74: Chapter 74 Sister Nian, your neck here...

"Zhou Yutong—" Shen Nian held the porridge bowl, her eyes full of warning.

Zhou Yutong swallowed the rest of her sentence. She dragged the chair by the bedside over and sat down, her feet swinging back and forth.

"Sister Nian, let me ask one last question."

"You are not allowed to ask."

"Just one, really just one."

Shen Nian lowered her head to drink her porridge, ignoring her.

Zhou Yutong leaned her whole face toward the edge of the bed, lowering her voice to a whisper: "Where did Brother Fan sleep last night?"

Shen Nian's spoon paused in the bowl for half a second.

"The sofa."

"I don't think it looks like the sofa—"

"Zhou Yutong." Shen Nian put down the spoon, "That was the last question, you're done."

Zhou Yutong shut her mouth. For about three seconds.

"Fine, fine. Sister Nian, but you look so good today." She dragged out the end of her sentence, tilting her head to inspect Shen Nian's face. "Rosy, and your eyes are glowing. You're like a completely different person compared to two days ago."

Shen Nian's hand holding the porridge bowl tightened slightly.

"The fever broke, so naturally, I'm better."

"A fever breaking doesn't have this kind of effect, does it? Look at your face, it's glowing—"

Shen Nian set the porridge bowl down on the nightstand, the porcelain bowl clattering against the surface.

"Zhou Yutong, if you have nothing better to do, go wash the bowl."

"Oh."

Zhou Yutong stood up and walked toward the kitchen with the bowl.

After two steps, she turned back, her gaze landing precisely on one spot.

"By the way, Sister Nian, right here on your neck—"

Shen Nian's hand slapped over the left side of her neck.

Zhou Yutong laughed out loud and darted into the kitchen.

Shen Nian froze on the bed, her hand pressing tightly against her neck.

After several seconds, she slowly opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a small makeup mirror.

She held the mirror up to her neck, tilting her head to look for a long time.

There was nothing there.

Shen Nian put down the mirror and glared toward the kitchen, gritting her teeth.

Zhou Yutong was standing by the sink washing the bowl, humming some unknown song, her shoulders shaking, clearly still holding back laughter.

"Zhou Yutong."

"Hmm?"

"If you do this again, I'll have Jiang Fan deduct your salary."

"I was wrong, Sister Nian!" Zhou Yutong's voice came from the kitchen, her attitude of admitting fault very proper.

Zhou Yutong wiped her hands and came out of the kitchen, but she didn't even stay serious for five seconds before squatting by the bed again.

"Sister Nian, take your medicine. Brother Fan gave instructions before he left."

Shen Nian took the pills and the water glass she handed over, tilted her head back, and swallowed the medicine.

Zhou Yutong squatted beside her, resting her chin on her hands, watching her.

"What are you looking at?"

"Looking at how Sister Nian is getting prettier and prettier."

Shen Nian rolled her eyes. But she couldn't suppress the corner of her mouth, which curled up slightly.

— —

Fanyin Studio.

It was just past nine when Jiang Fan arrived.

Li Cheng walked in carrying two cups of coffee.

"I have to give the show's production team an update on Shen Nian's condition." Li Cheng pushed a cup toward him. "The Sound of Nature side has urged us twice already; they need to confirm the physical condition of the participating singers. Give me a straight answer."

"There's no problem anymore."

Li Cheng's hand holding the cup hung in mid-air.

"No problem? Yesterday her voice was as hoarse as a wood saw, and today it's fine?"

"Mhm, she recovered faster than expected."

Li Cheng put down the cup and stared at him for a good while.

"I don't believe it. I'll call and ask myself."

Li Cheng picked up his phone and dialed Shen Nian's number directly. It was answered after two rings.

"Hello? Brother Cheng?"

The voice coming from the other end of the phone was clear and crisp, full of energy, completely different from the person two days ago who would cough after saying half a sentence.

Li Cheng held the phone, opened his mouth, but couldn't manage to form a complete sentence.

"Brother Cheng? Are you there?" Shen Nian asked again.

"Yes, yes, I'm here." Li Cheng snapped back to reality. "Is your throat... better?"

"Mostly better. The high-pitched range still needs a bit more work, but daily speaking is fine. It should be fully recovered after resting for two more days."

Li Cheng gave an "Mhm" and hung up the phone. He looked at Jiang Fan.

"How exactly did you manage that?"

Jiang Fan put down his coffee cup and thought for a moment.

"Rock sugar + snow pear."

"..."

Li Cheng stared blankly at him for five seconds. Laryngitis plus a high fever, and rock sugar and snow pear can cure it?

"Fine." Li Cheng swallowed his breath back. "I'll get back to the show's production team right now."

Li Cheng walked out with the coffee. The office quieted down.

Jiang Fan leaned back in his chair and opened his phone.

A new notification popped up in his Weibo special follows. It was a repost by Xu Qingya of the official celebratory poster from Tianyu Entertainment, with the cover of her new album as the background, and a line of large text in the middle—

"The 'Red Bean' album series has surpassed 100 million in sales across the entire internet."

It broke the sales record for all singers' albums in the last five years. The comment section was flooded with hundreds of thousands of comments, all uniform with "The Diva is deified" and "The last queen of the Chinese music scene."

Jiang Fan switched to WeChat and sent a message to Xu Qingya.

[Jiang Fan: Congratulations, Sister Qingya.]

[Xu Qingya: Who is your sister!]

[Jiang Fan: Congratulations, Xiaoya.]

The other side didn't reply. He waited for about twenty seconds. A kitchen knife emoji was thrown over. Jiang Fan didn't continue to court death and put his phone on the table.

A few minutes later, WeChat rang again.

[Xu Qingya: The company is preparing to hold a concert for me. The preliminary plan is already in motion.]

[Xu Qingya: Next, I have to select a venue, finalize the tracklist, rehearse, and coordinate with sponsors; I might be very busy.]

Jiang Fan looked at this text, roughly guessing what she would say next. Sure enough—

[Xu Qingya: Come to my house tomorrow.]

The meaning couldn't be clearer—I'm about to get busy, so you'd better come over while you can in these few days.

[Jiang Fan: Okay, see you tomorrow.]

The message was sent, and the other side replied with an "Mhm" in seconds.

Putting down the phone, Jiang Fan picked up the pen on the table and scribbled a few notes on a sticky note.

Tomorrow, Xu Qingya.

Next Thursday, Shen Nian participates in the recording of The Sound of Nature.

Between these two things, there is also Su Yuyan's movie theme song.

Actually, Jiang Fan had already selected the song for the theme song. "fleet of time." He already had an answer for who was suitable for this song. Xu Qingya.

But thinking about the relationship between Xu Qingya and Su Yuyan—he felt like he was playing with fire. But he wasn't willing to give this song to anyone else.

Jiang Fan picked up his phone and replied to Su Yuyan.

[Jiang Fan: I have an idea for the theme song. I'm waiting to confirm the singer, I'll give you an answer in the next two days.]

Su Yuyan replied very quickly.

[Su Yuyan: Okay. Tell me the candidate, and I'll go coordinate with the production team.]

After sending this, a few seconds later, another one came.

[Su Yuyan: By the way, when are you free? That private restaurant from last time has a new menu.]

Just as Jiang Fan was about to reply, the door was pushed open. Li Cheng came in, holding a document bag.

"It's done. The show's production team confirmed that Shen Nian's recording time remains unchanged, next Thursday at eight in the evening."

"Did you book the tickets?"

"Booked. You and Shen Nian will fly to Star City next Wednesday."

Li Cheng sat down across from him, flipping through the schedule on his phone, verifying item by item.

Hotels, shuttle cars, makeup teams, even Shen Nian's dietary restrictions were marked. Jiang Fan glanced at the list, Li Cheng's management ability was on full display.

"There's one more thing." Li Cheng put down his phone. "Zhou Yutong asked me for leave, saying she wants to tag along."

"What is she going for?"

"She said, 'Sister Nian's health has just recovered, she can't be without someone to take care of her.'" Jiang Fan thought for a moment.

"Let her go. But have her hand over her phone, and she is not allowed to post any updates related to Shen Nian."

Li Cheng pulled a senior-friendly phone out of his pocket and handed it to Jiang Fan. A Nokia, black and white screen, the kind that can only make calls and send texts.

"I've already prepared a substitute for her."

Jiang Fan looked at the Nokia and chuckled.

"Alright. I trust Brother Cheng's handling of things."

After Li Cheng left the office, Jiang Fan's gaze fell on the unreplied message from Su Yuyan on his phone screen.

Going to Xu Qingya's house tomorrow, if he told her that this song project was introduced by Su Yuyan—

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

Xu Qingya's kitchen knife emoji suddenly flashed in his mind. This time, it would be a real kitchen knife.