CH 48

Chapter 48: Sweet Enough to Soften the Heart

At that moment, a notification sound rang from Meng Yuan’s phone. He took a sip of soup, laughed after reading the message, and his face was full of excitement. “Wow, good things really come one after another!”

Shi Rou happened to have no appetite for food, so she kept scrolling through Xie You’s comment section and refreshing the news on Tomato Forum. Her fingers never stopped. Curious about Meng Yuan’s exclamation, she asked, “Brother Meng, what good news?”

“Didn’t I mention before that on January 11th, ‘Shang Se’ held a fashion celebration? I received an invitation, and Nian Nian will have to walk on the red carpet that day!” 

Yu Nian put down his chopsticks. “Yes, Brother Meng, you told me about this schedule yesterday.”

Meng Yuan pointed to his phone, raising an eyebrow. “Well, people are fickle! When I contacted the organizers earlier, they were reluctant even to provide red-carpet coverage. They were so stingy, counting the seconds, and their jaws nearly reached the ceiling. But now, after work hours, when it’s already dark outside, the person in charge comes to me, asking if Yu Nian can perform as a guest and sing a song on stage.”

Shi Rou got angry upon hearing this. “How can the organizers look down on us like this? Brother Meng, we can’t agree right away!”

Meng Yuan didn’t respond and turned to Yu Nian. “Nian Nian, what do you think?”

“I think we can reply saying we’ll consider it. It’ll be too late to wait until the day after tomorrow. I’ll respond and thank the organizers for the invitation tomorrow, agreeing to perform as a guest and sing a song on stage.”

“Hmm, clever!” Meng Yuan said this in a good mood, taking another sip of soup. “Yes! That’s exactly what we should do! We shouldn’t rush to please them, but we can’t be too arrogant either. The former will make people look down on us, and the latter will offend people. Both are not good.”

He picked up his phone to reply to the message while saying, “Let’s go with what Nian Nian suggested. I’ll discuss it tonight and see which song you should sing, as well as the outfit. It’s your first red carpet appearance, so you need to make a strong impression…”

Over the next few days, Yu Nian focused wholeheartedly on shooting the music video. Occasionally, he would be distracted by the post-processing of the master tape, and he didn’t pay much attention to the ups and downs on the internet.

During their meals together, Meng Yuan would bring up a few topics.

“I took the initiative to contact Xue Yalin’s agent. Since Yao Yang has made up his mind not to speak up, let’s not confront him directly. Instead, we can file a joint lawsuit against him for defamation of character! After all, we have the law on our side, and it’s important to use legal means to protect ourselves, especially in crucial moments like this.”

Yu Nian, wrapped in an oversized black down jacket, held a bowl of hot soup and nodded. “Yes, the cost of baseless accusations is too low. If we don’t take a firm stance this time, who knows how many artists will be easily smeared with unclear accusations, and they will never be able to shake off the stain for their whole lives.”

“Yes, I think the same way. Don’t worry, there shouldn’t be any problems,” Meng Yuan assured. “By the way, you’ve sold seven songs from the ones you organized.”

“So fast?” Yu Nian was surprised. “But it hasn’t even been a week yet, and you’ve already sold seven songs?”

Meng Yuan was also surprised. “I’m telling you, Nian Nian, do you have some misconceptions about yourself? Selling seven songs in six days is because I carefully selected the collaboration partners. If we sold them directly without considering the partners, the dozen or so songs in your inventory would be sold out in no time, okay?

Seeing that Yu Nian still seemed puzzled, Meng Yuan put down his chopsticks and decided to discuss this issue with him in detail.

“Let me explain it to you like this. When you wrote songs for Yu Qing and they were included in the same album, ‘Nothing to Lose,’ it became a huge hit. At that time, anyone in the industry who wanted you to write songs had to pay double the market price.

Later, Yu Qing had two more consecutive successful albums, and almost every song you wrote became a hit. The industry’s price for your songs increased to four or five times the regular price. But at that time, you were focused on studying, so you couldn’t find anyone, even if they wanted you.

After the ghostwriting incident, you can be said to be the most influential songwriter and composer, apart from the two established giants.” Meng Yuan raised his hand and gestured with five fingers. “When I sell songs, I can easily ask for five hundred thousand per song.”

Yuan Nian was genuinely shocked. “I estimated the highest price per song to be one hundred thousand…”

Meng Yuan rolled his eyes unreservedly. “You indeed have a deep misconception about yourself! Your songs are of high quality; each one is a masterpiece, and you naturally attract attention. Countless singers want to collaborate with you! One hundred thousand? That is an insult to you and to me! Five hundred thousand is already a fair price! If I were a bit more unscrupulous, I could sell it for eight hundred thousand per song and still find buyers!”

Yu Nian laughed at Meng Yuan’s expression, but then he calculated, “So those seven songs sold for… 3.5 million yuan?”

After saying that, his first thought was about the remaining amount needed to buy “Drunken Horse Roaming in Spring” by Zhu Da.

Meng Yuan nodded, “Yes, and I still have ten songs left. I’ll sell them later. If I sell too many at once, the value will depreciate, and they won’t be as valuable.”

Yu Nian understood as well. “Hmm, scarcity increases value. Brother Meng, you understand better. I’ll follow your advice.”

“Yes, that’s the truth.” Meng Yuan noticed that one thing he appreciated about Yu Nian was that he never pretended to understand something he didn’t. He knew what he was good at and what he wasn’t. In areas where he lacked expertise, he was happy to listen to professionals.

Meng Yuan’s mood improved, “And there’s the Florence illusion ocean lipstick. As soon as your ‘Yu Nian Color’ is in stock, it’ll be sold out immediately, and the brand is very satisfied. For the red carpet event, I’ll borrow a set of higher-grade clothes for you. It should—”

At that moment, they heard a knocking sound at the door. Meng Yuan raised his voice slightly, “Come in.”

Shi Rou entered and closed the door, sitting on the sofa in the lounge. “Um… Nian Nian, Brother Meng, President Xie has made another Weibo post.”

“He posted another trending heart symbol?” Meng Yuan couldn’t forget Xie You’s crazy act that day. When he heard about a new post, the first thing that came to his mind was the heart symbol.

“No, no,” Shi Rou showed them the page. “President Xie has targeted Yu Nian again.” She even sighed in relief after saying that.

Meng Yuan sighed too. “Why do I feel like this is the normal state of affairs?”

Shi Rou nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, when I saw President Xie targeting Yu Nian, I also felt that this is the normal state of affairs!”

Meanwhile, Yu Nian, listening to their conversation, didn’t say anything and smiled as he opened Xie You’s Weibo. He found that the latest post was exactly the same as before.

“Xie You: #YuNianSiNing# Ha, is this what you call exceptional talent?”

[Finally, President Xie has made a new post! But this melon’s popularity has passed. Is Xie You just starting to catch up? I can’t help but find it a bit cute! Also, I won’t deny that Yu Nian’s songs are really good, but whether he has exceptional talent or not remains to be seen in the future.]

[Aaahhhh, sorry, husband, I’ve become a fan of Yuan Nian! I love every song written by Si Ning! They are a must-play at KTV! I couldn’t resist and bought five Florence illusion ocean lipsticks after seeing the advertisement…]

[Hahaha, am I going blind? Why do I suddenly feel a strange sense of cuteness! Looking at Xie You’s Weibo, apart from posts related to economics, it’s all about Yu Nian, Yu Nian, Yu Nian. Although they’re all negative, I’m suddenly overwhelmed with sweetness!]

Seeing Yu Nian’s face, unable to hide his smile, Meng Yuan couldn’t help but gossip, “Oh, you’re chatting with that ‘186’ again?”

Yu Nian raised his eyes, smiled, and denied, “No chatting.” Just browsing his Weibo.

“You have a great mindset. Despite all the criticism, you haven’t let it get to you.” Meng Yuan saw that Yuan Nian was not unhappy and waved his hand. “Alright, alright, Zhuo Ming will be urging you again soon. Go on and continue shooting your music video!”

It was already late when the shooting ended. Yuan Nian had asked Shi Rou to buy hot milk tea in advance and personally hand out cups to the crew members, thanking them for their hard work. Then he left with Shi Rou.

After arriving home and putting things away, Yuan Nian had a ten-minute phone call with Xia Mingxi. Just as he finished the call, someone knocked on the door.

Yu Nian had been looking forward to it all along— deliberately finding a reason to mock him on Weibo, what kind of delivery was he trying to send?

He opened the door, and it was someone he knew. Yu Nian took the square box from the person, who nodded and left immediately.

Yu Nian carefully opened the box, and when he saw what was inside, he couldn’t help but curl his lips.

He grabbed his phone and messaged Meng Yuan.

“Brother Meng, you don’t need to worry about the red carpet outfit anymore.”

Inside the box was a complete handcrafted set containing a shirt, suit, and tie with a sapphire tie clip.

On January 11th, the Shang Se Fashion Celebration would start at 8 p.m.

In the car, Yu Qing was wearing Hersey’s high-end gown and was staring at Yu Nian’s clothes with great attention.

Yu Nian was helpless. “Sister, you’ve been looking at me the whole way. Aren’t your eyes tired?”

Yu Qing adjusted her white lace long gloves, meticulously arranged her voluminous skirt, and leisurely replied, “I’m really not tired.” Then she beckoned to Yu Nian with her finger. “Come on, Nian Nian, tell your sister the truth. Who gave you this outfit?”

“Can’t it be borrowed from Brother Meng?”

Yu Qing gave him a look that said, “Do you think I’m stupid?”, “If Meng Yuan had the ability to borrow this outfit, I would change my last name to Meng and be called Meng Yu Qing!”

“Then… maybe I bought it myself.”

“You must be kidding. You bought it? This outfit is conservatively worth two million. You can’t even afford to eat meat, so don’t fool me,” Yu Qing said, her eyes sharp. “This is a Jones Kenton Studio outfit, used by European royalty. They make only a few sets for outsiders in a year, and each set is expensive as hell. And those cufflinks of yours are collector’s items, worth at least seven figures, right? They look unfamiliar—definitely not something from your grandparents’ collection. So, tell me the truth, who gave you this outfit?”

“I can’t say it now.”

“What?” Yu Qing didn’t understand. “When can you say it, then?”

Seeing Yu Nian remain silent, Yu Qing covered her chest with her hand and sighed loudly, “Ah, Nian Nian, you’ve grown up and have your own little secrets. You’re not close to your sister anymore; keeping everything from me. It hurts my heart!”

Yu Nian earnestly reminded her, “Sister, don’t fake cry. Your makeup will smudge. You spent almost an hour applying it.”

Yu Qing instantly dropped the act, and glared at him. “I don’t need you to remind me!”

At that moment, the car slowly came to a stop, and they could already hear the cheers and screams from outside.

Yu Qing leaned forward, helping Yu Nian adjust the position of his tie clip. After sitting up straight, she raised her chin. “Come on, let your sister show you around!”

The camera focused on the black extended limousine entering the venue, and as the host announced the names of the people arriving, the barrage exploded.

“Now let’s welcome the well-known actor and singer, Yu Qing, and the famous singer and songwriter, Yu Nian, to enter the stage!”

[Ahhhhh, Queen Yu looks stunning in her gown! It feels like she’s walking the red carpet to ascend the throne! And with Yu Nian standing next to her, fully commanding the stage, he’s not the least bit inferior! Are these siblings on their way to conquer the world?]

[Aaahhhhg, Nian Nian! The Nian Nian, who ghost wrote for himself! His suit looks incredibly good! Is he a little prince who escaped from some palace?]

After a short red carpet walk of about five minutes, they finished signing autographs and were invited to stand next to the host. The male host first asked Yu Qing about her new film, and then he asked, “There are rumors that Yu Qing is already preparing for a new album. Can you reveal any progress?”

Yu Qing smiled, maintaining her composure. “The progress of the new album? Well, I can’t say for sure. It depends on the progress of the songwriter beside me.”

Yu Nian smiled and took over, “You’re looking at me? Honestly, I haven’t started writing yet!”

The camera turned to Yu Qing, and she said to the lens, “So, it’s not that I’m delaying the release of the album, it’s the songwriter who’s not up to par! If you want to blame anyone, blame him!”

The female host chuckled and followed up, “Is this a skillful way to shift the blame? But, recently, Yu Nian, you must have been busy with the production of your new album too, right?”

Yu Nian nodded and replied, “Yes, it’s nearly completed. My first EP will be officially released, probably in spring.”

After a few more routine questions, they stepped down from the stage. Just as they descended the steps, Yu Nian unbuttoned his jacket, took it off, and unfolded it, draping it over Yu Qing’s shoulders.

Yu Qing didn’t hesitate either, wrapping herself in the jacket. “Damn, I’m really going to freeze to death on this red carpet!”

Unaware, they had attracted the attention of the cameras all the way, and naturally, this scene was broadcasted.

[I’m fainting! Nian Nian looks so handsome! When he took off his jacket, my heart almost exploded! What a beautiful sight!]

[This is the legendary perfect younger brother, right? Doesn’t Ning City have zero degrees of temperature? As soon as they stepped down, without any hesitation, he took off his jacket and put it on his sister! They’ve won my heart, so heartwarming!]

[The most beautiful jacket removal of the year! Yu Nian is blowing my mind! But, Nian Nian has such a great figure, standing so straight and with a slim waist! He’s a sight to behold from the side!]

It wasn’t until they entered the indoor area, surrounded by warm air, that Yu Nian put on his own jacket again.

The organizers had arranged their seats together, and after sitting down, Yu Qing adjusted her hair and asked Yu Nian, “By the way, don’t you have a little friend? Why isn’t he here?”

“You mean Xia Mingxi?” Yu Nian smiled. “He’s being held by the director on set. The second male lead in their crew had some issues, and a lot of his scenes got cut. So the director and the screenwriter made a last-minute change and promoted him to the second male lead. He’s been working overtime on the shoot and couldn’t make it.”

Yu Qing had only casually asked, but upon hearing the answer, she nodded and brought out her sisterly attitude. “Xia Mingxi has a good personality and no strange hobbies. I’m at ease with you being friends with him.” Then she changed the topic, raising an eyebrow. “So, who exactly gave you this suit?”

Yu Nian helplessly said, “Sister, I’m resolute. No matter how you ask, I won’t tell.”

After sitting for a while, Yu Nian stood up and went backstage to prepare. They had already rehearsed twice, so he was calm.

In the Qu Family’s audio-visual studio, Qu Xiaoran entered the room, muttering to himself, “My brother suddenly had a whimsical idea today and called me to the study to question me! Luckily, I’ve been diligent these days and have looked at the year-end reports; otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to answer any of the ten questions!”

He sat on the sofa and glanced at Xie You, who was focused on the computer screen. He quickly averted his gaze. “Wow, these reports and documents hurt my eyes just by looking at them!”

With heavy work at the year’s end and beginning, Xie You was busy with work on the computer and didn’t have time to respond to Qu Xiaoran’s words.

Qu Xiaoran happily watched TV for a while and made the comment, “It’s so pitiful in the middle of winter. The gowns of female celebrities look so cold!” As the camera swept over the radiant Yu Qing, Qu Xiaoran recognized her. “Hey, isn’t that Yu Nian’s sister? Is Yu Nian a guest performer? There’s no one in his seat.”

“Yes, he will perform on stage.”

Seeing that Xie You finally had a moment to spare, Qu Xiaoran approached him and said, “My brother mentioned a couple of things today. He said Ding Zhaoxian has toned down his actions a bit. Is it true or false?”

“Superficially, he’s making concessions, but in reality, he’s looking for an opportunity to strike back,” Xie You’s voice was low, and his gaze was cold and fierce. “Huanyu, along with the four companies under his name, have declared bankruptcy one after another. Many of his old associates have started distancing themselves from him. He’s trying to show weakness to buy himself some breathing room.”

Qu Xiaoran shivered inexplicably and asked anxiously, “So, what are you planning to do?”

Xie You lowered his eyelashes and spoke calmly, “If we don’t completely and thoroughly resolve this issue, it will only give him an opportunity to bite my throat again.”

“Right,” Qu Xiaoran swallowed nervously, “Then… Xie Xiaoyou, take care of your safety.”

Both of them understood the meaning behind this statement. Xie You’s expression softened, “Yes, I will.” He thought of the note he carried with him at all times, “Nian Nian also hopes for my safety.”

Qu Xiaoran hummed twice, wearing a cold and indifferent expression, “Oh.”

Almost on cue, Xie You set the computer aside, and the camera switched back to the stage. Soon, dressed in a suit, Yu Nian descended the steps step by step and stood in front of the silver metal microphone stand.

A gentle prelude played, and the stage lights softened.

Qu Xiaoran fell silent and listened attentively to the song.

Compared to before, Yu Nian’s singing skills had clearly improved. Qu Xiaoran checked a video streaming website on his phone and glanced at the barrage for a while. As expected, he wasn’t the only one who thought so. The barrage was filled with comments praising Yu Nian’s live performance—how stable it was, how solid his vocals were, effortlessly hitting high notes as if he had grown up eating CDs.

He quickly turned to Xie You and said, “Hahaha, Xie Xiaoyou, someone in the barrage said that Yu Nian from your family grew up eating CDs! I think so too, he really sings better and better!”

Xie You didn’t even glance at him and corrected him seriously, “He didn’t grow up eating CDs.”

“Then what did he eat?”

“Candy.”

Xie You quietly added in his heart — He’s especially sweet, sweet enough to soften my heart.