Chapter 50: Can You Sing It for Me?

To be fair, the script for "Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" is actually quite good. After reading through it, Su Chen already had an answer in his heart for the drama's theme song.

At this moment, Yan Mi was quietly skewering meat beside him. She had barely eaten two skewers when she noticed Su Chen lifting his head and calling out to the owner, "Boss, do you have a pen and some paper?"

It was a quiet night, perhaps because it was a weekday. The small barbecue stand only had Su Chen and Yan Mi as customers. The owner was still grilling lamb for Yan Mi. Hearing Su Chen’s voice, he responded, wiped his hands, and fetched a blank order pad and a ballpoint pen from the little table by the roadside that served as his cash register.

With a slightly embarrassed smile, the owner walked over holding the two items. "Handsome young man, this is all I have. Will this do?" he said.

Su Chen wasn’t bothered by the greasy blank order pad or the pen missing its upper half. He smiled and accepted them. "This will do just fine. As long as it writes, that's all I need. Thank you!"

"Heh, alright then, I'll get back to it. If you two need anything, just holler!"

"Okay!" Su Chen replied.

Once the owner had turned away to continue grilling, Yan Mi leaned in curiously. "Why do you need pen and paper? Are you taking notes on the script?"

She waved her hand. "No need to go to that trouble. When we get back, I’ll send you the full script. You can read it at your leisure over the next few days."

Su Chen shot her a puzzled look. "What would I be taking notes for? Didn't you want a song? I'll write one for you! I don't have time tomorrow or the day after—I have to prepare for the competition."

With that, Su Chen cleared a relatively clean spot on the table among the plates and skewers, set the menu pad down, and bent over to write.

Yan Mi: ???

He can just write it like that? Since when was writing songs so easy?

Yan Mi was totally baffled.

The script she brought was only a summary. She had only wanted Su Chen to get a general idea of the story. After all, "Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" was a fantasy romance, and she thought Su Chen might not be familiar with this genre and should judge for himself first. If he really couldn’t write for it, she wouldn’t force the issue.

She never expected Su Chen would be able to write a song from just this.

Now she even wanted to stop him. How could he possibly come up with a suitable theme song for the entire series after reading just a few pages?

But, knowing how fleeting creative inspiration can be, Yan Mi didn’t dare interrupt him. Watching Su Chen’s profile as he wrote, she sighed inwardly. Never mind—let’s see what he comes up with first.

Scratch, scratch, scratch...

The ballpoint pen was either broken or out of ink, and Su Chen had to go over his writing repeatedly to make it legible. Even so, in three minutes he set the pen down and handed the greasy sheet of paper to Yan Mi.

"Mi-jie, see if this will do."

Yan Mi stared at Su Chen in a daze, unable to form a coherent sentence for a moment. She hadn’t timed him, but the remaining half of the skewer in her hand didn’t lie. It had taken him barely two or three minutes.

Had he really finished another song just like that?

"You... you’re done?" she asked, swallowing the unchewed lamb in her mouth, looking utterly stunned.

"Done? Not quite," Su Chen shrugged.

Hearing Su Chen say it wasn’t finished, Yan Mi relaxed a little. If he truly could write a song in three minutes, she might as well declare him ready to debut on the spot. Why compete on "Tomorrow’s Star" at all? Please, let the genius stop crushing the novices!

She even felt lucky her main job was acting—otherwise, she’d be too discouraged to stay in the industry.

But just as she was breathing easier, Su Chen continued, "The whole song is done, but the pen was giving me trouble, so I just wrote out the lyrics for now. If you think the words work, I’ll send you the score later."

Yan Mi: "......"

Now she understood: the time it took Su Chen to write a song depended purely on how long it took to write it out by hand! In other words, his creative process was almost instantaneous!

This was beyond genius—this was practically cheating!

Her mind was in turmoil, but her hands were steady as she took the sheet from Su Chen.

Because the order pad was small, his writing was tiny, densely packed, yet perfectly clear.

Yan Mi took a deep breath and read the words carefully.

At the top was the song’s title: "Lingering Chill."

"As the night grows cool, blossoms fall to the ground and turn to frost, you gaze from afar, your eyes exhausted by longing..."

Yan Mi murmured the opening lines.

Just the first lines drew her in completely.

Since she was starring in "Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" herself, she knew instantly whether a theme song suited the drama or not. The previous musicians’ attempts had left her unmoved, unable to feel any resonance between the characters and the music.

But this time was different. As she softly recited the lyrics, the whole story of "Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" flashed through her mind: tangled love and hate, longing without fulfillment, heartbreak—all of it surged in her chest. Before she realized it, tears were streaming down her face.

Su Chen hadn’t expected that his lyrics alone could make someone cry.

Could it be she thought his song wasn’t good enough, that the theme was unsalvageable, and she was destined to remain just another worker on the project? That must be why she was crying...

Worried, Su Chen quickly handed her some tissues. "Mi-jie, here—wipe your tears. What’s wrong? If there’s something you don’t like about my writing, just say so, I can revise it."

Yan Mi said nothing, tears flowing, only shaking her head.

When she had nearly used up the whole pack of napkins, she finally spoke, eyes red, "Your lyrics for 'Lingering Chill' are wonderful! I was just too caught up in the emotion..."

She lifted her head, her eyes full of earnest pleading. "Su Chen... would you sing this song for me?"

Su Chen paused briefly, then smiled and nodded. "Of course."