Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

Chapter 185 Empress Su: I want you to pay in installments

A week has passed on the set in Songjiang, and the school scenes are almost finished.

Jiang Fan sat behind the monitor for a few days and found that he had basically nothing to do except eat sunflower seeds.

Shen Feng's condition is getting better and better, and there's no need to mention Ma Yue's situation.

When the two of them stood there for each scene, as soon as they uttered their lines, Ning Yuan wouldn't even bother to call "cut" and would simply wave his hand to indicate the next take.

Lu Wanqing would occasionally get stuck, but Ning Yuan's method of discipline was simple and brutal—scolding her a couple of times, starting over, scolding her a couple more times, and she was done.

Jiang Fan dumped the sunflower seed shells into the trash can and patted the crumbs off his hands.

"Director Ning, I'll head back now. I'll leave things here to you."

Ning Yuan didn't even look up, his finger pointing at a certain spot on the monitor screen.

"You should have left long ago. Your presence here puts a lot of pressure on me."

The first thing Jiang Fan did upon returning to the company was to open the Word document on his computer that had been idle for almost a week.

The cursor is positioned in the middle of Chapter Fourteen.

On their journey to the West, Elder Jinchi of Guanyin Temple wanted to burn Sun Wukong's cassock.

Jiang Fan stretched his wrists and placed his fingers on the keyboard. The images in his mind were as clear as watching a movie; all he needed to do was convert them into text.

After tapping for ten minutes, my phone vibrated on the corner of the table.

Song Siyi: Jiang Fan, do you even know what's going on in the comments section right now?

Jiang Fan ignored him and continued typing.

Song Siyi: I'll show you a screenshot.

Then three screenshots popped up.

The top-pinned comment in the comment section is: "Author, are you dead?"

The number of likes reached 83,000.

The second offer is: "I'll pay 5,000 yuan to anyone who can find Jiang Fan's address. I'll go to his house and urge him to update the chapters."

The comments below were thousands of replies, all of them part of a chain reaction.

I'll sponsor one.

Count me in.

"Based in Shanghai, ready to go anytime."

"I suggest crowdfunding to hire a hitman."

"The person upstairs went too far. I suggest crowdfunding to hire a kidnapper, tie him to the computer, and make him write."

Jiang Fan closed the screenshot and replied with a message.

Jiang Fan: Three chapters tonight.

Song Siyi: Really? How many words are in three chapters?

Jiang Fan: Around 20,000.

There was a five-second silence on the other end.

Song Siyi: Let me go to the comments section to calm the mob down first.

Jiang Fan tossed his phone aside and continued writing.

Elder Jinchi coveted the cassock and set it on fire at night, which attracted the Black Wind Monster.

I finished writing at 5 PM, three chapters, 20,000 words, archived, and sent to my email.

Song Siyi received the message instantly and replied with a voice message.

Jiang Fan clicked on it—

"Jiang Fan, I love you."

Jiang Fan deleted the voice message directly.

Twenty minutes later, Song Siyi sent a screenshot of the backend data.

Within fifteen minutes of the three chapters being released, the number of subscriptions began to surge.

The tone of the comments section instantly changed from "kill the author" to "author, I was wrong".

"I'm sorry, author. The one who said he was going to tie you up was my cousin, not me."

"Wow, finally an update! I'm going to have the author's babies!"

"The Black Wind Monster scene is so amazing, please, don't stop!"

Jiang Fan's lips twitched slightly.

Song Siyi posted another set of backend data.

The number of paid subscribers increased from 320,000 before the hiatus to 410,000.

The scarcity marketing strategy was very effective, even though Jiang Fan did not do it intentionally.

"Song Siyi: President Chen said that at this rate of growth, we can break 600,000 subscribers by the end of the month. We've never seen this kind of data since the website was founded."

Jiang Fan: Understood.

Song Siyi: ...Could you be a little more excited?

Jiang Fan: Oh. I'm really amazing.

"Song Siyi: [Kitchen knife]"

At six o'clock in the evening, Jiang Fan leaned back in his office chair, staring at the ceiling.

Hsu Ching-ya went to another city for a concert, the third stop of her tour, and won't be back for another week.

Tang Yingxue returned to Kyoto and hasn't sent any messages in the past two days.

Shen Nian's schedule is also very full, leaving early and returning late, and going straight to sleep when he gets home.

Jiang Fan has been feeling physically exhausted lately.

I've been working non-stop for almost two weeks now, writing scripts, overseeing film sets, and rushing to finish my novel. I've certainly accumulated enough "life points," but I feel completely drained.

He thought for a moment, then took out his phone.

Jiang Fan: Are you home?

The reply came very quickly.

Su Yuyan: Yes. What's up?

Jiang Fan: I haven't eaten.

Su Yuyan: You only think of your old mother when you're eating? Do you think my house is your cafeteria?

Jiang Fan: No food in the cafeteria is as good as yours.

Su Yuyan: All you do is freeload.

But she didn't say we couldn't come.

Jiang Fan put his phone in his pocket, grabbed his coat, and went out.

Half an hour later, Jiang Fan stood at Su Yuyan's door and knocked twice.

The door opened a crack from the inside.

Su Yuyan showed half of her face, her hair was wet and draped over her shoulders, and she was wearing a bathrobe.

"They arrived quite quickly."

Jiang Fan stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Food was laid out on the table.

Braised turtle, a few light side dishes, and a bowl of dark soup.

"What's this?" Jiang Fan lifted the lid of the soup bowl and took a sniff.

Su Yuyan walked barefoot to the sofa, sat down, and curled her legs up.

"Deer antler and black chicken soup. Don't you stay up late every day? This is to help you recover."

Jiang Fan pulled out a chair, sat down, picked up a spoon, and took a sip.

The taste is good, but the color is a bit hard to describe.

Aren't you going to eat?

"I've already eaten."

After Jiang Fan had finished eating, Su Yuyan stared at him for two seconds.

"How long has it been since you last came?"

Jiang Fan did the math. "Ten days?"

"It's twelve days," Su Yuyan corrected him.

Jiang Fan didn't reply. He drank most of the soup, wiped his mouth, and carried the soup bowl to the sofa to sit down.

"I've been a bit busy lately," Jiang Fan said.

"I know you're busy." Su Yuyan hugged her knees a little tighter.

"I'm busy too. My schedule is booked until 10 p.m. every day. When I get back, I'm all alone in this room, with no one to talk to."

Jiang Fan placed the soup bowl on the coffee table.

He didn't reply, but reached out and brushed Su Yuyan's wet hair from her shoulder to the back of her head.

"Next time it won't be this long."

Su Yuyan turned her head to look at him. The collar of her bathrobe had slipped down because of her bent-leg posture, exposing her collarbone.

"real?"

Jiang Fan didn't explain further. He pried open her knees that were tightly wrapped around him, placed his palm on her calf, and pulled her towards himself.

She kicked him with her foot.

My hair isn't dry yet.

"Don't rush. I'll blow it for you later."

Su Yuyan stared at him for two seconds.

"You came here tonight just to freeload a meal?"

Jiang Fan's hand slid from her calf to the inside of her knee.

"Getting a free meal was just a side thing."

Su Yuyan's breath hitched for a second. She used the sole of her foot to press against his chest, preventing him from going any further.

"Twelve days without coming, and now that I'm here, I miss it—"

"What are you thinking about?"

Su Yuyan bit her lip.

"What do you think?"