80: Chapter 80: Close Relationship with Hua Xingyu?

2:00 AM.

Su Yuyan was completely drained of energy, curling up in Jiang Fan's arms as her breathing gradually evened out.

The system panel popped up.

[Total Lifespan Value gained: 3000 points] (Deep Compatibility × 3)

[Current Lifespan Value: 27300 points]

[Remaining Lifespan: 41 days 6 hours]

Jiang Fan glanced at the numbers and closed the panel.

Su Yuyan's face was pressed against his chest, her nose tip rubbing back and forth.

"What time is the flight tomorrow?"

"Ten-thirty."

"Do you need me to take you to the airport?"

"No need."

Su Yuyan poked his ribs with her finger. "Are you afraid of being seen?"

"I'm afraid you won't be able to get up."

Su Yuyan didn't speak; she gave his ribs a hard pinch.

—

At 6:00 AM, Jiang Fan got dressed lightly and carefully.

Su Yuyan turned towards the inside, the quilt only half-covering her, exposing a large portion of her back.

Jiang Fan pulled the quilt up, picked up his jacket, and went out.

He returned to his apartment, took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and dragged his suitcase out of the closet.

There wasn't much stuff—two sets of clothes, a laptop, and a portable hard drive containing the instrumental tracks for Shen Nian's songs.

As he zipped it up, his phone rang.

Li Cheng.

"Come down, I've arrived."

Jiang Fan grabbed his suitcase and headed out, taking the elevator to the first floor.

A black business van was parked at the entrance of the unit, and Li Cheng was leaning against the driver's side door, smoking.

Seeing Jiang Fan come out, he stubbed out his cigarette, opened the trunk, and put the luggage inside.

Jiang Fan walked around to the right side of the car and opened the rear door.

Shen Nian was sitting by the window, wearing a light blue thin jacket, her hair tied in a low ponytail, and wearing light makeup.

She saw Jiang Fan, her lips moved slightly. "Morning."

Zhou Yutong was sitting on the left, holding a bag of cashews, preparing to open it.

"Morning, Brother Fan!"

Jiang Fan closed the rear door and got directly into the passenger seat.

Zhou Yutong took a small packet out of the bag and handed it to Shen Nian.

"Sister Nian, I bought this yesterday. Try it, this brand is tastier than the last one."

Li Cheng got into the driver's seat and stepped on the gas to set off.

The car turned onto the elevated road, and Li Cheng picked up speed.

"Let's go over the itinerary again," Jiang Fan said.

Li Cheng held the steering wheel with one hand and pulled a piece of paper from the sun visor compartment with the other, handing it over.

"Ten-thirty flight, arriving at Star City Airport at one in the afternoon. The production team will send a car to pick us up, and we'll go straight to the hotel. No plans for the evening, Shen Nian will rest. Tomorrow morning is the stage walkthrough, afternoon is the rehearsal, and the official recording is at eight in the evening."

Jiang Fan scanned it; there were no issues.

"What about the competition format and process?"

"The whole thing is broadcast live, no vocal tuning. For the first round, the initial stage ranking, eight singers will each sing one song. Five hundred Audience Jury members on-site plus five hundred Audience Jury members off-site will vote in real-time. Each person gets three votes, and they can only vote for different people. It's just for ranking, no eliminations."

"What about the mentors?"

"The three mentors only provide comments, they don't vote. But what they say might influence the Audience Jury's judgment."

Jiang Fan folded the paper and tucked it back into the sun visor.

Li Cheng glanced at the back seat through the rearview mirror.

"I won't be going this time; there's a pile of things at the company. Zhou Yutong will follow to take care of Shen Nian. If there are any emergencies, call me anytime."

Zhou Yutong in the back straightened her back and held up the Nokia senior phone in her hand.

"Report! Communication device is ready!"

Jiang Fan turned back to look at her.

Zhou Yutong shook the Nokia in her hand, the black and white screen displaying the time.

"Don't worry, Brother Fan. For these three days, I'll be with Sister Nian wherever she goes, and I won't post a single thing on social media."

"You couldn't even if you wanted to," Jiang Fan added.

Zhou Yutong pouted and stuffed the senior phone back into her pocket.

Shen Nian was biting on a cashew next to her, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly.

Li Cheng continued: "One thing to remind you."

"Among the resident mentors for this season of The Sound of Nature, there's one person you need to pay attention to—Director Fang Yiming invited Tang Yingxue."

Jiang Fan blinked.

Tang Yingxue.

One of The Four Heavenly Queens of the mainland pop music scene, and a three-time Best Female Singer at the Golden Melody Awards.

Her seniority is even higher than Xu Qingya's, and her words carry a lot of weight in the industry.

Li Cheng turned the steering wheel to change lanes. "She is very close to Hua Xingyu; everyone in the industry knows it."

The back seat went quiet for a moment.

Shen Nian's hand, which was chewing on a cashew, stopped.

Zhou Yutong's eyes shifted from Shen Nian's face to Li Cheng.

"What if she gives Sister Nian a hard time on the show?" Zhou Yutong blurted out.

Jiang Fan looked at her through the rearview mirror.

"The mentors on The Sound of Nature only have the right to comment, not the right to vote. The final ranking depends on the on-site Audience Jury plus off-site voting. Tang Yingxue cannot influence the result alone."

"What if she gives a bad review during the commentary segment? The Audience Jury will follow her lead."

"Then let her comment," Jiang Fan's voice was calm. "If the song is good enough, bad reviews will only generate buzz."

Zhou Yutong opened her mouth, wanting to say something else, but was tugged on the sleeve by Shen Nian.

"I'm fine," Shen Nian said.

—

The car drove for forty minutes and arrived at Hongqiao Airport.

Li Cheng dropped the three of them off at the departure level and unloaded the luggage from the trunk.

"Stay safe. Call me if anything happens."

Jiang Fan nodded.

Li Cheng looked at Shen Nian again, wanting to say something, but in the end, he just patted Jiang Fan's shoulder, got in the car, and left.

During security check, Shen Nian wore a mask and a baseball cap.

Her popularity isn't very high right now, but after the copyright case caused a stir for a while, there were definitely people who recognized her.

Zhou Yutong walked beside her, one hand carrying the carry-on suitcase, the other hand protecting Shen Nian's side, like a personal bodyguard.

After boarding, Jiang Fan sat next to Shen Nian, while Zhou Yutong was across the aisle.

While the plane was taxiing, Shen Nian kept staring out the window.

It took off.

The buildings on the ground became smaller and smaller, eventually turning into a patch of gray grids.

"Are you nervous?" Jiang Fan asked.

Shen Nian shook her head.

After a few seconds, she nodded.

Jiang Fan didn't say anything else. He took out his headphones from his backpack and handed them to her.

"Listen to it twice."

The music playing in the headphones was the instrumental track for "the wind rises".

Shen Nian took them, put them on, closed her eyes, and leaned her head against the seat back.

The plane passed through the clouds, and sunlight streamed in from the porthole, landing on her eyelashes.

Across the aisle, Zhou Yutong was holding the Nokia, playing Snake.

She got bored after five minutes, stuffed the phone back into her pocket, and fished out a magazine from under her seat to flip through.

—

At 1:00 PM, Star City Huanghua Airport.

After exiting the arrival gate, a young man holding a sign that said "Fanyin Culture" came up to meet them.

"Teacher Jiang? I'm Xiao Chen from the production team, the car is outside."

The young man was in his early twenties, wearing a work badge, and took the suitcase efficiently.

The three of them got into a Buick business van.

Xiao Chen sat in the passenger seat and introduced the itinerary for tomorrow along the way. Stage walkthrough time, rehearsal order, dressing room location, dinner arrangements—he went over every detail.

Jiang Fan listened, occasionally asking a question or two.

"Have the other seven singers arrived?"

"Five have arrived, and the other two are on flights tonight."

The hotel was in the center of Star City, a fifteen-minute drive from the recording venue.

When checking in at the front desk, Xiao Chen handed over three room cards.

"One room for Teacher Jiang, and one room for Teacher Shen Nian and Teacher Zhou. The two rooms are next to each other."

Zhou Yutong took the room card, leaned into Shen Nian's ear, and whispered: "Sister Nian, we're sharing a room. I don't snore when I sleep."

Shen Nian glanced at Jiang Fan.

Jiang Fan took his room card without changing his expression.

"Rest first, I'll call you for dinner tonight."

The three of them walked towards the elevator.

With a "ding," the elevator door opened.

A woman walked out from inside.

She was in her early thirties, with fair skin, wearing a sleekly tailored black dress, and a Cartier necklace resting against her collarbone.

She was followed by three assistants: one carrying her bag, one holding her phone, and one holding an iced Americano.

Quite the entourage.

As the woman stepped out of the elevator, her gaze swept over the three of them.

It paused for a moment on Shen Nian's face.

Then she withdrew her gaze, walked past them in her high heels, leaving a trail of perfume in her wake.