Chapter One Hundred: Invisible Wings

Lin Ze held his phone and smiled with unmistakable delight.

Su Zitan leaned in sourly. “Who are you chatting with? Why are you grinning so happily?”

“What? No girl, just thinking Chen Nan is kind of adorable.”

Su Zitan craned her neck to glance at their chat history.

The two of them were sitting by the roadside. By this time, the weather had grown sweltering, and for a late-night supper, there was nothing better than coming out for barbecue and beer.

“What are we doing tomorrow?” Lin Ze asked, biting into a skewer.

Since he had to sing the day after tomorrow, tonight’s meal had been kept light, with less salt and less spice. The flavor was still a little lacking.

“What are we doing tomorrow? You’re writing songs tomorrow, aren’t you? Isn’t the performance the day after tomorrow?” Su Zitan looked at him with some surprise.

“And tomorrow I have to go to the company too. It’s been so long since I’ve been there that I’m afraid some people have started to slack off. I should go over and remind them who’s boss.”

Lin Ze let out a long, melancholy sigh.

“What’s with the sighing? We get sick of being together all day, too. Every so often we need to feel a little separation so we can cherish the time we have together. Got it?”

Su Zitan laughed as she gnawed at her skewer and drank her beer.

“Mm... fair enough.” Lin Ze nodded thoughtfully.

“You still dare nod? You really think I’m annoying?” Su Zitan narrowed her eyes. “Do you not want to sleep in bed tonight?”

“Well...” Lin Ze rubbed his forehead against hers. “I still do.”

The lights were dim, and no one recognized the two of them at all.

Soon it was midnight.

Both songs had been released. Zhang Yang’s The Wooden Man Falls for the Wind once again shot up at remarkable speed to fourth place on the new songs chart, and it was still climbing.

It was still that same aching love song. By the time midnight came, Lin Ze and Su Zitan had only just gotten home. After showering, they lay in bed and opened the song.

It told the story of someone as stiff and lifeless as a wooden figure, falling in love with another person who was like the free wind over a vast plain.

When those two kinds of people come together, tragedy is inevitable. The composition and lyrics were still quite good.

Even Lin Ze, after listening, felt a little pang of sadness.

Only a little, though.

Setting aside the fact that Zhang Yang sang it without much feeling, the style was far too similar to the previous song, Starlight Lover. Even though the lyrics and melody were different, there was still a faint shadow of it in the music.

“Quick, let me hear the song Li Xiyan sang. You only sang me those two lines, and now I’m curious.”

Lin Ze clicked into the song that was still sitting at the very bottom of the new songs chart.

“Every time, I find strength while wandering through loneliness.”

“Every time, even when I’m badly hurt, I refuse to let tears fall.”

“I know I’ve always had a pair of invisible wings.”

“Take me flying, across despair.”

Li Xiyan’s voice was filled with hope and power, carrying the state of mind of someone who had broken through confusion, torn apart the fog before her eyes, and soared into the sky.

“I won’t dwell on the fact that they have a beautiful sun.”

“I see that even the evening glow changes from day to day.”

“I know I’ve always had a pair of invisible wings.”

“Take me flying, give me hope.”

There was no singer more suited to this song at this very moment.

Lin Ze closed his eyes and held Su Zitan’s hand tightly.

No one knew how many people, in the depth of the night, could close their eyes and see this steadfast girl struggling to spread her wings and fly toward the heavens.

Chen Nan, of course, clicked the song open precisely on time.

In his dark dorm room, a faint radiance seemed to appear. Little by little, that glow gathered before him into the shape of Li Xiyan.

Behind this Li Xiyan, a pair of golden wings slowly unfurled. The afterglow scattered across them and fell upon Chen Nan, warm and pure.

“At last I see every dream in bloom.”

“The songs of youth in pursuit ring loud and clear.”

“At last I rise, staring forward with no fear.”

“Wherever the wind may be, let me fly as far as it can carry me.”

Shocking. Powerful.

It poured into the heart of every listener.

People quickly shared the song again, and at this pace it was spreading even faster than Chen Nan’s previous one had when it first came out.

And this was still the middle of the night.

Lin Ze quietly posted on the microblog.

“There is always a tiny spark of fire, rising from the humblest place, yet it can give a person the strength to press on without looking back.”

“Invisible Wings — Li Xiyan.”

“Come to think of it, today is June 8th, the second day of the college entrance exams. But I suppose it’s not too late to send my blessings now.”

“Spread your wings and fly!”

...

Early the next morning, Su Zitan got up. She had to go to the company.

After Lin Ze woke up, he couldn’t fall back asleep. Once he got dressed, he remembered there was also filming work today.

They needed to shoot footage of how Lin Ze wrote songs.

“If anyone comes to the house, remember to tidy up. Don’t let them walk in and see our place in such a mess,” Su Zitan reminded him.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.”

Lin Ze put on his shoes and followed Su Zitan downstairs, seeing her off to the car.

“Drive carefully on the way.”

Back home, Lin Ze cleaned up the house a little, then called the cameraman.

The cameraman was speechless. He had heard that the other camera crews had started filming two hours earlier already, so why was it only at nine or ten o’clock that Lin Ze finally got in touch?

Half an hour later, the filming team entered the house. Lin Ze tidied up another room and made it look a bit like a studio.

After they came in, he first gave everyone a quick tour, then took out two bottles of water and handed one each to the cameraman and the assistant.

He had originally planned to put on a show of sorts, but after sitting at the desk for more than ten minutes, he began to feel restless all over. There was really nothing to do.

Thinking it over, Lin Ze said to the cameraman with utter seriousness, “Actually, there’s a camera right next to me, and it makes me a bit self-conscious. Why don’t I turn on the projector for you? You can watch a movie or something in the living room...”

“Teacher Lin, we’re supposed to film the real you...” the cameraman said, looking troubled.

“Or... how about you watch Our Love? I’m in that one too. You can film that.”

“...”

The cameraman fell silent.

*Cough.* Lin Ze cleared his throat. “To be honest, time is tight, but sitting in front of the camera like this really doesn’t give me any inspiration...”

There was nothing the cameraman could do, so he called the director.

When it came to creating art, situations like this were inevitable. With no better option, the director could only agree.

Still, after Lin Ze finished writing, he would have to cooperate with them and sit at the desk in a pensive pose, deep in thought for the camera.

With no alternative, that was the only way. So the cameraman and the assistant sat in the living room watching the projector.

Lin Ze, meanwhile, wrote songs alone in the room.

In the blink of an eye, it was almost noon, and even the cameraman was getting restless.

“Teacher Lin? Teacher Lin?”

No response came after two calls.

The cameraman went to the door and knocked. “Teacher Lin? Can you hear me? Teacher Lin?”

Something was wrong. Even if he had fallen asleep, those two calls should have woken him up.

Could something have... happened?