Just because I wrote "Zhu Xian," the school beauty sent me razor blades.

Meanwhile, Starway Entertainment's official announcement campaign has already begun on Weibo.

At 10:00 AM sharp, Starway Entertainment's official Weibo account posted:

[Star Journey Entertainment V: Tonight at 7 PM, two tracks will be released simultaneously. @Beraikun x Qin Mu "Lover", @ShenWei x Chu Nan "Autumn Wind". One is fiery, the other gentle, whose frequency resonates with you?]

The accompanying image is a split poster: on the left is Bolaikun's profile, with light and shadow as intense as the summer afternoon sun; on the right is Shen Wei looking back, with a cool tone like the gentle breeze of late autumn.

The Weibo post immediately flooded the comment section.

"Ahhhhh, Kun Kun's new song!! 'Lover'! Just the title alone has already inspired a thousand-word essay in my mind!"

"Beraikun x Qin Mu! This combination is absolutely divine! ikun, go for it! The number one spot on the leaderboard must be ours!"

"Shen Wei's first work after changing jobs! 'Autumn Wind' written by Chu Nan... Just the title sounds so evocative, looking forward to it!"

Tianxing, in the conference room.

Lin Yuan smiled slightly, took a folder out of his backpack, and gently placed it on the conference table.

Song title: "Suspended".

Fei Zhao raised an eyebrow: "Suspended?"

"Yes, the 'xuan' in 'hanging' and the 'ni' in 'drowning.'" Lin Yuan held up a finger and shook it. "But Sister Fei, you can try reading it three times in quick succession."

Fei Zhao said expressionlessly, "Xuan Ni, Xuan Ni, I wish you happiness—"

She paused in her speech.

Gu Zhiwan, standing nearby, couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Xuan you? Like you?"

"Bingo." Lin Yuan snapped his fingers. "So, from the title alone, this song is a confession hidden in the mud. It talks about being lost in the mire, but secretly loves, yet refuses to say it directly—that's the beauty of adult love—a mixture of cowardice and stubbornness."

Fei Zhao picked up his coffee cup, but didn't drink it. He simply said, "Continue."

Lin Yuan opened the folder, pulled out a handwritten lyric sheet, and pushed it in front of Fei Zhao.

"The lyrics are very simple, you could even say... straightforward to the point of being rudimentary," Lin Yuan frankly admitted. "But the focus isn't on the lyrics at all, it's on the melody."

He looked at Fei Zhao, his eyes carrying a certain certainty that came from his past life, the certainty of someone who had been there.

Why did "Just Because You're Too Beautiful" become so popular? It's not because the lyrics are particularly profound, but because the melody is so catchy. You'll be tapping your foot after one listen, singing along after two, and after three—congratulations, you'll be dreaming about "Just Because You're Too Beautiful" all night.

Gu Zhiwan nodded in deep agreement: "Indeed, my roommate hummed it for a whole week after hearing it, like she was under a spell."

"But 'Suspended' is different." Lin Yuan's joking expression faded, and he lightly tapped the lyrics sheet with his finger. "Its soul is the opening instrumental accompaniment."

He closed his eyes, as if recalling the melody, and then softly hummed a few notes from the intro.

In the empty conference room, those few musical notes were like drops of water falling into a deep pool, rippling outwards in circles, carrying a kind of indescribable...story.

Gu Zhiwan suddenly stopped smiling.

Fei Zhao paused slightly in the coffee cup he was holding.

"For the opening accompaniment, I plan to use a synthesizer as a base, adding a heartbeat-like drumbeat, slow and steady, like someone lying in bed late at night, staring at the ceiling, their mind replaying someone's face." Lin Yuan opened his eyes, his voice lowering slightly. "The sense of story will be fully built up from the very first note."

He slid his finger to the first line of the lyrics.

"And then here—'So funny.'"

"Many people would think this is a joke, or a jest," Lin Yuan shook his head. "Wrong. It's not a joke, it's self-deprecation."

"I laugh at myself for knowing the relationship was doomed, yet still stubbornly falling for it. It's like looking at myself in the mirror, cursing 'You idiot!' while willingly jumping into the fire."

Gu Zhiwan listened intently, then subconsciously asked, "And this one? 'Ya yi ya yi ya'—what does that mean?"

Lin Yuan looked at her, a sly glint in his eyes: "This is called abstract semiotics."

"...Speak like a human being."

"I just wanted to say something, but I knew it wouldn't change anything, so it just turned into a string of meaningless syllables." Lin Yuan shrugged. "Painful? Yes. Frustrated? Yes. What can I do? Yay yay yay."

Fei Zhao smiled slightly, a rare occurrence, though it was fleeting: "You certainly know how to make things easy for yourself."

"That's called the art of leaving room for interpretation," Lin Yuan said righteously. "Giving the audience some space to fill in the blanks, letting them automatically project their own stories—after all, everyone's heartbreak deserves their own unique 'ya-ya-ya'."

Fei Zhao didn't respond, but looked down at the lyrics, his gaze lingering on the second verse.

"'I advocate letting go if you can't control yourself'... 'Hold back the innocence you should have'..." She recited two lines, then looked up, "'The ups and downs lie in joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness; loosen the rope, and at worst, no one will care'—the last line has a kind of enlightened, resigned acceptance."

"Insightful? On the surface, yes." Lin Yuan smiled. "But think about it carefully. Someone who keeps saying 'At worst, no one will ask' is precisely because they're terrified of being ignored. They say they've loosened the rope, but their hands are gripping it tighter than anyone else's."

He paused for a moment, then said, "So, for the chord progression of the entire song, I plan to use 4536."

Fei Zhao's eyes flickered slightly.

4536—the most classic and also the most "clichéd" chord progression in popular music. But the more classic the framework, the more unconventional the emotions it can carry.

"Using the most common chords to sing about the most abnormal love." Lin Yuan seemed to see through her thoughts, explaining with a smile, "That's called 'dancing in shackles.' The audience might find the melody familiar and comfortable, but the lyrics and arrangement stab them to the bone—a comfortable kind of pain—that's the highest level."

"Moreover," he added, "4536 is particularly well-suited to creating that... conscious yet decadent feeling."

"Sobering down?" Gu Zhiwan murmured repeatedly.

"Yes." Lin Yuan leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped behind his head. "Even knowing there's a cliff ahead, you can't stop. Reason screams 'Run!' while emotion whispers 'Hold on one more time.' In the end, who wins? Emotion wins. But as you fall, your mind is still consciously calculating your descent speed."

The meeting room fell silent for a few seconds.

Fei Zhao put down his coffee cup, the bottom of which made a crisp sound as it hit the table.

Do you have a demo?

"Yes." Lin Yuan pulled a USB drive from his pocket. "I secretly recorded this in the dorm during military training. The conditions were basic, but the frame is still there."

Fei Zhao took the USB drive and handed it to Gu Zhiwan: "Plug it into that computer."

Gu Zhiwan stood up and inserted the USB drive into the conference room's playback device.

A few seconds later, the intro began.

The deep synthesizer tone is like bubbles rising from the bottom of the water, one, two, then the drums join in—not intense, but restrained, like a heartbeat amplified infinitely in the dead of night.

Lin Yuan's voice came from the speakers, carrying the slight background noise typical of dormitory recordings, but unexpectedly sounding more real and intimate:

"So funny..."

He sang very softly, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he were speaking to someone.

"Ya i ya i ya i ya i……"

There were no complete sentences, only a string of indistinct syllables, yet it inexplicably made one's heart tighten.

Fei Zhao leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest.

Gu Zhiwan stood motionless next to the player.

The chorus is entirely abstract chanting—

The repeated interweaving of "So funny" and "Ya i ya i ya i ya i" creates a melody that spirals and sinks like a whirlpool, carrying an indescribable emotion that strikes straight into the softest part of one's heart.

Lin Yuan's voice sounded hoarse and restrained under the rudimentary recording conditions. The string of "Ya i ya i ya i ya i" sounded less like a song and more like talking to the air in the middle of the night—wanting to call someone's name, but swallowing it back halfway through his mouth.

"...That's enough." Fei Zhao said, his voice a notch lower than before.

Lin Yuan pressed the pause button.

"How's it going, Sister Fei?" He grinned like a fox who'd just stolen a chicken. "Is it enough?"

Fei Zhao did not reply immediately.

The phone on the table suddenly vibrated, the screen lit up, and a notification popped up—she glanced down at it and saw it was a Weibo post from Starway Entertainment announcing their official status.

[Star Journey Entertainment V: Tonight at 7 PM, two tracks will be released simultaneously. @Beraikun x Qin Mu "Lover", @ShenWei x Chu Nan "Autumn Wind". One is fiery, the other gentle, whose frequency resonates with you?]

She swiped the notification away, but those names had already caught her eye.

Fei Zhao was silent for two seconds, then stood up, walked to the window, and turned his back to him.

"Are you planning to use this song to climb the charts?"

"right."

"Do you know what their lineup is?" Fei Zhao turned around, his eyes sharp. "Just now, Xingtu officially announced it. Qin Mu's 'Lover' will be sung by Bo Laikun. Chu Nan's 'Autumn Wind' will be sung by Shen Wei. I won't go into Shen Wei's name; you've already witnessed the voting power of Bo Laikun's fans."

Lin Yuan nodded. "Brother Chicken's fighting prowess should not be underestimated."

"...What brother?"

"It's nothing." Lin Yuan immediately became serious. "What I mean is, Berekol is very strong, but—"

He stood up, walked to Fei Zhao, and his gaze was unusually serious:

"Whether it's 'The Lover' or 'Autumn Wind,' no matter how sweet or sorrowful they are, they are still someone else's."

"But 'Suspended'..." he paused, "is that night in everyone's heart when they love but cannot have the one they desire."

"Who doesn't have someone they can't let go of? Who hasn't listened to a song on repeat late at night, cursing themselves for being pathetic?" Lin Yuan spread his hands. "That's the killer feature of 'Suspended'—it doesn't discriminate against its audience; it hits right at the heart."

Fei Zhao stared at him intently for a long time, then a faint smile appeared on her lips.

"You..." she shook her head, "When you're not writing songs, you're like a thug; when you are writing songs, you're like an assassin."

"Thank you for the compliment, Sister Fei." Lin Yuan leaned back. "Being a rogue or an assassin is a profession that relies on talent."

Gu Zhiwan couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Lin Yuan, you're really shameless."

"Only a thicker body can withstand the blade." Lin Yuan said with a deep expression.

Fei Zhao: "..."

Too lazy to complain anymore, she turned around and packed up her files: "Let's go in this direction. Arrangement, recording, mixing—Tianxing will give you a green light, all top-notch. As for the music video, I've already agreed to the script you just mentioned; you can handle the budget with the production department yourself."

"Sister Fei is wise."

"Stop flattering me." Fei Zhao glanced at him. "Get the filming and recording of the song done as soon as possible, within five days. We don't have much time left, and it would be best to release it on the 20th."