104: Chapter 104 Will I still be able to walk tomorrow?

Shen Nian's hands were being held down by Jiang Fan, so she couldn't take down the two ponytails on her head.

The person in the mirror was flushed with anger, her twin ponytails bobbing up and down, making her look more and more like a character straight out of an anime.

"Jiang Fan, let go—"

Jiang Fan did not let go.

He watched Shen Nian in the mirror, his gaze sliding down from the two perky ponytails on her head, passing over her flushed face, the thin straps digging into her shoulders, and the expanse of fair skin beneath her collarbones.

Shen Nian was still struggling against him when an arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, lifting her entire body and pulling her toward the bed.

"What are you doing—"

Her lower back hit the edge of the bed and her body tilted backward; Jiang Fan supported the back of her head with one hand and pushed her down in one fluid motion.

Shen Nian's back slammed onto the mattress, causing her to bounce slightly.

Her twin ponytails came loose, one on the left and one on the right, spreading out on either side of the pillow.

Jiang Fan hovered above her, his nose almost brushing against her collarbone.

"Why are you today—"

The strap was pushed off her shoulder.

Shen Nian's words caught in her throat.

—

Jiang Fan's state tonight was different from usual.

What Shen Nian noticed first was that the rhythm had changed.

In the past, although his movements weren't exactly gentle, they were at least within a range she could keep up with.

Tonight, they were not.

"Did you take the wrong medicine today?"

Jiang Fan didn't answer.

Or rather, he answered in another way.

Shen Nian's voice shifted from a questioning tone to intermittent gasps; she pushed against his shoulders, but it was as if she hadn't pushed at all.

"Jiang Fan—slow, slow down—"

It was useless.

Her twin ponytails whipped back and forth on either side of the pillow, trembling with the rhythm of her body.

Shen Nian turned her face to the side, pressing her forehead against her forearm, biting the inside of her wrist to suppress her sounds.

"Be gentle..."

Before she could finish, she was flipped over.

Her knees were on the bed, her hands supporting her on the mattress.

Her pink nightdress was bunched up at her waist, wrinkled into a ball.

Jiang Fan's palm slid up her back, moving slowly upward.

Then—he grabbed the two ponytails.

Shen Nian was forced to arch her upper body, her spine curving into an arc.

"No—this position won't work—"

Answering her was a deep thrust.

The words Shen Nian couldn't finish shattered into a high-pitched, distorted scream.

"...You're crazy..."

This angle made it impossible for her to bury her face in the pillow; her sounds were exposed to the air, one after another, completely uncontrollable.

She didn't know if the soundproofing was good enough, but she couldn't care about that now.

"Jiang Fan, that's enough—"

—

By the end, Shen Nian couldn't even remember which round it was.

Her legs were hoisted up, her ankles resting on Jiang Fan's shoulders.

The flexibility she had trained for so many years in dance finally came in handy today.

"I can't—Jiang Fan—I really can't—"

Her voice was terribly hoarse, sounding like a completely different person from when she usually spoke.

Her body tensed to the limit and then relaxed, wave after wave, completely unstoppable.

Shen Nian lay limp on the bed, even her fingers trembling.

The ponytail on the left had completely come undone, while the one on the right still hung on, crooked and messy.

Jiang Fan turned on his side to lie next to her, one hand resting on her lower abdomen.

The room quieted down.

Only the sound of their heavy breathing remained.

It took Shen Nian about three minutes to suppress her panting.

She wiggled her toes—they still had sensation, good.

"...Will I be able to walk tomorrow?"

"You should be able to."

Shen Nian turned her head to look at him, sweat-dampened hair clinging to her forehead.

"Tomorrow I have to go to Diva Xu's concert. If you make me walk with a limp—"

She didn't finish the second half of the sentence, but the meaning was clear.

Jiang Fan reached out to brush the stray hair from her forehead. "It's not that exaggerated."

Shen Nian stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, then reached up to pull out the only remaining ponytail on the right, throwing the hair tie under the bed.

"Don't touch my hair ever again."

Jiang Fan chuckled.

"What are you laughing at?" Shen Nian hit him with her fist, her strength nearly zero. "It's all your fault for doing that stupid ponytail."

"What does that have to do with the ponytails?"

"It has everything to do with it." Shen Nian buried her face in the pillow, her voice muffled. "You only went crazy because you saw me wearing twin ponytails. Don't think I don't know."

Jiang Fan didn't deny it.

Although Shen Nian scolded him, she couldn't even muster the strength to turn over right now.

After a while, she pressed her forehead against Jiang Fan's shoulder and rubbed against it.

"Pour me a glass of water."

Jiang Fan got up, went to the living room to get a glass of warm water, and brought it back.

Shen Nian propped herself up to sit, took it, and drank more than half the glass; her throat was dry and aching.

She placed the glass on the nightstand, pulled a thin blanket over her waist, and stretched her feet out to rest on Jiang Fan's calves.

She fell asleep immediately.

The system panel flickered in the corner of his vision.

[Deep Compatibility × 4, Lifespan Value + 2000]

[Current Lifespan Value: 40800 points]

[Remaining Lifespan: 31 days 8 hours]

—

The next day.

The weather in Shanghai was not very cooperative; it was overcast, and there was a humid, stifling dampness in the air.

But this didn't affect the excitement of tonight in the slightest.

Xu Qingya's "Yayun" World Tour, Shanghai Station.

Shanghai Stadium, over seventy thousand seats, sold out in three seconds.

Scalper prices were six times higher, and there were still people who couldn't get tickets.

Jiang Fan went out at noon, first making a trip to the Studio.

Li Cheng was already there, a pile of documents spread out on the table.

"the wind rises has been online for three days, Tencent Music streams are at eighty-seven million, and it's expected to break one hundred million today."

Li Cheng pushed the data report over.

"The reputation in the comments section is also very good. Shen Nian's Weibo followers reached 5.2 million last night and are still growing."

Jiang Fan glanced at the numbers and nodded.

"I'll write the song for the next episode of The Sound of Nature in the next two days."

After handling the matters at hand, he returned to his apartment at 3 PM to change clothes.

A black shirt, and he randomly picked a pair of dark pants.

On his wrist, he wore that patek philippe.

At 4:30, he knocked on the door of Shen Nian's apartment.

Shen Nian was standing at the door.

A blue dress, the hem just above her knees. Her hair was loose, the slightly curled ends resting on her shoulders.

She wore light makeup, a thin layer of lip glaze on her lips.

Jiang Fan looked twice.

Shen Nian stood there without moving, asking with her eyes—Does it look good?

Jiang Fan didn't speak, but those two glances were already an answer.

Shen Nian took her handbag and locked the door.

When they reached the elevator, Jiang Fan noticed her walking posture—half a beat slower than usual, her steps small.

"Still hurting?"

Shen Nian's face flushed red to her ears in an instant, and she turned her head to glare at him.

"Try mentioning it one more time."

—

At 6:00 in the evening, it was already packed outside the stadium.

Fans holding light boards of Xu Qingya crowded the plaza, and the sea of blue and white light from glow sticks covered the entire street.

The line of people waiting to enter stretched from the main entrance to the corner of the parking lot.

Jiang Fan took the VIP channel and scanned his exclusive QR code.

Shen Nian followed beside him, fully armed with a mask and hat.

The VIP area was in the first three rows on the left side of the venue.

The two seats were right next to each other, with a great view; the light rig and lifting platform in the center of the stage could be seen clearly.

Shen Nian sat down and looked around.

The seats were almost full.

The lights were still on, but people inside were already chanting "Xu Qingya," wave after wave.

The sound of tens of thousands of people surged from all directions; sitting there, one could feel the chairs vibrating along with it.

Shen Nian stared at that huge stage for a long time.

The light rigs were stacked seven or eight layers high, and LED screens covered the entire wall.

She had seen concert recordings, but watching a recording and seeing it in person were two different things.

"What are you thinking about?" Jiang Fan handed her a bottle of water.

Shen Nian took it, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip.

"I was thinking about when I'll be able to stand on a stage like this."

Jiang Fan glanced at her.

"Soon."

7:55.

The lights in the venue went out one by one.

The entire stadium went quiet for two seconds.

Then—

Everyone screamed at once.

The blue and white sea of glow sticks lit up in the darkness, spreading from the front row to the last row of the stands, boundless.

On stage, the first spotlight hit.

Xu Qingya's concert began.