"Ah, that wouldn't be very appropriate."
Gan Yan Yu said hesitantly.
"Why not?"
Lin Tian remembered that Old Mr. Wan Qi had called her that too.
He thought it sounded rather friendly and was easy enough to say.
"Only elders use that form of address for me."
Fine, then.
Since Yan Yu did not like it, Lin Tian would not force the issue.
"Then should I call you Little Gan?"
"That doesn't sound nice."
"Big Sis Yu?"
"I'm younger than you, aren't I?"
"Gan Yu?"
"Who's that?"
"Prisoner Yu?"
"What does that mean?"
"Where I'm from, if you're close with someone, you usually add 'Prisoner' to their name to show affection," Lin Tian explained with a straight face.
"Then should I call you 'Prisoner Tian'?" Gan Yan Yu tilted her head.
"Never mind."
After all, Lin Tian had never paid tribute to the legendary Fall-Resistant King. He was not worthy of joining the "Prisoner" generation.
Could not call her this, could not call her that—Lin Tian truly could not think of anything else.
"Actually, calling me 'Yan Yu' isn't impossible." Gan Yan Yu lowered her head and played with her hair as she spoke cautiously.
"Okay, Yan Yu." Lin Tian immediately called her that.
"W-Wait a second."
Unexpectedly, the moment she heard Lin Tian call her that, the girl's face instantly turned red, and she immediately regretted it.
"When we're not creating something, you should still call me Gan Yan Yu, or Teacher Gan!"
In truth, many of Gan Yan Yu's elders, as well as close friends from her past, called her that.
But for some reason, hearing Lin Tian say it—
made her feel terribly embarrassed.
It was not that she disliked it. It just felt... strange.
"When we're not creating something—then when can I call you Yan Yu?" Lin Tian asked.
"When we're creating something," Gan Yan Yu said softly.
"Good, Yan Yu."
"I said to call me that only when we're creating something."
Gan Yan Yu turned her face away.
"No problem, Yan Yu."
"..."
Gan Yan Yu covered her face and tucked her head in like a startled little rabbit.
Lin Tian smiled.
See?
I told you she was like an NPC. She's so entertaining.
However, before Lin Tian could gloat for long, the hands covering Gan Yan Yu's face slowly parted the next second.
Her beautiful eyes stared straight at him.
"Then what should I call you?"
"Just call me Lin Tian."
Lin Tian had always thought his name was pretty devoid of any gimmick. It was simple and straightforward, easy to say, with no room for much variation.
"Tian."
Gan Yan Yu suddenly murmured softly.
Her voice was quiet, yet it carried the slightest warmth as it clearly reached Lin Tian's ears.
Lin Tian's eyes instantly widened, and his entire body snapped awake.
"...Would that be strange?" Gan Yan Yu asked.
Lin Tian shook his head.
With her hands behind her back, Gan Yan Yu's delicate face shifted from contemplation to realization. She seemed to be savoring something, then suddenly leaned toward Lin Tian.
"Tian?"
"..."
"Wait, wait, wait."
Lin Tian hurriedly waved his hands. "You should just call me Lin Tian!"
That was seriously way too lethal!
Lin Tian admitted that hearing Gan Yan Yu say a single character from his name gave him an indescribable thrill.
But if she really called him that a few more times, he genuinely would not be able to take it.
He could not help imagining it in the tone of a dainty little wife clinging to his arm and acting cute.
Sure enough, that form of address was still too soon!
"Alright."
Seeing Lin Tian resist, Gan Yan Yu pursed her lips and stopped.
Still, after their mutual honesty just now, both of them felt much more at ease.
Sure enough, since they were partners, they should speak openly.
Lin Tian did not forget to ask, taking advantage of the moment.
"Then, Teacher Yan Yu, would staying for drinks now count as 'crossing the line'?"
"Though I do want to drink, it's too late now. Another day."
"Alright."
After that door-pin just now, more than half an hour had passed. It was already so late that it would not be appropriate to insist on keeping her.
Anyway, his goal of having a good talk with Gan Yan Yu had already been achieved. Whether she stayed or not did not matter anymore.
"How about tomorrow night?"
Perhaps feeling that "another day" sounded a little perfunctory, Gan Yan Yu quickly set a definite time.
"Anyway, I'm making dinner for you tomorrow night, so we can have a little to drink while we're at it."
"Sure."
"Mhm, then I'm going."
"Bye-bye."
"Bye—"
Gan Yan Yu turned around and grasped the doorknob.
As she opened the door, she looked back at Lin Tian once more.
Only after confirming that she would not be pinned against the wall again did the girl carefully step out and close the door behind her.
When the first ray of morning sunlight streamed into Lin Tian's room and fell across the young man's bedsheets—
"Bzz bzz—"
"Bzz bzz—"
One burst of vibrations after another felt like a pair of life-threatening hands gripping Lin Tian by the neck and shaking him violently.
Still groggy, Lin Tian felt around for the phone beside his pillow.
He had assumed someone was calling, but instead saw an endless stream of Douyin notifications.
He tapped into them.
He sat bolt upright, despite being half-dead from exhaustion!
Lin Tian widened his eyes and stared at his phone.
Can-Can
had gone viral?!
410,000 likes, 6.24 million views.
An overwhelming flood of comments swept across the top of the video like a tide.
God knows how many times I've listened to this!
Oh my god, this is so addictive!
This is the first time I've liked an instrumental track this much.
Wait, aren't they high school students? How can they be this cool?!
Hahaha, this is so fun! It feels like they're having a blast!
Following the comments, Lin Tian watched the video again.
Perhaps he had been too hyped last night, because he had not noticed anything wrong when reviewing it.
But now that he watched it again, Lin Tian nearly lost it!
In the video, Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu, who had clearly gotten carried away last night, passionately performed in their half-damp clothes.
Lin Tian's fingers flew across the keys, his whole body seemingly twitching along with the music.
Like Tom Cat—one note, one bounce!
It was like playing a dance game: up, down, left, right, left, right, then smack! He hit the spacebar.
And Gan Yan Yu, who was usually so reserved, was not much better. As she played the cello, her little head bobbed back and forth. Although the camera did not capture her head, her hair could clearly be seen bouncing up and down.
Even through the screen, one could feel the sheer joy in the video!
Friend, even when it comes to the finest grain, you'll always be one step behind me! @XXX
Can-Can—even the name is this funny. No wonder it's something special!
This is original music? My god, what kind of heavenly Douyin creator is this?
They look like they're genuinely having so much fun! This is the first time I've felt the joy of music so vividly.
Sigh, if only I knew how to play an instrument. I really want to try it!
Lin Tian opened the backend and discovered that his private messages had long since exploded.
Among them, a message from an account named Unive Official was especially conspicuous.
Hello, we are a music copyright company. We would like to purchase the copyright to your music for 200,000 yuan. May we discuss this?
Before you continue