly first stepped on stage to save the situation, Stanley was incredibly surprised. He enthusiastically offered Renly a chance to perform, to truly step onto the stage and have his own thirty minutes. But Renly declined.

The reason was simple: music to him was just for leisure, relaxation, and diversion. His passion had always been acting, and that hadn't changed, at least not yet.

Stanley was deeply regretful. He was someone who was genuinely passionate about music, and in his eyes, there was nothing that could compare to it. So, whenever he saw someone talented or determined to pursue their dreams, Stanley always offered his full support. Despite Renly's refusal, Stanley understood but didn't give up easily. After that, he half-jokingly and half-seriously mentioned it to Renly several times. This persistence, mixed with humor, made Renly somewhat helpless but also moved.

Renly knew that Stanley's passion was just like his passion for acting.

After some thought, Renly walked to the bedside, picked up the guitar from the corner, brushed off the dust, then turned on his computer. He decided to record "Cleopatra" as a gift for Stanley. After all, he still owed Stanley a Christmas present, and St. Patrick's Day was coming up, wasn't it?

Since the beginning of the new century, with the rise of social networks like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, the gradual improvement of online digital music sales networks like iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and the advancement of a series of electronic recording equipment led by Apple computers, even smartphones could now be used for music recording, more and more grassroots and independent musicians began to rise. This trend was inevitable, following the highly matured development of music talent shows like "American Idol."

For independent musicians, the lack of advanced professional recording equipment was not an issue. Modern technology solved all the problems. What they truly needed to face was the soundproofing of the recording studio. Many independent musicians chose the garage as their recording studio, then used egg trays as soundproofing panels attached to the walls to create a simple recording soundproofing effect.

Renly faced the same problem.

He pounded the wall hard, and the entire wall shook as if it were a sheet in the wind. "Shut up!" The whispered sweet nothings from the next room abruptly ceased, pausing for about half a second, then a man's voice full of curses roared, but Renly didn't care at all, shouting back, "Keep it up, and I'll tell Kingston what you're really up to!"

With that one sentence, the noise from the next room abruptly stopped. The man next door had been cheating on his girlfriend behind her back, and he was not discreet about it, annoying Renly to no end. His girlfriend's brother was called Kingston, who owned a meat shop three blocks away — specializing in pork, beef, lamb, etc., with close ties to the Italian Mafia.

Finally, it became quiet, a rare moment of peace in New York at four in the morning.

Opening his computer, holding the guitar in his arms, Renly found himself lost in thought. When he first created "Cleopatra," it was just a momentary burst of inspiration. He hadn't actually recorded the melody and lyrics. Over the past six months, he hadn't played it again, and his mind was suddenly blank.

Deciding to let go of his worries, Renly let his fingertips find the strings, sketching them out casually. The story of Cleopatra and Mark Antony emerged once again.

When later generations stood at the modern-day node to re-examine history, due to changes and advancements in life views, worldviews, values, and the progress of the times, they often gave special significance to historical events. It was like how the heliocentric theory was once considered heresy, or how the internet was once seen as doomsday. After time passed, things would often deviate from their original appearance, and the truth of that specific moment in history couldn't be accurately reconstructed by anyone.

Countless people, including Shakespeare, believed that Cleopatra was an ambitious woman, almost single-handedly determining the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. But in history, did anyone truly understand Cleopatra's feelings? Just like Wu Zetian, people saw her achievements, her ruthless methods, her domination of the world, her iron-fisted rule, but never saw her softness as a woman, the hardships as a historical creator, the thorns as a fate changer.

(A/N: From wiki - Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the first and only female emperor in Chinese history, and de facto ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right.)

♫♪Cleopatra - The Lumineers♫♪

♫♪But I was late for this, late for that

Late for the love of my life

And when I die alone, when I die alone

Die I'll be on time, I♫♪ 

That familiar melody flowed from his fingertips once again, not just about Cleopatra, but about every person in real life. How many people had missed the true love of their lives? How many people carried the shackles of fate in the choice between love and career? How many people struggled through misunderstanding and suffering to reach the end of life?

How many people could, like him, win a second chance at life?

Joyful yet sorrowful, exuberant yet lost, happy yet confused... The bitterness hidden within the light melody quietly danced on the tip of his tongue. The smile on his lips couldn't hide the loneliness under the night sky, as the musical notes shimmered with a captivating halo under the clear moonlight.

"Wait, how does this recording work again?" Renly looked at the recording software on his computer, filled with question marks.