154: Chapter 154 These women have probably all tasted the sweetness.

When Jiang Fan returned to his room, it was already two in the morning.

He took a quick shower and collapsed onto the bed.

He replayed the events of tonight in his mind.

On Shen Nian's side, their compatibility had risen to SS, and he had officially established a connection with Tang Yingxue.

He didn't have any particular thoughts about it.

Someone whose life is hanging by a thread has no right to be sentimental; staying alive is the ultimate truth.

He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

—

At ten o'clock the next morning, the three of them checked out and took a business van arranged by the program crew to the airport.

Zhou Yutong was scrolling through her phone in the back seat, getting more and more excited as she did.

“Brother Fan! It's still on the hot search! 'left hand points to the moon Divine Performance' is ranked first! Below it are all recommendation posts from passersby!”

Jiang Fan gave an “mm” and closed his eyes to catch up on sleep.

Shen Nian sat next to him, earbuds in her ears, listening to the playback of last night's live performance.

Zhou Yutong cried out again, “There's another one—'The Sound of Nature Viewership Ratings Hit an All-Time High'. Director Fang must be ecstatic.”

“Alright, stop shouting.” Jiang Fan opened one eye.

Zhou Yutong stuck out her tongue and shoved her phone screen in front of Shen Nian to show her.

The plane landed in Shanghai, and Li Cheng was waiting at the arrivals level with his car.

Once they got in, Li Cheng glanced at Shen Nian through the rearview mirror and grinned.

“Hello, Champion! Congratulations!”

Shen Nian smiled. “Brother Cheng, are your pants dry yet?”

Li Cheng's face stiffened, and he glared at Zhou Yutong.

Zhou Yutong shrank into the corner, covering her mouth as her shoulders shook with laughter.

“...They're dry, they're dry. Don't bring that up.”

The car drove onto the elevated highway.

Jiang Fan leaned back in the passenger seat, pushed up his sunglasses, and massaged the bridge of his nose.

“Brother Cheng, Shen Nian is really popular right now. Have any business endorsements reached out?”

Li Cheng was clearly well-prepared and reported while driving.

“From last night to this morning, we received eleven business invitations in total. I did a preliminary screening, and four of them are decent. The rest are either too low-end or offer too little money.”

“Which four?”

“There's a cosmetics endorsement, a phone endorsement, a variety show guest appearance, and offline commercial performances.”

“Which cosmetics brand?”

“Gucci. They want to find a young female singer to be their Asia-Pacific promotional ambassador with a one-year contract.”

Jiang Fan tapped his fingers on the armrest twice.

“We can negotiate that one. What about the phone?”

“Vio's S series, targeting the youth market.”

“Okay, you can proceed with these two. Make sure to clarify the contract period and exclusivity clauses; don't lock her in too tightly.”

“What about the variety show? Which program is it?”

“'Happy Weekend', recording one episode as a guest.”

“Sure. Check the schedule and make sure it doesn't clash with other itineraries. Increase our quote by thirty percent before replying.”

“Understood.” Li Cheng nodded. “And what about the offline commercial performance? The offer is quite high—eight hundred thousand yuan for three shows.”

“Decline it.”

“Huh? Eight hundred thousand, and we're declining?”

“She just won the championship, so her value needs to go up, not down. Doing commercial performances right now would cheapen her image. In two months, she might not even accept the same job for 1.5 million.”

The back seat fell silent for a couple of seconds.

Zhou Yutong secretly poked Shen Nian's arm and mouthed silently, “Brother Fan is so domineering.”

Shen Nian ignored her, took off her earbuds, put them away, and stared at the tall buildings passing by outside the window.

The slight curve at the corner of her lips never faded.

The car got off the elevated highway and dropped Shen Nian and Zhou Yutong off at their residence first.

Shen Nian opened the car door, stepped one foot onto the ground, and looked back at Jiang Fan.

“Do you have anything else to do today?”

“I'm going back to the company to handle some things. You go get some good rest.”

“Okay.”

She closed the door and walked toward the apartment building with her suitcase.

The car restarted and drove back onto the main road.

Li Cheng waited at a red light at an intersection.

“Brother Fan, there's one more thing—Director Ning Yuan sent three messages yesterday asking when you'd be back in Shanghai.”

“Tell him to come to the company tomorrow, and we'll go over the casting list together.”

“Got it.”

—

Star City. The Presidential Suite of the InterContinental Hotel.

Tang Yingxue didn't wake up until ten o'clock the next morning.

Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the French windows. She rolled over, her consciousness slowly returning.

Aside from her body feeling a bit sore and some slight discomfort down below, her overall mental state was surprisingly excellent.

Tang Yingxue lingered in bed for five minutes before stepping barefoot onto the carpet and walking into the bathroom.

She picked up her toothbrush and squeezed toothpaste onto it. Her hand paused as her peripheral vision caught her reflection in the mirror.

Tang Yingxue put down the toothbrush and leaned closer to the mirror.

The two fine lines at the corners of her eyes were gone.

It wasn't an issue with the lighting or angle; they were truly gone.

She touched them with her finger; her skin was smooth, as if she had returned to her mid-twenties.

The skin on her entire face was firm and plump, with pores so fine they were almost invisible.

Tang Yingxue stared at the mirror for over a dozen seconds, her mind racing.

This was very wrong.

She spent at least six figures a year on skincare management, never missing out on top-tier beauty salons, imported equipment, or medical aesthetic projects.

There were results, but they had never been this instantaneous.

It was just the result of a single night.

Leaning on the sink, she stared at her face in the mirror and suddenly remembered something.

A month ago, there was a wave of discussion about Xu Qingya online.

Someone had dug up her recent unedited photos and compared them to those from a year ago, discovering that Xu Qingya's skin condition, far from deteriorating, was actually aging in reverse.

At that time, people both inside and outside the industry were speculating about what kind of miraculous skincare product she had found.

But Xu Qingya's side never responded, letting the various speculations ferment.

Tang Yingxue had also paid attention to it back then, but she only dismissed it as a peer's secret maintenance method and didn't think too deeply about it.

Now, as she recalled the timeline again—

When did Xu Qingya's condition start to visibly improve?

It was right around the time she collaborated with Jiang Fan.

Tang Yingxue clenched her fingers tightly around the edge of the sink.

She stood up straight and looked at the face in the mirror that appeared several years younger.

What kind of monster is this man?

It was one thing for him to write great songs, but sleeping with him could actually rejuvenate her?

She looked down at her body.

There were two light red marks on her collarbone, left from last night.

There were also marks on her chest in the shape of fingerprints, which still hurt slightly when pressed.

But the texture of her skin had indeed changed.

It was more delicate and radiant than yesterday.

Tang Yingxue clenched her fists, turned around, and picked up her phone from the nightstand.

She found Jiang Fan's number in her contacts, her finger hovering over the call button.

She paused for three seconds.

She didn't dial.

She threw the phone onto the bed and turned back into the bathroom.

Turning on the shower, hot water poured down, washing away the lingering scent of last night.

Tang Yingxue stood under the stream of water with her eyes closed, her mind constantly replaying the scenes from last night.

Regarding that song, she was no longer in such a hurry.

It wasn't that she didn't want it.

Rather, she suddenly realized that the value of this man was far more than just a single song.

At thirty-two, she was already starting to be called “sister” by many in this industry.

Newcomers cropped up batch after batch every year—young, beautiful, energetic, lacking nothing.

She could maintain her position as the second of The Four Heavenly Queens by relying on the reputation and resources she had accumulated over a decade.

But age—it was her greatest enemy.

If Jiang Fan could truly reverse her aging...

Tang Yingxue turned off the shower, wrapped herself in a bath towel, and walked back to the mirror.

The woman in the mirror had wet hair, with water droplets trickling down her collarbone.

There wasn't a trace of makeup on her face, yet her bare-faced state now was even more beautiful than when she had a full face of makeup on yesterday's show.

No wonder Xu Qingya gripped onto Jiang Fan so tightly and wouldn't let go.

No wonder Su Yuyan also rushed to collaborate with him.

These women had probably all tasted the sweetness.

Tang Yingxue tied the bath towel tightly and walked back to the bedroom.

She took her phone and had her assistant change her ticket for tomorrow's flight to Kyoto to Shanghai instead.

After going there, she would have to find an opportunity to meet Jiang Fan again.

Of course, it wasn't to urge him for the song—though she did want the song too.

It was to confirm one thing.

Whether the effect from last night was a one-time thing, or if it could be sustained.

If it was the latter—

Tang Yingxue sized herself up in the full-length mirror.

Then she could accept a long-term cooperation.

A very long-term one.