In the room.
Chen Ran held the guitar and sang softly; Zhang Fanzhi sat sideways on the chair, her hand holding a pen poised over the paper.
She tilted her head slightly, listening carefully to Chen Ran sing, and then used the pen to write down the sheet music on the paper.
During this period, Chen Ran had also been watching tutorials from time to time to practice his pitch. Although he didn't have much time and his progress was very slow, he was slightly better than before.
After Zhang Fanzhi finished writing a line, she played it once on the piano. Chen Ran listened, and if he felt it wasn't right, he sang it again, and she revised it.
The two cooperated quite tacitly, and their progress was much faster than last time.
"For the rest of my life, the wind and snow are you, the plainness is you, the poverty is also you..."
Chen Ran sang it again.
Zhang Fanzhi nodded slightly, revised it once on the paper, and played it out. This time, it felt right.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knocking sound came from outside, and Aunt Yun called out, "Zhizhi, Chen Ran, come out and eat first."
"Coming, Auntie."
Chen Ran put down the guitar and stood up, but Zhang Fanzhi was looking carefully at the lyrics, slightly entranced. After a moment, she turned around and asked,
"What is the name of this song?"
"'The Rest of My Life'," Chen Ran said.
"The rest of my life..." Zhang Fanzhi's eyes brightened slightly, and she pursed her lips.
"The lyrics are very good."
Not only were the lyrics good, but the melody was also very nice.
Just now, when Zhang Fanzhi was listening to Chen Ran sing, she had been carefully transcribing the sheet music. Thinking back on it now, the melody was very catchy.
Even though Chen Ran's singing skills were very poor, it still felt quite beautiful to listen to.
What Zhang Fanzhi cared about were the lyrics:
For the rest of my life, everything is you
.
"Do you think this song can become popular?" Chen Ran looked at her and asked.
Zhang Fanzhi nodded and said, "The lyrics are very good, and the melody is also very nice to listen to. It will definitely become popular."
Chen Ran breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Then I can rest assured."
Zhang Fanzhi asked in confusion, "What were you worried about?"
Chen Ran said, "My sister really likes to sing. She posts singing videos online, and she also sings at a bar in Huahai, so I wanted to help her out a bit."
There was no special reason why he chose this song. Before Chen Ran transmigrated, this song was playing all over the streets, and both the lyrics and the melody were very good.
Last time at the Street Corner bar, watching Chen Yao sitting in the middle of the small stage holding a guitar, Chen Ran felt that this song was quite suitable for her.
However, he had been busy afterwards, and Zhang Fanzhi didn't have time either, so it was put on hold until now.
It was only this time, taking advantage of Zhang Fanzhi coming back, that he thought about getting the song written out.
Zhang Fanzhi looked at the lyrics, the corners of her mouth curving up slightly. But upon hearing Chen Ran's words, her smile gradually froze.
"This song... is for your sister?" Zhang Fanzhi tilted her head and asked another question.
Chen Ran didn't notice her expression and nodded.
"My sister likes to sing. Her singing skills are okay, and her voice is quite good. If this song can become popular, it can fulfill her wish."
Chen Yao had liked singing since she was a child. Back when Chen Ran wanted to play the guitar, she also followed along to learn.
Since Chen Yao posted her songs online, she definitely wanted to gain recognition.
The previous Chen Ran would be one thing, but now that he had this ability, he would help her out as much as he could.
Zhang Fanzhi's brows furrowed slightly, and her breathing became a bit uneven. After a good while, she finally gave an "Mhm."
Just as Chen Ran was about to speak, Aunt Yun called from outside again, "Zhizhi, Chen Ran, eat first before you get busy."
"Let's go out and eat first," Chen Ran said, pulling the door open to go out first.
They had been called twice already; if they still didn't go out at this time, he was afraid of being misunderstood.
Seeing that Director Zhang had already returned, Chen Ran greeted him, chatted a bit about TV station matters, and then went over to help Aunt Yun carry the dishes.
After bringing over all the bowls and chopsticks, he finally noticed that Zhang Fanzhi still hadn't come out.
"This girl, why hasn't she come out yet?" Aunt Yun muttered. She was just about to go over and call again when she saw Zhang Fanzhi open the door and walk out.
"Why are you dawdling? Hurry up and sit down to eat," Aunt Yun urged.
Zhang Fanzhi sat there, not uttering a word.
At this time, Chen Ran finally belatedly realized that something was wrong with her, and asked softly, "What's wrong?"
Zhang Fanzhi didn't even look at him. Staring at the food, she said sullenly, "Nothing."
Chen Ran considered himself to understand her quite well; no matter how dense he was, he knew she was definitely angry.
During the meal, both Director Zhang and Aunt Yun felt the atmosphere was a bit off.
They were perfectly fine when they just came back, how did they get unhappy right after going inside?
Could it be because of the song writing?
As Zhang Ruyi picked up food, her gaze darted back and forth between Chen Ran and Zhang Fanzhi.
If she was still a bit uncertain just now, she was now basically certain that her sister and Chen Ran were really dating.
From her school days until now, Zhang Fanzhi had many suitors, but she had never sulked over any guy.
When Zhang Ruyi was bored in the dorm, she would watch TV dramas. Zhang Fanzhi's current behavior was exactly the same as those dramatic female leads in the TV dramas.
She became even more depressed, lowering her head and taking tiny bites of her food, losing even the desire to speak.
Aunt Yun quietly shot meaningful glances at her daughter several times. Zhang Fanzhi looked up, put some food in her mother's bowl, and said,
"Mom, thanks for your hard work cooking."
Aunt Yun stared blankly at the food in her bowl, and then got incredibly exasperated.
They finished the meal silently just like that. As Zhang Fanzhi was helping to clear the dishes, Tao Lin called. Gripping her phone, she went to her room and closed the door behind her.
Chen Ran sat for a while, originally intending to wait for Zhang Fanzhi to come out, but she stayed on the phone the whole time.
Seeing that it was getting late, he could only head back first. Director Zhang followed him out, saying he would see him off.
"Uncle, you go back. I can just take a taxi myself, this is too much trouble for you," Chen Ran said, feeling embarrassed.
"Why are you being so polite with me?" Director Zhang patted Chen Ran on the shoulder.
After getting into the car, Director Zhang asked, "What conflict did you and Zhizhi have?"
Chen Ran thought for a moment, looking slightly bewildered. "I don't know either."
"It's fine, it's normal for young couples to fight. Besides, we also know that Zhizhi gets angry easily. Just let her calm down for a bit and she'll be fine," Director Zhang consoled Chen Ran.
"It's nothing, Uncle." Chen Ran smiled awkwardly.
Director Zhang coughed, changing the subject to ease the atmosphere, and asked Chen Ran,
"I saw that your channel's 'I Love Remembering Lyrics' was submitted for Best Program. Why didn't you submit 'Challenge the Microphone' too?"
Chen Ran snapped back to reality and said, "The similarity between the two programs is quite high, just the format is different. The station seems to only recognize one, so we submitted 'Remembering Lyrics'."
Director Zhang laughed, "I was just asking. Anyway, for this year's Annual Best Program, our public channel has it in the bag, so it doesn't matter what you submit. Usually, the satellite TV channel takes it, but now it's our turn. I reckon your Director Liu is a bit sad!"
Clearly, 'I Love Remembering Lyrics' was already good enough, yet it was suppressed and couldn't win; this was very frustrating.
Chen Ran smiled. Uncle Zhang acting playful like this made him look very happy.
"The Best Program is just a minor detail. The most important thing for you is Best Planner. If you can get your hands on it, you'll definitely be able to enter the satellite TV channel within half a year," Director Zhang said.
He knew the inside news: at the beginning of the year, the satellite TV channel had two heavyweight programs to prepare. If Chen Ran won Best Planner, he would definitely get a chance to test the waters.
Going up straight as the chief planner—this wasn't an opportunity just anyone could have.
"We'll see how the station arranges it when the time comes." Chen Ran was actually very open-minded about it.
After dropping Chen Ran off, Director Zhang hurried back.
Chen Ran sat in his chair, tossing the matter over in his mind for a while, but couldn't figure out why Zhang Fanzhi got angry.
He carefully smoothed out the sequence of events and thought about the issue with the song.
"It couldn't be... because of this, right?"
Chen Ran's expression became quite colorful.