Watching Mo Ran open her arms toward her, Jiang Ling bit her lip, clearly catching the bright spark in Mo Ran’s eyes. Instantly, her face flushed red as she protested, “Don’t tease me anymore!”
Mo Ran regretfully withdrew her hands.
“At a time like this, the right thing to do is to throw yourself into my arms and call me Mom to act cute…”
She was still waiting to hug Jiang Ling and have her way, pinching here and squeezing there.
“You’re definitely just messing with me!”
Jiang Ling turned her head away with a huff, looking rather uninterested.
She wouldn’t fall for that!
“Eh, what a pity.”
Mo Ran didn’t deny it. As Jiang Ling’s face grew even puffier with annoyance, Mo Ran switched the topic, “Is there a song you want to sing?”
With the subject back on track, Jiang Ling stopped sulking and obediently fell into deep thought.
She liked all sorts of songs—truly a musical omnivore. To her, music knew no borders or ranks; everyone had the right to chase their own tastes.
So, after thinking for a while, Jiang Ling looked troubled, “Ah… I really can’t think of one right now.”
That was the downside of having such broad interests. She liked everything, so naturally it was hard to pick a favorite. She glanced at Mo Ran with pitiful eyes, her intent clear—
Help me, Sister Mo Ran!
Mo Ran had already expected this. Resting her chin on her hand, she pulled up a duet playlist, glanced at the endless rows of love songs, and couldn’t help but chuckle. Pointing at the top entry, “Today You Will Marry Me,” she asked, “How about this one? I’ll sing the male part, you do the female.”
“Who in their right mind sings that song on New Year’s Eve?!”
After a moment, Jiang Ling couldn’t help but add, “And why can’t I sing the male part?!”
Listening to her articulate her dissatisfaction so clearly, Mo Ran held back from giving her a dose of reality and tried not to laugh as she continued to scroll through the screen.
After looking over the options again, nothing really seemed perfect.
Not that they were truly unsuitable—it was just that some duets were too blatant in pushing romance. Some things, while fans loved them, if you sold it too obviously, it became tasteless.
It had to be that little bit of favoritism, hidden in unintentional words and glances, just enough to drive the fans wild.
With that thought, Mo Ran paused as her hand scrolled through the playlist. “Maybe I’m thinking too narrowly. There’s no need to be fixated on duets; we can just pick a suitable solo.”
Then she held out her hand to Jiang Ling.
“Let me take a look at your playlist.”
Jiang Ling didn’t refuse. She immediately pulled up a few of her favorite music apps and opened her favorites list for Mo Ran to see.
She was quite confident in her music taste, so when she handed over the phone, her eyes were full of anticipation and pride.
“You sure listen to a wide variety.”
Mo Ran glanced at it—Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, all present—and casually remarked.
“Hehe.”
Jiang Ling didn’t argue. She rested her head on Mo Ran’s shoulder, and the two of them searched the list together.
To be fair, her playlist had a lot of quality tracks. After a while, Mo Ran picked out a few possible candidates, but nothing was decided—until both their eyes landed on a song at the top of the screen—
“Special Person”
Mo Ran’s scrolling finger paused, then she tapped it. The steady, gentle music began to play.
The two of them listened intently to the entire song.
“I think this song really speaks to me,” Mo Ran said with a smile after it ended. “It’s like being embraced by a gentle strength… really healing, you know?”
“That’s pretty much how I felt the first time I heard it, too.”
Jiang Ling nodded in agreement, then pulled up the lyrics.
Compared to all the other songs brimming with love, this one barely mentioned the word, yet every line felt like a deep confession. The melody was comfortable for their vocal range as well—perfect for what they needed right now.
So Jiang Ling asked tentatively, “How about this one, then?”
“Sounds good, let’s do it.”
Mo Ran agreed, making the final call.
With the song selected, everything got a lot easier. It was just a matter of practicing over and over. Jiang Ling already knew the song, so practicing wasn’t difficult; in fact, she felt like she handled it with ease.
So in just a day, they split up the parts, rehearsed several times with focus, and the results were great.
Listening to their recorded practice sessions, Jiang Ling smiled in satisfaction. “Sounds great.”
“That’s it for today.”
Mo Ran glanced at her phone. Realizing it was nearly dinner time, she didn’t keep Jiang Ling any longer and stood up to get her water bottle.
“Yay!”
The practice had gone unusually smoothly this time. Jiang Ling felt more and more that maybe she was better suited to singing than dancing.
Still, she knew that as an idol, singing and dancing were both must-have skills. So every week, she dutifully uploaded dance practice videos to the official account. Compared to the half-mocking, half-curious comments before, now the feed was full of praise, which made her very satisfied.
As she thought this, Jiang Ling heard Mo Ran calling her from the door, waving, “Come grocery shopping with me. You can pick whatever you want to eat.”
Jiang Ling’s eyes lit up instantly. Immediately energized, she hurried after Mo Ran’s deliberately slowed pace.
“Okay!”
Jiang Ling happily pushed the shopping cart around the supermarket, with a slightly helpless Mo Ran following behind.
Since she’d mentioned they were running low on ingredients, they’d gone out of their way to a big supermarket. As soon as they entered, Jiang Ling eagerly charged into the snack section.
Since there was still plenty of time, Mo Ran didn’t rush her. She followed along behind Jiang Ling while thinking about what ingredients to buy.
“I really love this chocolate!”
Jiang Ling came over holding a box of chocolate, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
“Then let’s buy it.”
Mo Ran patted her head, her voice gentle.
“Since we’re already here, let’s get some other stuff too~”
After putting the chocolate in the cart, Jiang Ling darted off again, her figure radiating pure joy.
Mo Ran took her time picking out ingredients along the way, a faint but comforting sense of satisfaction blooming in her heart.
When it came time to pay, Mo Ran’s phone couldn’t get a signal at all. She frowned, toggling her data on and off several times, but nothing worked.
Seeing this, Jiang Ling immediately stepped forward and held out her own QR code. “Here, scan this.”
“Eh, it’ll be ready in a second…”
Mo Ran seemed a bit surprised by Jiang Ling’s action. She shook her phone, trying to get her signal back.
“It’s fine.”
Jiang Ling quickly finished the payment and packed all the groceries into bags in no time. Mo Ran didn’t stay dazed for long and went up to help.
As they walked out, Mo Ran spoke up at once, “Let me transfer you the money.”
After all, they’d bought quite a lot today—just the shopping bags alone filled three.
In her memory, Jiang Ling was still that poor thing who couldn’t even afford a place to live, so shouldering all this must be a bit hard, right?
“No need!”
Jiang Ling walked ahead, the intoxicating evening glow washing over her, casting dappled shadows that were soft and hazy.
She looped the bags around her fingers, swinging them behind her as she turned to show Mo Ran a gentle smile, her voice softly humming the tune they’d just practiced again and again:
“To love someone, perhaps you have to be generous…”