Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

The contract negotiations dragged on until 3 p.m.

The main problem is that there are a lot of people and things going on in Ningyuan.

Once the profit-sharing ratio was set, they started scrutinizing the production cycle.

Jiang Fan only said one sentence—

It must be released during the Spring Festival season.

Ningyuan quit.

"The Spring Festival release? Do you know how long it takes from preparation to completion? Do you think making a movie is like cooking a dish?"

"There's enough time."

"Enough my ass! Casting, crew building, set design, filming, post-production—"

"There's enough time," Jiang Fan repeated.

Ning Yuan stared at him, her lips moved twice, but she swallowed back what she was about to say.

Jiang Fan asked Li Cheng to call the company's legal counsel over.

The three of them revised the contract seven or eight times and argued for another forty minutes before finally finalizing it and signing it.

Ning Yuan folded his contract neatly, stuffed it into his pocket, stood up, stretched, and his bones cracked several times.

"Regarding casting, please draft a shortlist first, and we'll have a meeting next week."

"OK."

Ning Yuan picked up the second half of the stack of scripts on the table and tossed it in his hand.

"I'll take this with me."

Before Jiang Fan could reply, the person had already walked out with the script in their hand.

Li Cheng stood by the window, watching the dusty Volvo drive out of the parking lot, and let out a long sigh.

"Brother Fan, this guy is really difficult to deal with."

"Difficult to deal with is what makes them valuable. There are tons of easy-going directors out there, but would you dare watch their films?"

-

After seeing Ning Yuan off, Jiang Fan locked himself in his office.

Shen Nian's final is this Saturday.

time does not wait.

He opened the system store and dragged the song catalog to the Chinese Classics section.

His opponent in the final is Chen Hao.

That kid has solid singing skills, his mid-to-high range is incredibly stable, and there's no doubt that he ranks first in vocal ability among this year's contestants.

In previous matches, Chen Hao always relied on his hard-earned strength to push the opponent, without resorting to tricks.

The final round has no theme anymore; everyone can choose their own song, so it's all about head-to-head competition.

Jiang Fan needs a song that can command the entire audience.

He compared the three poems selected in the morning repeatedly, and finally his finger stopped on one name.

"Left Finger Points to the Moon".

Jiang Fan clicked on the preview, closed his eyes, and let the melody play through his mind.

The song begins almost a cappella, with the vocals starting from a very low pitch and gradually rising higher and higher.

When the chorus comes, they immediately rush into the dolphin-like high notes.

The range spans from the lowest to the highest note, covering nearly three octaves.

For an average singer, being able to consistently control two octaves is considered excellent.

Three octaves—you couldn't find a single professional singer out of ten who could sing all of them.

The constant switching between true and false voices is even more deadly.

The transition between the true voice and falsetto must be seamless; if it gets stuck, the entire song's emotion is abruptly broken.

When the song "Past Life" came out, many singers were eager to try it out, but in the end, they all retreated in disgrace.

Jiang Fan exchanged the complete sheet music and arrangement plan for "Left Finger Pointing to the Moon".

Lifespan value was reduced by 200.

Current lifespan: 47700 points

He opened the music production software and began making adaptation adjustments.

This song doesn't need fancy accompaniment.

What it wanted was—the voice of only Shen Nian on stage.

It's either a chance to become a legend or a complete disaster.

I worked on the arrangement until 8 p.m.

Jiang Fan listened to the entire story twice with his headphones on, corrected a few awkward parts, and then picked up his phone to send a message to Shen Nian.

"The final piece has been decided. Come to the studio tomorrow morning, and I'll go over it with you."

Shen Nian replied quickly.

"What song?"

"It's quite difficult, but I'll give it a try."

Shen Nian sent a question mark.

Is it difficult?

Jiang Fan thought for a moment and typed a few words.

"You can do it."

After sending the message, he threw his phone on the table and leaned back in his chair.

Several things have been piling up lately.

The film's preparation has just begun, and the cast list has not yet been finalized.

We need to keep an eye on Shen Nian's final match.

Song Siyi is also waiting for news about Journey to the West.

Jiang Fan turned off his computer, went out, and hailed a taxi back to his apartment.

As soon as I opened the door, a musty smell that had been lingering for days hit me.

A layer of dust has settled on the coffee table; I've only been back a handful of times lately.

He opened the window to let in some fresh air, took a quick shower, and lay down on the bed.

It was unusually quiet; no one was squirming around in bed.

I slept soundly and didn't wake up once during the night.

-

The next morning at 9:30.

When Jiang Fan arrived at the studio, Shen Nian was already there.

She sat on the sofa in the recording studio, legs together, holding a thermos in her hands, looking down at her phone.

"You're here so early?" Jiang Fan pushed open the door to the recording studio.

"I can't sleep. You said yesterday that it was difficult, and I tossed and turned all night, trying to figure out what song it was."

Jiang Fan brought up the music arrangement file and turned on the external speaker.

Shen Nian sat up straight as soon as she heard the intro.

She has formal training and can roughly determine the key and range of a note just by listening to a few notes.

When the demo reached the chorus, Shen Nian's fingers tightened around the thermos.

The melody climbed all the way up to a position that a normal human voice shouldn't reach, and it kept going up.

She pursed her lips into a thin line and didn't say anything.

After the song finished playing, the recording studio was quiet for a few seconds.

Jiang Fan turned off the speaker and handed over the printed lyrics.

Shen Nian took it and read it from beginning to end.

The lyrics are beautifully written, with each line carrying a classical artistic conception.

Shen Nian lowered her head and stared at the lyrics paper, her right thumb unconsciously rubbing the edge of the paper.

"Can I do it?"

She didn't look at Jiang Fan when she asked that question; her eyes were still on the paper.

Jiang Fan pulled up a chair and sat down, facing her.

"I won't give you a song you can't sing."

Shen Nian looked up at him for two seconds.

"Then I'll give it a try."

She stood up, walked into the recording studio, put on her headphones, and nodded to Jiang Fan outside the glass.

Jiang Fan pressed the play button.

As the intro began, Shen Nian closed her eyes and adjusted her breathing.

The first verse is fine.

Her voice naturally possesses a clean and penetrating quality, and she handles the bass range with ease.

In the second verse, the melody begins to climb, and the breath control is quite good.

The chorus is coming.

The first two sentences stabilized the situation.

The pitch of the third sentence suddenly rises.

Shen Nian's voice rose sharply—then it stopped.

She knew something was wrong, so she gripped the microphone stand and stopped singing.

He took off his headphones and waved to the outside.

Jiang Fan stopped playing the accompaniment.

Shen Nian came out from the inner room, picked up the thermos, took a big gulp of water, tightened the lid, and put it on the table.

"In the third line of the chorus, the breath catches up."

"You were breathing too late just now." Jiang Fan pulled up the waveform and showed it to her, drawing a line on the screen with his finger.

"The breathing window is here, only two beats. You have to start finishing the sentence at the end of the previous phrase, don't drag it out, or you'll miss it."

Shen Nian stared at the waveform on the screen for more than ten seconds, nodded, and turned to go back into the recording studio.

The second attempt was a little better than the first, but it didn't push up completely.

On the third try, I barely managed to get it right, but my voice sounded strained and didn't sound good.

..........

By the ninth time, Shen Nian's voice was hoarse, and her forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat.

The high-frequency push-up is finally taking shape—

The sound is no longer strained, and the penetrating power has come out, but the ending note is still not stable enough.

She came out of the recording studio, collapsed onto the sofa, and gasped for breath with her head tilted back.

Jiang Fan handed him a bottle of water.

Shen Nian took the bottle, unscrewed the cap, and took two sips, her voice hoarse: "That last time, was it close?"

"The ninth time is best. But it's still not enough."

Shen Nian remained silent, her hands resting on her knees, her head bowed.

"That's enough for today." Jiang Fan turned off the recording studio equipment. "Don't ruin your voice. Go back and rest. We'll continue tomorrow."

Shen Nian hummed in agreement, stood up, and patted her pants.

As she reached the door, she glanced back at Jiang Fan.

"I will definitely get it by Saturday."