After surviving my ordeal, I learned that the school beauty had given birth to twins for me.

Chapter 175 Don't you think... this song is a little off?

After the charity gala, life flowed by quietly amidst the mundane atmosphere of everyday life.

Shen Yu and Jiang Xinlan developed an unwavering habit of meditating every morning.

After each meditation session, Shen Yu would reach out to help her regulate her disordered breathing, his fingertips carrying warm spiritual energy as he gently brushed across the back of her neck and back.

Jiang Xinlan would lean against him, smelling his fresh scent, listening to his steady and powerful heartbeat, her fingertips twirling around the buttons on his shirt.

"My spiritual energy flowed particularly smoothly through my Du meridian today," Jiang Xinlan said, looking up with bright eyes. "It seems a little more solid than yesterday."

"Yes, you're making rapid progress."

Shen Yu lowered his head and kissed the top of her head, his fingertips gently brushing the tip of her nose.

"In another month and a half, I'll be able to firmly hold the threshold of the first level of Qi Refining and prepare to break through to the second level. No need to rush, take it slow, laying a solid foundation is the most important thing."

After finishing their meditation, the couple smiled at each other and went to wake their two children.

Then we eat, send the kids to school, and then go about our own work.

In the evening, after dinner, the family would play with building blocks on the living room carpet or watch an episode of an animated film with the children.

After Niannian and Guigui fell asleep while hugging their dolls, the two returned to the balcony to meditate for half an hour, then snuggled on the sofa to watch an old movie, occasionally whispering a few words to each other.

There were no earth-shattering events, only the mundane details of daily life and the warmth of mutual support. This is the human warmth that Shen Yu, after overcoming his tribulation, is determined to protect with all his might.

A month passed in the blink of an eye during these peaceful days.

That afternoon, Jiang Xinlan arranged to meet Lin Wan at a coffee shop in the city center.

Lin Wan had just finished filming out of town and made a special detour to Beijing to see her.

The café is located on an old street, and the courtyard is full of osmanthus trees. Although it is already autumn, there are still a few osmanthus flowers blooming, and a faint sweet fragrance permeates the air.

"Xinlan!"

Lin Wan, wearing a beige trench coat and carrying a backpack, smiled and waved at her.

"Long time no see, you look great!" "You too, you're getting more and more beautiful."

Jiang Xinlan stood up and hugged her. "Sit down, I ordered your favorite caramel macchiato."

The two sat down and chatted about their recent lives since they parted ways.

After finishing their conversation and taking a sip of coffee, Lin Wan casually picked up her phone to browse the trending topics.

Suddenly, her finger stopped swiping the screen, and the smile on her face faded.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Xinlan picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and took a bite.

"Look at this." Lin Wan handed over her phone. On the screen was a bold entertainment headline, accompanied by a stage photo of Lu Xingci during his lifetime:

Popular actor Lu Xingci died unexpectedly at home late at night after slipping and falling in the bathroom, hitting his head and dying despite attempts to save him.

Jiang Xinlan leaned over and quickly glanced through it.

The news report described it in detail, saying that Lu Xingci was taking a shower alone at home last night when he slipped and hit the edge of the bathtub. His assistant discovered the abnormality when he delivered the script this morning and broke down the door, only to find that he had no vital signs.

Police have completed their on-site investigation, ruling out homicide and suicide, and have preliminarily classified it as an accident.

"Only 24 years old, what a pity."

Lin Wan sighed and put her phone away.

"I remember seeing him on a TV show just two weeks ago. He looked quite energetic. How could he just be gone like that?"

Jiang Xinlan also felt a little sad.

She didn't have a good impression of Lu Xingci. She still remembered the look of eagerness and resentment in his eyes when he tried to get closer to the main table with his wine glass but was stopped by Zhuo Hongyuan's bodyguard.

But the sudden loss of a vibrant life still leaves one with a heavy heart.

"The entertainment industry is stressful, with irregular schedules, and accidents are frequent," Jiang Xinlan said softly.

After exchanging a few words, just as they were about to change the subject, Lin Wan's phone popped up with a push notification from a music platform.

"Hey, look at this!" Lin Wan's eyes lit up, and she handed over the phone again.

"Su Mu has become incredibly popular! He's the former leader of the boy band he was in with Lu Xingci, the one I mentioned to you before."

She opened the music app, and the top spot on the trending charts, new song charts, and rising charts was all Su Mu's new song "Abyss," which had already surpassed 300 million plays and was filled with positive reviews in the comments section.

"Let me play it for you, it's really great, I've been listening to it on repeat while driving these past few days."

A deep, husky voice flowed out slowly, the melody carrying a sense of tearing and fragmentation.

Every word of the lyrics expresses the pain of betrayal, the resentment of being trampled on, and the despair of struggling in the darkness, making the listener's heart ache.

Jiang Xinlan listened quietly, but the fingers holding the coffee cup tightened slightly.

The song is indeed very moving, and the singing is impeccable.

But for some reason, she always felt that there was a faint, chilling coldness in the singing, which seeped into her bones through her ears and made her back feel cold.

What's even stranger is that Su Mu's voice has an eerie emptiness, like a puppet whose soul has been taken away, mechanically singing someone else's story.

"Don't you think... something's off about this song?" Jiang Xinlan turned off the music and looked up at Lin Wan.

"Something's not right? What's wrong?"

Lin Wan blinked in confusion. "I think it's really good. The emotions are so genuine. It sounds like it was written by someone with a story to tell."

"I can't explain it," Jiang Xinlan shook her head, her fingertips lightly tapping the table.

"It just felt gloomy and made me feel depressed. And his voice didn't sound quite like I remembered it."

"Perhaps he's been through too much and has become weathered."

Lin Wan didn't pay much attention and sighed.

"He really had it so tough. He was a trainee for five years, and after debuting in a boy group, he remained relatively unknown. He wrote all the songs for the group, and he took on all the dirty and tiring work."

As a result, after Lu Xingci became a sensation with a supporting role, he immediately disbanded the group and even hired online trolls to smear him, accusing him of bullying his teammates and acting like a diva.

He was once universally condemned online, and everyone thought he was going to be banned, but unexpectedly, he made a comeback with this song. It's truly inspiring.

Jiang Xinlan looked at Su Mu's promotional photo on her phone screen. In the photo, he was wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled down low, covering most of his face, leaving only a pale, almost transparent chin showing.

His eyes were as gloomy as a bottomless pool of stagnant water, devoid of any light.

The feeling of aversion in her heart grew stronger and stronger, but she couldn't quite grasp the specific reasons behind it.

A week later, at the recording site of the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala of Beijing TV.

Jiang Xinlan, as the image ambassador of the Xinyu Charity Foundation, was invited to sing a charity theme song.

Lin Wan also participated in the performance as an actress, and the two agreed to meet in the 102 dressing room backstage.

The backstage corridor was bustling with people. Makeup artists hurried by carrying their makeup cases, staff members communicated loudly with walkie-talkies, and the sounds of singing practice and laughter rose and fell from the various dressing rooms, creating a lively and noisy atmosphere.

After Jiang Xinlan finished her makeup and changed into a white tulle dress, she took her handbag and went to find Lin Wan.

She circled around twice but couldn't find the sign for Lounge 102. She asked several staff members, but they all pointed in different directions.

Jiang Xinlan had no choice but to slowly search along the corridor.

As she walked to the corner at the end of the corridor, she saw a lounge with its door slightly ajar. The room number was half-obscured by a fallen poster, but the number 102 was vaguely visible.

"Lin Wan?" Jiang Xinlan gently pushed open the door. "Are you in there?"

The moment the door opened, a bone-chilling cold rushed out, even more biting than the autumn wind, causing Jiang Xinlan to instinctively circulate her spiritual energy to protect herself.