93: Chapter 93 I'll Make You Noodles Tonight

About half an hour later.

Su Yuyan covered her mouth and scrambled off the bed, stumbling into the bathroom.

Splash—

The faucet turned on, and the sound of rinsing gargled out, mixed with muffled curses.

Jiang Fan lay on the bed with his hands behind his head, staring at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, the corner of his mouth still curled up.

The bathroom went quiet for a few seconds.

Su Yuyan walked out.

She leaned against the bathroom doorframe, her hair messy and casually draped over her chest and back.

She wiped the water from the corner of her mouth and glared at Jiang Fan.

That look was both hateful and alluring, and combined with the way she bit her lower lip, it was devastatingly lethal.

"Jiang Fan, are you sick in the head?"

Jiang Fan rolled over and lay on his side to look at her.

"You said to bite me just now, so I gave you the chance."

Su Yuyan grabbed the pillow from the bed and threw it at him.

Jiang Fan rolled over to dodge it.

"You—" Su Yuyan's chest heaved with anger. "I meant my shoulder!"

"You didn't make that clear."

Su Yuyan flopped down on the edge of the bed, her shoulders slumping.

"...Disgusting."

"I saw you just now—"

"Shut up."

Jiang Fan wisely decided not to continue.

After a while, Su Yuyan turned halfway and slanted her eyes to look at him.

"Are you happy now?"

"It's alright."

"It's alright?" Su Yuyan's tone rose again.

"Very happy," Jiang Fan quickly corrected himself.

Su Yuyan huffed, fell backward, and rested the back of her head on Jiang Fan's stomach.

She stared at the ceiling, her eyes unfocused.

"You, you're not very old, but you're quite wicked."

Jiang Fan didn't respond, placing one hand on her chest.

Su Yuyan slapped his hand away.

"Go to sleep."

Her breathing gradually became steady.

Jiang Fan looked down—she was asleep.

He gently moved her head onto the pillow and pulled the quilt up to cover her.

The system panel lit up.

[Deep Compatibility ×3, Lifespan Value +3000]

[Current Lifespan Value: 34100]

[Remaining Lifespan: 37 days 3 hours]

—

The next morning.

When Jiang Fan woke up, Su Yuyan was already sitting at the vanity.

She glanced at him in the mirror, huffed, and ignored him.

Jiang Fan rummaged through the kitchen and brought out breakfast.

Su Yuyan looked at the Yili yogurt in front of her and glared at Jiang Fan.

Jiang Fan spread his hands. "This is all you have here."

Su Yuyan glared at him for three seconds, then picked it up and drank it.

After finishing, she wiped her mouth with a tissue and tilted her chin toward the door.

"Get out as soon as you're done. I have an advertisement to shoot this morning."

She stood up, took two steps, and then stopped.

"And those two songs—don't try to fool me."

"I won't."

Su Yuyan waved her hand, signaling him to get lost.

—

At 10:00 AM, Fanyin Studio.

Zhou Yutong sat at the front desk, using the work computer to watch the playback of "The Sound of Nature" with the comment barrage on.

Seeing Jiang Fan walk in, she jumped up.

"Brother Fan! Did you see the trending data for 'the wind rises' yesterday?"

"No."

"The number of secondary creation short videos for Shen Nian's song has already exceeded 20 million! Sister Nian's Weibo followers have grown to 3.4 million!"

Zhou Yutong clasped her hands together, her face flushed.

"Where is Shen Nian?"

"She's inside waiting for you; she came at 8:30." Zhou Yutong followed behind. "She said you promised to give her a new song today."

Jiang Fan pushed open the office door.

Shen Nian was sitting on the sofa with a score spread out on her lap; she looked up when she heard the movement.

"You're here."

Today, she was wearing a light blue hoodie, her hair tied in a low ponytail, with no makeup on.

Her complexion was completely different from a month ago—there was color in her face, and her chin line had become a bit rounder.

Jiang Fan sat down in the boss chair and handed the pre-printed score to Shen Nian.

Shen Nian took it, her gaze falling on the title.

"invisible wings?"

"Yeah."

She opened the score and read down.

"Every time, I stay strong while wandering in loneliness. Every time, even if I'm hurt, I don't let the tears shine."

"I know, I've always had a pair of invisible wings, taking me to fly, flying over despair."

Shen Nian finished reading the lyrics, flipped back to the first page, and read it again from the beginning.

Then she placed the score on her lap and looked up at Jiang Fan, the admiration in her eyes almost spilling out.

"Sing this for the second episode." Jiang Fan leaned back in his chair. "The melody is simple, and it doesn't require high technique, but it really tests the singer's understanding and expression of the lyrics. You don't need to show off your skills when singing this; you need to sing with a sense of power. Convey positive energy."

Shen Nian gripped the score tightly and stood up.

"I'll go try it."

The two went to the Recording Studio.

Jiang Fan turned on the accompaniment.

The piano prelude flowed out, clean and warm.

Shen Nian held the microphone and closed her eyes.

"Every time, I stay strong while wandering in loneliness—"

"Every time, even if I'm hurt, I don't let the tears shine."

Her voice pushed out from the depths of her throat, clear and bright.

"I know, I've always had a pair of invisible wings—"

Shen Nian's brows furrowed slightly.

"Taking me to fly, flying over despair."

The accompaniment stopped.

The Recording Studio was quiet for a few seconds.

Shen Nian took off her earpiece and turned around.

"How was it?"

"The first take, it's a pass." Jiang Fan made a mark on the mixing console. "But for the chorus, the three words 'taking me to fly', your breath pushed upwards when you sang it. This song doesn't need that push; it needs to sink downwards."

"Sink downwards?"

Shen Nian thought about it and put the earpiece back on.

"Again."

The second take was better.

The third take had some changes in the handling of the chorus, but the bridge connection was still broken.

By the fourth take, Shen Nian finished the chorus and stopped on her own.

She took off her earpiece and walked over to sit in front of the mixing console.

"I know where the problem is."

"Tell me."

Shen Nian kept her head down, her fingers slowly tracing the lyrics on the score.

"When I sang 'flying over despair', I was thinking about things from the past." Her voice was very soft. "So the emotion came out, but I couldn't control it."

Jiang Fan didn't interrupt her.

"You told me to sink it downwards, so I can't think about those things. I have to think about something else."

"Think about what?"

Shen Nian's fingers stopped on the score.

She looked up at Jiang Fan.

"Think about the present. Think about the future."

Jiang Fan looked at her for two seconds and pressed the play button.

"Fifth take."

Shen Nian stood up and walked back to the microphone.

This time, she closed her eyes.

"Every time, I stay strong while wandering in loneliness."

The moment the voice came out, Jiang Fan's hand stopped on the mixing console.

It was different.

The Shen Nian of the first four takes was reminiscing. Singing on her wounds.

The voice was beautiful, but the listener couldn't help but feel heartache.

"I know, I've always had a pair of invisible wings, taking me to fly, flying over despair."

For the three words "taking me to fly", she didn't push upwards.

Her breath was steadily supported there, neither high nor low, as if her feet were planted on solid ground.

And when the four words "flying over despair" fell, there was something new in her voice.

It was like transcending a predicament, the joy of realizing a dream after going through hardships.

The last note held steady.

Shen Nian opened her eyes, took off her earpiece, and looked at Jiang Fan.

Jiang Fan leaned back in his chair, his hands crossed behind his head.

"That's the feeling."

The corners of Shen Nian's mouth twitched.

She hung the earpiece back on the stand, walked over, and sat down in the chair next to Jiang Fan.

She kept her head down, her fingers twisting the cuff of her hoodie.

"Jiang Fan."

"Yeah."

"This song... was written for me, right?"

Jiang Fan turned his head to look at her.

Shen Nian didn't look at him, staring at her own fingers.

"Every time, even if I'm hurt, I don't let the tears shine," she recited a lyric, her voice very low, "How did you know I don't cry anymore?"

Jiang Fan didn't answer this question.

He reached out and patted the top of Shen Nian's head.

"That's enough practice for today. Go back and rest, we'll polish the details tomorrow."

Shen Nian hummed an "okay" and stood up.

When she reached the door, she looked back.

"Are you going back to the apartment tonight? I'll make you dinner."

Jiang Fan supported his waist, his expression a bit subtle.

"You can cook?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"What can you make?"

Shen Nian thought about it. "I can make noodles."

The pen in Jiang Fan's hand dropped.

Shen Nian froze for a moment, realized what he was thinking, and her face burned all the way to the roots of her ears.

"I meant noodles!!"

She grabbed the cushion from the sofa by the door and threw it at him, then turned and ran.

The door slammed shut.

Zhou Yutong's voice came from the hallway: "Sister Nian, why is your face so red?"

"Get lost!"