90: Chapter 90 The Time Bomb in the USB Drive

Sunlight squeezed through the cracks in the floor-to-ceiling windows, shining onto the dining table.

Xu Qingya was wearing a white bathrobe, her hair unstyled and draped over her shoulders, sitting across from the dining table, gnawing on toast.

In front of Jiang Fan sat a glass of milk and a plate of fried eggs.

He had gotten up at 7:30 to make them, while Xu Qingya didn't crawl out of bed until past 8:00, her gait still a bit unnatural.

"What are the specific Arrangements for your concert?" Jiang Fan asked while eating.

Xu Qingya bit into her toast and looked up at him.

"The first stop is Shanghai, next Saturday. Then Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen... twelve shows in total."

"Which venue in Shanghai?"

"It's at the Shanghai Stadium."

Jiang Fan nodded.

Shanghai Stadium, over seventy thousand seats.

Given Xu Qingya's status, only this venue could support her concert.

"Are the tickets sold out?"

Xu Qingya put down the toast and held up three slender fingers.

"Three seconds."

"Three seconds?"

"The inner field was gone in one second, the outer field in three. Sister Lan spent the whole day cursing the scalpers."

As she said this, she tilted her chin slightly, looking a bit haughty.

Jiang Fan gave her a thumbs up.

He calculated the time.

The recording for the second episode of The Sound of Nature for Shen Nian is next Thursday; she'll finish work and fly back on Friday, arriving just in time for Xu Qingya's concert on Saturday.

"Save two tickets for me."

Xu Qingya's chewing slowed by half a beat.

"Two? Who are you taking?"

"Shen Nian."

Xu Qingya didn't respond.

She swallowed the last gulp of milk in her glass and set it back on the table with a bit more force than before.

Jiang Fan added, "Letting her experience the atmosphere of a ten-thousand-person venue live will be good for her future competitions."

Xu Qingya walked over to Jiang Fan, leaning halfway against the edge of the table, arms crossed over her chest.

The neckline of her bathrobe slid down slightly, revealing a patch of fair, smooth skin.

"Did I say I wouldn't give them to you?"

Jiang Fan gave a dry laugh, not daring to answer.

Xu Qingya looked down at him, pausing for two seconds.

"Can you give me that song before the concert?"

"Monday should be fine."

"The setlist is already set at twenty-two songs; if I add a new song as an encore, I need to rehearse with the band in advance."

"You can start rehearsing the day you get the demo. I'll provide two versions of the Arrangement: a Studio version and a live version. The live version leaves room for improvisation, so you can perform it after running through it once with the band."

Xu Qingya looked at him and didn't ask anything more.

She walked to the walk-in closet to change; she had a schedule today, and the makeup artist would arrive at nine.

"I'm leaving now. Lock the door yourself."

"Mm."

The door closed, and the room became quiet.

— —

Jiang Fan cleaned up the kitchen, then went to the bedroom to tidy up the battlefield from yesterday.

First, he picked up the two high heels and placed them next to the shoe cabinet.

These could still be used next time.

The remains of the purple bodycon skirt and black stockings were thrown directly into the trash can.

He hesitated for a moment over that security guard uniform, then folded it and put it back in the corner of the walk-in closet.

There was another tear in the collar; he figured if it happened one more time, the clothes would be completely ruined.

He went out and locked the door.

— —

On the way back to the company by taxi, Jiang Fan leaned against the back seat and closed his eyes for a while.

That medicinal wine last night really had something to it.

Sister Lan's gift was, well, not exactly impractical.

It was almost ten o'clock when he arrived at the Studio.

Zhou Yutong saw him enter from her workstation and poked her head out from behind her computer.

"Morning, Brother Fan."

Jiang Fan grunted a "Mm."

Li Cheng heard the commotion and came out of his office, holding his phone.

"Have you seen Su Yuyan's new songs?"

"Not yet."

"There are two in total, 'perfume is poisonous' and 'the great wind blows', both released at midnight last night."

Jiang Fan sat down in his office and turned on his computer.

On the homepage banner of Tencent Music, a dark red cover occupied the entire screen—

A close-up of Su Yuyan's profile, a cat-eye eyeliner drawn at the corner of her eye, her lips bright red, her fingertips holding a pink perfume bottle.

"perfume is poisonous".

Lyrics and composition: Jiang Fan.

Vocals: Su Yuyan.

Eight hours after release, the comments section had already exceeded fifty thousand.

Jiang Fan scrolled through a few hot comments.

"This style is incredible, it suits Sister Yan's path perfectly."

"My hair stood on end the moment the intro started; the chorus is so catchy."

"Who is 'her perfume scent' in the lyrics actually about? Why does it feel like a scene of infidelity..."

"It's Jiang Fan's song again??"

"Have you noticed that the songs he writes for everyone are in completely different styles, and every single one is precisely tailored to the singer's most comfortable vocal range? What exactly is his background?"

A string of replies followed this last comment.

"The author of 'the great wind blows' is not Jiang Fan; it's written by 'Fan Yu'."

"Who is Fan Yu?"

"Fan Yu = Jiang Fan + Su Yuyan?? I smell something incredible."

"Don't guess wildly, upstairs; it's just a pen name."

"Finally, there's a composer who can go head-to-head with Jiang Fan. Seriously, what kind of deity is Fan Yu?"

Jiang Fan exited the comments section and took a look at the real-time data.

"perfume is poisonous" play count: 16.7 million.

"the great wind blows" is slightly inferior, but still has 14.3 million.

With both songs firing at once, the discussion on social media was maxed out.

Three related topics were hanging on the trending search— "Su Yuyan's new song", "Lyrics and composition Fan Yu", "perfume is poisonous brainwashing loop".

Jiang Fan switched to the hot song chart.

He pulled down the chart and stared at it for a few seconds.

No. 1: "blue and white porcelain" — Jiang Fan.

No. 2: "Red Bean" — Xu Qingya.

No. 3: "sorrow relief" — Jiang Fan.

No. 4: "nocturne" — Jiang Fan.

No. 5: "the woman who easily gets hurt" — Xu Qingya.

...

In the top ten, eight were related to him.

Either he sang them or he wrote them.

"Red Bean" ultimately couldn't withstand the impact of "blue and white porcelain" and slid from the top spot it had held for three weeks to second place.

Jiang Fan stared at that second-place position and reached out to close the page.

He figured he'd have to take a scolding from Diva Xu later.

Li Cheng walked over, his voice lowered a bit.

"That signature for Su Yuyan, 'Fan Yu'—did you two agree on that?"

"Mm."

"There are quite a lot of people guessing online."

Jiang Fan leaned back in his chair.

"It's fine; the two characters 'Fan Yu' are too common; they can be interpreted in any direction."

The chain reaction brought about by the release of Su Yuyan's two songs was still fermenting.

At this rate, breaking into the top ten of the hot song chart would happen in the next few days.

Jiang Fan opened the Arrangement software.

The main task today was to finish the Arrangement for "invisible wings" prepared for Shen Nian.

— —

Meanwhile, at the headquarters building of Times Media.

Su Yuyan's office.

Today, she was wearing a dark green suit skirt, her hair styled neatly, and she was having a meeting with the publicity department.

The first-day data for "perfume is poisonous" and "the great wind blows" far exceeded expectations; after the publicity director finished reporting the numbers, the atmosphere in the entire conference room was very excited.

"Manager Su, at this growth rate, there's no doubt 'perfume is poisonous' will break 100 million within three days."

"'the great wind blows' is following closely; we can expect it to break 100 million within a week."

Su Yuyan raised her hand and tapped the table: "Don't get carried away. Get the short video side moving; start pushing the BGM clips this afternoon, focusing on beauty and emotional accounts."

"Understood."

Su Yuyan nodded, and just as she was about to speak, her assistant knocked and entered.

"Manager Su, Director Lu Chuan has arrived. He said he was passing by and wanted to hear the progress on the movie theme song."

Su Yuyan was stunned for a moment.

The movie theme song— "fleet of time".

She had kept the USB drive Jiang Fan gave her last time in her bag, untouched.

During this time, she had been busy with the recording and release of her two new songs, so the matter of the theme song had been temporarily set aside.

"Please take him to the conference room; I'll be there in a moment."

Su Yuyan dismissed the meeting, fished out the USB drive from her bag, and held it in her hand.

Jiang Fan had said at the time that he would decide who sang it.

She hadn't followed up on who was ultimately chosen; she had always felt it must be Shen Nian.

It was perfect to listen to it with Director Lu Chuan today.